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lovebecomeshim · 3 years

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hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?

Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.

*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!

This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.

I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)

The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.

And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.

(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)

The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.

First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.

The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.

(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)

They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.

(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)

Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)

Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.

Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.

Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—

And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.

Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.

There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:

There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.

Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).

Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.

Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.

The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.

And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.

tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.

So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.

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#zutara #atla #zutara rant #like really the way the canon relationships were written throughout s3 #it would’ve been more believable for zutara to happen #or at least be hinted at #all of the major issues presented in those relationship were dug up extensively and then... never resolved #and then they just slapped some kisses on a screen and said ‘there all better’#and we just kinda had to say ‘oh ok guess it’s all better then’#this got long I’m sorry #I wrote it all out and then tumblr ate 2/3 of it #which is why it took so long #and what I’ve written now doesn’t even match what I had before #because there’s too much to say about why I love zutara #and the stuff I left out the first time is what came out this time #rip to my original thoughts but this post is different #anyway that’s why this took so long #and I should’ve just made a PowerPoint...#I can do that too if you’d rather not read all of this lol #I won’t be offended #this is incoherent #Alia rambles uselessly #also hoping this doesn’t end up in any wrong tags because I don’t wanna step on toes lol #it’s not anti!! it’s just critical #in a compare/contrast way #I can pinpoint the moment when I started trying to rewrite my points from memory #because everything gets shorter and more succinct #like... I really said all that??? sounds fake and I don’t remember it anyway so here’s the condensed version #with no!! smooth!!! transitions!!!!#also why am I so lazy with proper grammar over text

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softlyjiminie · 4 years

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to hold a dragon’s heart | k.t.h

⇢ pairing(s): dragon prince!kim taehyung x warrior princess!reader,

⇢ word count: 19.1K.

⇢ rating: 18+, mature.

⇢ genre: smut, angst, fluff, forbidden romance, dragon shifter!au, royalty!au, enemies to lovers!au.

⇢ summary: two kingdoms, two hearts and the world between them. your whole life has been a challenge, never an easy moment on your road to becoming queen but will one decision, one encounter with the man you were destined to hate, change the fate of your worlds, forever?

⇢ warning(s): please read! major character death, violence ( torture scenes + fight scenes ), war, cursing, alocholism, unrequited love, arranged marriages, failing marriages, imprinting, painful sickness, unexpected pregnancies, slight prejudice against mythical creatures and women, heavy smut, unprotected sex ( please wear protection ) , virgin + dom!taehyung, virgin + sub!reader, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, oral sex ( male + female recieving ), nipple play, light degredation + dirty talk, breeding kink, cumplay, creaming, cunnilingus, slight exhibitionism, male masturbation, taehyung has a two-headed penis (with spines), teaehyung has charcoal flavoured cum— i may have gotton carried away…

⇢ author’s note(s): hello everyone! this is my contribution to the @ficswithluv Love Library project! i was a part of the fantasy category with @jamaisjoons !! i worked really hard on this fic, and it’s probably my biggest work, i’m so proud of it so i really really hope you guys enjoy and leave some feedback <3

⇢special mention(s): i would like to thank my baby, miss gia of @fantasybangtan for helping me muse and giving me inspiration to complete this fic, as well as giving me feedback on this hefty boy n making it’s beautiful banner !! ( also i named the sea after you ) anddd my little babie @fantasyjoon for letting me name a kingdom after her teehee. I wuv u guys <3

two kingdoms, two hearts and the world between them. your whole life has been a challenge, never an easy moment on your road to becoming queen but will one decision, one encounter with the man you were destined to hate, change the fate of your worlds, forever?

on opposing sides of the enchanted forest, lay two kingdoms. one, painted with magic and mystery, from the soils to the creatures that rules the skies. the other, a land blessed with human life, cultivation and opportunity.

the Avalerian dynasty, land of the mystical and the Phantis empire, land of the man. both peaceful kingdoms, until war struck.

when you were young and with a curious mind, when tales of battle between warrior and warlock were used to put your infant heart to rest, you would ask questions. many of them, but one always seemed to snub the minds of your elders.

“why do we fight the war? why did it start?” you would beam curiously up at your mother, Queen aadaya. she was a beauty, hair dipped in the white snows of the Huntcan tip mountains, laced with the silver moon at its highest. her skin was smooth, illuminated by starlight and her heart, as pure as any gold. but queen aadaya was a warrior, trained in the arts of her people, like her mother and her grandmother before that. she had hoped to one day, train yourself and your siblings as well.

your mother shuffled over on the bed, squishing your eldest brother, hoseok and yourself, while pulling your younger sister—tamarae, into your lap.

you remember so clearly, your mother tilting her moon crescent eyes and brushing back the hair on your face. “we fight for safety, of you and all children.”

lies.

you had yet to learn, as a naive little five year old, what war could do to innocents such as your mother. such as your people. war was not kind to anyone it met, it’s raging scent of death and decay and blood reaching every corner of your once ethereal home until nothing was left. nothing but sadness, loss and a hole in your heart.

you lost your mother by order of assassination on the night of your eighteenth birthday. they say, as a revenge attack, for the death of the dragon king but it was then that you learned that war took no prisoners, it had no mercy. war was not like the lullabies and stories your mother told. that day, the kingdom mourned the loss of their queen, and you mourned the loss of your mother, the safety she promised, a lie on the ghost of her lips.

hoseok was drafted into the war not a year later, his own doing. he trained hard but not as good as yourself, you would joke. he was to keep hold on some land by elvin territory and whilst it wasn’t much, it was everything to your brother. hoseok could do something to avenge his mother. the day before his deployment, you sat with your siblings on your bed like you would as children, sneaking snacks from the chef’s daughter that hoseok promised to wed on his return. the three of you giggled and smiled and reminisced, ending the night with tears and tight grips on each other, praying that your family would be together again.

years later, you sit aged twenty one in front of the royal court. with hoseok gone and your father unfit to rule, you were next in line to inherit your mother’s throne. the chair itself, towering with a twisted golden design, was forged from the molten treasures of the dragons themselves. tamarae sits to your left, poised in a lesser dramatic chair and gown and to the right of you, your advisor, jungkook.

“why have you come?” your voice drifts through the throne room, eyes narrow on the pathetic excuse for a man before you. your father rises from his kneel, watching you with pleading eyes. in the years between now and your mother’s death, any relationship with your father had dwindled. he grew power hungry, gambling away any riches in hoping what he earned would replace the loss in his heart. he drunk whatever he could find, rendering himself ill. you often wondered why your mother ever allowed such a man to father her children.

“i come, with but a suggestion, daughter.”

tamarae looks to you, worry struck on her young, delicate features. yet, your steely gaze remains in line with your father’s, an anger brewing in your stomach. it was not uncommon for your father to want to challenge you in front of the court, undermine your power as you made your road to queen. you had yet to prove yourself, according to the court but you hand an inkling feeling that was your father’s doing.

“a suggestion, pray tell?” you jest, replacing your glare for a delicate smile. a giggle bubbles from your lips, making the lords and ladies flinch. “my people and armies are fed, the livestock and farms are thriving, we have hold on all land claimed by men and yet, dearest father, you continue to doubt me.” like your mother, you had many who doubted your role as a women in power, you learned to be kind but ruthless, in order to survive.

the man himself, withered to the bone with sagging old eyes and a wheeze in his chest, rises from his knees with a dark glint in his eye. “my grace, whilst i mean you no disrespect, but by royal decree you are still unfit to rule,” he explains, gesturing to the court with wide arms. “you lack one thing.”

narrowing your eyes, you lean forward in your throne as your jewellery glitters and rustles around your neck. the tension in the room is thick, a knife would barely be able to cut it, “like, what?”

“a king.”

you rip your body from your seat, sister following suit along with your royal guard. how dare he? the sick man, run along and say you needed a king to help guide you as queen. your mother had managed just fine on her own, taking the throne from a young age and resisting the temptation of men. until she met your father, a lowly bread maker and made him the man he is today.

he had always envied her power, much as he did with yours.

“a king? a king like you? pathetic and on his knees like the drunk bastard he is. i digress,” you seethe, much to the amusement of your court. but your father knows your wit, knows your weakness, after all he is the man who raised you.

“it is by royal law, for a young queen to marry, my dearest YN...” the man begins, tilting his head up at you as he basks in the support of the lords and ladies around him. “and if you want to prove yourself worthy to the court, i suggest you start, with accepting a suitor.”

“ridiculous!”

an advisor from beside you, the predecessor to jungkook, steps forward wordlessly and blinks to you as if he’s asking permission to speak. “with all do respect, your highness, your father does have a point...it is required of you by law to...”

their words are silenced with a quick glare, your nostrils are flaring from how angry you are and suddenly the blue silk gown that you wear is too tight and too fitting. tamarae places a hand on your shoulder to help calm your nerves, your little sister had always been in tune with your emotions, much like your mother had. the young princess even resembled the queen, with tumbling wisps of snow white hair and kind eyes.

“breathe,” she whispers to you, helping you fix your poise. “you’re doing just fine.”

standing up talk, you ease your shoulders and smile smugly at your father. “since the men of this room, seem to doubt my ability to lead... i will prove the council before me, wrong,” your grin only widens when they ask you how, and you feel your sister’s worrisome stare burning into your cheeks. “by bringing you the heart of a dragon.”

“don’t be ridiculous, your highness!”

a lord from goodness knows what county calls, you only roll your eyes, making your way down the steps to pass your father smugly. the court has broken into a series of whispers, anxious, excited and concerned. the men around you have grown complacent, too comfortable with the idea of overthrowing you and making you weak.

“silence!” you bellow, turning to address every being in the room. you hum in satisfaction as the quieten down, letting your mantle made of the finest cotton, trail behind you. “no man, no king has ever brought the heart of the dragon to this kingdom. if i am to prove myself worthy to you, then this is how it shall be. laugh if you must, doubt me if you will. but i was born and raised a warrior and in my mother’s footsteps, i shall follow.”

with that, the meeting is concluded and your father is left gobsmacked, once again.

“don’t do anything stupid, YN,” tamarae mumbles to you that evening. you stand in her quarters, dressed in traditional fighting gear. the pants are a dark grey, patterned with swirls of a lily flower and embroider with your kingdom’s emblem of a crystal lily. the top matches, only this time you wear padding to ensure your protection. “and make sure you don’t get hurt.”

you scoff, shuffling on a cloak and pulling the hood over your head to disguise your face. royalty wasn’t allowed out of the palace after dark, due to the risk of unexpected assassination. the council put the law into place after the tragic loss of their beloved queen. “as if I’d ever allow myself to experience any form of pain.” you tut, twirling around to locate your sword.

the weapon had been a gift from your mother, on the day of your eighteenth. she had deemed you a worthy warrior, fit for battle after many years of training. it was a shame that she would not be able to see you use it now.

“you know what i mean, YN,” your younger sister sighs, pushing herself to stand and handing you the sheathed sword. a bright smile pulls at your lips and you lean down to press a kiss into her moonlit hair. “what if you don’t bring back the dragon heart? you’ll call yourself a fool and beat yourself up about it.”

“i won’t, i promise,” you hum, shaking your head down at tamarae. she was young and she worried for your recklessness, much like a mother would for her child. guilt was deepset within you, despising how your sister grew up barely remembering the woman who gave her life. “now if anyone asks...”

“you wish not to be disturbed.” tamarae gives you a soft smile, manoeuvring her hands to grip yours. she gives them a gentle squeeze before backing away.

you give your sister a quick nod of the head before sliding out of her window and slipping into the night.

the enchanted, Mailtaria forest was nothing like you had imagined.

according to fairy tails, it was full of beasts and blood and gore but instead, you found twisted oak trees forming the shapes of hearts, soil that illuminated beneath your feet. the air was crisp, yet some how, warming and scented with the faintest of flowers.

roses.

you know in your heart, that if the war was nothing but a myth, yourself and your siblings could play here for hours on end as children. as you walk, your mind drifts to hoseok, wondering if he’s safe. the eldest of your siblings had been determined to fight the war ever since your mother’s passing, a headstrong boy who was fast on his feet but not with his mind.

the crack of a snapping branch in the distance kicks your senses into overdrive, making you duck in anticipation of a sudden attack. with a hand hovering over the sheath of your sword, you inhale deeply through your nose to keep your heart rate steady. there is no time for nerves, YN, no time for hesitance.

dragons were not creatures of remorse.

you ease yourself out of the bushes, mindful of the ruffling leaves that glow with some kind of fluorescence, magic that you’d not once laid your eyes on in your entire life. had you not been in the deep wood of the enchanted forest, to find and kill the dragon prince, you would have admired them more.

“why do you come, bearing a weapon?”

perhaps you may have spent too long, admiring the glistening petals.

you gasp, whipping out your sword and holding its point to the throat of the boy before you. slowly, your eyes trail upwards, shock connecting in your irises as you realise that he’s...floating. the boy has the hair of the silver moon, eyes as deep blue as the rough and raging Gialara seas, his lips are the colour of a blood rose with small and pearlescent fangs resting comfortably against their plumpness. he also wears a loose silk shirt that hangs simply from one shoulder, exposing his pale and slightly scaled skin. his pants are also lose, black in colour like the night sky to match his shirt. you note, that while he floats upside down, head tilted back towards you and body arched, he is also barefoot.

this must’ve been him, this must’ve been. “the dragon prince,” you hum cooly, steeling your eyes and reaffirming your stance. “i’m here to kill you.” your brows furrow in concentration, and the boy’s, in confusion. the dragon prince, pushes his bottom lip into a pout as he twists his body to face you fully. he sets himself down, against the plush grass and uses a single finger to flick your sword to the side.

“you have found me, yes,” the boy nods, giving you a tilted and faint smirk after his curious stare fades away. “i am kim taehyung, son of Veles and prince of the dragons...” the dragon watches as your stance falters, mouth open in shock at his strength to manipulate your mother’s sword. your palms begin to sweat at the sound of his full title, the name of the dragon king reminding you of the loss of your mother. “and i know, you will not kill me. i sense your being is far too compassionate to kill a living thing.”

you huff, dropping your arms and sending the vile thing a seething scowl. “you don’t know a thing about me-“

“my apologies, princess YN, i’m afraid i don’t,” taehyung interrupts you, stepping forward to inspect you closely. it was almost as if he had never seen a human before, but then again he was nothing like what you expected, especially in a dragon prince. before you can blink, you have been cornered into a tree, completely vulnerable and in the open. if he wanted to, taehyung could kill you right then and there, for the first time that night, a sprinkle of fear and adrenaline pumps it’s way through your veins. you glance up at the regal creature, shocked that he even knew such detail about yourself and bite your lip. “in that case, might you enlighten me as to, why you seek to take my life?”

taehyung is not what you expected at all, the question bouncing softly from his lips, as you begin to loosen up. his eyes shift to yellow under the light and you start to feel warm, as if you can trust him. “my father wants proof, that i would make a great and honourable Queen.” you explain bluntly, unsure of why the words feel foreign when mentioning it.

“interesting,” the prince comments, quirking a brow and smirking down at you as he rises off of his feet. “humans and their need for death and honour, i will never understand.”

and with that, taehyung disappears into the darkness of the forest. a chill runs up your spine, confused at your meeting but left wondering, what more was there to the dragon prince?

“...and then there’s the marriage proposal from prince seokjin, from the shatus kingdom overseas, would you like me to accept or deny?” jungkook drawls, feeling accomplished as he skips over the final sentence with a light frown. his heart clenches, but he doesn’t say anything further.

“yes, very good jungkook.”

“YN...”

“mhm...”

jungkook sighs, closing his book before tucking it under his arm for safety. he wouldn’t have been so annoyed if you were at least, half listening to him. tapping his foot in annoyance, the young advisor furrowed his brow deeply. “well in that case, i’ll spread word to the royal bakers that you will be requesting a cake made of pigs slop for the wedding party?”

“sounds wonderful,”

“...we’ll even give out small favours of their droppings too...”

“i’m sure the dukes and duchesses would love that, jeongguk...”

“i’m sure the whole kingdom would be delighted to know that you’re marrying kim seokjin.”

you slam your palms down on the windows, whipping your head to look at jungkook in shock. an amused grin tugs at his lips, as he approaches you to ruffle your hair fondly. now you were paying attention. “i will do no such thing!” you protest, pink painted lips forming a pout as you make an effort you lay down your tundra of wild locks. “me? marriage? what a preposterous idea. i should have you executed for that.”

“maybe now, you’ll learn to listen to me, your highness?” the raven haired boy titters, giving you an exaggerated bow. “you could never do such a thing to your oldest friend, YN.” yourself and jungkook had been acquainted ever since you could walk, a beautiful friendship blossoming over the many years. his father, had been your mother’s most trusted advisor during the war, he too passing away after the loss of your queen. it seemed that fate had its own twisted way of keeping yourself and jungkook together, for he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, much like you.

shaking your head, you push at his shoulders with a hidden grin and listen to the chime of his medallions as he sways. the silver lily on his chest, the symbol of the royal court, glistens much like the eyes of the man you met last night. taehyung’s beauty had entranced you so much, that the task at hand had been forgotten. of course, no one in the castle expected you to bring the head of a dragon back straight away...but something in you longed to see the awe, the shock and the respect on their faces when you did. they would learn to see you as their queen.

but something about taehyung, made you weak in the knees. an inexplainable feeling, a shy tint to your cheeks and a beat in your heart. he was different, not at all what you expected. walking away from jungkook, you pivot on your heel, the flush to your cheeks becoming more obvious by the second. “there will be no more marriage proposals from now on, jungkook. make that clear to the neighbouring kingdoms.” you remark, nodding your head with the wisps of a smile against your lips.

one of things, about having known you so long, is that jungkook could read you like an open book. the advisor could tell you were distracted, softer. it was almost as if his soon-to-be queen’s resistant and hard exterior had crumbled. this wasn’t your usual rejection of proposal, whereby you would growl and grumble so much so that the Huntcan tip mountains would quake in your presence. no, this was much like the time where the baker’s eldest son, yoongi, had snuck some treats up to your room when you were children. you had developed an infatuation for yoongi throughout your early teenage years, until he left the kingdom to open his own bakery, kissing you behind the rose bush in the royal garden on the night before he left.

this was fascination, this was admiration. “you like someone,” jungkook teases lightly, a knowing smile tickling at the corners of his lips. “did you find a compatible suitor, is that it?”

“the throne is my only object of affection,” you sigh, zealously. you twirled, a bright twinkle igniting stars in your eyes as the thought of taehyung’s silver lined ones and you can feel the excitement build in your veins. “a suitor? perhaps not,” the corner of your lips twitch up into a mischievous grin. “but the throne...it is a rather large one, is it not? awfully big for just one person.”

jungkook raises an eyebrow, seemingly unimpressed while his jaw tightens and his tongue pokes into his cheek. “i see, i’ll be sure to have the staff engage in some...extensive cleaning of the throne room. we can’t have her highness leaving messes.” he states, lips falling into a flat line. tilting your head, the glint in your eye dissipates and thick somber feeling fills the room.

“jeonggukie?” you question with a quiet voice, swallowing thickly at his unexpected change in mood.

the advisor shakes his head, tussled locks falling over his eyes. jungkook turns, shrugging with the book still tucked under his arms, prepared to leave the room. “if i may be excused, princess, i have duties to attend to.”

“ah yes, of course...duties.” the whisper falls from between your lips, as you watch him go with an aching chest.

the view at castle ashwyn was one not to be taken for granted. the skies were daubed with gradients of apricot, papaya whip, and cherry blossom pink with dusting of baby power white as cotton candy clouds. the breeze was fresh, tinted with mint and rose, carrying the scents of the many flowers that twirled along the turquoise marble pillars of the castle.

the grass outside was freshly cut all the way up to the village, where creatures of all kind walked amongst each other. pixies, werewolves, elves and all, living together in harmony and if you squinted hard enough, over the towering trees, you could see where they lived. the humans.

taehyung hated it.

the sickly sweetness that constantly surrounded himself and his people, where all that was in the human world was death, despair, greed and power imbalances. he hated the falsities that engulfed his father’s death, how everyone pretended.

that there was no life of suffering outside of his own.

it was beautiful here, life touched every corner to cover the illusion of the war beyond these walls. the prince felt trapped. he wanted to break free of all expectations, experience the world and see the legends he had been told as a child. taehyung was not a fool to the whispers, the taunts and teases from the royal courts. they had always doubted him for his optimistic view on the simple things, on them, for humans had taken his father and so he was destined to resent them for the rest of his life.

“taehyung, my love, what preys on your mind today?”

taehyung’s mother, the dragon queen, was a soft spoken and wise woman. ever since the death of his father, there had been many attempts to overthrow her from many kinds...including the sirens. and yet, they never once succeed as only royalty of dragon’s blood can bestow the crown. dragons had ruled the land of the Avalerian dynasty since the dawn of time, forging the first crown from the molten minerals buried deep beneath the castle’s soils. they were the most powerful of all creatures, dominating the earth as their large majestic forms but the dragons were also prime game for hunting, their scales and horns could go for up to a hundred gold coins. so the dragons learned to adapt, becoming shifters with a half human form, this allowed them to retain their abilities as dragons whilst allowing them to walk free amongst the humans.

the queen was stunning, and perhaps that is where the young prince inherited his charming look. her scales were of a deep cherry, shimmering under the lights like the brightest of diamonds. her black hair had curled tendrils that spiralled down her back and her skin was tanned by the golden suns of apollo. with piercing, aquatic eyes, queen elantris tilts her head to look at her son, she had always known his shifts in mood and thanked her maternal instinct for being able to read her ominous child.

“it’s nothing, your highness,” the young prince muses simply, turning to his mother with soft eyes and an awkward smile. smiling fondly, elantris shook her head and approached her son, wrapping her arms around him in a warm hug. her tail swishes behind her, in her half shifted state, the castle being too small to accommodate for the large size of royally bred dragons. taehyung spares a glance to the older, and shorter woman, squinting carefully to see the diamond-slit irises in her yellowing eyes. it was almost laughable at how well dragons were able to shift between states, taking on a human form is completely desired. that is how they killed the human king. mastering the art of disguise. “perhaps, i am exhausted, i had a rather gruelling night.”

“deep in thought again, my love dear?” elantris chuckles, brushing back the fading ashy locks from her son’s forehead. taehyung sucks in a calmed breath, closing his eyes at his mothers warm touch and allows himself to shift too. he is much more relieved to have is tail free, blackened and swishing behind him. his ears become pointed and irises shift into diamond slits. elantris beams as her child transforms. “you’ve been keeping yourself hidden, i see.”

“i needed to be out, some fresh air to clear the mind, mother...” the prince whines and stretches, shivering as his ash scales form over his skin and hair fades from grey to black.

taehyung pouts under the gaze of his mother, what a sight to see. the most regal prince, pouting under the amused gaze of his parent. “away with your thoughts, as you always have been, my prince...” elantris lilts and lets go of the boy, moving towards her seat on the throne. the seat itself is glorious, spiralling toward the ceiling with peaks in its molten crystal. “what preys on your mind?”

the young dragon, ruffling out his hair and adjusting his clothes. he wears a jewelled black jacket, a gradient of white pearls to obsidian diamonds. he adorns a fitting pair of black pants and boots with heels. taehyung shift his gaze to the diluting pink skies above and breathes heavily. “humans...why is that we despise them?”

taehyung’s mother sucks in a breath, tongue swiping over the ruby of her lips. the prince turns his body to look at the queen properly, tilting is head and poking his own tongue into his cheek as he eases a brow, awaiting his mother’s answer. “dragons are stubborn creatures, most unforgiving...it is not easy for us to forget,” elantris explains noncommittally, keeping her voice study and demeanour controlled.

“what is there to be forgotten? how did this all start?”

“that is what we have yet to learn my son, this conflict has been raging on for centuries now, words and swords alike...twisted,” the dragon queen pauses, looking her son directly in the eye. “twisted into lies and fatalities...”

“and so...we fight?” taehyung prompts, his stomach bubbling with unease at his mother’s cryptic words.

elantris nods, head held high. “and so, we fight.”

“you are forgiven, you know.”

you look up from your flower crown, fluorescent roses and tiger lillies woven together by their grass green stems and frown. taehyung is sitting in the trees, his hair is now the colour of a teal tinged with blue while his eyes simmered a warm amber in the cool night.

meeting taehyung had been nothing but a coincidence, yet you found yourself becoming grateful for your accidental meetings. the clearing you shared with him had followed you to your dreams, being with him under the moonlight now brought you to ease.

“forgive me for what? do tell.” you probe tartly and turn your body in the grass to ask why. the dragon prince drops from the tree and you screw your eyes shut in fear of hearing the sickening crunch that often accompanies broken bones. but instead the prince floats above you, face but mere inches from yours as a taunting smirk touches lightly at his lips. a rosey hue tickles the apples of your cheeks as you look away, cursing the creature from under your breath.

taehyung smiles and settles himself on the ground, sinking to his knees to aid you in making some flower crowns. “for being human,” the dragon shrugs nonchalantly and picks up a completed crown, leaning forward to place it stop your hair. his lips are a breaths width from your skin, and a warmth bubbles in your chest at the prospect of feeling them against yours, eyes closing. when you open them, you gasp at the proximity of they prince, blinking rapidly and blushing. he’s so close that it seems like he was watching you. “mother says dragons must learn to be forgiving. so here i am, forgiving you.”

“what makes you think, that you are not required to seek my forgivenesses well?” you counter as a slight aggression weaves it’s way into your question, tilting your head upwards with stern eyes. taehyung bites his lip, slit tongue poking out to wet them at their swell. “should you not owe it to me? while my people die fighting against your best men, do you not believe that an apology from yourself, would be quite fitting?”

you chose this moment to shuffle away from taehyung, turning to face the trees

in the distance as you pat the heat away from your cheeks. “your people have magic, powers. and mine? nothing but a bare chest, swords and a shield. yet, you do not hear me forcing the forgiveness of my people upon you,” you point out— almost too harshly, twirling a piece of grass between your fingers. “you sit, protected in your realm while only your most powerful touch the bloodied soils. you kill, as do i. i do not seek your forgiveness, but the life of my people instead. the life of young boys,” a pause in your speech allows your mind to flicker back to hoseok, your fingers how clenching the grass within your disgust. “barely fit to fight, that are drafted into the war. women and children who are torn apart. please, forgive me, for not wanting to accept your so called forgiveness.”

“how do you know this? that we only send out best?” taehyung queries nervously, his tone quiet as his feet come into your blurry field of view. he senses in his chest that you’re hurt, scared and in pain. this is what the war did, not to his people but to the humans. it hurt you. everyone.

the laugh that passes your lips, is cold and cynical. your eyes possess a glassiness, glittering with fresh tears as you look to taehyung with anger painted against your face. “you have just told me.”

guilt washes over the dragon as he crouches down before you, placing a finger under your chin to tilt your head up to face him. his thumb brushes the tears that spill from the corner of your eyes as his lips form the words that whisper, “i’m sorry.”

he is sorry for your pain, he is sorry for the burden that you bare on your shoulders. he is sorry that he cannot make it stop, he is sorry.

the following weeks bring you back to the clearing, where taehyung desperately tries to erase his night of ignorance. you would meet nightly, under the sky with glittering constellations and stars that told a thousand and one stories. you were away from the world where lives were torn apart and the cloud of death was ever growing.

you were alone and happy.

taehyung would show you many of his tricks, how he could birth a flame just by the click of his fingers. how he could make smoke rise from his ears and nose and how the colour of his hair changed with his mood. the prince had become your friend, a regular occurrence to your life that you could not deal without.

but tonight, you would be prevented from such luxuries.

the tips of your fingers dabbed lightly at your lips, buffing the ruby red into your flesh. a maid worked by your side, primping and prepping locks of your hair so that they shone under the crystal lights. your makeup was light, yet fierce, shades of mint and green spreading across your eyelids to match the fitting ballroom gown you wore. it was lace that curled into silver lily flowers, from the shoulders and down to your hips, twisting into a wide tule skirt that was painted with frosted blues and mint green fading into white. a necklace of pure diamonds rested just above your breast, a matching crown woven into your tamed hair and a pair of earrings, your mother’s earrings to go with. as you sit still, letting the maids pretty you for the evening to come, you recall a time where you would have loved to be in a dress like this. times where your mother would only faintly dust your cheeks with blush whilst your father readied hoseok in the other room. tamarae was but a twinkle in your mother’s eye back then.

the girl in the mirror stares back at you, the trace of queen aadaya on her skin. closing your eyes, you take a deep breath to calm your aching heart and hum in agreement when the doors to your quarters open. tamarae beamed at you as her own maids helped her inside, she was a gown less bold than your own but equally pretty as fuchsia pinks spiralled soft lavenders. dresses like these were reserved for special occasions, to impress guests from outside castle walls, making a sick shiver crawl down your spine at the thought of elder dukes and lords and men vying for the attention of yourself and the young princess.

of course, the banquet for tonight was your father’s doing, in an attempt to find you a suitor right away. he claimed that you had failed to prove yourself in the last weeks, with no trace of the dragon’s heart in your possession. so with nothing but the grace of the queens before you, you accepted his invitation to host a banquet.

“you look beautiful, sister...you’ve grown so well,” you stand slowly, lifting your skirts to make your way over to the young princess. she bows her head in a small curtesy for you causing you to chuckle fondly. you allow your finger under her chin to tilt her head up, smiling softly at the girl, the spitting image of your mother. “now now, you are my sister, tamarae. formalities are not required for tonight, even if it is a special event,” you tease with a whisper in her ear, causing the younger to giggle slightly. “for you and i both know we shall be sneaking into the royal kitchen after the night is done!”

tamarae tucks a white lock of hair behind her ear, giggling happily as her small hands clasp onto yours. “big sister, we both know hoseokie would have made me take watch if he were here,” she remarks in response and pokes your nose, ignoring the glares of maids who had spent hours perfecting your look.

as a young adult— becoming a queen, the ballroom was often a reminder of simpler days whereby warm summery breezes wafted through the large french windows, carrying soft scents of the fresh lemons and oranges that grew in the royal gardens. hoseok would have been chasing you down, playing the role of big bad dragon whilst you pulled a fumbling two year old tamarae behind you. your parents would always come running in to save the day, mother playing the knight that took hoseok down and your father the one who saved his two princesses.

those were happier times, better times.

before you knew it, you were seated on the throne with the best view of the entire room. the ballroom had towering white pillars sprouting like flowers against a mahogany glossed wooden floor, the walls are splashed with an egg-shell blue with small cherry blossoms contrasting against the colour. accents of gold decorate every nook and cranny of the room and the ceiling paints a picture of fairytale creatures dancing amongst the man. men gallop across the hall with blushing ladies in their arm, those who aren’t dancing are stuffing their faces with the array of sweet treats and savoury delights that are positioned precisely against white sheet banquet tables.

introductions pass without you paying any mind, distracted by thoughts of taehyung whisking you away to your clearing in the forest, playing with the many creatures there. you slip back to reality when a sudden pain spreads across your left rib, making you scowl at the culprit...tamarae. the younger smiles sheepishly and points to the man apparoaching your throne.

his hair is a soft, candy pink, contrasting with the black blouse and dress pants he wore. when he bows to yourself and your sister, you catch a glimpse of his dark, misty brown eyes and find yourself curious to search them more. “he’s handsome,” tamarae teases you, moving to stand up as he steps forward. her gaze flickers up to your stoic face as she giggles. “don’t you think?”

“he looks like he’s full of himself.”

the man eyed you darkly while you held out your hand for him to take. “namjoon, kim namjoon...” his voice sends shivers down your spine, good or bad , you’re not sure. his skin is golden like honey and his tone drips with the same smoothness. “of the Kevimore kingdom.”

namjoon gives you a dimples smile, taking your hand in his and bringing it to his lush lips for a gentle kiss. tamarae giggles by your side as you watch the man through your lashes, humming in content. it was always nice to see a man bend his will for you. “you may address me, as princess YN of the Phantis Empire,” you say, equally as smoothly whilst you tilt your head to the side. namjoon straightens his posture, bowing in respect. “i do hope you enjoy your stay here, tonight.”

with your final word, you turn your gaze to the crowd and watch as they twirl about in tune with the orchestra but smile when you catch the eye of your beloved advisor. you had not danced at a ball like this, since you were a child and back then, hoseok had always been your partner but he wasn’t here now, he was fighting a war that wasn’t his. your sister delivers a sharp elbow to your side, causing you to grunt as you ready to scold her into next year. “ahem,” she whispers, jabbing your side again and nodding her head in gesture to namjoon. “he’s still here.”

“i’m aware,”

“that means he requires your attention.”

“attention that i do not have for a man, tamarae.”

“YN, he’s right there!”

“and he can hear you...” namjoon interjects with a small chuckle, poking his tongue into his cheek while his lips form an amused smirk. he taps his ear while a light flush rises beneath the skin of your cheeks, much to the prince’s delight.

you duck your head, imagining that the prince before you gets off at the thought of making you blush. “is there anything i can help you with, prince namjoon?”

he nods once, pink locks falling into his eyes as his dimples smile appears once more. “a dance, with you? my queen?”

blinking, your lips part in shock. the only person to ever acknowledge you as the soon to be queen was jungkook, and that was often a joke between the two of you. but for a split second, it seemed— that namjoon’s dark, stormy eyes saw past the extravagance and diamonds— and saw you. the queen you were meant to be.

“she would love to,” you sister answers for you, pushing at your shoulder to force you to stand. you rise to your feet, unsteady on them and almost toppling forward. namjoon quickly catches you by the arm, offering you an earth shattering smile with dazzling eyes as he chooses that moment to lead you onto the ballroom floor. following namjoon, you turn around and give your younger sister a faux frown, sticking your tongue out at her. the maids around you gasp at your behaviour, while tamarae giggles and mocks your face.

upon reaching the dance floor, namjoon skilfully pulls you into his arms, pressing his chest to yours to guide your steps into the waltz. “you’re light on your feet, are you sure you’re not a dancer?” he chuckles quietly into your ear, making goosebumps arise across the planes of your skin.

you turn with him, taking the lead from his grasp and smile cheekily. “i’m trained to fight, being light on my feet is part of the battle.” but your grin quickly falls upon seeing jungkook turn away with disappointment, what was going on with him?

“ah, i see.” the prince falls silent at your words, offering you a quiet noise of agreement as the pace of the music rises and you start to speed up your dance.

namjoon is a handsome man, his terracotta lips seem warm and inviting, his eyes although dark make you want to lose yourself in him. the prince is tall, at least a head or so taller than you and his arms that hold you are firm and large. namjoon is attractive but...

but he is not taehyung.

the pink haired prince dips you, face hovering over yours as he takes a moment to tuck a fallen hair behind your ear. your cheeks heat up at his proximity but you swallow down your nerves and stutter out. “n-namjoon...i,”

“you’re beautiful, my queen,” he says simply, running a thumb over your bottom lips before he pulls you back into his chest. “what i wouldn’t give to have you ruling by my side.”

“e-excuse me?”

“you’d make an excellent wife, YN.”

gobsmacked, you try to rip yourself away from namjoon but his grip on your waist is too tight and suddenly he no longer looks charming and gentle, a sinister stare taking over his features. “let me go, namjoon. by order of the princess i demand that you let me go!” you scoff at him through gritted teeth still struggling in his grip. “if you believe that flattery will get you my hand in marriage then you are severely mistaken, my prince. i am a queen born to rule without a man, and i shall do so, just fine.”

namjoon tilts his head in a sympathetic fashion, pressing you closer to him. “oh but princess, we are already on the path to being wed,” he hums, his lips ghosting over yours as you squirm away from his touch. “by order of your father, i am set to marry you three weeks from now, since you failed to bring the head of the dragon prince.”

“no that’s not, it can’t be...he wouldn’t...he wouldn’t do that,” you mumble, feeling panic rise in your chest and lodge itself in your throat. your perfect world suddenly shatters, your view for the future torn to shreds. your father had sold your soul away to namjoon, who you now saw as a man who yearned for power. “he can’t.”

“then your father is not the man you believed him to be.” namjoon concludes. “now put on a pretty face and smile for our loyal subjects, my queen.”

you gasp with tears beginning to flood your field of view, your eyes searching in the crowd for someone, anyone to tell you it’s not true. who’s face falls at your wounded expression, he knows, you think. jungkook knew and he didn’t think to tell you. your heart shatters into a million pieces and all you can think is out out out. you need to get out.

but for now you turn to namjoon and give him a dazzling smile through your tears, as jungkook watches you with a guilty gaze.

running.

they say that running is able to clear your mind. but instead all of your thoughts and fears ran wildly beside you as you bolted through the forest. you could feel them, all of your worst nightmares crawling up your spine and scratching at your skin as you tumbled through the forest.

by the time you reach the clearing, you’re clawing at your throat and desperately gasping for air through your choked sobs. you can’t marry namjoon, you won’t marry namjoon. your body trembles with the sobs that wrack your tiny frame, the dress that you wear is suddenly too tight and all you can do is wail for an escape.

“YN! you have returned, i have to admit i missed you dearly-“ taehyung starts to ramble, just having come from a flight amongst the canopies. the dragon cuts himself off when he notices you collapsing onto your knees and tearing at the dress. “princess YN? YN, are you alright?” he drops to his knees beside you, tilting your head up to look him in the eyes. the prince hates the way your chest is heaving, how a wild panic has spread through your darling eyes. “breathe for me princess, it’s alright, i’ve got you.”

your eyes stay with his as taehyung coaches you through, his ice like irises calming you down as they watch you with concern. the dragon prince brushes a hand through your hair to soothe you as you hiccup and sniff, attempting to ease your panic. “off, i want it off, all of it...” you grumble moving to tear at your gown. taehyung follows your movements, using a shifted dragon claw to shred off the remains of your skirt and help you out of the tight fitting corset until all that remains is your sheer and tule petticoat.

“better?” your companion asks, pulling you into his silk shirt. taehyung is warm, much morse so compared to the cool evening, you remember him explaining that dragons have a heart of coal. meaning that the blood that flows through them is heated and molten.

you nod shakily and move to hold his hand as a wave of comfort washes over you. “much, thank you taehyung.”

“are you going to tell me what happened?” the prince presses gently, not wanting you to hold it in. if there was anything taehyung had learned about you in the last few weeks, is that you never had an outlet. you were closed off from the world, locked away and never let anyone see the vulnerable sides of you and yet...you somehow found it in you to trust him.

nodding slowly, you turn and bury your face into his firm chest, fisting at the silk of his new azure blouse. “my father...” you sigh, letting your breath even out as you stumble to find the words. “he betrayed my trust...he turned the court against me and made them promise me to another man...” you feel taehyung’s breath hitch as his chest moves. quickly, you move to look up at taehyung and all you can think to do is kiss him but you can’t, not when you’re now promised to another. “i don’t love him, i could never be in love with someone so horrible.”

the now raven haired, dragon prince says nothing, instead choosing to squeeze you closer into his broad frame. he doesn’t look at you, mind racing a million miles an hour. you were to be married. and it wouldn’t be to him. so it is with a waking start that taehyung realises he is deeply, sorely in love with you. his chest rumbled at the thought of another man’s hands on you, kissing you and touching you, touching what was his. without meaning to, you place your hands on taehyung’s chest and grab at his attention. his usual ocean eyes flash with yellow and his primal senses are suddenly full of you. all he can see is your face under the light of the moon and stars, all he can feel is your touch on him and all he can smell is the sweet scent of lilies, of you.

“tae...taehyung?” you whisper, sniffling as you lean up and tilt his head to look at you. “i will be alright, i refuse to let this stop me from seeing you.”

he ignores your words, pulling you to stand with him. “lets go for a fly.” the prince says with bright eyes, staring at you.

“a fly? taehyung have you lost your mind-?”

“it’ll be fun, i promise you. it’ll clear your head.”

you slowly tear yourself from taehyung’s grip, holding your hand to your chest with a nervousness swirling in your stomach. flying. taehyung had told you that he was able to fully transform into a dragon, with all the same abilities as well. he called it shifting, and that meant he was able to breathe fire, roar like a mighty beast and fly. “i’m scared...” you admit, sheepishly. “what if...what if i fall?”

“do you trust me?” taehyung asks sternly, stepping towards you and holding his hand out for you to take.

“i...what?”

“i said, do you trust me?”

you hesitate before closing your eyes tightly and nodding, taking taehyung’s hand. “i trust you.”

your eyes remain screwed shut as the crunch of bones fills the unoccupied silence of the woods. you flinch at the sound and the slip of taehyung’s hand from yours, whilst his heaves and groans become growls and roars. away from the warmth of taehyung’s body, you realise how cold the forest is in just your petticoat but you’re shivers are quickly ceased when a puff of hot hair surrounds you and a large head nudges your body. opening your eyes slowly, you gasp at the large beast before you, the taehyung that you know has been replaced with an oblivion black dragon, hints of silver and blue illuminating his scales under the shimmering night sky. the dragon presses it’s head to your hand, making you reach out hesitantly as you stare deep into its amber irises.

‘do you trust me?’

you remember taehyung’s words as the majestic beast bows to you, you chuckle and watch as the dragon moves back, stretching out to spread its wings. you imagine that the wings themselves must be as wide as the west wing of your castle back home. when the dragon returns to his original position, you’re met with a puff of warm air, strong enough to blow locks of your hair away from your face. “impatient creature, aren’t you?” you giggle to yourself and clamber up onto taehyung’s head, making him shake it in response.

with a deep breath, you hold on tightly to the spines feathering taehyung’s neck and close your eyes once more, listening to the sounds of his wings flap as he lifts you both off of the ground. the next time you open your eyes, you’re up in the air, soaring above the clouds. the pair of you are so high that the colour of the sky fades from a soft pink to the deep blue below, the beginnings of the sun shining in the distance.

then taehyung makes a nose dive.

the air rushes through your hair as you squeal, heading face first for the land beneath you. taehyung spirals his body as you throw your hands into the air, squealing loudly with happiness, you can feel every fear and doubt that clogged your mind and body rush away with the wind in your face. the dragon prince evens out his body, spreading his wings as you drift across the night sky, watching the world go by with you above it. you lean forward and rest the palms of your hands on taehyung’s, stroking it lightly as you fly past the stars.

when the clearing reappears in your field of view, taehyung tilts his body and begins the descent through the clouds. he flies low, letting you reach your hand out to touch the glistening water below. “w-woah, tae...taehyung!” you cry in amusement, feeling him shift beneath you, his bones realign as he grows tired and reverts back to his human form. his wings somehow manage to remain as the prince’s familiar face returns and he beams up at you. his wings encircle you as you make a crash landing into the clearing. the pair of you roll and tumble out onto the illuminated grass below you, taehyung’s wings protecting you and softening your fall. you manage to uncurl in his grip, landing beneath him as his palms flatten out by your head to stop himself from crushing you.

“hi...” you pant, looking up at the dragon prince with glittering eyes. your hand reaches up to touch at taehyung’s soft face, his eyes still golden glowing irises and his curled hair now a faded black. he’s beautiful, he always has been but in this moment, you feel like you have finally see him. you can finally see that you love him.

taehyung looks down at you through hooded eyes, moving to run a thumb over your pinkish bottom lip, his breath uneven from the flight. “hello, my queen.” he says simply, face nearing yours. you feel your lashes against your cheeks as your eyes flutter shut, taehyung nosing your cheeks until his soft lips reach your own. hands in your hair, the prince tilts his head and kisses you. his lips mould perfectly against yours and you can feel your heartbeat wildly in your chest as your arms wrap around his neck and fingers curl in his wavy locks. taehyung kisses you like you’re his, and only his and all you want is to feel is him.

taehyung’s hands use a tentative touch as they slide down to your sides, slipping under your petticoat to smooth over your bare skin. you gasp as his lips venture out into the junction at your neck, curling your fingers in his hair as his hands push further and further up your clothes. he roams your skin like foreign terrain— fingers dipping at peaks and the curve of your body. “taehyung...” you whimper breathlessly, pushing your head back into the lush grass below.

the dragon freezes at the sound passing from your lips, moving to pull away. “are you hurt? did i hurt you?” taehyung asks worriedly, honey eyes boring into your soul. you sit up, confused as you shake your head no, wondering if your eagerness to kiss him has driven him away. “i’ve never...i haven’t done this before...” the ravenette adds, gesturing between you both. never done...what?

oh...

“been with a women before?” you ask gently, sitting up and leaning your chin on taehyung’s shoulder. you tilt your gaze towards him, smiling softly and move to cup his cheek. “i have never...been with a man either...you would be my first.” you whisper shyly, you had little time for courting as a princess, your royal duties taking up much of your time. but here you were, curled up with taehyung on possibly the most beautiful place on earth, feeling more ready than you had ever been.

“let me have you, if you will?” the prince asks lowly, warm breath fanning over your lips.

“you have me, all of me...”

that was all it took for taehyung to crash his lips against yours once more, this time his tongue tracing over the seam of your own as he pleads for entrance to your mouth. you happily oblige, welcoming his warm tongue with your own in a battle for dominance, dancing together while his large hands pulled at your under clothes. you arched your back, letting him tug the tule garment off of you and spreading your thighs as he nudged them apart.

“you’re so beautiful,” taehyung murmurs, pulling back from the kiss to admire you. his amber irises darkened to a dark gold as he drunk in your naked body, leaning down to ghost his lips over your neck. “i want to mark you...” he added, biting down on your supple flesh and sucking hard enough to leave a bruise. “fuck you, breed you. would you like that princess?” he growls.

you arch your back as his hands come to cup your breast, squeezing them between slender fingers whilst he works a trail of purples down to your chest. “god, please...taehyung!”

chuckling deeply, using his dragon abilities, the prince blows a gust of hot air over your left nipple once his mouth reaches its destination. his snake like tongue pokes out to lick a stripe over the perky bud before he takes your breast into his mouth harshly, biting down and letting his primal instincts take over. even if he was a virgin, being a dragon, taehyung was genetically programmed to please during breeding seasons. he knew what he was doing, especially when you moaned aloud.

a hand slips down your sides and into your panties, circling over your clit to spread your wetness as it glistened under the moonlight. “you’re soaking, my princess,” taehyung hums, still squeezing your breast as he sucked your nectar off of his fingers. “may i taste you?”

“yes, please...” you gasp.

taehyung raises an unimpressed brow, pinching your nipple causing you to whine. “please what?”

eyes rolling, you moan out the only title you can think of, hoping it will urge the dragon on. “please...my king.”

the prince with obsidian hair curses under his breath, making quick work of tearing off your panties and shuffling onto his belly on the grass so that he nears your entrance. taehyung spreads your lower lips widely, chuckling at the juices that flow from your flower. “so pretty, petal.” he says, watching you writhe under the night air before locking eyes with you through his curled locks. the air that hits your pulsing heat, is cool but taehyung’s breath is hothothot. his lush lips suckle on your clit before his burning tongue swipes over the length of your pussy, heated from his dragon’s core. taehyung sweeps at any of your sweet nectar that gushes from your hole, humming in content before pushing his tongue past your entrance making you cry from pleasure and curl your fingers in his hair.

“look at you, absolutely dripping just for your king,” taehyung growls against your burning cunt, the vibrations sending your eyes rolling back in your head. desire burns brightly in the pits of your stomach, as you start to rut your hips into his face, the prince having neglected your wetness in favour of whispering foul words into your thighs. taehyung flicks at your swollen clit, making your legs wobble and threaten to close around his head. not that you would mind the view. “such beautiful sight, baby.”

he dove his tongue into your tight hole, as arousal fogged your senses and his instincts to your body heightened. the world between your sweet thighs was slick, tasting of the most luxurious of treats to taehyung and he could tell he was becoming addicted to you. a finger slipped past your entrance, along with his tongue, thrusting inside of you and catching on the walls of your pussy. you wriggled against the grass, spread out in the open nature whilst taehyung claimed you with his tongue. “m close, m close!” you squealed when taehyung added another finger, fearing that your high was coming to soon. the prince was giving you pleasure that you had never felt before, that couldn’t be achieved with your own hand or imagination. you weren’t sure that you wanted it to end.

nimble fingers gripped at taehyung’s mop of sooty hair as he lapped faster and faster at your sensitive bud, the knot in your stomach becoming tighter and tighter until suddenly...it snapped. “cum for me, princess, reward your king.”

white flashes behind your eyes as your release crashes over you, signs of your arousal painting taehyung’s chin and face. he licks over his bottom lip, chest rumbling at the taste of you before he moves between your thighs to and up to your face. he kisses you sweetly, once...twice... allowing you to taste yourself on his tongue before deepening the kiss. the pair of you become a pile of limbs, entangled in the grass as teeth and tongue clash together. your hands wind down the path way of the prince’s body, stopping above his belt loop hesitantly.

taehyung forces himself to pull away from your onslaught of kisses, pressing his forehead to yours— eyes closing with a pant falling from his lips. “you don’t have to...” he mumbles, lips ghosting over yours while he noses your cheek.

taehyung’s hair brushes softly over your forehand, his eyes tightly shut away from the world as if, when he sees you again, he won’t be able to control himself. you stare up at him, taking in his every mole and freckle that dots his face. you trust him. “i want to, please— let me, my liege.” you insisted, a neediness sparking in your eyes.

“fuck...the things you do to me, princess,” hisses hotly, his cock twitching in his briefs as you rolled him over. the dragon prince quickly stood, helping position you comfortably on your knees before letting his hands fly to the buckle of his breeches. watching him closely, you felt your mouth water in anticipation— you’d never in your life seen a man in full glory before, let alone a mythical creature such as taehyung. you suspected him to be girthy, but your expectations were exceed as he proceeded to roll down his breeches and undergarments in one.

taehyung’s cock was not only thick and girthy, but lengthy as well, so big that for a brief second, you were unsure that your own two hands would fit around it, let alone your mouth. your jaw dropped in awe as your eyes observe him. “well...uh, there’s something about us dragon’s that.... that perhaps i failed to mention-“ taehyung but his lip with nervousness, his confident and dominant aura suddenly wavering.

“you have two heads-“ you blurt out, gaze trained on the second head of his forked member. “there’s two!”

the prince blushes, running a hand through his curled hair and swallowing thickly. “for mating purposes, it increases the success of a female carrying...” taehyung pauses is breathe explanation, frowning deeply as you touch curiously at his cock. “—carrying offspring, princess.”

the pet name comes out as some what of a warning, making you smile sheepishly at the man above you. “it’s got spines, taehyung...you cant expect me not to touch you!” you defend yourself, watching him closely. “it’s hot too.”

“for pleasure purposes, dragons are also naturally hot.”

“do you think it will fit? i’ve not been with a man before i-“

seemingly sensing the nerves that stir in your stomach, taehyung leans down to grip your chin and tilts your head upwards to catch your eye. “i’ve got you, petal,” he whispers and presses a light chaste kiss to your lips. “do you trust me?”

“yes, more than anything.” you breathe, settling back onto your knees as taehyung guides your mouth towards his pulsing cock. your eyes trail up his body as he tugs off his shirt from above you, his skin is glazed with a layer of sweat and desire pours through your system like the molten lava that intertwines with his dragon blood. you imagine that he tastes sweet, like the finest wines of the Ubeozia dynasties.

leaning forward you shakily take taehyung’s tips past your lips, sucking on it hesitantly while he starts to groan. the dragon sucks in a breath from the night air as you take him further into your mouth, looking up at him with sparkling doe eyes. “you’re doing so well, my darling princess, so good for me.” he sighs.

his cock his hot against your tongue, forming tingling sensation at your lips while you work on bobbing your head. curses fall out from underneath taehyung’s breathy moans whilst his eyes flash golden like Apollo’s sun. his large hands thread between your loosened locks as they tickle at your exposed shoulders, encouraging you to give him more.

your hands sit small on the base of his girth, fisting at what you cannot fit making a wetness pool between the apex of your thighs as you think about being stuffed full of him. taehyung lets out a small moan, closing his eyes and throwing his head back to face the stars as he shallowly thrusts his length into your welcoming mouth. your tongue works circles around his cock making taehyung’s fingers curl in your hair, massaging your scalp as he gently pushes your hot mouth further down on his pulsing, red hot cock.

he hisses and grunts when you’re tongue glides over his slit, abdomen clenching as he feels himself fall into his high. you gasp as the dragon paints your tongue with a smokey release, his cum is a foreign feel against your tongue but brings you satisfaction as he quivers through the after shocks of his orgasm. softly, you let go of his member, sliding your tongue over your bottom lip to capture the rest of his cum— keeping your eyes trained on him.

“how does it taste?” taehyung asks darkly, sinking into his knees to cup your face.

you hum for a moment, parting your lips gently as his thumb brushes over them. “salty, no...ashy.” you conclude, breathing lightly. taehyung quirks a brow, leaning forward to press a searing kiss to your lips, his tongue swipes over your bottom one as he gradually pushes you back into the lush grass, positioning himself between your legs.

“that’s because our release is fuelled by the fires that burn in our hearts,” the prince explains, pulling away from your lips to whisper in your ear. now that you’ve tasted me, it’s time i mark your beautiful little cunt.”

you gasp as the tips of his thick cock brush as your entrance, instinctively locking your thighs around his hips. your chest rises and falls with the anticipation of having taehyung, the man you love, claim you. you’re in love, you love taehyung with all your heart and now he was to make you his. sighs of adoration fill the air between you as taehyung slowly pushes into your virgin hole, of course, having more than one tip would make it hurt, but only just— making your nails dig into the skin at taehyung’s shoulder.

he stops is movements, the prince knows that it will be difficult for your tiny human body to handle his stamina and size, after all, you had already cum once and were nearing exhaustion. “i’m sorry, my petal...my queen, i know it hurts,” he cooes, nosing at your neck to ease the pain. one hand curls in taehyung’s thick locks as he fully enters you with one tip of his cock, the second slowly slipping past the lips of your cunt. the dragon prince drops a hand to your clit, slowly rubbing in circles until the pleasure overrides the sting where you bleed. “you’re doing so well for me, taking all of my cock like the good queen you are.”

taehyung waits for you to adjust as he continues to lazily flick at your bud, while you slowly start to open up for him like the roses at his mother’s place. “please...move taehyungie...move!” you mewl, throwing your head back into the soft grass as pleasure begins to overwhelm your senses.

the prince smiles down at you, taking in the the twisted look of delight against your delicate features and the curve of your breast as you arch your back. taehyung bottoms out inside of you, gently thrusting his length within your tight, dripping walls and closes his eyes at the sound of your sweet moans. you feel like you were made just for him, for him only and when he opens his eyes, he can’t help but lean down and claim your mouth, slipping his tongue past the barriers of your lips when you part them.

“look at you, princess, so tight for me— your king,” he praises tenderly against your hips, dropping his face to your neck as you tighten around him involuntarily. “you’re mine, made for me and my cock. you got that princess?”

“yours, yours my king.” you pant, fingertips dancing across the expanse of your lover’s freckled back.

taehyung deepens his thrusts, the spines on his cock catching against your slick walls as he reaches deeper inside of you. he sucks a little of bruises into your neck, purples, pinks and burgundies painting a picture of his love for you while he works their. your hips lift to match his thrusts, sucking him in as you both move together under the moonlight. the sounds of love filled moans and groans fills the cool air of the forest, long forgotten as taehyung pounds into you, letting you feel every inch of his cock. his grunts send shivers down your spine, making you arch your back into him. taehyung pushes your hips down, pushing his member into your sweet spot causing more of your juicies to gush down your wobbling thighs.

you bite your lip in an attempt to silence your cries, an unexplainable wave of pleasure coursing through your veins as taehyung yanks your hips down to his. “s’good…please don’ stop,” you slur pathetically into the night, a sheen of sweat dousing your skin, the sound of your desperation making the head’s taehyung’s length twitch inside of you. he wasn’t sure how long he would last, with the way your virgin cunt clamped down on him like a vice. the tightness was almost unbearable, each thrust bringing him closer and closer to the edge. “need you, need you m-my king!”

taehyung’s mop of hair drops to your collar bones as he bites on them to silence his growls of possession. “fuck me, princess, fuck,” he slurs, his cock swelling as if he’s about to burst. the first head of his member stimulating that special spot, while the other fills your needy hole. “wonder what your courts would say if they saw you like this, princess,” taehyung pants into your neck, one hand sliding between your bodies to stimulate your clit while the other grips your breast, as he leans against you, pressing his hips into yours. “saw their queen spread out for the dragon king so desperate and needy for his dragon cock...fuck baby, what would they say?”

“t-they’d be ... ashamed!” you squeal, arching your back and lifting your hips to meet taehyung’s thrusts.

he smirks, fucking into you harder, until you’re full to the brim and you can feel him deep in your womb. “but i wouldn’t be, m’ so proud of my princess for taking me like this...” taehyung pants, looking deep into your eyes, sweaty hair falling over his own amber irises. “cum with me, my love.”

you grab and pull at taehyung, touching at skin hair and lips as your release starts to creep up on you. the pace of taehyung’s hips never slow but start to become sloppy as your senses become overwhelmed with him. the tips of his cock brush at your spot once more, making you scream with pleasure as the damn finally bursts and you cream on his member, painting him with your release as the first spirts of his cum fill your hole. “taehyung, tae..please,” you cry, soft tears springing in your eyes as he locks his gaze on yours, hips slowing to a grind as he pumps his thick, hot seed inside of you. there’s so much, never ending as his release gathers within your cunt, searingly hot as lewd sounds of your wetness’ mixing fills the air. “i love you...”

your words are barely above a whisper, tears of warmth and happiness spilling from your eyes as taehyung cups your cheeks and swoops down to kiss you lovingly. “i love you so much, more than anything.” he responds, never ending his onslaught of kisses.

taehyung doesn’t soften inside you, making another wave of neediness wash over your body. he loved you, he loved you just as you did with him. the kisses become sweeter and sweeter, like the finest honey against your tongue and you smile against taehyung’s lips as he lifts you into his arms. “you love me.” it’s more of a statement than a question, but taehyung answers regardless, brushing strands of hair away from your face.

“i will always love you, beyond my dying breath.”

the dragon scoops you up, carrying you to a nearby tree and leaning back against it, refusing to put you down despite your giggles and protests. you notice, from over his shoulder that moon lillies grow in place of the spot you made love in. “what’s that?” you ask quietly, as taehyung sits, turning you around gently in his lap and barely lifting you from his cock.

he watches darkly as only small traces of his charcoal black cum seep from your cunt before he follows your gaze to the flowers. “those, moon lillies appear when a dragon has found his or her mate, in place of where they have mates for the first time.” he mumbles shyly, hiding his face in your neck and kissing the back of your shoulder.

“let’s... let’s make more,” you whisper and admire the flowers that act as a symbol of your love. although your thighs still shake from your last two releases, you pull your hips forward and drag them back against taehyung’s lap, twitching around his length from the overstimulation. your turn your head to face the dragon prince from over your shoulder, watching as his chest heaves with pleasure. “make love to me, dragon king. make love to your queen.”

taehyung’s hips twitch at your words, the ghost of his fingertips settling on your hips before gripping them harshly, helping to move you back and forth against his cock. “as you wish my queen,” he mumbles, starting to move his own hips in time with yours. “you’re going to be the death of me, love.”

taehyung bites down harshly on your shoulder as you begin to mewl, lifting yourself off of your cock and slamming your hips back down. the spines on taehyung’s cock stimulate your spasming, cum soaked walls, catching on each ridge and causing you to shiver. the forest is once more filled with the sound of skin slapping on skin, and a mixture of lost words and moans and ‘i love you’s. you are lost with taehyung, in a world of your own as he claims your cunt over and over again with each thrust.

you circle your hips, clenching around the thick cock that stretches you open and gasp when one of taehyung’s heads slip out from your tight core. biting your lip, you take a finger and coat it in the remainder of your last orgasms and smear it against taehyung’s tip, thumbing it hardly. the prince groans, hips stuttering as he lets out a loud moan, thrusting into you at a faster pace and circling himself inside of you. “princess, please...fuck me.”

“forever, my sweet.” you whisper, slapping the head against your cock before pushing it back into your entrance. you rock yourself back and forth, tears of pleasure stinging the corners of your eyes as your sensitive pussy pulses with want. you know, you will not last as long as the previous rounds, indicated by your throbbing clit and collapse forward against taehyung’s legs. the dragon takes this as an opportunity to slap his palm against your bare ass, watching the flesh jiggle at the contact.

you squeal at the spank, sinking your fingers into the grass as taehyung repeats his ministrations on each of your cheeks. his cock swells with every desperate moan that passes from your lips, stretching your tight cunt open to accommodate for his cum. he wants to breed you, fuck you full of all of his dragon seed and watch your stomach swell at the heavy load. he wants you to have his children. with new found motivation and his orgasm closing in on him, taehyung grabs your hips and forces them down against his cock, slamming into you every time you come down against him. your abused hole drips with newfound wetness and remainders of taehyung’s hot seed as he pushes it further inside of you.

the pace is wild, and heat flares up between you both as your bodies move together completely uncontrolled. “m gonna cum again...” you gasp as you feel taehyung pound repeatedly into your g-spot. “please, please fill me up.”

“gonna cum with you princess, gonna breed you with my dragon pups,” taehyung practically whimpers, mumbling an i love you into the air. “gonna fill you up and fuck my cum deep inside you.” he rambles now as his thrusts become erratic. having his length nuzzled inside of you is what pushes taehyung over the edge, beating the feeling of endless hours of pleasuring himself during breeding seasons. he had never held or touched a woman in the way that he did with you. you were his first, and that was what made his heads fill you once more with a heavy load of his seed, shooting further into your cunt as you cream against him once more, pushing your hips down while his cum smears against your clit. “

“taehyungie!”

you collapse against the grass, panting shakily as taehyung pulls you into his arms again, turning to lay on his side as he pulls you into his chest. he doesn’t remove himself from your body, keeping himself inside you as more of the glowing blue flowers begin to bloom around you. taehyung’s hand settles on your belly as his arms wrap around your waist, rubbing it in circles while he kisses your hair. everything is perfect, just as it is meant to be. you’re in love with the man you had dared yourself to kill, but could now only find it in you to lay with him under the stars.

“i love you taehyung,” you say for the millionth time that night, drawing patterns into the hand that rests on your stomach. “i won’t ever love anyone else. i am yours and you are mine.”

“we are one, YN.” taehyung adds, sweetly, holding you closer as you feel yourself start to drift into a sweet slumber. “and i will love you forever.”

forever.

you smile at the word, placing his hand over his as you finally fall into sleep. you stay with taehyung, in forest for a night or two, loving each other under the moon.

“and you will see to it that the dragon is captured and killed, immediately?”

jungkook hesitates, a pause in the air at the prince’s request. when namjoon and the king had asked the young advisor to follow his queen out into the woods, he had never expected to see what he did. the nights where you would disappear for hours on end, coming home with scorch marks and ruffled hair all seemed to make sense now. you were with the dragon prince, the one who’s heart you had promised to capture. except, only you could not do it, you had been soft in the heart. a trait that lay with your deceased mother.

jungkook had seen you take round after round of the dragon’s cock, wishing that he could be in place of the beastly creature. he hated how that thing claimed you like he had been trying to for years, he despised how he fisted himself to orgasm behind the trees as he watched you cum for the dragon, moan for the dragon, love for the dragon. jungkook hated himself for betraying you due to his own jealousy, he wanted to see the dragon pay for what it had done to his queen, his love. and although, the advisor was unsure of what namjoon planned to do with the information, jungkook knew the least he could do was set you back on the right path.

he had already owed you this debt, in where he failed to warn you about namjoon. perhaps, he would make it up to you by freeing you from the dragon’s grip.

“jungkook...”

“yes my liege, we will send our best troops to their location and have him captured within the next week or so...” the boy explains, rubbing a thumb over his knuckles nervously. why does guilt rein free in his mind? he was doing what was best for you.

prince namjoon nods proudly, nodding his head and standing from his seat to leave the dining room. the prince had moved into the palace due to your absence over the last three days, presumably to take over rule as your father was too sick to do so. namjoon was brought in to have you wed before your father’s passing but the courts knew you were more than capable of doing so on your own.

they just hated to see a women in power.

“you are dismissed, jungkook.”

the young advisor nods his head gratefully, running a hand through his wavy locks and massaging his scalp to calm his guilt ridden mind. “what the fuck, jeon?” he mumbles to himself, starting walk back his quarters. he needed to be a lone, he needed time to convince himself that what he had done was right. jungkook could pretend that everything would be fine and maybe it would be.

he paces down the twisting and winding halls of the castle, chest squeezing as he begins to feel trapped within the walls and lies. jungkook doesn’t even hear the call of his name.

“jeongguk!” tamarae gasps, catching up to the young advisor. the boy freezes, the princess much resembled the queen before YN, her features her sloping and graceful and you could see shift in her eye colour of the light hit them just right. everyone had been in awe of tamarae since she was born, but she was no YN. he looks down at the girl, just a year younger than jungkook himself, and parts his lips to speak. they were aquatinted well, but never spoke more than a passing hello when YN was around.

but he never gets a chance to speak.

the princess’ hand falls sharply against his cheek, the connection is enough to send his head to the side. it is now, for the first time, that jungkook really looks at the young princess. her snow white hair is dishevelled and slightly out of place, dark eye bags beneath her usually glowing eyes and her skin has paled significantly. “how dare you?” tamarae seethes, stepping closer to jungkook and pointing a finger in his face. he flops guiltily, his actions coming to haunt him. “how dare you, give my sister’s location to that treacherous prince?”

“i’m doing what is in the best interest of our queen.”

tamarae opens her mouth in shock, casting a glance up and down jungkook’s frame before taking a breath to calm herself. “what would you know about her best interests?” she begins, now poking a thumb into the firm of the advisor’s chest. “she is happy there, out in the woods in her clearing. he makes her happy.” a breath, “— but you’re so foolishly and selfishly in love with her, you would do anything to make her love you back. well, jeon jungkook...now she will never.”

“tamarae, i—“

“and you slept with me, i let you wrestle me to bed in your quarters and make a woman of me,” the princess starts to feel tears form in her eyes, breath becoming shaky and anger rising within her chest. “just so...so you could find where she is. i didn’t tell you, for you to hurt her. i told you because you’re her best friend...”

jungkook is left, trembling with guilt as the princess turns away and heads back in the direction she came.

he was desperately in love with you, but was too blind to see the love he was given too.

the feeling beneath taehyung’s skin is nothing like he has ever felt before. it’s a bristling pain that jabs at his flesh, pinches at his every fibre and burning away at his heart.

it hurts, it pains him and he doesn’t know why.

the servants strip him of his shirt, sweat licking his honey dipped abs as they douse him with cold spurts of water but nothing helps and the pain doesn’t cease. one places a stick between his teeth for him to clamp down on as they rub at his skin, trying to massage the pain away. instead the supposed, soothing feeling is replaced by a thousand small stabs to his flesh, almost to the point where tears pool in his ocean eyes.

the double doors to his bedroom open suddenly, Queen elantris making an entrance as maids and servants alike withdraw from the heaving prince. his stares over at his mother as she dismisses all other personnel in the room, dropping his head back into his tangled sheets while he pants, eyes falling shut.

“mother...”

“shh, my boy, you are in a lot of pain,” elantris hums quietly, brushing her son’s curled charcoal locks from his paling face. the prince whines like a young dragon pup, the hurt becoming too much to bare. elantris looks down at her child, seizing the moment to rub a cooling herb mix against his chest, despite the growls and roars that emit from taehyung’s lips. she coos at him gently, once she’s done, whispering sweet words into his hair as he shivers in a cold sweat. the dragon queen had seen this once before, never as severe. her child was sick with a deep poison, known as love.

“what’s happening to me?”

the tone of fear rings in taehyung’s voice as he roars, scales reappearing across his skin and eyes darkening into their golden state. his mother leans down and noses taehyung’s cheek, trying to ease him through the pain and coaches him through it despite the groans he lets out.

“you’ve imprinted, my love,” elantris whispers, linking their hands. “you’re in love, taehyung, with that human girl.”

the boy gasps through his pain, feeling like a pup being caught stealing from the kitchen like when he was young. taehyung had known that he had always felt strongly towards you, felt strongly for the way your eyes sparkled under the moon and the way your smile shone brightly whenever the dragon had a new trick to show you. taehyung had known, all along, that he was in love with you. “how, how did you know?”

“i could smell her on you, taehyung,” elantris chuckles and releases her child’s hand, helping him to sit. “i may be old but i am not a fool. you have learned to forgive, unlike those of our ancestors. you must go to her, the girl and the closer you are to her, the less pain you will be in.” she hums. “you just go to her.”

the prince stretches his limbs, a cool slick sliding over his skin. “i will, i love her.”

the clearing.

when you thought of the clearing, you thought of happiness and love. your love, with taehyung that bloomed solely under the night of the stars but another that grew strongly inside of you. the news you had for taehyung sent a series of fire works bursting in your chest, coursing through your veins— this could be it, could be what could end all the suffering and consequences, letting yourself and your prince be together.

the familiar sent of sweet moon lily fills your nostrils, easing your nerves as you approach the clearing, your love. the sky is clear above your head, milky pink like the roses your mother used to weave into your hair. you like to believe, that she would be excited for you, looking down at you from the constellations above with joy. this was not always your plan, but you would not let this get in your way of becoming queen.

you take care with your steps, unlike times before this, wearing your traditional warrior fit makes the journey easier. you want to be careful and prevent any harm to what is to come — but suddenly, the air around you feels different, thick with smoke and heavy with an eerie vibe. something is off, something is wrong.

peeking through the leaves you spot several men, heavily armed with swords and arrows, in a uniform you do not recognise. upon closer inspection— you notice the emblem on the crest of a soldier from your kingdom . these are your people, men from your army.

in your clearing.

rushing forward, you burst from the trees and slap a hand over your mouth at the site. the dragon prince, fully shifted into his beautiful dragon transformation is hooked to the ground with thick metal chains that rub at his skin. taehyung roars, in pain, in fear, you cannot tell and panic begins to rise in your chest, clawing at your throat and tearing at your insides.

they had found him.

the beast sniffs the air once, twice, the bones in his back cracking as he fights to stand—pulling the men that held him back, off of the ground. yellowed eyes tilt towards you, barely hidden in your precious spot as the prince tries to rip free and expose you. he could sense your presence, your emotions and desperately needed to be with you, he needed you to know about the imprint.

but before taehyung can reach you, a guard calls and has you on your knees in a second, many others spearing your lover to get him under control. tears sting in your eyes as the first drops of his blood hit the pure grass beneath your knees, where you had made love for the first time, where you were supposed to be safe.

“taehyung!” you scream, attempting to rip yourself away from the men, your men... that hold you down. it’s almost as if you can feel every pierce of taehyung’s flesh as he roars out for you. yanking your arm free, you attempt to stand, but your pathway is blocked by a pair of black boots and a talk slender figure. your wobbling lip turns to a sneer, gaze darkening as you look to him. “you...”

namjoon smirks, kneeling down to your height as your own men hold you down. “hello, my queen,” he hums, eyeing your sweat streaked face and angry expression. the man lifts your chin with his forefinger, tilting your head to look up at you. taehyung’s chest rumbles possessively as the latter male’s hands slip to clip your jaw tightly. “you seem to be right on time, love. you’re about to witness the true harvesting of a dragon heart.”

a flare of outrage ignites in your chest as you lunge forward, biting at namjoon’s finger so hard that you draw blood, while vexed tears cloud your vision. the pink haired prince pulls back, holding his hand tightly in pain. “unhand me.” you breathe heavily, staring up at the men beside you, holding you down and betraying you. “unhand me by order of your princess.” you muster up a stern expression, although your lip wobbles and your eyes water as the pain of your lover courses through your veins. you had not known it was possible to feel so connected, so in tune with someone before. but you understood now, that this was love. love was not your mother and father arguing during nights, where hoseok would cover yourself and your sister’s ears, love was not tolerating and suppressing your bitter hatred for your father. love was not war. love was taehyung.

the men look to namjoon for guidance as you thrash within their grip, he simply shakes out his wounded hand and stalking towards you, before landing a harsh slap across your face. your head whips to the side, your chest heaving in shock while your lover growls in the distance.

“i’m afraid they cannot do that your highness,” namjoon spits, pushing you down into the soil. you clutch at your stomach protectively, glowering at the prince. “you father has handed all authority over to me, after your absence for the last two nights. the court has ruled you, unfit to rule until we marry.”

the prince then turns to the dragon, signalling for his minions to tighten the chains around taehyung. “and he shall be executed in consequence of your action. for imprinting on our queen, like the filthy creature he is.”

it feels like your world is collapsing, and you are falling underneath the surface. but you cannot give in, you cannot give namjoon the satisfaction of your favour without a fight. you cannot lose taehyung. you close your eyes and swallow thickly, remembering what your mother had instilled in you. every battle has a way to be won.

“unhand me,” you repeat, steadying your breath. “and i will go with you willingly.” namjoon only chuckles deeply, shaking his head so you take action. ripping yourself from the men behind you, you kick your leg out and take the men down by swipe their feet out from underneath them. elbowing a soldier in the nose and snatching your sword from its sheath, burying it in the chests of two traitors. rolling your shoulders back, you kick down two more men and stay light on your toes.

you aim for the prince next.

taking a running sprint, you thrust your sword towards him, barely slicing his cheek as you pant heavily. “release the dragon, and i will spare you,” you seethe through gritted teeth, watching your wounded lover from over namjoon’s shoulder. “don’t be a foolish man, my prince.” you mock, venomously.

“i see that carrying a child has softened your mindset, princess YN,” namjoon comments softly, pushing the blade away from his throat. how could he know? who could have told him? your confident demeanour falters slightly, but you do not allow yourself to slip, holding up your blade again. “the castle maids talk, you show early signs. disgraceful, how you are willing to bare the child of the beast that killed your mother—“ the prince remains cool and collected whilst your resolve starts to crumble, he wins. taehyung wails for you in the background, weakening as you begin to shake. “you will marry me, tomorrow at sunset if you wish for child to be speared. i feel no remorse for ending two lives tonight.”

the world around you begins to spin lightly, taehyung calling for you to stay strong. namjoon had won, he had you exactly where he wanted you, and there was nothing more you could do. “very well,” you whisper, dropping your gaze along with your mothers sword. “we shall be wed.”

you had never been to a wedding, if you had, you may have been too young to remember. sometimes, if you were lucky enough to hear, your mother would tell you of her own, her white dress and wolf furs, her pearl crown imported from across the sea. when she explained to you, brushing your hair and tying it neatly before bed, she had never smiled, never grinned at the thought of a royal feast. her face had always been void.

you now, realise why.

today you would marry, to a man you bared no feelings for. today you would marry out of duty and out of the love you had for someone else. you realise, being older and less naive, that your mother, the queen— married your father as a debt to her kingdom.

“you look beautiful, YN...” your sister offered, taking over for the maid in weaving flowers into your hair. orchids. the national flower of namjoon’s kingdom. the smell was too sweet, sickly to the point where you felt you would heave. they were everywhere, in your hair and your bouquet, in gifts given by royals from other kingdoms— you hated it. a constant reminder of what you had to lose. tamarae notes your silence, stopping her hands that move to fix hair that has already been tucked into place. “please, say something...”

you blink twice in response, parting your lips as if the words will come on their own — but you’re hollow inside, a ghost of who you once were. there were no more tears to cry, or screams to let out. all of those had passed in the cold night, when your sister held you as you cried because your child would grow without the father they needed. because you were going to lose your love. tamarae sinks to her knees before you, creasing the sweet powder blue dress that she wore. her hand take yours, squeezing it gently as if to remind you that you’re still a person, you still feel.

“you don’t have to do this,” she whispers hoarsely, white hair falling over her face to shield her from the world. her bottom lip trembles as tears slip down her cheeks— she had lost her mother, her brother and now her sister. what more could she lose? “you don’t have to...”

for the first time in hours, you make a movement...your face twitches into a sad smile as you cup your sister’s cheeks and hold her close. tamarae’s face finds the tule of your wedding dress, trying her best not to stain the expensive fabric imported from namjoon’s kingdom, not that you cared much for it. “i have to, for you and for the people. our people. they have lost faith in me, and they need me—“ you swallow sharply, no more tears. “they need me to show them i care for our people, i care for this war...”

“i don’t want to lose you...”

“you won’t.”

the door bursts open, yourself and your sister jumping apart at the sudden entrance. jungkook inhales deeply, eyes flickering between the two princesses before tamarae scoffs and parts ways with you but not before pressing a kiss to the crown of your head.

she shoves past the boy, maids flurrying after her, leaving yourself and the advisor alone. he is the first to speak. “YN, my queen, you’re stunning-“

“no,” you interject, looking up at your old friend, coldly. “don’t speak. you don’t get to speak today or i’ll have you executed for treason.” you punctuate your every word, begging yourself to keep it together because if you cry now, jungkook will be the only one to comfort you. your best friend, the man who betrayed you, silences himself, before it’s too late. “you don’t get to say a word, not after what you did to me. not after betraying my trust.”

“YN, i-“

“please,” you hiccup this time, the air in your lungs being sucked away from you with every passing second. jungkook is here to walk you down the isle, towards the man that will only abuse his power of you and your people. jungkook is the reason you are walking this path. “please don’t say anymore. have you not said enough? given away my secrets, out of love you say?” jungkook falters, every fibre in his being screaming out at him to comfort you, but his love for you did this, he destroyed the strong girl he once knew. “then your love is truly misplaced- i have loved you, jeongguk...but only ever as a friend. you used that against my sister, which i truly cannot forgive. so please do not say anymore than you must, for your words only ever hurt us.”

jungkook bites his lip and nods, offering his arm to you to lead you down to the ceremony. he watches you with sad eyes, but a kind smile, sighing heavily when you return his with a watery one.

if he had not loved you, this would not have happened. if he had not loved you, he would still have his friend.

the sun is coloured a shade of honey, ribbons of its light casting a warm hue against your skin. sunsets like this are rare, beautiful and not to be taken for granted— they remind you of sweet days with taehyung, his curled hair buried in your neck and his soft giggle filling the air. sunsets reminded you of your love for taehyung.

you watch the sun dip it’s toes into the navy blue of the water, just behind the prince’s head at the end of the isle. namjoon had wanted a wedding by the sea, with enough room for all of your people along with visitors from kingdoms far away. he wanted sea air and a fresh breeze, he wanted open waters, clear enough to see the dye of taehyung’s blood when he executed the dragon prince after the ceremony. he wanted it all, and you wanted to escape. your stomach twists and turns, as the orchestra begin to strum a wedding tune. this isle was not a path to happiness, but one to your death.

to the people of your kingdom, saw you as a beautiful bride but you saw yourself as a ghost of a human being. jungkook holds you by the arm, steadying your steps as he walks you towards your doom, your own funeral. your own father couldn’t even give you away, too drunk to even stand. you scowl at him as you pass his pew, accompanied by your sweet sister.

if you had it your way, it would be taehyung at the end of the isle, dressed in his kingdom’s traditional fits as he gave you that toothy grin. his eyes would light up as your brother gave you away, and your mother’s light shined on you from above. taehyung would take your hand firmly in his, slip on the ring and tell you how much he loved you. the dress that you wore would be off at the end of the night, as you made love to one another. but now, here you were, reaching the dreaded prince namjoon, as he smirked at you greasily.

jungkook gave you a tight, apologetic squeeze before handing you over to namjoon, shielding his face once he joined the rest of the crowd. your gaze slowly shifts to namjoon, hating the way he looked at you, when the ground beneath your feet starts to shake and you hear the pained cry of your love. “taehyung...” you whisper, standing on your tip toes to find him. over the shoulder of the prince, you spot the dragon shivering from pain behind the alter.

he spasms in his chains, wrists red and sore whilst purple bruises litter his tanned honey skin. he whimpers our for you, causing tears to well in your eyes. all you can do is watch helplessly as the dragon steadies his laboured breathing. small tears slip down your cheeks, streaming through the layers of make up that you wore— the pink haired prince lowers his lips to your ear level. “take a good look, my princess, for this will be the last chance you will ever get.” the prince chuckles, pouting at you mockingly.

with watery eyes, you glance back at the dragon prince, watching as he falls weak at namjoon’s proximity to his imprint. the injuries taehyung sustained over the time had weakened his dragon transformation, the scales that patched his skin were becoming dull as he bled from wounds here and there. the only way for him to heal would be to be near you again.

sucking in a deep breath, you blink away the oncoming tears and replace them with a bright smile. smile for the people, smile for your family. “of course, my king,” you say with wobbling words. be strong, you chant.

the ceremony begins with namjoon’s consent, rushing by with your mind focused on your lover. he’s hurting, in pain and all you want to do his hold him, ease him through it all. you cannot focus, sick to the stomach of what is to come, will you live out the same fate as your mother? bare beautiful children from the seed of a hateful man. will he ruin your kingdom? what your mother had worked hard to build? this couldn’t be your legacy.

“and do you, princess YN LN of the Phantis empire, take prince namjoon of the Kevimore kingdom— to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health...as long as you both shall live?” the minister’s words fly over your head, your mouth suddenly feeling dry and the air in your lungs no longer present.

namjoon leans down to whisper into your ear, warningly. “YN...”

“i-“ you hesitate, saying yes would mean taehyung would be executed sooner and you couldn’t bare to lose the only love you’ve ever had. namjoon’s arms snake around your waist, pulling you into him, causing taehyung to fall to his knees behind your shoulder, ocean eyes full of tears. he can’t lose his soulmate, not now, not ever. “i’m...”

the words formulate on your lips, the pressure weighing down on your shoulders.

“stop the wedding!”

you clutch at your chest, relief flooding through you as the crowd turns their attention to the oncoming voice. an armoured soldier and his men, enter the ceremony eliciting gasps and stares of the congregation, you take the opportunity to slip from namjoon’s slimy grip, while they create a distraction.

“who do you think you are?” namjoon scowls, stepping forward and pointing an accusing finger at the intruder. “interrupting an officiated ceremony, what authority do you have over a drunken king and his weak daughter?”

the soldier dismounts from his horse, stepping forward to the middle of the isle and removes his helmet— revealing the similar sloped and heart shaped features of your elder brother. “hoseok,” tamarae calls, stealing the words from your very lips. you watch as your younger sister rushes into his arms, the reunion warming your numbed heart.

the red heard clutches your sibling close, pressing a kiss to her hair in a protective fashion before glaring daggers into namjoon. if looks could kill the prince would be five miles under. the soldier’s namjoon has under his rein, bend the knee to their rightful prince, giving you time to make a dash for taehyung before he collapses to his side.

“prince hoseok... what—what are you doing here?”

the man in question raises a brow, ordering his men to take namjoon into custody. “the war is over, with word of my sister’s union with dragon prince-“ hoseok nods his head over to you, smirking as the latter male is brought to his knees in front of the entire court. “— spread across the battle field, man and mythical creature alike have found a way to bring peace,” the eldest sibling makes his way toward the pink haired prince and drawing his sword up to the other’s chin. “and next time...you will think twice before treating my sister, thinking you have power over us all. she is stronger and a much better leader than you will ever be. so stand, take your men and leave before i have your head.”

namjoon nods vigorously, clearing himself and the ceremony up as you sniff thankfully, turning your attention to the dragon prince. as soon as you hold him in your arms, taehyung collapses, barely breathing as you come into his field of view. his perfect lips are dry and slightly cut, a gash along his brow that will surely scar and purple, burgundy bruises just under his ribs where his wings would be. he looks bad, but your dragon has never looked better. “t-tae...my love, it’s okay..hold on for me, please?” you whisper, brushing his hair back as his eyes flutter open and closed. “please don’t go, don’t leave me now...”

the dragon prince open and closes his mouth, head rolling as you move it into your lap. biting back tears, you brush your curls through his now silver locks, faded from the pain most likely. “don’t leave us, taehyung. don’t you dare.” you add, hoseok ordering servants and men to help give you the medical help that you. you can’t bare to part from your love now, chest heaving with your cries as the dragon slips in and out of consciousness.

“you’re with a child...” he manages to mumble, gripping your hand tightly as his lips form a slight smile. “i could never leave my soulmate, my imprint behind.”

your heart lifts, taehyung had told you tales of imprints only once— when his mother and father met, they couldn’t stand to be away from one another... in far too much pain. the story helped you believe in love. an imprint is when a dragon finds their mate, their one true love...and taehyung had found that in you.

“i love you, taehyung.”

“and i, love you.”

you let go of his hand, allowing hoseok’s men to whisk your dragon prince away before going to reunite with your siblings. pulling off your veil, you open your arms to join hoseok and tamarae’s hug, nuzzling into them. “we’ll be okay, right?” your little sister asks, nearing tears. this would be the first time, the three of you have held each other since hoseok left for war.

“we will be,” your brother promises, kissing your hair sweetly. “we always will be.”

a year later, you find yourself dressed in another gown. the same fabric as your mother’s from her own coronation, emerald green silk made by those in the village embroiled with crystals from the caves of taehyung’s very own kingdom. your smile shines brightly as your younger sister fixes your hair around the crown you wear, diamond encrusted, silver plated, like the one your mother was. “sister, if you don’t stop moving, you’re going to miss your presentation to the public,” tamarae scolds you, stepping back when she’s finished with her work. “as queen.”

“queen— that does sound delightful, don’t you think?” you tease, touching at your makeup gently before snaking your lips. tamarae rolls her eyes and pushes your shoulder gently, mumbling something about seeing you out there. over the course of the year, your father had stepped down from his position in the court allowing you to take the lead on your path to queen while you and taehyung reunified the human and magic worlds. after he recovered, you married taehyung in the dead of the night, under the stars in his kingdom, with blessing from his mother and today, you had finally been coronated as queen.

“incoming!” a voice called, bringing a babbling baby into the room. your smile widened as jimin, the Phoenix and taehyung’s most trusted advisor stepped in, bringing over your daughter of three months. “taehyung is being dressed at the moment, hoseok is doing a cover of the grounds and jungkook,” jimin lists— adjusting cahira, your baby, in your arms. her name meaning, warrior. “he’s setting up things out front on the balcony.”

“thank you, jimin,” you nod, bouncing your sweet girl before dismissing your husband’s advisor.

after namjoon was punished for an attempt at overthrow, you managed to salvage your friendship with jungkook, only to the distain of your husband (it took several growling matches and attempts to calm him down before he let your advisor anywhere near you). but nonetheless, you couldn’t help but turn to mush as you watched over your baby, cahira’s eyes were large and bright like yours, taking on the blue colour of taehyung’s. her black hair was curled, with a patch of white from your mother’s side. her nose was most definitely yours, however. taehyung said that from her early months, it was impossible to tell whether she would show traits of a dragon or not, you would have to wait until her first tooth to see.

but you knew, just by looking at your young princess— she was made to be a queen, just like you and her grandmother before you.

“i love the way you look at her, like she is all that there is to the world,” your king grins from the doorway, moving over and bending down slightly to play with his daughter’s tiny hands. it truly is a sight to see, a large and mighty beast, cooing at his tiny baby girl. “hi there, cahira...it’s your daddy!” you sweep over your husband, taking in his floppy hair and his tight fitting black blazer that’s spiralled with silver patterns to match your dress. the ash haired dragon preens happily, primal instincts kicking in while he occupies himself with his daughter on your hip, before looking up at you through the curtain of his hair. “and i must say, i do enjoy the way you look at me as well.”

shaking your head, you lean down to meet taehyung’s sweet lips, wiping the small smirk off of his face,” a look of adoration, for the people i love most in this world.” you say, standing straight as your lover takes you into his arms, mindful of the giggling baby between you. “i am happy like this, with you.”

“i am happy with you, completely and utterly in love with you, and my daughter,” taehyung whispers into your hair, kissing it. “we ended the war, and finally received the happy ending that we deserved.” you stand in the middle of the throne room, just off of the balcony, listening to the chants and calls of your people— both yours and taehyung’s, in the distance. the war had been ended, your love had united the people and your people finally brought together.

your maids enter the room, opening the doors to the balcony as jungkook comes through to salute you. taehyung separates from you, lacing your fingers together— allowing you to catch glimpse of the wedding rings you both wore. together, for an eternity.

“ready to face the world, my love?” taehyung asks, taking cahira from your arms and settling her on his hip. “my queen?”

you stand on your tiptoes, adjusting the matching crown on his head. you thought that you would never rule with a man by your side, and you didn’t need one. but taehyung would never take away from you as a woman, you were his queen and you always would be. you smile brightly, squeezing his palm and nod. “with you, i always will be.” you answer, taking his hand and stepping out towards your future.

you had once wanted to hold a dragon’s heart, little did you know, he would be holding yours instead.

⇢ author’s note(s): hi everyone! thank you so much for reading! I really enjoyed writing this fic, i think im most proud of this project and so, in the future im thinking of doing some kind of spin off seires/drabble collection, let me know what you guys think? feedback is always appreciated :D

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jackdawyt · 4 years

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I’ve picked out my hot takes from this entire book, that I’d like to discuss. Following the Dwarf’s tale first, we’ve got quite a few things to breakdown:

Solas has a network of agents working for him, many Dalish Elves believe in his cause, and even the Ancient Elves have been acquired for his schemes.

“And now we know that the Dread Wolf has agents working for him,”

The Dalish Elves following Solas believe that he will free the Elven Gods once he acquires the red lyrium idol, they’ve created a potion that weakens lyrium’s effects.

"He’s learned it from a dream. Some old legend of his people says the idol is in her body, and if he gets it out, he can free his gods or something like that.”

The Ancient Elves appear bare-faced; having no vallaslin, they equip themselves with fine gear. Some of them speak like normal Fereldens, while others have a hint of a Dalish accent.

“No crap on their face like the Dalish, and they don’t have that little hunch a city elf has, hoping you don’t notice them. They’ve got fancy armor and bows out, and they case the room like professionals. One of them says that the idol must have been moved, and his accent is your normal Ferelden, not like the Dalish, who always sound like they’re talking through a mouthful of toffee.”

Solas’s agents are chasing down every single source until they find the red lyrium idol, the idol is required for Solas’s next phase of action in his attempts to destroy the veil.

“The Dread Wolf wants that idol, and he’s not afraid to get his hands bloody to get it.”

Solas can, and has the ability to kill his rivals in their sleep. He or his group of agents killed Carta Dwarves as they slept, which is deemed impossible because they have no connection to the Fade. However, somehow Solas made the Dwarves dream in order to kill them.

“And that he has the power to kill those who oppose him as they sleep.”

The red lyrium idol has been on the wildest goose-chase across Thedas. It was carved out of Meredith’s thawed body, sold to Tevinter’s House Qintara, then resold to House Danarius, then taken to Nevvara’s Mortalitasi for an ultimate ritual, then taken back to Tevinter. Its current whereabouts are unknown if we understand that Solas’s tale within the novel was a lie, meaning that he’s still looking for it. Perhaps the Qunari have acquired the idol.

“In the middle of the room, sitting on a satin pillow that rested upon a stone pedestal wrought with protective runework, was the red lyrium idol.”

The red lyrium idol, still enigmatic as heck, apparently belongs to Solas, or more aptly the Dread Wolf.

“YOU USE MY IDOL CARELESSLY TO VANDALIZE THE SEA OF DREAMS. NOW FEEL THE PAIN OF WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED.”

It means something personal to Solas, more than just an object of power, he cares for it, at least understand what it is. Two couples hugging? A sacrificial en-carving? A crowned figure comforting another?

“He whispered something as he picked it up, tracing his gloved fingers gently along the crowned figure who comforted the other, but I could not make out the words, for I fear they were elven.”

Whatever it may be. It belongs to Solas, and he wants it back.

Hence The Dread Wolf Rises teaser title for Dragon Age 4 - Solas has already risen in his Dread Wolf form as malicious and evil as he appears. He is truly haunting and is ready to wreak havoc on Thedas.

“The words battered us like storm winds, and the Dread Wolf’s jaws closed upon the Tevinter mage, snapping him up in an instant as he screamed in terror. The lesser demons rushed down upon us, crackling with fire and lightning and our.”

The Dread Wolf has taken residence in the Fade where spirits and demons serve him willingly. If anyone dares bind a spirit to their own will, the Dread Wolf will haunt and kill you, for this is the new law he has declared.

“As the Avvar do. But whatever fear the name Dread Wolf carries, he has earned. While we might visit the Fade, it is his natural home, and the spirits there serve him gladly. They whisper in my dreams now, accusing me of crimes I never.”

Binding Spirits and Blood Mage is forbidden under the Dread Wolf’s watch. This magic disturbs the ritual he has set in motion for the Fade.

“And as clear as the Dread Wolf’s anger at what we had done— the Mortalitasi binding spirits he considered his own, the Tevinter mage using forbidden blood magic— was the feeling that we had disrupted his own work.”

Solas tells his fake tale of how the Bard had witnessed the Dread Wolf acquire the red lyrium idol, though this may not be true, this is true in his story. For instance, Solas shares a very useful insight regarding the Qunari invasion, stating that the Antamm will crush and capitalize over everything east of Vryantium, and northern Antiva as well.

“You all know that the Antaam invaded without permission of the other branches of Qunari government? We had assumed this would hobble them, but it appears the priests and workers were a moderating influence. Without them, the Antaam have crushed the Tevinter opposition in the east, and I fear everything east of Vyrantium will be under their control within a year, and northern Antiva as well.”

Solas, as the Bard in the story, shares prominent, influential faces throughout all of the Dragon Age games, like Isabella, Amund the Avvar, Sebastian, Tallis, The Divine, and a most intriguing Warden Commander. Solas knows about all of our previous characters, he’s made himself aware of potential threats which could mean that not many characters will be returning as companions in the next game.

“An Avvar augur laughed loudly at a Rivaini pirate captain’s dirty joke. A soberly clad noble from Starkhaven glared at an auburn- haired elf whose dagger- knot gave her away as an agent of the Qunari spies, the Ben- Hassrath. A Warden- Commander spoke with a woman who was robed and masked, but as I passed her, I recognized the voice of Divine Victoria herself.”

When the Bard is revealed to be the Solas, it’s made aware that before the Executor could share their knowledge on the Wolf, Solas spoke first, and killed the Executor.

“Before the Executor could answer, the Bard raised his hands. “I believe I know where the mage carrying the lyrium idol went next. S’il vous plaît, allow me to continue its tale.”

He later called the Executors “dangerous”, meaning that they pose a threat to Solas, out of everyone in the room, Solas killed the Executor. They must know something or have something that can rival Solas. Therefore they will be a most worthy ally in the future.

“I would caution you in dealing with those across the sea,” he said. “They are dangerous.”

What was mentioned at the start, was that the Qunari Ben-Hassrath know the most about Solas’s movements across Thedas, making them a huge rival against the Dread Wolf, and potentially a grand ally for anyone against Solas.

“As did the Ben- Hassrath.” She grimaced. “The latter is especially disappointing. They had more knowledge of Solas’s movements than anyone else.”

And finally, Solas tells Charter to let the Inquisitor know that he’s sorry once more, explaining that he is not a God, he’s simply a prideful, hotheaded fool who is doing what he must.

“I know that feeling well. I am not a god, Charter. I am prideful, hotheaded, and foolish, and I am doing what I must. When you report back to the Inquisitor …” His voice faltered. “Say that I am sorry.”

That’s it for this breakdown on 'The Dread Wolf Take You’, there’s been so much to uncover and this was just one story in Tevinter Nights. I am working on a separate post/video that will look at everything Tevinter Nights tells us about Solas going forward, so don’t worry, the Solas speculation has just begun, I’ve merely just given you all the facts for now. But there’s plenty of tinfoil ahead!

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orsino-the-enchanter · 5 years

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Schools of Magic: an introduction

“As above so below”, that is the best description of the ways in which magic can affect the world and be utilized by the ones gifted with it. In the same way in which the world functions in pairs of equal opposites, so does magic have opposing manifestations that balance out each other. Although mages tend to have a natural inclination towards one particular school of magic, it doesn’t mean they cannot excel in more than one, provided they study diligently.

The 4 Schools Of Magic

Magic can be roughly split in two big categories: Magic of Energy and Magic of Matter. As the names suggest, the former has to do with all the manifestations of magic in the immaterial world and the latter with active and immediate manipulation of the matter around us. Each category includes two schools of magic, which represent opposing yet complimentary manipulations of Energy and Matter, thus forming 4 Schools in total:

Spirit School

Primal School

Creation School

Entropy School

Spirit School of Magic

Opposing and complimentary to the Primal School, Spirit school draws its power from the Fade itself. It manipulates energies that are invisible and outside of nature forces, yet surround us at all times. Also known as the school of mysteries and the ephemera, it includes everything from direct manipulation of mana and spell energies to the study and summoning of spirits themselves. It is the most esoteric from the schools of magic; and the ones who specalize in it are often misunderstood by the wide populus who knows next to nothing when it comes to the Fade.

Spirit spells can be used both in war and peace, including arcane magic (both in energy blasts and barrier creation ), mana manipulation, summoning and healing magic.

Healing magic has to do with manipulation of life-force acquired from the benevolent spirits which reside in the Fade. Not all things to come from the Fade are harmful. The spirits involved in this form of magic do not feed on the darker side of the psyche. These benign spirits of fortitude, compassion, hope and the like rarely seek to cross the Veil, but can sometimes be persuaded to protect and restore life, rather than corrupt or destroy it as demons would. However, this has two major implications: The spirit healer has to earn the spirit’s trust first in order to gain their services; and one must not forget the ever-present risk of posession which is even higher for spirit healers, since they seek to attract attention from the other side of the Veil. More than one tale exists of a spirit healer being fooled by a demon masquerading as a benevolent spirit, and inadvertently bringing them across the Veil... or being tricked into letting down their guard, and possessed.

Another domain of spirit magic -albeit on the macabre side- is Necromancy; in other words, the manipulation of the spirits of the deceased. Developed by the Mortalitasi (the Keepers of the Grand Necropolis of Nevarra), it can be used in either passive or active fashion; to simply contact a particular spirit of a deceased person or to bind the spirits that are drawn to death on the battlefield in order to put the fear of death into enemies, bring spirits to fight on the mage’s behalf and even cause devastating explosions when enemies die (this only happens through synergy with primal magic which will be discussed in a while).

Finally, dreamer magic is the discipline of spirit magic which allows the practitioner’s consciousness to enter the Fade in a dream state and interact with spirits in their own habitat. However, due to its rarity and dangerousness, it is not one of the disciplines widely taught within Circles of Magi.

Primal School of Magic

Sometimes called the School of Power, the Primal School is the second of the Schools of Energy, balanced by Spirit, and concerns the most visible and tangible forces of nature itself: the primal mage is capable of bending the elements under their will.

This is the magic of war: Fire, ice, and lightning. Devastation. This is what the vast majority imagines when they hear the word "magic." There is a great variety of elemental spells that a mage can be taught in a Circle -most classes and training sessions have to do with elemental magic in one form or another; especially since it is one of the most common and sought-after specializations.

At this point I would like to take the opportunity and discuss force magic: a distinct form of magic that lies in the gray zone between spirit and primal magic and happens to be the most common mage specialization in the Kirkwall Circle of Magi. The force mage uses their mind and focused will as a weapon, resulting in raw application of magic in all its vicious glory: maelstroms that draw opponents, ethereal weight that crush and slow, or great waves that throw enemies about like ragdolls. Targets not to be toyed with are simply slammed into the ground, as though pummeled by a great fist. And in their mastery of such damage, Force Mages can make themselves all but immune to similar attacks, an ability that hints at the true discipline they must maintain. After all, unsubtle doesn't mean unsophisticated—the Force Mage specialization requires uncommon precision to keep such overwhelming power under control.

Creation School of Magic

The School of Creation, sometimes called the School of Nature, is the first of the Schools of Matter, the balancing force and complement of Entropy. Creation magic manipulates natural forces, transforming what exists and bringing new things into being.

Creation requires considerable finesse, more than any other school, and is therefore rarely mastered. Those mages who have made a serious study of creation are the highest in demand, useful in times of peace as well as war.

Dalish Keepers have preserved most forms of Creation Magic and the discipline’s creation can be dated back to the years of Elvhenan domination. Lore has it that it was one of Mythal’s gifts to elves; so it is a discipline almost exclusive to elven mages. Some of the spells Dalish Keepers cast allow them to become one with nature thus creating defensive shields, call roots from beneath the earth to inflict physical damage on all enemies, as well as absorb energy from the dead within their casting field.

A form of magic which balances between the Creation and Spirit schools is shapeshifting; which allows a person to transform their body into the form of an animal.The path of the Shapeshifter is one that crosses the boundary between mage and warrior. Some mages see it as a form of self-mastery, while others use it as a method of survival; a physical bag of tricks that enable the mage to be unpredictable in battle. Shapeshifters must master one form at a time, the most common ones being those that are found in the Fereldan wilds. The mighty bear is popular as are wildcats, spiders, and even birds. Legend tells of mages who mastered even more fantastical and deadly forms. To a skilled Shapeshifter, no door is impassable, no fight is unwinnable, and no terrain inhospitable as long as they know a shape that can meet the task at hand.

Entropy School of Magic

The second of the two Schools of Matter, Entropy is the opposing force of Creation; for this reason it is often called the School of Negation or School of Chaos. Nothing lives without death. Time inevitably brings an end to all things in the material world, and yet in this ending is the seed of a beginning. A river may flood its banks, causing havoc, but bring new life to its floodplain. The fire that burns a forest ushers in new growth. And so it is with entropic magic that we manipulate the forces of erosion, decay, and destruction to create anew.

Although closely related to elemental magic due to their common destructive element, entropic magic is more deeply rooted in the psyche of the spellcaster and was thought to be a curse. Entropy mages can absorb one’s life-force through mere touch, cause buildings to collapse, erode the landscape and turn order into chaos. This specialization is rare to occur on its own, but if it does it is very dangerous to be mastered and often takes the practitioner’s life in one way or another. The most talented of elemental and force mages are entropy mages at heart or at least they have an inclination towards entropy magic.

Blood Magic: The Forbidden School

Technically I should not even be speaking of this school of magic since the Chantry forbids it; however I believe it is only fair that you have some knowledge of what it consists of and why you should not take it lightly. A knife can be used to slice bread or to kill someone; it is but a means to an end. Same goes with blood magic; it is not a school of magic per se, only a means to help someone cast complicated spells that require a lot of mana. Instead of exhausting oneself, the mage uses their own lifeforce through blood to fuel the spells. It is similar in its workings to lyrium-enforced magic, but without the health risks that lyrium poses. Also, unlike lyrium which allows a mage to send his conscious mind into the Fade, blood would allow them to find the sleeping minds of others, view their dreams, and even influence or dominate their thoughts. Additionally, blood magic allows the Veil to be opened completely so that demons may physically pass through it into our world.

It was common practice, at one time, for a magister to keep a number of slaves on hand so that, should he undertake the working of a spell that was physically beyond his abilities, he could use the blood of his slaves to bolster the casting. The more the blood the more powerful the spell. However, greed is a terrible vice, and soon slave bloodletting turned into sacrifice. Since this is no history manual, I will not go into the details of how this led to the First Blight and the fall of the Tevinter Imperium. Greed and vanity have existed for as long as conscience itself and blood magic should not be held accountable for these vices. It is not blood magic which corrupts people. Power corrupts people; it attracts the worst and destroys the best of them. Blood magic is only the means to achieve great power while allowing practitioners to overlook the great responsibility that comes with it.

#orsino's teachings | metas #magic #schools of magic #spirit magic #elemental magic #blood magic #creation magic #entropy magic #necromancy #spirit healing #force magic #dragon age meta

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jedimaesteryoda · 4 years

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Rise of Skywalker Review

WARNING MASSIVE SPOILERS

Rise of Skywalker is by far one of the worst Star Wars films ever made, and easily the worst of the sequel trilogy. The entire plot was a mess, it was unfocused, rushed, uneven and had too much plot convenience in the way of things like a dagger that manages to have a replica of the remains of the second Death Star for some reason. It also seemed more devoted to fan service than telling a good, coherent story.

To be fair, Johnson was given charge of the middle film of the trilogy which clashed with Abrams’s vision. He also had killed off Snoke, so he couldn’t serve as the main villain in the next film,and dealt with Rey’s parentage so Abrams wasn’t left with a lot. Of course, Johnson largely didn’t retcon anything from the previous film, while Abrams did with ROS, which was a mistake. It felt like he was trying to undo Johnson’s changes in this film.

The way Rey’s identity is revealed is poorly handled. Kylo tells her in the middle of the film that she is Palpatine’s granddaughter. Imagine if in Empire Strikes Back, instead of Vader telling Luke that he was his father at the end, it was Yoda who told him that in the second act. It would have had nowhere near as big an impact. It shouldn’t have been Kylo, but Palpatine himself who told her about her heritage. Also, Rey turning out to be a nobody with no magic bloodline as Rian Johnson intended, which is one of his few ideas I agreed with, actually would have been a better story and character choice. It at least promotes the idea that anyone can be a Jedi, that the Force chooses who is worthy without any attention to bloodlines. Also, how did Palpatine not keep track of his own family? This is the most powerful man in the galaxy we’re talking about.

The main villain of the Rise of Skywalker turns out to be the main villain of the previous two trilogies: Palpatine. Admittedly, Palpatine is one of my top two favorite characters in Star Wars, and it was always great to see Ian McDiarmid play him on-screen. He was the main highlight in the prequels; I could look at each scene he’s in, and write an essay or at least a few paragraphs about just that one scene. However, his character seemed out of place in this one.

For starters, there was the way Abrams handled him in this film. Instead of not mentioning him, and just saving his reveal for the third act after some building up, and maximizing surprise and shock for the audience, Abrams just reintroduces him in the opening. It doesn’t have the same effect. They just shoehorned him into this film without him even being mentioned in the first two. At least in the original trilogy, by the time we see him in person in Return of the Jedi, Palpatine had previously been mentioned in the first film, A New Hope, and later introduced via Holonet in Empire Strikes Back, which provided plenty of build up towards his appearance in the third film. He played a key role in the story as he was the dark side counterpart to Yoda, founder of the tyrannical Empire, the one who turned Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader, and was seeking to do the same to Luke. He was the personification of temptation towards the dark side and the Empire, the devil himself, who along with Vader was the trial Luke needed to face in his final step towards becoming a Jedi. In the prequel trilogy, Palpatine was the main villain in plain sight all along who was masquerading as the friendly Supreme Chancellor while he was Darth Sidious in the background pulling strings, and slowly turning the Old Republic into the Empire. In the sequel trilogy, he is introduced at the eleventh hour just to give Kylo and Rey something to unite against.

In my opinion, he should have stayed dead. It seemed more fitting in that despite being the most successful Sith lord in history, having gone where no Sith has gone before by conquering the Galactic Republic and wiping out the Jedi Order, Palpatine still succumbed to the tradition of the Rule of Two, and like his predecessors was killed by his apprentice. The man who destroyed countless lives and betrayed so many people in his rise to power as well as after from the Separatists and senators to his apprentices, himself met his end by betrayal. By making him alive, Abrams also made Vader’s sacrifice in Return of the Jedi less meaningful. Vader originally found himself in choosing between the light (Windu) and the dark (Palpatine), chose the latter largely to save someone he cared about, his wife, and nearly wiped out the Jedi Order. He found himself in the same situation again, choosing between the light represented by Luke and the dark, again represented by Palpatine, and he chooses the former this time for the same reason: to save someone he cared about, his son. In the end, he turns again and in his last act destroys the Sith line, killing the last of the Sith lords, and ending Palpatine’s reign of terror for good and all. He thus fulfills his role as the Chosen One … only, whoops, turns out Palpatine survived, and the Chosen One didn’t actually do shit. I know Legends brought him back too in Dark Empire, but even that decision was met with some controversy within the community. It made little narrative sense to bring him back, and it was years before the prequels with Lucas doing the Chosen One angle for Anakin. I know some argue that Anakin brought balance to the Force briefly by killing Palpatine, but if Palpatine was the reason for the imbalance, then Rise of Skywalker means he was never truly dead, and that Vader didn’t truly correct the imbalance.

Palpatine also was most effective by being subtle and nuanced with an undercurrent of menace, which clearly wasn’t present in this film. He didn’t feel as threatening as he did in Episodes VI and III. Even Sir Ian’s performance seemed largely more subdued in contrast to the confident, megalomaniacal character we all knew and loved. He wasn’t even fun in this one.

He also managed to disable an entire fleet just using Force lightning? I’m sorry, but that really pushes it as I know Palpatine is powerful, but even he never struck me as that powerful nor should he be. As George R.R. Martin said “I think if you put too much magic in your fantasy it overwhelms the plot, and it starts to make the plot nonsensical. If you do have a sorceress or a wizard who can speak a word and wipe out an army, why would you even assemble an army?” The use of the Force is supposed to be used in small, limited ways in battles a la Luke using the Force to accurately fire proton torpedoes into the exhaust port of the Death Star. Otherwise, if a Force user can take out an entire army or in this case, fleet, in a single blast, why didn’t any Jedi do that during the Clone Wars?

I wouldn’t have opposed seeing Palpatine in Rise of Skywalker, but as a Force vision akin to Luke’s experience in the cave in Dagobah. I felt that while the prequel trilogy was about Anakin and Palpatine’s backstories with the former’s journey to the dark side and the latter’s rise to power, the sequel trilogy should have been about their posthumous legacies through the Skywalker family and Empire/First Order respectively. Lucas didn’t envision bringing Palpatine back simply because he knew when a character had effectively fulfilled their role in a story.

There are plenty of plot points or scenes that also don’t go anywhere or make sense.

The Sith-class Star Destroyers being all armed with planet-destroying superlasers also made no sense. Watch Rogue One, and you see how the Death Star’s superlaser focus lens dwarfed all the Imperial Star Destroyers and Rebel capital ships, and yet they somehow managed to shrink it down to 1/1000th of its original size and still be as effective? In the original trilogy, the logic behind the superlaser being found only on a Death Star was simply because a laser powerful enough to destroy an entire planet had such huge power requirements and required so large a configuration that only a space station the size of a small moon could accommodate it. Palpatine also commissioned the building of at most, two, since one was threatening enough to send a message to the galaxy, and having an entire fleet of them also had more risks, ie the the risk of one being used against him. All it’d take is one to be hijacked, and be used to blow up the planet Palpatine is on. Then there is the context of the superlaser being used. Alderaan being blown up was treated as a big deal simply because it was. It was this universe’s equivalent of the first atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. It was something so terrible and devastating, that it was originally thought to be unfathomable. Leia also was helpless as she witnessed her home planet being obliterated in an instant, which made it that much more devastating. In this film, Kijimi is just blown up without any emotion or impact at all.

Also, there is the side trip of having to get C-3PO translate Sith language. Why have C-3PO be able to translate a language if he is forbidden from translating it? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just not have that language in his programming at all? What legitimate reason is there for Sith even being a forbidden language? It’s not like black speech from LOTR, which was discouraged simply because it drew the Eye of Sauron.

C-3PO also made the conscious decision to have his memory wiped away, stating if he didn’t then everything they fought for would be lost. He made this personal sacrifice to save the Resistance and the galaxy just to have R2-D2 later restore his memory in another scene. That just takes away the impact of his decision, as throughout the journey sacrifices are made along the way, and a sacrifice needs to be permanent in order for it to be meaningful. Imagine if after Obi-wan was killed in A New Hope, he resurrected in the original trilogy.

General Hux is also revealed to be the First Order spy, and allows the group to escape, only to be found out right after and immediately killed. It doesn’t go into more detail regarding his defection, and he is killed off just like that as if he were a random side character rather than a major supporting character for two films.

In another scene, Rey destroys a transport that supposedly carried Chewie by accidentally hitting it with Force lightning. Rey, of course, takes it very hard, believing she accidentally killed Chewie, only for it to be revealed shortly, that Chewie is alive as he had been on another transport that we never saw. What was the point of all that? Rey didn’t learn any lessons, and it didn’t contribute at all to the plot. The whole thing felt completely unnecessary.

We also never got to hear what Finn wanted to tell Rey, or Poe wanted to tell Finn.

As far as lightsaber dueling goes, there were two lightsaber duels in the middle, and there was no point to them as opposed to Ben buying Luke time in A New Hope, Anakin sealing his fate as Palpatine apprentice in the beginning of Revenge of the Sith or a final duel at the end between light and dark like in all the other films.

However, there were a few moments I liked. I liked Kylo’s scene with his father Han. I like how it was left ambiguous as Han clearly couldn’t be a Force ghost given he wasn’t Force-sensitive, and we don’t know if it was all in Kylo’s head. Rey giving Kylo a lightsaber in the final fight to help, and maybe, Kylo sacrificing himself to heal Rey.

It was good to see Lando, although we barely got to see him. He managed to get all the fleet together by convincing them to fight in the end, so he does play a role, but I think the Resistance should have more help due to Luke’s sacrifice in the previous film. Luke appeared, because he knew the galaxy needed Luke Skywalker, and the kids talking about him facing Kylo showed how he was inspiring the galaxy to resist the First Order. That proved to be another thing Abrams retconned.

Finally, there is Rey choosing the surname of “Skywalker,” honoring the people she wanted to be and mentored her. Was it necessary? I mean Luke didn’t exactly decide to use the surname “Kenobi” in Return of the Jedi, although to be fair, his father did save his life in the end. Rey deciding to use her surname “Palpatine” would be her owning her identity, and showing that while she acknowledges her dark lineage, like Luke did with his, she doesn’t let her predecessor’s legacy define her.

Long story short, Abrams and Disney really bungled the handling of the franchise. Each film felt like it’s own thing being separate from the other two rather than being part of an overarching vision. There was more focus on fan service than storytelling, and ROS didn’t leave me feeling satisfied.

Also, Korriban will always be the Sith homeworld.

#starwars #rise of skywalker #rey #kylo ren #palpatine #empire #c-3po #episode ix #theforce #first order #the resistance

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machimachilegends · 5 years

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Disclaimer: Duelists within the anime severely lack in Spell-based Monster Removal, Spell/Trap Destruction, Effect Negation and Continuous Spell/Trap cards that prevent the opponent from performing certain actions since cards are notably more difficult to obtain and faith/morale play a bigger role than luck/deck-building with an abnormal Battle Phase fetish.

Therefore, this list ranking the strongest antagonists in Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime so far will sparsely discuss the flaws of each character's Deck. If you have any questions about my list or want my personal thoughts on anything Yu-Gi-Oh!, feel free to ask. I have nothing but time!

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Z-ONE

Has Level 10 Fairy-Type monsters he can normal summon regularly that are impervious to destruction by battle and card effects by normal means with minimal chances of being damaged.

The effects his Timelords possess range from shuffling your opponent's entire GY back to the Deck, dealing 2000+ effect damage instant Life Point recovery should he take damage. The only issue with Deck is the reliance on attacking and average use of one Timelord at a time. While his Continuous Traps over time will eventually disable the opponent from targeting his Timelords and allow him to exceed 20,000 ATK in a flash, his best play is his biggest weakness.

I could go all day explaining the other effects he has after a successful battle, but just know it's essentially a lot of shuffling cards back, returning cards back and burn. He only has one monster that can deal battle damage and that's about it.

And since he still needs to attack, akin to everybody else lower on the list, this is nothing each protagonist and most rivals can't get over, especially in their respective series, despite popular belief saying otherwise -- when Judai can equip Neos with Rainbow Veil or Light Laser to wall you, you know you messed up somewhere.

Zarc / Z-ARC

Fusion, Synchro, Xyz- and to a lesser extent Pendulum barely mean nothing to this guy and his stupendously powerful dragons. Having access to arguably the best Monster Type in the game both in anime and real life, with the added benefit of being Pendulum-based, many fans have very good reasons to hype him up as unbeatable prior to Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V's end.

His ultimate monster Z-ARC boasts and grants immunity to the monster effects of the aforementioned Extra Deck Monsters, in addition to the inability to leave the field by normal means similarly to Z-ONE with a whopping 4000 ATK minus the Battle damage immunity.

It may seem underwhelming at first, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. While Zarc cannot mend the course of a Duel through the Battle Phase, he does possess various ways of demoralizing his foes:

His opponents cannot add cards to their hand outside of the Draw Phase or else their effects will be negated and destroyed.

He can negate the effects of Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Monsters and drain them of their attack by performing the same summon on their Turn, with some of them capable of inflicting effect damage, and each dragon that resides in his Extra Deck has other effects ranging between dramatically exceeding their original ATK or mass removal.

His Supreme King Gates translate battle damage and effect damage into Life Points, while the servants in his Main Deck can protect Z-ARC from attacks and act as an unnecessary extra piece of armor amongst other cards.

And did I forget to mention through Astrograph Sorcerer Z-ARC's summon cannot be negated, which almost guarantees the defeat of his opponents with massage effect damage?

I know it all sounds amazing, but truth be told other than the initial summon of Z-ARC, his Deck is very very fragile in the grand scheme due to how susceptible his Deck is to common Monsters, Spells and Traps' targeting and non-targeting effects that have debut throughout the series.

Recall, since most of his cards only work so long as he controls Z-ARC, while someone like Z-ONE may get trolled by Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon or The Regulation of Tribe once in a blue moon, just call-in Dark Necrofear or Destiny HERO Plasma and it all goes downhill from here.

Dartz

As the practical incarnate of the Orichalcos, Dartz features a Deck revolving around its use. Monsters, Spells, Traps: The whole damn Deck.

While most people would like to focus on the Great Leviathan's lack of built in resistances, despite being an INFINITE ATK point monster that essentially prevents you from losing to any form of damage, this slithery-fuck that required countless souls for its revival planned to be summoned with all three layers/forms of the Orichalcos to be in effect. How else did you expect to acquire 10,000+ Life Points to get the dark thing out? Soul Absorption?

To put sum things up, layer one cannot be destroyed (possibly can't be negated, activation-wise), grants all monsters you control 500 extra ATK, practically enables you to treat your Spell/Trap Zones as extra Main Monster Zones and any monsters summoned there cannot be attacked so long as you have a Monster Zone filled, and if-need-be you can move monsters from the Main Monster Zone to the back, although those last two effects go underused.

Layer two takes all the effects of layer one and stacks it with a 500 Life Points gain for every monster you control once per turn and the ability to Tribute a monster you control to destroy an opposing monster.

Still not convinced these layers do much, well how about layer three? Once again it all stacks with the bonus on straight up telling your opponent "No" when they try to affect any of your monsters with a Spell/Trap Effect instantly negating and destroying them on a whim.

Now, we know the glaring hole in all this is the fact Monster Effects can still put in work, but if it's destruction based, you'll be putting all your time into the monsters leading up to the Great Leviathan.

A little sucker (Kyutora) that absorbs that would be inflicted at any time to fuel a stronger golem-like figure (not Gigas but Shunoros) in the Deck should it ever die with a base ATK of whatever was absorbed and two arms that will always be 300+ in ATK or DEF against an opponent's monster (Aristeros & Dexia), a jerk flame gargoyle that will force one of your opponent's monster back in Attack Position and motherfucking Timeater.

Generally speaking, he comes off very mediocre until you realize all he really needs is Mirror Knight Calling to dominate. With those Mirror Knights in conjunction with the Orichalcos he instantly assembles an army of tokens that can battle any monster and come out victorious, since their strength will always match the opposition and survive destruction by removing a single mirror counter that is generated by Mirror Knight Calling at the end of every Turn.

Simply put, he's someone that only gets better with time, unless he has Geh (The Great Leviathan) out. Then he has a solid chance to lose instantly, then again, if he didn't win on the Turn he summoned it, he deserves to lose seeing how he is milling 10 cards per attack from his Infinite ATK monster.

In many ways Zarc is just a better Dartz. For a guy like this, one Gemini Summoned Magical Reflect Slime + protection is all you need.

Don Thousand

Similarly to Z-ONE he comes off very unfair, except he's an offensive behemoth with control over the Overlay Network, opposed to defensive paragon with relative one-shot capabilities like the others. His Deck can be summed up without much need to go into effects, especially with how little we actually see.

Bluntly put, he will start his Turn spitting out 1 through 4 Number Monsters with the same gimmick of doubling their ATK after each attack, easily allowing him to exceed 8000 points of potential battle damage with a built-in Rank-Up play that deals even more lethal damage, essentially making him the true FTK antagonist looming in the back.

Should both attempts fail, he will fall on Number C1000, but that monster really means nothing to any character that possesses no "C" monsters. Rather Number iC1000 is what you really wanted to see. A walking win condition that basically tells your opponent, if you don't attack me, a 100,000 ATK monster you instantly lose the Duel. The only problem here is it can't negate two attacks, and the effect only applies so long as it stands.

Unlike some of the powerhouses higher on the ladder, he at least has Counter Traps, so there's at least some merit why you rarely see YouTubers try to script any Duels with him. Linear af.

I would say the true problem with his Deck/power as a Duelist is the fact he uses a Field Spell to kickstart his FTK's which means any bro like Bastion Misawa could play Curse of the Forbidden Spell and he's a goner. Like, here me out, at least Dartz can still play the game without the Orichalcos.

Bohman

Now, at first I thought Bohman was going to end up stronger than Z-ONE with the blanket Monster Effect negation he had on his Hydradrives when Dueling Blue Maiden, but that turned out to become more nothing more than a dream.

Bohman lacks proper negation for LIGHT & DARK Attributes essentially made Bohman's Deck a very unfocused beatdown strategy like many of the Duelists of the week characters in Link Swarming form, basically trading Majesty's Fiend for Five-Headed Dragon + Wind-Up Rabbit on crack playing dice.

Ignoring his use of Master Storm Access, it's not so much his Hydradrives suck or OTK/FTK potential isn't there- because it is, it's more so everything he does against Playmaker outside of switching dragon heads or rolling some dice (which only sucks irl) can be done better by everyone on the list:

Over 5000 ATK just cause? Check.

Can dominate Battle Phase procedures more than normal? Check.

Inherently prevents adversaries from dealing with monsters via built-in effects? Check.

Can summon more than one powerful monster per turn/Duel if need be? Check.

Safe from most damaging effects? Check.

Counters most of his generation? Check.

Benefits from his opponents' plays somehow? Check.

He's a jack of all trades and master of none but making attributes change with a die. Why he doesn't run DNA Transplant but Half Shut will forever be a mystery in the same world Revolver acquires Imperial Order for the sole purpose of stopping Judgment Arrows.

It sure is a good thing most protagonists/rivals use LIGHT & DARK Attributes over EARTH, WIND, WATER & FIRE or this man would be at the mercy of so many characters. Poor Yusei though.

Nightshroud

Nightshroud's strategies are the utmost straightforward with how it plans to win. Activate Darkness, Set Darkness 1 through 3 + Zero & Infinity, use various Darkness monsters to peep at your Set cards and/or organize them however you like before activating everything between Zero & Infinity.

Darkness 1 destroys up to 3 card your opponent controls based on face-up Darkness traps.

Darkness 2 increase the ATK of one monster you control 1000 to 3000 based on face-up Darkness traps.

Darkness 3 deal 1000 to 3000 per activation based on face-up Darkness traps.

Each of these are Set and randomized in the zones via Darkness (Field Spell) after activation between Zero & Infinity, which means in 2 Turns if the correct Darkness monster is on the field, that's a clean ceiling of 6000 effect damage if Darkness Neosphere is present.

Through these various Darkness Traps controlling the cards present on the field at a time makes it easy to disrupt characters from summoning their strongest monsters via Contact Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Summoning, making the monsters he pumps up through Darkness 2 like Darkness Destroyer game enders via Battle Damage, which would make many come to the conclusion he should rank higher on the list. The main problem with Darkness is he doesn't showcase any further Spells/Traps and anything like Denko Sekka can shut him down in an instant.

Nightshroud's combo is highly susceptible to card destruction, despite boasting some of the finest at his best and other than that poor RNG styled Field Spell.

To cut things short, anything that can't be destroyed by Traps or benefits from destruction will only have to worry about effect damage or higher ATK. And considering how badly Nightshroud needs to go first, he's not only the slowest boss character but has the worst matchup potential, especially against other bosses.

Please don't tell him about Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En or Naturia Rosewhip OR Mister Alister's hmm... I don't know... Oh yeah! ROYAL DECREE!!!

I would say he has it the worse, but it's understandable since he- outside of helping others mend the darkness in their hearts never created/announced anything notably new mid Duel. Very respectable for a skeleton man.

#ooc #outofgata #yugioh dm #yugioh gx #yugioh 5ds #yugioh zexal #yugioh arc v #yugioh vrains

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lilacmoon83 · 5 years

Text

Dreaming Out Loud

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 106: Way Up High

David opened his eyes and immediately shot up into a seated position, as it all came crashing back to him.

"Snow…" he breathed, as he rushed to the bars and shook them.

"SNOW!" he cried.

"She's gone, brother," James said dejectedly and he turned to find most of his family in the cell with him, including Hades and Persephone.

"They got you both too?" he asked in confusion and they held up their wrists, showing him the odd black cuffs on their wrists.

"Frollo has been busy in his seclusion. He's used science to craft this device. It suppresses our magic," Hades explained, which floored David, though this was the same man that had created a way to nullify Midas' touch so he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised.

"And Snow?" he asked.

"Gone...he has her," Eli answered, looking deeply troubled. David turned back toward the bars and rattled them again.

"Doing that isn't going to make them magically break and open, genius," James said snidely.

"Oh, I'm sorry...my wife was just carried off by some demonic monster and rational thought isn't exactly in my wheelhouse right now!" David snapped back, as brothers got in each other's faces.

"Losing your mind doesn't save Snow," James growled back, but David pointed at him angrily.

"Don't tell me how I should be reacting to my wife being kidnapped by a madman, who is now half monster!" David shouted back, as Lancelot separated.

"You two coming to blows will solve nothing," he scolded them.

"Yes...it would be quite undignified from two supposed princes," Cora cooed, as she and Leopold appeared outside the cell.

"Where is my wife?" David demanded to know.

"Wife?" Leopold asked with scrutiny.

"You heard me...where is Snow?" David demanded to know and Leopold looked to Eli.

"You let her marry for love, against my advice, and now look at the predicament she is in," he scolded the younger King.

"As opposed to what? Marrying her off to some dirty old man that lusts after beautiful women less than half his age," Eli hissed, as he sided up next to David.

"And just because you were once betrothed to my sister long ago hardly means that you qualify to give me any advice, especially about my daughter," he added.

"All of this is irrelevant. We simply came to pay you a courtesy that you don't deserve," Cora stated coolly.

"You have all been slated for execution and King Arawn will have your sentences carried out at dusk," she announced, as she and Leopold turned to leave. David angrily shook the bars, before stepping back and he began to pace.

"I have to get us out of here...I have to find Snow," he lamented.

"Which will be impossible without my help," another voice said, as a woman in a black dress appeared.

"Regina…" Persephone said, as she went to the bars.

"Are you here to help us?" David asked. She smirked.

"For the right price," Regina responded. He rolled his eyes.

"And what is it that you want from us?" David asked.

"I want many things and if you can help me get those, then maybe we can do business," Regina replied, as she held up an apple.

"Right now, this apple may be what is needed to buy Snow some time, because right now, she's in the clutches of a madman that would think nothing of violating her," she said.

"I know! That's why I need to get out of here and find her!" David responded impatiently.

"Repeating the obvious will get you no where," she chided.

"Thank you...he's really bad about that," James complained.

"Shut up," David sniped at his twin. Persephone put her hand up.

"What do you need from us in order to save my daughter?" she asked.

"First...I need to get rid of my mother and her lecher of a husband," Regina replied.

"Isn't he your father?" James asked.

"No...he's not," she answered.

"So you know…" Hades stated. She nodded.

"I do," she confirmed.

"When you say...get rid of them, what exactly are we talking about? Because if you wanted to kill them, you would have done it already," Hades responded.

"Death is too good for my mother. I want her to suffer for killing Daniel," Regina stated.

"Well...there is Wonderland," Hades muttered.

"Normally I would say that no one deserves that, but this is Cora and Leopold we're talking about so that would work," Persephone agreed, as she turned back.

"We have an enchanted looking glass that is also a portal to Wonderland. You could banish them there and trust me, Wonderland is not for the faint of heart," she offered. Regina seemed intrigued.

"Is that the land of the mythical Jabberwocky and where food can change your size?" Regina questioned.

"One in the same. I can charge the Jabberwocky with the task of tormenting them. I had a hand in her creation, after all," Hades said.

"That's a start," Regina agreed.

"Okay...so how does an apple help the woman I love?" David asked anxiously. Regina smirked.

"It will put her under a sleeping curse once she bites into it," the almost Queen said gleefully.

"What?!" David exclaimed, but his family chided him and urged him to be quiet.

"You're going to put my wife under a sleeping curse?" he hissed in a hush whisper.

"Yes...and then the spell will whisk her away to a secluded place in the forest where she will await true love's kiss...from you," Regina stated.

"Why the theatrics?" Hades questioned and a familiar giggle followed his question.

"Because it's fun," Rumple answered.

"And those theatrics will serve as the final catalyst needed to allow Snow White and her Prince to lead the charge to finally dethrone King Arawn," he added. Regina nodded.

"You'll take your Kingdoms back," she said, gesturing to the twin brothers.

"And I'll have mine," Regina continued.

"And King Arawn?" James asked.

"I'll deal with him personally...after I challenge Zeus for his Throne and take it," Persephone announced, making Rumple giggle gleefully. Hades smirked.

"Then with a true Queen leading the Gods and King Arawn rotting in a prison cell, peace can reign," he added.

"There's just one more thing I require," Regina stated.

"What more could you want?" David asked. She smirked.

"A curse...a curse that I will cast and you will not interfere with," Regina replied.

"A curse…" Persephone said, horrified.

"You can't mean…" Hades continued and Rumple laughed again.

"Yes...the Dark Curse, but if you behave and cooperate, you can all have very good lives under the curse," he added.

"What is he talking about?" David questioned.

"We'll explain later. But without their help, we will be executed and Snow will be in the hands of that monster and his mad King," Hades stated.

"Then do we have a deal?" Rumple asked. Persephone pursed her lips.

"Deal...but you better hold up your end," she warned. He let out another high pitched giggle, as they shook hands.

"Don't worry dearie, your daughter will soon be Queen and she'll remain with her troo wuv under the curse," he promised.

"Well...I'll be off now to curse your wife," Regina goaded, as she disappeared in a puff of violet smoke.

"Are you going to get us out of here now or not?" Hades asked impatiently.

"Yes, yes...first thing is first though," Rumple said, as David disappeared and reappeared outside the cell.

"We need to get you ready for your big moment," the imp stated.

~*~

Snow worked tirelessly with a hairpin on the lock of her cell, but sighed and finally took a break. Her arms ached, as she had been working hours now on trying to pick the lock, but with no success.

"You must save your energy, beautiful Snow...that lock is enchanted and cannot be bypassed," Frollo chided, as she turned and found him staring at her through the bars.

"By the Gods...I didn't think it was possible, but I want you even more now than before," he leered, as he reached through the bars and Snow whimpered, as he put a bony hand around her slender neck, forcing her to look at him.

"Get your hands off me!" Snow growled.

"So very fair...lips so red…" he whispered, as he ran a thumb over her lips.

"I must have you…" he said, as he phased inside the cell and she cried out in fright, as he gripped her arms.

"I thought that no woman could ever tempt me again the way the lovely Esmeralda did. I thought none could be more forbidden than she," he continued.

"But my demon blood is called by yours," he added.

"I am not a demon, you psychopath!" Snow hissed, as she kneed him in the groin. He groaned and fell to his knees, as she rushed to the bars and shook them. But there was no escape.

"I will have you, Snow White!" Frollo growled, as he started to get up and panic began to overwhelm her at the thought of what he meant to do to her.

Suddenly, someone appeared outside the bars in a puff of violet smoke and she was astonished by who it was.

"Regina?" she asked in surprise.

"Hello Snow," she greeted simply.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Offering you a way out of...this," she said, as she looked distastefully at Frollo.

"Oh yes...please help me. He's insane," she pleaded.

"Take a bite of this and all your problems will be solved," Regina offered.

"An apple?" Snow asked in confusion, as Frollo got to his feet. Regina waved her hand and immobilized him with her magic, but noticed it was a struggle.

"I can't hold him long. This apple will leave a very bad taste in your mouth to say the least, but I can promise that one bite will take you far from here and the next time you open your eyes, you'll be looking up at your Charming prince," Regina stated.

"Really?" Snow asked skeptically.

"Truly...oh, and I'll be Queen while my mother will finally be out of my hair at last. It's a win-win for us both," she promised, as Snow stared at the piece of fruit.

"You need to hurry...I can't hold him much longer," Regina stated, as Frollo struggled to get free. Snow took a deep breath and took the apple, before biting into it. She felt herself choke and then unconsciousness overtook her, as she fell to the floor. And Frollo shouted in rage, as the Princess disappeared in a puff of smoke and out of his reach. Regina smirked and disappeared as well.

~*~

As she reappeared in the halls of the dungeon, she saw David double over in pain.

"What have you done? What have you done to Snow?" he cried.

"You feel it?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes!" he cried.

"Relax...she's under the sleeping curse now, but it's far better than what fate awaited her with Frollo," she assured.

"And now it's time," Rumple stated, as there was another puff of magic and when the smoke cleared, it revealed David, dressed in a princely red coat, complete with a white tunic, black leather pants, and boots.

"Now you look the part for your big moment," he stated, as Regina handed his mother's ring to him.

"Why did you take this from Snow?" he demanded to know.

"Because it's enchanted now and she's in the infinite forest. You'll need it to find her. The closer you get, the brighter it will glow," Rumple responded, as he waved his hand and the Prince disappeared.

"What about us?" James asked anxiously, as they heard guards coming.

"Hmm...yes, you all will have your own duties to tend to now. You two will need this," he said, as he handed Hades a potion that would free them from the magic suppressing cuffs. Then, with a wave of Rumple's hand, all of them, including the dwarves, disappeared.

The guards arrived and found empty cells when they did.

"They're gone...inform King Arawn at once!" one of the guards bellowed.

~*~

David reappeared in the middle of a forest and found a white horse awaiting him. The ring on his pinky glowed and he mounted the animal, before setting off in a hurried gallop to find his wife.

The dwarves appeared in the infinite forest and found themselves in a place surrounded by tall trees and a plethora of snowdrops.

"Where the hell are we?" Grumpy questioned.

"Look!" Doc called, as he drew their attention forward. And there, resting in a glass covered coffin, was a sleeping Snow White, dressed in a beautiful white gown. Snow began to fall from the sky, as the seven dwarves began their watch over their Princess.

~*~

Eli, James, and Lancelot appeared back at their camp, and called their small, misfit army to arms.

"Snow White has been put under a sleeping curse!" Lancelot announced, causing commotion to ripple through the ranks.

"As we speak, Prince David is racing through the infinite forest in search of her to awaken her with true love's kiss," he continued.

"King Arawn has cursed the Princess!" they heard some of the young recruits assume and they didn't correct them.

"It is time that King Arawn is dethroned permanently. Spread the word through the villages and let them know that we have the backing of the Gods! The Goddess Persephone will not let this one stand and she will lend her power to us to avenge our daughter!" Eli announced, as they dispersed to rally the people to arms.

"I hope this works," James muttered.

"It will...we must have faith," Lancelot stated.

~*~

Hades and Persephone appeared on Mount Olympus, spying Zeus on his Throne. Flanking that Throne was Deimos and his father Ares. Hephaestus observed nearby from his forge, while the others Gods began to appear, flanking Persephone with Hades. Demeter, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, and Phobos. Aphrodite joined Ares and her son, though she was horrified to see where her precious Phobos was.

"Phobos...what are you doing?" she questioned.

"Choosing the right side, mother…" he stated simply. Off to the side, Hera, Athena, and Hecate appeared, as they were unsurprisingly the neutral parties in all of this. Hera hated her husband, but stopped short of going against him so directly. And Athena always remained neutral, for she had already foretold the outcome and Hecate often remained neutral with her, ready to support her prophecies when they came true.

"You do not want to do this, Persephone…" Zeus warned.

"I assure you that I do…" she replied.

"You will all pay dearly for betraying me," he warned one more time.

"Or perhaps you fear what you know will come to pass...a new Order," Apollo announced, as magic exploded between the Gods and lit up the skies with brilliant colors and lightning.

~*~

David raced forth on his steed, urging the horse as fast as it could run. The ring was steadily getting brighter, as he rode along the dirt path and finally along the seaside road. Snow began to fall from the sky, just as he arrived in the alcove where his wife slept in a glass coffin of all things. Rumpelstiltskin had really employed all the necessary theatrics to make it an incredible story.

He dismounted his horse and rushed forth, where the dwarves kept watch.

"You really think this true love's kiss thing will work?" Grumpy asked gruffly.

"Do you doubt my love for Snow?" David countered with a steely gaze, which made the dwarf relent. No one could refute their love, unless they were just plain daft.

"Then I guess it would be stupid to say that you're too late," Grumpy added.

"It would," David agreed.

"Open it," he demanded, as he leaned down over her and pressed his lips to hers. A wave of rainbow colored magic swept over them all and then washed over the entire land in a brilliant display. Snow took a starved breath of air and looked up, seeing her husband smiling down at her.

"You...you found me," she said, as he helped her sit up.

"Did you ever doubt I would?" he asked. She smiled at him.

"Truthfully, being carried off by a demon and the glass coffin gave me pause," she admitted. He chuckled and kissed her again, while caressing her cheek.

"Well, you never have to worry...for I will always find you," he promised, as he helped her to her feet and they strolled along the beach.

"So...what now?" she asked.

"Your mother has gone to challenge Zeus for his power. And your father is with my brother and Lancelot. They're rallying our troops," he replied.

"Then it's time...to take back the Kingdoms," she realized. He nodded, as he followed her gaze in the distance to the magnificent castles across the sea.

"Well, at least we will be doing this like we do everything...together," she said, as she kissed him again.

"Together," he confirmed.

"There is still the matter of the Chernabog though," she reminded.

"Your mother will win power and then she will be able to seal it away again," he said. She nodded and was hopeful that her mother would succeed.

"I love you Snow," he said. She smiled.

"I love you too, Charming," she replied, as their lips met passionately again.

"Come my darling...we'll lead the charge against Arawn's army," he said, as they mounted his horse and took off into the forest.

~*~

Persephone dodged Zeus' lightning bolts, as each one threatened to pummel her and her lavender magic slammed into him, as they engaged in a power struggle. The battle had raged for hours now and they were all weary. She wanted to yield, as every muscle in her body screamed in protest. But she couldn't. She wouldn't, for Snow's future rested upon what happened here. And for her daughter, son-in-law, and subsequently future grandchildren, she would win this day.

"Give it up already, Persephone...you cannot defeat me. The power of the sky is at my beck and call!" Zeus boasted, as lightning and thunder boomed angrily around them.

"Yet you abuse the power of the sky. It did not bestow its power to you so you could strike down those that disagree with you or punish humans for their mistakes! For grievances you yourself commit!" she accused.

"I am Supreme...they are peons, including your half breed spawn," he hissed.

"And once I am done with you, I will send Deimos to capture her and then she will suffer for your betrayal," he promised.

"Snow is innocent! If you keep going after the innocent, then you are not as righteous as you claim! Your evil ways will see that the power of the sky will cease to hear your call!" she announced. He smirked and held out his hand, commanding Hephaestus to give him yet another lightning bolt. The other God reluctantly obeyed, sending another bolt into his hand.

"I'd say the lightning still obeys my call and this one will be your end, Persephone," he called, as he threw the bolt directly at her.

~*~

Hades wearily battled the brute strength of Ares, as blood trickled down his face from the nick he had sustained from the other's blade.

"You never were much of a warrior, Uncle. Honestly, I never expected you to choose the wrong side though," Ares boasted, as he pummeled the other man to the ground. Hades rolled away from his blade and climbed to his feet again. Blue fire came alive in his hand and the tips of his hair, as he fired the attack at Ares, who batted his attack away.

"I'm going to enjoy sending you to one of your own rivers," Ares goaded, as he brought his sword up for the final strike, but he stopped, as they all witnessed a spectacle sight before them…

~*~

Persephone's eyes widened, as she saw the bolt coming straight toward her. She knew if she let it hit her, it would be over. But if she attempted to seize its power, than two things would happen, it would either end her or choose her. And so she stood tall and let the love she felt for her family give her the strength and courage she needed. She jumped up, reaching her hand up and there was an explosion as she made contact with the lightning bolt. Zeus smirked and eagerly waited for the smoke to clear, so he could see her charred body and watch his older brother crumble.

But when the smoke did clear, he frowned, as a figure stood there, glowing with silver light. Persephone's eyes glowed silver and he was horrified to see that his lightning bolt was in her hand. He seethed at that and turned to Hephaestus.

"Another lightning bolt!" he demanded, but the other God did not obey this time.

"I'm sorry...the lightning does not heed your call anymore," the man said in a low voice. His eyes widened and he looked back at Persephone, as she stood tall and looked at the lightning bolt in her hand.

"You did it…" Hades uttered in amazement.

"The sky has chosen a new champion," Athena announced.

"Hmmm...you've been dethroned it would seem," Hera said, not bothering to hide how pleased she was by that.

"N...no! This cannot be happening!" he raged, as he blasted her with a fireball, but she caught it in her hand and it fizzled to nothing.

"It's over brother...you've lost," Hades said smugly.

"And you're enjoying it," Zeus accused.

"Oh...immensely so," Hades confirmed.

"So what now? You kill me? You advocate against such, but you will end me. I never took you for a hypocrite, Persephone," Zeus goaded.

"No...you will live, because I am not like you. But I feel that there are many down on earth that may not be so kind," she replied, confusing him for a moment, as one of his own lightning bolts hit him. He screamed in terror, as he was cast out and plummeted to earth. Another lightning bolt hit Deimos and plunged him to the Earth as well. She prepared to sentence Ares and Aphrodite to the same fates, but they were on their knees in an instant, begging her to spare them.

"Please…" Ares pleaded.

"Our allegiance is to you," Aphrodite claimed.

"You had better not make me regret this...but for Phobos, I'll give you another chance," she declared.

"Thank you...my Queen. You will certainly be a welcome and benevolent ruler," Phobos stated, as they turned their attention down to Earth, where the disgraced Gods were finding out about their new fate.

~*~

Deimos and Zeus got to their feet and found that they felt very differently.

"What...what has she done to us?" Deimos demanded to know.

"She...she took our magic and our immortality!" Zeus cried. Both were horrified by their new, mortal existence and now knew what the new supreme Goddess meant by sentencing them to a fate worse than death…

~*~

King Arawn stared in horror, as his Empire began to collapse around him in a matter of hours. Once his most loyal soldiers had been defeated by Snow and Charming's ragtag band of misfits, that which included an actual werewolf, the rest of his army quickly deflected and abandoned his cause. He had forced many of them into his army and had not inspired the loyalty that Snow White seemed to inspire in her troops. His castle doors boomed, as they burst open. Snow and Charming, along with Prince James, Lancelot, and King Eli stood strong before him.

"This is not your palace, Your Majesty. It belongs to my father and we're here to take back what is ours," Snow announced.

"And will you still stand when Zeus comes to eradicate you, dear Snow?" Arawn challenged.

"Zeus no longer rules the skies," another voice said, as Persephone appeared with Hades beside her and held a lightning bolt in her hand as proof of her claim. King Arawn's eyes widened in surprise.

"You are under arrest for war crimes and genocide...Your Majesty," Eli announced smugly. There was no fleeing for him, as Lancelot was swift to restrain him and he was put in chains. This time, he was the one being led to the dungeon. Snow and David smiled at each other, as they hugged and he spun her around.

"We did it, my love," she whispered.

"We did...together," he said, as he held her close and they relished their long deserved victory together.

~*~

Leopold and Cora hurried through their palace carrying what belongings they could, as they attempted to make a get away. The tide had shifted and they had picked the wrong side. And with Persephone in control, Cora knew she would replace them with her insipid daughter.

"Regina...we must go! Snow and her wretched prince have taken the Kingdom!" Cora urged.

"King Arawn has been captured," Leopold added.

"Yes...I know. You've been replaced," Regina stated.

"Yes...it is likely that Persephone will put her daughter on our Throne," Cora said. But Regina smirked.

"No...you've both been replaced...by me," the younger woman stated, as her lips curled into a devious smirk.

"What?" Cora questioned.

"You...you freed them, didn't you?" she asked her daughter.

"I did," Regina confirmed.

"You...you betrayed us! Our own daughter!" Leopold cried in outrage.

"You are not my father," Regina stated, as Henry appeared behind them and pulled a sheet away from a looking glass for her.

"Now...you'll either walk through that looking glass to a realm you'll never return from...or I deliver you to Persephone's feet," she commanded.

"Regina...please don't do this," Cora pleaded.

"You ruined my life…" Regina growled.

"You killed Daniel and destroyed any chance at happiness I ever had!" she ranted.

"So now...turn about is fair play, mother. I banish you to a place where you will spend your days knowing nothing but what you fear most. Being powerless…" Regina stated.

"Regina please…" Cora pleaded, but her daughter gave her a violent shove and she was pushed through the looking glass.

"Follow her or Hades and King Eli will have you, as will Snow's husband. And I doubt you'll enjoy that. Go through that looking glass and you might have a fighting chance," Regina stated. Leopold, looking absolutely terrified, took the opportunity she was giving him and followed Cora through the looking glass.

~*~

"Wow...they won. And I mean really won this time," Emma said, as hope filled her voice. But the look on Athena's face was not one of optimism.

"What? This is good, right? Maybe this will be better, especially if there is still a curse," Emma said.

"My parents and I will stay together, even if we have different identities and they don't remember everything. And then...I'll still break the curse and possibly meet Neal…" she continued.

"I'm afraid it's not over Emma and it may not go the way it seems it will now," Athena said vaguely. Emma frowned and continued to watch. Based on what she knew about the time line, it was probable that her mother was already pregnant with her and just didn't know it yet. And that meant her time to make a decision was dwindling fast.

"I want to watch a bit longer, but if it goes bad...then I know what my decision will be," she decided gravely...

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #AU #Rumbelle #Swanfire #HadesxPersephone #greek mythology meets farytales #romance #adventure #family #Dreaming out loud

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arcticdementor · 5 years

Quote

This is a topic with which I have some intimate familiarity from first hand experience. I’d like Stone (and other Right-Gramscians like Vermeule) to be right about this, but they aren’t, in two important ways. Now, of course, personnel is policy, and a bureaucracy filled with more right-leaning people would tend towards more right-leaning results. But the bigger problem by far is the courts. Worrying about the political composition of the bureaucracy is focusing on straining the gnats out of your pool when there is a giant, hungry, man-eating alligator swimming in it. A mostly Democrat bureaucracy for any Republican administration is a stubborn mule but one that be tamed and harnessed with sufficient coaxing and prodding which doesn’t actually require all that much sophisticated savvy. There is no taming the hungry alligator. If it decides to make you a snack, you either shoot it in the head or at the very least you’re losing a limb. Trump has been riding the mule through the swamp trail well enough, but the gator keeps jumping out of the water and eating the mule’s legs. Recently many journalists and commentators – including many on the right – have been pushing a fake-news meme that is completely without basis in reality (but what else is knew) which is that a main reason Trump is having trouble accomplishing his goals is because he and his administration lacks “political competence”. The non-progressives among them use this meme to bolster their big “told you so”, and prove they were right all along about the need to pick a GOP establishment figure … who would use all the extra competence to do things thing the base didn’t want them to. Do I get a mediocre buyer’s agent, or a great one, but he’s married to the seller? Some choice! These claims rely on the assumption of truly magical levels of power resulting from ‘political competence’ which expands the zone of possible agreements to infinity. See, if Trump was only politically competent, he would made all the clever deals necessary to have persuaded the GOP establishment to do whatever he wanted on the very positions in which Trump distinguished himself from the rest of the party, positions to which they made it perfectly clear they could never be moved, even if dragged, kicking and screaming. Look, that’s just a facially nutty claim that shouldn’t see the light of day without strong evidence. And yet … The other half of the ‘political competence’ claim is that Trump’s administration lacks ‘bureaucratic / legal competence’. That his administration is filled to the brim with hacks and cronies and recent graduate interns and clueless drones from the – get this – private sector (gasp!), who don’t know anything about how government processes (e.g., those required by the APA) work. If only the administration had clever, savvy, and sophisticated government-experts, and lots more of them, well then, again, because these are magic powers without limit, Trump could wield them like a dictator in possession of the One Ring to do anything his heart desires. Again, that’s nuts! As ‘evidence’ for these claims, the journalists and commentators point to … judges – mostly progressive ones – knocking his initiatives down. Because, as we all know, progressive judges are just pushovers for Republican initiatives when they are conducted with bureaucratic savvy? When Obama couldn’t get something past the courts, it was obviously because of evil judges, never because Obama wasn’t savvy enough. But for non-progressive commentators who have been complaining about a constant stream of judicial abuses for three or four generations now, to suddenly adopt a position that assumes that any judge’s reasons – even infamously biased progressive judges – for invalidating Trump’s initiatives are obviously perfectly valid and legitimate and wrong to question … well, it certainly takes some brass. As it happens, while it could certainly use a lot more, the administration does in fact have sufficient numbers of sufficiently savvy and sufficiently loyal people to get its initiatives through a mostly Democrat bureaucracy just fine, and has done so many times. Take a look at all new rules and notices in the Federal Register over the past two years. The trouble is the lawfare. You can be the most savvy and sophisticated kung-fu master in the world, but if your opponent pulls a sawed-off shotgun out from under his robe, you better run. Look, the courts are just out of control. The typical manner of performing jurisprudential analysis of scrutinizing whether some state action was permissible was to inquire whether or not the exercise of the authority was within the generally understood limits of the powers granted by the Constitution and legislation. If it was within the goal posts, you scored a goal. Case closed. Especially if you were trying to revive some older practice which had already been established to be a legitimate exercise of authority, then you could be almost certain you were on solid ground. That’s what a fair umpire or referee would do, and that’s what we used to call ‘rule of law’ (as opposed to ‘rule by judges’, which, you know, is something altogether different, though someone ought to tell those journalists and commentators.) But a judge who doesn’t want to follow the law obviously won’t be a fan of the actual rule of law. So the judiciary simply fabricated novel ways of invalidating rules they didn’t like, and the political system let them get away with it. A good example is the rational basis test, which allows a judge to say, “Yeah, you may technically have the authority, and there are no other constitutional issues here, but now you also need a good reason to want to do what you’re doing, and guess what, I guess to decide whether your reason is good enough.” But what if the reason had already been held good enough? No worries, we’ll just go one layer deeper and delve into the realm of mind-reading and inquire as to whether your reason was your real reason, or whether it was some pretext, and you are just pretending and saying what your lawyers coached you to say, and in truth you have other, secret reasons, which are bad, forbidden reasons. And, of course, once again, I get to be the judge of all that. After all, I’m a judge! If someone doesn’t understand how fundamentally bogus and illegitimate all this is and how structurally fraught with potential for abuse and bias, such that it would be somehow surmountable by any Republican so long as he had enough political and legal ‘competence’, I have some prime swampland to sell you. It’s full of hungry, man-eating gators, but apparently you think they’re harmless. As a final note, it’s worth considering how exactly is Trump supposed to get those savvy and sophisticated people in, even if he had them, when he can’t get the Senate to confirm anyone to the very positions that would responsible for steering the stagecoach? The sheer number of senior political-appointee positions in the government which are not officially filled is mind-blowing and under-reported, perhaps because no one wants to press the issue too hard, not knowing what would happen if things escalated. The ‘advice and consent’ requirement turns out to be a really bad failure mode in the Constitution which results from a design which was frankly, kind of dumb and naive. Hamilton really embarrasses himself on this point in Federalist 75 and 76, which are probably the weakest and worse things he ever wrote, and I’m guessing he was playing the unmotivated lawyer for a clearly guilty client who was both terrible but too important to refuse (i.e., the class of people who were likely to become Senators). The obvious failure condition (according to today’s rules anyway) is that 40 or more Senators, for whatever reason but most likely simple partisan acrimony and bad faith – simply refuse to provide any consent to confirm anyone or to ratify any treaty that the administration wants. What then? Well, there is the arguably-unconstitutional Federal Vacancies Reform Act (which might turn out to be possible to circumvent anyway via the temporary “First Assistant” tactic), but in general, we have a question of whether the President can more or less keep on running the Executive without the Senate confirming anybody. So, either the provision is null and void (as with the case of war-like or treaty-like foreign policy which just goes on as if valid, whether the war is declared or the treaty ratified or not), or it’s valid, and most of what the government is doing is null and void, because it’s not being directed by people with Constitutionally valid authority – which is kind of a ‘nuclear option’ / ‘government shutdown’ level consequence, and no one wants to open up that Pandora’s Box. Maybe one day this big issue will get fixed or settled, though it’s hard to see how. However, in the meantime, to the extent it still severely limits who any Republican President is able to place in the positions necessary to apply any savvy and sophisticated political competence to managing the bureaucracy, it just makes a giant joke of any claim that it’s mostly the lack of such leet DC skeelz that accounts for Trump’s inability to get everything he wants right away.

Handle

#quote #long quote #handle #comments section #askblog

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genocider-syo-is-still-my-queen · 6 years

Text

Tokomaru week day 5: Magic (specifically, avatar the last air bender au)

Komaru raced over to the scene of the crime. As a member of the police, she had to do her best to solve the mysterious case of Genocider Syo... oh who was she kidding, it was Genocider, she had know that for months. She wasn’t here to investigate, she was here to hide the evidence. Now, was this a corrupt thing to do? Of course, but she didn’t care, she wanted to protect her lover no matter what it took. Besides, Genocider never killed an innocent man. But of course the law didn’t see it that way, especially seeing as the forbidden art of bloodbending was used in the murder.

Komaru carefully searched the area, finding nothing that could incriminate the girl, she was thorough as always. It was surprising really, such a flashy murder was so flawlessly pulled off. This man, Komaru recognised him, he should have been in prison years ago, but always managed to bribe his way out of it. It was to to know he was finally gone. She went back to her office and wrote a full report of the scene, which didn’t require a lot of work. It was mostly just copy pasting the previous report with a different date and name. She finished her work and headed home, first stopping at the girl's apartment.

"Honey, I’m home!" She called as she let herself in. She’d always wanted to use that line.

However it was Korekiyo, not Toko, who stepped out of the kitchen. "Oh Komaru, hello. Sorry, she’s not home yet. I think she was talking to her publisher."

"Ah, of course. So how’s your book coming along?" She was referring of course, to 'Non-benders and how society treats them'. It was a project that was close to his heart, as his sister had been killed, unable to protect herself. Komaru was pretty sure he was the other loose serial killer, who seemed to have a mission to kill 100 corrupt benders as revenge.

"It’s going well, I managed to collect several testimonies from people involved in Amon's revolution. It was extremely interesting, and I’ve been promised an interview with the avatar herself, who will be able to tell me plenty about how life was like 80 years ago."

"The avatar? That’s amazing! I hope it all goes well." Komaru had always admired the girl, especially due to her role in normalising same-sex relationships.

"Thank you." He was about to speak more, when the front door opened.

"Hey Komaru, why are you here?" Toko entered, yawning.

"Well, I just wanted to visit you darling. How are you?"

"I’m good... I did some water bending training this morning."

"And? How’s that going for you?"

"Not well, I’m still awful at it..."

"Hey, don’t put yourself down, many people struggle with bending."

"Consider yourself lucky you have it." Korekiyo called through from the next room.

"I just- how does the monster do it so easily? Even mastering the- the- that awful art..."

Komaru patted her on the shoulder, and sat her down. "Don’t worry, it’ll all be fine. Besides, you already have a special power, what should I call it? Wordbending!"

"T-thanks." Toko seemed a little happier now, good.

After talking for an hour, including a little chat with Genocider about how much she enjoyed taking down that guy, in her usual gorey detail, Komaru decided to head home.

"You can always stay the night, there’s a spare bed. Or... or you could sleep in my room."

"No, I need to get up early. Thanks though."

"Alright. Goodnight... darling."

"Night!" Komaru kissed her, causing Toko to blush. "Haha, if that’s enough to make you blush, imagine what would happen if we slept together, you’d be a tomato!" This caused Toko to blush even deeper. Komaru waved goodbye.

Upon arriving home, she waved to her brother, who was eagerly watching the pro-bending on tv. "Is your team playing?"

"Yep! You know, when I watch this, I wonder if we’ll ever be as good as them..." His favourite team, the ultimates, seemed to be destroying the competition. Mukuro was as calm as ever, managing to produce lightning, even in such stressful conditions. Akane's gymnastic skills, along with her airbending, meant that the opposing team couldn’t land a single hit on her. But Naegi was mostly focused on the girl they shared an element with - Sakura Oogami, one of the strongest earthbenders in the world. She was hit many times, but never even took a step back. It seemed their waterbender - Tenko - wasn’t playing today.

"Well, I’m sure we’ll never be as good as them, but we can try our best."

"Yeah... so, have you found the culprit yet? I’ve been thinking, and I might know who it is. You’d be shocked to find out though."

"Is- is that so?" Crap, had Naegi already figured out Toko's secret identity? He was a student of the head of police, but she hadn’t realised his detective skills were that good already.

"This my sound weird, but I think Genocider and the Nil killer are the same, or at least know each other well." Was that what they were calling Korekiyo now? No wonder he kept complaining.

"Well, their MOs are completely different, so I doubt they’re the same."

"Ah, I don’t really have any evidence for it, it’s just a theory..." Komaru breathed a sigh of relief, her friends were safe for now.

Next week, Komaru was having another boring day, when an announcement was made: "Alert! Genocider has been spotted! Requesting backup!" She got up, and went over as soon as she could. This was serious, and if she messed up, she risked losing her job, and her girlfriend.

"A corpse was spotted there about 10 minutes ago, and we're sure the killer is still in the area. We've been following these footprints, let’s go before she escapes."

Komaru obliged, and kept an eye out, hoping to confront the killer one on one. The group split up, and she ended up travelling with one other cop. She walked around for a while until they saw a suspicious figure covered in blood. Komaru recognised the girl immediately.

"Attention! Please stop in the name of the law!" Her partner yelled, causing the figure to run away down another street. He tried to shoot fire at her, but missed. They ran after her in hot pursuit, but when they turned, they couldn’t see her. Except, Komaru had seen which way she went, and this was the perfect opportunity to 'accidentally let her escape'.

"I’ll go this way." She spoke, and her partner nodded and headed in the opposite direction. She ran along, trying to find her, when suddenly she couldn’t move.

She realised what was happening almost immediately, bloodbending. She desperately tried to turn her head, and saw Genocider smiling at her. "Hiya dear!"

"H-hi. Could you let me go now, I’m not gonna catch you."

"Well, I could do that, but I’m sure Toko would prefer it if I hurt you just a little more..."

"Um... what?"

"Well, if you got injured, you’d have to take time off work, which means you’d have more time to spend with Toko nursing you. She is getting awfully lonely with you working all the time."

Komaru thought for a moment, maybe she did need a break. But in the other hand, Toko would never be able to forgive herself if she got hurt. "No thanks. Please put me down now." Genocider shrugged and obliged, before running off again, leaving Komaru on the ground, terrified. She now understood what bloodbending was capable of firsthand, not just from a textbook, and never wanted to experience it again.

She bent the ground in front of her, to make it look like a fight occurred, before calling for help, which arrived shortly. She explained what had happened, and was rushed to the nearest hospital.

A little while later, she and her partner were questioned about the killer's appearance. Luckily, he didn’t have a perfect memory either, and thought she had black hair, which Komaru was happy to agree with.

As she left, she made eye contact with the head of police. She had a look in her eye that seemed to know everything. Komaru brushed it off as her imagination, but vowed to never get on her bad side.

#toko fukawa #komaru naegi #toukomaruweek2018 #danganronpa #danganronpa ultra despair girls

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inumbro · 6 years

Text

a collection of some of the ama answers, all the twitter posts, and all of red posts on the boards about zed & some related topics that I can find from the last ~1.5 years (with a few exceptions), so that I have all this info in one spot for reference

organised based first by topic, then by rioter

if anyone has any jhin / xayah / rakan / vastaya related information that I missed I’d appreciate a link so I can add it bc there’s not nearly as much not-officially-canon-canon information on those connections as I remember there being!

Morals:

WAAARGHbobo said:

No. He is, if anything, a hardline nationalist and federalist.

WAAARGHbobo said:

Zed is, indeed, much more complicated than you think. But he is definitely not a nice person.

@miketmccarthy said:

At the moment, [Akali] does not align with [Zed’s] philosophy. He killed Shen’s father and master. Although they are both aggressive, Akali is inherently good and Zed, well, notsomuch.

Shadow magic:

WAAARGHbobo said:

...A wizard has a different, more studious, and analytical way of accessing magic — but arguably a shaman has a more inate connection to spirit magic. While warriors like Zed, Shen, and Kayn have studied a different way to access magical power—

The strenght of the connection, the control, and the narrowness of focus are all important variables...

@LaurieGolding said:

... but Shadow Magic had not been practiced in Runeterra for a long time, before Zed started. Jax hasn't had time to master it in the ~10 years since then!

Kayn:

Scathlocke said:

Kayn's principal conflict is almost not with Rhaast at all, but Zed. It is very likely that his master sent him to retrieve the weapon knowing that it would be the ultimate test for his protege - either it would destroy him, or he would conquer the Darkin and become a worthy new leader for the Order of Shadow.

Basically, Kayn and Zed have a super-complicated "adopted father" type of relationship going on. Rhaast is more like Lady Macbeth, in this current situation.

@LaurieGolding said:

I think [Kayn’s] shadow-form is what Kayn and Zed both hope the outcome will be - he's been given a near-impossible task by his master, as a true and final test of his worthiness to one day lead the Order of Shadow. If he fails, the weapon will consume him.

It's interesting, because both Zed and Swain seem to have engineered their plans for succession into their own rise to power. Both of them seem to say "You can have my job... IF you can take it!"

@LaurieGolding said:

Kayn is a singularly gifted student, but Zed gave him the hardest test imaginable - to withstand the power of a Darkin. ...

Jaredan said:

I wouldn't take the horror of Kayn's experience as typical of Noxus's approach or attitude to recruitment. The Ionia conflict saw some very strange things happen within the Noxian military and beyond. I can't talk about them yet. But that day will come.

@miketmccarthy said:

I think a lot of that will come out later... Zed has had a complicated run in his life, he wants a successor, and I believe he hopes Kayn is 'the one' and time will tell whether or not he can be that. Zed saved Kayn from certain death, trained him, raised him. He cares.

Interlocutioner said:

Link to Zed: Functionally, they're master and apprentice. But in truth, I think they have a deeper relationship than that. Zed sees himself in Kayn. An orphan with a gift and a drive that others can't control, no matter how much they try. No matter how much Zed tries, in Kayn's case, lol. I think Zed might also see something he could never be in Kayn. Kayn's link to the shadow is deep, for whatever reason. Maybe Zed hopes this is a sign that Kayn could do better than him? Ultimately succeed him? And he may have other, darker motives as well.

I think Kayn's respect for Zed is just as deep. Unfortunately, he's in the process of convincing himself that the only way he can prove himself to his father figure is by becoming something more than Zed wants him to be. Stronger than Zed. Strong enough to defeat him, if necessary.

They have a bond, but it will be tested.

...

I just mean their bond will be tested by Kayn's possession of Rhaast, if nothing else.

Kinkou + Jhin:

Jaredan said:

The characters you mentioned [Shen, Zed, Jhin] are very important to each other's lives going forward...

Jaredan said:

Shen, Zed, and Jhin, sitting in a tree. K. I. L. L. I. N. G.

In their history, Jhin is absolutely an antagonist. But Shen doesn't look at Zed with any kind of fondness, only with betrayal. The man he thought was his brother murdered his father, the person that Shen defined himself by.

However, it's true that Shen can't give into his own immediate, visceral anger. Perhaps he even tells himself he doesn't hold that anger against Zed. His job does require him to hold that inner balance to perform it. It's a role that he does partly in honor of his father. Still, if Shen told you he isn't angry, would you believe him?

When he has two worlds balanced on the edge of a blade, how long any man keep his hand steady?

I'm not going to talk about where their story might be headed in specifics, but those are the things that are involved in our thinking.

Jaredan said:

Yup, though Shen and Zed's relationship is a bit more complicated than Tobias and Malcolm's. Zed and Shen also have more complicated personalities and responsibilities than TF and Graves (that's not a challenge when it comes to Graves especially, he's a to-the-point kind of fellow).

Scathlocke said:

Shen is most likely seeing quite a few parallels between Zed's path, and Akali's. There is some significant crossover in their ideology, and they both rejected the Kinkou Order in some way... but Zed rejects the notion of "balance" as weak, and is more than happy to use any/all means at his disposal. Akali is certainly not there, yet!

Thermal_Kitten said:

Akali knows the cost of Zed’s break with the Kinkou. Zed was training alongside Shen, but after their first run in with Jhin, Zed began to have second thoughts. (We updated Zed’s bio to add more context and details surrounding this.)

...

As far as the Order of Shadow and the Kinkou, they don’t exactly work together, it’s more they tend to keep out of each other’s territory and see to Ionia’s future in their own ways. If it came to a direct disagreement, it could come to blows.

WAAARGHbobo said:

Jhin give us a chance to show that Ionia is in transition. The attack on their nation changed them. They are embracing technology they had previously thought unnecessary, and they are questioning their morale foundations. Jhin is the true villain of Zed and Shen's story-- and he represents everything that could go wrong for Ionia.

The Noxus-Ionia war:

Scathlocke said:

Seven years since Swain seized power and commanded the Noxian armies to leave Ionia.

@LaurieGolding said:

Noxus has a HUGE military presence off the main coast of Ionia - the First Lands are so concerned with restoring balance after they "won" the war, they've failed to notice that Noxus hasn't actually abandoned the island of Fae'lor, for example...

@LaurieGolding said:

The Great Stand at Navori was about ten years ago, and she was something like 14 then. Swain seized control of Noxus roughly three years later and ended the war in Ionia.

@LaurieGolding said:

Noxus was originally supposed to be persuading Ionia to join the empire, which of course became an occupation, then a war. They didn't intend to pillage/destroy... But it seems Darkwill was actually looking for magical stuff to extend his life, so who knows? (LeBlanc, maybe?)

@LaurieGolding said:

The death toll was catastrophic, certainly. But also, Ionia has been marked with a big, bloody Noxian handprint that they'll never be able to wash away - the soul of the First Lands has been changed forever... Was that Swain's plan all along? It's hard to say.

Vastaya:

Q&A:

Why is there a rebellion? Is Zed doing something with magic that affects the vastaya and are they dying as a result?

Not dying, but magical essence sustains their continued existence. The less magic there is, the fewer resources there are to support vastayan life and tradition. Other humans tap into or twist up the same magic source that the Lhotlan vastaya need to survive. This is not necessarily a moral thing, good people do bad things for good reasons, unaware of the consequences it causes others. Zed and his people are unknowingly or uncaringly accelerating the drain of the magical energy though they are absolutely not alone in doing this. This is aggravating the growing tension between humans and some vastayan tribes in Ionia - and directly violates the agreements that were forged between species.

Miscellaneous:

In response to:

Then Zed decided to pull a Sasuke because he couldn't deal with someone being better/picked over him.

Jaredan said:

Zed's issues run a bit deeper than that.

WAAARGHbobo said:

[referring to the wild magic video] It is not a part of the timeline. Promotion team just takes inspiration from the lore-- they do not make stuff within the timelines. Because... uh.. Reasons? Well you'd have to ask them.

WAAARGHbobo said:

So as the guy who did this, and Jhin’s lore...

The character you love hasn’t changed.

This simply expands the timeline and shows how Zed’s descent can be understood from his own perspective.

This timeline was actually done during Jhin, and the goal was to give Zed’s fall a slower, more human, less arch, trajectory.

Timeline (rough from my phone):

Shen and Zed are students together and bros. Zed is clearly the better, more talented student.

Kusho takes the two young teenagers undercover chasing “the golden demon”

Jhin crime scenes traumatized zed. (And shen)

Zed begans to struggle with his studies.

Kusho catches but refuses to kill Jhin. Zed loses respect for his master.

Zed begins to study forbidden shadow magic. —gets in trouble.

Leaves.

Noxus invades —zed witness war crimes. Kusho’s refusal to help the war effort is the last straw, Zed is no longer sympathetic or allied to the kinkou. While not directly opposed to them— he begins to view the kinkou as rivals.

Zed forms his own order— related to the Navoi militia group. (Spelling?)

Some vastaya tribes looking for a better deal, ally with the Noxus. Others fight for Ionia. Zed begins hostility with non- humans.

The war is tough, zed returns to the take the last of the shadow magic. Kusho tries to stop him.

Zed kills his master, shen’s dad.

Shen becomes the eye of twilight.

Kayn.

The war ends.

Zed begins consolidating power. Trains kayn. (He continues hostility with noxus, growing hostility with many Vastaya tribes.)

Harrowing mists begin to bother the southern Ionia sea ports.

Kayn gets raaast (around here i think)

Jhin is frees.... by someone

Zed finds out jhin is free. contacts Shen.

Jhin heads to zaun.

#zed #super long post warning /#long post warning /#dear anyone who sees this on my blog on mobile or anywhere where read more doesn't work: I am so sorry #official information.#jesus fucking CHRIST this took a LONG ASS TIME TO COMPILE #I have memories of more information that I can't find and I'm like #are the rioters not red anymore and therefore not on the boards or #the red tracker I mean #zzzzz #might tweet at scathlocke to see if I can get an indication of what shadow marks would look like for zed #or age. or more on his contribution to the ionian war.#despite how much there is here so little of it is like. 'new.'#: (

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skeethings-blog · 7 years

Photo

OUT OF CHARACTER

♔ INTRODUCTION Taylor, 18, cst, female pronouns

♔ ACTIVITY Uh…about the same as it is now. Roughly around a 7/10, if I had to put it onto a scale for how often I post weekly. I try to churn out replies fairly quickly, and now that I’m done with school until fall I have a lot of free time, so hopefully that won’t change very much.

♔ HOW ARE YOU? I’m doing okay. Kind of have a headache at the moment, but things could be worse.

♔ WHAT HARRY POTTER CHARACTER DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH MOST?: I feel like my answer to this changes every day, but right now I’d say Ginny Weasley.

IN CHARACTER

♔ DESIRED CHARACTER Rita Guinevere Skeeter

♔ FACE CLAIM Claire Holt

♔ REASON FOR CHOSEN CHARACTER Rita was always a very fascinating character to me in the canon series, even if - and I say this with love in mind - she is horribly annoying. Gossip mongrels tend to be, and of course she’s no exception. Though unlike many, Rita is very intelligent in the ways she goes about uncovering stories. She was placed into Ravenclaw for a reason. While many who don’t know her - something she vehemently refuses to believe, by the way - tend to see her in the stereotypical fashions. A pretty blonde girl. This is obviously true, but Rita would be damned to hell multiple times over before she would quit proving anyone wrong.

Rita Skeeter is a catty, vindictive woman, who craves power and success. She may feed off other people and their triumphs and failures to achieve such, but while there are people to desire such, why not take advantage of it?

Her alliance in CRT with the Death Eaters and Voldemort offers such a fascinating look on her character, as well. It gives her depth– more than just the name-smearing, word twisting vindictive journalist Harry Potter encounters at fourteen. The Skeeter family is built on purebloods, but are not in the elite Sacred 28. This leaves an open ended question as tohow Rita Skeeter of all people became part of such a brutal force. She wouldn’t possess the mark, of course - too incriminating, and if anyone understands the importance of protecting your identity, it would be the woman who builds her career of tossing others under the bus. And I don’t see her as being that invested in the protection of blood purity – she’s a pureblood, she’s safe as long as she plays the game correctly. Because that’s what the war is to Rita, a game. She stands with the dangerous ones to keep them from turning against her. But she’s conniving and she’s clever. Her true motives in the war are carefully hidden in crafty words meant to protect herself behind her sugary smile – something she perfected.

♔ PREFERRED SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS

Anything with Chemistry and I will be on board. Considering that Rita’s min focus is herself, her career, success, romance is not on the forefront of her mind. I can’t see her going out of her way to seek out a relationship unless it would lead to information, but that would just make it all the more interesting if something took her by surprise.

♔ CREATE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER:

Aesthetic

MockBlog

Also some songs that ooze Rita vibes:

You’re so Vain - Carly Simon You’re so vain, you probably think this song Is about you Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair And that you would never leave But you gave away the things you loved And one of them was me

Problem - Natalia Kills I’m your dream girl This is real love But you know what they say about me… That girl is a problem

Power and Control - Marina & the Diamonds Women and men, we are the same But love will always be game We give and take a little more Eternal game of tug and war

Think you’re funny, think you’re smart Think you’re gonna break my heart Think you’re funny, think you’re smart Yeah, you may be good-looking but you’re not a piece of art

Miss Jackson - Panic at the Disco

Climbing out the back door, didn’t leave a mark No one knows it’s you Miss Jackson Found another victim, but No one knows it’s you Miss Jackson Where will you be waking up Tomorrow morning? Out the back door, goddamn But I love her anyway

Black Sheep - Gin Wigmore I got lots of jealous lovers that all wish they had me back Got a pistol for a mouth, my own mama gave me that Making my own road out of gravel and some wine And if I have to fall then it won’t be in your line

Kill of the Night - Gin Wigmore The danger is, I’m dangerous And I might just tear you apart

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

♔ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it: A coy smile pulls at her lips, head tilting thoughtfully to the side ever so slightly. She’s thought about it before of course, even experimented once or twice. “Informatum revellio – a charm to tell me when there’s a fresh new story just waiting for me to sink my teeth into. Bystanders are terribly fickle and desperately in need of a lesson into the inner workings of journalism, how to submit tips. It would certainly be far easier on me to simply do it myself.”

♔ You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one other character and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you’d want with you: One arched, fair eyebrow raises in bored curiosity at the question. As if Rita Skeeter would ever step foot into those woods. “I would require nobody’s company but my own, of course, unless they would be offering a less filthy path so I wouldn’t ruin my shoes. If I must, I suppose Travers wouldn’t make the worst company. Leave him to the dirty work.” She quips, flicking her nails out to inspect her manicure, finding more fascination there than in the question. “And some sort of repellant, to keep those horrible creatures from getting to close to me.”

♔ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make? Once again, her head tilts, this time in the opposing direction. She’s quiet for a moment, but not too long. “Whether or not I should be more active in this sad attempt at a war. I’m horrid with decisions that present no obvious outcome.” Well, it certainly could have been worse. “Are you quite finished with these questions yet? Some of us have work to do.”

♔ What is one thing you would never want said about you? A multitude of thoughts flash through her mind, insults she’s tossed at herself while standing in the mirror, drunk and sad, alone in her vast apartment. Selfish, stupid, manipulative. Horrible at her job. Best be prepared to die a young, shameful death. “Oh, this one is easy.” Rita said, a hand flicking through the air, waving it off as if in boredom. “I would certainly detest to hear I am unattractive. No girl ever desires to hear she’s fat or ugly, does she?”

WRITING SAMPLE

Her high heels chimed ominously against the dark floors. Rookwood walked swiftly in front of her, a familiar bloke from school – what was his name, Sebastian? – behind her. An amused smirk flitted across her ruby tinted lips as the realization of just what they were doing hit. Voldemort did not trust her, nor did his goonish followers, who were herding her as if she was a sheep. It was a smart move on their part, Rita could give them that; the pretty blonde journalist, a Death Eater. Certainly it was a laughable thought. Oh, how she could not wait to prove them wrong.

The hallway down which the trio walked, silence aside from the echo of Rita’s shoes, seemed to stretch on for quite too long. She had grown up in a manor, of course, but it hadtaste. Lestrange manor was painfully dreary, the draft shooting which filled the space almost causing her flesh to rise in unfortunate bumps. All of it left her wondering just how these people were so well respected– did they know nothing? Living in a home resembling a crypt was sure to kill one’s reputation.

A firm hand wrapped around her arm suddenly, veering her into a turn she hadn’t seen coming. Her nose scrunched together in disgust, feet nearly failing her from the sudden move – skilled in heels as she was, control was necessary. “Get your likely unwashed hands off of me, thank you.” Rita snarled, snatching her arm away quick as she could. The eyeroll Travers offered in response sent her eyebrows shooting up in disbelief, another snide, quickly crafted remark tainting her tongue.

But before she could release anymore venom, a door creaked ominously in front of her. Yet another indication of how poorly their home was kept. Travers and Rookwood were watching her with the same bored, expectant expression now, and her hues flitted between them quickly. Straightening her shoulders, taking over the stride she had mastered years before – the one which exuded confidence, insight – Rita stepped between them. And there her heels went again, clicking away in a sound resonating similarly to her typewriter.

The room she stepped into was warmer than the hallway, to say the least. A bright, orange fire sparked life from a deep-set fireplace, a long table resting beside it. While the room was not crowded perse, Rita recognized nearly everyone, various bored and amused eyes turning to watch her. To her own credit, the sight of Bellatrix Lestrange and Amycus Carrow did not cause her to falter. If anything, it only pulled the stance back to full, her ever-successful falsified smile gracing tainted lips.

And while she had not seen him yet, he was certainly there. Sitting at the head of the table silently, expectantly. No doubt waiting to see if the pretty blonde girl would run and flee, change her mind, or stay and prove them all wrong.

And well – who was Rita to turn down a good challenge?

#{ app }#¯\_(ツ)_/¯#{ for reference }

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higuchimon · 7 years

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[fanfic] Entrancing Enchantments 2: Entranced Eternity

Series Title: Entrancing Enchantments||Title: Entranced Eternity Characters: Rin, Ruri||Pairing: Rin x Ruri/Ruri x Rin (hints of Selena/Yuzu/Rin/Ruri as well) Chapters: 1-1||Words: 2,000 Genre: Romance, Supernatural||Rated: PG-13 Challenge: Diversity Writing, YGO Arc-V Aus, E3, one-shot with no dividers; Yu-Gi-Oh Femslash Week, day #4, snow Notes: Indications of mind control, fae style. Summary: Rin and Ruri await Selena's return with their newest companion. And while they wait, they have to do something to while away the time, don't they?

Snow fell in the lands of the fae, as it did anywhere else. The difference between those lands and all others was a simple one: snow only fell when someone in the fae realm wanted it to fall and where they wanted it to fall.

Such as one evening in the courtyard most often frequented by the Lady Selena and her two concubines, once-mortal women that she’d brought there to serve her for all time.

Mortals might’ve said other words as opposed to ‘brought there’ or ‘service’, such as ‘beguiled’ or ‘entranced’ or ‘enspelled’ or ‘enslaved’.

Ruri and Rin paid no attention to anyone who would’ve said anything like that, mostly because they never heard anyone say it. Only fae lived in the grand palace and the fae understood.

Rin waved her fingers through the soft, fluffy flakes, enjoying the silver caress of the moonlight.

“When will she be home?” Rin wished very much that she and Ruri could’ve gone with Selena to retrieve Yuzu, but their lady forbade it. They would remain here and await her return with their new companion.

Ruri ran her brush through her long hair, taking careful time to enjoy the process and to make certain no snow melted into her locks. “I don’t know. It could take all night to get there and back again.” Time flowed oddly between the mortal lands and the fae lands. Neither of them were entirely certain of how long they’d been here, but neither had aged so much as a moment since their arrival. Nor had Selena, but that wasn’t a surprise. Fae could live a thousand years and show almost nothing that humans would call age.

Rin sighed a long sigh before she rolled off of the bench she’d been on and settled herself next to Ruri, reaching to take the brush for herself.

“I don’t like when she’s not here,” Rin murmured, starting to brush Ruri’s hair. Her own remained short and easy to take care of, but Ruri’s needed help. Perhaps it would be easier when they had Yuzu with them.

“I know. I don’t either.” Ruri leaned into the brushing, shifting as she did so she could slide her arm around Rin, sharing in her warmth.

Humans were warmer than the fae. Perhaps that was part of why the fae enjoyed their presence so much. Rin hadn’t ever asked. Some things they just didn’t need to know.

But now she leaned her head against Ruri’s side and breathed in the faint mortal scent of her, a scent neither of them would ever shed. They were what they were, after all, and even with their dear lady’s blessing on them so they didn’t age in the mortal fashion, they remained human at their roots.

“What do you think we should do until she comes back?” Rin murmured. There were quite a few things they could do; they had almost total freedom of the palace, and the parts they weren’t allowed into, they literally couldn’t enter anyway. “Go riding?”

Rin loved to ride, and the enchanted fae stallion that Lady Selena allowed her was one of the swiftest in all the land, pure white, save for streaks of gold and blue in his mane. She called him ‘Yuugo’, though she wasn’t certain of why, only that the name fit.

“Maybe later,” Ruri suggested. She’d never really caught on to horseback riding the way that Rin did, though she wasn’t bad at it, either. She nuzzled her head a little against Rin. “I think we should just wait here. It can’t be that much longer.”

Rin started to play with one of Ruri’s long strands of hair. “I hope not.” They were permitted to do anything they wished with one another, so long as Selena hadn’t forbidden it, and there wasn’t anything that she’d forbidden them to do together. Her orders amounted to behaving themselves and not getting into trouble with the other fae, such as Yuuri.

Neither of them even wanted to spend time around Yuuri, in all truth. Words failed them on why, save for a creeping sense that he was wrong somehow.

Ruri’s fingers slid through Rin’s hair, finding all the most delicious places to scratch at. Rin returned the favor, her lips passing softly against Ruri’s cheek.

“How do you think Yuzu looks now that she’s all grown up?” Ruri wondered. Yuzu had been only a few years younger than them when Selena called to them, but that could be a great deal of time to a mortal. Their lack of aging would be a great help in the relationship to come, when the difference might’ve been difficult to deal with if they’d remained mortal.

“Like us,” Rin replied, chuckling some. “You could see it too, couldn’t you?”

Ruri had to have; anyone with eyes could’ve seen how the three of them looked so oddly alike. Perhaps it hadn’t been quite as visible when Yuzu was younger, but they could see it.

Selena also shared their features, though on her, there was that indefinable cast of perfection that only the fae had, that made her so much more magnificent than the two of them put together.

At least that was what Ruri and Rin thought. And what they knew Yuzu would think once she arrived.

Rin kissed her way down the side of Ruri’s face until she reached her lips.

“We’re going to have to keep ourselves occupied for a while, even after they’re here,” Rin reminded Ruri. “Selena will need to take good care of her for a while.”

Both recalled how it had been when they’d first arrived in the fae palace. Selena took each of them in hand, one at a time, and taught them their duties. Whoever wasn’t being educated had to remain in the concubines’ chamber until it was her turn for a lesson.

At least now they would have each other to pass the time with, until Yuzu knew everything that Selena wanted her to know.

Ruri began to kiss Rin back, sliding her slender fingers across the other woman’s back, bared by the cut of her gown. The more she did, the more the snow began to thicken, since it had been called by Rin’s threads of magic, and magic required focus. Enjoying one another in this fashion didn’t do well for focus.

“Stop that,” Rin muttered, in a way that made it doubtful if she actually wanted Ruri to stop at all. If she really did want Ruri to stop touching her, there were other ways to say it, and Ruri would obey right away. “Do you want the castle covered in snow when they get back?”

Ruri’s fingers and lips didn’t stop at all. “What if I do?” Fae could deal with the extremes of weather far more easily than mortals could. It wouldn’t cause them any real problems. At best it might annoy them.

The thought of annoying Yuuri sent a very special thrill all through Ruri and Rin both.

But at the same time, they pulled away from one another, and Ruri let out a sigh of discontent. “He’ll complain to Selena if it annoys him.”

“I did hear that he’s gone, though. Off looking for a mortal toy of his own,” Rin offered, flicking her eyes up at the snow as it began to thin out again. She refused to let herself be worried over what Yuuri might or might not do, only whether it would cause Selena problems. If Yuuri tried to complain about one of them to their faces, the only issue would be which one of them ignored him the hardest.

Selena outranked virtually everyone in the fae lands short of the Queen herself, the mysterious and magnificent Ray. Rin hadn’t ever seen the Queen, but stories spoke of her greatness, her beauty, and her power. Selena’s concubines didn’t hold quite the same status, but there wasn’t much they couldn’t do if they truly wished to, at least so long as it didn’t offend Selena herself.

Keeping Yuuri from bothering any of them didn’t even come close to offending her.

Rin folded herself back into Ruri’s arms, the snow beginning to fade away now. If she couldn’t keep her focus properly, then she wasn’t going to bother with the snow at all. It could come another time, when Yuzu would be there with them to appreciate it.

“Do you want to try again?” Ruri wanted to know, her hands brushing over Rin’s shoulders once more. “It’s been a while.”

“I think that’s not such a bad idea,” Rin replied, eyes sparkling with sudden desire, pulling Ruri closer to her for a soft, sweet kiss.

They needed Selena’s presence in their lives. Neither of them felt completely whole without her around, nor had they since coming to live with her. When she wasn’t around, the only real solace they could find from the sense of loneliness was in each other.

So now they drew together, hands caressing, lips touching, skin to skin and heart to heart, in a passion that their time together had only increased.

Up above, the clouds spun by Rin’s magic thinned to nothingness, until the perfect silver light of the moon shone down unhindered. Here, as in the mortal lands, it glimmered full and bright, reflecting back from the small piles of snow that would melt now only when someone bothered to pay enough attention to them to have it so.

That could be a while. Very few came to this courtyard aside from the three of them – probably four with Yuzu’s anticipated arrival – and if they didn’t bother to do it, it seldom would be done.

But for now, the snow rested peacefully, providing an elegant backdrop for Rin and Ruri to amuse one another, passing the timeless time until Selena returned.

That moment announced itself with their matching moonstone and silver pendants began to pulse in time with their heartbeats. Both pulled back from their exertions and stared down at the longed for signal.

“They’re here,” Rin murmured, eyes lighting up even as she arranged her robes around herself neatly once again. “I almost forgot...”

“So did I...” Ruri whispered, looking toward Rin. For a few moments, less than the number of fingers on one hand, they stared at one another, lost in a haze of memories they seldom thought about or even were aware of.

Only at certain times did moments like this happen, and the one factor those times had in common was that Selena wasn’t with them.

But neither of them could move for those few heartbeats, and as their hands wove around one another again in an instinctive motion, their thoughts turned as one toward their returned lady, all memories that might’ve been fading away as always, replaced by the joy of Selena’s presence.

Side by side they stood up and moved to the door to the courtyard, where they could see Selena’s favored place of departure and return from the fae lands. There she stood, tall and elegant, raising one hand toward them.

Neither Rin nor Ruri waited for another moment. In eerie unison, they raced out of the courtyard and to where Selena stood with Yuzu, her eyes holding that familiar vagueness of all those new-come to the fae lands, and around her neck there sparkled the necklace that matched their own, sign of their rank as Selena’s handmaidens and concubines. She’d accepted the invitation, though neither of them had ever once doubted that she would. She would be like them now, kissed by a fae’s lips and magic, forever young and forever Selena’s.

Never did they think of those memories that for a moment burned in their minds, of familiar faces and a home that wasn’t the fae castle. Those no longer mattered to them. Only Selena, her will, and each other mattered, and now their newest companion. Joy filled their hearts, wiping away all else.

They would be together for eternity, as Selena so willed.

The End

Note: There will be more in this world. I have been very bad to Yuugo...

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygo arc-v #kurosaki ruri #rin (arc v)#rin x ruri #ruri xx rin #swiftshipping #AU: Supernatural Creatures

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idle-flower · 5 years

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Dear Yuletide Author - 2019

Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope your wishes are granted this holiday!

Likes:

I prefer plot and angst and adventure to fluff, though a nice warm fluffy scene can make a good dessert at the end of the pain and suffering. I lean more to f/f and m/f than m/m. I enjoy forbidden relationships. I love exploring the 'what if' spinoffs of a small change in a canon. I swoon for lovers who take dramatic risks to protect their loved ones.

I also enjoy detailed description of clothing/furniture/jewelry/pretty things in general. Not just heaping up brand names, but sensory detail.

Dislikes:

Please avoid sweeping tropey AUs like 'what if noir' or 'what if everyone was in high school'. I'm REALLY picky about comedy so it's probably not a good idea to go for wacky funny stuff. No excited rambling about pregnancy or babies. (Older kids are okay.) While I am okay with pretty dark stuff, please don't gorily torture characters to death on screen. If people gotta die, limit the details! I am generally not keen on crossovers. I dislike PWP unless it is exceedingly hot smut (see below).

Smut:

I don't require it, but I do read a good bit of filthy porn.

Kinks I find interesting: mild bdsm, pain mixed with pleasure, dubcon, sibling or cousin incest, strap-ons, futanari and other magical appendages, teasing, teenagers, drugs/magic with interesting effects, people making terrible decisions due to being emotionally overwrought or really really horny

DO NOT WANT:

rape or painful sex that one party is not enjoying at all, inserting anything edible (licking off boobs is okay), aggressive face-fucking, choking, degradation, scat/watersports, bukkake, parental incest, anyone younger than teen, emphasis on 'virgin blood' (some writers make it a huge deal with tearing pain and fountains of blood, please don't).

---

Poison Ivy (1992 film)

Sylvie Cooper, Ivy

I was struggling through the confusions of puberty, Ivy was hot, this film left an impression on me. In a way it's perfect as it is, and trying to build any sort of happy ending for Ivy feels out of place, but on the other hand there's a lot of loose ends left after the story.

Throughout the film, there's a lot the audience never knows about Ivy, including her legal name. Did Coop know it? (Maybe, probably.) Did her father? (Quite possibly not). How do they handle all the legal responsibilities of her death? Were Ivy's stories about the aunt she was staying with true? How do they break the news? How does her funeral go?

What do Sylvie and her father have to say to each other about Ivy after the truth comes out? Does he admit everything that he did? How does he handle the guilt? How do they rebuild their relationship?

What is school like, afterwards? What rumors escape? How does Coop handle them?

Or - what if Ivy survives the fall? Seriously injured, possibly paralysed, but alive? How do they deal with her, once the truth comes out? Do they cover up her crimes? Do they keep her in their home? What happens to their relationships?

For AUs, what would have happened if Ivy had met Coop when they were several years younger, so she couldn't get her hooks into Darryl as easily? What if they met at summer camp and Ivy was just as messed-up and needy but the situations were different? What if the movie plot is actually a fantasy younger-Ivy spins about her future to her fascinated-and-appalled friend, who then has a chance to react to it?

Bittersweet endings are good here but I don’t mind it going all dark if you feel like it. Too happy would just feel wrong.

Smutwise, I'm fine with Sylvie/Ivy, I'm okay with Darryl/Ivy but I would rather he not be the focus of the story (Sylvie catching them having sex has possibilities, or Ivy thinking about Sylvie while seducing Darryl)

---

Xanth - Piers Anthony

Jenny Elf, Gwendolyn Goblin

I have an ulterior motive, I badly want to insert some gayness into Xanth after the author has tried so hard to make it impossible, even allegedly threatening magical straightjackets to cure homosexuality. And it is difficult to think of a good f/f pairing because female characters in Xanth are almost completely obsessed with flashing their panties and attracting men. Almost the only good female friendship actually on-page (as opposed to a vague comment that Ivy and Nada used to hang out) is Jenny/Gwenny, who are best friends.

The events of The Color Of Her Panties even provide some possible groundwork to build on. They've been raised together in the care of centaurs who have different views on morality/sexuality than humans do. They're forced to think about sex and be inducted into the Adult Conspiracy together. Gwenny's new contacts mean that she starts seeing other people's sexual fantasies (and Jenny does too, for a while). They're bound to have some good girly gossip on the subject at some point, talking about what all these weirdoes are into and trying to figure out what the appeal is! Or some simple "ugh boys are gross, especially goblin boys" that leads to pushing them closer together. (Well, Che is quite different from the goblin boys, and I'm not totally opposed to including him, but my ulterior motive makes me more interested in Jenny/Gwenny as a couple than all of them as an OT3.)

I basically stopped reading the series at that point so please don't refer to plot developments and characters that came later in the series. I know that both girls are married off to men eventually in canon. Don't care.

Straightforward romance: Gwenny relies on Jenny to cheer her up and help her relax from her duties. Romance blossoms! Simple.

Silly fluff: Gwenny and Jenny visit the Pantry, try on tons of lingerie together, have a ridiculous slumber party and pillow fight, end up snogging... maybe they even accidentally found Dolph and Electra's honeymoon chamber.

For a slightly more dramatic plot, Gwenny's bound to feel like she has to marry and have a child because goblins have hereditary rulership. She also knows all the good and bad sides of that - she would never have come to power without those rules, but those rules also made her bastard half-brother a threat when he would have been a terrible leader. And she knows that true family is what you choose, not just an accident of birth. Will she decide that she has to have a husband? Will she decide that she cannot have a husband, who might threaten her power, but must give birth to a child for the succession? (And hey, magic can be involved, this is Xanth, she can TOTALLY have Jenny's baby somehow) Or what about adoption?

If you smut it, I don't care if they're still as young as they were in TCOHP (but no younger). I'm also fine with them being older. I would rather not do any temporary sex-change because that defeats my ulterior motive, but weird uses for Xanth-style magic stuff could be entertaining.

If the real-world implications of Jenny Elf bother you, I'll settle for Ivy/Nada, but that's going to need a lot more imagination to get a satisfying story out of it. How does their friendship develop between Isle of View and Man from Mundania, other than gossipping about their respective brothers? Do they have any adventures? How does Ivy cope with Nada's occasional self-destructive tendencies? How does Electra fit into their group?

---

Fern Capel - Jan Siegel

Any

This is a tall ask, since this book series doesn't seem very well known here, and the writing style is hard to match. On top of that, I've got a love/hate relationship with the series.

I adored the first book. I liked the rest of the trilogy... up to the ending WHICH I HATED. I detest reset-button plots, and I find "just let me forget everything" resolutions to be unpleasantly reminscent of suicidal inclination. Life is making choices and carrying on and learning how to deal with the consequences. We don't get to wipe out our histories. They're part of us. Also, choosing to stop fighting evil as long as you and your friend can be safe is... I don't want to say cowardly, because it's human, but it's very unsatisfying as the end of a heroic story.

I want a fix-it. Somehow. Anyhow. Rewrite the universe, change the events of the third book. Give me an ending with hope. Doesn't have to be super-happy, can acknowledge that the fight against darkness can never be 'won' and we'll all die in the end, but we carry on regardless and we find some joy in the world we live in on the way.

Find Fern another way out of her dilemma - or rewrite enough of the plot that she doesn't feel so hopeless to begin with. Let Fern love again! Let her _really_ love, let her experience different kinds of love and find them all valuable rather than holding on forever to what she's lost.

Any sort of story taking place within this world could be nice to read.

Other things that might be entertaining - reincarnate Morgun? Trap Morgus in a harmless, powerless body and force her to interact with the world until she learns to be less evil (which will take centuries)? I tend to enjoy ancient evils forced to be helpful and friendly (while being very bitter about it). Get Will and Gaynor together? Get Will, Gaynor, and Fern all together (sharing non-incestuously)? Let Fern find an older magical woman, a mother-witch type, who is kind and understanding and supportive, so she no longer has to feel like she's the one bearing all the knowledge and responsibility alone? Fern never really relaxes. What would it take for her to be safe and happy and still herself, rather than giving it all up?

DNW: Will/Fern.

---

Anyplace Anywhere Anytime - Nena ft. Kim Wilde (Music Video)

Any

So when I first saw this video, I thought, "OMG that is absolutely 90s White Wolf / Vampire the Masquerade. And kind of gay!" And that's basically what I'm requesting. Dark urban fantasy romance in the streets of London (or some other European city with gothic churches around). A story that has the feel of this video, whether or not it's a direct connection. Bring all your darkest teen vampire angst fantasies, let them run wild, and give them a happy ending (because this isn't a sad song!)

Desirable elements: lesbians (please!) vampires (please!) people wearing sunglasses (including at night, to hide their inhuman eyes) people wearing black leather, with extra straps and buckles and spikes trenchcoats fishnets - possibly even full-body stiletto boots dancing/nightclubs staff fighting, maybe some sort of ritual challenge for position forbidden romance, which somehow works out

Could be cool: time travel (but not a full Dark crossover please) reincarnation a lyric drop - either "anyplace, anywhere, anytime" or "I'll build you a castle of sand" (yes, I know that's a little awkward in English but if they're vampires maybe someone's first language isn't English, and it needs 'castle of sand' rather than 'sandcastle' to be a proper lyric drop IMO... Or you could just say it in German to begin with.)

DNW:

tragic dead lesbians at the end of it. NO BAD ENDING FOR THIS PLEASE.

#yuletide 2019 #yuletide letter

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antarprince-blog · 7 years

Text

Kings Never Die

Chapter 1/?

Rating – M(FF.N)/Explicit(AO3)/Explicit(Tumblr)

Pairing – As yet Undecided

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters: all rights belong to JK Rowling. I do not own any crossover references used in the story: all rights belong to their original creators. I do own any OC spells explained at the end of a chapter.

Spoiler - Everything, to be safe

Summary - A Response to my own Hail to the King/Overlord of Magic Challenge. For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted. I have zero tolerance for betrayal, which they will soon indelibly learn...

Warnings: Slash, Lots of Politics, Blood, Death, and Violence. And because Some are idiots OOCness

Authors Note: Here we go again. Here's hoping... So, Most of the Notes are at the end of the Chapter, BUT it has been brought to my attention that Some may not know what an Absolute Monarchy is. So, Crash course: It's very simple. Unlike a constitutional Monarchy which is Often seen as a Figurehead (It isn't) and whose Power is confined to a Constitution, An Absolute Monarchs power is Absolute. Their word is Law

Also, to be Clear, this will have Slash and Het. However, being Gay it will be more Heavily Slash. If this Bothers you, You know where the Back button is. Also, the fic doesn't focus on Smut, but it will probably happen.

Challenge Information:

Plot: For nearly five years Harry has watched the Prejudice and corruption of the Magical Community, suffered their slings and arrows, but no more! When the Dark Lord returns and the people turn on him again he's had enough. If the Wizards can't take care of themselves than he will do it for them - by force!

Rules:

Must begin after the Third Task, or Summer before 5th Year

Harry Must Declare Himself King of the Wizards

Absolute Monarchy

There Must be an Actual War, with Soldiers and Armies (Always hated the Term "War with Voldemort")

The Ministry and Dumbledore Must Oppose Harry

The Weasley Family, including Percy, must be Monarchists and pledge themselves to Harry (Just for fun, a Break from the Bashing)

All Affinities Welcome – Grey with Dark leanings considering what he sets out to do

All Pairs welcome except Forbidden

Super powerful, or OP Harry

Superpowered Voldemort and Dumbledore

Guidelines/Optional:

Master of Death Harry - Accepted

Harry becomes emancipated and Claims his Family Titles (Nobility) - Accepted

Super Intelligent/Genius Harry (Think Lelouch or Light) - Accepted

Fawkes bonds with Harry as his Familiar - Accepted

As a result of the new bond, Fawkes transforms into a Dark Phoenix with Powers associated with Death (i.e. Poison Tears, Cry that kills etc...) – Depends on how DARK Harry Gets

The Muggle Crown Opposes Harry - Accepted

Neville becomes The Ministry's Poster Boy – Accepted (I love him but Authors Always make him Loyal to Harry)

Sirius and/or Ron become Harry's Knight of Honor – No (I have Other idea's)

Harry becomes the first of his name, creating a New line (i.e. Targaryen, Britannia etc...) –No

Multiple Partners (Harry IS Starting a Dynasty) –Maybe

Slash - Accepted

M/M/F Pairs - Accepted

M/F/F Pair - No

Crossover - References

Suggested Pairs:(Optional and Not Required!)

Harry/Tonks (Haven't seen this in ages, and as a Black could lend Legitimacy to Harry's claim)

Harry/Luna

Harry/Ginny (Don't like it, but I can see it here)

Harry/Member of the Muggle Royal Family - OC, NOT Real Person)

Harry/Cedric (If he Lives) -Undecided, but Probably. I can never Not (Thank my Friend Storm Wolfsong)

Harry/Seamus

Harry/Blaise (NOT Female. hate that)

Harry/Marcus Flint

Any Combo of those Listed

Forbidden:

Harry Siding with Voldemort

Giving up his Crusade

Weak/or Unintelligent Harry

Harry/Hermione

Harry/Fem!Blaise

Fem!Harry

constitutional Wizard Monarchy

Ottery St. Catchpole was a small quaint little town just outside of Devonshire. It was a mostly open field filled with sheep and wheat, but it was nice. It was quiet. That quiet, however, was about to be broken.

A small cabin sat in the field surrounded by a fence with nothing around it for good kilometer. Light spilled from the open windows and casts a warm glow over the area, but the silence of the night was soon broken by panicked yelling and the sound of running footsteps.

Inside the house, Amos Diggory sat in his study in front of a warm fireplace with a glass of brandy in hand. The flickering firelight casting in eerie glow over mahogany walls and making shadows dance, and the tumbler of the brandy to look like gold.

One might wonder how such an elegant room could fit with the decor of a cozy cottage, but when it came to wizards nothing was as it seemed.

Amos sat staring blindly into the flames and contemplating the last month of his life. It had nearly been irrevocably changed. At the end of June, during the Tri-Wizard tournament, Amos Diggory had nearly lost his son. He still wasn't sure what happened that night, but his son Cedric had exited the maze of the third task covered in dirt and bruised, and yelling incoherently that Harry Potter, the boy who lived was in trouble - in danger - and that the Dark Lord had returned.

And wasn't that just a kick in the teeth. The Dark Lord returned to power. His stomach flopped at the mere thought of it. He remembered the Dark Lord's first rise and the had no urge to relive it.

He believed his son. Cedric wasn't a liar; if he said that the Dark Lord was back then Amos believed him, but it was only natural that such a proclamation would cause a panic. At first, the silence was deafening, and then the erupted in shouts of denial and anger and fear. The headmasters of the various schools and the minister had come barreling down to meet Cedric, all shouting questions and accusations and demanding to know what happened. It was pure bedlam.

And then it all stopped, interrupted by an ear-splitting earthshaking boom that forced the mob to go silent. They all stopped and looked around them. It was one of the Stadium audience that said first. "It's Harry Potter!" She yelled.

Amos remembered thinking the impossible. The boy had Apparated – bypassing the wards of Hogwarts, seemingly by sheer force of will.

Everyone rushed toward the boy, all shouting questions at once and surrounding him but Cedric forced his way through the crowd with a glare that would put a basilisk to shame, and the shouts quieted to a dull roar. His son turned to Harry checking him over for himself.

All the while Harry simply smiled in relief. "You made it…" He whispered and grinned tiredly before collapsing into unconsciousness.

As he had said before, Amos wasn't sure what it happened in that maze, or afterward if you listened to Harry's story when he woke up. Cedric had won the tournament that evening, but according to Cedric Harry had saved his life that day and as far as Amos was concerned Harry was a hero.

Amos was broken from his thoughts by the sound of muffled yelling in the other room making his head swivel around to investigate. The silencing charms around the house weren't particularly strong, but it must've been loud to pierce it.

That was Cedric's voice. Amos paled at the realization and nearly slammed his glass down on the side table in his rush to get up. Hastily exiting his study, he made his way through the house toward his son's room. "Cedric!" He called loudly as he neared. He reached for his wand to undo the locking charm, but it was unnecessary the door was already open.

Roberta - Cedric's mother - sat on his bed with a worried expression as she watched her son pace back and forth across his room in the dark. Amos looks to her questioningly, but she only shook her head with the lost expression.

Meanwhile, hearing his father call his name Cedric turned to face his father and moved to meet him. The hallway light exposed Cedric's pale, sweat-drenched face. "Dad! We have to do something, Harry's in trouble… Dementors'…"

Cedric was frantic, speaking too fast to properly understand. All he heard was Harry, trouble, and Dementors'. "Whoa, whoa, slow down son. Take a breath and try again."

Cedric stopped and took a deep breath, swallowing hard before repeating himself slower. "Harry is in trouble. He's being attacked by Dementors'"

Amos's face fell, flooded with concern by Cedric's assertion, but it didn't make any sense. Dumbledore said that Harry was safe where he was, and even if he wasn't there was no way that Cedric would know if he was in trouble or not, was there? Amos took a minute to assess the situation. He looked around his son's room and comprehension dawned on him. "Now just take a minute and relax Cedric," he said as calmly as possible. "I'm sure it was just a dream. After all, you have been through a very traumatic experience."

This only seemed to irritate Cedric more. "No dad," he shook his head violently. "I mean yes, I was sleeping but I know that Harry is in trouble."

"Now Cedric…" He began to speak but cut himself off and instead chose to take a more logical track. "Think about this logically. How could you possibly know if Harry was in trouble?"

Cedric took a minute to again calm himself and try to collect his thoughts. Now was not the time to panic, he told himself. He locked his gaze on his father and addressed him in an eerily cold and calm tone. "I would know," he said simply. "We - I have to help him, dad. I owe him my life." He said that last bit with a very pointed expression.

A heavy protracted silence fell over the room like a massive weight pressing down on them. They all stood there in silence for another few seconds observing one another, and not speaking a word. The gravity of his statement hitting them like a ton of bricks.

Amos's lips thinned into a hard line. Cedric was right. He owed Harry Potter a debt of life. In theory, he would know when Harry Potter was in danger, and even if he was wrong that wasn't a chance that they could take. "… All right, I'll contact Dumbledore."

Cedric nodded in relief and moved to follow his father as he exited the room.

Amos knew that Cedric was following him as he made his way to his bedroom to retrieve the mirror the Dumbledore had given him for emergency communications. As a rule, Cedric did not enter his parents' bedroom. He never had, but in this case, Amos ignored it in favor of the emergency. He went to his bedside table and retrieve the two-way mirror from the drawer. "Albus Dumbledore…"

The glass fogged and turned for a moment before it connected to the other side. "What can I help you with Amos," Dumbledore said as his face filled the other side. He held the same kind grandfatherly tone that he always did, but he did sound slightly distracted.

"Well Albus," he responded sounding slightly apologetic. "This may sound strange, but we believe that Harry Potter may be in some danger."

Dumbledore's face became slightly grim. "I'm aware," he confirmed. "I'm on my way to headquarters to summon the order."

Amos's brow furrowed. How would Dumbledore know so soon if Harry were in trouble? He shook his head and decided to let it go. "All right," he said and paused, considering his next words carefully. "We will be there in a few moments."

Albus nodded and the mirror fogged and cleared. He put the mirror back in the drawer and turned to face Cedric intending to tell him to get dressed, but the boy had already pulled his wand and transfigured his pajamas into jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Amos nodded. He could try and tell his son not to go, but he knew it would be a fight. "I'll make a portkey…"

Amos sighed, Roberta was not going to be happy.

-x-

Magnolia Crescent - a few minutes earlier

Harry Potter had faced death before many times. Well, four times before, but for an average person that was three times too many. He was rather used to it. Something about this time, however, was different. His cousin was on the ground, curled up into the fetal position in a gibbering mess of fear unable to see their assailants, but Harry could see them… Black-robed figures gliding down the street toward them, the very specter of death and Harry had lost his wand - thank you very much Dudley Dursley! For the first time in his life, Harry Potter felt true fear. Not the adrenaline rush that comes with a survival instinct, but true, cold and paralyzing fear.

One of the Dementors descended on him, reaching out with a skeletal hand whose flesh still clung to the bone, and grabbed him by the shirt collar and lifted him off his feet. This close to a dementor Harry felt a chill settle over him like a bucket of ice water over his bones. He could hear the literal soul-sucking noise behind the dark void of the creature's hood.

His vision began to waver and blur, darkness creeping around the edges, and he had one thought as the darkness claimed him:

I don't want to die!

The first thing that he heard when he regained consciousness was the marry and soothing crackle of a fire. Must be the hospital wing, Harry thought to himself. Wherever he was, was soft as well. With his eyes still closed he ran his palm over silk sheets. The cold was gone too. He felt warm and cozy, a feeling that seeped into his very bones like the cold of the Dementors, but much nicer...

Remembering the Dementors gave him a jolt. His eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright in bed, looking around frantically. Seeing no danger Harry took a moment to collect himself, taking in his surroundings. The room was indeed cozy. The walls were made of a rich stained holly wood paneling, contrasted by flickering shadows cast by the firelight. The floor was covered in thick crimson carpeting that Harry imagined would be very pleasant under his bare feet; except for the space right in front of the fireplace that looked to be smooth gray cobblestone.

On closer inspection, however, he noticed that the room was in great disarray. There was a desk on the far wall, for example, that was filled with junk of all kinds: old broken toys, dirty tattered clothes, and all kinds of odds and ends. On the far opposite wall, and the one to his left was empty bookshelves, the books having long since fallen to the floor; some of them splayed open others stacked haphazardly against the wall covered in dust as if they hadn't been touched in ages. Likewise, there were loose pieces of paper and parchment scattered all over the floor of the room; and the entire room, Harry noticed was covered in the thinnest sheen of dust.

On the mantle above the fireplace sat four precious stones over varying size and color. One that was a small sapphire the size of his fist, another with the smaller blood red Ruby, the third a crystal-clear diamond, and the fourth was a large black obsidian shard the size of three hands that seemed to absorb the light the room. Unlike the other objects in the room, these four gems appeared to be mounted to the mantle.

On the far end of the room, just out of Harry's field of vision and obscured in the darkest part of the room sat an empty St. Andrew's cross made of dull, strained and crack hew whose leather straps hung loosely at the ends.

"Finally, with me I see," said a soft feminine voice that Harry thought he would recognize nearly anywhere.

Harry's head whipped around toward the source of the voice which were two chairs in front of the fireplace, facing away from him, the reminded him of the all-too-familiar furniture in Gryffindor tower. He scrambled out of bed and over to the fireplace, his face filled with happiness, excitement, worry, and sadness all in equal measure. The woman that was now next to him had long flowing auburn hair and eyes that shine like emeralds in the firelight. "Mum…" He said quietly around the lump that was forming in his throat.

Lily Potter looked up at her son and smiled lovingly. "Hello baby," she said softly. "My Harrison…" Before she could continue Harry launched himself at her and broke down into tears - crying. She just wrapped her arms around him smiling sadly and soothed him. "Shhhh, it's alright baby… It's alright," she repeated softly rocking back and forth as Harry cried, releasing 14 years of pent-up emotion.

It seemed like ages before Harry finally calms down and stop crying. Finally pulling away with the sniffle, Harry smiled awkwardly at his mother an apology. She just smiled and rubbed his back comfortingly.

Harry noticed when he pulled away that the room had grown considerably darker. The shadows and become darker – heavier - and the fire in the hearth and died a little. He sat down in the other chair cautiously. He had so many questions to ask, but he settled on the most obvious. "H-how are you here, and what is this place," he asked." Are you a ghost?"

Lily laughed. Although he was biased, Harry thought it sounded like music, but then again this was the first time Harry had heard his mother's voice without hearing her scream. "Straight to the point. I suppose it makes sense because we don't have much time. Simply put - we aren't physically here." She explained and Harry looked confused, so she explained. "This is in your mind. It is what some people call a mind palace, a metaphysical representation of your mind. Although, the wizards and witches call it your magical core." Here she gestured to a low burning fire.

"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted. He understood most of it, but there were few things that were lost on him. "If this is my mind then why is it such a mess. It looks like no one's used this room in ages, and how are you here and what are those?"

Lily laughed fondly at her son, and Harry blushed in response. He knew he was babbling, but this was all so strange and he was curious. "It's alright Harry," she reassured him. "It is a bit disorganized. Although you can't fix that… Everything you see around you is a part of you: memories, knowledge, things you learned. With time and practice, you could organize and access it quickly."

"To answer your question, however, I have always been here." She explained quickly before Harry could interrupt again. "The night the dark lord came for you your father and I performed a very ancient ritual of Japanese origin. Using this, I sealed up part of my magic and a tiny piece of myself inside your core. It's why Voldemort could never touch you before last year."

"He did something to you that night though." Her face grew very grim and he came to this part. "Like me, Voldemort sealed a piece of himself inside of you and for the last 13 years I have contained him, binding him so that he could not affect you." Here she saw fear enter Harry's eyes when she gestured to the abandoned St. Andrew's cross concealed in the darkness. She stood up and moved to wrap her arms around him to comfort him even as she reassured him. "It's alright!" She said forcibly as she felt Harry stiffen in her arms. "It's alright baby, he's gone now. My guess is that whatever ritual he used to bring himself back last year used that part of himself. That's why he needed you and your blood."

Harry nodded and extricated himself from her, sitting down stiffly. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Harry contemplated what his mother told him. He knew that he should be scared. The idea of Voldemort having ever been part of him was terrifying, but the anger he felt learning this overpowered the fear. He felt slightly violated and that infuriated him.

After a few minutes, Harry sighed and refocused. "And the jewels?"

Here Lily smirked and it was heartwarming to see how very much like Harry she was in that moment." Well, those… Those are interesting. Tell me, Harry," she said conspicuously. "Since your time at Hogwarts, how many people have you saved?"

Harry looked at her confused. How many people he saved? It didn't make much sense, not that he kept track of it. Still, he took a moment to think about it: "Well, I don't really know. Let's see, there was Ginny in second year, Sirius in my third year and… Cedric last year." He realized, counting. "But that's only three and there are four crystals, and what does that have to do with anything?"

Lily nodded to the row of jewels with a smile. "Go on, go touch one - reach out to it with your magic."

Harry went over and choosing a random crystal reached out with his palm and placed it on the diamond. When he thought about pushing his magic into the object the fireplace flared weekly before settling again. As he pushed the power into the diamond he felt it respond and grow warm as power flowed back into him in reciprocation. It was like having a cup of tea. He felt energized, but more than that he also felt stronger.

He was about to draw away and look at his mother to explain but he never got the chance. He gasped as images flashed before his eyes. He saw 10-year-old boy excitedly opening what he knew to be his first broom on his birthday and running out into the yard to climb on.

Just as quickly the image changed again. This time it was an 11-year-old boy -the same 11-year-old boy. He felt pride emanating from him. He had received his Hogwarts letter and excitedly showed his parents.

Images continued to flash before him. Some of them in quick succession and he couldn't identify them. Others were clearer. He saw the boy watching a Quidditch match at 13 years old, watching a 14-year-old Oliver Wood Fly on his broom in front of the goal posts and blushing madly. There was one in the Hogwarts library at the age of 16 of him helping a young Chinese girl that Harry recognized as Cho Chang in the library at Hogwarts with her charms homework. She would grin and him shyly and he would look back smiling flirtatiously.

Finally, Harry had enough and wrenched his hand away, finding himself back in his mind palace. He looked back at his mother in shock. "Those were Cedric Diggory's memories! What the hell was that!"

"Each one of those crystals represents a life debt that isowed to you. Those four individuals are bound to you, and you to them."

Harry took a minute to digest this information. His immediate reaction was to object but he knew that it would do no good and suppressed the urge. "Okay," he said exasperatedly. "That's only three though, what's the fourth one?"

Here Lily's eyes flashed with sadness. "That one is Severus - a life debt that you inherited from your father."

Harry looked at her flabbergasted.

"But enough of that," Lily said abruptly. "We are running out of time. The Dementor is about to claim you." Suddenly Harry was reminded of his dilemma and noticed that the room had grown extremely dark. The fire was nearly gone and the darkness encroaching on them. It barely illuminated the space in front of them now.

Suddenly the survival instinct that Harry was familiar with took hold. His eyes darkened in determination. He would not die tonight! "I'm open to suggestions mum."

Lily's expression mirrored Harry's. "I want you to use the crystal again. Connect with it and draw power into you. Use it to help you stave off the Dementor once you're in the physical world. She paused and considered what he was going to say next. "… I will give myself in your place."

Harry looked at his mother bug-eyed, as if she were insane. "No mother!" He objected. "I'm not going to let the Dementor take your soul, or your magic or whatever is that you are now." As Harry was speaking a massive black hole vortex formed in the center of the room, the powerful sucking noise it made sounding like ripping paper.

Lily put herself between the vortex and Harry, pushing him away back towards the fireplace. "Harry James Potter!" She yelled over the sound of the vortex to be heard. "Do as you are told! I am your mother and it is my job to protect you, I always have and I will do so again!" Harry looked at his mother in despair but said nothing. "GO… And, I love you!"

Harry forced himself to turn away and climbed his eyes shut against the tears. Squaring his shoulders as he marched up to the mantle and placed his hand upon the diamond represented Cedric, connecting and pulling power from it. As he did so, he heard his own voice echoing around his mind palace in a soft whisper. "Help me… I don't want to die, I will not die!

Harry's eyes snapped open, but they were different. He's Emerald eyes glowed with fire as green as the killing curse that he knew intimately. He felt rage and anger build up inside of him like he'd never felt before. He grasped it like a vice with his mind, remembering his core and his mind palace and pulled on it imagining them as strings of palpable power and lashed out, releasing the anger and rage in waves. "Get off of me!" He snarled and his voice echoed with power. The Dementor was thrown backward as if he had hit a brick wall at full GeForce speed. If it had not been the Dementor than and probably would've turned into a puddle of goo.

He hit the pavement in a crouch, tossing his arms out to catch himself and scraping them on the concrete. He stood up and look at the creature with loathing. He hated Dementors. He despised them. They were foul creatures and he didn't just want to drive them off, no he wanted to decimate them.

Acting on instinct he extended his arm in the direction that he remembered his wand being in and felt it fly into his hand with an audible slapping sound. It'd returned to his hand with such force that stung on his scraped palm.

"Incindia Inferno," he intoned a low and deadly voice the promised pain and death. This street before him cracked and split as if the mouth of hell itself were opening, and in a way, it was. Fire and lava begin to spew out from the cracks, interrupting like a volcano. Streams of magical flame followed suit lashing out at the Dementors like whips.

They screeched and dodged and backpedaled trying to avoid the flames but wherever they moved new cracks appeared and the process repeated itself. Eventually, the beasts were driven into the lava and their robes caught fire. They screeched in an ungodly sound as the flames consume them burning them until they were ash.

Harry stood there for a moment scanning the area looking for threats. Seeing none he released his hold on power and his eyes faded returning to their normal green.

He heaved to breathe tiredly and was about to go check on his cousin, but before he could do so the sound of several cracks reminiscent of his fourth year, remembering the sound of apparition. He clenched his wand tightly bringing it to bear.

"Drop your wand!" Several voices called out frantically. "Drop it now!"

Harry looked at them as if they were stupid. "Identify yourself and I'll think about it!"

"Drop your wand now!" They repeated forcefully "Department of Magical Law enforcement! If you do not lower your wand we will fire."

Harry considered his options. Even if they weren't who they said they were, taking on a few mindless creatures were different than taking on four arms wizards and he wasn't stupid. He looked at them closely trying to remember their faces for identification later. Two of them were very tall one of them a black man that looked to be of South African descent. The other was a tall grisly redhead that eyed him as if he were a dangerous animal.

The two others were women, likely their partners. One was a slight of a girl that looked vaguely familiar to him. What he found interesting was that her features kept changing and her hair shifting colors. He got the distinct impression she was nervous. The other Harry didn't recognize she was a hard-faced woman looking to be in her early thirties to survey the scene with a critical eye like a veteran.

"All right, all right." He said placing his wand slowly on the ground and raising his hands above his head in the universal sign for surrender. "If you are Auror's then check on my cousin Dudley. He does not look well."

The two male officers moved forward, one taking his wand and the other approaching him cautiously. The woman with the shifting features moved toward his cousin to check on him and the fourth kept watch.

The girl checked Dudley and looked back up grimly. "He's dead. It looks like you souls been removed as well." Harry should have been horrified but he wasn't. He found himself slightly amused. The Dementors didn't kill, they took your soul. Fat bastard must've died of a heart attack. Harry smirked.

The grisly redhead placed a firm hand on Harry's shoulder and pushed him to his knees. Oddly, Harry noticed that he did not look happy about it. "Put your hands behind your back please." He grunted as Harry did as he was told. "Harry James Potter, you are under arrest for breach of the statute is secrecy, violation of the underage magic restriction, and the apparent murder of a Muggle, and other such charges as the ministry deems appropriate."

""You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in Court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?"

Well, Fuck…

End Notes:

First and Foremost, Oh my GOD the Feels! I know, I'm an awful Person. And I'm sure some of you Realize what I did with Lilly and where I took it from. I couldn't resist.

To DZ2: I told you I was gonna use Your Mind Palace concept. I hope you don't mind and you like it

Roberta Diggory:

Cedric's mother's name is never actually given according to anything that I can find. So I simply took it from Robert Himself :)

OC Spell: Incindia Inferno - Fires of Hell

Also, the Challenge info is Posted. Feel free to write your own responses, but send me a Link

Lastly, I do not currently have a Beta Editor. If you’re interested Drop me a line.

#fanfic #fanfiction #challenge #harry potter #slash #unbeta'd #cedric lives

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