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#he gets to Get Away . he dies before he is captured surrounded by his life's work: 'they're too late. he got away'

animeyanderelover · 15 days

Note

Yay, your recs are open! Hope you're doing great and your health is good :)

This one is pretty dark, so ignore this if smth!

If you know about Tomie, could you do some jjk characters of your choice with a darling with similar powers? Like, she can't die fully, always returns no matter how cruel was her death, and for some reason all non-sorcerers are going crazy after being in contact with her for a some time – and, maybe, at some point even a yandere starts feeling a strange need to cause harm to her. Bonus points if she gives femme fatale vibes, but actually is much sweeter and kinder person than she may look.

Thanks, and have a great day!

I hope you don't mind that I made the darling in here the curse of obsession because this would fit the theme very nicely and would crank the Yandere scale to an incredibly creepy level. I know a bit about her since my best friend is a huge fan of Junji Ito works and she especially adores Tomie and Uzumaki.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, toxic relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, delusional behavior, manipulation, isolation, abduction, death of s/o, murder, mentions of cannibalism, nudity, mentions of dub-con, sexual themes, starvation

The curse of eternal obsession

Okkotsu Yuta

💍Walking through the streets of Tokyo, no human would suspect you to be the cursed being that you are. Instead there is an aura of allure and mystery around you, something that seems to draw them to you like a moth to a flame. Bound to be consumed by the fire. Yet Yuta seems to bring a quick end to your life when he senses your eerie cursed energy. There are no words spared as he attacks you, your calm and beautiful face chilling as he exorcises you as if you have lived through death already multiple times before. Your face is something that seems to be stuck in his mind as it is the thing he sees as soon as he closes his eyes. It agitates him, disturbs him but he tries to calm himself by reminding himself that he has already killed you. Until he meets you again in the middle of the fight as you sit on the ground, surrounded by the blood of two men who have stabbed each other to death. When your eyes meet his own, there is the same serene look on your face as Rika brutally assaults you and Yuta watches how she tears you apart, a lump in his throat.

💍You should be dead. He watched how Rika murdered you. He even murdered you one time himself. Yet only a few days later you stand in front of him again, greeting him politely before you walk away, your hair swaying in the wind. Yuta can only watch you with a racing heart whilst you disappear in the crowd. A few days later he receives word that a group of friends were found all dead. The police suspects that all of them strangled and beat each other to death in violent ways that are rare to find and his mind immediately suspects you to be the culprit. Whenever you appear it only takes a few days before news about violent deaths and gruesome suicides appear on the news as your mere presence seems to drive non-sorcerers to madness yet he has seen with his own eyes that you seem to possess an immortality unlike anything he has ever seen. To protect the public from your cursed energy, he captures you the next time he finds you.

💍Yet when he tracks you down he is witness to a violent crime that would have made the average person empty their stomach. Even Yuta can't help the creeping feeling of horror as he watches a woman dismembering you with a saw before she cuts her own neck with the saw until she dies of blood loss. There is a strange sense of fury flowing through his veins as he collects every part of you, his heart clenching when he picks up your head with dull and lifeless eyes yet to his great disturbance even dismembered and dead, you still possess an attractiveness that he shouldn't feel about a violated corpse. He locks all of the parts away from you instantly and stays away from the room you are in to clear his mind and get away from the cursed energy you still seem to produce even in your temporary death. He can't get a wink of sleep that night as his heart never stops pounding nor does he seem to get your face out of his mind. When he gathers the courage the next morning to peek inside the room, his heart tumbles when he sees that you have regenerated and sit there completely naked, the sight of your body sending sparks of arousal through his body before he hurries up to give you something to wear.

💍He keeps you there, locked inside the basement and stays as far away from you as possible. He has never encountered a curse such as you that has affected him as greatly as you do and he has to fight constantly against the temptation to see you as he finds himself standing in front of the door separating you from him multiple times a day, his nails digging into his palms as he bites his lips until he can taste blood. Even when he is not seeing you, Yuta can still sense the cursed energy of yours that is wrapping itself around his body like a snake and as weeks pass by, he finds himself falling asleep to horrifying fantasies about you that have him waking up drenched in sweat and with a raging boner that only throws him down into a spiral of disgust, shame and insanity. Until one day after roughly three weeks your cursed energy disappears. He should feel relieved about it yet his heart drops with such intense anxiety that has him nearly ripping out the door leading to your room. As soon as he sees your thin and dead body laying on the ground, he feels something shattering as he suddenly bursts out in tears. He starved you to death.

💍He carries your light and thin body to his own bed and lays you down before he waits. He sits there and waits for hours in agony until your cursed energy picks up strength again and your body regains its healthy and otherwordly beauty. As soon as your eyes flutter open, Yuta's face is the first thing you sees. His heart starts beating with excitement as he tells you that he will prepare something to eat for you before he rushes to the kitchen. It is only after he has prepared the food and serves it to you that he realises what he is doing and for a short moment he feels a spark of hot wrath that you have reduced him to this yet when you open your mouth and he hears your voice for the first time, his anger melts away. It is a soft and sweet sound that echoes in his mind long after you have told him your gratitude for the food. An infatuated smile appears on his face as he watches you eat the food before he asks you if you would like to take a bath. The following days you suddenly get a lot more freedom, although you are still kept within the house but that isn't solely because you are a threat to non-sorcerers anymore. It is also because Yuta feels a possessive yearning to see you whenever he wants.

💍You are unlike any curse he has ever seen. Not only are you beautiful and gorgeous but you are also soft-spoken, kind and even somewhat shy. You help him with the household as you insist on showing your gratitude by preparing him meals and washing his clothes to the point where Yuta feels like you are his housewife and that image has his heart racing and his body reacting. You insist on sleeping on the couch when Yuta offers you to share a bed with him as you don't want to breach his private space and you reject it until he snaps at you with a frightening look on his face and a tight grip on your arms that could break bones. He instantly withdraws his hands when he regains his sanity and apologises hastily to you with tears in his eyes. He clings to your warm body at night, taking deep whiffs of your scent. Everything about you drives him crazy, the feeling of your skin against his electrical. There is a constant arousal keeping him half-hard at night as temptation grows stronger until he starts dry-humping against your thigh or ass, praying that you are asleep. Until you one night run your fingers soothingly through his hair whilst he is humping, causing him to let out a choked moan as he cums.

💍Yuta spends weeks on cloud nine as he fully indulges in everything. He treats you like his precious wife as he buys you cute dresses and even gifts you a ring which he insists for you to wear. You never deny him anything as you allow his touchy behavior as he holds your hands, kisses you and eventually even has sex with you and this fuels Yuta's delusion that you feel the same as he does. It is almost sickening how sweet he acts with you. All until one day he crosses paths with an acquaintance who knew someone who came in contact with you and when Yuta finds out that they know about your existance, he suddenly feels a feeling of paranoia about your safety as he suddenly sees this non-sorcerer as a threat to you. He feels the urge to call out Rika but decides to pry for information for now. They open up to him, perhaps because they just want to tell someone who shows interest as no one has believed them so far and the story that they tell him shatters his pretty delusion. They tell him how their dead ex-lover left them for you, abducted you and apparently even had sex with you and how they called them moments before they jumped from a building to tell them in tears that they ended up killing you.

💍Yuta lets Rika kill that person within the same day as a wrath has suddenly festered inside of him. At first he believes that they are lying because you only love him and you would never allow another person to touch you the same way he touches you. You love him. But when he sees their corpse, a realisation slowly settles in. You are a curse. A curse that has always driven people mad and Yuta is no exception. He's just killed an innocent non-sorcerer. And it's your fault. Disgust, pain and wrath cause him to spiral down violently as he all but storms back to his house to murder you and take revenge on you for deceiving and using him. When he arrives home, he finds you asleep on the couch and for a moment his eyes just take in your beauty as you lay there so innocently before his gaze zooms in on your neck. In the next moment he is choking you, his body on top of yours. Your eyes fly open as you start whining and choking whilst he is watching you with a dark glint in his eyes, taking in with joy your suffering form. Then your eyes meet his own though. No shock, ne fear, no guilt. Instead all he sees inside those orbs is acceptance and pity. You are pitying him.

💍It is this look in your eyes that throws him off as he lets go and stumbles away from you, staring at you with shock and agitation. Why are you giving him this look?! You don't say anything as you instead just give him a sweet smile that tears his heart open. What kind of monster are you to deceive him even now? You know how much he adores that smile of yours. He's on the verge of crying as he pulls out his katana to dismember you but then he suddenly freezes. His wrath dies down as he stares at the katana in his hands and his eyes widen as he drops it and sinks down on his knees as he suddenly becomes aware of his own horrifying thoughts he just had. He just looks at you for a few minutes before he suddenly bursts out in tears when he seems to realise something. That you never had any choice but allow people to do what they want to do with you. Your own curse brings you as much misery as everyone around you and your immortality forces you to endure it over and over again. You are a victim. He crawls back on top of you and apologises to you whilst his hot tears fall on your face, promises you in between sweet kisses on your neck that he will never harm you again.

Gojo Satoru

🩵There you are, walking through the streets together with a man following you with infatuated eagerness as he constantly points at stores and offers to blow all of his money on you yet you only shake your head politely. Your cursed energy isn't oppressing nor is it filling the entire area but Satoru can sense how potent it is as he happens to be in the same area as you. He's currently there to buy something for his students when he senses you and blue eyes instantly race over the crowd to detect the source of it. An exceptionally beautiful man himself, even he can't deny your sheer beauty as he finally finds you. He watches as you point to a store selling candy and the man who is accompanying you eagerly nods his head before he rushes to buy you something. You seem to observe him for a while before you turn your head in an inhuman way and your own glowing eyes meet Satoru's as you have recognised his presence as well and want to let him know about it. Your cursed energy spikes and Satoru wonders if he will have to use his Domain Expansion if you decide to attack but you don't seem to plan on doing so as you crack your head back and wait with folded hands for the man to return.

🩵Something about you is off though, majorly off, so Gojo decides to follow you. You have clearly seduced the man who seems to be on all four for you and Satoru doesn't blame him. You are beautiful and gorgeous as even your cursed energy is tempting but that won't stop Gojo from exorcising you. He is even bold enough to approach you when your victim leaves you alone for a moment to murmur in your ear that you appear quite calm despite the fact that you know that he is following you. You only glance at him briefly and Satoru almost drowns in those enchanting eyes of yours before a loud yelling interrupts him. So lost was he in your gaze that he didn't even notice the man returning. If looks could kill, Gojo would have died thrice now as he can quite literally see the man shaking with rage and for a few seconds Gojo is convinced that he will come for his throat before the man just grabs your hand violently and drags you away. Blue eyes narrow as Satoru waits for a while before he decides to trail after you again. He suddenly has a bad feeling about this and eventually he finds out the apartment where the man apparently lives. He's already standing in front of the door when the commotion suddenly starts.

🩵Loud screams and wails belonging to the man are heard, crying out your name before they are followed by screams of pain and the shattering of a window. That's when Gojo breaks the door open and the scene he sees inside is not pretty. Shards of a broken vase are stuck in your neck and even your now deformed face and the shattered window is painted with red blood from the now dead man who must have hit his head against it until it broke and he died. Yet Gojo can still sense the cursed energy from you, can almost feel it crawling towards his own body. He watches your bloody form alarmed, something warning him that something truly isn't right with even though he can't figure out what it is. When he notices your fingers twitching and your body twisting, he acts quicker than he can even react as he kills you and senses your cursed energy vanishing completely. A few days later he decides to visit the graveyard of the man as he has for some reason not been able to forget about you. When he senses a familiar cursed energy though, he feels his muscles tensing as this shouldn't be possible. Yet there you are, kneeling in front of the graveyard.

🩵He is instantly behind you, throwing a shadow over you as his hands linger over your head as if considering to rip it off yet he doesn't as his eyes narrow in confusion and wariness. You are supposed to be dead. Why are you still alive? You lean your head back to look at him and only greet him politely before you arrange the flowers you have brought with you on the man's grave before standing up again and leaving. The white-haired man stops you though as he grabs your arm so tightly that your bone might break as he asks you how you are still alive. You cascade your gaze very shortly down to the ground, seemingly reminiscing about something, before you meet his intense gaze. He could swear that you almost look a bit sad as you merely tell him that you are eternal. You hold his gaze for too long until he feels threatened to get lost in those eyes again which causes him to let go of you. Blue eyes are glued to your form as you walk gracefully away, his eyes roaming over the shape of your body until he can't sense you anymore. Only then does he feel the urge to follow you die down a bit.

🩵He is almost ashamed of his own lack of self-control when he senses your energy a few weeks later again and the urge to see you again just takes over him. Truth is, he has been thinking about you a lot ever since. Your mysterious words have stuck with him as he has been trying to figure out what you meant and your hypnotising gaze has been following him in his sleep. He is shocked to find you though. Half-naked and with deep cuts littering your skin as you are held down by the neck as the man above you traces a long knife down the curves of your body. Briefly he is reminded of your deformed face and bloody body when he met you for the first time and suddenly rage starts to cloud his vision. A hot wave of jealousy falls over him for the way the man touches you so closely and ire takes hold of him for it looks like he is about ro rape you. Gojo knocks him instantly out, perhaps a bit too strong as blood starts seeping from his head. He quickly offers you the jacket he is wearing to cover your bare upper body with before he grabs your wrist and tells you that you'll come with him. You beg him to call an ambulance for the man before you come with him and Satoru is surprised to hear those words.

🩵He almost doesn't want the man to receive help but then he snaps out of it and gives you his phone to call the ambulance. It is strange that a curse wants to help a human, especially since that human looked like he was about to sexually force himself on you and kill you at the same time. You are indeed very strange and he finds himself looking at you the entire time out of curiosity and since your beauty is very outstanding. He should kill you but he has already tried this and somehow you just appeared again so he has a feeling that it wouldn't work even if he would try again. He doesn't want to kill you for some reason though. Instead he brings you to his home and tells you that he wants to keep you in here until he has figured out what you are and what to do to you. You give him a silent nod before you ask him if there is anything you can do whilst he keeps you here and this is not what Gojo expected to hear. You really are a peculiar curse. He monitors you very closely the following days as you walk around the house to memorise the interior and every room and whe he realises that you seem to have a love for books, he ends up buying you entire shelves worth of them. The giddy grin you give him has his heart pounding.

🩵You are well-read and seem to have existed for quite a long time already as far as Satoru can tell from the knowledge you share with him. As much joy as it gives him to see you happy, he starts feeling jealous that you spend so much time reading books. He wants attention, more attention than you already give him. It just isn't enough. It escalates very quickly when you one day ask him to wait until you have finished this book. Only a few pages are left yet somehow those words make Satoru snap as he snatches the book out of your hands and rips it apart. Blue eyes ablaze with agitation yet also a familiar look to you as he bends down so that he is on eye height with you. Hands grab your own harshly, squeezing them as he tells you in a low voice that he despises if you ignore him. You look into his gorgeous eyes, seemingly unfaced from the way he glowers at you before you carefully free one of your hands and reach tentavively out to touch his face. His Infinity is already deactivated, allowing you to touch his face. He lets out a satisfied hum as one of his hands grabs your one touching his cheeks, blue eyes gleaming as he looks at you.

🩵His Infinity around you is mostly deactivated as he encourages you to touch him as much as he is already touching you. Your touches are warm and addictive and he seemingly can't get enough of them. Often you find yourself trapped beneath him, his arms wrapped around your waist and his head on your chest. You sometimes asks him what he plans to do with you as he is a sorcerer and you are a curse yet he always shuts you up, mostly by kissing you to silence all of your sounds. He does know that technically he should find a way to exorcise you or to at least seal you away yet his whole body is filled with rage when he considers it. He has to keep you a secret from other sorcerers under all means necessary. Not only because of their demands but also because he fears that they would desire you too for your beauty and gentle nature. He notices that you never seem to protest or stop him whenever he becomes very touchy and as sick as that is, Satoru finds himself abusing this. Within a short time he is able to fully indulge in his desires as your nude body is pressed against his own, teasing you here and there as he claims you for himself. He has never seen someone more beautiful than you.

🩵Satoru is almost drunk on you and every word and gesture you do as he is convinced that he would kill anyone who would try to take you away from him. Yet the willingness of yours to let him do whatever he wants with you soon turns into a festering jealousy as he starts wondering if you allowed all the people before him to do everything to you as well. He shouldn't care considering that your curse seems to make people naturally obsessed with you and that he isn't the first and most likely not the last one yet he has already fallen under your spell. His heart threatens to burst as he realises that he will fade whilst you will continue. He won't let anyone else have you after him! You are assaulted by him whilst you are changing clothes, a desperate look in those blue eyes as he begs you to tell him how he can murder you as he tells you about his wish to kill you when his time comes so that no one else will be able to have you after him. When you confess to him that you don't know how you can die, you see the anger and madness flaring up in his eyes as if he is about to attempt to murder you again then and there before he manages to regain his self-control and tells you in a sweet tone that he'll find a way.

#yandere jujutsu kaisen #yandere jjk #yandere yuta #yandere okkotsu yuta #yandere gojo #yandere gojo satoru

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chronicdisasterwrites · 7 months

Text

i’d keep you company in the dark

pairing: gojo satoru x reader

genre + warnings: - ANGST but FLUFFY ending!! jjk movie spoilers!! happens after the ending of jjk-0, death, sad gojo, kisses.

word count: 1,672

authors note: this was a request by my lovely @daisy-the-quake <3 it's a song-fic, inspired by the song "peaches” by grandson x k.flay

enjoy <3

Your eyes shoot open as you lie still and unmoving. The blinking red light of the clock on your bedside table indicates midnight. Yet another nightmare, about the same thing. It starts with you standing face-to-face with Suguru. His face twisted with the sneer he had on when he came to the school to announce his plan; "The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons". You try to move but you can’t. You try to talk to him, try to convince him to listen to reason, but nothing comes out. He laughs, then it shifts and his laughing transitions into an irksome drone coming out of his ajar mouth. It turns into an incessant buzzing growing exponentially until it’s so loud you can’t see, think, or feel anything. And then the noise stops completely and you’re standing in the sky looking down at Satoru standing in an arena, alone, with a horde of shadows surrounding him. They all make their way toward him like ants capturing a crystal of sugar. You don't do anything. You don’t move or scream or fight. You feel like you don't even exist. Just when the shadows are about to swallow him whole does he look up at you, with hollow eyes and no will to survive.

The hammering of raindrops against your windows could’ve also been a factor, but the sweat on your face and the drumming of your heart indicate otherwise. Taking a few deep breaths you try to normalize your heartbeat. It was exhausting, having the same nightmare over and over again. Ever since Suguru died, all your dreams seemed to be about the same thing. Then you imagine, how Satoru must be feeling. You fall back into reality and realize Satoru’s side of the bed was abandoned. It had been a few days since Suguru died, and since then Satoru had been acting strangely. You never asked him straight up if he was okay, because you know he wasn’t. Of course, he wasn’t. So you tried to show him you were there if he wanted to talk, but he always laughed it off and changed the subject without showing a moment’s weakness. He was acting like nothing happened and life was just fine and dandy. The dream you had fills your mind with thoughts of Satoru losing his mind to the grief of losing his best friend and trudging down a path from which he could never return. You couldn't help him in your dream. Instead, you just stood there watching him get consumed by his demons. You bolt out of bed to look for him. He wasn’t in the apartment you both shared, so you made a guess and decided to trust your gut. You take your keys, wear a raincoat, take an umbrella, shove your phone in your pocket, and make your way to Jujutsu Tech.

Parking your motorcycle in front of the steps of the school you see him sitting on the steps, head downturned and raindrops ricocheting off his Infinity. Once you start climbing the steps, does he lift his head to give you a small smile, tired and sullen, not at all like his genuine smile.

You sigh and sit next to him, shoulders touching and legs brushing. Your face was half-covered by the hood of the raincoat but some raindrops still fell on your nose and exposed hands. Hearing the familiar buzz of Satoru’s Infinity, you look up and watch the raindrops slide down around you, making you feel like you were encased in a snow globe. The pattering of raindrops sounded muted and you felt safe and protected from the terrors of the world. So, this is how Satoru feels?

“What brings you here?”

You remove your hood and look into his dull eyes. Shrugging, you reply with a tender voice, “I couldn’t find you so I figured you’d be here.”

Satoru huffs, looking away and linking his hands together over his knees, “I’m fine before you ask.”

Gojo Satoru was a complex human being. Sometimes people tend to forget he is a human being, thanks to his charisma, strength, and holier-than-thou attitude. But that’s all he was; a human being, blessed burdened with the strength of a God. The ever-present smile on his dazzling face makes you forget that he’s not a shiny person. But when his eyes dim and his smile falls in the dark of the night when a million eyes aren’t on him you realize just how bruised and battered he is.

You release a tired breath. He thinks he’s all alone in this world. He thinks no one can ever help him with anything because no one is as strong as him. The world always revolved around him, his strength, his power, his name. No one could ever equal him, so he believes it’s only fair for him to carry his burdens and sorrows on his own.

“Y’know Satoru…” He glances at you and quirks a thin, silver eyebrow. You stare ahead, picking at the skin around your nails.

“You’re not alone. As much as you want to believe you are, you aren’t. So, if you aren’t gonna let me in, that’s fine. Just- please let yourself feel without putting on a front.”

You hear him exhale and watch him hang his head down from your peripheral vision.

“What’s the point?” He mutters under his breath. The only reason you could hear him at all was because his Infinity dulled the noise in the outside world.

This time you stare at his downturned head and you can’t stop yourself from speaking, “What’s the point? The point is that you don’t have to do this alone. You don’t have to hurt alone. I want you to share your pain with me! Yeah sure, you can get through this alone. You can shove it under the rug, but just this once, don’t be the strongest. Just let me hurt with you, let’s get through this together. Please, Satoru.”

He lifts his head and stares you straight in your eyes. You know how much he’s hurting. His world turned upside down and everything changed. He had to watch his friend plummet into the darkness and he had to be the one to deliver the final blow. His heart is shattered and you’re scared there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is be by his side and try to pick up his broken pieces.

He exhales a shaky breath as his eyes glisten like a dewdrop on a blade of grass, “Can we get through this?”

You reach out your hand and move a couple of strands of his hair from his vision. You let your hand lie against his warm cheek and he lets his eyes shut, “I know everything went to shit. But it’s not permanent, Satoru. I don’t know if things will get better, but we can only hope, right?”

He takes your hand in his own and runs his thumb over your knuckles.

“Yeah. We can only hope.”

He sighs and stares at your hand, “I miss him.”

“I know…”

You squeeze his hand and he squeezes back. It’s dark, except for a few streetlights. You think he’d enjoy a piece of cake or something sweet right about now. You open your mouth to ask him when he beats you to it, “Things won’t be the same.”

Your mouth hangs open and you wait as he continues speaking, “It might get better, it might get worse. Honestly? It doesn’t matter. We can’t really afford to be optimistic with a life like ours.” He lets out a humorless laugh. Looking at you, he gives you a gentle smile and leans forward to kiss your forehead. He lingers there for a quiet moment as the rain serenades you both.

“We’ll get through this.”

You love him so much. Looking at his beautiful, weary face, you smile and leave a chaste kiss on his lips. Stealing another kiss, he brushes a few strands of hair away from your face, “I love you, y’know that?”

Smiling, you stand and give him your hand, “Yeah, I love you too.”

He holds your hand and stops you on your way down the stairs, “Hey…I'm sorry for being selfish. I know you’re hurting too. I don’t want you to think I don't notice that.”

Turning back to look at him, you caress his knuckles with your thumb, “It's okay, Satoru-”

“No, it's not.” He stands on the upper step, looking down at you with tender eyes, "D'you have another nightmare? Is that why you woke up?" He traces the dark circles under your eyes and keeps his thumb on the apple of your cheek.

You sigh and close your eyes momentarily, "Yeah..."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Your free fingers wrap around his slender wrist as you look up at his glittering, blue eyes. "Maybe later." He nods.

You both walk down the steps, your hand warm in his. By now the rain had slowed down to a soft patter. He notices the umbrella tied on the backseat of your motorcycle and quirks an eyebrow, “Why’d you bring this?”

You offer a sheepish smile and take out your keys from your pocket, “I- uh, figured you might need it. I thought you’d deactivate your Infinity and sit in the rain or something… So y’know I didn’t want you to waste all your energy covering us both from the rain but I guess that’s exactly what you did so it was pretty usele-”

Your rambling was immediately shut down by the press of his lips against yours. You feel him smile into the kiss and your heart feels so warm. I love him so much. Hugging you, he rests his chin on your head, “Thank you.”

You think it’s ironic how you’re shivering from the cold yet feeling so incredibly warm at the same time. He chuckles and unties the umbrella taking a seat on the backseat of your bike, “Let’s go home, yeah?”

a/n: well, after chapter 236 this sure is a knife to the heart.

taglist: @thepup356, @porridgesblog, @stray-npc, @daisy-the-quake, @reignsaway, @ainetx, @icarusignite, @mariapierce789, @laylasbunbunny, @r0ckst4rjk

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justakidicarus · 3 months

Text

Alastor has something he fears.

With how modern media has been going, well written characters are harder to come by, so I am very pleased to see how Alastor is written in the season 1 finale of Hazbin Hotel. Admittedly I did not watch the episode in full, but two major scenes are what I want to talk about.

Adam vs Alastor, and what I want to call Alastor’s interlude (his verse in the final song).

During Alastor’s fight with Adam, Alastor has clear technical advantage, but Adam’s sheer firepower overpowers him. Everyone has probably seen the “What just happened?? … Fuck.” Moment. Now most writers would write another character coming in for a save, or in the context of Hazbin a regular sinner would keep fighting.

Alastor is not your average sinner.

He accepts his defeat and slinks away before Adam can land the finishing blow. This is actually a massive thing no one really talks about, the fact that instead of staying to fight Alastor acknowledged when he was bested and left to fight another day. He is a fucking smart guy but this moment, when he chooses to lose rather than die, is super important to his character, and becomes clear in Alastor’s interlude.

Alastor is terrified of dying.

And I really do mean terrified.

Throughout the song you can hear the emotion in his voice (holy shit did Amir Talai do a good job). His facial expressions are panicked, especially during the line “died for his friends” and the close up at “The constraints of my deal surely have a back door,” that line in particular really capturing the picture of panic and terror. When he first speaks of dying, he looks more angry, but the rest of the verse he just looks terrified. Even if he may be a sinner and thus, has already experienced death, it remains his greatest fear as evident by his reaction to nearly meeting it.

Which makes sense when you look at the context of his death.

Alastor was shot in the head while occupied with burying a body in a hunting reserve. A gunshot to the brain is a quick and near instant way to die, especially since he likely wasn’t aware of the hunter and gun. To him, he heard a loud bang and was suddenly in hell. He has never experienced death properly because he didn’t even have a moment to process that his time was up until he was in the afterlife. Even in the afterlife, as a sinner he can’t permanently die, the only way possible is being killed by angelic weapons.

Weapons like what Adam wields.

Most people believe that Alastor retreated when his staff broke because he couldn’t fight without it, but I actually believe it’s because he realised that Adam could actually kill him. For the first time in his entire life, and afterlife, Alastor was faced with the possibility that he would die. For good.

And he was terrified of it.

He fled not because he couldn’t continue to fight, but because he was scared of fighting Adam and running the suddenly very real risk of dying, but hiding it as best he could. This is obviously made easier by his constantly smiling mouth (which I don’t think he can stop doing if you look at the stitched from his deal with Charlie) but there are a few signs. He loses control of his power such as his left eye and shadow. His ears tilt back as he’s getting up, a sign of distress in animals, and when he first gets up he looks around alert despite knowing the threat is in front of him, classic prey animal behaviour. Not to mention there’s almost 10 seconds where he doesn’t get up and is just on the ground with his face obscured while Vox gives his declaration. These behaviours could be pain related, he does have internal and external bleeding from Adam’s attack after all, or it could be fear based. Still, his interlude leads me to believe it’s a mix instead of solely the former.

Finally his sudden dedication to finding a loophole in his deal with his unknown contractor (I’m hesitant to say Lilith but idk).

From what I can gather by his actions surrounding the hotel and his strange dedication to Charlie and the hotel’s wellbeing, I’m inclined the believe his deal centers around protecting Charlie and the hotel. A deal he now desperately wants out of. It’s no secret that Alastor hates being on a leash (Husker found that out the hard way) but how the fuck did he even end up on one in the first place if he hates it so much?

Simple, he didn’t see it as a bad idea at the time. That or he could have died without it but we don’t know that yet

If what he got in return was a good deal of power or something else he coveted, why wouldn’t he take the deal to play secret bodyguard and watcher for the princess of hell, one of the most well guarded people in hell, and her lofty idea that ultimately will fail and likely gain no traction at all? It’s practically free power.

And then Charlie starts pissing off all of heaven. And dragging her father and whole host of powerful and dangerous beings into her charade.

Now this is becoming a bad idea he can’t back out from.

And then he almost dies.

Why would the try to escape his deal? Alastor values his life above all else and his greatest fear that I think he now knows about, is the fear of death itself, a suddenly very real risk with the people Charlie, the person he’s forced to protect, is angering. Alastor wants out because of that sheer human thing that is the fear of death.

That’s why it’s such great writing.

Alastor is scared of death and that is what makes him human.

It’s a part of his character he can overcome or fall victim to, something that makes his character relatable and 3D rather than a distant mask. It’s something that makes him human, and that’s especially important in a character that was once just that.

No matter where Alastor’s character goes in the future, if he overcomes this fear and is somehow redeemed (plausible in the way the show is going), or if he is a villain for a future season brewing in the shadows, still driven by this fear that is so central to his actions (again, plausible with how the show is so far, he still had a villain moment after all even if it was a humanising one), Alastor’s character has actually gained so much depth, and all from one little scene sharing one shard of humanity he has left.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin spoilers #Hazbin deep dive #alastor #holy shit have I been analysing Alastor from this one scene #I just love proper character writing and as cool as Alastor has been I’m glad he has a fear

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icyblogs · 2 months

Text

wc: 471

Is this a niche? Probably but you know what it’s all good. Anyway-- Thinking about COD and DND. I’m imagining this specific scenario with a patron!Ghost x warlock!Soap x reader.

Reader is just some plain ol’ human in a world of, well, fantasy with things beyond the wildest imagination- dealt the wrong cards in the hands of fate. Maybe for plot sake let’s say someone close to you died: a family or a lover, or maybe you’re running from something in your past. Something that causes you to look for ways to gain more power- or to protect yourself, something, right? Years of reading in the depths and restricted areas of libraries, of tracking down people- of searching before you find what you’re looking for. Going to what you would consider far away from civilization- let’s say the mountains- in case you unleash some sort of unholy evil on the land, looking to summon a fiend in order to get whatever it was in your heart that you desired.

Long story short, the reader would attempt to summon said fiend or ancient being- and maybe fail instead of succeeding? Maybe they misspoke the incantation, or had the wrong offerings or simply misunderstood the situation- not realizing that just because you try to do a summoning doesn’t necessarily mean it would work. And of course, such beings that lock in a pact with people.. In more cases than not it’s typically at the lowest point in their lives, giving the poor unfortunate souls an offer they usually can’t refuse. So I'm thinking the reader ends up failing in the summoning quite miserably but of course being out far from civilization for the ritual causes well.. Something has gone wrong. You end up nearly dead, just adding to the series of unfortunate events surrounding your existence as a whole; and guess whose attention you capture? Patron!Ghost- offering you a chance at life- at a chance to survive. All you have to do is take the leap. Oh forming a contract? Silly thing, you already offered yourself as a whole with that little ritual you did earlier! Aren’t you happy- isn’t this what you wanted?

Look- he’s even so generous to have one of his oldest worshippers warlocks to help show you the ropes. Isn’t that so nice of him? After all you’re just a little human with nothing else going for you. Everything else you've known is gone! What do you mean you don’t want to be locked away- this is what you wanted! You wanted the power to protect yourself- and well you got it in the physical form of a new guard dog! (: And better yet you’re getting all the safety you could ever need, tucked away from everything else! You don’t want this anymore? You’d really try to leave a pact? How cute.

EDIT: If you liked this, you're in luck!! Started writing a story about this here! (:

#shh ik this isn't how pacts typically work #dark fic #ghost x reader #soap x reader #ghoap x reader #patron!ghost #cod #fanfiction #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #i fear i dont know how to write this properly but i am attempting it- will i ever man up and post part one who knows!#its just like a blurb stuck in my head and i find it so difficult to get it out- i feel like it would also obvious be ghost x soap as well #but toxic relationship- seeing ghost through rose tinted glasses UGG IDK #ghost would be this like looming presence imo #cod x reader #cod mw2

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teecupangel · 7 months

Note

Been playing AC3 again lately and, for some reason, listening to Bill. It's great to hate him for his father of the franchise thing, but he seemed pretty sincere about trying to find Desmond beofore Absetergo. I'm kinda curious what would have happend if the Assassins did get there beforehand.

I agree that Bill was being sincere in finding Desmond before Abstergo did. I always saw him as someone who wanted to do what was best for Desmond and tried to protect him the only way he knew how. But that didn’t mean he didn’t hurt Desmond and his actions can easily be misinterpreted (especially by someone as young as Desmond was during that time) so yeah… Bill wanted to protect Desmond and he loved him in his own way but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a bad father.

And that would show even if he was able to find Desmond before Abstergo managed to capture him.

You did write ‘get there beforehand’ and I’m going to assume this means that they’ll be able to save Desmond from being abducted by Abstergo or get there before Abstergo captures him.

If it was the latter, Desmond would try to run away from the Assassins as well and probably won’t believe that Abstergo was trying to capture him (it would be funny and annoying if Desmond get captured by Cross because he was busy running away from the Assassins sent to get him) so…

We’ll have Desmond get saved by the Assassins during the time he was being captured by Abstergo. Cross and his goons would be surprised and the Assassins would use that to get Desmond out using the van Abstergo was about to use.

From there, Desmond would be escorted to the nearest hideout but, here’s the thing…

Since Lucy is staying with Abstergo, this means that Desmond would be saved by other Assassins and it can’t be Shaun and Rebecca because they’re more on the support side (until around Unity) so…

This means that the Assassins who would save Desmond would be those who tried to save him and died in AC1.

The ones to have been ‘implied’ to have been from the Farm.

It would feel like he was back on the Farm, surrounded by people he knew.

Would they be happy to see him?

Would they see him as stupid and foolish?

Those would be the things Desmond would be worrying about and he would want to run away, far away.

He would now understand that Abstergo does want him because of who he was but he would refuse to be an Assassin and he doesn’t want to be one, not ever.

Which means when he meets with William Miles…

Both of their voices would start to raise.

Words would leave their mouths that they may or may not regret later on.

Bill will call him the life he had spent living away from the Assassins as meaningless and without direction.

Desmond would say that he had been happiest away from the Assassins and that he didn’t want to be part of this shit.

In the end, Bill will raise his hand and hit his son.

And that punch will break whatever ‘foolish’ dreams Desmond held onto about making up with his parents, of finding some kind of middle ground.

And Desmond would do it once more.

He had done it before.

And he never forgot the lessons.

… that night, Desmond Miles disappeared once more.

And this time…

He was making sure no one would find him ever again.

#i was wondering if you wanted them to reconcile #but a desmond who doesn’t know his lineage and how important his bloodline is #and a bill who sees desmond as someone who wasted his life #would have a fight that would be much more explosive than the one in ac3 #honestly the only way i can think of them reconciling #is thru a long slow process #where bill doesn’t just acknowledge his shortcomings #but also to actually say ‘i’m sorry’ to his son #while desmond needs to not get carried away #by his past memories both the bad ones and the good ones #and see what bill is doing now #bill doesn’t deserve to be forgiven immediately #he needs to work for it #and desmond deserves more than just one conversation #he needs to see that bill changed or he can changed #ask and answer #assassin's creed #desmond miles #william miles #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed

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moving-asfateentertwines · 1 year

Text

Home

Spider was never meant to find Home

He knows that. No matter what Kiri whispers to him, what Lo’ak insists when the young warriors of the Omatikaya attempt to chase him off, or what Neteyam mumbles when Neytiri whips around with venom on her lips - he knows it, because if it were wrong, it would mean that everything that’s happened was for no reason. He can’t go that route, and so Home is just a concept he’ll never know

His siblings tempt to sway him many times over the years - they feel so much like Home it hurts, but he’s not so selfish to risk it for them when he knows he already took it from their mother

He’s seen his father in the photos the scientists don’t know he has, video logs that show a man that’s only been a horror story his whole life

But what scares him is he sees himself

He sees his eyes, the scowl when he’s angry, the cinch in his brow. He scowls at the image and sees his own face stare back.

So yeah. He doesn’t have a home. He has siblings though, and that’s more than he deserves. So Spider is okay. Really, he is.

But then his Dad shows up

—-

Quaritch is everything he thought he’d be and…not.

He’s angry. The man is full of hate and a need for revenge. He destroys the ground beneath his feet and spits on the life that’s surround them. He doesn’t know Ewya but he hates her none the less.

But he’s protective. Possessive of what’s his (and yet another damn thing he got from his father) and it seems Spider is included in that

He hates it but a part of him feels protected - it’s safe in the that’s holding a poison blade is. He’s one slip up from hell

But hell was bridgehead. It was the feeling of his deepest parts being pried out and displayed like the pages of a storybook

No one cared as they saw some of his best and his darkest days.

No one cared when the whips came out. When he bled so much he worried it was fatal

No one cared when he starved, when the distant sound of wildlife made his stomach twist with need.

Except Quaritch.

Quaritch snuck him food, bandaged his back, and pulled him down.

His hands may have delivered some of the blows or his lips produced the words to trigger nightmares but he cared.

Love is complicated, but he knows his Dad loved him

He thinks he may have too

Quaritch saw him.

He didn’t know. He thought he did but he didn’t but he wanted to he knows he did -

Then Neteyam almost dies. No one came for him. They left him, gave him up, except his brothers didn’t

Neteyam and Lo’ak fought for him.

They risked their lives when they had the chance to get away

Spider pieces his home together after that

Home finds him in the nights after when he rests with Kiri on his shoulder and Lo’ak’s hand loose in his grip. Tuk is curled into her mothers chest and Jake stands a silent guard at the door. Neteyam is flat on the bed of one of Ronal’s medical tents. His brother has been asleep for a few hours now with Norms assistance, but his family is too afraid to leave his side

He’s been awake the whole time. He hurts in ways he didn’t know he could until his capture but the warmth of his closest friends is too precious to loose right now. Still, he can’t sleep. Adrenaline is running under his skin and anxiety is inching up his throat. Jake is outside, safe and strong, but his tracker could lead the rest of the sky people here again, never mind Norms tempering, or his memories could have a clue, they had to be recorded, or -

Jake lays a large hand on his shoulder.

He jumps and a scared gasp escapes his throat before he processes the subtle differences. The thinner fingers, callouses Quaritch hasn’t had time to form yet, the gentleness.

“You need to sleep, Kiddo.”

Spider shudders and bows his head. “I will, just…can’t. I’ll go lay down in a few hours. When they’re okay.”

He can practically hear Jake roll his eyes. “I’m here. You’re safe, they’re safe. You need to sleep, Son.”

They both freeze, blood cold and eyes wide, as the silence envelops them.

Then, of course, Lo’ak snores and the moments gone. Jake laughs softly and suddenly exhaustion is pulling at his eyelids. A cushion slides behind him and a hand gently lowers him down.

“Sleep.”

The pieces come faster after that.

He cries with Kiri for hours. Laments his father, spills everything he felt. She’s the first one he tells the truth too. She knows more than he thinks anyone else ever will

He tells her Quaritch is alive. He tells her its all his fault.

She cries, yells, and then they just lay there. She tells him how scared she was of her mother. How lost she felt without him there.

He looks at her as she cries and another puzzle piece slides into place

Lo’ak and Neteyam came together when they came back for him, but it doesn’t feel settled until later.

They’re on their ilu with Spider behind Lo’ak as they race out to meet Payakan. He’s giant and beautiful and damn terrifying, but Lo’ak describes him as his soul brother. An extension of himself and a badass of a friend. They tell him how Payakan saved them. How he helped get Spider home

He’s scared and excited and now sure what to make of the beast, but then Lo’ak is leaving him on the ilu and falling into the water

He rises on a fin the size of a small marui with a loud whoop that can’t help but make Spider laugh in astonished awe

“Paya, meet my other brother, Spider.” Then a wave of water is splashing over him as Lo’ak laughs in a way he hasn’t heard since the forest

His breath leaves his lungs as he laughs and laughs, happy for more reasons than one. Neteyam meets his gaze from across the surf and smiles then one quick nod. He holds his gaze and feels the warmth spread in his chest.

“Team up?”

“Team up.”

Tuk has been his little sister since he held her in his arms for the first time. Neteyam snuck him over when they were barely into puberty and put a baby the size of his torso into his arms

He remembers her being the most terrifying thing in the world. He was so sure she would be terrified of him, that he would make her cry as soon as she was in his arms and the other kids would realize he’s a monster

But Tuk has always been Tuk and she just grinned and pulled his hair. Her Tswin fluttered with her affections and he knew he would do anything for her

He had never seen her angry, truly angry, until she stumbled into him cleaning the cuts along his hips and back. The cloths on the floor are bloody and his skin is angry and mottled but he had been decent at hiding the level of it until now. Behind her, Neytiri stops in her tracks as she takes in his scars

Tuk’s eyes fill with tears and then he has a bundle of 5’7” child in his arms

Her eyes flash and she looks like her mother when she growls out; “What happened? They hurt you?”

He stutters, not knowing what to say when Neytiri kneels down in front of him. She takes the ointment and the bandages in front of him, moves his arm from his side, and begins to apply. Her hands are shaking and he realizes he’s never seen her frazzled

“You’re a child.”

He looks up, Tuk now angrily crying in his arms while she cleans and gently bandages the wounds. “I..I know…look, I’m sorry Tuk saw, I-I didn’t think anyone was coming back for a while..”

“You’re a child. Children are precious. I-I didn’t realize they…that…” She scowls down at the drying blood and puts the wrap down. She pulls him forward so he rests against her with Tuk snug between them. “I’m sorry, Spider. This will not happen again.”

His face is red and words don’t seem to work but he manages a scared nod. “O-Okay?”

She nods, decisive, and resumes her work. Then, lifts a dirty dread with a disgruntled finger. “These next. My children will not be seen looking uncared for.”

And that’s that. He has a family, a home, and it’s all he ever wanted.

He doesn’t think it could get better.

Part two coming cause holy shit it's 2000 words

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sesamestreep · 4 months

Note

number 50 for the rogue one crew!! knowing full well that i have a prompt of yours regarding that very crew wallowing away in my inbox .... humblest apologies

50. the hands of fate (from this list) a quick sequel to this. cross-posted to ao3 here happy more joy day 2024 🩵🤍💙

Baze spent a good twenty years of his life listening to Chirrut tell him that they couldn't leave Jedha, whenever the subject arose. Baze's arguments—that their fellow Guardians were gone, that their religion had been all but wiped out, that their holy city was overrun by the Empire, and that there was nothing left for them there—had never made much of an impression. Chirrut remained adamant that they needed to stay and when Baze asked him why, he only said the reason would become apparent in time. Baze, at least, had a lifetime of experience listening to Chirrut's vague proclamations to prevent him from getting too annoyed with this non-explanation. Being more in-tune with the machinations of the Force than Baze is, and being deeply beloved by him regardless, Chirrut can get away with such things.

He'd almost shouted at him on the ship as they narrowly escaped the destruction on Jedha. Had that been why they needed to remain? So they could watch their home, already stripped of its autonomy and its peace for so long, finally be annihilated before their very eyes? His eyes. Chirrut does not—cannot—watch. He hadn't been sure who, of the two of them, was the luckier in that moment. But they hadn't been alone then. They were surrounded by strangers and, while he wasn't above giving Chirrut a piece of his mind with an audience present, he hesitated to give these people on whom their lives now depended the impression they'd picked up two raving mad men in the desert. After that, everything else had happened too quickly for Baze to have the luxury of deep contemplation and the matter had been pushed aside in favor of following the captain, of helping Jyn, of keeping an eye on their pilot. Arguing with Chirrut would have to wait.

Baze is ashamed to say he doesn't put it together on Scarif, not even when they'd all nearly died. He doesn't put it together when they're back with the Rebellion, keeping vigil in the medbay as, one by one, their crew—Rogue One, Bodhi had called it—healed up and moved on. He doesn't put it together even as he watches with mild amusement as Jyn and Cassian grow closer and closer like two trees twisting around each other in the wild, becoming inseparable as he and Chirrut did long ago. He doesn't put it together when what he once thought of as a natural tremor disappears entirely from Bodhi's voice, replaced with a tone of gentle command, or when the frost melts entirely from Jyn's demeanor when she interacts with her partner's droid and he is so entirely shocked when that same droid delicately—delicately!—inquires about Jyn's bloodwork halfway through her pregnancy and listens sympathetically as she rants about the medical droids the Rebellion employs that he can be forgiven for not noticing it then either.

No, he only puts it together when he's sitting with Kitri in his lap and she wraps her whole fist around his pointer finger and refuses to let go. It's a random, seemingly insignificant moment for his heart to stop and the whole of his life to suddenly come into sharp and coherent focus, but he assumes no one really gets to choose these things or their timing for themselves.

Next to him, Chirrut makes an inquisitive noise, which probably means Baze stopped right in the middle of speaking.

"This is why we couldn't leave Jedha," Baze says, impressed that he's managing any words at all right now amidst what could most reasonably be called a life-changing revelation. "This is what we were waiting for, all that time. Them."

"Of course," Chirrut says, wiggling his fingers within capturing distance for the baby, much to her amusement, not seeming to understand or appreciate that Baze is going through something at the moment. "You mean to tell me you didn't know that?"

"You're telling me you did?"

"Not beforehand. I'm not psychic," Chirrut says, as if such a thing is entirely ludicrous to believe. As if that's not how it sometimes feels to Baze when Chirrut describes the way the Force moves around them all. "But the moment I spoke to Jyn, I knew. That's why we followed her and the captain! What did you think I was up to, if you didn't know until now?"

"I thought it was one of your strange whims, Chirrut."

"It's been years, you daft old man," Chirrut laughs.

"Yes, well..."

Chirrut shakes his head, amused. "You really will follow me anywhere, won't you?"

"Yes," Baze says, only vaguely embarrassed by the admission. "Don't act surprised."

Kit makes a noise of objection from her spot in his lap, the smallest foreshadow of an all-out cry, probably because she hasn’t successfully captured Chirrut’s hand with her own yet in this simple but frustrating game he’s initiated. Across the room, Baze sees Cassian, who has dark circles under his eyes again after many years of looking healthier and better rested (though these ones have appeared under happier circumstances), start to rise from his seat, ever watchful over his daughter’s moods and needs. Before he can get far, Baze sees Jyn put a hand gently on his forearm to arrest him and an entirely silent conversation happens between them in the brief eye contact that follows. He feels like he can read all of the beats of an argument and a counter argument and a surrender in the smallest lifting of eyebrows and lowering of lashes.

“We have help,” Jyn says, softly but firmly, as if they’ve spoken all of their concerns out loud so far.

“I know,” Cassian replies, and settles back in next to her. He briefly closes his eyes and rests his head on the back of his seat. Jyn doesn’t take her hand off his arm until he moves it to rest around her shoulders a moment later. Looking over to Baze, Cassian adds, “If you need me to take her, though—”

In the very same moment that Jyn reaches out to swat him for that, Kit screeches with laughter, having finally captured her other uncle’s hand and covered it in an unfathomable amount of drool in an incredibly short amount of time, and diverting Baze’s attention from her parents at last. Next to him, Chirrut smiles with a dangerous amount of pride.

“The Force moves delightedly around this one,” he says, surrendering to this injustice with good sportsmanship as always. “She would have made an excellent Guardian.”

Before the pain of that pronouncement can hit him, Baze hears Jyn speak up. “Good thing we picked up a couple of them in our travels back in the day,” she says, turning to Cassian. “Smart of us, wasn’t it?”

Cassian nods, not so successfully hiding a smile. “Wouldn’t want her squandering any of her potential,” he says. “You’ll have to keep an eye on this connection to the Force, Chirrut. Let us know if she needs any training…”

Chirrut lifts his head at that, looking like a hunting animal picking up a scent. The idea of it hadn’t occurred to him either, then, which makes Baze feel less stupid for not thinking of it himself. He’d grown so accustomed to think of the Guardians as gone and dead, like Jedha was, or at the very least nearly extinct. Kitri’s far too young to have the survival of an entire religion on her shoulders, but he and Chirrut can tell her the names of their teachers and elders and friends and their stories will survive for another generation. There are other children of the Rebellion, too. Their way of life need not die with them. It’s a heady, baffling new feeling, this untempered hope. They’ve been rationing it out carefully among them for years and to have his fill of it all at once is slightly overwhelming.

Chirrut’s expression would be closed off to anyone who hasn’t known him for fifty years, but Baze sees through its defenses quite easily. He sees the surprise and the awe and the barely guarded delight all there plainly. Chirrut turns his attention down to Kit, still chewing on his hand happily, and runs a palm over the sparse but silken hair on her head lovingly, and something heavy and ancient slots into place in Baze’s soul, the final piece of a long forgotten puzzle settling in where it belongs.

“Good to see there are some things in the galaxy that can still surprise you, old man,” Baze says, not sounding nearly as irreverent as he wishes to.

Kit laughs in the same moment Chirrut does, like she’s in on the joke somehow, like she’s been waiting for it. And who knows? Maybe she is. Maybe she has.

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dyns33 · 11 months

Text

Fucking fate - ending 1

Vaas x soulmate Y/N

I had two ending in mind, so this is Y/N’s ending

Everything had happened very quickly.

One day Vaas was the king of Rook Island, or at least the part that Hoyt let him control. The next day Carlos was leading Y/N quickly away from camp because Snow White was attacking and it was too dangerous to stay here.

Vaas' order.

Vaas, whose death was announced a few hours later throughout the island.

This news came as a shock to Y/N. She had imagined that people felt something when their soulmate died. A vibe. The breaking heart. Anything. But no, a pirate had given the news, which had echoed in the cave where the small group was hiding, and panic had gripped everyone.

Always calm and loyal, Carlos stayed close to her, awkwardly patting her on the back. Then, when the others had been too busy wondering what they were going to do, not paying attention to them, he had led her to the square, asking Benny to follow him.

Of all the pirates, Carlos and Benny respected their boss the most. Even dead, they weren't going to stop.

They went to a small port that the Rakyats had not taken yet, where a boat was waiting for them.

"Well, you go in with her and take her to the embassy of her nearest country. Then, you do what you want." Carlos announced with a straight face.

"But... And you ?!"

"Relax, princessa. I'm staying here, trying to kill Snow White and regain control of the camps. You're leaving. You're going to live your life somewhere else, safe. That's what the boss would have wanted. Benny, you don't leave her until you're sure she's safe."

"Of course not. I remember the time she met a tiger. The boss broke my nose and three ribs. I'll follow her like her shadow."

"Good. Go, now !"

This was the last time Y/N saw Carlos, and Rook Island.

As promised, Benny stayed with her until she found herself in front of an office surrounded by soldiers, bureaucrats and doctors, who asked her many questions, checked on her and called her relatives to tell them that she was alive.

That was the last time she saw Benny. Before letting her into the embassy, he had wished her good luck, telling her that he was going back to Rook. He couldn't leave his hermanos like a coward.

Her family and friends were all very happy to find her. They took her in their arms, kissed her and repeated to her that they had missed her very much, crying.

Y/N cried too, realizing that she hadn't thought of them at all during the time she had spent on Rook, focused on Vaas, her soulmate, who was dead. She hadn't had time to mourn him before, in shock.

She didn't tell anyone about him. For ten years, everyone around her thought that she had been captured by pirates who had treated her well, that she had managed to escape, and that she could now resume a normal life, with the hope of meet her soulmate one day.

It was torture.

Every night she dreamed of the times they had spent together. Of the last time she had seen him.

"Fucking Jason is coming, nena. He's crazy, worse than me. I don't want... As soon as the alarm goes off, you go with Carlos, okay ? You go with Carlos and you stay with him until let me come to get you."

"Why don't you come with me ?" she asked, as if at that moment she knew very well that he wouldn't come back.

"I have to face him. It's crazy, I must be as crazy as him, I've killed him four times and he's still here. We won't be safe until he's completely dead. I have no choice, mi corazon. But don't be afraid, I won't let anyone hurt you."

He had kissed her forehead and he had hurt her forever by losing his stupid fight. He could have just come with her, they would have left this cursed island and they would have been happy.

Unable to lead a normal life after what she had been through, Y/N traveled extensively. She didn't go back to Rook, there was nothing for her there, and besides she avoided most of the islands, but she couldn't stay in one place for too long.

That was how she found herself near the border of Yara.

It was out of the question to go to Yara of course, too dangerous. It was totally a coincidence that Y/N happened to be in this bar near the beach.

A coincidence, if it was a place frequented by the smugglers. A coincidence, if that day, two of them were right next to her at the counter, speaking Spanish.

Coincidence, or fate.

The voice of one of the men sounded familiar. Turning her head, she saw his back, but she could see his Mohawk, his scars, and the tennis ball with a face sticking out of his pocket.

His colleague noticed her watching them, waving at the man, who turned his green eyes in her direction. They stared at each other for an eternity.

He had aged. Normal, after ten years. He looked tired, even more tired than when she had met him. Maybe darker too, less crazy, even if the tennis ball showed he wasn't in his right mind.

"... Vaas ?" she managed to say, not trusting her voice, nor her eyes.

As on the island, everything happened very quickly. One moment her soulmate was dead, the other Vaas lifted her off the ground, spinning her around the bar, not listening to her cries of panic, before kissing her again and again.

"Nena ! Y/N, mi Y/N ! You're alive ? Are you really here ?! Pedro, she's really here ?!"

"I don't know who's this girl, but yes, she's here." sighed his colleague. "We shouldn't attract attention, remember ?"

"Shit, shut the fuck up, that's my mate and I thought she was dead. Fucking Carlos, he wasn't in the cave anymore when I managed to drag myself in. No trace of you left ! Then I found his body. That asshole got killed by the Rakyats. I was sure... Oh, mi amor ! You're alive ! The world was so bland without you ! I feel like to be reborn !"

"You really can't do this anywhere else ?" the other smuggler begged, as everyone in the bar looked at them.

They walked to the beach, Vaas refusing to let go of her hand, as if she would disappear if he didn't touch her. He had often had visions of her, he wasn't sure it wasn't a dream.

"Carlos and Benny sent me away from the island when they found out... Everyone thought you were dead." Y/N whispered, letting him rub his head against her neck like a big cat.

"I thought I was dead too, but Brody's not good with a knife. I almost died, but it wasn't the first time I got stabbed. Did they really make you leave ? Shit, I should have buried Carlos instead of spitting on him. I was pissed. He could have left a note to tell me !"

"You were dead."

"Still !" Vaas said indignantly, finally calming down a bit, resting his head on her shoulder. "It was hard, nena. I lost everything that day. My island, my men, and you. I wanted to kill Jason, but my sister was faster. It was over. I thought about jumping off a cliff, but it wasn't a nice ending. I thought you wouldn't be happy. So I left. I wanted to visit your hometown, but I couldn't. Hurt too much. Shit, hermosa, you're here ! You're really here ! Hey... No, don't cry, querida, don't cry."

Y/N didn't listen to him, hugging him while sobbing. It was hard to know if it was joy, stress, or a bit of both.

Like when they were on the island, the first few nights when she cried a lot, Vaas massaged her back, kissing her neck and repeating reassuring words, singing a lullaby in Spanish, until she calmed down.

"Are you... Are you staying with me this time ?" she asked shyly.

"Of course. You're coming to Yara ? I have a small house near a lake. I built it myself. It's quiet, not far from the village and the sea. Little Vaas and I go there often."

"Little Vaas ?"

"Yes, I'll introduce him to you. I've told him a lot about you, he'll be happy to meet you. And I'm Vaas the nice smuggler, I help people. Well, I still sell drugs and drugs. weapons, and I transport humans, but because they ask me to, I don't sell them ! No more piracy, I'm clean. Almost."

"... And if I don't want to go to Yara ?"

They had this discussion about Rook Island. Vaas refused to leave, he loved his kingdom too much. Now they were very far away, they had changed. He looked at her intensely, before nodding, cupping her face in his hands with a very serious expression.

“We'll go where you want, mi reina."

"Well... I want to see your house. And meet little Vaas."

"Nena, if this is a dream, please don't let me wake up."

He then pressed his forehead against hers, before kissing her and pressing his head against his chest again, to listen to her heart, with the sound of the waves in the background, and Y/N also hoped that she was not not dreaming.

She imagined them in Vaas' cabin, which was probably not very well built, with little Vaas, who must have been a dog or a tiger. Heaven.

"Well, that's cute, but we're going to be late !" shouted the other smuggler who was standing near the bar, to give them some privacy.

"Pedro is boring." said a small voice. "He's not as cool as Carlos."

"That's right, little Vaas." replied Vaas, resuming his normal voice. "Too bad he died, he was nice and he protected my nena. It's not fair."

"... The tennis ball in your pocket is little Vaas, right ? You don't have a tiger." "You want a tiger, nena ?"

"No. I want to go home." she whispered, even though she had already been there since he had jumped on her in front of everyone.

#far cry 3 #vaas #vaas montenegro #vaas montenegro x reader #vaas montenegro imagine #vaas montenegro fanfiction

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chaerssss · 7 months

Text

REDAMANCY

Word count:- 4.2k (approx.)

Pairings:- childhoodbestfriend!hwa x y/n

Type:- Mini series (part 1)

Genre:- Fluff, angst, romance, comedy, a hint of fake relationship. (look forward to the smut in other parts besties!)

Song reccs:- Love, Maybe (secret number), stay with me (miki matsubara), Day and night (Jung seung hwan), Some (bol4)

Seonghwa's theme:- Ditto (instrumental)

Y/n's theme:- Gone (instrumental)

FYI:- the title means, 'A love returned in full'

"I'm so bored."

"Should we go eat at a café?"

"No."

"Karaoke?"

"No."

"Arcade?"

"No."

"Comic store?"

"No."

"Wanna go jump off a building with me?"

"Yes please."

The latter chuckled at your response and shook his head. His hands shuffled through his pockets and he took out an item familiar to you. "Here, you left your scrunchie at my house. My mum found it." Your eyes go wide to finally see the scrunchie you had almost died finding yesterday, "and i thought I had lost it."

Your hands hold the scrunchie and you wear it on your wrist, as you always did. "Seonghwa's always at your service ma'am!" Seonghwa said, imitating a butler and you laughed it off. The bell rang and it was finally time to leave the school. "Ok but seriously I'm in need of food!"

"But i recommended a café before, didn't i?" Seonghwa recalled how you had rejected the proposal, "but I wanna eat rice cakes made by you!"

Your hands clutched his arm, and Seonghwa's eyes fall to your face. You looked so tiny from his perspective, but he knew if he said it, he'd get beaten up. Then came your eyes. So pretty. And so...magical. As though they casted a spell and he fell, his heart couldn't take the visual right now. So he turned his face to the other side, hoping you won't see his red face, "alright!" He mumbled.

Coming back from school was probably the best part of your day back then. Going to beaches, cafés, random karaokes. Even in the middle of the night, you were glued to the computer screen, talking to Seonghwa, while doing your homework together.

The next morning, meeting at the same river with your cycles to reach the school at the same time. It was like you were living the best days of your life. And...you took them for granted. Maybe that's why it was taken away.

Everything was planned for the future too. Your savings for your future to buy an apartment together, then getting a job for college to pay the fees. Oh and how could you forget the seperate section of money both of you collected for an exo concert.

Everyone assumed that you both were in love.

You weren't. But he was.

And so you still dread that day. Graduation. Because, all your plans had scattered before your eyes. You maintained a safe distance from him. All while, faking a smile as your principal allowed the students to throw their hats in the sky. The crowd was so loud, strange and..dark.

It felt, as though, everyone around you were in slow motion. That's when your eyes met his. Instead of those bright, round eyes, you saw sorrow in them... Regret, pain.

He glanced at you once, as if capturing this moment with his eyes. His hands untied something on his hand and he turned his back at you. You could see him wipe his tears despite his attempts to be subtle. And seconds later he disappeared. And it all went blank.

"../n?"

"...ke up!"

"y/n?"

"Y/n!!"

Your eyes open with a gasp. You lay there for a while, trying to make sens of your surroundings, until a head pops out. "You're sleeping during work hours?" Uh-oh your boss had seen you.

"Jeez, joong you gave me a scare." And you turn your head in the other direction and cover it with your arms while on the desk.

This guy. With blue hair. Was your best friend. You both met in the first year of college, both a little lost, both a little crazy. You guys had sewed together many dreams. Unsure if the future was anything like you had planned for yourself. However, fortunately.

Both of you got admitted to a fashion company in your second year. Which is pretty big for you guys because you were still inexperienced. With ups and downs you learned, and eventually you officially became permanent members of the company.

Hongjoong was dear to the previous CEO, so she promoted his position. Many other employees were so jealous and some even left the company because of the mistreatment but to you, Hongjoong deserved it. Despite being young, he had worked hard. And now the company is doing even better than it was a few years back.

"I scared you? You were practically wincing in your sleep." Your expressions dropped at his comment. "'Don't leave, don't go...' who were you dreaming of?" He leaned, raising one of his eyebrows. "No one."

He laughed aloud, which you knew very well was his sarcastic laugh, "you've got some guts to lie straight to your teeth and to 'me'!" He pointed at his chest, knowing damn well, who you were dreaming of. "I'm going to get a coffee, it's already time to go home. Take a good rest."

The walk back home wasn't long, mere 20 minutes. You decided to walk or cycle, rather than use a vehicle. One could say you were health conscious. And yet, it felt like an hour. Your eyes wander around, gazing at the dipping sun and the ducks in the lakes were swimming back.

The old couple, as usual was at the bench, never failed to make you smile. A brisk breeze makes your hair dance. Your path is decorated with brown leaves that fell from the now leaf less trees. A few get crushed under your shoes making a crunch sound, giving you a sense of satisfaction.

It was the same actually. Your hometown. Nothing had changed. And yet, something felt missing.

You bought an apartment as planned, it's well decorated, your salary is decent too, good Neighbors, a boss that's a friend as well, you have family and friend reunions from time to time. Everything was fine.

Then why?

Why did you still cry in the shower everyday?

Why did you still looked at that one picture frame for a little too long?

Why did your heart ache while watching those rom coms you once loved to watch?

Why did he still appear in your dreams?

Why, why won't your brain let you forget him?

A ring reaches your ears and pulls you from your thoughts. You put back the same photo frame, of him and you on the first day of school. He had a bowl cut and you had two silly pigtails. His cheeks were wet, he was crying, like his mother used to say...a crybaby. And you stood near him cracking the cutest pose when the kid next to you was having an existential crisis.

"Hello? Mom?"

"Oh hello honey, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine..what about you?"

"Oh me too, uh...sorry to call you at this hour but Surprise, surprise Mr and Mrs Park are here!" She exclaimed.

"...uhm, mom be specific."

"Seonghwa's mom! Well his parents are here and they wanted to meet you. After all it's been so many years. You should come by."

"...what?"

Your heart sank. You could feel it. All the other sense had been turned off. You couldn't hear a thing or what your mom said and then cut the call off, the only sound you could hear was a precise ring. It had gotten a little hard to breathe. You put the phone down and held your head with your palms.

You can't comprehend what just happened. Neither do you know why's this happening but your anxiety level had risen to a whole new level. You keep walking around your living room in your comfortable extra large hoodie, in stress.

Was it really required for you to be there? And first of all, out of all the times, they decided to greet us now? What if you just ran away? Hongjoong could help!

And for a moment you came back to your senses, your thoughts had halted and you gently sat on the edge of your sofa's arm. Your lips let out a scoff, "he still has an effect on me..." That's the funny thing. Because all those years, there was not a single spark between you and him. Well, it might've been different for him. But, at the the same time you could never imagine a day without him.

Why are you like this? What has he done to you? You stare off at the empty wall, with the spirals of your words you doodle across it with your eyes. Just like that the time flew by and you hear your house bell ring. It pulled you out of your thoughts and you open the door without thinking much into anything.

Or without predicting that the person at this hour could be none other than...Park Seonghwa. "How is my favourite person doing?"

7 years.

7 fucking years.

And these are the first words he says to you. The last thing he said to you was something you still remember. Now look at him, calling you out so nonchalantly. Yeah...look at him.

He had changed. His style had changed. Or perhaps, seeing him after so many years was so...shocking. Back then, he couldn't style clothes for himself, or tie his tie. You remember, you were the one who taught him to tie his laces in around 2nd grade.

Look at him now. He looks lovely. As if he just came out of a magazine cover. Not a blemish on his skin, brighter than the sun. His jawline had gotten so sharp, and his shoulders. Even though he wore a coat due to the chilly weather, you could see they had gotten broader. His hair a little longer, his eyes...still intense as ever.

You probably look like an idiot, standing there with your jaw open and eyes wide, staring at your childhood bestfriend. So invested in his beauty, you had forgotten to speak. So the man just made his way inside the apartment.

"Woah, so you did buy an apartment for yourself. I must say it's well decorated!" He wandered around the house, admiring each and everything while you slowly started coming back to reality.

"What....what are you doing here?" You finally spoke as you closed the door behind you. The room temperature had fell down a little due to the cool air entering through the door you had opened for a little too long. "me?" He pointed to his chest, while looking at you with his boba eyes. As if there were more than two people in the room.

"...of course you!" You said with eyebrows furrowed because what kind of a question was that? He slowly makes his way to the sofa and settles there as though it was his house? He took out an apple from the fruit basket kept on the table, "I'm a friend y/n, of course I came here to see you. It's been 7 years after all!" He took a bite and it felt like the crunch had echoed through the dead silent house.

"...just like that?" Your eyes narrowed and had visible pain in it. And his were an opposite of yours. "Oh! You should get ready, my parent's are at your house, waiting for us to arrive." His voice muffled because of the fruit. And you just followed. You don't know if he had noticed your slightly teary eyes....you didn't care.

You were still perplexed and had to sit in the same car as him. This is the best time to regret your decision of not buying a car. Plus, the whole faking the smiles among his parents and yours. But it had been such a long time, seeing aunt and uncle. All the memories came flowing like water. Her delicious mochi dessert, or how she scolded hwa when he teased you. Uncle's first car, in which he took you to all the parks known to mankind, or his annual gifts for you.

So you just hugged them and sobbed like a child. Which didn't go unnoticed by Seonghwa. It reminded him how close you guys actually were. Even your families. All those little picnics and trips. And seeing you cry like that made his heart swell...how because of him a beautiful relationship like so was about to be destroyed.

Even though you said that you could return back on your own. Both of your families insisted that you should go with Seonghwa. And that man didn't back down as well. See if it would've been any other person, you would've agreed but to think it was Seonghwa. You had to again bear the awkwardness in the car.

The entire time you were looking out the window. Trying to distract your mind, which.... didn't work as always.

"Why did you come back?" You asked, still looking outside the window. Afraid to meet his gaze. The roads were empty as it was around midnight, it was a smooth drive. Thanks to that, the awkwardness was easy to manage.

"...I was trying to avoid the question." He chuckled which made you look at him. "Well not you can't..." "i know.."

He continued, " i know, I know it's weird that I came back..and at this point of life where, you probably moved on from the past. But I'm here to tell you that..."

The car came to a pause and because of the impact you slightly moved forward, and the words that's came out of Seonghwa's mouth were enough to rethink your entire life, "reconcile our friendship."

"....why?"

He seemed taken aback by your response, "well...it seems like you certainly don't want to." Jeez, his teasing habit still hasn't changed. "No...it's not like that,..." You paused and you fixated your eyes on dashboard, instead of his eyes, "why..did you have to leave in the first place..if you were gonna come back?"

Seonghwa gave out a deep sigh, "y/n-ah..." His honey like voice, said your name. He let his head rest on the seat and a lazy smirk appeared on his face...he must've been tired. Your heart...it's beating abnormally fast. "We were kids back then...and I was the one at fault. So... consider this as an apology, for what happened during graduation."

So carefree.

Why?

If the feelings he felt were true...so true that he decided to leave. How can he be saying these things to you?...were you...the one who hadn't moved on?

"I love you..."

His words. You still remember them. His expressions... his eyes. Everything.

"So what do you say y/n?"

Maybe you were in the wrong back then...or maybe you and no idea how to respond.

"I have..since we were kids."

It was flowing back to you as he sat right in front of you, recklessly asking you to turn back to the friendship he had broken. And made you like this.

"Hm?"

So,...your emotions weren't valid now, right? Neither were your feelings...So why should you care?

"Be mine for an eternity."

Your throat had started to feel tight. You took in a gulp to eliminate the lump, "I'm willing to be friends again..."

"Woah you look terrible.." Hongjoong says as he comes by your cubicle. Of course, you do. You couldn't sleep a wink last night. "Do you wanna know the reason?" You ask him while lazily typing on the computer. "Hm, as far as I know it could not be a human, so I'm guessing, a sad movie or series?" Terrible. What a reputation you had built.

"I'm afraid this time it's the opposite." You've never seen Hongjoong throw his bun on the ground with his eyes so wide they could pop out anytime, "what...the..f-" you cover his mouth just in time. "rest in peace, Mr bun, it was not your fault."

For the next few minutes, you explain Hongjoong your entire story. The way your life quite literally changed in a night. "... that's actually crazy...and reckless. I mean I would personally call it shameless but I know that you called dibs on him so..." You crane your neck towards him, "I did not. I never told you that!"

"Well it's obvious isn't it?" He plops from the desk and stands straight in front of you, "it is weird he came back out of the blue. If I'm being honest...you should clear out the things with him." His hands come to caress your head, "i care about you...I mean I'm enough for that jerk but I don't want you to get hurt in any way. Sort it out, what you feel and what he feels."

Your bestfriend's words kept circling around your brain. Even as you walk back to your house. However, you see a familiar car in the middle of the road, a man leaning on it's door, carefully looking at his watch. His long hair,...look so fluffy, his eyes are hidden by the sunglasses but as soon as he spots you, those cheerful eyes are revealed. His hand waving to you and you walk straight to him.

"What're you doing here?"

"Here to pick you up!" He says in an exciting tone, which you find annoying because can he tone his excitement down. And yet at the same time you can't take up the fact, how adorable he is. But then, Hongjoong's words echo in your brain again. And for some reason, right now, feels like the best time to ask him the question.

"Um...I wanted to ask you something." You say, hesistent at first. "Go on..." Your hands clutch the fabric of your tote bag, "If I'm being honest, you coming back...didn't sit right for me. And..I know that you understand that it wouldn't feel good for me...might as well take some time to adjust."

Seonghwa seems to understand each and every word and he knows where this is headed. Yet, you can't catch an expression of vulnerability. Or pain.

But why were you hoping for it? Why did you want him to feel bad about a thing that happened 7 years ago? "But...I hope...your feelings for me have died down." Oh my god, you said it! Could there be a better way of saying it? Were you too harsh? A ton of questions already bombarded you.

Seonghwa starts with a light chuckle, and a bright smile gets morphed onto him, "I know...i completely get you. I think i forgot to mention but...i have a girlfriend."

....

Oh.

".. that's nice. I'm.. I'm happy for you." Maybe you were. Tch. Who were you lying to? You weren't. Your heart sank and you couldn't hear a word he said afterwards. A girlfriend huh? So you really were the only one who was still stuck in the past. You wanted to cry. You wanted to weep. And ask him why?

Couldn't he have waited just a little longer? Couldn't he have given you another chance?

Why would he?

The smell of the wet grass reaches you from the park, the gardener must be working. A few moments ago, you couldn't hear a thing and it feels as if all your five sense have been activated. And you feel a little too hot. Your palms were sweaty and your head felt all woozy.

"So, shall we go to a café hm?" His soft voice reached your ears. You just had a lot of emotions bottled up. "Seonghwa... let's go to a bar."

You wake with a sudden feeling. It is becoming a habit of yours to wake up as if you just experienced a bad dream, like the way main leads in a movie wake up. For a few seconds, you lay there... contemplating your life. Your eyes wandering around the house.

The familiar fan you always open your eyes to, the blinds still closed but the sun light pouring in from the spaces, your tv on the front that you bought with so much excitement. The same cream and white walls. Yeah, you were home.

The bed started to feel like a fluffy cloud and you just wanted to sleep again, but...your head was pounding so bad. It was almost like you felt your heartbeat in your brain. And your throat felt so dry. You slowly got up, your hands gave support to your head and you turn to the side table to have some water.

While sipping the water you notice something unfamiliar kept there, a small glass bottle. The label on it read 'hangover cure'. Hm.

Wait.

So, you drank last night. Crazy how you had forgotten everything. It was there but a blur...maybe it'll come back. Because you definitely don't remember buying a hangover drink. But oh well, you took it because your head felt like it could kill you any moment. As you're about to take a sip, your hands feel a texture different from the glass. It was paper. Your turn the bottle around to see a pink sticky note with hello kitty's doodles on it. It read 'drink this, it'll lighten the headache!! - SH'

Ah. It was Seonghwa.

You carried on with your day. Slow. Thank God it was a Saturday because what would you have done if you had to go to work today? While doing that your mind tries to recollect what happened.

"I know...i completely get you. I think i forgot to mention but...i have a girlfriend."

Couldn't he have given you another chance?

Why would he?

"Seonghwa, let's go to a bar."

"I'm familiar with this place, a few of my friends and colleagues brought me here countless times." As if on cue the bartender called out for you and you waved back at him. Seonghwa was surprised at the interaction.

Especially, the bartender's reactions. He acted all shy and soft. Well...now that he's observing him, he's not that bad looking. Tsk. That is what's bothering him right now. However, his eyes fell back at you and he admired your features.

It was all coming back to him now. All from when his mum made him talk to the girl he used to look at secretly from behind the tree in the playground. And there you were. Your hair tied in two low pigtails, with ribbons on them and tiny clips holding your baby hair.

To when you both were in highschool, eating lunch together on the bench that was near a lake, having deep late night talks on the rooftop, movie sessions at his house specifically because it felt just right according to you. Him teaching you how to cook and you ended up burning whatever you made because that could not be called food. Or how....you used to say things so nonchalantly to him. Not knowing the effect they had on him.

"I'd do anything as long as it's with you."

"The moon sent you to me."

And now you're sitting in front of him, grown beautifully into an adult, drinking like a mad woman. He chortles at the thought. His admiration for you is interrupted because of a phone call. "Y/n..i have to take this. Stay here alright?" He made sure to tell you this very carefully because you were already so drunk. "Don't leave ok? I'll be back in a few seconds.." he left only after he had heard you say ok...or more like inaudible mumbles.

But of course you weren't gonna stay on your place. He comes back to an empty chair. In attempts of finding you everywhere, he has to now push through the crowds. The club is so noisy. (It's supposed to be noisy park Seonghwa smh). His anxiety levels are rising right now, you're an adult you can take care of yourself but being drunk...you can act quite crazy.

The universe is literally screaming at this point for Seonghwa to look behind. Because you are having your own concert on the random table and are surrounded by strangers. Who... apparently are enjoying it?

As soon as he turns his head he's... perplexed. Because you're dancing seductively on a 2000s song, in your work clothes. Which was actually not that boring since you worked in the fashion department. Your white dress that reached just above your knees and a cropped pastel blue sweater on top, supporting the attire with your kneee high socks and platform heels.

You ruffle around your hair, use your hands to touch your body, feeling yourself. Not caring about the world. Looking like the main actress of a drama. Oh god, why was his heart beating so fast? His jaw was open, as if surprised but not complaining. However, as soon as his eyes go below he finds a crowd of people there.

Clearly, he wasn't the only one having fun. So disgusting these people are. Recording and gawking at a young, drunk woman. Well...not all of them. Seonghwa tried to call you down but you kept rejecting, all in your world. Until you hit a light on your forehead slightly, and came back down. Seonghwa immediately covered you with his coat, and gently rubbed your forehead.

The next thing you knew, you were outside walking around. And your drunk self being silly as usual. From screaming at the ducks for being so cute, to complaining about why bananas weren't pink. And Seonghwa couldn't help but laugh which you were offended by.

"It's not funny, it's a geniune request for the universe!!" Your voice all raspy and wobbly and so were your steps. "Why did you drink if you're such a lightweight?"

"...i don't know, I felt like it."

Yeah right. It was all just to escape from the pain of confused feelings.

"Hwa?" Your lips let out the nickname after so many years and it ignited a spark in the said man's heart. He looked at you as if...you hung the stars in the sky. "Yes y/n-ah?"

"Do you believe in soulmates?" The question got him a little off-guard but he replied anyways, "I do.." you took a deep sigh and clutched his coat that was on your shoulders even tighter, the cold wind slapping your face, it turned your nose and cheeks red, "then, do you believe in lovers that are meant to be?"

"Yes I do." He said, without taking eyes off of you. He saw you pause a little, hesistent maybe. And then you turned your gaze to him and spoke in a soft tone, "...what about... lover's who are unaware of each other's feelings..."

The wind kept picking up it's pace, you saw his hair dance, while his eyes...they looked, hurt. Why? Did you say something wrong? It was because he knew what you were hinting at. He would like to talk about it...one day, he'll make you sit and talk all about it. But finding the right time is getting harder. And he's afraid he might lose the time.

Before he opens his mouth to speak you shut him by saying it's late and we should head back. The entire car ride was so awkward. Not that it was anything new, but the drinking helped to distract you from the situation. As soon as you got out of the car, you gave him his coat back. The warmth that was taken away, you felt so dejected.

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but he seemed even more mesmerising than before. You just wanted to kiss him...but it'd be too spontaneous huh? His scent felt so intoxicating. While walking back a few tears fell from your eyes, you're not sure why. Seonghwa saw you wiping them....it broke his heart to see you like that, but what could he possibly do when in the first place, it was because of you, the seperation happened.

You can be quite a handful. Sitting on the beanbag, with coffee in your hand and a book on your lap. Which was just..there. because your mind was preoccupied by your last night's embarassing acts.

You felt a vibration as you were sitting on the bean bag, then your phone caught your attention. 'mum' the words shone bright on them.

"Hey honey...how was your day yesterday?" Her voice as gentle as ever. "It was...alright. I'm hungover right now by the way." To which you received a fit of laughter. Your mum had always been your biggest support, she was like a ball of sunshine wrapped in the attire of a mother. She always taught you to stay humble, grateful and a little crazy for the fun's sake. That's why you can share whatever you want with her.

"Whom did you go out with? Was it Hongjoong? Or That blind date guy, what was his name? Mountain?" She asked and you internally laughed at the 'mountain', "San mom, his name was San." A little Ah, of realisation came from the other end. "And no...I was with, Seonghwa."

As if other people weren't enough she started making teasy sounds and the 'oohs', for a fact you know her eyebrows are wiggling and she's poking the air which indirectly is you. "Mooom!" You whined trying to stop her trail of thoughts. "You know we're just friends right?"

"Of course I do...but he's a good guy no?" You rolled your eyes as if she could see you right now, "That doesn't provide as a valid reason to date him?" And your mom counter attacked with, "well, San was a nice guy too, I also teased you about him but you never gave him a chance as well."

You halted, because if it was about your relationship status, you could never win in that section with your mum. "I'm just saying....you guys have known each other since you were kids, and he's attractive too, hm?" Yeah, you would agree on that one thing. All those memories, where a number of girls had approached you just to fish out seonghwa's number or to get close to him. Oh and how could you forget the amount of gifts he recieved during valentine's day.

Thinking about it now, really makes you realize that...what you felt back then, was 'jealousy'. And not in a way that your friend was being taken away from you. But because...he was yours. It had always been Seonghwa and Y/n from the start.

"Besides, the way you two look at each other, can't just limit you to just 'friends'."

Was it really that obvious? Your lips gave out a sigh and you took another sip of your coffee. "Oh also, Seonghwa's parents are celebrating there 26th marriage anniversary, and all of us are invited."

The location was sent on your phone, you had to focus on the 'getting ready' part. On god, you never thought much about your outfits but today. Specifically today, you wanted to look the best out there. If Hongjoong was here he would've said "who are you going to impress with that dress?" While smirking and teasing the shit out of you.

But honestly,...who were you going to impress? "S-.." don't say it. You can't admit it!

The party venue was so beautiful. It was an outdoor restaurant, and filled with nature. Those trees and bushes were decorated with golden fairy lights, as you walked a bit further, all the tables were settled and flowers were hung on strings with more fairy lights that acted like a ceiling. Every table had a candle lamp. This reminded you very much of Tangled for some reason.

Your parents had already met you, in fact, even Seonghwa's parents greeted you. The only person missing was him. The party had all sorts of people, some you knew and some were absolute strangers. Amongst all, you wanted to look for him.

So restless. As though, without him you can't breathe. It just makes you question how the hell did you survive these 7 years without him? It must be funny to him too. You could've stopped him....but something about his back on you, made you feel like you weren't worth him.

A champagne flute in your hand, you were there physically but your mind was lost in the clouds of memories. Should you even be feeling this right now. As you're eyes wander around a tap on your shoulder is felt to which you turn around, "Who're you waiting for?"

Your head rotates towards the voice to find Seonghwa in a fitted white shirt, the first few buttons opened to expose his collarbones. God, you could almost outline his built, might be the lightening or the material of the shirt and he had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, which for some reason was so hot? The bottoms were black, his wrist had a rolex while his neck was adorned with a gold chain. Oh yeah...he used to wear that back then too. His hair were down, and so floofy, you wanted to run your hands through them.

"Y/n?" His fingers snapped in front of you and you came back to your senses, realizing you were practically gawking at the said man. However, you weren't the only one observing. You could feel his gaze go from the top of your head to your toes. Analyzing, more like admiring the way you looked. Although, he wanted to rip of the dress right then and there that hugged your body so perfectly, he had to control himself.

The bun didn't make it any easier as well, the dresse's square neckline exposed your collarbones and he noticed that the dress had a slit as it went down showcasing one of legs. Gosh, you looked like a goddess.

"Y/n...you look, beautiful." He complimented in his soft voice, the way he looked down on you, and for some reason he leaned in even closer, your breath had started to hitch so bad. Your aura was now filled by his stimulating scent, he slouched down to meet your eyes, his eyes boring right into yours.

Somehow the whole world faded away, it was just you and him. One of his hands came up and tucked a hair strand behind your ear, from there, it went to your earlobe. He caressed it so softly, you were sure you'd fall, your knees were so weak, all because of the proximity between you guys.

"Did your earring get lost?" He whispered, and you stood there dumbfounded. "Hm?"

"Your earring."

Then it made sense to you, he was talking about one of your earrings which probably fell somewhere and you had no idea. "Oh...um...i-i.." ah yes, the classic stammering. No, honestly now you get why those main actresses reacted this way, tongue tied because apparently your mind goes blank and all you can think about right now is kissing him.

His smirk was still pasted on his face, like he enjoyed teasing you, "that's alright we'll find it." The rest of the night was beautiful. You enjoyed every second of it. Because on the dinner table your parents couldn't stop talking about your childhood stories and the same was for hwa's parents.

All the little stories, and Seonghwa's were mostly embarassing and you knew he wanted to run away. His face was so red and the wine was absolutely not the reason. Meanwhile, your laughter couldn't be stopped. You guys really stayed together for so long huh.

After a while when you got up to get ice cream, you see Seonghwa talking to a man. He seemed familiar for some reason. Just as gorgeous, but his hair were longer and he wore earrings in both his ears, and was also shorter than hwa. You decided to join them.

"Hey guys..." You started but it felt like you made a wrong decision because the atmosphere for some reason was already so tense. "Yes, her." Seonghwa said and you looked at him in confusion because now both of them were looking at you with their narrow eyes. "Wh-" and before you could speak Seonghwa interrupts, "my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" A voice from the back greeted you. How lovely.

Both of your families had heard what this man had blurted out.

Astounded. You sit in the car. Staring into space. Seonghwa sat besides you, panicking visibly. No, because if someone passed by the car they would see the most comical scene. You hear a meek, really timid call for your name and you don't even bother to look at the man. Instead you click your tongue and start screaming on top of your lungs.

"YOU IDIOT! WHAT HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! HUH?" While throwing anything and everything you could find- which somehow included a bottle of sanitizer and a chocolate box?

"YOU ALREADY HAVE A GIRLFRIEND! WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU LIE? ARE YOU CHEATING ON HER?? THIS WAS NOT THE WAY YOU WERE RAISED PARK SEONGHWA!!" nag nag, like a mom. And hwa was going through what could be described as a traumatic experience because now came your smacks and punches.

"Y/n let me explain!!" The man finally managed to say something but you hit him more before calming down. Seonghwa looked like a scared cat as he passed a water bottle to you. You glared at him and snatched the bottle, gulping it down.

"It's gonna come as a stupid excuse...but that just...slipped off my tongue." He began and you hands already found themselves in your hair, clutching them hard, "...what would you say to your girlfriend then? Why'd you take my name anyways?"

His face morphed into that of sorrow, "we...uh.." you already knew what he was going to say. "Broke up." It pained you to see him like this. You still remember vivdly, how he was so afraid to talk to other girls but some of his friends made him go on a blind date, and those girls were mean, they insulted him and he came back crying. This was 10th grade by the way. His head in your lap as you tried to calm him down.

He had always been so soft, you couldn't imagine what he would've went through in this cruel world. "We were already very distant. It always felt like we there just for the show. So last night...she finally decided to break up."

Now the stars align.

He then explained why he said that there on the spot. Apparently, Wooyoung, is one of his work rivals. He didn't want to back down in front of him, because he had taken a full 2 months vacation from his work, saying that he's getting engaged. And well, seeing Wooyoung here, he got a bit freaked out, because Wooyoung could end his career. But luckily you walked straight there, like an angel.

Yeah, more like a lamb walking into a lion's den.

"But you could've said it a little less loud... because the whole family heard...and it's going to take a lot of time to clear this misunderstanding." You began, because your families that already shipped you, were in their emotional phase right now and anything you would say could be and would be taken as a betrayal.

"Sorry..." He muttered.

Despite having a pout on your face you took your handkerchief and blew hot air on it so that it'll warm up and then used that as a heating devide on Seonghwa's forehead, "...must've hurt.."

Seonghwa watches you care for him, even though you winced more and kept asking "does it hurt?" Tch. Gosh, only if he could kiss you right now. Wait. What?

Yes, he thought that right now.

It's isn't his fault though. If one thing he has learned from his friendship with you, is that, soulmates exists. And one-sided love is true. God, he fell so hard. He can't look at anyone else like the way he looks at you. And no one, no one makes him feel the things you do. "You look like a dream..."

He says out of the blue, and you slowly move your eyes to meet his, that's when you realise you're too close. Dangerously close. "What did you say?" You whispered, too scared to speak up, as though breaking the shell both of you had created around you in a span of seconds.

"You look like a dream."

Wow, somehow you survived the situation. You're standing at your door step while Seonghwa's car is still outside the main gate, waiting for you to get inside. But you don't, you look back once again, with a grin, a little too happy for some reason and wave at him. You see him chuckle as he waved back and you got inside. You never wanted to leave but...had to.

As soon as you close the door you slide against the door, looking red like a tomato. Your palms hide your face as you squeal and giggle like a teenager in love. "I'm in trouble..."

Seonghwa thinks back at the moment, he got bold huh? But, someone honked right from behind then screamed "get a room". Yes. It was Wooyoung. He smiled at the memory, he takes off his watch and then his shirt to change into comfortable clothes that's when he realises, he forgot to return you something. His hand shuffle into the pockets of his pants.

A sigh leaves his lips, "guess this gives us another chance to meet." His palm held your earring that you had lost. He doesn't look like it but he is sneaky, he found that earring near where you stood but you were too lost in your world.

So you were Seonghwa's fake girlfriend now. And your family also believed that lie. Crazy, but now they kept teasing you for it. Something about marriage and kids and what not. You shurgged it off whenever you were on a call with them or ignored it when you were with them but secretly...you tried so hard to keep a poker face.

Even at work Hongjoong had caught you daydreaming, and he'd say "love looks good on you". If you were being honest... you've thought about it. How would it be feel to call him your one and only? To live with him? Sleep on the same bed with him....how would it feel if your feelings were reciprocated?

However deep down, anxiety rose in the pit of your stomach. The reality is not it...it's nothing like your imaginations and thoughts. He might not feel the same way at all. "might not?" A painful smile appeared on your face...he obviously doesn't. He had moved on, and you were still stuck in the past like a teenager in love. Sleepless at nights, thoughts of him lingering a little too longer in your mind, replaying moments with butterflies each time.

In a different home and setting...things were quite similar. He realised his feelings had not even decreased one per cent. He'd laugh at the fact how confident he felt when he came back from abroad, feeling 100 per cent sure his heart wouldn't pick up it's pace and your eyes wouldn't work their magic on him.

Oh boy, was he wrong?

The moment he saw you, his pupils enlarged and his jaw opened slightly to take on all your beauty. How can a person become even prettier as time passed by? The world suddenly started to seem bright with you. And it wasn't a foreign feeling at all, it was as though he'd come back home. You. Just like before, every love song was and still remains about you.

How...vile of his heart? To not let go someone who doesn't even wants him. He hated the idea of you with someone else, but he was ready to leave you as long as you were happy. But...he didn't realize it was going to be this difficult.

Basically these two idiots had no idea, both of them liked each other secretly. They were hopelessly in love with each other.

Days went by, your work routine stayed the same but you know what else changed? Your evenings. Your nights. God, all the while you just patiently waited for your job to end, in fact, some days Hongjoong would let you off the hook early.

Then you and Seonghwa would explore the town in his car. Laughing, enjoying, mocking each other, taking silly pictures. It felt like those days were back, and you weren't going to take them for granted anymore.

Just like that, a dinner happened. It was organised by Wooyoung, Hwa's rival and both of you were invited. It was actually shocking to see those two act so in love at the dinner, because Wooyoung wouldn't stop kissing Seonghwa, he was just so drunk but then Seonghwa cleared that he was like that even when he was sober.

A lot of things happened during the dinner but the real fun...was after that. You guys strolled in the parks, laughing. Even catching a young couple, sitting on the benches, experiencing love probably for the first time.

Maybe it was invasion of privacy but it was just so wholesome watching the guy on the right put his hand on the bench and the guy, shorter than the first one, on the left inch by inch hold his hand and both of them looked on opposite directions probably blushing so hard.

You turned to see Seonghwa, his body was hovering you but his gaze was fixated on the couple on the front. You guys were hiding behind a few bushes. God if he looked down at you, you really couldn't control yourself. He never looked down but...you knew he was aware of you lingering gaze on him. How you traced his face structure.

You went to the karaokes, the beach in fact, which was eerily empty and because you were a fool in love, you found it romantic. Or going to the teokkbokki stall that was now built into a restaurant, and surprisingly the owner recognised you.

"Did you go to xyz High school?" The old lady with curly hair asked and Seonghwa responded yes, with a smile. "Aigoo, no wonder I've seen you before! You used to come here after school hours right?"

"Woah you remember!" You said, amazed. "So you guys became a couple huh? Ooh, such a cute and romantic dynamic. It's always the childhood sweethearts." She said while poking her fingers at Seonghwa's shoulder who was too perplexed to even deny her. You bit back a smile, watching his cheeks glow red and his silly reactions. He hadn't changed one bit.

Then when you sat on the bench near Han river, to watch a firework show. You don't think you can hold onto the feelings you felt when you were with him. It was so fuzzy...and warm. Like home..as you always said.

This time Seonghwa spoke, while gazing at the star filled sky, his eyes were bright once again. You aren't sure what he said at the start... because you were mesmerized by his magical looks...and not just because of his face, you could see yourself kissing his soft lips, holding his face in your hands, hugging him....

"Every time we're together, I just feel so happy and fulfilled..." 'I just wish I was brave enough to say the words, but maybe you feel the same way?'

You heard him say....and a smile creeped up your lips as he looked at you. A moment later the fireworks started to explode and your attention was preoccupied by them..in various colours they piped in the dark sky. Like painting an empty canvas... that's exactly how Seonghwa made you feel.

"I love you..."

You whispered while enjoying the fireworks, knowing damn well your words were muffled due to the loud noise of those fireworks. And yet it felt so light....that you couldn't stop smiling. "Hey..." He called for you and when you looked at him, he was holding out two sparklers, that ngit you lit then and smiled like children.

'I wish I was brave enough to tell you how I truly felt...'

"Hwa!" Your knuckles knock on the door of his hotel room. He wasn't living in his old house with parents but seperately, he said he wanted to buy an apartment just like you. Which amde you chuckle.

Today, you stood in front of his door because you were finally ready to confess after a contemplation of a week. Holding a bouquet, with a blush on your face. However, Seonghwa didn't seem to respond.

"..oh the door is unlocked?" Your hands wrap around the door knob and open it up, "..is he not home?" mumbling to yourself, you took in the view the room provided. The silence was really strange and uncomfortable. Because you could hear... something.

You turned around swiftly, in hopes for finding someone...but there was no one. A sound of something falling from the left greeted you, and your anxiety was growing...you didn't want to whisper for some reason. You just followed the voice, hoping that it was Seonghwa. It lead you to the bathroom.

A sigh left your lips once you saw Seonghwa, his body turned around...and half naked? Your cheeks were red....and when he moved just a little to the left..

It was another woman.

Your heart sank to your stomach...and your eyes dropped down. Your eyebrows furrowed, lips slightly twitched. Unconsciously, you clenched on to the bouquet, not realising it had thorns, which pricked one of your fingers.

A tears drop fell and mixed with the blood from your lips because you were biting on it too hard. With a sigh, you stormed away, but on your way you slammed the door. Throwing the bouquet somewhere in the hallway, the blood had trickled down till your wrists, while your lips won't stop bleeding and your tears....they were the same.

Fuck you didn't even have a car to escape as fast you wanted to.

Why?

.....why?

Your feet took you somewhere you knew you'd feel better, if not...you won't feel terrible like you just did a few seconds ago. Your mind kept replaying the scene like a broken casette. Once you reached the garden...you plopped on the ground and hugged your knees.

Clicking your tongue, you bow your head.."it doesn't feel that bad..."

So you said....still crying as if you had been betrayed. You felt like your world was falling apart in front of your eyes.

Everything seemed to melt away, and the ground beneath your feet was turning to dust. Your chest felt like it was caving in on you, and could feel your heart breaking in your throat.

You knew this would happen, that some day he would meet someone else, but to see it right in front of you... to see the two of them together... You just... don't know what to do with yourself anymore.

"So...I never really knew you.." you cried with your breaking voice. Maybe... you took all this for granted again...

Two weeks had passed by.

And you and Seonghwa hadn't talked since then.

Remembering your conversation with Hongjoong was just absolutely painful at this point.

"So...do you like him then?"

"I don't want to."

"But..you do?"

"I do."

Then proceeding to cry out a river. It was all so funny to you. You were the one who rejected him first anyway.

...

Did you?

Oh fuck it who even cares if I didn't or not...i never had the courage to tell him how i felt. I was so afraid..a fucking coward!

"Y/n!"

You turned around to see the same man, you wanted to avoid. Because you knew if right now you saw him...you'd break.

"Where have you been?" He came running towards you in his dress shirt, his tie loosened up, a few buttons opened. His hair still styled up, looked like he had just gotten off from his office.

He had grown up.

He came in front of you and painted while his hands were on his knees. "Wooyoung said he wanted to meet you again and it-"

"Let's stop acting like this Seonghwa." Your stern voice caught him off guard and he looked at you with a concerned look. "What?...but you agreed.."

"I did...and honestly, I'm sorry i did. I was an idiot." Your throat felt so hoarse and tight, eyes were glazed over, staring at the person in front of you.

You were trying so hard to stay calm and collected, but the tears were welling up in your eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment.

"No, no, no" you whispered to yourself, you can't break down like a child again. It was all for the best...right?"

"Did...did something happen?" His hand extended to stop you, to hold you, to embrace you...instead you took a step back, "You...have so many people that you have to meet. So many things that you have to do...I think it's best to spend them.. without me. Oh and.."

Your hand shuffle through your bag and take out a bracelet with a star charm, you remember you used to have an identical one but with an infinity charm, "here...keep this."

Seonghwa took the item in his hand, thoroughly observing it, "you...found this?"

"Mhm...I kept it when you untied it and there it in the middle of the ground." Seonghwa looked absolutely distraught. This was no what he had expected when he came back from the office, "don't keep sanitizers in your car." As though you were trying to make him realise what he had done wrong, you bitterly smiled but looked at him for the last time, "it'll remind you of us."

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astrid-sama · 4 months

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Labyrinth of white roses (Effie trinket x fem oc)

Chapter 1)

The harvest

I wake up with the warmth of the sun's rays caressing my face, it's a rare event, usually if I want to sneak away without anyone seeing me I'm forced to get up when there's still the moon in the sky, at first light dawn in district twelve everyone is already at work; today, however, everyone is exempt from work and people sleep late trying not to think that tonight at least two families will mourn the loss of their children.

Today the annual harvest is held, on this day a boy and a girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen will be chosen from each district to participate in the Hunger Games, a deadly game from which only one tribute will emerge alive. At school we kids are taught that the Hunger Games are there to ensure that the Dark Days are not repeated, in reality they are just another way for the Capitol City to assert their dominion over us.

I get out of bed, put on my hunting clothes, kiss my brother on the forehead being careful not to wake him and leave the house as quietly as possible. I arrive on the main road and after making sure that there is no one around I head towards the fence; during the journey I feel my stomach growling, it is normal to be hungry here in district twelve and that is why every day I leave the fence to go hunting, putting my life at risk, between dying of hunger together with my brother and being hanged for betrayal by the peacekeepers I choose the second, it is the least painful option. At the fence I find my friends Gale and Katniss waiting for me, we have been hunting together for more than four years now; the fence should be electrified but here in the twelve there is almost never electricity, one at a time we crawl under the fence taking advantage of a point where it is damaged. According to the Capitol, the fences surrounding the districts are there to prevent wild animals from attacking us, but I think they're there to keep us locked up.

We enter the woods, retrieve our bows and hide among the vegetation waiting for prey to hunt. After almost an hour we have captured three rabbits and a squirrel, we go to hide our bows in an old hollow trunk and start looking for fruit and medicinal herbs; when we have finished the sun is higher in the sky and it is probably just before midday. Before leaving the woods, Gale, Katniss and I take a break sitting on a rocky ledge.

-Girls look what I have here- Gale takes a loaf of bread out of his bag, it seems warm and fragrant, few people can afford such bread.

-But this is real bread! Gale where did you find him?- Katniss said as she grabs the loaf of bread.

-The baker gave it to me in exchange for a squirrel-

-Just a squirrel?!-

I can't help but wonder, the baker is a good person but usually a squirrel isn't enough for a loaf like that.

-Today is harvest day, we are all better-

Gale divides the loaf between the three of us, we eat in silence until Katniss asks a question.

-How many nominations do you have?-

-Thirtyfive-

-Twentyone-

Under normal circumstances a seventeen year old like me should only have five nominations, I have so many because I was forced to trade them for food; my father became ill when I was twelve and died when I was fourteen, but my mother died soon after my brother was born so I found myself having to support both myself and my brother and was forced to apply several times in exchange for food, Gale and Katniss are in the same situation as me.

A few minutes later we set off to return to the enclosure; once we return to the district we go to the black market to barter: we exchange strawberries with the mayor in exchange for a bag of legumes, we exchange the squirrel for matches. After leaving the black market, Katniss, Gale, and I wish each other good luck and part ways.

When I arrive home I find my brother waiting for me, he is dressed in a pair of green jeans and a white shirt, his long black hair is tied in a braid and his green eyes shine with happiness when he sees me.

-Welcome back big sister, how do I look?-

-Elia you are handsome, I bet you will make everyone fall in love with you-

Elia blushes and looks away.

-Big sister it's almost time for the harvest, you should go and change-

I nod, I go to the bathroom and quickly wash both my body and my hair, after drying my hair with a towel I put on my best dress, a light green dress with small white flowers and finally I put on some old brown boots. Elia insists on tying my black hair in a braid like his, when he's finished we go to the square to take part in the grape harvest.

As soon as we arrived we immediately separated, I joined the seventeen year old girls while my brother joined the fourteen year old boys. After all boys and girls eligible to participate have been registered, the harvest ceremony begins; first of all (like every year) the mayor goes on stage and begins to read a long speech in which he explains how the Hunger Games are our just punishment for having rebelled against the Capitol seventy-three years ago; after what seems like hours the mayor finally concludes his speech and gives way on the stage to the Capitol emissary who has the task of escorting the tributes of district twelve to Capitol City Effie Trinket.

-Welcome to the seventy-third edition of the Hunger Games, may luck always be in your favor-

Effie walks very enthusiastically towards the glass bowl containing the pieces of paper with the girls' names written on them.

-As always ladies first-

Effie slowly dips her hand into the glass bowl, pulls out a piece of paper, and returns to the center of the stage; in the seconds preceding the reading of the name of the tribute there is absolute silence.

-The female tribute from district twelve is.... Selene Davidson-

All the girls turn to look at me, some look at me with pity, others with relief. My hands are shaking, my body seems to have turned to marble and even though I know I should go on stage I can't move.

-Darling come here-

Effie Trinket smiles at me and calls me to the stage. I force myself to move and slowly advance towards the stage; I'm trying to hold back the tears, I can't seem weak. Capitol City is watching me.

-And now the male tribute-

I watch Effie take the piece of paper with the name of the male tribute and hope that the name is neither Elia nor Gale.

-The male tribute from District Twelve is... Alexander Morgan-

Alexander is a fifteen year old boy with curly red hair and a weak physique, you can clearly see how terrified he is; once he gets on stage he starts sobbing.

-Now a big round of applause for our tributes-

Nobody claps their hands, silence is the only act of protest allowed. After the harvest we are taken into the courthouse and given some time to say goodbye to our friends and family. I'm sitting on a velvet sofa when the door opens and Elia comes in, hugs me and starts sobbing with his head resting on my shoulder. For a while we remain hugged without saying anything, then Elia dries his tears and begins to speak.

-Win big sister and come back to me, I know you can do it-

-Elia I-

-No Selene don't say you can't win, you are an expert hunter you know how to use a bow and knives perfectly and you also know both edible and medicinal plants-

-You're right, I promise I will do everything to come back-

I try to sound confident but in reality I don't think I have much chance of returning home, after all what can a weak little girl from district twelve with a bow (if there is a bow) do against a volunteer from district one who weighs twice as much as she. A short time later, peacekeepers arrive and take Elia away and let Gale and Katniss in in his place. We hug each other, resigned to the idea that this will be our last meeting.

-Guys remember the promise we made to each other, don't let Elia die of hunger! Take him with you into the woods, teach him to hunt, please don't abandon him-

Some time ago the three of us had made a pact, if ever one of us was chosen as a tribute the others would be taken care of by his family.

-Don't worry, we'll take care of Elia, you think about winning-

-Certain-

A short time later the peacekeepers took Katniss and Gale away, I was escorted out of the courthouse and taken to the train that would take me to the Capitol City.

This is the first chapter of my fanfiction "Labyrinth of white roses", I will publish all the chapters of the fanfiction on Ao3 with the name "Labyrinth of white roses".

These are my fanfiction characters created with artificial intelligence:

Selene

Elia

Alexander

#effie trinket #the hunger games #katniss everdeen #effie trinket x reader #hunger games x reader

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markantonys · 10 months

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"My blood shed before hers; my life given before hers. “Thank you, Master Tesen. I… ” My blood shed before hers… that was the oath he had taken when barely tall enough to peer into Elayne’s cradle." (LOC)

"He wanted Egwene out of this death trap [the Sharan camp, where the two of them are completely surrounded and she can't channel without being immediately discovered and captured]...Once he was a short distance from her, he slipped on one of the rings of the Bloodknives. He had activated it with his blood, as Leilwin had said was needed. She’d also said it might kill him." (AMOL)

"Someone had to fight this creature [Demandred], someone had to kill him or they would lose this battle. They could all see it. Risking Egwene or Logain would be too great a gamble. Gawyn could be risked. No one would send him to do this—no one would dare—but it was necessary." (AMOL)

i am sick of the "gawyn only used the bloodrings and went after demandred for selfish personal glory" fandom narrative. he swore to sacrifice his life for others' when he was a TODDLER and has had that mindset his literal entire life. of course he's going to be dangerously self-sacrificial during the battle for the fate of the world. he has thought of himself as disposable since toddlerhood, of course it doesn't occur to him that other people might need him to live for them rather than die for them.

gawyn considers it his duty to die for other people just as surely as rand and lan do, values his own life just as little as they do, is just as willing as them to throw his life away and thereby hurt his loved ones. (lan literally does the exact same thing of risking his last-battle-crucial bondholder-wife in a suicide mission against demandred; he shouldn't be judged differently for this decision than gawyn is just because he happens to survive.) for rand and lan, the fandom recognizes that such behavior stems from a cocktail of self-hate/trauma/childhood conditioning and sympathizes with them for it, and celebrates when they gradually unlearn it. gawyn dies because he's never given the chance to unlearn it, and all he gets is universal reader hate for being selfish. his entire character is one big walking cry for help from TSR onwards, and no one notices, neither other characters nor readers. he dies feeling that he wasn't good enough. and i will never stop crying about it!

#gawyn deserves better!!!!! 📣📣📣#praying for the show to bring him some justice in terms of fandom reception #otoh if you say 'i hate him in the books but i like him in the show' i will turn you away at the gates bc you don't deserve him!#gawyn trakand #wot #wot book spoilers

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izzyspussy · 2 years

Text

read a fic a while ago where Badminton shot at Stede anyway, on deck, and hit Ed instead. and Ed fell overboard with his gutshot, and Stede - still cuffed - dived right in after him. and then Fang looked out and saw them, alive, and pronounced them dead and cut free a dinghy so they could have a chance.

it was a good fic. i read the whole thing, loved it, have it bookmarked. thing is. i disagree with the reaction to the above they gave Izzy. and then i got a little swept up in how else it could have gone instead...

say Ed gets shot, goes overboard, and Stede goes after him. and Fang says they're dead. they're both dead. Blackbeard is dead, and the man who shot him is right there in front of Izzy, who unlike the rest hasn't been unarmed because he's supposed to be one of them.

first, his face crumples into the worst expression you could see on a man's fact. grief and guilt and rage, together in one awful, rending thing. then he pulls his pistol and he shoots Badminton right in the head.

to their credit, Stede's crew takes his lead right off, all but instantaneously uprising. most of them aren't bound, after all, just unarmed and cowed. there's a reason Ed told them to surrender in the first place though, and for all that he feels more a void than a man at the moment Izzy has never really been one for that kind of melancholy, and if he was to indulge a death wish he'd not take an entire crew with him (especially not a crew that Ed, seemingly, had died for). so, frantic and raspy, he calls for them to surrender again, to stop fighting, to remember the two other fucking ships they're fucking surrounded by.

the next up in rank from Badminton, now the boarding Captain, steps forward to sneer at Izzy where he's allowed himself to be handled by two red coated fucks.

Izzy hurriedly makes his excuses, for the crew, hoping this englishman is feeling generous today. they didn't intend to fight their capture, he insists, only got carried away by his own inciting action (it's technically true, isn't it?).

"we had a deal," Izzy explains to the Captain, to show he poses no further threat either. "a life for a life. that's it, it's done."

"well," the Captain says. "you have done a great service to the crown, seeing Blackbeard taken from the seas." izzy's face twists again, horrible, horrible, and it makes the Captain feel sadistically powerful.

"so i suppose we can uphold our first bargain, to let you and your crew go, with your ship, Captain Hands," he continues. "but as you've not been given his majesty's leave to kill, this-" he gestures dismissively toward Badminton's body, the neat little hole exactly in the middle of his forehead "-is still murder. and you'll have to be punished for that. as well as for damages done to my men by yours."

"um, he's not-" starts Pete, but Lucius stomps viciously on his foot.

"he's totally our Captain," Lucius puts forth instead. "totally responsible for us." picking up on the situation, the rest of the crew - save Ivan and Fang, who hold their tongues altogether so as not to pick sides - make noises of agreement.

"very well," says the englishman. "i'll assign five lashings for the murder." it seems remarkably low, especially for the wicked look on his face, until he adds the rest. "and five more for every man who fought on your order." (nevermind, of course, that Izzy hadn't actually given the order.)

Fang gasps, and Ivan breathes in sharply, and Izzy goes pale, and maybe Frenchie is familiar with lashings from his time in service too and he hisses through his teeth.

"oh," says the englishman. "is that unfair? i'm willing to cut it down to three each. if they take the lashings themselves and sign a confession." (he thinks this will be an easy sell for Izzy, who has sold his own before anyway, and so many confessions at once will get him a commendation even if he lets them go for now.)

these green fools, Izzy thinks to himself with a bare glance at them, have no crimes yet attached to their names (not legally anyway, bounties aside) nevermind something as bad as piracy, and they've surely not a one of them ever taken lashings before.

it's only the briefest - and tensest - of pauses before Izzy rasps, "five is fair."

"Boss-" Ivan starts, but Izzy gives him a sharp look and he shuts up. it's him that Izzy hands his weapons belt to, and then his vest, his shirt. he puts his damn self on the main, unwilling to be handled again or tied.

the english Captain is pissed at this turn of events, of course, and he mutters to his bosun not to count. luckily, when five lashes go by without a word and it seems the bosun isn't about to pause between sets, Lucius notices. maybe Jim does too, the two of them both sneaky by their own nature and so prone to suspicion of others. but Lucius is the one to say something.

"five!" he shouts, too loud out of fright, but he forces himself not to back down. "that's five, for the murder. sorry," he adds when the Captain glares at him. "counted for Blackbeard. i mean, i'm sure you're a man of your word, and all these men under your command could tell me that-" (it's a threat, how many of them are counting too? how many of them will remember this when it comes time for you to discipline them?) "-but i really couldn't not do it if i tried." he laughs nervously, holds his heart when no one actually responds and the bosun goes right back to whipping Izzy.

but he still says it out loud again, the next five. and then Ivan steps aside, separate from the rest - maybe just a little bit closer to the nearest brit. "don't wanna forget anybody," he explains as he does it. (he means: we won't let you count any of us twice.)

five more, and Fang steps up next to Ivan. five more, and Jim steps up. and so on, until finally it's the last five and Lucius steps forward, and the Captain notices that his own men have taken steps back.

so he does, in the end, keep his word, and the bosun wraps up the flogger, and the englishmen un-board from the Revenge. as a farewell, Oluwande tells the Captain that they'll remember his kindness and be sure to repay it if they ever meet him again.

as soon as the brits are gone, Izzy collapses to his knees, still at the mast, and weeps.

"what the fu-" Ivan starts, shocked. Izzy had put his own glove between his teeth and not made a sound all through the whipping, and Ivan - the longest standing crew member Izzy's had on board right now - has never seen him cry before no matter what had happened to him.

it really couldn't be more obvious that it's not from the lashing. or at least, that the lashing alone couldn't have done it.

"shh," Fang whispers, cutting Ivan off. "he wouldn't want us to make a fuss." he wonders if he should say, now, that Blackbeard (and Bonnet) might still be alive, or if Izzy would even hear him. if he should wait until the english are well away, so they don't make themselves obvious if Izzy can't think straight.

but the crew of the Revenge is different.

"um, okay," Lucius huffs. "we're making a fuss."

and they do. they uncrumple Izzy from the deck, and they rinse his back off - with fresh water - and they rub him down with some fancy ointment that Stede had in the bathing room of his cabin, and they wrap him up in the duvet off of Stede's bed (he mumbles, vague, that it smells like Edward, which has at least two implications that no one mentions). they feed him, spice and warm some rum for him, and then put him to bed in the Captain's quarters.

Izzy's injuries - the physical and not - keep him asleep for more than a day. they can't just sit here like ducks, so the crew elects Olu as acting Captain until Izzy can take back the job, and Olu has them sail just- the opposite of the way the navy went, for now, and they'll figure out a more solid heading later.

Fang doesn't spill the beans yet. somehow it feels wrong for Izzy to be the last to know, so he keeps it to himself until finally, finally, Izzy's up and seems- well. maybe about 50% back to normal.

the second Izzy knows the truth, he turns them right back around.

#jack facts #ofmd #izzy hands #blackhands #my fic #hc #corporal punishment/

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caplanbuckybarnes · 2 years

Text

Secrets in Misery

Summary: you’d thought you’d never betray your husband.

Warnings: torture, near death experience , demon au, brief mention of SA.

Characters: Loki, Thor x reader

A/N: I could have written this better but like…. 🙃

You shivered, depsite the warmth of his tongue as he licked a strip of your exposed skin as your body was sprawled out in front of him and many other demons that surrounded you.

“Have you chosen on speaking yet, little one?” he leaned over, his sharp teeth glinting in the brightness of the room. “I assure you, this silent treatment isn’t going to get us anywhere, my dear.”

“Oh, fuck off!” You grimaced. “You’re a fool if you think I’ll give up his location.”

“So, Thor is alive after all,” the creature gleamed, looking around the room in excitement before his eyes turned back to your own, his stance disgustingly playful. “You know little one, you’re a lot wiser than the other broad I held on this rack.”

You grimaced in pain as you felt the tension of the shackles pulling at your limbs again as he pushed the lever by your foot. “I’d be a fool to give up my husband to you! Go to hell!”

“Perhaps,” he mumbled thoughtfully before leaning on the table once more, leaning down closer to your face. You could smell the rancid of his breath and nearly gagged as he smiled down at you. “But, you’d be alive shall you give me the information that I crave so deeply.”

“What do you want with him? He’s no royal, he’s poor like the rest of my village. What could you possibly want with Thor?”

“He owes me a few souls in debt.” the demon grinned. “And you seemed to have placed an illusionment charm on him. He’s undetectable until you lift the charm. Tell me, would the charm wear off shall you perish under my care?” You swallowed the fear as the man eyed you hungrily, a sharp knife poking your rib cage. “I can tear another piece of flesh from your bones, if that would make you talk.”

“Yes!” you spat out, silently begging for death. “Yes, if I die, the spell wears off and he’s visible to the world once more, yes! Just please let me go.”

“Do you care to live, little one?” He bared his teeth. “It seems naught, since you’re protecting a low life son of a bitch soldier who ran away from his assignment.”

“He’s in the village! In the bookshop!” you swallowed hard as tears came to your eyes. “There’s a crevice by the history book shelf. Place your palm against the panelling and his hideout will reveal itself.”

The man clapped giddily, his men already exiting the place to gather your husband for his death. You see, Thor cared deeply for you, so much so, that he made a deal with a demon to have his own bookshop in the village. He loved learning and reading about any knowledge that ge could get his hands on. Of course, all deals must have some consequences. Thor must pay a hefty price every month until the day he dies; killing innocent beings and sending their souls to hell. He’s missed several months of payment, costing this demon many souls.

You were captured on the street hours ago, being tortured endlessly, sexually absued and hurt emotionally. You couldn’t take the pain any longer. You cried to yourself as the last of the men disappeared from the room, leaving you alone, shackled to the table.

#thor x reader #thor imagine #thor x you #thor x ofc #thor odinson #thor odison imagine #thor odison x reader

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and-stir-the-stars · 11 months

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In your age swap AU, does Mike still grow up to get scooped and then try to put William's victims to rest? I think I remember whence upon a time you made a post that Evan would still die after a prank gone wrong. Considering how differently both of them handle the same situations, would big bro Evan forgive Mike for the accident and continue to protect him, or would his violent death cause him to take out all of the pent up frustration and anger out on Mike when they meet again? ~Dire Kumori

Damn, did I make that post? I don't remember it if I did, lmao XD

To be fair, I make... a lot of posts. I spam so much I wonder how people follow me at all, if I'm honest.

I think Mike-Evan age swap aus have a lot of hella interesting potential endings whether Mike is the one to kill Ev or if Ev ends up killing Mike.

Right now, I'm thinking about a version of events where Mike accidentally kills Evan.

I'm thinking about Evan still being afraid of animatronics after he witnesses them killing Liz. Maybe the kids are at Circus Baby's Pizza World, and Evan cannot for the life of him find his younger sister. Exhausted Evan trudges into the security office, hoping to find where Liz is on the cameras, and what does he see on the screen but Liz standing in front of Circus Baby, the animatronic offering her a ice cream cone before... bang.

Evan runs to the animatronic, only to find the large clown animatronic is now surrounded by kids; he shoves them all aside and tries ripping Circus Baby open with his bare hands. When William enters, he screams at his father about what he saw on the camera, begging for help. William... isn't happy. By the time Evan tries showing William the security footage to PROVE that he knows what he saw and his little sister needs help, the footage has already been scrubbed clean. No murder in sight; in fact, it doesn't look like Liz was near Circus Baby at all. Some well-placed scathing comments from William, Liz's death being absent from the security footage, and Circus Baby being surrounded by kids when Evan clearly saw Elizabeth alone just moments before he burst into Baby's room all make Evan doubt himself; he wonders if he fell asleep somehow and it was just a dream, or if he's just plain crazy.

But, it's enough to spark that fear of animatronics. Not just a fear for his own safety, but a fear for Mike's safety as well. He doesn't want his little brother anywhere near those things.

From here, I see two different options.

Maybe Michael gets annoyed with how paranoid, overbearing, overprotective, and controlling his big brother gets when it comes to those animatronics. Mike isn't a baby. He's not scared of them; he likes them, and Evan doesn't get to keep him away from them just because he's scared for no reason!

Or, Michael hates seeing his big brother so distressed and wants to show him that there's nothing to be scared of when it comes to animatronics. Maybe he just wants his big brother to have as much fun around them as Mike does.

Either way, the end result is the same: Evan follows Michael after Mike sneaks into the basement/William's study where William has some of his death-traps-in-progress.

Mike ends up triggering one. Evan tries pushing Mike out of the way, and succeeds in getting himself killed instead.

Although, it'd be a lot of fun if Evan didn't die right away, right? Maybe Evan's bleeding on the ground, sobbing for Mike to go get their father or to call the police; maybe he's stuck inside an animatronic prototype designed to capture kids, sobbing for Mike to get him out and go get help. And Mike doesn't. He can only watch, his feet glued to the ground, his eyes glued to his big brother's dying body, too terrified to move even as Evan screams for help.

Evan dies slowly, but he IS dead by the time William finds them.

From there, I'm thinking William manipulates Michael into being his accomplice. Whereas Saffron Pawn has Evan being manipulated into William's accomplice in a slow and gradual process, I imagine that here, William would throw Michael in the deep end.

William tells Michael that he has to do exactly what he says, because he's experimenting with a way to bring Liz and Evan back to life, and if William goes down or Michael doesn't listen to him, then Liz and Evan stay dead and suffering, and Michael will never be able to make up for killing his brother or bring their family back together.

But as the years pass, Michael becomes more and more sure that this whole child murder and experimentation thing ISN'T what he wants to be doing, until he runs away and tries to fight against William and the feeling that he's betraying Ev and Liz.

Eventually, William sends Michael a message: "come put your sister back together and bring her back to me, and I'll tell you where your brother is."

As for the second part of your ask, I can't see Evan being mad at his little brother for what happened. Maybe after spending time possessing whatever death trap that killed him, Evan saw for himself that William was a killer or saw what William was doing to Mike; maybe an anger and hatred of William festers and, thinking older Mike is their father, he attacks Mike when they first meet again. But I genuinely can't see him being mad at Mike, even in the version of events where Mike sneaks into the basement/study specifically to defy Evan.

Evan didn't die with any hatred or anger in his heart, just desperation and fear and pain. Of course, I don't think canon Evan died in hatred or anger, either. But the difference between them (ie why I think canon ghost Evan would/should be mad whereas this au ghost Evan wouldn't) is that canon Evan viewed Mike as the person who was supposed to keep him safe and as someone whose love he desperately tried to earn but was constantly denied. Age swap Evan doesn't view Mike as someone who was meant to keep him safe; he knows that Mike is just a kid and that it's HIS job to keep Mike safe. He can't even be mad at Mike for not trying to get help because he still sees the pure fear and terror in Mike's face every second of every day. (And, ofc, I'd like to think that this Evan knew Mike loved him, even if Evan never felt very worthy of it).

#also i was looking at the log book and i saw evan's(?) dialogue saying ''i can't see'' and. i just. thinking about mike finally finding evan #again and evan's spirit is just crying because ''i can't see you. i wanted to be able to see you again.''#or maybe mike is scooped and he's trying to hide it by not letting evan get a good look at him and evan is just crying:#''why won't you let me see my baby brother? why can't I see my brother? Please Mikey-- I just want to see you again.''#maybe there's another version of events where william doesn't go with the ''apprentice'' route #or where evan's spirit latches onto mike instead of the machinery that killed him and he tries protecting mike through everything #maybe there's a version where mike doesn't get scooped and he and liz tear william apart and force him to tell where evan is #this is just. the first thing i thought of ig.#tw blood #tw child death #tw death #evan afton #the crying child #age swap au #michael afton #mike afton #fnaf au #i would like to see a version of events where evan is the one to accidentally kill mike but i can't think of what that would look like rn #hollow cause au

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cantsayidont · 6 months

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Spring 1941. For sheer noirish atmosphere, no era of Batman stories has yet topped the period of roughly a year and a half between the introduction of Robin in DETECTIVE COMICS #38 and the late 1941 story in which Commissioner Gordon officially deputizes Batman. By this time, the strip was beginning to find its own voice and aesthetic, but it had not yet abandoned the intensity of the character's pulp roots. The material is not always particularly grim or dark, but there's a real sense of madness in some of these stories: Batman and Robin are still outlaws, moving through a macabre underworld of irrational violence and implacable fate, where any real rules are mostly arbitrary. There's also a degree of romance, something that the strip would later abandon for many years. This was the period in which Batman regularly let Catwoman escape him with a kiss and shove, and in which he could still be moved by a pretty girl like Queenie (above), the ill-fated heroine of "The Riddle of the Missing Card!"

This story from BATMAN #5 begins with an explanation of how the Joker survived his apparent demise in his most recent appearance (in the previous issue of BATMAN). Three crooks in a boat find the villain in the harbor and decide to rescue him for their own reasons:

At this point in the series, the Joker was not yet a prankster pulling themed novelty crimes; he was a greedy, homicidal schemer with a gruesome sense of humor. He proposes that they operate a gambling ship just beyond the three-mile limit, where it will be out of the jurisdiction of the police, and suggests that rather than simply fleecing customers at the gaming tables, they also gather information about their guests to identify targets they can rob later.

Reading about the controversial gambling ship, Bruce Wayne decides to pay it a visit in mufti, although while getting ready, he accidentally cuts himself shaving. On the ship, he soon meets Queenie, who's acting as hostess:

Writer Bill Finger often borrowed from the movies for these stories, and the conversation between Bruce and Queenie plays on a popular convention of talkies made in 1930–1934, before the strict enforcement of the Production Code: characters surrounded by libertines who make a romantic connection based on their shared weariness with debauchery and fast living. This particular trope played out many times in pre-Code films, one well-known example being the 1934 crime drama MANHATTAN MELODRAMA, in which former good-time girl Myrna Loy leaves gambler boyfriend Clark Gable for his straight-laced friend William Powell, and adds context to Queenie's reaction to Bruce beyond what's actually on the page.

Bruce then overhears Queenie talking with her confederates and realizes that one of them is the Joker in disguise, which so startles him that gives himself away. To Queenie's dismay, her partners' response is to immediately attempt to murder Bruce:

(Bruce does occasionally smoke in these early stories, although more frequently a pipe than cigarettes.)

Bruce of course survives and later returns in costume with Robin, leading to a fight and a car chase that ends with the Batmobile sailing off a cliff. Robin is captured, and Batman surrenders himself in hopes of freeing his ward, even if it means gambling for Robin's life. However, this gives Queenie a close look at Batman, and the familiar shaving cut on his chin:

As Batman fights the Joker's cohorts Clubsy and Diamond Jack, the Joker decides it's time to cut his losses by sealing the hatches and setting the gambling ship ablaze, intending to kill everyone aboard. Meanwhile, Queenie chooses Batman over her own accomplices:

It's not entirely clear here if Queenie has dropped the gun and Jack has picked it up, or if Jack has a second gun. In any case, Queenie collapses in Batman's arms and dies of her wounds after a final kiss, as seen above. Her statement that she was in love with Bruce is a bit much in context — they really interacted only briefly — but her fate makes an impression, not least because this story is framed as much from her point of view as from Batman's.

Batman and Robin then pursue the Joker by boat through a rainstorm, leading to a final confrontation in a nearby lighthouse that culminates in Robin throwing the Joker to his latest apparent demise:

Note that there's no pretense here of turning the Joker over to the police, and as with some of the men Robin apparently killed in his first appearance, calling this self-defense might be a stretch.

Afterward, Bruce has a reflective moment about Queenie:

While there's no mention of Catwoman in this story, the parallels between Catwoman and Queenie are notable, aside from their physical resemblance. Like Queenie, Catwoman is a criminal, but she still has a conscience, a dangerous commodity in these stories, and one that leaves her vulnerable to more ruthless villains like the Joker. Indeed, in one of her previous appearances (in BATMAN #2), Catwoman had attempted to bargain with the Joker to stop him from killing Robin and was nearly burned alive for her trouble, after which she plunged into the river to an uncertain fate, much as the Joker does here.

In this period, few of the characters had been around long enough to be assured of any script immunity (even the Joker had very nearly been killed off at the end of his second appearance), and it's easy to see this underlying the early flirtation between Batman and Catwoman: Their world is a lawless one of frequent, serious jeopardy, beyond just the whimsy of a dedicated crimefighter being attracted to a pretty thief, and it's probably not coincidental that the frisson of their interactions steadily diminished as Batman and his mise-en-scène became less perilous and more respectable throughout the '40s. By the end of the decade, the Batman series rarely had any meaningful romantic subplots, and it would be years before there was another with any real spark; Batman had grown too staid and his world simply too safe for it to carry the same charge.

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