#But hearing this news made me think of that. Like brother. Those are military men and you sent them somewhere to fight people.

[nosferatufaggot]

Saw a fucking article about how Joe Biden is mourning the loss of three US troops with said troop's families. LIKE BRO GET A GRIP! You sent those guys out there when you really didn't have to. You have no place to grieve their loss you sick fuck. Then, on the radio, the Fox News woman said that in retaliation to these three military deaths, Biden is sending eighty-five air strikes. I'm not SURPRISED because it's history repeating itself but I'm certainly baffled.

#Three military men getting killed in a thing that FRANKLY they didn't need to get involved in and then we plan to kill so many more. #Reminds me of this commercial that plays where this guy has so much pride for his country and he says this like he can't believe his words. #'They attacked us. In OUR country.' LIKE BABE WHERE ELSE ARE THEY GONNA ATTACK YOU!? THE NORTH POLE!? #OF COURSE THEY ATTACKED THE AMERICANS IN AMERICA GET A GRIP! #But hearing this news made me think of that. Like brother. Those are military men and you sent them somewhere to fight people. #What did you expect? For them all to live and for them to sucessfully kill those pirates? #Not that I need to say the quiet part out loud but it truly is just an excuse to kill more people. It's what the US always does. #Something BAD happens but overall a minor thing in comparison to what the US immediately unleashes on whoever DARED to cross them. #I fucking hate it. I'm sick of this. #He mours the lives of three people he sent out to be killed. Because the pirates are stopping the economy from working PERFECTLY! #The economy is still going babe! They are just protesting! #But he mourns the loss of military men that were bound to die by Biden's hands. He's the reason they are dead. #He used their lives as chess pieces to further justify killing more people. It's revolting. #I'm so disgusted by this that I just had to say something SOMEWHERE! Even if I'm not as articulate and in the know as other people who post

[rpreaperperson]

MOM

Reader is a combat medic, a BIG sweeth tooth and a mother to 141 boys (dont forget can cook too) a waifu material

In case with ‘Captain’ John Price

Masterlist

Remember when you said Price is like your grumpy bear dad? You took over your mother's duties after she passed away to take care of the men in your family. Of course, your brothers help one another when necessary.

But there’s a time when your father came home late tired, and grumpy, after took your brothers to sleep you took care of him he always insisted on sleeping in the bed without eating his dinner and bath

Annoyed you pulling his ear to take a shower first and eat his dinner , while eating his dinner he grumbled that you took after your mother too much

Still he is grateful for your patience and for taking care of the family, after hearing that you’re going to be a medic in the military...well you could say that he sulking and getting more grumpy at you..

“Captain? You inside?” you announce yourself then enter Price's office after he allows you to enter, a disheveled looking Captain welcomes you

A cigar scent fills your nose, let out a cough you wave the scent away from your nose

“Need something love?”

“Y-yeah I’ve done the report for today”

“Good good, just put it here...” he pats the space of his desk, cause his desk full of paperwork not looking up from his paperwork

“been sleeping these day Cap?”

“Nah..just...dont have the time” he grumbled

‘cause the paperwork...God he need some rest’ shaking your head, you snatch the paper away from him

“Doc?”

“You need a rest Cap..you even got a bags under your eyes”

“Sorry Doc...just..a few more paper then Im done”

“....Captain..I have taking care of 5 little rascals boy and 1 grumpy bear Dad, and I know that a ‘few more’ means all of it...enough its enough you need rest” command you

“Lov—“

“Doctor order Price” you sternly gaze at him as you take the paper away from his desk, then you walk out from his office to make him tea and food (if Soap didn’t chomp out the leftovers)

Fortunately there some leftover in the fridge, some raw minched meat, 2 egg and a carrots

‘hmm..there’s not enough vegetables here...I should make the boys buy more vegetables need to feed them more vitamins’ taking the ingredients out of the fridge you start to cook

.

Meanwhile, Price who waited in his office could not help but shut his eyes for a little while a memory of the first time you met when Laswell introduced you to team 141

Shy, timid, soflty spoken always shied away from men gaze

But after known you better they began to call you Doc...but there’s another code name for you that was made by the 141 Mom, not so often you called Mom but it was popular among the recruits because of the way you took care of the wounded one

One day after completing a mission you rushed into the kitchen and made all of them meal...he could remember clearly the savory flavor and the juicy black pepper Chicken, the warm and creamy cream mushroom soup and GOD you forbid them to drink cola or alcohol that kinda drink, so you made them berry smoothies instead, the sweetness its just...perfect

‘Bloody Hell...its just make me hungry if I think about her cooks...’

Then he heard a rushed footstep outside his office door slammed open, with you holding a plate like a dear life panting, sweat rolled down from your forehead locking the door with your one hand

“Sorry for the delay Cap...there’s 2 hungry beast trying to devour your meal when I done making it” you sigh

SLAM

You shriek while Price snaps his head into the door

“FOOOODDDD!!”

“NGRAHHH!!”

The Captain's eyebrows raised flabbergasted, as you put down the plate on his desk

The moment you were done making the meal those so-called hungry beasts came to devour the dish you made (btw it was Soap and Gaz, while Ghost was sneaking in your office snatching some sweets)

The scent of the meal made him sit properly looking at the appetizing meal

“new menu you make?”

“kinda ,a burger steak with BBQ sauce and egg...ah and make sure you eat those carrot Cap, anyways we need to buy groceries for the fridge...Soap is getting sneakier lately” crossing your arm against your chest a frown planted on your face, annoyed with Soap who always nomning the food down to his throat along with Gaz his partner in crime when it comes to food, particularly your cooking

“I want to put onions in the meat but alas there are no onions..luckily there is egg and milk luckily it has not expired yet, anyway put some salt and pepper in the meat and found some BBQ sauce in the cabinet” you rambled, again Price amazed that you could make such delightful meal with the remain ingredients in the kitchen

When he cut the burger with his fork the juices flowed down to the plate, then he took a bite of the burger

“hmm its good..no wonder the boys was chasing after this” Price humming in delight in a moment all of his fatigue gone

“Thanks Cap...oh God Im forgot about the tea –“

“Nah love I got water here”

“You sure?”

“Positive..” he smiled at you, his sincere smile making you blush

.

After finishing his food, Price took a sip of water from his glass, you saw that the plate was clean, not even a trace of the BBQ sauce.

Sighing in relief you took the plate, happy that Price enjoying his meal

“you know you dont have to do all of this” suddenly said Price gaze at you, then you snap your head at him

“Do..what?”

“you know what I mean love..” in moment you pursing your lips looking at the empty plate, sure you know being a 'care taker' is not part of the job...but

“...still..I kinda love doing it..cooking for you, the boys..even the recruits..taking care of all you makes me feel at home” you sheepishly grin  

“oh Doc...you’re gonna spoil them rotten” shaking his head, Price propping his head with his fist smirking

“heheh~ that’s why I called Mom no? Ah should make you some tea?”

“Im gonna take some rest...thanks for the meal...Mom”

“You’re very welcome...” as you open the door you sneak a glance at him

“Dad~ heheh” then you leave him flabergasted, a red blush covering his cheeks covering his mouth his his rough hand  Dad...he thought of a marriage life with you..

“God damnit woman..hrghh...she gonna give me a heart attack” moving out from his chair Price tidied up his paper and ready to take some rest in his room

‘Wouldn’t be so bad...be wed with Doc..’ then he saw 2 head pop out from the door

Soap and Gaz stare at him with disdain and jealousy, Price smirks at them giving them a smug face

“I am the Dad now boys” They growled as Ghost walked up from behind munching the sweets he stole from your office, wondering what he missed.

#call of duty x reader #call of duty #john price #john price x reader #john soap mactavish #john mctavish x reader #kyle gaz garrick #kyle garrick x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #mom #task force 141 x reader

[psychologeek]

Free!

"Leave our country alone!" they say "This isn't your land - go back to where you came from!"

And as my brother's being shoot, And my sister's being paraded naked - For their great sin of: living [Re'im, Israel, 2023]

As my great-grandfather was pushed down in the streets And his beard was brutally shaved As they raped and enslaved and murdered- [Birkenau, Poland, 1943]

[just like in 1941 Farhud, Iraq ; Jedwabne pogrom;  1945 Tripoli pogrom, the 1946 Kielce pogrom, and the 1947 Aleppo pogrom]

In 1934 there were pogroms against Jews in Turkey and Algeria.

Other parts of my family were lucky enough to survive the 1929 Hebron massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots. [Mandatory Palestine under British administration]

In 1919, soldiers marched into the center of town accompanied by a military band and engaged in atrocities under the slogan: "Kill the Jews, and save the Ukraine." They were ordered to save the ammunition in the process and use only lances and bayonets during the Proskurov pogrom.

[Proskurov, Ukraine, 1919]

[100 years, and nothing changed, huh?]

You know, my grandma's arab. I still remember sitting in class in high school, hearing about the 1840 Damascus affair, and thinking: hu.

I'll skip several years and countries, but:

Their grandparents were there to witness as the outbreak of violence against Jews (Hep-Hep riots) occurred at the beginning of the 19th century.

The 1821 Odessa pogroms marked the beginning of the 19th century pogroms in Tsarist Russia

That's  Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648–1657 in present-day Ukraine.

So they said, during the attacks against Jews also took place in Barcelona and other Catalan cities during the massacre of 1391.

Their ancestors were cast away and murdered in Spain, 1492.

The same way we were banished and cast away from  Bern (1427) and Zürich (1436) for almost 400 years?

Let us not speak of  the alaughter on Holy Saturday of 1389, a pogrom began in Prague that led to the burning of the Jewish quarter, the killing of many Jews, and the suicide of many Jews trapped in the main synagogue; the number of dead was estimated at 400–500 men, women, and children.

Brussels massacre of 1370.

Or - do you want to hear about the 510 jewish communities that were destroyed? (1348-1350)  including in Toulon, Erfurt, Basel, Aragon, Flanders[16][17] and Strasbourg.[18]

Just like Rhineland massacres in 1096

Some of them made it to England, around 1060. It took less than 30 years for the first Podrom in 1189-90 in England, 

Oh, and let us not forget 1066 Granada massacre [again, in Spain].

Or the  Alexandria in the year 38 CE, followed by the more known riot of 66 CE.

The Jewish population of the land on the eve of the first major Jewish rebellion [66 CE] may have been as high as 2.2 million. The monumental architecture of this period indicates a high level of prosperity.

In 66 CE, the Jews of Judea rose in revolt against Rome, sparking the First Jewish–Roman War. The reverse seized control of Judea and named their new kingdom "Israel"

The revolt was crushed by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus. The Romans destroyed much of the Temple in Jerusalem and took as punitive tribute the Menorah and other Temple artifacts back to Rome. Josephus writes that 1,100,000 Jews perished during the revolt, while a further 97,000 were taken captive. The Fiscus Judaicus was instituted by the Empire as part of reparations.

[And here we come to a full cycle of blood, land, and pain].

And those are only those I found out about. Only those we have a record of. Only those we know to this day. They were so massive, or left enough impact so we still remember.

[I could go on, this is just a short list.]

It seems like no matter what we do, we'll always be accused for

Let me know, please - where can I be a jew, and just

Live?

#israel #jews #jewish history #history #palestine #Juda kingdom #pogrom #pogroms #terror #manslaughter #massacre

[inkandguns]

I’m having a veteran moment.

I absolutely can’t stand hearing the civilians try to Monday morning quarterback the Israel/Hamas conflict.

There’s two classes of men - the warrior class and non-warrior class. Those who have carried arms in to battle against other men simply can’t convey the gravity of that to men that haven’t.

The warrior class answered the call of duty - to nation, family, or home. They prepared for months or years to greet the enemy in battle. They savored mere minutes of sleep in mud and shitholes across the globe. When I hear the words, “I would have enlisted, but…” I am filled with emotions. Since I moved away from Fort Carson I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve met maybe one or two combat vets in Washington.

In many situations I feel alone. The non-warrior class is so foreign to me that sometimes I feel like no one will ever understand me. But this week I’ve felt a shitload of anger. Hearing civilians discuss a bloody and hateful armed conflict has been making my blood boil.

Please, and by all means, discuss the geopolitics of the conflict. Discuss the implications for first world nations. But it enrages me when these soft-hands desk worker types get involved in the tactical discussions. It’s like hearing Walmart cashiers discuss the finer (or not so fine) points of astrophysics.

What frustrates me even more is that people fail to understand why those of us who have experienced war want to avoid it at all costs.

I took a pragmatic view of land warfare. It’s a necessary part of human existence. It made me a better man and made me have a new level of respect for my fellow humans, but it also made me understand that the taking of a human life must be absolutely deliberate and justified. One can only rally have a true and genuine appreciation of life once they realize how fleeting it is.

Loomer and Shapiro say wipe Gaza off the map, the DSA says spill more Jewish blood. Meanwhile, men of the warrior class are putting in real work.

But for me, personally, I don’t want any of my tax dollars going to more bloodshed in a region of the world where they can’t stop killing each other.

After seeing broken bodies by the roadside and family members grieving war casualties, I have a strange relationship with war. I’ve lost brothers to suicide, and struggled with it myself at times.

Now when I put a shovel in to the dirt in mid-May to start my crop, I think about my old, “enemy” in Afghanistan. Not so different from me, he wants to raise a family, grow some good weed, and care for his animals - he wants to honor his god too. The only way I could meet s man so similar to myself in combat would be at the behest of men more powerful than us.

And when those men are soft-hands, desk worker type fuckers, it makes my anger heat up. When I hear B-Shap in the hizzouse and Loomer talk about a brutal military campaign I can feel it in my heart. That would be bad. The attacks over the weekend were bad.

Over the weekend on both sides, brothers were lost and warriors were laid to rest. And the fucking most sickening part to me is the pundits who have never served get all of the attention and money.

I think the lie that the VA tells you is that someday you might be “normal” after land warfare. To those that I know, and those that I don’t who have gone back to total normalcy after the war - I’m envious.

[excusethequality]

My 2023 in Film

Part 5: 201-250

I was nearly done with this section before I remembered that my October movie gauntlet began in this chunk...Which meant I had already written descriptions of the spooky ones for those posts I did in October! I also saw that some of those were better than I ones I had just written, so I went ahead and stole from myself.

Link to Part I

Link to Part II

Link to Part III

Link to Part IV

* = rewatched

[++] = I loved it [+] = I liked it [=] = I am indifferent about it [-] = Not my thing [--] = I hate it

Click on the list number to get a trailer for it.

201.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) * ---Sports Comedy

A hotshot NASCAR racer must rediscover his passion for racing after a new racer comes to town and knocks him off his pedestal. [++]

202.

Fremont (2023) ---Drama Comedy

Donya is a former translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan who is now living as a refugee in Fremont, California. Lonely and struggling to come to terms with her new life she decides to try and make a connection. [+]

203.

Brewster's Millions (1985) * ---Comedy

A minor league baseball pitcher named Monty Brewster is a given a bizarre opportunity: a chance at 300 million dollars. But in order to get it he must successfully spend 30 million dollars in 30 days without giving it away, gambling it away, or gaining anything tangible from it. [+]

204.

Little Big League (1994) * ---Children's Sports Comedy

A 12-year-old inherits the Minnesota Twins baseball team and decides to make himself the general manager. [+]

205.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) * ---Animated Fantasy Adventure

In a land where everyone wants dragons dead, one young man dares to try and befriend one. [+]

206.

Step Brothers (2008) * ---Comedy

Two juvenile grown men who live at home are about to get forced together when their parents get married. [+]

207.

Certified Copy (2010) ---Relationship Drama

While in Tuscany for a book tour a British author takes a drive with a French antique dealer. A look at the nature of relationships, art, authenticity, and how the nature of those things can change over time. [-]

208.

Game Night (2018) *

see #167

209.

Redline (2009) ---Animated Sci-Fi Sports

A racer from the streets attempts to win the biggest underground car race in the galaxy. [=]

210.

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) * ---Coming-of-Age Magical-Realism Horror

An urban fairy tale about a group of orphans who band together to try and survive in a city being destroyed by the cartels amidst the Mexican drug war. [++]

211.

Dumplings (2004) ---Horror

An aging movie star hears a rumor of a woman who makes dumplings that can make you look young again. But when she learns how they're made she must decide just how important looks are to her. [+]

212.

You're Next (2011) * ---Home-Invasion Horror

A woman goes to her boyfriend's parents' anniversary party only to learn that the family has just been targeted by a group of killers. [++]

213.

Skinamarink (2022) ---Experimental Horror

A young brother and sister wake up in the night to find that their parents are gone and all the doors and windows in the house have disappeared. [-]

214.

The Thing from Another World (1951) ---Sci-Fi Creature Horror

A military base at the North Pole discovers a crashed alien spaceship and are subsequently attacked by an alien plant monster. [-]

215.

Dave of the Dead (2020) ---Animated Crime Against Humanity

You don't need to know what this is about, because this is currently in last place on my list ranking everything I've watched this year. Dead last in a group of over 300 movies. And I know that nothing seems to make people want to see a movie than someone saying they think it's a worst of the worst, but I can assure you that it is not fun bad; it is just bad bad. I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would have ever paid real money to create such a thing.

If you don't believe me go ahead and try to watch it (no multi-tasking) and you see how long you can last before your brain starts to atrophy and you regret even attempting it. Then report back to me so I can say, "I told you so." [--]

216.

The She Beast (1966) ---Horror

A long-dead witch possesses the body of a newly married woman who was on a road trip for her honeymoon. [-]

217.

Bell, Book and Candle (1958) ---Fantasy Romance

Just to be petty, a modern-day witch enchants her neighbor to fall in love with her. [=]

218.

Doll Shark (2022) ---Horror Comedy

The ghost of a killer shark goes into the body of shark plushie in order to get revenge and continue its reign of terror. [-]

219.

An American Werewolf in London (1981) * ---Horror Comedy

Two American friends are backpacking in Europe when they are attacked by a werewolf. [+]

220.

Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971) ---Queer Horror

Dr. Jekyll is investigating a hypothesis that female hormones could be the secret to extending ones life. When testing his theory he learns that this hormone cocktail temporarily transforms him into a woman they name Mrs. Hyde. But while Jekyll wants to continue refining his experiments, Hyde begins to become discontent with being hidden away and she is determined to take over as the dominate personality. [++]

221.

Puppet Shark (2023) ---Anthology Horror Comedy

An anthology film about killer sharks told entirely through puppets. [--]

222.

Son of Dracula (1943) ---Horror Drama

An heiress in Louisiana invites a vampire who may or may not be Count Dracula to town only to learn that he has his own fiendish plans for this new world. [-]

223.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) ---Horror Drama

Dr. Jekyll fears the danger of man's evil impulses. To keep himself pure he invents a way to separate someone's good aspects from their bad. However he must soon find a way to reverse it when his evil side starts to get a little too evil. [=]

224.

The Bewitched Inn (1897) ---Spooky Short Film

A weary traveler wants nothing more than to get some rest at an inn, but discovers his room is haunted. [+]

225.

The X-Ray Fiend (1897) ---Spooky Short Film

An x-ray machine gives us a peak at people's insides. [+]

226.

Titane (2021) ---Queer Drama and Body Horror

A dancer with a fetish for cars must pretend to be a missing boy in order to hide from the police. [+]

227.

The Girl from the Other Side (2022) *

See #22

228.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) ---Anthology Horror

A fortune teller reads the dark fortunes of the other occupants of his train car. [=]

229.

Werewolf by Night (2022) ---Action Fantasy

A group of monster hunters are gathered for a contest to see who will inherit an artifact of great power. [=]

230.

I Blame Society (2020) ---Comedy Horror

An out-of-work filmmaker wants to prove to everyone that they've been underestimating her by making a movie about how she would plan a perfect murder, but things quickly get out of hand. [++]

231.

Los Reyes (2018) ---Documentary

What began as a documentary about the kids that frequent a skate park in Los Reyes becomes a look into the lives of Chola and Fútbol: two street dogs that make their home there. [++]

232.

Bluebeard (1944) ---Crime Horror

A painter who feels compelled to kill the beautiful women he paints tries to fight these urges by making puppet shows instead. [-]

233.

Escape Room (2017) ---Horror

A group of rich friends go to an exclusive escape room for a birthday party, but soon learn that this one could be deadly. [-]

234.

Prey (2022) * ---Sci-Fi Horror Adventure

In 1917 a Comanche woman sets out on a trial to prove her worth as a warrior by hunting something that's hunting her. But she is soon to discover that her prey is far more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. [++]

235.

Astonishing Tales of Terror: Rocktapussy! (2022) ---Comedy Horror

An investigative journalist, an out of work miner, and assorted others must stop an evil being that was accidentally unleashed during a mining test. [-]

236.

The Demon (1963) ---Horror Drama

In a small Italian village a woman is treated as an outcast and believed to be a witch. But if you're already being mistreated for being a witch, what's to stop you from trying witchcraft? [=]

237.

Sea Fever (2019) ---Horror

An Irish fishing boat becomes stranded at sea when their ship encounters a strange creature. [+]

238.

Maximum Overdrive (1986) ---Horror

When machines start trying to kill people a group of survivors find themselves trapped in gas station by a pack of killer semi trucks. [-]

239.

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) ---Fantasy Drama

The ancient Inuit legend of brothers, spirits, revenge, curses, true love, and more. [++]

240.

Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) *

See #46

241.

The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976) ---Drama Horror

An alcoholic woman's trauma from her childhood drives her to act out in increasingly wild and deadly ways. [=]

242.

I Married a Witch (1942) ---Fantasy Romance

A witch and her father are released from their ancient imprisonment and seek to wreck havoc on the world. But things get tricky when a spell goes awry and she falls in love with a human. [=]

243.

The Monster Club (1981) ---Anthology Horror

A horror author saves a starving vampire and is invited back to his favorite club as a gesture of gratitude. [-]

244.

Intruder (1989) * ---Horror

Things go from bad to worse when the overnight crew at the local supermarket finds themselves trapped inside with a murderer. [+]

245.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) * ---Comedy Horror

A Mel Brooks spoof of the story of Dracula. [-]

246.

I Was a Teenage Wereskunk (2016) ---Horror Comedy

An homage to the drive-in horror movies of the 50s about a boy who is bitten by a skunk and starts turning into a murderous wereskunk whenever he gets aroused. [=]

247.

The Devil's Backbone (2001) ---Horror Drama

In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, a young orphan is left at an orphanage that's hanging on by a thread. But he soon learns that evil doesn't just lurk outside the walls when he a discovers a ghostly presence that haunts the halls. [+]

248.

Spirit Halloween: The Movie (2022) ---Kids Horror

A group of kids decide to spend Halloween night in the scariest place they can think of: a Spirit Halloween store! [=]

249.

Arachnophobia (1990) * ---Creature Horror

A rare and deadly spider winds up in a small American town where it proceeds to turn all the spiders in town into its minions. The local doctor better get over his fear of spiders fast if he's going to be able to save anyone. [=]

250.

Tales from the Hood (1995) ---Anthology Horror

A mysterious funeral director tells 4 spooky tales to the group of drug dealers that visit him one night. [+]

#xcusethequality

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!

To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:

She dies is very seriously injured

She heals without a scratch

Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)

She goes AWOL for several days

They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)

So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.

And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:

Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is

They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own

They can’t get a hold of her

The military can’t tell them anything

And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.

In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.

And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.

Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?

Social media.

Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).

Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.

Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.

But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)

At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.

But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.

Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.

So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.

What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.

So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.

So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.

Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.

#the old guard #tog #tog fanfiction #tog meta #immortal family #nile freeman #mine #damn look at me contributing to a fandom! that’s new #pls reblog if you like this my self esteem could really use it #I just love nile so much and I’m being the nile-centric content I want to see in the world #it is just genuinely nuts to think abt how this situation would be perceived by anyone outside the narrative #she just mysteriously heals from a fatal injury and then VANISHES!!! this should be national fuckin news #also I do think there’s a major hole in the story when you think abt social media #like the only time it’s even hinted at is right at the very beginning when Andy erases that girl’s selfie #and the concept of fuckin Reddit is not even brought up despite Copley’s stalker board being analog Reddit #there’s just a lot of places one could go with this which is very much what we got here #1k

[five-rivers]

@lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks came up with this op!Danny/Marvel AU!

BTW I need help naming this newest proof that I can't keep anything to a short little one-shot.

.

Loki was not, and never had been, a good man. For that matter, whether or not he’d ever been a good boy was debatable. His mother would argue that he had, but she would very likely be the only one. Well, except for Thor, perhaps, but that was because he was an idiot who could drown in three inches of nostalgia. Like he didn’t remember every time Loki had humiliated him. Maybe he didn’t, for all that he kept falling for the same trick over and over again.

It made Loki’s late nights studying the arts of illusion, misdirection, and lying seem redundant. Almost. Not everyone was as dense as his big brother.

No. Loki had never been a good man. He had, however, been a free man.

Free to run or hide. Free to explore the nooks and crannies of Asgard, to uncover her secrets in ways few cared to do. Free to walk hidden paths between the Nine Realms and even farther flung territories, where his people did not and had never ruled, to play games, make deals, have adventures, take risks. To be. To exist as his own creature.

He had been free. He had.

But on one of those little secret excursions, he had discovered something that had made even his flippant, slippery heart clench with fear. A ravening plague, spreading across the stars. The death of half of everything on the horizon.

Loki was not a good man. What cause did he have to care for all the sundry others in the universe? There were too many. It was too much to ask.

But Asgard—His home, even though the had long ago realized the blood in his veins originated on very different soil. That was different.

Asgard, he could help. Asgard could survive.

But it had to be strong. It had to have strong allies. None of this barely-held peace, this enemy eternally at their gates. It needed strong leadership. Not his brother’s simplistic view and longing for the glory of war.

Loki was not a good man. But he was one who could get things done.

Before he knew it, he had burned all his bridges behind him. In one case, a literal bridge that was literally broken.

And he fell.

And he fell.

And he fell right into the hands of the one he had feared enough to do this. Broken enough for poison to drip into the cracks. No one knew where he was, no one could know where he was, except, perhaps, Heimdal, and Loki sincerely doubted Heimdal cared. No one was coming for him. No one was looking for him. No rescue was forthcoming.

He was alone.

Asgardians were considered gods for a reason. Their bodies and minds were much more resilient than the average mortal’s. But Thanos’s people had been titans, and there was a reason for that, too.

Thanos enjoyed breaking him.

And Loki turned his lies on himself. A skilled master of games always had one gifted opponent, even alone. Hadn’t he wanted to rule? To command? To see a world, any world, prostrate at his feet? To be given the recognition and praise of which he was so worth?

To pull something, anything, out of the fire?

(If he had spent less time learning how to spin lies and more on how to see the truth, he might not have believed it. A better, wiser, man would have. But Loki was not a good man. And he was very skilled in his craft.)

So, his new master put a weapon in his hands, and he went off to conquer a world.

.

Danny was used to rude awakenings. He was used to those rude awakenings being full body chills and ghosts, not someone knocking on his door.

Blearily, he pulled himself out from under the blankets. Quasi-military government facility or not, the beds were comfortable. Maybe Mom or Dad had gotten themselves locked out of their room? Or Jazz—No, not Jazz, she hadn’t come with them. She was at college, not being flown places by Mom and Dad’s suspiciously generous new consulting job.

At least it wasn’t the GIW.

He stood on tiptoe (curse his perpetually short body) to peer out the peephole. His parents’ buff, one-eyed, and incredibly imposing new boss stood in front of the door, hands on his hips, slightly sweeping back his long dark coat. If Danny listened carefully, he could hear two other people near the door, and… was that an alarm? Yes. Faint, but present, was a warning klaxon.

Okay. Danny would bet his right arm that something had gone horribly wrong with whatever his parents were consulting on. Didn’t explain why the boss was in front of his door.

Unless they’d gotten the rooms mixed up, somehow?

Ugh. Danny wasn’t paid enough to deal with this.

He opened the door. “What-?”

“Phantom,” intoned eyepatch guy with great solemnity.

Danny immediately tried to close the door. The guy stuck his foot in the jamb, and, sure, Danny could have crushed it, but that would be a jerk move. He didn’t think this guy was going for a pirate look, after all.

“We need your help.”

.

“I’m not sure what you think I can help you with,” yelled Danny over the beating of the helicopter blades. He’d remained stubbornly in human form. “My parents are the scientists. This sounds like a science thing. Not a punching-people thing.”

“We spoke to them earlier,” said Fury, “and we have plenty of scientists working on the theories they brought up. You’re the one with practical experience.”

“Practical experience in what?”

“Interdimensional portals,” said the woman, who had yet to introduce herself.

As if this whole thing wasn’t already giving him a bad feeling. “My parents built an interdimensional portal. Again, you should be talking to them. They’re the ones you’re paying.”

“We could pay you, too,” said Fury, “but we assumed you would want to avoid letting your parents know about this, as you’re still a minor and they have control of your bank accounts.”

Danny stared flatly. “This is blackmail.”

“We aren’t threatening you,” pointed out the woman.

“Emotional blackmail,” said Danny, glaring, daring her to challenge him on whether or not he actually knew what blackmail was.

In the meantime, the helicopter landed. Danny unbuckled and hopped out, trailing slightly awkwardly behind Fury and the woman. He didn’t want to stand out, but he suspected that, being the only kid here and being in the general vicinity of Fury, who radiated authority, that was a lost cause.

“This is Agent Coulson. Coulson, this is Phantom.”

Danny’s mouth went dry(er) at how casual the introduction was. His eyes went nervously to all the other people running around the field. With all the noise, it was unlikely anyone had heard, but still…

“Can you not? Secret identity and all? Unless you’ve told everyone herealready, which, rude.”

Fury sighed. “How bad is it?” he asked Coulson.

“We’re not sure,” said Coulson. “That’s the problem. Big fan of your work, by the way,” he added as an aside to Danny. He glanced at the woman. “Agent Hill.”

“Background?” asked Fury as he led the way into the building.

“The first energy surge was four hours ago. Dr. Selvig’s equipment picked it up – He’s the head scientist on this project.”

“Dr. Selvig isn’t authorized to test,” said Fury. “We wanted to run his plans by the Fentons.”

“He wasn’t testing. He wasn’t even in the room. He called it ‘spontaneous advancement.’”

“It turned itself on?”

“What are the energy levels?” asked Fury before Hill’s question could be answered.

“Climbing,” said Coulson.

“Mr. Fenton,” said Fury, “any comments?”

“Look, I don’t even know what this thing that you built looks like or what it’s a door to.” Danny frowned as a thought occurred to him. “You’re not expecting me to fight whatever comes out of it, are you? Because, unless you’ve got a ghost portal down there, I can’t make guarantees.”

“It’s called the Tesseract,” said Coulson. “It’s supposed to be a connection to the other side of space. A source of unlimited energy. At least,” there was a note of humor in his voice despite the evacuation taking place around them, “that’s what the scientists say.”

“A door to space?” asked Danny, firmly shoving down his excitement at the prospect. “Like, a Stargate?” It was no good, he could practically feel himself sparkling. He took a firm grip of his core and reminded himself he might need to fight before the end of the day.

“Well, no,” said Coulson. “It’s this little… cube… thing.” He made a shape with his hands.

“Oh,” said Danny, mind still whirring. “You know, if it’s really a tesseract, it isn’t a cube in just three dimensions, so bigger things could come out of it than you’d think.” He’d seen some weird portals in the Ghost Zone.

“Well, right now, we’re just getting energy.” They entered a large room with an extremely sci-fi setup. It looked like they were planning to shoot some kind of laser across the room onto a platform surrounded by strange-looking panels. There were men with guns scattered around in what was probably a well thought out formation Danny couldn’t see. There was also a dude with a bow sitting up in the rafters. He frowned down at Danny as he noticed Danny noticing him.

“Dr. Selvig!”

“Director!”

“What do we know?”

Danny allowed himself to be distracted by the centerpiece of the room, a piece of machinery built around what was indeed a little cube thing. He tilted his head and approached, trying to get a better view of it around the people in lab coats and protective gear currently swarming it. He caught mention of radiation a grimaced.

It was unlikely to kill him, but, really, everyone here should probably be wearing more PPE. You never knew what was going to come out of an interdimensional portal, after all. Except trouble. Trouble was a pretty safe bet.

It was pretty. Blue. Reminded him a little of a blue raspberry ice pop. Part of him wanted to lick it. Which was stupid. He didn’t want to wind up half what-ever-lived-on-the-other-side on top of his regular ghost nonsense.

“Mr. Fenton?”

Danny jumped and turned, refocusing on the adults, who had multiplied while he’d been daydreaming. The guy with the bow had joined them.

“Mr. Fenton? Like the Doctors Fenton I spoke to earlier?” asked Selvig.

“Yeah, it’s—”

This, of course, was when everything decided to explode. Sort of.

The blue cube shot out a beam of energy that had more than a little in common with the Fenton Bazooka’s portal setting. The beam terminated on the platform, a portal rapidly forming.

Danny slid into a fighting stance, and barely even noticed as blue energy washed over the room, throwing many less-prepared people back.

Something shaped like a man stepped through the portal.

Danny did not break his stance. Still. “An alien,” he whispered, eyes wide. If they were friendly, maybe they’d answer his questions about space. If they weren’t friendly, maybe they’d answer his questions about space after Danny beat them up.

(Danny did not go ghost. Did not even think about going ghost. There were too many people here, and the space was too open.)

Fury attempted to negotiate. Danny approved. Not everything that came through an interdimensional portal was necessarily evil.

Except this guy apparently was. Go figure. He could also deflect bullets and was very good with throwing knives, which led to Danny having to pull several of the gun guys out of their own line of fire as well as the alien’s line of knife. Who would have thought an alien’s weapon of choice would be throwing knives? The energy-blasting spear was much more in line with his expectations.

The bow guy proved to be more competent than the gun guys. This didn’t really surprise Danny. Bow guy sort of had to be competent. Otherwise, no way would they let him go around with a bow. Like, seriously. A bow.

Even so, bow guy was fighting an alien and—

“You have heart,” said the alien, raising the spear.

Danny pushed bow guy out of the way, and his mind fuzzed out.

(The human part of it, anyway.)

.

Loki didn’t know what a child was doing here, and he didn’t particularly care. The boy would do for a hostage, at least. He had a mission he had to fulfil, or else…

Or else.

“Please don’t,” he said turning with a shadow of his usual lazy affect, vaguely insulted that the human thought he could be sneaker that him, “I still need that.”

The human went on and on, apparently burdened with the delusion that he was on the same level as Loki.

Loki was burdened with other things. A glorious purpose. Glad tidings. Freedom. What could be better than freedom?

“A world free from what?” asked the human.

“From freedom,” said Loki, and wasn’t that what he believed, now? Wasn’t that what he’d been shown? “Freedom is life’s great lie.” He would know. He was an excellent liar. “Once you accept that, in your heart—” He batted away an arrow and tsked. “Shield me, boy,” he demanded. Had Thanos misrepresented the scepter’s powers? Or was the boy merely—

A dome of green surrounded him and the boy, thrumming with magic the likes of which he had only seen once, in a tome thrice forbidden.

“Oh,” said Loki, almost purring. “You are interesting. What are you?”

“Half human, half ghost,” replied the boy, tersely.

Loki had never heard of such a creature. No matter. He’d be sure to make good use of him.

“Grab the scientist,” he said, nodding at the balding man who had been with his brother when he’d fought the Destroyer in the desert.

Loki wanted the archer. He seemed interesting. Useful.

.

Fenton was under thrall. Phantom knew what that felt like. A hundred feet under red water, trying not to drown, whispers everywhere. Pulling. Pushing. Prodding.

This was different, but the principle was the same.

Neither half of him could truly ‘fight’ the other. Fenton and Phantom were a single entity. Not two in lockstep. Even so.

Fenton grabbed onto Dr. Selvig, as ordered. Phantom made sure that was all they did.

“What are you doing, boy?” snapped Loki. “Follow me! Bring the scientist.”

And so, they followed.

.

Loki breathed. Acquiring Barton had been the right choice. The boy was powerful, but, perhaps because of his unique biology, did not have Barton’s presence of mind, and couldn’t have led him to such wonderful allies.

Allies.

These weren’t truly his allies. Nor were they subjects. They were…

Loki forced himself to breathe. He just had to follow the mission. Follow the mission, let Thanos’s army through. He’d been promised this world. He would have this world.

And then he could be… His mind stuttered over the next word, and he shook his head, trying to drive out the painful buzz of Thanos’s herald and mouthpiece trying to contact him.

He looked up at the drones bustling around, all according to his will. Except the boy, who stared at him, somehow managing to be both utterly blank and challenging at the same time.

He was alone, here.

He was alone.

But what did it matter? Bad men always wound up alone, and Loki… Loki could never be a good man.

#danny phantom #marvel cinematic universe #avengers #dannymay 2021 #dannymay 2021 day 28: alone #dannymay #danny phantom x marvel cinematic universe crossover #op!Danny/Marvel #Not much op!Danny yet tho

[starlightrows]

Head Over Heels

Part I—

Next →

Pairing: Wrecker x reader

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: Mentions of sex, this chapter is pretty much nothing but fluff

Summary: A feisty little mechanical engineer and a massive clone trooper

The last few months have been rocky to say the least, with the way the war is progressing you have to take on more and more work to pick up the slack left behind from fallen troopers, and enlisted men and women alike. Which means you were suddenly promoted up to senior mechanical engineer on this base, leaving you with five permanent squadrons operating out of this base to look after, as well as any pit stops made by any of the other six hundred some odd battalions in the GAR.

You never thought you would be in a position of command, in any form, being the senior mechanical engineer made you the second most senior person in charge of this base. Base Commander, it sounded stranger with your name in front of it. You always thought you’d be glossed over for a position like this, given your overly enthusiastic and rather sunny disposition. A stark contrast from the clone commanders, and high authority military men that were now your peers. But then again, no one knew GAR technology and space craft mechanics like you did.

Your newest permanent squadron stationed at your base was an odd combination of men, who clashed deeply not only with themselves but also with everyone else around them. Clone Force 99, or The Bad Batch as they had dubbed themselves. You didn’t find them to be all that bad.

Hunter was a bit intimidating at first, any man with half of his face tattooed with a skull could be considered intimidating. But he wasn’t all that bad, he was respectful and tried his best to keep his ragtag squad on their best behavior.

Tech wasn’t so bad either, though he did have a nasty habit of trying to get you to slip up in your technical knowledge and execution. He may be genetically engineered to be smart, but that doesn’t mean he knows everything. And besides he hasn’t succeeded yet in getting you to make a mistake.

Crosshair… okay, there is something to be said for him. He could be horrible sometimes with the things he said and the way he treated people. Even the other members of his own squad.

But the last member, Wrecker. He was something else entirely. Loud, boisterous, funny, incredibly sweet and kind when he wasn’t actively trying to blow something up. You figured since they seemed intent on break every rule they encountered anyway, being in a relationship with Wrecker was worth the risk of getting in trouble with higher command.

It started out fairly innocent, he just liked being around you. Watching you fix various parts of the ship, listening to you talk about whatever it was you’re doing… even if it all went over his head. He just liked to hear your voice and see you get excited over things. As time went on, he liked sitting with you while you ate when taking breaks from your work. Holding your hand and marveling at how itty bitty it was compared to his massive one. Everything about you was smaller and softer than him. But your spirit, your passion, and your smile were larger than life.

He couldn’t seem to get enough of your small, soft hands. Any chance he got he’d pull you away from whatever you were doing to come down to your height and steal a kiss, or snatch you up to come to his height to cuddle you close. When he was sure you really wouldn’t be caught, he’d sneak off with you to explore more of your soft skin. Long nights spent in your private quarters on the base, exploring each other’s bodies and giggling through the effort of trying to keep quite. Being with Wrecker meant being patient. Waiting for the right moment to sneak away, waiting for him to come back from mission, and patient in your love making. Taking a man his size is a challenge for you, but patience pays off, every single time.

Every time they left for an assignment you triple checked their ship, The Havoc Marauder, to make sure it was up to whatever perils they were about to put it through. Usually Tech would hover around, inspecting every little thing you touch. Eventually you’d call out your preflight check complete, and Tech would have to resign himself to accepting your clearance. Crosshair would largely ignore you, or more often find something rude and unpleasant to say. Hunter would usher him on, and remind you of their designated return date. Wrecker always lingered, waiting until his brothers were safely on the ship and not gawking so he could bend down and scoop you up for a hug.

“Bye Tiny,” he’d always say, giving you a squeeze.

“Bye big guy, I’ll see you soon,” you always give him a kiss on the cheek before he sets you down gently and steals a quick kiss on your lips.

They’d usually be gone for a couple days, sometimes a week or two. If they had to stop off at another base, Hunter would usually contact you to be aware of a new return date. You hate getting those calls, not like you don’t have enough to keep you busy when they’re not around. But still, when you’re in a new relationship, the only thing you really want to do is be around them. You missed your loud, energetic mountain of a man.

This time, Hunter had commed you not once, not twice, but three times to push back their estimated return date. Apparently they’d been roped into helping a couple other squads in nearby systems.

“It’s good for our image,” Hunter had said “we don’t exactly have the greatest reputation in the GAR”

“Yes, and I wonder how that came to be?” you laughed knowing Hunter would understand your meaning. Their squad truly wasn’t so horrible, but between Wrecker’s collateral damage and Crosshair’s incessant need to antagonize literally every other member of the GAR, it’s not hard to see why others have such a dim view of them.

“Oh you know, people are just hard to please.” he joked

“Well… stay safe. Don’t break too much on that ship you’re so attached to,” you said, Hunter paused for a moment.

“You wanna talk to him?” he asked, you could hear the grin in his voice.

“Can I?” you asked hopefully

“He’s not provoking Crosshair when he’s talking to you, take as long as you’d like” he said “try not to get him too riled up though, not a lot of privacy on the ship,”

You laughed a bit “No promises Sarge,”

Hunter shook his head and left the cockpit, leaving the com channel open, you could hear him walking away. Heavy footsteps rapidly approach the comlink receiver, even though you can’t see him with the holovid feature turned off you know he’s got a big grin on his face. The door to the cockpit slides shut, and there’s a soft sound of him sinking into the pilots seat.

“Hi Tiny,” he said excitedly.

“Hello handsome, causing trouble?” you asked with a giggle

“Me? Trouble? Nah, I’m a model soldier. Poster child for the Grand Army of the Republic,” he replied.

You spent nearly two hours that night talking to Wrecker over the comlink. About the mission, about how things were going on the base, about plans for when he got back, plans for the future, and nothing at all. Eventually, your eyes were beginning to droop and your responses interspersed with muffled yawns.

“Think it’s time for you to go to bed Tiny,” he laughed

“Hmmm…. you’re probably right. Can’t keep my eyes open,” you mumbled “guess that means it’s time to say goodbye,”

“Goodnight Tiny, see you soon,” he said

“Goodnight Big Guy…. love you,” you realized in your sleepy mind, that was the first time you’d said that to him. Maybe this wasn’t the right time, but you’d been thinking it over and over the last few weeks it just slipped out.

“I love you too baby,” he replied before switching off the comlink.

Wrecker sat back in the silence for a moment, letting the gravity of what you’d just said wash over him.

She loves me! He thought to himself She loves ME!

Tag List: @escapedthesarlacc

#Star Wars #The Clone Wars #The Bad Batch #Wrecker #Wrecker x reader #wrecker x f!reader #Head Over Heels

[mandowh0re]

Remember Me

Chapter 3

Summary: While cleaning up the timelines that he broke, Loki meets and inevitably loses the one person that’s understood him in life. But he’s not losing you without a fight.

A/N: Beta’d by the ever beautiful @edgyvege. Go show her some love!

Warnings: Mention of suicide, attempted kidnapping

Word Count: 2892

Happy Reading!

When Loki is finally confident enough that he wouldn’t look like a fool, he settles down in his bed and grabs the book you had given him, and enters the number inside the cover.

He ignores the fact that his hands tremble as he taps ‘call’ with his index finger.

The phone rings a few times before you pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hello, darling.”

“Loki?”

“Is anyone else calling you ‘darling’? That would certainly be a shame,” he grins as he settles back into the pillows behind him.

He hears you giggle before you respond, “No. Just you. I think if anyone else called me that I’d punch them.”

“That would be intriguing.”

You giggle again, “I miss you.”

It’s a moment before he replies. Loki bites his lip, butterflies coming to life in his stomach, “It’s only been a few days, dear.”

“I know. I still miss you though,” you rub your finger across the wood grain of the counter.

“I miss you as well. Please know, this is not how I would court you if I had things my way.”

“Court me?”

“I-” he sits up, “Ah. I thought… Was I not-“

“I’m kidding,” You interrupt his sudden anxious rambling, “Calm down.”

He hears you chuckle and he takes a few careful deep breaths.

Joking.

Typical of you.

“You think you are funny, darling?” Loki pokes as he rests back into his pillow.

“I like to believe so,” You turn away from the counter and lean against it.

“You are lucky that I find you so endearing,” His voice is deep.

“Is that so?” You tongue your cheek.

“It is,” His voice is even and playful again.

The conversation flows from there, easily and freely. The two of you talk about nothing and everything for hours. When the conversation would die down, one of you would grasp for a new topic, neither one of you wanting to end the call.

It becomes a daily routine. Every evening, Loki would call and the two of you would often talk late into the night until you didn't have a choice but to go to bed for work the next morning.

**

It’s Thursday again, and you’re floating around your shop, hanging some new decor you had bought to brighten up the small space.

It’s been two months since Loki first showed up, and you can’t remember a time when you were happier.

There was no label between the two of you. You sometimes wished there was. But Loki, though confident and smooth talking, seemed to hold some reservations. He never shared them with you, but you could tell in the small changes of his expressions or body language when the flirting began to go too far, or how he expertly changed the subject if the conversation veered too far into relationship territory.

But even so, you were content. You finally had two good friends, after years of pushing away anyone who got too close. The fear of hurting those closest to you, or vise versa, always creeping in the back of your mind.

Your mind tried to make you do the same with Loki, and eventually Thor, but the rational part of you knew that they could protect themselves. At the same time, something deep inside of your soul somehow knew that you could trust the raven-haired god.

And it annoyed you to no end. You always did your best to follow reason. It was your way of ensuring your own and others’ safety. But it felt impossible to ignore the feeling of security you had around him.

The windchimes tinkle once again and you smile to yourself. You’re standing on a chair to reach the low ceiling, taping some colorful paper flowers to the dull off-white paint.

“Hey, Loki.” You greet happily, applying the last piece of tape and stepping down from the chair.

There’s a hand on your waist, and, thinking it’s Loki, you turn and go to place your hands on his chest only to see a tall, brooding man behind you. You jump, and take a step backwards.

He’s dressed in civilian clothes, but you know better. You see the edges of a tattoo peeking from just beneath his jacket collar. There’s an indent in his jeans, suggesting he’s concealing a knife. And his boots are almost military grade.

Your eyes flick towards the door, hoping to see Loki walk in.

He doesn’t.

“Can I help you with something?” You ask, taking a subtle step back.

His eyes scrape down your body and you’re suddenly sick to your stomach. Whether he’s sizing you up, searching for weapons, or just looking at you like a piece of meat, you’re unsure. But you don’t like it.

“Your presence is requested.”

You raise a brow and try to take another step back, but the bookshelf behind you keeps you from moving any further.

“You should leave,” You tell him, narrowing your eyes, “And tell Hayward to go to hell.”

He grabs your wrists and pulls you flush against him, his hot breath fanning across your face, “Listen here, little girl. You’re coming with me, quietly. I have never failed a mission, and I don’t plan on starting today.”

Realizing you have no other options, you brace yourself against the shelf behind you as you begin to call upon the energy around you, white light balling between your captive hands. It reflects against the various decorations you had just hung up, them swaying just slightly and the growing wind around you, and just before you blast the agent to hell, a different force rips him from you.

Because his hands are still connected to you, the force makes you tumble forwards, slamming into the ground with him. You lift your head from the carpet and look up, confused as hell, and your eyes immediately land on Loki. He must have come in right after you had been grabbed. You didn’t even hear the windchimes this time.

Loki’s eyes seem to glow just slightly, and he looks absolutely furious. He leans down to pick your attacker up by the throat and slams him against a wall, a knife materializing in Loki’s other hand. He raises it to the man’s throat in an instant, leans in, and sneers, “I should kill you where you stand for even gazing upon her,” Loki growls, pressing the knife further into his skin and drawing blood, “Touching her?” Another millimeter deeper, “That deserves a punishment worse than death.”

Your brain suddenly catches up to the situation and you run up to Loki, grabbing his arm, “Hey! Hey, I’m okay!” You tug at him gently, hoping to keep him from committing murder in the middle of your store.

“Brother!” A familiar voice booms behind you. You spin on your heels to see Thor, an annoyed expression on his face.

“He attacked me,” You blurt, knowing that Loki could get in a lot of trouble for this outburst, “Loki was just trying to help.”

Thor looks at you, his expression softening, before he looks back to the other two men and walks over to them. He places a large hand on Loki’s shoulder, “Brother, let me deal with him. We do not want to cause a spectacle.”

Loki’s hold on the man tightens, before he rips himself away, his knife disappearing allowing a trickle of blood to leave the cut on the man’s throat.

Thor made a call and the man was subsequently arrested and taken away.

After the cruiser drives off, Thor walks back into the shop where he had left you and Loki, and offers you a kind smile.

“Brother, what do you say we bring her back to the compound for the evening?”

Loki’s head snaps up, his eyes landing on his brother’s, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Thor shrugs, “I don’t see why not.”

Loki looks to you and intertwines his fingers with yours, “What do you think?”

You smile back at him, squeezing his hand, “Sounds good to me.”

***

After locking up the store, Thor and Loki guide you to the empty alleyway they usually use for Loki to transport them.

There’s a tingling sensation all over your body, and gold specks dot your vision before you’re suddenly on a grass lawn. You look up and your eyes blow wide, seeing the Avengers Compound right in front of you. The place is huge. You’d seen pictures before, but never imagined it to be as large and complex as what you’re currently seeing.

As Thor leads you both toward the silver and glimmering building in front of you, you feel Loki’s hand slip into yours again.

You look up to him and smile before your eyes are pulled away, meeting the glances of the compound staff as your presence momentarily distracts them from their current tasks.

You step into Loki’s space, pushing yourself closer to his side, making the others’ glances fade from your attention as his proximity makes you feel safer.

Once making your way past the main yard, and a long driveway, you arrive at what you assume is the main entrance of the building, though you do not stop there. Thor finally stops when you meet him in a back hallway near one of two elevators. Thor presses the call button, taking you gods know where.

You’re still pressed into Loki, though now you’re using him as a crutch, feeling a little faint. Whether from the dramatic turn of events or the teleportation, you have no idea. Either way, this wasn’t what you had expected for today and in all honesty, you’re incredibly overwhelmed.

“Is everything alright?” Loki asks, noticing the extra weight against him and your increasingly labored breaths.

You nod, but the movement makes you dizzy and you clutch onto Loki, eyes screwing shut, “I think I need to lie down.”

Thor and Loki exchange worried glances.

“Take her to your room. I shall speak with the others.”

Loki nods, carefully sweeping you into his arms. As soon as the metal doors slide open, he makes a beeline towards his own room. He unlocks his door with magic, a shimmering green momentarily covering the knob before disappearing. The door opens itself, allowing Loki to keep from jostling you too much.

He walks over to his bed, carefully depositing you on top. He grabs the soft green throw blanket that Peter had gotten him as a welcome gift some time ago and carefully places it over your form. He leans down and brushes the hair away from your face, nimble fingers softly caressing your face.

“You have had quite a day. Rest now.”

You smile at him, pulling the blanket farther over yourself.

“Stay?”

Loki smiles warmly, before climbing into bed with you, his back resting against the headboard. You turn to snuggle into him, and soon you’re fast asleep.

***

You wake a few hours later, feeling much better than you had earlier in the day. You notice that the space next to you is now empty, and you sit up to take in your surroundings.

The room is a generous size. The walls are painted grey, and the bed is larger than any bed you’ve slept on, adorned with a fluffy and extremely soft black comforter. There’s a dark stained heavy wooden dresser against one of the walls, a large gold mirror hanging above it. A large bookshelf lines the same wall, filled to the brim with books, and you notice that every book you recommended to him in the last two months were on a shelf of their own.

On another wall, a desk is tucked into the corner, neat and organized with a small black leather book sitting atop. To the left of the large bed is a closed door, and on the right is a door that’s slightly ajar, and you can see it’s an ensuite bathroom.

One of the walls is completely made up of floor to ceiling windows, and the room faces the west so you can see the colors of the sky morphing into an array of purples, oranges, and pinks as the sun sets. It’s a breathtaking sight.

You climb out of the bed, keeping the fluffy blanket around your shoulders. Curious as to where Loki had gone, you leave the room, looking both ways to try and remember which way you had come from earlier. Choosing at random, you begin your small journey, hoping to everything that you don’t run into an Avenger. How the hell were you supposed to explain that one?

Apparently, you chose correctly because the further you go, you begin to hear voices.

You peek around the corner to see a large open living area, and your jaw drops. Whenever you imagined the Avengers’ living space, you imagined sleek, modern decor, and expensive as shit furniture that would look as if nobody even used it.

And while you were mostly correct, you were also met with a bright room with floor to ceiling windows, picture frames on the walls and tables. The black leather chairs and couches looked well loved, and there were different colored throw blankets all over the place.

Loki was sat next to Thor on a loveseat, while several other members of the team were scattered throughout the room.

You hadn’t even been listening to what they were saying, but you hear your name and you immediately hone in on the conversation, hiding behind the wall once more.

“All I’m saying is that a little notice would have been nice.” You think the voice belongs to Tony Stark.

“If it was any other circumstance, it would have been planned ahead of time. But after she was attacked, I don’t believe any of us were comfortable with leaving her alone.” That was Thor.

“Speaking of, I called the police department to ask about her attacker. They said he committed suicide with cyanide.” Natasha states.

The entire room falls into silence, before Steve pipes up, “That sounds a bit too familiar.”

“Why would HYDRA be after her?” Clint asks, and everyone looks to Loki.

Loki shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

“Brother?” Thor pushes.

Loki sighs, “I promised her I would not tell a soul.”

“Look, Loki,” Steve moves closer to the edge of his seat, “I understand you want to protect her, but we can’t help you protect her without knowing why she’s being targeted.”

“I can protect her myself.” Loki growls, but Thor gently places his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“You can, but she would be safer with all of us protecting her. You have not dealt with HYDRA before, and therefore do not understand their capabilities. You trust me, and I trust my team. Tell us why Y/N is being hunted.” Thor tries to reason.

Loki sighs again, and you wonder what the hell they’re talking about. It wasn’t HYDRA who was after you. It was SWORD… Right? You feel nerves begin to take hold of you, and you clutch at the fabric around your shoulders.

And how the hell did Loki know why they wanted you? You hadn’t told him anything about that specific part of your past or of your abilities, much less making him promise anything.

So your heart falls to your stomach when you hear Loki’s next words.

“She has these… Abilities. She can manipulate the energy around her to do just about anything she wants. Back in timeline 656, she used her powers to help the resistance and destroy that timeline. But here, in this timeline, she has yet to mention these powers to me. I think she’s afraid. I know that her parents were SHIELD agents and were killed while on a mission when she was ten years of age.”

“If her parents were part of SHIELD, they may have been involved with HYDRA.” Tony offers.

“I think we have a visitor.” Wanda says, effectively ending the conversation.

You curse internally, but don’t move in hopes that maybe she was talking about someone else.

But suddenly Loki steps around the corner, a horrified look on his face, “Darling?”

You look up at him, and suddenly you’re angry. You’re unsure why. Maybe it’s because you worked so hard in life to stay off the radar of people like the Avengers. Maybe it’s because your efforts in keeping your secret to yourself were in vain because somehow Loki still knows. Maybe it’s because you’re suddenly terrified. Of yourself, of the Avengers, of HYDRA.

Your eyes flick over to the Avengers, who are now all looking at you in silence.

Loki moves to touch you, but suppressed survival instincts kick in and a blast of white energy bursts from your body, sending Loki flying into another wall. Your hands fly to your mouth.

“I- I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean-”

Thor steps closer to you, hands up in a placating gesture, “It’s alright. Take a breath. Nobody is going to hurt you.”

You take a step back, seeing all the horrified eyes on you.

Loki can see where this is going, so with a flick of his hand, he puts you to sleep, jumping to catch you before you hit the ground.

“This is what I wanted to avoid.” He spits, hoisting you up for the second time that day.

“Loki-” Thor tries, but he’s gone before the god can finish.

***

Remember Me taglist: @idunnomayn @savinasavers @stardust-walker @evelyn-4034 @dazedkrosupreme @sophlubbwriting @albinoclifford @nappinggecko

Permanent Taglist: @a-place-to-blog-marvel-stuff @yes-iamironman-blog @paradoxicalblueberry @the-regal-warrior @transparentparadiseglitterzombie @marvelgem @propertyofmarvel @avngrsinitiative @my-leg-is-not-a-chew-toy @lyricalstella-blog @just-the-daydreamer @hufflely-puffly

#loki #loki x reader #loki x you #loki x y/n #loki laufeyson #loki friggason #loki odinson #reader insert #marvel #fic #fanfic #enhanced reader #shield #sword #hydra #thor #thor odinson #avengers #tony stark #wanda maximoff #natasha romanov #clint barton #steve rogers #angst #fluff #toni writes #remember me #eventual smut #eventual romance

[nostalgiaruinedme]

Monster

Prompt: Mistreated by Authorities Fandom: TMNT 2012 Ao3 link: here Summary: After the Kraang and the Triceratons and the Shredder, the world is finally safe, save for the scars left behind. But humanity is looking for a scapegoat to blame all the tragedies on, and their gaze lands on the mutants. Now, every government in the world is after any and all mutants, but first and foremost, they want the turtles. And then the EPF capture Donatello.

First I’d like to thank the amazing @morikothehalfangel​ for beta reading this for me <3

I put way too much effort into researching the effects of torture by asphyxiation for this oneshot wow. I now know more about asphyxiation than I ever wanted to know but ~accuracy is important~

I mean I think it's accurate. I DID MY BEST OK and also I've been in the hospital because I couldn't breathe (asthma not torture i promise <3) so I based some of it a little on my own experiences, just amped up a billion percent.

Also I know a lot of people are like "THEY'RE TURTLES THEY CAN HOLD THEIR BREATH FOR A WHILE" but like- that's a great headcanon that I love reading about but considering they nearly did suffocate in that one episode where that one triceraton released all the air from their cell, I don't think it's canon. And even if it was canon I wanna write this so I'm disregarding it pff 

PLEASE mind the warnings in the summary. Don't read anything that will trigger you, take your safety first ok? That's more important than reading a fic.

Okay, that's all. Please enjoy! and suffer. 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: - Self hatred - Depression - Asphyxiation - Torture - Briefly mentioned suicide attempt - 

Everyone is good at heart.

If you asked April 5 years ago what she thought about the inherent good or evilness of humanity, that would've been the answer she gave. A typical one, maybe, full of clichés and misplaced optimism, but it was also one she truly believed. Sure, sometimes that goodness had been shoved deep down and locked in a cage. Sometimes it was so long gone even its owner would forget it existed. Sometimes it was buried so deep not even god could tear it from its depths and bring it to the sunlight... but regardless, it was there, somewhere. To be good or not was just a matter of choice. Everyone was good at heart.

But that was then. And this was now. The time she believed in the goodness of all was before a time before a seething Casey Jones had marched into her apartment and shoved his phone into her face, a time before he said nothing as she read the article on the screen, her confusion slowly morphing into absolute horror.

"Mutant Responsible for Destruction of City Finally Apprehended", it read, and below that deceptive headline was a photo of someone she knew all too well. His mask was gone, one eye bruised shut, and a hand outstretched towards whoever was holding the camera in a last ditch effort to hide his face. It had been a fruitless endeavor, unfortunately; five more photos followed, and April had no doubt in her mind that there were plenty more in circulation elsewhere. Every news station in New York—no, scratch that; every news station in the country was rushing to cover this story, and probably a few hundred more channels across the world as well. It was big news after all. After years of trying to catch the so-called evil mutants the public had taken to blame for all of their problems, they finally got one of them. It didn't matter how wrong the stories were... the people who caught him were going to be praised as heroes. 

"They got Donnie."

Casey's words weren't necessary—April easily recognized who was in the photo—but hearing them still made her breath hitch, all hope of this being a dream or imagined crashing down around her. This was all too real. Humans capturing the four brothers had always been a danger, they knew that, but to actually have it happen to one of them...

April guessed that after Tokka returned to Earth three years ago, they should've seen it coming. Bishop had tried his hardest to repair the Utrom's relationship with humanity, specifically the Earth Protection Force in this case, and had very nearly succeeded too. But the officials he was working with were stubborn, and after seeing the turtles in action themselves, they were terrified. It didn't matter that they had been working to save them or that they weren't the bad guys; those damn officials only saw a powerful threat they couldn't control. 

They were evil men. And evil destroys what it can't control.

So they shattered what was left of the Utrom council's relations with humanity, and ensured the rest of the world did too. And then they used Earth's real saviors as scapegoats.

Aliens coming to Earth, capturing humanity countless times and mutating them into mindless slaves? The mutants' faults. The destroyed buildings and sounds of fighting and screaming all night long? The mutants' faults. The increase in robberies and kidnappings by inhumane creatures and robotic ninjas? The mutants' faults. Giant alien turtle lighting New York on fire? Mutants' fault. Dinosaurs invading? Mutants' fault. Ghosts rising? Mutants' fault. Cultish whispers? Mutants. It was all their fault.

And at the front of it all, they blamed the turtles specifically.

The four brothers pretended they didn't care. All of them. Mikey just joked about it, claiming those humans were clearly just jealous they couldn't save the Earth like they did. Raph got angry, obviously, but he pretended it was because of just 'humans in general', and that the accusations weren't hitting as hard as everyone knew they were. Leo used this to reason that they just needed to try harder and save more people... If they did more good, he said, people would speak up to defend them. He never quite managed to hide the hurt that came when no one did.

And Donnie... Donnie took all the allegations right to the heart.

He buried himself in inventions, the only one of his brothers who didn't seem to suffocate from the isolation, and never spoke of it. April tried to talk to him and Casey did too. Both were all too aware of the thoughts Donnie had about himself. While his brothers had their own insecurities, Donnie held the worst ones about just what he was. A Monster, he believed, despite their assurances he was anything but. This situation just made it all worse. 

And then Donnie left the lair by himself. He'd gotten himself captured.

"What about his brothers?" April whispered, eyes still locked on the article. Casey sighed.

"They're obviously panicking... Leo's planning a rescue mission tonight, and Raph massacred his punch dummy and Mikey's trying to keep both of them from going on a suicide solo mission right now, in the daylight. It's not looking too good, Red, this isn't like any other time..."

It wasn't. They'd all been captured by the enemy before, but that was by underground organizations and alien terrorists and chaotic mutants. This was more than that. Donnie had been arrested by the EPF, a military organization... if you could even call it an arrest. He sure as hell wasn't gonna get a lawyer, that was for sure, and he'd probably be turned over to scientists the second he refused to tell them anything useful. This wasn't something they could just sneak into, fix, and then be on their way.

This was the entire United States government they had to go up again.

"We gotta get him out of there," April said, pushing the phone away. She couldn't look at it for another second. "He's barely been gone a day and his face is plastered everywhere online, we don't have a lot of time. When are the guys planning on going?"

"Right before sundown, so in about an hour," Casey said, returning his phone to his pocket. "I don't know what Leo's got planned, but we have just enough time to get ready and I told them we'd meet them there."

April nodded firmly, without even a hint of hesitance. 

"Let's get going."

***

When Donatello was little, he liked to pretend there was a monster living under his bed.

A common nightmare among children, he knew what it was. Most children feared what lived under their bed, and when they did think there was one hiding there... it wasn't because they wanted it there; it was because they hated the idea. They would beg their parents to run into the room and shine a flashlight underneath, to hug them tightly and assure them that monsters weren't real, it's all in your head. Some braver children might even get up to check themselves, armed with a foam sword or a plastic spear, bravely embarking on a quest to kill the monster, for it was an enemy.

But to Donnie, the imagined monster under his bed wasn't hated. It was a friend. It was someone like him.

The fear of being a monster had started within the turtle when he was small, when he first started learning about the world above him. His brothers had found mankind interesting, sure, but it was he who wanted to know everything about them. What were their kids like? What did they eat? Why did they live so close to the sky? How did they look? How come they couldn't meet them? These were the questions that he'd sneak into Splinter's room for answers to long after his brothers had gone to sleep. 

Because Donnie wanted answers, and his curiosity would never be satisfied until he knew all there was to know.

But as Donatello's knowledge grew, so did his own insecurities. He now knew what human children were like (different from him). He now knew why they couldn't meet them (they would be terrified). Because Donnie was a mutant. He was the scary monster they imagined under their beds, the one they wanted their parents to protect them from... He was what they feared.

So he took comfort in imagining his own monster under his bed, one that was even scarier than him. But he never hated or feared this monster. No, he wouldn't be like the human children. It didn't matter how scary this monster was, he decided, he would befriend and love it no matter how it looked. Because he was a monster too, and monsters had to stick together, right?

It only took a few years longer for Donnie to stop pretending he had a monster hiding under his bed (though he still took comfort in the thought every once in a while), but it took him much, much longer to stop thinking of himself as one. So many nights of sitting beside Casey and April, both assuring him he was anything but, and so many long years of doubting his place in their lives. It took determination on all three's part but eventually, he even saw himself as something normal, someone who could actually fit in their tiny group of three instead of the monstrous invader they swore he wasn't.

"We want you in this too," April had sworn, and Casey confessed the same only moments later. Donnie had cried. A day later, he finally believed them, and the three started the happiest relationship of their lives. He finally found himself fitting in, and finally, finally... he thought he had defeated his thoughts.

But that was then, and this was now.

He stood still as dozens of curious, terrified, and disgusted eyes watched him, some trying to get the best look while others tried to distract themselves from his existence. Never before in his life did he feel more like a monster than he did now. All of his progress had been destroyed.

Donnie stared at the men surrounding him on all sides, cursing the glass prison they kept him in. They didn't even let him have enough dignity to keep him in a normal, dusty, dirty cell with corners, did they? No, they had to keep him in a round glass one like some animal, one they could keep a constant watch over from all sides. He couldn't hide anywhere. He had to stand there in the silence.

Donnie wanted nothing more than to hide in his shell just to get away from the prying eyes. But that wasn't normal, was it? He knew that'd only make them stare even harder.

He wished they'd say something. The EPF had taken him, fair enough—Donnie knew they had been after them for months now. But instead of the torture, lifelong prison sentence, scientific experiments, or questioning he had expected, there was... nothing. After the tranquilizer they had shot him wore off, he'd been shoved in this stupid cell and left there for at least 6 hours now. Guards and various EPF staff watched him, spoke in hushed whispers about him and made a few phone calls, and even took a few photos, but that was it. They hadn't spoken a word to him.

Donatello didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified about that. He just wanted to go home.

"Come on, guys..." Donnie muttered, eyes focused on the single window in the room. It was starting to get dark out; his brothers should be coming soon, right? They were at least ready to go by now, if they weren't already on their way. He just had to be patient. "Please hurry..."

"There you are." 

Donnie quickly turned around, cursing himself for not realizing that someone had snuck up behind him.  To be fair, he had felt watched from all directions since the moment he had woken up, and still did, so one more set of eyes hadn't been much different, but even so... He was a ninja, damn it! He should have realized that someone had approached his cage before they even said anything.

There stood one of the EPF officers, clearly one of their higher-ups, judging by the many many badges he wore on his chest. He had a grim look on his face, yet a hint of satisfaction was hidden in his eyes behind the frown on his lips. Though Donnie didn't know him, he could tell just by looking at him that this was not a good man; he was a man out for power and without sympathy. 

Donnie folded his arms across his plastron defensively and met his eyes. However, he was still upset about being given the silent treatment for three hours, so he didn't bother to reply. 

They hadn't answered him, so why should he answer them?

"Not a big talker, huh? That's alright." The man said, voice matter-of-fact and calm as could be. "As long as you answer my questions, we won't have a problem, mutant. You don't have to talk any more than that, I promise."

Donnie clenched his teeth. The man smiled.

"You and those other turtles have been on the run for quite some time, haven't you?" He continued, hands behind his back. "I understand you four may not have much experience with the law, as you have been completely disregarding it for years now... but that's not something that's allowed.

"You're wanted by every government and legal system in the world for your crimes against humanity. You've nearly caused the extinction of mankind a dozen times over, yet you refuse to face consequences for your actions. On one hand, I see why you'd be scared to get caught for that, but it's still quite dishonorable, avoiding justice like that. You're running from the law. What should one make of that, mutant?"

'That you're all ungrateful pieces of shit,' Donnie thought, but managed to keep to himself. They nearly sacrificed their very lives just to save this stupid planet, yet here they were blaming him for it. He couldn't keep the scowl off of his face as the man continued to stare, though, no matter how hard he fought to keep his expression blank.

"It's not safe to let you continue to wander the Earth on your own. You'll try and kill us all again, and that's an international threat we can't let slide. But," The man leaned forward slightly, placing a hand over his heart as a sign of trust that Donatello knew better than to believe, "I am a very powerful man. You tell me where we can find the rest of those responsible, and I'll make sure you and the other mutants live a decent life. In captivity, of course, I can't change that, but it will be relatively peaceful."

Donatello tried to calm his breathing, keeping his mouth firmly shut. He didn't give a damn what this man would say; he'd never give up his brothers' locations—who did he think he was? He wouldn't tell him where any of the other mutants he knew were either. The EPF could do whatever they wanted with him... He'd never speak a word.

"Of course, there's other ways to get information out of you," The man continued, voice overbearingly calm and carefree. "Maybe not on where those other freaks are hiding. But there's plenty to learn from mutants' very existence, isn't there?" He grinned. His teeth were white and clear, just perfect enough to hide the rotting soul inside.

"We released your photos to the press already. Can you believe how many labs have offered hundreds of millions, one or two even billions, for you? We're still getting calls and emails as we speak."

Donatello was no idiot, he could have guessed that had happened already. But hearing it... He tensed, hoping the man couldn't see the fear he knew was already apparent on his face. He just had to ignore him. His threats wouldn't mean anything; his brothers would be there soon to save him, way before they could even consider doing that for real.

Besides, the EPF had spent months searching for and trying to capture him. Surely, they wouldn't just sell him off to the highest bidder that easily...

Right?

"Still not talking?" The man's expression darkened, "You don't understand just how much trouble you're in, do you? You're going to pay for what you and the rest of the mutants have done to humanity; I don't care whether you actually feel guilty for it or not. You will be sorry, Mutant."

"Donatello."

"What?"

"My name's Donatello," Donnie hissed out, too angry to even care that he broke his attempt at silence. "Stop calling me that when I have a name."

"I can call you whatever I damn well please, freak," The man replied, pointing a finger at him as though he were lecturing him, "You're lucky I'm even speaking to you right now. Everyone else I spoke to figured said it'd be pointless, and we should just ship you off right now. Mutant, I don't think you realize just how lucky you've been because of me. In fact, you oughta be thanking me."

Even the damn Foot Clan called them by their names, Donnie realized bitterly. Even the Foot treated them with more dignity than these people.

"The decision hasn't been made yet, but the Earth Protection Force is still deciding what to do with you. We've recently built a new high-security prison for mutants specifically in mind, and that had been the plan all along. However, we could always use the money we'd get from your bidders to upgrade it and arrest more-"

"We didn't do any of it!" Donnie couldn't take it anymore. He knew arguing was pointless and he knew it was probably what the man wanted, but he didn't care. "We saved the world, you- my brothers and I were the ones who stopped all that shit from happening! We saved Earth when you and the entire Earth Protection Force couldn't!"

"That's not how I remember it."

"Bullshit! You know you're all lying!"

"Memories are subjective," The man said, "However, the general consensus among the government, public, and us has been that the Kraang backed off due to our brief but effective alliance with the Utrom. The Triceratons-"

"You just want a damn scapegoat because you kept failing!" Donnie exclaimed, slamming his fist onto the glass walls in anger, teeth barred in rage and desperation. He knew his words were falling on deaf ears, but he couldn't take these lies. "We beat them! Not the EPF! We brought all the humans back from Dimension X and saved you all from the Kraang's mind control while you guys did nothing! We stopped the Triceratons! Me and my family nearly died—no, actually some of us did die—just trying to save the planet! The humans who did help us had nothing to do with you guys and it's because of us that you're even breathing right now! We-"

Donnie choked.

While he was shouted, the man had pressed some button, and it turned out the cursed dome he was in had more uses than just keeping him in one place after all. It started with a hissing noise from above and seconds later, a burning in his lungs. He gasped as the air turned frigid, the oxygen escaping from his grasp before he even realized what was happening. His hands flew to his throat. He couldn't breathe.

He fell to his knees harshly, ignoring the pain that came with it—all of his gear, including his knee pads, had been taken before he'd woken up—and clawed at his neck. Out of the corner of Donnie's eyes, he could see the satisfied gleam in the man’s eyes as struggled, gasping for air that just wasn't there. The edges of his vision flashed black.

But just before he passed out, the hissing changed and the air came back. Donnie gasped and inhaled with relief, savoring the feeling he hated that he still took for granted after how many times it had been taken away from him. He could breathe. He didn't bother rising from where he knelt.

"Tell me, Mutant," The man's voice was cold, and Donnie felt a shiver run down his spine. "Why would a monster sacrifice all that for the human race?"

Donnie didn't know.

"Well?" The man said, "That wasn't a rhetorical question. Answer me!"

"Earth's... it's ours too," Donnie hissed out, clenching his fists, "It's... it's just as much ours as... as yours."

"Is that so?" Donnie wanted to nod, to say yes, but he was frozen. Or at least, it felt like that. Humiliated and weak and terrified, Donnie wondered if they had paralyzed him when he wasn't paying attention... But he knew the only thing keeping him from moving was his own damn mind.

"I think you know as well as I do the Earth wasn't built for freaks like you," The man said, "And we sure as hell aren't going to let you just steal it from us. Not while I'm here, and not anytime soon after, you hear me? Earth's ours. It always has been."

Donnie felt a wave of relief wash over him when he turned, preparing to leave. He was still trapped in hell, but at let no one would talk down to him more if the man wasn't here... no privacy or not, it was better than nothing.

But then, the man stopped, tilting his head in thought. He turned back around and addressed another person on the other side of the room.

"Lower the oxygen percentage. Keep it just high enough so it doesn't pass out, but I want it as low as possible without that happening."

He walked away just as the hissing began, and Donnie couldn't help the tears from forming.

***

Two weeks.

Casey couldn't believe it had already been two full weeks since they'd last seen Donnie. How could they have let this have gone on for so long? They should have gotten him back days ago! But no, the calendar didn't lie; it had been fourteen days.

Fourteen days since they'd seen his gap-toothed smile. Fourteen days since the EPF had so cruelly snatched him from his patrol. Fourteen days since they kidnapped him and did who knows what with him. Fourteen days since they'd locked him away.

Thirteen days since they had first tried to get him back.

Casey grimaced at the memories. The first mission had been a failure, as had the second and third ones. Each building had been a fake one, framed as the place where they imprisoned mutants but really only a distraction. Donnie had never stepped foot in any of them... and with each trap they landed in, the team grew more and more desperate. Angrier and angrier. More and more heartbroken.

Casey hated it. 

"What do we do, Red?" He asked April one night, sitting on the ledge of a roof and tossing a pebble off of it. It landed on a trashcan below with a satisfying clink, a sound that usually would've elicited a grin from Casey if it weren't for the circumstances. How could they have failed so much?

"I really don't know," April sighed, shaking her head, "We've searched everywhere in the city. I don't think they've sent him off somewhere, since I can still sense him in the city... but I have no idea where. I can't pinpoint him."

Casey looked out across the city, eyes sweeping over every building lining the distance. Though he knew it wasn't exactly true, it had felt like he'd searched every single one of them by now from top to bottom. Why couldn't they find Donnie? How many hideouts did the Earth Protection Force have anyways? So many in the city seemed excessive. Surely, they couldn't be hiding too many more.

Casey's gaze turned towards the water as the sun hovered over the horizon, casting beautiful crystals of light over everything it touched. It reflected off of the waves and met Casey's eyes, lighting them up gold.

And as they did, an idea lit up in his mind.

"April," He said, spinning around to face her, eyes wide and jaw slack, "What if we're looking in the wrong place?"

April frowned, folding her arms across her chest. "What do you mean?"

"They already know we know about all their buildings and hideouts in the city," Casey said, words tumbling from his mouth in a rush, "So why would they hide him somewhere we could find him? I'd guess they took him out of the city or even country, but you said you still sense him here. You know what that means?"

April shook her head. Casey rose to his feet, standing tall as he raised his arm and pointed towards the waters surrounding Manhattan.

"I bet they're hiding him out there, on a ship." 

***

Donnie lost track of the days.

He'd tried to keep count, he really did. But there were no windows and no visible clocks, and each second spent in that damned dome felt like years. The circumstances inside didn't make it any easier to keep his mind clear.

Yes, the man had been true to his word and kept the air as unbreathable as was possible. His limbs were weighted and every movement took so much effort; speaking wasn't even an option. Even something as simple as thinking seemed nearly impossible when one was suffocating, and Donnie had no idea how to escape, not with how thick the walls were and how guarded he was. It wasn't normal glass, it was something special, something he couldn't break. All he could do was choke on nothing.

But he wasn't stupid. As impossible as the situation was, he tried to make do.  He sat still and folded his legs, staying still and remembering the breathing techniques Splinter had taught him, just like they had when the Triceratons had tried to suffocate them.

At first, it had worked, but then the men caught on. They lowered the amount of oxygen he was getting even more and spoke loudly of their plans for him as a mutant, purposefully destroying his concentration with panic and anxiety. Meditation was impossible.

And even if it wasn't? Even breathing techniques couldn't save him from suffocation that lasted for hours on end.

So Donnie would gasp and claw at nothing, pleading internally for the air to return yet being met with no answer but amused chuckles. The sides of his vision would flash black and slowly grow until he was this close to passing out and ready to feel the sweet release of unconsciousness—Donnie started looking forward to that time when he could get a few short seconds of nothingness before he felt like he was dying again. Just take him away already!

But then, the second they noticed he was unconscious, the air would return all at once. Donnie would fling up from where he was laying and inhale the precious, beautifully crisp air with more appreciation than he'd known was possible. He knew it was just to keep him from dying on them and to keep him awake to suffer even longer, but he could never keep the relieved sigh from escaping his lips.

"So," The man would always approach him around this time, the same disgusting human every time. "Are you ready to tell me where the other mutants are?"

And every time, Donnie would only reply with an adamant shake of his head and narrowed eyes filled with false confidence. The man never stayed much longer after that. He would only shake his head in disapproval, mutter something along the lines of "those damn mutants..." or something about them being criminals, then he'd turn and walk away. The hissing would start not too long after that.

And the process would repeat.

On the fifth day, he really did pass out, and they were forced to give him a few hours to breathe properly, lest they gain a corpse replace their hostage. He didn't bother moving from the floor, feeling nothing yet too much all at once. He didn't think, only longed for his family's rescue.

On the tenth day, the man opened the cage long enough to walk inside and slap him once, twice, and scream in his face. 'Monster!' he screamed, 'Murderer!'

Donnie didn't react. The man was out of shape and old, someone Donnie knew he could normally take out without breaking a sweat. But after four days of struggling for a single breath, he didn't have the energy to do anything but stare.

At least he couldn't think enough to agree with his accusations.

On the thirteenth and fourteenth days, Donnie didn't bother moving once. Most of those 48 hours were spent zoned out and unaware of the passage of time. You could tell him it had only been an hour, or even that it had been three weeks; he'd have believed you either way.

On the eighteenth day, Donnie realized they weren't coming.

The men gagged him before he could bite his tongue hard enough.

***

It should have been obvious.

Staring at the ship now, April wondered how the hell no one on the team had thought of it before. Of course, the EPF would expect them to search their usual hideouts! Of course, they'd be ready for that! They wasted so much time searching the places they knew about that they had just... forgotten that this was more than just another gang or mafia or clan. This was a government agency with resources beyond imagination, they didn't have to reuse the same locations again and again and again.

April was just thankful they had stayed in New York. 

"We go in, but we're focusing on stealth," Leo instructed his team—Mikey, Raph, Karai, Shini, April, and Casey—and pointed towards the ship, "We're not trying to take them out. Getting Donnie out is our first priority."

"No objections there," April replied, holding onto her tessen tightly. Casey scoffed from behind her.

"Yeah, definitely agree," He said, "But the second he's out, I'm burning the whole ship down."

"And everyone aboard responsible," Raph added on, eyes dark. Karai nodded in agreement while Shini grinned with delight.

Neither Leo nor Mikey had anything to say against that. Neither did April. 

***

The air came back sooner than usual for Donnie this time.

He wasn't entirely sure why, usually it took a lot longer for them to give him a break. Or maybe it had been longer than he'd realized? Time was a strange thing, after all, and Donnie knew that he'd been out of it for a while. 

He should probably stop questioning it and just be thankful for the brief break.

But now hands were on him, shaking him by the shoulders and screaming in his ears. What were they even saying? Donnie didn't know; tuning them out was easier. He was just tired of hearing the threats against his brothers and his family and friends and accusations. They could do what he wanted with him—he didn't care anymore.

But then they screamed again, and Donnie tried to focus, because the word they were saying over and over again was so foreign, yet so familiar. It was something he hadn't heard in a long time... wait, were they-

"Donnie!"

The man never said his name.

Donnie blinked several times, looking up and trying so desperately to see who it was. He distantly felt them remove the gag, though he knew he wasn't going to talk anyways, not with how dry his mouth was. 

"He's alive," A voice cried out, shaking with relief. He wished he knew who it was, but try as he might, he couldn't make his vision come into focus. All there was was blurs of lights and colors, distant faces, and tears (though he wasn't sure if they were his or not). Green and black and red and orange and blue and more black and gray and yellow... He weakly reached out towards them.

Someone took his hand, squeezing it tightly. He wasn't sure who, but he was suddenly filled with an unbelievable wave of trust and peace.

For the first time in a long time, he felt okay.

Someone picked him up and suddenly, the lights and colors were changing, and he was moving. He blinked and he was outside and then he was sat down outside.

He blinked again, and finally, he could see the stars.

"Donnie?" A voice asked, and he finally recognized it. "Can you hear me?"

April.

He weakly nodded yes, and Casey was there too, grabbing his hand. Mikey sat right next to him. 

He tried to sit up, still savoring the beautiful night air, never before appreciating the air of New York City as much as he did at that moment. But something else was on his mind; where were the others? Where were Leo and Raph? Where were the others he knew he saw with them?

"Hey, calm down Love, they're okay," Casey quickly calmed him down, tightening his hold on his hand. Donnie shook his head.

"W-where?" 

"They're just finishing up something," Mikey promised, wrapping his arms around his brother in a tight hug. "They'll be out soon."

Donnie nodded, finally with someone he knew he could trust the words of. He breathed in deeply, and looked back forward, out to the ship he now realized he must have been on.

And just as he caught sight of it, a brilliant light erupted from the ship, a radiant explosion of reds and oranges and yellows, casting the same colors across the waves. Fire spread across the deck that was left. From the corner of his eye, he could see his brothers and Karai and Shini approaching, having finally finished their mission, but Donnie could only keep his eyes on the destruction behind them. Donnie imagined that he could hear the man's screams through the wreckage, though he knew individually, he couldn't; they must have been drowned out by the cries of everyone still aboard.

The fire raged on. It was a sight of pain and death and destruction, one that only a monster would take delight in to watch.

And Donnie smiled.

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tw torture #tw asphyxiation #tw suffocation #tw suicide mention #tw suicide attempt #tw self hatred #tw depression #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt capriltello #tmnt 2012 donatello

[reinerispretty]

rotations. (zuko x f!reader) pt4

hello!! sorry i’ve been posting so much, i’m just really excited to get to the bulk of the story. like i said before, if you have any suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!! 

pt 1

pt 3

pt 5

(Y/N) looked from her new friends to the Fire Nation soldiers that surrounded them. A little voice in the back of her head said she could reveal herself now. She could pretend like she had been tricking the Avatar and his friends and get them captured. But if she did that, the world might lose its last hope of beating the Fire Nation. If she fought alongside the Avatar, she condemned herself to being labelled as a traitor. 

(Y/N) had been in a city of the Earth Kingdom for two years and she was sick of it. Not of the city itself, or of its people, but of living in a city occupied by the Fire Nation. She watched from the balconies as their soldiers mistreated the people whose families had lived there for centuries. They beat the men and starved the women and children. It was sickening to watch and when she brought it up to her family, she received drastically different replies. Her mother insisted that she simply stay inside all day so she wouldn’t have to hear the injustice that was happening in the city below them. Her father threatened to write to the Fire Lord that she was questioning his orders. She wondered if her father had always been an evil man, or if it was a new occurrence. 

Witnessing what the Fire Nation was doing to innocent people did not sit right with (Y/N). Sometimes she dressed in Earth Kingdom clothes that she had purchased in the market and asked people about their experiences with the Fire Nation. This war had raged on for 100 years, so everyone she had spoken to had a story to share. The Fire Nation had torn apart families, destroyed homes and crops, and imprisoned innocent children for simply being earthbenders. It made (Y/N) sick to her stomach. 

So she decided to get back at the Fire Nation. It started small, like stealing food from the kitchens to distribute amongst the poor, but she eventually went as far as sneaking into the jails at night to free innocent earthbenders. It was hard, maintaining appearances as a child of a Fire Nation general while also freeing the innocent people her father’s forces had captured. She feared every night when she crawled into her bed that one day she would wake up to soldiers standing above her. But she could not stop herself from helping people who needed her. 

(Y/N) was in the town square, playing with a few of the Earth Kingdom children, when she noticed a small group lurking in the shadows. They were dressed unlike anyone she had ever seen, so she knew she had to follow them. It was two boys and a girl walking together and peering around each corner to make sure that no Fire Nation soldiers lurked on the streets. While their backs were turned, (Y/N) made her presence known by clearing her throat. The trio jumped and turned around, and she was face to face with a boy in a yellow tunic and pants with blue arrow tattoos, and another boy and a girl from the Water Tribe. 

“You guys aren’t from here, are you?” (Y/N) asked. The girl smiled. 

“No, we’re not. I’m Katara and this is my brother Sokka. We’re traveling with Aang.” The youngest boy raised his hand to smile and wave. “He’s the Avatar.” 

(Y/N) felt her mouth practically drop to the floor. The Avatar was standing right in front of her! The Fire Nation’s greatest threat was a boy who was barely older than ten. “This place is crawling with Fire Nation soldiers. Follow me.” She led them through alleyways and secret passages until the were at the door of the basement of her house. It was once home to the best earthbender in the city, but her father had done quick work with kicking him out and sending him to prison along with the other earthbenders. The basement remained untouched by her family and its servants. (Y/N) was pretty sure those who lived upstairs didn’t even know that it existed. 

She shut and locked the door behind them. “This is the safest place in the city.” 

Sokka looked at her incredulously. “Are you serious? This is the Fire Nation general’s house! Did you see all those guys out front?” 

“I can promise that I’ve been hiding out down here for a long time. I don’t even think they know it exists.” She sat on the floor and patted the dusty earth beside her. Aang sat down, then Katara, then finally Sokka, after a bunch of suspicious glances at (Y/N). 

“You haven’t told us your name,” Aang noted, but he didn’t seem accusatory. She felt sweat begin to accumulate on her palms. Should she tell them her real name? Would they know that she was the daughter of the Fire Nation general? She looked at their kind expressions (except Sokka’s, he still looked very wary of her) and decided to take a risk. 

“My name’s (Y/N).”

“How long have the Fire Nation been here?” Katara asked. 

“About two years, I think,” (Y/N) responded. 

“Have you been here the whole time?” She nodded. 

“The soldiers...they’re awful. I’ve seen what they do to the people here. They tear families apart, they starve the citizens, they lock all the benders in prisons. It breaks my heart.” 

“We’ll try to help, in any way we can.” Aang said. (Y/N) shook her head. 

“There’s no way you can do that. The Fire Nation literally wants you dead!” 

“Trust me, we know,” Sokka grumbled. 

“We have a bit of experience breaking benders out of prison,” Katara said with a smile. “Maybe you could help us do that! Are you a bender?” Warily, (Y/N) nodded. 

“I’ve been bending since I was a kid but I’m scared to use it around here. I hope you all understand.” Aang and Katara nodded. 

“It’s settled then. Tonight, we’ll break all of the benders out of the prison and help them take their city back.” The trio put their heads together as they started to formulate a plan. 

“Hey, (Y/N),” Sokka said. “Are you just gonna sit there or are you gonna give us some intel on where the earthbenders are being kept?” 

(Y/N) felt herself smile. She scooted closer to the three kids to begin discussing their plan. For the first time in a long time, she felt less alone. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright, so their plan didn’t go quite as expected. 

Their night began as easily as it could. They covered themselves in cloaks (Y/N) had found in the basement and traveled back alleyways to reach the prison where the earthbenders were kept. She tried her best to remember the layout of the prison on her father’s desk that she had seen for a moment, but she ended up leading them to many close encounters with Fire Nation soldiers. 

“I’m sorry!” She whispered once more as Sokka had to quickly knock out one of the guards. “I told you guys, I’d only barely seen the map! I don’t know why you put me in charge!” 

“I guess we just thought that the Earth Kingdom girl might know a little bit about the Earth Kingdom prison!” Sokka whispered back, causing (Y/N) to deepen her frown. 

“Guys, it’s okay,” Aang said, putting himself in between the two teenagers. “Where there’s guards, there’s prisoners. I heard some more voices down to the left. Follow me.” 

Quickly and quietly they followed Aang through the twists and turns of the prison. While Sokka held his boomerang and Katara had water at her hip, (Y/N) felt utterly useless. There was no way she could use their bending to help them. If she did, she would be outed as Fire Nation immediately, and they would lose all trust for her. 

They finally found the cells where the prisoners were kept. The benders looked at them suspiciously, but (Y/N) pulled back her cloak to reveal her Earth Kingdom clothes. “Don’t worry,” she said as she worked at one of the locks on the cell door. “We’re here to help.” 

She and the others made quick work of the locks, freeing each and every one of the benders that had been arrested. Although the people were weak, they assured the group that they would be ready to fight if necessary. Successfully, they led the prisoners out of the prison. That is where their real trouble began. 

Somehow, an alarm had been sounded that alerted the guards of the escaped prisoners. Fire Nation soldiers began flooding out of the prison at rapid pace. The group of four stopped in their tracks and Aang turned back to the rest of the prisoners. “Go!” He shouted. “Get back to your families! We’ll hold them off!” 

The prisoners turned and ran back toward the city. The guards there had no doubt noticed all of the commotion, but by the time they thought about stopping it, it was too late. The prisoners, although weakened, were fighting to take back their city. 

(Y/N) felt a pit of fear in her stomach. She felt like she could do nothing as Aang, Katara, and Sokka fought off the Fire Nation soldiers. Soon, their backs were pressed against each other as the soldiers had them surrounded. 

“You said you’ve been bending since you were a kid,” Sokka said to her through gritted teeth. “We could really use some of that right now!” 

(Y/N) looked from her new friends to the Fire Nation soldiers that surrounded them. A little voice in the back of her head said she could reveal herself now. She could pretend like she had been tricking the Avatar and his friends and get them captured. But if she did that, the world might lose its last hope of beating the Fire Nation. If she fought alongside the Avatar, she condemned herself to being labelled as a traitor. 

(Y/N) took a deep breath and felt the fire roar through her body. It was a powerful feeling. Her father had once said that fire ran through the bodies of the people of the Fire Nation, and that was one thing he said that she actually believed. She began shooting fire blasts at the soldiers. While they had been trained by the military, she had been trained by some of the best firebenders in the entire Fire Nation. She danced around the people she had grown up beside, knocking them unconscious with her techniques. With the help of the others, they swiftly conquered the soldiers. 

Aang landed on the ground and pointed his staff at her. “You lied to us.” 

She felt ashamed of herself. “I know. I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry?” Katara demanded. “You’re the enemy!” 

��I know,” (Y/N) exclaimed. “But I’m not! I promise, I’m not. I’ve seen the bad things the Fire Nation has done to this city. And I tried to help where I could. I would sneak the citizens food, or I--I would break them out of the smaller jails. I knew I couldn’t break everyone out of the prison by myself, so when you offered to help, I knew I had to take it.” 

“How do we know you’re not trying to double-cross us right now?” Sokka questioned.

“I’m the daughter of the Fire Nation general who conquered this city! I could’ve turned you in when you first got here, but I didn’t. By helping you guys, I’ve betrayed the entire Fire Nation.” She turned to Aang. “Please, let me escape with you. I promise, we’re not all that bad.” 

Aang stared at her for a moment, eyeing her up and down. (Y/N) weighed her options as she watched him ponder. If they didn’t accept her, she would have to run away regardless. She wasn’t sure if she could survive on her own, but she knew she would receive a punishment far worse than death if she remained here. 

“I believe her.” She let out a sigh of relief. 

“Are you kidding me?” Sokka shouted. “She’s Fire Nation! She’s the enemy!” 

“The Monks taught me that we can’t define one person based on the actions of the group. (Y/N) proved that she’s on our side by helping us today. She’s right, she could’ve turned us in so many times, but she didn’t.” He turned to her. “You can come with us. You know how the Fire Nation thinks.” 

Katara and Sokka grumbled unhappily, but she couldn’t contain her smile. She hugged Aang tightly as tears formed in her eyes. “Thank you, thank you! I promise, I won’t be anything but helpful to you all I want nothing more than the reign of the Fire Nation to end.” 

---

Tag List!

@soft4kei , @bubblebars , @pleasantfankingdom , @vintageroses1014516

thanks so much for reading! 

part 5

#atla #zuko x reader #sokka x reader #aang x reader #katara #toph #sokka #aang #zuko #azula #avatar #writing #fanfiction

[jerseydeanne]

When I last sat down with Prince Harry for an honest, candid, funny and frank interview, he told me he would use his “privileged position” for “good stuff” for “as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until [Prince] George ends up becoming more interesting.”

Harry, then 31 and one of the most popular royals, seemed aware of his sell-by date. “There’s nothing worse than going through a period in your life where you’re making a massive difference and then suddenly ... you drop off. You want to make a difference but no one’s listening to you.”

Recently it has been almost impossible not to hear Harry, although the jury is out on how much people are still listening. So when he announced last week that at the age of 36 he is writing his “intimate and heartfelt” memoirs, “not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become”, it felt as if Harry thinks his greatest hits are already behind him. After settling in America, why the rush so soon after the soul-baring interview with Oprah Winfrey and a glut of other interventions?

A friend of Harry’s says that while he was still a working royal, he harboured a Prince Andrew complex of slipping down the pecking order and becoming irrelevant: “Harry has always been in such a rush to make an ‘impact’, because he thinks he has a limited shelf-life before the public want to hear more from George and his siblings and he worries that after that, he’ll turn into his uncle.”

Harry now wants to tell us about his “dedication to service” and how he’s “worn many hats over the years”, because “my hope is that in telling my story — the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learnt — I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think.”

The privacy-obsessed prince will let us into his head for a rumoured multimillion-pound advance, with “proceeds” from sales of the book published by Penguin Random House in late 2022, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, going to charity. Harry is said to have been working on a manuscript for more than a year with the American ghostwriter JR Moehringer, who worked on Andre Agassi’s memoir. Whatever is — or isn’t — in the book it is certain to outsell Meghan’s The Bench, which has shifted 6,195 copies here. Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Harry denied reports of a four-book deal, with a second book after the Queen’s death, as “factually inaccurate”, confirming “there is only one memoir planned” and “no project co-ordinated around” the monarch’s demise.

We are likely to hear Harry’s take on the very public breakdown of his parents’ marriage, the impact on his childhood and more on the devastating effects of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when he was 12. He has said he failed to deal with it for years, leading to a period of “total chaos” and a near “total breakdown” in his twenties. Of walking behind his mother’s coffin, Harry has said: “I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.” Will the book reveal who asked him and what choice, if any, he was given?

How Harry chooses to relay the “party prince” years, when he was living it up in London nightclubs and smoking cannabis at his father’s Highgrove home, leading Charles to arrange a visit to a rehab centre, will be fascinating. Will the period be analysed retrospectively as the reeling aftermath of his mother’s tragic death? Or will there be candour about a young, privileged prince having a blast and doing what many young men in his position would have done?

“I never thought he was out of control then,” says a source who knows Harry well. “In his new Californian guise, I think he’ll tell it honestly, framed in the context of his ‘journey’ towards ‘healing’. I think there will be a lot of the old broken me versus the new fixed me who dealt with the pain, and a lot about Meghan as the woman who liberated me to deal with it all.”

A seasoned royal watcher says they are “looking forward to the Vegas chapter”, one of Harry’s most notorious escapades when he was photographed naked playing strip billiards in a Las Vegas hotel suite in 2012 shortly before being deployed to Afghanistan. “Too much army, not enough prince,” Harry later said, admitting: “I let my family down.”

Having become so outspoken on race and “unconscious bias” after meeting Meghan, the first mixed-race woman to marry into the modern royal family, what will Harry tell us he learnt after calling an Asian army colleague “our little P*** friend” while at Sandhurst military academy in 2006? The incident was widely condemned, a year after he was forced to apologise for wearing a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party. “He’ll be smart enough to know that to gloss over those incidents would undermine the book,” says a royal source who knows him.

Harry’s account of family life will be intriguing — how the triumphant trio of William, Kate and Harry briefly became the “Fab Four” with Meghan, their fairytale wedding with the no-show by Thomas Markle, the father-in-law he has never met, William and Harry’s rift, the painful split from the royal family and their new life in America, right up to the controversy last month surrounding the naming of their new daughter, Lilibet. The Sussexes called in lawyers to dispute a BBC report that the Queen was “not asked” about the intimate nickname. “False and defamatory” said team Sussex. The BBC stood by the story. Buckingham Palace did not dispute it.

What will Harry’s version of life inside and outside the royal goldfish bowl look like? He has pledged total honesty, and is “excited for people to read a first-hand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful”. But as the Queen’s statement following the bombshell Oprah interview in March pointed out, “some recollections may vary”.

In that interview, and in the mental health documentary series Harry made with Winfrey, he claimed talking about mental health with his family was off-limits. Royal life “wasn’t an environment where I was encouraged to talk about it”. His comments left some scratching their heads. After all, Harry, William and Kate championed ending the stigma around mental health for years in their hugely successful Heads Together campaign.

On the Armchair Expert podcast in May, Harry also credited “a conversation I had with my now-wife” for his decision to have therapy. Yet in another podcast in 2017, Harry said he sought professional help “three years ago” encouraged by William, who told him: “You really need to deal with this.” The inconsistencies in some of Harry’s recent recollections have been well documented, leading some to describe him as a “revisionist historian”. Harry’s rumoured ghostwriter has spoken about the importance of honesty.

There is little hope in royal circles that will happen. The Sussexes’ recent outbursts have driven once-loyal aides to despair. “I fear they may sail into the sunset now, convinced they did the right thing by speaking ‘their truth’,” says one. “Now I hope everyone shuts the f*** up.”

Charles has been portrayed as an emotionally and financially stingy parent. A source close to him says: “He has genuinely been so upset by it all. He just doesn’t recognise any of the examples or narrative.” Friends of William and Harry say William, who was forced to publicly defend his family against accusations of racism after the interview with Winfrey, “despairs” of his brother but the shock factor is wearing off.

Harry has done brilliant things in his time. Moving the dial on mental health, serving his country at war and launching the Invictus Games are just a few of his achievements. Nobody should begrudge him wanting to bang the drum there, and if he wants to bare his soul on how he has coped with undeniable adversity and tragedy in his life, fair enough. But if his book becomes the main course of a score-settling feast then he will lose many more hearts and his greatest fear will be realised — “no one is listening”.

#prince harry #prince andrew #memoir #british royal family #meghan markle

[bakubitch-minusultra]

Not Alone: Chapter Eleven

-> an apocalyptic series with bnha characters but without quirks because im the writer and i can do whatever the fuck i want :P new character unlocked

-> Word Count: 2.1k

-> Warnings: none(?)

-> Taglist: @5sosfckss @laudthingcat @zphilophobiaz

The sun set as they reached the top of a hill she never climbed. It was in the opposite mountain range from where she had been and she was nervous of it. She didn’t know what lied on the other side. Her feet hurt and she was tired.

He layed a bunch of bows on the ground and gave Y/n a very appealing look. It made her stomach hurt.

She walked to where he had chosen to sleep and smiled at it. There were branches on the ground which made a mat for sleeping. He had chosen a huge tree with great bows to protect them in case it rained. He was like her father, more than she expected him to be. Not that she ever expected to meet him.

“They think you’re dead.”

He put the last bow down and sat on it. He took the jacket he had brought with him and put it down, patting it for Y/n to sit beside him. Her steps hurt her feet now that they had stopped walking. She dropped onto the ground beside him and watched his eyes sparkle as darkness took over the night sky. She tucked her bow and quiver next to her, always close.

“I was taken to the work farms. We were hiding in this old house like your farmhouse. I wasn’t smart like you though. I never thought about bunkers or having a few different houses and traveling between them. I was an idiot. Anyway they came. I hid Mina and Kirishima and let them take me.”

His face was stoic. She wanted him to kiss her again. She started to wonder if he was going to.

“How did you get away from the farms?”

“I met some people while I was there. Doctors who were forced to work the breeder camps and other scientists. They convinced me I needed to start a revolution from the outside. I escaped with some of him.” He shook his head, as if his thoughts entertained him and brushed his hand through his hair again. He looked at Y/n and smiled, “You know a good spot to clean up around here?”

She shook her head, “Never been here before. You’re starting a revolution?”

He nodded, “The camp we were just at is one of our peace camps. It’s like a retreat. The children and young and old stay there. We have people coming and going constantly. Didn’t you notice how easily you were welcomed?”

“I guess. I just thought that’s what people were like when they live in a camp like that. Aside from the machine gun escort that is.”

He laughed again. She liked the sound of it but it reminded her of Kirishima.

“Well that was a big wolf Y/n. How’d you end up with him?”

“His mother gave birth and must’ve gotten sick shortly after. Hades was waiting for me at the door of the cabin one day. He was tiny then. I could hear his brothers and sisters in the woods. I found the mother dead and half eaten surrounded by the other cubs who were weak and sick. It was awful. I shot them and burned them. It’s the closest the infection ever got to my cabin. He was immune anyway so that’s helpful.”

“He’s immune? Naturally? Maybe he never ate any of the mom.”

Y/n shook her head, “Nah, she wasn’t the only sick thing Hades has eaten. He likes the infected.”

He grimaced, “That’s disgusting. Disgusting and lucky all at the same time.”

“It is.”

“What do you know about the start of the infection?”

Y/n shrugged, “People got sick and some died but others lived and went a little crazy.”

His eyes looked dark as his expression lost its humor and the sun set completely. “No Y/n, people didn’t just get sick. The infection was spread on purpose. Everything that’s happened has been a plan all along.”

“That can’t be true.”

“I wish it weren’t. There was something called the United Nations. They did all of this.”

Y/n felt sick, “They were evil?”

“Not evil, just detached. The world was running out of resources and everyone was constantly putting a hand out to them and asking for aid and food and money. The UN had been warning us forever about global warming and the ice melting and the ocean becoming acidic. Anyway in 2012 all of Greenland's ice and snow melted in a week. The earth started to enter a drought. We thought it was a cyclical event but it wasn’t. It was man made. We had pushed it too far. The same time all this was happening, a conference was held in Rio about the environment. Canada, the US and China pretty much pulled out and admitted they had no intention of slowing their pollution to the recommended level. It would be too hard on their economies. That was the final straw. Apparently the UN had a backup plan for a worst-case scenario such as that. They had a plague. It had a vaccine, which made it easy to spread and then control. The problem was it mutated. They spread the virus at the same time they had bombs placed deep in the ocean along the Japanese coastline. They bombed the shelf and pretty much wiped Japan off the face of the earth and made the west coast of North America a target for huge tidal waves.”

It felt like a movie to Y/n. It didn’t feel real. It felt like the ramblings of her father, before.

“How could you know all this?”

“The work farms. I met people who had been part of the initial plan. The plan was to reset everything. Instead the UN decided they wanted to start humanity over but set it up to succeed this time. The breeder farms were built where only the fit and healthy were allowed to reproduce."

She shivered just imagining it.

Bakugo laughed, “It isn’t what you think. I know what everyone thinks happens but it’s not. The girls only breed every three years and only up to three times. The pregnancy isn’t the result of rape, it’s done using science. The baby is made in a lab and then inserted into the woman’s womb.” Y/n gagged and Bakugo laughed. “The religious had the same reaction. The UN never mentioned this plan to anyone but the very high ups. It never went well.”

“The girls are still taken against their will and made to make babies against their will.”

She saw his head nod in the dark, “Yup and the babies are not God’s children to the Christians. Anyway the UN runs the military but again, they sit in their closed office and plan using numbers and facts and data. They don’t leave it to see what the world looks like or how corrupt the military is. They’ve built six cities world wide from the ashes and rubble of previous cities. They plan on cleaning every inch of the world.

Y/n’s head was spinning, “What about the borderlands?”

“They can’t use anymore bombs without affecting the weather and pollution again, so the plan stands at leaving us to our own devices until they have this part of the world cleaned up. Then they’ll come round us up.”

“Why?”

“They want the diseases and illnesses bred out. They won’t allow those people to live and breed.”

“Oh my god it’s like a nightmare.”

“It is. On that note, we need sleep. You sleep first and I’ll keep watch.”

“That’s some bedtime story.” She liked Kirishima’s better. He laughed and Y/n watched his silhouette in the dark for a moment. He didn’t lean in to kiss her. He was watching the hill they climbed. “How long have they been breeding science babies?”

His outline turned to her and she saw the shine of his eyes in the dark,”A long time.”

“Are the babies different than the rest of us?”

“Yeah.”

The broken branches led them to a camp in a valley on the opposite side of the mountain where her farmhouse sat. The size of the camp was disturbing. Bakugo smiled as he saw it and walked directly up to the man holding the gun amid the trees.

“Halt.”

“Oi dunce face!” Bakugo shouted.

The gunman smiled, “No shit, Bakugo you’re alive. I heard they caught you.”

Bakugo laughed, “They think they did. Is Monoma still in charge?”

The man Bakugo called dunce face pointed to the camp, “He’s still in the smallest tent, you know what he’s like. Still paranoid they’ll bomb us.”

Bakugo laughed and pointed towards Y/n, “This is my friend Y/n.” She felt hurt when he called her his friend. She didn’t know why but the word stung.

“I’m Denki,” He put a hand out and Y/n noticed he had a nice smile. She met his golden eyes and smiled back, “Nice to meet you.” His eyes flickered to Bakugo and an even bigger smile crossed his lips, “So where’d ya two meet?”

She looked at Bakugo.

“She walked up to the mountain retreat the other day with a huge wolf for a pet and an unruly teenager.”

Denki’s eyes grew wide, “You have a wolf?”

She nodded. She wanted to find Mina and Kirishima. She didn’t understand why Bakugo wasn’t busting inside to see them. She felt herself fidget in place,

“Well I’m gonna go see Monoma and see what’s new on this side of the hill.”

They walked toward the camp as the sound of birds squawking filled the forest. The gunmen lower their weapons as they hear the sound and they walk past them. The camp opened as the forest spread thin. It looked like the camp they were at before except that everyone was wearing a firearm or knife. At one point Y/n swore she saw a sword. There were no children here.

“Bakguo! You’re alive!”

A girl with long blonde hair and cut off shorts ran and jumped into his arms. Y/n’s heart stopped as she watched the girl kiss his lips. The lips that only just kissed Y/n the day before. She felt heat radiating from her cheeks. She heard about men who weren’t tied down in romance novels and felt sick thinking that she had fallen for one. All the years of reading the novels and judging the ladies who seemed strong and smart and then fell for a jerk. Reality hurts. She wanted Kirishima and Mina and her cabin and Hades and Jirou. She wanted to let the world kill itself and hide up in the mountains. She never wanted to kiss Bakugo again. She couldn’t believe she was so reckless.

“Camie what the hell. You know me better than that,” He twirled her around and looked sheepishly at Y/n, “This is Y/n.” Y.n nodded and gripped her bow.

Camie beamed at her, “Wow nice find Bakugo, He save you from the farms too?”

Y/n raised an eyebrow, “I don’t need a hero.”

Camie looked at Bakugo, who was staring at Y/n. Y/n walked past him and started to look around. If he didn’t want to find his friends then that’s his problem. Y/n would be damned if she would let them live another moment without the knowledge that their asshole of a friend was alive and well.

“You pissed at me?” Y/n didn’t turn and continued along, eyes desperately searching the crowds of people.

“Bakugo.” He shook hands with a very tanned man with the whitest smile Y/n had ever seen. People continued to greet him, but she couldn’t hear them anymore. She saw what she was looking for. She saw a tall guy limping with shaggy red hair. She broke into a run and dived into his arms when she was close enough to him.

As she made contact he turned. His face was exactly as she remembered it. He had her in his arms before she could speak a word.

“Y/n oh my god. Y/n it’s you. Holy shit I thought they got you.” He was planting kisses everywhere across her face.

“Where’s Mina?”

Kirishima’s kisses stopped but his grip on her face was still strong, “They took her.” Y/n felt her heart drop and wanted to collapse into his arms and sub.

“Shitty hair.”

Kirishima dropped to his knees in front of Y/n. His hands left her face and fell onto the tops of his knees.

“Bakugo? Bakugo is that you?”

Bakugo rushed at him and lifted him up. He pulled him into his embrace. The friend’s hug was fierce but all she heard was the sentence ‘they took her’ repeating in her mind.

Kirishima looked back at her, “You found him?”

Y/n shook his head, she had no words. They hug and cry and laugh but she was stunned. Finally able to speak, she muttered, “Where’d they take her?”

Their reunion no longer meant anything to Y/n.

#panty raid #mha #bnha #apocalypse #apocalypse au #mha angst #bnha angst #kirishima eijiro x reader #bakugo katsuki x reader #kirishima eijiro #mina ashido #bakugo katsuki #jirou kyouka #denki kaminari #kirishima #mina #bakugo #denki #y/n #kirishima x you #bakugo x you #reader insert #x reader #kirishima x reader #bakugo x reader #eijiro x reader #katsuki x reader #eijiro kirishima #ashido mina #katsuki bakugo

[pastelwitchling]

Nobody ever knew this, but the day Alex had lost his leg, Michael had known about it.

Since the very moment Alex had told Michael that he’d enlisted, something had begun along the anguish in his heart. Plans. Michael had known secrecy was law in the military, but that hadn’t been nearly enough to keep him from strategizing. How would he keep an eye on Alex? How would he make sure his man was okay? He wasn’t family, he didn’t know any of Alex’s actual family, and if anything happened to him, Michael would be the last to know, if allowed to know at all.

So he’d hacked security systems he shouldn’t have hacked. He would realize later on that Alex could’ve done in seconds when he’d only managed after almost a year of nonstop research and covert sites and shady computer creeps. But he’d been desperate, and when he’d found Alex’s name registered under a certain unit, he knew the lost paychecks and sleepless nights had been more than worth it.

Every morning after he woke up and every night before he went to sleep, he would pull up the soldier listings, and touch Alex’s name, thinking of him, pretending he was warm and safe wherever he was.

“I’ll see you again,” he murmured to himself, hoping that somehow Alex could hear him.

Then one day, Alex had disappeared off the listings. Michael had only been half-awake when he’d checked, but as he scrolled to where he knew Alex’s name should’ve been and couldn’t find it, panic had quickly set in and he’d paced the airstream, the computer in hand, scrolling through the names a million times.

It took threatening another hacker with an abnormal strength that he would never explain to find Alex’s name again under the Captains listing. The hacker had cursed at him as he’d ditched the money and run for his life, but Michael didn’t care. He was too busy staring at Alex’s name, reminding himself that his airman was safe and unharmed. That he was a captain now.

Michael didn’t know how he felt about that. Alex was a captain, rising in the ranks. He had his own team with other airmen that followed his orders. On the one hand, the bigger part of him wondered if this meant Alex would never come back. On the other . . . his Alex was a captain. The pride made Michael smile.

“That’s my boy.”

For the next five years, nothing had changed. Michael kept checking to make sure Alex’s name was still there, the awards piling up. Michael had just begun to fear that he really wouldn’t see Alex again in that final year, but he looked for Alex’s name anyway. He didn’t care, he just wanted to know Alex was safe.

Then, one night, with a pain in his chest that he couldn’t explain and an anxiety that made him want to look up Alex’s name before his shift was even over, Michael found his airman with a Purple Heart listed beside him.

His brows furrowed, and he clicked on the linked information. He couldn’t remember what the purple heart was for, but dread settled in his stomach anyway and made him nauseous. Then he saw it. And he remembered. The Purple Heart was awarded to soldiers who were gravely wounded in battle.

“No,” he breathed, standing up with the computer in hand, staring at the report as if expecting it to be a joke. “No.”

An explosion had gone off where Alex’s team had been stationed.

“He’s alive,” he told himself, the very thought making him tremble and his vision shatter. “He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive.”

But his leg . . . his leg had been . . .

Feeling sick, Michael left the computer on his bed, grabbed his jacket, and drove with lightning speed to the Wild Pony. He stopped outside the doors, trying to steady his racing heart. Maria would know. One of Alex’s brothers might get in touch with her, someone would’ve gotten in touch with Mimi, and she would’ve told her daughter. Either way, Maria would know, and if she was happy and unbothered, then Alex was fine, and it was a glitch in the system. Everything was fine.

Michael stepped inside, the usual chatter and jukebox music of the bar turned to faint background noise, nothing so intoxicating and frighteningly inviting as it usually was. That was because Michael was here on a mission.

He made a beeline for the bar, tilting his head up and down looking for Maria. He spotted a head of brown curls and his eyes fell on Maria on the phone. Something like barely processed relief began to settle in his chest as she laughed.

Then he got closer, and realized Maria wasn’t laughing at all. She was crying. He froze.

Another waitress came up behind her and helped lead her into the backroom, patting her back consolingly before she took over the bar. Michael wordlessly turned around and left.

He sat on the ground against the airstream until dawn started to peek through, staring at Alex’s name. He had been taken to DC, the name of the hospital there in the report.

When his fingers turned numb and he started to forget where he was, his mind consumed with Alex, lying awake in his hospital bed, probably screaming his head off, alone and scared and miserable, he got to his feet, into his truck, and started it without a word.

He drove and drove and drove. He stopped once to put in gas and forced a greasy burger down his throat to stave off the blinding hunger before he kept driving. The streets changed, the desert faded, white houses sat side by side, and Michael soon found himself parked in front of the hospital where Alex was.

Michael was out of the truck before it was properly parked, and he stormed up to the front desk. “What room is Alex Manes in?”

The receptionist blinked. “Are you family?” Michael swallowed through a clenched jaw. That seemed to have been answer enough for the older woman. “Sorry, he’s only allowed family in this time –”

“Please,” he whispered. “Please. I came all the way from Roswell in New Mexico. Please just give me five minutes. Just five minutes.”

The woman eyed him for a moment, as if realizing something. Her gaze turned sympathetic and her shoulders slumped. “Fifth floor, room 52 in Recovery. Five minutes –” she warned but Michael was already running towards the stairs, taking them two steps at a time.

He ran down the hall and slid into a supply closet to avoid being spotted by a group of doctors making their way to the breakroom.

“I’ve never seen anybody like that captain before,” one of them said, and Michael’s heart leapt into his throat. “He just turned so . . . quiet.”

“What do you expect?” the other guy sighed. “You met his father. Those Manes men are made of stone.”

As soon as they were out of sight, Michael was searching for room 52. He came up to the door, and swallowed thickly. Hanging on the wall next to the door was a plaque that read, Recovery. It made Michael sick that Alex would ever need to recover from anything.

He hesitated and opened the door, holding his breath. He’d expected to see seventeen year old Alex sitting up in bed, idly strumming a guitar with maybe a bandage over his eyebrow. As he stepped inside though, he found a twenty-eight year old man, lying asleep in bed, the blanket pulled up to his chest as a heart monitor gave a steady beep beep beep. He slept on his back, his head turned the other way, his hands folded on his stomach.

But Michael could still make out the slight stubble on Alex’s jaw, his hair still soft by cut short and sticking out in different places as if refusing to stay down in its natural state. His cheeks were rosy but hollow, and the black circles around his eyes seemed darker than ever. He looked so much older, in more ways than one.

Michael’s eyes burned as he approached, something like a chocked whimper sounding in his throat as he reached out and touched Alex’s jaw, the stubble scratching his fingers. Even when Alex had been a teenager, he’d woken at the drop of a feather. It was a testament to his exhaustion and grief that he slept so soundly now, not anything resembling peace.

It was now that Michael saw him that he realized Alex had never known peace a day in his life. Life had been taking and taking away from him, and this. This was the biggest loss.

He looked down Alex’s form under the blanket, the muscle evident after years of training, and his breath caught. There was nothing below the right knee, the blanket revealing just what he’d suffered by lying flat on the mattress where his leg should’ve been.

A tear fell down his cheek and a sob escaped his lips. He leaned down, and pressed a wet, trembling kiss to Alex’s forehead. His skin was still cool and he still smelled like vanilla.

“I’m right here with you, baby,” he breathed against his skin. “Alex, I’m right here. I didn’t want to leave you alone, I’m sorry.”

His other hand reached down to hold Alex’s, but he stayed over him, pressing another kiss to each of his tired eyes, his cheek, his nose, his ear, his jaw. His lips hovered over Alex’s, eager to kiss him, but then –

“Mmh,” Alex stirred, his brows knit as his fingers twitched in Michael’s.

Michael let him go, stepping back. He swallowed, waiting anxiously for Alex to wake up, realize Michael was here, and ask him what the hell had brought him. Alex probably didn’t even remember him, didn’t care to see him, regretted ever having kissed him –

“Gue . . . rin,” Alex murmured in his sleep. “Guerin . . .”

Michael stared. Alex repeated his name in a whimper this time, his brows pinched tighter together as he stirred restlessly in bed. He was having a nightmare. He was having a nightmare, and he wanted Michael.

His breaths began to quicken, and Michael blinked out of his haze, closing the distance between them and taking Alex’s hand in his again, his hold tight. He smoothed Alex’s bangs out of the way and kissed his forehead again. “I’m right here, Alex,” he murmured. “I’m not gonna leave you. I’m right here.”

Slowly, Alex’s breathing calmed again and the tension in his body faded. His right leg lay still, and Michael couldn’t help but kiss him again. Maybe this would be okay, after all. Maybe Alex could wake up and see him, and Michael could promise that he would stay with him, take care of him. He’d promise that he loved him anyway.

Then a knock came and Michael straightened. The receptionist from downstairs came in with a clipboard in hand. She sighed, her expression genuinely apologetic. Michael didn’t care. Her news wasn’t good.

“Five minutes are up,” she said. “I’m sorry, but you have to go.”

“But –”

“His family is scheduled to arrive at any minute,” she said. “I’m really sorry.”

Then reality hit. As much fun as hypotheticals were, as much as he wanted to believe he was Alex’s family . . . he just wasn’t. He and Alex weren’t married, he hadn’t even spoken to Alex before he’d left all those years ago. They weren’t strangers, they could never be strangers, but who knew if Alex even wanted to come back to Roswell now that he was injured? Who knew if Michael was the one he wanted to see when he woke up and remembered he’d lost a limb?

His hand fell away from Alex’s and he stepped back, his eyes on the airman. This couldn’t be the last time he ever saw him. He wouldn’t let it be. He just wished he could look away now.

Alex had gone still again, sleeping soundly, and Michael finally tore his gaze from him and made it to the door before the nurse softly asked, “Who should I tell him came to see him?”

Michael looked at Alex, sleeping and unaware that the mess of a cowboy he’d once loved had come running. That Michael had loved him enough to come.

His eyes burned, but before anyone could see the tears, he shook his head and said, his voice hoarse, “Nobody. Tell him nobody came.”

And without another word or glance, with the intention to destroy the computer that he’d used to keep track of Alex all these years the second he got back, Michael left the hospital, left DC, left Alex.

#alex manes #michael guerin #malex #malex fic #malex fanfic #malex fanfiction #roswell new mexico #roswell nm #malex angst #malex fluff #tyler blackburn #michael vlamis

[avengerscompound]

Until the End of the World - 6

Until the End of the World: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  1658

Rating:  E

Warnings: pregnancy

Synopsis: Four years after Steve and Bucky got to the bottom of the HYDRA conspiracy that had led to you and your son being hunted for the first three years of his life, you, Bucky, and Steve have carved out a nice life together.  Things are calm and you feel like a family unit.  When Geo starts calling Bucky and Steve ‘dad’, a decision is made to try and add to your family.

Things aren’t as calm as they seem.  When your pregnancy hits the papers, HYDRA rears its head once again, and Steve and Bucky need to track you down to protect the family they had created.

Chapter 6

Things were a little bit of a whirlwind after you got that positive pregnancy test back.  You suddenly realized how much needed to be done before the baby arrived, and panicked because all of a sudden you felt the need to do them all at once.  There were renovations to the apartment to get underway.  You needed to finish your master’s thesis.  You had baby things to buy - furniture, clothes, diapers.  That had sent you on a spiral where you got hung up on how you’d done this the first time on the run.  Living out of your car with an infant who didn’t even have his own bed.

Those days were over and now you had people.  Steve and Bucky noticed the panic spiral you went into, and sat you down and helped you through it.  Plans were laid out to move the four of you into a spare apartment within a few weeks so construction could get started.  They mapped out a timetable to make sure you had plenty of time to work uninterrupted on your thesis. They assured you that before the baby was born they would buy everything needed and that Pepper might even throw you a baby shower given you’d been so involved in throwing hers. They had reassured you about the life you had given Geo, telling you that you’d done more than most to keep him safe and he was growing up to be a kind and decent person.  That everything you couldn’t give him then, he had now, and more and that this new baby would be safe and loved just like Geo was, which was the most important part.

Which just left the doctor’s appointments.  You started by going down to the Stark Tower medical bay to get a blood test to confirm the pregnancy, have a check-up, and work out when your due date should be.  They then gave you a referral to an ObGyn and booked you in to have an ultrasound at the eight-week mark.

Even though five weeks was only three week's wait from the appointment, it felt like forever.  You wanted to share the news with Geo and they wanted to tell their friends.  So when you changed into the hospital gown and got into the ultrasound chair, you were buzzing with excitement, but you had the feeling that as excited and nervous as you were, Steve and Bucky were doubly so.

While your boyfriends were fantastic fathers to Geo, they had never done this bit.  They didn’t have the experience of fear and excitement as you waited for the shape of the baby to show up on the screen - part of you expecting the worst but mostly just excited to see how much they had grown.  They hadn’t done birthing classes or felt the kicks of their child as it grew.  None of that was important to being a parent, it was just new for them.

Bucky moved quickly to your side and held your hand and Steve shifted in close beside him.  An ultrasound tech who worked on staff stepped into the room.  “Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes,” she said, respectfully.

“Miss Brown,” Steve said, with a nod.

“Can we maybe, not do the Captain America thing in here?” You asked.

The technician giggled and nodded.  “I’ll try.  Not sure I can do it.”

Steve chuckled and a soft blush crept into his cheeks.  “Of course, sweetheart,” he said, running his hand through the back of his hair.

“So are we all ready to see this baby?”  Brown asked.

“We definitely are,” you answered.

She adjusted the chair so you were raised higher and lying back more.  You spread your legs as she prepared the probe.  “Alright, try to relax.  There will be a pinch,” she said.

She pushed the probe inside you.  You squeezed Bucky’s hand as you winced at the pinch.  Internal ultrasounds weren’t painful exactly, but they were pretty far from comfortable. Not to mention having a stranger poke around in your nether regions was not what you’d call a fun day out.

Steve and Bucky kept their eyes locked onto the screen, while you were slightly more interested in their reaction.  Your gaze flicked from the screen to their faces and back trying to gauge how they were feeling.

You saw the little bean shape that was the embryo growing inside you before Steve or Bucky picked up on what it was.  The flutter of its heart was so clear to you and a smile spread across your face.  It was just a vague blob but it was the start of a new path of your life, one you could see as being settled and happy and full of love.

There was part of you that worried that it wouldn’t come to pass.  After all, the last time you were in this situation you were with someone you loved just as much as you loved Steve and Bucky thinking this was going to be part of the happily ever after you had already started.  Instead, you’d ended up a widow on the run with an infant.

You hoped this was different.  Steve and Bucky had taken you off the radar and disbanded the group that had been hunting you.  You lived in a secure private military installation.  Geo went to school at a very secure private school.  There was no reason for you not to be safe now.

“Do you see this little shape here?”  The tech said, pointing out the embryo on the screen.  “Looks a little like a kidney bean?”

“Is that it?”  Steve asked.

“That’s your baby alright,” the tech confirmed.

A smile slowly spread over Bucky’s face.  It was pure and genuine and full of love and hope.  He beamed up at the screen as the tech pointed out different things. The heartbeat, the head, and the arm and leg buds.  He couldn’t take his eyes off it.

Steve looked more nervous than Bucky.  His eyes were flicking all over the screen and watching the notes the tech typed up as she did her measurements.  “It’s alright, right?  Everything is fine?”

“Looks good so far, Captain Rogers,” Brown said.  “I’ll forward this to the doctors here and your ObGynthough.  They can go through it with you.”

He relaxed and the smile on his face got bigger.  He turned to you and Bucky, leaning in a little. “That’s our baby,” he whispered. 

“Can you believe it?”  Bucky asked.  “I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it, Buck,” Steve said.  “It’s happening.”

Bucky grinned and pecked Steve’s lips and then turned to you and kissed your temple.

The tech removed the probe and hit a button on the machine that started printing out some of the pictures.  “We’re all done here.  Like I said, the results will be forwarded to the doctors,” she said as she cleaned off the probe and lowered the chair back down.  “You can go get dressed if you like.”

“You wiped yourself off and got up, heading into the cubical to change.  You could hear them talking as you redressed, though you couldn’t hear what they were saying.  When you came back out, Bucky and Steve were looking over the little print out of the ultrasound and they both looked up at you expectantly.  “You ready?”

“Yep,” you said.  “Good to go.”

The three of you headed out to the elevator, and both men wrapped an arm around you as you rode it back up to the apartment.  “Can we tell Geo now?”  Bucky asked.

You considered the question for a moment.  It was still early and things still could go wrong, but your experience had been that that was true no matter what.  You had the little printout of the embryo.   Now was as good a time as any to let Geo know he was going to be a big brother.

You nodded as the elevator stopped and the three of you got out.  “Yeah.  We should do it.  Let’s get him from school and take him to get ice cream and we’ll tell him that he’s going to be a big brother.”

“That sounds perfect, sweetheart,” Steve said.  “What about the others?”

You giggled and headed into the apartment.  “So excited to tell everyone.”

“This is big for us,” Steve explained.  “We didn’t think we’d ever get a family and kids.  Especially not with each other.  Especially not with each other and someone else.  We want to share it with the rest of the people we care about.  There’s not always a lot of happiness to go around.”

“You haven’t told anyone at all yet?  Not even, this is a secret you can’t tell anyone?”  You asked.

“I swear, I haven’t,” Steve said, shaking his head.

“Not even Sam?”  You asked.

“No, not even Sam,” Steve agreed.

“Bucky?”  You asked.

He held up his hands.  “Who would I even tell?”

“Okay,” you said with a nod.  “We can hold a dinner party, invite all your friends, and Geo can tell them.”

Steve smiled and pulled you into his arms.  Bucky wrapped himself around you from behind and nuzzled into your neck.  “That sounds completely perfect,” Steve said.

// NEXT

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