#novella prompt

[ilovecherries2]

No one will miss me. Villain thought as Hero went in for another punch. Villain dodged. Stop Villain needed to focus. One wrong move and they might end up dead.

They needed new friends that's what they needed.

Or any friend, really. The people they worked with couldn't be classed as friends, could they?

"Hey, [Hero] wanna be friends?" Villain asked as if they were kids and it was as simple as that.

"Huh?"

#hero #hero prompt #villain #villain prompt #friend prompt #dialogue prompt #prompt #prompts #writing prompts #prompt for anything fictional really #novel prompt #novella prompt #fanfic prompt #otp #otp prompt

[wingedcat13]

Synovus: Villains Never Retire (4)

[And the end of Villains Never Retire - this one took much longer to finish, and it's a bit longer than the other segments at 11,334 words. Warnings for death, and rather more descriptions of violence than have thus far been typical. As always, catch up on what's come before from my pincushion post, and find this chapter on Ao3 here!]

How do you keep a clairvoyant from knowing that you are coming for them?

The short answer: you don’t.

The long answer is that it is, technically, possible. However, masking your movements from a clairvoyant is dependent on what type of clairvoyant they are.

Do they read actions, or intentions? If actions, work through someone else or manipulate the environment. Do not decide on a course of action until one conveniently presents itself. A spur of the moment blitz. If intentions, hire multiple actors. One of them will slip through the myriad warnings eventually. (Personally you think this method is a waste of assassins)

Do they only read the short term, or can they predict further into the future as well? If the short term only, poisons over time work best. If long term, be sure to act both kind and hostile in equal measure, until the method of their death is confused.

Is their ability only clairvoyance of the future, or can they read the past as well? If they can, you can never speak of your intentions aloud. Hide your correspondence in code, and send an assassin.

Of course, this all assumes you have time and assassins. You, personally, have neither.

But you do have something else: connections.

—-

When you recognize Athena and Menace in the broadcast, you want nothing more than to tear out of your lair and into the night like the wrath of hell let loose.

But there are several flaws in that plan, including that it is currently daylight, and that doing so would certainly get more people killed than you intend. Specifically people you care about, so that’s out.

Instead, you make a few phone calls.

“Optix.” You were still staring at your phone as the broadcast continued, promising an hour of execution. “Are you the reason I’m seeing this?”

You still weren’t sure what, exactly, Optix was - but it went by ‘it’ and had given its name, and was inherently jacked into any electronic cloud you had ever encountered. You didn’t know if it was a person, a program, or a genuine Artificial Intelligence, but you did know it could be helpful when it chose to be.

A thumbs-up emoji appeared in your messages.

“I owe you.”

A ‘no’ emoji, the red circle with its diagonal line.

“Do you have a location?”

Another ‘no’ emoji.

“Noted.”

The broadcast ended, you swept your phone back into your pocket.

“Boss,” that was Doll, looking very pale. “This is-“

“A trap? A problem? A truly blindingly idiotic move by a pack of misguided muppets I’m about to return to the scrap pile? Yes. Yes it is.”

The shadows are still writing around you, but they are drawing closer to your skin. You managed not to vaporize anything this time.

“Your eyes are glowing.” Doll notes uncertainly.

Glowing? Hm. That’s a bad sign. Normally it’s the shadows that appear there first.

Of course, the shadows come to hand when you are furious, when the anger is hot and choking. They rise when you are defensive, murky and obscuring. But this emotion - you are not certain you can call it anger, anymore, that somehow feels too weak - is cold at its core. Not the freezing, biting cold of fear, but the frost wind that steals warmth and cuts like knives.

And that emotion, whatever it is, is what calls the light.

“I am in control.” You inform Doll flatly. “Gather the others, make travel preparations. I have calls to make.”

Doll nods, bolting out of the room. You know it isn’t to get away from you so much as it is to get to work doing something, to feel as though he can help.

You replay the broadcast, short as it is.

By the time you’ve finished watching it a second time, you have a plethora of messages - other villains, sending you the clip. You don’t bother responding.

Instead, you flip to the number pad. Four digits into the number you intend to dial, it rings, from the same source.

You answer. A frustrated voice spits out a coordinate string and disconnects.

How do you keep a clairvoyant from knowing how you are going to kill them?

You use another clairvoyant, of course.

—-

When you drop from the underbelly of your plane, you do so alone.

Your minions are there, of course - Heather's piloting, with the rest on support positions or with other tasks when they actually land. But you will not take them with you into a brawl when you can help it.

You cannot fly, but you can use a different trick you learned through some very difficult trial and error - summoning sections of shadow and solidifying them, to 'run' across the sky. It's a peculiar feeling that combines vertigo with certain mental acrobatics to circumvent the laws of physics. If you fuck up, you'll fall.

So you don't fuck up.

You also don't try and stay airborne long. Instead, you let yourself drop in increments, cushioned by your shadows, until you reach the scrubland below.

You are, perhaps, a mile out from the outskirts of the town that you've been given the coordinates of. There's no question of whether it's the right one - there's a giant, gleaming metal spire in its center that doesn't belong amidst the southwestern architecture.

(The question of who endorsed these idiots is a problem you will handle later.)

There is no sign of movement in the town itself. The residents are either already casualties, imprisoned, or fled. You don't actually care which, you just want to know if you'll be stepping over more corpses than the ones you make.

There's only one way to find out - so you start walking.

---

Earlier, when you were first starting to train Alexandria, she had asked you why you never carried weapons.

"I don't really need them." You'd answered, even as you went through a practice pattern with a padded staff. "My shadows are amorphous, I can craft them however I need to. Harder mentally than fixing them into shape, but more difficult to physically counter."

Alexandria had been taking a break, perched on top of the giant tire you'd been having her lift. "You sure it's not just an image thing?" She'd asked skeptically.

You'd grinned, "Oh, it definitely adds to the image. I am unarmed, because I am always armed."

"Mom says you should do the opposite." She'd remarked. "Carry a weapon so that people think you're reliant on it, and then when they disarm you, they're surprised."

"That trick only works on someone once - though your mother does put it to good use. Also, her abilities are a little easier to disarm than mine. Shadows are everywhere - water? Not quite so easy to come by in certain circles. And the spear adds to her reach for better maneuverability. Your father too, I suppose, though he's more likely to bash someone with that shield."

Alexandria had studied you. "You really know a lot about how they fight."

In answer, you'd twirled the staff in your hands, and mimicked some of the spear patterns you'd seen both Athena and Legionnaire use.

"'Therefore I say: 'Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.'" You quote.

"Sun Tzu?" Alexandria sighs, "Please don't make me memorize the Art of War. I've already got paragraphs of the Iliad I'll never be able to get rid of."

"Memorization's pretty useless." You toss the staff instead, spinning it for fun instead of a combat pattern. "I just want you to understand what it means, not how much gold you need to allocate per li traveled."

Alexandria had eyed you suspiciously, "How many times have you read the Art of War?"

"No more questions." You'd declared. "How's the flight coming?"

---

Thunder booms by the time you've made it to the spire itself.

The sky has been steadily darkening, as you've picked your way through the empty streets. There are pock marks in the asphalt, holes in the buildings. Some of them are burned to the ground or melted - Cobalt's work, most likely.

You briefly wonder if they have a recovery factor, if you'll have to put them down again today. It doesn't change much, either way.

No bodies. Bloodstains, crumpled cars. Someone's had the wherewithal to clean, at least. Or someone who could raise the dead showed up already - hard to tell from context clues.

If you weren't wearing your helmet, you could've taken a deep breath and smelled only the heat, melting into the softer gentleness of rain. You could've felt the wind on your face, in a steady breeze.

But you were wearing your helmet, so you only noted those things distantly, and that made it all the more contrasting when you stepped into the trap that had been laid for you.

---

There are sirens wailing, somewhere. The few who have not been cut off already, cut silent as the screams of the living have been, one by one and in waves. The hush that should follow is denied by the high pitched whining of machinery and the sound of burning things. There are sparks, and pops. Something like words worn smooth in the background, run over so many times that they're part of these floorboards that are now cracking and failing, released again at the moment of unmaking.

You focus on the sounds, because you cannot see the devastation. You focus on the sounds, because you cannot smell the burning. You focus on the sounds, because if something does not force you to confront it, you do not know how fast or far away you would be running.

You shut your eyes and fight for air. Your hands close into fists, and you feel the world roll around you. An earthquake? You should be running -

Breathe. Weigh the situation, then move.

The sirens are too loud. The flames - you would've noticed them earlier, seen the smoke. The pieces of this scenario do not match.

You flip the settings on your helmet. The sounds do not change.

A mental effect, then. An illusion?

On a hunch, you blanket the area around you in shadow. From a building to your left, you hear a squeak of terror.

Slowly, not trusting your sense of direction, you turn towards it and take a single step.

"I know that you are there." You say calmly. "Your illusions are good, but they are not perfect. Come out, or my shadows will drag you out."

There's a pause, and the illusions intensify - you can feel the heat of fire on one side of your body, smell harshly chemical smoke - then the thunder cracks again, and you are abruptly returned to the near silence of reality.

A shuffling of footsteps. Then a small head pokes around a doorframe.

You run your shadows over them anyway, to make sure this is not an adult pretending to be a child. If they are, they're either much better at illusions than they're letting on, or they can also shapeshift.

You'd say the figure that steps into view is no more than eight years old.

"What is your name?" You ask, still calm, still gentle.

"Ciaran." The answer is in a near whisper.

"They did not give you a code-name?"

The child pales. "Ch-Cheshire. Like the cat."

You nod. "Very well, Cheshire. I am Synovus."

You look up and down the street, and compare the feelings of your vision to the area that surrounds you now. A few things make sense.

"I know." The child says, swallowing. "Please don't kill me."

"I will only kill you if you try to kill me." You answer, matter-of-fact. It's no use protesting that you don't kill children, no one ever believes you. "Your abilities - that wasn't an illusion, was it? It was a memory. A memory you pushed into my mind."

Cheshire nods, hesitant. "Ez - Jester said I should make you scared."

"And so you chose something that had scared you." You complete, "I felt your fear. And why did Jester want me scared?"

"I'm not supposed to answer any questions."

"You already have."

"You're going to hurt me. Hurt them."

You fold your arms. Why do you keep winding up in moral arguments with children?

"That will not change based on what you tell me, little one."

"I wasn't supposed to be here." Cheshire blurts. "I was supposed to wait - to wait until you came inside, and then -"

They fall silent, and you nod. "And then Jester would teleport behind me, hm? And why are you out here then, alone?"

"Because I don't want you to hurt them. I thought I could make you run away before you fought."

"Others have come here before me. Have you scared them away too?"

The child scuffs a foot. "Some of them. No one's ever found me though."

You crouch. "You've done a very stupid thing, coming out here to face me. But I am not here for you, and I am in a hurry. Hide, and I will not hurt you."

Cheshire steps back, but hesitates. "And Jester?"

You sigh. "They must face the consequences of their actions."

Cheshire's bottom lip wobbles. "Don't kill him! He's - he's my brother, I don't - promise you won't kill him!"

Sometimes, you really do hate yourself. Past, present, and future.

"I promise." You grit out, "That I will not kill your brother, Jester, on the condition that you hide, and not use your powers again, until a woman named Rosie comes to get you. Do we have an agreement?"

A stubbornness enters Cheshire's expression. "Pinky promise."

Again, you feel like this is a trap. Also, you're mildly offended that you would need to make a further oath than the one you've already made, but this is a child. So you hold out one hand, as far as you can, and Cheshire does the same.

When Cheshire nods solemnly, you straighten, and turn back towards the spire. The sound of scuffling marks the child's scramble through the rubble, and you hope you haven't made a terrible mistake in letting them get away.

You allow yourself another heavy sigh, and call Rosie to tell her what to expect.

---

You don't actually know for sure whether or not you have siblings. But wanting to sacrifice yourself to save a family member? You can remember feeling that way.

You know who your parents are (sometimes you wish you didn't) and you're reasonably sure your mother didn't have another child after you. Your father could have a whole bevvy of children, a miniature army, and you would never have known. An elder full-blooded sibling could've been taken away prior to your conscious memory.

Your father was known as Sunhallow. He who is Hallowed by the Sun. A god-made-flesh, who seemed to bleed gold and healed in the sun, and could incinerate enemies in beams of light.

Your mother was simply your mother to you, and if she ever did anything with her minor telekinetic gifts beyond keep up with you, you never heard about it.

When you were young, an enemy came calling. Several, perhaps. You were packed from your private tutoring into a safe room, and you did not come out for several days. It was you, your tutor, and a few others, who you knew would die to protect you on pain of a worse death at Sunhallow's hands.

When you finally came out again, you were brought to see him. He told you that your mother had had to go away, but if you worked hard enough, you could be allowed to go see her again. When you would not be a burden to her work.

Desperate to please, you had thrown yourself into your education and training. Combat, economics, athletics. Trying to find a way to call the sun the way Sunhallow could, in vain.

Several months in, your shadows had finally manifested for the first time. You'd been delighted to show him, begged to be allowed to speak to your mother - a letter, a phone call.

Sunhallow had refused.

After that day, he called you his moon-child. You became his shadow, never speaking, never moving unless called upon to do so. Your training, somehow, increased.

And when you had done that for a month, you were brought into a room where a caped hero had been restrained on a table. You knew their name from the list you were to memorize, and their strengths and weaknesses accordingly. Their name was Willowsteel.

Sunhallow put a dagger in your hands, and pointed at Willowsteel.

"There is the man who took your mother." He told you, "Go and get her back."

You had torn into them as though somewhere inside them was a key, and you could use it to open a door, and on the other side would be your mother, happy to see you after so long apart. But there was no key: only blood, and eventually that ran out too.

When you were done, Sunhallow had led you to another room, and showed you your mother's corpse.

---

The rain began to fall just as you stepped over the threshold of the spire.

It caused an interesting audio phenomenon on the inside, as it rang off the metal in a discordant harmony with the hum of the air conditioning. Thunder rumbled again.

There was no one in the entry hall that you could see. Only an empty room, wide and spacious, with a large grand staircase leading up. It feels more like a warehouse than a lair.

“Optix.” You whisper inside your helmet. “Does this place have an intercom?”

A two note trill that you take as a yes.

“Would you be so kind as to patch me into it, for a moment?”

Another two note trill, then the sound that usually heralds you should leave a message in a voicemail.

“Perhaps I was not clear enough, the last time we spoke.” You drawl, and in your voice is cold fury and disdain. There are sounds of startled movement from the stairs. “Allow me to clarify.”

Metal really is a horrible building material - the boots of anyone who is coming ring with such finality as they run to meet their deaths. A line of those you take for goons, pale-faced and unsteady and armed with automatic weaponry you know is stolen.

Your voice doesn’t waver, doesn’t change. Each word is delivered with gravitas and perfect diction. “Thou hast fucked around.”

You take several steps forwards into the room, your cape billowing behind you. The empty black blank of your helmet offers no reprieve or indication of humanity - only their own reflections.

“Thou shalt find out.”

Thunder shakes the sky - and the goons open fire.

—-

How do you keep a shadowmancer from killing you?

Well, that depends on how you define a shadow.

Must it be pure, pitch darkness? In that case, arrange for sufficient lighting, and they will be powerless.

Must it be a living thing’s shadow? Lure them into a trap, provide sufficient lighting, no living shadow to work from.

But can it be a half-shadow? If so, sufficient lighting becomes a problem. One need only cup their hand to create a negative space within the light, and draw a shadow from there. A bundle of a cape edge. The hollow of one boot.

And speaking of hollows - if a shadow is simply where the light isn’t, what, then, of a body’s hollows? The spaces in the mouth, the lungs, the small pockets inside various cavities. The slim space between brain and skull. Are those shadows?

Because if they are, a shadowmancer does not need external shadows to kill you.

And how do you keep a shadowmancer like that from coming to kill you?

Short answer: you don’t.

—-

You don't bother to count your kills. The ticker on that particular statistic is long broken, and you will not linger here. You grant them the mercy you have to give, and make things quick.

It takes you less than thirty seconds to go from staring down a wall of automatic rifle barrels to stepping over corpses, and up the stairs.

About halfway up the first level, the air shifts.

You pause, and when no immediate strike is forthcoming, you turn. "You do not have so many opportunities available to you that you can afford to waste an opening like that." You chide.

Jester is flushed, their breathing heavy. They stand where you were seconds earlier, and stare at the room, and then up at you.

"What did you do to Dymania?" They ask, and you see the edge of desperation in their eyes.

You decide that this is a lesson that can only be truly taught once. "A better question." You say thoughtfully, "Would be what I did to Ciaran."

At the mention of their brother's name, you watch Jester's face go through a variety of emotional contortions. You wouldn't bother to name all of the shades, but 'terror' features predominantly among them.

To Jester's credit, they learn quickly. The next time they teleport, there is no more pretense of talking.

---

In the rooms above you, you cannot see it for yourself, but you will learn later that Dymania is paralyzed. They lie on the floor, in the room crafted for them to get the most from their gifts. Overloaded with a thousand potential futures, each only a maddeningly small difference from the next, they occasionally shout or spasm.

In the room above them, Minerva has finally found an opening. She is trailing more goons, there is a bullet in her shoulder, and her leg is still not completely healed, but she manages to reach the rainwater, and that is all that she needs.

On the same level, down the hall, Alexandria is no longer held in check by her mother's captivity. They far underestimated her strength, and she has broken the bonds on herself and several others. When someone tries to enter the room, she takes the door off of its hinges and literally sweeps a path clear for the other hostages to flee.

Outside, Rosie is sitting on a chunk of concrete rubble, talking to a little boy who has no idea there are four others hidden in the area around him, ready to strike anyone else who approaches.

And a single figure hurtles through the sky, with no way to know that he is already too late.

---

You probably could've ended the fight with Jester much sooner, but... okay, so you were maybe having some fun with it.

Not because he was so clearly distressed, mind, just because how often did you really get to brawl with someone? No super strength, no weapons, no summoned spouts of fire, just a good old fashioned punch-out.

Yeah, sure, the kid teleported, but that just made it more interesting to fight him.

(You weren't sure what would happen if he solidified in a space he happened to share with, say, your arm, and you were disinclined to find out, so you had to lead your movements just enough and - well, it was harder than it sounded.)

And yes, you are furious still, but that fury was largely alleviated by doing something, and with the pieces you have set into motion, you will have to trust in the others in the building to play their parts. Also, you did promise not to kill this one, specifically.

So when he tries to gain enough momentum to blindside you by teleporting up and coming down, and you sidestep on the blood-slicked staircase, there is not a spike of shadow waiting to impale him if he does not teleport again quickly enough. When you see an opportunity to force him to carry through a motion and crack his skull into the railing, you stay your hand.

Mostly, though, you move in circles that broaden to leaps of your own, until Jester decides to try and pick up one of the guns of the dead goons.

You fold your arms as he aims at you. "Nice try."

Jester furrows his brow, the mask contorting to match. He glances at the barrel, does a doubletake, and swears. Frantic scurrying only turns up more of the same.

"I don't - what - how?" He cries, jumping from body to body for a gun that works.

"Solidified the shadows in the barrels." You lean against the railing and cross one leg over the other. You're only mildly winded.

“You can do that?” Jester cries in horror.

You hum. You aren’t entirely unsympathetic. “I can do many things.”

Jester looks up at you, something like determination in his eyes - and disappears.

When he does not reappear, trying to punch you again, you sigh. “Damn it.”

You click your way through to Rosie again. “Yeah, I overdid it. No, I’m fine. I am not that old. The roof? Fine. There better be an elevator.”

Grumbling, you find the elevator at the heart of the spire. They haven’t locked it yet - so you’ll take however many floors you can get out of it before they do.

—-

When you were younger, your mother told you about the things that made someone Great.

You can’t quite say they were stories, because they were more like… half-anecdotes, strung together on a line. But they were always meant to entertain and teach, and you could listen while you did other things.

For a long time, you thought they were all about your mother and father. She was every brave woman who thought to heal instead of breaking, every woman who drove a weapon’s blade through solid stone, every woman who adventured and every woman who stayed home.

Your father was every man who proved the truer than his enemies, who rallied others to his cause, who truly believed and in that faith called others to follow. Inspired them, rather than commanded.

And you? You were both of them. You had your mother’s adventuring and wisdom, your father’s effortless grace and pure heart. You did not need your own stories, when you could frolic in the mix of theirs, leaping from one tale to the next, an ephemeral sidekick.

Your mother never corrected you. But you learned, eventually.

Your father was never the protagonist in those stories at all.

And where did that leave you?

—-

The elevator stops about two stories up, by your reckoning, and had you been standing by the door like a dunce, you would've been pummeled by a torrent of water.

And had there not been mirrors at the back of the elevator, you might've pummeled Minerva with a torrent of shadow.

But there were, so you could see it was her from your vantage of tucked-into-the-corner, and she could see it was you as the center mirror cracked and shattered.

(You weren't sure if you should commend these young idiots for thinking of the corner tricks, or condemn them for putting in wall to floor mirrors. Really, those things shatter no matter what kind of treatment you give them.)

"Synov-" Her incredulity is cut off, as you sweep around the corner - and sweep her into a hug.

She must be exhausted, because you get away with it. She stands rigid for a moment, bracing, likely thinking you're tackling her or some other nonsense. Once it becomes clear - oh, a second or two later - that you're only wrapping your arms around her in reassurance that she's alive, some self-preservation instinct drops.

For a moment, she rests her head on your shoulder, and gently presses one arm against your back.

When she pulls away, you do too.

"I should've known you'd come for Al- Menace." She says, and her throat is raw. Smoke? Screaming? (You're going to burn this town a second time) "Had to show me up one more time."

"One day, Minerva." You say quietly, "I'm going to prove to you that my affection for you is not a trap, or some kind of proxy for your child. But for now -"

You spread your hands, summoning shadows between them. You spin them like thread, that thickens to wire, that thickens to cord, pulled taut and bulging on one end. That end clarifies - sharp edges, a wide base that narrows to a point. A replica of Athena's spear.

Minerva - Athena? - takes it, weighing its balance. She opens her mouth to say something, but you are already holding out a disc in the shape of her shield.

"The weight's wrong." She says, taking the shield.

"Shadows." You say apologetically. "Not the heaviest things. Shall we?"

Minerva clears her throat, "Menace is searching for more cells. They had a lot of people here."

You nod, and follow when she walks away. "Anyone other than Jester and Dymania I should worry about?"

Athena adjusts her shield. "Not while I'm around."

---

When you were Sunhallow's shadow, he called you 'Eclipse.'

You were not his enforcer - he did that well enough on his own. You were the spy, the assassin, a card near the bottom of a very stacked deck. An observer, time and time again.

And, as proves inevitable when someone is taught to find loopholes and make observations, they will begin to find chinks in their predecessor's armor. They will learn to ply their skills for their own gain, rather than only on instruction. It is what makes them good at what they do.

You were very good at what you did.

In all of your searching and spying, you put together several pieces. You conducted your own investigations, slipped additional questions into interrogations, took the time to talk to your targets before you killed them.

Their words painted a very different picture than the one you'd been given. They showed that your mother had not been abducted, but had left willingly. May have even opened the door. They showed that Sunhallow was not the first to claim godhood, only the most recent to become so prominent. And that not everyone, as he had claimed, recognized his inherent superiority.

Your father told you that one day, you would become Holy, as he was. The Sun would hallow your bones, bless you, and raise you to take over where he left off. But you knew what he looked like when he was lying, by then. You also knew he liked to tempt others by offering them the idea of his position, his glory. It was bait.

And the day the light finally responded to your call, you realized that you were going to have to take it.

---

When you and Athena find Menace, it's by finding the end of her trail of ducklings - nearly thirty people, milling about in varying levels of distress and shock.

Someone screamed when they caught sight of you, in your distinctive costume, and Athena with her spear and shield of shadows. You sighed, unsurprised, but didn't have time to even start trying to explain yourself before a head rose above the others. And kept rising.

Nearly flat to the ceiling, Menace shot over the heads of her flock, and hurtled into the pair of you to grab you both in a hug.

"Super-strength, super-strength, super-strength," you chant in warning, wanting to come out of this reunion with your trachea intact.

"You saw me ten minutes ago." Athena chides gently, but her heart isn't in it, and she hugs Menace back just as tightly.

“I’ve never been so happy to see a pile of garbage bags in my life.” Menace says, giving you a very careful squeeze. You have time to make an offended noise before she turns her attention back to her mother; “And you - you got shot? I specifically requested you not get shot.”

“The people.” Athena reminds her, nodding towards the shambling mass of mundanity.

“None of them got shot either.” Menace replies mulishly. When Athena sighs, she relents. “No major injuries so far, though some of them are pretty banged up - bruises, scrapes. I think I’ve gotten most of them out by now, unless there’s a basement to this place.”

Athena looks at you, and you shrug. “It would make sense that they did, but the elevator didn’t go down that far, and herding prisoners down stairs gets very annoying very quickly. If there is one, I’m betting it’s maintenance.”

The shambling mass of mundanity has been whispering since you arrived. You could wait for Menace or Athena to soothe them - but you’d rather not.

“Oh, shut up.” You tell them crossly. “If I were here to kill you all I would’ve blown up the place and been done with it. You all get to live and deal with the trauma for the rest of your sorry lives. Lucky you.”

There’s a collective gasp of shocked breath, and the nearest ones edge back from you a little more - but they do go silent.

Athena elbows you in the ribs. “Synovus does have a point about the stairs.” She says calmly. “And the elevator isn’t safe. Have we found an alternative exit?”

Menace sighs, “I could punch through an outer wall and carry people down?”

Athena considers the group size. “That would take some time. And we would be vulnerable during movement.”

“The ground level is secure.” You mention idly.

“Which doesn’t rule out snipers or the two remaining supervillains.” Menace points out.

“You.” Athena says suddenly. “You can make discs of shadow, and you can hold them. You can make one wide enough for them to all stand on, so they can be lowered down together.”

You could also make a slide that curves around the spire all the way down, but you don’t say that part out loud.

“I could.” You concede. “You would be putting their lives in my hands.”

“If you wanted them dead, you’d have killed them by now.” Athena counters. “So time to live up to not wanting them dead.”

You survey the crowd. You have an image to maintain - or, well , partially reconstruct.

“Fine.” You drawl, and stalk closer to the group. You shoo them all to one side, and rest your fingertips on one wall, feeling for the vibration of the rain. “This is the outer wall?”

Athena breaks off reassuring the people to call to you, “It is. Maybe four, five inches?”

You resist the urge to make inappropriate jokes. Someone in the crowd does not. Someone else smacks them on the back of the head. The first person mutters something about stress responses and apologizes.

Experimentally, you lodge a spear of shadow into the wall. It sticks until you dismiss it. You can see a faint gleam of pale light through it.

Well. Shit. Shadows are very adaptable things, but they don’t cut very well - they’re more brute force and occasionally piercing.

Which means you’re going to have to use the light.

Whatever. At least it’s not made of concrete.

You don’t bother to explain yourself to your companions, not with an audience present. Instead, you raise a wall of shadow between yourself and them, thick enough to block the glow of radiance when you summon light to your hands.

A beam would be easiest, here - but it would also be like setting off a beacon. The most subtle would be to use the light as a knife, as you normally do when you have to use it, but that would take forever. So… laser cutter?

You use three sharp, long lines to hack off either side and a new roof line, giving it a shove near the top with your shadows so it doesn’t try and fall inward. Another slash at the bottom cuts it loose. The chunk of metal falls away with a relatively soft screech (which is, still deafening) and drops with the rest of the rain, and your shadow wall.

You reveal yourself again, already turned to face the group, with the rain now drumming on the metal flooring (you may have erred on the side of excess for height) and the wind blowing your cape out dramatically. You gesture to the open air, shadows already weaving a basket to hold a large group of people.

They cannot see you smiling, but they can hear it. It is not a polite or joyful smile. “Your chariot awaits, dear friends.”

—-

No one thanks you for putting a raised edge on the platform.

Menace would’ve caught them, of course, but still. Did your efforts to save them from falling mean nothing?

Had circumstances been different, you might’ve complained about that to Athena, loudly and at length. Instead, you stayed quiet, and kept time in your head as you lowered a herd of sheeple to solid ground.

You stay up in the spire, though Athena rides with them to reassure them, and Menace drifts alongside. Once they’re down, she argues with her mother for a moment. Then she flies back up, carrying Athena.

“Refused to stay put for her injuries?” You remark, having found a chair to lounge in. That actually did take a significant amount of energy, though you’ve done everything you can to disguise that.

“Yes.” Menace grumbles.

“I told her I’d climb the spire by hand if I had to.” Athena says stubbornly. To Menace, she said firmly, “I let someone slow me from coming to you once. Never again.”

“You two are going to have the strangest rivalry.” You said admiringly, to break the tension. Both of them turn to you instead, and even if Menace’s head is covered, you’d bet their expressions are identical.

You raise your hands in mock-warding - and pause as the air shifts again.

There are two people in the hallway. One, the bruised-but-mobile Jester. The other, slumped against a wall and looking much worse for wear, is Dymania.

Menace and Athena both tense, drawing a step closer together in preparation for a fight. You cross one leg over the other at the knee.

"You know, you two are terrible hosts." You call, casually flicking a crease from your costume. "Leaving us alone for so long? Incredibly ru-"

"Shut UP Synovus!" Jester yells, near manic. You can see the whites of his eyes all the way around, even under the mask. "You weren't even supposed to be here! You're retired!"

"Someone doesn't check Twitter." You remark, amused.

"I - What?" Aw, you've genuinely thrown this one for a loop.

"Twitter." You repeat. "I tweeted 'nvm, comma, I'm back' an hour before I arrived." You enunciate each letter in 'nvm' instead of approximating a word.

Athena sighs, "Synovus."

"Yes, honored colleague?"

"Shut up."

You respond by rising, and giving an overexaggerated bow. Dymania yelps and throws themself to one side - because as you straighten, you throw lances of shadow at both of them.

---

The fight really didn't take long.

You're pretty sure the only reason they got Athena or Menace was by threatening the hostages they already had, and you could've wiped the floor with them on your own. You still didn't kill Jester, and even helped cushion a hit he took from Menace.

(The hit wouldn't have hurt him as much as the rebound against the floor. Menace would've been terribly upset to have accidentally killed him.)

(Though, if she or Athena killed him, you wouldn't be in violation of your promise.)

(But - no. You wouldn't do that to either of them. Not now.)

The end of things really came when Athena managed to pin Jester against the wall with her good arm, and you'd managed to herd Dymania away from his companion. He stumbled back again, and wound up crossing into the area where the rain was still falling.

(Lightening up, you noticed. Better finish things quickly then.)

The change was immediately noticeable. Dymania stiffened, clutching at their head with both hands, and tried to run forward out of the rain - only to find you there, walking them back to the edge.

"H- how did-" They cut themselves off, and you nodded.

"How did I know about the rain?" You asked politely, as much taking pity on them as taking the chance to grandstand. "The Silent Ones told me. You know how they feel about Clairvoyants who don't conform."

It isn't really possible for more color to drain from Dymania's face. Instead, they drop to their knees with a groan.

"What?" Menace asks, looking up from where she's trying to convince Athena to trade off with her.

You raise your voice a little, so she can hear you better. "The Silent Ones. An enclave of Clairvoyants, hidden from most of the world. When two clairvoyants cross each others paths, it's like putting two mirrors opposite each other. Endless reflections. They hate it."

You watch Dymania try to stagger back to their feet, and feel no pity. "That includes if one shows up in their own futures. It gives them headaches at best. Sometimes they wind up in comas, if they're particularly unprepared. So one of them eventually hit upon the idea - what if all of them lived together?"

You glance towards the sky, calculating how long you have left. "They live according to a very strict schedule, and interact as little as possible with each other. If everyone does exactly as ordered, there's no need to make predictions. No traps to fall into. They don't force others into it, but they certainly don't like it when someone has plans that conflict with their order either."

"You mean like, someone leaving?" Menace asks, having managed to take half-ownership of keeping Jester pinned. She sounds offended on their behalf.

"No, they can leave whenever they want. Its the ones who want to do something about their enclave - like find it, exploit it, or destroy it - that find themselves suddenly overwhelmed with bad luck. And the chaos of the rest of the world is often too much for them, once they've gotten used to the enclave."

"So its... more like a sanctuary?"

"Yes. And they know you, Dymania. They know that you cannot stand the rain."

"Make it stop." Dymania begs you. You aren't even sure they've been following the conversation - their eyes are unfocused, trying not to see or feel the falling water around them.

"Clairvoyants, as a whole, despise rain." You mention idly. You have not moved. "The randomness involved in where each drop falls - it ties them up into knots. Worse, if they predict how the droplets will feel on their skin. Some of them can filter it out, like white noise - Dymania is not one of them."

You tilt your head, and then turn back to the others. "Very well. Let's go."

Like you know they will, Dymania gives a cry of desperation. They push, once more, to try and make it to their feet. And at the point where their future diverges, they try to draw the handgun Jester had forced them to carry.

You pivot, and in one smooth motion, kick Dymania out of the spire.

"Dy!" Jester cries.

"Yes." You muse. "I suppose they will."

---

The fight goes out of Jester, after Dymania falls.

The three of you drag him up to the roof, at your direction. Once the skies clear, Heather will bring the plane back around, and all of you can reach it easily enough from the highest point. Plus, at this point, it's less stairs to go up than it would be to go back down, and you really don't want to do the disc trick again.

It turns out the roof is less a flat roof, and more of a ring near the top. You notice Menace shudder as you reach it, and tilt your head at her in question.

"They threw hostages over the railing here." She says quietly.

You nod. This explains why neither Menace or Athena protested much, at what you'd done. But you don't protest or labor the point either - instead, you clasp her arm in sympathy, and look up at where the sky is clearing.

"How did you time that so well?" Athena murmurs when you come up alongside her.

"Weatherwitch owed me a favor." You reply casually.

"Weather witch. The Silent Ones. Your council. What else is there, some kind of... Villain union?"

"Well..." You admit, "there is... something of a minion union, though I stay out of their business, mostly."

Athena sighs.

You almost take your helmet off to grin at her. You probably would've, but then you hear Menace, and the sudden tension in her voice as she says, "Mom?"

You both turn immediately - and see Legionnaire, hovering at the railing, and staring at you.

---

You didn't forget Legionnaire existed.

No, really, you didn't - but you did try really hard not to let yourself think about it for too long.

When you had named him (and Athena) as your rivals, you had made your choice based on what you thought was a genuine good in them. They did not hesitate until the cameras arrived. They did not extort or demand. They took some care for collateral when lives were involved, if not property, and they regularly showed up to help with rescue or relief efforts when they could.

And there was the fact that they had a kid.

You'd fought them enough times to know that they didn't mess around to grandstand or showboat. They maintained secret identities fairly well. They weren't like Dazzler, who would try and seduce villains in the hopes of fucking them back to civility. They weren't like White Shadow, who was always high enough when you fought them that you weren't sure they knew what was happening.

The closest, you thought, to real heroes.

So when you'd seen those bruises on Alexandria's arm, that first day, you'd been... surprised. You didn't exactly have the highest opinion of humanity in general, and you'd learned too many early lessons about pedestals and how much they hurt when they fell over on top of someone. But you had expected better of them.

From your observations, conversations with Minerva and Alexandria, and the things they didn't say, you'd pieced together a lot over the last year. That Minerva did have her flaws, but was trying to be better. That her healing factor meant that any bruises or sprains would've healed long before anyone else saw them. That Alex, though wary of Minerva sometimes, had still talked about her when she wasn't around. She almost never mentioned her father, and when she did, it was only questions about how you knew him, or in conjunction with her mother.

You had been worried, at first, that you were conflating him with Sunhallow. A man claiming holiness (the Sun made him Hallow, the Son of Mars) with strength and a following (A cult, a fanbase) and who coerced their child into working for them (Eclipse, Mercury) and who harmed them-

So you hadn't let yourself go out to find him and have it out. On better days, you admitted it wasn't your fight to have - it was Minerva and Alexandria's, if they wanted it. On worse days, you weighed the benefits and consequences of hiring someone versus doing it yourself.

And you had kept a degree of surveillance on him, just in case. Nothing in depth - you didn't know what brand of frozen pizza he bought or his Netflix account, you didn't care if he still had a job or had lost it - but just. General locations. Whether he went out in costume. You had Legionnaire watched, and not Albion.

But sometimes those lines blurred - so you knew that he had started drinking more heavily when Alexandria left. More again, after Minerva. The last two months, he'd seemed to be getting better, but he had stopped going out in costume.

And now he was here, and you had no idea what to do.

---

For what feels like an eternity, you all stand in silence. Athena had been startled into dropping Jester, automatically readying her shield and then stilling herself before she could aggravate her bullet wound any more.

(She still held the shadow set you'd given her, you hadn't found her usual weapons in the spire, though you had personally looked.)

You grabbed Jester, who was glancing back and forth with confused interest.

"Say a word, or try and teleport away." You tell him quietly, head next to theirs. "And I will make Dymania's death seem like a kindness."

Judging by the way he nods, slowly, he also remembers that you technically have Ciaran.

And Menace - oh, Menace - has lifted from the ground, hovering, with her hands curled into fists.

It's Legionnaire who breaks the silence first; "You inherited my powers."

He sounds... proud. Tired. His voice is rough. He's looking at Alexandria as though she is a prized pupil who has shown an aptitude in his favorite subject.

(He doesn't deserve that pride.)

"I have my own powers." Menace corrects him, her voice clipped and short.

Legionnaire moves his hands gently in a faint 'settle down' motion. "Of course." He says quietly. "All yours, Alex."

"Why are you here, Albion." Minerva demands. She's pulled off the Athena mask, and glares him down as he looks her over. Notes the shadow-weapons, the injury.

"I saw the broadcast." He explains, gesturing to the spire. "I thought - you needed help."

"We're fine." Minerva says flatly.

It's hard to shift uncomfortably when you're flying, but Legionnaire manages it - as his gaze slides to you.

"Oh, come off it." Minerva follows his gaze, and now sounds heated.

"Can you really blame me, Athena?" He says, and sounds beseeching. "This all started with him, when he took Alex -"

"They." Menace interrupts, nearly strangling the word. "Synovus is 'they,' not 'he.'"

Legionnaire bites his lip, flicks his eyes away, then back again. "Fine." He says, though his calm is less even now. "They took you, Alex. And then they took your mother, too."

"I left of my own free will." Alexandria has risen now, a little further up. Not quite even with her father. "And my name. Is Alexandria."

There's a certain exasperation in Legionnaire's expression that he can't hide fast enough. Changing tactics, he looks to Minerva again instead, "Athena, think about it. Synovus changed you! You know they used to say he - she, they - had manipulative powers. They've kept you isolated, and now let you get captured just so they can sweep in to save you-"

"Synovus." Minerva grits her teeth, "Did not make me move several hundred miles inland, away from my family and the source of my powers. Synovus did not discourage me from getting involved in the community, in case I accidentally gave our identities away. Synovus-" She has taken a step forward, with each line, and the tip of her spear is slowly lowering to point towards him. "-did not hurt my daughter."

Legionnaire exhales, "So did you." He points out. "It happens, it's not anything unusual - its how kids learn! I-"

"I am ashamed of that!" Minerva shouts. Alexandria has sunk an inch. "We were supposed to be better, Albion! We talked about trying to save cities, to save the world, and we couldn't even save our own daughter from ourselves!"

"No one is perfect." Legionnaire deflects.

Minerva points her spear at you. You do not flinch. "I have lived with them for over a month." She says, with a steely calm. "I have seen those who live with them. I have seen how they are with Alexandria." There's a subtle emphasis on the last half of the name, a pointed correction. "They provided me medical care without blinking, and though I have yelled and raged and attacked them, they have never raised a hand against me while I was in their house."

Legionnaire scoffs, "So Synovus learned to play nice for a while, that's not -"

"It's more than you ever managed." Minerva says with venom.

There is a silence then, deep enough that the entire spire could fall into it and further, swallowed by a negative space that never ends.

Finally, you speak again, but only when you are certain your voice is under your control. "The plane is here." You say calmly. "Someone should make sure this one-" You jostle Jester, "-is received properly."

There is a two-fold offer in the statement, and one you know both Minerva and Alexandria hear.

Tell me to leave, and I will.

Because you will, if they want. You are party to this story, but it is not yours. It will hurt you, and you will worry, but you know about closure and what it can take to find it.

Tell me to take care of him, and I will.

One more death will not be a burden on your conscious. Not when you feel responsible that he was allowed to continue - that you have protected this man for years. Logically, you know that's ridiculous. It isn't necessarily Logic that wants to kill him.

This pause is shorter, lighter. Minerva whirls on you, searching. You wait for the protest - that she can fight her own battles, and you should fuck off before she comes to her senses and fights you again, a villain at the scene of a crime.

Instead, she glances at Alexandria, who is still hovering, still staring at Legionnaire.

"Alexandria." Minerva says softly. "Our priority is still the people."

"Yes." She responds automatically. It takes her another moment to move, to shake herself out of her paralysis. "I can carry you both."

You know that does not include you.

"Athena, don't -" Legionnaire starts.

You ignore him, and look at Alexandria. "Menace." You address her by the title, helping knock her out of it a little more.

(Yes, remember - you want to tell her, - you are more than his daughter. You have stood in a room full of powerful people and held your own, and more.)

"Lady Synovus." Menace returns. You know it's specifically to spite Legionnaire's earlier assumption that you were male.

"As Legionnaire is your rival -" You ignore Legionnaire again when he starts to interrupt, raising your voice to talk over him, "- it is your jurisdiction as to what measures I can take."

The formality is a shield. You hate to ask this of her, to force her to say - but even if you weren't bound by the rules you'd created, you need to know. If she asks you not to hurt him... well, you'll try.

Alexandria pauses, watching Minerva. Minerva looks back at her, meeting her gaze through the helmet.

"It's your decision," She tells her daughter, "But I will stand by you, no matter what you decide."

"What's this about 'rivals'?" Legionnaire tries to interject.

Alexandria stiffens, as though she might yell at him, and you brace yourself to have to intervene - but instead, she just reaches up and removes her helmet.

Alexandria looks her father square in the face as she says, "Lady Synovus, I give you leave to do as you feel appropriate. No restrictions."

"You are certain?" You ask, because you want her to be sure.

"I am." Her voice doesn't waver.

Minerva takes Jester from you, frowning to remember that he's here, and he's overheard all of this. Alexandria drifts backwards, to gently gather both her mother and the defeated villain into her arms, before going up.

Legionnaire tries to follow - but can't, as you've already got a shadow wrapped around his ankles.

You slam him back down with relish.

"No." You say, your voice chilly, "You are not invited into their lives anymore, Legionnaire."

"And you get to decide that?" Legionnaire demands, trying to slice through your shadow. You tighten its grip in answer. "You get to decide I can't talk to my wife, my son-"

You are glad Alexandria is out of earshot.

"You have never had a son." You say harshly. "And Minerva is not yours in any capacity. You have had months to figure this out, Albion. Time's up."

He seizes on your word choice. "Figure it out - so you did do something! You took my family from me!"

The words, similar to the ones Minerva had yelled at you only a day earlier, make a sheltered part of you ache. But, you remind yourself, she did defend you. She trusts you.

Granted, looking at Legionnaire, still trying to find a way out of your shadows, you admit the bar is pretty fucking low.

"You did that yourself, you idiot." You hiss. "You drove Minerva away. You refused to accept your child. I am not the reason your life is terrible, Albion. You are."

He straightens, and you recognize the arrogance that returns to his posture. He still thinks you're trying to fool him. That he is correct. And he will not be swayed.

"Say whatever you want, Synovus!" He yells, "You won't keep me from the ones I -"

This time, it's a shadow that shuts him up - drawn out of his throat and coiled to serve as a gag. His eyes bulge. He did not know you could do this.

With a flick of your wrists, the shadows holding him down are gone - and replaced with chains of brilliant light. They drag him down, relentless, scorching the skin they touch, until he is pinned to the floor.

"I believe." You say, as you pick your way over to him. "That the missing word there is 'love.' But I am going to choose to believe you were going to say something else - because everything you have said today, Albion? It is not love."

You stare down at him. "You came here. You knew where they were. The lives in peril were of no consequence until it was Minerva and Alexandria. You did not come to save them. You came to try and make them listen to you again."

He may not be listening, but it doesn't matter. You do love a good monologue, and this particular serpent has been coiled in your chest for a long time.

"That isn't love, Albion." You tell him softly. "It's obsession. Possession. You don't respect them enough to consider that they have opinions and wants different than your own. And they deserve so much better."

You pick up the spear that he'd been forced to drop, and twirl it idly. He redoubles his attempts to struggle, to escape - he's always been so strong, but you have always been stronger.

You are very tempted to cast your powers aside here. You want the satisfaction of feeling his bones break beneath your hands, the visceral feeling of grabbing and tearing away. You want to make him suffer.

You want to look for a key that will give Alexandria and Minerva their happiness back.

But you know that those keys don't exist, by now. And you do not need to make yourself more of a monster to kill this one.

"They did love you, at one point." You muse. "And in another world - who knows? Maybe that would have been enough."

You plant one foot on his chest, and lean in. The tip of the spear rests on his throat, and finally, Legionnaire goes still.

"But redemption's never been my style." You hiss.

You slide the spear home.

---

A week after you return to business, you lead Alexandria and Minerva to a secluded part of the island.

The beach is shallow here, particularly at low tide. You and Minerva slosh through water up to your shins. Alexandria drifts over instead, occasionally splashing her feet in the water.

"Not much further." You assure them, though neither has shown signs of complaining. You are nervous. This place is not sacred to you, but it still has power over you.

There is a sea cave of black rock, out of the way. It does not tunnel into the rest of the island very far - a few hundred yards, that's all. A lava tunnel once, long since collapsed, and the inside filled by now with sand.

You pause at the entrance, staring at the void of perfect shadow. You love the shadows - they have always protected you, and you know this one does too - but you do not want to dive into its embrace. You want to run from it.

You clear your throat, "In here."

Carefully, you summon a small globe of light. The three of you (okay, the two of you) pick your way carefully through the cave's unsteady footing, until eventually the ground rises, becoming smooth stone instead of rocky black sand.

There isn't much ornamentation, here. Just a marker, in the form of a rock, carved with the sigil of the sun.

Minerva stiffens. "That's -"

"Sunhallow's sigil." You croak, and clear your throat again. "Yes. This is - this is his grave."

You stand in silence for a few moments - or at least, if Minerva or Alexandria speak, you don't hear them. You're staring sightlessly at the small obelisk you'd carved, so that you would always know if someone tampered with the body.

You still hate him, decades later.

You still sometimes wonder if you were wrong.

A touch at your shoulder startles you back to the present. Its Alexandria, who is looking at you, and not the grave. "You said that this was your father's grave."

"It is." You make yourself respond, then gesture to the front of the cave. "We should - the water gets higher, later, and I know we don't necessarily have to worry about that, but -"

"But you don't want to be here anymore." Minerva finishes. "That's okay, Synovus. We don't have to stay."

You are silent, until you are back out in the sunlight. It should be the opposite, you think - the sunlight was always his, the shadows were yours. Now he has a lair of shadows, and you seek refuge in the light? You'd accuse the universe of irony, if you hadn't brought this upon yourself.

You are not in costume, today. None of you are. It means that they can see the expressions you have lost control over, as you pace back and forth beneath a clump of palm trees, near the shoreline.

"Sunhallow was my father." You say finally, abruptly. Your shoulders drop. The tension - the weight - isn't gone, but... saying the words didn't hurt. Your throat didn't swell closed before you could force them out. You didn't deflect, equivocate, or dodge.

"Sunhallow was my father." You repeat.

"We gathered that." Minerva says, and you are grateful for her dryness.

"I-" You draw in a breath, and turn, shrugging out of the light wrap you wear. Beneath it is a backless shirt that Alexandria had insisted you buy, for one of your more feminine days. You hadn't had the heart to tell her you never exposed that much skin.

Because on your back, centered on your spine and between your shoulder blades, is a large tattoo of the same sigil. The ink is stark against your skin even before it begins to change. Touched by the sunlight, from the center out, the ink turns a glittering gold.

Hallowed, by the Sun.

You can tell from Alexandria's 'woah' that she thinks it's cool as hell. You can tell by Minerva's sharp inhalation that she knows what it means.

You pull the wrap back into place, and turn to face them.

"I killed him." You say, and you speak quickly, as though someone is going to cut you off and you will never get a chance to tell this story, the one you have never told anyone before. "I worked for him for years, as an informant and spy, but I was too good at what he taught me. I learned things he didn't want me to know - didn't want anyone to know - and I - I learned when he lied. I learned about, about the purges."

When Sunhallow was challenged, he had taken to targeting groups of people. Heroes, villains. Towns. It was purification by sunlight, in great quantities - Hallowing the place, with the Sun.

He did not leave survivors.

You swallow, "He was healed by sunlight." You explain, "So I smothered him with shadows."

You knew he would never let anyone into his rooms after nightfall, when he was most vulnerable. So you'd killed him at noon, when the sun was highest, and you'd have had to be stupid to attack him.

You did sometimes do very stupid things.

"I killed him, and then I packed his body into a trunk, and I brought it out here, and I buried it in the cave where the sun will never touch it again." You are surprised, a little, at the vitriol in your voice.

You hadn't taken any chances, moving him. You didn't know if he could come back from the dead, but you didn't want to find out.

Minerva is staring at you with something like wonder.

"It was you." She said softly. "You were the Eclipse."

You nod, exhaling. "The Heresiarch Heir." You echo glumly. "Patricide. Oathbreaker. Murderer. And coward, besides."

Minerva pushes off the tree she's been leaning on, and reaches for you. "Brave." She says firmly. "No one could stop Sunhallow - but you, you couldn't have been more than twenty when he died."

You laugh, short and hollow. "Sixteen."

Minerva blinks. "I couldn't have done such a thing." She admits. "How...?"

You blow out another breath. "He killed my mother." You say, staring into the middle distance again. "And made me kill Willowsteel."

You do not elaborate on how long it took, or how you knew it had been Sunhallow's hand that had killed your mother. Some things you were not ready to talk about, even now.

"Willowsteel...." Minerva muses, "They had a metallurgy ability, didn't they? Or was it magnetics?"

You still have perfect recall of that list. "Metallurgy, with a particular talent for shaping weaponry." You respond automatically.

And you had known that, even when they'd put a steel knife in your hands. And he had known it too, as you stood over him. But in his eyes, you had seen something like a horrified acceptance.

You had been a child. He could've easily overpowered you, or turned the blade aside. For a long time, you had told yourself that it was because he knew Sunhallow would kill him anyway, and he wanted it to be over.

The day you buried Sunhallow, sitting outside the cavern and watching the sun rise again, you'd forced yourself to admit it - that Willowsteel hadn't killed you, because he would rather have died than hurt you.

Truer than his enemies. A man with faith and belief, even if it wasn't in a god, or a man who pretended to be one.

You couldn't plant willow trees on the island - the climate didn't agree with them - but on one of the estates Sunhallow had once owned, there was a grove of them, in a perfect ring around a monument to all of those lost in the purges.

You spend the rest of the afternoon telling stories, when you could stomach it. They asked questions, sometimes. About your mother, about how you'd scraped yourself back together as a villain under your own power. How you'd drawn the others together, forced some degree of order from chaos in the cape-population explosion after the purges had ended.

You knew that both of them understood.

---

Days later, you are waiting in a room decorated in pure white.

The room is quiet, and you can hear the distant roar of an ocean that is not yours. You sit in the dark, one leg crossed over the other, pretending not to be bored.

When the light flips on, the woman in the doorway stiffens, but tries not to show any other signs of distress.

You lift your head, the black shine of your helmet giving her nothing to work with. Another dark-clad figure waits to one side, a third (though in blue rather than black) is keeping watch outside. She has not noticed them yet, you think. She will be furious about that.

"My dear Tallflawes." You drawl, leaning forward. "We need to discuss some of your more recent... investments."

[And so we come to the end (for now!) - thank you to everyone who's made it this far, whether you've been here since the beginning or are only recently catching up. My goal was to finish this during Pride Month, and I have succeeded! Sum total, VNR is just over 34k words, with Call Me Menace sitting at about 8.5k.]

[And a shoutout to 'daddythedragon' and Daphanae for correctly guessing the show Alexandria was watching last time, which was Murder, She Wrote! (Columbo and Magnum P.I. were good guesses too).]

#synovus #Synoverse #Villains Never Retire #It's Done #The End #Roll Credits #Trying to write this kicked my ass. #But we here now #I have an idea for something else I could do in the Synoverse #But I want to try a different prompt or two first #The goal was variety and writing exercises #not another serial #I say having written a novella.

[lyinginbedmon]

Plot Concept

A young child shares a candid conversation on sunny afternoon with the family black sheep, a strange "uncle" who is dismissed by the child's parents as being just neurodivergent, queer, or some combination of both as explanation to their quirks, mannerisms, and discretely different perspective on things.

And all of that seems reasonable, until the "uncle" makes a far more compelling argument: They're a changeling, and among the last of fey-kind walking the Earth.

Oh yes, all the stories were real, or at least real enough for a quasi-metaphysical creature like the fey. All the warnings, all the tropes, all the magic, but the old roads were worn away, and human houses and concrete overtook the once-careful boundaries. The magic of good neighbours was colonised, and humans still today borrow from its most revered principles.

The fair folk were playful, but not tricksters. Not really, anyway. They preferred to think of themselves as teachers. "Don't get too full of yourself", "don't meddle with things you don't yet understand", "remember that warnings were written with good reason", so on and so forth. But as humans learned, sometimes far faster than the fairies expected, they stole from the magic what was useful to them. Now lawyers practice contracts and scientists cook up potions and engineers weave sorcery.

But whilst the time of the fae has waned, they didn't go anywhere. They're fewer in number, certainly, but changelings were never quite ones to stick to their side. They're out there now, pinning on flags and expressing themselves in counter-cultures, and the magic surrounding them is very real, even if it has been diminished.

#story prompts #saving this one for later I think #might make a decent novella

[devouring-hive]

Sakuya chub fic, 5-9-22?

Perhaps you ought to have expected it. It's not as though you didn't know when the date started that this was her job after all, Sakuya is pretty famous online, for this. Hell- It'd been part of why you wanted to meet her! But so often does an expectation fail to intersect with reality that when, in parting, you were offered the key to her home... It felt as though you'd been granted the keys to Heaven, instead.

No one ever got to Heaven without a little toil though- Not even her, and especially not you. So now you sit anxiously in her room, the lights dimmed, the microphone set and re-set time and time again as some small mountain of a meal sits just off-scene waiting to be introduced to the waiting masses so close beyond- The masses that 'til just the morning before you'd have counted yourself among.

Perhaps sensing your anxiety, Sakuya pauses in her preparation.

"Don't worry." She reassures, in a soft voice- Like she were consoling a particularly-anxious child, or perhaps even a pet. "All you have to do is pass the food along to me once I've got the introduction done. I'll even let you choose the order, mmh? It'll be fun, I promise." A valiant effort to be sure- But there's nothing she'd be able to say that could staunch the butterflies in your stomach, not when... Her costume, the 'Perfect Maid' outfit, turns out to be so much tighter on her than you ever thought it'd be.

It's something of an open secret to Sakuya's larger community that the long spree of mukbangs that she's been partaking in throughout the winter months have had an effect on her, no one can eat that much that frequently without having it stick to them- No matter their regimen thereafter. But-- It's different, somehow, knowing and seeing the slowly-yet-steady plumping of the 'Perfect Maid's body over the course of stream after stream, and... Being there, to see it personally.

Past frills and flourishes, across continually re-stitched and resewn fabrics, the curve and contour of Sakuya's body continues to press out against her outfit's confinement. Meaty thighs that burgeon out from beneath the costume's miniskirt, hefty breasts that demand the unfastening of the top-few buttons to her vest and the undershirt beneath- These are things everyone knows about, that everyone has seen.

No one but you, now, has seen in full the extent of the consequence that Sakuya's stream-diet has wrought on her body though. Between those two oft-advertised nexus of plushness sits, as though on a throne, a sizeable plump of dough. A pot-belly it'd be called, if anyone else could see it- But you know better than to dare tow that line, not where you are now. Even as the swell of it strains at the obviously-untended seams 'round the waist of her vest and tugs tautly the buttons just 'cross the middle, you wouldn't dare ruin the chance you have now just to point that out.

So with a last wink sent your way, Sakuya taps at the remote connected to her camera and sets off a cascade of soft lights and gentle piano- A staple of the 'Perfect Maid' persona that Sakuya puts on for these particular streams. Some part of you unconsciously ends up tuning out that opening minute-or-three of introduction and chatter with the early-comers, so often you'd seen it from other perspectives... But your hazy reverie is cut short by a cue nearly missed, as striking silver-blue eyes glance over in your direction.

"The Masters and Mistresses might've guessed by now, but~... I'd gone out and brought us-" You move quickly, quietly, as you can. She'd counted on you to be on top of this, and from the sounds of the strain in her tone it's apparent you'd kept her waiting. Without thinking, you pass her a box of cheesecake. She doesn't seem particularly pleased wit hit, but nonetheless turns back to the camera and puts on a tender smile, fit to her tender voice. "Some cheesecake! I'd figured that we could have dessert before dinner today, since you've all been working so hard."

Much as it's apparent to you from the sidelines that Sakuya is uncomfortable with the very concept of this much sweetness this early on, she's too deep into the roleplay to change it now. So the 'Perfect Maid' pulls a silver fork from her collection, and then daintily begins picking at the rich confection as though it could turn toxic at any moment.

Still, despite herself and the discomfort of the ordeal, Sakuya pulls through. She's not unused to eating large amounts at this juncture, so even through the weight of the dessert she remained near stoically determined, stopping only to offer commentary and occasional flashes of 'perfect' legs, or bounteous chest. It's almost a marvel in your eyes, you've seen her eat near a hundred times by now of course- But it was always behind a screen in some way or another, where any leftover boxes would vanish offscreen, never to be seen again, forgotten like the passing of a second.

Now though, you're near transfixed- Eyes so trapped on the strain of Sakuya's outfit, so caught up in the spectacle of the massive box emptied so, that you nearly forget to take the hollow thing from her... In that forgetting, you'd doomed her stream to a short-end to the tune of a rip- and the view of a button, popped, flying away like a die cast enthusiastically on the fate of her career.

Her efforts to make up for your slack had ripped a hole down the middle of her 'Perfect Maid' outfit, straight across the belly where the neglected threads had been pulled tightest; A disaster for her image so irrecoverable that the ensuing scramble for her remote only served to rip it wider, louder, enough that any watching who'd been in questioning as to what they'd heard could no longer fool themselves.

Thoroughly embarrassed, her podgy plump fully on display in the last seconds before the stream cut short, Sakuya immediately escapes off to her changing room with face held in her palms... Leaving you alone with only the multitude of still-unemptied boxes of perishables, and a memory burned harshly into your mind.

#[ic] #[writer: yami] #[sakuya] #[asks] #[prompts] #i put entirely too much effort into this #i am not good at novella style writing anymore #apologies to you.

[vikasgarden]

Vika und die wandelnden Toten

“Send a 🎬 for me to add my muse into the setting of the latest show I watched.”

Disclaimer: I’m re-watching The Walking Dead. So TWs on that topic! Thanks @narbenherz for this prompt!

Wie hatte die Welt nur so vor die Hunde gehen können? 

An Tagen wie diesen kam Vika die Frage öfter in den Sinn, als an allen anderen und das, obwohl sie gerade besseres zu tun hatte. Um einiges besseres. Immerhin musste sie nicht einmal einen Blick über die Schulter werfen, um einen ziemlich guten Grund zu bekommen, um gedanklich im Hier und Jetzt zu bleiben. Der Wind hatte sich gedreht und wäre das laute Stöhnen und Krächzen in ihrem Rücken nicht bereits Ansporn genug, so drehte sich bei dem Geruch nach faulendem Fleisch nun auch noch der Magen um. Doch sie konnte nicht stehen bleiben und die Magensäure in die Freiheit entlassen. Dafür war schlicht und ergreifend keine Zeit, wenn sie hier lebend wieder heraus wollte. Denn die wandelnden Toten waren einfach überall. Jetzt rächte es sich, dass Vika nicht schon längst kurzen Prozess mit ihnen gemacht hatte. Doch wie könnte sie auch? Das hier waren Menschen, ehemalige Menschen, die sie schon ihr ganzes Leben lang kannte. Jedes dieser Gesichter hatte einen Namen, eine Familie, eine Geschichte. Sie alle haben geliebt, gelitten, gelebt. Nur weil sie nun untot und nicht mehr die Gesprächigsten waren, war es da legitim, ihrem Dasein einfach ein Ende zu bereiten? Weil sie anders waren? Und müsste Vika sich dann nicht direkt zu ihnen mit ins Grab legen? Immerhin war sie bereits ihr ganzes Leben lang anders gewesen. Dafür hatte die Apokalypse nicht ausbrechen müssen. Jetzt war eben die ganze Menschheit besonders. Auf die eine oder andere Weise zumindest. 

“Shit.” Ihre Gedanken wurden rüde unterbrochen, als ihr Fluchtweg sich mit einem Mal mit weiteren Toten füllte. Sie bremste ab, stolperte dabei und konnte sich nur knapp davor bewahren, zu Boden zu gehen. Stattdessen schaffte sie es, die Kurve zu kriegen und einen neuen Weg einzuschlagen. Dass am Tag des Ausbruchs Markttag am Hafen von Wick gewesen war, konnte man nun gut und schlecht finden. Das Chaos, welches entstanden war, hatte man bis heute nicht weggeräumt, doch bis auf Vika und eine handvoll Lebender war Wick sowieso von den Toten überrannt worden. Wer hätte da groß aufräumen sollen? Manche der Stände waren in den Monaten der Apokalypse abgebrannt oder gar zerstört worden. Die Trümmer versperrten Vika nun einige Fluchtmöglichkeiten, manchmal in Verbindung mit Beißern und die vom Regen gefüllten Planen über den Ständen machten es ihr unmöglich, einen höheren Punkt zu erklimmen und ihre Reise auf einem höheren Posten fort zu setzen. Es war zum Mäusemelken, denn so blieb ihr genau eine Möglichkeit zur Flucht. Die Gasse, die sie anpeilte, war noch nicht ganz durchsetzt von den Toten und doch waren es genug, dass Vika das Messer an ihrem Gürtel ziehen und einige ihrer ehemaligen Nachbarn und Kunden nun in die ewigen Jagdgründe schicken musste. Es kostete sie Zeit und verminderte den Abstand, den sie so mühevoll aufgebaut hat. Hinzu kam, dass ihre Ausdauer zwar in den letzten Monaten besser geworden war, aber mit einem Spitzensportler konnte sie nun mal nicht mithalten, weswegen der Puls in ihren Ohren hämmerte und ihre Lunge kontinuierlich nach frischer Luft verlangte, die Vika ihr nicht bereit war zu geben. Ein weiterer Atemzug vom Geruch der Toten und sie würde hier und jetzt Galle auf den Boden brechen. 

Das schmatzende Geräusch, mit dem sie das Messer aus dem Kopf von Mister Hayes ziehen musste, jagte ihr noch immer einen Schauer des Ekels über den Rücken, doch darüber konnte sie nicht nachdenken. Stattdessen musste sie sich dem nächsten Untoten widmen und auch diesem den Garaus machen. Und dann noch einem weiteren. Vika versuchte nun wirklich nicht darüber nachzudenken, wem sie da endlich ein Grab gönnte, sondern konzentrierte sich auf die Tür, die sie in das nächste Gebäude bringen würde. 

Alles war besser, als die dutzenden Toten vor ihr und das weitere Dutzend in ihrem Rücken. 

Den letzten der Untoten nutze sie dazu, um die Gruppe, die sie eingeholt hatte, etwas zurück zu werfen, indem sie den Toten in deren Mitte stieß. Viel brachte das zwar nicht, doch Vika schaffte es so zumindest die Tür zu öffnen und hinter sich wieder zu schließen. 

Für einen Moment lehnte sie sich atemlos dagegen und holte die so dringend benötigte Luft in ihre Lungen. 

Erst als ihr Herz sich etwas beruhigt hatte, nahm sie sich die Zeit den Blick durch das Halbdunkel der Apotheke schweifen zu lassen, die sie betreten hatte. Unzählige Raubzüge hatten sie bereits fast vollkommen leer geräumt. Nur ein paar der Regale beinhalteten noch Cremes oder gar Tabletten. Pappaufsteller waren mit der Zeit entwendet oder auf dem Boden zertreten worden. Hin und wieder sah man getrocknetes Blut und Abdrücke von Stiefeln, die bereits wieder neuen Staub ansetzten. 

Noch einen tiefen Atemzug der abgestandenen Luft tätigend, drückte Vika sich weg von der Tür und durchschritt den Laden. Die Toten würden die Tür nicht aufbekommen, immerhin öffnete sie sich in Fluchtrichtung und nicht ins Innere der Apotheke. Sie zu sichern empfand die junge Frau also als Zeitverschwendung. Dafür musste sie sicher gehen, dass sie allein hier war. Sie glaubte zwar nicht, dass ein Toter den Weg hier herein gefunden hatte, aber vielleicht ein Lebender. Nicht nur einmal war ihr ein vollkommen Fremder über den Weg gelaufen. Überlebende, die durch das land zogen und nach Essen und anderen Dingen suchten. Fremde, die sie bedroht und ihr ihre Beute geraubt hatten. Normalerweise gingen sie deswegen auch nie allein in das von den Toten überrannte Hafenviertel, doch ihre Schwester hatte Vika beim Auftauchen der Toten verloren. Jetzt galt es sich den Rücken selbst frei zu halten. 

Ob es Vanora gut ging? Vermutlich. Hoffentlich. Ach, es würde schon nichts passiert sein! Die Rae-Schwestern waren nicht so einfach nieder zu strecken. 

Der Hauptraum war schnell gesichert. Noch immer hielt Vika ihr Messer in der einen Hand. Als sie nun die Theke umrundete, um auch den hinteren Teil abzusuchen und zwischen den Regalen nach zu sehen, griff sie zusätzlich noch zu ihrer Taschenlampe. Im hinteren Teil der Apotheke war es fast stockfinster. Sie konnte gerade so die Konturen der Regale erkennen und weiter hinten nicht einmal mehr das. 

Vika ließ provokant das Licht ihrer Taschenlampe über die Wände und Regale gleiten. Wenn einer der Toten sich hier versteckt hätte, dann würde er nun heraus kommen. Dass sich niemand zeigte bedeutete aber noch nichts. Deswegen ging sie langsam weiter. 

Hier hinten war es ebenso leer geräumt wie im vorderen Teil. Vielleicht fanden sich hier noch ein paar mehr Cremes und Medikamente, die einen ganz spezifischen Einsatz hatten und bisher für Plünderer uninteressant gewesen waren. 

Das einzige Geräusch in der Stille war das dumpfe Auftreten von Vikas Stiefeln und das leise Knirschen, wenn sie auf Glassplitter oder Trümmer trat. Verhindern konnte sie es in dem Chaos sowieso nicht. Also versuchte sie es erst gar nicht. 

Immer wieder glitt das Licht ihrer Taschenlampe zwischen die aufgereihten Regale. Rechts. Links, Geradeaus, nur um von vorn zu beginnen. Mit jedem Regal entspannte sie sich etwas mehr und schrieb das ungute Gefühl in ihrer Magengegend ihrer Paranoia zu. Dann erreichte sie die letzte Reihe, leuchtete nach links, doch bevor sie es schaffte nach rechts zu leuchten, rammte sie etwas und sie ging mit ihrem Angreifer zu Boden. Ein Gerangel entstand, bei dem sie sowohl Messer, als auch Taschenlampe verlor. Es ärgerte sie, dass der Fremde es schaffte sie an den Boden zu pinnen und bewegungsunfähig zu machen, egal wie sehr sie zappelte und sich wehrte. 

Als sie sich endlich das aus ihrem Zopf gelöste Haar aus dem Gesicht schütteln und wutentbrannt nach oben starren konnte, begegnete sie einem Blick, den sie nur zu gut kannte. “Casper!” Das Licht leuchtete nicht in ihre Richtung und doch reichte es aus, um den Alchemisten über ihr zu erkennen. Er schien noch überraschter als sie, denn der Griff an ihren Handgelenken wurde so locker, dass sie sich mit einem Mal befreien und die Arme um seinen Hals schlingen konnte. Vika lachte und drückte den roten Lockenschopf fest an sich. “Du lebst!” 

Postscript: Das ist die Rache daran, dass ich jetzt 3 Texte für das Musegame schreiben muss. Du schickst mich ungewollt in die Zombieapokalypse? Dann musst du leider mit mir dort feststecken. :)

#⸻ ✶ the urge to destroy is also a creative urge. ˟ novella #⸻ ✶ if only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes ˟ prompts #⸻ ✶ always trust computer games. ˟ muse game #writingsfakevz

[troutfur]

Is this a bad time to mention I have never read Mapleshade's Vengeance even though it's one of the few WC books I own a physical copy of?

#asjlkfjdlfk #sorry to all the guys submitting prompts involving them #I have 8 WC books I own total #DotC and 2 novella compilations #I've been meaning to read the novellas but the only one I ended up doing is Thunderstar's Echo #can't remember the titles of the novella compilations but I'm pretty sure I also have Pinestar's Choice among them

[nonsenseramble]

Timed Writing Challenge!

A few other and myself from @joinourbookclub rolled the dice and were given "sleeping during danger" and "a place where it is comfortable to be alone" as a combination prompt! Thank you @chaoticstupidbird for providing these prompts!

Brainstorming: 10 Minutes

Writing: 30 Minutes

I hope you enjoy!

The Reaper sits cross-legged in the window sill. Behind her the sky rains ash and dust of The Dead. This event has everyone in her profession pulling overtime. It wouldn’t be so bad if the capacity limit wasn’t so close to being exceeded. Still, The Reaper sits apathetic and otherwise very bored waiting for her current retrieval to slip just enough into their own darkness to acknowledge her presence.

He’s fighting pretty hard. The Reaper observes the labored breaths the man makes. His eyes are glazed over with tears and blood and unbridled determination. He’s crawling, gripping his chest in an effort to force air back into his draining blood. His ultimate destination is the window. It’s the only exit available since the rest of his small condo was caved by the impact. He doesn’t realize he’s looking directly into the eyes of The Reaper. 

One more half shuffle towards The Reaper is enough to exert too much force on his already broken body. He collapses – quite unceremoniously – and wheezes and wheezes and wheezes. The Reaper knows his airway is clogged with smoke and blood and tears and calls for his mother. All that manages to leave his mouth is a gross splattering of blood and his final breath.

The Reaper drops a leg off the edge of the window sill and looks into the eyes of Craig Anderson. According to The Reaper’s logs, he’s 42. Had a wife, a kid, and zero empathy. His cold eyes stare back into her nothingness.

“Did you deserve to die?” The Reaper has to ask. The answers have to be reported to the Bureau. Craig bolts upright with agility he has never possessed, especially in the last 5 minutes. He clammors backwards, hitting his back on fallen debris. His eyes flit from his lifeless body to The Reaper to the burning world just beyond. His head swivels from his blood stained bed to his unfinished beer and still smoldering pipe. Nowhere can he find his voice.

The Reaper slides out of the window and approaches Craig, careful to step around his body. Even though he’s cornered he still searches for a way out. The Reaper stops just in front of Craig and lowers down to his level. “Did you deserve to die?”

Craig manages a small shake of his head. The Reaper sighs and drops her head between her knees. Why must they always be so scared? She runs a frustrated hand over her face and looks back up at her assignment. “Use your words. We can’t get out of here until you do and I have a long list of others waiting.” 

Craig chokes on nothing. The seconds tick tick tick past until it clicks. He’s dead. He’s dead? He’s pissed. “Of course I didn’t! Who the fuck are you to ask?”

The Reaper tilts her head slightly. The bold ones are fun to toy with. She would entertain this more if there weren’t more pressing matters to attend to. She stands to her full height and gazes down at Craig. With a wave of her hand she materializes a scythe. She allows the full weight of the weapon to pound the ground and smiles wickedly at Craig.

“I, dear boy,” The Reaper raises the scythe parallel to her arm, “am the one who sends you to those who decide if that is true.”

#the way that I KNOW elizabeth is going to see this and blow up my dm's #and then proceed to smash out an entire novella to complete the story #jezebelle #the andersons #writing prompt #writeblr

[kaylinamaes]

Snippet from my novella Ana

“Saying, I wish I had known you sooner, is like the love in my heart is growing so big and fast that I wish I had the opportunity to have you earlier by my side because I want to love you longer than I can do now. My love for you reaches my past and makes a place for you. I want to know you with flour on your chest and sugar on your tongue. When I was trying to quit smoking, and we drank red wine from Mason Jars, she called my freckles cute and I called her eyes green celery. I was relearning how to be a grown-up who pays bills, cooks her own meals, and doesn’t cry at words like I don’t think we can pursue this. The truth is, love is organic, it rots and it softens.”

Also!! I put the entire novella into chat gpt and asked for a summary and this is what I was given:

The passages you've shared unfold as a deeply introspective and emotional narrative, exploring themes of grief, identity, love, and the quest for understanding and peace within oneself and in relationships with others. It portrays a selectively mute protagonist grappling with the profound effects of a personal tragedy—specifically, the loss of a daughter—which catalyzes a journey through various stages of mourning, self-discovery, and ultimately, healing.

The narrative seems to oscillate between the protagonist's internal struggles, their interactions with significant others (notably, Julia and William), and their reflections on the past and present, marked by moments of intimacy, isolation, and introspection. The story delves into the complexities of human emotions and relationships, including the silent battles one faces after a loss, the search for solace in others, and the transformative power of unspoken bonds and shared experiences.

Through poetic language and vivid imagery, the book appears to be about the protagonist's struggle to find their voice and place in a world reshaped by grief. It touches on the themes of connection and disconnection, both with oneself and with others, and highlights the challenges and possibilities of finding new meaning and hope in the aftermath of life-altering events. The narrative invites readers to reflect on the nature of healing, the impact of loss, and the enduring capacity for love and renewal amidst sorrow.

I definitely recommend trying this for anyone who writes short stories or novellas

#what is wrong with me #writers block #writing #author #book #booklr #literature #love quotes #my writing #niche #novella #short story #writing community #writing prompt

[lucalearnstowrite]

"What kind of father would do this to his only son? The future King of the empire.", Aster wonders to himself, In disbelief of what his father did to him. When he was going to succeed his father's throne to be the next King of Riguania, he was banished from the territory. The king's only son, whom he adored and whom he promptly provided every comfort in the world was thrown out by his guards into a dark forest. The forest of Wanderers.

He arrived in a swamp region, lost in the forest of the Wanderers, a mysterious marsh. He saw a cabin on the shore of the river, with lights on. For a prince who had been in excruciating pain and hadn't slept for the last three days, it was a blessing in disguise. He knocked on the door, but nobody answered. The door was open so he entered and discovered flasks filled with vibrant potions, wands , hairs of animals, colourful brooms and a lot of things Aster didn't even know the name of. Something weird was about the room, actually everything. Aster says to himself, "What kind of witchcraft is this person trying to do?"

At that moment, he hears a pleasant voice out of nowhere. "Boy, you shouldn't have come here. This place is not meant for the timid. You will be lost here forever if you do not quickly leave the forest." He glances out of the window and notices a woman holding a sword while wearing a white clock. "Who are you?" he exclaims. But, the woman disappears in the mist.

"What is happening, who was that strange lady? She also called me timid like father did", Aster says to himself. "Nevermind, I can see something is really wrong here but whatever she was, I ought to go."

"Meow, meow, meow," cries a terrified cat. He looks around and sees a cat in a small boat crying. "Chiro!", shouts Aster. That was his beloved cat, Chiro. How is Chiro here he wondered. He gave her over to his mom. "Don't worry, Chiro, I'll save you." As he advances to help her, he sees eyes popping from the water. Aster screams, "Those eyes... Alligator!!" with fear. "Oh my god, there ain't one but so many"

"Those alligators will eat me up. I can't do this. What should I do? Let Chiro die and run saving myself. No, I'm not that weak. It appears that Aster has overcome his dilemma. Luckily, one alligator shoved the boat in his direction. He could draw the boat closer to the shore if he swam swiftly and get in the boat.

He inhaled deeply and jumped. He made it the boat while the alligators started revolving around the boat. Chiro jumped into Aster's arms. "It's okay kitty, we'll be safe". He moved the boat closer to the shore being careful of the Gators and threw Chiro towards the ground by him. Her cat sensors helped her to land safely. "Chiro, get out of there and run! Hurry up!" Aster tries to divert their attention from Chiro. It succeeded, but the Gators attempted to topple the boat. Aster accepted his fate, but they fled awat as the king's soldiers fired gun at them. "Aster, my boy," sobs his mother. "Mom!" Aster was astounded. He was helped out of the boat by the soldiers. Both of them were secure.

His father says, "You passed the test with flying colours." "Test?" Aster asks. "You had turned into a weak person living in luxury, but a king must be brave and willing to risk his life to ensure the protection of his people." Aster didn't know what to say but he was happy that no one can call him timid now.

"So that's why you sent that mysterious lady and had a weird cabin set up here" says Aster. "What? What lady and what cabin Asty?", his father exclaims. He looks around and finds that the cabin has disappeared.

#tumblr #story writing #story #writer #fiction writer #fictional #fiction writing #writing #writing prompt #interesting #cat #brave #aster #trending #boat #novella #magic #magical story #aesthetic #cute #king #prince #kingdom #royality

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 95

Adjective: Copper

Noun: Breath

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Copper: made of a red-brown metal, the chemical element of atomic number 29; having a reddish-brown color like that of copper

Breath: the air taken into or expelled from the lungs; an inhalation or exhalation of air from the lungs; (archaic) the power of breathing, or life; a brief moment, or the time required for one act of respiration; a slight movement of air; a sign, hint, or suggestion

#this is making me have some specific fantasy-based ideas #something i think i could even write a short story or perhaps a novella or novel from #so thats freaking wild #who would have thought #thanks for reading #writing #writer #creative writing #writing prompt #writeblr #trying to be a writeblr at least

[ilovecherries2]

Prompt

"Cuddle!"

"..."

"Cuddle!"

"You are talking to me? I'm your enemy!"

#enemies prompt #writing prompts #prompt #writing #prompts #creative writing #writing inspiration #writing ideas #writing prompt #fanfic prompt #enemies to lovers #enemies to found family #villain prompt #hero prompt #ao3 prompt #original work prompt #novel prompt #prompt for anything #prompt for novella #novella prompt #tags are fun #romance prompt #otp prompt #otp #imagine your otp

[twst-the-night-away]

"Ohh, look at them!" Violetta gently took hold of Idia's shoulder, giggling a little. "They've got little hearts coming out from their heads when they talk to each other now, what does that mean?"

"Ah. Uh." Idia cleared his throat. He giggled, too, but it was the sort of anxious laugh that he'd hoped Violetta would never have to hear. Still, she'd heard him make a lot of strange noises while gaming, and she hadn't asked anything about it yet ...

"See, their relationship's improving. The more hearts they have, the more they like each other."

Violetta's face flushed just a little purple at the same time the tips of Idia's hair began to glow pink. They glanced at each other. Another round of nervous laughs.

"They're awfully cute," Violetta said.

"I ... well ..." Idia felt his entire face burning up. "The one with the purple hair is cute, anyway."

"Idia." Violetta pouted. "I think they're both cute. The one with the fancy blue hair is rather dashing."

Dashing?! Idia never thought he'd be called dashing, and never knew he'd like it so much, either. He fought back another giggle as he right-clicked on the little avatar with the purple bob and round glasses - the one that looked so similar to the girl sitting beside him, watching him play.

"Fine, fine, just for that compliment, I'll give - I mean. I'll make him give her a present. It's gonna be a random drop, though, so I can't guarantee she'll like it."

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to know he was thinking of her." Violetta grinned. "Still! I want to see what happens."

Idia selected "Give Present" from the drop-down menu. A little gift box dropped from the sky at the purple-haired avatar's feet, and the blue-haired one gestured towards it, graciously. The box popped open to reveal a pair of polka-dotted socks.

"Oh, those are cute!"

"Hmm, I dunno," Idia replied. "Her style sense is Chic, so that pattern might not be -"

He fell silent as the purple-haired avatar reacted with five hearts. Five. Hearts. That was the most he'd ever seen from her.

"She liked it! Huh."

It was then that the purple-haired avatar leaned over and kissed the one with the blue hair. A swirl of hearts and sparkles surrounded them, and a pop-up read "Relationship Level Up!"

Idia and Violetta stared, frozen, as the game continued its daily simulation and the avatars went about their business in the little town square.

Idia knew his hair was going to go full blush anytime soon. He stole a glance at Violetta just as she was stealing one at him. Good. Her face was purple. At least he wasn't suffering alone.

Still. Something was bugging him - and he wasn't sure how to approach the subject without sounding like a total dweeb.

Still.

What IF.

Finally, Idia broke the silence with a little laugh that he hoped was casual. He ran a hand through the closest bit of flaming blue hair, mostly out of nerves, needing to do something with his hand.

"Haha ... ha ... Isn't it funny how, like ... they're ahead of us?"

Violetta replied with a laugh of her own. Of course, hers was a lot cuter. Everything Violetta did was cute. Idia was sure that if she was the type, she could totally be running an e-girl racket. But he was glad she wasn't, so she could be all his.

Did he just think that out loud?

"So ... you really do think they're us, then?" Violetta asked.

"What?" Idia panicked, suddenly. "I'm that transparent?"

"The purple-haired girl is named Fioled ..."

"Ah."

Another long silence, punctuated only by the game's BGM. Idia sighed.

"Look, uh -"

"We ... could try, if you like?"

Violetta looked up at Idia, her eyes wide, curious. Idia swallowed the lump in his throat. He'd ... seen this happen before, in cut scenes and in anime, he could ... figure it out. It was just lips meet lips, right? That was all it was.

As soon as he got the courage to start to lean towards her - as soon as he could tell she was leaning in, as soon as he could start to smell the floral fragrance that totally didn't fit in with the rest of his surroundings, but made everything so much nicer -

A few dire chords blared from the speakers, and Idia nearly jumped three feet out of his seat. With a panicked squeak, Violetta backed up, her chair rolling almost across the room.

"Ah! Uh. Uhhhh." Idia returned to the keyboard, his heart racing. "It's just. Uh. A random event. They're being attacked. Uh. Uhhh. Sorry! I. Um."

"Go ahead," Violetta said, trying to catch her own breath. "I ... think you'd better make sure they win!"

"Right! I'll win it. I'll win it so much."

#twisted wonderland ocs #twst ocs #daisy's ocs #violetta piccola #idia shroud #daisy: hm i think i'll write short answers to the rest of the kiss prompts #also daisy: time to write a novella

[witchcraftandburialdirt]

an angry kiss :3c

Another Kiss Prompt an angry kiss  ═══MODERN VERSE═══

"Hhhnn…" The world was a visual kaleidoscope and an auditory nightmare as the whites and grays of the hospital ceiling slowly came into focus. Nausea settles in his stomach and a shot of agonizing pain stabs through his side that nearly rips him from the mattress before he feels the comforting numb of morphine drop into his veins. Robin's tired eyes roll lazily over to see Jhin sitting beside him, who had expertly flicked the morphine drip on, and their eyes meet. There is little question to how Robin is feeling in this moment, silence between them both besides the rhythmic beeping of the machine that is hooked to his chest. He goes to speak before feeling a gentle finger meet his lips, he knows this is Jhin telling him to conserve his energy, but one question plagues him,

"Did….did you hit the mark…?"

"…No, I didn't."

"What? Why---why not?"

Robin's eyes grow wide and he begins to push himself up, worry scratches over his expression, quickly swiped away by pain. He holds himself up while shaking, unable to quell the oncoming bout of nausea as he stares into those maroon pools. Somehow the words that come next don't surprise him, and yet they spark a fire inside of him so fierce that he fears without gritting his teeth tight, the hospital room would catch ablaze.

"I had to save you."

He is quick to rip his hand away from his lover, ferocity striking within the green of his iris, turning lush pastures into a hellscape ready to lash and tear into the assassin. His knuckles lose all color as he sucks in a shaky, assailing breath, ripping his stare away from Jhin while attempting to force the onslaught of horror from his mind. The mission failed, and now--now he would have to deal with the explosive aftermath, the shrapnel of which would be enough to rip every bit of him apart unless he was swift to pluck all of it out. But how was he supposed to do that while stuck in a hospital bed?! How was he supposed to fix this!? Robin seemed to be replaced by an injured, frightened, possibly rabid animal as Jhin reaches back towards him, an audible SLAP forcing his hand away, and Robin gives him a look reserved only for traitors along with enemies. His voice croaking with misery,

"I didn't NEED you to save me, I-I needed you to take out THE DAMN TARGET! I KNEW the consequences of going into this mission-- do--do you have any idea of how much this FUCKS us?" His fingers press into his temple in a desperate attempt to stop the throbbing, his pitch raising, "You should have left me to die, and done your damn JOB!"

Air felt thick and painful to breathe as he feels angry tears beginning to fall from his cheeks, despair grips him like a vice, the only respite he could find was covering his face, burying away from Jhin as he wheezes. His heart clenches as he comes to grips with the metaphorical noose tighten around his neck, exasperated breaths that threatened to reveal the underlying cause of so much aggression; fear. Pure primal fear of failure, the consequence for both of them with what could possibly come next. He had been witness to such acts before, he had carried out those actions against the members of the group unable to fulfill their tasks and ultimately caused more mayhem for Miss Evelynn. Impending doom seemed to peek just over the horizon and Robin met his gaze once more, although now the brutality had been replaced with distress and discomfort, a frightened beast.

He had found himself in a situation he wasn't immediately prepared to cope with, a hammer to the camel's already withered spine. A break that culminated into an outburst riddled with terror, panic, and alarm.

"Please…God, fuck--"

And…the fall.

Robin hangs his head slowly, sniffling while he tries to hide his contorted expression, and this time, he does not pull away when Jhin's hand touches his own. Bloodshot eyes shut as the violent cresendo of the evening came to a close, ending with nothing but a whimper as his chin was eventually lifted with a delicate, loving caresss. He knows, in that moment, given the situation…he would have done the same thing. He would have thrown away the world for Jhin, if only to watch him continue to breathe, to hold his hand, to have just one more morning next to him. His scarred lips tremble with hesitation, unsure of what to say before the words escape him before he can grasp them, "…I don't know what to do. I…I'm so sorry, Khada--I-I'm…"

He can't look at him while he speaks, eyes dipping downward to watch the way Jhin's fingers draw circles across his knuckles, and then, at last, Robin's arms wrap around him, and he feels the embrace returned. He still shakes in those strong arms, but when his head is cupped, a certain weakness returns to his heart. The sweet smell of cologne and gunpowder fills his lungs while he comes down even further from the edge of cataclysm. He doesn't deny the thought that stirs in his mind, that this was expected, the anger, the explosion along the subsequent fallout that would eventually lead him to melt back into Jhin's arms. For Robin to recognize that this was now a shared issue to tackle together, and that he would not be alone in fixing it, not as he had been so many times before.

He is timid in how his temple brushes Jhin's, how he finally turns his head and lets his lips press against dark hair while his fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt. Robin feels the room swirl once more as, unhurriedly, he is laid back down with such a gentle touch. The wound in his side throbs, and he relaxes entirely when soft lips meet his forehead, the bridge of his nose, and finally his mouth. And so, he ends where he began, laying quietly with Jhin by his side, holding his hand as exhaustion flutters his lids shut.

Although, now, his fingers keep their hold.

#ic #rp #fourt #another kiss prompt #i really hope this makes sense #i was FEELING the emoTIONS #I ASSUME LIKE...JHIN KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN LIKE #HE KNOWS ROBIN SO WELL BY NOW HGFBGF #“yeah i know hes gonna be pissed but fuck it” #god #goose i REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE THIS RYUKGRVE #IF ANYTHING IS WRONG PLZ #TELL ME AND I'LL FIX IT #HOLDS THEM #I HAD TO #REIGN MYSELF IN #FROM WRITING EVEN MORE #I WAS LIKE “MAN I CANT WRITE AN ENTIRE NOVELLA FOR GOOSE” #BUT #ALSO I RARELY GET TO EXPLORE VERY ANGRY ROBIN #SO THIS WAS A VERY FUN EXERCISE #SOMEONE PISS HIM OFF

[vikasgarden]

🍿

Send a 🍿 to see how I would add my muse into the setting of my favorite movie. (ebenso gefragt von @narbenherz )

»I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, han mathon ne chae a han noston ned 'wilith.«

Die Sonne schien von einem blauen, wolkenlosen Himmel herab. Saftig grünes Gras umspielte die Knöchel von Vika, als eine sanfte Brise aufkam und die Luft war erfüllt von dem Summen und Brummen von Bienen und Käfern. 

Konnte das der Himmel sein? 

“Autsch!” Okay, also Schlafen tat sie schon einmal nicht und jetzt war sie auch noch wütend über sich selbst, dass sie so fest zugezwickt hatte. Grummelnd rieb sie sich über die Stelle an ihrem Arm und betrachtete für einen Moment ihren Unterarm. Vielleicht hatte sie übertrieben, aber das würde definitiv einen blauen Fleck geben. Immerhin war sie damit auch nicht tot, denn Tote konnten keine blauen Flecken bekommen, oder? Wo war sie dann? Denn das hier war definitiv nicht Schottland, sie träumte nicht und tot war sie auch nicht. Wo also war sie? 

Der Blick aus grünen Augen glitt über die Landschaft. Immerhin konnte sie von hier oben hinab in das Tal sehen. Ein riesiger See erstreckte sich dort am Fuße eines Berges. Trümmer inmitten des Sees zeugten davon, dass dort einmal eine Stadt gestanden haben musste, doch gar nicht so weit weg war sogar noch eine weitere. Die Sonne beschien die sandfarbenen Fassaden der Häuser und der Mauern. Spätestens dort würde man ihr doch Auskunft darüber geben können, wo sie sich denn nun befand. Das bedeutete ja nur mindestens einen halben Tagesmarsch. Vika seufzte und verdrehte die Augen. Was auch immer sie her gebracht hatte, irgendjemand würde dafür büßen müssen und dann hatte sie nicht einmal eine Kleinigkeit für den Weg dabei! Denn als sie aufgewacht war, hatte sie nur ein wirklich hübsches Reisegewandt getragen und die Schuhe hatte sie bei diesem schönen Wetter ausgezogen. Doch selbst der Kontakt mit den Pflanzen war anders als in Schottland. Anders als auf der Erde. Wo auch immer sie war, sie war sehr weit weg von zu Hause. 

Doch all das Grübeln half nicht. Wenn sie einen Anhaltspunkt haben wollte, dann musste sie in die Stadt am Fuße des Berges. 

Es dämmerte bereits, als sie die Tore passierte. Die Schuhe hatte sie sich auf ihrer Reise wieder angezogen und auch wenn sowohl vor der Stadt, als auch in ihren Mauern das rege Leben herrschte, so war sich Vika doch unschlüssig darüber, wen sie nach dem Weg fragen sollte. Wie machte man das bitte in einer Stadt, die man nicht kannte und einem Land, das man noch nie bereist hatte? Zudem waren einige der Bewohner ja doch recht merkwürdige Gesellen. Da waren Männer, nicht höher als 130cm, mit Bärten die bis zu ihrem Hosenbund reichten und riesigen, kunstvoll verzierten Äxten auf dem Rücken. Andere waren hoch gewachsen und hatten ähnlich zarte Knochenstrukturen wie die von Vika. Aber die Anderwelt konnte das hier doch nicht sein, oder? Zwerge würden sich doch nicht im Reich der Feen finden und eigentlich waren diese hoch gewachsenen Geschöpfe mit ihren zarten Gesichtszügen und den meist langen mit kunstvollen Zöpfen verzierten Haarschöpfen so viel anders als Vika sich andere ihrer Art vorstellte. Auch sie waren bewaffnet, mit Schwertern aus dem reinsten Metall, die Vika je gesehen hatten, Dolchen so schön, dass sie ihresgleichen suchten und Bögen… so etwas hatte Vika in ihrem Leben noch nicht gesehen. 

Aber abgesehen von den Zwergen und, wenn Vika sich nicht täuschte, Elben, gab es hier auch Menschen. Einfache Leute, die Trümmer beiseite räumten, Wasser schleppten oder von ihrer Arbeit auf dem Feld zurückkamen. Unweigerlich fragte sie sich, was hier geschehen war. Die Schlacht konnte noch nicht so lang zurückliegen. Die Menschen bauten die Stadt gerade erst wieder auf. Der Ruß auf dem Mauerwerk war ja noch nicht einmal von Regen davon gespült worden. 

Vika ging weiter, betrachtete die so unterschiedlich wirkenden Anwesenden und doch schienen sie alle an einem Strang zu ziehen. Manche verteilten Brot und Wasser und auch Vika wurde wie selbstverständlich mit etwas Brot bedacht, als sie an einem Stand vorbeilief. Derjenige, der ihr das Brot gab, wollte nicht einmal etwas dafür haben. “Ihr seht aus, als könntet ihr es nach der Arbeit heute  vertragen.” Sie lächelte, bedankte sich und ging weiter und doch fühlte es sich so surreal an. 

Als sie das Brot kostete, weiteten sich ihre Augen. Sie hatte noch nie so etwas in ihrem Leben gegessen. Eingewickelt war es in Blätter und als sie den Teigbetrachtete, war es außen braun gebacken und innen noch hell. 

“Du hast wohl noch nie Lembas gegessen, was?” Die Stimme wirkte amüsiert und als Vika aufsah, blickte sie in das Gesicht eines blonden Elben. Er lehnte im Schatten, in den Händen ein ähnliches kleines Paket wie sie selbst. Doch angerührt hatte er es noch nicht. “Tatsächlich ist es das erste Mal. Sieht man es mir so sehr an?” Der Elb lächelte noch etwas breiter. “Nur, wenn man weiß, was die Leute für ein Gesicht machen beim ersten Bissen”, entgegnete er, packte nun doch sein Lembas aus, wie er es nannte und brach ein Stück ab, um es sich in den Mund zu stecken. Auch Vika probierte noch ein Stück und es war so wundervoll, wie beim ersten Mal. Sie musste unbedingt herausfinden, wie man es machte! 

“Du bist nicht von hier.” Der Elb schien nicht sonderlich oft Fragen zu stellen. Er beobachtete und stellte dann fest und irgendwie faszinierte das Vika und machte sie gleichzeitig auch skeptisch. Was sah er noch an ihr? War es so offensichtlich, dass sie hier nicht hingehörte? Das gefiel ihr nicht. Auch wenn sie nicht wusste, warum. Er schien ihr Misstrauen zu bemerken, denn er hob entwaffnend eine Hand. “In Zeiten wie diesen zieht es viele Neuankömmlinge nach Thal. Die Geschichte um die Schlacht verbreitet sich schnell. Ebenso die Nachricht über den Tod des Königs. Ich verstehe das. Wenn Städte neu aufgebaut werden, dann weckt das oft den Wunsch nach einem Neuanfang. Obwohl ich nicht gedacht hätte, dass auch eine Elbe sich dazu hingezogen fühlt. Woher kommst du?” Er brach noch etwas vom Lembas ab, dann steckte er es in seine Umhängetasche. Vika ließ es ebenfalls in ihren Taschen verschwinden. Sie war satt und das nach nur zwei Bissen. “Ich bin keine Elbe”, entgegnete sie nur und wandte den Blick von dem Elb ab, um sich umzusehen. Ihr Gesprächspartner gefiel ihr immer weniger und vielleicht gab es ja jemanden anderen, der ihr erzählen konnte -. “Dafür verstehst du mich ziemlich gut. Wo hast du so gut Sindarin gelernt?” Er schien also nicht locker lassen zu wollen. Ob er etwas ahnte? “Das kommt ganz darauf an. Woher ich komme, lädt man jemanden auf einen Drink ein und stellt sich vor, bevor man jemandem Löcher in den Bauch fragt.” Andere hätten es vielleicht respektlos gefunden, doch Vika setzte ihren Worten sogar noch ein keckes Lächeln hinterher und rechte das Kinn etwas nach oben, während sie den Blick des Elben erwiderte. Dieser brauchte einen Moment, doch dann lachte er. “Ich bin Legolas. Komm, ich zeig dir, wo es etwas zu trinken gibt.” Und plötzlich war der Elb ihr wieder sympathisch. Er brachte sie in die ‘Schänke’, die sich gerade erst im Aufbau befand und doch waren die Tische gut besucht. Die Auswahl an Getränken war jedoch eingeschränkt und um nichts Falsches zu bestellen, sagte Vika, dass sie das Gleiche nehmen würde wie Legolas. 

Als sie an dem Becher nippte, welches er ihr reichte, beobachtete er sie wieder. Es gefiel ihr zwar nicht, war jedoch vergessen, als sie den ersten Schluck des Weines trank. Er war süß und schwer und dennoch löschte er ihren Durst. Vika fühlte sich belebt, als würde neue Energie durch sie hindurch fließen. “Was ist das?” Als sie dieses mal in Legolas Gesicht sah, wirkte er erheitert. “Du kannst wirklich keine Elbe sein, wenn du nicht einmal Limpe kennst. Das ist Elfenwein”, beantwortete er ihre Frage und trank dann einen Schluck aus seinem eigenen Becher. “Du hast mir nicht gesagt, wie du heißt.” Vika schenkte ihm ein Lächeln. “Du hast nicht gefragt”, erwiderte sie, doch bevor er fragen konnte, entgegnete sie: “Ich bin Vika.” Das schien ihn zu erheitern. “Was?”, fragte sie und zog eine Augenbraue hoch. Zwar hatte er sich etwas sympathischer gemacht, aber wirklich überzeugt war sie noch nicht von ihm. “Das ist ein merkwürdiger Name”, entgegnete er nur. “Achja? Aber Legolas ist normal?” Er zog amüsiert eine Augenbraue nach oben. “Normaler als Vika”, entgegnete er. 

Bevor sie etwas erwidern konnte, hörte sie ihren Namen über die Stimmen hinweg. Sie schaffte es kaum, aufzustehen, da schlangen sich bereits Arme um ihre Gestalt und sie wurde fest an einen Körper gedrückt. Dann kam noch ein zweites paar Arme dazu und Vika wusste gar nicht mehr, wo ihr der Kopf stand. Als man sie endlich in die Freiheit entließ, blickte sie in zwei ihr wohlbekannte Gesichter. “Aine? Casper? Was macht ihr denn hier?” Die beiden stellten ihre Becher auf den Tisch ab und setzten sich. “Das ist eine lange Geschichte”, entgegnete Casper und blickte stattdessen zu Legolas. “Wer ist dein neuer Freund?” Auch Aine setzte sich an den Tisch und antwortete statt Vika: "Jemand, der uns helfen wird, nach Hause zu kommen.” Nun war es an Legolas Reihe, skeptisch zu wirken, doch Vika fand die Idee ganz wundervoll. “Wenn das einer schafft, dann Legolas.” Mit diesen Worten griff sie nach ihrem Becher. “Slàinte mhath, meine Freunde.” Casper und Aine stießen mit ihr an, doch Legolas wirkte immer verwirrter. Fast schon tat er ihr etwas Leid, doch mit Aine und Casper in ihrem Rücken würde Vika sich tatsächlich mehr trauen, nach Hilfe zu fragen. 

#⸻ ✶ pretend i asked now answer the question. ˟ q&a #⸻ ✶ always trust computer games. ˟ muse game #⸻ ✶ if only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes ˟ prompts #⸻ ✶ the urge to destroy is also a creative urge. ˟ novella #writingsfakevz

[my-hyperfixations-shit]

A Contemplation on Acceptance

I’m writing a novel and trying to get more perspectives and opinions on my main issue. Feel free to answer because I’d love to hear it.

Here’s the blurb I’d like to all to consider and answer (if you want):

You died today, horrifically and alone, way before your time. It was dark and raining, water was flooding the roads, and you crashed. You died. Yet, here you are standing in the ditch, looking at your body. Your twisted, bloody, and broken body. You know you are dead.

Now you are a ghost, yet you cannot interact with the living world, so you following everyone. Your family, your friends, strangers. You watch them as they identify your body, hear the news of your death. You watch them plan your funeral, talk about who you were, and eventually, you watch them move on.

However you’re still here, you haven’t moved on. You haven’t accepted that you are forever unable to live a life you deserved. You are here, forgotten and alone, unwilling to accept the permanence of your situation.

End of the blurb.

So what I’d like to know is this: why? What keeps your spirit from accepting your death. What deep rooted fears prevent you from moving on? What allows others to accept and move on whilst you yourself cannot? Is it anger? Sadness? A fear of being alone? A fear of being forgotten?

I think I’m going to call this novel “How To Day Goodbye,” because in the end, it is not about the family, but about the spirit learning how to grieve their own loss.

Thank you for your time and answers! I look forward to reading your comments!

#novella #novel writing #writing #creative writing #writing prompt #coffee and contemplation #book writing #answer please #I need help #I need to go to bed #i need answers #ghost #spirit #griefjourney

[writerrjbrown]

Coming Soon! (Possible bookcover for The Magician's Canvas)

https://twitter.com/WriterRJBrown

#flash fiction #nanowrimo #climate fiction #AI Assisted #Novella-in-Flash #novella #writing prompts