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onf-headcanons · 3 years

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ONF UNIVERSITY AU

A/n : ok this is just the first (?) elaboration of the au. This is also meshed with senpai au. I actually already had a few moodboards (Yuto and Minseok ones) and a senpai AU of Seungjoon that opened up the idea, its just i did not have the time and luxury to expand the au. Another reason was that timing i am still learning about ONF so I don't want to go too OOC on things I am not familiar with.

To keep it short, the boys actually formed a dance club and they named themselves ONF

I do said dance club but if you wanna utilise it like F4 from meteor garden, it totally flexible

Also totally doable if you wanna use the university au as the main worldbuilding for other AU, examples, Sibling AU, or any BF headcanons I have mentioned like the MTL for PDA. MTL to confess and MTL to leave hickies, so do check out masterlist (that is constantly updating )

Also, even though it might retcon some setting I have already done, but it is totally doable for University AU to be the prequel for Office AU.

OH HEADS UP, FOR THIS AU I AM ALTERING THEIR AGE. Their real life age difference are about 4-5 years which is unrealistic to fit for the au, so shrink age difference to 1-2 years.

One of the project they did as a dance club, which they uploaded

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youtube

Let see the members headcanons below

Hyojin : Probably musical student but if we were to jump out from stereotype,I do feel him studying marketing (analysts side)

OK if this boy does not finish his assignments in the cafeteria, then he is not Kim Hyojin lol. Constantly munching something while he trying to finish assignment or solve a problematic question

Even if Seungjoon drags him to library to do assignments . HYOJIN DEFO GONNA MAKE EXCUSE TO BUY BEVERAGE FOR THE 2 OF THEM AND SNEAKS OUT FOR A SHORT WHILE.

The type that try his best on getting good results on every class. But he never brags about it.

Should we give him a senpai au plot, I would write him as the senpai you have a crush on since high school and you did not know he attend the same university as you.

Changyoon : Design student for sure😉 Interior design, graphic design or even fashion design. Oh! Film Director also not bad? (I mean he has loads of ideas and thoughts also let's not forget about Incomplete MV)

Ppl which are not in their circles would be like, "how did you even get along with the others?" Because his majors are very different compared to the other 6

Hmm I do feel it is more like Changyoon did not make the first move to join the group. Probably the Capricorns/ENFPS (Seungjoon or Jaeyoung)

So maybe he kinda drop by to a short marketing class so that he can gain insight on how advertisements film can grasp audience heart. There he either met Hyojin or Seungjoon (maybe both) ,then only the bond gets deeper

After knowing each other he finally comfortable to be himself and does not feel awkward anymore...

Also including this hc here because I only thought of it when writing. HYOJIN,CHANGYOON, SEUNGJOON AND MINKYUN teaming up to sing something? Like them 4 have a YouTube channel that upload their covers, without showing their faces, using illustrations drawn by Changyoon

Seungjoon : Could go for science genre or maybe business administration? Also anything related with mathematics(that need flexible solving) might suit him too

Might occasionally appear in the library. Not really searching for books to read,more on giving himself the environment to complete assignments. But visits bookstore too

Maybe, the most social-able being in the group. Constantly waving or say hi to acquaintance/classmates passing by. Even though that, there are never rumours or scandals of Seungjoon being playboy. (But totally the first one in the group to get a GF, hint established in his senpai au)

Like people only notices the group because of him because of his social skills. Its kind of like the fairy who brings/enlarge the fandom lol

You can read his Senpai au here

Might doing part time job at a cafe nearby university because of distance+ time convenience purposes. The other members of the group might occasionally hang out at the place, waiting for him to finish his shift or Yuto to finish his lessons and then they go eat dinner

Jaeyoung : High chance of choosing communication related genre or/also social science/sociology related genre. I won't be surprised if he will choose psychology or behavioural science

Easily to find him in library searching for books to read/expand his pov. Sitting beside windows

One of the hyungs that will explains Korean to Yuto. Especially idioms.

First impression would be the quiet good looking one that definitely gonna stay back to ask lecturer more questions

The second on in the group to get a GF. But very very low key.

Linking to the tutor AU I posted recently, he might be teaching online to gain extra income because he does not want to do part time job to exhaust himself as he want to reserve energy to dance. Which also the main factor he suggested Yuto to do online teaching later

Minkyun : Musical student but focusing on composing. To jump from stereotypes, he could be going to broadcast communications, to become professional radio DJ

He might also join another club which is established by uni it self to make radio broadcast that plays at the cafeteria.

Cues in other members all recognise his voice immediately. Lol if he qccidentally messed up on some wordings, the next time they meet they are gonna tease him for sure haha

OK this applies to all of them but I only remembered to include this during writing for Minkyun, the boys are totally banned from playing any games at the cafeteria lol (not a strict ban but they are loud lol.) So they changed plans to play game and hangout at home, with Yuto coming over to sleep over.

Yuto : the exchange student / the foreign student who is majoring in Korean language. High chance going for Korean language teaching later.

Once they knew Yuto's Korean Proficiency level are above average, the boys are supportive and proud of him af. Lol also his devilish hyungs teasing him that he should get a girlfriend, it is a way to master language lol

Cues in his hyungs helping him out by giving him small tests of Korean grammar

Could be the only one who lives in university dorms. But he gets to have sleepovers with his hyungs at their house during weekends (rent or family residence,up to you)

Even encourages him to try out online teaching beginners first to gain experiences

Probably feeling sadden the most when found out Minseok had to quit university. Also could not help feeling lonely when his hyungs graduated. (Some did extend studies but some did not. My hunch, Minkyun and Chang Yoon could be the first two to graduated first. Jaeyoung and Yuto being the last two to graduate)

Minseok : a junior who studies history and choosing Japanese + Chinese as sub majors. Who knows, he might choose translating/interpreting as major later (I mean have you seen some interviews where he used Japanese and Chinese, damn his pronunciation is good, trust me cos i speak both language)

Did not get to stay long, maybe just 1 year and a half then he had to quit university because his whole family are moving out from the country (no worries they contact each other online frequently). His hyungs defo doing a farewell party for him.

Even though short time, but he gained the title of university sweetheart by the first day he starts uni.

Same as Seungjoon and Jaeyoung, the type to find him in library alot.

Of course gonna ask Yuto a lot of Japanese grammar questions

BTW if link to Sibling AU, should we link it to the double Kim household, Minseok did not drop out. He could have participated an exchange program and had to leave for overseas to complete a course at a better institute

A/N : Ok I am gonna stop here before it gets even messier (slaps forehead I changdolled while writing this)

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musashi · 4 years

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I know I send you a lot of asks like this but I enjoy thinking of the possibilities so - assign the Contest Fam the following? 1) A Galarian form Pokémon 2) A Lycanroc 3) Traditional starter (May just gets another one xD) 4) A gym type to run 5) A mythical/legendary!!

I RAN OUT OF ASK ENERGY BUT ITS BACK NOW

1. A Galarian form pokemon:

may: meowth, i... CANNOT explain this is pure kinstinct

drew: fucking rapidash no one contest (haha) me

harley: obstagoon

solidad: like the easy answer here is slowbro. like she sees a second, slightly more poisonous slowbro and is like oh that is my Friend. but i can also rly see her w Mr. Rime!!! that dude belongs in a contest hall

2. A Lycanroc:

may: unevolved rockruff (shush its not cheating)

drew: dusk

harley: midnight

solidad: midday

you could flip drew and solidad (dusk goes really well with solidad because she’s like 95% Sunset Colours) but i think midday just fits her personality/aesthetic more? dusk just seems more Right for drew because it requires very specific care to evolve right and it has those striking green eyes. and i just kinda reflexively associate drew w/ sunsets because a lot of his most meaningful scenes take place at dusk sdfgsf.

3. a traditional starter:

may: tepig!!!!! i have no basis for this other than its ears look like her bandana (though i guess grookey and scorbunny would work for that too sfhfg)

drew: DARTRIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! like he never evolves it into decidueye it stays a dartrix fghfghf

harley: fucking serperior

solidad: god im honestly torn between delphox and primarina. girl has too many water types so im gonna go w delphox

4. a gym type to run:

may: my kinnie fingers are physically resisting typing this. i dont want to type this. i am like sitting here psyching myself up you know what we’ll do this one last.

drew: grass!! i know he looks the part but a lot of people HC that drew likes spending time in nature because he grew up in LaRousse which is, like, a fully roboticized city. there’s cute little parks dotting it but basically everything is grey and futurecore and automated and the General Consensus is that drew was desperate to get out and just BE in the natural world, so even though he only has one grass-type in canon, i think a gym paradise for him would just be decorated in hanging vines and rose gardens.

harley: quintessential dark-type trainer. literally could not be moreso. already wearing the outfit. regardless, will make 5 more. this is not a question.

solidad: i’m settled on ice, i think! like its between that and flying gvdhgd. ice specialists tend to either be rigid and unmoving or have that wild air of grace/beauty about them, and solidad has that in spades tbh! something about ice specialists just feels, like, untouchable in the same way solidad does to a lot of coordinators meeting her for the first time, so that’s the General Vibe im getting.

may for real this time: NORMAL, ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY DAD??? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY??? HYPOTHETICALLY!!!!!!!!!!! HYPOTHETICALLY I’M RUNNING THE GYM!!!!!!!!!! HYPOTHETICALLY!!! FOR THIS HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. a mythical/legendary:

may: lol manaphy. victini if i can’t use the easy answer :P

drew: my heart is REALLY saying xerneas for this one. cannot elaborate. thats just what i keep coming back to.

harley: legit difficult because i could see him with a LOT of ultra beasts but i think it’s hoopa. if it’s hoopa he can just get all those ultra beasts anyways. which is too much power for harley of all people to have so i’ve decided his hoopa doesn’t do shit except bake donuts with him and then eat all the donuts. the donuts are not half bad.

solidad: ARTICUNO BABY. again cannot elaborate. heart just says articuno

#i used to joke abt norman turning on the tv and seeing may in some contest w her three fucking normal types #like aww thats my girl :)#h2s2 #ag #like no one ever was #nogeese #wendy answers

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dragonsaphirareads · 5 years

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I Am Creativity (Chapter 2/5)

Crossposted on AO3 under the same name! A/N - This fic includes my theory/hc for what the orange side will be (Passion/Obsession). I don’t elaborate too much on him, but just to clarify, that’s who he is.

The spectators watched as a bell rang and the timer started counting down. The twins sprinted to their respective towers, creating things out of thin air as they went. As they would expect, Roman’s army consisted of knights dressed in shining white armor and various mythical creatures. They couldn’t see Remus’s side as clearly, but what they could see was eldritch abominations with too many eyes and too many limbs.

Patton had curled his knees up to his chest, covering his eyes and peeking through his fingers to block out Remus’s creations, which made him sick to his stomach. Virgil and Logan were both leaning forward, fixated on the viewing screens for very different reasons.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad…” Virgil kept repeating, breaths coming quicker. Logan leaned over and put his hand over Virgil’s, tapping out a 4-7-8 rhythm to try and keep him calm.

“He will be fine, Virgil. He’s Creativity, he’s stronger than any of us are here. This is his domain – I’m confident he will be victorious.” His voice was calm, but Virgil knew his heart was racing just as fast as his own.

“Don’t lie to me. You didn’t live with Remus, Logan, he’s… demented. Just look at what he’s coming up with!”

“And Roman is doing the same. They both operate on the same rules, Virgil, and one of those is that the Imagination is just that – imaginative. It’s not real.”

A wet roar echoed across the field, as well as a high-pitched laugh from Remus’s side of the field. Three minutes had already passed.

“Oh god oh god oh god!” Virgil felt his heart jump into his throat and he quickly covered his ears and closed his eyes, blocking out all images and trying to keep his own imagination under control. He needed to calm down – Thomas would have a panic attack at this rate, and considering his host wasn’t actually doing anything to deserve it, he really didn’t want it to come to that.

He felt arms around his shoulders and a chin resting on his head. When he opened his eyes, Virgil saw light blue and looked up to see Patton standing behind his chair, hugging him from behind. He was smiling, but his eyes were watering and lip quivering.

“It’s ok, Virgil. Roman’s so strong, he’ll win this without even a scratch!” Patton’s voice cracked at the end, and he swallowed and pushed his smile wider.

“Patton…”

“So don’t worry, ok? Remember, he’s just as powerful as we think he is – if we believe in him, then he can win!”

Virgil looked back at the field. Five minutes left, and there were now dozens of different creations on both sides. He changed a look at the viewing screen and saw Roman inside his tower, fortifying the doors with metal bars and hulking, armored guards. He was concentrating, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth, but what really confused Virgil was that Roman seemed to be… smiling?

“He looks like he’s having fun.” Logan remarked calmly. “Perhaps we should just sit back and enjoy the fruits of Roman’s hard work.”

Patton sighed, nodding. “You’re… probably right.”

Virgil’s hand shot out and grabbed Patton’s before he could return to his own chair. “Um… stay?” The anxious side tapped on the chair and it shifted into a large, plush bean bag more than big enough for two. Patton smiled and plopped down beside Virgil, wrapping a comforting arm around his shoulders.

“We can cheer him on together.”

“He’s an idiot.”

“And you didn’t know this before?”

Deceit sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I thought there was still a little common sense left in that twisted head of his. I was clearly wrong.”

Obsession tilted his head, glancing over at the field and surveying the multitudes of disgusting creatures that were standing on Remus’s side, growling and slobbering everywhere. “And we both know how well you take to being wrong.”

Deceit glared at him out of the corner of his eye. “And you do?”

“I don’t sulk in my room for days when I don’t get my way.”

“No, you just throw yourself into the next show and fill your brain with garbage.”

Obsession just laughed, stretching his arms high into the air and laying back on the blanket, blades of grass tickling his arms through the thin material. “Just ‘cause you don’t see the genius in what I do doesn’t change the fact that Thomas loves it when I do my job. Unlike someone else I know.” He closed his eyes against the bright sun, soaking in the warmth that never made its way into their corner of the mind. Deceit growled and said things Obsession was sure were very pleasant words for him under his breath.

“Besides, who said you were wrong?”

“What? Have you been paying attention?”

“Have you? Deceit, as much as you love to think you’re the only one who can plot and plan… you’re not.”

Deceit stared at his fellow dark side, unconvinced. “When has Remus thought about or planned anything? He does whatever he wants, when he wants.”

Obsession sighed, rolling his eyes. He propped himself up on one elbow and stared at Deceit. “What would you call this, then?” The orange clad side waved towards the field, where they could see Remus ducking behind various barricades and creating new monsters.

“What’s your point?” Deceit narrowed his eyes. Obsession shrugged.

“Just that, maybe you shouldn’t underestimate him so much. Don’t forget, I’ve known him a lot longer than you have, and I knew him as a kid. Let me tell you… he’s a lot smarter than you seem to think he is.”

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me what he’s really planning, then?” Deceit asked sarcastically. “Since you can clearly read his mind and all that. What’s the point of fighting a battle you know you can’t win?”

Obsession yawned, glancing at the clock. Thirty seconds to go. From what he understood, as soon as the timer hit zero, it would be an all-out battle royale. They couldn’t create anything past the time, relying only on their current creations. On Remus’s side was a huge, fleshy dragon with eyes all over his body, two heads and two sets of wings curled up on the top of his tower, puffing out black smoke from its nostrils. The rest of his army seemed to follow a similar theme; nothing that Obsession could see had the correct number of limbs.

Roman, on the other hand, had gone with a strength in numbers strategy. There were hundreds of white knights covering every inch of his side. The side himself was standing on the roof of his tower, head tilted up to watch the timer count down to zero.

“Maybe… winning for Roman, and winning for Remus, means two different things.”

Before Deceit could ask what he meant by that, a sharp bell rang out over the field, and the real fight began.

~~~

Looking over the battlefield as the fight began, Roman felt confident. Sure, the monsters his brother had come up with were disgusting, and the dragon on his tower was terrifying, but he outnumbered his brother’s army 5 to 1. They were smaller, yes, but that meant they were faster and quieter. Not to mention they could hide.

His hand hovered over his own sword hilt, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice. He had guards stationed around the tower and within the stairs themselves, but he couldn’t trust that to protect him.

There was an ear-splitting screech from above him and he drew his sword just as a multi-headed falcon dived at him, effectively cutting itself in two as it attacked. It fell to the ground with a plop, and exploded into black dust.

Like he was saying, he had to be on guard. He glanced at the screen he’d conjured to monitor his own troops. Most were engaged with monsters triple their size, and there was white dust covering the grass. He pursed his lips as one of the creatures, something that resembled an armadillo if an armadillo had metal plating and was the size of a small house, grabbed one of his knights and threw it in its mouth, chopping down like it was a savory snack.

He hoped his friends would be able to handle watching this. Logan would probably find it fascinating, but all of this would be distressing for Patton and Virgil. He only hoped they knew that this was completely fake – if the dust their creations exploded into when they died didn’t make that clear. It was no different than a movie. The only person on his team who could feel any pain or get hurt was himself.

Maybe that was what they were worried about.

Roman tensed as he heard a ferocious roar split the air and saw the two headed dragon lift off from Remus’s tower. The beat of its wings flattened the grass underneath the tower, and as it took off the left head unhinged its jaw and sprayed a battalion of his knights with a thick, inky black substance.

“Ugh, leave it to him…” Roman muttered, gagging. Then the right head opened its maw and fire came spilling out. The black liquid covering his knights caught, and within moments they were nothing but dust, mixed with the oil-like substance to create a nasty gray goop.

Roman sucked in a breath through his teeth, and then saw the dragon turn its body towards his tower. “Nope, nope, nope!” He chanted, sprinting to the edge of the tower. Going down the stairs was too slow and too dangerous. Thankfully, the prince knew to always have an alternate escape route.

The creative side ran to a parapet where there were thick lengths of vine tied to the stone, dangling all the way to the ground. He grabbed the gloves he’d conjured for this very situation and slipped them on, then swung his leg over the edge and gripped the vine tightly. The dragon flew overhead and nearly blew him away with the strength of its wings, but he held fast. It made another pass as he was sliding down, and more oil spilled out of the left head’s mouth. It splattered all over him and steamed on his skin.

Worst of all, the oil got onto the vine and underneath his gloves. He started sliding faster, his grip faltering, and as the dragon got ready to torch him, he lost it altogether.

Roman landed hard on his back, and his lungs seized at the impact. The prince forced himself to his feet, gasping for air as the oil on the tower was lit up and he was forced to run to avoid the same fate.

He clutched his side as he ran. He didn’t think he’d broken a rib, but he certainly would have a nasty bruise. One of many to come, he’d wager. Roman ran to the side of the tower where he’d created a small oasis to house one of his secret weapons.

~~~

Remus had a wide, manic smile on his face. God, he hasn’t had this much fun in forever! He watched the flames consume Roman’s tower, and sent his dragon after him. He couldn’t see which direction his brother had run off in, but that didn’t matter too much to a fire breathing dragon. He’d burn the whole area down if he needed to – he would just return it to normal after the fight.

Then he caught something on the wind. A sound floating in the air - a song. He could barely hear it, but Remus noticed that his dragon was shaking its heads in confusion, trying to get away from whatever it was hearing. He tried to call it back, but his control had lapsed and it wouldn’t listen to him. The creature raged, spewing oil and fire into the sky before crashing against the force field surrounding their arena and exploding into dust.

Silence fell over the field, and the twins realized that this round was over, with both left standing. They reconvened in the center after they cleared their areas of all leftover debris.

Remus crossed his arms and looked Roman over smugly. “You’ve lost your touch. You didn’t even manage a single hit on me!”

Roman huffed, keeping a hand on his hip to try and subtly keep pressure on his side without letting his brother know he was hurt. “Neither did you. Are you even trying? That was such a boring round, I nearly fell asleep!”

“Oh, alright, then let’s make things quick! Ten minutes, and this time it won’t be a warmup!” Remus cheered, pointing at the clock above them and resetting the time, which immediately started counting down. Roman squawked in protest but Remus just laughed and ran off, leaving the prince standing there with his side aching and the clock ticking down.

“What are you doing, Princey? Move!!” He heard Virgil’s voice scold him in his head, and that jolted him enough to head back to his own tower, newly reformed, and come up with another plan of attack.

~~~

“He looks tired...” Patton said quietly, watching through the screen as Roman went about preparing for the second round. “He’s holding his side... do you think he’s hurt?”

“He did fall a distance when escaping from the tower, it’s possible he’s injured one or more of his ribs.”

The moral side let out a strangled cry, cupping his hands over his mouth to try and keep it in. Virgil stared at the back of Logan’s head with wide eyes. “Logan, do you even care?!”

“Of course I do. But Roman did very well in that last round. He ended it with a tie, and now he surely has a better idea of Remus’s strategies. Now he’s able to incorporate that knowledge into this next round.”

“That’s all good in theory, but look at him! He doesn’t exactly look like he’s up for another fall from the tower!” Virgil pointed at the screen, where Roman was leaning up against a tree, eyes closed and chest heaving.

“Creating takes energy. But the same goes for his opponent. I’m sure Remus is just as tired as Roman is.”

“Yeah but, Logan, he might hurt himself if he’s too tired. Can’t we just... stop this?”

“I doubt either of them would allow that at this point. We simply need to... ride it out, so to speak. And provide him support from here.”

Patton whined, shifting to bury his face against Virgil’s neck. Virgil patted his shoulder awkwardly, watching in silence as Roman ducked in and out of view on the screen. Instead of a relatively open field like he’d made before, now he was growing a thick forest with a canopy so thick it cast dark shadows across the creative side’s face.

“What is he doing? Remus literally made a fire-breathing dragon last time, that forest is just going to burn!” Virgil said, crossing his arms. As he said it, Roman stumbled and fell, to loud gasps. There wasn’t sound from their viewing screens, but as the creative side stood back up they could hear him shouting and cursing in his Disney way as water dripped down his face and his clothes were soaking wet.

“I believe he’s already thought of that, Virgil.”

Despite himself, the anxious side couldn’t help but snicker.

“Idiot.”

~~~

Remus shifted his weight back and forth, tapping the handle of his morningstar impatiently. The time was nearly out, but he hadn’t seen his brother emerge from the dense forest he’d created.

He cocked his head and the corners of his mouth twitched into a devious grin. So, he wanted to play hide and seek? That was fine with him – he’d just have to smoke him out.

The timer hit zero and the signal blared. Remus raised an arm and shouted, sending his misshapen, vaguely humanoid army running forward. He heard cries of shock and disgust from the sidelines and smirked – they just didn’t appreciate the human body in its most natural form!

Remus put his fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, and after a moment the buzz of huge insect wings echoed from behind him. Without even looking, he hopped onto the giant dragonfly and lifted into the air, leading the charge towards the forest.

An unstable laugh ripped its way from his chest and Remus relished this feeling, of the adrenaline rushing through his veins and the wind tearing his hair every which way. He pointed down at the center of the forest and his mount rained fire onto the lush greenery below. The trees caught instantly, and Remus laughed as they turned from green to pure black, fading into dust and ash in their air. His brother was down there somewhere, and he would find him, and finally…

There was an explosion, and Remus nearly lost his balance as a geyser erupted right next to him, showering him with freezing water. His dragonfly mount dodged to the side, its wings damp and heavy. He looked down at the forest to see his glorious fire had all but disappeared, drenched by the multiple streams of water that had exploded into the air.

Remus sneered. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. He shook his head and let water droplets fly before commanding the dragonfly to hover over the forest, jumping into a tree and climbing down to the forest floor.

It was quiet. The duke took a few steps forward, trying to see around the thick tree trunks. He snickered quietly to himself. That would be a good one for Thomas later.

His boots squished into a puddle of something and Remus lifted his boot to examine it. There was a watery black liquid seeping into his shoe, and the dark side realized that it was the dust of his creations that had mixed with the water from the geyser.

He looked around again. What had happened? He’d made his own army fireproof, so they couldn’t have burned from him, and there was nothing around here that explained what could have destroyed them.

The duke set his jaw. Well then, maybe his brother was capable of playing a little dirty. He grabbed his morningstar and rested it over his shoulder, following the faint buzz of insect wings to find his way out, using his weapon to whack any tree branches or loose brush out of his path.

Instead, Remus found his way into a clearing of trees, with a fake mesh of leaves cast over the top to disguise it from above. The trees surrounding the area were twisted together, branches forming a protective barrier to keep people out. But then, it also meant that it could keep people in.

“Oh Roman!~ I know you’re here! You’re just too predictable!” Remus called out, swinging his morningstar back and forth. “Come on, let’s just get this over with, you’re clearly not fit to be Thomas’s Creativity if you’re hiding from little old me!”

There was a laugh from across the clearing, and Remus saw a poorly defined shadow sitting in one of the trees. “I thought you were a little smarter than to just walk into something like this! I mean, come on Rem, this is obviously a trap!”

Remus heard a strange creaking from behind him and a tree branch suddenly snaked its way around his waist and lifted him off the ground. His morningstar clattered to the ground and he cursed wildly, flailing his legs to no avail. Of course, moving trees! That must have been what the whole forest was made of!

The prince hopped down from the tree and strutted over, hands on his hips and a triumphant smirk on his face. “I can’t believe that worked as well as it did. Seriously? I pulled this same trick when we were kids!”

Remus winced in pain, though he tried to hide it with a wide toothed smile. “Who says this isn’t exactly what I wanted to happen?”

Roman rolled his eyes and drew his sword, ready to end this fight.

Remus winced again, gritting his teeth. He kicked his feet forward and caught Roman’s shoulder, shoving him back. The momentum loosened the branch’s hold on his waist and he dropped out of its grip.

The dark side grinned, rolling and grabbing the handle of his morningstar. Roman stumbled, head snapping up just as Remus swung upwards, upper cutting his chin with the heavy weapon. Warmth blossomed in his mouth as he bit down hard on his cheek and blood poured onto his tongue.

Roman fell onto his back, head spinning. He blinked stars out of his vision and was met with a maniacal smile aimed down at him. Remus raised his morningstar above his head, and Roman willed his leaden limbs to move. He couldn’t let this happen – He was Prince Roman, he could not be defeated like this!

The prince twisted his entire body, using the momentum to throw his arm up and swipe at Remus with his sword. His grip was terrible, but it would do. Remus jumped back and dropped his weapon behind him, but he wasn’t fast enough as the blade’s edge ripped through him.

Literally, through him. Roman, expecting resistance and finding none, was carried by his momentum and rolled onto his stomach. He pushed himself to his knees and spat red into the grass, staring wide-eyed at his brother. “You just… I hit you! That’s not fair!”

“No you didn’t!” Remus laughed, dancing away and laughing. Roman stood slowly, unsteady on his feet and using his sword to stabilize himself.

“Yes, I did. How did you do that? My sword went straight through you!”

Remus shrugged, retrieving his morningstar. “You didn’t hit me, Roman, what can I say?” He smirked, slinging it over his shoulders.

The prince shook his head, prodding at his sore chin and checking for blood. “You can say that you cheated!”

“I didn’t cheat, there’s nothing in the rules about dodging an attack!”

“That wasn’t dodging, you went full on ghost mode! I didn’t even know we could do that!”

“You can’t…” Remus said under his breath. Then he huffed and rolled his eyes. “Fiiiine, if you really think I cheated, we’ll call this one a draw. And you know what? I’ll even let you take a break, you look like you’re ready to crawl into a hole and die.”

Roman growled, straightening his back despite his body’s protest. “Oh yeah? What’s the matter, scared that I’ll beat you like this?”

Remus just laughed and turned on his heel, waving an arm over the forest around him and making it disappear into dust that glittered in the wind. “Third times a charm, Roman, but who’s charm will it be?”

The prince watched his brother dissipate his creations, feeling weight lift from his body as the strain of keeping it up lightened. He sighed in relief, turning to go back to his friends and sit for a moment.

“Roman!” Worried voices called as he approached the pavilion, and he subtly tried to spit another mouthful of blood into the grass before he got too close. Patton ran up to him, checking over his face and wiping away the blood dripping down his chin with the edge of his cardigan sleeve.

“Pat, your sweater-“

“That’s not important! Roman, don’t ever do that again! I nearly passed out!” Patton scolded, though its impact was lessened slightly by the crack in his voice and tears in his eyes.

“Is your chest alright? I saw you holding it earlier.” Logan asked, stepping forward and pulling Patton away from his fussing calmly. Roman gently prodded the sore spot and nodded, wincing.

“Just a bruise, I don’t think anything’s broken.” Not that he would tell them if it was. He had to finish this, but if Patton knew he’d gotten hurt that bad, he’d drag Roman to his room and make him stay there for a week. Logan nodded, not fully convinced.

“And your head?” Virgil interjected. “I saw you spit blood, Princey, you’re not ok!”

“Yes, I am! That hit just made me bite my cheek and it bled a little, ok?” Roman opened his mouth to show them that the bleeding had already stopped. “I’m fine. I just need to sit for a minute and then I’m gonna kick his butt into next week!”

The other three shared a look.

“Roman, you... don’t have to do this alone.”

“I know I’m not as good with the Imagination as you are, but if I could just do something to help!” Patton pleaded. Roman shook his head, then groaned at the action.

“No... No, I can’t risk you guys getting hurt. Besides, this is between us. This is what everything’s been leading to, all these years. It’s the only fitting end for the two of us. Ever since we were kids...”

He trailed off. Patton bit his lip, glancing at Logan who sighed quietly. Virgil looked between the two of them, confused.

“This is my fight. I appreciate you guys wanting to help me, I do, but... this isn’t something you can really help with. We need to settle our differences, and this... is really the only way we know how.”

“Violence should not be the answer!”

“There is no other answer with Remus. What I need right now is to come up with a plan. A strategy. Logan?”

The logical side adjusted his glasses, taking in how battered and exhausted Roman looked. He was struggling to even stand - Logan doubted he was up for creating much more.

“Leave it to me.”

~~~

“You hesitated.”

Remus tilted his head at Obsession, who was staring at him evenly. “Whatever do you mean?”

“When you were standing over Roman. You could have finished it right there. But you didn’t.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact. Deceit nodded, eyes narrowed as he tried to search Remus’s face for answers he was not going to give.

The dark side of creativity threw his head back and laughed. “I think you need your eyes checked, Obsession.”

The orange clad side adjusted his glasses. “I may be blind, but I’m not stupid. I know you, Remus, and I know what you’re capable of. You’re going easy on him.”

Remus just rolled his eyes and looked over at Deceit with an amused smile. “Can you believe him? Have I ever gone easy on anyone?”

Deceit smiled. “I’ve never seen it before. Tell me, do you have a plan for this round? You know, it’s cruel to keep dragging it out like this.”

Remus pursed his lips and shrugged. “I’ll just do whatever I feel like!”

“Nothing new then. Come on now, Obsession and I are getting incredibly bored over here, can’t you do something interesting?” Deceit leaned forward, chin in his hand. Remus tapped his morningstar against his hand, thinking, but as the other dark sides watched, the handle missed his hand and swung down to the ground. Remus stumbled, planting it on the ground to regain his balance and leaning against it.

No, Deceit realized. He didn’t miss catching it. It had gone straight through his hand. And now, Remus’s face seemed to be glowing. It took a moment to realize that it wasn’t his complexion, but rather the sun shining down and somehow through him.

“Well, I should get back to it. This will be the last round, so you two just sit tight, alright? This’ll be quick.”

“Are you sure this is what you want, Remus?” Obsession asked quietly. The dark side chuckled, turning away from them.

“You couldn’t have asked that a bit sooner? It’s a little too late to back out now. I’m out of time, we’re finishing this now!” The creative side turned and shouted to his brother in the pavilion, pointing back at the field with vigor. There was a call back, and Roman started back towards the field.

Deceit watched him walk away, morningstar swinging at Remus’s hip, and sighed. “Looks like you were right.”

Obsession stifled a snicker. “I think I just heard your ego shatter, Dee.” He then grew somber, watching Remus walk away. “That was it, wasn’t it?”

The lying side nodded, picking at the edge of his gloves. “We’re not going to see him after this.”

He hummed in agreement, pushing up his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. The side glanced at Deceit. “You gonna miss him?”

Deceit smiled. “Absolutely not.”

“Hmph. Liar.”

~~~

The twins agreed on fifteen minutes to prepare, and the onlookers noticed a distinct difference between their strategies. As soon as the timer started Roman had darted onto his own side and into his tower, hiding what he was creating from his brother.

Meanwhile, Remus was leisurely wandering around his side, absently growing a wall or creating a gruesome creature every so often. He carried an air of indifference, a change from his eagerness from before. He stood tall, but the dark sides sitting on the sidelines knew, perhaps instinctively, that something was off.

The former dark side sitting with Logan and Patton noticed it too. While his friends’ eyes were glued to the screen, watching Roman put his plan into action, Virgil kept his eyes locked on Deceit and Obsession.

He couldn’t tell exactly from where he was sitting, but the look on Deceit’s face almost looked… disappointed? Upset, even? It had to be an act, Virgil had never known the lying side to show his emotions clearly. Has Remus said something during the little break?

Deceit’s head turned towards the pavilion, and Virgil’s head snapped back to the screen, heart racing. Did he know he was being watched? No, it must have just been a coincidence.

Still though, he didn’t look back over after that. Just in case.

“Is he gonna make it?” Patton’s voice brought Virgil back to the present, and he glanced up at the screen.

“It’s going to be close... as long as he followed the structure I set, he should be fine. He should have created his most important pieces first. The rest is additional support.” Logan tapped his chin, eyes locked on the screen.

“Thirty seconds left...”

Roman looked up from his work and clapped his hands, smiling.

“He’s done!” Patton cheered, leaping from his seat and throwing his hands in the air. Virgil saw a small smile grow on Logan’s face.

“He’s still got to actually do the fight, you know, he’s not done yet.” Virgil added.

“Everything will be alright, Virgil.” Logan reassured before the bell rang out over the field, and they all leaned into the screen. This was it.

~~~

Roman’s chest was heaving. Even though he hadn’t created nearly as much as he had the past two rounds, his entire body was screaming at him to stop, to let it go and rest. He leaned heavily against the parapet, commanding his knights to march forward onto Remus’s side.

His brother’s side of the field was suspiciously barren; even with Roman’s lack of energy, he’d managed to create dozens more than his brother. Yet, the dark creative side wasn’t showing any signs of exhaustion or pain that Roman was feeling. He wasn’t even barricading himself in his tower!

Instead, he wandered around his side of the field casually, his morningstar stuck through his belt. Roman kept a careful eye on him as he sent his knights forward, taking out the few monsters blocking the way.

The dark side didn’t seem worried, and as Roman’s front lines advanced, he realized why.

An ear-splitting explosion rocked the Imagination, and both Roman and the spectators alike slapped their hands to their ears. The only one unbothered was Remus, who merely started laughing as he saw Roman’s first line of troops reduced to white dust.

The prince’s eyes widened. Shit, he had explosives planted? No wonder he didn’t have monsters above ground - the real danger was below!

His knuckles went white from gripping the stone of the tower. Logan had taken a lot of things into account but landmines hadn’t been one!

Roman closed his eyes, willing his army forward. He refused to split them into smaller groups, even though it would mean he would lose less to an explosion. As long as he could just get one group through, that would be enough.

Another explosion shook the field, and Roman winced at the puff of white smoke that rose into the air. Two down. It was fine, he mumbled to himself. His secret weapon was still in play.

A grotesque creature that looked to be part snake, part tentacled monster slithered up behind Remus. The dark side glanced back at it for a moment curiously. Roman’s heart was racing. Just a little more...

Remus turned away as another, smaller explosion shook the ground. As his eyes turned towards the horizon, the monster shifted into one of Roman’s white knights holding a morningstar high above its head.

Even if the dark sides had wanted to warn him, there wasn’t a moment to cry out before the knight swung, clocking Remus on the side of his head. The dark side’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed onto the ground, unmoving. A bell rang out after a few moments.

It was over. Roman had won.

The wall around the field dissipated, and the rest of the twins’ creations crumbled to dust, leaving Remus curled up on the ground and Roman bent over, breathing hard but still standing.

The light sides ran over to him, with Patton tacking Roman in a hug and lifting him off the ground. Roman groaned, his ribs screaming in agony.

“P-Pat! Easy! Chest!”

Patton gasped and let him down, hands moving to grip his arms carefully. “Sorry, kiddo! I’m just so proud of you!”

That nearly made Roman burst into tears right then and there, and he ducked his head to hide his face. “Thanks, padre. I... I’m... I did it.”

“Yeah, you did. Don’t do it again.” Virgil warned, hands in his pockets. Roman just laughed, slinging an arm around Virgil’s shoulders and bringing the anxious side into a one-armed hug.

“Aw, you can say you were worried about me, storm cloud!”

“Of course I was...” Virgil mumbled into his chest, returning the hug quickly before stepping back. Logan put his hand on Roman’s shoulder, a rare smile on his face.

“Well done, Roman.”

The creative side blushed - it was high praise from Logan. “Thanks, teach.”

“So, does this mean you’re Thomas’s only Creativity now?” Patton glanced over to the other side of the field, where Remus was lying. His voice was quiet. “What... what will happen to him?”

Logan pursed his lips. “It will not be good for Thomas to only have ‘good’ imagination,” he put air quotes around the word good. “It will be up to Roman to take over Remus’s responsibilities as well as his own.”

“But... Roman’s Thomas’s good creativity! How is he supposed to do that?!”

The logical side huffed. “Patton, I’ve said this before, but things are not that simple. Life is not black and white and although it might be a difficult task for Roman at the beginning, it will be dangerous for Thomas if he doesn’t!”

“Logan, Roman’s not going to be able to do that!” Virgil piped up.

Roman tuned his friends out, eyes darting between the dark sides still sitting on their blanket, and his brother lying on the ground. Somehow, it didn’t surprise him that Deceit and Obsession hadn’t moved from their spot, and seemed to not even be bothered that Remus was still unconscious on the ground.

Roman huffed, and held his head high as he walked over to his brother, who was staring up at the sky with a glassy expression. Roman leaned down and offered him a hand.

“Come on, get up.”

The dark side blinked. “What?”

Roman rolled his eyes, reaching down and grabbing his brothers hands, trying to pull him to his feet. “Would you rather lay there and get your outfit dirty? I’m trying to be nice.”

Remus allowed himself to be pulled into a sitting position, but refused to go any further. “Why?”

The light side huffed, hands on his hips. “Because that’s what a prince does, got it? It was a close game and I wanted to thank you. It was... fun.”

Remus blinked. “You... thought it was... fun?”

“Well, not all of it, but... well, it’s like you said. Old times, right?” Roman scratches the back of his neck, looking away as Remus got onto his feet unsteadily. “You fought well.”

The dark side stared at him, chest heaving. “I...”

Roman grinned, meeting Remus’s incredulous stare. “I can’t believe this, you’re actually speechless. You haven’t stopped talking since you showed up.”

“Roman...”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Remus suddenly threw his arms tightly around Roman’s shoulders, and the prince tensed.

“What are you doing? I swear to everything if you stab me in the back I will...”

A faint laugh echoed in Roman’s ear, and Remus tightened his hug. “Not this time.”

After a moment, Roman relaxed and gingerly returned it. After several more tense moments, another whisper, this time so faint Roman barely caught what was said.

“Take care of Thomas.”

It took a moment for the words to register in his mind, but as soon as they were uttered, Remus’s steadfast grip disappeared completely and Roman’s arms closed in on himself, going straight through the side he’d just embraced.

“Remus, what—!”

The dark side smirked, stepping back despite Roman’s desperate attempts to grab him again. “It’s time. Have fun being Creativity.”

Then, as if he were simply one of Roman’s own creations, he disintegrated into shimmering white dust, carried away from Roman’s frozen form on a gentle breeze.

“R-Remus? Hey, this isn’t funny! Get back here! You can’t just... that can’t be... that’s it? All that and you just leave?! Remus, show yourself!”

Roman shouted into empty air, grasping at the dust that floated lazily around him, desperately hoping that his brother would reform if he could just gather it all.

His eyes and chest burned. For years he’d been dreaming of this moment, when he would finally vanquish the evil within Thomas and bring peace. But this felt nothing like those daydreams, where he touted his victory and swore that the other dark sides would be next. He didn’t feel happy or excited by this.

He felt devastated. His breath started coming faster until he was hyperventilating. Roman’s legs were jelly and he collapsed into a heap on the plush grass.

Remus was gone.

Half of Thomas’s Creativity was gone.

His brother was gone.

As soon as that thought hit him, he found he couldn’t hold back the tears any longer, and he sobbed freely, crying and pleading for the world to please just bring his annoying, crude, selfish brother back.

~~~

Patton and Logan sprinted to Roman’s side as soon as he collapsed, Patton offering a shoulder to cry on for the distraught prince. Virgil, on the other hand, had a bone to pick.

The anxious side stalked over to the tattered picnic blanket where Deceit and Obsession were chatting amongst themselves, as if they were out and about on a stroll rather than being moments after their supposed comrade and friend was turned to dust. Virgil stopped in front of Deceit, glaring down at him with hate in his eyes.

“What’s wrong with you?!”

Deceit glanced up casually, pursing his lips. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I knew you were a cold hearted bastard but even you have to feel something about all this! You just lost Remus! He’s gone! Why are you just sitting here!?”

“Crying and screaming about it isn’t going to bring him back.” Deceit answered.

“Besides, Remus knew what he was getting into when he challenged Roman. If anything, he got what he deserved.” Obsession added, pushing his glasses up. Virgil’s chest was about to explode from rage.

“Got what he deserved!? God damn it Obsession, I knew he was a cruel asshole but I thought you were capable of some goddamn empathy!”

Obsession shrugged. “He got what he wanted. I don’t see why I should feel sorry for him.”

“Oh, I believe he got even more than what he wanted, if you want my honest opinion.” Deceit was smirking now, hand over his heart. Virgil took a step back, suddenly on guard.

“What do you mean?”

Obsession gestured behind Virgil. “See for yourself.”

Virgil was loath to turn his back on these two very large threats, but when he heard a scream not of anguish but of pure agony, he whipped around and his blood ran cold.

Roman was curled in on himself, hands over his ears, mouth open in a scream that he couldn’t force out. Patton tried to touch him but Roman jerked away as if burned by the touch. Virgil couldn’t move, until Deceit hissed from behind him.

“You were just calling us cruel for standing by while our friend died, but look at you. Frozen like a deer in headlights while poor Roman is in absolute agony. That’s not a very friendlike thing to do, Virgil.”

Virgil swallowed nasty words that he wanted to hurl at both of them and took off in a sprint, ignoring the laughter behind him.

“Roman!!” The anxious side screamed as he ran, forcing himself to go faster. When he reached the prince, his hands flew to his mouth in shock.

On the creative side’s pure white back, there was a stain of oily black over his heart. And before Virgil’s very eyes it began to spread out, edges blurring as it consumed the creative side entirely.

Roman seized, sucking in a breath before his eyes rolled back into his skull and he crumpled into a heap in Patton’s arms, the pain becoming too much.

“Roman!!!”

#sander sides fanfiction #remus sanders #roman sanders #deceit sanders #obsession sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders

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theonceoverthinker · 5 years

Text

OUAT 3X15 - Quiet Minds

What did the doctor diagnose Zelena with when she came complaining about knee pain?

Oz-teoperosis! XD

I wish I could get you to a doctor! I’m actually pretty sad to watch this episode and I’m sure you know why. So let’s get to it. Under the cut is where you want to be.

Press Release

Neal finds himself back in Storybrooke and yearns for a way to reconnect with his son Henry, whose memories of his father are gone, while also trying to find his own father, Rumplestiltskin, whom he has just learned is alive but missing, and Regina discovers a possible connection with Robin Hood. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was over the past year, agonizing over the death of his father, Neal - with the help of Belle and enchanted candelabra Lumiere - attempts to find a magical solution to bring back Rumplestiltskin from the dead.

Main Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness

Past

I like how Belle and Neal’s past conversation is almost meta like in their discussion of the nature of Rumple’s sacrifice (Ex. Belle debates that Rumple saved everyone whereas Neal debates that he saved just his family). I like this discussion so much and wish that we had more Neal and Belle moments because these kind of discussions about Rumple’s morality are so interesting! Neal is much more critical of Rumple’s every act, be in kind in nature or not while Belle is more lenient, choosing to believe in him. I can’t help but wonder how these two would’ve worked together going forward had Neal not died. Would they have been able to get along because of those differences? Probably, but I could see the occasional fight break out between them. And it’s interesting to see how in the end, Neal is right. While undoubtedly the thing anyone would do -- save their child over the dagger -- it was selfish for everyone who now had to deal with the consequences of that decision. Rumple saved his family -- not the grander scheme of things. BUT that’s not framed as a terribly bad thing either, and rightfully so, as evidenced by neal calling it a “true sacrifice” during his death scene. It’s still legit.

I like how Neal’s lack of magical understanding -- one of his biggest character flaws -- is what gets him into this mess, as well as his impatience to get back to his family. I some ways, it reminds me of a reverse version of “The Crocodile.” There, Rumple’s need for vengeance, over-reliance on magic, and impatience costs his best chance at getting back to his family and the same happens here.

The dialogue between Zelena and Rumple has much more meat to it in hindsight than during the first go-around. There’s this whole other layer to the conversation that’s completely missed without the context that Rumple was Zelena’s tutor and taught her basically how to be evil and powerful!

Present

The story in the present section is definitely one of those “all come together moments” where the plot is more of the driving force than a story and it works fine enough here.

Because of that...well, let’s talk about Neal’s death, why don’t we?

I feel like when talking about Neal’s death, we have to do it in two parts: The first is how the death worked on its own (I.E. the staging, how it fits into the story of the episode, etc.). The second is how it worked as the death of a character (I.E. what this character’s death left people desiring, was it an appropriate death, why this death happened, last impressions of the character). I’m going to focus on the first part here and the second part over where I talk about the cultural elements of the show.

So within a vacuum, how was Neal’s death handled in the confines of this episode? Eh. Neal is so adamant about getting back to his family and making things right and just leaps at his death without looking for another option. I just can’t help but feel like Neal would be a bit more stubborn with that. He’s giving up his chance to be alive with him family. If this was the only way and alternatives were explored a bit more, that would’ve been one thing, but they’re not. Belle reads exactly one book and they don’t even try to consult Blue or Regina before going to this final resort. It’s not impossible to believe, but it is hard.

But that’s not all there is to a death. Some of it can come down to his goodbyes to other characters and Neal had the benefit of dying beside the two people he was closest to: Rumple and Emma. And while Henry is absent during the scene, and understandably so given the story, his absence of presence and memories creates an extra layer of underlying tragedy to this death that thankfully is brought up in the next episode. But let’s keep our focus on Emma and Rumple. Now, I like talking about shippy stuff at the bottom of my review and I will further elaborate on my points there, but to sum it up, it was honestly so beautiful and touched upon every point it needed to. I genuinely loved it. As for Rumple, it’s perfect. I love the sharp denial Rumple has for Neal’s passing, jumping between every stage of grief and being left so emotional as he finally passes. Every touch is so important and emphasized and I think the staging of Emma holding Neal so those touches would stick out more was a masterful choice.

Insights - Stream of Consciousness

-Zelena, I don’t recommend wearing that Wicked Witch cosplay while trying to blend in!

-”Beautiful one.” Not really selling me on adoring your monkeys when you sound like you’re about to butcher a puppy, Zelena!

-FUCK! Rumple can run! Does Storybrooke have a track team because if so, put him on that track team!

-Oh jeez. While funny (And I do believe that’s what they were going for, and it works), I am so glad Killian gave Belle a better apology later on in the series.

-”What the hell?” What the hell’s right! Lumiere is more than a touch creepy!

-Yay! We’re finally starting to really touch upon the Captain Beauty friendship!

-”I got you breakfast because I am supermom.” I love the way Emma says that line and sinks into that big armchair as she says it like, “Yeah, I’m a boss.”

-”That’s a bagel?” Emma, I am so proud of you for instilling such a good taste in bagels into your son. *Tear falls*

-In case there was ever a doubt to Henry being noble as all hell, he’d rather go back to SCHOOL than be lied to!

-Not gonna lie: Neal looks REALLY hot in that t-shirt!

-Watching Neal hear about how Henry not only doesn’t remember the bond they’ve formed, but how he does remember him as a jerk is so harsh and heartbreaking!

-I love how Zelena just concots this whole fucking story for Lumiere that is so typically Rumple! XD

-So I’m looking at the cover to the book that Belle’s reading about The Dark One and it says “IN A AKY ACAZ CA KAWO.” Does anyone know what this means?

-”Born out of -- well -- darkness.” More like vengeance, but sure, whatevs.

-Neal! Why did you blow Lumiere out?! And without a warning?! That was just rude!

-”Says more about them than it does about you.” I don’t know about that, Zelena. Your story was pretty convincing, tbh.

-For all of Zelena’s strengths as a villain, the woman is as subtle as a brick to the face! XD

-REGINA CAUGHT A FUCKING ARROW! WHAT A BADASS!

-Not to get into shippy stuff, but that’s 2 couples so far that have explored this farmhouse!

-JELLO! I still mourn for the jello scene that never canonically was, but fuck, I love this one!

-I love the shot of the clearing by The Dark One’s Vault! The snow and wintery atmosphere makes it so gorgeous!

-Once again, Robert Carlyle is creepy and awesome as hell for it!

-Seriously! Someone get Rumple on a track team!

-I can’t help but feel like it may have been a better idea for the candle to not be revealed as a villain until Belle discovers it. Like I get that he’s supposed to be redeemed, making this a double twist of sorts, but I wasn’t feeling it.

-”The Wicked Witch?” Belle’s tone to me implies that Belle has either seen or read “The Wizard of Oz.” Thoughts and HC’s?

-Like father, like son with that impatience!

-Neal, when things start to glow, we take our hands off of them!

-He loves pizza! I like how just like with the underlying softness between Robin and Regina, there’s that underlying memory of Henry and having pizza with his dad.

-The special effects team must’ve had a fucking FIELD DAY with that transformation in the woods! The actual hell?!

-I love how Lumiere calls his bit of goodness a flash of conscience because damnit -- that’s what it is!

-”I’ll be watching over you guys from somewhere.” Good HEAVENS! I have one HELL of a theory about the nature of the Underworld for Neal and Rumple. Remind me to tell you about it some time!

-”Let go.” NO! Rumple, save him!

-I feel bad laughing given that we just lost Neal, but WHY do the Charmings have two doors to their bathroom! Even the architects in Storybrooke are so fucking extra! XD

-”That was rather ill-timed.” Zelena, you fucking bitch!

-Okay, when Zelena stepped over Neal’s head, I was terrified she was gonna crush him.

-We get a nice bit of Golden Swan in this episode! Not only are they mutually grieving Neal’s loss as he dies and for a few moments afterwards, BUT we see how Rumple has faith that Emma will rally everyone to defeat Zelena!

-I’m not gonna lie: I’m kind of loving this Rumple whump. Having the dagger shoved quite literally in his face -- I don’t know how to describe it, but it does stuff to me, okay!

-I don’t know if Zelena makes him walk back to his cafe instead of poofing to torture him or if he voluntarily does that so he gets some time to himself to mourn, but either way is so sad!

-GOING FROM A FATHER MOURNING HIS SON TO A FATHER PLAYING WITH HIS SON IS NOT OKAY FOR MY PSYCHE, WRITERS! *Cries*

-That having been said, seeing Robin and Roland play together is fucking precious!

-Take that, people who say no one cares about Belle! Snow goes over there and checks on her! :D

-Oh sweet! The lake is back, which will henceforth be known as The Mirror Lake! Like seriously, the entire crew was having a fucking field day with this half season. These shots! These effects!

-THE TEARS ARE BACK AGAIN FOR THIS EMMA/HENRY TALK!

Arcs - How Are These Storylines Progressing?

The Wicked Witch - Once again, Zelena gets to show off how intimidating she truly is! In the present, she continues to manipulate everyone into thinking she’s a good person and even when she’s exposed, she still manages to kill Neal in the process. And in the past, her plan is straight up devious and so cleverly put together. Even as she’s now exposed, getting there only took four episode and didn’t lag too much at all. Also, there’s still so much to get into that there’s enough fresh ideas to keep the arc chugging along. Also also, I REALLY get how so many people wouldn’t want a redeemed Zelena after this moment. Hell, I don’t think I want it anymore either! Like, Zelena is fucking wicked and just as much as wicked always wins, seeing her laud Neal’s death -- a death that she cause -- over Rumple fucking hurts to watch!

Emma Accepting Home - I think that Neal’s death was an important thing to depict to show Emma the dangers of being in Storybrooke and to reinforce her desires to leave with Henry for a life in New York.

Favorite Dynamic

Neal and Killian. Look, we had a bunch of good dynamics here, but this was a sad episode and I need something lighthearted to fangirl over. This is about as good of closure as we were ever going to get between Neal and Killian and I utterly LOVED it. The jello Killian offers Neal is funny as all hell, I love their conversation concerning the nature of the good and evil deeds they’re doing and...THAT HUG! It’s sweet and and awkward and a little uncomfortable, but is also so earnest. And fuck me gently with a spoon, Neal calls Killian...well, Killian! There aren’t a lot of characters who do that and the implication of them doing so is that on some level, they get who he is, so to see Neal join those ranks is just beautiful.

Writer

Kalinda Vazquez is our writer today, and boy was she stuck with a difficult episode. Killing a major character is NEVER easy, especially such a big one. Until the the end of Season 5, this was a burden left solely on her shoulders alone (Unless you thought Rumple did die during “Coming Home,” I didn’t). And with that difficult situation, I think she made something very solid. Neal’s death, while not ideally set up in some ways, IS a tragic scene that allows for Neal to get a degree of closure with the three most important people in his life. I can talk about the rest of the episode, but that was where the writing needed to work, and thankfully, it did.

Culture

I feel like I should preface the discussion about Neal’s death as an overall factor on the series as a whole by talking about my original experiences with the character. I binged Seasons 2 and 3 a few months apart, so a lot of Neal’s time on the show passed for me in a blur. I didn’t hate him by any means, but he didn’t leave a big impression on me.

This rewatch changed things. I started to pay more attention to him as a character. That happened mostly I think because there’s always been such a controversy surrounding him and because I didn’t pay much attention to him last time in favor of some of the flashier characters, I wanted more than anything to form my own opinion on him. Much to my pleasure, that opinion was positive, and as I closed in on his death, I began to get sad at the thought of it -- so much so that I put off the start of this review basically all day.

Anyways, let’s talk about the larger factors of the death (I.E. what this character’s death left people desiring, was it an appropriate death, why this death happened, last impressions of the character). I talked about my last impressions of him, so we’ll get into everything else.

Now, I can’t speak for anyone else here, but I can speak for me when I say that I was left desiring a lot more development with Neal’s relationships with both Rumple and Henry. While I like the resolution Neal and Rumple got, i can’t help but feel like it had to zip dash to the finish line when Neal’s introduction back into the series implied that this was going to be a harder road. We only got a few episodes of them being at odds and while those moments were mostly great, they’re so little compared to all of the baggage they had. There’s no point where Neal sees the scale of what Rumple did cursing this land and reacting to it and he barely gets to spend time with Belle.

As for his time with Henry, yeah. I would’ve liked to see more of them. After Neal’s death, Henry carries so much grief over him throughout the other seasons, mentioning him at least once a season until we hit 7, but in terms of the time they spend together and how that time is spent, we come up really short. They play games and have pizza and that’s all well and good, but I feel like it would’ve been great had Neal occasionally given Henry some advice or left him with a phrase or something that would’ve equaled out to all the love that Henry has for him. Like, where Neal’s “with great power comes great responsibility” Uncle Ben moment? What we got was fine enough, but I would’ve liked to honestly have seen a bit more meat to it.

Was the death appropriate, or rather, was it warranted? Certainly more so than Robin’s (I’ll get to that one), but to tell you the truth, I’m not sure. I think that it opened up story possibilities that were taken good advantage of and Neal’s death was given the dignity he deserved, making the death more than just something done for shock, but as a story point that would follow Henry, Rumple, and Emma for a while. I think the broad strokes with Neal’s character were taken care of prior to the death and while I have my issues with it in regards to the finer details of some of his dynamics, Neal was pretty complete. That having been said, the issue of if a death needed to happen is a valid one and it opens a lot of points that, to be honest, I just don’t know if can delve as deeply into it as the topic deserves. There are so many factors that go into this conversation, up to and including the magical world of OUAT and the resurrections that take place afterwards. So my answer is a light yes, but there is so much room for nuance in this conversation that it’s nothing I’d give a ride-or-die answer to.

Now here comes the “fun” question: Why did Neal die? A lot of people attribute it to Captain Swan and bringing an end to the love triangle, and that is not a line of thinking I agree with. And I know, it makes sense that I’d say that as a CS shipper, but I beg you to follow my line of thinking here.

Neal was killed because of the choice to make Rumple a baddie again. When you look at Season 4, Rumple plays a gambit on everyone. If Neal were alive and in character, he would not have been able to do that without getting caught by someone other than Killian. I’ve mentioned before, but what makes Neal a great character and a great contrast to Belle is that while Belle is willing to often give him the benefit of the doubt, Neal isn’t. Neal would’ve been on Rumple’s ass the second he heard something shady and Rumple’s so shady, he makes the space underneath a pine tree look like the Sahara on a cloudless day. And look, that’s not Rumple’s fault, or even the writers necessarily, but I’m gonna say that they had some idea of what they wanted from Season 4 by this point and they understood that there had to be a trade off for Rumple’s development of an evil plan and his returned love for his power. And Neal, just as he was in this episode, was the price. I’m not happy about it -- I hope that’s something I’ve made clear -- but that’s my thought process.

Rating

9/10. Everything about this episode was going to come down to how well Neal’s death was handled. Fortunately, it was done well -- not flawlessly, but well. The story was solid and it delivers on giving the audience a level of closure for the character, closure that will continue for the rest of the season. Even the past segment offered something unique in that regard, making for a weird kind of love letter to Neal. It’s an episode that really does encompass his character and a send off that is divisive, but for me, more satisfying than not.

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

Swan Fire - You really see just how determined Neal and Emma are to get back together here and it works so much! Even Belle ships it, explicitly reasoning the safety of Emma’s necklace was a result of it originating from their “True Love.” No matter what you get from that line, I think the role that that necklace took on for both of them as well as its presence throughout the series shows how special Neal and Emma were to each other. Also, I love seeing Emma and Neal bonding over their evil significant others. Watching them laugh together in the forest just shows how in-tune they are with each other. Seeing Neal remorseful for how things with Walsh turned out is so sweet. Finally, let’s talk about Neal’s death. Neal’s attention to making sure Emma knows that she can find love and happiness is so important here. Neal cares so much about Emma and you see it as he shakily holds that necklace up to her, begging her to continue on her story. And seeing Emma barely able to hold herself together while watching Neal die guts me. The acting from both of these guys is amazing! And that hug as she cradles him to her chest choked me up and got some tears welling!

Rumbelle - “I love him -- all of him -- even the parts that belong to the darkness.” I really like this line and it leaves a lot to be discussed when it comes to the nature of Rumple and Belle’s love. It’s important not only to see as a point about the depths of Belle’s love for Rumple, but also as a point about that love’s limitations. As I said in my “Skin Deep” review last summer, Belle is one of the only characters who gets to show amusement at some of Rumple’s antics. But I like this line because it gels well with the breakup we see in Season 4, Belle likes the darkness, but has clear limits on what how much Rumple can let that darkness effect him. It makes Belle a good character with human-like limits, but showing that there is something attractive to even a good person about the darkness. ANYWAY, let’s just look at Rumple and Belle’s reactions to Rumple coming out of the vault. Belle’s got freakin’ tears welled up and Rumple’s first word is her name! It’s -- to quote a sexy narrator -- straight out of a telenovela!

Outlaw Queen - Once again, I like their banter a lot! I also like the gentleness that’s formed between them because of their adventures in the Enchanted Forest. While they don’t remember it, there’s an underlying feeling of trust that you can just tell is there and watching it is really fun. Like, they’re really cute and despite later seasons really taking me out of OQ, I do sincerely love their origins here. Also, I want to talk about this line: ”From where I’m standing the ‘Evil’ moniker seems to be something of an overstatement.” I know this line gets a bit of criticism, but I actually think it works. For me, part of what works about Outlaw Queen is that Robin, from his perspective, is a redeemed villain and he’s hanging with and will come to court a redeemed villain. From his current perspective, he sees her in her current more redeemed form and thinks that she’s on his level, but currently has no idea what he’s getting into. That’s what makes the Marian twist at the end of Season 3 so big and why I’m so annoyed that that nuance isn’t brought up later! ...Sorry I got a bit off topic back there. Finally, I love their chemistry! Sean and Lana have some sexy chemistry in 3B! I love the way Robin and Regina are basically flirting over drinks! It’s cute as all hell!

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Wow. That was… a lot. This episode left me with a lot to think about in terms of fictional deaths. Please don’t take anything I say here as ultra definitive because I promise you, I could see my mind being swayed by a good enough argument.

Anyways, thank you all for reading that and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales! Love you all and see you all soon!

Season 3 Total (145/220)

Writer’s Scores: Adam and Eddy (39/60) Kalinda Vazquez (26/40) Andrew Chambliss (27/50) Jane Espenson (20/30) David Goodman (20/40) Robert Hull (30/40) Christine Boylan (20/20)* Daniel Thomsen (20/30)

* Indicates that their work for the season is complete

Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. Tumblr now take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 3x15 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat #whoo boy #that was a long ass review #you better enjoy it!

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