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whatamidoingwithmylifeman · 3 years

Text

MK 11 Nozomi vs Canon intro fight dialogues part 2

I FINALLY GOT EM FINISHED!

TW/CW for: Trauma, kidnapping, hints of abuse

Nozomi, Melantha, Shariah, Nyx, Michiko, and Fuyuka all belong to me

the rest belong to midway/NRS

ENJOY

Nozomi: Shariah is nearly done healing if you would like to see her.

Baraka: I will believe that when I see her myself Goddess!

Nozomi: What did I just say?

Nozomi: Hey, does it ever occur to you that I have a mother?

Baraka: You’re still Quan Chi’s spawn.

Nozomi: Yeah but I’m also Fuyuka’s spawn!

Nozomi: I am here to help!

Baraka: We don’t need your help!

Nozomi: That’s not what Kitana said.

---

Nozomi: I appreciate your gratitude Ms. Cage.

Cassie: Don’t sweat it. Just call me Cassie.

Nozomi: Oh? So who’s the humble one now?

Nozomi: Out of my way Cassandra!

Cassie: What has Raiden ever done to you!?

Nozomi: Didn’t he get your mother killed?

Nozomi: I am a mother trying to help her daughter. Move please!

Cassie: And I’m a daughter trying to save her mother!

Nozomi: I promise you, Sonya won’t be hurt.

---

Nozomi: Go home aunt Cetrion.

Cetrion: Nozomi, please don’t do this.

Nozomi: I said, go home!

Nozomi: Did you know the truth too?

Cetrion: Only the One Being knew the soul you harbored

Nozomi: But did you know of his plan to contact that soul?

Nozomi: Aunt Cetrion trust me, Rain would never hurt me.

Cetrion: He has a lot to prove before I believe that.

Nozomi: And here I thought Mom’s judgment was enough for you.

---

Nozomi: My mom isn’t weak!

D’Vorah: Then why does Kronika want her erased?

Nozomi: Cause my mom poses a threat to her!

Nozomi: Tell your new master that if she touches my world, I’ll erase her instead.

D’Vorah: This one would like to see you try.

Nozomi: Watch me!

Nozomi: Want to know a secret D’Vorah?

D’Vorah: And what would that be, Nozomi?

Nozomi: I’m not scared of you either.

---

Nozomi: I’m more than a demi-goddess, Erron.

Erron: Well what in tarnation are you?

Nozomi: A whole mess

Nozomi: Erron I’m not good at anything

Erron: Who hurt you?

Nozomi: A lot of people.

Nozomi: I have it in for a lot of people Black.

Erron: Would those happen to be the same people who hurt you?

Nozomi: Yes. And no.

---

Nozomi: You seek revenge?

Frost: Give me the ideas grandma!

Nozomi: First, who are we going against?

Nozomi: In all seriousness, your mom said you do have a temper.

Frost: A temper that’s saved me!

Nozomi: A temper that has also hurt you.

Nozomi: I am ageless, yes.

Frost: Then you must be older than Kronika herself!

Nozomi: Do you not know how agelessness works?

---

Nozomi: Don’t worry about me uncle Fujin. I’m fine.

Fujin: I am sorry we didn’t get to Gae before he got to you.

Nozomi: He’s dead. We don’t talk about him.

Nozomi: You wanna know what my other goal is?

Fujin: Yes! Please, talk to me.

Nozomi: There is no other goal. There is only revenge.

Nozomi: I must admit, I will miss some people when I go.

Fujin: What is stopping you from staying?

Nozomi: A lot of things Uncle Fujin. A lot.

---

Nozomi: Then you can oppose him?

Geras: You. You are his mother.

Nozomi: I may harbor her soul, but I am not Khaos!

Nozomi: If I have three daughters, I won’t let them be eaten.

Geras: You might not be able to avoid that fate, Nozomi.

Nozomi: That will be one fate I won’t repeat!

Nozomi: Tell me Geras, does Kronika mess with my memories?

Geras: It is the back and forth from your world to ours.

Nozomi: That’s impossible!

---

Nozomi: I never answered your question did I?

Jacqui: What question?

Nozomi: The one of my disappearance after seeing my dad get decapitated.

Nozomi: The family matters my mother is attending is not one I wish to go to

Jacqui: Why not?

Nozomi: I might see him again.

Nozomi: Not my mom, but the sword she wields.

Jacqui: The famed Reaper of Nebulas?

Nozomi: The very same!

---

Nozomi: You made sure to put the books back right?

Jade: I am borrowing one right now

Nozomi: Nobody takes books from mother’s temple!

Nozomi: Platonically means out of friendship

Jade: Oh! What strange language you gods have.

Nozomi: That’s actually an Earthrealm term.

Nozomi: I suggest Melantha. The Goddess of Death herself.

Jade: There is more than one Death deity?

Nozomi: Yes there is.

---

Nozomi: Bold of you to assume we have family get-togethers in the first place, Briggs.

Jax: You’re right. My bad.

Nozomi: No worries Briggs.

Nozomi: Oh yeah? Name one other time I lost my shit!

Jax: When your daddy got his chopped off.

Nozomi: Name another time!

Nozomi: I don’t think Rain wants to go with me

Jax: Long distance relationships can be hard.

Nozomi: Long distance?

---

Nozomi: No. No. Cage, Quan Chi is my dad by birth.

Johnny: What about Raiden?

Nozomi: He’s my dad in spirit.

Nozomi: If you think me controlling lighting is weird just wait til you see the other elements I control.

Johnny: Are you the Avatar?

Nozomi: I need to watch that with Lao again.

Nozomi: You don’t get enough recognition in Hollywood Cage?

Johnny: Not anymore.

Nozomi: Ouch!

---

Nozomi: There are variants to my name depending on the characters used

Kabal: The what?

Nozomi: At least according to Earthrealm customs.

Nozomi: I’m not saying Kristy lied! I’m saying, did she say it was me?

Kabal: Well, not exactly.

Nozomi: So why am I the first person you went to?

Nozomi: No I do not make em revenants like my dad.

Kabal: Then what do you do?

Nozomi: Have you met Michiko and Reiki?

---

Nozomi: Why does my potential union to Rain interest you?

Kano: Bloke owes me a lot of money

Nozomi: And you think I’ll help pay for that? How cute.

Nozomi: I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!

Kano: Eh sorry teach. School’s out for the summer.

Nozomi: Welcome to summer school Kano!

Nozomi: A Devil, a Goddess, or a Titan.

Kano: What do all those have to do with me?

Nozomi: Pick whichever you want to call me, but you’re still paying your debt

---

Nozomi: I’m gonna miss you.

Kitana: Won’t you stay?

Nozomi: I’ve stayed long enough

Nozomi: Your friend Jade cares a great deal for you

Kitana: Her, Mileena, and Nyx are like my sisters.

Nozomi: Nyx says hi by the way.

Nozomi: Mileena is worried you don’t care for her

Kitana: What!? I need to invite her over.

Nozomi: Better do it fast

---

Nozomi: Nyx wouldn’t hurt Shariah, Kollector.

Kollector: And you believe that?

Nozomi: I’ve witnessed that

Nozomi: My debts aren’t always of the monetary kind, Kollector.

Kollector: What do you mean by that?

Nozomi: It depends what they offer.

Nozomi: Look, whatever went on between you two is none of my business.

Kollector: Could you atleast talk to her for me?

Nozomi: Fine. But you owe me.

---

Nozomi: He is my dad in spirit

Kotal Kahn: Then who was your dad in birth?

Nozomi: Quan Chi.

Nozomi: If you must no, Shariah has made a full recovery

Kotal Kahn: I’m glad to hear this

Nozomi: So are several others

Nozomi: Do you still wanna see that card trick?

Kotal Kahn: I would actually.

Nozomi: Great! You won’t be disappointed!

---

Nozomi: Ok wise one! Then who would be a better match for me?

Kung Lao: Liu and I are still going over the list.

Nozomi: You two made a list!?

Nozomi: Does Jin want a magic trick done for his birthday?

Kung Lao: He said, and I quote, “If she could poof me up a boyfriend that would be great”

Nozomi: Unfortunately, I am not that talented.

Nozomi: I’ll miss you so much Lao

Kung Lao: Why do you have to leave?

Nozomi: I can’t stand being hurt anymore

---

Nozomi: You and Lao made a list!?

Liu Kang: Ah. Has he told you who’s on that list?

Nozomi: No, but now I wanna know.

Nozomi: Liu, how could I forget the little boy who insisted on holding my hand all the time?

Liu Kang: I really wish you hadn’t reminded me about that.

Nozomi: Why not? It was cute!

Nozomi: I’ll miss you a whole lot Liu.

Liu Kang: Please don’t go!

Nozomi: I have to protect myself somehow.

---

Nozomi: Good news! She’s made a full recovery!

Mileena: Then I’ll throw a celebration for her!

Nozomi: Be careful. She needs to take it easy.

Nozomi: Didn’t think you cared for his happiness

Mileena: Rain’s been a good friend.

Nozomi: Well color me shocked.

Nozomi: Have you been over to Outworld to see your sister?

Mileena: I’m scared she’ll send me away

Nozomi: She won’t. Trust me.

---

Nozomi: I may harbor her soul, but I am not Khaos!

Nightwolf: Deny as you might, she made her home in you.

Nozomi: I didn’t ask her to!

Nozomi: Bad things happen to me a lot, Nightwolf. It’s nothing new.

Nightwolf: Why are you so comfortable with it?

Nozomi: I’m not. That’s why I’m leaving!

Nozomi: Raiden is a good dad.

Nightwolf: He cares a lot about you.

Nozomi: I know he does.

---

Nozomi: Please. What is there for him to brag about?

Noob Saibot: Your ability to fully restore a life.

Nozomi: I forgot he was there for that.

Nozomi: There is a difference between rage and hate.

Noob Saibot: Not for Michiko.

Nozomi: Perhaps she hasn’t had the chance to fully express that.

Nozomi: I am aware where my cousin has chosen to stay.

Noob Saibot: So you’ll take over the Brotherhood of Shadow right?

Nozomi: I thought you wanted to do that.

---

Nozomi: Tell me, why does everyone forget that I am also Goddess of revenge?

Raiden: Cause we’re not used to that side of you.

Nozomi: There are a lot of sides to me you aren’t used to.

Nozomi: Trust me, Rain will be a good husband

Raiden: For his safety, he better be the best

Nozomi: Hey! Enough with threatening my fiance.

Nozomi: I will miss you the most, dad.

Raiden: I promise you, I will do a better job protecting you!

Nozomi: You’re Earthrealm’s protector dad. Not mine.

---

Nozomi: If you don’t want to come with me then maybe we can try long distance?

Rain: But my darling, I would be too hurt without you by my side.

Nozomi: Then join me! Please.

Nozomi: Yeah, I don’t trust Hotaru either. He might get stab happy again.

Rain: Then let me go with you Nozomi.

Nozomi: I don’t wanna risk your health my love.

Nozomi: Rain, I don’t want worshipers or followers.

Rain: But you deserve them.

Nozomi: Not really.

---

Nozomi: What impression do I give Hanzo?

Scorpion: You give off a kind and caring one Nozomi.

Nozomi: Didn’t think I did.

Nozomi: By that description you gave, I say you like Michiko too!

Scorpion: Ahem. No!

Nozomi: I see you blushing Hasashi.

Nozomi: I’m still mad at you for killing my dad!

Scorpion: But wasn’t he found hiding in the void?

Nozomi: You’re lucky he was!

---

Nozomi: Rain won’t hurt me Shang.

Shang Tsung: I will trust your word for now Nozomi.

Nozomi: And I thought we were friends.

Nozomi: But being elusive is like second nature to you.

Shang Tsung: Not with you my dear friend.

Nozomi: Have I had that great of an effect on you?

Nozomi: How could you help her!?

Shang Tsung: Nozomi please. I did not know the One Being had you.

Nozomi: But she did! And you helped her!

---

Nozomi: Touch the sword and I will take your soul!

Shao Kahn: So the little welp wants to follow in daddy’s footsteps?

Nozomi: Follow? I perfect steps not follow them, Shao.

Nozomi: Brainwashing someone isn’t loving them Shao!

Shao Kahn: And what would you know of love?

Nozomi: A lot fucking more than you!

Nozomi: First you snap Lao’s neck and now you wound Shariah?

Shao Kahn: Is the short one gonna do something about it?

Nozomi: I’m gonna kill you over and over again!

---

Nozomi: Surprisingly, not a lot of people are in my debt.

Sheeva: That is a relief to hear.

Nozomi: In fact I collected my last debt a few hours ago.

Nozomi: Good news! Shariah is fully healed!

Sheeva: Then we shall celebrate her recovery!

Nozomi: She does need to take it easy.

Nozomi: Is there anyone you want me to bring back?

Sheeva: I have healed from their deaths. I’m alright.

Nozomi: If you change your mind, you know where to find me.

---

Nozomi: I don’t think there will be a wedding

Sindel: By the gods, what happened?

Nozomi: Rain doesn’t want to come with and he doesn’t seem up for long distance

Nozomi: Shairah has healed completely!

Sindel: Good. Shao Kahn is still paying for what he done

Nozomi: Done and done!

Nozomi: Do me a favor, and don’t get corrupted again.

Sindel: Trust me. I am sticking to Edenia.

Nozomi: Good. Pulling you out of the corruption was a nightmare

---

Nozomi: Shariah is now fully healed.

Skarlet: Tanya and I thank you.

Nozomi: No need to thank me.

Nozomi: I’m taking you up on that offer!

Skarlet: Where is he?

Nozomi: Probably loitering around Raiden’s Sky Temple.

Nozomi: Consider us be-friended.

Skarlet: This is perfect!

Nozomi: Let’s start blood-bending!

---

Nozomi: I am not a sadist. I don’t enjoy torturing people.

Sonya: So just killing them?

Nozomi: Precisely.

Nozomi: I’m not sticking around for anyone, Blade.

Sonya: Why not?

Nozomi: I have been hurt too much.

Nozomi: There are a lot of things you don’t know about Kronika.

Sonya: I’m betting there’s a lot I don’t want to know.

Nozomi: According to mom, yeah.

---

Nozomi: She was still processing what happened.

Sub-Zero: The old grandmaster was a fool to allow Shen to train her.

Nozomi: Had he really not known what Shen was doing?

Nozomi: I’m a titan by origin of my birth Kuai.

Sub-Zero: Then you could’ve taken down Kronika!

Nozomi: Well I wasn’t able to!

---

Nozomi: I can’t risk being hurt again.

Shinnok: I promise you, I will up the guards in the Netherrealm.

Nozomi: I’m not staying.

Nozomi: Uncle Shinnok, Rain’s not gonna hurt me.

Shinnok: I have a torture room with his name if he does.

Nozomi: Uncle Shinnok!

Nozomi: If I don’t get to, tell aunt Charu I’ll miss her

Shinnok: This is like losing my sister all over again.

Nozomi: Hey, I’m not gonna be trapped anywhere.

---

Nozomi: Dad, I can’t stay.

Quan Chi: Isaac won’t hurt you again.

Nozomi: It’s not just Isaac!

Nozomi: I don’t think there’s gonna be a wedding.

Quan Chi: Ah so death is the flavor of cake Rain wants.

Nozomi: Dad!

Nozomi: I know seeing loved ones go is hard, but I’m not dying.

Quan Chi: But I’m afraid you will.

Nozomi: My heart’s not as bad as it was.

---

Nozomi: You can try, but you’ll die before you even reach me.

Hotaru: Don’t underestimate my tracking abilities, Nozomi.

Nozomi: I’m doubting your attentiveness Hotaru.

Nozomi: I still haven’t thanked you.

Hotaru: For what?

Nozomi: For helping Rain find me when you did.

Nozomi: If you make my cousin upset one more time, I’m taking your head.

Hotaru: Not if I take yours first!

Nozomi: Oh it’s on!

---

Nozomi: My sword is sharp too.

Reiko: I prefer your tongue.

Nozomi: Well you won’t be keeping yours!

Nozomi: Out!

Reiko: I didn’t even get a chance to speak.

Nozomi: I don’t care. Go!

Nozomi: You being told you were a blood God ain’t impressive.

Reiko: Aww darn.

Nozomi: Besides, what’s a God to a Titan?

---

Nozomi: My son. I am so sorry.

Meat: Why do you have to leave?

Nozomi: I can’t stand being hurt again.

Nozomi: You won’t get flesh. I will make sure nobody gives you any

Meat: You can’t do that if you leave.

Nozomi: I can’t heal if I stay.

Nozomi: Hey good news son. Shariah is fully healed.

Meat: Oh good. I was worried for my friend.

Nozomi: She was worried about you too.

@deepinthefog @yuvononik @merplderpl @tora-lotus @ls-double-spoiler @irrelevant-subjects @toomanyf4ndoms7 @starneko123 @loverofthewindgod @dontunderestimatemypoison @feistyfandomthings @harrissa-hoe @catornek @doodlewagonbug @calcium1790 @daddydestrey

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suca-loca · 3 years

Text

it’s been a long year since we last spoke (how’s your halo?)

Read on Ao3

Words: 11.5k

Tags: Hurt No comfort, Angst, No Happy Ending, No beta we die like Wilbur

Warnings: Body horror, Blood, Death, Suicidal Implications/Thoughts, Mentions Of Torture, Beating/Fighting

Author's Note: I tentatively present you all this fic as my ticket to board the Dream SMP Fandom. I took some creative liberties with this, such as hints of Niki and Wilbur being childhood friends, as well as Niki living near Techno's cabin, and making Niki respawning to restock her hunger bar during her spiraling/villain arc one of her canon deaths. Also, despite Niki wearing a new skin she has stated that her character still wears Wilbur's coat. Just adding that in here so people don't comment that I got her outfit wrong during a certain scene. And finally, even though I feel this is obvious, this is about the characters and not the streamers themselves. With that out of the way, enjoy the fic!

Summary:

"Time down here is like stars, Niki. We're dead, dead for thousands of years, but to them," he points up, "we still shine. It'll take light years for them to realize they are staring at just a memory."

She tries to take a step back, but she's rooted where she stands. "Wilbur," she weeps. "How long have you been down here?"

He laughs.

(There was a time it made Niki's heart stop. It still does, but for different reasons now)

"Eleven years."

Niki covers her mouth to stifle a broken cry.

or; Niki tries, unwillingly may she add, the whole being dead thing. Oh, and Wilbur is there to "help"

The worst part about it is that Niki's whole life doesn't flash before her eyes. It doesn't happen in slow motion and neither is there some comforting, bright light for her to walk towards. It's simply this: one second she's at Church Prime and the next she's falling into pitch blackness.

Then again, she should have known better than to expect any of that dumb cliche stuff 'cause it's not like she died or anything. Not really. Her communicator may say she did, but she knows the truth. She was teleported.

So why does this feel like dying?

foolish girl breaking at the seams from using the same stitching of a burning flag to put yourself back together again. you think the afterlife cares how you arrive? the entry fee is the same for all

She comes in screaming and doesn't stop even when that's all she is anymore. Her body is unrecognizable to her, turned inside out, muscles stretching and bending and snapping in an attempt to mimic the shape she once was.

(She wishes her muscles luck in regressing back into a memory because oh primes, oh dear primes did she try, try again to be the girl wore a white and blue uniform with pride, but that girl only exists now in dreams and sometimes nightmares)

But they can't, for her organs and bones and flesh do not know what it means to not be confined (but they should know, they really should, because she still finds it hard to breath in small spaces ever since Schlatt caged her between iron bars and dirt and Sapnap left her in a hole in the ground over a fish) and so they shake. Convulsing and spasming until she is just sound, just an echo of shrieks that are happening in the past or the present or the future depending on how fast it travels down this tight, narrowed cave she lands in.

Wait, lands in?

She finds herself laying flat on the ground. She blinks. Then does it again for good measure to make sure she's not imaging having eyelids.

She touches her face. Feels the crook of her nose, the curve of her chin, and her soft round ears.

It's all skin. No muscle, no tissue, just her.

Still her.

(For now)

Her body is back. Not whole though - never whole - for she will always be a walking empty space within a solid object, but for now, her body is right. Her body is here. She closes her eyes in relief.

Someone is staring down at her when she opens them again.

"Hello Niki," Wilbur says. "It's been a while."

(It's Doomsday. His name shows up on your communicator and so you become a lit match. The fire eats you away just like the bark of a tree, like the walls of a bakery, two things you once loved most, and you're watching them both burn with his coat over your shoulders, which doesn't help you ignore who you must look like, who you're acting like, whose footsteps you're following in; and doesn't it hurt to know that what's before you isn't just a friend but a reflection?)

She's already scrambling back before she's even fully sat up.

She doesn't get very far, not with the way her wrists twist and bend before finally buckling under the pressure, and she can't find the strength to stand up and run. So all that's left to do is hyperventilate at the way his eyes land on her face, roaming, analyzing, absorbing, trying to read her like a book, unaware she's ripped out the pages long ago. At the way his shadow covers her and maybe once it felt like a blanket, but that time has passed, now all it is is heavy, suffocating, pinning her down. At the way he wears his Pogtopia outfit, pressed and cleaned when the last she saw of it it was covered in ash and black feathers and red, so much red.

But it never comes. In fact, her lungs don't move at all. Almost as if she doesn't need to breathe. As if she hasn't been breathing since she's been down here.

Is that why it was so easy to keep screaming?

"You're not here," she whispers. "Not really."

Wilbur tilts his head to the left.

(Does it in a way a predator would while observing its prey from afar, waiting for the right moment to strike)

"Oh? Where am I then, Niki?"

"My head," Niki responds, practically blurting it out. "Yeah - yeah, that's right. This is just my head playing tricks on me again. A horrible horrible trick, but that's all it is. I - I know it."

Wilbur hums. He sits down as if this will take a while. As if she won't blink and he'll be gone. "Well, that's a damn shame. I was hoping it'd be a beach. Mexican Dream has been talking a lot about La Jolla lately. Sounds like a nice place."

He smiles, suddenly.

(No, not smiles, more like baring his teeth. His very normal teeth that give off the impression that they should be very sharp and very large and very deep in her throat right now)

"Let's hope I don't blow it up."

(Niki is shouting for Wilbur over the chaos when her communicator pings in her pocket. It gets hard to breathe as she reads what it says, and it isn't because every inhale of smoke and pulverized concrete from the tumbling buildings poison her lungs. There's a ringing in her ears, and it isn't because of the TNT that just detonated in front of her. She feels broken, and it isn't because the force of the explosion knocks her back and she skitters across the field, hitting rocks and choking on dirt until she stops on her stomach, limbs bent at weird angles. Her communicator lands right beside her, the screen shattered and static flashing, but she can still catch glimpses of what is on the screen, as clear as day, like a taunt: WilburSoot was slain by Ph1lza)

Niki scrambles to her feet, presses herself as much as she can against the walls, and maybe, just maybe, she'll glitch and go through it and suffocate in a block.

She immediately throws herself away from it when she realizes what she just thought.

Wilbur stands with her. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he says. "I thought it would lighten up the mood. So, how are you?"

"How am I?" Niki echoes. "I'm imagining my dead best friend even though I thought I was getting better and I could have sworn I was, I was I swear I was, and this place, this place, I don't know where this is but it, it just feels - I don't even know why - so familiar and so - "

She pauses.

She looks around.

She was so busy panicking from Wilbur's presence that she never took in her surroundings. She stares at the smooth stone walls, the occasional hanging vines, the little aquarium in the corner right next to the entrance, and, finally, the stand. The stand with two signs on the front that read -

No. It can't be. It just can't.

She won't believe it until she's seen the whole thing.

She walks further in, each step hesitant.

And she notices the way everything around her seems so devoid of life. Almost colorless. Close to numb. She thinks it's her body shutting down, the stress finally getting to her, but no. This is worse. Something's going on. She doesn't know what it is exactly, but she knows it isn't her that's wrong here.

(This time)

Wilbur follows closely behind and, as if to prove her point, his footsteps sound muffled, distant, apart from him, like in the way you hear something underwater.

Maybe she is underwater because everything is getting blurry and her face feels wet.

(Or maybe the better comparison is like hearing something behind glass. She's been tapping against the window of a caravan for months as men in suits discuss a country she bled for just as much as them, if not more, without her. The tapping turns to banging, but it is not the glass that shatters. Not the glass that breaks)

She stills as she catches sight of the small wheat farm in the back room, dried and frail and unkempt.

(Like a flower shop)

It really is her bakery.

"No," she mumbles. Then, more stern, as if it'll blow this place away, as Wilbur should have done the first time. "No no no no this can't… this can't be true. I, I shouldn't be here I - it doesn't make any sense, how how how - "

She whirls on Wilbur, the tears coming in waves now. "What are you doing to me?"

(It's his fault she's back here. It has to be, he's the reason you wanted to burn the memories why this is all gone why this should be gone why isn't this gone gone gone gone)

foolish girl who has become like the nation she despises, you are a crater, there is a hole inside of you where a soul once was and it was caused by your own hands because the only destruction you're good at is your own. you couldn't even kill a child with a nuke, so what makes you think you can end a small room on the side of some hill?

"What do you see?" Wilbur says, and the voice in her head disappears. She can't remember what it said. She shakes her head as if the words will fall out her ears.

Suddenly she can't remember why she's shaking her head.

Her next words come out frail.

"My… my bakery. But how? This shouldn't be possible I, I destroyed it - I - "

"Limbo is different for everybody," Wilbur interjects. "For me, it's a train station."

"Limbo? What are you talking about? What is going on? I was nowhere near L'manburg I was - " Niki's mind blanks.

(Smooth quartz all around her and she feels safe there, that she remembers because there is no killing here, the one place bloodshed does not haunt her, and then crushing disappointment that turns into actual crushing as her body gets shredded, mangled, undone like a ribbon except it does not look pretty)

Wilbur gives her a slicing smile. It cuts her down. "This is the afterlife, Niki."

She blinks. She tries to take a step back, but she's rooted to the spot. "What?"

"The afterlife," he continues, eyes sparkling. "Hell. The void. Eternal darkness. Whatever you wanna call it. I call it home."

"Home?" She repeats, shakily.

foolish girl with no place, no one to call home because she's an expert at finding comfort in things that don't stay, of course he sees this place as home. Although if he really wanted to surround himself in emptiness so bad then he just needed to wait a few months for you to become just that

"I'm not dead," she mutters. She attempts to laugh, because if she laughs then this will sound like a joke. Wilbur would joke about such a thing. After all, he poked fun at exploding L'manburg just a while ago. So of course this is a joke. It has to be. It is, and she will not allow her breakdown to be the punchline.

At Wilbur's unflinching smile she says it again, with more conviction. "I'm not!"

"How else do you think you're talking to me? How your bakery is still in one piece? Sorry to be your grim reaper Niki, but you're dead. And now you're here, in the afterlife, with me!" He leans in close, close enough that she should feel his breath on her.

There is nothing. He is nothing.

(And maybe, so is she)

"Isn't that great? We're together again! You and me, just like the old days. And look," His eyes glance at what she wears. It's the coat. Specifically, Wilbur's coat, wrapped around her shoulders.

"We're even matching," he coos.

She thinks she might scream.

She throws herself away from him, almost throws the coat too, but into the furnace next to her.

('I gotta burn the memories I need to destroy it I need to destroy it I need to destroy it,' she once screamed to no one but herself. History repeats itself)

How she ever found comfort in this ratty, old coat she'll never know. And she'll never care to find out. Not when Wilbur is acting like this, like before, like a loose city wire, all dangerous and unpredictable, each word an electric spark, and Niki is trying not to get stung. She remembers how that story ended.

But her's will not end. Not yet.

"I can't be dead," she argues. "I don't remember that I would remember something like that so I - I can't be dead, and I have two lives left so, no, no I can't be I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive and I'm in bed I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive and you're not real, just a nightmare. I'm alive I'm alive I'm - "

"It's really me, Niki," Wilbur says, and the fire from the furnace roars in response as if his words fan the flames. It's the first time something in this wicked place has felt alive. "In the flesh. Or, rather, a close imitation of it. I think my corpse must have liquified by now, swelling up for months before bursting open, leaving nothing but a skeleton behind. What about you? What did you leave for them to find?"

She covers her ears. "Stop! Stop it stop it stop it!"

"Remember it. Remember your last moments."

"Wilbur, please - "

"Feel your wrist," he says. No, orders. And she does. Because she, at her core, is still his soldier.

(She says that she is loyal to him and he responds by saying he wants her to be loyal to L'manburg. She remembers being confused, for she saw them both as the same. Wilbur is L'manburg and L'manburg is Wilbur, one cannot coexist without the other. A few months later, amongst the wreckage of her nation and a father's anguished screams, she'll realize too little too late how true her statement holds)

She doesn't find her heartbeat.

For a second she thinks she made a mistake. That she has her fingers in the wrong place, but no. A soldier knows where to look for life so that they may snuff it out. She can't be making a mistake.

Still, she presses her fingers down, harder this time, nails first, that blood draws, and sobs as she's still met with nothing.

She has no heartbeat.

She is dead.

She chokes. She clutches her chest, not because it hurts to know what she lacks in her chest, but because she remembers. Remembers it so intently, remembers it happening in the snap of a finger, literally, from a smiling God (and maybe it is quite a fitting end, for she goes out the same way she lived, giving second chances to men who don't deserve it) and how the world tilted as the ground slipped away.

But what's worse is the realization that comes after.

"I didn't leave anyone anything to find," she says.

Wilbur raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"I didn't leave anyone anything to find because I didn't die," she says again, but weaker. More horrified. "I was teleported. I was on the holy lands when - "

"Teleported?' Wilbur interrupts. His features, just a second ago, eccentric and mad, turn curious. "Wait wait wait, hold on a second, are you telling me you were sent to Hell, Hell, on the fucking Holy Lands? "

Niki weakly nods.

It goes silent.

Suddenly, a snort. A snort that does not sound like it once did, back before the war for independence, before the election, before banishment, before it all, when all there was was a caravan and the worst of their worries was getting Sapnap a vegan hotdog. It's meaner, more shrill, and laced with a madness that seems to roll off his tongue so easily nowadays.

If she weren't watching how hard Wilbur's shoulders shake she'd have never guessed such a sound would come from him.

But there's something else about this snort that chills her to the core. Although she never could have imagined it coming from Wilbur doesn't mean she hasn't heard this kind of laugh before.

It's almost breathless, almost like something left on a stove, steaming, almost like the sound of -

(Dream and Wilbur worked together, both wanted L'manburg gone, both almost killed a kid, both cut off attachments, both lost trust in others, all things Niki has done too, and if Niki is like Wilbur and Wilbur is like Dream then that means - )

(No. Please, no)

"That is -," Wilbur wheezes, wiping away a tear. "That is horribly ironic."

"DreamXD!" She shouts, head tilted up. "Take me back! Take me back right now!"

Wilbur shakes his head. "Oh, no need to try that. I've been there. The whole shouting for help thing? Yeah, will do you no good. No one can hear you down here."

"DreamXD! I'm here!"

"Scream all you want, prime knows you don't need to breathe down here so nothing's stopping you from doing it for forever, but when your screams are all you hear for eternity… well, it'll drive any person mad."

"DreamXD," she shrieks. And her lungs don't shake, don't even give a small quiver, she knows it. Nothing in her does, for the gears don't need to be turning to keep this machine of a body that's been on autopilot since an explosion knocked her off her feet alive anymore. "Please!"

"You stop talking after a few years of just endless screaming for your voice becomes a reminder of your entrapment. But then the silence itself, after a few years, is unbearable. Yet you don't dare speak or make any noise, so it's just madness of a new kind."

She pushes her way past him and makes her way to the exit of her bakery. "I - I liked the magic trick, DreamXD! I really did! You - you can teleport me back now!"

"Too scared to make a noise, but too scared to keep quiet. So you stand still. Your body deteriorates, muscles numb from lack of use, and all you do is use your nails to scratch marks onto the walls to mark how many years have passed since… since absolutely nothing."

She stills. She slowly turns around.

(L'manburg is surrounded by a wall. A wall so mighty and tall she never thought she'd see the day it'd be torn down, much less by its own inhabitants. But this wall right here, the one between her and this old friend, this is a wall that will never meet the same end as its predecessor)

"Wilbur," she whispers. "What do you mean by years?"

Silence.

Wilbur has a far-away look in his eye.

(That look was born in a dirt hole on the side of a small hill and Niki doesn't learn that lesson for she builds her bakery in a similar place. Two places, so small, so cramped, started with hope, have become their worst downfalls, their unfinished symphonies. She parallels him in all the wrong ways)

She tries to take a step back, but she's rooted where she stands. "Wilbur," she weeps. "How long have you been down here?"

He laughs.

(There was a time it made Niki's heart stop. It still does, but for different reasons now)

"Eleven years."

Niki covers her mouth to stifle a broken cry. She was paralyzed before but now, with fear pumping through her veins, she runs. Fear is a more dependent motivator than strength or bravery could ever be, for fear, unlike any other heroic emotion, can't be beaten out of you. Can't be threatened out of you by a friend on your birthday as you try to stop him from pressing a button. Fear only grows, like a weed, you can try to get rid of it all you want, but it multiplies the more you struggle.

She finally gets to the exit, nearly throwing herself at it, only to find a stone wall staring back at her. It's been cemented shut.

She's trapped.

(She is in a cage, a zoo animal for Manburg citizens to point and laugh at. It is cramped, it is humiliating, and it is her home, her everything in wake of becoming nothing to people she once considered friends, Schlatt tells her. Until Quackity frees her. But there is no one to free her now. Except herself)

She pulls up her sleeves and begins mining with her bare hands.

She's been torn apart before, but at least it was quick. This, the way her flesh slowly peels off at each scratch is its own kind of torture. Not because it's painful, but the torture in knowing what you're willing to do to yourself just to see the sky again.

She keeps going.

(She does not throw up at the sight of chunks of flesh dangling where nail once was because she is a soldier and she has seen worse. Seen a child trapped in a box screaming for help and she's unfortunate enough to have a seat in the splash zone. Helped patch up Ponk's wound where his arm should be, afraid she might lose him to blood loss because whoever chopped his arm off didn't cut across the joint to avoid the bone and therefore had to hack again and again and again to get through the bone. Sewed Fundy's head back together from when Schlatt beat him over the scalp with a beer bottle before dying in the caravan; it took a couple of hours to finish because his fur made it hard to spot the bits of glass sticking out his skin. This is not the first or last time she will wash blood off her clothes, she just has to hope it will continue to be someone else's and not her own)

Wilbur comes up beside her. He doesn't even try to stop her, much less flinch at all the red on the wall. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Tommy did."

She snaps her head to him, her clawing ceasing. "Tommy was here?"

He nods. "Arrived a few years ago. I have to admit, when a space opened up here I thought it would be him again, not you. Not that I'm complaining. Don't get me wrong he's a good kid but, well, you know how Tommy gets."

(Everyone you've ever hated, everyone you've ever sworn to end; Schlatt, Tommy, and although you do not hate Wilbur or Jack you're relationship with them is complicated because they remind you of when you spiraled, you lot are all connected now, bound together from sharing the similar experience of death. She can never separate herself from them. Will be rever grouped in with the people she can't stand most)

"How long was Tommy here for?" She asks softly.

Wilbur clicks his tongue. "Two months I think."

She closes her eyes.

(She wanted to look deep into the crater Tubbo's nuke made and confuse Tommy's charcoal, burnt body for obsidian. She wanted to catch Tommy's choked last breaths in a bottle and get drunk on it every night. She wanted to leave spruce wood on his grave as a sort of flag marking her latest conquest. She wanted to stop thinking that if Wilbur was wrong for believing in Tommy then that means he might have been wrong for believing in her)

She doesn't want Tommy dead anymore and although they're still not friends even she wouldn't wish this on him.

"Two months," she says, and it sinks in.

Is that how long she'll have to wait until someone comes looking for her?

That is if someone even cares to look.

(Puffy doesn't respond to any of her messages after their first date. She turns Jack away when he tries to pull her back into the obsession of caving Tommy's head in. Everyone grieving L'manburg remembers her setting L'mantree aflame. Anyone in the Eggpire is too far gone to even care about themselves. She doesn't have a Tubbo. Isn't anyone's disk. She's just Niki, forgotten, ignored Niki, the first ghost of the server before Ghostbur. Why spare a glance at someone transparent? Someone, not all there?)

No one will come for her.

Wilbur cracks his fingers, and Niki winces, for her bones are still on flesh display and slowly repairing. "Well, now that we've played twenty questions let's move on to a new game. You up for some solitaire?"

She rises to her feet and numbly nods. She might as well have something to do to, to try and prevent the inevitable insanity with a card game.

Might as well accept her fate.

Wilbur reaches into his pocket and pulls out the cards. He sits down on the ground. "Sorry," he says. "I'd offer we play on a table but there are no tables in a train station and I doubt your bakery has one either." He hands her half of the deck. "Help me set it up."

But Niki doesn't take them, for she's focused on the word table because -

(There's a table, a weird table, made up of this block she's never seen before. It's sponge-like, with a hole on top decorated by a blueish-green frame, and she's about to ask where they found it when Phil suddenly apologizes for exploding her bakery. At her shocked expression, he explains he'd like to air out all possible tensions before starting their first-ever official Syndicate meeting so that no past grievances keep them from working as an effective team. Techno merely snorts, saying it's not their fault her bakery was on government land, and Phil responds by shooting him a glare fit for his title as Angel of Death. She'd have laughed, she'd have cried because such a look was once how Phil got Wil to eat his vegetables if it weren't for the fact she tells them they have nothing to apologize for. Tells them she left the oven on the day before the attack and by next sunrise, it was already burnt to the ground. Ranboo doesn't blink once from where he sits across from her as she talks. She sees in his eyes that day, how her laughs and her wails blend in with the chaos around her, as if it belongs there, as if she is one with it. And maybe she is, for the fire that consumes her bakery grows and grows and grows but Niki just gets smaller and smaller and smaller as if she has to sacrifice bits of herself to keep the fire going. Perhaps she is, for every monster requires an offering, and her bakery is that. A representative of the old her burning alive to make room for the new, merciless, unhinged her. Good. She looks down at the flint and steel in her hand and in the reflection of the metal she sees a boy with mismatched eyes standing behind her, staring. And then he takes out his book and writes. It feels like Ranboo has placed a noose around her neck. The memory fades and she holds her breath. She waits for him to say something, to call out her lie. This time, Ranboo undoes the knot. He looks away)

Because she needs to tell Ranboo she appreciated his silence that day. Needs to joke about how all this snow reminds her of an ice cream shop and watch Ranboo nervously laugh as she lightheartedly punches him on the shoulder.

Because she needs to know how that story Phil was telling her about his adventures with Techno on another server, something about an Antarctic Empire, ends. Needs to feed the crows with him to make sure he doesn't stare at their wings for too long.

Because she needs to braid Techno's hair one last time while they talk about how pink is clearly the superior hair color. Needs to thank Techno for giving her these becauses, for they wouldn't exist in the first place had he not offered her a place in the Syndicate.

Ironically enough, she always knew she'd die before she could give back all that she owed them. But only because what she owed them was too long a list, too difficult to be expressed in any way that captured what they deserved.

(Somewhere, in a snow biome, there is a family. They're different from each other, too different at times, and yet Ranboo and Techno could wear each other crowns, each fitting perfectly on their heads and no one would know of the switch, except for Phil of course. Right now they're probably looking at their comms around the dinner table, confused by the last message. 'Nihachu fell from a high place.' They aren't worried. Not yet. But in a couple of days, months for her, they'll start to pace. Phil will stand at the edge of the roof, ready to step off, only to remember he doesn't have wings, can't look for her high up in the sky like he used to when she was a kid. Ranboo will force himself through experiments, lose sleep, break himself in, trying to learn how to teleport so as to cover ground faster in the search, to do more than just let his powers go to waste when they could be what brings her home. Techno will grab her rainbow sweater and put it to Steve's snout, but the trail will go cold every time until eventually all of Niki's clothes don't smell like her anymore. They'll do this every day. Nothing will change but their hope, dwindling away each day. So will they just stare at that last message, her unintentional goodbye, looking for some sort of explanation? For some secret message? Some coordinates until they go mad? They won't think she's dead until they've found a body. Won't stop looking, won't leave a corner of the server untouched. Won't stop till they have something to bury)

She can't do that to them.

She slaps the cards out of Wilbur's hands.

"No," she growls, trying to sound tough and less like a kid throwing a tantrum. Perhaps slapping the cards away was not the best start. "I am not going to waste my time playing Solitaire when I could be spending it finding a way back home. And I will if it's the last thing I do."

Wilbur frowns. Niki has the inkling suspicion it has more to do with the cards being all scattered about than from her declaration. "There is no 'last thing I do anymore.' You dying was the last thing you'll ever do. All you have now is this. This is your forever. Our forever."

She turns away from him, just for a second. Away from the sight of his furrowed brows and the crinkles in the space between them where her index finger would go to poke as she teased him. Away from the scrunch of his nose she would joke made him and Techno finally look like twins. Because despite everything, despite all the months that have settled into their bones since the last they saw each other and the wars they've fought on land and in their minds, it's still Wilbur's face. But only in the physical sense. After that, he stops being her Wilbur.

This would be so much easier if his face had physically morphed into a stranger, to prove to her how much he's changed, what he's become over the months, is not all in her head.

Somehow, she finds a way to start.

"You know, not too long ago I'd have stayed with you here. I wouldn't have even put up a fight. I'd have just laid down, closed my eyes, and let the vines on these walls grow over my body until I was just moss. I was… I was so tired, Wilbur. A part of me always will be. I understood. I finally got why you acted the way you did. There was a time I was on half a heart and instead of eating I would - "

Her body begins to shake so hard she almost expects to look down and she cracks in the ground from an incoming earthquake. The only cracks see she's are her own.

She can't say it. Not like that. Not yet.

" - I would respawn to restock the hunger bar," Niki chokes out instead.

(She respawns with dried blood on the back of her head and bones still rattling from the fall. Along her jutting spine, in an almost perfectly straight line that could be confused for an unkempt path lost to weeds and drought, are bruises. She doesn't feel them. All she feels is the urge to do it again)

She blinks and her hand is in her hair, looking for the bump. She pulls her hand away as if it's a hot furnace. "But I can't stay. Things have changed. I've changed. This is not the first time something dark has tried to consume me, but I can't let it win this time. I can't let this place turn me numb and unhinged, or worse, content. Not when I have people to go home to. Not when - "

She looks down at her hand, the one that traced her scalp, and sees it has clenched into a fist.

(At the count of three, Niki throws rock. She groans as she notices all the other hands make paper. Ranboo and Techno exhale as if the losing sentence wasn't shoveling the front lawn, but death. Or worse, going shopping with Phil for a refrigerator to put in the Syndicate meeting room. Ranboo lost that one. Niki points at Techno's hooves and says it's cheating since they can't ever tell which shape he chooses. She demands a rematch with the same tone one uses to declare war. A few minutes later, they're shouting, going over the rules of rock, paper, scissors, and they only stop when Phil comes home and pulls out the dad voice. They begrudgingly agree to do a rematch another time, once they've cooled down. That was yesterday)

She holds her fist close to her heart. The hand was never her rock, it was always three men in a snowy cabin, handing her a mug of hot cocoa. "Not when I have a lawn to shovel."

Silence.

Then, Wilbur sighs. "You know," he says. He places his arms behind him and leans back to get a better look at her. Somehow, even on the ground, he looks to hold all the power. "Years ago your determination would have been a sight for sore eyes, but here's a reality check. I've been here for almost a dozen years. Eleven years of letting the passing train rip right through me in the hopes it would send me to another layer of hell or maybe propel, heck, even drag my body to the next station. But every time I'd wake up back in the train station as if nothing had happened. Like my body breaking under the wheels was nothing."

He is an avalanche, growing and picking up speed with each word, and Niki realizes, too little too late, she's about to be buried alive. She tries to step back, but Wilbur is up quick and approaching. "There is no escape. The limbo is our stage and we have our lines, our cues, but we do not have a curtain call. We just keep going and going, an endless loop. You can't not play your part. It won't let you."

"I have to at least try," she says.

"Why? What's the point? They'll never know you tried."

Her fear turns to disgust. "Is that why you think I'll try? For the sole reason that one day they'll know what I've done for them? That's far from the truth."

(People built statues of Tommy, for all he's done, for all the influence he had on this server. Niki knows they will not give her the same treatment. But that's fine, more than fine. All she needs is a grave in the snow, beside a little cabin)

She didn't want to look at Wilbur's face before, but now, glaring at him straight on, all she sees staring back is Phil.

The day they found out Wilbur didn't inherit Phil's immortality was the day Phil looked like he should, centuries-old instead of thirty-three, the age when angels stop physically aging. Niki will never forget how deep the lines on Phil's face ran. They might as well have been cracks. And maybe it was, for Phil was breaking as he held his dying son - not dying now, but for an immortal, every second a mortal breathes is just inevitable death - in his arms.

But what still haunts Niki the most after all these years are his eyes. They carried the weight of the world in them. She could feel it, even now, pressing down on her shoulders. All the wars, the fall of cities, the birth of them, children with big smiles and even bigger graves.

Niki was not a soldier yet. She was just a nine-year-old girl who wanted to sleep over at her best friend's house.

She threw up in their sink and they mistook it as her reaction to the news. She didn't correct them.

The only reason she slept easy that night was from the knowledge she would never see those eyes on Wilbur's face. And yet, lo and behold, here it is, like a punch to the gut.

Except now, Niki has had time to numb herself to it. It's hard to get surprised by such a dead look when it's on the face of your roommate.

(Phil's screech - no, not a screech, a caw, high pitched and grief-stricken - is like an alarm clock. Except, instead of Niki waking up to the rising sun outside her window, it's to moonlight and blinking stars. This is the fifth time this month she's met Ranboo and Techno outside Phil's cabin, armed to the teeth, ready for war. The door creaks open, loudly, but they don't wince, for they know it won't wake him. Nothing really does when he's in this state, except for one thing. Techno holds him down and it's weird, will always be weird, to see Techno use such force, such retaliation, on Phil of all people, and then Phil nearly throws Techno through the wall with just a brush of his fingers, and she remembers it's necessary. This isn't Phil they're dealing with, it's the Angel of Death. It takes a while until Techno can get all of the Angel's limbs down, but even then they know it won't last long, and that's when Niki throws a slowness potion on him. Ranboo, meanwhile, turns around all the photos of Wilbur in the room, a safe distance away. They told him it's best he handles that since he's built like a stick, putting him anywhere near a powerful avian would be an accident waiting to happen. It definitely has nothing to do with them freezing up whenever they see Wilbur's smiling face, all happy, and so very alive. Phil's movements turn sluggish as the potion kicks in and Niki holds his face, murmurs soft words, and Techno gives his own weird, but comforting, comments. Something about how Phil can't afford to lose sleeping beauty to these night terrors, what with his old age. Niki snorts. Phil's eyes open immediately. Phil sucks in a sharp breath, like he's forgotten how to breathe, his fist clenching and unclenching. The eyes are back. Based on Techno's face Niki knows then she's not the only person that has seen them. They look at each other, nod, and hold him as he cries. They don't need to ask. There's only one person that could cause such a look. They force Ranboo, who is awkwardly standing to the side, to join. Eventually, they break apart, and Techno coughs. He says he hates them for making this all emotional and bans such an awkward event from ever happening again. And yet, when Phil keeps waking up with eyes too dark around the corners, Techno is there. And so is she and Ranboo)

She will not be the reason Phil's eyes age another year.

"It's about Phil, Techno, and Ranboo deserving someone who will never stop trying to find their way back to them," she says, with conviction. "I'm sorry you're too twisted to see not all actions stem from reward or acknowledgment."

She expects a laugh, a glimpse at his forked tongue spewing words so sweet she could use them as sugar in her desserts, only to take a bite and realize it was salt all along. But what she gets is silence. The type of silence before a storm.

"Phil?" Wilbur whispers.

Niki closes her eyes.

She should have never said their names.

She also should have never opened her eyes again, because Wilbur is looking more like Phil each second. Not because of the eyes. No, worse. Because she sees a boy, a boy with his arms spread open wide and flapping about in an attempt at mimicking his father's wings, and they're both running around in circles in the backyard as he tells her how she'll never have to walk anywhere ever again. He'll carry her when she's tired, when she's not tired, whenever she wants wherever she wants. They stop running around in circles flapping their arms when too much time has passed and his wings still haven't grown in, but the acceptance that it never would did.

She blinks and the memory is gone. Slipping through her fingers like sand.

"How is he?" Wilbur says. His voice wavers a bit. He hides it quickly with a cough, but Niki catches it. Niki thought she always would.

(But then a button was pressed and she realized just how untrue that was)

Niki hesitates. She thinks about the night terrors again. She almost mentions them but falters as she remembers Ranboo telling her how it was Phil who gave him a place to stay after L'manburg was blown up for the last time. How as Technoblade hibernates there's a blanket over his shoulders that wasn't there before and a stick missing from the fireplace. How he always places Niki's plate of breakfast down before the others, as if he knows of her first canon death.

He is a kind man, but that is not why he does these things.

"He misses being a father," she settles on.

Wilbur's shoulders slump. Somewhere, in a different life, Niki's hand is there, squeezing comfortingly. "Is he… is he mad at me?"

"No." She answers quickly. "He's just tired, Wilbur. We all are."

Wilbur laughs. It sounds defeated. Mournful. "Understatement of the fucking year."

He slumps against the wall and Niki is sure it's the only thing keeping Wilbur on his feet. His head hits the smooth stone when he suddenly throws his head back and laughs. Niki doesn't know if she winces from the loud crack the impact makes or from the shrill, unhinged laugh.

"I told him to kill me," Wilbur chuckles. His eyes are blinking rapidly. "I told him to fucking kill me."

(The diamond sword has collected dust. Sometimes, everyone jokes, Phil looks like he has to. Playful teasing about how he's a walking antique that should be displayed in a museum. Phil always laughs them off. But it's moments when he stands too still, alone in his thoughts for too long, that Niki wants to put him behind glass with signs that say 'do not touch,' because all it takes is one gust of wind for an artifact to shatter. But that is no way to live and Phil is not so easily breakable. Worn down a bit, rusted from the loss throughout the eons, yes - who hasn't on this forsaken server? - but not breakable)

Niki thinks she might throw up. "I know."

Wilbur looks at her. His eyes are red, but there are no tears. "You said you understood me. You get why I had to ask him to do it."

"Wilbur - "

" - And so you also understand why you have to stay here."

"What?"

"We've changed Niki," Wilbur starts. "For the worse. Don't you feel it? How that server has destroyed every cell in our body? A slow painful death eating us from the inside out until we've just withered away into someone new, someone unrecognizable?"

(Niki feels she's in a never-ending house of mirrors. Constantly encircled by reflections that are her and not her staring back, each representing different points in her life. Some are unrecognizable, stretched, or squished beyond identification, like a fuzzy memory of a girl carrying a backpack, skipping down a path she was told by a best friend would lead to a nation with yellow and black walls. Some are too terrifying, demonizing her features, giving her slits for eyes and claws for nails holding flint and steel over TNT. All of them she wants to smash)

Wilbur either ignores the horrified expression on her face or doesn't see it. "We killed our old selves as a sacrifice, an offering, to the monster we saw lurking in the edges of our mind. And once you let the monster in there's no going back. All we know from then on is to destroy, to rip apart all we once held dear with no remorse until there's just ash and dust. We thrive, no, revel in it."

(Nemesis, she names herself. Goddess of divine retribution and revenge. Maybe that's who Niki sacrifices herself to. Why she felt such an attachment to the name. A remorseless Goddess said to have led Narcissus to a pool, knowing full well he'd be too captivated to leave his reflection for food or warmth. He died there. It's no coincidence a few weeks before she lived the story herself, leading Tommy to his death in the form of a hot blast of air at the speed of light and seeing it as justice)

"I'm not having this conversation with you," she says, voice shaking. She whirls around, nearly tripping over her feet, fully willing to ignore him as she looks for an exit.

But his next words make her go still.

"Phil didn't know what I'd become. That's why he had to be the one to do it."

She winces. "Don't."

"He didn't even pull out the sword, his arms were too busy holding me, holding me, as if the shape of me still fit against his chest even though I felt so hollow, so much thinner - "

"Wilbur - "

" - he stroked my hair too. Even though it was dirty and unkempt and a mess like everything else about me and I'm pretty sure his fingers got stuck a few times he just wouldn't stop untangling each knot with such care and precision that I remembered my last thought being - "

"Wilbur - "

" - could he have brushed away all the knots and twists in my soul like this? Cleaned me up on the inside like he's doing on the outside? I thought I went crying, Niki. Maybe I did. I'll never know because all I felt was his tears ricocheting on my face - "

"Stop - "

" - he tries to wipe them off. He's cursing at himself, apologizing profusely through hiccuping sobs and, and I don't understand why he's so sorry when it feels like, like when he'd lick his fingers and scrub the grimes of our faces after we played outside too long. Do you remember that Niki - "

"I don't wanna - "

" - because I do. We'd screech so loud, saying it was disgusting and unsanitary as we slapped his hand away and ran, but he'd always catch us a second later because of his wings. I don't wanna run away this time. I'm relishing it, craving every stroke because I'm starting to go cold - "

"Please - "

" - and I wish you weren't teleported here. I wish you had died instead - "

"Wil - "

" - so you would know, so we could relate to what it feels like for the limbo to claim you. To mark you. It's like, it's like being mutilated over and over again. A mallet to your bones, a hole in your brain, everything from your skin to your tendons unraveling before you - "

"Wil listen - "

" - spilling out and about like confetti, and you, you are confetti! You're shredded pieces, everywhere and nowhere all at once, and just as the mangling begins it stops, replaced by the limbo trying to put you, no, force you back together again. It's the same sensation, but in reverse, almost a loop, a tunnel with no light at the end, and all you can do is scream - "

"WILBUR SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"

Something shatters

Wilbur falls silent.

Niki looks down. There is a puddle, slowly growing at her feet. She looks to her left. Her hand has punched through the aquarium. Blood trickles down her hand, some get over the glass. She doesn't pull her hand away.

"You never listen," she mumbles, but it seems so loud to her ears. "No one does. No one wants to. I talk and I talk and I talk and yet no response. Not even from the wind. I am a voice box stuck on rewind, repeating myself as life moves on without me."

Niki can hear her voice ring down the bakery, bouncing around with nowhere to settle. Until it does, in Niki's chest, rattling, crackling like a fuse has been lit, and perhaps it has, for her anger feels sizzling. "You used to always say how words were powerful. How they could stop wars, how they could build nations." She lets out a laugh. It burns her throat. "But what would I know?! You and everyone else never gave me a chance to use my voice! Always talking over me whatever chance you could. Even before Pogtopia you walked all over me! Even when I was screaming at top of my lungs you'd - "

She gasps. The glass presses deeper into her skin as her hand trembles. She does not feel it. "Oh primes, oh primes Wil, didn't you hear my screams? I came here screaming, Wil. I, I do know what it feels like for the void to take you. I still feel it, even now, why, why do I still feel it - "

Wilbur staggers to his feet, so quick he promptly falls. He catches himself halfway on Niki's wrist.

His hand scratches on the glass. He doesn't even flinch. Their blood mixes.

(They are one)

He doesn't even grip too tight, and yet it hurts. Stings. "You do understand," he grins. Wide, too wide for his face, that she almost expects his nose and eyes to sink into his skin to make more room. "You do, you do oh thank primes. I'm not alone in this. I've been alone for so long but now, now you're here and you understand! Oh, Niki, I'm so happy you're here."

"You're… happy, I'm here?" She mutters. "You're happy I'm dead?"

He nods frantically. "It's more than that Niki," he says. "DreamXD, whoever that man is, he's my hero for sending you here."

(Parallels between Wilbur and Dream and her and now Wilbur and Dream and DreamXD no no no she can't be them she can't she can't she won't she won't - )

"You don't mean it," she cries. "You don't mean that Wil. Say you don't mean it."

The grin, somehow, becomes wider. She realizes then his eyes don't have to disappear. They're already gone. Replaced by a black hole, too dark in the corners and its gravitational pull making it hard to look away even though she knows staring at it too long will get her sucked into an endless void.

He leans in close like he's sharing a secret. "I only wish he had sent you here sooner."

(Wilbur's life, Niki is realizing, is like a house of mirrors too. Except Wilbur has smashed every mirror. No, actually, not true. Niki sees, if she squints, that Wilbur has abandoned the sledgehammer and is observing a still intact mirror. He didn't keep the mirror depicting a little boy sitting on the steps of a home, their home, trying to play a song and failing because the guitar is too big for his body, but he refuses to buy a smaller one because "this is my Dad's guitar Niki! So, therefore, it's by default the best guitar in the world". Or the one of a father panting heavily on a couch, cursing his human legs while Niki is doubled over laughing because there is a baby fox is running on all fours around the house at 45 miles per hour who doesn't want to be put to bed. Nor the one of a leader, handing out purpose and meaning in the form of a blue and white uniform with a soft smile. No, it's the one of a man who's just pressed a button. Who long before L'manburg's destruction, always felt like he was breathing in smoke, but now kept warm by the ash and dust of his nation flying up to the red sky, it feels - for the first time in a long time - easier to breathe. Niki can't believe he didn't destroy it. He's… preserving it. Why is he preserving this version of himself of all things?)

foolish girl with dreams for a better nation, better server, better future, too much better somethings, you've ruined reality for no one but yourself. think for once about what is and not what was or could have been. he is different. changed for the worse. he's preserving it because he doesn't care about you. can't you see how happy he is over your death? how there's light in his eyes for the first time over yours being snuffed out? how he shows no sympathy in your entrapment here, forever away from Techno, Phil, and Ranboo because it benefits him. so give in and fight fight fight fight

She sees red.

Her fist collides with Wilbur's nose.

She doesn't even wait to hear the crack before she's already reeling back her arm for the next hit.

This time she aims for the jaw. She feels something split. It could be Wilbur's lip or bone. Maybe her mind. She doesn't know and she doesn't care.

What she does know is how familiar this is, having something break under her knuckles. It's easy, familiar even, throwing punch after punch, like some sort of autopilot response. Perhaps it is, for every punch is instinctive, out of body almost. No longer is there a before in the blows, only an after.

Except, that's not true. Not entirely. Because Niki is realizing why there is no before. Because before each blow there is always a struggle from your opponent. Flailing limbs trying to make contact with something, choked wheezes, an attempt to curl into a ball, and, sometimes, begging.

Wilbur does none of that. He's silent the whole time.

It's almost like he takes it willingly.

clever girl with hands too bruised, too scarred, too violent to ever be held so gently. a finger trained to pull the trigger is not meant to bear a promise ring. who's fault do you think that is? you've held back for so long, don't stop now. so give in and get revenge revenge revenge revenge

A swing at his eye. A swift kick to the ribs. A fistful of his hair so tight she could yank his scalp off if she twisted her wrist just so.

It's all a flurry of movements really, too fast for even her own eyes to catch. Half of the time she's lost on where the hits land, totally dependent on wherever the blood leaks the most and the bruises that weren't there a second ago to tell her. Eventually, the damage starts to blur, too much of his face has swelled up to spot any new marks and too many limbs bend at weird angles to differentiate what is and isn't broken, so she stops trying to guess.

Which is why she doesn't know which strike finally gets Wilbur to fall, all she knows is that he does. He doesn't even sway. One second he's on his feet and the next he's on his back.

It's kinda pathetic really, that this was her general.

For a second he's still, too still, and then he spits out a tooth. He licks his gums with a grimace, looking for the gap before finally speaking.

"I see Technoblade's been training you. Do you feel better now?"

clever girl who's seen her fair share of men with livewire tongues, spitting rogue sparks at your skin in the form of harsh words to quiet you down. do not be silenced once more. you let him speak before and it cost you a nation. this time silence him, and I will secure you a limbo without him. so give in and maim maim maim maim

She screams. She thinks she does. It's hard to tell over the deep reverberated banging of Wilbur's head against the stone floor.

The first slam simply causes blood to trickle down his forehead.

The second one caves in the front of his scalp.

The third one he's unrecognizable.

The fourth one there's nothing left to bash.

She keeps going anyway.

"Shut up," she pants between each crack and occasional splat. "Shut up shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP."

Wilbur tries to say something. All that comes out is a gurgle, wet and sharp and loud. So very loud. And it keeps going, stringing along and along and along longer than the large chunks of skin and brain on the pavement. It shouldn't be possible, his mouth, along with everything else, is practically gone. Nothing but a small pit inside a bigger pit.

Yet it continues, getting increasingly louder in pitch.

And then she gets it.

He's scared.

clever girl of never-ending war zones, jumping from one horror to the next. this is the last one. and I know that's been said before but you can trust me. just end it and you can finally rest. wouldn't that be nice? so give in and kill kill kill kill kill

She smiles. It hurts her face.

She picks his head up from the ground one last time. She's humming, like a lullaby. Maybe it is. She's putting the baby to sleep. She knows he can't die again, but wherever he goes after this, if the limbo keeps its promise, it can't be pretty.

"I said," she laughs. "Shut up."

She brings his head down.

She blinks.

Her empty hand meets black stone slabs.

"Niki?"

She looks up and immediately regrets it. Everything is too bright, scorching, a burning gaze on every inch of her skin, but what really hurts are her eyes. She thinks they're sizzling, like actually sizzling, because her sclera feels as if it's bubbling and her iris is definitely melting into her brain and there are so many spots dancing behind her eyelids.

And then the voice, soft and familiar, speak's again.

"Do you have your stuff?"

It takes a while, and a lot of blinking, but her eyes eventually readjust.

She gasps.

The first thing she processes isn't that George and DreamXD stand just a few feet away or that it was George speaking. No, it was how absurdly colorful, everything was.

Here there was life. Life. It was like she poked her head through a kaleidoscope, what with how the specks of a rainbow illuminated itself in the clear blue water of the fountain and the sight of shimmering white quartz glistening under the sunbeams that poured through the purple-tinted windows. No longer was everything dulled around the corners and drained at the center like anything in her dreadful, cramped space of a bakery she shared with -

Oh primes.

Her bakery.

This isn't her bakery. This is Church Prime.

"She's back," DreamXD exclaims. He turns to George, bouncing on his heels excitedly as if expecting some sort of reward, but George pays him no mind/ He's too busy looking at Niki, or, more so, through her.

"What happened?" He asks.

She opens her mouth, then slams it shut.

She's alive. Dear primes, she's alive and she's back and she should be happy, cheering, jumping up and down to feel the livelihood ache in her bones but…

She looks back down at the floor. The floor should be covered in blood. Wilbur's blood, and his bits of flesh and tissue and muscle and -

Oh primes. What has she done?

Or better yet, what didn't she do?

"George," she whimpers. "I don't know what's going on. I, I don't know what's going on here."

She hopes it was her imagination. It had to have been. Otherwise, she hosted Wilbur's head up by the splits of his hair, pushed down as hard as she could and -

She wouldn't. She couldn't, not anymore at least. She left that side of herself in a gate full of slaughtered chickens as Jack demanded they try and kill Tommy again. That side of her is as dead as those chickens.

Right?

She prays so, for this is a church after all, and that means prayers have to be answered here. They have to come true. They have to.

There's a smile in DreamXD's voice when he speaks again as if he knows how much this torments her. "I sent her to hell and then I brought her back."

No.

She sobs. She looks down at her hands. Their bear and yet they feel so heavy. As if the ghost of Wilbur's blood and gore is still there, a new thick-coated layer of skin.

She tortured him. Broke him brick by brick again and again and again even as he tried to beg. Her best friend, her general, her family, begging at her feet, and she kept going, would have kept going too, with an ear-splitting grin, like it was some sort of game.

And it had felt so good to finally get a checkmate.

Wilbur is not a demon. He's just seen too much in too little time. Too much pressure on too little shoulders. Too tired to be all there. It's not an excuse for all the pain he's caused, far from it, but it shows his actions didn't come from a place of malice, but rather a cry for help. Niki knows this, she gets it, and she'll say it time and time again. But all she could think about at that moment, before the final strike, was how happy Wilbur was about her death. He deserved a piece of her mind, but not like that. Never like that.

What is wrong with her?

No, no it wasn't her. It was that place, that voice. It was a parasite, burrowing deep within her brain and planting itself in the center, telling her what to do and what to say. Telling her to slaughter left and right. It was so loud, rattling around in her head and echoing like war drums. She couldn't just ignore it, it was too much. So, no, she is free of guilt, free of responsibility, hands all clean.

But she knows that at the end of the day the host still needs to be somewhat conscious for the parasite to thrive.

Oh primes. Is this what Techno deals with every day?

Then, she jumps to her feet.

Techno, Phil, and Ranboo.

It's coming back now, that memory of fury in her eyes, that fire in her voice as she told Wil she had people to go back to. How she was willing to claw her fingers down to bone to make an exit. But that voice, that stupid stupid voice, it told her she could rest, could get revenge, and against her better judgment she listened. It caught her at a moment of weakness, Wilbur's words of memory lane, of Phil, of everything that came before and after his death, she was at a low point. And like a moth to a flame, she was there one moment and gone the next. Back to the old her.

She thought she had left that version of herself behind when she joined the Syndicate. She was so sure she was getting better with Techno, Phil, and Ranboo around.

But all it took was one voice to ruin all her progress.

Her chest constricts and her head feels heavy.

She needs to find them. She needs to tell them what she saw. She needs to tell Phil. She needs… she needs…

She just needs them.

"What did you see?" George says, snapping her out of her thoughts.

This time, her mouth has no problem moving. "George," she starts, voice trembling. "I have seen things. I... I... I have seen things. I don't know what's going on here but I don't know if I should - "

Niki gulps. It's getting so hard to breathe. She should feel thankful that she can breathe in the first place, but every inhale stings as her lungs try to remember to do a motion so foreign to her.

How long has she been down there?

She doesn't want to know.

She just wants to go home.

She walks away, backward, from the two, eyes fixated tightly on them and barely blinking. She remembers the last time she let her guard down around DreamXD. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry George. Good luck with him but I - "

She doesn't finish, because she's already out the door. She wants to run, but she's so sure her lungs would explode at the first push forward of her heel. So she walks.

And walks.

The world walks with her, with each rotation. As if they’re friends taking a stroll. As if it hadn’t cracked open and swallowed her whole, chewed up everything good in her and spat her out when she turned bitter. Returned her back to a world that didn’t change one bit while she was gone, despite her herself changing so much.

It’s like what happened to her didn’t happen at all.

And then she realizes a horrible thing.

Everyone on this server is going to see today as a normal day.

Is it bad that a part of Niki wishes something like the Green Festival could happen right now, so that they could all feel the monstrosity of today?

She stands still. Stationary, like this Earth wants her to be. She thinks she could do it, stay like this forever. She feels numb enough.

Somewhere above, a crow caws.

She burst into tears.

#dream smp #fanfic #fic #niki nihachu #wilbur soot #technoblade #philza #ranboo #the syndicate #the syndicate are found family because I said so #dsmp #niki #niki fic #niki nihachu fanfic #niki fanfic #dream smp fanfiction #dream smp fanfic #dsmp fanfic

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keelywolfe · 5 years

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FIC: Rope Trick (baon)

Summary: It wasn't that Stretch really minded being told what to do. He just had to weigh how much fun he would have obeying versus not....

Tags: Spicyhoney, Established Relationship, Role Reversal, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, Oral Sex, Sex, Lemony Goodness, Not Work Appropriate, Joking Reference To Using Drugs to Make Someone Take a Damn Nap

Warnings: I do occasionally throw Not Work Appropriate content in this series, so if you missed it, note the tags. This chapter contains all that with a little light bondage. All happy-times and consensual.

part of the ‘by any other name’

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Read More Here

~~*~~

The thing was, Stretch didn’t really mind doing stuff when Edge asked. Sure, it wasn’t quite as fun when the requests were for tossing laundry in the dryer or washing the breakfast dishes, but hey, you took the good, you took the bad, learned about the facts of life, all that shit.

Sometimes, though, Edge didn’t ask so much as he…well, ordered, and Stretch wasn’t sure if it was an ex-captain of the guard thing or if it was just an Edge thing, but if he were really, really honest, he didn’t mind that very much, either.

He highly suspected that Edge knew he didn’t mind, too, but it didn’t mean he had to make it easier for him, did it? Nope.

So, when Edge came up behind him on the porch that afternoon and loomed, Stretch gave him a minute to glare, smoking the last of his cigarette before he asked, lazily, “okay, baby love, what exactly has you in a twist on this fine, fine day?”

Didn’t hurt that the faint tightening of his jaw told him that Edge wasn’t any fonder of his new pet name than he had been ‘momma bear’. Stretch planned to draw that minor annoyance out for a while yet, hell, yes, he did. It was always worth it in the end.

“Go take a shower and meet me in the bedroom,” Edge told him curtly before he turned on his heel and walked back into the house, leaving Stretch on the porch with a half-burned cigarette and an equally burning curiosity.

He took enough time to finish it before he stood up, groaning as his joints popped. Okay, he’d bite and see where this was going to take them. Sure as hell wasn’t like he had any better plans, especially not if he took Edge’s resourcefulness into account. His bones were already tingling a little thinking about it.

Edge was nowhere around when he went in; off somewhere plotting manically, he guessed, and that was all right. At least Stretch’s end of this bargain was an easy one.

If Stretch had to guess, he’d say washing up was because he’d been smoking like a chimney for the past couple days as ciggies were the only thing keeping him from running screaming out into the unforgiving world/their neighborhood, and he didn’t want to scare any of the kiddos that way.

Stretch knew a little something about the time/space continuum and if he didn’t know better, he’d say they were stuck in a fluctuation because this week was starting to seem pretty fucking endless and that was a fact.

Sure, he loved having Edge around, but that also meant having Edge around. When he wasn’t off taking extra jogs through the neighborhood or filling their already overflowing freezer with neatly labeled packages, he was prowling through the house like a caged leopard, cleaning everything so thoroughly that Stretch was pretty sure he’d seen the furniture cringing away from him.

Edge seemed to be struggling a little with the whole ‘relaxing’ thing he was supposed to be doing, and his struggle was becoming Stretch’s battle.

It wasn’t like he had any good recommendations to share. Naps were Stretch preferred stress relief, and yeah, he wasn’t getting Edge to take a damn nap without chloroform, which Stretch suspected went against that whole ‘love and cherish thing’ he’d promised not that long ago. His fault for not reading the fine print.

Television was the next best option, but that was usually a nighttime activity for them, one that involved copious cuddling and maybe some sex. Stretch hadn’t been able to convince Edge that ‘Travel Man’ would be just as excellent at lunchtime.

(he could have gone to the lab to escape for a while, could have, hadn’t been back to the lab since…and the first time he’d tried, he’d only gotten to the door and frozen, dread thick in his soul, and he couldn’t force his feet to go down the stairs, he couldn’t, and…and…and…)

…yeah, much as he loved Edge, he was this close to saying fuck it all and calling Asgore, begging him to let Edge come back to work early, if only to spare his own sanity.

So, hell, yeah, he’d gone right upstairs for a shower when Edge told him. Didn’t half-ass it, either. Stretch scrubbed up with plenty of body wash on the weird pink bath poof that Edge had bought, and who came up with these things? Whoever it was, Stretch owned them a G or two, because seeing Edge using it with great dignity in the shower every morning was worth getting up early for.

Stretch soaped up thoroughly, sudsing away any hint of cigarette smoke. Instead of putting on his dirty clothes back on, he tossed them into the hamper and went to the bedroom in just a towel, dewy-fresh as a spring virgin.

Only to blink at what Edge was wearing, his towel wilting in his grasp.

The roads were kinda treacherous in the winter, or so Stretch had been told, and Edge always put his motorcycle into storage when the weather turned snowy. That was a good thing, his baby was all about safety, but the bad part was Stretch missed seeing Edge in his leather pants during the winter months. It was a view that made him long for warming sunshine of spring.

Apparently, Edge had decided to use this opportunity to break them out a little bit early. The belt hit his pelvis below the curves of his iliac crests and he was wearing a cut-off black t-shirt that left the intricate lines of his spine on display, the whole ensemble paired with elbow-length red gloves.

It was disconcertingly similar to what he’d been wearing when they’d first landed in this universe and even then, Stretch had noticed how attractive Edge was; he’d been depressed, not fucking blind.

The only difference was his bare feet, pale bone against the dark carpet of their bedroom and Stretch let himself focus on that for a minute, trying to gather up his fleeing wits.

“if i’d known we were roleplaying, i would’ve picked a better costume.” Not too bad; at least he’d managed a decent level of sass.

A quick glance up confirmed that Edge heard the roughness in his voice, damn it. He smirked, cocking his hips in a way that made all the magic in Stretch’s mouth go dry.

“What you’re wearing is perfect,” Edge said. He crooked a finger at Stretch. “Come here.”

He did, but he took his damn time about it because he wasn’t a puppy that came when he was called. Unfortunately, standing in front of Edge with all that tantalizing bone within reach was exactly where Stretch wanted to be, so it kinda ruined his defiance.

With two fingers, Edge plucked the towel loose, letting it fall to Stretch’s feet and leaving him completely bare. He gave the newly exposed bones a long, slow look before he said, “Get on the bed.”

Oh, so that’s how they were playing? Stretch didn’t move, only asked sweetly, “what’s the magic word?”

Edge coolly raised a brow bone at him. “Is it worth hearing me say it once, knowing that I’ll have you screaming it later?”

“promises, promises.” But Stretch grudgingly did it, fussily making himself comfy in the middle of the bed with his head on one of the pillows. The way Edge’s eye lights raked down him made magic flush in his joints, stirring in his pelvic cavity and Stretch forced himself not to squirm. Didn’t want Edge to think he was too eager, not yet, anyway.

That was when he caught sight of the length of rope in Edge’s hand.

There was no way to hide the bright surge of his magic flaring, but Stretch went with nonchalant anyway. May as well make the attempt. “planning something special, babe?”

“I know you’d let me tie you up, if I asked,” Edge said bluntly. He held out the rope and let it dangle from his fingers. The end brushed against Stretch’s femur, scratchily ticklish.

Yeah, okay, fuck nonchalance.

“fuck, yes, i would,” Stretch breathed. Almost automatically, he lifted his hands over his head, crossing them at the wrists in blatant invitation. Edge’s eye lights narrowed, the crimson deepening.

“But I find I’m uncomfortable with the idea.” It took a moment for the meaning to filter through and once it did, Stretch could only blink in surprise, some of his desire fading back. “I haven’t been able to get past the idea that it might hurt you, love, and I wouldn’t be able to stand that. I couldn’t.”

“okay,” Stretch said, slowly. There wasn’t much point in arguing about it; he could snarl about his low HP and intent until the universes turned over again and shook them out someplace new, but in the end, Edge felt how he felt, and it was his choice. Sooooo…what was up with the rope? “then what did you have in mind?”

Edge shifted to put a knee on the bed, leaning over where Stretch’s hands were still above his head. He set the length of rope in Stretch’s hands and gently closed his fingers around it. It was soft in his grasp and Stretch could easily picture Edge testing lengths of rope, making sure to find something that wouldn’t be rough or irritating on his bones.

“I want you to hold that,” Edge told him. One gloved finger traced lightly over Stretch’s and he tightened his grip reflexively. “Keep your hands there, and don’t let go.”

“is that all?” Stretch asked skeptically and Edge hummed in amusement.

“No, as a matter of fact,” he said lightly. “I want your promise that you won’t let go.”

Oh, that was dirty pool, wasn’t it. But if that was the way Edge wanted to play…

”i promise.”

“Don’t let go,” Edge warned, and that earned him a scowl because Stretch had promised, hadn’t he? But that was okay, Stretch knew all his warning buttons, too, and knew exactly how to push them.

“you got it, boss.” Stretch didn’t miss the way Edge went briefly still, the faint tremor that went through him.

He leaned down, close to Stretch’s ear canal, and whispered, “Careful, don’t earn yourself a debt that you can’t repay.”

Stretch only tilted his skull until it gently knocked against Edge’s. “my mouth has been writing blank checks since i was born. we going to play or not?”

In answer, Edge moved down the bed to straddle Stretch’s femurs. The leather of his pants against his legs matched the leather of his gloves, buttery-soft, rasping against bone as he ran his fingers down Stretch’s rib cage, tracing his sternum, the fragile lines of his collarbone.

His touch was so familiar and once upon a time, in another world when he was another person, Stretch would have thought he’d get bored of hands that knew him so well. He might have laughed about it carelessly and moved on to the next anonymous body, and hands that didn’t know a thing about him and didn’t care to.

Now he could only whimper softly, the rope laying heavy in his own hands as Edge lingered at places he knew were sensitive; the spot where his ribs met his sternum, teasing the cartilage of his spine within his rib cage. Edge knew him, knew every part of him, and Stretch craved that touch like his own breath.

Those gloved fingertips skirted along his pelvis, swirling the heavy cloud of unformed magic that surged towards his touch.

Weakly, Stretch managed a teasing, “what are you thinking? pick a toy, any toy, babe, and you can play all you want.”

Edge took hold of his pubic symphysis firmly enough to make Stretch yelp, hooking his finger into the notch, and said bluntly, “I want your cock.”

The words were barely spoken when his magic took shape, giving Edge what he’d asked for. He took hold of the shaft in both hands, rubbing his thumbs up the underside, his weight holding Stretch down when he moaned and tried to lurch up into that touch.

“Beautiful,” Edge whispered, “Your cock is always so beautiful.”

Stretch squirmed, feeling magic heating in his cheek bones. He had a little of a love/hate thing going for the way Edge liked to talk about him. He didn’t want to hear that shit, except for how he desperately did, he didn’t want to want to hear it—all his fumbling thoughts shorted out when Edge shimmied down to crouch over him, tonguing lightly at the head, a smear of orange magic vibrant against the crimson of his tongue.

“fuck,” Stretch croaked out, twisting the rope in his hands, feeling the slight burn as it abraded lightly against the bones. Edge’s mouth was hot, always, the lush warmth of his magic reflective of his HP. The curl of his tongue was teasing, refusing to find a rhythm and when Stretch tried to arch up, firm hands settled on his pelvis, holding him down implacably.

Distantly, he had to give Edge credit; whether he’d come up with the idea himself or he read about it somewhere, trying to keep his hands tight around the rope while Edge was taking him apart with equal parts gentleness and calculated ruthlessness was nearly an unbearable struggle.

It took every ounce of his dwindling restraint to keep from grabbing Edge’s head and make him stop teasing, fuck, he couldn’t, he—

Even if he could have covered his mouth with his hands, there was no way Stretch could have smothered his cry of disappointment when Edge drew away, licking his teeth clean. The heavy way he was breathing was satisfying at least, the hot, crimson glow of his eye lights promising.

When Edge unzipped his pants, Stretch expected him to pull out his cock, hoping that maybe they’d get some nice, simple frottage going. He loved it when Edge held their cocks together, the slick slide of their magic in his fist, and both of them coming over the deep crimson of Edge’s glove would be a lovely sight.

Instead, he moved to slide his pants off entirely and Stretch was not expecting it to reveal the soft folds of a cunt.

“edge…” Stretch started, concerned. Two gloved fingertips resting lightly against his teeth silenced him.

“Trust me to know what I want,” Edge told him softly.

“i trust you,” Stretch whispered hoarsely, because he did, he trusted Edge with his life, his soul, his sanity, everything, but not always with himself. He still couldn’t help but watch as Edge straddled him again, slipping a hand between his own legs to circle a thumb over his clit.

“I’ve been practicing,” Edge groaned, his hips pushing into his own touch.

That sounded ungodly hot. The thought of Edge alone on their bed with his knees spread wide and two fingers deep inside of himself…or maybe using a toy, teasing himself with a dildo or a vibrator. Stretch wouldn’t have been the slightest bit surprised to find out that Edge had thoroughly researched best practices for learning to orgasm through penetration. It had taken him a little while to get into the physicality of sex, but once he had, Edge was the furthest thing from prudish about it.

Even from here, Stretch could see his pussy was glistening wetly and hell, maybe he’d missed a show while he was in the shower, what a fucking shame.

He only noticed how hard he was gripping the rope when his fingers started aching and Stretch forcibly relaxed his hands even as he caught his breath, not even blinking as Edge shuffled back, reaching between them to hold his cock, guiding it to press against slick folds.

“ah, fuck, fuck, babe,” Stretch gasped as Edge slid down. He couldn’t look away, watching his cock disappear into him. Edge’s sockets were closed, his tongue caught lightly between his teeth and he was so gorgeously tight, lushly wet. He took his time, moving agonizingly slow, until Stretch was deep inside him, feeling his cunt clenching sweetly around him as Edge settled against him.

“There,” Edge said hoarsely. He opened his sockets, his eye lights wide and soft, spreading his hands out on Stretch’s rib cage for balance. The first tentative shift of his hips dragged a cry from deep in Stretch’s soul. They’d only done this a couple of times before and it had been nothing like this, any of his own pleasure muted, washed away by Edge’s obvious discomfort in it.

Nothing at all like this, with Edge finding a rhythm, clumsily at first and then moving with more confidence. Shifting and squirming until he found an angle that left both of them gasping. Edge moved faster, his jaw dropping open as groans strangled out of him, his own control shaking loose as he moved harder, relentlessly.

Stretch struggled against the rope as if it was actually binding him, because wasn’t it? Binding him with a promise and he could only clutch it, grinding it painfully into his finger bones and he could only let Edge ride him, the tight softness of his cunt easing and then sucking him in each time Edge rose and fell. It was too much, it was unbearable, all the heated magic in his bones coalescing into a hot point of pleasure.

“oh, fuck, i can’t—” was all Stretch managed to choke out and then he was coming, his magic flaring with the throes of his orgasm, and he didn’t let go of the rope, he didn’t, shaking and whimpering, and coming inside Edge with a hot flood. It lasted a tiny eternity until he collapsed back against the mattress, sweat dripping from him and Edge still on top of him, unmoving while Stretch slowly went soft inside him.

Um, yeah, he hadn’t actually ordered a side of humiliation with his sex today.

“fuck, i’m sorry,” Stretch said miserably, closing his sockets against the embarrassed heat rising in his face. Sure, it had been a long time since he’d had sex that way, but damn, Edge never came before him, always made sure he was satisfied and the first time Edge had really been enjoying penetrative sex, Stretch had gone off like a fucking firecracker.

Soft leather brushed his cheek bone, fingertips grazing, “No need to apologize for that, love, you’re beautiful when you come. And it isn’t as if I’m bereft of other options.”

A quiet, wet sound made him open his sockets in time to see Edge sliding a hand back between his legs, gloved fingers rubbing where they were still joined. His moans were soft, eager, and he moved into his own touch, his pelvis rocking minutely as he rubbed his thumb against his clit.

Stretch’s hands flexed, his sore phalanges clenching around the rope, desperate to join Edge’s, to touch him and watch pleasure flare in his eye lights.

“let me help,” Stretch pleaded.

“No, I don’t think so,” Edge panted, all his collectedness lost, his bones gleaming with sweat. “You want to be forgiven? Then you can watch.”

And he did, until his sockets ached with dryness, unable to look away as Edge’s little movements went jerky. The leather of his glove was soaked with mingled orange and red, his come seeping out to slick it, trailing obscenely down Edge’s femurs.

His fingers moved faster, almost desperately, and Stretch watched as Edge stiffened and came with a cry, shuddering and jerking, his magic sparkling brilliantly in brief, gorgeous flare. Soon enough he sagged down to sprawl heavily across Stretch, all awkward bones grinding against each other. He stirred quickly enough, before his weight was too much, shifting up on his elbows but Stretch didn’t notice.

Instead, he was trembling desperately, stuttering out, “please, uncle, okay? please let me…let me… i need to…i need…please…”

“You can let go,” Edge told him hoarsely and instantly, Stretch’s arms were around him, fumbling over him. Sweat slicked his hands as he tried to touch Edge everywhere, needed to touch him, his fingers scraping against his ribs and spine, grazing between his legs and drawing a hiss from Edge as they slid clumsily against his still-sensitive cunt.

“beautiful, fuck, baby, you were so beautiful, i love you, i love you so much,” Stretch babbled out, quieting as Edge soothed him, stroking him and settling him. He pulled the comforter around them both before their sweat cooled enough for Stretch to feel chilled.

When Stretch was calmer, curled up drowsily against him, Edge took hold of one of his hands carefully, lifting it and frowning at the lightly chafed bones.

“don’t start fretting, edgelord,” Stretch mumbled sleepily. “that’ll be gone in a couple hours and you know it.”

“it was supposed to be a way to keep you from being hurt,” Edge said softly. He pressed a gentle kiss into Stretch’s palm. The heat of his breath was soothing.

“believe me, i’m not complaining,” Stretch said dryly. Tired as he was, he managed to tip his head up enough to look Edge in the face. “if that was hurting me, consider this an open invitation to do it again, anytime.”

The emotions that flitted across Edge’s face went too fast for Stretch to interpret before they disappeared beneath Edge’s normal stoicism. Not much use in pushing the point right now and Stretch snuggled back into the comforter, resting his cheek against Edge’s sternum. Bone against bone wasn’t perfectly comfortable without a thin cushion of clothing between them, but Stretch wasn’t about to let Edge go long enough to put on some pajamas, not now.

Beneath his cheek bone he could feel the delicate pulse of Edge’s soul, unmanifested but it was there, its presence strong and comforting. Even better, he could feel Edge’s breathing evening out and Stretch smiled a little, cuddling closer.

This wasn’t exactly how he’d imagined getting Edge to take a nap, but he had to admit, it was better than his plan.

Getting chloroform was a bitch, anyway.

-finis-

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underswap papyrus #underfell papyrus #by any other name

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nomimits7 · 5 years

Text

Mission Bangtan | 6

Title: MISSION BANGTAN pt6

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Ratings: M

Warnings: language. Future violence. Talk of abuse.

Summary: As a professional eliminator you are ordered to get rid of Bangtan. A group of trained fighters hiding behind the mask of BTS. Your mission is successful until you get to know them. Will Y/N be able to complete the mission, or will she end up protecting her target from the real danger?

Notes... @feed-my-geek-soul Thank you so much for helping me with this chapter... and giving it new life !!!! This ones for you <3

bold & Italics = flashbacks

Maybe saying that you were royally fucked were the wrong words. You thought you were royally fucked. The footsteps came, stopped, turned and left in a hurry. You released a sigh of relief. Using your quick wits, you hastily constructed a way to fight your way out.

You left your safe spot and looked around the room. Curtains… no, too long and impractical. Bed… yess, you could use that. You stripped the bed and started ripping the sheets to shreds. Tying them together you successfully made strong ropes, seven to be exact. Taking the pillowcases, you started placing everything in clever places. Easily accessible. Even though your resources were limited you knew it would work. Turning to the bed frame, a smile spread across your face. No longer were you planning on killing them, oh no, you just needed to escape this place and figure out where the hell you are. You broke the bed frame and using some of the sheet left you tied some pieces together. Not the best-looking weapon, but Homemade nun-chucks could work.

Now, you need them to come to you. But how-… as you thought this the door flung open revealing the seven men you were just thinking about.

“What the fuck?” Yoongi spat out as he saw the room. His eyes finally landed on you, standing in the middle of the mess, smiling.

“Welcome boys…” with that you sprang forward, grabbed Yoongi and flung him against the cupboard. With one swift movement you grabbed one of your ropes and started to tie his hands, twisting around you successfully tied his hands around his neck, choking him in the process. Tae sprang into action. He grabbed you from behind and flung you to the opposite wall. Crashing into the wall you let out a groan as the pain shot through you. Jimin pounced on you and punched you straight in the stomach. As you went down you grabbed another rope, just as Jimin went to kick you, you caught his leg and quickly tied his feet together causing him to fall face first to the floor. Within seconds you were on him, grabbing his hands you tied his up. Jungkook was the next to tackle you, literally. The both of you hitting the ground as a third body joined the pile. Looking up you saw Tae, his eyes were wild and excitement filled you. Yes, you felt excited to see this side of him. Before any of them could react, you pulled a pillowcase over Tae’s eyes, blinding him. He fell back and you and Jungkook began wrestling on the floor.

Being temporarily distracted you failed to notice Yoongi, Jimin and Tae gaining their mobility again thanks to the older males. Hoseok was the one that pulled you out of the tangle of limbs, you managed to get a few punches in, but it wasn’t enough to stop the youngest from pinning you, not for long though. Your jiu-jitsu came in handy and before long you both were immobile. Jin grabbed one of your many ropes and tied you up. Namjoon crouched before you and smiled.

“You truly are different, aren’t you? Well done, you created all this chaos in the span of… holy shit” Namjoon’s eyes went wide when he looked at his watch. You couldn’t understand what was wrong until he looked at you. Tilting your head, you waited for him to elaborate on his statement. “1 minute and 35 seconds. That’s… amazing. I’ve never seen anyone able to go toe-to-toe with us, and best us in this manner in under 5 minutes.” A smile made its way to your lips. You realized that you were faster than them, meaning you still in someway held the upper hand. This was good, very good.

“Y/N, would you like to talk? I know you don’t trust us at all, but we have some things to discuss. I promise we won’t do anything to you. Please?” Seokjin said as he made his way to you.

“No drugs? Just talking?” you asked. He nodded, and you followed suit.

It was weird sitting in what looked like a living room of sorts, with no ropes, next to the people who knew their potential killer is seated alongside them. It was awkward in the least. No one said a single word as a silent staring contest were taking place between you and Yoongi. You see, it was his room you casually destroyed within a span of a minute and a half. To say he was pissed was, well a definite understatement. The three youngest members found this fairly amusing.

“So, I guess you figured out who we are. Correct?” Namjoon broke the silence.

“Well, all I know till thus far is that you are seven rogue eliminators from the same academy as me. Although I never saw you there. I also know some of your strengths. Namjoon’s the leader, 24, clumsy but clever. Specializes in tactics and planning. Seokjin’s the eldest at 26, excellent cook and master of poisons and knives. Hoseok is the loud one, 24 and acts as the shadow of the group. Yoongi specializes in the element of surprise, 25 and he is good at observing. Jimin’s the most flexible of all the members, 23 and has a soft mask. Taehyung or V as requested, 23 and he’s the most unpredictable of all the members. And lastly Jungkook, 21 muscle mania but most inexperienced of the group. He’s also a computer wizz. And that about as far as my knowledge goes”

Seven dumbfounded faces stared back as you finished speaking. They weren’t expecting you to know that much already. But hey, you were smarter than they anticipated so…

“Well yeah that’s the short version of the whole story, but there’s more… do you know why we went rogue?” Seokjin asked.

You just shook your head. You have wondered why, but nothing gave it away except that they hated your commander almost as much as you did.

“Why did you go rogue? How did you go rogue?” you asked

“So, you understand what you seven have to do? You have to kill everyone in that home and bring me that computer chip.” The commander asked with a half-hearted smile.

“Sir, if I may… Why do we have to kill everyone if we can go in silently and retrieve the chip. We both know we can go in undetected. There’s no need to kill innocent woman and children.” Namjoon said. He knew the commander was a narrow-minded fool but killing people that have done nothing wrong? This man was a total maniac. Not one of them felt comfortable with the idea of killing all those people, we’re talking about more that 267 women and children that fled their abusive husbands in hopes of a brighter, better future.

“Joon, are you questioning my orders? They’re all just in the way. Get rid of them or I will do it myself with brute force!”

Namjoon nodded as they left. No, they weren’t going to kill people for a fucking computer chip… No, the were going to save them. Get them all out to safety, still retrieve the chip but not for that bastard.

That’s when they started running. The commander ended up bombing the building. No one got hurt thanks to the seven eliminators who chose to save instead of kill. They had to escape the plans of that mad man. From that day they started monitoring him from a distance, unfortunately he along with the academy soon disappeared and ever since that day 5 years ago, he tried to have them killed, on numerous occasions them.

They can still remember the grateful smiles of the scared women as they left their safe haven with just a few words of warning from these strangers. They didn’t know if they could trust them or not. But after they saw their home going up in flames… those same women started helping those seven men to hide in plain sight.

As you listened you couldn’t stop the tears of realization from escaping their cage. All those years you believed that what you were doing, training for was for the greater good. Now, you were like a small girl lost in a dark forest, surrounded by noises. The only question was… are these seven wolfs or humble people? Will they tear you to shreds or are they safe or will they be your salvation?

As this realization dawned on you, a set of new question formed in your mind… Why were you Isolated? Why did ‘he’ take your innocence? Where did your parents fit into all this? Why did ‘he’ send you only now to kill these seven? And above all … Who can you trust?

It was clear that you were fighting on the wrong side… but you needed space… you needed to find answers to your question. Just as you were about to ask what they knew about you, your phone started buzzing… Commander.

As you answer you decide to put your phone on speaker, not because you wanted them to hear… but you wanted to show them that you listened and want to trust them.

“Sir?”

“Y/N, I hope you have an update for me? Or are you still fooling around?”

“Sir, I have been tricked. I do believe I might have underestimated them”

“You Idiot! You are the smartest agent I have, and you UNDERESTIMATED THEM? What the fuck is wrong with you? Where are you know? You need to finish this game of yours and kill those bastards. Don’t you want to cleanse this world? I’m disappointed Y/N.”

“Sir, I assure you I am not fooling around. I-“

“Finish the mission Y/N… take their worthless lives and get your ass back to base. Oh, and you will be punished for taking your time.”

“Sir, you said I had no time limit. You lied?”

“I had to. Just get the job don-“

“You haven’t changed, have you Patrick?” Namjoon raised his voice.

“Nam-fucking-joon.”

“Sorry to break it to you Patrick, but we told her the real reason you want us dead so badly. It’s up to her to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Luckily, I know why she’s so special to you. She has an IQ higher than mine. She could shut you done like yesterdays porridge. That’s why you sent her, isn’t it? You’re desperate, you’re scared because we came a little too close the previous time.” Hoseok added calmly.

“Y/N, Do you really think these seven won’t take advantage of you like I did that night of your sixteenth birthday. Oh, how you begged. You’re a lucky little bitch I didn’t take you again. I would have ruined you. I still can ruin you. You chose the wrong side you worthless piece of shi-“

“That’s enough! You keep your fucking mouth shut. This girl has bigger balls than you’ll ever have, so I suggest you keep your degrading words for when you look in the mirror.” Yoongi interrupted.

“You’ll regret this.”

With that the line went silent as you sat there. Motionless, tears streaming down your face. How could he spill your past like its nothing? How could he be so… cold.

A few minutes pass in awkward silence. Jimin is the first to speak up, startling you out of your little daydream

“Y/N, I know you don’t trust us, and you would much rather kick our arses, but please say something… anything… do you see why we had to leave? Y/N?” Jimin looked at you with worry.

“I’m going to fucking kill him… I’m going to enjoy seeing the light leave his eyes… that bastard!” you were shaking with rage. You felt a pair of strong arms around your shoulders, just when you wanted to shove the owner back you felt his hands stroke your back. You froze as another and another pair joined in. They were hugging you. They were actually trying to comfort you, not judge or belittle you. No, they felt your pain and they were just as mad as you were. Jungkook was the first to hug you, the brave soul. Eventually you broke down, crying your heart out. You were crying for being so stupid, crying for the 13 years you lost.

“Come on, dry your tears and let’s get some food in you. We’ll talk afterwards,” Jin replied as he extended his hand out to you. You looked up at him and saw the sincerity in his eyes, the warmth. He really did care about you. But that was ridiculous, you were sent to kill them, why should he care about how you felt? Why should any of them care? You took his hand and he led you into the kitchen, only letting go of your hand in order to get started. As he prepared the meal, he kept trying to lighten the mood with silly dad jokes and random facts about the vegetables he was chopping. The others joined you and kept shooting worried looks your way, which you pretended not to notice. After the third straight food pun, Yoongi let out an exasperated sigh and told Jin to stick to what he did best, which was cooking and poisons. You all ate together, their easy banter covering up how silent you were being at the moment. You had too much running through your mind right now, you needed time to sort it all out. You felt much calmer after the nice, home cooked meal, all credit going to chef Seokjin. You were finally ready to come clean with them

“Thank you, guys, for not killing me, but I have something I need to clear with you all. I’m very confused over what’s right and what’s wrong and I don’t even know if I can trust you guys, although I do trust you more now. I don’t know how I’m going to figure this mess out, but I need to clear my head and I have a lot to investigate. I hope you guys understand.”

“Wait, you want to do all that on your own? I mean I know we did, but we had each other… Don’t you want to let us help you?” Tae unexpectedly said.

“Y/N, I understand why you can’t trust us, yet, but please accept our offer to help you. We know someone that can help you find yourself. She’s a miracle worker and actually one of the ladies we saved from Patrick's sick game” Jungkook said.

You sat in deep thought. Should you trust them? Even though you didn’t know if you could, your gut told you to trust them with all your heart.

“Fine, But I do need a favor from you as well.”

Part 7

Tag list: @anomiatartle @tvehyungs-gf @lovegloryhopelove @leftflowerprunedonut @amandaspeelman @xxgothickxx @sparky-isnt-a-vampire @xxqueenwxtchxx @sacri-lege @goldenkookss @lils2-0 @unicornsandpinguins @leesound @simplysanha @kkaleidoscoppe @aqilahahmadx @yuriah04 @larakida @vynia @confusedmonkeyslut @unreasonable-logic

Authors notes: If you want to be tagged in the next part. Like or comment on this part. I only tag those who liked my previous part. Thank you for sharing my AU with me! Hope you enjoy…

#mission bangtan #ot7 x reader #bts #bts x reader #part 6 #AAAHHHHH !!!!

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dahniwitchoflight · 6 years

Text

minor AU Completion of the Beta Kid’s Animal Symbolism

so something I’ve always thought about and wondered about, I wanna talk about for a bit, now that homestuck’s over and I’m rereading it going through the story

all of the beta kids throughout the story have unique animal related symbolism, that eventually ties into delving into greater parts of their characters, exploring even what you might consider the “darker side” to their characters, sometimes to the point of representing their inverted states/jungian shadow selves nicely tied into the idea of “lower bestial natures” being at odds with their true human natures

and these culminate and get fully cashed in by tragic/failed alternate versions of each beta kid that gets somehow mixed with their respective animal (usually through sprite shenanigans) and ends up in some way dealing with their inner issues a bit

Jade’s Dreamself (who was always very silly and prone be overemtional) dies under prospit’s moon, gets stuffed, and later resurrected as a JadeBecsprite who represents Jade’s inner tragic emotional states

Dave gets trapped in an alternate timeline with Rose, but then goes back in time after learning the ins and outs of the game, only to sec prototype as Davesprite and earn wings, and then forevers deals with the depression and aftermath of never being “Alpha” Dave ever again

Rose eventually dies in a pre retcon timeline fighting the condesce, and her corpse is thrown into Roxy’s sprite post retcon, which then merges with Jaspersprite to make Jasprosesprite^2 and which post retcon Rose is herself embarrassed by the inner revelations revealed by this character, who has itself lost all inhibitions due to the animal prototyping

but John never really gets anything of the sort, but in reality, there was a GREAT opportunity for him to have something like this happen to him, early on in the story, that doesn’t actually change much of the story at all

so this is kind of a “what if this had happened instead?” minor AU where some minor details were a little different

because the animal candidate I’m thinking of that could have had something to do with John personally in the above way, already has a great setup for this: none of its own character/personality/dialogue as it was just a programmed toy robot, minimal invasion into the plot (and most only in regards to John’s Dad related things), viewed John as it’s sole master and had a nice clean death via Green Sun explosion in Cascade

and that is the Uber Bunny Robot known as Liv Tyler

and the alternate version John candidate I’m thinking of is the John that got tricked by Terezi into facing Typheus too early and getting killed by him, causing the doomed timeline where Davesprite is from

this John also has a great setup for this, because at first we get exactly 5 or so pages describing what went down in the Doomed timeline, and all of it from Dave and Rose’s perspective, we know nothing of what really happened in that John Typheus encounter, other than “John died and thus was unavailable to help Jade enter the game”, we also get a little bit more later, when we see the Ghost of this John have a chat with a dead version of Vriska much much later in the story. John says there was more to his death than he let on, he died, but not in a fight with his denizen, because he spoke with Typheus, and knew that his death was necessary for his friends to live on, he made his Choice to die, for the sake of the timeline

and because this alternate John and Liv Tyler have a huge chunk of symbolism in common, all of which ties directly back to John, and more specifically, John’s opposite aspect Blood

the first is, the same Liv Tyler Bunny plush was given to John by all three of his friend’s on his same birthday through time shenanigans

Dave gives him the original plush rabbit, which is the actual original rabbit from the one nic cage movie john really loves, when John ecto’s all the babies, he dramatically re-enacts the con air nic cage scene from that movie (reunite with your loving wife and daughter) and gives the rabbit to Rose

Rose in this reality grows up with the rabbit as her own sentimental youthful object, its old and torn growing up with her, so she knits it back together using the needles that John gifted to her and gives it to John on his birthday

John then gives this rabbit to Baby Jade in the same reunite with loving wife and daughter scene

and finally, Jade with her then alt universe penpal Jake, send it back and forth, making robotic upgrades and enhancements and equipping it with all kinds of awesome gear: the Warhammer Of Zillyhoo, the Quills of Echidna, the Royal Deringer, and Ahab's Crosshairs, which match the Strife Specibi of the beta kids. She does this because she foresaw John would be in danger and wanted to send something to help him fight

this rabbit is the literal embodiment of Johns strongest friendship bonds 3 times over, the literal physical manifestation of his Blood

and then Typheus!John is only able to get to Typheus because Terezi through Sollux helped him removed the 3 random objects stuck in his rocket, 3 random objects, that just so happen to be object that appear in Dave’s, Rose’s and Jade’s houses: a cinderblock, a violin and a potted plant

so again, a connection to John’s connection to all 3 of his friends

now here’s where the AU kicks in:

John is still tricked into meeting his denizen early, preserving the timeline with Davesprite and whatnot, however his choice to die to preserve the reality where his friends continue to exist has another part to it

Not only does Typheus allow him to choose to become a ghost to preserve the alpha timeline, but also gives John a sort of challenge, with a potential boon at the end

If John as a ghost can break out of his extra hard dream bubble coma, break out of his memories, remember the choice he made to help save his friends/the timeline, he may be allowed to manifest in a different physical form instead, in order to continue helping his friends/his new alpha self survive the game

all the panels where dead Vriska meets him and helps him to jog his usually hard to jog memory compared to the other ghosts still happen, but the ending is different, because of the extra challenge/boon Typheus gave him. When John remembers fully, he remembers the boon Typheus left him/how to use it, probably something like, a one use portal window thing that transports his ghost back into the physical realm, so he’s kinda in the same state Aradia was as a ghost in Alternia

so he finds somewhere where the uber bun exists, some point before it actually gets to his dreamself on prospit (doesn’t actually matter where)

and then it’s revealed after the fact, that everything Liv Tyler did upon activation at Prospit was actually the choices made by this alternate universe dead spirit version of John

it’s viable because as a robot made by Jade and Jake, it has the ability to potentially house a soul/life, just like Jade’s dreambot for her dreamself (or again, earth version of the tech that Equius made for Aradia, lot of weird Aradia parallels here, but that really only helps this AU) and something that helps is that the bun likely wasn’t built with any way to naturally communicate, no pesterchum in it like lil hal, nor a voicebox, again making a connection to this being a John which has to internally deal with/overcome that he is no longer the “important” John, but this time he’s simultaneously back with all of his friends, and cut off from them at the same time, similar to Davesprite, but also in a having no mouth and must scream kind of way (relating to symbolism of Breath = Speech/communication/mail) being the opposite of his natural element, in an unhealthy place, similar in situation to how Lil Hal was an A.I. copy of Dirk, a heartless version of a heart player/out of their natural element and having to deal with that negative environmental influence

and it helps explain the few things that Liv Tyler seem to do with no direction, like help get Dad’s wallet containing the tumor (which a John would have recognized as his dad’s and picked up anyway) and getting to Dave Rose and helping them (when it’s stated Liv Tyler was supposed to view John and only John as his master, specifically built that way by Jade for that purpose, to protect John)

the package hes in goes through it’s shenanigans like usual, one minor change could be instead of Jack Noir wielding the bunny against the black queen to get her ring in rebellion, he could simply use one of the many regiswords/assassination requests he apparently gives out like candy, like the one he gave to PM, and the bun merely stays in the box until it’s delivered to PM and then John himself and Bun!John recognizes John and becomes his protector

but then you could just make the point in time that Alt!John merges with the bun the point where Liv Tyler’s allegiances switch to helping John from Jack Noir, so the above is just moot anyway

he stays with John for awhile, then fulfills his major mission in helping get the tumor to Rose and Dave and help them to survive/god tier in the correct time and place/again preserve the timeline, fulfilling the idea of him wanting to come back for the purpose of wanting to keep his friends safe/putting his bonds above his own internal state and self to the point of self sacrifice during the green’ sun’s explosion (again, another point for his blood overpowering his breath)

so yeah, you can see, despite all my text it doesn’t actually change much in the plot! the biggest thing could be Jack Noir not using it for the Black Queen (cuz lets be honest he didn’t really need to, his betrayal would have caught her off guard enough to grab the ring) but really just depends on where you choose to do it

AND instead of this flash: https://www.homestuck.com/story/5027 which was more comedic, we could potentially get a string of panels showing what John was thinking and feeling as the Bun Robot, so close and yet so far away from all his friends, completely alone in his own thoughts and with his only motivation being to make sure his friends survive the game, maybe in thought bubbles or code like Serenity the firefly, showcasing the sort of mental descent and depression that John is really prone to, showing how he could end up in a state where he willingly dies for his friends for their sake

I think it’s a great missed opportunity to be honest and at the very least it’s a very neat little AU Idea

and the way it’s set up would be like an awesome shock reveal too

but then also, John is already compared to nic cage so much it’s not even funny

and John himself makes the symbolic connection between nic cage being just like the rabbit “dirty, worn, old, but it’s what on the inside that counts” simultaneously making that connection to himself when he’s inside the rabbit, because it’s bot his outward appearance that matters, what matters is that He’s still John on the inside, still your best friend guys, I’m right here...

and homestuck has a pattern of turning old jokes into new serious content, so it’s not like it doesn’t fit

and if a few panels are thrown in of a ghostly spirit wandering a bit before settling on the bun inside jade’s gift, it can help establish that Alpha John later would become truly intangible and floating through not just earth, but all of homestuck itself

anyway, those are my thoughts for this idea, I think there’s a lot to go on here

the only thing thats not involved are sprite shenanigans, but If I could find a way to involve those then I would :P

maybe instead of dying at the green sun with Dave and Rose he somehow gets thrown into an sprite somewhere and becomes actual RoboBunJohnsprite (even though everything’s taken already and can’t be altered) maybe it can happen instead of Tavris or GCATavris who knows is BunJohn even survives somehow

shenanigans! shenanigans i say

#Homestuck #John Egbert #Liv Tyler

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rl800 · 4 years

Text

My Halloween Special- Strange Things Happen To Me In My Dreams, Dudes.

I had just dropped my friend off at her house after we finished trick or treating. Now I was alone. My neighborhood is relatively safe. Nothing really happens in my neighborhood, besides the usual teen selling drugs to other teens. But that's not what I want to tell you that happened.

I look down at my phone checking the time. 10:50pm. I had only 10 minutes to get home or my mom would get Buster, my neighbors Son-in-Law, to come get me. 10:51. I started to walk faster. I needed to get there fast. 10:52.

I should have been at my street already, but it seems to keep getting farther away from me even with me running towards it. 10:53. I stopped running and turned down the street that was supposed to be one street over from mine. Looking around it finally hit me that I recognized none of these houses! As panic was about to set it, I took a deep breath. 10:54. Okay Lindsey it's probably just dark and they all went to sleep. I then realize that it was really quiet. 10:55.

My breath catches in my throat. Only a few minutes ago there was all that chatter and music. 10:56. I look down at my feet, in thought and do a double take seeing I wasn't on an asphalt street, but a dirt road. 10:57. I look up to see a house looming over me. It looked like no one lived there, but there was a light on. 10:58.

I gulp and look next to the spooky house only to see another next to it, but it was all dark. Looking back at the house in front of me I inhale and exhale to calm my rapid beating heart. Come on Lindsey just go up and knock on the door. Why are you being a pussy? It's just a house what could happen? 10:59.

I go up and knock on the door. A light turns on from the window next to me. I jump when a loud clock chime sounds. I could feel the vibrations from the clock. I felt my body stand straight up as I realize what time it was. 11:00. The door opens.

A sharp inhale is what I take when I see the person standing in front of me. He just stares at me with his blue eyes. It felt like he was staring into my soul. It sent shivers down my spine. "U-um h-hello, sir. C-can you help me? I-I don't know where I am..." I mentally curse myself for stuttering. He chuckled. I would have melted if the situation was different.

He opens the door wider for me. "Yes, come in. It is quite late out for a lovely girl such as yourself." I could feel my cheeks heat up. As I look down and realize I was still wearing my pirate costume. My blush darkens and I tug down the skirt to look a bit more modest, since it probably raised from me running. How embarrassing.

I walked inside letting a squeaky thank you out, while he just chuckled. And I swear his eyes flashed red, but no it was probably just my mind playing tricks on me. "Now please tell me what's wrong, ma'am." He looked me right into my eyes and I couldn't help but be entranced. "I-I you'll think I'm crazy..." I looked down feeling a bit dizzy.

I felt two slim fingers grab my chin and make me look up. He has his face only inches from mine that I could feel his hot breath on my lips. I shiver, not from how close he was, but how cold his fingers were on my hot face. I tried moving back a bit, but I couldn't even move. It felt like I was paralyzed.

I look into his eyes. I saw something flash in them, but it was gone in a flash. "U-um... c-could you please let me go?" A small frown tugged at his lips, but it was quickly replaced by a charming smile. I swear his eyes looked at my exposed neck ,since I had my hair in a low ponytail. He then released my chin. "Of course, my dear, by the way my name is Vlad. May I have the gift of knowing your name, princess?" I wish I could have covered my flushed face. I have never been called "princess" before and now a hot guy was calling me princess. This must all be a dream.

- Vlad -

I force down some of the flush on my face. "Ah I'm Lindsey. Thank you for allowing me inside Vlad." Vlad smiles showing off his white teeth. "It is no trouble, Lindsey. Now you said you were lost, right? Well then how did you get here?" I tell him everything. "Then I just ended up in front of your house." Vlad was sitting back in his chair looking deep in thought. "Hm yes how vexing this must be for you." His voice was so nice to listen to. I shake my head from the thought.

What I didn't see was Vlad angrily digging his fingers into the arms of his chair.

I look up and see Vlad smile at me. "Well if you don't know where your home is, you could spend the night here. I wouldn't mind the company, it gets tremendously lonely here." The way he said it pulled at my heart strings, but I bit my lip. "I-I'm sorry Vlad, but I don't really know you and I think my family is getting worried. Thank you for letting me in, but I have to go."

I get up and start walking towards the door. As soon as I put my hand on the doorknob I was pinned to the wall. Vlad caging me with his arms. I started shaking as Vlad leaned his head towards my neck and sniffed it, sighing drunkenly. "My dear I don't think you understand what I was implying."

I felt something hot and wet on my neck. He had just licked me. He moved his head so he was looking into my eyes. His once enchanting blue eyes were now a deep crimson. "Wh-what are you, Vlad?" My voice was just above a whisper.

He started laughing now. "My dear, I am a vampire. And I found it quite irksome that you kept breaking from my spell. Now be a doll and allow me a taste of you.~" I felt my blood turn cold and did the only thing I could think of. I kneed his crotch.

With a gasp of pain Vlad backed away. With him preoccupied I quickly opened the door and ran to the next house.

When I got to the next house I slowly approach the front door. I ring the doorbell and slowly back away from the door. I look around for any escape routes I need if this person is just like Vlad. "Um hi what do you need?"

I jump and squeal a bit. I hadn't even heard someone open the door! I look at the guy who is peeking his head out the slightly ajar door. He looked kind of scared of me and he was cute.

I smile softly at him, "Um yes I uh don't know where I am, may I please use your phone?" He stares at me with his mismatched eyes. "Um sure. Yeah! Come in." He opens the door allowing me in. "My name is Winston by the way." He gives a cute shy smile.

- Winston -

I mentally squeal at his cuteness! I smile right back at him, "Mine's Lindsey, it's very nice to meet you Winston!" Winston shows me to the living room. "Well Lindsey would you like any tea? You seemed a bit shaken when I answered the door."

I gaze at him. Should I say yes or politely decline? Mom always says don't take things from strangers... but Winston seems like a kind person... though so did Vlad. I am snapped out of my thoughts when Winston calls my name worriedly. "Lindsey!?" I slowly blink. "Ah sorry was thinking, but no thank you for the tea. I don't really drink it."

Winston turned away from me and looked like he was shaking. "Win-" he turned back towards me with a glowing smile. "That's okay! How about some hot chocolate and cake? I was just finishing up the cake when you rang the doorbell." Now that made me freeze.

I didn't smell any cake. Nor does it even look like Winston had been baking. "A-ah no-no thank you Winston. I just need to make a phone call is all." Even with that wide smile still on his face I could see his eyebrow twitch.

"Okay well the phone is in the hallway behind you." I get up and head down the hall. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

When I reach the phone I realize it's a dial-up. Well it's a good thing I had a toy dial up phone as a kid. I spin the dial to my mom's number. When I finish I put the phone to my ear. It rings and rings then someone picks up. "Yes who is this?" I release the breath I was holding. "Mom! It's me!""Lindsey?!?! Where are you?!?!" "I-I don't know. I was walking down the street heading home when weird things happened to the street and then I'm somewhere else! Go get Frankie! She probably knows what happened more than me.""Okay Lindsey, plea-." The phone gets cut.

I look at the phone and towards the line which was cut. Standing besides the phone is Winston who has a crazed look and scissors. "Oh seems like your conversation was c̴̛̮̣̜͎͕͗̎̇͊͂͠͝ư̶͍̘̼̮̥̪̄͆͊̅̔̂̚t̸̛̘̩̐́̐̈́ s̶̳͈̳͔̲̮̖͆͌͐́̂̆͝h̶̡̻͔͛̀͘͝ó̵̲̯͙̰̐͑̕r̴̤͈̾̈͗͑̚t̷̢͇̯̘͉͇̞̻̊̀̂͛ m̷̨̬̫̳̮̬̥͍̘̿̀̊̂͛͑͠͝y̸̡̬̙̓̌̒̆̄̄͝ d̵̦͔̱̜̗̫͂͌̓̋̑̿̈́̚ë̴͍̜̼̦̘͚̣̣͎͕a̵̡̘͇̲͉̖̱͇̯̓̈́̂̇͛͒̀͠r̷̢̭͚̟̘̦̟͉̺͊͐̋̍͌͝ L̴͎̪̺̺̘̓̔̀̔̅͊i̸̛̘̅͗͛̅͆͛̏͌n̵̲͈͚͑̿͝͝d̶̨̛͉̺͔̼̭̜̻͋͒̀͠ŝ̵̯̖̹̝̦̳͈e̴̡̊͝y̸̛̟̞͔͎͓̠̌."

I scream and run for the front door. "T̵̺̹̪͈̖̖̒͆̂̆͜ş̶̨̞̺̟̞̖͖̠̀͐̓̒͛̔̂͗̚k̸̛̛̞̻̣̮͔͍̟͎͑͒̏͂̉̊͝ ẗ̵̢̼̞̟́̌̄͐̕s̶̨̨̥͇̊̀̌͘k̷̭͔͕̼͈͇̲͎̉͋̓̍̀̋̇͘̚ ṱ̸̡̛͍̲̠̊̉̈̋́̋̀̂ṣ̶̘̐͌͂͛̓́k̴̲͔̰͉̙̳̞̅͊͊̆̚ Ļ̵̨̟̲̳͖̦̻̟͚͌̒î̴̲̔̄̃͆̀̚͝ṇ̴̨̬̫̠̹̈́͌͑̃d̴͍̪̭̱̾̂̑̍́͗̓͜ṡ̵̩̻͉́̑̄e̴̝̰̙͕̩̦̿͠ý̸̜̦̜̠̲̞͔̇̽̌,̸̱̣̝̣͕̂͝ m̵̖̩̂́̽y̶̧̹̮̞͚̥̏̃͑͊̈́̏͊͐ ļ̵̛͇͉́͗͗̈́̀͌̓͂ȯ̷̗̩̀̈́̂̇̀͊̄́v̴̙́͑̅̿́͌͐̽ẹ̷̳͓͑̏͛̌͋̊.̸̬̱͔̰̟̔̐͑͘̕ Y̶̘̰̦͍̰̘̒̾̿̽̑̓̀̈́̚͜o̸̳̟̟̪͉̭͊̀́ǔ̷͈̦͓̱̿̅͆̉̉̚̚ͅ s̸̮̱̣̮̰̒̅͘ḧ̵̡̧̝̻̯̩͙͛̈́̍̌̅͑̚o̵̥̮͐͂̓̿̆̉̏̒̆u̷̢̳̭̦͇̲̫͚͇͗͆͒̍̚͠͝l̴̹̘̯̘̑͋d̵̻̤́͋̐̀n̸͕͎͇͓̑̀̈́͂̇͝'̷̙͈̘͍́t̵̹͔̝͓̉̐̓͒̉͑͋̊̕͝ ŗ̷̢̢͍̤̫̙͑̕ư̷̡̪͙̪̲͖͌̒͂n̵̲̹̞̲̤͖̪͋ǎ̷̱̥͖̞͉͎́̉͆̄͠ẘ̷͈̲̱̟̖̤a̸͚̻̮͉̓̈́̓y̴̢͖͔̲̰̘̆̓͒̈́̂̀̓̓͜ f̷͎̼̺̬̣̻̗͙̥̫̀͗͗̆̚͘͠r̵̨͙̘̼͎͇̗̒̓̍̍ỡ̴̡̹̱̒̀̑͐̚͝m̸͚̼̣̎̾͆͗͑͋͝͠ ŷ̸̧̦̺̳̩̞̻̹͌͑͑o̷̧̖̦̘͔̩͛̀͌͑͌̾͂̕ư̴̢̩͊͗̀̊̅̂̕͠ŗ̶̧̘̫͎͕̜̗̎̃͋́ f̴̲̗̭̪̭̠͒͋͌͑ͅu̴̧̗̫̻̘̺̮̞͈̓̋͂̅̓͒t̷̯̫̞͈̱̼̑u̴̩̣͙̥̦͖̔͌r̴̛̘̳̫̿̓̈́̉͋̕͝ḛ̷̩̞͎̪̭̙̲̽̈́̑̒͝ ḫ̵̮̪͕̈ũ̶̬̖̒͐̆̊̐̎̀̍̚s̵̰̖̫̦̹͓͍͉̟͗̍̃͑̾̎̄̊͜͝ḇ̶̧̛̖̦̺å̷̧̟̹͔̬̯̖͛̈́̃͆͠n̷͙̘̙̜̹̊̉͊d̶̦͐͌̃̓̋̊͌̄!̶̠̜̾~"

I put my hand on the door knob only to receive a jolt. I gasp and pull my hand away. "̷͉̩̜͙̈́̈I̸̧̦͓̰̗̰̭̥̐̉̒̚'̸̡̳͕̒m̷̧̢͖̟̬͖̤̦͎̺͋̍̎́̇̂̎͝ ś̵̬̬̫̼̞̰̪͇̰̖̈̍̐͗̑͋̀͝͠o̸͓̤̙̹͍͈̘͍̼̺̾̏̌̂ŕ̵̛̝̭̫̤̦̻͔͖̗̫͊͒͒͌̅̐r̶̙̬̰̮̥̟̟̊ͅy̷̛͇̹̻̭͍͉͖̮̙̆̇̌,̷̨̛̳̠͌́͋̍̿͘ͅ l̷̥̹̉o̵̢͇̬͓͌̅͑̓̾̄̀͐̔͘v̶̢̹̗̲͚̠̱̦̰͂͗̈́̔̀̾̔̀̏̐͜ȇ̴̬͖̜̺̱̼̬̻̣̅͂͘.̴͔̅̎́̆́͗̕̚ͅ C̵̱̩̩̟̜̼̥̙̉͆̒͋̐̀̋̈́̄̈́͜a̷̜̰̯̩̹͗̽́ͅn̵͎̱̩̻̼̩̤̳͚̋̂'̴̻͖̩̀̊̔̐t̶̳̼̪͋̍̚ h̶͙̩͖̩̙̜͚̪̲̬͌̇̅̒̔̍͝a̴̢̞̖̮̮̞̐̈͛̀̈́̽͋̒̾͜͝v̶̛̛͚̐͑̈̾̊̀̚e̴̛͚͕̞̥̎̿̇̑͂̾̚̕͘ͅ ẙ̶̬̣̝̙͗͑ò̷̧̞̟̭̝̱̠̖ͅŭ̸͙̀̒̃̉͠ l̸̛̞̱̯͓̹̯̣̏̅̇̉͋̚̕e̷̘̲̝͈̭̤̳͍͆͂̓͆̿̊ǎ̸̧̻̤͖̾̅̒͐v̸̛̫͓̭͒̽̒̈́̈́͛̕e̸̩̫̼̮̣͆̃̉̀̊́̀ m̶̩͈̘̮̞̙̣̞̏̅̎̾ȅ̷̯̖̰̩̝̗̳̈.̷̢̈́̐̀̈́̓͝~̷͔͔̮̜̲͛́̈͗̀̕͝"̵̡̨͔̪͉̯͙̤͐̂̔̀͗̓

I glare at Winston, looking around I spot my way out. "That's what you think sucker!!" I run and jump out the window shattering the glass. As I ran away, limping a bit I could hear Winston screaming

I wince as I sit down on the ground pulling out bit's of broken glass from my hair and the exposed parts of my skin. "Damn now I'm gonna have to throw this costume away if I get blood on it..." I lean back onto my hands.

I shiver as a cold breeze blows by. "Ma'am are you alright?" I look up and see a Yautja. My eyes widen and I scoot away. "Aye! Nah! I've seen Predator!"

I could hear a deep chuckle. "Sorry, but I'm not a Yautja. My helmet is just stuck." I nod. He sticks a gloved hand out towards me, "The name's Quinn. And you Miss Pirate?" I giggle a bit and shake his hand. "Lindsey."

- Quinn -

"Now Lindsey, what are you doing on the side of the road looking like you jumped out of a window?" I scoff "Well I actually did jump out of a window to get away from some psychopath who called himself my "future husband". So that's why I'm here now."

Quinn rubs his hand on his helmet. "Ah sorry, well would you like a ride to town or something?" I look up at him eyes sparkling. This could mean I could get home! "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I hug Quinn who grunts in surprise at my hug. "Ah it's no problem now here!" He places a helmet in my hands. "Put this on safety first!"

Nodding I take my pirate hat off and place it in my bag. I put the helmet on. Weird how it actually fits me. Looking up I see Quinn staring at me, he pats the part of the seat behind him. "Well hop on!" I bite my lip.

"W-well I've never been on a motorcycle before..." Quinn lets out a deep chuckle. "Don't worry I won't go to fast. Just wrap your arms around me and hold on tight." I nod and did just that.

He starts the motorcycle and we were off. I hold on tight and look at the scenery zooming by. It was beautiful. This was really cool! Better than being in a car!

As I was in my thoughts, Quinn went faster. "Quinn shouldn't you slow down?" He grunts and continues going faster. My grip on him tightens. And that's when I feel it.

Bones.

Like I shouldn't be able to feel his bones from underneath all of that gear. Slowly I reach my hands to his helmet. Then I yanked it off. There was a skull staring right at me. "Well Sweetheart I didn't think you were smart enough to figure me out. The other girls didn't, but I guess that just makes you even more special." He cackles.

I take a deep breath and do what I learned to do in moving vehicles.

Duck and roll!

I jump off the motorcycle as it keeps speeding down the road. I got some cuts and bruises, but at least my head was okay and I have no broken bones!

SCREECH

I turn my head quickly. Quinn has stopped the motorcycle and turned it around. I scramble to get up, I push myself off the ground and run into the woods.

I knew Quinn couldn't ride his motorcycle this deep into the woods. I sigh in relief knowing I got away. My body was aching from exertion and I look like a mess! I was covered in blood and dirt and no doubt there was twigs and leaves in my hair after I ditched the helmet. My feet were aching since I was still wearing these stupid heeled boots!

I was tired from running. I took out my last piece of candy when I saw a cabin. THANK YOU LORD!! I felt like crying. I stuffed the candy into my mouth. I limped up towards the cabin.

I knock on the door. "Please if anyone is there! Please let me in!" I heard heavy steps coming towards the door. I took a step back bracing myself getting ready to run if needed. The door opened and there stood a wet shirtless man who was only wearing a towel. I felt my brain just die right there as my entire body turned red. He gave me a questioning look, then looked down at himself. He froze as well. "Um sorry miss, but I wasn't expecting anyone." He rubbed the back of his neck.

- Kris -

I couldn't even say a word. Only a tiny squeak left my lips. He chuckled and opened the door wider. "Well ya can come inside girly, I'll just go quickly put on some clothes then we can speak." I walked in and he closed the door behind him. He lead me into his living room and sat me down. "I'll be right back." He left me sitting there trying to comprehend what I had just seen.

I placed both my hands on my cheeks. Trying to cool down my flushed face. It was my first time seeing a very attractive shirtless man, that wasn't in a movie. Stupid hormones. I lightly slap myself. "Now ya shouldn't go slapping that pretty face of yours miss." My head quickly turns towards the voice.

"I'm Kris by the way. So what brings ya here miss...?" I sit up a bit straighter. "A-ah! I'm Lindsey!" I cringe at how loud I sounded, but Kris neither cared or just didn't mind because he chuckled and waved his hand. "Pretty name. Now as to why ya are here and why ya look like you been hit by a car?"

My once flushed face went pale remembering Vlad, Winston and Quinn. "I-I got lost and somehow ended up here without even knowing were I was. Th-there were some h-houses and a guy on a motorcycle. I just wanted help, but those guys were insane! I-I just want to go home!" I cover my eyes as I sob.

Kris sits next to me and rubs my shoulder gently. "It's alright Lindsey, let it out. It's alright to cry, ₘ̶ᵧ̶ ̶ₘ̶ₐ̶ₜ̶ₑ̶ ." I was to busy crying to hear the last part. I sniffled and looked up at Kris, who wiped my tears away. "Feel better now?" I nod, my whole body feeling drained.

Kris suddenly picked me up, carried me to a room and placed me on a soft bed. "Here rest a bit, ya look really tired, I'll come wake you in half an hour, then we can call your folks. Alright?" I curl up on the bed and whisper an okay to him. He kisses my forehead and turns off the light, closing the door. Before I knew it I was sent into a dreamless sleep.

I wake up disorientated. I looked around then remembered Kris. I reach around trying to see if I could find a lamp. Then I hear it. A soft growl. My eyes now adjusted to the dark room sees a figure standing in front of the door. It looked like Kris, but he was clutching his head and muttering things. "ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ ⁿᵒʷ. ⁿᵒᵗ ⁿᵒʷ. ⁿᵒᵗ ⁱⁿ ᶠʳᵒⁿᵗ ᵒᶠ ʰᵉʳ. ɪ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ʜᴇʀ ɴᴏᴡ. ᴍᴀᴛᴇ. ᴍʏ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ. ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ꜱᴄᴇɴᴛ. ᴍᴜꜱᴛ ᴍᴀʀᴋ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ. ᴍʏ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ!" He was starting to scare me. I clutched the blanket.

I must have made a sound because Kris' head shot right up. "ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵇᵉ ᵃᶠʳᵃⁱᵈ, ˡⁱⁿᵈˢᵉʸ. ⁱᵗ'ˢ ʲᵘˢᵗ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴍᴇʟʟ ꜱᴏ ɴɪᴄᴇ. ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇꜱ ᴍᴇ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀʀᴋ ʏᴏᴜ. ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍɪɴᴇ. ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀɴᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴍᴇ ꜱᴄʀᴇᴀᴍɪɴɢ ᴍʏ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ꜱᴏ ʟᴏᴜᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍɪɴᴇ! ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍʏ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ. ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ. ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡʀɪᴛʜᴇ ɪɴ ᴇᴄꜱᴛᴀꜱʏ.~" Even though I was scared my face started to turn red.

I slowly crawl towards the edge of the bed near Kris. "Kris listen to me alright." He nods. "What if we start as friends and get to know each other better..." I play with my fingers looking away from Kris shyly. "I don't think I'm ready to um... mate just yet..." Kris stares at me. "ʏᴇꜱ, ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ ꜱᴄᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴇ. ꜱʜᴀʟʟ ᴡᴀɪᴛ ᴛɪʟʟ ᴍᴀᴛᴇ ɪꜱ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴛᴏ ɢɪᴠᴇ ʜᴇʀꜱᴇʟꜰ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ."

A smile slowly grows from my lips. "Good. And um do you think I could uh use your shower..." I look away blushing as I felt Kris looking me up and down hungrily. "ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀꜱᴋɪɴɢ ᵐᵉ ᵗᵒ ʲᵒⁱⁿ ʸᵃ, ᵐᵃᵗᵉ?~" I quickly shook my head.

"NO!" I flinch at how loud I was. "It's just I'm a mess right now..."

Kris grins shrinking a bit. "Ah yeah um sorry about that. Yeah ya can use my shower. I'll even give you one of my shirts.~ You'll look really good in it.~" My blush just gets darker.

After cleaning and patching myself I felt good as new! I put on the shirt Kris left me. I couldn't help but blush when the shirt only reached a few inches below my butt. I walk out of the bathroom towards the kitchen where Kris was waiting for me. And I smelled something good.

Kris was sitting at the table drinking some coffee and eating some sausage and pancakes. I felt like drooling. Kris looks up at me and I could see a blush on his cheeks. "Ya look cute Lindsey."

I shyly tug at the hem of the shirt. "Thank you." I sit down. "Now before we go ya might wanna eat breakfast." I nod and start eating. I moan at how good it tastes. "Mmm soo gwud!!~" Kris only chuckles.

In Kris' jeep we talk and sing songs. All of it felt right. Like it was meant to be. We stopped at a few motels for when it was night. Overall it took us a week to get to know each other better and to find out all the things we have in common. And we had our first kiss together.

We both love to read and write, sing and dance, cuddle, watch the rain, and look at nature. After getting some food in a diner we were sitting in a booth, when the waiter kept flirting with me. That's all it took for Kris to grab me by the waist lift me up and kiss me. It felt right. So when we got to my house I knew what I had to do. "Kris why don't you come in with me?" Kris looked unsure, but complied.

I open the door and both Kris and I walk in. "LINDSEY!!!!!!!!!!! AUNT LULU!!!!" I was tackled and fell onto Kris. My younger sister and brother and nephew were hugging me. My mom, dad, older sister and her husband walked over. "Thank the lord you're okay!" I smile. "Yeah I'm alright." My brother in law was staring at Kris.

Tony(not real name) walked over to Kris as he helped me stand up straight. "Who are you?" Kris went rigid. I pat his arm gently. "This is Kris," I look at my mom and dad. "My boyfriend. He took care of me after a few bad run ins with people. He's been really good to me and I thought that maybe I could live with him?"

After talking everything out with my parents, they gave Kris their blessing. And so did Tony. "Guys maybe you all could visit once in a while! I know you guy's will love it! Plus you'll have a great view whenever you guys just want to sit out front and have some beers!" After that I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to everyone, telling my little nephew I would facetime him whenever he misses me.

Kris and I got out of the jeep and took my stuff inside. Before I could even start unpacking Kris grabs me letting out a out laugh and starts spinning around, I laugh with him. After a while he stops and we just stare into each other's eyes. We both lean in and kiss. It was a sweet kiss.

We pulled away and I leaned my forehead against Kris'. He grins and wiggles his eyebrows. "Well I guess we should start unpacking your stuff and putting your clothes in our room now.~" I blush and nod. "Y-yeah."

Kris leans towards my ear and nips it gently, causing me to whimper. "Then maybe later after dinner, I can have you as dessert.~"

And oh what fun we had that night.~

~THE END~ (3948 words)

#Halloween #Lindsey #Werewolf #Vampire #Virus #Dream

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swfanficbyjz · 7 years

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SW AU - Fate of the Master Chapter 6

<- Previous Chapter

"Good luck, my friend." Anakin whispered knowing Bail hadn't heard him. He turned back to Ahsoka as the other ship separated from his and leapt to hyperspace.

"I may not know who I am," he started carefully. "But I want you there while I figure it out."

"Right beside you, Skyguy!" Ahsoka said without skipping a beat and threw herself around his neck. He held her close.

"If we survive this, Snips, remind me to teach you caution." He said hoarsely.

"I’ve done nothing but be cautious since the end of the clone wars. That’s how I lived for years before joining the rebellion." She said with emotion. "It didn't really work for me. I'm a woman of action. Deal with it."

"How about you stop talking and show me some of that action?"

"You wish!" Ahsoka teased and then strolled to the controls. He let her fly them back to Mustafar, watching her through the eye sockets of his helmet. He'd forgotten how much he liked having her next to him. How used to her presence he'd been. For months after she’d left the Jedi order, after she left him, he'd been so lost. He hadn't wanted a padawan, he hadn't wanted to be responsible for somebody else's life, especially a child's. But the one he'd gotten tricked into having had been snippy, annoying, too eager, a know-it-all and a huge pain in the neck; and all of those things had eventually become what he loved the most about her. Not the traits themselves, but how they combined to create such an interesting and dynamic personality. A welcome change from the ho hum bore that most of the Jedi were. Ahsoka was definitely a handful, but at some point, quicker than he'd have thought possible, he'd stopped being bothered by it.

Why had he let her leave in the first place? If she'd stayed with him, maybe none of these things ever would have happened. But then again, she was right, until he knew who he was, it wouldn't matter who came and went. Walking away from everything and everyone she'd ever known, had forced her to figure out who she was; now he understood where the power that radiated from her started. And because she'd succeeded at doing that, nothing could truly taint her. Even when she'd been under the influence of the same drug he'd been being poisoned with, she was in total control. And that's also why she'd been able to resist his mind manipulation. She was so strong in her sense of self, that nobody could change her. Nobody could make her be something she was not. Oh how he envied her. Would he ever know what that was like?

---

The medical droid shuffled out to meet them when they arrived back at Anakin's fortress. "Scanning," it said. "I am happy to report that you did not injure yourself running off." It directed at Ahsoka. "But you should follow my earlier recommendation of another night in the bacta tank so you'll be back to one hundred percent efficiency."

"Thank you, doc." She replied. "I will follow your advice."

"Very good. Is there anything else I can do to assist you? If not, I will shut down and recharge."

"Yes," Ahsoka replied before Anakin could say no. "Can you find a way for him to breathe without this suit?" She said pointing at Anakin.

"That's not necessary..." Anakin started.

"Scanning,"

"No you don't need to..."

"Done," the droid interrupted again. "While you were out I took an inventory of your supplies. I am pleased to report that I can upgrade your breathing apparatus and make the suit obsolete. When the procedure is finished, your lungs will function normally. I can also repair the damage to your trachea, and update your artificial limbs to make them less bulky and more natural. Shall I begin?"

Anakin stared at the droid, speechless. "Can you really do that?" He asked finally. "With stuff just lying around?"

"Yes," the droid replied, "I have been updated with the most recent medical procedures and research. My knowledge far surpasses the technology in the suit you wear. Senator Organa supplied a few vital pieces in the supply crates he brought, but everything else was already available here. I can guarantee it will be a painless experience."

---

"Anakin," Ahsoka said, taking his arm, "do this, please." He looked at her through his mask. Did he dare hope he could be free from this torture suit at last? He thought back to the first time he was put into it. It had been a traumatizing experience. The droids that had worked on him had kept him awake, and gave him nothing to numb the pain. It was part of Sidious's plan to build his hatred and anger by causing him such immeasurable pain. He shuddered internally. He'd been so blind to the promises of the dark side, he'd never allowed himself to think about what he'd endured to get here. Only to find out that the person he'd put all his trust in, was the one responsible for so much of his pain. He'd pretended to be his friend, only to mold him into his most puppet. And because Anakin had been so used to being a slave, he'd not even noticed. As Ahsoka had said at the end of their duel, it was time for him to free himself.

He couldn't get his life back. There wasn't much left of it. But he could choose who he was now and who he would be. She'd been right about that too.

"Let's get you in the bacta tank first, then I'll let the doc work on me." He said at last.

---

She let him unzip the back of her dress, as her skin was revealed, he paused. He looked at it longingly knowing he'd never get to feel the softness of a woman's skin with his fingers anymore. He remembered Padmé and that day by the lake on Naboo all those years ago. The way she had felt compared to his rough hands. She had been the only soft thing he'd ever known in his hard life. It was hard to breathe, remembering that after so many things had changed. Padmé had been a light in the overwhelming darkness that lived inside him. Something so grand and so wonderful that he could only covet it.

To him, Padmé truly had been an angel. Her appearance in his life had been a beacon of hope. She'd been a symbol of his freedom. She'd represented everything he'd never been allowed to have, and if he could win her over... simply by possessing her, he could possess everything he'd been denied. But Jedi weren't allowed possessions or attachments. So before he'd even had a chance to become a Jedi, he'd already failed as one. She had been a symbol of his freedom... and yet... he'd wanted nothing more than to cage her.

"Anakin?" Ahsoka's voice interrupted his reverie. He loved Ahsoka, he really did, but letting go of Padmé was going to be harder than he thought. She turned in his arms and looked up at him, the silky fabric of her dress now loose around her shoulders. She couldn't see his face, but he knew she could sense his feelings. It wasn't that Ahsoka wasn't soft, he'd just never thought of her that way. When she'd touched him so tenderly, it had been the first time in years he'd felt someone’s touch; it had felt so good, he'd wanted to hold onto it forever. Did he dare open up, knowing he could hurt her?

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's been so long... I'm not sure I remember how to be human..." he gulped. It was weird saying the words out loud. He'd loved machines because they couldn't hurt him. And in many ways, he'd become one.

She took off his helmet and looked into his eyes like she was searching his soul. "You will." She said softly. It was his turn to lean into the touch of her hand as it caressed his face. "I'll help you." Oh, of that, he was sure. If Ahsoka made a promise, she kept it. She hadn't failed him yet.

"Don't worry," she whispered, "I'll keep you safe." She kissed him on the head, and when he looked up at her, again on the lips.

She stepped back from him and let the dress fall around her ankles exposing her naked body. She was slim and fit and definitely not a child anymore. He'd seen her body before; there wasn't much privacy in a war zone. Not that he'd really given it much thought. You didn't have the luxury to be modest when you're fighting for your life. When you have business to attend to, you do it, and then you get back in the fight. It didn't matter who was around. Though it must have been hard for her to get used to when she was around men most of the time. She'd never really been shy about showing skin, at least on the upper half, but he'd always figured it was a Togruta thing. They were predators, it made sense to have tight fitting clothes that allowed the maximum amount of movement and flexibility. They were also fast, so excess fabric would only slow them down. Early on, she'd worn a sash that hung from her belt, that must have had some kind of meaning; along with the akul teeth that she'd fashioned into a headdress for her Jedi braid, or in her case beads, since she didn't have hair. But he'd never really asked what any of it meant. Though war created deep bonds from the shared experiences, you didn't really have the opportunity to get to know the people you fought with. You knew important things, of course, like whose side they're on, and what they'll do in a fight, but you never get to know what's important to them when they're not slicing through things. And Anakin realized, he really didn't know much about her at all. He hoped they'd have time to change that.

She changed into the pajamas Bail had left to prepare to get in the tank, but then she bit her lip. "I don't want to sleep while he operates on you. What if he needs help? What if something happens?"

"Underneath this suit, you'll find a mutilated body. Half human, half machine. It's a very unpleasant thing to behold. Are you sure you'll be able to stomach it?"

"Pain is a vile mistress; she leaves her scars on all of us. Some are in our heads, some are in our souls, and some are on our bodies. But she cannot make anyone less worthy of being loved." Her voice was low. She hadn't exactly answered the question he'd asked, but somehow she'd managed to answer the one he needed to know; if she would still love him when she found out what was left of him.

---

The medical droid directed Anakin to lie down on the table he'd prepped for the surgery. He was going on about all the different things he'll have to do in order to free him from the suit. He'd hooked up life support monitors and laid out all the tools and pieces he would need. And then he put an oxygen mask with anesthesia over Anakin's head.

Ahsoka stood nervously to the side as she watched his eyes close. She'd been careful not to give into her fears about the procedure. She knew she'd still love him no matter what he looked like, but she could not have prepared herself for what she'd see as the doctor slowly and deliberately began to remove the pieces of his suit. Had Sidious done this too him? How had he lost the rest of his limbs? His incredibly pale skin had bumps and scars running in all directions, indicating terrible burns like he'd been set on fire. She couldn't even begin to imagine the extent of internal damage such a trauma could induce.

She'd understood that he could not breathe well without the suit, as it was, he spent more time with the helmet off than he should. But it wasn't until the droid explained that the suit was sealed to prevent the collapse of his lungs that she fully understood the state he was in. The droid worked methodically on each part one at a time. It inserted a kind of stabilizing device onto his lungs that would work with the body's normal ability to breathe. He had to prop open his trachea in a few places, and was able to minimally restore his vocal chords. A pacemaker device was hooked to his heart. Once the doctor had restored normal functionality to his vital organs, he went to work on his sensory organs. Using a specialized laser treatment, he was able to fix the damage to his retinas and ear drums.

Hours slid by as Ahsoka watched the droid put a human back together. It was hard to watch, but at the same time, she couldn't look away. Some parts the droid said, were easier just to upgrade rather than replace, but assured her, that when he was finished, Anakin would no longer need external sources to survive. Built into each device the droid inserted, he claimed had fail safes. Electrical pulses couldn't disrupt their ability to function and the battery life, he assured her, would outlast his life expectancy. The process got considerably slower when it came to designing more efficient prosthetic limbs because the droid had to keep stimulating certain nerves and encouraging the body to accept the new appendage.

---

At some point during the procedure, Ahsoka dozed off in the chair in the corner. For the first time in years, she wasn't able to stop herself from dreaming.

Above her flew a convoree, it was a familiar sight. It was the same one that seemed to follow her around. She didn't know what it meant, but it was always there. She could feel the turu-grass beneath her, and hear the familiar sounds of the winds across the plains. The birds calling out to each other, small rodents snaking their way around trying to hide from the predators in the sky. Shili was a peaceful place, most of the time. Except for when the akul were on a rampage. They were incredibly dangerous creatures, the only thing on the planet higher on the food chain than the Togruta. They traveled in large packs and could raze entire villages within minutes. Like the nexu, they were large with lots of sharp teeth.

She froze as she felt the ground shake beneath her. Her heart started racing and she was on her feet in no time. Above the tall grasses she caught a glimpse of the orange striped skin of the akul. She reached for her lightsabers, but they weren't there. She searched the ground where she'd been laying, but came up empty. The akul was within range, it had surely smelled her by now. She had no choice but to run. She raced to the edge of the plains, knowing that she couldn't run to the village for help. If she did, she'd put them all in danger. She ran as fast as she could but she could feel them gaining on her. The trees were too far away, she'd never make it. She had to fight, but where were her lightsabers? She tried to steady her breathing. The akul could not only outrun its prey, it could also outlast them. If she wanted a fighting chance, she had to pace herself. She'd beat one before, she could do it again. After all, she was a Jedi now.

She raced into an open patch of grass, only to skid to a halt. Somehow they'd managed to surround her. How had she not realized they'd gotten in front of her? She spun slowly, looking for weakness in their ranks, but she saw none. As one akul stepped towards her, her vision started getting dark around the edges. They began to morph into cloaked figures, black as the night. One lunged at her, shooting lightning from its fingertips but she was rooted in place. Out of nowhere, the convoree she'd been watching earlier flew in between her and the cloaked creature, absorbing the stream of lightning. It screeched in pain but continued to swoop in again and again, stopping the cloaked figures from hitting her with the spells. Suddenly one of the figures picked up a spear and lofted it at the bird, skewering it. The convoree dropped from the sky and landed hard nearby by her. She cried out in anguish and forgetting the immediate danger, she rushed to where it fell. There lie an ethereal looking woman in a white gown and flowing green hair. The Daughter from Mortis!

"We are one," she told Ahsoka, with failing strength. "You mustn't fall, or the light dies."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka begged her as she cradled the woman in her arms.

"He's coming..." with that the Daughter went limp.

Ahsoka spun around in time to watch the akul/creatures combine into one more powerful creature, towering over her. It laughed maliciously.

"You think you saved him? You're wrong! You only weakened him! He cannot beat me now! And neither can you!" The cloaked figure let out a horrendous screech and then pulled out two red lightsabers and thrust at her with such force, Ahsoka could barely react. But she had reacted. She was suddenly older and there in her hands were now her white lightsabers, as she pushed back at the figure with all her might. "You're weak," it taunted her. "Give in, give in to the darkness." Ahsoka went to strike only to get electrocuted by purple lightning. She could hear herself screaming.

---

"Anakin!" Ahsoka yelled, jumping up from the chair. Heart racing, she was breathing hard. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Standing above her was a tall, thin man. He had mechanical arms and legs, but a gentle, however now concerned, smile. He was hardly recognizable. Was this the same person that had lived in that awful suit? It didn't matter now, "Sidious," she shivered. "He's coming! He's here!"

"Calm down, Ahsoka, it's okay, it's alright." She looked up at him wide-eyed.

"You don't understand! That wasn't just a nightmare, he's here! He's going to kill us both!"

He pulled her into his arms. "Breathe," he said and kissed her forehead. She struggled for a minute and then relaxed. Once she stopped trying to fight him, he let go. He picked up her boots, belt and armor and as she put them on, he handed back her lightsabers. Then he picked up his own. "We knew this was coming. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He said rolling his shoulders. "Follow me."

Next chapter ->

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caranfindel · 7 years

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Episode recap/review 12.19: "The Future"

THEN: Oh, goody. It’s going to be a mytharc episode.

NOW: Sad, dirty Kelly Kline is being force-fed vitamins by Dagon. Dagon reminds her again that she’s going to die when the Lucifetus is born, and I wonder again why she would have showed her hand like that. She had Kelly right where she wanted her; a willing, compliant, trusting incubator. Why did she throw that away? She nags Kelly into taking a bath, in the saddest bathroom ever, complete with broken mirror. Kelly fills the rusty tub with a garden hose, apologizes to her unborn baby, takes a shard of the broken mirror, and slits her wrist.

Title card!

We have a lovely montage of Sam in the bunker, in full-blown research mode, looking through books and writing arcane markings on the map room table and just looking absolutely fantastic. He’s wearing a black button-up shirt with no apparent t-shirt underneath, and he’s extra scruffy. Not “The Born Again Identity” levels of scruffy, but scruffier than we normally see him, and it’s marvelous. I don’t know if it’s supposed to indicate something wrong, some level of obsession or lack of self care, but daaaaaamn. It’s fantastic.

The future looks fucking awesome, my friends.

Dean shows up, equally dark, also a bit scruffy (thank you baby Jesus) and is impressed by Sam’s work. Since he hasn’t seen any of it, either he’s been away, or Sam did all of this overnight. I’m going with B. He calls Sam “Beautiful Mind,” which I believe last happened when Sam was first having halluciferinations, and I know there’s no reason to assume this episode’s writer is actually aware of that. It’s probably a coincidence. But in a season full of callouts to earlier (better) days, it makes me wonder.

Sam’s been figuring out when the Lucifetus will be born, which doesn’t explain the symbols written all over the table, but that’s okay. We will deal. It does explain why we saw him circling the number 18, because he’s predicted the nephilim is due on May 18, which is coincidentally the day of the season finale.

(Sidebar: I’ve complained before about Entertainment Weekly ignoring SPN when they have roundups of the best shows to watch this week, season premieres, season finales, etc. This week’s EW actually did have a blurb about the SPN season finale. And I couldn’t read it because spoilers. File this under “be careful what you wish for.” Or maybe under “seriously, she’s never satisfied.”)

Dean comments that everything bad seems to happen in May (no, he really doesn’t, but don’t you think they should have noticed a pattern by now, and here is an excellent Tumblr post relating to that) and that this gives them less than a month to find Kelly. And they don’t know what to do with her once they do find her.

How am I supposed to care about a nephilim that will destroy all humanity when I’ve got this distracting scenario to contend with?

They’re interrupted by the sound of the bunker door opening. It’s Cas!

Can we have more of these interesting things happening above Dean’s head? And can Sam notice them too, please?

Sam is happy and surprised and asks where he’s been, and Dean is stunned and angry (and hot) and asks where the hell he’s been. He’s not impressed by Cas’s explanation that he had no bars in Heaven. Sam is still kind and welcoming, telling Cas “we’re glad you’re back” (because he’s Sam Winchester) and Dean is too hurt and angry at being abandoned to express any happiness or relief at all (because he’s Dean Winchester) and instead bitches at Cas about the fact that they lost Dagon and Kelly without backup. He stomps off, and they each fall into their assigned roles: Angry Dean, Guilty Cas, Conciliatory Sam.

Not that I’m complaining.

And if you want a case of the sads, watch Sam’s face fall as Dean stomps all over his happiness at Cas’s safe return.

Some time later (presumably, since Dean rubs his shoulder as if he’s been sitting at the computer for a while) Cas shows up at Dean’s bedroom and gives him back his mixtape. For the love of God.

Scenes from the Writers’ Room

I know Destiel is never gonna be canon.

Right.

And YOU know Destiel is never gonna be canon.

Right.

But it IS fun to get them all worked up, isn’t it?

Yes. Yes it is. What are we going to do this week? Old-married-couple-style squabbling? Declarations of love that turn out to be platonic and directed at all three Winchesters?

Nah, we’ve done those this season. I’ve got something better. Look at this.

Oh, God. You’re evil.

So Cas puts “Dean’s Top 13 Zeppelin Traxx” on the desk. Without looking at him, Dean hands it back and says “it’s a gift; you keep those.” Dean explains that they were worried while he was gone, and that’s not okay. Cas apologizes some more and says that all he does is fail, and he’s tired of failing. He says that “when you were taken, I searched for months,” which is odd, because they were only gone for six weeks, but maybe he kept looking after they were found, I don’t know, and he feels guilty about Kelly escaping on his watch and he just didn’t want to come back without a win. For you. (Oddly enough, he doesn’t apologize for letting Lucifer out of the cage, which seems like his biggest sin IMHO.)

Dean would rather talk about his own failures (because he’s Dean Winchester) and he says they had Kelly and lost her. Cas asks what they’ll do when they find her, and Dean says Sam’s working on it, and he’s hell-bent (no pun intended?) on finding a solution that doesn’t require killing Kelly or the baby. Cas asks if either of the Winchester’s could “kill an innocent” if Sam doesn’t find that solution. “We will find a better way,” says Dean. Translation: No, we will not kill an innocent. Because they’ve never been in that position before. Nope. Cas notes the use of the word “we” and ponders if that includes him, and Dean says “Yes, dumbass. We. You, me, and Sam. We’re just better together. So now that you’re back, let’s go Team Free Will.” Another shout-out! When did we last hear “Team Free Will?” Was it ever used again after that one episode in S5?

Dean doesn’t actually look very happy about Team Free Will assembling again.

Dean stalks off to get a beer and Cas stands in the doorway, looking around Dean’s room with a kind of suspicious expression.

Back at Casa Dagon, the demon stomps downstairs and finds a bathtub full of bloody water. But no dead Kelly Kline inside. She spots Kelly in the corner, wrapped in a towel, with blood on her wrists but no wounds. “He wouldn’t let me die,” Kelly says, with a blessed-out look on her face. Since Show keeps reminding me about S5, I immediately assume Lucifer is the one who kept her alive, just as he promised to keep Sam alive.

In the bunker, Dean finds Sam still working, and tells him to get some sleep. (If Sam worked all night figuring out Kelly’s due date, he must have been up all day and this is night two?) But Sam’s on a roll.

Sam’s also got his feet up and it’s fucking glorious.

Maybe they’re going about this all wrong, he says. They can’t track Dagon, but maybe they can track the Lucifetus. And then this lovely, lovely scene goes straight to Hell.

”Remember Gadreel?” Sam asks. Except he pronounces it GADreel, or even GADriel.

”How could I ever forget?” says Dean. “The angel I tricked you into serving as a vessel for. The angel who killed Kevin. The angel who indirectly led to me getting the Mark of Cain, which resulted in me coming damn close to killing you. Twice. The angel Crowley had to possess you in order to eject. I still have nightmares about all of that. I’d do anything to undo all of the damage I caused. Yes, I remember Gadreel.”

Oh, no, wait. He doesn’t say any of that at all. He says “The psycho angel that took your body for a test drive? Yeah, what about him?” As if he had nothing to do with it. As if it was just something weird that happened to Sam, that he happened to remember. What the fuck, show. (Also, Dean pronounces it GADriel too. So maybe they’re not talking about Gadreel at all. Maybe this is some other angel who took Sam for a spin. Some angel I’ve forgotten.)

Oh well. Carrying on.

(Seriously. What the fucking fuck, Show.)

Shhh. Don’t think about it. Just mute the sound and enjoy the pretty.

Sam reminds Dean that he and Cas were working on a spell to find this mysterious GADriel, and Dean reminds Sam that they needed Gadriel’s grace and Cas couldn’t get enough of it. Although I don’t know how Dean knows this, since he wasn’t there when any of it happened. I guess Sam and/or Cas told him about it later, as they tend to do (ha ha ha I crack myself up). And then Sam is all, wait, the grace extraction! We can just extract Lucifer’s grace from the Lucifetus, because a nephilim is just a human soul with angelic grace (is it? did we know that?) so if they just extract the grace from the baby, it will no longer be a nephilim and Kelly won’t have to die.

Now, when Sam says Kelly won’t have to die, I assume he means they were planning on killing her, if necessary, to prevent the Lucifetus from being born. I don’t think he means they’d extract the grace like some kind of supernatural amniocentesis and this plan would prevent her heretofore unavoidable death after giving birth. Because I don’t think he knows about that part of it. After all, Cas didn’t know the mother of a nephilim never survives the birth, so how would Sam have known? I can only assume he plans to have Cas extract the grace after the baby is born. And that leads to some uncomfortable issues if it doesn’t work. But Dean is convinced this is the answer and Sam is happy and proud of himself and aw, boys, I just want this for you. (What did I say earlier about being careful what you wish for?) Dean leaves to get Cas and finds his room empty. And there’s sad music playing, so we know he’s not just in the bathroom. (Also the fact that he’s an angel, but if God takes long showers, there’s no reason an angel couldn’t. Just saying.)

Cut to Kelly and Dagon, who have already long outworn their welcome on my screen. Dagon can’t imagine why Kelly doesn’t want to be the not-quite-virgin Mary giving birth to evil Jesus, but Kelly says her baby isn’t evil, because he saved her. Oh, it was the baby, and not Lucifer? That’s disappointing. Dagon says he saved himself, not Kelly, and she’s still going to die when he’s born. And Dagon will raise him. By the way, Kelly’s little bloodbath not only cleaned her up, but it freshened her makeup, hair, and clothes too. Oh, Lucifetus. What can’t you do?

Now we see Cas in his old truck, meeting Hot Angel Kelvin to give him… The Colt? Oh, no, Cas. Bad angel. He tells him there are only two bullets in the chamber, but that’s okay, because they only need one for Dagon and one for Evil Jesus’s incubator. Kelvin explains that Joshua tracked a “celestial pulse” to a house nearby. Cas’s phone rings, and it’s Dean, who’s calling for at least the third time. If I were Cas, I’d have silenced my phone by now. Kelvin praises him for following Joshua’s plan and putting angelkind above the Winchesters and Cas is all, I’m doing this for the Winchesters, because Sam is nice to me and Dean made me a mix tape and I want to keep them safe from Dagon, and kill the girl so they don’t have to do it.

Surprisingly enough, Cas doesn’t manage kill either Dagon or the girl (shocking, I know). Cas wastes a bullet, Dagon kills an angel, and Cas is unable to shoot Kelly after all, and flees with her instead. And that worked out so well last time.

In the bunker, Sam is calling Cas and getting no response, and wondering how he got the Colt out of the safe in the first place. Dean somewhat sheepishly admits it was under his pillow.

Dean Winchester has some regrets.

Dean’s ready to “kick his feathered ass,” and actually slides the angel blade into his bag. Okay, he’s probably planning to use it on a demon, but it’s still an interesting juxtaposition. Sam says Cas wouldn’t have taken the Colt unless he was up against something big, because he’s Sam Winchester. So Dean decides they’ll save him and then kick his feathered ass.

Now we’re in Cas’s old truck, which reminds me that I miss the Pimpmobile. Kelly has astutely noted that he came to kill her, but didn’t. Cas considers himself a failure again, and says he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s just trying to put distance between Kelly and Dagon. Because it’s not like demons can teleport or anything.

Speaking of Dagon, she’s communicating with Lucifer, lying that everything is fine, but he knows she’s lying and gets marvelously angry. “So you let the Winchesters’ purse dog take my son?” Mmm. Gotta like some angry Lucifer, and when he blows up at Dagon, it’s hard not to imagine him blowing up at Sam in the cage. Lucky for her, Dagon has Hot Angel Kelvin chained up, so he’ll probably help.

Cas and Kelly made it to a hotel, where we see Cas on a cell phone “communicating with Joshua.” Is that the only way angels can communicate now? Because I’m pretty sure they used angel radio earlier in the season. Cas has been ordered to take Kelly to Heaven, where her life and the Lucifetus’s life will end, “swift and painless.” He tells her “your souls will ascend to Heaven, and every cell of your beings will return to the universe,” and considering that just yesterday she slit her wrists In a rusty bathtub, this doesn’t seem like such a bad end to me. He apologizes, and tells her it’s necessary because her child will be too powerful and “could bring the universe to its knees.” But Kelly believes her baby won’t be born evil, and Cas says “I can’t take that chance.” And I wish he had simply said “no, it’s a known fact that your baby will be born evil; there’s no other option.” Because that’s the assumption he’s been working on all along, and admitting that it’s not 100% kind of comes out of nowhere. (Unless I haven’t been paying attention because I’m not really into this particular plot? Perhaps.) Unfortunately, the crappy old truck won’t start (I bet the Pimpmobile would have started).

Meanwhile, Dagon is hard at work encouraging Hot Angel Kelvin to help. He says he doesn’t know where Cas is, and I’m surprised it doesn’t occur to anyone that he might take Kelly to the bunker.

Cas and Kelly have checked into the hotel, where he expects her to hang out while he fixes the truck and drives her to her death. At least this time he doesn’t let her disappear into the bathroom. Chances are they’re going to be there a while, since he’s googling websummoning “How to fix a truck.” (Also, I find Websummon an amusing name for a search engine.) Kelly tells him that she killed herself and the Lucifetus saved her, and he realizes that was the “celestial pulse” felt in Heaven. She’s sure her baby is good, even though Cas says the same thing Dagon did - the baby needs her alive. Kelly thinks that maybe everything she’s gone through is some sort of plan, and Cas knows differently. He tells her he used to think he had a mission, but now he knows otherwise. There’s no plan; Lucifer is just sowing destruction for the hell of it (ha ha) and she just happened to be there. She still thinks her baby could be good for this world, because she just doesn’t get it, and Cas tells her she won’t survive the birth, so even if her baby is good, and isn’t inevitably evil, who will take care of him and keep him on the righteous path?

Oh. Wait. Cas knows Kelly will die? He knows the mother of a nephilim doesn’t survive the birth? So he knew, just a few episodes ago, that Lily Sunder couldn’t possibly be the mother of a nephilim, and therefore he knew Naughty Angel Isham was lying? Because I swear it seems Iike that episode went in a different direction. How odd.

And then Kelly lets Cas feel the baby kick and he is lost in wonder at the miracle of life and then her eyes glow amber and he has a vision of telling someone to stay away from her at the stairway to Heaven. Well. That was unexpected. I thought it was going to be a mushy oh wow there’s a real live baby in there and Cas would suddenly be unable to end it, and I’m glad they didn’t go that direction.

Then there’s a knock on the door, and of course it’s Sam and Dean, and my joy is somewhat measured because Sam’s wearing that godawful orange coat again.

I hope someone manages to burn this coat before the end of the season.

Dean angrily slams Cas against a wall until Sam points out that he has Kelly. Cas wonders how they found him, and Dean says Sam put a tracking app on his phone. And I guess that makes sense, that after he was missing for a few weeks, they’d be more interested in keeping up with his whereabouts, but it’s not like it would have worked when he was in Heaven, so I’m going to call it a little too convenient and then get on with my life. Oh, wait, Sam says Cas wouldn’t look them in the eye, so his suspicion makes more sense.

Cas updates them on his progress, or lack thereof, and says he was trying to keep them safe by keeping them out of it. Not your job, Dean responds, and when have we ever been safe anyway? Which is funny because Dean has done this very thing to others (and by others I mean Sam). When the Winchesters learn of Cas’s plan to take Kelly and the Lucifetus to Heaven, Sam explains his idea about extracting the nephilim’s grace. Cas seems to think it could work, but the only reason it didn’t kill Sam is because they didn’t finish. But it beats the hell out of certain death, Dean says, because now Dean also knows Kelly can’t survive the nephilim’s birth? Whatever. Kelly doesn’t agree, because extracting his grace takes away the thing that makes him special. Cas agrees to take Kelly back to the bunker and work out a new plan, and he escorts her to the Impala. Since the car is locked, Dean tosses the keys to Cas. Cas helps Kelly into the front passenger seat and then sits in the back, tossing the keys into the driver’s seat. Kelly decides to take matters into her own hands, and as Sam and Dean “discuss” the situation in the parking lot, she slides into the driver’s seat and takes off.

Kelly now believes that Cas is part of the plan. When he put his hand on her stomach, the baby told her to go to the stairway to Heaven and follow Cas’s plan. She doesn’t want Sam and Dean to take away his special Lucifetus powers, and why Kelly keeps missing the Lucifer part of this is beyond me. Cas is disturbed to find out he’s the one who’s supposed to care for the nephilim, and oddly, it’s not because the child is Lucifer’s baby, it’s because Cas considers himself a failure and not capable of taking care of the baby. So he might… accidentally kill the baby he’s trying to kill? Kelly refers to her previous self as a “cut-rate political flack” and I don’t really know what a flack is. Does she mean hack? (Yes, she was such a bad hack that she didn’t even know the word is hack.) But if a failure like her can create something as wondrous as the Lucifetus, so can Cas!

Cut to Dean fixing Cas’s crappy old truck. Which makes perfect sense. We know the Winchesters are morally opposed to stealing cars, even if it’s the only way to catch up to someone who is about to do something really, really stupid and possibly universe-ending. The only thing to do is fix Cas’s truck and follow him in it.

But Mechanic!Dean is always a welcome treat, so okay.

Nighttime. Cas and Kelly approach the Heavenly Sandbox and are greeted by… No. No, this is not Joshua. Joshua was that sweet, gentle, older guy we saw in “Dark Side of the Moon.” This twerp is not Joshua. What’s wrong, Show; you think we can’t handle two black angels in the same episode? Anyway. Crappy!Joshua greets Cas and Kelly and is suddenly zapped by Dagon, who talks for a long time because we needed to hear whatever’s going on in Dagon’s head. This episode has really been light on Winchesters.

Luckily, just as she’s about to smite him, the Winchesters pull up. It must have taken about 10 minutes to fix Cas’s truck. Sam shoots her with a regular gun and does some badass reloading, then gets tossed aside while Dean shows up with the Colt. Unfortunately, Dagon wrests the Colt from Dean’s grip and melts it down with her evil demon grip. Which is sad, but I was concerned about it being a deus ex machina for every future monster, so I’m not gonna complain that much.

Cas tells Kelly to run, which she should have done as soon as Dagon showed up, rather than standing there with her mouth open. But I wanted to see the Winchesters on the ground too, so I can’t blame her for hanging around.

Mmmm. It was worth it.

Kelly takes Cas’s hand and her eyes glow amber again, and then we see fiery veins of power make their way from her hand to Cas’s, and up to his face. His eyes glow angel blue and then amber, and as Dagon rears back to smite him, he grabs her arm and stops her with the might power of the Lucifetus. “Call it a miracle,” he says, and she bursts into flame. Sadly, Sam’s coat is not involved in the conflagration.

Astonished Winchesters, so pretty.

Aftermath! Sam and Dean tentatively approach Cas and ask “what was that?” “It was me,” he says, “but it was also…” Significant look at Kelly’s belly. He heals Dean’s injured arm, and there’s kind of a sense of wonder, as if he hasn’t been able to do that lately. But we know he’s had healing powers this season, so I don’t know.

Whatever. Look at the pretty pictures. Look at how tiny Cas is.

He thanks them for coming to the rescue, tells them he’s not lost any more, says that the child must be born with all of his power, and gently boops them on their foreheads. It’s a little reminiscent of Godstiel. Cas and Kelly leave the Winchesters sprawled on the ground, unconscious, which is probably perfectly safe. Kelly asks what the baby told him, and Cas says “He didn’t tell me; he showed me. The future.”

So. Is Cas under Lucifer’s influence? Or is the baby actually capable of good? What do you think about all of this? And whether or not the plot was worthwhile, wasn’t it awfully pretty? And directed by Amanda Tapping, who played Naomi! Once again, Naomi is telling Cas what to do. ;-)

Help me stay unspoiled for future episodes; thanks!

#tv recaps #recap #spn #12.19 #12.19 the future

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thebibliomancer · 7 years

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Essential Avengers: (Daredevil #99 +) Avengers #111: With Two Beside Them!

May, 1973

Last time: Quicksilver is a robot racist. Oh, and also, Magneto beat up the X-men, lured the Avengers into a trap, attacked them with dinosaurs, and stole their Quinjet and several of their teammates.

But before we continue with the Avengers we have to take a brief detour down Daredevil way since its slightly relevant to the Avengers.

I mean, I could summarize it in one line: the Avengers recruit Daredevil and Black Widow to help them fight Magneto. But we’d miss a lot of Clint Barton making an ass of himself if I didn’t go into it in slightly more detail. And also I love my words words words.

So remember how Hawkeye decided to wait in Black Widow’s tree until he could talk to her?

It goes about as well as can be expected.

Basically, Hawkeye puts Black Widow on the spot and tries to force her into admitting she still cares about him, a jealous Daredevil tells Hawkeye to step off, so Hawkeye punches him. They have a fight and then out the window goes Hawkeye. Sorta earned that defenestration.

And then Daredevil and Hawkeye scuffle on the lawn until Daredevil throws the fight to avoid revealing he’s blind. And then Hawkeye goes to fight some Hell’s Angels knockoffs. And then he fights Daredevil again and this time Daredevil breaks his bow.

And then they both realize in a weird moment of self-awareness that they’re fighting over Natasha like a piece of meat and that she’s the one that gets to decide.

But when they both arrive back at Black Widow’s house, the Avengers are there. Hawkeye assumes that Natasha called the grown-ups to drag him back home so he runs off.

The Avengers reveal that they’re really there to ask for Daredevil’s help against Magneto and not to put too fine a point on it but Daredevil owes Black Panther one.

What they don’t mention is that Daredevil was not their first, second, or third choice. They tried to recruit Falcon, Spider-Man, and Luke Cage first.

And, hey, since Black Widow is there too she can come with. The more (to punch Magneto with) the merrier!

Although... I know it was their last resort but Daredevil and Black Widow aren’t exactly super helpful for fighting MASTER OF MAGNETS. More bodies to throw at him is better than nothing I guess.

And now finally we can continue on with Avengers #111.

We start the issue with Magneto mind-controlling Scarlet Witch into sexy dancing for him.

...

This probably made for an awkward conversation down the road when they figured out that Magneto was her dad.

No wonder Wanda rewrote reality so he wasn’t. Some things you just can’t look back on and laugh.

But anyway. Yeah. Magneto can control minds now. He does it by controlling the iron in the blood and reducing the amount of blood flow to the brain. His victims are left barely conscious and I guess highly suggestible.

Magnets. In what sort of manner do they function?

Piper wonders whether Magneto is worried about the Avengers. What if they regroup and try to find Magneto’s super secret rad base?

But Magnet-toe isn’t worried. He left them with only three members. What are they going to do, recruit a blind lawyer and an ex-Soviet spy? That’s dumb. You’re dumb, Piper.

Meanwhile, the Avengers. Blaming Black Widow for Hawkeye being a giant baby.

I mean, I don’t think that was the intention but that’s Black Widow’s takeaway. And she starts blaming herself for treating him so badly.

Good lord.

Anyway, even having recruited two new temporary members, the Avengers don’t really have any leads to follow. But thankfully, Daredevil happens to gently caress a newspaper and there’s a conference for the atomic energy commission being held that day.

And Magneto loves him some atomics. Atomics is what caused the mutants. THIS IS PERHAPS A LEAD.

Meanwhile, Black Widow mopes about having bad taste in men. Or rather, about the mutability of human affection. She loved her dead husband once and she loves Matt Murdock, avocado, now. But between she loved Hawkeye.

And also: “Oh, Hawkeye, Hawkeye... they said you were like a child. If so, you only needed me as a woman in so many more way than one... And I failed you in all of them.”

Good lord again.

If Hawkeye needs a girlfriend who is also a mom then you really dodged a bullet, Natasha.

Speaking of the brash bowman, Hawkeye mopes on a bridge like he’s Spider-Man. Black Widow can’t stand him, the Avengers show up when he’s trying to be a homewrecker and recruit the other guy, and also he doesn’t have any friends. But so what? He’ll show them, he’ll show them all! The name Hawkeye is going to be bigger than the Avengers, Daredevil, and Black Widow put together!

(Clint... there’s never going to be a Hawkeye movie.)

LATER! The special conference for the atomic energy commission dinner party conference.

They got word that there was going to be a kidnapping attempt so instead of holding the conference at a nice secure location, its being held at some dude’s big house.

This security measure is proven to be worth jack dick when Magneto and his army of mind-controlled X-Vengers attack.

Obviously, normal security dudes aren’t the match for even mind-controlled superheroes. Although mind-controlled Cyclops manages to get himself punched in the face.

But aside from being his lot in life, this also demonstrates the drawback of Magneto’s mind-control. He can’t effectively control so many people at once.

The Avengers finally show up after Magneto has captured everyone and is leading them away to his ship.

Magneto has his mind-controlled Captain America (huh, topical) run interference while he activates the... OCTOFUMES!

Which seems to be a normal smokescreen with a cool name.

While Thor tries to blow the smokescreen away, Black Panther and Daredevil team up to launch Daredevil face-first into Magneto’s ship.

Lets call that a friendship maneuver.

Having grabbed onto the ship, Daredevil realizes he doesn’t know what to do with it.

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to make a decision because Magneto electrifies the hull. What a considerate fella.

Anyways, Daredevil falls off the ship and plummets towards the ground.

Black Widow uses her grappling line to catch him but Daredevil insists that he totally could have saved himself no problem but I guess its the thought that counts, NATASHA.

Its not really the realm of this liveblog to discuss it overly much but Black Widow’s relationship with Daredevil was bad. It was bad for her. Daredevil spends much of their time together being a complete ass.

Anyway. Thor chases after Magneto’s ship but Magneto issues an ultimatum.

No, not that one.

If Thor doesn’t back off, Magneto will make his mind controlled slaves jump to their deaths. And even Thor can’t catch all of them.

So although it grieveth Thor to his very soul, he doth back off, verily.

Magneto gets clean away, leaving the Avengers without any more leads.

OR IS IT??

See, something has been bothering Black Panther. Remember those dinosaurs? The ones that attacked? And Iron Man broke one of their necks? Those guys?

Where did they come from?

Well, obviously initially the Savage Land. But where did they come from right before they attacked the Avengers? They couldn’t just pop out of thin air. That’s not what the Piper do.

So, Magneto must have been hiding the dinosaurs somewhere nearby. In some sort of... secret base of some kind.

And if that’s the case, Black Panther can track the dinosaurs back to it. Because dinosaur is a very distinctive scent.

Oh. And one more thing. Anyone know where the Vision got off to?

MEANWHILE at Magneto’s secret lair. Magneto decides to lambast the atomic commission people.

Imagine. Having unlimited power at your fingertips and deciding to be a civil servant, working for a salary!

Not like Magneto. Magneto was born to rule and not receive pay. If Magneto had their opportunities, he would not let them languish. And he’s not going to. He’s going to use the atomic commission people to gain access to all the atomic power in the country so he can unleash it on the populace.

Granted, 92% of the people will die but the rest will become mutants! And also Magneto’s new followers. He needs followers. Followers are like the staff of life to him.

Also, did the Infamous games borrow their plots from Magneto?

The commission calls him mad and say that he won’t get away with this. But that’s just the cue Magneto was waiting for so he can exposit more.

Fun fact: if a villain ever looks at you expectantly they probably want you to say something like ‘you’ll never get away with this’, ‘you’re mad’, or ‘so-and-so will stop you’ so they can continue on with their prepared remarks.

Magneto explains how he tried the radiation experiment on a smaller scale (in Amazing Adventures #9-10) and how it totally worked. It exploded in his face and left him near death.

So he tricked Angel into wearing a new costume which would absorb his ‘youthful mutant energy.’ And then yesterday, Magneto snuck into the X-Mansion, chloroformed Angel, and put on his clothes.

Because of comic science, this restored Magneto to full power. Even taking comic science into account, it also makes Magneto sound like a big ol’ perv.

The fact that he used mind control to make Scarlet Witch dance for him does not really help that impression.

Anyway, he then beat the X-Men and the Avengers. And that proves he’s awesome and can succeed at anything.

But still though, the atomics commission people refuse to tell him what they know. So he just relies on reliable ol’ mind-control. It will take longer but he has plenty of time. Its not like anyone is going to interrupt him.

Meanwhile outside, the Avengers get ready to interrupt him.

Black Panther has tracked the memorable stank of T. Rex, Daredevil felt vibrations from a hidden cave, and Thor beat up the ground until he tunneled into the cave.

Magneto is, of course, aghast. How could the Avengers find him? He was SO CAREFUL. HE LEFT NOT THE FAINTEST TRACE.

Apparently he hasn’t tried sniffing his dinosaurs.

BUT NO MATTER, he sends his mind-slaves to attack the Avengers.

And again the limitation of Magneto’s mind-control comes up. “Yet the brain which guides these many attackers belongs to only one man -- a man who can act rashly under stress -- for an aware Iron Man would never attempt to fight the Thunder God by trying to hold back his hammer!”

Still, Magneto is apparently great at multi-tasking because the Avengers are kinda getting beat.

Thor takes out Iron Man but gets shot in the head by Cyclops who is jumped by Black Panther who gets countered by Ice Man who PLOW!s some ice blocks right into T’Challa’s noggin.

And then Cyclops gets punched in the face again.

By Daredevil. Who is pretty amused at the irony of a blind man punching a dude with punch vision.

But then Marvel Girl and Scarlet Witch double team Daredevil and threaten to drop the ceiling down on him so Black Widow to the rescue! Again!

She lassos Magneto and throws him in the path of the ceiling drop as well, forcing him to use his own power to stop the rocks or else get smoosh.

Which is easy enough.

Oh, by the way. Magneto could have mind-controlled everyone at any point. But the fight was amusing. And now its not.

Wham, bam, mind-taken ma’am.

Magneto gloats to Piper that this is the end of the Avengers and that soon the world will be within his grasp!

And then Piper chops Magneto in the back of the neck, knocking him out.

See, something Magneto didn’t notice but Black Panther did is that there was one Avenger missing.

Under the cover of the OCTOFUMES, Vision slipped into Magneto’s ship and also hid inside Piper. He was hiding inside a man this whole time. And he figured out how to solidfy his brain just enough to hijack Piper’s body.

Yup. Vision figured out how to wear people as a meat suit. Hahahahah that’s only very terrifying!

Anyway, the X-Men rouse and Professor X uses his power to put Magneto into a deep sleep. They still have their own problems going on because now they have to find Angel. He wasn’t in the Mansion so where is he?

And that probably gets answered in some other book. Not really my purview.

Captain America thanks Daredevil and Black Widow for helping. And y’know, they did a good job. Probably. So if they wanted to be official members, that would be cool.

Daredevil turns down the offer for both of them. For personal reasons. Always having a group around would confuse his senses and it would be harder to keep his blindness a secret.

But Black Widow accepts the offer for herself.

Daredevil protests but she proclaims that he doesn’t own her! And also it was incredibly presumptive to make the decision for her in the first place, Matt. You ass.

Black Widow privately decides that spending some time apart from him will give her a chance to think through their relationship.

So Daredevil swings out of the cave in a huff, saying she can find him back in San Francisco... IF SHE’S EVER LOOKING.

But Matt... you got a ride here in a Quinjet. How are you getting home?

So. I guess Black Widow finally joins the Avengers. It was teased and teased and teased and it finally happens. Right after Hawkeye ragequit the team.

Black Widow is considered one of the mainstays these days but it took her one-hundred and eleven issues to get past brain-washing and SHIELD co-opting her and all manner of other nonsense to finally get on the team.

So I expect she’ll have a long and eventful run on the team.

#Avengers #Magneto #is kind of a perv this issue #X Men #Black Widow #Daredevil #the Vision #learned how to control people like a meat suit #Essential Avengers #Essential marvel liveblogging #overall what a bizarre issue

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