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manicparadox · 2 years ago

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The Music Of Frank’s Life

Frank Brightman’s life has had many chapters, to a beat and cadence that ebbs and flows through his life. But everything Frank has seen and experienced, from his birth, his father, his mother, his lovers, his friends, the fall of the Baltimore QZ, build towards the first day of the rest of his life.

The day he meets Bill, and the music returns to his life.

This is Frank’s story.

Also on AO3.

It’s December 3rd, 1957. Zachary and Dolores Brightman welcome their third child, Franklin, into the world in Baltimore, Maryland. Franklin Brightman, full of the promise and hopes and dreams that any parent has for a child. It’s the 50s and everyone is all about Elvis. Zach and Dolores have their hands full with three children, but secretly they love music.

A naturally happy child with a sunny disposition, Frank is precocious, bold. Dolores fears him being kidnapped because he doesn’t understand “don’t talk to strangers.” She never had this problem with Erika or Melody. Frank cheerfully songs Beach Boys songs and while people seem charmed, Dolores wished he wouldn’t attract the attention.

He loves bright things, the outdoors, and is more likely to eat fruit than sweets. Zachary is delighted that he enjoys going fishing, as neither of the girls took to it, but has a hard time getting him to engage in sports. A dream of playing catch with his son is replaced by the reality that his son could be a dreamer, and would rather play by the roses with his sisters.

Still, Zach persists. He’s had a picture in his head if what having a son is, based on how his father raised him, and he finds Frank a frustrating experience.

Frank picks up playing soccer, and his father is delighted. Frank ensures he’s blissfully unaware that Frank only does it to spend more time with a boy from school. He knows he’s different, that he doesn’t want the same things that other boys want. He likes girls as friends, or like he loves his sisters. He makes out with the older boy from the soccer team after practice, hoping they wouldn’t get caught. It’s 1971 and the song “Long, Long Time” plays on the radio in the car as his father drives him to practice. He won’t understand it for many years.

Once his father meets his soccer coach and he looks at him as he shakes his hand, then looks away and says “I hope he doesn’t give you any trouble.”

The years pass and Frank is in high school. He makes no effort to hide who he is, and his father is even frustrated. Why couldn’t he date a nice girl? Was he determined to be different? Inside, though, Zach wonders what he did wrong. Was he not hard enough him? He tries being harder on him, and it only results in his son becoming sullen. Dolores puts her foot down, telling Zach that it’s not fair to place this on their son.

Dolores sees Frank’s situation differently than her husband. Her heart breaks, not for herself, but for the path of loneliness it put her son on. She knows her beautiful son is full of love, light, and that he’ll struggle finding where he belongs. She knows someone else that she suspects is living with a similar struggle, and she’s seen what it does.

Her and Zach fight more about what to do about their son, and about themselves. They’re not happy, and the issue is so much larger than Frank. But Frank doesn’t know that. He knows that he’s sick of the tension, and that he’ll be leaving at the first chance he gets. He wants to find somewhere to be himself.

It’s 1975 and it’s graduation day. It’s the time of “Jive Talkin’” and “Fell Like Makin’ Love”.

When Frank leaves for college to San Francisco his mother is not surprised, although soon she’s alone. With the kids all out of the house, there’s little to bind her to her husband, angry and bitter over their son not being what he expected. It’s not a fault but Zachary doesn’t understand that. It’s laid at Dolores’s feet for letting him be soft. Dolores recognizes that her husband has larger issues, a deeper problem he won’t address, but she’s helpless to do anything about it. She confronts Zach but he won’t have it.

He starts life for the second time, now in school in San Francisco as an art student. He’s ready to leave Baltimore behind. He worries for his mother but she finds new friends, new adventures. They talk twice a week, and while he can’t tell her everything, he knows she guesses. He appreciates that she only expresses love.

He’s at the Castro Street Fair, and now he sees what he should have seen all along. His attraction to men wasn’t something strange, alien, to hide. This was something to celebrate, with others. He’s there when the Consenting Adult Sex Bill is put into effect, making it no longer illegal to engage in sex between two people of the same gender. He’s a volunteer at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

He lives, he loves, he dances, he laughs. He meets people he’ll never forget, and those he wishes he could. His heart gets full, and his heart gets broken.

He works odd jobs in restaurants while he’s in school. The years fly by and he’s twenty one. His love of art blooms, but it doesn’t pay the bills. He has a friend who is a paramedic and thinks maybe Frank has the energy, the quick thinking for it. And Frank thrives. New people, new challenges. He’s fast on his feet and has a keen sense of a patient’s needs. He helps people, his compassion a blessing and a curse. It keeps him busy, focused. It shapes how he dealt with situations. Staying in cover, calm under pressure (even with a gun aimed at him), and patching up gunshot wounds? Standard fare, for Frank.

He graduates college but he finds he’s too restless to not be a paramedic. There’s something comforting about the work, and it balances out his art and his life. He’s fine with that. “In The Navy” is playing when his first ever call comes in.

In clubs, he finds a whole new world. In the lights, in the music. The beats, the dancing. Oh, the dancing, sometimes drunk on alcohol but other times drunk on life, dressing his best and moving with the music. He develops a sense of style, and he loves the freedom he has. He celebrates in the streets, wrapped in a rainbow flag. The world is dizzying and beautiful and wide open.

He’s estranged from his father, although Dolores implores him to understand that it’s not Frank, it’s his father. Frank shoots back that it’s up to his father to bridge the gap. Dolores can’t explain why it’s important, and Frank doesn’t care.

She remarries and Frank ends up really liking his stepfather, Randy. Randy isn’t exactly progressive, either, but he doesn’t ask questions, and he treat’s Frank’s mother like a queen.

The clock flips into the 80s and everything changes as AIDS sweeps through the community. Frank pulls back and throws himself into work, another infection vector that he has to field. He has a relationship with James. He’s wonderful, a ball of energy to match Frank, but it’s a whirlwind and doesn’t work out in the end. Too much chaos in one place. A string of other relationships follows, spanning the 70s an 80s. Matthias, from Germany, loud and forthright. Antonio, who he dates for three years and lived with for one, and it’s blissful while it lasts, but Antonio starts partying too hard for Frank’s tastes. It’s painful to leave him.

He’s losing too many friends to AIDS and the reality is hitting home. The depression of it all sets in, and he finds it harder to sustain relationships. He’s starting to feel burnout as a medic, culminating in having to transport a man to the hospital due to AIDS related complications. It’s James. He doesn’t make it.

He has his share of scares and gets tested regularly, every time feeling like he’s holding his breath. He faces the reality of living his life and losing it, or never living at all. It comes and goes in waves, times when he just can’t quit living his life to the fullest, and times when he withdraws with the pain, the stress.

Frank’s feeling these losses, and he spirals into drinking at one point. He’s self aware enough to go home to his mother for a week and just be. The broken hearts, the broken people, and Frank sees himself becoming one of them.

Therapy brings Frank little relief, because no therapist he met knows what to do with with his demons.

Before he knows it, it’s 1984. ”Against All Odds” comes out and he still feels the sting of Antonio. It’s a banner year for music: Karma Chameleon, Dancing In The Dark, The Reflex, Time After Time (another song that stings). Frank wishes he had someone to share everything with, but it’s too much to manage.

One day that year the phone rings; it’s his father. Frank is ready to hang up, but his father begs him to stay on the line. His father says he’s in town, and he needs to see him. Frank doesn’t want this, but at this point, he’s as low as he can do, what can his father do to him? Zachary Brightman only had as much power as Frank gave him.

Against his better judgement, he lets his father come over. He is now 61. He’s different, less severe.

And the conversation is slow and halting, and Frank is ready for the abuse, the berating. It never comes. Instead his father sits on the couch and says that he’s sorry. He’s sorry that he took out his anger on Frank, that he resented Frank for being able to live as himself even when the world didn’t want him to. That the problem hadn’t been Frank; it’s that Frank was everything his father had longed to be, but couldn’t be.

Frank stares at his father, and his father is crying on his couch and Frank doesn’t know what to do. He isn’t equipped to offer comfort to this man, who’s given him none. He’s not sure if his father is saying what it sounds like he is saying. It makes no sense from his father.

His father says that there’s someone he’d like Frank to meet. And he says that person taught him that he has to make this right, that he needs to make sure that his son knows that he is not broken and he never was.

He goes to the hotel with his father, uncertain what to say. His father turns on the radio to fill the silence and Prince’s “When Doves Cry” is playing. Maybe I’m just like my father-. Frank turns off the radio. They ride in the car and something washes over Frank and tears start falling down his cheeks. He isn’t sure what’s happening, he’s in the car with his father and something has changed, the push and pull is gone and he doesn’t know what to do with the empty space where it had been. His father reaches out to put a hand on his but Frank snatches his hand away, he’s not ready for that. He can’t take comfort from him any more than he could give it. By the time they arrive they’re both crying and they go to his father’s hotel room. His father’s hands are shaking as he unlocks the door.

Inside stands a man, shorter than his father, robust, with a huge smile and kind hazel eyes. A bit younger than his father, if he had to guess. He watches his father walk to him and the other man holds out a hand, and his father takes it. He looks back at Frank and introduces him as Jeff.

Frank feels like the world has dropped out from under him.

“I never hated you for who you are,” his father says finally. “I hated myself for not being as strong.”

This hits Frank hard, he struggles to put the pieces together into something that makes sense. Something is bursting in him and he has to let it out. He walks to Jeff and hugs him, unable to hug his father yet but needing to just have some kind of reassurance. He doesn’t know Jeff, but he has kind eyes, and he’s… Frank can’t quite say the words in his head. He pulls back and starts to argue with his father, that it’s not fair what he put him through. And his father takes it, all of it. Frank shoves him, how dare you come back into my life and tell me it was all because you hated yourself? How dare you make me revisit it all? Who gave you the right?

His father breaks, crying. “I don’t have the right. I fucked everything up, and I know it. Your mother knew and I denied it. I can’t ever undo that, I can’t make it right. I just needed you to know it wasn’t you. It was never, ever you.”

It sets in, and Frank isn’t sure if he can forgive his father yet. But what he sees is a man who has hid from the world, and he understands that, he’s seen that. He can relate to his father’s hurt at that level and steps forward and hugs him, sobbing. His father is sobbing, too, and Frank gestures for Jeff to join them.

“I’m proud of you, Frank,” his father whispers, holding onto them both. It’s more than Frank can take and he leaves, going home to sob in the shower, heaving with tears that he’d held back his entire life. The next day they all meet up and Frank wants to know how they met, what’s happened, how he got here.

It changes everything Frank thought he knew about his life, his family. The world is more bright, like the sun peering through the clouds after weeks of gray days. They resolve to stay in touch. And they do. Zach and Jeff move to Monterrey, a two hours’ drive away.

He calls his mother and demands if she knew. Of course she knew, but how would she explain that when his father couldn’t even explain it? She’s not wrong; this wasn’t her news to give to Frank. As a son, Frank doesn’t understand, but as a gay man, he does. Frank tries to separate the father from the closeted man, and the picture becomes more clear. His mother doesn’t urge him to forgive his father, she only says “I love you. I hope you find happiness like he has.” Frank hopes so, too. He dates a few people, selectively.

Into the 90s, Frank finds a renewed love for life as he paints again. Music is reminiscent of the 80s but is evolving. He adds “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips to the soundtrack of his life as another relationship falls apart. The piercing tones of Mariah Carey fill the radio by 1991. He takes a vacation to Belize, three days of which he spends with a guy he meets at the beach. It’s the fastest three days of his life as of that point, and it would take years before any three day span surpassed it in intensity. He keeps visiting his mother and brings her his paintings. She visits him in San Francisco. She’s happy to see him, but she doesn’t love it there. It’s not home. Home is the house she inherited from her parents, and she makes it her own with his stepfather.

He stays in touch with Erika and Melody, and is the best uncle he can be to their kids, given the distance. He can’t say he’s close, but he’s not distant, either.

October 1992, Frank meets Salim.

Frank is at karaoke and that’s when he sees him, performing Queen’s “I Want To Break Free.” It’s too on the nose, too appropriate, but it calls to Frank, to that part of him that remembers that feeling.

It’s the same year that Elton John says in an interview that he was comfortable being gay, shortly after his duet with George Michael of “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” rises on the charts. The world is changing with dizzying speed.

It turns out they have a mutual friend, and so they end up at the same table with several others. Salim also sings “Like A Prayer” (oh the music video for this was a whole other journey for Frank when it came out) and “With Or Without You” and Frank worries that he is already in too deep. As the group disburses, Frank finds himself across from Salim. They introduce the leaves and then Salim looks away and to the side before looking back at Frank.

Salim knows nothing about Frank except he dresses exceptionally well, and he’s got a smile that not only lights up a room but could burn down a house.

A woman gets up and sings “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” to her girlfriend, and Frank and Salim watch each other across the table. An emotion comes over Frank that he can’t explain. Salim is a little shy, and works in finance. Nothing exciting about that, but everything exciting when Salim talks about things he loves. He rides bicycles and motorcycles, he loves having plants where he lives. He’s learning to play guitar.

Salim’s curly hair reaches past his shoulders, and Frank wonders what it would feel like between his fingers. A sparse black beard, wide dark eyes. Long fingered hands. He had legs for days, Frank supposes you had to if you’re riding a bike in San Francisco with all the hills.

He decides to be forward and say that he wants to see him again for coffee. Salim agrees and they meet again. What follows is a week of meeting, watching movies at Frank’s apartment, Frank having dinner at Salim’s (kibbeh, lamb stew), and having enough coffee that they both had the jitters, although maybe all of it wasn’t just from the coffee.

And so Frank’s life began yet again, a new chapter for Salim.

Salim, still learning to live with his sexuality, with himself. He’s from Syria but his parents brought him to the US when he was a teenager. In Syria, it’s illegal to be gay, and it could have landed him in prison. He’s fortunate to leave when he had, but he isn’t out to his parents.

Salim is 26, a bit younger than Frank at almost 35. Frank worries about it because would a guy not even 30 really want to be with one rapidly approaching 40? But Salim laughs at the notion, says it doesn’t matter if they’re good together. Salim thinks they’re very good together. To him, Frank is someone who is adventurous, energetic, and Salim is drawn to this.

He makes kibbeh on the weekends, and Frank will never forget the smell of it. He always waits for Frank to take the first bite. They ride along the coast, walk along the Presidio and Embarcadero holding hands, sample chocolates at the Ferry Building.

They sleep together a week and a half after they start dating. It feels like forever to wait and yet it’s really not. Frank in his 20s would have shook his head at his patience for this, but he didn’t feel in a hurry. Neither did Salim. They’re not sure who made the first move, but it doesn’t matter because when they move it’s together, knowing the right moment.

Frank introduces Salim to his father and to Jeff, and while Salim is initially wary, soon they’re laughing together and Salim is reassured. He leans over to kiss Frank and it’s the first time he’s felt safe with a lover’s family. They go on a fishing trip in the ocean on Jeff’s boat. The way Salim’s hair whips into his face, the sound of his laughter as he loses his footing, not used to standing in a boat. Frank sits him down and stands beside him. It’s not his first time out on the boat.

They move in together by 1993. They’re eating out at a favorite local restaurant when UB40’s cover of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” comes on the radio. It reminds Frank of his parents when they loved Elvis, and he blushes as Salim looks at him.

Jeff teaches him piano, how to read music, and all about pianos. He learns to play more on a keyboard in the apartment. He listens to Salim play the guitar, bent over, his hair obscuring his face as he croons. Sometimes he lifts his face up to sing in full. Frank paints him, the way the light touches his skin, surrounded by his plants, playing the guitar.

Dolores is very much in their lives, they visit her and she visits them, often with her husband. Less so as he becomes sick. Cancer. They do as much back and forth as they can to support Frank’s mother, but Baltimore isn’t as comfortable as San Francisco for Salim in particular.

When Randy passes away, they go back for the funeral, and they’re both struck with how uncomfortable Baltimore feels now. Frank is worried for his mother but she assures him she’ll be fine, she still has Erika and Melody.

Salim feels that people stare at him, and Frank wants to reassure him but can’t. They don’t hold hands in public, here. No one knows what to say to a Middle Eastern man so they say nothing at all. Frank has outgrown Baltimore and he knows that his time here will be limited. He hopes his mother will be okay.

Frank and Salim travel, they make love, Frank learns to ride a motorcycle and they take long rides to watch sunsets over the water. They have everything, and Frank gets the hang of taking care of all of Salim’s plants. He learns to sing a little, not enough to be good, but enough to hold a tune if he practices enough. He just didn’t tend to practice. His hair starts to go gray prematurely, just at the temples. He considers covering it but Salim says not to; he kisses the gray spot on Frank’s temple.

1999 rolls in like San Francisco fog, it’s March. Cher’s “Believe” is the top song in the charts. They hope they never have to go though something like the breakup described in that song.

It may as well have been a prophecy. He gets a call from Erika; their mother isn’t doing well.

He flies back and forth for a while, but it’s expensive, and it’s hard to coordinate with his sisters, his work schedule. He realizes that he’s going to have to take a job in Baltimore and stay there. His mother has a nurse that comes in part of the time, but his mother refuses to go to a facility. It would be cruel to make her leave her home. But it’s also frustrating.

Frank tries to convince Salim to come with him for awhile, he’s found someone to watch their place. Salim doesn’t want to go, and they can’t find compromise. They fight, but neither budges. Salim says it’s not fair that his mother needs him to move home after telling him to be happy. She hasn’t asked; Frank wants to do this for her. She has a neuromuscular degenerative condition and is soon confined to a chair, and Frank can’t stand the thought of not being there for her.

Frank decides he’s going to take care of his mother. They part in the airport as “No More I Love Yous” plays in the background. He breaks down as soon as he turns towards the gate, and is still shuddering when the plane takes off. It’s the kindest breakup he’s ever had, but it’s still a breakup. They think about leaving it open for “some day” but neither wants to put that on the other. The waiting, the what if one of them finds someone else later of all of that. They agree that they both deserve better than the waiting of it all.

Frank spends most of his days with his mother when he’s not working. Three years, watching her decline. No options to end with with mercy, nothing that he could do but just take care of her as her mobility slipped farther away. His sisters tried but they had their own families, too. Frank takes a leave from his job and watches his mother slowly die. She can’t feed herself, clothe herself, bathe herself. Frank’s heart broke every day. He didn’t want her to be alone. Some days it’s a struggle to breath, other times feels strange sensations in her body that give her panic attacks.

She loses the ability to talk. Frank talks at her and watches her facial expressions. They listen to music every day, hits from the 70s and 80s and 90s.

In early 2003, she passes away after a hard battle. Frank is exhausted, and has to go back to work to make money to survive while the estate settles. He stays in his mother’s house while he tries to arrange her affairs. Erika and Melody want to sell the house, and he agrees. He doesn’t need it, he wants to go back home.

He sells the house after fixing it up, and he packs to go back to San Francisco, to his dad and Jeff, to the family he has left. To the city that he considers home, even if he’s not returning to the same place he’d left. He doesn’t dare hope for more.

Everything he owns is shipped back to SF in September 2003. He’s ready to say goodbye to this old house, the one with so many crazy memories. He drinks a protein shake for breakfast and walks through the house. His old room. Trailing his hand down the bannister down the stairs. He heads out with a single bag of what’s left, and he gets a ride to the airport. “Seven Nation Army” plays on the radio.

He’s halfway there when all hell breaks loose. There’s riots in the streets and things that may have been people shambling through the streets.

This is the cordyceps pandemic. He calls his dad and gets through. He’s relieved that Salim is with them, as he and Jeff were supposed to have a show in Monterrey now that they did music together. He doesn’t have a right to be that relieved, but he is. His dad says that he’ll protect Salim, but Zach is now 80. Their chances weren’t good. Frank urges them to seek shelter or take as much food as they can and get to the boat. Frank breathes a sign of relief that they’re all together, then the phone goes dead. He tries calling again and it’s just a busy tone. He tries calling Erika, Melody… nothing. He turns on the news and everything is falling apart. Cellphone networks are down. He throws the cellphone out of frustration, not like it’s doing any good anyway.

He tries to help but there’s too much chaos, and he’s shuffled into the Baltimore QZ as it’s established. He ends up on duty burning and burying bodies near the QZ and he hates it. He convinces them to let him become a full time medic. And so the latest chapter of Frank’s life begins, amidst not music, but the sounds of the chaos of a new world.

It’s hard work but it’s better than carrying bodies, and it’s stable work. He meets Carla, a former EMT who ends up as his roommate. She still worked odd jobs in the QZ, and Frank advocates for her to join the medical team with him. She accepts, and they become the best of friends.

It’s not long before he’s sick of patching people up just to see them come back injured again, or worse, come back infected. He has good reflexes so he gets put on duty to scan a lot of the time as they came in. He hates making eye contact with them and pretending like everything is fine as they’re taken away. This isn’t anything like being a medic before, this is a whole other world, and he doesn’t love it.

The alternatives are worse, though, and Frank at least has a roof over his head and only has to take up minimal off duty activities for ration credits.

He forges a friends with benefits arrangement with Jeong from the supply department. Jeong also has a friends with benefits arrangement with Carla and they have a conversation about if this is going to be weird or not, and agree that they’re fine with it. Jeong stays over and some nights he’s with one, sometimes the other. They’re all afraid to forge romantic attachments, but having the friends and the comfort means more than Frank is ever able to explain to either of them.

Carla’s time runs out when they’re attending to a patient on site and a clicker shambles into the room. The guard with them gets off a shot but it’s too late. He wants to fight against them shooting her, he tries to hold her hand, but the guards warn him that contact will result in him meeting the same fate. He knows what this means, and she urges him to let her go. He feels this is is his fault, that she was in danger to begin with. It’s heartbreak for him and Jeong both, and they go back and forth between being unable to see each other without thinking of Carla, to moving in together because that pain together feels better than the pain separately. Jeong doesn’t blame Frank, and suggests that Frank shouldn’t blame himself, either.

It’s 2007 and the music has long since died.

Jeong is out on night shift supply duty. And Frank dreams of the times before. Of the days back in San Francisco, the apartment with Salim. He loved that apartment, the bright light of it, the openness with which they lived there. Their friends. Frank’s mouth waters at the smell of kibbeh wafting through the apartment.

Dimly, he knows this isn’t reality. It’s too clean, too pretty. Full of greenery. He glances in the mirror above the fireplace and he can see the gray, the toll that years took. This is the apartment from his 30s and early 40s, not at almost 50. But he liked living here, even if it’s just a memory. Even if everything that came after has been hell.

“You should move her here,” Salim says, coming up behind him and putting his arms around Frank’s waist.

“I can’t.”

He wants to, he wants his mother to be in San Francisco, where the slow decline of her life would be bearable with Salim. He threads his fingers through Salim’s, as if it could hold him there. His mother wouldn’t come to San Francisco, and she needed him. Even if she couldn’t admit it.

Frank doesn’t want to revisit it, the move to Baltimore, his mother, losing Salim because Frank couldn’t find a way to compromise, because Frank didn’t want to live long distance. He wanted Salim to come with him, just for a while, but Salim didn’t want to go.

Wake up.

But it’s never that easy in a land of dreams.

An alarm blares and Frank flinches, pulling away from Salim, from his warm embrace. A moment later he blinks into darkness. The sound of the alarms fills the Baltimore QZ, and he groans, throwing his arm back over his eyes.

A week straight on call, and hell breaks loose the night before his day off. Not that it matters for shit, a day not worked is a day without rations. But those days are lighter than the others. Of course that’s the night that everything appeared to be going to complete shit. He’d be looking forward to a day without getting bled on, puked on, or have another patient turn infected and make a grab for him. FEDRA guards were fast, but he’d had too many close calls this week.

He gets out of bed and pulls on his boots, throwing on a sweater and grabbing his jump bag as he heads out the door. Usually, the alarms going off meant to stay inside, but Frank isn’t good at staying still. Too many years on call waiting for emergencies.

He must have thought about “quiet”, a paramedic’s surefire way to ruin any peace.

He leaps down the stairs and out the front door of the building. Shouts are more clear out here. loud. This isn’t a normal alarm. This is panic.

Someone grabs his arm and he jumped. “We have to go.” He follows her through the streets, and they grab a few others along the way that aren’t panicking. They make their way through their part of town, an explosion heard in the distance. They make it to the motor pool and meet up with several others. Ten, in total. They steal a truck and leave Baltimore. Frank is torn because he wants to help, but when he turns back, the QZ is burning and he knows that to stay is to die.

They have a full tank of gas and some food, but not much else. Frank wishes he knew where Jeong is and hopes he made it out. Jeong is resourceful, and if anyone could make it out, it’s him.

They travel for two days, driving slow to conserve fuel once they’ve cleared the city. It’s not long before they run out of gas, and they decide to spend one night at the camp. That’s when the raiders hit them. Two people are standing watch, on each side of their little camp, Frank on one side. The raiders came from the other side and he heard the shouts. Someone yelled “run” so he ran. They’d made that plan: if anything happens, scatter.

Frank hears shots but there was no way to get back. He runs for two hours, tripping in the dark, the moonlight not enough to see well. He walks through the woods, hungry, dehydrated, in a daze. Sleeping is terrifying, the few hours he gets the first night are restless. It’s not too cold at night, but the terror eats at him. The nightmares are worse than ever. He thinks he hears the shots. The first day on his own, he just walks. He doesn’t know where he’s going, but he can’t sit still. It might be beautiful out here, if not for the fear that pounded through his whole body.

The first night is bordering on terrifying. The hunger intensifies, and the thirst. His feet hurt and they’ve blistered but he doesn’t dare take his boots off because putting them on again will be worse. He’s glad that he’s on his feet enough and that he runs, as this would be worse otherwise.

The next day he starts walking again, flinching with every step. He isn’t sure what’s okay to eat so he eats nothing.

He finds a pond, but doesn’t want to drink the stagnant water. He finds the stream feeling it and hopes the water is fine to drink, that’s there’s nothing upstream. He wonders if the infected are contagious via water. He’d assume so, but it doesn’t stop his thirst.

It’s a long night. He sleeps near the stream because the sound covers all of the other sounds, and he needs to be lulled to sleep or he won’t be able to think. He wakes up in the middle of the night to sticks snapping, and he panics, pulling away from the log he’s taken shelter behind. He starts running and trips, falling on his arm and likely bruising it. He looks back and the waning crescent moon reveals 3 white tailed deer staring at him from by the stream, and he relaxes. A little. He moves and they take off down a path.

The third day, he wakes up and keeps moving, following the path that the deer did because he has no other options. He’s not sure where he is now, or where he’s going. Brambles catch on his clothing, ripping it further. The bruise on his arm is huge and it’s painful. He has to get out this. He has to. His stomach rumbles and water won’t fill it.

He stops occasionally and listens, trying to hear something, anything. The path takes him a way from the stream. As the sun rises in the sky, he hears the hum. Generator? Oh god. He heads in the direction of it, a single minded determination driven by hunger, thirst, exhaustion… It’s not far. It runs fairly quiet for a generator as far as he knows.

He comes through the trees and sees a house. The fence. Was anyone even still there? But the generator ran, and that had to take maintenance. He just needed to find out how to get someone’s attention. He approached the fence, and the ground is gone and he’s falling.

He can’t even form a thought before he hits the bottom, the impact shuddering through him. His feet scream at one more indignity and he stumbles into the wall. Of course, a fucking trap. He takes a deep breath, standing. He hopes that someone is there, because otherwise, he’s not getting out of here alive. He’ll starve down here. His stomach reminded him that he already walked the path to starving. There’s no way he can reach the top of this. He claws at the wall, his ragged fingernails scraping over the surface.

He hears a shotgun cocking and he freezes, raising his hands out of reflex and training. Think fast, Frank. The first thing is to show he’s not a threat, so keep his hands up.

He’s shaking, he’s nervous, he wonders if he’s going to die in this hole. He tries to not look threatening and raises his hands above his head. The stranger’s shadow looms over him, leveling a shotgun at him. Frank tries not to cower, to show how terrified he is, but his hands shake. His body is exhausted, this is the first person he’s seen in two days, and he’s got a gun aimed at him. He tries to maintain eye contact.

The man brings a ladder and puts it in the hole, so at least Frank knows that he’s not going to die in the hole. Frank climbs it slowly and clings to the ladder, peering over to see the man has a pistol pointed at him. He’s approached with the scanner, pistol still aimed at Frank’s face. Frank closes his eyes, unable to stare down the gun anymore, tensing up when the scanner touches his neck. He swallows as he remembers Carla and the fear on her face. The all clear tone beeps and he almost sobs in relief. He pulls in a shaky breath and opens his eyes.

The man gestures at him to come up the ladder, and Frank comes up slowly, putting his hands back in the air. I’m unarmed. I’m not a threat. He calls on all of his paramedic training for threat management.

He follows the curves of the stranger’s eyebrows, the dark beard shot with gray.

The man tells him how to get to Boston. But Frank’s stomach is rumbling. The stranger’s hair stops the light from shining on his face, from Frank seeing details. How long has this man been out here? He’s somewhat clean, his clothes don’t have holes. His hair has been cut fairly recently. He isn’t living in the same world that Frank has been in.

Frank tells him where he’s from, where he’s going. What is name is. He’s told what direction he can go, and that he’s basically not getting a free lunch. Frank finally puts down his arms. Either this man will kill him fast, or he’ll die slow. He’s a hungry, he’s tired, and he’s just done. He promises he won’t tell anyone about this place, or about any lunch.

The man stares at him, intense, then looks away for a moment. Something crosses his face. Frank remembers a soccer coach, his father, Salim at karaoke. Thinking. Shit. He closes his eyes. He doesn’t know how this is going to go. If nothing else, he trusts him enough to look away for a moment.

They go inside and the man finally holsters his gun, and Frank lets his shoulders drop.

The stranger, for his part, doesn’t know why he’s letting this man inside his house. Was it the smile? The way Frank didn’t back down? A part of him admired that, appreciated it. Frustrating, sure, but he hadn’t had a good argument since everyone else fucked off. He’d set that trap across from the path, so that anything coming up that way would fall into the trap. Sometimes deer. Didn’t expect it to catch… this.

This man’s dad had shown him that trail years ago, and he’d lined that trap up with it, across from where the trail exited the woods. The trail… well. The trail and him had a history.

This man with the easy smile made something drop in his stomach. It’s nice to look at him, to be seen by him. But he can’t trust him, and he knows that. But somehow he does anyway.

This stranger has a house that’s beautiful inside, and Frank has to keep his jaw from dropping. There’s electricity, and apparently food, if he’s going to get lunch. He asks if there is a place that he can get cleaned up, and his eyes drift over the stranger’s chestnut hair. Maybe a couple of days, sure, but not like he’s seen. He feels compelled to brush the stranger’s hair, run his fingers through it, maybe find out.

The stranger leads him to a shower, after telling him that he’s pushing it. Mutters some line about not messing up the house, at least. He leads him to a bedroom that’s got more dust than it should, and directs him to the bathroom in a mutter. He warns the water is hot, and Frank is stunned. Hot water? Out here? He’s starting to feel giddy, already glad to be removing these clothes. He reaches for the edge of the shirt and lifts it. The man turns, looking away, but not before Frank catches an inkling of a blush. It’s not helping his giddiness.

“I’ll be back.” The man leaves, and Frank smiles, watching him go as he shuts the door behind him. He finally drops his shoulders after peeling the shirt off, wincing as he goes over the bruise on his arm. He sits on the bed and a little cloud of dust rises, making him sneeze. He pats the quilt with his hand, and a smaller puff of dust blooms. Well, it’s still warm in here, and a shower waits for him. The mattress feels like it’s in decent shape. He starts to wonder if a night’s sleep is a possibility or if that’s pushing his luck. He pulls off his boots and the blisters scream at him. He tucks his socks inside and sets them next to the shirt.

He steps into the bathroom and stares at his reflection. He’s covered in dirt, his face is smeared with it. Holding up his arm, he looks at the bruise. “Ouch.” He doesn’t have to touch it to know it’s going to hurt. He removes the rest of his clothing, eying the multitude of bruises and small cuts that cover his body.

The water is hot as promised (or warned), good water pressure, and he watches the dirt wash away, circling around the drain. He hasn’t had a shower like this in four years.

The other man brings him clothing, and Frank asks for five more minutes. When will he have another shower like this? The man agrees to it, and Frank finds himself wondering at where the man’s stern tone has gone. He seems almost shy when he replies to Frank.

Shy. Huh. Frank wonders about this man, with his well groomed beard, his survivalist tendencies, his glances away, his blush. He remembers his father. Maybe there was something else to this man. Maybe he could start by asking his name, although something in Frank made him want to wait for the other to volunteer it. Then again, some people did better when someone else leads. It seemed as good of an idea as any.

He’s long since scrubbed himself clean, wincing over his injuries, and now he’s just enjoying the hot water, the feeling of almost being normal. For a moment, just a fraction of minutes in the timeline of his life, Frank feels normal again.

Turning of the water takes him a moment, as if when he does it, he’s choosing to go back to the regular world, the hard and gritty world he’s been living in. He draws in a breath and steps out of the shower, drying off before looking in the mirror again. It’s fogged up with the steam of the shower, and he opens up the window to let it out. He wipes off the mirror and looks at himself. Ick. His hair is a mess. He opens a drawer and finds a comb, and does what he can but his hair is still half wet and unwieldy. It would have to do.

The stranger told him to meet him in the dining room, and not to go in any other rooms. Frank’s curious but not stupid, so he makes his way down to the dining room, taking a seat at the table. He faces the door to the room, fingers curling against the wood arms of the chair. The table is immaculate, set with crystal glasses. Frank runs his fingers over the edge of the table, feeling the wood under his fingers.

He starts looking around; after all, he was told to stay in the dining room, but there was no caveat about looking around. He peers at the piano in the living room and smiles fondly, thinking of Jeff’s lessons on the piano, and what he’d learned about pianos. Frank’s eyes travel around the room and he looks at the cabinet in the dining room. Apparently, this man has almost everything here except a cleaning service, apparently.

He hopes the man isn’t coming back too soon, and gets up out of his chair, investigating. He runs his finger through the dust on the cabinet, and thinks that he could really help clean up a place like this. But that’s a thought he doesn’t want to have, since he’ll be leaving after he eats.

The door bursts open and Frank wipes the dust off on his pants, freezing. The man stares at him, for so long that Frank wonders if he’s crossed some line he shouldn’t have.

But there’s another expression, there, an openness. Frank realizes that since he’s showered, he’s clean, that this man is finally seeing him. He seems surprised, but masks it as Frank sits back down. The man places food in front of Frank and Frank’s mouth is already watering, and he grins up at the stranger who turns away.

The man seems to think Frank should be surprised that he knows what wine to pair with rabbit, but Frank assures him he does seem like the type. There’s the look again, the other’s eyes widening, and now Frank is certain. There’s many hidden depths to this man, this stranger. The man turns away and goes to sit down. He hides his face when he’s overwhelmed. Which is too bad, because his eyes are beautiful.

I see you, Frank thinks. He’s intrigued, he feels a pull from deep in his gut, and he knows what that is. But he’s now sitting with a plate of food in front of him, and it smells divine, and his stomach reminds him that he’s got other problems than the handsome stranger that made him lunch. He tries to pace himself with the wine, knowing that it’s going to go right to his head. And it does, but he doesn’t mind it.

Every bite feels like heaven, and the stranger says that everything tastes good when you’re starving, but Frank knows the difference. This food is made with care, with a genuine appreciation for the ingredients. This is someone who appreciates fine things. The wine is a perfect pairing, and Frank wonders how many meals this man has had alone. How he’s likely the first person to be allowed in here, to eat at this table. He feels warm and content, and it’s not just the food and the wine.

He knows he has to leave soon; or, he should. But he’s not ready to so he finishes the wine and he turns his attention back to that piano. The wine has gone to his head a little, and he’s feeling the impulse, like he’s sat still too long and that part of him that can’t trust a quiet moment leaps out. He digs through the music in the bench, shaking his head as he goes through the classics. These aren’t what he’s looking for. He finds a book of Linda Ronstadt songs. I see you.

He flips through the book, looking for the right song. It’s been years since Jeff taught him, years since… this one, here. Frank can feel the way the book falls open in his hands, he knows what song has been played the most in this book. He remembers it playing in the car, going to soccer practice, where he had a crush on a boy. His father’s tight expressions. A longing that Frank came to understand as he got older.

He starts playing, and he knows it’s bad. It’s been years, and it’s too fast, and he’s struggling to find his placement with his hands. He already is sure the man will stop him, but he continues until it becomes clear that the man wants him to stop. Not this song, he says.

So Frank steps away and gestures for the man to play instead. “Then I’ll leave.” He doesn’t want to leave, but he’s got a feeling that he’s opening a door, and he has to know if that’s the right door.

The man takes over and starts playing. It’s slower, it’s precise, it’s filled with more emotion than Frank has heard a song performed. He’s watching the man’s fingers on the keys, to the emotion on his face. Those graceful fingers, a voice that’s rough but that conveys a longing that makes Frank ache, his chest tight. God.

This is someone who has loved and held it inside. Who has separated himself from the world, and is now alone. He’s moved by the performance, feeling tears start to pool in the corners of his eyes.

The song is finished and Frank breathes in, letting the last note fade out as the man pulls his hands away. Frank’s lips part, he swallows. He asks who the girl is, and when the answer is there is no girl, he hears the inflection on the last word.

He places his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I know,” he says, soft, and leans in slow. For a moment he’s worried the man will bolt, but he leans into Frank and their lips touch, leading into a kiss. Then an a hand is gripping Frank’s arm, like he’s as hungry as Frank was when Frank showed up. His grip conveys his need, and Frank feels it, too.

The man surges up, kissing Frank back, and it’s a little stiff, his shoulders feel tight as Frank wraps his arms around him. He fits perfectly in Frank’s arms, and Frank can breathe him in, of cooking, of sweat. Bill hasn’t done this often, Frank can tell, but he’s holding to Frank, and Frank drinks it in, their shared need, his fingers trailing over the man’s shoulders. He doesn’t even know his name, and he wants him, wants to be what fills that need, feels a connection between them and it washes over him.

They pull away and Frank regards him, and the tears he’s held finally roll down his cheeks. It feels good, to feel, to be… he can’t even explain it, his mind can’t land on a thought except he wants to feel the taste of his lips again, the touch of rosemary from their lunch. He wants to run his hands through that dark hair.

A tear rolls down Frank’s face as they part, and he meets the other man’s gaze. The walls are gone, the mask has fallen, and he sees this man for who he is. Someone he wants to know more, but he doesn’t know how to ask. He’s tired of calling him the stranger so he asks him his name.

Bill.

Frank lifts a hand and his fingers play along Bill’s beard. Bill. It fits, of course it fits it’s his name, but it fits like Bill fits in his arms. He traces the gray streak in his beard.

He tells Bill to take a shower, and kisses him again. Bill nods. “Okay.” And Bill goes, and Frank wonders what it must be like to make every decision yourself, every day, and to have someone come in and take a step, to take that off of you.

Frank watches him go then, then sits down on the piano bench. He feels the tears on his face and he leaves them there, a reminder of what it’s like to feel. To be awake again, to want, to need. He doesn’t know if he’ll have to go after this, if Bill will want him, if Bill even wants someone here. But Frank can’t let it go here.

What starts as a need, a connection, is something that Frank didn’t imagine, much less at nearly 50. The start of the next chapter of his life. While Frank doesn’t know it yet, this is the first day of the rest of his life, the longest chapter he’ll have, the most beautiful, exhilarating, and frustrating moments of his life yet to come. He’ll laugh, he’ll yell, he’ll find the beauty in life, he’ll find his art again. He’ll live a life he never dreamed of.

And while Frank will turn out to be Bill’s purpose, Bill is Frank’s destiny. The music has reawakened, and will play for the rest of Frank Brightman’s life.

#bill x frank #frank tlou #bill tlou #TLOU #bill and frank

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locustheologicus · 1 year ago

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youtube

Panentheism and Process Theology:

At the theologate in Chicago where I studied theology, social ethics and pastoral ministry I had a Franciscan professor who was a brilliant theologian, Fr. Zachary Hayes. His own academic mentor was Cardinal Ratzinger at the University of Tubingen. It was through Fr. Zack that I learned about Process Theology. He wrote a fascinating book called "A Window to the Divine: Creation Theology" where he tells us,

Our tradition is rooted in the belief that, however the universe may look empirically, it is precisely this universe described to us at the empirical level by the sciences that our faith holds to be the fruit of God's creative knowledge and love.

Process theology teaches that everything that exists—including God—is in an eternal process of growing and becoming. This accepts the premise that we are all one with God and that God and the world exist in mutual interdependence. God then can be more clearly understood as the mens (mind) that St. Augustine was talking about when he attempted to define God the creator in relation to the Trinity. God is the creational intelligence that is constantly luring the world to good values and draws us to relationships with himself and all of creation (which he subsists in).

This graph below and the video above highlight the distinction between panentheism, typical theism, and atheism/pantheism.

This is consistent with what I learned as a thomistic understanding of God as one that is the self-subsisting process of existence (Deus sit ipsum esse subsistens). This is the notion that God is not a supreme being but the intelligence that motivates and moves creation. The God that we typically imagine, and the one that atheist rails against, is the image of God that exists as an entity outside of creation. He creates it and influences it, but he exists somewhere outside of it. This is not the God of Augustine, Aquinas and Process Theology.

It is precisely this image of the cosmic Christ that St. Paul tells us about when he says "Christ is all and in all" (Col. 3:11). It is with this understanding that St. Paul invites us to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." a few verses later. Panentheism is not some nouveau spirituality that competes with traditional Christianity, it is the way the early Christian community understood God as they accepted the concept of divinization and taught us that "God became human so that humans could become God."

This is how the famed Franciscan mystic, Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, identifies the basis of Christian Spirituality in his book, “The Universal Christ.” Here he reflects on St. Paul’s notion of the Body of Christ as the “collective unconscious” where we enjoy a shared “common identity, already in place, that is driving and guiding us forward” (Rohr, Ch. 3).

Paul merely took incarnationalism to its universal and logical conclusions. We see this in his bold exclamation, “There is only Christ. He is everything and he is in everything” (Colossians 3:11). If I were to write that today, people would call me a pantheist (the universe is God), whereas I am really a panentheist (God lies within all things, but also transcends them), exactly like both Jesus and Paul. (Rohr, Ch. 3)

Fr. Rohr will have us Christians really delve into the idea of the cosmic Christ based on the early Church's notion of existing "in Christ." To make this case, he reminds us that in Galatians 1:16 St. Paul tells us that "God revealed his Son in me." If St. Paul understood Christ as one who alone is divine in a way that is not relevant to our entire humanity, as many of us do, why would he not say "God revealed his Son to me" instead. The invitation here is for us Christians to once again reconcile with the cosmic Christ and to identify with our panentheism theology. This will have tremendous spiritual repercussions for us and our Worldview.

I hope that you will and enjoy the full meaning of that short, brilliant phrase (en Cristo), because it is crucial for the future of Christianity, which is still trapped in a highly individualistic notion of salvation that ends up not looking much like salvation at all. All of us, without exception, are living inside of a common identity, already in place, that is driving and guiding us forward. Paul calls this bigger Divine identity the "mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made en Cristo from the very beginning" (Ephesians 1:9-10). Today, we might call it the "collective unconscious."

The beauty of this wisdom is shared by Fr. Rohr in the comment he offers as he contemplates the theological mystery of quantum entanglement:

God is not “in” heaven nearly as much as God is the force field that allows us to create heaven through our intentions and actions.

Contemporary mystic, Eckhart Tolle, takes this belief and wonderfully integrates it within an interfaith spirituality. In the following quote, he agrees with Fr. Rohr's insights on the fundamental teachings of Jesus and his identity as the cosmic Christ, but then he also adds a broader spiritual perspective from other faith traditions. You can find this in his appropriately titled book "Oneness with All Life."

The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. The very Being that you are is Truth. Jesus tried to convey that when he said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." These words are one of the most powerful and direct pointers to the Truth, if understood correctly. Jesus speaks of the innermost I Am, the essence identity of every man and woman, every life-form, in fact. He speaks of the life that you are. Some Christian mystics have called it the Christ within; Buddhists call it your Buddha nature; for Hindus, it is Atman, the indwelling God. When you are in touch with that dimension within yourself - and being in touch with it is your natural state, not some miraculous achievement - all your actions and relationships will reflect the Oneness with All Life that you sense deep within. This is love.

The only disagreement I would have with this awesome insight is the lack of the miraculous. To enter into Christ is to transcend oneself into the divine. To achieve this requires us to go beyond ourselves and to submit to the divine that we have corrupted within our nature. This requires the miracle of grace, our partner in this dance.

That, for me, is the fundamental truth of Christian Panentheism and the recognition of process theology.

#Youtube #divinization #panentheism #process theology

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toontails · 4 years ago

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Toon Quest|| Reader Insert

Chapter 1: Like an Open Book

Ah...yes. A quiet, quiet neighborhood--oh, hello! I didn't see you all there. Haha, hello. I am your narrator, yes. I know, every convenient film or novel needs one, am I annoying you? Sorry, just getting into the groove, because I have a story for you all today.

The birds chirped, singing a melody that could repeat in anyone's head hours on end, the warmth of the sun on a summer morning, the dew on the grass waiting to greet people from their sleep, the crisp air that gave that comforting chill to start everyone's morning off.

A blue bird--a toon bird at that. It's simple look would seem out of place for anyone that doesn't live in this world. You would find it odd to see a dainty blue bird with its blue eyes standing out from any other ordinary bird. Simply--because it's a cartoon, or a Toon as we like to call these guys.

The bluebird delicately flapped its wings, its eyes closed with a calm expression on its face, soaring over to a house. Where it slowly yet softly placed its talons on a sill of a window, which was closed. The blue bird peered into the window, it could see a girl laying in her bed, asleep. Her back turned from the window and her breathing ever so softly inhaling and exhaling. Sound asleep.

Ah, it seems little blue birds want to sing a song to wake up our friend. Go ahead little birdie, give us a song.

The bluebird gave an excited expression. Taking in a big inhale, it's chest becoming larger before it lets out a nice melodic loud;

"COCKLEDOODLEDOOOO---!!"

Y/n flinched quickly and shot up, snorting abruptly from her sleep she was so deep into. Her eyes wide open and heart beating in her chest, the sudden noise scared the poor soul!

The bluebird lifted a wing to its beak to hide its from and muffle and snickered mischievously at the reaction.

Oh, you sneaky little rascal. Well. Now that she's up. Let's get this show on the rode shall we?

"Okay. We have 3 tickets for 2PM. But I want to go and get gas first, your dad drained the gas yesterday--"

Y/n sat in the passenger seat of the car, her mother talking on and on of the 103 things she had accomplished in the day, a busy woman, but she got things done. Music blared through the speakers as she spoke, but Y/n busy scrolling through her phone to pay the woman any mind, which her mother noticed. Glancing at her daughter, the lady gently jabbed Y/n's ribs, causing Y/n to tense up at the sudden jab and made a small noise at the sudden feeling.

"Hey-Hey, are you even listening to me?" Her mother smiled at Y/n. Y/n turned her phone off and nodded. "Yes, You were ranting about errands. And your lottery tickets." She said. Her mother had her focus on the road, but the smile was still glued to her face, being able to drag her daughter with her, was a way to spend time with Y/n. The highschool graduate had been busy in the house for most of the time...well...basically relaxing, of course she did things around the house, but the mother wanted to take her daughter to her to work, to experience mother and daughter time.

"So. What exactly are we going to do today?" Y/n asked. Sitting up in her seat as she watched the builds pass by.

"Well. I was thinking, maybe a movie? Walk in the park maybe? But, before anything. I have to drop off some paperwork at the studio."

Ah, yes. Y/n's mother worked as a secretary at a studio, not such a big role, nevertheless, it was a job with the big leagues...in a way!

In this particular area, she worked for a company named JoeyDrew, years ago it was formerly known as MeatlyStudios, the company had history, Joey Drew, who was originally the owner, but with many cases on his back for various reasons, that was not classified to the public, but within his arrest the company was given to better hands and care, a man named Henry Stein.

Y/n had never really stepped foot into the building her mother worked at, of course she knew what shows were produced there as she saw some of them play on television countless times as any other film out there. Living with a world of toons, you were born into a world with Toons and humans and things are normal, so, heating about going to her job didn't raise too much excitement.

But, it didn't hurt to get a glimpse at the workplace her mother works in.

"Well, would look at that--she looks just like you!"

Starting at the middle aged woman that circled from around the counter with a joyful smile. Y/n's mother gives a welcoming smile to her co-worker and she grabs Y/n's hands and shakes it. The silver name tag, which had the woman's name engraved in the silver with a cartoon horns coming from the bottom read; 'Annie'

"Hey, Annie, I'm just stopping by to drop off these files." Y/n's mother placed a beige portfolio on the counter as Annie gently grabbed Y/n's hand, giving her a firm welcoming shake. Y/n gave a close lipped smile to Annie as the woman mostly had her focus on her.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Y/n spoke, the lady smiled and nodded. Her hand slipping from Y/n's grasp before placing her hands behind her back, looking at the simplistic formal uniform, Y/n took in the attire, a black blouse and dress pants, but Y/n wasn't paying too much attention to that, she looked at the white pearls that formed a necklace. Annie had turned to look at Y/n's mother as she then started to speak, not paying much attention to their conversation. Instead, she observed her surroundings in the lobby of the studio. Beige carpet, and clear windows to show the parking lot that was being filled by the minute for many interns, animators and other people that work for the industry.

On the walls were some posters of the many shorts and animated films of Bendy the devil. The main protagonists of the many shorts, and from what Y/n could remember, one of the first characters introduced by Joey Drew and Henry Stein. The fluorescent light made the posters look more alive and exciting. Her optics danced around the studio, before landing on a cardboard cut out--she assumed it was a cardboard cutout. Of Bendy. Not finding much interest in the cutout, she decided to look back over to her mother to see if she was about ready to leave, but seeing Annie and her mother speaking, going over the paperwork in the portfolio. A sudden moment from the corner of her eye caused her to look back over, her eyes landing on the Bendy cutout. The black and white demon only stood there with its famous grin and pie cut black eyes.

"..." Y/n's slowly looked back at her mother, yet again, and once again. She saw movement. Looking back over to the cut out again, she was astonished to see it was gone. With much confusion, she would have suspected someone for moving it, though, no one seemed to be paying attention to her general direction as it was the early morning and people were too busy doing work.

A white gloved hand rose from behind Y/n's back and tapped her shoulder twice. Causing her to whip around in the direction to see the person, only to find nothing.

"What?" She finally spoke up in utter confusion, once again, a white glove rose and tapped her shoulder yet again, repeating the action by turning around, she was once again met with nothing. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She suddenly heard a tsk, glancing to her right. A few inches away from her, stood the all knowing black and white demon, Bendy. Though, living in a world with Toons where obviously Humans and Toons Co-exists. On any other day, or any other everyday toon, seeing one wouldn't be such a surprise, but seeing the star of the company, in the building, as Bendy and the the rest of the cast weren't exactly in the studio as often as anyone would think, more so being out for the most part--well. Doing their job. Starring as a cartoon in films.

"Whoa--how did..?" Y/n felt a smile form on her face. She never met Bendy. Or, any of the cast, yes, her mother worked for the studio, but that didn't mean she had the free will and access to meeting anyone she desired that worked with JoeyDree Studios.

Bendy rose a finger to shush Y/n, his grin expanding her so slightly.

"Well! I don't see why you're surprised, you're M/n daughter, huh?" He asked. Y/n was still busy looking at the toon, her reply was delayed for a moment, but she replied. Nodding she gave him a toothy smile.

"Yes. I am."

Bendy gasped, placing his gloved fingers on his mouth. "Well--why I outta--c'mere you!" Bendy extended his arms and pulled Y/n in a hug. Y/n lets out a short laugh before wrapping her arms around the room, feeling him pat her back. After a moment he pulled away, still with the smile on his face.

"Now, I can say I've met everyone's family." He said. Y/n took a moment to understand what he meant. Putting things together, she assumed he met everyone who worked in the studio building children or other relatives.

"I'm assuming you were going around to try and meet everyone's family members?" Y/n asked. Motioning towards the people in the lobby--but still motioning forward every one that worked in the studio. Bendy nods.

"Yes! You see I've met Jacob's 4 sons, Alex, Zachary, Matthew, Isaac, I've met Bethany's 6 nieces, such cute little dolls. I must say so myself, Amy, Sam, Debbie and Anna--" He ranted and went on and on about the many family members he had met, counting on his fingers, so many people he had met that were family members of the workers in the studios, so many, in fact, he already counted his 4 cartoonish fingers and grew a 7th one countings on them!

"--And then there was Mary, her uncle's fathers 3rd cousin who owned a diner down the street. Which he soon gave to her, and there I met her two sons and 2 daughters. Crazy thing is--they're quadruplets!" He tugged at his horns out of excitement that he couldn't seem to contain. Y/n held a smile on her face, listening to him rant, one thing about toons was that some acted exactly how they did on screen. Happy, go lucky, enthusiastic. Of course Bendy more was a mischievous character. But regardless, toons were very animated people--no pun intended. But they were very lively, really, they could bring a smile to anyone's face.

"And then, I met you. I believe. Is it?" He took a moment to think, tapping his chin in thought as he tapped his foot on the ground. But he quickly regained his original posture. "Yes! The last of it." He answered for himself.

"Well, it's nice to meet you too." Y/n said. Walking through the double glass door, which got Bendy's attention as he looked over, as well as Y/n. A middle aged man, formally dressed, speaking on a phone walks through the doors. He seemed to be in a busy call as he spoke in a low voice. It was Henry. Who also wasn't exactly seen around the studio as often as he was a busy many running a company, and a studio isn't the only place a businessman needs to be. Usually being in tons of board meetings for different ideas, financial things and much more that was needed for the company to work smoothly. Henry noticed Annie and Y/n's mother. He smiled and waved at them as he pressed a button on the elevator, the two waved back with graceful smiles and went back to their small meeting for...whatever it was they were talking about for the portfolio.

"Who's that?" Y/n asked. Bendy looked away from the elevator and to Y/n. "Well, Henry of course. He runs this place." Bendy answered. Nodding, Y/n knew of Henry, but never really met him--well she never met him, only heard about him occasionally in her mother's conversation about work.

"Don't tell him--but I actually run this place." Bendy said, cupping a hand over his mouth as if he were telling the most classified secret ever. But it did cause Y/n to snicker. Suddenly, with the sudden voice of the news lady on the TV that hung from the ceiling stole the two attention. Looking over, the screen showed a lady sitting in the news studio, giving a report.

"This just in. The book of vida has been reportedly stolen from a storage facility down in Manhattan, this ancient book was supposedly attended to be sent off overseas to the France Museum of Natural History, but unfortunately has been stolen, 2 security guards were guarding the building last night. When at approximately 3AM, a broken glass was heard in the North side of the building, upon investigation, the glass box was broken into and the book of vida was gone. An investigator, Detective Droopy, is now on charge and at the scene."

The screen soon switched to a Toon, which was Droopy the Detective, many interviews where there taking photos, the clicking of the cameras and the bright flashes didn't seem to faze him. Droopy was a notorious detective around town, being one of the first toons to have such an important role as a--'human' job, which would be working in the officer department--a detective. But, he was good at his job regardless...maybe because he was a dog?

He was standing in front of the building that allegedly was robbed, as in any other invertivew, he held a nonchalant expression.

"Yes, we all know how important this is, the good news is that we have a lead, and I feel that this can quickly give us all our answers on who, what, when and where." He said. From behind him, he pulled out one singular red feather, the auburn frigid plume, the color of the feather similar to the reddish hues of an Autumn season.

"I can say that this will help us out tremendously, and that's detective talk."

The interview went on in the background as Y/n lost interest in it, recently cases have been occurring around time, with homicides and robberies, for example, the arrest of Joey Drew was one case out of plethora of them. It seemed for the most part, Toons were the ones making these sudden flux of incidents, and lately some people didn't take good eye on how the Toons were portraying themselves. And some still stood beside toons regardless. Bendy had looked away from the TV screen as well, holding his arms behind his back.

"Well, I didn't expect things like this to go too far." He said.

"What's a book of Vida?" Y/n asked him, she rarely paid attention to any...politics? Well shouldn't really say the book had anything to do with politics, just simply not really paying too much attention with all the news had been going around specifically case wise, of course she knew the sudden rise and tension that was growing between Toons and humans. It was like a brick wall.

"It's a book. Or as people that are archeologists would look at is, as a book of prophecy. What's in it? I don't know, it's mostly been transported from different museums. I have heard that it has information about life--which--" he paused for a moment. Tapping his shoe on the floor in thought.

"It is about life in fact. It's called The Book of Life. Basically I've heard that it holds a prophecy, hero's or whatever, I dunno. I think that's really far fetched if you ask me." He said. Waving a gloved hand as if dismissing the idea. Y/n could understand him. A book speaking about future heros? Yes, far fetched. And...very fantasy like.

"Alright, that should be all for now." Y/n's mother spoke as she walked over. Looking in her purse for her car keys, obviously making it known it was time to leave. When she looked up and noticed Bendy standing next to Y/n, she smiled.

"Oh hey, I didn't know you were here too, did you tag along with Henry?" She asked. Bendy once again smiled brightly and nodded at her question.

"Yes, he's upstairs in a meeting and I decided to stop by with him, glad I did, because I was finally able to meet Y/n!" He motioned towards Y/n.

"Oh yes, I've tried getting her in here plenty of times, but I'm so busy, I can barely remember anything."

The two shared a laugh, obviously it wasn't the first time the two met, which would be understandable as Y/n's mother worked in the study and was bound to run into anyone major, like Bendy himself at times.

"Well, I'll leave you two be now!" Bendy smiled and waved goodbye.

Walking out of the studio, and once again feeling the heat of the sun spreading its welcoming warmth to the world after being in the AC for some time. Y/n and her mother walked to the car that was parked, the clouds were making themselves known, making it vaguely obvious that later it might rain.

"Alright, I'm hungry. Are you?" M/n said, unlocking the car doors with a click of a button, Y/n opened the door to the passenger side and slid in the car.

"I've been hungry since I woke up." Y/n said. Causing a chuckle to come from her mother.

"Don't worry, I'll find us something to eat."

The chattering of people in the restaurant was incoherent, plates clattering together, it wasn't as busy seeing it was still in the early morning. Staring down at the menu, as if Y/n didn't know what she was going to order, when really she did. Her mother spoke up.

"I would bring your dad something to eat when we get back, but I'll let him suffer since he didn't do the Landry last week." M/n said, staring at the menu with squinted eyes. Y/n cracked a small smile.

"Not even an appetizer?" she asked.

"Nope, he's good. There's food at home for him."

Y/n could practically hear the crying of her father with no food when they got back home with take out boxes. But she knew she wasn't going to change her mothers mind.

For a brief second she heard the people in the booth in front of her and her mother, talk about the news segment from this morning--which was barely even an hour ago.

"I can't believe that a toon went out of their way to steal a book"

"I know right, it's like there are more cases of toons committing crimes than humans."

"Hey mom." Y/n abruptly looked over to her mom and away from the two people talking. Her mother looked away from the menu and to Y/n. Raising an eyebrow.

"What's the Book of Vida? I've seen it on TV today." She said. Her mother set her menu down before speaking.

"It's a history book basically, a book of toons and humans, some people around the world see it as a prophecy book, it depends on who you ask." She replied.

"Why is it so important for someone to steal it?"

She was only replied with a shrug.

It seemed not many people knew the exact reason for the book, other than it being some sort of history book.

"There's a woman at work, she used to be a history teacher in High Schools, she told me that the reason why it's important is because it only opens when--I believe she said, a time comes, and when the right person that is part of the prophecy can open it."

Y/n quickly stopped fiddling with the straw for her drink. Perking up slightly in interest.

"Whoa, so it..only opens for people that are a part of the book?" she asked. Her mother took a moment to think, before she nodded.

"Yes. But, some people don't believe it. I can't give you too much detail in the book, I don't know much of it myself." The woman chuckled slightly at the smile on Y/n's face.

"Bendy told me he heard from someone that the book was about heros."

"Hell, maybe it might be."

Placing the straw back into the cup, Y/n took a moment to think, information on that book was nice to hear, but, with the sudden tension of Toons and Non-Toons. It was evident now.

"How do you feel about the toons and some cases revolving around them?" Y/n asked her mother. Her mother gave her an expression, well. More of a dissatisfied one.

"Y/n. I work with Toons. Anyone that starts going against a toon for making a crime when humans did it for years on end are just dumb as hell, even toons have breaking points." She chuckled. Y/n smiled at her and looked at her drink.

Her mother went back to looking at the menu for the 5th time they spent that time in the restaurant.

After hours being out, Which needed with M/n having to take a visit to the bank, the two made it home, the sun on the verge of setting, the clouds overtaking the sky, with its various shades of gray, walking into the house, Y/n's mother was on the phone, more likely for it being something that had to deal with work, so she walked off upstairs to her room, to have the call in there.

Y/n placed the take out bags on the counter, her father was upstairs most likely asleep. Walking over to the couch in the living room, Y/n sat down on the couch and sighed in relief to finally sit down. Feeling the tension in her leg be put at ease from standing and walking around with her mother for hours. Removing her phone from her pocket, and not even a second later, both of her parents came down stairs. Her mother was still dressed in her clothes, and her father was lazily slipping on a shirt.

"Um--where are you guys going?" Y/n asked. Her father motioned towards her mother. "She's going to work, they just called her in. I'm tagging along, because your mom says so."

"I sure did." Her mother said as she dug through her purse. Taking out another set of keys she placed them on the kitchen counter. "If you're going out to get anything. Here's the keys to your dad's car. Be careful though, it's going to start raining soon--"

"Oh man! What the hell, you guys didn't bring any food for me?!" Y/n's father was searching through the bags, but to avail. Only finding two take out boxes for Y/n and M/n.

"You'll be fine. Get to the car." M/n ushered her husband out the door in a hurry, who groaned heavily. Y/n only smiled and shook her head slowly.

"Oh, and take the trash out. We'll be back soon!"

And with the closing of the door, the two left out. Y/n leaned back into the couch, letting the silence engulf her. Too silent.

Her parents were always busy, working that is. For the most part it was only Y/n at home for half the time, filling most of her days with just herself, her neighborhood was small, and mostly filled with kids, as Y/n was 18, and didn't exactly want to spend half her day with 8 and 15 year olds. Not that she had anything against them.

Slipping off her shoes, Y/n decided to take out the trash later, instead, feeling a familiar fatigue start to rush through her. Taking her shoes, she stood up and walked upstairs towards her room. Once opening her door and closing it. She tossed her shoes to the side and sat down on her bed where she placed her phone on the nightstand. Crawling onto the bed, she finally laid down and pulled the blankets over her to sleep.

Or. Try to sleep. The sudden shuffle from the side of her room caused her to open her eyes. Sitting up, she looked over to her shoes to see if they had maybe fallen over. But they were still in the same tossed position. One upside down and the other upright.

"..."

Shuffle shuffle

This caused Y/n to quickly hop from the bed with a gasp. Standing next to her night stand where she quickly grabbed a dictionary she used in English back in high school. Holding it tightly to use it as some sort of weapon, she looked around the room, and finally over to her window, where she found the little blue bird from this morning trying to get out of the room. But the window pane was too low for him to escape.

"Oh...it's just you.." Y/n muttered. The blue bird looked at her with its big eyes before looking back at the window. Obviously signalling her for help, which Y/n took heed of. She walked over to the window, and slid it open for the bird. It was already raining outside. The bird must have gotten in a while ago out of curiosity. The bird chirped in happiness before flying through the window, turning back to Y/n to look at her through the window. It waved one wing at her before flying off. Y/n waved back as well. Closing the window to not let the now cool air in. Y/n turned around to return the book back to her nightstand. But she came nose to beak with a toon.

"AAAAH!"

"AH!"

Y/n quickly tossed the dictionary onto the intruder, causing it to fall on the toon's face. Who fell backwards and onto the floor. Y/n quickly back into the wall. Glueing her back to the corner as she watches the person. The toon had its hands on its beak.

"AH-ow-ow--Ah! ¡¿Qué te pasa mujer?!" He spoke...spanish. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows, her heart beating in her chest. What?? What was going on?

"Who are you?! Why are you in my room?!" Y/n shouts. But the toon didn't answer. Instead, stayed still on the ground. Hands covering its beak, which was mostly its face.

Taking a longer look, Y/n took note of it's auburn feathers, its beige sombrero was large, it resembled a rooster, a mexican rooster. He wore a red barlo jacket, with golden lining, and red charlo pants with spurs. He had on a belt, and what took Y/n by surprise were the gun holsters on his sides , packed with two 8 caliber pistols. This caused Y/n to gasp lightly and further take a step back. Taking caution of the Toon. The rooster removed his hand from his beak. Leaning back on his elbows as he looked around the room and soon his eyes landed on Y/n.

"I know this s-"

"Why are you in my house? Who are you?!" Y/n watched as the rooster slowly heaved himself off the floor, he took off his sombrero and dusted it off before placing it back on his head. He raised his hands to show he didn't have anything dangerous on him, though he didn't seem to notice the pistols in his holster.

"Mi señora, I mean no harm. You see my name is Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González IIl." He then raised a finger.

"But, you can just call me Panchito, or Francisco! Either is fine, but I am here because this--" he pulled off the red book bag that Y/n didn't know he was wearing until then. Opening the bag. He pulled out a book. Black leather book. With golden lining. With words engraved on it in gold.

'Libro de la vida'

Under it, it was small, it was embralled into the book, in white.

'Book of Life'

Wait...it made sense. Y/n looked back at Panchito, the color of his feathers. Red. He stole the book.

"You're the one who stole it?" Y/n said quietly. But enough for him to hear. He slightly lowered the book.

"Yo no diría robar...I simply took something that will save mankind." He defends.

"You see. Libro De La Vida, is a book of the present. It picks who will make a right change! Ah,No puedo explicarlo, excuse my English, I am not very good at it, but. This Book--" he lifts it up once again.

"Is powerful. It has the answers for all sorts of bad things that people want to get their hands on. Genocide!"

"I-what? Genocide?" Y/n furrowed her eyebrows. And Panchito took that as a bad sign that he used the wrong term.

"AH, lo siento, I think I have used the wrong term, what is the term you use for when someone wants to wipe out an entire species?" He asks. Y/n blinked slowly.

"That's...that's genocide."

"Well then yes! Genocide!" He snapped his fingers with a smile.

"Wait-wait-wait. So you're meaning to tell me. You stole a book--broke into my house, to tell me about a fantasy book--"

"It is no fantasy book. This book leads us to people--people that are..chosen to help us, mi amigo! No other person can open this book. But me, and you, and whoever else says it is worth opening it. I know it sounds fantical--but you have to believe me, see. Look." He opened the book quickly, and almost immediately, it shot out of his hands and flew towards Y/n's direction, jabbing her in the torso. Knocking the wind from her.

"Ow!" Y/n wheezed and held onto her torso, now seated on the ground from the impact. The book was now on the ground as well. It flipped through the pages as if wind was circling in the room. It landed on a page. It's blank yellowish paper soon filmed with a name in cursive.

'Y/n L/n'

Y/n stared at the page. In..awe. Astonished. Confused. Excited? Mixed emotions turning into inner turmoil, this was real. The page gave a faint glow. Soon. Panchito slowly walked over. Cautious of Y/n not to scare her. He soon sat down beside her.

"Look." He said. He grabbed her wrist and pressed her palm into the page. Removing her hand, her hand print was seen in ink.

"You are the only human that has access to the book of Vida."

"Why the only? There aren't other people?" She asked.

"The book is a story, of history, of the past, present and future. It spoke about 8 hero's, or warriors, one of these 8 hero's, was a human. And in this--"

He motioned around the two.

"Generation. You. Are that human."

Eight, heros in total. That includes Panchito and Y/n.

"So...if it opens for you and me..where are the other 6?" She asked. Panchito hummed before tapping his finger to his beak.

"No tengo ni idea, I do not know. The book has led me to you, I will think that as time passes, it will collect energy to track down the rest." He says. Y/n was thinking of 101 things, questioning everything. Staying silent for a moment she found the most reasonable question.

"How did you know you were a part of the book?" She asked him. Panchito perked up slightly.

"A dream, more of a vision, but It was a reoccurring vision I've had for years, I've always dreamed of various people, but they were.." He tried to think of a best term for his analogy.

"Shadows! And, the book. Right here. When I found out it sailed here to America, I traveled here." He seemed to pride in his short adventure safely to America, Panchito felt that he never really had done anything as important as to seek out a book that could have not given him answers all along. His adventure was purely based on a vision that he had, he didn't seem to see the problem, but Y/n did. A vision? Making an entire trip to another country, just because of a vision. If the book was just a fib and nothing more than an actual history book. The trip would have been for nothing.

She was about to open her mouth to speak, but Panchito quickly stood up and took a hold of her hand to shake.

"But! It's a pleasure to meet the first person in this group mi amigo! Tú y yo formaremos un buen equipo cuando trabajemos juntos para encontrar a los demás!" Y/n let's put a small laugh that sounds wobbly from the hasty hand shake. Panchito soon pulled her off the floor to stand her up next to him. Both around the same height, the toon only inches taller than her.

Y/n picked up the book and opened it once again. Flipping through the pages, some were blank and others were filled with different languages, and odd pictures, that Y/n was pretty sure could explain something.

"You were on the news this morning Panchito." Y/n closed the book and looked over at the rooster. He looked at her for a moment in confusion, before understanding what she said.

"Oh yes! Ah. My poor feather." He turned his lower part to the side slightly to show her two of his auburn feathers. "One of the guards almost grabbed onto me. And they pulled my feather." He said. But he didn't seem too worried about the fact that he..indeed committed a crime. Or he probably did and he didn't seem to really care.

"No. This is serious. They are looking for this book, for whatever reason." Y/n paced the room. Staring down at the leather black book. Panchito watched her with his arms by his side.

"This doesn't make any sense. What is it that's in danger, and why does the government want this book so badly. It can't be just to put up in a museum."

"We should find the others!" Panchito said, more of an announcement. Y/n turned back to him, he picked up the book once again, and grabbed Y/n's wrist before he started over to her room door to exit. But Y/n tugged her arm away. "Whoa--no."

He turned around with a puzzled expression as he looked at her.

"No?"

"If you came from a different country, entirely different from where I am. What makes you think any other person would be in the same area here?" She asked.

"Aha! Mi señora, I've sailed here. You can come with me, surely it's better than sitting here all day." He said. Y/n ignored the fact he assumed she slouched around all day, but she shook her head.

"I can't just up and leave. Not out of state or the country-"

"Well maybe around town?"

"At 7PM? It's raining."

"Ah...you are very good with excuses!"

"I'm not m--no. We can't go anywhere. You're a fugitive now."

"But they don't know my face!"

"They have your feather. They can easily track you down with that simple thing of evidence called DNA. Or whatever they'll use to know who you are. But whatever it is. You're wanted. A wanted bird--"

"Oooh. I wonder if a bounty hunter will put money on my name. Son of a gun! I've always wanted that to happen to me, it'll be a brawl till we see gore!"

Y/n placed a hand on her face and rubbed her temple.

"We. Can't. go--"

"Oh please. The rest are Toons! The rest of the team should be fairly simple to find. You were the hardest to track down, my friend."

"I'm the only person you tracked d-"

The book abruptly flew from Panchito's grips. Causing him to look down at his hands in surprisement. The book flew past Y/n. She quickly turned around and saw the book shot straight through the window. Shards of glass broke, the sound of glass breaking echoed. Cutting the two from their back and forth of bickering on what they should do next.

CRASSH--CRACK!

the book floated in the dark of night. A golden glow illuminated from the book. Panchito and Y/n stared at the book in awe and utter disbelief. What? What is it doing?

Soon. The book quickly dashed off, the only thing being seen was the erradecents of the glow, trailing down the street. It was a trail.

"It's a trail…" Y/n muttered slowly.

"A trail! It's leading us somewhere!" Y/n grabbed her shoes and ran past Panchito.

"Let's go!"

She stomped down the stairs, jogging over to the kitchen counter, she took the car keys her mother gave her, Y/n unlocked the front door and ran outside. Panchito followed in suit--obviously not forgetting to close the door behind him.

The rain pelted at the two, but Y/n slipped in the car as well as Panchito--who took the passenger side.

"See, things are working well in our favor." Panchito said with a smile.

"Let's hope it actually leads us somewhere." Y/n said. Turning the keys in the ignition. And backing out of the driveway, before safely driving down the road.

Unbeknownst of the two. A silhouette watched the car descent down the street. It's gaze looking over and landing on the window that was broken that the book had caused.

The black double doors opened up to reveal Henry, who walked in the lobby, Annie was still on Duty, she gave a small nod to Henry with a smile, M/n was standing at the desk filling out paperwork. Too busy to really pay much attention to Henry.

Over up on the 3rd floor. Was Bendy. He was still waiting for Henry to finish his work. Much to his luck. He was nowhere near finished. Sitting in one of the smaller meeting rooms to look out the window, he was sitting in a chair when he noticed. A glowing spark in the distance. He assumed it was a bright star despite the clouds covering up the majority of the stars in the sky. But, nevertheless. He opened up the window to take in the view of the odd star. But it got closer and closer. But the devil didn't seem to take much heed on it.

He picked up noise at the bottom of the building. Causing him to gaze down and see figures hopping out of the car and into the building. But due to the lack of light because of the nightfall and being 2 stories up. He pushed that aside.

But, almost immediately, something slammed into his face. He flew off the seat and onto the floor, rolling over in a few summersaults before landing on his back. A book pressed into his face.

"...."

His tail twitched as he let out a painful wheeze from the harsh impact. He slowly raised a wobbly hand. And took the book off of his face. His dark eyes squinted at the leatherback book.

"What….?"

Meanwhile, Panchito and Y/n were about to barge into the building. But Y/n skidded to a stop. Placing a hand out in front of Panchito, thankfully he stopped as well. He took a moment to examine the 5 storey building. The glass, the gray and black color scale, he was pulling from his examination by looking back at Y/n when she started to speak.

"We can't just barge in. My mom works here. Plus. That'll give away we have the book." She said. Before quickly adding. "We also can't have you out in the opening, cops knowing your face now or not, we can't risk any thing.." Y/n stared at the glass door once moving over to the side where they wouldn't be seen. Panchito and Y/n stood under a lamp post.

"We sneak." He gave out the idea with a grin slowly forming on his beak. Y/n stared at him for a moment. "Sneak in? There's at least 10 or so people in the lobby, this is a studio. We can't just walk in whenever we want." Y/n tried to dismiss the idea, she was rarely ever in the studio. Today was her first day, she didn't know the layout nor the where any room was located, it would be noticeably harder to navigate around the building to find the book.

"Ah, every building has an emergency exit, chica." He moved his eyebrows up and down, as if sending a hint towards the idea, even though basically stated it.

She looked back at him. Well...of course! The backdoor!

"Oh. I forgot about the emergency exit."

"Thank me later, now, ¡Adelante!"

The exit sound that illuminated the dim area glistened and glamored, basically calling out the two to its glow. Panchito lifted a foot and shook his talon. The water from the puddle he stepped in. Flickered everywhere. Causing some of the water droplets to land on Y/n. She shielded her face and a small laugh came from her.

"Now." He walked over to the door, and with swift motion, pushed it open, he walked in the building and held the door open for Y/n, who walked in.

"Thank you." She said. Slowly trailing off, Y/n looked at their surroundings. Panchito did as well. The door slowly closed behind the two, it echoed down the hallway. A black carpet under their feet, soaking up the water and white walls. Though Panchito wasn't facing the direction Y/n was. He placed his hands on his hips.

"Hm, odd. Muy extraño…" he muttered under his breath, looking at the emergency exit door. Y/n looked over her shoulder to Panchito before turning around to face the door as well.

"What?" She asks him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong. But--Is this door not supposed to work as an emergency system? Should it not have an alarm system?" He asks. Y/n stared at the door for a mere moment.

"Now that you said something about it y-"

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

The two jumped at the sudden sound of the alarm going off. Three beeps would omit before going silent for a split second, before the 3 beeps would occur once again.

"God-lee! I thought I fixed this damn thing!" A voice echoed from the hallway and set of footsteps. Y/n quickly turned around towards the stairwell where she saw a shadow of someone ascending down.

"Here--" Panchito grabbed Y/n's wrist and quickly ushered her and himself over behind the staircase. Y/n quickly pressed her back towards the corner. Behind the stairwell, as Panchito stood in front of her. Though, curiously. He peeked from behind the staircase. Y/n didn't notice as she was busy dusting away her shirt from the dust invading the air. Obviously the emergency stairwell was neglected for cleaning. When she spotted Panchito peeking to look at the man. Y/n shuffled over as well. Peering under Panchito to look at the man. His back was turned. But he wore a gray button down, a few ink spots painted on the shirt. Jeans and boots. In his free hand, he held a mop. He obviously was the janitor. A head of brown slick hair, it only took a couple of smacks to the panel that operated the fire alarm for the emergency exit to stop abruptly with its beeping.

Once the hallway went silent. He turned around, the two ducking back behind thr stairwell before they could be seen. Y/n couldn't get a glimpse of the man's name tag. Not that she really cared too.

"I swear if that thing goes off one more time this week, I'm outta here.." He muttered back up to floor level. Listening to his footsteps ascend further away, and soon another door closing, echoing throughout the hall. The sound of water droplets hitting the concrete floor in the distance wherever in the hallway. As well as the AC that filled the odd ambience of the hallway.

Soon Panchito and Y/n exited from behind the stairwell.

"So much for a discreet plan." Y/n said before giving Panchito a sarcastic expression. But nevertheless, he only smiled.

"We've made it inside the building, have we not?" He gave her a smile, which. He was right. At the end of the day, the two still made it in the building without getting caught.

Y/n turned and started walking up the stairwell, Panchito following behind her.

"Now we need to locate the book. It could be anywhere in this place. I saw it fly through a window but I couldn't catch what floor it was." Y/n went on, reaching the 3rd floor. Hearing Panchito's footsteps near her as she peered through the small window into the hallway, seeing a few doors were closed on the other side of the hallway, a few people walked down the hall to wherever they were going. The sound of muffled music emitted from down the hall, a tune that was vaguely from the early 40's. The room must have not been too far if the two could hear the cheers and singing.

"Ooh--I love parties." Panchito pushed up the door, and immediately walked out of. Y/n quickly grabbed his tail feather and tugged on it to pull him back.

"No! You'll get us caught!" She whispered to him hastily, Panchito cringed in pain at the tug, he whipped around and grabbed at her wrist.

"¡Ah, cuidado con las plumas de la cola, chica!" Y/n couldn't understand what Panchito said, but she was glad it stopped him from wandering off. The two stood in the doorway of the now opened door in the empty hallway.

"We can't just wander everywhere." She said. Panchito shuffled on his feet, he wanted to explore where the cheering was coming from, but he stayed glued next to Y/n.

"Can we at least take a peek at the gathering?" He asks. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows. "That's not giving us any answers--"

Just as she was about to more than likely prove Panchito wrong. A voice from the room a few doors down spoke up.

"Hey! Henry, you finally made it. Where's Bendy?"

"He's in one of the meeting rooms, last I checked on him, he was reading. Oddly. He should be down soon."

Y/n and Panchito stared at each other, both seemingly trying to put two and two together.

"Are you..?"

"I think we may be on the same page." Y/n finished, turning in the opposite direction to peer down the hall. "I'm taking a safe guess Bendy found the book, we just need to find him." Y/n said. Panchito hummed in thought. Placing a hand on his hip.

"Bendy...you mean the--" he lifted his hands to the side of his head, lifting his index fingers to form two horns on the side of his head. Y/n looked at him, and the silly interpretation of the cartoon demon. With a smile. She nods.

"Yes, him. Though, I don't know how many rooms are on this floor. So he'll be a bit tough to fi-"

The door from across from them opened. Revealing the demon, his eyebrows stitched together in a more perplexed and irritated expression. In his hand he held a book, the book! That was their book! Bendy was muttering under his breath, but abruptly stopped in his tracks and when he spotted Y/n and Panchito in the emergency exit. His slanted black pie cut eyes that were one resembling an angry and irritated expression. Immediately widened in surprise when he saw the two. Mostly towards Panchito as he had never seen him before.

Y/n didn't expect to be seen so quick--which...wasn't much of a surprise as she wasn't an expert in sneaking in areas she wasn't supposed to be in.

"Oh...Hey...Bendy.." Y/n smiled and lifted a waved. Panchito looked between the two.

"Ah. A demon? I was thinking he was more of a bull." Panchito said.

"I didn't know you were here today, I thought you went home." Bendy walked over to the two, but Y/n didn't want anyone to walk out and spot the two--mostly for Panchito's sake.

"It's a long story, but. We need that--" Y/n pointed towards the book in his gloved hands. Bendy looked down at it. "Oh! This? I was just about to toss this away, it hit me in the face and--"

"Ah! It hit you? Well that--" Panchito was cut off when Y/n grabbed Panchito's jacket, pulling him back into the emergency stairwell. And closing the door quickly. Bendy looked at the two through the door in confusion.

"Y/n! Can you believe it? We found the other, a bit less intimidating if you ask me, but nevertheless, he is a part of our equipo." Panchito hopped from one foot to the other, a small cheer. Y/n ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Bendy? Out of all people the book could have chosen. It chose the one person that worked in the same facility as her mother. What if he didn't take it well? What if he destroyed the book? What if he tells the cops about who had the book, which would not only get Panchito in trouble but also herself as she was literally helping the rooster out!

Things she should have thought over, biting off more than what she could chew.

Panchito noticed Y/n's distressed expression. He took a few steps towards her and placed a hand on her arm.

"Ah, cariño, don't be stressed, all will work out fine, okay? Things are a bit sudden and bumpy, but look! Two in one day!" He extended his arms and smiled. Y/n felt the corner of her lips stretch in a smile. Calming down and melting away the problems...for now.

Looking over. Bendy was still standing outside the door.

"Alright. We need a meeting then."

The three stared down at the leather book that was laying on the meeting table, it seemed now lifeless after flying through the neighborhood.

“So…” Bendy removed his gaze from the book and to Y/n and Panchito.

“Explain to me, what’s going on?”

“I mean...I thought it would be self explanatory, a book just hit you in the face and you’re coming to me for answers?” Y/n muttered under her breath. Bendy only looked at her, at first with a blank expression, until he seemingly furrowed his ‘eyebrows’

Deciding on to stop fooling around and actually try to get to the bottom of the raising questions, Y/n glanced over at Panchito. Who was looking at Bendy, more curiously than anything else.

“This book, we talked about it this morning.” Y/n said, turning to look back at Bendy. Bendy’s expression softened before a look of realization appeared on his face, his black pie-cut shaped eyes looked over at Panchito, who noticed the demon looking at him, Panchtio smiled and waved.

“He had the book--or--stole it.” Y/n said, motionion towards Panchito, he only frowned, turning to face towards Y/n and crossing his arms.

“No! Why must you say I steal? I never steal, I simply took something that didn’t belong where it was.” Panchito dropped the last sentence to a mumble, almost as if sleepily saying it. Y/n only turned her gaze back to Bendy.

“Either way, that’s the book, it flew away, because it’s looking for people that revolve around the book, or the..prophecy. I know this sounds far fetched and crazy, and...illegal? Bu-”

“I’ve been hit in the face by a flying book, I don’t think anything we’re about to discuss is too out of this world.” Bendy said. He picked the book up and once again examined it. His gloved fingers feeling the texture of the leather book against his fingers.

“Well, apparently...the book only opens up to people that are a part of the book, it opened for me and Panchito, and I’m assuming that if it flew to you and tracked you down, you’re the next member to...whatever..this is.” She motions towards the three of them. Panchito then nods, raising a hand to interject.

“Indeed! Y/n, is the only human that can access the book, as it says in the wordings of the book, the rest are toons. In all. There are eight of us.”

“8?” Bendy repeats, he seemed surprised by the number, his tail slowly lifting up. Panchito nods once again.

“Sí, señor--”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Bendy interrupts Panchito. Waving a hand slightly, Bendy closes his eyes to think for a mere moment. He raises a pointer finger before looking between Y/n and Panchito.

“Why..exactly is the book looking for people, how would we find the rest of the team? I would ask why exactly us specifically are involved around this, but I can tell, I won’t get a good answer from that, but that’s besides the point, but why is Y/n the only human involved in this, and what exactly is it that’s...bad for this thing to try and suddenly wake up and choose heroes for whatever reason?” Bendy lifts up the book slightly. Y/n listened to him, but she had no answer on her because...well she didn’t know, for the most part, those were the same questions she was internally asking herself!

So, she turned her head to look over at Panchito. Who with no problem, took the lead in asking.

“The book leads us to the people it is looking for, why and what it is that it’s warning us about, I do not know! Why us specifically? I also can not tell you, because I don’t know.” He said. Bendy looked back at the book. Y/n motioned towards it, having a small hunch of one of the questions.

“When I touched the book...I guess in a way, signed it, as if taking my signature, which I guess signaled it that I was found, maybe if you touch the book as well it’ll do the same for you.” Y/n said. Bendy opened the book, the golden light that was one seen before escaped from the crevices of the book, The debri sparkles floating from the pages. Bendy’s eyes widen in bewilderment and surprisement. The three stared down at the book, the golden glow illuminating from their faces.

Bendy had opened up on a blank paper, soon, his eyebrows furrowed yet again.

“It’s blank. I don’t---I don’t think it works for me.” He said before deadpanning. Looking between the two as if they were pulling his leg. Y/n could only shrug slowly. Panchito waved his hand and spoke. “Nonsense. As said, the book only opens for people that are chosen, it’s like a safe, and only the chosen people are the code to it, my friend, if it opened up for you, you are with us.” Panchito then rose his gloved hand, showing his palm.

“Ahora, place your hand on the page.” He told Bendy, Bendy did as told, holding the book with his left hand, and placing his right palm on the blank paper, soon, the golden light traced around his hand, similar to what it did for Y/n’s. Bendy soon lifted a hand up, seeing his hand printed labeled the paper in ink. The same ink soon scrawled a name above the hand print.

‘Bendy’

“Dear me…” Bendy whispered slowly, flipped a page quickly to the next, One that Y/n had yet to discover, though it was written all in a language she couldn’t understand, but pictures were drawn in what seemed to be red and black pigment paint on the beige paintings. Similar to how cave paintings were drawn. Panchito and Y/n moved closer to get a better look at the pictures, Bendy tilting the book so the three of them could examine it.

On the first page was a picture of 12 people in all, they all seemed to be jumping towards the 8 black figures, the black figures had white thin slanted angles, as if resembling resentful and angry eyes. Looking over to the next page, it showed the 8 black figures once again, One stood out from the 8, standing in front of the group, a lanky figure, but...really considering the fact that it was in all black, the features weren’t exactly too noticeable. But the picture had a lot going on, the 8 figures were hovering above what seemed to be a city, with figures of red pigment running away in fear, it seemed the 8 black figures were terrorizing the people, Bendy turned to yet another page, on the page the 12 blue figures were standing next to each other, one vaguely similar to a human and the rest had the exaggerated details of toons.

“I think you two have the wrong idea.” Bendy said, it took Y/n a moment to look away from the book. Glancing at Bendy who looked between Panchito and Y/n.

“There aren’t 8 of us, there’s 12 of us.” He said. Y/n scoffed.

“Twelve?! That will take years to find twelve different people. He--” She jabbed a thumb over to Panchito, pointing at him.

“Came from Mexico to find us, god knows wherever the others are located, we’re basically split apart. Eight people? Yeah, that seemed like a reasonable number, but twelve? No. I’m out.” Y/n crossed her arms, a scavenger hunt for now, 9 other people? Who were the even up against, it pretty much seemed like a suicicde job already, a stolen book, a wanted rooster, a telltale book that’s some sort of warning for some odd future armageddon. Red flags were everywhere!

Bendy closed the book and straightened his posture.

“Whoa, whoa. What do ya’ mean you’re out? This--” He lifts up the book slightly.

“This is our guide, our time to do right and-gosh. I assume it will stop something from happening that will be a problem to--oh, I don’t know. All of mankind! You’re a part of this as much as Panchito and I.” Bendy says. Panchito nods firmly in agreement, taking a step forward and standing next to the demon.

“¡Sí! He is right, chica! We all have to stick together.”

Y/n looked between the two, her eyebrow twitched slightly before furrowing.

“Are you serious? Do we look like the Justice League or something?”

Panchito actually took a moment to think.

“I was thinking more along the lines of--”

Y/n shook her head, dismissing Panchito’s thought to her rhetorical question. “It doesn't matter. But think about the danger we could be in, Bendy, you have shows to star in, you can’t just go missing to play superhero for...lord knows how long, and Panchito--”

“Actually.” Bendy cut her off, taking a few steps towards her before standing next to her.

“I’ve been meaning to take a vacation off, toots. Thanks for that advice though, real sweet of ya. But, we have things to do, now I don’t mind dragging you around if need be.” He smiled sweetly at her. Y/n deadpanned.

“That’s not funny.”

“This is serious talk Y/n, the world as we know it might be at stake.” Bendy motions around their area.

“Might be. It’s more than likely not a serious call, this stupid old book is probably broken.” Y/n flicks the book with the tip of her fingers in Bendy’s hand. Panchito suddenly appeared behind the two, wrapping an arm around Bendy’s and Y/n’s shoulders. Pulling them flushed against his sides.

“My friends! Think of this this way, endless possibilities and adventures, don’t you all want to feel the rush of the wind as we take off to go solve this mystery?” He looks between the two, letting the two go. A bright yet determined smile on his beak, he seemed to run from adrenaline, a wild hearted toon that yearned for wild things, to him this was exciting, brand new. Exhilarating!

Bendy looks at Panchito and then to Y/n. “See? He’s in, and I am too.” Bendy placed his gloved hand in the middle, his palm facing downward. Panchito hopped up and down quickly.

“Ay caramba! ¡Yo también quiero participar! I am certainly in!” He placed a hand on top of Bendy’s, Bendy’s smile widened before both he and Panchito looked at Y/n, who had her arms crossed, a sour expression written on her face, although it was much of a facade, she did...want to join. Not only was it a chance to finally do something productive--if she would even call it that. But she would break down the mystery of all that’s going on. As detective Droopy would say. The why, the when, and the where? She thinks it...it..wouldn’t hurt, they technically aren't breaking the law by wielding a book that is being searched for, not when it was for a good reason? Right?

“Come on...you know you want to.” Bendy mischievous tone interrupts her. Y/n sighed slowly. Placing a hand on top of Panchito’s who once again excitedly smiled at her.

“Fine. I’m in too. If one of us is wanted, then we all are.” She said. Bendy smiled and let out a boisterous.

“And if one of us dies, we all die together! Oath!”

“Oath!”

“Oa-wait no--”

But the three already tossed their hands up, taking the oath that Y/n was too late to decline for. Bendy could tell she was about to say something, but he only smiled and walked back over to the meeting table.

“Now, let’s see where the next one is!”

Annie was back at the front desk, seated in the chair scrolling through her phone to pass the time as the studio would be running late since Henry was back in the building. Soon, a figure walked through the door. Wearing a heavy black trench coat, the finest coat in town it seemed, the water droplets from the rain stuck to the trench coat, the black boots tapping yet squeaking on the linoleum floor, A black fedora tilted down, covering the face of the man, who stopped directly in front of the receptionist desk. Annie took notice, and she gazed up, turning off her phone and placing it on the desk, she stood up and smiled.

“Hello, what may I do for you today?” She asks. The man was silent for a moment.

“It’s me you dingus, I just sent you in here.” The voice was a husky yet deep voice. The blue eyes piercing at the lady. Soon Annie lost her posture, slouching slightly. Her voice changed, turning several octaves, a shrill and jagged voice emitted from her.

“Oh right, I don’t see why ya’ didn’t just walk in, the broad wasn’t even around, no one woulda’ suspect a thing.” Annie’s body morphed in and quickly dropped to the ground, only leaving a shadow that quickly zipped out of the receptionist desk, stopping right next to the man. Soon a short figure morphed into what could assemble a toon shadow. Only standing around half the height of the man.

“Go find the book. And take it.” The man ordered the shadow. The shadow stood stiff as a board before quickly saluting the man.

“Yes sir!” And soon, it zipped away, only seeming like a shadow on the floor zipping across the room. The man looked forward, only to look back over to his side when he saw the shadow zipped right back to him. The shadow sheepishly nudging the tip of its foot to the ground.

“Ah, who has the book again?”

“The girl and those two other idiots you fool!”

“Ah! On it!”

And once again the shadow zipped away. The man muttered under his breath shaking his head in annoyance,

“I don’t even know why I even deal with those two idiots…” He muttered. Soon, lifting a hand and pressing a hidden black button on the color of his trench coat jacket.

“Zot, come in. Zip just left to find the book. Is the toon still with you?” The man spoke into the two way radio.

From outside the two way radio reached to a black van, from inside thumping was heard, as if someone was hitting the inside of the van. Sitting in the driver seat was another stout shadow like toon, it’s blank eyes were closed, feet propped up on the steering wheel, he was asleep. Snoring ever so slightly, until he heard his commander speak on the radio. The static picking up the man in the trench coats voice.

“Zot, come in. Zip just left to find the book. Is the toon still with you?”

Zot--as he was referred to. Flinched quickly got up once hearing the voice. Quickly taking the walkie talkie, as it almost slipped from his hands multiple times. Zot soon spoke.

“Yes sir! The lil’ guy is still back there.” Zot stood up in his seat, placing a hand on the metal peephole slider, sliding it over and revealing a black abyss that was the back of the van.

“Hey...where’d he go…?” Zot muttered. Clenching the eye he wasn’t using as his blank white optic stare hardened to try and find the toon.

PPPPPFFFT!!

The droplets of saliva fell in his eye, causing Zot to flinch back and his head to hit the steering wheel.

Honk!

The air horn went off at the touch of the shadow toons head on the wheel. Zot quickly got up. Lifting a hand and flicking a button on the roof of the van. The lights came on in the back of the vam, where the hostage toon was located.

“Nice try, bunny.” Zot scoffed.

From the other side of the van. Sat a black and white rabbit, with blue trousers. His pie cut shaped eyes slanted, his arms crossed tighty.

“I’m a rabbit! For your information.”

“Same thing.”

This rabbit was known as Oswald the Lucky rabbit. A peculiar and mischievous character. Zot laughed and then sat back down in his seat.

“What’s the matter rabbit boy? Your luck is not much of a help? Seems like you’re runnin’ out of it.” Zot placed his feet back onto the steering wheel. Oswald got up. His ears slowly rose as he stared at the peephole.

“My luck is very much accurate, and good. Thank you very much..” He said. Zot only hummed in acknowledgment.

“Whatever you say. Boss’ll get that book, and the next thing you know, his plan will be in full action.”

“Where’s the book?” Oswald asks, leaning near the peephole. Zot motioned towards the building, that Oswald couldn’t see.

“The building. Don’t get your tail in a twist, you’ll see it soon.”

“Okay, let’s see what this bad boy will do…” Bendy places the book on the table. And opened it yet again. The book once again opened, the golden glow escaping from the pages, illuminating the room with its warm glow. Soon, the pages started to flip quickly, turning towards the middle of the book, a world map was located on the page.

“A map?” Y/n squints at the paper.

“Well, amigos. It is a map, perhaps it will help lead us to our next destination.” Panchito said, reaching over and flipping the page. At first the next page was blank, until an ink sketch of the U.S. was drawn. The ink splitting up to draw down the states in the country.

One state was completely covered in blank, as it marked. Or, targeted.

“Oregon?” Y/n whispered. Bendy looked closer to the paper with squinted eyes. Near the coast of Oregon, a red down bled through, as if marked by a dot. Bendy could mesmerize exactly where exactly to go.

“Duckburg.” He said. Y/n and Panchito looked at him. Though, Y/n hadn’t said anything yet. A quick look of realization quickly took over his face.

“Ah! ¡Oh, sí! ¡Oh, sí! ¡Oh, sí! ¡Qué buen trato! ¡Estoy muy emocionado! ¡Mi amigo, mi honorable amigo! Donal'” He screamed and yelled in passion of excitement. Hopping up and down, his arms wrapping around Y/n, causing her to hop around with him. But she placed her arms on his forearms.

“Wait! Wait! Panchito, calm down!” She said. Which he listened to her, coming to a halt, he removed himself from her. His tail feathers frantically frizzing up.

Bendy turned away from the book and turned to look at Panchito.

“I’m assuming you know someone from down there?” He asks. Panchito quickly nods.

“Yes! My blood! My friend! A true gentleman he is! His name is Donal’ A bit of a stubborn bull, but--by god, isn’t he one adventurous duck!” Panchito said. He spoke with such passion about his friend. Bendy pie cut shape eyes were slanted slightly, he was thinking who Panchito could be referring to by the name of...Donal’. Until Panchito finished his sentence with ‘duck’

Bendy quickly perked up.

“Duck? As in, Donald Duck? Sailor wearing, Donald Duck?” Bendy asks. Panchito nods quickly with a smile. Y/n heard of the duck. Obviously. He wouldn’t. But oddly enough, he didn’t live in the city of Hollywood L.A. like most notorious toons did, such as Bendy. And hearing Panchito knew and was friends with Donald Duck, made her curious.

“You know Donald Duck?” Y/n asks Panchito--who once again nods.

“Yes! We are very close friends, we have been friends for years! I also have another friend, that sly malandro he is! His name is José Carioca! A-”

“Perfect! This is perfect!” Bendy extended his arms and looked at the two.

“A much easier way to get to the toon, all we need is to leave for Oregon, Duckburg, and that’ll be 4 of us when we get Donald.” He says. Panchito tails quickly ruffled as he shuffled on his feet in excitement.

“I can’t just leave home and tell my mom, ‘hey, I’m leaving to a state that’s 10 hours away, to save the world.’ Plus, how will we get there?” She asks. Bendy chuckles, pointing a thumb to his bow tie.

“Leave it to Bendy, I got a plan that’ll let you go, plus. You have a car don’t you? How’d you get here? Or did you walk all the way in the rain?”

“I drove my dad's car, and no. We’re not using his car to drive.” She then looked over at Panchito, who still was a bit excited with the mention of his friend.

“And we can’t ride a plane. Not with him and knowing he’ll be on the lookout for, we need to be as inconspicuous as possible. We can’t risk getting caught in a way.” Y/n said.

“I hear ya’ loud and clear sweetheart, We’ll just take Henry’s car, he rarely uses it anyway, and usually hands it to me and Boris whenever we need places to go.” He said. Y/n nods with a small smile.

“Well we have that, I need to find a way to influence my mom to let me go..”

“Like I said. I got it, I gots the talks, looks and…” Bendy tried to think of another attribute before Panchito butted in.

“Style.” He said. Bendy smiled in gratitude at Panchito.

“Indeed, Thank you.”

“Ahahaha! Yeah! But you don’t have the brains!” A shrilly voice cackled. Y/n, Bendy, and Panchito looked at eachother, puzzled expressions etched on their faces. Soon, the voice spoke up yet again.

“Over here you idiots!” The three quickly looked over to the opened window that Bendy left open when the book collided into his face. Zip--the shadow was standing in the frame, holding the book above his head as if showcasing a trophy.

“Oh mamá..” Panchito muttered. Bendy quickly patted himself down and looked around to see if the book they had was still present, making sure that the book wasn’t actually taken. Once seeing it was indeed the book the shadow had in its hand, his tail dropped to the ground.

“Well, I think I can confess where I went wrong--”

“Hey! Give it back!” Y/n ran towards the window, once getting closed she outretcted her arms in an attempt to grab at the book, but the shadow quickly ducked down and zipped down the building, with the book in town, down straight to the first level.

“No!--”

“Who was that?!” Bendy looked at Panchito, to see if he had any answers, but the mexican rooster only shrugged frantically. “¡No lo sé!” Panchito said. Bendy quickly ran over to the door and opened it, revealing Henry standing at the doorway, but he was busy looking towards the side--talking someone pass by to notice, Y/n and Panchito in the room. Bendy’s tail stiffened, he quickly slammed the door with a loud.

‘SLAM!’

Henry flinched at the sudden door slamming, the wind from the door slamming slightly moved his hair. He gave the door a questioning look.

“Bendy? Are you okay in there? We all heard you shouting.”

Henry’s worried muffled voice emitted from the door. Bendy pushed Panchito into a nearby filing cabinet storage, slamming the door in his face and quickly locking it with the spare key that was in the room. Hiding the key in his glove before he turned over to Y/n who was quickly trying to find a place to hide, but there weren't many places to hide in a meeting room that only had a table and chairs. With the adrenaline rushing from the fact someone stole the book and getting caught to Henry Stein himself only made her overwhelmed. She peeked out the window once again, and noticed a black van. The shadow that took the book was standing next to two others, a man in a trench coat was opening the back of the van.

“Yeah! I am completely fine, you know, I’ve been losing my voice lately, so--I was doing voice exercise and whatever--” Bendy said, grinning at the door.

“I smell a lie, maybe he’s destroying stuff again.” Stated a new voice from behind the door, another worker from in the studio. Bendy seemed offended by the accusation--which was partially true, but still!

“Shut up, Sammy.” a female voice piped up. Ah, Alice Angel. From what it seemed, most of the main coworkers were in front of the door.

Y/n was still peering through the window. Watching. Soon, the man in the trenchcoat pulled out a toon from the van, a rabbit--gripping him by his ears. The rabbit flailed his feet in anger and irritation, distant shouts from the rabbit, clearly showed distress.

“Hey! Let me go! Hey--watch the ears!” Oswald shouts, flailing his feet. The man in the trench coat ignored Oswald, before looking over at Zip, Zip lifted up the book to Oswald’s heights due to the man having a grip on the rabbits ears.

“Open the book.” The man ordered. Oswald crossed his arms.

“No.”

“Open it. Now.”

“Do it, yourself.”

“We can’t, duh. That’s why we have you.” Zot said. Oswald only swung and his foot hit Zot square in his face. Sending the shadow toon back and hitting the ground, falling into a puddle. Luckily, the rain had subsided.

“I.Said.No!!!”

The man in the trench coat, slowly looked up, over towards the building. Locking eyes with Y/n.

“Get that girl.” He ordered. Zip looked up once again towards Y/n, who was still looking, not breaking down...or what they thought. Zip dropped the book on Zot, causing the shadow toon to groan yet again.

Zip soon zipped off yet again towards the building.

“Are you going to join the party with us?” Henry asks through the door. Standing beside him was, Sammy Lawrewnce, the well kept yet stubborn and easily aggravated music composer, head director in the studio, next to him was M/n, Alice Angel. Everyone’s favorite sweet angel, and Boris, Bendy’s loving best friend, standing next to Bendy, was Normon Polk the southern worker in the studio. Normon chuckled and nudged Sammy.

“He’s hidin’ somethin’.” Norman said. Sammy rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I bet. Bendy, stop joking. Come on, we breaked our ass putting this party together, let’s go or I’m busting in.” He said.

On the other side of the door, Bendy only laughed through his teeth.

“Oh, Sammy you tease! You get me everytime, would you hide already?” Bendy turned to Y/n, muttering the last part to her, Y/n quickly turned around towards Bendy.

“There’s a person, with a coat--and-he-and--he had a toon, th-”

“Surprise!” Zip suddenly appeared in the frame of the window yet again, grabbing the hood of Y/n’s jacket, snatching her out of the room, the girl didn’t have enough time to react, as she was suddenly dragged out the window. Feeling the floor below her disappear. She could see Bendy quickly try to grab onto her foot, but by an inch he missed.

“Y/n!” He shouts.

“Y/n?” M/n said from the other side of the door. Bendy realized his error and quickly slammed the door closed, cursing under his breath before and rushed over to the door.

“I mean! I-Yes! Y/n, oh--I miss her so much, our meeting today was just so wonderful--you know, M/n, I miss her so much, I believe both me and Y/n should go on a trip--” He started, he took the key back out of his glove, frantically crawling over the meeting table, sliding papers out of the way and almost falling onto the floor, but, he made it back over to the filing cabinet, where he quickly pulled Panchito back out.

“A trip?” M/n said. Sammy nudged her.

“Don’t even buy into it.” Sammy said. Annie suddenly appeared once hearing the conversation about a trip. “I love trips, the young lady should get out of the house more.” Annie said. This actually made M/n think for a moment. Well..yes, Y/n was 18, able to do what she pleased.

Back on the other side of the door, Bendy turned Panchito around and grabbed the lasso that was hidden behind his feathers that he almost hadn’t noticed--luckily earlier he did. As doing so, he reached into the filing cabinet and took another set of rope---that oddly was in the cabinet, but he took it and lifted it to his horn, cutting off a small amount to make the lasso longer. He spoke as he did so; “Yes, I was thinking Oregon, you know. Tomorrow, me and her. I promise that nothing bad will happen, you know I myself needed a break too, and Y/n is such a great person! Though M/n I think maybe I should talk to you first about it.”

“You know, Y/n does need some time out away from home! I’ll tell her when I get home!” M/n smiled. Sammy scoffed. “What? Are you serious?”

“Who’s Y/n?” Alice muttered to Boris. Boris only shrugged in response.

“Well, we’ll be in the next room where the party is, join us whenever--come on guys.” Henry ushered everyone away from the door. Sammy scolded M/n, as Annie was defending why Y/n should leave the house. Once Bendy knew they were away, he quickly rushed over to the window window and flung it open. Panchito looked around frantically.

“Where is Y/n?”

“That thing took her.” Bendy said, he soon heard a shout, looking off across the parking lot--which was empty--it was an old parking lot, that was never used, and he could see the van that Y/n was talking about, Y/n was dangling in the air, the shadow toon held her by her hood.

Panchito noticed, and was the first to speak up.

“Hey! Put her down you scoundrel!” He shouts.

Oswald looked up and saw Zip had a hold of the girl he saw peeking from the window. The man in the trenchcoat growled.

“Zip! Take the girl away and get rid of her!” He shouts. Zip looked down at the man, Zot looked up at Zip, they were distracted. Oswald quickly swung his body, and flipped, his feet ramming right in the man's face, the man in the trench coat lost grip of the rabbit's ears. Causing Oswald to land on his feet perfectly. Zot quickie looked over at Oswald, his white eyes widening at the fact the rabbit got loose from his boss. Oswald quickly rammed into Zot, causing the shadow to fall to the ground back into the puddle. Oswald grabbed the book and with all his strength tossed it towards Zip, the book hit the flying shadow toon, causing him to drop Y/n, who yelped and felt her body freefall towards the concrete. Oswald quickly ran over towards where he suspected she would fall.

“I gotcha sweetheart!” Soon, Y/n landed in his arms. Oswald smiled at Y/n, who was shivering from almost thinking she was about to die.

“Thank you.” Y/n quickly said. Oswald smiled in return and nodded before placing her on the ground. The book started to fall towards the ground once again, in the building. Panchito grabbed the lasso and hopped onto the frame of the window.

“¡Sube, amigo!” Pancito said. He swung a loop of the lasso and tossed it out the window where it wrapped around a nearby lamppost.Tightening his grip, Bendy hopped on the window as well, grabbing to the rope as well, and without hesitation Panchito pushed off the building, sending the two swinging across the parking lot, growing closer to the book, Panchtio spoke to Bendy, shouting above the wind.

“The book! Grab the book!” He shouts. Bendy took notice of the book that was nearing the ground, and just with the nick of time, he grabbed the book.

“Get them!” The man in the trench coat shouts in anger.

“Y/n!” Panchito extends an arm for Y/n to grab onto. Y/n looked at Oswald and quickly took his arm.

“Grab on.” She told the rabbit. Once the two grew closer, Oswald jumped up and grabbed onto the rope near Bendy, and Y/n hopped up, Panchito grabbed onto Y/n, wrapping an arm around her waist, as Y/n tightly held onto the rope, the wind traveling and hitting the 4 of them, Y/n couldn’t help but smile, feeling the bits of rain hit her face and the wind made her feel as if she were on a coaster, the rope was so long, and they had so much momentum that they made it out of the parking lot, the many lights of the cars driving down the street of L.A. caused Y/n to watch in awe.

“Wow! You’re good at this!” Bendy shouts to Panchito over the wind. Panchito only smiles.

“Oh no, this is my first time! I lasso bulls and horses.”

“Wait what?”

Soon, the four were abruptly jerked back, the rope ran out and Panchito lost his grip on the rope, seeing he was the main support, everyone abruptly fell, luckily they were above a building that was across the street.

“Oof!” Y/n fell onto her side, her hip hitting the ground harshly. Bendy had fallen on top of a vent, the cage breaking and he soon fell into the vent.

“Aah!” The bumping and the echoing of his sudden scream trailed down the vent wherever he was heading.

“Bendy!” Y/n groaned, she quickly got up the stinging pain of her side itched in irritation. Panchito fell somewhere near her. But he quickly shot up, looking around for his sombrero, once he found it behind him, he dusted it off and placed it back on his head.

“Ahaha! Ay caramba! That was amazing, chica, mi amor, you might be better at adventuring than Donal’, not many people can perfect hopping onto an ongoing rope!”

Soon, a scream was heard and then a loud; THUD! CRASH!

The two quickly turned around and saw Oswald, who quickly stood up in a hurry to take buket off from his face. Angry slurs emitted from the bucket, but they were incoherent. Oswald finally took off the buck and almost immediately hurled it off the roof. Another crash was heard and then the sound of a car alarm going off.

“I have had enough! This can’t be!” He shouts at the top of his lungs. His ears flattening against his head.

“My luck! It’s gone! It’s gone! It’s gone! IT’S GONE!” He hurled a foot back and kicked another bucket away.

Y/n and Panchito stared at Oswald. Panchito looked at Y/n and with his index finger, twirled a finger around the side of his head.

“Loco.” He whispered to her. Y/n didn’t utter a word to the rabbit...maybe..there was a reason he was in that van. No, that’s crazy. Those...shadow toons, the man in the trench coat, they wanted to book, they had to be some sort of bad guy to them, but why did they want the rabbit?

Oswald had his clinched closed, suddenly, his hostile demeanor diminished rather quickly before he turned around and looked at the two with a smile.

“I’m sorry, I’ve-You see I’ve been held hostage for about...four. Five days now.” He said, walking over to the two and then standing in front of them.

“Why?” Y/n asked.

“Trench Coat, fella’ wants to use me as a key to open the book for him for..whatever plan he has, I was his key basically after he figured that I was--as he claimed--one of the chosen people for the book that will only open for select people.” He said. He...he was the 4th one.

“We...have the book because it opens for us.” Y/n said, pointing to herself and Panchito. Oswald's eyes widened.

“Wh-I’ve been searching for at least one person high and low for years and you two found each other how long ago?”

“Oh, we all met each other today! Ah, and we met you, the new addition,” Panchito said. Oswald seemed astonished. Panchito smiled.

“I know, crazy, I guess you don’t have much luck huh?” He blindly said...but it seemed to Y/n, Panchito purposely said it. Nudging him, Y/n spoke up.

“Yes, there’s actually 3 of us a---oh fu---Bendy fell in the building, I forgot!” Y/n looked at the two.

“He has the book, we have to get in there.”

“Oh-wait wait, My name is Oswald, I was thinking since we’ll be working together from now on I would introduce myself.” He said, reaching a hand out. Panchito was the first to grab onto the rabbits hand and shake quickly.

“Hello, friend! My name is Panchito.” Panchtio then looked over at Y/n.

“And my name is Y/n.”

“Very well, now. Let’s go.”

Pushing open the double doors opened, two black boots stepped into the room that was filled with the smell of cigarettes, booze, the sound of biker rock music echoing through the establishment of the bar, the dim golden lights brought a warm glow. The people in the bar paid no mind to the newcomer. The man in the trenchcoat walked passed the table of the two men arm wrestling the man on the left lost, his hand hitting the table, the bear glass cups fell to the floor and shattered due to the sudden impact, the man who won laughed and cheered in victory. The man in the trench coat clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Bendy hid behind a wooden pillar that the man walked by, gripping the book close to his chest.

“Hello sir, what can I get for ya.” The bartender said. The man in the trench coat sat down on a stool Placing his forearms on the table.

“Whisky on rocks.” He replied. The man nodded before turning away to make the drink. Bendy had peered from around the pillar, seeing the man was seemingly distracted. He turned around slowly and with all his might, tried to sneakily sneak through the front door. But the man with the trench coat quickly, with the speed of lightning, tossed something to his side without batting Bendy an eye.

THUNK!

The sound of a knife wedging into wood caused Bendy to immediately stop walking. Above him, between his horns, a pocket knife was embedded in the wood of the pillar. Bendy’s tail immediately dropped to the floor, before he turned around to face the man. A strained smile pulled onto his face.

Soon, the two doors burst open, Panchito rolled through the doors somersaulting, landing on his right knee as he supported himself with his left foot. He pulled out the two pistols from his holster and aimed them towards no one in particular.

“Alright, hands in the air, now!” He shouts. Bendy noticed a red bandanna wrapped around Panchito’s face. The people in the bar immediately stopped speaking and looked over towards the door towards Panchito. Bendy looked at Panchito as well. Oswald walked through the door as well, and soon, Y/n entered as well. Mostly hesitantly.

It was a part of the plan, creating a distraction. Soon, the man with the trenchcoat only squinted his eyes at the odd group. And soon, he snapped his fingers, and the two shadow toons jolted from a shadow of another person from the bar, creating two lanky and stout toon, Zip and Zot that the four saw several minutes ago.

Panchito finally got a good glimpse of the two components, and stood up straight.

“Ah, what short fellows! So cute.”

“Cute!?” Zip exclaims, he soon shot towards Oswald quickly and tackled him to the ground. Scratching at the rabbits face like a rabid dog.

“Ow! Oh my--why me! Ow! Get it off!!!” Oswald screams. Y/n cupped her face from anyone, as if not wanting to seem like she was associated with the three toons. Soon, Oswald yelps to Panchito.

“Get on with the plan already! Oh dear!!”

“Right! Hey you!” Panchito looked over at the two arm wrestlers. One man placed a hand on his chest as if saying; ‘Who me?’

“Yes, you. Your friend hates the way you compete with him, he said you smell like a bag of rotten onions.” Panchito said. The man gasped and looked at his arm wrestling component.

“Oh yeah?! Well how about this!” The man hurled a punch towards the man, the man fell to the ground, blood spraying from his nose, he lifted a hand up to feel the blood on his fingers, before looking at the man that hit him.

“...”

“AAAAAH!” Soon the bar started fighting, tossing glass, chairs, tables, and all. A bar fight! Immediately Oswald pushed Zip off of him, the rabbit got up quickly, Bendy rushed over, holding the book in his hands.

“What’s up with the guns?”

“Dramatic effect.” Panchito says.

“Let’s get out of here, guys.” Y/n said, turning around to open the door, but the door was immediately opened up, standing in the doorway, were three toons, the three wore the same shirt, cap and pants.

“Beagle Boys..” Oswald hissed as he held his eye closed that was scratched.

“Oh please. No need to worry about them, excuse us sirs, we will be on our way.” Panchito stood in front of the group protectively.

But, they didn’t listen to him. Instead they pushed Oswald and Panchito over slightly. Looking over at Bendy, who was holding the book. One of the beagle boys rose a buff arm, Y/n almost a; ‘cl clink’ as if they were cocking a gun, and with all their might, sent a punch to Bendy, hitting him in the face, and like in any other cartoon and the toon he was, sent him flying across the room, loud crashes and shouts echoed, Y/n yelped and turned around and saw Bendy’s feet hanging out of a wall that he broke through from the strong impact.

Steam emitted from the beagle toons fist, and all it took was one blow, to blow away the steam as if it were a gun.

“Bendy!” Y/n shouts. She watched him shakily and slowly remove himself from the wall, she saw stars and birds flying around his head as he stumbled back and forth, a dazed look on his face as he held a finger up as if he were about to speak, but he soon fell to the ground.

Panchito, Oswald and Y/n looked back at the beagle boys, Panchito’s narrowed his eyes and immediately got into a stance to fight.

“¡¿Pusiste tus manos sobre mi amigo?!” He shouts.

“Let’s get 'em all.” Said one beagle boy. But a new voice piped in.

“Leave the girl to me, boys.” a female sultry voice emits, the beagle boys stepped to the side to reveal...a duck toon. Short silky black hair, a black blouse and black pants. Her dark eyes pierced into Y/n’s e/c eyes.

“Eliminate them. We have what we need.” The man in the trench coat stood behind them all, holding the book.

“And don’t kill the rabbit, we still need him. Bring him to me when you all finish them off.” He said as he turned and walked off, waving a hand the emergency door opened before he left the building with the book! No one in the bar cared for the fact off the man in the coat, but much rather they were still fighting.

“No, the book!” Oswald tugged his ears in stress. Soon, the female duck walked closer to the group. Panchito moved his gaze to her.

“Magica..” Oswald said yet another name. Y/n was...who was that? Who were the beagle boys?! Were they working for that odd man in the trench coat?!

“Sorry, not hear to talk, have to do my job.”

Immediately, one of the beagle boys launched at Panchito, Panchito was quick to back away, grabbing onto broken wooden plank and swinging it, hitting the beagle’s face, Oswald did the same, instead he picked up a beer bottle hitting the beagle boy with the glass, which broke into shards from the compact.

Y/n had her focus on the Magica women.

“Alright, show me what you got.” Magica said. Y/n quickly found a stance, her gaze focusing on the duck. Magica threw a punch towards Y/n, with surprising good speed, Y/n moved away from the fist, in an attempt to throw a punch as well, Magica quickly raised a hand and Y/n’s hand froze in midair.

“Wha-” Y/n tried to throw another punch with the other arm, but Magica did the same with that arm, Y/n finally took notice, the duck was more than likely wielding some sort of powers...hinting towards her name..

Magica lifted a foot, and immediately kicked Y/n in her torso, the girl fell down, hitting the wood floor, falling on top of glass shards and other debris. Groaning at the impact, Y/n made a painful expression, feeling the sore on her torso, the wind knocked from her. Magica took a knife from the counter, she grabbed Y/n by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up with ease.

“You know, it’s nice to see one of the few heros, didn’t expect to kill you guys off so quick,” She said. Y/n reached behind her as Magica examined Y/n’s expression, Y/n felt the beer bottle on the counter. Grabbing the neck of the beer bottle, she felt the adrenaline pump through her, no, she was not going to let some random person hit and beat on her, they needed that book, the burning feeling of determination was firing up, and with quick speed, Y/n swung her arm, and smashed the glass bottle across Magica’s head, the duck gasped in surprise, along with a small yelp, she dropped Y/n, and Y/n quickly. Threw yet another punch, Magica fell to the ground, holding her beak with closed eyes and a pained yet furious expression, Y/n spotted Panchitio striking a punch to one of the beagle boys, Oswald did the same to the last two of them, Panchito whistled across the room to Oswald, tossing the rope to him, Oswald grabbed the end of the rope that was tossed, and the two ran, Panchito running around clockwise, as Oswald did the same, counter clockwise. The rose wrapping the beagle boys up.

“Ahah!” Panchito laughed as the beagle boys fell to the ground as the rope tightened. Y/n didn’t notice Magica get back up. The sudden feeling of someone on her caused Y/n to fall and roll across the ground, it was Oswald. Soon, a chair was seen falling in the position that Y/n was in, Magica must have thrown it.

Oswald got off Y/n with a smile and helped her up.

“Thanks I didn--watch out!” Y/n noticed the array of knives and forks flying towards the two, both Oswald and Y/n split and ran towards different directions. Y/n hopped over a table, landing on the dishes that were still there, the feeling of foot plastering on her clothes, she rolled off the table and onto the floor. The knives hit the table as if it were raining. She quickly scattered across the floor, pushing past people that were still fighting, like any other bar fight.

Y/n grabbed a ceramic plate and quickly tossed it as if it were a frisbee, but it didn’t hit Magica, instead she hopped from out of the way, Y/n ran past Panchito, who pulled out another rode from behind it--turns out he had to lassos.

“Y/n, here!” He calls out. Y/n ran back over, almost falling as she dodged a flying cup that Magica tossed. Y/n ran over and took the rope, and as Oswald and Panchito did, Y/n and Panchito did the same, circling the rope around Magica, the duck tried to keep track of the two speedy enemies--in her eyes--she couldn’t keep a good track. But--the rope wrapped around her, and Y/n tossed the other rope to Panchito, who took it and tied a knot to the rope.

“Let go of me!” Magica shouts.

“Hey! Watch out!” Oswald shouted from across the room, Y/n and Panchito looked over and saw Zip zipping passed, under Y/n’s feet, causing her to lose balance and fall on to the floor yet again. The shadow ran around the room quickly, speedily, so quickly that Y/n could feel the wind and cool air circulating in the room, Panchito tried to keep track of where the shadow went, but Zip was like a speedy mouse. Y/n quickly stood up, and spotted Zot, who had charged for Oswald, the rabbit was busy trying to track down Zip he didn’t know they fell for the trap, Zip was the distraction as--

“Hey! Let me go!” Zot took ahold of Oswald, holding onto his ears, Oswald lifted a foot to kick the shadow, but soon, from the wall, a dark bubbling rip of black ink like liquid, formed on the wall, and soon, Bendy shot from the ink, arms outstretched, he rammed right into Zot, the two somersaulting and rolling onto the ground until he hit a table. The table fell over, stopping Zip from running around the building, and slamming into the table. Bendy quickly got up, Oswald held the door open and shouted at the three.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” He shouts. And, Oswald, Y/n, Bendy, and Panchito ran out of the establishment, back out into the moist air, Y/n’s shoes slapping the wet pavement.

“There!” Y/n pointed at the van leaving the abandon parking lot, another figure that wasn’t the man in the trench coat, it was a woman with black hair, pale skin, she laughed and got into the driver's seat of the car, in her hand was the book, she tossed it in the van, and hopped in the car and with no need to even heeding the traffic laws she drove out of the parking lot and down the street.

“Where did the man go with the trenchcoat?” Oswald asked. Panchito rose an eyebrow.

“Was that him---or her?”

“I don’t think so, that doesn't matter, but we need to get to the car, come on!”

Y/n drove down the street quickly, but not enough to get pulled over, and that was where the problem was.

“You need to drive faster! We’ll lose the book if we stay at this speed!” Bendy shouts, moving Y/n over so he could stick a foot down to touch the pedal, but Y/n pushed him away quickly, glaring at him.

“No! If I get pulled over, that’ll put my name in jeopardy!”

“No, it won’t! Pick up the speed, or let me drive!”

“Fine! Drive then!”

Quickly, Y/n and Bendy, switched seats, as the car was in motion, crawling over each other frantically, but once Bendy was in the driver's seat, he slammed the pedal to the floor, the engine roaring, and Y/n immediately felt her back get glued to the seat. The car moved through lanes and cars, to get to the can that was a few meters away.

“Someone is going to have to jump out to get the book.” Panchito said. Oswald and Y/n looked at Panchito, he looked between the two before smiling. “I’ll happily do it!”

“I’ll go with.” Oswald said, Oswald then looked at Y/n, she scoffed.

“No. I’ll stay in the car and make sure he doesn't crash into anything.” Y/n said. Bendy was too busy nearing the van to listen, but once he reached the van, he rolled down the window and honked the horn causing the van to roll its windows down, revealing the woman that that saw, though they all couldn’t get a good glimpse of her, but the man in the trenchcoat saw the four, his eyes squinted.

“Hey, You should try and get better guards!” Bendy yelled to them. Panchito rolled down the window, and immediately crawled onto the roof of the car. Oswald followed suit.

“You’re too late, turn back before we kill you all!” The man shouts over, not noticing Panchito and Oswald, until when they hopped over and the heavy thump on the car caught their attention.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me.” The woman whispers. Y/n watched As Oswald slid down the front of the vans car, sticking his tongue out to get their attention. Which it did for the lad, she cursed loudly and tried to swerve the car slightly to get the toon off. But, Oswald didn’t budge. Panchito dove into the car landing in front of the woman, she shrieked in surprise.

“Ah! Hello, ma’am. Excuse me, i am here for something.” Panchito then moved his gaze over to the man in the trench coat, hurling a punch to the man, the man grunted in pain, and Panchito quickly took the book, he was about to exit until the woman took ahold of his talon, Panchito looked at her questionable, she dragged him back and Panchito yelped in surprise, but he kept ahold of the book. Before she could do anything to Panchito, Oswald hung from outside of the window peeking into the car.

“Boo!”

“Ah!” The woman screamed at the sudden toon appearing, Oswald grabbed Panchito’s arm, and dragged him out of the car, and grabbed him onto the hood of the car. Oswald bent down and clicked the latch for the hood of the van's hood, and almost immediately when the hood opened, it sent the two springing into the air. Unfortunately the can had crashed by a stop sign. And the car Bendy and Y/n sped up, Y/n quickly pressed a button to open the moonroof of the car, it slid open, and Oswald and Panchito landed into the car with a heavy thud with the book in hand.

“YES!” Y/n cheered as she hopped around in her seat. But, the sudden car crash behind them got the best of them, a car pile up was created, and a semi truck was rolling in from behind. Oswald noticed and quickly hopped to the front of the car, he placed his hands on the steering wheel, and jerked the steering wheel, causing the car to swerve and turn in 180 degrees, the tires screeching on the street, everyone in the car screamed, looking out the window of the car to see the semi truck rolling their way, but Oswald muttered under his breath, the car speed up, wheels screeching and it drove towards the truck, Y/n grabbed the wheel as well.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” She shouts, Oswald didn’t reply, instead, reaching a foot down next to Bendy’s and the car sped up, he turned the wheel yet again, the car screeching and turning down a street, and car knocked over a empty car that was parked on the side, that car served bump for the oncoming semi truck, what semi truck only slightly lifted off the ground when it rolled over the car and above the car the toons and Y/n were in, it were as if she were looking at it in slow motion, the semi truck tossed over the car, untouched, and landline on the side, away from other people and cars, where it wouldn’t cause damage to the town or people. The car zoomed off down the street before the end of the semi truck could hit the car, and in the nick of time, the car revved down the street.

“YES!” Oswald cheered, he lets go of the steering wheel, and then lets out a boisterous laugh.

“My luck! Ah! It put us in good hands this time!” He shouts with glee. The car slowed down, reaching a neighborhood, Y/n’s neighborhood. Her house a few blocks away. When the car came to a complete stop, everyone took a moment of silence to take in the air they would get to breathe, breathing in and out.

“Oh...my...gosh.” Y/n laughed and ran her sore hands through her hand, that was….fun. Exhilarating.

“We doggone, surely do make a team, huh?” Oswald smiled at the three, Bendy turned and looked at everyone.

“I didn’t expect the two of you to plunge yourselves into the air by the hood of a car!” He laughs, Panchito and Oswald smile.

“Did you see the way Panchito handled those beagle boys?! And how Y/n fought Magica?!” Oswald wrapped an arm around Y/n’s shoulders, Y/n smiled brightly.

“No, did you see Bendy come through the wall and stopped that fast running shadow thing?!”

“Or when we all, literally swung from one roof to another with Panchito’s lasso?!”

The four all shared a memorable laugh, the night was chaotic, and they still managed to kick butt and take back what was theirs?!

“Next up, Oregon.” Bendy said. He then looked at Y/n.

“Don’t worry, I influenced her...under pressure, yes. But hey, I did what I had to do.”

Y/n was astonished..her mother would let her go? This was new!

“This is a new beginning, wherever any of us go, we all go.” Oswald said, looking between everyone. Y/n took the book from Panchito, she opened it, and showed it to Oswald.

“We’re all a team, and we stick together.”

Oswald smiled at her.

“Through--” He placed a hand on the page, the ink printing his hand print and then signing his signature.

‘Oswald’

“And through.” He finishes.

“Let’s get you home, we all have a big day tomorrow, a long one at that.”

The man in the trench coat stood by the crashed car, the jammed hood pouring with steam, the lady next to him had her arms crossed as she looked at the car.

“What now..? They have the book.” She says. The man thought for a moment.

“We’ll work harder...they aren’t a bunch of idiots as I assumed. We work harder.” He said. The woman hummed in acknowledgment.

“And smarter?”

“Get the rest. We plan.”

“Fine.”

Y/n groaned as she sat on the floor in her room, cleaned herself off, through her clothes in the washer, and placed the book in a book bag for safe keepings. Oswald wandered around her room, looking at the various posters, books and other decorations, Panchito sat next to Y/n for once enjoying the silence and Bendy was rubbing his eye that he was so gracefully socked in.

“That guy did a number on you.” Y/n told Bendy. Bendy grumbled. Oswald looked over at Bendy and his ears perked up.

“Yeaj, they really did, straight through a wall, tell me. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain did you feel.”

“Oh shut up.”

Y/n heard the keys jingling of the front door, immediately, Y/n and Panchito stood up, Bendy opened the window up, as Oswald, and Panchito walked over.

“Well, I’ll take them with me, you get sleep, I’ll more than likely be here with Henry tomorrow to come and get you, so we all can leave.” Bendy explains. Y/n nods at the plan, but she was exhausted and needed rest from todays events, mostly what happened tonight...she was so glad no one was injured during the small pile up car crash.

“Bye, Y/n.”

“Goodbye”

Oswald and Bendy crawled out the window and hopped out, Panchito quickly scurried over to her, pulling her deep into a warm hug. Y/n couldn’t help but smile, and wrap her arms around him as well, rocking back and forth for a moment as Panchito pats and gently runs her back. Soon, then pulled away and Panchito smiled at her.

“Adiós, cariño, te veré cuando salga el sol.” He said, though Y/n could only understand when he said goodbye, she smiled and waved her hands goodbye.

“Bye, Panchito, I’ll see you tomorrow, I had fun with you all.” She said, Panchito smiles and walked backwards for a moment, he seemed to not want to leave yet, he made many friends...Donald and his friend Jose, and he missed them every day as the years pass, Panchito never like being away from his friends, and now Y/n was apart of that. Sitting in the window he waved goodbye once again. Y/n laughed softly and waved goodbye yet again.

Soon, he dropped down from the window, leaving nothing but the tree to look at and the moon that was clouded slightly by the clouds. Soon, her door opens revealing her mother, and her tired husband walking down the hall to his room to sleep.

“By the way, Bendy wants to take you on a road trip tomorrow, and you should go, you don’t have to, but I really want you to go, because I love you and I want you to go out more.” Her mother smiles after that quick statement, and Y/n already had her answer.

“Yes, I would love to go.” Her mother was surprised. But nevertheless, smiled.

“Good, make sure you bags are packed tomorrow, you’re going to Oregon, Bendy should be here tomorrow, but it's late, I’m tired. I’m hittin’ the hay, Night!” Her mother closed the door and Y/n heard her footsteps descend off to her room. Well...adventure truly awaits tomorrow, a new beginning. A reason, a step further in their quest to find out the meaning of whatever is going on. Y/n flicked her light off, and crawled into bed.

Next up, Duckberg, Oregon, to find Donald Duck himself. This will be an adventure indeed.

A/n : You made it to the end?! Don’t worry, there is more to come!

But, I do really hope people will like the plot of this story and the characters, I’m not a fan of crossovers, but this will be a fun and crazy adventure, everyone from each of these fandoms will have alot in common. But anyway! I’ll catch you all in the next chapter, go ahead and comment, I run off of comments, I love reading them and interacting with you all, but I hope you all join and stick around for this adventure, catch you in the next chapter!

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dontjudgemeimawriter · 2 years ago

Note

Perozinosaurus and therizilophus! (I think I spelled those both wrong. They're next to each other in the dino asks list)

I was gunna say usually dinos have "saurus" at the end and then realized you switched the suffix XD

Parasaurolophus - share a scene where a character is/gets embarrassed or flustered

Idk if you did this with this scene in mind XD but I wanted an excuse to share this bit on here and it's pretty close to the prompt.

“You betrayed [Zachary] first,” I said.

[Abigail] nodded. “Yes. I did. For the Judge, the only person who would ensure that he didn’t retaliate.” She moved around behind me, taking the back of my chair. “I’m impressed you’ve deceived him that long.” She took the chair, leaning it back to drag it, and without full support of my neck muscles, my head fell backwards. At least the back of the chair wasn’t so high that my head hit wood. “And all for Raymond? I always thought you’d cross us for Zachary. If you’ll cross us and Zachary for him, he must be very special.”

Of course he was special. “You know he’s powerful. That’s why you went to all this trouble, isn’t it?”

She’d been about to drag me, but she let the chair balance again, and my head swung forward now. Just drag me out already, being swung around like this sucked.

“Oh is that why you faked his death and risked your life for him? ‘Cuz he’s a good Nyp?” She laughed, and I remembered back when she’d worked with its, when I’d almost fooled myself into thinking of her as an older sister. Her laugh was teasing and somewhat patronizing. “I highly doubt even you are that pragmatic, especially given how much trouble it got you into. Seems to me he’s a bit more important to you than to us.”

She ruffled my hair. Ruffled my hair. “Just hope it’s even a fraction requited,” she added.

I glared, which was pretty much all I could do at that moment. I didn’t like her insinuation. She knew nothing about him. She didn’t even know me, not really. And she had to get her likely ship-dust-covered hands out of my hair. Of course Raymond was important, important to me, even. But what she didn’t get and what I hadn’t got until spending time with Raymond is that other people were worth saving, especially someone I’d gotten to know, who’d been there for me. She hadn’t had those experiences, hadn’t gotten to know him. Maybe she would have saved him, too.

She was, as much as she tried to assert herself as better, part of a world that, like Zachary had, saw love as the only excuse for resisting their authority, and killing anyone who threatened them. I wasn’t even that much better, as I’d be happy, in that moment, to take my gun from her belt and pull the trigger right on her chest if it meant Raymond would be safe. But Raymond was better than that, and that was why I protected him. Abigail would never understand that.

Therizinosaurus - share a scene that you’ve put a lot of work into

Going to share the only scene that's been really edited, or a part of it anyway. Of course, you've seen this plenty, as you have what it was printed in, which is why more work was put into it.

The walk wasn’t all scenery. Most of it was along the wooden walkway parallel to the river, with a few steps when the rocky beach jutted out to become a cliff. Stands were set up throughout to make a dispersed market along the walk. Raymond paused to look at craft and food stands, always complimenting something on display before not buying anything, and then the walkway would thin out and it was just the two of us for a bit, and though he’d chat about the stands or sights we’d seen, the conversation died quickly. I only had four hours left with him and I was wishing I was better at talking to him, when finally he suggested we play a game.

“A getting-to-know-each-other game, because that’s the point. Two truths and a lie.”

I raised an eyebrow. “We’re both good at telling when we’re lying.”

“Yeah, but lies work differently when you play this. And I won’t look in your head to find out.”

“Fine,” I agreed, willing to go with whatever he suggested and hoping he wouldn't make me go first since though the rules seemed self-explanatory, I had hardly ever played.

He nodded. “Okay,” and took a moment to think. “I don’t like jello. I had three cats growing up. And…” He grabbed his earlobes, and I didn’t realize why until he said, “and my ears are pierced.”

I glared at him and he laughed, not moving his hands. I stared at his grinning face, trying to remember, and when I couldn’t I playfully grabbed his arm, trying to pull it away so I could see.

“No cheating!” He pulled away from me and I found myself laughing. I wished I was sure, but that must be the lie, right? It made sense that I wouldn’t notice if they weren’t pierced, because that was expected. I thought over the other two statements just to be sure. I couldn’t remember him not liking jello specifically, but I did remember him being picky about foods with certain textures. And Mika had mentioned having cats. “You don’t have pierced ears.”

“Wrong!” He moved his hand to reveal his earlobes and stepped closer to show me. No earring, but sure enough, there was a hole. Without thinking much about it I raised my hand to it, brushing my finger over his earlobe. I couldn’t feel the hole, but his ear was soft and his skin was warm.

“How’d I not know that?” I asked.

“Well I got them pierced when I was really young—both Mika and I did, and by the time you knew me, I’d transitioned and wasn’t wearing earrings ever. But they haven’t closed and in the last year I’ve occasionally put studs in.”

“Still.”

He smirked. “You’re observant, but only about things you deem important. This,” he pulled at his earlobe, “wasn’t important.”

Fair. “So what was the lie?”

“We had two cats.” He grinned. I glared at him. “See, lying works different! Your turn.”

Ty! You got 2 very gay scenes, good job.

From This

#We have reached the point of Denial #syndicate #syndicate excerpt #wip excerpt #dino ask game #y'know I love the 2 truths and a lie scene but damn I've seen it so many times now #Idk if I'd really call Terran flustered here but it's close at least #eh maybe yaeh he is #oh also ty for your help in the first scene :)

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trashforhockeyguys · 4 years ago

Text

Don’t Hold Me -17- Carter Hart

All previous parts linked in my master list

A/N: Okay, so we’re officially in the homestretch of the series. This part is a little calm, no real huge shocking moments. Just a lot of thoughts. So enjoy my loves.

“C’mere. You look stressed.”

You wished you could tell him just how stressed you were. Every second you were waiting for a new text. A new rule to the game, another move Zachary wanted you to make. You wanted to be able to enjoy these moments with him, because you didn’t know how many more you were going to have. Zach made it very clear that he wanted all of this to crumble down around you.

“It’s just finals,” You lied, “I want to be as prepared as I can.”

“Babe, they aren’t for another couple of weeks,” Carter laughed, holding his arms open for you, “Just come over here.”

“Carter, they start next week.”

“Please? I just want to spend time with you. Not you and your books.”

You sighed and shut one of your textbooks before pushing away from the kitchen bar. You folded yourself into Carter’s side, wanting to be as close to him as you could. Deep down, you knew the smartest thing would be to put as much distance between you and him as you could, but you selfishly didn’t want to do that.

You liked being with him too much. You liked the feeling you got when you were with him. The warmth in your chest, the freedom you felt. Carter seemed to even make it easier to breathe, to think. You could just be when you were around him. There were no games, no part you had to play. You could just be a girl who was in love with a boy.

“See, this is better than going cross eyed over there,” He joked, kissing the top of your head, “Are you feeling better by the way?”

You almost questioned what he meant before you remembered how quickly you’d run from the game just the night before, “Yeah. I was just so tired. Been pulling all nighters.”

He held onto you a little tighter, “You’re going to run yourself into the ground before too long.”

If only he knew just how bad things would get. Finals were the least of your worries now. Maybe you’d be lucky to even make it that long. You might not even be able to sit them, whatever game Zachary wanted you to play...it could be over before then.

You tried to push those thoughts out of your head. All you wanted to do was just enjoy the feeling of Carter’s arms around you. The fireplace was on, he had a blanket around both of you, with some movie playing on the TV. Not that either of you were paying attention to it. You wanted to forget about all of it, just for the night. One more night where you could just be a girl in love.

“I don’t want the season to end,” You said honestly, “Or the semester. I’m not ready for you to leave.”

He looked down at you with such love in his eyes, “Come back home with me. Stay with me for the summer.”

You sat up, fully able to look at him now, “You want me to come to Canada with you?”

He shrugged, “That way neither of us has to say goodbye, and you were going to go with Travis anyway, so consider it a little change of plans.”

“A little change of plans? Isn’t Alberta on the other side of the country?”

He shrugged, a playful smile spread across his face, “Details. Just promise me you’ll think about it. Yeah?”

You nodded, “I’ll think about it.”

“I think you’d really like it. And my family...they want to meet you so bad,” He explained, “I’m sure Trav would gladly come stay for a week or two. Maybe all of us could go somewhere. Maybe Mexico or somewhere like that.”

He held you tighter again, you almost wondered why he was holding you as closely as he was. Carter normally did give you a little space to breathe, but tonight it seemed that the both of you were unwilling to let go. You didn’t mind though. Maybe if you could just hold him like this for a while it would be easier to walk away later.

The fireplace crackled in front of you, the TV on low providing more background noise than anything else. Your fingers slowly ran up and down his arms. You relished his warmth, wanting to just stay wrapped up in him forever.

You sat up a little bit to kiss him. The feeling of his lips against yours was nearly intoxicating. You just wanted more. You always wanted more with him. Like no amount was ever enough. You wanted to keep being with him. You wanted him, always.

And as the kisses started to fuel something more, all you could do was silently beg him for one thing. With every kiss, with every movement of his hands, with the way you climbed on top of him.

Distract me. Make me forget what will happen. Make sure I remember moments like this.

It became like a chant inside your head while your body said other things. You loved him so much it practically hurt, but in the best ways. You didn’t want to forget moments like this. You didn’t want to forget how it felt to be loved by him, fully and completely. You clung to him as he practically made your body sing.

And for a few moments, it was just you and Carter. Just the sound of your breathing and hearts hammering. Just the feel of his skin against yours, his lips seemingly everywhere. The way his hair tickled your neck when his head dropped onto your shoulder.

You tried to savor it all. You wanted to remember the moments like this. Where neither one of you were bothered by the outside world. The moments where you could just be two young people in love, without all of the other baggage.

You clung to him as he moved. He kept whispering how much he loved you. You wondered if he knew those words almost felt like a brand. But you didn’t want him to stop. Not as his fingers dug into your skin, teeth sinking into your shoulder, leaving behind a mark. You wanted all of it more than anything. For just a few more days, you wanted all of it. You wanted to be able to remember. Even if every second would make it harder for you to walk away when the time came.

What felt like hours later, both of you finally found your way back into the bedroom. The sheets were tangled around both of you. You never wanted to forget the comfort you felt while in his arms. The sense of safety he always brought to you. Because you knew he would protect you, even if it meant putting himself in the line of fire, he would do it. For reasons you didn’t understand, he chose you.

He wanted you….he loved you.

You watched as he slept next to you. All you wanted to do was memorize every feature. When you thought back on him years from now, you wanted to be able to remember every little detail. The way his hair, now fluffy from the amount of times your fingers ran through it and pulled on it, fell all over his face. The way his mouth was just slightly parted, although not even the smallest of snores seemed to escape this morning. You wanted to remember the way he often slept all scrunched up, but how today he was stretched out, an arm thrown around you. You wanted to remember the weight of that arm, the warmth of his body next to you, the way the mattress seemed to cave just enough to push you towards him.

You’d turned your phone off hours ago, just so that it would be you and Carter. No one else. Travis, Ethan, and Kora all knew how to reach you if needed. But for now, with no hockey for the next couple of days, and the fact that it was officially the weekend, it could just be you and Carter. Even if this would be the last time, it was all you needed.

Your heart seemed so full as you watched him sleep next to you. But you wouldn’t kid yourself, you knew that this wouldn’t always be your life. But even if Carter was just for a short time….such a short time...it would be okay. You’d known more love from him in the last months than you ever expected to know from anyone romantically.

He deserved the world for how he treated you, how he loved you. He deserved everything that you couldn’t give him. Your chest seemed to tighten at the thought of it. You would never be able to give him everything he should have from this life. You’d never be able to love him as freely as he loved you...no matter how much you wanted to. He deserved more than you’d ever be able to provide...he deserved a future.

You looked at him again, feeling tears burn your eyes. He was too peaceful. A type of peace you wouldn’t be able to give him when he was awake. You wanted him to always be this peaceful, but instead he was always worried about protecting you. You didn’t want that for him anymore. You didn’t want to ruin his early twenties.

You gently brushed a bit of hair out of his face, knowing he slept too hard for it to wake him up. The sky outside was still dark, but you couldn’t stay here any longer. You felt like the walls were closing in, and you couldn’t be here like this. So, you quietly dressed and left him a note, telling him that you needed to go back since you had a 6am class.

But that feeling in your chest didn’t go away when you left his building. Because you just wanted to turn around and cuddle back up with him. You wished you had the freedom to do that. So many things could be different if Zachary was never a part of your life. But would you have even been able to experience this level of love if he hadn’t?

But you couldn’t stop yourself from putting on the new dress you acquired the previous week and making your way down to Carter’s awaiting car. You weren’t even sure if you wanted to go to the event, but he looked so hopeful when he asked you. You just couldn’t say no to him. You wanted this to be another one of the good memories that you could look back on.

Carter leaned over to kiss you the moment you were in his car. It almost hurt to see just how happy he was. Would he still feel the same way about you if he knew you were playing games with the devil again? Would he want anything to do with you?

“You look….damn. Maybe we should just show up a little late.”

“We can’t, you’re expected to walk the carpet for all of the press.”

He sighed and brought your hand to his lips. You closed your eyes, trying to find a way to make the feeling go away. You felt like you were betraying him. Like you were betraying everyone. Ethan, Travis, Nolan, Kora...everyone.

“You okay?” Carter asked a few minutes later, “You’re really quiet.”

You nodded and took a second to find some sort of lie, “Kora was snoring really loudly last night, so I didn’t get much sleep.”

He laughed, so light and free. You hoped that you’d never forget the sound of his laugh. It was one of your favorite sounds in the whole world. Somehow, it always reminded you that there was still good in the world. That not everything was dark and broken.

“Baby, you know you can always come over. I don’t care if it’s the middle of the night,” He told you, “I like waking up to you.”

You nodded again, trying not to give in to the ache that seemed to be growing in your chest, “Playoffs start soon. And finals are this week...it’s all almost over.”

If only he knew what all over really meant.

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ceph-the-ghost-writer · 3 years ago

Note

15 and 40 for the weird asks for writers thing! (I really do need a poem from you. I collect them, hang them on my walls and when they mature, I let my soul swallow them entirely 😌)

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

I often scribble in the margins of my notebooks--until very recently I've always written stories by hand first. These are usually lines I want to add in, bits of lore or world-building I want to remind myself of, etc.

Exhibit A:

My handwriting is still garbage after all these years.

I don't usually read in the tub, or dog-ear my pages, although I have no quarrel with those who do. I love beautiful editions of my favorite books, but...their appearance isn't the point? I'd much rather bond with someone over the contents of a book than make an enemy over them getting fingerprints on the cover or whatever.

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

My knowledge of poetry, its structure, rhythm, etc. brings shame upon my household is limited. This is the only one I've attempted to write (so far), and that was back when I was 17, I think. It's about a zombie because of course it is.

(Full poem below the cut)

CW: Gore and dark magic used for laughs, mention of worms, decay, death from illness, horror genre violence

Zachary the Zombie

Zachary was a fine lad of twenty and three

Tall and fair, quick and bright-eyed

At least until he caught the flying swine flu

And shortly thereafter, died.

Zachary was buried with many a shed tear

Laid to rest, no doubt for good

But someone snuck into the boneyard who meant to change that

A figure shrouded by cloak and hood.

The necromancer was young—they’d never done a big spell

They stumbled over their evil chants

But they still got the cold earth to spit up Zach’s body

Worms clinging to his coat and pants.

With a shriek, the necromancer leapt up and fled

Leaving poor Zach all alone

What in the world was a zombie supposed to do?

Should he stay there or go home?

He sat on his tombstone while planning his next move

Mind still as sharp as a knife

Zach snapped his fingers and grinned wide when he got it

He’d make the best of unlife.

First, he’d tell his friends he wasn’t dead anymore

The night was still early

But who would understand and not flee in terror?

Why, his old pal Greg Hurley!

Zach shambled off in the direction of Greg’s house

The living screamed, stared, and swore

Yet Zach ignored the gawking and spooked reactions

Going right to Greg's front door.

His friend opened the door and froze at what he saw

Zach was pale and smelled a bit

But he put on a reassuring smile and waved

To which Greg replied, "Holy shit!"

Yet he didn’t slam the door, scream in terror, or hide

Instead he looked at Zach's grin

And decided, rot or not, a friend was a friend

So he told Zach to come in.

He took a seat on Greg's couch so they could catch up

On the events of that week

But was cut short by a squirming, gnawing sensation

As a worm munched through his cheek.

Without a second thought Zach popped it into his mouth

The taste was better than fine

Not at all nasty—in fact, the flesh was juicy

And the blood richer than wine.

Greg thought it odd, but then again so was the rest

So he let the worm thing slide

They kept talking but Zach began to sense something

Welling up from deep inside.

Suddenly he had a name for his disquiet

Hunger—the source of these pains

It drove him to grab Greg and bite down through his skull

To get at his sweet, sweet brains.

Zach devoured his friend completely: heart, liver, guts

And every last finger

He chewed and crunched until his strange appetite

Faded and ceased to linger.

The fog cleared from his mind, remorse quickly set in

Zach was again all alone

Greg had trusted him, and how had he repaid that?

By reducing him to bones.

The zombie sat slouched, wallowing, glum, and depressed

His attention so engrossed

That he almost missed the hazy form taking shape

Greg had returned as a ghost.

Zach, relieved, explained how sorry he was to him

Greg said think nothing of it

In fact, dying meant his student loans were cancelled

And that his bank could shove it.

They decided to become roommates in Greg’s house

And still live there to this day

They even made some supernatural friends

Both are much happier this way.

There's a moral to this tale of dark magic

That all people can live by:

Cannibalism isn’t technically a crime

And true friendship never dies.

#answered asks #poetry?#writing asks

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redchestnut · 3 years ago

Text

Siempre me quedará

After an accident during an expedition, Levi and Hange remember that leading a normal life is a luxury that abnormal people cannot afford.

AO3 LINK HERE // tw: angst, miscarriage, blood.

* * *

Love is natural and real

But not for such as you and I, my love

The Smiths - I know it’s over

"Hange-san!" Armin's scream pierced the cold late winter air. As she moved on her way to help Sasha with a 7-meter titan, another one appeared in her path, pulling the wire of the gear that was extended in front of it, driving her back forcefully through the forest. Hange crashed into a tree and fell to the ground with a thud.

Armin flew to where she was, while Jean finished off the titan that had attacked her and, in the distance, the titan that was chasing Sasha fell to the ground. Not far from there, and deeper in the forest, it was possible to hear the sound of the gears of his comrades, and the footsteps and roars of more titans.

"Are you okay?! Please don't move," Armin pleaded, as he checked for visible injuries. At first glance, it hadn't been that bad. A scratch on her forehead and her knuckles. And her pants were torn above the knee, showing a cut that shed some blood. And above all, she was conscious. A really good sign. But his optimism was brief. Hange suddenly writhed and held her abdomen with both arms, letting out a loud groan. "What's wrong?" Armin asked, scared. "I don't know. It hurts'', she managed to reply before letting out a whimper again.

Before Armin could ask her another question, something froze him. A deep and bright red in the typically white pants of the commander. Blood. Coming from between her legs. Armin gulped. That could only mean one thing: the impact had caused internal damage. He had already seen things like that. Hange needed immediate help or the consequences could be deadly. His trembling hands quickly traveled to the side of his belt. A second later a purple signal flare rose through the sky. Armin prayed that, despite the trees, Levi's squad could see it.

"No! Why did you do that?" she asked him, struggling to get up.

"Please Hange-san, stay still, you are bleeding." Hange looked at him as if she didn't understand what he was talking about, before turning her gaze to herself. Now she understood. And it was bad.

"It's nothing. Help me stand up. We must finish-" A contraction in her abdomen made her twitch and cry again. "We- we must finish clearing this area. And move on to the next one for- fuck ". The pain made her shut up again.

"What happened?" The captain's voice took Armin by surprise, who turned around startled.

Levi quickly moved Armin aside and inspected Hange. "A titan threw her against a tree, sir."

"I'm fine, Levi." Armin could see how she remained stoic and immovable. She was enduring the pain, so that the captain would not notice the reality of her state. "Move me to the top of the tree, just in case. We already finished off the titans on this side, though. Once your squad is done with the ones on their side, you all have to-" She frowned and swallowed hard. Her face became increasingly pale. "You all have to go ahead and settle in the second area. Then you can come back and- "

"Forster!" Levi cut her off abruptly.

"Sir!" replied the young man, who quickly approached them.

"Bring the cart." He ordered him. Hange's eyes widened in realization.

"Floch, no." She tried to say as loud and sure as the pain allowed. She fixed her gaze on Levi. "We only brought one. And it has what is essential and necessary to finish this mission. You will take it. And you will carry it. To the next area."

Levi held her gaze, yet his face remained unflappable. "You go back to the walls. Now."

"Hange-san, please listen to the captain. We can continue the mission another time. But now it is dangerous for you." Armin tried. Neither of them seemed to pay him any attention.

"I am your commander, Levi. And this is an order." Hange said slowly.

"Floch" Levi called out to him again, not taking his gaze away from Hange's. "What the fuck are you waiting for?"

"Sir, I-" Levi turned around violently. His gaze made Floch shut up immediately.

"Levi. Enough" Hange said in a groan.

"No. You stop. You're fucking bleeding." He said exasperatedly this time. Hange took a second before answering.

"If I were Erwin, you wouldn't dare even question my orders."

"But you are not Erwin." Levi responded instantly. In the myriad of ways that phrase could be interpreted, Hange decided to choose the worst. Silence covered them for a few moments.

"Floch, if I have to tell you one more time ..." Levi started.

"But sir, the commander said-" Levi's hand quickly moved to a hilt and connected it with one of his blades.

"Go, Floch. Go get the cart." Hange was quick to say. She dropped back to the ground, her gaze lost to the branches that danced slowly overhead. "The mission is over." She said in almost a whisper.

She saw the yellow signal flare cut through the air before closing her eyes.

* * *

Levi hurried through the gates of the headquarters. They had left as soon as they finished with the remaining titans, about twenty-five minutes after Hange and the two brats did. He decided to leave the report for Zachary until later. The old man was not going to be happy to know that they had not made it to the sea yet, but the satisfaction of the Commander-in-chief was the last of his worries.

"Captain!" Levi heard Armin's call, which made him stop his rush to the infirmary. He turned to find the brat running towards him. "Hange-san is not there. She is in her room. The doctor is checking her."

Levi murmured a quick thank you before starting to walk in the opposite direction.

He met the doctor as he walked up the stairs. They looked at each other for a brief moment, before the older man put his hand on Levi's shoulder.

"She'll be fine", he said before continuing down the stairs not waiting for an answer.

When he finally got to her room he hesitated for a second whether to knock or not, but finally decided to just go inside. The first thing he saw when he entered was her blood-soaked pants thrown in a corner. He sighed. Hange was in bed, sitting pale, but alive. She was staring out of the window and she hadn't noticed him.

"Hey," he started to get her attention.

"Levi! I didn't hear you come in." She responded tiredly, but with her usual upbeat tone.

"The doctor said you would be fine."

"Yeah... I'll be fine."

Silence fell on both of them. "Look, about what I did there... I will take responsibility for my disobedience. If you consider that there should be a punishment I-"

Hange laughed softly. Her melancholy tone made Levi's stomach clench. There was something wrong. "I'm not going to punish you, dummy."

Levi simply nodded. Hange looked out the window again, and he decided to move closer. "Sorry," he said as he sat on the bed. "But you scared the shit out of me."

"I know. And I'm sorry too." She looked at him again. "I was stubborn, right?"

"Yeah. It's a Hange thing" He replied. She took his hand and smiled at him, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. "What did the doctor say?"

The smile disappeared at once. She released his hand and her gaze flicked briefly to where her pants were. "You heard it. I'll be fine."

"Yes, but what explanation did he give you about the pain and the blood?"

Hange sighed and lay down on the bed, covering herself with the covers. "Hange, are you going to tell me what-"

"I was pregnant" she cut him off.

The silence that followed was such that for a moment Levi wondered if he really heard it.

"What?" he whispered, but she didn't respond. "How?"

"I guess we weren't careful enough." She said. We. They had never talked about fidelity. They had never even talked about a relationship. Levi hadn't been with anyone else, though, but he never asked Hange to do the same. She was free, she always had been. "I didn't notice it. I kept bleeding. Not regularly and in small amounts, but I did." She said looking nowhere in particular. Her blankets covered her up to her chin. "The doctor said I was bleeding from riding the horse. So the baby was already weak by the time-" she took a deep breath "by the time I hit that tree."

Baby. The word settled somewhere in Levi's chest. In a painful way. In the way emptiness hurts.

He just stayed there for what felt like hours. His gaze followed the bright trace that a tear left on Hange's cheek. And he watched his own thumb on her face. A caress to dry the tear. Another caress to say I love you. Another caress, slower and softer, to say I'm so sorry.

"What world would we have brought them to, anyway?" she spoke again. "It was for the better. We couldn't have taken care of them." Another tear appeared and his thumb took over. "It was for the better, wasn't it Levi?"

His throat closed. "It was for the better," he agreed.

* * *

It was already dark when Levi decided to leave. He stood up and Hange moved. "Levi?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"Yes?" he whispered.

"You would have been a great father," she said with her eyes closed. Levi swallowed.

"Keep sleeping, Hange," he replied and kissed her forehead. "I will return later".

Hange watched him pick something up from the ground before silently leaving. She closed her eyes again.

* * *

On his knees by the side of his tub, Levi vigorously scrubbed Hange's pants. The water had turned a pinkish color, however, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remove the stain.

He had washed her clothes multiple times before. He sometimes had to remove stains from her blood or the blood of their comrades after an expedition. But this time it was cruelly different. Levi paused momentarily and saw a drop fall into the water. And he saw two more before he realized they were his.

Determined to ignore his tears he continued to scrub the cloth violently, however, his rhythm began to slow down until he dropped the pants and the brush to the bottom of the tub. He let his arms dangle over the edge of the tub and dropped his head. His body shaked to the rhythm of the sobs that filled the bathroom. How many more things would he have to lose?

He wanted to go back to her room. To make her a promise. To talk to her. To tell her that they would both survive and that they would exterminate the titans. That when it’s all over they would get the hell out of there. And then there would be children. Two or maybe three. With her eyes and her laughter and they would live in a small house full of chaos. He wanted to promise her. Oh how he wanted to promise her. But he knew that in his world, in this reality where he had to wash the blood of his unborn son or daughter, no such promises could be made.

So he retrieved the pants and the brush and continued washing.

There are stains that simply will never go away.

* * *

(Author's note:

Hi there! So, I have this big flaw called inconsistency. My loved ones have compared me to a hummingbird that flies rapidly from one flower to another. Thus, one day I am obsessed with something with all my heart and the next day I already went after a new idea, a new thing, a new shiny pebble. The point is that just as the love for snk and levihan hit me unexpectedly, I think all the inspiration and motivation left me. Which makes me really sad because I had all these drafts with ideas that I was so excited to explore. A beautiful future for Hange and Levi post-canon and Hange's childhood. I lived in them for a long time. But I guess when the circumstances aren't there, you just can't push. Maybe it's just a period, or the burnout of university, and I will be able to materialize my ideas later. It would be great. Until then, I managed to finish the shortest draft I had. That is this. Unfortunately it was angst haha. But something is something.

Thank you so much to those who read my stories and left beautiful words in response. I've never written fanfiction before. And while I started out as a kind of self-therapy, the most wonderful thing about it all was connecting with others. I hope to come back soon. A hug. Un beso y una flor ♥)

#levihan #levihan fanfiction

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rachelbethhines · 4 years ago

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Tangled Salt Marathon - The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne

So now we get to what is, in my opinion, the best episode in season three. However, it’s still season three, so that’s damning with faint praise.

Summary: Rapunzel tasks the kingdom with refurbishing the throne room. While breaking down a wall, they find a map to the Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne and Rapunzel decides to set up a race to the location. The teams, which consist of twos, are only allowed to look at the map briefly before the start of the race. However, Rapunzel's partner, Feldspar, brings a copy of the map with him and he warns her that the treasure is cursed.

Why Are You Just Getting to This Now?

It’s literally been months since you defeated the Saporians. Edmund had to have time to travel all this way to Corona and you’ve rebuilt an entire village since then. We’re talking at bare minimum three months or more.

Who just leaves a gapping hole inside their home for three months? Where did you conduct the government’s important business during that time? Is there any other structural damage to the castle or the town outside from previous battles that you’ve just left unattended? I understand that rebuilding Old Corona is important but those villagers have been evacuated and living elsewhere for a year and a half now since Queen for a Day. It wasn’t a priority, but this is.

Also this episode has to come after The Return of the King and Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf because Red, Angry, and Hamuel exist. It can’t just be slotted in somewhere else in order for it to make more sense. The writers genuinely planned for Rapunzel to be this disorganized and didn’t think to give a logical reason as to why.

Also Why Are You Conscripting Regular Citizens Instead of Hiring Professional Contractors?

Unlike Old Corona, which is a full on community that would require multiple building projects going on simultaneously and therefore could use volunteers, this is a single government building. It’s Rapunzel’s job as leader to make sure that that building is kept maintained and up to code. It’s her responsibility not the regular average citizen’s who has their own jobs to do and zero experience with construction.

Rapunzel is literally forcing these people to be slave labor for her under the pretense of ‘community’. She’s taking their time away from their own busy lives, forcing them to work a dangerous job, and not compensating them for that time, effort, and risk. And no, they’re not just volunteers at this point; because as acting queen, no one can safely say no to her nor can they just leave even when they’re clearly annoyed and fed up at having to do the work.

Lastly they’re untrained. They lack the skills and tools to this job. You need an architect, you need a safety inspector, you need actual carpenters and masonries ... maybe even an interior decorator... The point is you need trained professionals and part of being an administrator is using government funding to hire these people in order to make sure the work gets done safely and efficiently and create jobs and keep money circulating through the economy.

Rapunzel may not mean any harm. She might just be oblivious and untrained herself. But this is terrible leadership and the show never points that out. It never has her learn how to be a better a ruler so by the end of the series you don't feel she’s earned that title of Queen and you fear for the kingdom’s continued existence.

So Why Is This Here?

Why would there be a Saporian map to a king of Corona’s tomb hidden in the wall? What’s the story behind this?

Yes we know his wife was Saporian, but that doesn’t explain anything. Why would she need a map on the wall to her own husband’s resting place; assuming he didn’t out live her himself. Why would said map be carved into the wall of Corona’s castle and not written on a scroll? Why is it in Saporian when they don't speak that language in Corona?

Like I could come up with explanations and create this whole backstory for Herz Der Sonne and the first Saporian/Coronian War, but at this point I’d just be doing the work of the writers for them. They’re the ones who introduced this lore and had it inform plot points and character motivation; and then failed to explain any of it to the audience and adequately have it all connect back together in a way that makes sense.

The Moment When You Realize This Whole Episode Exists Because Zachary Levi Enjoys Doing an Ed Wynn Impersonation

Ok time to explain some behind the scenes Info.

This is Ed Wynn.

As you can tell from the gif above, he’s famous for voicing the Mad Hatter in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. He’s also done a whole bunch of other stuff and was well known even before working with Disney, but the Mad Hatter is his most well remembered role today.

Many actors, particularly voice actors, like to do impressions of him because he has such a distinctive voice. Including Eugene’s VA, Zachery Levi.

Now I don’t know if the character of Feldspar was created specifically because the creators were inspired by Zachery Levi’s impression, or if they had this character already planned out and just casted him in the role since he could do it and it’d save them money. Either scenario is plausible and not unheard of in animation. But the long and short of it is, as a shoemaker, Feldspar is intended to be a parody of the Mad Hatter. That is why the character exists.

Now as I said, this isn’t unusual for animated tv shows. Quite often you get main cast members to voice secondary and/or one off characters because it’s convenient, efficient, and doable when working with audio recordings. Also quite often voice actors will do impressions of other famous people to flesh out these background characters. It’s also not out of left field for these secondary characters to get an episode of focus if they’ve been around for awhile and keep popping up in the story.

What is unusual, however, is to focus on said character in the final season when there are a bunch of other more important characters with unresolved arcs that need the screen time more. It’s an incredibly odd decision to highlight Feldspar here when we still got Varian readjusting back into society, Red and Angry settling into their new home, and Edmund running around off screen. And while some of these character feature in the episode, they’re just there for the jokes not for any development.

What’s a “Sap Pond” and How Does That Even Work?

Ok its a fantasy world, I get it. But the franchise does try to have a distinction between the magical and the mundane. Or at least pretends to try and have a distinction. There’s to my knowledge no such thing as a ‘sap pond’, and if such a thing does exist I doubt it’s an actual deep pit full of tree sap as shown here.

If you want characters to still be surprised by out of the ordinary occurrences and have the supernatural world be separate from the regular world; then you need to have the mundane world grounded in our known reality. Nature needs to function as real world nature would. If something exists in your world that doesn't in ours, then you need to either explain it or have the characters responded appropriately to it.

But You’re a Prince Now?

Look, I’ll buy that season one Eugene didn’t have unlimited access to the royal treasury as he and Rapunzel were still new to their roles and their relationship. But it’s been over two years since the movie ended.

Since then Eugene and Rapunzel have lived together, shared finances together, and currently are co-acting rulers of the kingdom. He’s also a bonified prince in of itself on top of being practically married to princess/queen.

Yeah I said it. Part of what makes season three so frustrating is that Rapunzel and Eugene are functionally married at this point, they just haven’t gone through the ceremony yet, and there’s no stated reason for why they keep dragging things out.

This is why we get out of place jokes like this that no longer reflect who Eugene is now as a person and feel like they belong back in season one or the even the movie itself.

I can understand if he wanted to join in the competition because it’s fun, but he’s not poor. Neither he nor Rapunzel needs the treasure. I’m not sure even Lance needs it because as Eugene’s best friend/adopted brother he’s piratically nobility at this point as well.

Royalty and the rich are not and never will be underdogs show. Stop trying to make them such.

So Why Feldspar Again?

This is such a half assed plot point.

Remember Rapunzel literally pulled out a book earlier to translate the map. Xavier not only knows the legends about the Saporians, but also keeps a book of magic lying around, and the Saporians are the only human people who have functioning magic in the show as part of their culture. Varian spent a year living and working with the Saporian leader, and knows how to decipher ancient scrolls written in dead languages. And said Saporians, are being currently held in the dungeons of the castle.

But you’re telling me that only a random cobbler can read the warning clearly written on the map?

They give some bullshit reason as to why Feldspar knows Sapoprian but it doesn’t matter. It’s a forced and contrived excuse to get the character involved in a plot he has no business being in. The story fails to justify the use him over the other more prominent characters who have closer ties to this particular subplot.

And We’re Suppose to Believe That Herz Der Sonne Was a Good Guy?

Why would a benevolent king who supposedly brought peace to a warring land have a doomsday curse involving zombies? Why would said king be enshrined a tomb that’s not native to his culture? What even is the treasure and why be buried with it?

There’s clearly more going on here regarding Corona’s past and the treatment of the Saporians as a people in their own right, but the show never does anything with it. Why introduce these complexities and world building if you’re not going to tell a story with them? Why have the Saporian subplot at all in a series already over stuffed with villains if you aren’t going to have them challenge your protagonist and have her grow into a more mature person?

I’m not dunking on the series for being ambitious nor for having flavor text to help flesh out the world, but it so aggravating that there’s no follow through on the show’s set ups and narrative promises. If you’re not going to give the needed focus to something then just don’t put it in. Cause once it’s aired you’re committed to it and the audience is going to hold you to account.

I haven’t seen plot mismanagement this bad since the 80s; back when cartoons had to battle network syndication, episode commissions instead of contracted seasons, and could be canceled at any time without prior notice. Now there’s still plenty of bad practices going on in the industry, especially as the move to streaming messes with things, but Tangled does not have the same excuses as say Johnny Quest, Dungeons and Dragons, or even Gargoyles did.

How Do You Even Know That Would Work, Rapunzel?

No seriously, how does Rapunzel know that putting the treasure chest back on the pedestal will stop the cruse? That hasn’t been established yet by any known source of information. Heck no one knew what the curse actually entailed until it was activated. Except for Xavier who oh so conveniently didn’t say anything until the last moment. If anyone should have the knowledge to on how to end the curse it’s him. But nope we gotta make the Rapunzel the infallible hero who is always right for no logical reason.

I don’t know how to explain this to you show, but perfect is boring. No one wants a flawless protagonist who can do it all 24/7 without any help whatsoever. And it becomes down right annoying to watch a hero who is clearly flawed still put upon a narrative pedestal as if they weren’t.

So Why is Varian Suddenly Useless In This Fight?

This entire climax is about showcasing the ‘power of teamwork’ by having the characters use their various skills sets and work together to defeat the enemy.

Except for Varian.

He’s treated at best as a spectator to the unfolding events and at worst as a damsel in distress.

Varian. You know the guy who is the series most competent and threating antagonist. Who brought an entire kingdom to it’s knees, twice. The only other character besides Rapunzel herself who could and does hold his own against other major antagonists, including super powered ones.

If this was just a one off incident, I’d just shrug it away as him being a glass cannon; insanely overpowered when well prepared but easily out of his depth when not. But that’s not what’s happening here.

Season three constantly nerfs Varian’s abilities, same as they did back in The Alchemist Returns, and there’s three reasons for this.

The first is to try and stop him from overshadowing Rapunzel and Cassandra. The writers don’t want to give him any more story focus for fear of him being more popular the the two girls. Which is a ridiculous and petty reason to write a character OOC but there you go.

The second is the on going issue of making Rapunzel needlessly the center of any and all solutions to every problem regardless of her level of involvement in the initial conflict. Yes, it’s her show, but she’s still not the whole world. Other people exist outside of her and it’s not fair to anybody when the writers ignore that simple fact.

Last is the writers sacrificing established character for a joke. And as already pointed out, even in this very review, Varian’s not the only character to fall victim to this. It’s just bad writing. Yeah the joke might be funny in the moment but you run the risk of jarring you’re audience’s immersion. In a series like Tangled where you’re constantly asking the audience to suspend their disbelief, humor needs to be firmly rooted in the characters natural behaviors and must evolve to match any character development.

Why not just have Varian throw a chimball or two, run out cause he wasn’t planning on fighting anybody that day, and then have the other characters rescue him? It’s not that hard to work in a joke while still being respectful of the characters.

So What Does Anybody Learn From This Episode?

Yeah the other characters learn some vague lesson on teamwork and getting along or something, but they’re not the focus of the episode. What do Rapunzel and Feldspar learn?

Unlike some people I don’t mind Feldspar’s existence. When’s he’s kept as a background character he works. In fact he’s one of the few townspeople who do work as intended, because he’s representative of the everyday citizen who’s often on the outside looking in on these fantastical events and therefore gives insight into what’s going on and the populous’ opinions on things without being a major player in anything.

That's fine, needed even, and I don’t mind him getting a single focus episode to gain a greater insight into how this world works or even flesh out his character more, but that’s not what we got. Feldspar doesn’t grow as a character because of this episode. I, as the viewer watching, learn nothing about him nor his life that I didn’t already know. This resolution with him resolves nothing cause it’s a ending for a conflict that was never established beforehand.

In fact what even was the main conflict of the story? Rapunzel being annoyed by Feldspar? Ok and..? Did she need to learn not to be annoyed by him? Was that a thing that needed to be addressed? Hasn’t Rapunzel already put up with annoying people before now? Was was this deficiency of character actually solved by this one interaction? Has she learned to be more appreciative, attentive, or open minded of others?

If you tell me it’s Rapunzel’s show then I expect Rapunzel to actually learn shit!

I expect the external conflicts to tie back into her interpersonal conflicts. If the external conflict does not do that than there better well be a another character who gets that focus instead without her hogging the limelight.

This Dynamic Adds Nothing

They set up this friendship with Varian and Xavier and it doesn't go anywhere. It never comes back into play and we never see them interacting on screen together again. It also undermines a future plot point that’s coming up later.

More over it doesn’t further either of their characters.

Xavier is still an extraneous exposition fairy. Turning his flat characterization into a one note joke does not erase that fact. Giving him a kid to tell stories to doesn’t explain his place in the narrative or give him purpose to the story. We still don’t know why he has these connections to magic nor how he knows all the this lore, and he doesn’t push the plot forward.

Meanwhile Varian maybe lonely but that doesn’t mean he needs yet another mentor figure in his life. We already have his father, who we barely see him interact with since coming back, and all his other ‘friends’ are way older then him already as well. Rapunzel’s the closest in age to him and she is constantly condescending to, well everybody, as she pretends to be more mature than she actually is. There’s no one in the story who Varian is on equal footing with, and no Angry and Red don't count as they’re far younger than him.

I don’t know what this series has against teenagers but it showcases some very unhealthy depictions of them; ether by constantly infantilizing them, traumatizing them while subjecting them to parentification, or just flat out ignoring their existence all together.

Teenagers exist and they need to be treated as teenagers. I don’t know how to put it more simply than that. Teens aren’t children. Teens aren’t adults. They’re teens. And when writing for them you need to understand that difference and acknowledge that they have a completely different phycological development and placement within society to anybody else. That’s why the category of adolescence exists separately from childhood and adulthood in the first place.

So to tie things back to the first point. The concept of Xavier and Varian having a friendship is not a problem. But as with so many things on this show, it’s the surrounding context and lack of follow through where the issues arises.

Varian needs a friend his age, who is his equal, more so than a mentor; if indeed Xavier is even intended to serve that function as he doesn’t do any real mentoring. This should have been an opportunity to bring Faith in and establish her better. In fact it’s reasons like this why she should have been a bigger character all along but we’ll get more into that as we get to her only ‘focus’ episode.

Conclusion

It’s fun seeing all the various character interactions and unique team ups. Also the humor does work. The jokes do land even if they do bulldoze through established canon. Plus seeing Rapunzel actually annoyed by shit going on around her is always entertaining as it humanizes her. If watched in isolation from the rest of season three, this is an enjoyable episode. But that’s it’s core problem. I shouldn’t have to find filler to keep me going in the last leg of the show.

This was pretty short comparatively speaking with the rest of the ones I have to write for S3, but longer ones are going to come out more slowly just due to real life and time. As always though you’re support is helpful in keeping going, and if you feel like you can donate to my Ko-fi and leave a tip there.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #varian #anti-tangled #feldspar

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jotunvali02 · 4 years ago

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rewatching Star Trek Beyond

OMG! Is that Montressor from Treasure Planet??

Jim spends some relaxing time with his doctor boyfriend; who happens to be the sweetest boyfriend ever. ♥

THAT cute, awkward, gratuitous Space Husbands moment in the lift. “I believe we make a good team ♥”

“Captain! We’re not engaged for this level of engagement!” XD

Scotty is the most useful and most competent person of the Enterprise! Of the whole galaxy! Also I LOVE Simon Pegg. He’s also the best and one of the most competent people in the world.

Scotty: “This handsome bastard is the captain Kirk!” XD

Pilot Bones, yeah!

“What would I do without you, Spock?” Uh, excuuuse me! Spock AND Bones BOTH saved you!

I swear there is too MUCH of pew-pews and ka-pows in this. The only scenes truly worth of watching are the TALKING scenes! And there are way too few of them.

No surprise but the best scene, to my opinion, is the “delirious Spock” scene:

“I want to continue his work” It’s not just AOS Spock talking about TOS Spock, it’s Zachary Quinto talking about Leonard Nimoy here. And that’s the most beautiful thing in the world! TAT

Bones when learning about TOS Spock’s death “I can’t imagine what it feels like.” Says the only lifelong Star Trek fan, with Simon Pegg, of the whole cast.💔 Zach and Karl clearly were on the verge of tears in that scene and we understand them.

Bones talks about Jim to Spock as if Jim was in love with Spock (which he is), and that’s neat. “Have you told Jim of your decision to leave Starfleet?” Not Uhura, his ex-girlfriend, but JIM! “I could throw a party but Jim’s not gonna like it.” It’s not like I love you too or anything, baka!

Then Spock giggles and broadly smiles. He’s so flattered two beautiful guys like Jim and Bones love him. 💛💙 As he loves them.

“Doctor you have wonderful eyes.” 💙3💙

Oh and Bones and Spock spend an entire night together! Literally!

The plot forces them to stay together throughout the whole movie. ^^

The thing of blowing shit up and defeating the enemy with punk-rock music definitely was an idea of Simon Pegg! Just watch the Cornetto Trilogy! X)

Jim REFUSES that damn admiralty position!! TAT

“Is that what you wanted to mention at that time in the turbolift?” -”More or less.”

OH MY GOD!!

WHY THE HELL DIDN’T THEY KISS???

Also Jaylah sits like Bones.

#star trek beyond #space husbands #spones #mckirk #simon pegg #scotty #treasure planet

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eorzean-tale · 3 years ago

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FFXIV Writing Challenge Prompt 29: Debonair

Part 12 of the Oaksong tale

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine || Part Ten || Part Eleven || Part Twelve

She was already in the basement when she heard the two of them follow her, with Zacharie being his usual flirtatious self offering slightly salacious banter. The Viera seemed to take it all in stride, replying in equally playful tones without committing to anything. Nareema conceded that such was probably the best course of action to take, even if she inwardly hated how it seemed to encourage the man. She knew all too well how sulky and destructive he could get when ignored, so it was the lesser of two evils.

“Moisaux,” she called out into the hallway, not willing to wander what she thought of as catacombs despite how neat and well lit the place was. “Please come save me from your pet before one of us ends up on your table next!” His dry chuckle arrived before he did, but by the time the two men came down the director of the Last Journey reached the group as well. He was an Elezen like Zacharie and wore the same suave outfit as the other man, but otherwise they couldn’t have been more different in looks and attitude. While the latter was fair-skinned, smallish for his race, and lithe in build, Moisaux had the deep coal skin that she vaguely knew Eorzea’s Duskwight were known for, was tall even for an Elezen, and had relatively a broad chest and shoulders. They both had long hair, but Zacharie’s was wavy and so long it almost reached his backside, the green complimenting his complexion neatly while Moisaux had a shock of thick, snow-white hair that stood out in sharp contrast to his skin. He wore it in a higher tail, with the sides undercut. Zach was also always smirking, like he saw the world and the people in it as something to be perpetually mocked while Moisaux had a more serious outlook, with a natural inclination towards stern stoicism.

Not for the first time, Nareema wondered about how suave the both of them looked, given their line of work. She supposed it was necessary when attending actual funerals as hosts, but the both of them seemed to dress that way during their day-to-day work as well. Not that she could judge them for having a sense of fashion. It was one of her vices too, after all. She also didn’t bother wondering how two men who were so different in outlook could be such close companions. Opposites attract, she simply figured. That or Zach was extorting Moisaux, which wasn’t unthinkable either.

The large Elezen bent down to hug her, a warm greeting that had taken her years of working together and friendship to earn from the normally more distant man. “Always a pleasure to see you, Nareema. Have you been well?” Zacharie tutted, and spoke up before she could: “Don’t get any ideas, he only cheats on his wife with me these days.” The Au Ra couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste and put up a mock stern voice, pointing a judgmental finger at Moisaux: “You still haven’t told him, hm? Shame on you. I’m well though, as well as I can be while among the dead anyway. And you? How are Unette and the girls?”

Moisaux’s face lit up, like it always did when talking about his wife and her two daughters. “Very well, thank you for asking.” In a more conspiratory tone, he added: “I’m not supposed to say anything yet, but she might be with child.” Before Nareema could express her delight over the news, Zach piped in to interrupt her again: “Is it yours this time, or..?”

That earned him a second smack to the back of his head so far, though Moisaux was significantly less inclined to hold back in comparison to Nareema and seemed momentarily genuinely annoyed at the jest. It wasn’t hard to guess as to why the topic was a sensitive one. Although Moisaux and Unette were by all accounts a loving and understanding couple, the community of people who traced their origins back to Ishgard in Radz-at-Han was as small as it was nosy. Unette was respected as a skillful healer, but gossip about her being a ‘loose’ woman was ever present, with Moisaux often being seen as the sucker who took on a wife who already had children by another. Two others, if the stories were to be believed. Never mind that Zacharie wasn’t joking about his relationship to the man, or at least that’s what Nareema had long since suspected. In other words, things were complicated in the Last Journey. Delightfully so, if she was entirely honest.

“Who is your new friend, Nareema,” Moisaux asked before Zacharie could double up on the banter, looking behind her with clear curiosity in his ruby eyes. Viera were such a rarity in general, but a male one was practically unheard of. He was probably used to being treated as a curio, but Moisaux was so unabashed about it that she felt like blushing on his behalf. “Master Oaksong, of the Oaksong Perfumery,” he introduced himself with a small bow. “I had expected to be taken to some shady undertaker in the bad part of town, well, one of the bad parts, that is, but this seems to be a respectable business.”

Zach laughed, petting the Viera’s shoulder. “Oh, how looks can be deceiving. Come, let's get this corpse business out of the way. I’m all ready for some chaste handholding after such displays of violence against my person. Are you sure you don’t want a go at it as well,” he asked Oaksong coyly, pointing to the back of his head. “Not yet,” Oaksong replied as if he was asked if he wanted a drink. “But ask me again later and I might be in the mood.”

#FFxivWrite2021 #FFxivWrite #FFXIV

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sanderssidesfanfiction · 4 years ago

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If There’s a Place I Could Be - Chapter Twenty Nine

If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag

April 14th, 1986

Emile was hugging his stomach and trying to cry as quietly as possible, but he wasn’t very successful at staying quiet. His mother looked at him in the rearview mirror of the car. “Emile, what’s wrong?” she asked.

Sniffling, Emile couldn’t even form a single sentence. He just managed to choke out a, “Jamie...” before dissolving into tears.

“Emile, you apologized for shoving him. That’s all you can do, sweetheart. Whether or not he chooses to forgive you, you’ve done all you can,” his mother said.

“M-my fault...!” he bawled.

“And you owned up to it, sweetheart. You have to let it go, now. It’s in the past.”

Emile whimpered and tried to stop the tears, but they just kept coming. He felt terrible for Jamie getting scraped up all because Emile had pushed him a little too hard in a game of tag. Jamie had a bloody nose from it, too, and he didn’t seem to want to forgive Emile much at all. He felt absolutely terrible, and never wanted this feeling again.

May 4th, 2001

It had been a week since they had last seen Remy’s mother. A week since the police came to their apartment. A week since Emile had yelled at Remy. And Emile still felt like the scum of the earth for doing it. Remy was flinching at every sound around their apartment from the door of the refrigerator closing, to the sound of the chairs at the card table being moved across the floor. Emile had worked hard to try and build an environment where Remy could feel safe, and then Emile lost his temper and all of that work had instantly been undone.

He initially wanted to blame anyone but himself. After all, if Remy couldn’t handle anything but a very carefully balanced environment and still feel safe, that spoke more to him than Emile, didn’t it? But then Emile was reminded that it spoke to Remy’s past, and his trauma, and the fact that Emile was trying to blame Remy spoke billions more about Emile than it did about Remy.

When the coffee pot hissed, it dragged Emile out of his thoughts and caused Remy to jump, again. Emile observed Remy a second too long as shaking hands poured coffee into the waiting mug, and Remy growled, “What?”

“Do...” words were getting caught in his throat, but Emile knew he had to ask this question sooner rather than later. “Do we need to talk about what happened last week?”

Remy scowled as he sipped his coffee. “I don’t see much of a reason to.”

“You don’t see much of a reason to?” Emile repeated.

“That’s what I said, Emile, yeah,” Remy said.

Emile stared at Remy again. “So you don’t see flinching at every sudden noise as a problem? You don’t think that maybe you shouldn’t jump whenever the coffee pot hisses, or when the TV’s static happens? Do you genuinely think that’s something that most people do?”

“Of course not!” Remy snapped. He sipped more of the coffee. “I’m talking to Kim about it, though.”

“Why her and not me, Rem?” Emile asked. “I’m the one who made you feel that way—”

“—No. Don’t you dare, Emile.”

“But I am! I’m the one who made you—”

“Emile Zachary Thomas, don’t you dare!” Remy snapped. “You’re not the one who hurt me! My mother is the one responsible for that!”

“I’m the one who yelled at you loud enough to make you hide in your room!” Emile exclaimed, tears coming to his eyes. “I’m the one who did that!”

“Yeah, and you’ve yelled before, both over good and bad things, and I might flinch a little but I never run and hide! The only reason I did it then is because the events with my mother were still fresh in my mind, and I made a connection between the two events that wouldn’t have been made if my mother weren’t stalking me! This is not your fault!” Remy declared.

Emile wanted to argue, to say that he shouldn’t yell at any time, that he never wanted Remy to feel unsafe and he had at the very least contributed to that, but Remy didn’t appear to be open to a discussion on that topic, so he shoved a shaking fist against his mouth and tried to fight back the overwhelming feeling of nausea he was getting. “Is Kim helping?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Remy said. “The breathing and stuff helps a little. And we’re going to be talking about the reappearance of my mother and how I draw parallels to my past from it the next time we talk, because we ran out of time last session.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Emile said softly. “I really am sorry, Remy.”

“Emile...” Remy huffed. “You have nothing to apologize for. Because you yelled last week, and you apologized then. I told you it might take time for me to forgive you, and I have, given the time you provided me. It’s in the past, mio amore, you don’t need to worry about it.”

“But—”

“—No. There are no but’s in this situation,” Remy said firmly. “Stop trying to make yourself the bad guy, Emile, because you’re not.”

“I made a mistake!” Emile exclaimed.

Remy ran his hands through his hair. “Exactly! It was a mistake! Only a mistake! You didn’t do it with malicious intent! You didn’t do it to scare me into submission, you didn’t do it to traumatize me and make me hurt! You did it because you were angry and you didn’t think through your actions! Does that mean you shouldn’t be held responsible? Of course not, but you already held yourself responsible! You already apologized! It’s in the past! Saying your a terrible person over this? Is inching into guilt-trip territory. Believing that past infractions can’t be resolved with a simple apology is obsession!” Remy’s breath was heaving in his chest as he grit out, “Even I know an apology should be enough, Emile. You can’t obsess over every single mistake you make, because no one is perfect, and no one should be held to a perfect standard.”

“But I should be held to a higher standard! I’m training to be a therapist, I should know better!” Emile exclaimed.

“Key word: training! You’re going to make mistakes, Emile! You’ll have to accept it, learn from them, and move forward,” Remy said. “You can set that bar for yourself as high as you like, but set it too high and all that will happen is you’ll hurt yourself. I don’t want that any more than you do.”

“Maybe I’m a masochist, you don’t know,” Emile muttered.

“Worst masochist in the world, if you’re going to fixate on every imperfection you have while trying to build everyone else up,” Remy said. “Because I can’t imagine a pain heavier than that.”

Emile shook, trying to come up with a reason as to why he shouldn’t be forgiven yet. He certainly didn’t feel like he shouldn’t be forgiven, not by anyone, let alone Remy. “I can’t...I can’t let it go,” Emile said. “Because I hurt you, after trying so long to avoid that. Even when I teased you I would never let a shred of ill-intent slip in. But when your mother came around...I couldn’t understand why you couldn’t see things from my perspective. And I got angry, and I wanted...I wanted you to shut up. To see things from my perspective, and understand why I was that upset. And I should have calmly asked you to see things from my side, instead of shouting you down.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Remy allowed. “But you already apologized for this, Emile. It’s time to let it go.”

“But...I don’t...I can’t...I hurt you!” Emile exclaimed.

Remy sighed, putting down his coffee cup and holding Emile’s face with his hands so they were looking each other in the eye. “Emile. I’m not debating with you on this anymore. You’ve been forgiven. You can hold onto that guilt if you want, because I can’t exactly stop you just by telling you no, but I forgive you. There’s no reason to harbor that guilt.”

“No reason?” Emile repeated.

“No reason,” Remy confirmed, going back to his coffee.

Emile watched Remy mutely. He didn’t understand how Remy could just...say that. It felt like he was disregarding his own safety!

“I know what you’re thinking, Emile,” Remy said with an eye-roll. “And no, this is not me disregarding my own safety. I’ve taken a good, hard look at the situation. And the fact of the matter is that you’re not a threat to me. You’ve worked very hard to prove that to me. I believe you when you say that you didn’t mean to yell. I haven’t talked about it with you yet because I knew you were going to blame yourself for it, and I wasn’t prepared for you externalizing that thought. That would remind me painfully of my mother, so that’s why I’m not, you know, voluntarily poking that bear. I’m talking about this with Kim. We’re working our way through some of the bigger problems I faced with my family. It’s okay. I don’t blame you for any of this.”

Emile searched Remy’s face, and was somewhat surprised to find he was dead serious. “Okay,” Emile said. “So, if you’re sure about this—”

“—I am absolutely sure,” Remy said.

“—Then there’s a question that I wanted to ask you that my family has been pestering me about,” Emile said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Provided it’s not a proposal, I’ll consider it,” Remy said with a smirk. “I just think it’s a little too soon to get married.”

“Agreed,” Emile rushed to assure. “No, my parents were wanting to meet you. I talked about you over Thanksgiving and winter breaks, obviously, so they’ve grown curious about you.”

Remy blinked. “And...do you want me to meet them?”

“I mean, yeah,” Emile said. “I think that even if we only wind up being friends in the end, my parents would like you.”

“And you’ve already met my mother, not that she liked you very much,” Remy laughed. “When were they hoping to meet?”

“Uh...Memorial Day weekend, provided neither of us were working. Which, I put in my request to have off that weekend anyway, because the sales and rabid PTA moms are going to kill me,” Emile said.

“Oh, yeah, I applied for off time then too, just because...I knew you were trying to get it off and I was hoping we could spend at least one day together,” Remy mumbled.

“That’s gay,” Emile snickered.

“You better believe it!” Remy exclaimed, waving his coffee mug around. “Honestly, Emile, what do you expect from me?”

“True,” Emile laughed. “So are you in?”

“Yeah, sure, why not, provided I get the time off,” Remy said. “It could be fun, I guess. And your parents couldn’t possibly be worse than mine.”

Emile squawked in shock before clamping a hand over his mouth until his entire body quaked with his laughter. “They’re not neglectful or abusive, although that doesn’t mean they can’t suffocate me sometimes,” he managed to say. “But yes, I doubt they’re worse than yours.”

Remy was grinning at Emile’s reaction. “What are your parents even like?” he asked.

“Uh...my dad’s a sports nut. Not, like, with numbers and statistics on teams, although he’s good at that. He just loves playing any and every sport, especially badminton, for reasons that I can’t understand. My mom’s a terrible cook, my dad has banned her from the kitchen, but it’s all in good fun,” Emile said with a shrug. “They both know I’m bisexual, and they don’t care who I’m with so long as I’m happy.”

“Okay...?” Remy said. “Anything else?”

“Honestly, my parents are an experience unto themselves. You just kind of...strap yourself in and get to know them as you go. I don’t think I could prepare you in terms of how excited they’ll be to meet you, or how insistent they’ll be that they will be cooking and you are not allowed to join them, because you’re the guest,” Emile said.

“But I like cooking!” Remy protested.

Emile blinked. “Rem, you eat granola bars for breakfast and instant ramen for dinner every night we don’t go out to eat.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t cook or that I don’t want to!” Remy exclaimed. “We can’t exactly afford quality ingredients yet, but when we can, I’ll prove to you that I can cook. And I will fight your parents on the right to help with dinner.”

“That’ll go over great,” Emile laughed. “Good luck with it.”

Remy grinned. “Thanks, I’ll certainly try.”

“You know what sarcasm is, right?” Emile asked, arching an eyebrow with a smirk. They sometimes had this conversation, quoting back to their first real time out together, and every time, it made Emile smile.

“Oh, yeah,” Remy said, finishing off his coffee and flashing Emile a grin that had Emile’s stomach doing flips. “I just choose to ignore yours.”

#if there's a place i could be #sanders sides fanfiction #remile #emile picani #ts sleep

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mendesficsxbombay · 5 years ago

Text

send noods (II) | s.m

part 1 here

only took me about 8 years to complete this haha (more like 2 months but you get it) this is the longest fic I have written so far (over 6K what it do baby!!) I hope you like it!

Shawn silently shuts the door to her room after making sure she’s safely fallen asleep, well fed and high on “wormies” (Stomach worm medicines. Zahra Ameen shortens things as she likes to, and you are expected to accept that.) He hadn’t bothered a lot with his phone since he got here, so when he pulls out his phone to finally check it, he’s not surprised to see the flood of notifications. The only people who really needed to know where he was were his mom, Zahra, and Zachary, his roommate. “Zach” for short, “whiteboy supreme” for Zahra.

His fingers danced across the screen typing back replies to each of his project partners for their assignments due in the following weeks. She really couldn’t have chosen a worse time to fall sick because their mid terms were around the corner, a truck load of assignments lined up for both of them, and he’s thinking of ways he can probably do some of her stuff so she has lesser work to get back to when she recovers. Recovers, he thinks to himself as his mom’s words ring through his head. “She has a bug, baby, she’s not diseased, and she’s a strong girl and I need you to be a strong boy right now.” He silently huffs to himself because what does his mom know anyway? (everything.) He decides to quickly dash out and grab his laptop and notes over to her room so he can stay with her and work at the same time.

He shoots her roommate a text about going back to his dorm and runs out. Back in their room, Zach silently watches Shawn pack his things like he’s preparing for exile. His laptop, chargers, notes for 3 different courses, his nighttime face cream, a towel, a power bank, a sanitiser is tossed in and he’s pretty sure he sees a his family photo thrown in somewhere.

“Got everything you need, Shawnie?” Zach walks over and throws his arms around him from the back, clutching him tight. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

Shawn lets out a yelp as Zach becomes dead weight on him, forcing him to fall face first onto the bed, both now laying flat on what once was a pile of Shawn’s belongings. “Zach you know I can’t pack with you playing dead ON me, right? Move, jackass.”

Zach rolls over, propping his head up on one hand and continues to observe him, “you know I’ve noticed a few things about you, these days, Shawnie. And in my expert opinion I would like to diagnose you with a serious case of unrequited love, the subject in case being a girl currently diseased and lying in her bed high on wormies while you pack to move in with her-”

“I’m not moving in with her-”

“Interrupting is bad manners, you know? As I was saying, you are packing to move in with her, and I highly doubt she feels the exact same way about you, bro.”

“Okay, Zach. Get to the point, what do you mean, here?”

“See, I just don’t see her doing the same for you! If it weren’t for her staying over with you for your regularly scheduled, uh, activities, I would say that she wouldn’t come over at all! It’s always you going to her! Don’t you see that? It’s one sided!”

Shawn was still staring at him with a blank expression, still not sure where this whole conversation was going. “Zach, I need you to try and make more sense. I know it’s hard, but please.”

“Shawn, Zahra only has to breathe in your direction for you to be all heart eyes for her, like someone just says her name and you start blushing,” and unfortunately for him, he did start blushing again, “SEE? Shawn, full offense, I think you’re whipped trash and she’s just - not. I don’t think she feels as much as you do, and it’s really cute that you want to wait hand and foot on her, but it’s not reciprocated!”

Shawn looks away, unsure of how to tell him that it is, in fact reciprocated. They had talked their feelings out when they went home for winter break, made love till they couldn’t anymore and then talked some more and fucked some more. It was taken care of, Zahra Ameen was in love with him, too and they weren’t even dating yet.

“It is, actually,” Shawn starts.

“It’s what?”

“Reciprocated.”

“Did she tell you that?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“When we we went back home.”

“She told you she likes you?”

“She told me she loves me.”

“She told you she loves you?”

“Yes.”

Both of them took a moment to just look at each other, Zach getting pensive, until he flung a deodorant at him. “She told you she loves you A MONTH ago and you didn’t tell me?”

Shawn ducks just in time, the bottle landing somewhere behind him. “We’re barely learning to say it ourselves, Zach, it’s not exactly meant to be advertised right now,” he was exasperated, he’d been through the same cycle with his friends before, as had she with hers. People didn’t understand their dynamic, and they didn’t expect them to. They’d grown from being close to closer at their own pace and all while being exclusive without even trying, they were good at being them and there wasn’t ever a time they needed validation from anyone else. “And even if we did you guys would start grilling us for not dating and being in love, why am I meant to-”

“Hey, hey Shawnie listen,” Zach steadies him by holding his shoulders down, “I’m happy for you, bro, if you’re happy with her then I’m happy too, I was only worried because you were all in, you know? And I don’t want to see you get hurt man, you know what I was like after Rachel last year.”

“You saw Rachel for 3 days and decided you were in love with her without talking to her and she’d had a boyfriend for months before that, Zach I’m not sure how that counts as heartbreak…”

“What are you? The heartbreak police? I’m telling you, I was in a one sided relationship-”

“It was NOT a relationship, Za-”

“What did I tell you about not policing me, Shawn? Now, glad we decided to have this conversation, I’m glad both of you are equally whipped for each other, you need to pack up and get to her dorm before she wakes up or else - I don’t know man I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

Shawn snickers lightly, taking in how Zach was actually disturbed at the thought of Zahra screaming at him for messing around with her a few weeks ago. Shawn and Zahra had a few ground rules. One of them being they never left the other sleeping in bed without telling them where they went - this way they never had to wake up alone, wondering where the other went. Waking up alone after not going to sleep alone was one of Zahra’s deepest fears, and she’d had a hard time communicating that to absolutely everyone except Shawn. She’d rambled on and on about the why and how before he simply said, “Don’t leave you alone in bed. Got it.” And so, a few weeks ago when Shawn went to shower and Zahra woke up without him, Zach told her he left for the day and didn’t want to wake her up. She was a second away from crying when Shawn came out of the shower and kissed her good morning. That was when she physically launched herself at Zach for making her believe he truly left her after she told him not to.

Goes without saying that Zach had been afraid of messing with her, avoided her for a week straight right after the incident and promptly left the flat as soon as she came over all other times. Zach still grumbled as Shawn continued packing proceeding to catching him in a headlock and pressing down on the visible hickey she must’ve left on him the last time she came over. Shawn pushed him away whining about “how many times have I told you not to do that, you absolute fuck?” and received a loud, “if you’re so sensitive why don’t you ask her not to?”

And we all know that would never happen.

Another 10 minutes and Shawn had taken everything he thought he would need, Zach still not leaving his side.

“You got your dorm pass?”

“Yes”

“Library card?”

“Yes”

“Vitamins?”

“Yes”

“Condoms?”

“Ye- why would I need those? Are you out of-”

“You’re going to see the one person I know who loves the deed more that you do, just figured you need them at hand.”

“She’s practically an invalid right now, get your mind out of the gutter, Zachary”

“Hey I’m just saying I can’t take the responsibility of being a godfather anytime soon, bud.”

“Good thing you won’t be one, then.” Shawn pulled out his phone to check if she had woken up and texted him after seeing the sticky note he left on her bedside, but his heart stuttered a bit seeing her last texts to him.

Babiest to shawny boy : (3:11 pm): feeling icky tbh but i had a rly cute guy come over to nurse me back to life

Babiest : (3:11 pm): he is the greatest souper on the world

Babiest : (3:11 pm): soup maker?

Babiest : (3:11 pm): might just fuck around and wife him up while you’re not watching. Love u

Did anyone go over to her’s while he wasn’t there? Not to brag, but he’s makes the sickest soups he knows, how could someone except his mom and her mom possibly come close to the absolute delicacy that is his world famous noodle soup? Why would she want to wife- I mean, be with someone else when he exists? And they exchanged the L word pretty recently, too, or did she not mean it? Why would she say it if she did not mean it? And if he’s honest, she does deserve the world, and he’s willing and ready to give it to her but if she wants it from someone else, who was he to stop her? He would wish it was him though. It always felt like it was.

He continued staring at the texts till Zach snapped him out of it, and he blinked away tears he didn’t know he had. “Hey, can you read these?”

He handed his phone over and continued pacing around the room, constantly running running his hands through his hair, biting his nails, just to have an outlet. Zach bit his lip reading the texts, unsure of how to respond. He wasn’t there when this went down, how was he to know if she was talking about Shawn or someone else?

“Bro, do you think there’s someone else?”

“I don’t know, I think…,” Shawn looked away, not wanting to cry when he doesn’t know anything for sure and definitely not wanting to do it in front of Zach because he was the easiest crier he knew. One person composing themselves is better than two of them losing it. The energy in the room had shifted in the matter of seconds. The airy, playful banter was gone as quick as it came, signs of possible heartache hanging over both of their heads now. Their friendship worked in funny ways, sometimes. Zach took on responsibility as quick as he could, and Shawn could let go of his voice of reason for Zach’s sake at any given point. If what both of them were thinking did turn out to be true, it would be the first time Shawn would have to wear his heart on his sleeve rather than the other way around.

“You can say whatever you want, you know that Shawny,” he sighed, looking back down at the texts. “We don’t judge around here…”

Shawn didn’t face him for a bit. He couldn’t and he didn’t want to. He continued crossing the length of his room while Zach resumed his spot on the bed, watching him intently. A few more rounds and he came to halt abruptly in front of him, eyes red from not crying, it’s a thing that happened to him. He let out a sounded that felt something like the air was choked out of him and he’d been punched in the gut.

“She told me she loved me, Zach.” And Zach started crying, and Shawn was about to join in until his ring tone cut them off.

It was Zahra calling.

__________________________

Zahra sighed for the third time in 5 minutes, she was having a hard time finding relevant information for Shawn’s next research paper. Her eyes were strained now and the pads of her fingers felt scratched into after working on her laptop’s touch pad for so long. Her hands uncovered her face and lay flat on the table in front of her as she leaned forward to stare at the screen as if that would make things fall in place together. She felt a finger link with her pinky, a soft, tired smile growing on her face as his thumb ran across the back of her hand. Shawn had a few nervous ticks, the easiest to ground him was through physical contact, easier so when she was around. Zahra flipped her hand over slowly, letting his fingers intertwine with hers, seeing him furrow his eyebrows over a particularly hard piece of writing and thinking of how quick the library matron would shoo them out of there if she just leaned over and gave him a few kisses, not many, just a few. She spared a glance around the relatively empty section they had found, and decided that loving on her boy for a bit was more important at the moment than having a secluded working environment.

She leaned closer, pulling him in by the side of his face to pepper kisses across his temple down to his cheeks. She felt his cheeks grow into a smile under her lips, a soft, “I’m trying to concentrate, baby,” coming through. “You work too hard,” she mumbled, finally pulling his face her way and kissing him for real. He reacted naturally, pressing down on her chin so she’d let him kiss her as he pleased, rubbing his thumb across her cheeks now.

It was her turn to smile as she felt his tongue pad across her lower lip, pulling away slightly to brush his nose against hers. Another Shawn and Zahra thing. She leaned back in, mirroring Shawn’s actions and swiping her tongue against his lip softly, keening as she heard him hum softly. He caught her chin again, but to lightly pull away this time.

“Control yourself, Ms. Ameen, we’re still in the library and your membership could be revoked if someone caught you engaging in such a lewd act,” he grinned lightly, pecking her one last time before getting back to work.

“Lewd act? Really? As if this is the worst we’ve ever done,” he tries to shush her but she continues anyway, “Remember when we went behind the bleachers after your game last ye-”

“Shut up, Zahra, honestly,” it was his turn to blush furiously, “don’t you have a paper to finish?”

“Your paper, you mean?” She rolls her eyes at him and he’s endeared to no end, really. As she slips her hand back into his, laying her flat on the desk before her presumably to take a break, his heart feels slight pangs that turn to jabs till he thinks he probably cannot breathe anymore. The day he read the texts, he went over to her house anyway, and there’s a lot of things Shawn Mendes was capable of but staying away from Zahra Ameen was not one of them. So he’d gone over, hugged her and kissed her like he always did and promptly ignored her when she giddily asked him if he got her texts.

Her face fell when he chose not to answer her, and she’s not used to not getting a reply from him so she pressed a bit more till he brought in the remaining soup for her to finish and go back to sleep. He knew they were coming to an end, sooner than he expected, and he actually didn’t expect this at all. An unfortunate part of him believed they were it, they were endgame, they were each other’s “ult faves” as Zahra said. All good things come to an end, though, and as much as he wished it was him and her at the end, he couldn’t dream if holding her back from anything. Maybe a better love was in store for her, and the least he could do was let her have it, the most he could do was hold onto whatever they had until she told him the truth.

He didn’t stop with the hand holding or the kisses or the I love you’s, and to his misery neither did she. If anything she became softer around him, killing him inside all while holding his hand. He thought it was just a way to make the blow softer, whenever the blow eventually comes.

And now a week later as she held his hand under a desk in their university library, he wishes he had tried talking to her about it on the same day. It would spare him the pain of holding her hand and thinking it’s the last time he’ll ever get to do so, it was exhausting to constantly think of each time as their last.

He looked up from their hands to see Amisha walking over, nudging Zahra to sit up and greet her classmate. She rubbed at her eyes, reminding him to get the mock papers he was supposed to refer to while writing his own. Shawn pulled away, grateful for the distance all of a sudden as he saw her get out of her seat for the first time in over 2 hours, hugging Amisha and catching up softly, keeping their voices to a whisper.

He thumbed through the piles of papers available to him, picking out a few randomly and signing in his name on the counter. At times he was grateful Zahra forced him to get a library card and then forced him to study with her endlessly because he had grown to love the place. As he walked back his tennis shoes made a light thwack sound against the marble of the surprisingly dead room, focusing back on Zahra.

Amisha and Zahra had lots in common. They picked the same Majors, same Minors, happened to be the only two second year’s on the debate team and shared their heritage being two of the many Indian girls on campus. Amisha had also learned of how much Zahra loved their campus library, and made sure to her rounds each time she came in in hopes of running into her.

Zahra spoke animatedly about falling sick the previous week and as Amisha asked her if she’d started working on her own research papers due soon. “I have! I promise, just let me finish my boyfriend’s and I’ll get back to mine for reals,” the answer would’ve gone on for longer had they not heard a pile of something fall behind them, disturbing the silence around them.

Shawn’s heart was in his mouth and his hands shook even after the papers slipped through. Boyfriend? Things had gotten to a point of Zahra having a boyfriend and she still let him kiss her?

“You okay, Bub?” Zahra rushed over, helping him get his precious mocks into one pile again and raising her brow when he didn’t reply, just stared at her dumbly. “Shawn?”

“Hey um, we have class beginning in 10 and the walk is usually takes us 15 so…” Zahra looked back at Amisha who looked ready to break into a sprint if she said the word.

She nodded to the door and Amisha took the signal and left with her bookbag as Zahra frantically packed her own stuff, starting to throw instructions at Shawn for his remaining assignments, things like “I’ll email you the final design by tonight” and “we’ll finish your report writing by tomorrow” and “I’ll see how your business prof doesn’t give you the highest grade after seeing the model we’re working on, babe.”

dontcrydontcrydontcry he chanted in his mind, still not sure of what to tell her or how to react, the jabs felt in his heart again. She finally turned to him, cupping both his cheeks and pressing one long kiss to his lips, enough for him to make it through the day usually but right now, it didn’t feel like he’d make it through the next minute.

“We’re gonna crush this sem, baby,” she grinned, her eyes sparkling before she turned around and ran out after Amisha. He wasn’t sure if it was her leaving or the wind just not finding place in his lungs but his poor heart and his poor mind were barely hanging on by a thread. Thoughts of her consumed him within a second of her leaving, and his sanity seemed further and further away. He was used to feeling weak in the knees around her, but not so much in her absence.

_____________

Zach pulled his backpack up higher on his shoulder as he waited for his group to join him at the campus cafe he’d been waiting at for the past 10 minutes. His mind was working overtime as he didn’t know how he’d face Zahra while he knew how bad Shawn was taking the hit of their relationship. He hated the image of Shawn walking home with red rimmed eyes for the second time in the same week after he knew he met Zahra at the library. He didn’t have the heart to ask him the reason why because he already knew.

Which is what brings him here, because he shared 2 classes with Zahra, and Shawn doesn’t. Zach was already nervous around her because she was at the top of most of her classes anyway, and she was in group project for this particular one. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to act like everything was fine between them, or between her and Shawn. From what he gathered from Shawn, she acted like everything was fuckin’ dandy. A part of him wanted to call her out, hurt her for hurting his best friend but a bigger part of him knew how that would affect Shawn. To him Zahra had hung the moon, and Zach would comply for his sake. Seeing her walk towards him with the rest of their group, he took a deep breath, narrowing his eyes, as if he was preparing for attack. He didn’t gain second place in his school’s acting competition to never put his skills to use. If she could pretend, he could pretend, too.

___________

He couldn’t pretend for the life of him. It had been two hours and all he did was stare at her with a blank expression, he would give mono-syllabic answers each time someone asked for his inputs and he could see her grow uncomfortable under his stare over time. They had their books and papers piled onto the table along with their coffees and snacks, he couldn’t even finish half of his iced coffee and Zach loved iced coffee.

In his mind he played a dramatic scene where he stood up and screamed “How could you?!” in her face before throwing all their books off the table and saying something more like “You should be ashamed of yourself, Zahra Ameen,” or “How do you sleep at night knowing you’re a cheater?” and storming out of the cafe but a) Zach had social anxiety and therefore hated being the centre of attention and b) their notes were expensive and he wasn’t about to throw them to the floor anytime soon. And he would very much like to not be banned from the only cafe they have on campus, thank you very much.

So all that was left for him to do was stare, and hope to God that it was enough for her to own up to what she did. She was in the middle of showing the group designs she had worked on in the past, trying to gain inspirations for their coming submission and he visibly winced as he recognised two of those as work she’d done for Shawn in the past. She accidentally picked up the mug next to her own and took a sip, nearly spitting it out and saying the most pained, “Is that peppermint hot chocolate?” The group all burst into laughter as her distaste for the poor drink just grew bigger. “Why are you guys laughing? It’s genuinely the worst thing ever!! What kind of sociopath drank good ol’ hot chocolate and thought, hmm, how can I make the best thing in the world taste bad?”

“It’s not even bad, it’s like the upgraded version of hot chocolate, Zahra, you just don’t have taste,” the girl next to her giggled.

“God, you sound exactly like my boyfriend, you guys should start a cult,” she rolled her eyes, “And as much as I don’t support this agenda, he loves this disgraced drink from the place on 21st, if you ever want to try it out.”

Zach looked like he’d seen a ghost. He looked like the life had been sucked out of him. His heart clenched and his hands shook. If this is how I’m feeling then what on earth is Shawn going through? He continues staring at her for just a second longer, mumbling the tiniest, lowest, “How could you, Zahra?” before he rushes to stuff his things into his bag, the group looking at him in his confusion.

“Are you okay?” Of course she had to be the one to ask him that, that’s just how great his life is.

“No - I mean, I have somewhere to be, bye,” and then he’s dashing out the door. He runs and runs, doesn’t stop until he reaches their dorm and barges inside their house. A few stray tears may or may not have fallen out in his state of frustration, and he sees Shawn by his desk and runs over and wraps his arms around him in the tightest hug he could muster.

“I’m sorry, Shawn I’m so, so sorry you don’t deserve this,” he cries into his shoulder, “You deserve everything, bro, you deserve the world..”

Shawn was used to Zach crying at the smallest of things, he was an easy crier, that one. And yet he had never truly heard wails so heartbroken come from him, not even when Shawn made Zach watch The Notebook with him for the first time. He wraps his arms around Zach, trying to comfort him but to no avail, his cries growing deeper by the second. Shawn himself was spent, the past few days having taken a swing at his health, and this was the second day he had avoided the mirror. It was embarrassing how much he had let a girl affect him but if he was being honest, he knew she was anything but.

He shushed Zach again, now rubbing his back, telling him he couldn’t fix whatever it was that made him so sad if he didn’t talk to him at all.

“It’s her, it’s Zahra she’s- she,” he could barely talk through his hiccups and Shawn’s heart broke at the mention of her all over again. He coaxed Zach into speaking more, “She does have a boyfriend, Shawn, she said it today, she said it in front of me like, she said her boyfriend loves some hot chocolate from the 21st street place and she - she knew I was right there in front of her, and she said it so easy, like she doesn’t even care, and why aren’t you saying anything?!”

What can I possibly say, he thought.

“It’s okay, buddy, she’s with someone else, that’s not the end of the world, is it?” he smiled weakly. It was though, he felt like his world was seconds away from burning every time he thought of her.

“But she’s - you - you love her, Shawn, and you’ve never loved like this before,” Zach cried out.

“I need you to calm down, first, Zachary,” he let out a dry laugh, ignoring his best friend’s protests, “She’s allowed to love someone else, buddy, I guess it wasn’t so requited after all… and if she’s happy with someone else… then I’m happy for her, I can’t be angry because she doesn’t love me back, that’s not fair on her or on me,” he sniffled a bit, looking away and ignoring the burn in his eyes, “I guess - I mean, I’ll always wish it was me and her at the end, you know? But you can’t fight for everything, that’s not how love works, it works when you’re at peace, and maybe I’m not at peace today or tomorrow but some day I will be…”

Zach watches his best friend struggle with his words, his emotions and mostly his love that he can’t contain no matter how much he tries. He can’t help but mumble back to him, “Shawn I know we’ve always been against physically abusing women but you remember Riya from freshman year? She won the Inter College women on women boxing championship this year, I can get her to rough Zahr-”

Shawn lets out the first laugh Zach has heard in days, smiling despite himself. “That won’t be necessary, we’re not sending someone to beat up the girl I still love.”

Shawn goes to get Zach some water now that he has finally calmed down with the crying and is now settling himself onto his bed when he hears a series of knocks on the door, a chill running down his spine when he realises only one person knew that pattern. Zach goes over to open the door before he can stop him.

His face contorts almost immediately upon seeing Zahra, defence mode kicking in automatically.

“Are you okay?” She starts, “You ran out of there like-”

“Shawn’s not here if you’re looking for him,” he snipes.

“Where is he?”

“He has a class right now.”

“Which one?”

“Integrated uh, Marketing.”

“Nice try, he had that class yesterday,” she shoves past him, entering their dorm and finding Shawn looking like a wounded puppy in the kitchen area. “Hi…” she says softly, careful to approach him. “You didn’t answer my calls or texts so I thought I’d come over to-“

“Now’s really not the time, Zahra, you should go,” he’d never asked her to leave, ever. And his heart broke as he saw her pretty face fall, the dull jabs in his heart making a return.

“Oh, um,” she tried to find the correct thing to say to him, unsure of what she’d done wrong, “Is - are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“He said he doesn’t want to see you right now, Ameen,” Zach spits, moving to stand between the two of them, blocking Shawn protectively.

Zahra’s heart fell to her stomach as she tried to remember what she could’ve done so bad that the whiteboy had to step in.

“Okay, um, I’ll just leave this here then,” she put down the takeaway glass of peppermint hot chocolate that none of the boys had noticed till now, “Please drink it before it runs cold… and um, please call me?”

“You really have guts, huh,” Zach speaks up again, ignoring Shawn trying to hold him back. He sizes up Zahra, stepping closer to intimidate her, “You want to fool around with god knows who and still come around for him? I don’t know what made you think that this was ever okay-” but before he can complete himself Shawn puts a hand to his chest, pushing him away from her.

“Remember what we said about scaring girls, Zachary,” Shawn keeps his voice low, “Let me handle this, please.”

Zach scoffs before heading to his room and slamming the door shut, and Shawn runs his hand down his face, preparing himself for the worse of this heartbreak.

“Can you just tell me what’s going on? I have no idea-“

“When were you going to tell me?” It was Shawn’s turn to be mad.

“About what?” Her confusion only grew by the second, both boys talking in riddles.

“About you fucking someone else, Zahra, about you having a boyfriend.”

“I’m not fu- I have only been with you, Shawn.”

“See? That’s what you want me to believe? Zahra, I loved you, I gave you everything I had, and it wasn’t enough for you I get it, there’s better guys out there, and,” he sighs in annoyance, blinking his tears away for the fifth time in a day, mad at himself for being so emotional, for loving her so much his voice coming out in whimpers, “the least you could’ve done was tell me, baby, I would’ve let you go the second you said you wanted out, what did I do to deserve this?”

Zahra’s eyes pricked with tears as she saw him struggle to get the words out, tears streaming down his face. She moved closer to him to wipe them away but he just moved further away from her again, not willing for her to help.

“Baba, I don’t know what you’re talking about I - I haven’t, I don’t want anyone but you - I really don’t know what you’re talking about, how am I supposed to give you an answer?” She croaked out, throat going dry at the thought of him hurting because of her.

“So you still want to act like you don’t know? Fine, I’ll tell you.” She winced as his voice grew louder, she’d never seen him like this before. “That day at the library? When you told Amisha you were there with your boyfriend? And when I came over to your house when you were sick and god, Zahra I made you soup from scratch and you had the audacity to say you had some boy come over to take care of you and you wanted to wife them up? Like what the fuck was that about? But I let it slide because I loved you Zahra, you’re my best friend the least you could’ve done was lessen the blow - oh and today? When you told your group including Zach about this boy of yours? Do you need more reminders? You’re one to talk about people who cheat but look at you now, huh? Or do you not count this as cheating because, in your words we’re not even dating, are we?”

It falls into place in her head before she can form words to get it out. He had it all so, so wrong. It hurt her that he bottled up his feelings so much that he thought she realistically liked someone who wasn’t him.

“Shawn,” she started calmly, “that day at the library, whose project was I working on?”

“How does it matter?” He scoffs, turning away from her again.

“It does, please, whose project was I working on?”

“Mine? But who el-”

“And today with Zach, I told them about the peppermint hot chocolate from the place at 21st… who took me there for the first time?”

“That fucking boyfriend of yours? How am I supposed to know?”

“You did,” she whispered, “and in that cup behind you is peppermint hot chocolate, because you’re the only person I know who loves it so much.” She wipes her tears away, moving to hand him the cup. “I told you it would run cold.”

He had visibly calmed down, trying to take in what she was trying to tell him. “What about the day I came over when you were sick?”

“You’re the only one who would bring the soup and take care of me. You’ve always been the only one.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I didn’t think I’d need to, to be honest. After coming back to college this time, it felt like everything had finally fallen into place, you know? Like we had fallen into place. I know it’s not something I’d discussed this with you, but I only love you, you know? How could I ever want someone else?”

He looked down in shame, thinking of the mess he’d created. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

“About what?”

“Being your boyfriend?”

She wiped her nose, laughing out fully before looking him in the eyes and lowering herself on one knee. “If that’s where we’re still at,” she grins at him, “Shawn Mendes, will you be my only boyfriend?”

taglist: @shawnwyr @mendesstories @lanallaa @sleepybesson @rulerofnocountry

dm to be added or removed ♥️

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