#I will die for my girl Evangeline

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box Series— Gender Reveal Edition

23-24 Season Masterlist

surprise! i lied!

soooo turns out, i’m impatient! this is NOT a post in real time, meaning all penalty box posts as of now will be as if she's still having twins and doesn't know the gender!

JANURARY 12, 2024

yourusername

liked by _quinnhughes, trevorzegras, and 28,611 others

yourusername i'm elated to announce that during my eighteen weeks sonogram, a third future little chaos creator was discovered🤍

the best mom in the world came with us to find out the genders for our gender reveal party (planned by yours truly with mom and taryn <3), and trevor and i cried tears of absolute joy when we found out that we'll be having all girls!

trevor and i put a lot of thought into the names for our girls. since trevor's got some greek in him, we thought it would be cute to pick out names with greek origins!

"pheobe" means bright, radiant, and she was a titaness as the goddess of intellect

"katerina" is a derivative of the greek word katharós, which means pure (plus, she's a character in the vampire diaries, and the originals' saying is that family is "always and forever")

and "evangeline," even though it's also from english origin, still has greek roots. it's a combination of the words evangelos, which means good news, and elen, which means shining. the news that we'll be having a third girl is so good, so we feel that it fits perfectly<3

thank you to everyone that flew in for the day! it means the absolute world to trevor and i and i'm so beyond lucky to have each and every one of you🩷

quinn, jack, and luke, you three are going to be the most amazing uncles. our girls will never know a world without love; not like i did. you three gave me love. you showed me what it was like to have a family, to have friends. i know we fight and argue and tease each other relentlessly, jack and i a little more than the rest of us do with each other, but we're still each other's best friends. we'd do anything for each other and have proven that time and time again. if my girls are even a fraction as close as we are, they'll be the luckiest girls in the world.

griffin and ava, i know we aren't as close as i'd love to be, but seeing you two today for the first time since we told you both the news made my heart so warm. you're both going to be such great influences for the girls and i hope that their eyes light up when i tell them that uncle griffin and aunt ava are coming to see them!

cole, alex, and jamie, trevor and i put a lot of thought into choosing you three as godfathers and i know we made the best decision possible with you guys. you've all become some of the most important people in our lives, both individually and as a couple. i hope that the girls grow up to have their own cole's and alex's and jamie's, because i know i'm a better person with all of you by my side. i love you three!

i could go on and on and make individual messages for everyone, and i won't, but my own twin needs a little extra love. jack, we might not be twins by blood, but we are by our souls. we were meant to meet each other and to live on the same street as kids. we were meant to grow up together and figure out who we are as people with each other by our sides. no one knows me like you do. not trevor, not quinn, no one. i hope the girls have that. i hope the girls can read each other's minds with just one look, i hope they have secrets that will die with them, i hope they fight for each other even more than they fight with each other (and know that they do it out of love). most of all, i hope that they earn the nickname "triplets of terror," even though no one does that better than us. i love you insanely🫶

i love you all! thank you for coming, thank you for showing me love, thank you for being there for me, and thank you in advance for adoring our triplets! trevor, i cannot wait to take on this next chapter of our lives with you. i love you, always🤍

tagged trevorzegras

view all 436 comments

trevorzegras you're my whole world, my sweet girl, but our world is about to get a lot bigger so you're going to have go make room! i love you, forever❤️

yourusername i love you so much it makes me sick, my gorgeous, magic, mesmerizing sweet boy<3

trevorzegras that might also be the "morning" sickness

yourusername pissy it's still going on😭

trevorzegras it'll all be worth it when our little lights of chaos escape out of you

jackhughes @/trevorzegras you're my little light of chaos

yourusername @/jackhughes i’m having his babies can you please not flirt with my man?

jamie.drysdale @/yourusername you're MY little light of chaos

yourusername @/jamie.drysdale oh?🤭

trevorzegras @/jackhughes this is your fault

jackhughes @/trevorzegras it usually is

user49 SCREAMING AND CRYING IN THE CLUB OMFG😭

jackhughes sissy, you've outdone yourself with this caption and i'm totally not emotional right now. i really do hope these girls show all the good parts of us twins of terror❤️ i love you crazily!

yourusername i *am* emotional right now and i’m not scared to admit it because you're my soulmate and i want my girls to not be afraid to express their love <3

jackhughes was i guilt tripped and complimented in one long sentence?

yourusername and ridiculed a lil bit!

jackhughes please don't teach the triplets how to bully me

yourusername no, that's my job, jacky boy! they can bully quinn

jackhughes i’ll teach them to bully luke and you can teach them to bully quinn?

yourusername you've got yourself a deal, soulmate

_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 the twins of terror are plotting again

lhughes_06 @_quinnhughes that never goes well for any of us

colecaufield @/yourusername can't you only teach them how to be nice? and giving? and all the best parts of you?

yourusername @/colecaufield awww, you sap! no <3

trevorzegras @/colecaufield she's mostly kidding

colecaufield @/trevorzegras the girls will be your spawns wether you teach them how to crazy or not

lhughes_06 @/colecaufield not if we kidnap them

_alexturcotte @/lhughes_06 i'm in

jamie.drysdale @/yourusername don't do this to us

yourusername everyone needs to CALM DOWN !!!! you all know the zegras-hughes triplets will be the kindest girls! if one is silly goosy, and another is shy, and the third is a brave wild child out to get us, they all will still have hearts of gold

trevorzegras @/yourusername yes they will, my love❤️

user6 i'm crying so hard right now oh my god😭

user77 NOW NO ONE IS LEFT OUT FOR BEING A GODFATHER😭

griffinzegras i love you, too, y/n! i can't wait to meet my future nieces

yourusername i hope you're their favorite uncle <3

griffinzegras that's the biggest compliment i’ve ever received

trevorzegras @/yourusername you really said "fuck my brothers"

yourusername @/trevorzegras they're my favorites so griffin needs more love to balance it

griffinzegras @/trevorzegras was i attacked and also complimented?

trevorzegras @/griffinzegras she's really good at that

_quinnhughes @/griffinzegras she somehow attacked and complimented all four of us at once

jackhughes @_quinnhughes which is really impressive i’m not gonna lie

lhughes_06 i don't enjoy this

yourusername @/griffinzegras @/jackhughes @_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 MWAH!

user86 oh this was so sweet i'm gonna throw up

anaheimducks congratulations on your three new ducks family members!

yourusername thank you, bestie admin!🧡

_quinnhughes you're going to be the most amazing mom, sissy, and i am so proud of you! i can't wait to love and spoil these girls! they're going to look so cute in canucks jerseys! i love you way past beyond❤️

yourusername i love you way past infinity❤️ i better get started on their uncle quinn jerseys!

_eliaspettersson @/yourusername and uncle petey jerseys!

bboeser @/yourusername and uncle brock jerseys!

colemcward @/yourusername i don't know what i'll be but they need my jersey, too

yourusername @_eliaspettersson @/bboeser yes, yes, they'll get your jerseys, too!

yourusername @/colemcward uncle cole jerseys!

_quinnhughes @/yourusername that's too many. i'm the most important.

yourusername @_quinnhughes be grateful that they'll have your jersey at all

_quinnhughes @/yourusername please let them love me

yourusername @_quinnhughes i’ll think about it

user16 i’m obsessed with these names🥹

user48 half the league is having babies and sissy said "hold my beer"

colecaufield i'm so honored to not only be your best friend number two, but now godfather to one of your future little crazies! you just keep making my life better, sissy❤️ i love you!

yourusername i love you, coley woley❤️ you deserve the world so i'm happy to share part of mine

colecaufield you're gonna make me sob in the club

yourusername do it, no balls

colecaufield i’m no longer emotional

yourusername then you no longer have balls

trevorzegras @/yourusername what did you do with them?

yourusername @/trevorzegras i gave them to aphrodite as an offering

colecaufield @/yourusername you're having triplets! i don't think the goddess of fertility needs more offerings from you

_quinnhughes i have no words

_alexturcotte @/yourusername give him his balls back

yourusername @_alexturcotte fine! bossy...

colecaufield @_alexturcotte thank you, king🙏

slknight35 congratulations, you two! i'm so happy i got to come and experience all the love today! i love you so much, sissy❤️ you're going to be the best mom in the world

yourusername i love you endlessly, spency! you being here means everything to me, thank you so much <3

trevorzegras thank you, knighty! it was great seeing you

slknight35 @/trevorzegras you're so obsessed with me

trevorzegras @/slknight35 damn right ;)

yourusername @/trevorzegras somebody gets around

trevorzegras @/yourusername i’ve got a lot of love to share

user43 the zegras-hughes triplets are going to have so many uncles omg😭

lhughes_06 you're the best big sister i could ever ask for, sissy! if you're anything with these girls like you were with me when we were kids, then they're gonna be the most loved daughters this world has ever seen. i love you, sissy❤️

yourusername i'm so lucky to be your big sister, lukey moosey! i love you so much❤️ i no longer want to sell you on the black market because this was so sweet, you sap!

lhughes_06 thank you?

yourusername you're welcome!

_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 i'll still sell you

jackhughes @_quinnhughes i already have some offers

lhughes_06 sissy! save me!

yourusername @/lhughes_06 you're on your own, kid

colecaufield you always have been

lhughes_06 damn

jamie.drysdale you two have been there for me in more ways than one and now i get to be a godfather for one of your daughters! that means more to me than anything else, i love you both!

trevorzegras you deserve it, jimbo! i love you, too

yourusername you've been by my side since day one, jamie baby, and i am so happy that you exist! i love you more than life❤️ you deserve this!

jamie.drysdale saps

yourusername always!

trevorzegras it's the theme of the day, apparently

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras jack and sissy are planning to teach your daughters how to bully us

trevorzegras @_quinnhughes you can't win them all

user96 AHHHHHHHHHH

avazegras i love you, too, y/n! i can't wait to spoil these girls! being the only legal aunt is going to be my biggest accomplishment🩷

yourusername can't wait for girls days! i'm so happy they're going to have you as a role model<3

trevorzegras they'll be obsessed with you, aves!

avazegras @/trevorzegras i know

yourusername we love a confident woman!

user63 i'm crying my eyes out oh my god

dylanduke25 CONGRATULATIONS, SISSY! these babies are going to be the most loved babies in the entire world!! i love you!

yourusername i love you more, duker! these girls will be surrounded by love and i'm so happy that you'll be apart of their lives

edwards.73 mom's so close to being a mom!! i love you, mom!!

yourusername @/edwards.73 i love you, too, son!

trevorzegras @/edwards.73 you're only a few months away from being further down the favorite child latter

edwards.73 @/trevorzegras why would you say this to me?

lhughes_06 @/trevorzegras RUDE

colemcward i hate it here

_alexturcotte i love you, too, girly hughes! i still can't believe you two are going to be parents! it feels like yesterday we were all plotting to get you two to realize your feelings for each other. i can't wait to become a godfather❤️

yourusername you've always been our biggest fan, lexi❤️ you're going to be the most perfect godfather!

trevorzegras oh you and your plots

_alexturcotte @/trevorzegras well they worked, didn't they?

jackhughes we made some good plots

slknight35 they were hard to do

colecaufield it took way too long to get these two together

_alexturcotte it was agonizing

yourusername @/jackhughes @/slknight35 @_alexturcotte @/colecaufield just don't take credit for us having babies. that was all us.

jackhughes @/yourusername that's disgusting

colecaufield @/yourusername that's what you think

yourusername @/colecaufield perv

user89 EVANGELINE LIKE THE PRINCESS AND THE FRONG SONG OMG😭

matthew_tkachuk my little mouse is so close to becoming a mama mouse! i'm so proud of you, sissy, you're going to be the most magnificent mom❤️ i love you!

yourusername the tears have returned! i love you so much, my rat❤️ these girls are gonna love their uncle matty! (matthew? chucky?)

matthew_tkachuk whatever they say first😂

taryntkachuk @/yourusername one of each

_quinnhughes uncle rat! uncle rat! uncle rat!

yourusername @_quinnhughes no! that's for me!

yourusername @/taryntkachuk genius

matthew_tkachuk @/yourusername don't confuse them! let's go with uncle matty

yourusername @/matthew_tkachuk mmmmm okay i think i can make that happen

user91 THIS IS THE BEST NEWS AHHHH

leocarlssoon congratulations, mom and dad! i can't wait to meet them! i love you!

yourusername i love you, too, my favorite son❤️ don't worry, they'll be getting your jersey, too!

trevorzegras thank you, son! i love you, too

masonmctavish23 @/yourusername your baby closet is going to be 90% jerseys

yourusername @/masonmctavish23 yeah, i'm thinking about not getting them yours to have more room

masonmctavish23 @/yourusername i did not hold back your hair while you threw up multiple times to be treated like this

leocarlssoon @/masonmctavish23 from morning sickness?

masonmctavish23 @/leocarlssoon that, her being too drunk, her just being sick. i don't know why it's always me but it is

jamie.drysdale @/masonmctavish23 she's allergic to you

masonmctavish23 @/jamie.drysdale she bites me so that can't be it

yourusername @/masonmctavish23 alright, alright, successful guilt trip! uncle mason jerseys for them!

trevorzegras is just need to address my love one last time on this post! y/n, i can't wait to marry you, and having our girls there is going to make our wedding even more magical. we've got this. we're going to give our girls the best life. you're my stanley cup, but you making me a dad makes me feel like i'm king of the world❤️ i love you, forever, my sweet girl!

yourusername i love you, always, trevor❤️ we've got this!

---

thank you to everyone that's been here since the beginning, and thank you to everyone that has joined in on this little universe later on for being apart of my little universe <3 i wouldn't be here without any of you loving sissy and supporting me! this, is for y'all🤍 tell me what you think! rb's appreciated <3

#penalty box series #trevor zegras #trevor zegras imagine #trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras fanfic #trevor zegras insta edit #trevor zegras au #quinn hughes #quinn hughes imagine #jack hughes imagine #jack hughes #luke hughes #luke hughes imagine #cole caufield #alex turcotte #matthew tkachuk #jamie drysdale #jamie drysdale imagine #mason mctavish #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #hockey fic

[rosesfox]

♡ about the journey of jacks' feelings towards evangeline. ♡

for me, the feelings between evajacks were obvious during the first two books. i have always maintained that their feelings began in ouabh and only developed further in tbona, especially considering that the events in the two books happen very close to each other.

there are several hints of how jacks feels. from the beginning he just doesn't want to get attached to eva and that's why he's constantly pulling away. there are passages that show how he doesn't want her to touch him, of him purposefully moving away but not being able to fight the concern he feels towards her, of him feeling attraction and trying to let it go, and we even have him talking to eva that ''that between them'' would not end well, as he always knew that the two were heading towards a path of no return. but he ends up falling in love. this has already been established.

this, too, is what sets eva apart from all the other girls. jacks' reluctance to get close to eva so as not to kill her was precisely what makes her so special in his story. he truly loved her and put her before himself and his desires to keep her safe. and for him, especially after having seen her die, the idea of hurting her was inconceivable. he wanted her to have a life, he wanted her to live, even if it wasn't with him. guys, this is love.

he literally chooses to give his heart in exchange for something that would keep evangeline safe forever, and in addition he wants to set this same heart on fire because this way he would be able to let her go. because he knows he would always come back. he couldn't stay away from her.

it is said in the book that it is one of the reasons why evangeline was able to kiss him. jacks having loved her so deeply that he didn't want to risk harming her was one of the main factors in her not dying, as evangeline's love alone wouldn't be enough. so, it makes perfect sense that he didn't fight for her love.

this was actually one of my biggest doubts in relation to acftl: what would motivate him to fight for her when he didn't believe he could stay with her?, and he is doing exactly the opposite at the same time as he can't stay away from her and finds excuses and pretexts to stay close. i couldn't have doubted his love with so many passionate declarations, and after seeing him fight so hard to keep her safe, seeing him physically suffer from not being with her, seeing him almost cry more than once with the idea of having to leave her.

i think the way stephanie decided to end the story makes a lot of sense because i couldn't find a reason why jacks would fight to be with her, because he loved her too much for that. and evangeline knowing his heart and understanding how broken he was and still choosing to fight for him is something very, very beautiful.

(it is also shown in this same chapter that he knew that in some capacity evangeline wanted him, just as evangeline knows that jacks, in some capacity, also wanted her and was always protecting her and coming back to her. jacks says that everything what he would need to do to keep her away from apollo would be to remind her that she wanted to be with him, so technically there isn't much for him to fight for. you know, this wasn't stephanie's biggest concern as it had already been established.

i also think it's important to highlight that evangeline also always knew that the biggest challenge wouldn't be having his affection, but making him want to give up the idea of protecting her and simply kiss her. her plan was to literally kiss him and not die because she trusted his and her feelings so much lol)

#acftl spoilers #evajacks #ouabh #tbona #jacks prince of hearts #evangeline fox #acftl #a curse for true love #stephanie garber

[midweekblues]

Finally, after a slow night at work and much ruminating, I hereby present my own True-Detective-Night-Country world-famous ramble stew. Tipping my non-existent hat to one Mr @rhavewellyarnbag

Something something Sedna of the many names, Arnarquagsag, Nerivik, Nuliajuk, the one who would not marry, the wife of all.

What's you name, girl?

Navarro, Eve, Angie, Evangeline, Missy, your mother never told you your real name (the one of the Real People) and some think you have forgotten it.

Sedna of the many names many stories Arctic wide, Alaska to Greenland, many stories and in all of them she lives under the sea, in all of them she ends up there because of her father.

Her mother? sometimes a shaman (voices. episodes.) sometimes entirely absent from the narrative (died in chilbirth), sometimes a background character following her husband.

Her father? oh, he always throws her in the sea, sometimes in a panic, sometimes in a rage. She would not marry the man he told her to.

Why?

Well, is that the right question?

She would not marry the man he told her to, because she was already married to her dog who was a man, a shapeshifter, so they kept it in secret.

So many secrets here... do we trust Qavviq the dog-man, the home-brewer? or is he gonna die a terrible death?

i dunno, man. Annie keeping it secret. Danvers keeping it secret. But Everyone here knows.

Sedna whose fingers were cut went she went overboard and she tried to hold on to her father's kayak. Sometimes her whole hands, bit by bit.

So many fathers here, too. Hank, raised by an animal to act like an animal. His son trying to be better than him. The son's son drawing the woman with no hands, no fingers, spooking his father.

What is it with white people getting spooked about other people's religion? Not me, i was raised catholic. A lady with no fingers is no big deal. But maybe i mean white-white. Not opening that particular can of worms right now.

Oh and of course Travis. Fucking Travis Cohle. And his little interpretive dance. That was a man drowning. Or several. Didn't Lund cough up some filthy water when he woke up corpsicled? Cause of death: Spooketh. But also maybe drowned. 

The lady under the sea, the lady with no fingers, cannot untangle her hair. Her hair traps the marine animals and she gets agitated and there is storm and famine. Her hair under the sea, her hair maybe like the sea, and who hasn't dyed their hair sea-blue, sea-green, when they missed so much? i have. Wear the monster's face, wear her hair, whatever you can manage.

The lady with the sea-hair beautifully painted on the door to the warehouse where the people gather. And the people are pissed. 

Something in the water, and no one seems to be asking questions. Not even the wrong ones. Tsalal is the mine is the thing under the ice, now she's awake and y'all done fucked up.

The lady with no fingers that lives under the sea gets pissed off sometimes. Main thing driving her mad is greed and ungratefulness, apparently.Those who take more than they need and those who do not honor their prey. The seals have souls, and so do the whales and the walruses. Those are Sedna’s children, not exactly like children, born from her chopped fingers like Eve from Adam’s rib. 

Sedna (90377 Sedna) is also a dwarf planet hanging around Ceres. This season feels like the Belt. As oppresive as S1 made Louisiana look (humid, hot, that heavy heavy sky) this creeps me out more. What's worse, air thick with miasma or no air at all? Women walking out to the dark, a tiny circle of light and then the vast nothing. Very cosmic horror. Also i miss Naomi Nagata and i miss Camina Drummer. Funny that Danvers' kid was named Holden. But i digress.

You know how scientists are, naming stuff after goddesses. Pieces of rock, sometimes lifeforms. She's awake alright. 

Who are you, girl? Eve? An angel? I am reminded too that Evangelion means Good News. Are you catholic, Navarro? Was your father catholic? What did he drink?

Something in the water, something in the ice. Crabs are bottom feeders, aren't they? How fucked up is an ecosystem where the carrion-eaters die off? Maybe stuff isn't dying at the rate it should. Caribou spook relatively easy, but maybe they know something we don't, too. Micro earthquakes and magnetic fields and shit. Guess we’ll find out.

#td:nc #true detective night country #sedna #nuliajuk #mimi rambles

[anarkysm]

All of My Heroes Die All Alone - Part I: Easy they Come

Jason Todd x oc fanfic.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Evangeline didn’t know why seeing Floyd this way had not become the normality in her mind. She thought by this point, now that he had reached the six month mark of being admitted into Elliot Memorial’s hospice ward, that she would have become desensitised to the sight of him. The myriad of tubing that protruded from every orifice, the hollow of his throat, his nostrils, the catheter, the colostomy bag, and the various IV lines that all form a cocoon around him like a fly in a spider’s web, waiting for the inevitable predator to slink it’s way down, long needle like fangs piercing flesh. It would be a quicker death than this, the sharp sting, the rush of venom, the paralysis, then… nothing.

How quiet that would be.

Instead the whirring of machines must be getting to his head. If he could still talk he would tell her as such. He would tell her to leave him be. But, there is a selfish part of her soul that wants to keep him around, that wants his advice as long as she can receive it. That wants to keep him as comfortable as she can before the inevitable happens. She’s selfish like that. She hates that she is, but when one good thing stays in your life as long as Floyd Lawton stayed in hers, those claws would stay buried in that flesh forever.

She eats the worst beef and butter sandwich of her life as she occupies the seat next to him. She stays like this throughout visiting hours, only getting up and leaving the room when the nurses clean him, changing his sheets, scrubbing his thinning skin that shows the intricate webbing of muscles, tendons, veins and arteries underneath. She can’t bear to look at him when they do it. His limbs, once thick and ropey with muscle and scars, were now wiry and fragile. She wondered if he would hate his reflection in the mirror, she wondered if it were the other way around that he would have left her body to give up on itself even if it were painful, so it would be quick. So he could mourn and his life would go on. She knew his would. She didn’t know if she was capable of the same.

Her phone rung with an alarm she had set to remind her that the visiting hours were done. She packed her things, a cheesy romance book that merely sat dormant on the arm rest of her chair, and a newspaper. She bid her goodbye to Floyd with a kiss to his temple, and headed out. The nurses were always lovely, there was a tiredness to their kindness that reminded her of him. The nights when he would come back after weeks of being away, but if she asked him a question, he would answer. If she wanted to tell him how the week had gone, he would let her. There would be a darkness to his skin, a sunken feeling in his eyes, but he would be there.

When she exited the building the chill of November nipped at the exposed skin of her neck and she shivered. She hunkered herself down further into her jacket and trekked through the car park until she was sitting astride her bike. The vibration of her phone in her pocket jolted her out of her thoughts and she dug her hand into her coat to fish it out. She recognised the number immediately and brought it to her ear.

”Hospital.” She greeted, knowing she was talking to a man who preferred to be blunt. “Five minutes to home.”

The voice was impatient. “Wherever else would you be?” Came the reply. The tone was edged, the sarcasm dripping with venom. “Meet me in the Canary Club. Got a job.”

Wonderful. She hung up, buried her phone back in her pocket and shoved the helmet over her head.

~

The Canary Club was home to most of Gotham’s populace on a Friday night, the place crawling with people and vibrating with music. It was humid and sticky and everywhere you looked the lights were flickering and there were girls dancing. It was the kind of place Slade liked to meet in. He liked the noise, it drowned out conversations, and he liked having something or someone to look at while he talked business. He wasn’t an easy man to figure out, but Evangeline liked to think she had a good grasp on why he was as picky as he seemed. The two had had this arrangement for some time, since before Floyd got sick. Floyd didn’t know, of course, it was one of the many secrets she kept from him.

Slade was in his usual booth upstairs, red pleather couches that overlooked the entire dance floor below. He ‘liked to see things coming,’ but Evangeline knew it was more than that, it was a sense of control he liked to keep over the room, even in his old age. And Slade had gotten older, being in his late 60s had thickened his skin but made his insides more fragile. He was tenser and more brutal, he needed opponents to stay down, there was less of a chance he would beat his way out of a fight with someone younger than him now, but that didn’t mean just anyone would pick a fight with Deathstroke. Certainly not Evangeline. She could see his white hair as she ascended the steps, and she followed it like a beacon as it caught the multitude of lights that cascaded over the room. She greeted him as she sat down, “here, again?”

Slade’s lip quirked up. His Deathstroke mask seemed to hide his nerve damaged mouth well. He’d gotten into a fight with the Batman, maskless, a batarang had sliced through his upper lip and chin leaving the area paralysed on one side. Though it didn’t make him any less menacing. “Why not? Gives us both something to look at.” He adjusted the glasses on his face. “How is Lawton?”

Evangeline straightened her back. “Alive.”

Slade made a noise, something tip-toeing between a snort and a grunt. “Not living,” he mused, fingers playing with the edge of the table. He had a folder resting neatly in front of him. “Middle Eastern prison. Libya. Rich man wants his ward returned here alive.”

Evangeline sucked her lower lip between her teeth. “Prison break? Isn’t that more of a mercenary’s job?” She asked. She’d never been tasked with a prison break before, though if it were one here in Gotham she would be oozing confidence, criminals seemed to just walk out of Arkham as easily as breathe. “How much is he paying for this ‘ward’?”

”Sixty Million.”

The world spun, and Evangeline dug her nails into the meat of her thighs to keep her mind focused. That was a lot of money. It was enough that she could… “Why didn’t you take it?” She asked. If it was simple enough that Slade thought she would be able to handle it on her own, then there was something else underlying that he wasn’t disclosing to her. Sixty million was nothing to Slade, he would have the kid back in a week if the rich asshole doubled it. “Seems right up your alley.”

Slade paused a moment, pursing the side of his mouth that still worked. “I’ve not been allowed in Libya for thirty years,” he explained, gently coaxing the folder across the table towards her. “Take it. Mull it over. I’ll give you three hours. You have my number, send me a message.”

~

The ride back to Floyd’s appointment was a quiet one, but not long. She had two hours and 32 minutes to think about Slade’s offer. Her mind kept wandering back to the reward. How much could this ward be worth? She had doubts it was Bruce Wayne, that pompous asshole hadn’t adopted a new kid in years and the media kept tabs on all of them. The computer whizz, the acrobat turned cop that moved to Bludhaven, the only one you didn’t hear about anymore was the one that died not too long after he showed up in the tabloids. Apparently, something to do with an accident while they were on a holiday somewhere overseas, but no one knew the details. Poor kid. She doubted Bruce would let one of his own leave the country after a devastating loss like that again.

There were rich people in Gotham, but none of them were that rich. She had half a mind to see if there were any missing persons reports that had sprung up within the last week or so, but there were people disappearing every five hours. Some got on trains and never made it home, others just packed up and left without another word. Evangeline wished she could do that, leave the world behind.

She sent Slade a message confirming her involvement and showered whilst waiting for a response. Once she was dried and dressed a message arrived, a date and time to board a plane to Egypt, and who to contact once she reached Cairo. She set her phone on the nightstand to charge, and went about trying to sleep.

~

Hey Floyd,

I thought I would leave this for the nurses to read out to you because I don’t know if I could tell you this in person but I’m going away for a couple weeks. Nothing serious, just took a job to get some money and it’s sending me overseas for an assignment. I’ll text you when I touchdown. Don’t get any worse until I’m home, yeah?

Angie.

#royharper #jason todd need’s therapy #jason todd #evangeline lawton #deadshot #arsenal #red hood #robin #batman #deathstroke #slade wilson #under the red hood #arkham knight #all my heroes die all alone fanfic #jason todd x oc #nightwing #dick grayson

[stargazeraldroth]

I will never be normal about the family of the First Humans in my Hazbin Hotel AU. I will never be normal about it. I really took this AU and said "Family angst to the MAX". Also this may or may not contain spoilers about Hazbin Hotel, so be warned about that when reading this.

Since we don't know much of anything about Eve in Hazbin Hotel's canon universe, the Eve included in this post is obviously how I imagine her character. Also, there are some major changes to the relationships between some of the characters. For starters, Vaggie and Lute are sisters, but they're also direct creations of Adam's.

Let me explain.

So in this AU, Adam and Eve became a thing shortly after Lilith ran away to be with Lucifer. And in this AU, they were only able to have Cain and Abel before Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit and ultimately died (I might elaborate on the whole Garden of Eden story in another post). But they'd talked about having daughters and Eve was especially excited to have little girls. Clearly, that never ended up happening. So how does this tie into the story? Because Adam made Vaggie and Lute with the idea of them being the daughters he and Eve were never able to have.

(To take this a step further, this AU started as a Reimagine series where I went over how I would've done it all, so there were also name changes. Vaggie and Lute were two characters who got their names changed; Vaggie's name became Evelyn [originally Evangeline but I thought that too long and didn't roll off the tongue as well] and Lute's became Edith, with Vaggie being named after Eve and Lute being named after the Garden of Eden. And if you want even MORE angst with that idea, Adam sometimes called Vaggie "Eve" as a nickname because of how much she reminded him of her. There's nothing romantic there, I just wanna clarify that in case anyone jumps to conclusions. The changed names aren't important to the post, I just wanted to mention this little background fun fact from before I decided to make it a regular AU)

I may not have diddly squat about Cain and Abel in this aside from the fact that they exist(ed), but BOY do I have a lot to say about these four. First, let me just start with the parallels between Eve and Vaggie in this AU:

Both someone Adam swore to himself that he'd protect at all costs

Both fell from grace and are in Hell

Both of them are on the opposing side (for Eve this'll rely on the post I eventually make about the GoE story, but the gist is that she was completely unwilling; Vaggie saw no other way)

Both of them fell in love with demons

Like... Vaggie reminds Adam of Eve so much that sometimes, it physically hurts. In this AU, Vaggie wasn't left to die in Hell, she got attacked and left behind. Adam thought she was dead, which was part of why he pushed to move up the date of the next Extermination and why Lute is so set on revenge, wants to kill ALL demons, etc. And Adam doesn't care about sexuality- he doesn't care if Vaggie's bi, pan, lesbian, ace, etc. In this AU, he only cares because Charlie's a demon (and the daughter of Lucifer, but that's another thing). The way Adam sees it, he's been losing everyone he loves to temptation and sin. He believes he lost Lilith to Lucifer's seduction (even if he was an angel at the time, he eventually became a demon), he lost Eve to both Lilith & Lucifer and the Apple, he lost Abel to Cain's jealousy and wrath, he lost Cain to his inner darkness, he originally thought he lost Vaggie to the demons, and then he thought he lost her to seduction (even though Charlie didn't do anything like that). And this- this is why Adam's both so close to Lute and why he smiles when he dies in this AU. He died believing that he failed everyone he cared about except Lute, even though- in the back of his mind- he told himself he still failed her. Because he wasn't going to be able to make it back to Heaven and stay with her.

Y'all. I don't know WHAT made me decide to focus so much on these four... but this is what I got. This is what happened. They're devouring my brain.

#hazbin hotel au #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin hotel eve #hazbin hotel vaggie #hazbin hotel lute #my heart breaks for this whole family in this AU #especially eve because i feel like her story is very tragic #and adam is meant to be very flawed #but still someone who is trying and he does care #like even though eve's a demon he still loves her and he wanted to see her again #i just #why did i do this to myself #there just needed to be background lore #and this is what happened

[onceuponaneverafter]

It's hard to get through Ouabh series when Jacks is focused on another girl. And the whole series is kinda about that. Also In Caraval, Jacks seems more caring and affectionate towards Tella than Evangeline. He's rude to Evangeline and yeah he may protect her but doesn’t he protect her because he needs her as a key to go back to Tella. And With the ending of Tbona, using the stones to save Evangeline, wasn't he already going to rewrite history by going back to Tella? I see people say that he went back in time to save Evangeline knowing the consequences but wasn’t he already going to do that for Tella?

hi anon! thank you for sending your thoughts! you make good points, and i agree, it does get frustrating to read about how focused he is on tella.

i personally look at his actions through the lens of his story, his feelings, and his beliefs - it isn’t a flawless perspective to the story and i’m not saying he’s always in the right, he certainly does make flawed decisions and downright terrible ones too, but i’ve found it interesting to try to understand what’s going on in his head even if it makes him do stupid things and clouds his reason.

basically since he kissed tella and she didn’t die, he’s been convinced that she’s the only chance he will ever have at love - he doesn’t genuinely love her at any point, but for the entirety of the series (except for the very very end) he thinks he could only ever be a danger to any other girl and it would be better to stay away from anyone else for their safety, no matter what. thanks to his curse, tella becomes his obsession.

after tella makes it clear she wants nothing to do with him (which she has every right to do), he believes he will never have another chance at love and is ready to go to unreasonable lengths - going back in time - to get one. i think that once he grows to care about evangeline, he still isn’t particularly nice to her and wants to only care about her as a key because he thinks that if he actually let her close, he would just be a danger to her, and he thinks she’s better off not knowing him, and he thinks he’s better off trying again with the one girl who didn’t die.

you make a good point of jacks being willing to go back in time for tella no matter the consequences! i think the difference is that he’d be originally going back in time for the idea of love instead of tella herself, to get something he wants instead of for her happiness, but he’s grown to value evangeline over all of his previous plans and something he desperately wants. this is why people (including me) talk about it! him having grown to really care for evangeline and put her first is highlighted a lot in ACFTL (though he doesn’t always go about it in the best way there, still making some stupid decisions, but that’s another conversation for another day haha).

sorry the post ended up so long! this is just my thoughts on the topic and some thoughts on why the fandom talks about him as we do - his thought process doesn’t necessarily justify how he acts sometimes, but this way it makes more sense to me, making the story about him growing to genuinely care for someone else and realizing the difference between obsession and love.

thank you again for your thoughts, i hope you have a good day! 💗

#this turned into a full on character analysis sorryyy #don’t get me wrong this man makes some idiotic decisions lmao #but he also kinda makes sense even if he isn’t always right #ouabh #acftl spoilers #tbona #acftl #jacks prince of hearts #evajacks #jacks x evangeline #tella dragna #caraval #answering asks

[shizzlesisntevenaword]

MAJOR ACFTL SPOILER

2 burning questions

How did Evangeline survive Jacks’ kiss?

Why wasn’t he more curious about it?

Now I’ve actually answered the former in a reblog but I want more people to read and discuss with so here we go.

If you’ve read that post, please stick ‘till the end anyway cause I wanna talk about the latter as well.

Eva can kiss Jacks because they love each other... more precisely, because Jacks loves her. That's what makes her different from all the other girls before her who died from his kiss. It's not enough for a girl to love him in order to survive the kiss. He has to love her right back.

Jacks never loved any of the previous girls: he came close to it, sure; he was even falling for some of them, but he wasn't in love with them when they kissed.

It's always the girls and their feelings for him, not him and his feelings for them. Because he didn't love any of them.

He didn't even love the first fox. He was starting to fall for her, but he wasn't in love with her when they kissed.

Notice how the prophecy doesn’t mention anyone else, just a Fox. Eva, and only Eva, is the girl Jacks is prophesied to fall for. Except Aurora mistook her for the First Fox.

As Evangeline herself says, true love is powerful enough to break any spell - that's the kind of love that both of them have been searching for their entire lives. And now they finally have it.

Which brings us to the next question.

I understand that Jacks doesn’t seem too fazed about the whole thing - this is a curse that has been plaguing him for literal decades, after all; it’s finally broken and he’s got naught to say about it?

In my opinion, Jacks has always known that real, true love is powerful enough to break any spell. Recall: as he said himself, he has seen it happen before. He saw Tellalegend’s true love prevail over and over again.

Yes, he has never been in love before. But he’s come close to it. Multiple times. Had genuinely cared and believed some of the girls he kissed could survive it. All those times he thought it would be it. And it never was. If there was even the slightest chance Eva could die, he loved her too much to risk it.

Besides, Jacks knows what he is. From his point of view, he’s done so many monstrous things - a happily ever after just isn’t in the cards for him. He doesn’t deserve it. That’s just fine. But Eva doesn’t have to get swept up in his temporary moments of delusion. She doesn’t have to, can’t die just because he foolishly fancies himself worthy and redeemable sometimes. In fact, he’d make sure she never would - even at the cost of never feeling anything ever again.

In what I consider to be a lovely parallel, Apollo believes that he loves Eva the most in the entire world and exactly because he loves her, he can sacrifice her.

Jacks actually loves Eva, so much that he just can’t risk being wrong and kissing her even though exactly because he loves her, his kiss can’t kill her.

Isn’t that just poetic?

I am still disappointed we didn’t get a lot of evajacks and I just wish we’d gotten descriptive kisses - I know how sweet and tentative it is is supposed to contrast his kisses with Tella, whom he didn’t love, but come on. Three books. We waited three books. Three books for that?! Please, please, let us get a novella at least!

Anyone wanna talk about ACFTL?

#a curse for true love #acftl #evangeline fox #jacks of the hollow #jacks prince of hearts #ouabh #ballad of never after #ballad of the archer and the fox #evajacks #once upon a broken heart #tbona

[emyluwinter]

Time for a little strange theory

This is purely a stream of stupid thoughts, you can not take everything seriously. On Twitter, I saw one interesting idea that Yuu are following the path of Madoka Magika (if you don't know, then to be brief, Madoka is going through a time loop over and over again because of her friend Homura. Who sees the meaning of her life not to let Madoka die and prevent her from becoming a magical girl)

In the end, Madoka, due to all the time loops and Homura's actions, becomes a goddess. (fans call her the goddess of compassion if I remember correctly)

What I mean is what if…Yuu donates some part of himself for each time loop?

For example 1 time loop. The price is the Memory of Yuu.

2 time loop Price is the Soul of Yuu

What could be the price for the third time loop? I am not considering "the life of Yuu" because Disney will not allow such a thing due to age restrictions. But you and I so know that Toboso leaves us bread crumbs so that we can see the full picture of the whole nightmare that is really happening. (The same moment with Idia's lack of desire to live if you dig deeper into his story)

Could Yuu be the key for the loops to finally end? Malleus once mentioned that Yuu played the role of a guiding star.

And what kind of guiding star do we have in Disney? That's right, Evangeline! Well, almost. To be more precise, there are several options. A star flying over the castle- the Disney logo (which later found out that it was Tinkerbell)

Then the star that was in Peter Pan. It's quite charming if it turns out to be a reference to a small and big star like Yuu and Grimm.

In addition, if you think about it (and I said in theory that Yuu can master magic only once to stop Grimm's Overblott) does not have a "shape and color" And this is not something that fits any of the seven dormitories.

Yes, I know, my dear, that Yuu in the game simply does not play a particularly important role for the plot. Only for the players to see the plot through the "faceless Prefect".

Let San dream a little on this topic.~

#twst #twst yuu #twst mc #twst thoughts #twst theory

[ouabhlover]

acftl moments that broke my heart😩🩷

"The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: The True and Unabridged History of Evangeline Fox and Prince Apollo Titus Acadian."

Have we met before?" she asked. "Do I know you?" "No, I don't usually play with things that easily break."

"Jacks had always considered himself more of a sadist than a masochist. He enjoyed inflicting pain, not receiving it."

"He'd never understood why someone would watch another person sleep... Until her. He considered setting the room ablaze just so that he'd have a reason to pick her up and carry her out, to save her one last time, before he left her for good.”

"Jacks had thought Time would take something from him. He hadn't thought it would take it from her."

"The only weapon Evangeline had was the jeweled dagger Jacks had given her. It was tucked into a little green velvet belt that circled the waist of her gown, and she told herself if she saw him again, she wouldn't hesitate to use the bIade.”

"Evangeline's lost memories seemed like an inconsequential price to pay when compared to her life. But even though she was alive again, Jacks would never forget seeing her die, feeling her go lifeless in his arms."

"What are you to mef" she asked. "Nothing."

"There is no we. I know who you are!" Evangeline finally tore her hands free, reared back, and pointed her d4 gger directly at his heart. He could see in her eyes that she believed it was the right thing, to end him. "I deserve this"

"It was better to hurt her, better to break her heart, to do whatever he needed to do, to keep her alive and to keep her away from him."

“Please, Little Fox, remember." "I'm sorry, I can't remember."

"Jacks had so badly wanted to tell her that he couldn't even remember what Donatella looked like, that Evangeline's face was the only one he saw whenever he closed his eyes, that he would go with her anywhere... if he could."

"So, this is your best day?" He quickly opened the door leading out of the Hollow as if he couldn't away fast enough. Yet Evangeline saw a flicker of pain in his eyes, as if It also hurt him to leave.

“I lied, I do wish that we could have had a different ending. Goodbye, Evangeline."

"I can't do this," he said roughly. This close she could see his eyes were glossy red around their edges. It almost looked like... blood?

"It wasn't a letter of love. In fact, it was quite the opposite. And yet he'd read it again and again. He'd carried it with him, close to his heart. Her words or rather, the words of the girl she'd been."

"Jacks probably told himself he was doing something right, something noble by sacrificing his heart to protect her."

"Jacks wasn't safe. He came with no promises of a happily ever after. If anything, he guaranteed the opposite. He didn't believe that heroes got happy endings."

"No!" Jacks cried "No!" Jacks screamed. "Not again!"

"I'm broken. I like to break things. Sometimes I want to break you."

"Then break me, Jacks."

"For once I want to do the right thing. I can't do this. I can't watch you dle again."

"Being yours does not make you mine."

"But today, Jacks was failing at letting her go. He wanted to keep her pressed to the floor beneath him. He would have set the world on fire and then let it all burn just to keep holding her like this.”

“she probably looked awful as well. "You could never look awful."

"She was still in love with Jacks, and yet both past and present Evangeline felt as if they'd lost him."

"Only it wasn't an apple. It was his heart. Evangeline's own heart broke a little at the sight of him, tossing his heart scarelessly as if it were a bit of fruit that he'd dispose of, instead of something unspeakably precious and beautiful."

"Jacks had his heart. She had Jacks.”

“They were in love. This was everything she wanted. This was happily ever after. But the problem with happily ever after is that it's more of an idea than a reality."

"Let me go, Evangeline."

"she'd forgotten was one thing more important than all the rest, more Important than anything. There was something absolutely vital she needed to tell someone."

#jacks x evangeline #ouabh #acftl #evangeline fox #evajacks #tbona #jacks #jacks prince of hearts #evangeline x jacks #stephanie garber #acftl spoilers #acftl quotes #acftl theories #tbona quotes #tbona spoilers #ouabh theories #ouabh 3 #ouabh series #ouabh spoilers #ouabh quotes #the apple eating scoundrel #jacks of the hollow #jacks the prince of hearts #the ballad of the archer and the fox #the ballad of never after #prince of hearts #a curse for true love #once upon a broken heart #books #apollo ewwww

[mysticstarlightduck]

Pyrite for the writer's meme! (Could your protag and antag ever be friends?)

Thank you so much for this ask, @littleladymab!

The Tag Game

Pyrite: Could the antagonist and protagonist ever be friends?

(I'll answer this one for some of the POV characters of my WIPs Enchanted Illusions and Of Starlight and Beasts)

I've got some pretty evil/screwed up villains in my WIPs, so the answer for most of my POV cast would mostly be a resounding no, for various reasons, but let's see why!

Enchanted Illusions

Augustus Grimmure: No, they would not be friends, not in a million years. Augustus may be a dangerous necromancer who has no qualms about killing his enemies, but he has a strict moral compass - everything he does is to protect himself, his friends, and the innocent people of the city of Ansburke. His methods may be unorthodox, but in the end, he has good reasons to do morally grey things. The villains of this story, on the other hand, are prejudiced, power-hungry people who prey on the innocent - they're exactly everything Augustus despises and swore to destroy. They would never be friends.

Agatha Greenwoods: If the situation was dire enough, she could pretend to be friends with/on the same side of the antagonists, if it meant she could discover more about their plans and find a better way to destroy their secret society for good. But she wouldn't be true friends with the antagonists, she would only pretend in order to achieve her goals and in the name of the greater good.

Evangeline Daemitya: Given that the woman who is responsible for most of her childhood trauma is affiliated with the antagonists' secret society (the Hemlock Society), I would say that never in a million years would Evie befriend those villains. Plus she is such a pure, kind-hearted girl, that I literally can't see any situation where she would even consider such an alliance!

Harriet Sharppe: Never. I think that Harriet's moral sense of justice, along with her extremely good heart, would never let her ally herself to the Duke or any of the members of the Hemlock Society, unless - and even then with extreme reservations - the lives and safety of her loved ones were at stake. Harriet would burn the world to keep her family, friends and her love interest (Augustus) safe from harm, and would even (if the situation was really, really screwed up and extreme) genuinely consider and accept a temporary alliance with some of the less screwed up antagonists in order to save her loved ones. But only in such a situation. When everything went back to normal and her loved ones were safe again she would immediately betray that "alliance" with the antagonists.

Thaddeus Lockhill: His whole life and purpose have centered around leading a secret revolutionary effort against that same Hemlock society. His cause has become the most important thing in the world to him - its what gives him his purpose in life. So allying himself with the villains would be a resounding no in any situation. He'd rather die a martyr than make such a "friendship". He might consider working with less than-moral people as informants or in order to achieve a certain mission, but he would never ally himself to the actual antagonists of the story.

Of Starlight and Beasts:

Corah Stormryder - As a knight, saving the realm and following her personal oaths is everything for her, it is her mission to defeat the Crimson Queen and keep her from killing innocent people. Corah can understand the circumstances that led Meira (the Crimson Queen) to become so vengeful, cold and cruel, but she knows that nothing can excuse what that woman has become, after so many innocent lives lost. Nothing in this world could make Corah even pretend to be friends with that woman.

Maryon Haell - As the daughter of the most influential man in their corner of the realm (a man known as the Serpent of the Frosts, due to his network of spies that leads to him knowing everything that happens within his domain), Maryon was raised to seize opportunities when they arise - I can see her definitely using whatever she can to her advantage to stop the Crimson Queen, even pretending to be her ally or something similar (much like Agatha from Enchanted Illusions), only to betray her later to save her people. She is opportunistic, but she also has a strict moral code, so I don't see her actually becoming friends with any antagonists unless: 1. she is faking it to achieve her goals (as mentioned before), 2. the antagonist in question truly has a redemption arc

Arammys Lochlain - The most forgiving and kind-hearted character in the book, Arammys believes that anyone deserves a second chance. Due to his memories of his past having been magically stolen, and his own tempestuous magic, the Crimson Queen could use a promise of "helping him get his past back" to try and lure him into a false friendship - but Arammys is very clever, and I can hardly imagine that he would fall for her scheme. While he believes anyone deserves second chances, that person needs to prove they truly want to redeem themselves, something Meira is not about to do, so they really wouldn't be friends.

#wip: enchanted illusions #wip: of starlight and beasts #asked and answered! #writeblr tag games! #writing #writeblr #writerblr #writers #writers on tumblr #my writing #my characters #character writing #my wips

[lorcandidlucienwill]

The moment I fell for Jacks

Evangeline tried to hit Chaos, but she couldn’t muster the strength to move her hands. She couldn’t even open her eyes. Her body was heavy, and her head was light. All she could feel were Chaos’s teeth, cutting deeper to take even more—

“Castor, no!” Jacks shouted.

The vampire was wrenched away.

Evangeline started to fall, and then Jacks was there. Her eyes were too heavy to open—but she could feel him. He held her with the type of intensity that only happens when a person wants something that isn’t quite theirs.

But she was. She just needed to tell him she loved him.

“Evangeline—” His voice was hoarse. “Come back to me.…”

I’m not dead,she tried to say. But there was something wrong with her throat. And it seemed Jacks couldn’t hear her thoughts.

He silently held her tighter and pressed his forehead to hers. She wasn’t sure if he was crying or if she was, but there was wet on her cheeks. It felt a lot like tears. And then she felt …

Nothing.

A tormented scream pierced the night like a blade. The sky bled, and darkness fell instead of stars, erasing lights across the Magnificent North.

The story curse that touched most Northern tales and ballads watched. This tragedy would certainly be a tale one day—and, from the look of it, was already cursed.

The girl was dead. If her lifeless body had not confirmed it, then it would have been made clear by the horrible scream of the Fate who held her in his arms. The story curse was familiar with pain, but this was agony, the sort of raw grief that was only seen once in a century. The Fate was every tear that anyone had ever shed for lost love. He was pain given form.

“I’m so sorry, Jacks. I—” The vampire looked down at the girl he’d just killed; he scrubbed a hand over his jaw, and then he fled.

The Fate didn’t move. He didn’t let the girl go. He looked as if he never would. He continued holding her as if he could return her to life with the force of his will. His eyes were wet with blood. Red tears fell down his cheeks and onto hers. But the girl didn’t stir.

The other sleeping immortals were starting to wake, but the girl remained unmoving. Dead. And yet the Fate continued to hold her.

“Bring her back,” he said softly.

“I am sorry,” said the queen who’d just awoken. She was a petite thing. She’d tried to pull her son away from the girl, to stop his unnatural feeding, but her hands were not strong enough. The queen could not fight immortals physically, but she had an iron will forged of mettle and mistakes. “You know I cannot do that.”

The Fate finally looked up. “Bring her back,” he repeated. For he also possessed an indomitable will. “I know you can do it.”

The queen shook her head remorsefully. “My heart breaks for you—for this. But I will not do this. After bringing back Castor and seeing what he became, I vowed to never use that sort of magic again.”

“Evangeline would be different.” The Fate glowered at the queen.

“No,” she repeated. “You wouldn’t be saving this girl, you would be damning her. Just as we did to Castor. She wouldn’t want that life.”

“I don’t care what she wants!” roared the Fate. “I don’t want her dead. She saved you, you need to save her.”

The queen took a shaky breath.

If the story curse could have breathed, it would have held its breath. It hoped the queen would say yes. Yes to bringing her back, to turning her into another terrible immortal. Despite what this Fate believed, the girl would be horrible—the ones with endless life always were, eventually.

“I am saving her,” the queen said quietly. “It is kinder to let her die a human than to sacrifice her soul for immortality.”

At the word sacrifice, something sparked in the Fate’s cold eyes. He held the girl tighter, carrying her in his bloodstained arms as he stood and started down the ancient hall.

“What are you doing?” A crack of alarm showed in the queen’s implacable face.

“I’m going to fix this.” He continued marching forward, holding the girl close as he carried her back through the arch.

The angels who’d been guarding it now wept. They cried tears of stone as the Fate set the girl at their feet and began wrenching stone after stone from the arch.

“Jacks of the Hollow,” warned the queen. “Those arch stones can only be used one time to go back. They were not created for infinite trips to the past.”

“I know,” Jacks growled. “I’m going to go back and stop your son from killing her.”

The queen’s face fell. For a moment, she looked as old as the years she’d spent lying in a suspended state. “That is not a small mistake to fix. If you do this, Time will take something equally valuable from you.”

The Fate gave the queen a look more vicious than any curse. “There is nothing of equal value to me.”

#I'M SCREAMINGGGGGGGGGGG #OH MY GODDDDD #I LOVE HIM #SOMEBODY SEDATE ME #OMG OMG OMG #jacks prince of hearts #evajacks #ouabh #the ballad of never after

[rosesfox]

i have another theory 😌 stephanie has been using a lot of human hearts as emojis 🫀 and there's also the heart on the glass cover of the book. this makes me think that, perhaps, jacks's curse is different from what he thinks (and, consequently, us readers). the idea that jacks' ''real'' heart is buried under that tree even crossed my mind lol

what i think might have happened: when castor and the first fox died, jacks becomes a fate. in the process of him becoming a fate, he may have given up his heart. so, acftl's journey would be to retrieve his heart and thus break the curse once and for all. it is sometimes said that the true meaning of stories can be lost over time. maybe, jacks’s curse can be a different one. as he turned fate many, many years ago, he may not remember or even understand how the process actually worked. so evangeline, with all the love she feels for him, will really fight to free him. 🤩

my connection to beauty and the beast is: maybe jacks' pounding ''heart'' is the countdown to him never having the chance to love again or something. this theory is not mine, i saw it on twitter and i think it fits here too.

i ended up thinking of (besides beauty and the beast) howl's moving castle, when sophie returns howl's heart and lifts his curse. no one could even talk about it because it was a curse, and she ended up finding out over time that he had made a deal with the demon and gave his heart in exchange for magic. i think jacks' pain may have been so strong at the moment he lost everything that he thought it was the right choice. 😖

i'm also confused by: jacks says that what kept him away from the first fox was the archer's curse. until then, he wasn't a fate and therefore his kiss didn't kill, right? right. he fights against the archer's curse and manages to overcome it, however, when he kisses her, she dies. why did she die if jacks wasn't a fate? the archer's curse is different from his curse as a fate. why was the archer's curse intertwined with his curse as fate?

i started thinking about this because lala says she chose to be fate, so that probably extends to jacks as well. castor met the first fox, so we know that he was alive at the time and turned into a vampire after she died.

this could turn out to be an incongruity in stephanie's writing, or there really is more to true love's kiss that we don't know. his curse as fate in the first place couldn't be that because he wasn't a fate when he kissed the first fox.

i really hope there are details in the curse that exempt tella from being his true love, because even if they break that curse, tella will always be his meant to be chosen by deep and irrefutable magic. it's not the same thing as a simple mistake of fate, she is literally his promised girl.

#evajacks #evangeline fox #jacks prince of hearts #ouabh #tbona #acftl

[sweetingseva]

not rly a question but thoughts about my thoughts?😹

Hoping for a resolution in book 3 where we learn that Jacks’ true love is EARNED not GIVEN..

Let me explain…

The whole “only his true love doesn’t die from his kisses” isn’t a scam BUT it also isn’t the way how Jacks thinks it works. EVERY girl dies from his kisses including his possible true love. However the only way for his true love not to die from his kisses is that Jacks has to truly fall in love with her and for the girl to truly fall in love with him. There is no exact fated girl for him but it’s for Jacks to choose who he truly loves. And he chose Evangeline— no matter how much he denies it in front of people (although he did admit it in the end). If you think about it, it applies to Jacks and Tella… Jacks admitted that he doesn’t love her and never had but thinks he has to force himself to love her cause Tella was “chosen” for him.. but that doesn’t beat the odds that Evangeline is the girl Jacks chose to love (with no magic, no manipulation, no deals and no prophecies interfering) and even when he was given the opportunity to go back in time to win back Tella, he chose to save Evangeline cause that’s what true love really is. It’s putting the person you love over yourself.

You. Are. Absolutely. Right.

I mean it! I agree with you wholeheartedly 🤩💖

Jacks seems like he jumps to the kiss before he gets to know any of the girls he kisses. Tella was an extremely lucky, rare case, but it's different with Evangeline because:

He didn't kiss her right away.

He kept her at arm's length, but their connection grew as they hung around each other.

He now feels love for her. His heart was pounding in comparison to the weak heartbeat Evangeline first felt when she touched his chest.

That's how love works. It must go both ways 💖

#ouabh #once upon a broken heart #tbona #the ballad of never after #ouabh 3 #evangeline fox #jacks #prince of hearts #evajacks #jacks x evangeline #stephanie garber

[evaajacksxo]

[ACFTL SPOILERS AHEAD, read at ur own risk]

basically, acftl was a disappointment, i feel like most people feel that way right now 😭

the first 60% of the book was perfect, but something bad happened in that last part idk what stephanie did there 😭 i understand she decided to change the end at the last minute, but honestly i would have waited longer if it meant we got a less rushed and more developed conclusion to the trilogy. (like stephanie baby if u were struggling you should have just pushed it back more, it would have been worth it i swear)

the whole thing about eva’s love being the cure to jacks’s curse was a huge cop out, and the plot surrounding the two trees was just weird and unnecessary. when we all saw that map with the tree of souls i feel like we all had the same idea that the tree would be the explanation for how jacks became a fate in the first place. and yet 🧍🏼‍♀️

the book focused far too much on apollo and his weird, rushed attempt at a corruption arc. the end was super anticlimactic, and after reading the waterstones epilogue, i really hope stephanie isn’t gonna give us an apollo book bc his character is so flat and BOOOOORING!!!!! his chapters added nothing to the story for me, and in fact it made the book feel totally different from the other two. not enough focus was placed on eva and jacks, and instead we had to hear waaaay too much about apollo and his daddy issues and his attempt at being an ass kisser to the valours. the book as a whole just didn’t serve as a conclusion for me and left me with more questions.

also the lack of a big love confession from jacks just had my enjoyment of the book dead in the water by that point 💔 this is a character who has spent many years having his heart broken repeatedly, being unable to feel love or receive love without killing people, and watching the girl he finally fell for die in his arms, and you’re telling me all he had to say was “i love you,”…..like cmon!!! he said more to tella than he did to evangeline and he apparently doesn’t even remember what tella looks like!

plus….what happened to the whole deal about how fates became human once they fell in love? why was this left as a gaping plot hole? i was very frustrated when the “epilogue” (if you wanna call whatever that was an epilogue) called jacks “not-so-human”……so like…..is eva gonna eventually die and jacks just ends up alone again? like where was the closure?

the last 40% was such a clusterfuck and it is really glaringly obvious that stephanie was either rushing to meet the deadline, or more focused on her new project to focus on finishing the finale of ouabh. it’s really sad to see, especially after waiting so long to read it! it’s wild that most of the fan theories i’ve been seeing the past nine months have wound up being more fitting than the actual ending 😭

(also, where the fuck was LUC??)

but yeah, the first 60% was enjoyable enough for me that i ended up giving it 4 stars. if i really let my head rate it i’d probably give it 3 or maybe 2.5 🤔 it really disappointed me.

idk if anyone else agrees or cares abt my ramblings but i just had to put smth out after seeing others get angry at people who didn’t enjoy the book 🤷🏼‍♀️

#i had so many thoughts #it was a fun ride up until the plot went to shit…. #but i am severely empty and disappointed and unsatisfied by this ending 💔 #acftl

[romerona]

Chapter 1: September 1

ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ꜰɪɴᴅ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ɪᴛ ꜰɪɴᴅꜱ ʏᴏᴜ. ꜰᴏʀ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴇᴍᴇʀꜱᴏɴ, ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ꜰɪɴᴅ ʜᴇʀ, ɪᴛ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ꜱᴏ ᴋɴᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ ʜᴇʀ ᴏꜰꜰ ʜᴇʀ ꜰᴇᴇᴛ… ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʟʟʏ.

Harry James Potter x OC

Masterlist.

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

"This is not the way, you daft shit." Yelled Kiara from the back seat at Ezra, the one behind the wheel.

"Oh god, we're all gonna die." Shouted Ezra tensing up, his eyes big as a plate and his hands turning white as the grip of the wheel tightened. "Help!!"

"You're stressing him out, Kiara." Tara glances back, glaring at her sister. "Shut up."

"I'm seeing it as it is." Kiara shrugged nonchalantly, looking out the window.

Tara sighs tiredly, turning back to Ezra. "You're doing well, Ez. Just take the next left."

Ezra nods, letting out a breath, his finger loosening. "Okay, okay."

"...I'm going to be late." Love stressed out, popping her head in between seats to look at her older sister and brother.

Ezra groaned again, head falling back. "You'll miss your train, and it's gonna be my fault."

"She won't, it's only 10:20," Tara said in exasperation, pushing Love's head back. "You'll be fine, Love."

Kiara rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "If it weren't for someone who decided to pass to Bloody KFC for chicken —"

"Kiara, I'm a man in growing and I need my daily dose of fast food, you know that." Whines Ezra, glancing at her through the mirror.

"Boy, more like and It's ten in the morning." She huffed, glancing back at him. "How did you expect to find KFC open at ten in the morning?"

"There was a chicken place back in Singapore that opened early." Ezra points out, trying to turn his head to look at Kiara. "My hopes were crushed, bloody western culture."

Tara moved his head to the front. "Eyes on the road."

"Bottom line is you should've let me drive," Kiara muttered.

"He needs to practice," Tara tells her calmly.

"Yeah, well, he's going to kill us all," Kiara said, using her finger to flick the back of Ezra's ears who grunted in annoyance, moving his hand to the back of his head to try and slap her hand off, although her hand wasn't there anymore. "I can see the headlines in the paper; the lovely daughters of the entrepreneur Evangeline Emerson and famous neurosurgeon Amani Emerson died in a car crash all thanks to their daft son, Ezra Emerson who lacked some sense of direction."

"Stop." The other three Emerson's snapped back at her, all in different tones, Tara sounded like her mum when she scolds them, Ezra sounded like he was about to cry and Love was just tired of her sister's antics.

Love slumped back on the leather seat turning her head to look at the passing urban scenery, ignoring her siblings' argument and silently wondering to herself if she was actually going to make it to Hogwarts this year.

Her fingers tapping on the seat, her heart unwillingly bumping harder while her mind rises.

She was on her brother's new car, a brand new red convertible BMW— a car wasn't even on the market yet— it was a gift from their mothers for passing his driver's test, although Love often wonders how was that possible since as Kiara stated Ezra lacked any sense of direction and only thought with his stomach.

Her feet began tapping the moulded carpet, her breathing coming in quickly as worry settled in her brain.

What if she doesn't actually make it? What is she going to do? Go to a muggle school? It doesn't seem bad, but starting from zero in a new school, stressing over meeting new people, having to study the new material, and being the new girl made Love's stomach turn upside down.

No, no you're overthinking, she reminds herself. That's not going to happen. Everything will be fine.

Breathe in and out.

Love, to distract herself, looked through her satchel and grabbed her journal, the wanderlust as she likes to call it. In that journal Love wrote about everything and anything, like the swot that she was, from vacation to her feelings; her worries, fears and joys, sometimes she uses it to draw but the drawings were awful.

Writing calmed her, it felt as if writing down her thoughts and experiences kept trouble off her chest and lightened her stress levels down.

Her eyes moved to the last thing she wrote, about her vacation in Singapore. Her mothers finally got some time off of work and decided to spend it in Singapore. Love thought it was an amazing idea as she had never been to that part of Asia before, Bali, Hong Kong, Goa, Kuala Lumpur and a few others but never Singapore.

It was a beautiful city, with beautiful culture and lovely people. They usually spend the day biking to places, the markets, botanic gardens, but mostly beaches or in their mum's yacht, sealing to distant islands, unless her siblings wanted to do something different; Tara wanted to visit museums, Kiara wanted to shop and Ezra wanted to go desperately to the food centre, Love usually just like to follow her older siblings around or just stay with her mums or cuddle up with a book and snacks.

That was how most of her summer went, family time... until her mum found a great business deal with some old Japanese man about a massive building he wants a to build, causing her vacation to be cut short as her mum had to leave early.

Fortunately, her Ma didn't, so they decided to spend the last of summer with their grandparents, Abuelito Alberto and Abuelita Maria, they lived in Cuetzalan, a town in southwest Mexico, in the rocky mountains of Puebla.

The town and house her grandparents live in are completely different from what the Emerson children are accustomed to, the town is surrounded by beautiful coffee plantations, caves, grottoes, and movie-worthy forest landscapes covered in fog and their small house, made out of terra cotta, with only three rooms and a single bathroom, (which to get the hot water you'll need to get a bucket of water and heat the water up in the oven) is completely opposed to the urban scenery of London and their multi-room chateau house.

Sadly, once there she didn't get to spend much time with her Ma either as she liked to volunteer at the local hospital and they usually needed the extra help so she spend most of the day there, it didn't bother Love, as she knows her mother is helping people, it was a little disappointing she didn't spend a longer time with her children but what made it better was that they get to stay with their grandparents all day.

Regardless of the differences, Love adores visiting her grandparents, her Abuelita Maria, she was a small woman, her skin was olive coloured which was always soft, she usually wore her white hair in a tight bun which reminded her of McGonagall and always wore flower print clothes. Whenever they come to visit she makes them wake up at the earliest hours of the day to clean the house while listening to old tunes of hers or to stroll down the town's cobblestone streets, which resemble a storybook scene to the markets. The latter has always been Love's favourite activity because of the restaurant at the end of the market, Lolitas, they sell the best tacos which she usually eats with a cold bottle of coca-cola, that combination after a humid, busy day of shopping is heavenly.

Her Abuelo Alberto or Abuelo Beto as Love likes to call him, was a lot taller than her grandmother, his skin was more tan than hers too, and his white hair was always covered by his sombrero charro. Abuelo Beto is the cook of the house, he makes the best Pozole, Chiles en nogada, Elotes and a lot more, he usually recruits Love or one of her siblings to help him in the kitchen while sending the others to grab cilantro or bottles of jarritos from the market, but normally, she would volunteer to help him in the kitchen, she learned a lot about him that way.

When Abuelo Beto cooks he likes to listen to old tunes, his favourites were Vicente Fernandez or UB40, he likes to sway and sing with them trying to mimic the singer's high notes, he also often enjoys telling stories of his youth as he gives her a taste of whatever he's cooking, like about his first job in a bakery, or his first girlfriend, or how he used to wish to have finished his education to give a better life to her mamá and abuelitos back then or how he and his friend used to ride wild bull's whilst being drunk off their ass — thought he warned her that she should never do that.

It was all great but her favourite part of her visit is the weekends, when they visit Abuelo Beto's ranch where she could ride her horse, Peggy short for Pegasus, he was an Appaloosa horse with gorgeous colours. Love would ride Peggy all day with her siblings each with their own horses, and then, at night, they build a bonfire and her abuelito would cook carnitas for all the farm staff and his family before getting too drunk, bring out his guitar and start singing his rancheras to abuela maria at the top of his lungs.

Ultimately she wasn't that disappointed that her time in Singapore ended since she got to spend time with her grandparent but she was disappointed she didn't get to spend much time with her mothers.

"Love." Kiara's annoyed voice snapped her out of her daydream. "If this overgrown fish touches me even the slightest I'm throwing it out the window."

Love gasps before looking down, in between them there was her toad, Hopper Hoopalong Lollihops Emerson, or just Hoppy. A Greenish, fat amphibian with dry skin, warts, and crests behind his yellow eyes. In other words Love's adored pet.

"Don't you dare, Kiara." She said, picking the toad up and placing it on her lap. "He's doing nothing to you."

Kiara scoffs, sending Hoppy a disdainful look."His mere existence is an offence to me, honestly why did you even want a slimy frog? Does everyone in that school of yours have one too?"

Love rolled her eyes, she runs a finger over hoppy's back causing him to croak. "Not all of them, some students have cats or owls or rats."

"And you happen to pick the most disgusting pet of them all."

"Hoopster's not disgusting." Huff's Ezra, in offense, sends Kiara a look from the mirror. "He's one cool ass toad."

"Only he's not." Argue Kiara with an eye roll.

"He's too." Said both, Love and Ezra.

"Not"

"Is too."

"Not"

"Is too."

"Not–

"Enough," Tara warns from the front seat, making them all shut up, she sighs loudly, before turning to the boy behind the wheel. "Ezra, turn on the next right."

"Yeah, yeah... and Right is—" Ezra mumbled, confused.

Tara sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The direction of the hand you write with."

Ezra's eyes light up in realization. "Oh yes, yes."

"God, how dumb can you be, Ezra," Kiara murmurs with a huff.

"Oh, shut up Kiara, no one's talking to you," Ezra yelled angrily.

Ezra started to yell at Kiara and she yells back whilst Tara shouted things at both of them.

Love sighs vexingly, looking at her watch and then through the window to the familiar streets of London. "Rowena please, let me be on time or at least in one piece."

🤍

"Bye, baby lolo." Ezra hugged her, lifting her up. "I'm going to miss you, baby sis,"

They finally arrived at King Cross, only they didn't enter the station as Ezra parked in a no-parking zone and they couldn't leave the car alone.

Love grunted, trying to pry off her brother's hug. "I have to go, Ezra."

"I already miss you so much," Ezra whined, not letting her go.

Love loves her brother to death as she did with all of her siblings, he's always been her partner in crime, they always got each other back but he can be a little dramatic and over the top which is one of the reasons she adores him but since she started going to Hogwarts, it was an issue.

Love sends Tara a pleading look, she smiles and taps Ezra on the shoulder. "Ezra let her go, we have to say our goodbyes too."

Finally, he lets her go but not before squeezing the breath out of her one last time. Once free, Love hugged Tara who hugged her back tightly. "I'll miss you, baby Lolo."

"You need to stop calling me that." Love mumbled on her sister's shoulder. "It's embarrassing, only mum calls me that."

There was a sad tone lacing her voice, making Tara hug her harder.

"Listen, I know you wanted Mum and Ma here but–"

"They are working, again." Sighs Love, letting go of her sister, not bothering to hide the disappointment in her tone. "I know."

Tara sends her a tight smile as Love turned to Kiara and smiles at her who smiled back. Kiara was not big on physical touch, she much rather shows affection in actions rather than words or hugs.

"Truth to be told." Kiara pinches Love's cheek. "I'm not going to miss you that much, Baby Lolo."

"Kiara, that's your sister and she's leaving." Ezra sniffles, sending Kiara a teary look.

Kiara rolled her eyes letting go of Love's cheeks. "Not forever, we'll have this little rat shit back by Christmas."

"Hey–"

"Now go on and be great, with your lil blue dress."

"I..." Love frowns, looking down at herself. "what's wrong with my dress?"

"Nothing," said Tara, sending an annoyed look at Kiara who shrugged. "Now go or you'll really be late. Oh, send Padma and Emma our greetings."

"Yeah, okay." Love mumbled, grabbing her trolley, and placing her journal under her arm. "Bye, see you on holiday."

"Bye, baby Lolo." They all yelled after her rather loudly, making Love send a glare over her shoulder as several muggles stared at her. "We'll miss you."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake." Love mumbles to herself but a soft smile made its way to her face. She did love her siblings, regardless of how embarrassing they are.

The station was buzzing with life, witches and wizards were seeing their children onto the train as the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform. Unfortunately, Love didn't appreciate it as she usually does because her mind was occupied with her sister's words.

Love knows Kiara didn't mean it with evil intentions, she says things like that all the time with no real meaning but she was the one with more style in the family, hence why she was making Love overthink her choice of wardrobe.

She liked the dress and it was probably the last time she'll wear it in a while since the Autumn season was about to start meaning the weather is going to be chilly, not for a dress. Looking down at her clothes, Love sighed, thinking she should have to wear something else, anything else, she probably looks awful.

"Love." Someone called cutting her train of thoughts. "Love."

Looking ahead, she found Padma Patil between the many people, waving and smiling at her. Love mirrors her actions, smiling back before making a beeline toward her while Padma was waving her hand, mouthing her to be quick.

Change is something Love disliked, although she knows change is constant and inevitable, she dislike the thought of the unknowing outcomes of it, coming to Hogwarts and learning about magic was great, amazing even but it was a sudden change, her life went from coming home from school to her family every afternoon to going to Scotland for a year, to an unknown castle, with people she didn't know, to learn from zero about the magic world not knowing if she was actually cut for it, it was nerve-racking and if that was not enough, she was alone, and if there's something Love hated was being alone.

The first night at Hogwarts Love got terribly homesick, enough for a few tears to fall from her eyes and a runny nose as she thought about her family but fortunately, her roommate heard her from her own bed, Padma Patil.

She opened the curtains of Love's bed shamelessly and ask if she was alright.

Love was quick to reassure her that she was okay but Padma was stubborn, so Love give in and told her she missed her family, that made Padma sit next to Love and shared that she also missed her home as she always shared rooms with her twin sister, Parvati Patil who was sorted into Gryffindor unlike them. Knowing that she wasn't the only one feeling homesick made Love at ease and both girls spent most of the night talking about each other and their families. After that night, the two girls were attached to the hip.

Amidst lost in her thoughts, Love didn't notice the boy in her way until they collide.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Love said, quickly glancing at who she had bumped into, she only notice emerald green eyes before looking away and continuing making her way towards Padma.

"Love." Padma hugged her once she was within arm's length, forcing Love to hug back.

"I missed you." Love said once they parted."Where's Parvati?"

"She already left to find Lavander." Padma rolled her eyes as she grabbed Love's trunk and helped her load it on the train. "Ugh, don't make me talk about her, she's wearing my favourite shirt even though I told her I wanted to wear it today, now she's going to stretch it."

"You're identical twins, I don't think she'll stretch it that much." Love told her with a laugh.

"Can you be on my side, please?" Huffs Padma, making Love hold her hand up innocently. "And regardless of that, she's wearing my shirt as if she didn't have her owns."

"Well, that's how sisters are, annoying." Love shrugged as the train whistled one last time alerting them that it was time to go, "Have you seen Emma?"

Padma shook her head. "No, but he's probably already in one compartment, shooing everyone away."

Love laughs, shaking her head, knowing Emmanuel Salazar had the tendency of not letting people he didn't know to sit with him, which was just about the entire Hogwarts population with the exception of Padma and herself. "Yeah, let's go find him."

🤍

Gryffindors are supposed to be daring, bold, have nerves of steel, and ready to take anything thrown at them. To be a Gryffindor is to be brave at heart... but whenever his eyes found her, Harry Potter's heart was anything but brave.

"Mum, please stop." Harry mumbled quietly, cheeks a little pink as his mother, Lily, was yet again trying to 'brush' his unruly dark locks, which were short and just barely falling over his forehead.

"Sorry sorry. I'm just a little nervous, that's all." She said, smiling down at him warmly, looking slightly concerned. "Are you sure you don't want to stay home this year?"

Harry sighed softly, tired of discussing this situation with her. He knows she's worried for him, she always does, maybe more often than a regular mother would but given their history it is to expect and he doesn't blame her for it but it's slightly tiring.

He opened his mouth to tell her the same answer he had told her every time she asked if he wanted to stay for the year but before he could his father, James, did it for him.

"He'll be fine, Lilypad." He said grinning, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a comforting squeeze. "Won't you, Harry?"

He nodded while also grinning at his mother. "I reckon last year was more dangerous—"

His father squeezed his shoulder again, looking down at him with big eyes. "Let's not give your mother another reason to worry, son."

Lily gives James a long, warning look. "This year is different, I don't want him out there by himself, not when he's on the loose."

James purses his lips, frowning, he's also worried for his son, of course he is and knowing how Harry usually goes head first into danger, much like himself, he should also want him to stay back with them, which deep down he does, but he didn't want his son to miss Hogwarts, to be robbed of the best years of his life for situations he couldn't control, for situations no one could control.

"It's Hogwarts darling, the safest place." He gave her a soft smile, hoping to put her worries at ease or settle them enough for Harry to get inside the train. "Albus and Minnie will be there with him and if that's not enough our Moony would be there too."

"And Ron and Hermione," Harry added.

"Fine, alright..." Lily sighs, she looks between them, she knew arguing with them, who share the same hot-headed and recklessness, was futile, not to mention, Harry shared her same stubbornness, although she will never admit it he got it from her out loud. "But you better owl us if anything happens, and I meant it, Harry."

"If he won't Remus will, darling," James said, smiling triumphantly at his son who was smiling back.

"I know." Lily sighs, running a hand over harry's hair affectionately. "Just make sure to listen to what we've told you."

"I will, I promise."

"Okay, time for a family hug," James said, he nudged Harry towards his mother while also wrapping his arm around her waist and squeezing them all together.

"We'll miss you, son," James mutters, kissing his son's hair.

Lily's arms tightened around him. "Too much."

"Yeah, yeah..." Harry rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but tighten his hold on them. "'l'll miss you too."

"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked once they let go of each other.

"He's with Moony, saying his goodbyes," James told her, but his eyes also roamed the station to try and spot his best friends, although he knows it's useless because they usually sneak off to snog, like a couple of teenagers in love.

"Of course— Oh, there's Molly," Lily smiled at something from behind Harry's shoulder, making him turn.

It was easy to spot the Weasley family, as all seven of them had fiery redheads and were naturally loud, something the Potters usually find amusing.

"Harry." Ron greeted him as if they hadn't seen each other the day before.

"Hey Harry." Said Hermione Granger, who had spent the night at the burrow with Ginny who was also smiling at him. "Hi."

"Hey." He tells them, smiling back while his parents talk with Molly and Arthur Weasley in hush tones.

"Have you been here for a while?" Asked Hermione, carrying her new cat, Crookshanks, an orange Kneazle.

"Not really."

"We would have been early if it wasn't for Ron, who surprise surprise, wouldn't wake up." Ginny rolled her eyes making Ron glare at her.

"Fred and George woke up later than I did, they always do, tell them, Harry."

Harry went to answer but a familiar shade of honey blonde hair caught his eyes, making his heart skip a beat as it usually did whenever they were in the same room.

There she was, Love Emerson, the bane of Harry's bravery.

He would be lying if he said he didn't thought about her during the summer holidays. The memory of her was constant in his mind, like, whenever he was unable to sleep, he liked to recall the way her hair fall over her face when she was writing something down or when he had caught himself thinking of her smile whenever she talked to Padma or her other friend whose name he doesn't know, it would be a rabbit hole for him one thing would make him think of another, and then another and then another for only to be brought back to reality when his father called his name in the middle of a 1v1 Quidditch game on the fields on the back of his house.

But now, looking at her in present time, his fleeting memories couldn't be compared to the real Love.

She was wearing a pretty blue flowery summer dress, a muggle jacket, like the ones Hermione uses sometimes, and white trainers. Her hair longer than he remembered, shinier, but it looked good on her, especially by the way the dim light of the sun was hitting it, you could see some golden strands on them, her skin was sun kissed and had a constellation of freckles dotting the skin below her pretty blue eyes.

And her smile, Merlin her smile... that's when Harry he came to the surprising realization that Love Emerson was smiling at him, she was waving at him, coming his way.

His hand subconsciously went to his hair, running a hand over his black hair, quickly yet nervously, a smile stretching on his face as he mirrored her actions all the while his heart was pumping madly.

And then, she bumps into him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said, with a quick glance and an apologetic smile before walking past him.

It was embarrassing, he was crushing on a girl who barely acknowledged his existence.

He was bewitched by her, no pun intended, absolutely infatuated and the worst part is that he had never actually spoken to her before.

"Harry." Ron called him, snapping him out of his train of thought.

"Yes, sorry." He clears his throat, looking at his friends. "What were you saying?"

"Are you alright?" Ginny asks, concerned. "You seemed a bit out of it."

"Yeah I'm fine." He quickly said, giving her a smile.

"Who were you waving at?" Asked Hermione, looking at where Harry was just smiling and waving a few moments ago. "Was it that girl?"

"Uh..." he shared a look with Ron who was giving him a knowing look, as the only one who knew about his crush on the Ravenclaw.

"She left this book behind, reckon it fell of her bag or something." Ginny said, picking up the odd looking book that was on the ground.

She didn't waste a minute before opening it and reading it;

August 23, 1992

The Maldives are truly gorgeous, the beaches are wonderful, the mountains and volcanoes are a sweet view and although it was raining a bit that didn't stop us from spending our best time here.

Today I got to ride a jet ski, I thought i would look wicked cool on it, but  I was soon to realized that I'm not made for it. Broken dreams. I fell like five times in the first three minutes, mum had to ride it with me, it was proper embarrassing, even more so when after I cling into mum for my dear life I realized that the handsome tour guide was there too (whom had an obvious crush on Tara but we don't talk about that per her request.) On the bright side I got a pretty nice tan from the day at the beach.

My head is slightly pounding because Ezra and Kiara won't stop fighting over who gets the hammock, and it it's not like there's just one hammock there are plenty but the one they are fighting for is the one with the batter view and—- oh, Ma just took claim over it, yes, finally a few moments of peace u too they figured about to what fight next.

Mum is thinking about buying an island here and build a villa for the family, I think she should. The Maldives are like heaven on earth.

"What is the Maldives?" Askes Ron, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

Hermione grabbed the book out of Ginny's hands and looked at the pictures of the views of the island. "It's a tropical place near India."

"Oh."

"Pretty pictures." Harry said, also looking at the book in Hermione's hands. His eyes settled on a picture of her and a boy, she was smiling and the boy was sticking his tongue out.

"Who's she?" Ginny asks, pointing at the picture Harry was staring at.

"I've seen her before." Hermione tells them, "I think she's a Ravenclaw."

"Love Emerson." Harry mumbles to himself but loud enough for the other to hear.

Ginny frowns, looking at Harry. "Do you know her?"

"He doesn't." Ron sniffles as laugh, ignoring the glare Harry was sending him. "He just fancies her."

"What?" Hermione and Ginny exclaimed, surprise.

The train whistle interrupted their conversation much to Harry's delight.

"Harry." Lily called, moving towards him. "It's time for you all to board the train— what have you done to your hair?"

But just as she started to brush his hair again, James appeared grabbing his wife's hand softly. "He's looking handsome already, Lily, he shares my genes, after all."

He winked at Harry.

Lily huffed vexingly but didn't move her hand out if James's hold before looking down at Harry with softer eyes. "Be good, alright son."

"But not that good." Sirius made himself known, as he wraps an arm around his god son's shoulders giving it a comforting squeeze. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"So, I should do what you'd do?"

Sirius smirked down at him with pride. "A brill, you are."

"Where's Moony?" James asks, looking around for his friend.

"Already on the train—"

The train started to blow steam, alerting the family that it was about to start moving.

"As should you, Harry, go on now, look for your uncle."

With his last goodbyes, Harry ran to the compartment door and Ron threw it open and stood back to let him on. They leaned out of the window and waved at their families until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.

Lily sighs, staring at the retrieving train, leaning against James who holds her tightly as if afraid she'll run after the moving vehicle.

"Nothing will happen to him." James mumbles on her red hair.

"We also thought the same for the past two years... look at what happened."

James also sighs, because as much as he puts a happy face in front of his son he couldn't help but feel his stomach twist awfully whenever he leaves to Hogwarts but there's really nothing he could do about it.

"If something does happen darling, Sirius and I will be there the next minute."

"We got a free ticket." Sirius nodded solemnly, hands behind his back. "We can show up whenever we want, for security."

"See Lily, it'll be fine, I'm sure."

Lily sighs, glancing at her husband's hazel eyes before nodding, trying her best to believe in his words. "He'll be fine."

#james potter #james potter imagine #james potter fluff #harry potter #harry potter imagine #marauders #marauders imagine #marauders fluff #ravenclaw!reader #marauders au #harry potter fanfiction #harry james potter #harry potter x reader #harry potter fanfic #harry james potter x reader #hermione granger #ron weasley #remus lupin #sirius black #wolfstar #lgbt representation #lily potter #draco malfoy #marauders fanfiction #peter pettigrew #harry potter fandom #voldemort

[mariethekitten]

The Dragon and the Fish part two

INFORMATION: this is the second part to my first ever fic of the same name. No idea if you wanted this but, you’re having it anyway. Plot is entirely fictional and not cannon.

Nobody x Nobody (this is still not romantic)

The city of Oldtown bustled on as it always does. Lords and ladies arrived every day from their manors and great seats and castles across the realm and its neighbors. Some come to seek a bride or husband, some for commerce, some to learn the ways of the maesters, some as envoys of their lords. It was a place of commerce, of culture, and of politics. It was also the seat of the largest and most powerful faith on the continent. The great Hightower dominated the city, standing as tall as the wall and being said to touch the very stars. It had been 4 months since Evangeline Tully had been spared by Prince Daemon Targaryen, 4 months since he had taken over Oldtown, a clear message to the greens. The Blacks were not going to surrender, Rhaenyra would be crowned Queen, no matter what. Evangeline Tully was currently running through the streets, her heart beating out of her chest, she had delivered Prince Daemon’s message and despite her best efforts her father still refused to acknowledge Rhaenyra as Queen. She had managed to convince nearly the whole of Riverrun but, without the permission of their Lord, they could not support her. And now here she was running to inform the Prince of her failure. Evangeline was out of breath when she reached the Hightower. She had run every step of the way, desperate, determined to find the prince. She collapsed, gulping for air before looking up and seeing the guards at the gates. “I must see Prince Daemon!” She panted, pointing to herself. It was clear she was quite distraught. The guards exchanged a look, one shrugged and nodded to her as they opened both sets of the great gates. Another guard moved to help her to her feet. The girl was a noble, it seemed. Entering the gates and clinging onto the guard for dear life she tried to calm her rapid heart and heavy breathing. She could hope for life imprisonment, anything would be better than death. Still out of breath her eyes widened in fear as the guards led her towards a familiar figure. One with long silver hair.

Daemon saw her almost immediately, the slightest hint of surprise flickering across his face, he was not expecting to see the child. His face returned to that same cold, calm expression however, and his eyes remained stone. His deep purple eyes looked down at her the same as they had last time, those eyes that carried the wisdom of ages, the eyes of an eternal night that could see the deepest truths and darkest lies.

She did have his attention however. “What is it, child? My time is precious.” And so was his mercy, she had learned from the last time. Once he had spoken Evangeline knelt, staring the Prince in his eyes as she did. Then, in the calmest voice she could muster she spoke. “My Prince. I have come to inform you of the state of Riverrun. The whole city, Lords, commoners and servants have agreed to support the Queen Rhaenyra but, I am sorry to report that my fathers mind would not be swayed. He refuses to acknowledge her and without our Lords permission our house is unable to renounce our loyalty to Aegon. In other words…“ she takes in a deep breath. “I have to come to die. I failed you and now, you are going to kill me. I thought it best not to run.”

The prince remained calm and collected, but the stone look in his eyes softened a little as he looked down at her, with sympathy or pity or something else she could not name. He nodded his head slightly, and there was that slight flicker of a smile once again. “It is no crime to fail. Only in refusing to learn from it do we do wrong. And you have not done that.” His face regained its usual calm look. "Rise, lady Tully." Her face scrunches up in confusion, why was this man so strange? Slowly, she rises, her eyes never leaving Daemon’s face.

He looked at her, standing straight and tall. He was a man tall and well built, but he always somehow seemed taller and more imposing. When he spoke, he held himself up with the pride of his name and his line. “Speak honestly, child. Tell me, how do you feel about your father's actions and his choices?” She blinked, the questioning catching her off guard, well, this whole conversation was catching her off guard. She was going to tell the truth, obviously, she only hoped that he believed her. “At first I was confused, I was there the day we swore allegiance to Queen Rhaenyra. When he came to tell me that King Viserys died and Aegon had taken over I thought there had been a mistake, but he told me that the King changed his mind and that Queen Rhaenyra was trying to steal the throne. I did not discover the truth until you kidnapped me and told me of his treason. When I found out I was upset, he was my father, I couldn’t believe that he’d lied to me and betrayed the crown. I am still ashamed of him. I do not understand why he won’t accept Rhaenyra as Queen but in doing so he is putting all those who live in Riverrun in danger. And that, makes me angry.” There was an anger behind his eyes as he listened to her words. An anger that simmered within him like fire. “Your father's betrayal is indeed an awful one. There is no excuse for such... Treason. Nor for lying to his children. But you have done a noble thing, child. Even though it was dangerous and risky you stood by the truth. By the rightful queen. And you came to inform me of all of this.” He did not sound angry, or upset. He only sounded calm. This is a good sign, she thinks. With Daemon Targaryen you never really know. 

“So, what will happen to me? If I am not to die will I be imprisoned?”He took a step closer, towering over her. The confidence he carried himself with was truly impressive…And intimidating, incredibly. The presence he had filled the entire room. “I do not wish to punish the innocent for the crimes of others. You're honest, and you did not hide your father's treason. You came here to inform me yourself out of duty. Not knowing the cost of such a decision. I am impressed. It takes great courage to do something like that.” He reached across and placed a hand on her shoulder. Evangeline looked up at him with a half scared half happy expression. She pondered her fate in her mind. She truly did not know what his plans concerning her were. He squeezed her shoulder with a smirk on his face, the second real smile she had seen from the prince. It wasn’t a half smile like before, or small one. It was a genuine happy smirk. His grip was reassuring but firm and warm. “You're wise and loyal. Such people must be kept close.” His voice was warm now. His purple orbs showed a kindness. Those terrible, cold, dark eyes, they were truly kind for the first time. “You will be a valuable and trusted advisor when I come to rule the seven kingdoms with my Queen. You have a future at our side, do you want it?” Evangeline’s face fell into shock and disbelief. Her, at the side of the future King and Queen of Westeros? Wow! She did not see that one coming. At all.

“It is a generous offer my Prince, I would be glad to accept it.” Her words are filled with gratitude and pride. He looked into her eyes once again, this time with an intense look and for quite a while. His eyes held all the weight of centuries of Valyria, the thousands of Targaryens that had come before, all the weight of his own line. “You will be tested. I am not a merciful man. You will help us win this war. You will serve us well, and in return I will reward you with a seat at our side. Do you understand me, little Tully?” Oh she understood alright. Prove to be disloyal and he’ll have her begging for death. No mistakes. No second chances. Her own face hardened as well, determination settling in her bright green eyes, they shine with purpose as she spoke. “I do my Prince.” He nodded at her, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “Be loyal and you will prosper and bring your people with you. Be disloyal and you will die or wish you had. You understand the stakes. Will you accept them?” One chance, no more. “I will my Prince” His hand fell away. His eyes returned to their cold fury. He spoke quietly, each word uttered with a terrible intensity and meaning, as though every word was a death-knell. His voice was as cold as the deepest winter. “Good. If you prove your loyalty in these coming days then you will have your reward. If you prove disloyal... Then you have already sealed your sentence. Do you understand me, Lady Evangeline?” The intensity was frightening, but the more time she spent around Daemon the better she got a hiding her fear. She would not have a repeat of their first ever meeting. He would not see her cry again.

“I do my Prince. I assume I am to stay here during the test period.” She would expect nothing less from the Prince. He knew who to keep close and who to let go. He thought a moment. The great walls of the Hightower towered above them in the distance, and all the guards in their red cloaks and silver armor seemed to stare from the battlements. Daemon spoke in a low voice at last. “You will. And until I have won the crown for my Queen and our position in the realm is secure, you shall remain my hostage.” His face returned to its usual cold expression, and he looked down at the child with his usual dark eyes. And then, a last grin, not malicious but warm and reassuring, he nodded. “Understood?” She had to stop her face from falling into a look of annoyance. Being a hostage isn’t exactly her dream scenario but, it’s better than being dead so, look on the bright side. She smiled back at him. “Yes my Prince. Wait! What about my belongings? I only brought myself.” He nodded again. “There are chambers within the tower where you will be staying. You are permitted to bring any belongings you need, they will be delivered to you. Any servants you may want to bring with you can come too. You and you alone however, must remain our hostage.” His purple eyes bore into her soul again. She wished he would stop doing that, it’s very unnerving. Makes you feel guilty even if you’ve done nothing wrong. “Until the day comes when you have proved you are worthy of trust and your father's treason is not your own, it must be you who remains in my custody. Only then may you go free. Is this understood?” This man wanted absolute certainty that she was not going to do a runner. She didn’t blame him, but if he kept this up she swore that she was going to have a heart attack and drop dead from fear.

Thinking back to his comment about servants she had to laugh. “Oh those were the days!” His brows furrowed so Evangeline quickly explained herself. “Of course I understand. Sorry for laughing my Prince it’s just, the servants. I lost them long ago. Father took them off me as soon as I began to convince the people of Queen Rhaenyra’s right to rule. Naturally he didn’t approve. Will I be under guard?” His tone was cold but he kept his face calm. And a strange light appeared in his eyes, it was one of curiosity, and there was a certain kind of admiration in it too. “You convinced them on your own? Then you will have no need of servants. You may send for any books or other items at your leisure.” He frowned for a moment but the light had returned to those strange eyes of his. “You will be under constant guard until I win her crown. I will reward you with trust when the war is won. They will not mistreat you child, I will make sure of that.” Ok, constant guard but any objects she wanted from home she could have. Not too bad. Evangeline could live with that. “Thank you my Prince, these are very fair terms.” Her voice was genuine and sincere, she meant what she said. He nodded, satisfied. His tone stayed soft and calm. “You have no idea how valuable an asset you have proven to be. You are an intelligent and resourceful child. Do not throw away these gifts of yours. They are much better than riches or strength or power.” He smiled and leaned down a little to bring himself to her level. “Stay loyal to me Little Tully. And you may prove to be an asset that few others could hope to replace. But if you betray me I will not hesitate. Im glad that our agreement is clear.”

Evangeline smile back at him, “as am I.” She did a small curtesy as a gesture of respect before straitening herself again. The Prince continued to smile. He took her hand and squeezed it softly. “Be careful what choices you make. War is dangerous. Especially for a young lady. I’m shall have my men escort you to your chambers, I’m sure you want to get settled in.” Evangeline nodded preparing to follow the two guards that came forward before a thought popped into her head. “Sorry my Prince but, where may I find the ravens? I want to send a list of things I would like brought back to me. You may approve the letter of course, I don’t wish for you to think I am writing anything else.” Her face remained calm and collected, she felt much more comfortable in his presence now. He nodded. “Of course, you will find the ravens in your chambers. Your list will be reviewed by me personally. I will bring whatever requests you need in good time.” He gave her a faint nod. “Is that all, little Tully? Or is there anything else you need?” He had that half smirk back on his face again. Evangeline thought for a moment before a small smirk crossed her own face. “Could I ask for a glass of wine? The day had been quite stressful.” Daemon then let his smirk grow wider. “I will send a servant up shortly.” He then turned to face the guards speaking in a quieter tone so that Evangeline did not hear. “I assume you will be keeping an eye on our Little Tully? She might need protection too. It will not win her love, but it will win her trust. And that goes a long way as well.” The guard nodded once before moving to stand next to Evangeline, waiting for her to leave. “Goodnight my Prince” she curtesys again before turning and leaving. He gave a curt nod, and gave a meaningful look to the guards. “Good night Little Tully. I'll see you again soon.” 

He turned away, his dark orbs studying her for one last time, his face returning to its usual cold, stony demeanor - but the hint of a smile had returned. He left, the guards closing the gates quickly behind him. 

The next time they'd meet would be many months later, after many battles but finally the blacks were gaining the upper hand. The Prince brought to her a story. A story that should have made her sad but instead it made her happy. Just last week her Lord Father was found dead by the road, a knife through his neck. He spoke of how Some said it was he who killed him, whereas others said it was a rebellious servant. In the end, no-one really knew for sure. Well, none of the Smallfolk did. He did not have to tell her but Evangeline knew that it was in fact Daemon. The look on bus face as he told the story and then meaningful glances was all she needed to know. He deserved it though. Her father was a traitor who endangered his family and his people, he had to go. The story of his death spread quickly like wild fire, and soon all the Riverlords were swearing allegiance to the Targaryens - but it wasn't the death of their Lord that made them choose to side with their rightful Queen, it was the bravery of a young girl whose family had chosen the wrong side.

#daemon targaryen #hotd #hotd season 1 #house of the dragon #house of the dragon season 1 #rhaenyra targeryan #team black #hotd imagine