#when like. he’s already a kiddy murderer. I don’t think he can get any worse than that? he kills kids and is an abusive father | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cyb-by-lang · 4 years

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Phone a Friend

A drabble based in that one OSF AU called All The Little Children. You know, that huge one-shot where all the Tailed Beasts are the size of cats and also the ASL bros are kids. This is the start of Side B, like on a record. At least it’s not broken.

With all the chaos that the kids got up to last time, I figured there was still a bit of space to insert yet more shenanigans.

I’m also thinking of having the Kiddie Crew have their own series of drabbles and one-shots, but we’ll see how that works out~

“I wanted to ask you something,” Ace said one day, in Kei’s clearing with his pipe slung across his back and his arms crossed, more defensive than trying to start a fight.

The turtle-toting woman still wasn’t in Fū’s good books, but Naruto and Gaara loved her. Luffy would latch onto anyone who lived on Mt. Colubo for long enough and wasn’t cruel to his brothers, so his judgment was definitely in question. Especially when food-based bribes were so close at hand all the time. Sabo was more cautious, but it’d been a whole month without unwarranted punches to the head from an adult and he’d started to drop his guard. He wasn’t as wary as Ace was, ever, but he was closer.

Ace wasn’t sure what he thought. The first adult to brush off his concerns about being Roger’s son was still a bit of a mystery, even now, but not so much that Ace couldn’t come up here alone while the others kept Luffy distracted. With that bloodthirsty first impression well out of the way, and the second one knocked out of reality by someone who could take Gramps’s punches, that just left this awkward, intermittent caretaker.

“Okay,” said Kei, up to her elbows in what’s going to be their group’s dinner tonight. Under the work table, Isobu lurked like a grumpy footstool. “Do you mind if I keep working?”

According to Naruto, the vaunted Kei didn’t spend much of her time dressing wild game before arriving on Dawn Island. The huge alligator lying in fifteen pieces all around the clearing would beg to differ, probably. Sabo even made a deal with her a while back for all the pelts and skins of the beasts everyone hunted, just because it never seemed like she had any use for them. The ASL brothers got money and fed, and Kei got…to not deal with animal skins?

It was probably a win-win situation, somehow.

“Go ahead,” said Ace, and just made sure he was outside of the potential splash zone. “You might wanna keep chopping anyway. Fū promised to keep Luffy running around all day. You know how they are.”

“I’ll take your word for that, then.” She slammed her cleaver down on the stump she’d been using as a knife block. “Go ahead and ask whatever you need to ask, Ace.”

“That thing you did with Bluejam and Sabo’s dad.” Ace paused as Kei’s swings slowed for a moment, watching her reaction with ice rolling down his spine. Then, as the tempo of butchering returned to normal, he said, “I want to learn how to do it.”

Kei scooped the hash she’d made out of alligator tail into a waiting bucket with the flat of the cleaver. Then she said, “I’m not sure you can.”

“What?” The flat, unfeeling tone to her voice set Ace’s temper flaring, just like it always did. It was the same tone shitty adults used when they said things they thought were true, and that kids didn’t need to know about.

“I’m also not exactly sure what you’re talking about,” she added, tilting her head curiously at him. She rubbed idly at her face with the heel of one hand, then grimaced at the blood streak left across her cheek. She looked like a murderer, except for the confused tilt of her head. “Sorry, are you talking about the fighting part or…?”

“I meant the thing you did to make everyone afraid of you!” Ace bit out, desperation getting the better of his self-control. His fists clenched, though he didn’t go for his pipe.

In some ways, Kei’s patient listening face was worse than being laughed at. Even if no one saw what happened in Gray Terminal, Bluejam disappeared. Sabo’s shitty dad never bothered them again. Ace knew this woman was strong enough to protect his brothers when he wasn’t. The difference between their strengths stuck in him like a thorn in his sandal. Nothing helped him dig it out, no matter how hard he trained or how many people he fought.

Ace snapped into a bow, though maybe not as good as the one Makino tried to teach him. “Please tell me how to do that.”

Thunk. Thunk. Then there was a sound like a flag flapping, but heavier, as Kei tossed the alligator skin over the drying rack.

“You don’t need to bow to me,” Kei said, already making her way to the pump on the side of her little cabin.

“It is an interesting thing to ask us,” said Isobu, dragging himself out and into Ace’s eyeline. “Sit down.”

Ace did so, because he’d been doused by Isobu’s weird water gun mouth about fifteen times by now, and the sixteenth was not the charm. While the turtle-thing stared him down with his single unblinking eye, Ace fidgeted a little. Sat with his legs under him and listened to the sound of the pump working, nervous but not like actually afraid. Not like with Gramps.

“Killing intent is what it sounds like,” Isobu explained, tucking his leg-arms under his belly. “It is not precisely a skill, but instead a matter of the sheer will to do harm to people.”

“Kinda figured that from the name,” Ace said, in a slightly sullen mutter.

“It is self-explanatory,” Isobu agreed, curling his tails as well, “but for that reason, I do not know if you have the capacity for it.”

At this point, Kei returned while flicking water from her hands. She sat in the grass across from Ace, just far enough away and with her legs crossed, so that Ace’s nerves settled a little. Though he wasn’t sure how, she always tried to do little things like that to help Ace and Sabo feel a little safer around her. Sure, they both knew she was faster and stronger than anybody else on the island, but not showing it off was a sign she at least cared about their impressions of her.

It only helped so much, but it was noticeable.

“Like Isobu was saying, killing intent is…not really something I thought you’d want to learn,” Kei said, scrutinizing him with her eyes barely peeking out past her bangs. “What brought this on?”

“I’ve fought a lot of people before,” Ace said, staring back as steadily as he could, “but I couldn’t do anything against Bluejam. None of us could do anything until Gaara and Fū showed up to save us.” He gripped his knees hard enough for his knuckles to go white. “I need to get stronger.”

“Does that remind you of anyone you know, Kei?” Isobu’s voice asked, but when Ace looked up in surprise, the turtle pointed firmly at Kei with his left tail.

“Only everyone,” Kei sighed. She rested her chin on her hand, elbow on knee, and finally said, “As violent as you and your brothers can be, Ace, I don’t know if killing intent is ever going to be your thing.”

Ace wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or an insult. “Why’s that?”

Kei glanced at Isobu. Ace did, too, and the little turtle wiggled his tails. “I don’t know you that well, but I do know you’d do anything to protect your brothers. That sound right?”

Ace nodded firmly. “Duh.”

“So would I.” That gave Ace pause. Kei had brothers? Since when? “But I was younger than you when I decided that anybody who hurt Hayate would die. I’ve had a long time to just…” She waved a hand as though searching for a word. “To just hone that feeling. It’s not a healthy state of mind, carrying murder around like that. Isobu makes it worse.”

Isobu’s tails wiggled like seaweed in a current. “I would argue—”

“No.”

“But—”

“We’re already bad influences. Don’t push it.” Kei stared at Isobu until the little monster rolled his eye and subsided with a grumble. She then turned her attention back to Ace. “It’s not just about wanting to kill someone. It’s… I hate to make moral judgments like this, but it takes at least a little evil to get the raw power for it. When you’re using killing intent, any ideas about the value of life just don’t exist. ”

Ace opened his mouth to protest. He’d wanted Bluejam dead. He’d been out killing wild animals since he could walk away from the Dadan pirates and explore the island. He fought everything, stole, and lied and cheated and—and he was Roger’s—

“You’re not evil, Ace,” Kei said sharply, cutting across his thoughts like one of her swords. She peered at his expression with too-knowing eyes, folding her arms over her chest. “You’re a kid with issues, but you’re nowhere near as bad as you think you are. That’s why I don’t think you can fuel an attack like that through sheer malice.”

“Like you said, you don’t know me that well.” Ace glared down at his knees.

Kei made a noise that sounded like agreement, but with strings attached. “Tell you what—there’s probably a better route, and it might be something your brothers can learn with you.” When Ace looked up in surprise, Kei went on, “It’s called haki. It’s a power that’s rare before you get to the later parts of the Grand Line, but it’ll save your life.”

Ace stared at her. “I thought Naruto said his thing was called ‘chakra.’”

“His is, but he was born with the potential to use that. Haki can be learned by anyone.” Kei’s eyes rolled skyward for a second as she thought that over. “Mostly. Keep in mind that I don’t use haki, but I’ve known people who do. Their lessons may still help you.”

Isobu swatted Kei’s leg with one of his tails. “I was also listening, thank you.”

She paused for another one of her awkward stretches, staring her little monster friend down. Ace was never sure what went through Kei’s head when she zoned out, but all of the kids Ace knew had tried attacking her during those silences just to see how she’d react. Mostly, she snapped out of it instantly and sent people flying over her shoulder or straight into the dirt.

The second one was mostly for the FNG gang. She was gentler with Ace and his brothers, as weird as that was.

Kei said at last, “I can teach you what I know. My first true demonstration was when a guy kicked me through an island, so I’m sure it’ll help you punch above your weight class.”

It wasn’t what Ace asked for. Even so, the idea of being able to knock someone like Kei around was a tempting one. If Gramps had trouble getting Kei out of his face when he showed up to visit, then Ace aimed to be even stronger. Chasing One Piece demanded no less.

“If you want to stick around and help me prepare all this, I’ll try explaining as we go,” Kei offered.

There was still an awful lot of alligator lying around. For some reason, Kei almost always turned this kind of meat into tiny stew cubes and cooked it with vegetables instead of just letting the kids eat everything immediately. When Ace wondered about it aloud, Sabo said something about “food poisoning,” but none of them knew what that meant unless there were weird mushrooms involved. Meat didn’t go uneaten around them long enough for it to go bad.

Ace was tempted—he’d learned cooking meant snacking while they worked—but finally said when Kei went to retrieve her cleaver, “Do you have anything I can just take back to the others right now?”

“The usual lunchboxes are in the cellar,” Kei told him, already getting back to work. She had big butcher’s gloves and everything. “Door’s open.”

Ace left his pipe stuck in the turf as he headed into Kei’s little cabin. It was pretty bare, aside from cooking utensils and the kind of stuff even Dadan had—bed, storage trunk, and so on. She hadn’t even really decorated. Ace already knew from previous visits that Kei didn’t store treasure here or really anywhere, and so Ace pulled up the hatch and hopped down into the cellar without bothering to snoop.

A minute later, Ace had dragged all of the lunchboxes—really medicine boxes with straps for carrying—out the front door. Between the ropes left at the front of the cabin and the length of his pipe, he tied all of them together in a huge stack and hauled them onto his back. The fact that the burden was bigger than he was didn’t slow him down for a second. He and Sabo had carried whole jungle beasts around for years, so the lunchboxes were barely noticeable.

“Remind the others that dinner is at sunset,” Kei called as he left, still hammering away at the alligator’s tough ribs. “And tell Luffy that he needs to eat all the vegetables this time, or he might get scurvy.”

“…What’s scurvy?”

“A disease that makes your eyeballs bleed and your teeth fall out.”

Ace froze.

Kei didn’t smile when she looked up, blood splattered across the front of her rubber apron. Her panda eyes were flat and serious. She even managed to hold that expression on her scarred face for a full five seconds, then shrugged and turned back to her work. “Anyway, have fun adventuring today.”

Isobu’s high, croaky laughter chased Ace all the way down the mountain.

This probably had something to do with the fact that the turtle rolled most of the way after him, but, regardless, there was still no way Ace would forget that lesson anytime soon.

Unbeknownst to Ace, Kei spent the bulk of the afternoon after he left on a snail call. The eventual alligator stew components were cleaned, stored, and marinating in the largest vat of soy sauce she’d ever gotten her hands on, which gave her a little time to shore up one teensy little problem in her lesson plan.

"This is Thatch's Pancake House! We slap ‘em, you stack ‘em! How can I take your order?"

“It’s Kei,” she said, and waited for the sound of several pirates falling over to come to an eventual stop in the background. Before Thatch could yell at her for being out of contact, Kei said in a rush, “So, I offered to teach a bunch of kids how to use haki, except I don’t actually know how it works. How did you learn?”

“THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE FINALLY CALLING FOR?!” demanded several people at once. Thatch was just the loudest of the kitchen crew.

“You what,” said someone else. Sounded a little like Teach, actually. Kei had never liked him much.

“I need to teach a bunch of kids how to use haki,” Kei repeated, with a little more impatience.

“WHY?!”

“Because they’ll get themselves killed otherwise,” Kei said. “Again, a little help?”

“You—ugh, I’m taking this snail to Pops.” Thatch sounded exasperated at best. “Stay on the line!”

“Can do,” Kei chirped, and listened to several pirates on the other end crash to a halt at the sound of her voice using that tone. They were too far away to retaliate.

“Quit sassing us and explain where you’ve been, you brat!”

#all the little children #ocean stars falling #portgas d. ace #keisuke gekko #isobu #thatch #one piece #naruto #crossover #catch your breath fanfic

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danyka-fendyr · 5 years

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Absence of Good

Chapter 1: Masquerade

Okay so I’ve been talking about starting a Spencer Reid fic for 8 million years and now I’m finally going to do it. So anyway...ya’ll better reblog this and leave nice comments if you want the second part that I will write regardless of whether anyone validates me or not because this is half for myself. Don’t judge you know you’re in the same boat. Anyway, enjoy. Or don’t I can’t make you love me.

Permanent Taglist: @rhabakoli @dreamwritesimagines

Warnings: Extremely graphic gore, descriptions of murder, disturbing themes

Wordcount: 3234

“When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.”

-Lao Tzu

The most intimidating part of a job was always the first day. You didn’t know anybody, you didn’t really know what you were doing, and you were still a little bit convinced that your boss was judging your every move and kind of hated you. The fact that Aaron Hotchner had not once smiled during your interview did nothing to assuage that fear.

However, here you were, in the elevator at Quantico, with a tray full of coffee, balancing a million creamers and even more sugar, because you weren’t sure what everyone liked but you were trying to win them all over with bribery anyway. A lovely day, truly.

You had wanted this job in the BAU for years. You were morbidly interested in serial killers ever since you were young, and fascinated with catching them. To most people it was...offputting, to say the least. People don’t really warm up to the girl who thinks that announcing how many people Gary Ridgeway killed is a good ice breaker. 49 confirmed, 71 claimed, by the way.

So naturally, you figured you should go somewhere your talents would be better appreciated. Unfortunately, every half-wit piece of muscle in the FBI wanted to be in the BAU, so it had taken you several years to get to where you were today. Frankly, you thought you should have been here much sooner, but it was a rigorous process, and so you had to wait until you were well into your 20′s. But hey, not like you were getting any younger over here, right?

Okay, so you were bitter. What else is new?

Your first few seconds in the bullpen were utterly terrifying for the simple fact that nobody noticed you were there. This was not...how do you say...uncommon, for you. However, it was exceptionally awkward. Did you speak up? Did you just wait until someone noticed you trying to juggle too many coffees and so much sugar you could fill a bathtub with it because that’s how you liked your coffee? Fortunately, you didn’t have to decide.

“Agent Y/L/N,” SSA Hotchner said. “I see you brought coffee.”

That was almost a smile. You knew the coffee was a good idea.

“Oh, uh...yeah. I figured, first day, right? First impressions and everything.” You started unloading your coffee when Hotchner gestured you towards a vacant desk waiting for you. “I hope nobody minds the ridiculous amount of sugar. I just didn’t know how you guys take your coffee, and I like my sugar with a side of coffee you know, so...”

You stood back, swaying awkwardly on your stilettos a little bit and trying not to let your body language cave in on itself like you wanted to. To help with your anxiety, you noticed upon turning around that everyone had swiftly crowded around you. Awkward.

“Ha, you sound like our boy genius. He puts so much sugar in his coffee it’s barely recognizable anymore.” A tall, incredibly fit black man chuckled. “I’m Morgan, by the way, but my friends call me chocolate thunder.”

He winked. Uh...okay. Somebody swooped in to save you from that though.

“Ignore him. I’m Jennifer but everyone just calls me JJ and the coffee was a lovely gesture.” The stunning blonde leaned forward to shake your hand, but not before cutting Morgan a glare.

“Emily Prentiss.” The dark-haired, serious-looking woman gave you a smile as she shook your hand.

“SSA Rossi, pleased to meet you.” The older Italian man gave you a little smile as he shook your hand.

The truth was you already knew a little about all of them, having read through their personnel files before starting this job. Which meant you were prepared when Dr. Spencer Reid began his introduction.

“Hi, I’m-”

Before he could finish his sentence, you were already pulling hand sanitizer out of your purse and applying some of it, stopping him dead in his tracks with confusion.

“Dr. Spencer Reid. Your reputation precedes you.” Now you were in your element, a little smirk on your face and a twinkle in your eye.

Stunned, he reached forward to take your hand even as he said, “You know, hand sanitizer actually only kills-”

“Spencer, please,” JJ interrupted teasingly. “Not yet. We want to keep this one.”

You laughed, already finding it easy to fit in with this crowd. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It would take a lot more than that to scare me away.”

You winked at him, and he blushed. Oh, you were going to have fun with this one. He was cute and smart, the whole package. You’d be damned if you weren’t already a little smitten.

“Oh, there’s a new person!” A cute blonde with absolutely wild style stopped dead in her tracks, surprised to see you. “You’re the new!”

“I’m the new,” You confirmed.

“Oh, hello! I’m Penelope, and unfortunately, I come bearing bad news.”

“There’s a case baby girl?” Agent Morgan spoke up.

“Right as always my sweet, sweet Chocolate Thunder.” Ah. So that was what that was about.

Heading into the briefing room, you and Reid ended up trailing a bit behind, causing you to lean into him to whisper. “Are they a couple?”

He laughed a little bit. “No. Just best friends. That’s just how they communicate.”

You arched an eyebrow. “Nice. I like it.”

“Yeah?” He smiled.

“Yep.”

Before you got the chance to say anything more though, you were officially being briefed. You absolutely couldn’t afford to talk during your very first briefing, so you just smiled at the handsome brunet before giving all of your attention to one Penelope Garcia.

“Alright crime fighters, brace yourselves because this is a bad one, even for our standards. The images I am about to show you are to be viewed with caution and it is not advised you continue on if you are pregnant, have a heart condition or are prone to seizures. I’m going to hit the button now and one of you is going to tell me when I can look again.”

True to her word, Garcia clicked a button on the remote and then shielded her eyes. You could see why. The images on the screen were absolutely brutal. They were women, or at least you were pretty sure they were women, who had had their eyes, noses, and mouths removed. Three of them, one after the other. You liked to think you had a pretty strong stomach, but this...this was giving you the heeby jeebies. All the Scary Mary R.L. Stein nightmares you had as a kid were coming right on back now.

“That’s...really something,” You breathed quietly.

“No kidding.” You were validated in your disgust by Agent Morgan, who looked just as perturbed.

“It gets worse, kiddies,” Garcia spoke, eyes still closed. “Their limbs were all cut off, but those were left at the crime scene. The missing facial bits though, and I deeply, deeply regret having to say this, were nowhere to be found.”

“Trophies,” Rossi said.

“Most likely,” Reid agreed from where he sat next to you. “Most enucleators take the eyes as trophies, and while it’s highly unusual for other facial features to be removed, it seems logical to assume that these would also be taken as trophies, especially given the complete disregard for the rest of the body.”

Garcia hit another button, causing different, less horrifying images to come up.

“Can I look now?”

“You can look baby girl,” Morgan reassured her.

“Oh thank goodness. You know I hate that part.” Garcia continued with the case briefing, letting you know exactly where you would be flying to.

“We’ve already made contact with the Miami police department. They’ll be ready for us when we arrive. Wheel’s up in 30,” Hotch instructed.

“Okay, so the victims,” you said, wanting to voice what was on your mind. “The taking of the eyes, nose, and lips is all extremely personal. But the cutting off of the limbs and then just leaving them there says quite the opposite. Like...there’s this loathing of the body but an obsession with the face.”

JJ nodded. “Agreed. It’s oddly matter of fact too. Very business-like. Look at these cuts,” she said, pointing to the photos. “Aside from the first victim, who’s a little rougher, these are clean, precise chops. Just get it done and over with. But the face, there’s detail there.”

“Agreed,” Rossi said. “Look at those cuts. Not a single piece is missing. It’s absolutely vital to this guy that he get the whole package. The eyes are perfectly severed from the ocular nerve, a clean removal, almost surgical in precision. And the nose...he had to cut through a lot of cartilage to get that kind of clean, flat removal. Our guy has to have some kind of history in the medical field.”

“It’s likely that they symbolize a depersonalization for him,” Reid said, hands bunching as he spoke. “The taking of all of the distinguishing features of the face indicates a sense of ownership. It’s as if he’s saying, ‘Look, I’ve taken who you are. Who people know you as.’ Some believe that the Ancient Greeks used masks in their plays to cause the viewers to focus on the character’s actions, rather than their appearance. All of our victims were relatively low risk. It could be our unsub sees these women as wearing masks, but he doesn’t like the actions that correspond with the face they choose to wear, or he believes their actions do not correspond with their mask and therefore they do not deserve to wear it. This taking of the self, of the soul if you will, could be symbolic of a dissatisfaction with how these women present themselves and how that conflicts with the unsub’s view of them.”

The rest of the team did not seem nearly impressed enough by this. You, for one, were awestruck. You had read about him, of course, but that was nothing compared to the real thing. He was beautiful.

“Okay, so we’re assuming that our guy probably knows his victims,” Morgan said.

“It would make sense. It makes it easier to get close to such low-risk targets if he does know them,” you said.

“You have a point,” Rossi said.

“Alright, well, first we need to determine whether or not our unsub is in the medical field or not. Y/L/N, Reid, head to the M.E.’s and find out what you can about the bodies. Morgan and Prentiss, you’ll head to where they found the last body, and...” Hotch continued dolling out assignments, and before you knew it, you were there.

“The media are already calling him the Face Thief,” the Miami PD chief told Hotch.

“Oh, that’s original,” you grumbled.

“Well, it does its job. People around here are terrified. This is like something straight out of everyone’s worst nightmares.”

Hotch nodded. “Well, don’t worry. My team and I plan on catching this guy as quickly as we can.”

Speaking of which, you and Reid needed to go talk to their M.E. Now, what did a girl have to do to get a dead body around here?

Spencer seemed to know his way around pretty well, probably having memorized the layout of the police station on the plane or something, and so you followed his lead.

“I take it you know where we’re going?”

“Yeah. Been here a few times before,” he said.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?”

He paused in the hallway. “No. This is some pretty intense stuff. And while I can’t exactly say it’s not like this all the time, well...”

“It’s not like this all the time,” you finished for him.

“Yeah, exactly.” He laughed a little bit. “So, you’re kind of young to be in the BAU already.”

It wasn’t a rude question. From anyone else, it might have been, but you could tell he was just curious. Plus you happened to know he was a child prodigy, and therefore was in no place to judge.

“Yeah, well, don’t make any mistakes. It took me forever and a day to get here. I just skipped a couple years of high school, fast-tracked my college education, that’s all.”

Spencer nodded. “I read your file. You finished your Bachelor’s in a year and a half, joined the FBI at 19 and gained your doctorate while working for the bureau. That’s pretty impressive.”

You smiled wryly. “Oh, you can’t fool me Dr. Reid. I’ve read your file too, you know. Now you, you are quite impressive.”

The man before you blushed beet red, stammering out something that sounded like the beginnings of an excuse, but fortunately for him you both found yourself in the presence of the M.E. before he had to come up with anything more than, “Well, I don’t know I-I mean-”

“Dr. Reid. Dr. Y/L/N. Let’s get right to it. This guy does some neat work, but he’s no doctor.”

“Really?” You asked, fascinated.

“Yep. Look at these cuts here around the mouth. They’re jagged. There are hesitation marks. Not because of inexperience with the action, but lack of expertise. You can see the same marks around the nose and eyes. And, I’m sorry to say, all of this was done anti-mortem, which did not make his job any easier.”

“He’s a sadist, then,” you deduced. “He gets off on their pain.”

The M.E. nodded before continuing.

“He started with the eyes, which I hate to admit is smart since those are the easiest part to remove wholesale, which seems to be this guy's trademark. After that, the victim usually passes out and dies from blood loss, which makes the rest of his job easier. But if you look closely you can see these aren’t surgical cuts. The only precision here stems from a purely obsessive desire to get things right. It’s good work for an amateur, but it’s just that, amateur,” she said.

“And the limbs?” Dr. Reid asked.

“Well, I can tell you a little bit more about those, since we still have them. They were cut off post-mortem, and it was a pretty quick job. It looks like it was done with some sort of power tool. There’s no beauty to those, and there’s no attempt to make it look pretty. And yes, the torsos do show signs of sexual assault. Additionally, it looks like he knocked his victims out first to incapacitate them before taking them to a secondary location and waiting for them to regain consciousness before beginning his..process.”

“I guess we can tick the sexual box in the sexual sadist checklist.” You sighed.

Reid nodded, leaning forward to more closely examine the nature of the cuts and the body.

“Okay,” you said, thinking out loud. “I’m the victim. You’ve got me tied up and you’re about to remove my eyes. I’m doing a lot of screaming. You scoop my eyes out. Here’s what I’m wondering. Why not start with the nose? If he’s a sadist, wouldn’t he want to like...see the look in their eyes or something sick like that?”

Spencer hummed thoughtfully. “It’s possible it’s an act of remorse, but that seems unlikely given the other details of this case.”

You thanked the M.E. before heading back out, but you stopped Reid in the hallway.

“Okay, indulge me. Let’s play this out. You’re the unsub and I’m the victim,” you said, leaning up against the wall and gesturing for him to get all in your business. “Okay, so you’re looking at me, and what are you thinking.”

Spencer stared at you, and you thought you caught the sharp bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed, but you brushed it aside. He took a step closer, fingers brushing across your cheekbones as he stared at you thoughtfully. For your part, you tried not to let your heart race, because you had sincerely not thought about how attractive the good doctor was before signing up for this experience.

“You’re right,” he murmured. “The eyes are the most expressive. But...maybe that’s what he values about them. They’re so beautiful.”

It was your turn to swallow hard. That felt deliciously personal, but you were trying not to read too much into it. His brow furrowed, expression changing.

“Maybe that’s it. This is more about the eyes than the whole face. The eyes take precedent because, if he’s removing the face to capture their essence somehow, what are eyes said to be the window to?”

You grinned. “The soul.”

“Exactly.” He smiled back at you, and you must have forgotten to put a dryer sheet in with your laundry because you swear you felt static electricity crackling up your spine.

For a long moment, neither of you moved, but then you snapped out of it.

“We have to go tell Hotch!”

It was true that the eyes were the window to the soul, and they were the window to this guy’s soul too. Garcia had gone on the prowl for medical school rejects, people who watched too many YouTube videos about surgery without being nursing majors, and otherwise normal folks who just owned way, way too many scalpels. Before you knew it, you had a prime suspect. And uh, tip? If you ever decide to be a serial killer, try not to kill the people you openly have vendettas against. It makes you really easy to catch. So actually, you know what, go for it.

“I can’t believe this guy ran a whole blog based off of the people in his neighborhood he hates,” you said.

“A whole blog positively riddled with face fetishizing symbolism. This guy could go on for weeks about the masks people wear and how our eyes show who we truly are and blah blah blah,” Emily mocked.

You were in the car on the way to his address. Another girl had been reported missing, and you were praying you wouldn’t be too late to find her.

As it turned out, you weren’t. In a stroke of good luck, you arrived just in time to save the day. You and Spencer ended up going in together, Spencer taking the lead in talking this guy down. You couldn’t help but admire the way he did it. It was like art, watching him. The careful way he played right into the fantasy, eased the unsub into trusting him. Masterful, right up until the moment he cuffed the guy and the show was over.

On the plane ride back to Quantico, you found yourself sitting next to him. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?” He asked, confused.

“Play into their fantasies so well. Doesn’t that...I don’t know, mess with your head?”

He became quiet for a moment, and his face fell. You worried that you had said the wrong thing. Crossed a line.

“Yeah. It uh...it takes a toll on you, definitely. Some days, working this job, you’ll be afraid of your own mind,” he admitted quietly.

You didn’t totally know why you leaned into his side on the small couch, other than sheer sympathy. You didn’t totally know why he let you.

“Spenc-Reid,” you corrected yourself. “Do you think the people we deal with are evil? Do you think they ever stood a chance?”

“I ask myself that question a lot,” he said softly. “So many of the people we see behave the way they do as a result of trauma of some kind. That doesn’t excuse their actions by any means, but...it makes you wonder. What if things had been different? How many more people would be alive today? How many more brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons? It’s a ruthless cycle. And all because someone didn’t have anything good in their life, and so they passed that down to someone else. So...I don’t know.”

“Do you think it’s better not to think about it?”

“No. I think it’s important for our jobs to at least try to understand. Besides, it’s human nature to try to make sense of things. Even when it’s hard.” He stared at his hands, head hung low.

“You should get some sleep. Clear your head,” you said gently. “I’ll wake you up before we land.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Just as he settled in, he lifted his head one more time to speak to you. “Y/L/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Great work today.”

“Thanks, Reid. You too.”

Dr. Reid was smiling when he fell asleep.

“Darkness is the absence of light: when there is no light, there is darkness. Light is an existing thing, but darkness is nonexistent.”

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

#spencer reid #dr. spencer reid #spencer reid series #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid oneshot #spencer reid x reader #mgg #matthew gray gubler #criminal minds #criminal minds fan fic #criminal minds:ff

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ayearofpike · 6 years

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Remember Me 3: The Last Story

Pocket Books, 1995 244 pages, 20 chapters + epilogue ISBN 0-671-87267-2 LOC: PZ7.P626 Rg 1995 OCLC: 31863011 Released February 1, 1995 (per B&N)

In her second go at life, Shari Cooper has become a best-selling young adult author, and her success is confusing her mission to help make things better. They're about to start shooting the movie of her first novel, and as involved as she is in picking the actors she starts to get too involved with her male lead. This starts to drive a wedge between Shari and her life/afterlife partner, who wants her to listen to the words of a wise teacher and how they might resonate with the teacher they had between lives. By the time she finally starts to listen, will it be too late?

Huh, my blurb makes this book seem readable. In real life, it's more of a patchwork crazy quilt of ideas (and whole scenes!) we've already seen, which doesn't take long to get frustrating. This is even worse in retrospect, with the knowledge that Pike never really wanted to write this book and mostly did it out of obligation to his publisher. It's pretty slapdash and sort of lazy, and even where it wants to be deep it's more like stomping in the kiddie pool than diving in (certainly compared to these other stories he's already done).

Remember my white-savior complaint about Remember Me 2? It's back here, and worse because Shari, in the beginning, seems to have totally abandoned her mission to help. Like ... a year of learning from a master in the afterlife, and your strategy for bettering Jean's home culture and community is to write teen thriller novels? And also to adopt as your pen name "Shari Cooper," the most saltine cracker of names, thus totally obscuring your assumed ethnicity when a best-seller by a visible Latina could raise the water level for all of us? When we start, she’s signing her most recent book, the story about herself that she ghost-wrote inside her brother Jimmy's body, which she submitted (against his wishes) because she "needed another best-seller." Again, this is printed under her pen name. Which is SHARI COOPER. Do you really not foresee any problem with this?

Let's be real: there is nothing here that is remotely in service of leveling the playing field or raising up the inner-city Latinx community that Jean Rodrigues came from. In fact, Shari has totally distanced herself from being Jean, aside from using the name when it's convenient. She barely mentions Jean's mother, she doesn’t even think about her siblings at home, she briefly talks about her old friend Carol who is sick in the hospital, and don't even get me started on how Lenny is not Lenny even a little bit anymore, but now totally Peter. He even goes by Peter now; I think they only identify him as Lenny once, again for convenience's sake. (To his credit, Peter appears to have taken on the service bit of his return to a body much more readily: he coaches disabled baseball teams, and later invites one of his homeless blind players to live with them.)

Shari pisses me off so much that I almost quit reading this book twice. But I'd be annoyed with myself if this blog was "reading all of Pike's books except one," so I finished it. Still, I'm going to skip ahead on the summary and probably leave a lot of things out.

The movie they're making is a sinking-boat thriller, where a nerdy kid invites seven bullies out on a pleasure cruise and then sinks it in shark-infested waters, leaving only one lifeboat. The star they've got lined up is a drug addict, but the producer has found someone else who knows all Shari's work and blew him away on a chance audition, so even though they're going to start shooting in just a few days he wants to switch actors. And sure enough, this guy makes Shari feel like he belongs in the role, even though he's cocky enough to suggest script changes before he has it and to kiss her during the reading. Or maybe it's because of that last part. She's very confused.

So Shari gets in a fight with her nerd villain actor not long after, and this dude both stands up for her and takes her away, out for a romantic dinner. Did I mention that Shari lives with a dude that she's been in love with across TWO lifespans? But she still goes with this guy, and he kisses her again, but she does have the good grace to back away and go inside, where Peter tells her all about a meeting she missed with a yogi who teaches meditation for unity.

They fall asleep, and Shari wakes up outside her body, feeling just like she did in the first book when she died only she knows she's not dead yet. She jumps into Peter's dreams, where the yogi is hanging out, and they talk about their feelings and their actions and Shari's headaches, which she still gets, naturally, because Jean fell on her head off a balcony. Then Shari suddenly appears in her brother's bedroom, where he's naked in bed with her best friend. Not Carol — the half-sister from her previous life. It doesn't matter, because even this friend isn't that important in this story. Shari's suddenly whisked to her mom's bedside — but not her birth mom, her switched-at-birth mom, her brother's mom, her murderer's mom — who is crying herself to sleep next to a copy of Remember Me by Shari Cooper. (This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. Wasn’t this the lady who suddenly jumped to Amanda’s side and hired her a lawyer when she realized she was her birth child? Maybe I'm making this more confusing than it needs to be, but after all, Pike put all the strings into this crazy quilt. I'm just unraveling them.)

Then she hops to the fancy hotel room where her star is sleeping, and she jumps into his dream and sees a creepy space battle where purple ships are blowing up white ones. What does it mean? Shari isn't sure, but she wakes up (confusing her dreams and jumbling them together) and is inspired to start a new story: “The Starlight Crystal,” about a fleet of white ships returning to Earth after centuries of travel, having found golden enlightenment and been told to bring it home, only to be driven away by a vicious attack from a fleet of purple ships. As far as I can tell, this Starlight Crystal has nothing in common with the computer game from See You Later except the name and the fact that there is interstellar travel, and likewise with the novel that'll show up later.

(And let me just take a second to be annoyed that she remembered the dream sequence enough to write it all down for THIS fuckin’ book but acts like it was slipping away from her as she’s writing “The Starlight Crystal.” Like Pike forgot how to acknowledge the present-tense narrator describing the past between the first book and now. It really doesn’t hold up by comparison.)

In the morning, Shari goes to the set they’re constructing for the exterior boat scenes. They’re excavating a pit somewhere in the desert, which they’re going to fill with water and surround with matte paintings of the Caribbean and deposit their rental sharks. Yeah, rental sharks, four of them, and apparently it’s OK to just stick them in a dredged hole with trucked-in pumped water without raising any eyebrows. The new star shows up and asks to take her to lunch, which, sure, he’s supposed to be rehearsing a movie and she’s supposed to be finalizing the script and also she’s WITH SOMEONE, but they can go have a two-hour lunch in a fancy restaurant in Beverly Hills. He tells her that he’s read all her books, including Magic Fire, a shoutout to a Pike novel that hasn’t come out yet. While they’re flirting, he reads her palm and is taken aback by the break in the lifeline that indicates she should have died three years ago. He also calls her both Jean and Shari, which ... fuckin’ sloppy, Pike.

I didn’t mention that Lenny’s body is impotent, right? He’s paralyzed from the waist down, and so Peter can’t get up to much in the bedroom. Plus he couldn’t help fucking around with the chest-burster alien thing in the afterlife when all Shari wanted was to get laid after the prom in their imaginations. Like the one thing she’s constantly wanted is to have sex with Peter, and all she has are memories of the premature ejaculator of her Shari life and of Jean getting pregnant. She’s been celibate for four years, even while she’s been with the one dude she constantly dreamed about. So I get why she’s horny for New Star, even if I still reserve the right to be a little judgemental. It isn’t helping Shari that he has some kind of undefineable it-factor that at least she’s learned to attune to in her afterlife training.

But now Shari wants to know just who this dude is and why he has these compelling effects on her. So naturally she decides to hire a private detective. Specifically, she goes to the detective that solved her murder. She’s pretty vague about why she wants New Star checked out, which makes the detective uneasy, but when she offers to double his rate he takes the case. Then they all go to the yogi’s lecture. Well, not the detective, but New Star tags along with Shari and Peter and her brother, and he’s pretty much a total asshole while the yogi is explaining how to share and communicate and love and help and find unity. Also, the lecture starts and ends with unguided meditation, and Shari finds that her headache is gone without drugs for the first time in months. Basically, it’s the same scene from Sati, except Peter and Shari and New Star don’t let anyone else talk.

She wakes up again in the middle of the night to write, this time adding a description of the pursuit by the purple ship and attempted escape of the white ship. She stops when she runs out of words, and finds that she has startled awake the blind baseball player sleeping on her couch. He tells her all about what a great guy Peter is and how he hopes that Peter’s spine will heal someday so he can walk with her on the beach like he’s always wanted. Shari never knew this was something Peter wanted to do, because she’s a self-centered asshole.

The movie starts shooting early the next day, and Shari and her producer have to immediately fire one of the actors because she can’t handle being in water over her knees. This is a movie about a SINKING BOAT and nobody thought to make sure the actors could deal with water. New Star has a ballsy solution: have Shari play the role. She’s not an actor! The villain points this out! She flubs half the takes! But it’s a low-budget picture, apparently, despite being based on a New York Times best-seller, so they have to go with it.

Afterwards he takes her out to dinner again, while Peter’s at the yogi’s meditation class. Then they go back to her place so he can give her a full-body massage. Then they get naked and make out. (Shades of Chain Letter 2!) But before his ... uh ... purple spaceship can enter the wormhole to hyperspace, the blind baseball player comes home and walks in on them. He’s blind, so he assumes he’s caught Shari with Peter, and he’s contrite and apologetic and hides in the bathroom. So Shari sneaks New Star out of her house and then asks if the kid wants to go to Disneyland so he doesn’t hear when Peter actually comes in. After nine at night. Yeah, nothing weird about that. But he’s a kid, so he’s excited, and when they get home he asks Peter why he didn’t get out of bed and go with them if he’s awake now. So Shari confesses, and Peter cries, and Shari leaves.

She goes to the same hotel where New Star is staying, but doesn’t seek him out. I guess that’s one good thing I can give Shari: given enough guilt, she won’t immediately go climb on some dude’s jock. Instead, she writes more, about how the white ship jumps through hyperspace but the purple ship follows, and their ship is crippled from the pursuit so all they can do is send the crew off on the emergency escape pods and hope for the best while the captain and first mate hang behind to be boarded by the purple invaders and hopefully set off one last bomb and ruin the attackers’ plans.

During a break in shooting the next day, Shari goes to the detective, who has turned up some information on New Star. Specifically, he is a creep and an abuser who has beaten up his last two co-stars but because they didn’t press charges he’s walked. Shari doesn’t want to believe it, and the detective quickly susses out that she’s got more involvement with New Star than just being his boss. You came to a detective with good instincts, you idiot, what did you expect? At the end of the day, she calls Peter and apologizes again and says that there’s something she has to face, but that she loves him and hopes he’ll forgive her. And then in the middle of the night, her phone rings and it’s the movie’s villain, saying that someone is planning to feed someone to the sharks during the next day’s shoot and that she needs to meet him on the set to talk about it.

So who does Shari call to help her out with this situation, given what she just learned about New Star from the detective that day? That’s right — she’s a stupid idiot! They drive out to the set and find the villain waiting for them with a gun in his hand. He says that a real murderer’s only motivation is wanting to kill, and now he wants to kill. But first they’re going to rehearse. Shari and New Star must each paddle a lifeboat across the shark pond and back, and if they can both make it and come back and neither one bolts, they’ll both live. So Shari gets in the boat, which feels like it’s leaking, and quickly (through/around the panic) does her lap. But New Star refuses, and instead throws the villain to the sharks directly. Uh, no shit.

So the police come, and after hours in the clink Shari finally thinks to call the producer, who comes and gets her out immediately. She goes back to the hotel and sleeps for a whole day, dreaming about a golden being floating to Earth and living a life and dying and being reincarnated, each time hoping to impart a little more knowledge and love into humanity. When she wakes up, she remembers that Peter had wanted her to see the yogi one last time, but by the time she gets there he’s already left for the airport. She and Peter reconcile, but on the way home she gets a call from the detective, who must talk urgently. They pick him up, and he directs them to a certain address. A certain condo near the beach, where on the ground outside there’s a faint bloodstain that has never washed out.

It seems that the detective has read Remember Me by Shari Cooper. Also, he’s a GODDAMN DETECTIVE who was ON THE CASE it was about. Also, his daughter read it, the only one who would actually remember an angel and a devil showing up to scare her straight. He’s pretty freaked out at how this Latina from the barrio could possibly know what happened with saltine-cracker Shari in Huntington Beach, but she’s able to calm him down without actually answering his questions. I guess we have to accept that there are more than just knowable facts in this story, because the detective does and remembers that he’s called Shari because he learned some gruesome details about New Star. Which, so has Shari, first-hand. And they’re about to get some more, because New Star is at the door with a gun.

He pushes the detective off the balcony, I guess because nobody had gone off a balcony in this book yet. Then they drive to Shari’s grave, which he’s already dug up and is going to bury her alive with her old body. He throws her in the hole, and as she tries to climb out he nails her in the head with the shovel right where her headaches start. Like he knew. It seems that New Star is from the other side too, but his mission is to thwart the drive toward peace and unity. You know that dream he was having, the one that inspired Shari’s story? It’s all true, three hundred thousand years in the past, and Roger is one of the purple-ship aliens in a human body. And their grand mission is to ... kill a YA thriller writer because she’s getting too close to home. I don’t know why she has to be buried with her previous body, other than it happened in “Collect Call.”

So Shari looks to Peter for enlightenment and love to be the last thing she sees as she’s buried alive. Only he’s not in his wheelchair. The pain of his love being buried has magically healed his spine, and now he’s behind New Star with the shovel. Obviously they kill him, and then whisk Shari to a hospital, where she knows her brain only has limited time left but wants to get out to finish her story. Which she does: the captain blows up her ship and the aliens’, but only after remembering a fable her grandmother used to tell about a dragon stealing a heart and then being tormented to kill itself because the heart retained the love and desires of its body and wouldn’t stop beating. I don’t know, this seems like a pretty shitty story to kill someone over.

But then she realizes she has to apologize to someone. No, not Peter; that’s done and he’s still walking. No, not Carol, still sick in the hospital as far as we know — why would we be concerned with a bisexual Latina drug addict just because she’s Jean’s best friend and Jean’s body is dying? It’s her mom. NO, not her birth mom. NO, not her Latina mom. Switched-at-Birth Mom. Jimmy’s mom. The one who raised her. Which, OK, that counts for something. But anyway, she drives to her house and tells her that the story is true and that she can’t say why. Then she’s obviously in pain, so Switched-at-Birth Mom invites her to lie down in ... Shari’s bed. Where she dies.

The epilogue is literally Peter handing Jimmy the floppy disk that this story is written on and Jimmy finishing it. Which is maybe why the last little bit is about his mommy. But then again, Shari forced his body to write the first one, so maybe she guided him here too.

This shit is a hot mess, you guys. Let’s leave aside the fact that Pike didn’t really want to write it, and let’s leave aside the fact that all these pieces BARELY line up to form a coherent story, and let’s leave aside how the problems mentioned in the second book TOTALLY WENT AWAY for this one. Let’s even jump over how my Latino heart was stepped on and kicked aside along with the roots of these characters for the ENTIRE BOOK. Here’s the big issue: Christopher Pike wrote a story about an angel (I guess) returning to human form, with a mission to make humanity better ... and the BEST THING he could come up with, the DEEPEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION to our woes that crossed his sexy lizard brain, was that she needed to be a best-selling YA thriller author. Talk about an inflated sense of self-importance.

And with that, I am finally done with Remember Me 3: The Last Story. Which I am not ashamed to admit that I did NOT remember. Hopefully I will remember to NOT read it again.

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juniperhillpatient · 7 years

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Summary: After Bill tells the story of a photograph from Georgie’s photo album winking the others share their creepy experiences as well. Eddie can’t get his encounter with the leper out of his mind.

Pairing: Reddie

Length: I wrote this on Tumblr so I have no idea how many words it is but it’s way longer than I originally intended and if anyone at all enjoys it I may add a part 2

A/N: Trigger warnings for the q slur, mentions of child neglect and emotional abuse and mentions of pedophilia - all only implied and taken directly from the book

Enjoy <3

***********************************************************

Pictures don't wink either.

The words kept repeating in Eddie's mind like an obnoxious alarm he couldn't shut off. Ben Hanscom was right. Pictures of dead (murdered) little boys didn't wink, and mummies weren't real, and if they were they wouldn't wear clown suits.

So maybe Richie was right, and they had all had bad dreams and they were being silly little babies and none of it was real.

Maybe the leper had been just that, a bad dream. Despite being the most logical answer, something about this explanation felt like the kind of comforting lie adults told to make kiddies sleep at night.

I'll do it for a dime. I'll do it for free! Hey, Eddie, I'll blow you for free! Come on, don't you want a blowjob?

Eddie put his hands over his ears, but it didn't help because the voice was in his head, an echo. He hated that slimy, wretched voice, the voice of the leper. He wished he could bleach it from his mind.

Eddie shuddered. He could still see the leper with the rotted face, his nose two empty nostrils like a snake, his flaky skin covered in dried blood crumbling off, and the stench of death and vomit pouring from his oozing, wretched, flesh, reaching that rotten hand towards him -

You'll rot! You'll rot too Eddie!

Of course, that's not what Richie had meant when he told him about how leprosy made you rot, but it's what Eddie had heard.

He stood up, brushing off the seat of his shorts to make sure no dirt remained because

(What on earth did you get all over your clothes? Were you rolling around in the muck? You know better! Dirt is germy, and if you get germs you'll get sick, my god do you have any idea how much stress you put on your mother Eddie?)

because he didn't want to get dirty.

The Kenduskeag pushed against the dam they had built a few hundred feet from him. Eddie looked around, nervous, suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that he was not alone, that someone (the leper!) was watching from the bushes.

He shuddered. He was supposed to meet Richie to play. Everyone else was busy, so it would just be the two of them. Richie was late though, or Eddie was pretty sure he was. He didn't have a watch, but it seemed like he had left only about twenty minutes early and it had taken him at least ten minutes to ride his bike over. He didn't know how long he had been sitting on the bank watching the water and thinking, but it felt like long enough. Maybe Richie had forgotten or gotten tied up at home. Or maybe, a worse thought crossed Eddie's mind, Richie had run into Henry and his gang on the way over.

Eddie looked around and shrugged, deciding to head back to look for Richie in town right when something rustled in the bushes nearby, and he whipped around.

He screamed as someone jumped in front of him, falling backward and bumping his head on a tree root, hard. He scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding. All he could think about was the leper, lurching through the bushes, bony, dead hands reaching towards him as he lay vulnerable on the ground.

He felt himself relax and then tense up with anger as his vision cleared and he saw Richie doubling over in laughter.

"You-" Eddie started to open his mouth to call Richie a whole slew of names but he felt his throat tighten up. He fumbled in his pocket for his aspirator, but it wasn't there. Panic was taking over as breathing became more difficult.

Before he could go into a full blown panic mode, he felt the aspirator being pressed into his hands and raised it to his mouth to give it a pump.

Richie was looking at him with concern. The aspirator must have fallen out of his pocket when he fell backward. Now that breathing was again an option, Eddie felt the dull pain on the back of his head getting worse and reached up to touch his hair. With some alarm, he felt that it was damp. Pulling his hand away he looked down and yelled when he saw it was covered in sticky, bright red blood.

"Oh you complete dick!" he yelled, glaring at Richie. "Look what you made me do!"

"I'm sorry," Richie said, looking helpless. "I was just trying to get off a good one Eds, I swear! I just wanted to make you laugh!"

"Well, it wasn't funny. My mom is going to drag me right to the emergency room the second she sees my head." To his horror, Eddie realized that his eyes were filling with tears.

No, no, no. I am not crying in front of Richie.

He told himself he wasn't going to cry, but the tears came anyway. He didn't know if he was crying because of the pain on his head, the dread of another trip to the emergency room, the dread of seeing his mother's face, or a combination. He had a feeling it was something else too. It was that horrible, brief moment he had believed the leper was back and it was coming to get him, coming to make him rot from the inside out. He collapsed onto the forest floor, sobbing.

"Hey," Richie said, sitting beside him and, to Eddie's relief, no longer laughing. He was also relieved to recognize Richie's regular voice. "I really am sorry."

"It's okay," Eddie muttered, wiping his eyes and blowing snot onto his sleeve.

"Maybe your head will heal up after a few hours and we can rinse off the blood and your mom will never have to know."

"Yeah," Eddie said doubtfully. "Maybe."

They sat in silence for a few moments. "Look Eds, I really was just messing around I didn't mean to scare you so much."

"I know you didn't," Eddie said. He hesitated. He didn't know how much to confide. Would Richie laugh at him? Call him a baby (or a queer) for dwelling on the leper so much? "I was thinking about the leper before you got here. I can't seem to stop thinking about him."

There was silence for a moment.

Why Eddie? And why did you go back to that house in the first place after the hobo chased you the first time, huh? Why would you climb under the porch? You idiot. Did you want the leper to get you? Did you want to rot from the inside out? Your mom would love that, wouldn't she! Her fragile little boy, rotting from the inside out!

Of course, Richie did not say any of that. He was an idiot and he rarely said the right thing, and he sure could be obnoxious, but he was not cruel in that way that Henry Bowers or Victor Criss or Belch Huggins was. One thing Richie Tozier was not was cruel and Eddie hated himself a little for being afraid his friend would say any of those things when Richie finally did reply.

"Sorry I doubted you Eds, I guess I just didn't want to believe any of it could be real."

Eddie paused. "I know," he said. "Me either." There was another pause, a moment of silence in which they both contemplated the terrible things that they were learning lived in the darkest corners of Derry, under the ground and in the abandoned houses and under the bridges.

"Well look at it this way Eddie Spaghetti, at least he said he'd blow you for free! You must be hot shit, he wasn't even going to charge you a dime! I mean I'm no homo but clearly, you're desirable - isn't that something!"

"What?!" Eddie shrieked, shoving Richie but also giggling. "Ew! What is wrong with you? And don't fucking call me Eddie Spaghetti!"

"What's wrong with me? Now there's a question!" Richie was now attempting a voice. It was a terrible talk show host impression. He was talking very fast and in his most official tone, but he still sounded like Richie Tozier to Eddie. "There's plenty wrong with me, my buddy, my pal! Plenty! I could write you a list, hell, I could write you a novel!"

"There's a book no one would read," Eddie teased. The dark solemnity of the mood was gone and they were both laughing.

The rest of the afternoon they spent playing in the woods. They played guns, although neither of them had guns, sticks worked well enough for pretend, and they splashed around in the Kenduskeag and patched up the dam a little in places where it was wearing away.

Eddie was surprised when he looked up and saw the sun was disappearing behind the trees which were casting eerie shadows around them. The crickets were starting to chirrup, and Eddie was alarmed to see the blinking lights of lighening bugs in the shadows. He and Richie exchanged a look.

"Aw crap," Richie said. "We better get back."

"Uh huh," Eddie agreed. "I'll be dead meat already, probably."

They hurried back through the barrens toward the street together.

Dead meat. Yeah you sure will be! Rotting, dead meat! After I give you a blowjob, a free blowjob! What do you say Eddie?

Eddie shuddered. He tried to focus on the reality instead of the memory of the leper, but the shadows of the trees looming over them, the soft croaking of a frog nearby, and the leaves rustling in the breeze made reality feel far away. Reality right now felt dark and spooky, and suddenly Eddie wished he had stayed home and watched television today instead of coming out to play, forgetting how much fun the day had been.

Richie looked back at him through the tres. "You okay, Eddie Spaghetti?" Eddie realized that he had stopped walking, and hurried forward.

He didn't mean to walk so close beside Richie, but Richie didn't seem to mind, or maybe he understood. Maybe he too felt the nervous energy of the forest, like eyes watching them from just beyond where they could see. Eddie was surprised when he felt Richie reach over and grab his hand. He looked up, his eyes wide and questioning.

"Sorry!" Richie said, letting go. "It's just kinda CrEePy out here, huh?" Richie said the word 'creepy' in his spookiest monster movie voice, making his voice go up and down, but Eddie could hear the real fear there.

"It's uh, it's okay Richie," he said and grabbed Richie's hand.

As they continued walking, now hand in hand, Eddie was very grateful for the dark because he could feel his face heating up.

They reached the road and awkwardly let go of each other's hands as they retrieved their bikes, which they had stored under a tree.

"Hey," Richie said. "My house is closer and honestly my folks probably won't even notice I haven't come home yet. We could pretend we were playing in my room all afternoon and have my dad call your mom and let her know we lost track of time and ask if you could spend the night. She doesn't drive, right? So she can't really say no unless she wants you riding your bike home all by yourself past curfew, right?" Richie said all of this very quickly, and he sounded nervous for some reason Eddie couldn't quite figure out.

Eddie felt relief at the offer wash over him. Now that they were out of the forest, a new fear, one that had nothing to do with clowns, or mummies, or ghosts or lepers, overcoming him. It was a familiar fear - his mother, and specifically her wailing shrieks.

Oh Eddie, you could've died! I didn't know where you were! You could've gotten an asthma attack or fallen down and gotten hurt and those awful friends of yours would've left you behind, you know they would've! I'm the only one who cares about you, Eddie! I'm the only one who will ever look out for you!

"Yes," Eddie said. "That's a good idea." He would still be in trouble with his mom for not calling, but he would be in a lot less trouble if she thought he had been indoors all this time. And he wouldn't have to face her as soon, wouldn't have to have her fuss over him as soon. He'd almost forgotten his bumped head, it felt fine now, but he thought happily that now he would be able to clean up and make sure she never found out.

"Yeah! And I can show you my new Tales From the Crypt Comic!" Richie said excitedly, mounting his bike. Eddie mounted his bike as well, unclipping his helmet from the handlebars and clipping it under his chin.

"Oh Eddie Spaghetti you and that helmet," Richie shook his head. "Cute, cute, cute!"

Eddie rolled his eyes and began peddling towards Richie's house. "I'll race you to your house!" he called over his shoulder. He glanced back to see Richie peddling furiously to catch up to him.

"No fair! You distract me with your cuteness than get a headstart!"

"Can't help it if I'm desirable!" Eddie called back and laughed.

Richie also began to laugh. They laughed all the way to Richie's house, by which point neither of them remembered why they were laughing. They quieted down as they crept into the garage to store their bikes.

Three things occurred to Eddie as he followed Richie into his house, and played along with the lie that they had been up in Richie's room the whole time.

The first thing that occurred to him was that he had not thought of the leper once on the bike ride home.

The second thing that occurred to Eddie was that despite their screaming laughter as they rode their bikes at furious speeds, he had not felt his lungs close up at all on the bike ride.

The last thing that occurred to him as Richie asked Mr. Tozier to call Mrs. Kaspbrak and explain the situation and ask if Eddie could spend the night was that Richie really did have his back.

He followed Richie up to his room, smiling a secret smile that he didn't want Richie to see for reasons he didn't yet understand.

**********************************

I hope you guys enjoyed, I know this turned out longer than a one-shot usually is :’)

People who liked my post asking if anyone was interested: @evalocity @hair-fiber @skeletontozier @mechanicalhabits - no pressure to read though, if you don’t want to lol I know this got long oops

If you do read, feedback is appreciated uwu

PART 2 is now posted! <3

#reddie #eddie kaspbrak #richie tozier #it stephen king #it 2017 #fan fic #oneshot #drabble #rose pretends she can write about it

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macabrecabra · 7 years

Note

Could I make a request please? Jesse and Gabe get into some sort of argument, and Jesse makes some sort of self-depreciating comment which makes Gabe freeze up bc his son shouldn't feel that bad about himself?

More family feels it is then! Finally knocking a fic request out! Not taking any new ones until I get my current batch done, but progress is being made!Title:Self-Worth Rating: PG-13Relationship: Papa Gabriel and hisadopted cowboy sonTruth be told, Gabriel never did likegetting in arguments with people. Experience had taught him that nothing good ever came of anyargument ever had. There was only regrets and hurt feelings thatremained in the aftermath, building up resentment and poisoning everymoment of the relationship to come for a long time.

He might get angry at times, even comeoff as too blunt, but Gabriel never had been the one to try and incite afight and instead always tried to avoid the more explosiveconfrontations. With Jack, that was easy enough as the otherman wasn't too keen on getting into debates. At most they shared afew terse words and realized where things were headed and would optto come back later.

With Jesse though, once the boy wasriled up like an enraged bull, he came charging in again and againwithout hesitation, forcing Gabriel into a corner where all he coulddo was lash back out. “So that's it then? Just going totell me to do better and nothing more?” Jesse snap, “Just goingto give me that leering look of disapproval because every timesomething in a mission goes wrong, I'm the one to blame, that I'm thebiggest fuck up of my generation?!”

“I didn't say any of that Jesse!”Gabriel snapped back, “And I don't blame you every time. Maybe itseems like that because you are the one usually going to far duringthese missions! Always showboating and-”“Showboating amI?” Jesse snapped, “You mean doing exactly what you trained me todo?”Gabriel glared, “I didn't train you to do gun flipsand fancy draws like you are some sort of carnival gunslinger! Youadded that! You always are adding in stupid shit to training andnever taking it seriously!”

Jesse made a scoffing sound, “How canI take it seriously when you only use the kiddie gloves withme?”“Because it is clear enough I can't actually treatyou like an adult when you never act like one!” Gabriel retortedharshly.He expected Jesse to fire back with some commentabout how he was mature for an eighteen year old, that as a youngadult he was far more grown-up than most people in Blackwatch. Thatwas the response that Gabriel had expected of the hot-blooded youth.Instead, Jesse merely looked aside, gritting his teeth as his handscurled into fists at his side. “Maybe I just act like onebecause I already grew up too fast and thought here at least, Iwouldn't just be another fucked up dirtbag,” he murmured.

The comment took Gabriel aback just abit and already the famliar guilt was creeping in. It was a bit of asurprise to hear Jesse talk like that. The boy had always talked abig game really, always posturing around like he had all theconfidence in the world. Maybe it was that attitude that made Gabrielforget at times that in reality, McCree was still a kid. A kid thathad had one fucked up childhood, had grown up to fast in a gang ofcutthroats and yet despite all that, still remained morally tied tohis own little code of ethics. McCree didn't need to grow up.He just needed to be allowed to grow.

Gabriel let out a soft sigh and movedto put an arm about McCree's shoulders, looking away, “You aren't adirtbag Jesse. Nor are you a fuck up. If anything, you are thesuccess story every Hollywood movie wants to tell. All the worldagainst you and somehow you still turned out all right,”Jessesnorted, “Yeah. Sure I did,”“Hey now, could be worse.You could be a racist ass, sitting and drinking yourself intooblivion, and have charges of murder against innocent bystanders, butyou don't,” Gabriel glanced down at McCree, “Even when with theDeadlock gang, you never killed anyone, did you?”Jesse gavea small shake o his head, “Never did. Aimed to wound, not kill.They... didn't like that,”“But it made you stronger tokeep doing it despite that. Just like you keep doing your own thingnow despite knowing it gets on my nerves,” he smiled a bit, “Youknow who you are and you don't change for anyone. You've got a lot ofcourage and a lot of spunk,”“Spunk? Good god Gabe, youare starting to sound like a sappy Hollywood movie now!” McCreeretorted, smiling just a bit now.“Heh, you bring out theworse emotional speeches I have to offer Jesse, and that's a fact,”Gabe retorted with a grin, pulling the young man's hat down a bit.Jesse just let out a soft laugh, pulling away with a shake ofhis head, “The worse and best I say! A little corny and all, butsometimes we still need those old tropes in life,”

“Maybe,”Gabriel chuckled, “Runoff then. I'll see you around dinner. Afterwards lets hang trainingand go out and get some fresh air. I think we all could use a littlebreak before we are at each other's throat again,”“Soundslike a plan to me,” Jesse gave a nod of his head, “Take care Gabeand....sorry about, you know, everything I said,”“You'refine kid. Think I had to hear a bit of what you had to say,” hesaid wit ha shrug.He watched Jesse scamper off and couldn'thelp but smile just a bit. Jesse may be a brat at times, butat least, despite it all, he always remained true to who he was.

#Overwatch #Overwatch fanfiction #Shipping Snacks for Hungry Shippers #Gabriel and his adopted cowboy son #Gabriel Reyes #Reaper #Jesse McCree #Family feels #Blackwatch Era

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smiles-4-lifes · 6 years

Text

Death and Despair Chapter 2: Rushing into Hell

I think it goes with out saying that dangan ronpa is a mature game, it is about solving murders after all. Soul Eater is a pretty mature franchise too. Anyway this is the graphic warning just in case.

As Liz came to she clutches her head in pain. Geez this is worse than the night I tried to have a drink off with Blair, Liz thinks. Suddenly, panic dawns as she remembers the cause of her pain. “Patty! Kid! Where are you?” Liz cries out. She looks around frantic and realizes she is in some kind of classroom and that she had been passed out at a desk. What was going on? Had she fallen asleep at school. No, this place isn’t the DWMA, despite the same white walls and brown and black trim, this room was smaller and had dismal lighting. That gas was also very real as Liz had to steady herself on the desk while standing out, its anesthetic effects not entirely out of Liz’s system. Nevertheless, she needed to find Patty and Kid. “Guys please! Answer me!”

“Ughhh, five more minutes”

Liz turns her head to a locker in the corner of the room and flings it open. Inside she finds the source of noise and was ashamed she was disappointed to find Black Star. He is still her friend who she was worried about, but Patty is her sister and Kid her meister. “Black Star wake up! This is no time for sleeping!”

“Huh? Liz is that you? Why are you at my house?”

“This isn’t your house you dolt! We’re in some kind of classroom, do you remember anything after being gassed?”

“School?” Black Star questioned as he pushed himself from the locker only to have Liz catch him as he falls forward, still weak. “Where are we? Ah! Tsubaki, where’s Tsubaki?”

“I haven’t seen anyone else, it seems we’re the only ones in this room”

“Then we have to find the others!” Black Star shouts out as he runs out the only door.

“Black Star wait!” But is was too late and Liz had to chase after him making her wonder how Tsubaki can keep up with a guy like Black Star. As she runs down the hall following Black Star’ shouting, she notices the halls are almost identical to the DWMA. Out of place is some weird logo pasted on the walls. It appears to be some kind of school logo. It is circular in nature with chains on the outside connected to one bar that says high school in all capital letters at the bottom and two solid black bars up top. In between those bars was Lord Death’s face with a crown on top. Inside the outer circle is a shield with wings and inside the shield is another circle containing a scythe that has blade and handle cross near the top right of the circle. And in the middle on it all is an odd shape. The more Liz stared at it, the more it seemed to resemble some eerie eye, one filled with malice that bore into her. Liz stopped looking at the symbols at that point, not being able to stand their gaze. Soon enough she caught up to Black Star who was stopped in front of a set of double doors.

“These are the last doors left; the others lead to empty rooms or were locked.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Liz pushed, sounding snappier that she meant to.

“Liz…what…” Black Star started, “What is they’re not behind these doors, what if we’re the only ones trapped here.” Liz was silent. She hadn’t thought of that. What Patty and Kid were just... gone? What if she never saw them again? No! Liz shook her head; she couldn’t think that way. She put her hand on Black Star’s shoulder. “We’ll never know if we don’t continue forward.”

Black Star looked Liz in the eyes, nodded, and pushed open the doors. The two shielded their eyes, the light was much brighter in this new room.

“Black Star! Liz!” A familiar voice called out.

“Soul!” Liz and Black Star cried out as they ran to each other.

“Are you alright?” Black Star asks

“Yeah I’m fine, is Maka anywhere with you?”

“No, have you seen Tsubaki?”

“Or Patty and Kid?”

Soul looked down silent. Liz started to tear up when she heard somebody cough. After the shock of seeing Soul wore off, Liz turned her head and could see that see she was in some sort of gymnasium. Besides herself, Black Star, and Soul there were five other people in the room. The one who coughed was taller boy, he had auburn hair in a buzz cut with a scar going over his right eye. He looked slightly annoyed, as if he seemed angry at the trio’s tender reunion. Next to him was a shorter girl, she had a timid look on her face and was twirling with one of her peach pigtails. She kept glancing at the everyone, fearful and on guard if anything moved. There was also a girl in a simple spring green dress with her chestnut hair pulled in a bun, whispering with a petite girl. The petite girl’s existence seemed to match with cyan hair and eyes the same shade and a lavender bow on top of her head and the same bow at her uniform collar and on her shoe laces. The amount of coordination remind Patty of how much preparation Kid put into his outfits. The only other person was a boy off the the corner of the room. He was tall and well built, but kept his head down trying to avoid eye contact, so the only feature that stuck out was his shaggy, navy hair. As the redhead coughed again, seemingly more annoyed, the blond spoke up, “Do you have a cold? Cause if you do, can you stand away? I can’t risk getting sick.”

“Geez, of course not!” He groaned, “We need to stop standing around and figure out what’s going on.” He turned to look Liz, Black Star, and Soul. “Obviously you three know each other, but the rest of us have no idea who any one is.”

Black Star grinned and doing his signature lines announced, “I am the one, the only Black Star! I will be the man who will surpass God! These are my friends Liz and Soul.”

The redhead chuckled, “Defeat God huh? Big words little man, I’m Russet, Russet Keon.”

“And I’m Noel Copper,” The peach haired added. “I like your hat.”

Liz reflexively touched her hat, it was a gift from Kid and only reminded her of how important is was to find them. She started to manage out a thanks, but the girl in the spring green dress had already begun to introduce herself. “My name’s Lelah Elreef, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Immediately the lavender bow girl followed, “Likewise for me, my stage name is Plum Twirl!” After sing speaking her name, she gave a small twirl and struck a pose. Black made a pout and tensed up; it seems he’s not used to someone that was as much of a spotlight hog as he was. “But for convenience’s sake you can call me my given name given Mai Desaree.” Mai turned and started at the boy lurking in the corner. He sighed and reluctantly introduced himself,

“Name’s Brent Pidos, happy?”

“Very much so,” Mai replied, voice dripping with honey. “Now that we are all acquainted, do any of you know where we are?” The response was more awkward silence until Liz remembered those odd symbols plastered in the halls. Despite the fear gnawing inside her she offered her theory, “I think we maybe in some kind of school. In the halls was some type of school crest and this place does resemble an off brand DWMA; you are all DWMA students right?” After a collection of nods Liz continued, “Me, Black Star, Soul, and four of our other friends who are still missing were assigned to investigate an increase of robberies that were possibly related to a mysterious soul wavelength. Lord Death warned us that several DWMA students had gone missing and to be careful, but we ended up in a trap and knocked out. Instead of finding out about the robberies, we’ve instead found where the missing students are.”

Lelah held up her finger to interrupt and asked, “You mentioned four others, are they your partners? I was with my meister when we were taken, but I haven’t seen her since.”

“No, but that reminds me, how many of you weapons are like me and Liz,” Soul requested. Lelah, Russet, and Brent all raised their hands. “Good now le-” But Soul didn’t get to finish his thought. Instead he was interrupted by a sound that sent shivers down Liz’s spine.

“Upupupu…”

“What the heck was that?!” Russest yelled bracing himself in a defensive position. The only response he got was a booming and even more petrifying laugh.

“UPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPU!!!” What happened next could only be described as indescribable. There was a whoosh and descending the ceiling and landing on a podium that had arisen from the floor was a black and white stuffed bear. If Liz wasn’t so dumb-founded, she would have thought it resembled Kid being white on its left side with a cute black eye and black on its right side with the menacing red eye like the symbols in the hall. The whole thing was rather asymmetrical, but Liz couldn’t focus on that right now. Instead, she was trying to grasp was the statement coming out of its mouth.

“Welcome students to Death’s Peak Academy!” Liz’s mind couldn’t even form words, luckily Soul had her covered.

“Death’s Peak Academy? Students? What kind of sick joke is that?”

“It’s no joke, from now on you are students here and I’m your lovable headmaster!”

“As if I’m gonna take any of this seriously. Now tell me what you’ve done with Maka!” Soul snarled and transformed his arm into his scythe blade. Lelah joined him, her arms fusing together to make a lance point. Liz braced herself as well, if this stuffed toy hurt Patty or Kid…. The bear laughed and razor sharp claws whipped out of its paw. “I know you're excited, but you bozos better settle down unless you all want to meet an unfortunate end and that would be so boring; the game hasn't even started.” Reluctantly Soul and Lelah eased down transforming their limbs back to normal, but everyone was still on edge. “Upupupu, now we’re getting somewhere. Now catch kiddies!” The stuffed bear cried out as he threw something at everyone in the gym. Liz caught it and when she looked to inspect, she was confused. It was some sort of tablet- one half black and one half white with a keychain attached that seem to resemble the stuffed bears head. Suddenly the surface light up displaying the words ‘monopad’. The bear then cheered out, grabbing attention once more, “This is your monopad, named after myself, Monokuma!” So its name is monokuma? Liz thought as Monokuma continued, “Think of it as your school handbook, it has your ID, a map of the academy, and a set of school rules. Now, you may ask yourself ‘why am I here?’ The answer to that is to partake in the killing game!”

“Ki-killing game!” Noel squeaked, paling. She held herself and started shaking. Mai went over to make sure she didn’t faint. Honestly, Liz wanted to faint too, but she knew she had to keep herself together for her friends.

“Yes! The killing game is why you are all here! In order to escape and graduate this academy, you have to kill one of your fellow classmates.”

Black Star yelled out, “And why would we even listen to someone as small as you? There’s no way any of us are going to kill each other!”

Monokuma chuckled, “That’s what they always say, but they always show their true colors when I introduce the motive.”

“Motive?” Liz asked

“That’s right! I call this motive the partners through life and death motive! As you have noticed I separate each of the weapon and meister pairs. So unless you want your partners to all die, you are going to have to kill someone in the next sixty-four hours.” Liz felt terror overtake her. This monokuma, he couldn’t kill Patty or Kid, not in a hundred years, Liz rationalized. Still...whoever was behind this was able to knock them out… BANG! Liz was thrown from her thoughts as she hears a deafening shot fired. As she slowly turned her head, a pit of nausea exploded in her stomach. Standing there is Russet, his arms fused to form the barrel of a shotgun. Gunpowder floated from the end of the barrel, still hot from the blast. And-oh god- Noel, poor Noel, had her head shot at pretty much point blank range. Her blood was spilling everywhere. Mai’s face turned ghastly pale. Poor Mai, who had been supporting Noel, was drenched in blood and had bits Noel’s brain stuck to her. Mai was in shock, but quickly turned a revolting shade of green as she throws up and begins to cry. Everyone is still too much in shock to move or even help Mai. Russet whispers coldly, “There. I-I did it.” His eyes twist shut and Russet lowers his barrel and howls, “Now let me and my meister go!” This is enough to set Soul off. Soul rushes over and get into Russet’s face.

“What is wrong with you! You think THIS will save your meister? They’ll never forgive you and neither will Lo-”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Russet screeches and shoves Soul away, “What do you know about me and my meister? I would do any-UGH?!?” Russet suddenly stops and Liz has to cover her mouth in terror to keep from completely falling apart. Russet was suddenly impaled by spikes from the ground. “...wh-why?” Russet stammers out his last words as his eyes back into his head. The spikes go back into the ground and Russet’s body hits the ground with a thud. Monokuma hops down from his podium and sighs. “Geez, what kind of psycho kills right away? He interrupted his headmaster too! That’s just bad manners,” Monokuma goes over and kicks Russet’s lifeless corpse. “I’m not against a slaughter, but what a waste of a good motive! I thought hard about what the first one should be for this world’s killing game, but this dolt had to ruin it. Oh well, I guess this is a great form of despair too.” Monokuma smiles. Everyone in the gym was speechless as they watched Monokuma continue to kick the corpse over and over and over again. Despite being different people with different lives, different motivations, and different pasts, they all had the same thought. Why kind of hell are we in?

#soul eater #danganronpa #crossover #fanfic #this is how hashtags work right?

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lilster-strange-blog · 7 years

Text

Truth about Levi

Attack on Titan No one knew Levi's real age, they all laughed and joked about it but when push came to shove they didn't actually know. Then once again they were discussing it again when Commander Erwin passed by and caught hold of the conversation and to everyone he spoke from behind them making some of them jump. "Why don't you just ask him yourselves?!" The silence was slightly awkward for the group members so Erwin just continued after 5 minutes that felt like an hour. "- he would likely tell you, you know he trusts all of you completely" Scoffs and bitter laughs were came the reply to Erwin's comment. "Yeh, right him trust us your kidding right?!" Was mentioned from Jean "he probably would kill us if he had the chance and not think twice about it" "How long have you been with Levi, Jean?" Was all Erwin said. "Erm, about 3 years I guess why?" Jean replied to the out of the blue question. "So you've know him longer than anyone who's alive, besides me of course but that's... You don't know him at all do you.." Erwin trailed off while Jeans face went through shocked, horrified and ashamed all at once. Just then Levi walked past and gave them a smile that was beautiful and surprised them all, Levi never smiled. "What?" Was the collective question. "?" Levi looked extremely confused then went to understanding, just scaring the others more emotions Levi either didn't have them or didn't show them. "Oh, right Armin asked me the other day the answer is 17 and my job here is done" and skipped off happily, confusing even Erwin. "What did you ask him Armin was the question they were all thinking but Eren voiced. "Oh while you were all being stupid I asked him but 17 Jesus Erwin what were you thinking you said he's been apart of survey corps for what, five years!! That means he started at 12!" Arwin exclaimed "you know the worse part of it all he didn't know, didn't know his birthday or how old he was! What happened to him, Erwin?" Silence surrounded them Levi, Corporal Levi was 17 and Arwin's outburst had them all off guard. Just then Levi came skipping up to them again. "What's up?" Was Levi's question to all the horrified faces. "You're 17?" Erwin asked. "-yeh" Levi replied suspiciously. "What happened before you joined the Survey corps?" Eren and Mikasa asked in unison. "-before?" Levi questioned himself " a lot you'll have to be specific there" It was Erwin that replied "before I found you stealing in the underground". "- still a lot if you really want to know you have to be called, Jean yeah definitely Jean, Erwin, Armin, -Sasha?, Sasha, Petra and I guess Mikasa and Eren can come too, Hanji already knows the ending so I guess she'll want to know the beginning I'll go get her you can wait for me in my room, but only those names anyone else that even enters without asking me first I will personally slice you in half." Levi said with all joy vanishing from his mood and turning extremely serious and a look he would give his enemy. And off he marched but not before yelling " -and don't touch Anything!!" _____________________________________ When the collective group were gathered in Levi's room all just waiting for Hanji and Levi himself Just then Hanji stepped into the room looking like she was about to murder them all. "Hi" that was all she said then practical collapsed onto the bed beside them. "..." Silence nothing was said. Before someone exclaimed "where's Levi, Corporal Levi!!" Just as the person finished talking Levi burst into the room carrying load of items. "Hey" breath "I may" another breath "do you think - that - please" That was when they all noticed. Blood. Red and Everywhere. Erwin just stepped forward at the exact same moment Levi collapsed falling into Jean and Erwin. They all ran, leaped and sprinted with a speed they all didn't know they possessed, Levi still in Erwin's arms. Levi was successfully in surgery. For what they didn't know. All they knew what the 4 words rushing in circles through their minds - who. What. Why. How. Then the doctor stepped out and spoke relatively calmly. "He'll likely be alright, although the blood loss was pretty bad, if you had been any later I would be having a totally different conversation with you all" They spent the whole day in there accompanying Levi, waiting for him to wake up. That night when Eren woke up from a nightmare of his mother AND Levi being dead, looking for the comfort of him still being there only to find him missing. Well scared him to death. He all but leaped out of his chair waking Erwin and Petra, only them. But the keeping quiet was a failed attempt as Petra screamed when she spotted the empty bed effectively waking up all occupants in the room. Causing a young figure kicking the door down to get in. The figure they didn't realize was Levi due to the 3D maneuver gear until they spotted their face. Erwin stood up and yelled. "What the hell are you thinking you're injured and you're wearing you're maneuver gear and are out of bed" Erwin yelled and Levi just took, totally different to how he usually acted. "Get back in this bed now God Dammit" "No" Levi replied finally with a slight edge of fear, scaring all the occupants, especially when his breathing picked up. "Erwin I think he's having a panic attack" Hanji said, supplying the information needed. "Yeh but Why?" "I don't know like he said I only know the end." I took forever to try and calm Levi and they were about to give up. When a; "Levi please wake up" was heard from Eren and an even quieter "Bro please" from Jean, got him to snap out of his panic attack. Signaling the end with a weak "hey guys what's up?" Reliving them all, and the tension all seemed to disappear. "-Levi" Eren and Jean practically breathed "what happened?" "I- well I guess I have to tell you, huh. - Dad came to visit" Levi said indicating to his stitched up wounds Some painful sounding breaths were made, indicating to the shock of the truth. "What but- why?" Eren asked but stopped due to Levi's raised hand. Levi then clapped saying " alright story time kiddies- okay then you should probably know a few things then first off do you know if the proffessy?" At their shaken heads in the direction indicating that they do Levi continued. "Alright so first of all I am half American, a quarter French and the rest of my DNA is that of a Titan." "What!!" They all exclaimed. "Doesn't that mean you're like Eren?" Jean questioned. "Well no you see Eren was injected by the DNA however my -cough- fathers mother was quite simply a real Titan." Levi explained yet still not completely answering the question. "Also don't worry about the age thing Eren I've had to take care of my self since I was three" "-three" Eren whispered amazed and showing a slight shimer of sympathy. "Ok now our wonderful story begins now are you all comfortable? Good now..." Levi began acting mor like his age. "My mum was fully American, ha last American on this ruined planet. Gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas Day- that kind of sounds like a great story like religious or something wait it is oh well." That information brought gasps and some new questions to light for everyone listening. "Alone while her drunken Husband was off somewhere beating the crap out of some stranger for no apparent reason.3 years later my mother died on the same day of my birthday and Christmas Day it's like hauntingly scary the idea that so many people are celebrating on the day of someone's death- fucking celebrations..." After a few deep breaths Levi continued " anyway after that my father blamed me for her death and such, the beatings got worse and worse and worse. Built a load of things that year too which was fun" Levi said standing up to lift up a painting on the wall that revealed a small door in the wall, Levi then pressed on 7 unknown digits into the machine. A few seconds of absolutely nothing happening then the whole wall moved revealing a large room with a sofa and a puppy and load of pictures, that simply reminded them all just how young Levi truly was. Then they saw a wall with loads of pictures linked up with each other and that was when they realized; Levi blames himself. "Levi-" Erwin began both bewildered that his friend/younger brother had this technology at this time and at the thought that he blamed himself for every survey corpse members death. Deciding to drop it he instead asked "where did you get this technology from?" "Made it, like I said I made a lot of stuff" Levi responded. "This isn't stuff Levi this is amazing!" Jean expressed throwing his hands up in the air.

#attack on titan #levi ackerman #Levi #eren x levi #aww #this is depressing #depressing #why'd I write this?

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