#I’ve been struggling so hard with the Titanic AU

[pocket-ozwynn]

Genesis Day: Chapter 8

[Kaiju!AU]

Previous Chapter(s): Chapter 7  // Interlude

Next Chapter: Coming soon...

Word Count: 6157

CW: Blood, brief references to death

(art used with permission from @chamomile-g-tea​)

Everything was still.

That wasn’t to say it was quiet, however. Alice’s ears still rang from the explosions; the wind still howled through the boughs of the trees as rain still poured; and Freyja was still swallowing deep, cavernous breaths that made the very air shudder around him. 

And yet, he could breathe.

His lungs ached from running, and his head was spinning. It had worked–the hastily cobbled together fireworks had paid off, and he had given Freyja the breathing room (quite literally) to bring down the robotic titan. The war machine was now just another piece of motionless junk for the forsaken cabin’s collection. 

As the synapses started to fire a bit more in Alice’s brain, he took a careful step back to study her. She was bleeding from the forehead and the abdomen, but it was hard to tell if the injuries were bad. If you compare by quantity, she was probably bleeding liters worth of blood–but that could easily be nothing for her at this new size. And while she didn’t seem bothered by it, he didn’t feel his worries assuaged.

He paused when he noticed she was looking at him as well. She studied him through rain and blood, while residual arcs of lightning crackled across her flushed cheeks as she struggled to catch her breath. What could she possibly be looking for?

He didn’t realize how long they’d been staring at one another till his neck started to ache.

“S-so…” Freyja awkwardly chuckled, her glowing eyes breaking away long enough to examine the machine. “I guess Iron Giant is a thing now, huh?”

“G-Guess so.” Alice finally allowed his shoulders to relax.

She wiped a bit of the blood that trickled down her face. “Tonight’s just full of surprises…”

Alice trudged through the mud towards the wreckage. He ran his fingertips along the metal of the robot’s leg as he moved up the length of it, feeling the divots and welding marks with his pruned fingertips.

“Someone built this,” Alice noted. He could feel a rumbling, but he was too distracted to pay it much mind. “But who? And WHY?”

The shaking grew more pronounced as Alice mulled over the worrisome implications. He looked over his shoulder to pose another question, but the words stuck in his throat as he noticed the rumbling and where it was coming from–Freyja, and she didn’t even seem to notice. He completely forgot the question as he looked all the way up. It was hard for him to think straight when a woman the size of a building walked right on up and squatted down next to him.

“Yeah, weird…” Freyja looked over the chassis. “But I’m pretty sure if the Army had giant robots, I would’ve heard somethin’ about it.”

Alice wasn’t so sure about that. He knew from his time with Maura that there were plenty of projects that R&D kept classified. But then again, it also would be hard to keep something like machines that turn people into colorful colossi a secret–but here they were.

He shook the thought from his head as he gave the plating a knock. “Well, whoever built it wasn’t counting on someone as big and strong as you, Frey.”

Freyja blinked and a fresh wave of electricity rolled across her cheeks. She grinned and flexed her bicep in reply.

“You got THAT right.” Freyja’s hearty laughter was so loud it made Alice’s bones shiver. And, surprisingly, Alice found himself giggling as well. “They gotta try a lot harder next time!” 

Next time. 

How many times were they going to have to do this? Tonight they got lucky, but how long until that luck ran out? His eyes went back to her abdomen–she was holding the wound now. “You’re bleeding. How are you feeling?”

“Like I got shot,” Freyja chuckled through her grimace, though Alice wasn’t quite sure if she was serious or not. “But I’m fine…I promise. I’ve had worse.”

He wasn’t fully convinced, but he would trust her for now. He tore his gaze from her to look back at the robot, and as he did so, something caught his eye.

“Hey, don’t move for a sec?” Alice asked as he stepped under her knee so he could get out of the rain. She made a noise, but didn’t protest. He squinted to try to get a better look without getting pelted in the face by the storm.

He could spy a thin shaft of light peeking through a small hole in the robot’s chest.

A panel must’ve been knocked loose during the fight with Freyja. He chewed his lip as a risky thought came to mind. 

“Hey! I have an idea,” Alice called up to her. She put her head down between her knees so she could get a better look at him. “It might be stupid though.”

“Great,” Freyja replied with a toothy grin. Her wet hair fell down like curtains. “I love stupid ideas–I’m full of ‘em.”

Alice was starting to appreciate her levity–it made all of this chaos a bit more bearable. He giggled and shook his head before pointing towards the robot. “I think there’s a weak spot in its chest, and I see some light coming up… If we can pry it open, I can crawl in and check it out. Maybe there’s something worth salvaging that can help us out?”

His smile fell as he saw the hesitation in her eyes. He looked away, now embarrassed for even suggesting it to the giant. “Ahhhhhh, nevermind. It’s stupid.”

“No no!” Freyja quickly protested. “I think that’s a great idea! We just don’t have a lotta time to waste, that’s all…” 

“Yeah…you’re right.” Alice ran a hand through his sopping hair and sighed. He held the tablet to his chest and tried to think what they should do next. “I just…I’m not sure when we’ll get another chance like this.”

Freyja pursed her lips. “...how confident are you that you’ll find somethin’ useful in there?”

Alice shrugged. “Not sure. But if something like this comes after us again, I’d like to try and find SOMETHING that might help.”

Freyja nodded, then smiled upside down. “Okay. I trust you.”

She lowered her hand with the palm up, her spiked knuckles sinking into the mud. “Here, let’s getchu up there.”

Alice stared at her hand. She was offering to carry him? He blinked, completely flummoxed that this was his new reality now. He stepped up with a nod of thanks, then carefully walked towards the middle of her palm. She slowly raised her hand up, and he tried to maintain his footing. He couldn’t help but hold his breath, wondering if he would ever get used to these sensations. Once her hand came to rest on the robot’s chest, he hopped down.

The sensation as he walked across the hull was bizarre. It reminded him of all the times he’d look out the window of the airplane as a kid, just to imagine what it’d feel like to walk across the wing.

After making the trek up its chest, he knelt down to examine the hole in the paneling. It seemed that the armor had peeled back just enough for a bit of light to poke through, but not enough for him to get a look inside. Alice looked up to Freyja. “Mind giving me a hand?”

Freyja took her claw and began to work at the hole to widen it, before hooking the tip beneath the lip and gently peeling it back.

He smiled with quiet gratitude before taking a look inside. With the flickering white light illuminating most of his view, Alice ascertained that this was probably some kind of vent or service tunnel. The opening was a bit tight, but manageable–he’d crawled through worse. As he started to scope out the possible spots he could use as footholds, he remembered something. He looked down at Maura’s tablet and pursed his lips, knowing he wouldn’t be able to climb with it. 

It felt strangely heavy in his hand.

“Hey, Frey?” She tilted her head. Her eyes went down towards his hand as he offered the tablet to her. “Can you hold onto this? I can’t take it with me.”

Freyja’s expression softened. She held out her hand again–the person-sized fingers unfurled gently for him, like petals of a flower.

“I’ll take good care of it,” she smiled softly. “I promise.”

There was something about the way she looked at him that gave him pause. 

Alice swallowed and mouthed a quiet thank you before gingerly setting the tablet into her hand. He watched as Freyja gingerly closed her fingers around it and pulled it back to her. 

With Maura’s tablet safe, Alice crawled over towards the hole and reached a foot down to gingerly test his weight on a pipe that he figured might be a good place to start. He applied a bit more pressure. It would do.

“Wish me luck,” he breathed as he looked over the rim of his glasses with a smile. She grinned in reply as he began his descent.

The rain thundered as Alice ducked down past the steel skin of the giant. The deeper he descended, the more clearly he could hear the distant hissing of punctured pipes, sparking wires, and the grinding of downshifting gears as the titan settled into its own robotic rigor mortis. There was almost a comforting nostalgia as he wriggled through the pipes and tubing. It made him miss Lexine. He wondered how she was doing… 

He had to stop briefly to readjust his grip and catch his breath, but as he did so he felt a bit of anxiety start bleeding into his thoughts.

This is so stupid, he thought. What am I thinking? This is a GIANT ROBOT. This tech is WAY beyond me…there’s no way I’m going to find anything useful for us…

Alice tried to think what he would say to Freyja when he crawled out empty handed. Maybe he could lie and say there was a dead end, and that he couldn’t go any further. Would she think he was a coward if he didn’t try hard enough?

What could he-

He froze as he saw something slither out of the corner of his eye–in the thicket of cables to his immediate left.

But before he had time to react, he heard a fan groan to life and everything around him LURCH and SHUDDER. He gasped as he felt plates beginning to move around him and could hear the clunking of giant cogs nearby as they began to turn once more.

Everything started to move too fast–the pieces he was using for footholds twisted and shot off out of sight. His biceps screamed as he now relied wholly on his upper-body strength for support. But even now, he could feel his grip beginning to slip.

No, Alice’s heart broke as he realized he was going to die.

With a hiss and a SHWOOMP, the tube that he was gripping with his left hand shot back into the wall. His right shoulder felt like it was going to be yanked from his socket as all weight fell upon it. He went to reach for a new handhold with his left hand, but had to quickly duck as the section of wall that was at head level shuddered then turned suddenly. He felt it whiff right above his head before slamming into place at his right.

Close! he breathed as he went to raise his head, his left hand moving once more…

An explosion of pain blossomed out from the back of his skull as something hit him from behind. He could only manage a groan as his vision swam with darkness and spots. 

He hardly noticed his right hand slip from the impact.

Alice plummeted. He tried to regain his senses enough to grab onto something–anything–but it was too late. Everything was moving far too fast. He wasn’t quite sure what would happen when he finally came to a sto-

THOOMP.

All of the wind was knocked out of him as Alice finally came to a stop.

“That…was awful,” he groaned as he clenched his eyes tight. His shoulder ached and his lowerback was throbbing. What had he landed on? He was also surrounded by hissing, and he wasn’t sure why.

After a few moments of composing himself, Alice slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the source.

It appeared that Alice had fallen down into a spherical space roughly the size of a kitchen. Everything bathed with eerie whitenoise that came from a series of monitors that encompassed the space--its combined glow must’ve been just enough for him to see outside. 

Alice’s skin crawled from the noise as he slowly pushed himself up–he was surprised at the leathery give beneath his hand. He looked down and noticed he was in some sort of chair that was suspended in the air by six metal arms that connected out to the inside of a gyroscope. Dangling within reach from the gyroscope were a series of devices and instruments that he couldn’t readily identify.

He made a mental checklist as he started to look around: dials, gauges, levers. He wasn’t an aerospace engineer, but there was a certain familiarity to the makeup of this room.

This…is a cockpit, Alice slowly realized. It was a bit hard to tell at first, but this was basically some kind of ‘command bridge,’ just tipped on its side because the mech was laying on its back. He licked his lips and swallowed. It would make sense, right? Instruments, monitors, a command chair that could readjust according to the gyroscope’s position within the core of this walking dreadnought. Drone technology was one thing, but a machine of this size would surely need a human element. Even something remotely piloted probably wouldn’t be able to handle all of the intricacies involved with-

Alice’s heart stopped.

It would need a pilot.

Where’s the pilot?

Alice scrambled to sit up in the vertical chair–his eyes darting around wildly as the new panic started to boil. He looked underneath the chair to see if the pilot was lurking in the space below, but saw nothing.

His heart raced as he nervously swallowed. He looked around once more. Was it the movement in the cables? He couldn’t count on that. If the pilot was still in here, Alice was in danger. There was no one he could go toe-to-toe with whoever nearly killed Frey–mech or not.

He was struggling to breathe with how fast his heart was racing, but after looking around for a fourth time he still didn’t see anyone–no pilot, and no sign of a body. Maybe there was some kind of escape hatch? There had to be something like that in here…but if there was, Alice couldn’t spot it.

He waited silently in the glow of the whitenoise before deciding it was probably safe for him to get down. If the pilot was here, he had a feeling they would’ve done something by now. With a bit of awkward maneuvering, Alice crawled from the chair down one of the arms of the gyroscope then dropped the last couple of feet onto one of the monitors below. The screen barely bowed.

“Alright, let’s see what we got…” he breathed as he pulled off his glasses to give them a bit of a wave in an attempt to air dry them, before he started to poke around the sideways cockpit.

He wasn’t quite sure how long he spent searching, but it was long enough to start to feel frustrated. Due to the nature of the room, he could only really feasibly explore a fraction of it without having to resort to climbing.

A lot of the instruments were annoying, in that they looked so close to something that he could grasp but was just a few degrees off his understanding. So most of the time he spent silently pontificating to himself as to what all of these things might do, without being able to confidently settle on whether it was worth trying to salvage.

His eye did spy something slightly sticking out of the floor right beneath the pilot’s gyroscope chair–which meant, it was coming out of the wall from his point of view. He walked beneath it and spied a bit of a strap hanging down from the object. A case of some kind? 

“Better than nothing,” Alice murmured to himself, a spark of curiosity flickering within the mounting discouragement. He crouched and then sprung up–he tried to extend his body, arm, and fingers as long as they could go to try and get the strap. His palm slapped uselessly against the rubber floor.

He grunted as he landed. He looked up and sneered at the strap. He was 5’10” danggit and wasn’t going to be outdone by something JUST out of his reach. He tried a second time…then a third…a fourth…then with a yell of frustration and with a running jump off a monitor screen and keyboard, on the fifth attempt he felt the tip of his middle finger hook the strap.

“HA!” Alice cheered as he dropped, pulling the strap down with him. He could hear the grinding of the object as it was pulled free. “Take th-” 

His victory was cut short, as the object the strap was attached to–which was far heavier than he first anticipated–dropped and nearly hit him on the head. With a yelp, Alice managed to sidestep just in time for it to hit the monitor he’d been standing on.

He felt heat in his cheeks from getting startled so easily, but his embarrassment melted away as he noticed something stenciled on the side of the object.

He knelt down to examine it. The object had a hard-shell casing and latches on one side. There didn’t appear to be any lock, so he wasn’t quite sure what could be in here. Probably nothing important, but his interest was still piqued. He moved the case into the light of the monitors that shined from above so he could make out the stencil.

T-Y-R GAMMA. Alice furrowed his brow. At least, he assumed that was a Gamma and not just an upside down L. There was some kind of government logo above that, but he couldn’t quite make out despite this lighting–it looked like it had been stamped on improperly. While he would’ve loved to know what department of the government had sent this thing to step on him, the name TYR GAMMA was a start. He pulled the case a bit closer and popped the latches.

Inside he found things he recognized immediately: MREs, a compass, a first-aid kit, water purifying tablets, an emergency blanket–complete with a complimentary tent. This was a survival kit! He wasn’t quite sure how long the stuff in here was made to last, but he was grateful to find something useful. 

Alice actually felt a bit hopeful. This wasn’t a silver bullet, but it would get them clean water and  some food…and even a bit of shelter and direction too! He wasn’t quite sure where they’d go thanks to a compass, but it was a step in the right direction. And now that he had a first-aid kit, he could clean up Freyja’s wounds and make sure they didn’t get infected–the thing he had been silently fretting since saw her glowing bl-

Alice paused as realization hit him like a hammer to glass.

She was huge.

He let the emergency blanket fall from his fingers as guilt and worry washed over him. This kit would be able to provide for one person, but it absolutely wasn’t going to be able to cover Frey. The MREs and purified water would be miniscule, the emergency tent could be draped over a finger, and the first-aid kit…well, if he was lucky he could use the whole bottle of rubbing alcohol provided, it might be able to properly disinfect the cut on her forehead. But the wound on her stomach looked serious.

But he couldn’t keep all of this for himself–he absolutely refused to. How was it fair that he got to eat and drink and have a blanket, while Freyja got her life thrown upside down and mutated into this titanic living thunderstorm. What would her future be like? How long could she go without adequate sustenance? What would happen to her if the military caught her?

He wanted to help, he NEEDED to help…

No, he needed to fix this.

Wasn’t that Maura’s last words to him? When she looked at him pleadingly? He was tired, his memory was fuzzy…

All of this was because it was his fault. He should’ve been smart enough to stop the Engine from activating. He should’ve been smart enough to prevent Freyja’s body and life from being utterly ruined.

He should’ve been able to save Maura.

Crunch.

Alice jumped. It looked like something had dropped on one of the monitors and cracked the screen, but the ill timing of it made him sick to his stomach. It conjured up far too many images of Maura that he couldn’t shake.

He closed the lid of the kit, and slowly laid down on the muddy, shoe print-painted monitor. It was hard to breathe again. Tears started well up. Why couldn’t he get those images out of his head? They weren’t real…he was just imagining them.

That didn’t make the hurt any less real.

He pulled the survival kit up onto his chest, closed his eyes, and hugged the inflexible object as tight as he could. It didn’t help.

What were they going to do?

In here, he felt…surprisingly safe. Protected, even. Hidden within this hollow heart, he felt like he didn’t have anything to worry about. But he knew the moment he stepped back outside he would have to face his heart wrenching, unfair new reality.

He didn’t fight the tears this time. He let them flow freely, but he wasn’t quite sure who he was crying for.

What was he THINKING? This was so beyond what he was able to handle. He was useless. He found nothing of worth to Freyja in here, Maura was dead, and now Alice was just going to…what? Lay here and cry? He couldn’t kick tanks away or wrestle skyscraper-sized robots like Frey…he was just deadweight to her. Just an obligation–a burden. He could barely hold it together mentally, and he had nothing of use to her. He couldn’t even get her a glass of water.

So what good was he?

“I-I…I can’t do this,” Alice whimpered.

Alice jumped as the mech shuddered three times with a resounding THOOM THOOM THOOM.

“You okay in there?”

It was Freyja. He shouldn’t be surprised that he could hear her voice all the way down here. That was probably her knocking.

Alice wiped the tears quickly and tried to recompose himself. He stood up and slung the kit’s strap over one shoulder. He cupped his hands and yelled: “YEAH! I’M OKAY! COULD YOU MAYBE OPEN UP A BIGGER HOLE? I FELL IN AND CAN’T GET OUT.”

A beat. Had she heard him? He screwed up his mouth and realized his voice probably didn’t carry out in the same ways hers did. He clambered up one of the arms to the chair again and stood up on the back. Maybe she could hear him from up here?

“HEY FREY, DID YOU HEAR M-

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH. Alice crouched and braced himself with a gasp as everything lurched, he could hear metal tearing and pipes bursting. He looked up as the shaking intensified. One by one the monitors started to go dark as he saw the metal behind them bow and shiver before familiar clawed fingers started to pry their way into view. Finally, Freyja got a good grip and PULLED the chest of the mech open–monitors and instruments flew everywhere. The sound of twisting metal and shattering glass was a cacophony of destruction as she came to his aid.

The glow of her eyes enveloped the room as she looked down at him. Rain fell into the cockpit, but it had relaxed to a little more than a drizzle.

He was surprisingly grateful to see those eyes.

Freyja blushed and chuckled nervously, she pulled her hands back. “S-Sorry! I…probably should’ve given you a little warning first, huh?”

She laughed, then looked at him…her brow furrowed slightly. 

“Hey…” She said with surprising softness. She reached a hand into the hole, her thick fingers serving as a platform for him to step up. “Are…you okay?”

Alice silently stepped up onto her fingers–his feet sunk a bit in the leathery pads as he walked. When he finally got into the hollow of her hand, he fell to his knees.

Right there in the middle of her palm was Maura’s tablet. It stared up at him impassively. He gathered it up and silently slipped it into the kit. Hopefully it’d be safer there. 

She gingerly lifted him up out of the mech’s chest and to her face. And though he didn’t meet her gaze, it felt impossible to hide from those colossal eyes.

Alice shivered. He finally went to reply, but a rogue sob managed to slip past his lips. Freyja made an empathic noise and sat back on her haunches as she waited patiently for him to continue. Alice desperately wanted to hide.

“I-I…um…” Alice tried starting again. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn’t help it. He silently shook his head. Freyja swallowed and nodded.

Alice wasn’t sure how long they sat in silence. Eventually, one of her large fingers bent forward to gingerly tap her thumb. Alice frowned and looked up for clarification.

“I’m a hugger,” Freyja’s voice broke as she smiled sadly. “And…I’d give you a hug right now if I could. But seeing as I, um…well, can’t…I figure my thumb is the next best thing, right? I know it’s not, like, a person, but-”

Alice didn’t hesitate, he flung himself at the thumb. He threw his arms around the digit and buried his face into the padding–forget about the glasses, he didn’t care. He dug his fingers as tightly as he could into the leathery skin and muscle. He could feel her pulse. His knees sank into the muscle of the palm that connected to the base of the thumb. Her thumb was surprisingly warm.

Freyja gingerly turned her hand at the wrist, and curled her fingers around his legs and lower chest so he could be gently held within her fist while he hugged her thumb. It was an asymmetrical reciprocation, but the gesture was genuine. Alice wriggled down a bit while still holding on to her thumb, so his chest could get swallowed up in the grip as well as he kept his arms out around the trunk of her thumb. He kept his face buried against her.

She gently squeezed him. At first, it surprised him–it felt like a bit of an all-over hug. But it was the safest, most secure feeling Alice could ever imagine. She wouldn’t let him fall…she’d keep him safe. He wasn’t quite sure how he knew that, but he trusted her.

They didn’t count the minutes as she just let him bitterly weep into her handheld embrace.

…

…

The VTOL’s engines growled as it made its final descent. 

The ominous red lights of the interior cast long shadows across the soldiers’ faces as they patiently listened to their marching orders from Lieutenant Palmer. Meanwhile, General Donovan moved towards the bay doors–she had other matters to attend to tonight.

The crackling report from the pilot indicated that it would be landing in a few minutes, but she couldn’t sit still. She had read the reports so many times she had them practically memorized and her eyes were starting to itch from how long she had stared at the tablet screen. She reached up to grab one of the eye level safety straps for support as a bit of turbulence rocked them. She brought her hand up to touch her daughter’s necklace she kept beneath her coat–her thumb rubbed soft circles across the surface of the keratin as she tried to gather her thoughts.

This never got easier.

Donovan held tighter as they landed with a lurch. She heard the clatter of gear as the soldiers rose to join her. The bay door opened, the ramp descended, and an errant gust sprayed rain across her face. She grimaced with a shiver before pulling up her hood and drawing her greatcoat tighter over her uniform as she briskly made her down. The ramp trembled behind her as the rest of the platoon followed suit.

Her eyes followed the height of Ground Zero’s quarantine wall as her boots splashed across wet pavement. She felt a bit of heartbreak starting to creep in as her eyes lingered. She allowed that pain to stay, but only as a reminder of why she had to stay focused tonight. There would be shouts of anger, tears, and unanswerable questions but with all the meetings she knew she’d have to have, she would need to be the strong one. 

If not her, then who? 

She looked over to the left as she heard a yell. The remainder of Fort Jeffrey’s able-bodied forces were a few kilometers away amidst a smoldering field of ruin–the location where NUVA-002 rose. Donovan could make out the crushed trucks, the overturned embankments, the ripped open cargo containers with their content strewn about and still burning.

Her eyes lingered on the two largely collapsed buildings nearby. Officers were barking orders to those who were frantically excavating what they could in hopes of reaching survivors. She saw how many triage tents were set up nearby, but a part of her knew it would do little good. 

She wondered what had gone through 002’s head the moment they transformed. What was the emotion that the victim clung to as they found their entire body unmade then rewritten? What caused 002 to lash out the way that they had? 

Donovan wasn’t quite sure what she might’ve done, had the roles been reversed.

As she made a cursory glance across the search and rescue efforts for the base commander, she heard a voice call for her over the roaring rain. “General Donovan!”

Two figures approached her from the quarantine zero: Agent Wendig and Captain Edo. 

“At ease,” she told the captain after spying their salute. She turned her attention to Wendig as she took the lead back towards the entrance. “Any updates?”

“SEER is attempting to reboot,” Wendig explained as they stepped into the quarantine zone’s sequestered hallways. The space felt oppressive. Clouds of dust floated in front of the tripod mounted lights that lit up the corridor, and the sound of rain against the roof made the general feel even more on edge. “The Nephilim-class aren’t like the other Kaiju. We’ve only had one set of data to work from in the past, and now we’re working to try and track down two at the same time. SEER’s adapting on the fly–we should be able to better triangulate the Kaiju’s positions soon.”

The general sighed as she moved on to the next subject. “Any luck on identifying the ones who dropped off the device?”

“No ma’am.” Edo shook their head. “A leading theory is that they’re cultists. The Children of Nibiru have a cloister down the mountain from here-”

“-but the Children aren’t paramilitary,” the agent interjected. “Whoever brought in the device not only had access to military-grade equipment, but they had military clearance. They were let right in and a base officer coordinated the drop-off.”

She earned a few more salutes from passing soldiers and engineers, but her mind was far too troubled to notice. 

The general’s nails dug into her palms as she set her jaw. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Eleven years, and this was the first proof of human involvement. 

The general steadied her breathing as they walked in relative silence. She could hear the low hum of commotion that echoed down the hall as they neared Ground Zero proper. “And what of this officer? Lieutenant Sinclair?”

“MIA.” Edo ran a hand over his fuzzy scalp. “Eyewitnesses indicate she was inside the warehouse during the device’s activation, but we haven’t found her body yet. Someone claimed they saw her thrown out by one of the resulting shockwaves, but we haven’t been able to corroborate that.”

That didn’t prove much, there were a lot of reasons why they couldn’t find the conspirator’s body. Having Sinclair alive was preferable, but that didn’t mean the lieutenant couldn’t have left a paper trail. They’d have to look into that further once the immediate danger had passed.

As they rounded the bend, she could finally see the entrance to Ground Zero. And though it was sealed off by a reinforced door, she could still hear the buzz of dozens of technicians and specialists working furiously on the other side. Flanking the entrance, were two pairs of Nobodies who stood as dark, silent sentinels who saluted immediately at the sight of the general.

She murmured a quiet “at ease” as she stopped and turned to face Edo and Wendig. Now that she stood close to the door, she could feel a tug from her daughter’s necklace in the direction of Ground Zero. Then she felt a slight shiver up her whole body, as the sensation extended past only the necklace. 

“And the witnesses?” she asked, looking from one to the other. She heard one of the Nobodies typing in the access codes for the door. “Are they available for me to speak to them?”

“Yes ma’am,” Wendig replied. “They have agreed to give us their full cooperation.”

The door hissed open behind her. 

“Good.” General Donovan nodded. She turned, then made her way inside.

Ground Zero was deafening. Technicians and engineers had set up all sorts of portable instruments and devices, and no one seemed content to keep their voices down as they relayed the readings they were receiving from either the horror above or the scar below.

She made her way around a fenced-off crater, though the general knew what it really was. They had mapped out two distinct sets of gigantic footprints–one for 001 and one for 002–left craters in the concrete. 001’s went away from Ground Zero, while 002’s went towards before veering off in a different direction. It made Donovan numb just thinking about it. 

She turned her gaze upwards to drink in the gravityless graveyard of crumpled trucks, shattered cargo…

…and lifeless bodies. Everything that floated in this illogical, zero-g bubble was suspended in a miasma of haunting, celestial light.

But her attention wasn’t on the footprints or the horror above, but rather the cordoned off piece of concrete. 

She felt their eyes as she walked the length of Ground Zero. She knew why so many of them lowered their voices now, as if to give her as much space as possible. She didn’t need their empathy, but she appreciated it.

Her eyes analyzed every detail she could about that single piece of concrete as she approached. To the untrained eye, someone might assume that a grenade had gone over that spot. But the scorched halo was far too wide for just a single grenade–it seemed to originate from a point that was at least six feet by six feet. No explosive could be that big without breaking the ground beneath it, and a grenade wouldn’t cause the scorch marks to twist and curl into patterns of unnatural symmetry and complexity. 

No, this hadn’t been a grenade–this is the spot where the device was activated. This was where the lives of two people were altered forever, and by their actions the fate of tens of thousands might hang in the balance based on their actions. They were a genesis for everything that would follow.

For the last eleven years, the secrecy of Kaijus had been maintained, but the glass was cracked–all it would take would be a tap in the wrong place, and the only thing would come crashing down. 

But that wasn’t the thing that scared Donovan the most. Agent Wendig went to speak again, but the general ignored her. 

She stared at the familiar markings on the concrete. She didn’t need to touch those intricately carved shadows, she remembered vividly how they felt. She’d seen them only once before, but didn’t know where they had come from…now she did. There was a certain degree of closure in that, but she still felt a rising anger to the point of nausea bubbling in her chest.  All she could wonder is where the device had gone, who had stolen it, and when they would strike next.

#FINALLY #slams down on the desk #took way longer than I'd hope but #I'm stupidly proud of this one<3 #enjoy SHAMELESS self-indulgence and heartbreak and mounting Kaiju conspiracies! #oh also meet one of my new Supporting OCs: Donovan<3 #I hope y'all ENJOY and have a GREAT NIGHT #proud of this one wah 💜 #g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing #Kaiju #Kaiju!AU #Genesis Day #cw blood #cw death #ogtoc Freyja #ogtoc Alice #ogtoc Donovan #wholesome giantess

[flysafepapi]

My wifi was out for a week, so after the third day I was like “okay it’s okay I can use this time to be more productive!”

Yeah, no

Now I just have three new BwE stories that I started and don’t know how to finish.

✨productivity✨

#the writers block is hitting hard boys #I’ve been struggling so hard with the Titanic AU #it just feels wrong to write maranzano as the creepy fiancé #but I’m gonna write it #because I deserve to see Meyer as Jack and Charlie as Rose #boardwalk empire

[iphoenixrising]

The Demon You Know

Day 1 Urban Fantasy AU | Magical/Supernatural Creatures | Time Travel

So, something a little off the grid for my first day of DickTim Week 2021. Special thanks to my wonderful babe @vellaphoria for the beta and the incredible peeps on the Capes and Coffee discord (looking at you @themandylion, @strawberryjei and others). Also need to show my undying love for @chippon because babe, we are making it work.

**

When the sun creeps up over the sky in Gotham, then it’s time to GTFO. Capes in the daytime aren’t the usual for the city, and Red Robin has been playing it too late, staying out far past O’s warning to bring it in for the night. So, really, he’s only got himself to blame.

His penthouse perch has seen more use in the last few months since, welp, Gotham and the fact he likes to get away from the team mentality sometimes, like to return to his roots and run the rooftops like when he was still that Robin. His trips to the Manor had become more frequent since B was back in the cowl and things in the family seemed to be returning to some semblance of normal. 

Well, as normal as it could get, really.

But all that goodwill and positivity is literally ghost. Red’s hands are shaky and his inner calm is absolutely blown. He’s ducking into his perch to throw his suit off, grab his duffle bag full of sundries and fake idents, then he’s going to hit the airport as fast as he can get a flight the hell out of town, away from the terrifying sight.

(He should just call Bart or Kon or Cassie, tell them he needs an out faster than he can arrange it himself, he needs to get away from–)

He knows he fucked up when the slight sounds, small and metallic in nature, make it past his pulse thumping in his ears.

Like a horror flick, he slowly turns as the front door gives a groan and is pushed open by a very familiar palm.

Dick’s blue eyes fall on him like a ton of bricks, on Red Robin’s feet frozen to the floor, his suit only half on, and no way he can get far enough to throw himself out a window.

Fuck.

“So,” Dick keeps his voice soft, footsteps easy as he steps inside Tim’s penthouse and closes the door behind him, “you finally found me out.”

Keeping his mouth shut in times like this has really saved his ass before, so Red doesn’t say a word, keeps every muscle in his body ready to spring for the right second –

Watching the would-be robber struggle in Dick’s grip, watching the light show brighten overwhelmingly, seeing what had to be-had to be feeding.

“I figured it would be you if anyone, actually, so I’m not really surprised, just… disappointed.” Dick continues softly, only in jeans and a t-shirt since Nightwing was oddly missing from the patrol roster last night.

And Red is apparently the only one that knows why.

“But that doesn’t mean I can just let you go, Timmy,” Dick isn’t stopping, his whole body lax while Red is wound tight, backing away from the man he thought he knew. “I really wish you hadn’t found out like this. I...I had other plans.” 

Whirlybirds and pellets aren’t going to help him here. Hand-to-hand and martial arts, aerial acrobatics, none of it is going to make a difference. 

His throat goes dry when Dick’s eyes get more and more blue, when his former mentor doesn’t stop advancing, and Red Robin is running out of room to back away.

“I tried to save you, Timmy. I tried so hard to get you away, out of Gotham, even if you went because you thought you had to find Bruce, I’m the one that gave you the compulsion to leave.” The low laugh is edged with something desperate, “why the hell couldn’t you stay away?”

“This is my city, just as much as Batman’s. You taking my fucking cape wasn’t enough,” Red Robin bites out, back thumping against the kitchen counter, realizing Dick had backed him into the corner. “How did you keep it from him? Constantine, Zatanna, all the magic users he has on speed dial and he never figured you out? No one in the JLA or Titans did?”

That makes Dick pause.

“He never had to. He knew what my parents were before they ever died, Timmy. Haley’s Circus came to Gotham regularly. Bruce always knew.”

The information blast hits him painfully, that Bruce didn’t bother to tell him and look at where they are now.

“And he didn’t try to help you?” Red, Tim, gapes at the still silhouette that used to be someone he thought he knew like he knew himself. Someone that’s always had this secret. “He didn’t try to –”

“Cure me?” Dick’s mouth lifts in a semblance of a smile Tim knows. “There is no cure for this, Timmy. It’s what I am. What my parents both were, the curse of the Romain Bababiljos. It’s unfortunate for me both of them were cursed, that just makes the...the hunger two-fold.”

And it’s just a few more steps, a raised hand that makes Tim flinch back, but only a fingertip taps the edge of the domino, makes the whiteouts raise.

Automatically, with everything he’s learned, studied, experienced about supernatural creatures, he ducks his head so he isn’t looking directly into those eyes. That doesn’t stop Dick from bracketing Tim in, both hands on the counter, their bodies a breath apart.

Dick laughs softly, close enough for Tim to feel the breath on his face. “The Titans...I never had to tell them. By then, I could control myself, at least mostly. The JLA? I’m one of the Batman’s proteges. I’ve been fighting crime since I was eight. They believe in me. There was never a reason for any of them to look too deeply past the surface.”

“Wh-what do you mean mostly?” Tim’s heart slams in his chest, “how many people have you killed, Dick?”

“Do you have any idea how awful the hunger is?” And the lower Dick’s voice goes, the harder Tim’s heart starts to pound. “Surviving on hugs and family affection is tantamount to starvation for someone like me. It’s so easy to kill someone during sex because the hunger is so much I can’t control it sometimes. Anyone I’m with is in danger.  That’s why I couldn’t stay with Babs, she’s too human. The one time I came close–” 

Dick breathes again and all Tim looks at is the span of throat, thinking of the soft, vulnerable parts, anything he can use to get the fuck away.

“–but I didn’t. I have...willpower sometimes. I drained her so close, though. She was-was so fragile, Timmy, and I was so hungry. I’d been starving for so damn long. She was hospitalized for longer than she’d been when the Joker shot her, and I said never again. But Wally and Kory were...different. I could go further with him without killing them, I could get more full than I’d been in a long time. It was still dangerous for them, but I was so far gone by the time...”

“They’re both still alive. Babs is still alive. Does she–?”

“Remember? Of course not. None of them do. I made sure of that, Tim, so none of them would be afraid of me.”  And the air changes when Dick gets closer, his eyes get brighter, and Tim almost chokes with the almost touch to his body under his suit. “But, you are going to be different, aren’t you? I’m not going to be able to convince your mind that what you saw was a dream.”

“So what? You’re going to make me “disappear”? You’ll give Bruce some sob story about how I got tired of the vigilante life and left for college or some shit? Going to bury me where no one will ever find me?” He isn’t looking at Dick’s face, can’t see his own end coming, can’t believe he’d put all his faith and belief in this man only to have it all come to this.

Tim laughs wetly, blinking rapidly, and everything suddenly comes together. “He won’t ever come looking for me anyway. You made sure of that when you made Damian your Robin. Nice plan, Dick. No one is going to give a shit if I’m never seen again anyway.”

And it’s stupid not to at least try, not to duck and kick out, trip up whatever Dick really is, to break a window and fucking run, try to get Bruce, Clark, Kon and Bart and Cassie, to get anyone to listen to him about what Dick really is, to try to save himself.

(If you’d never figured out Dick was Robin, if you never put yourself in front of him, you’d be safe now. Miserable but safe.)

Even if it’s his own brain pan spitting this out, he knows it’s bullshit. 

If he’d never approached Dick Grayson with proof Batman was losing his mind, Tim Drake wouldn’t have reached twenty-one. The way his life was going, he would have probably hung himself long before getting to this stage in his life. If he’d never had Bruce or Alfred or Dick or Steph, if he’d never had Robin, never had Young Justice or The Titans, if he’d never had the Clench, never felt the rumble under his feet as Gotham had fallen, if he’d never had the agony of losing everyone in his life, if he’d never had the drive to prove his adopted father was alive…

The civilian Tim Drake wouldn’t have had the strength to make it through life alive.

So if this is the way he goes out, if Dick is the one that ends it for him–

There’re worse ways to go.

He’s not going to be the Joker’s next victim or Ra’s al Ghul’s heir with a mix of Lazarus Pit crazy. The HIVE, the Light, the mass of aliens he’s fought, any number of Rogue Gallery thugs, none of them will be the ones to take him out.

But this?

His career as Robin started out with Dick Grayson, so maybe...maybe it’s fitting this is the way it all ends. 

He sucks in a breath and finally tilts his head up, looks up into those electric blue eyes, and lets his breath out so so slow.

Because Dick is looking at him with watery eyes, with a grimace, with something Tim can actually recognize.

But those eyes light up in his penthouse perch, take on a supernatural glow, Dick snatching his wrists in bigger hands, pulling Tim closer, the heat getting through layers of Kevlar and Nomex. And just like that, he can’t pull away, can’t pull back.

There’s no way to defend himself when Dick pulls him in, when he expects to get his throat ripped out, his neck snapped, something important crushed, for the darkness to take over and his heart to slow down to a sad, weak pitter patter.

He can’t defend himself when Dick kisses him, opens his mouth, and stuns him into going completely slack.

“I told you,” Dick growls softly when he pulls back, bends enough to get Tim laid out over his shoulder, “I had other plans.”

But Tim can’t reply, can’t do anything other than lay across Dick’s back as the Romani love deamon strides down the hallway and kicks open the bedroom door.

**

And if Tim Drake survives until morning, shocking the hell out of the both of them, staring up at Dick’s surprised face and glowing blue eyes, if the soft touch to his jaw contrasts sharply with the bruises and red marks blossoming all over his body from an intense night with his supernatural mentor and best friend, if Dick doesn’t whisper, “finally, finally, my mate,” before kissing him. 

If the power Dick drains from him doesn’t kill him, doesn’t do more than give him the most amazing span of unending multiple orgasms to ever happen, if Dick isn’t fully satisfied for the first time in his life. If Dick doesn’t call them both off patrol for the next three nights, carts Tim back to his apartment, refuses him clothes and computers and tech, tells the Titans they’re taking a break from crime fighting while Tim is tied and gagged in his bed, sated enough to listen hazily with half-mast eyes. 

If Dick doesn’t hand feed him while he’s getting feeling back in his legs (finally) and give him the full run-down about his parents. If the strange mark on his abdomen doesn’t get warm whenever Dick’s hand is on it, fingers tracing the edges, making those blue, blue eyes dilate in possessiveness. If Tim doesn’t eventually escape with his sanity intact and a little terrified how much his body craves only to have Dick chase after him with single-minded purposes to convince him they’re meant to be.

Then only the man with cameras all over Gotham, waiting and watching with bated breath and fear for his Robins, unmitigated relief when his theory proves true, would be able to give all the details.

#dicktimweek2021 #winter writes #dicktim #back on my shit #dick grayson #tim drake #my ficlet #my writing

[naktergalen]

Rivamika Fic Suggestions List 2

Hey there again! It’s been a while since my last rivamika post and I apologies for that. I caught the reading bug and have just been hitting book after book. I might be doing a book of the month suggestion starting in March. I’m still thinking about it but if that is something your interested in let me know. Or if you just want book suggestions just message or ask me. But for now, I’m back with my second Rivamika Fic Suggestions List.

First of all, I want to thank you for all the comments and messages I received from my first list! I think it has over 150 notes now which is crazy for me. I was going to be ecstatic if it got like 10 likes or something hahaha! I’ve enjoyed talking to some of you about fics and other snk stuff. Feel free to do the same after this post! I know I take awhile to respond but swear I get there eventually.

Same rules as last time. I’ve split this list up into four categories. I wanted to let people know the status of some of these fics in case they did not want to start an incomplete or in progress story. All of these fics can be found on AO3. I’m going to try to link them but we will see how tumblr acts today. If you have any fic suggestions for me, feel free to message me with them and I can add them on to the next list. If any author sees their story on here and wants me to take it off the list, please let me know I don’t wish to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Also, last thing, I highly recommend leaving comments and kudos to the authors. I know that they greatly appreciate it and it helps them with improving their writing through feedback. Okay shutting up now, ON WITH THE LIST!

DISCLAIMER: I know that not all of these stories are not for everyone, these are just my opinions and suggestions.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Completed:

- Thunder Clouds

Author: K_Lionheart

Rating: Mature

Sometimes I like to go to the very back of the Rivamika archive on AO3 and look for fics that have gotten buried over time. Low and behold what I have found lol! I enjoyed the emotional roller coaster when I was reading this fic, though sometimes I wanted to pull my hair out. Set after the titans are gone, humanity has to repopulate so arranged couples by the monarch are made to be wed. While this new order is being enforced, Mikasa and Levi are trying to work out their strained relationship. A slow burn with angst that will have you staying up till 3am dying to know what happens next. I know that there is a sequel to this fic called Nimbus and I’m slowly working my way through that one. Honestly, it will probably go on my next list.

- Red is the Only Colour

Author: mongoose_bite

Rating: Mature

A cute fic that was a quick but wild ride. A Little Red Riding Hood type of AU where Mikasa is a hunter of some sorts traveling through a town. I don’t want to say how Levi plays into all of this since it gets border line spoilers but just know that he is there. It is an opening ending fic for the author to come back if they plan on doing so but it can be interpreted in different ways. All in all, a fic worth of the quick read.

- Sing Me a Song

Author: LazyTrash

Rating: Mature

First I have to get this off my chest, I love the author’s name hahaha! I freakin wished I would have thought of that for mine! Anyway, this fic is wonderful but I will warn you that its a gut punch. If you like hurt and angst put together, then this is the story for you. I love these types of fics because I adore them so much but they hurt me in my soul. I don’t know what that says about me but whatever. I don’t want to delve into the story too much for spoilers but I would suggest rivamika fans to check this one out.

- Midnight Musings

Author: Raewyll

Rating: Teen

I just started to read Raewyll’s fics so I’m slowly working my way through all her works. This one caught my eye and I had to read it. This is a cute take on a chance meeting through texting the wrong number. I love the way Levi and Mikasa’s relationship blossoms into something more serious after causally texting back and forth. It’s one of those stories that I can only describe as being cute as shit! I’m definitely going to be checking out more of Raewyll’s fic in the future.

Ongoing:

- Beyond the Walls

Author: helena3190

Rating: Matue

If you love RIvamika angst, then look no further than this baby right here. This is currently my favorite ongoing fic. It was supposed to be a shorter story, but the author keeps adding more chapters so I’m not complaining hahaha! This fic is pretty much how I would *personally* picture canon Mikasa on how she would deal with realizing that she’s falling in love with someone. Its mostly told in the perspective of Mikasa as she is dealing with the after effects of war and trying to figure out what should she do with her life now that she is no longer a solider. Her feeling for Levi come with a lot of confusion as she’s discovering emotions that she has never felt before. She has a hard time pinpointing on what exactly describes her relationship with him. I’m anxiously waiting for the final chapter for this fic and dying to see how it will end for Mikasa and Levi.

- After the War

Author: loneackerman

Rating: Mature

I am loving this rivamika slow burn fic right here. Its similar to Beyond the Walls but I think the author adds their own taste of the 1920s into it. Set after the war is over (obviously), Mikasa and Levi have to figure out what they are going to do the rest of their lives. It has great tension, a perfectly paced gradual romance and just the right amount of humor to combat the emotional turmoil it puts you through. Again in my opinion, this is close to how I would realistically perceive Levi and Mikasa’s relationship evolving. I’m really enjoying this story and I’m looking forward to more updates to come!

- The Sound of Lightning

Author: LycheeGreenTea

Rating: Mature

A new fic that is just getting started but I can tell that what the author has in store is going to be interesting. Set several years after the end of the war, Levi and Mikasa are loving parents to a single child. Their peaceful life comes to an end when the family has a threat against them. There are not many long fics about Mikasa and Levi being parent so I was very happy when this one popped up on the AO3 feed. An exciting adventure awaits the Ackerman family now and I can’t wait to see where this fic goes in the future. There are three chapters as of now so head over there and check it out.

Incomplete:

- Home

Author: MissErikaCourt

Rating: Mature

One of the gems I found when diving back into the Rivamika archive. Ugh I HATE that this fic is incomplete!!! Its a good long fic but I’m greedy and I need more! I will give a warning first that this fic does contain heavy themes. Mikasa and Levi are in the underground to fight against a criminal ring. This story is a slow burn with action and emotional trauma. There is a wonderfully written OC that you easily get attached to its not even funny. Even though its not completed, I would highly recommend checking it out. I still have three more chapters to finish but I had to put it on this list. I know that I’m going to be pissed once I reach the last chapter written. If someone know MissErikaCourt, let her know that she needs to comeback to finish this masterpiece!

- Shiver

Author: bornsinner

Rating: Mature

Another one that I DISPISE its incomplete!!! Ugh such a great Office AU. It’s everything that I would want in an Office AU setting. Mikasa struggles between her committed long term relationship and her growing attraction (which starts to develop into some feelings) to her boss, Levi. Its hot, sexy and intriguing and it pisses me off that its not finished! The author writes each chapter as a one-shot but collectively together they tell the whole story. Highly recommend even though its so short. BORNSINNER where ever you are in the universe I hope you come back to finish this!!!

- Two Lines

Author: Crejhov

Rating: Mature

When this was getting updated it was my favorite on-going Rivamika fic. I would find myself checking to see if the author updated with a new chapter every week! The unplanned pregnancy trope is a classic one, but Crejhov does a fantastic job on keeping readers enthralled with soo many anticipated character meet up that are bound to cause hurdles for our expecting parents. This story is told from the perspectives of Mikasa and Levi in order for us to understand where their mindsets are as they plan for their expecting child and deal with their relationship. AHHHHH I want more of this!!! I was soo excited to see where this awkward journey was going to take Mikasa and Levi. CREJHOV COME BACK PLEASE I KNOW YOU HAVE WORK BUT PLEAAASEEEE! I NEEEEEEDDDD!!!

- Cabin Fever

Author: AmayaOkami

Rating: Mature

All I should have to say about this is that its written by AmayaOkami and that should explain it. Amaya is the one that gave us the beautiful incomplete rivamika fic Romance and Rivalry. I just adore her writing. Levi and Mikasa relationship evolves as they are standing guard over the arrested Kenny Ackerman. Secrets are discover about the Ackermans and it gets pretty steamy between our two favs. Great fluff and great sexual tension that leaves you wanting more chapters! Again AmayaOkami where ever you went I hope for some miracle that you come back and complete this one too!

One-Shot:

- Jade

Author: shulkie

Rating: Mature

This one-shot feels like I read a novel, it has such a great storyline. An arranged marriage between Mikasa and Levi leaves the relationship strained in the beginning. Their relationship evolves over time as Levi patiently brings down Mikasa’s wall. With smut added for all of your one-shot needs. Definitely worth the read in my opinion.

- What Remains

Author: Mirime

Rating: Mature

This one-shot gives us a glimpse into the secret relationship that Levi and Mikasa have been having while there are still scouts. This fic is sad but I would say it has a bittersweet ending. I think this was supposed to be part of a collection but I can’t find the rest of them. Still a great read by itself.

- Agape

Author: alienheartattack (Sanneke)

Rating: Mature

This fic is cute as shit! A College AU where Mikasa and Levi are childhood friends. Levi has to deal with Mikasa being at the same college as him while he is struggling with his changing feelings towards a grown up Mikasa. Worth the read as I said cute as shit, leaves you all warm and fuzzy lol!

- As Seen in Shadows

Author: MoraLeeWright

Rating: Explicit

FUCKING MORA! LEE! WRIGHT! UFFFFGGHHH Fuck I’m in love with her writing style. I really have nothing to say more that just go read it! Its hot and sexy and the sexual tension is off the fucking charts in this one. Its just MoraLeeWright smut thats all I can say. It’s great! JUST READ IT LMAO!

- Remedy

Author: NSummer

Rating: Mature

Another hot smut one-shot coming your way! Levi and Mikasa have had an ongoing affair and this just recounts their first time together. Its just some good ol’ Rivamika smut that I think that everyone in this community would enjoy.

- Nutty: Drunk in Love

Author: Hallow17

Rating: Mature

A fun smut to read about Mikasa getting “revenge” on her asshole boss, Levi. Things don’t go the way she plans as things get a little heated in the sexy way. A quick smut that I think is perfect for a little Rivamika crave.

- Spicy: Jalapeno

Author: Hallow17

Rating: Explicit

Another fun smut to read by Hallow17. Levi has been stressed out at work and Mikasa finds a way to help him get his mind off it (if you know what i mean). Again perfect for a Rivamika quick fix.

#rivamika #rivamika fic #levimika #mikasa x levi #levi x mikasa #Levikasa #levi and mikasa #mikasa and levi

[blueknightdg]

You all know this a MLB blog right? I won't answer DC questions if it has nothing to do with MLB. It doesn’t have to be daminette ships! I love daminette, but no one has asked me about Adrian and how he is doing. He is a sad and smart boi that needs lots of love. Alix is good skater and Alya loves Nino's music! They go on dates!

Rose is making posters with Mylenne (????) and Julika is spending time with her brother!

Kagami is a beautiful, dangerous girl.

They are all trying their best!

You want Damian or titan specific stuff? From now on, ask in my main blog. If it shows up here, I won't answer it.

Kay~ have a good good day!

Also, when you ask questions, please tell me what you are talking about I realized late I was getting questions about the "Love Letters" fanfiction or au. I was being general with what I thought they might act like. Trying to be accurate. I know not everyone can get along or be friends, so I've been trying not to say they are friends. Some of the DC characters are adults in my version of things and being friends with a kid can get twisted in another's point of view.

Don't do that. Don't make it seem like Marinette is the center of the universe, please. I'm trying real hard not to do that, but it is so easy to make cringy 80s-90s romance Manga stories, but I thought we were all past that.

That means not making everyone one dimensional of either side Marinette or side old cartoon villains.

One last thing.

If you don't make morally grey Damian struggle to tolerate Marinette before being her friends at the very start, you will lose me. I hope a shift happens.

The time is now to have Damian morally grey and still physically or verbally hurt people. At 15 and into adult hood. He will never reach pure white with all the red stains on his hands and you can't ignore it!

If you want to ignore the toxic things Marinette does, you better have rewritten her within your stories. Don't you dare make salt a shxt show to hate on underage characters still maturing.

Okay now bye!!

#marinette #au #ladybug #miraculous ladybug #maribat #damian #miraculous #crossover #daminette #adrinette #adrian #mlb #kagami #alix #rose #julika #dc #rise up in a new age #a new age is now #rebellion

[anna-justice]

Lost or Found - 24

Summary: As Jay, Hailey, Kim, Adam and Kevin start their junior year in the wake of a tragic summer, the past year of their lives comes back to haunt them. If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars, this is for you! *UPSTEAD/BURZEK High School AU

...

24 - Evermore  ...

“Your dad should have killed you when he had the chance…”

Hailey whimpered, her eyes clenched shut and beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

“So you want to play hero one more time?” 

She flinched in her sleep, her heart beating out of her chest, so fast that she thought it was going to explode. 

“That works for me.” 

Hailey shot up, screaming. The last thing she saw was the barrel of a gun. She clawed at her chest, trying to get a good breath. “Hailey?” Someone yelled, and then right after, her Aunt appeared in front of her. “Hailey, it’s okay.” Trudy reached out to grab her hand, but Hailey pulled it back, looking at her with scared eyes. 

It had been a month since she had heard those words muttered aloud, but they plagued her dreams frequently. 

The two weeks following that day, all five of them took turns rotating through the police station. Everyday there were new questions, more people to explain things to, more statements to clarify, it was never ending. Then, it just stopped. There was nothing else they could do, they had to wait for trial. And in the meantime, Erin was placed in a psychiatric hold facility, and her lawyers were defending her actions as a symptom as psychosis.

It bothered them all, that technically she was free, all because they could blame her attempted murder on a psychotic break. Especially when Kelly Severide was looking at time. A few days after, two detectives showed up at Hailey’s house, wanting a full recount of the last five months, and that included the night that she was attacked. When Severide was questioned, he had no alibi and he confessed to strangling Hailey. His excuse was that he was threatened the same way that the rest of them were, only in person. He claimed that he knew Erin was alive the whole time, but she threatened to kill his mom and sister if he didn’t cooperate. 

Unfortunately, the only way to corroborate the story for a jury is to prove Erin mentally competent, meaning she was capable of carrying out her threats. To all involved, even Kelly, it was clear that she knew what she was doing, she was a mastermind, but to everyone on the outside, they were just a bunch of teenagers wrapped up in a murder. 

The girl that everyone thought was Erin still hadn’t been identified, they had to dig up the casket for the second time. The only way they were able to ID it the first time was by the previous fracture and bracelet, but there are a lot of people in the Chicago area that have broken their left wrist. 

So, with no new information and the date for the trial to begin still months away, they all lived life normally. Well, as normal as it could be after everything they went through. And normal for Hailey meant waking up every night screaming. 

Trudy looked at her husband, who was standing in the doorway. They shared a look, a very familiar one. They repeated the same steps every night, like some cruel rehearsed dance. Trudy waited patiently for Hailey to calm down, just seated on the floor next to her. “Hailey, sweetie, you’re safe.” She repeated. 

Every night it was the same, Hailey would snap out of whatever daze she was in and apologize profusely. “I’m sorry, I got scared…” She started.

“Shhh,” Trudy said, placing a hand on her leg, “It’s okay.” 

Hailey nodded, swallowing hard. “I’m good, you all can go back to sleep.” She said, glancing at her uncle. 

Trudy just nodded, she learned many nights ago not to fight her on it, “Alright. Goodnight Hailey, we love you.” She said, squeezing her shoulder. 

“Love you too.” Hailey said, watching them retreat back to their room. They left the door open like they always did, Hailey sighed rolling over and grabbing her phone. She sent a quick text to her boyfriend. 

Hailey:      :(

It was a system that they started a few weeks ago. The first few nights Jay would stay up with her on the phone, or she would call him after Trudy and Randy finally left, but the lack of sleep began to play a part in their relationship. So, they decided that every time Hailey had a nightmare (or Jay, he wasn’t clean of them) they would text the other a frowny face, so that in the morning they would know what the other had gone through the night before without having to talk about it. It has proved to be useful.

Hailey laid down again, willing herself to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. Sleep was too vulnerable, so she laid there awake, just waiting for the sun to rise on (hopefully) a better day. 

…

“What do you mean you haven’t picked out a costume?” Kim asked, as Jay slammed his door shut. Like every morning, they were all crowded around his truck, waiting until the last minute to head to class. The gossip still hadn’t died down, they were still the topic of every conversation, so they avoided it as much as they could. 

Hailey shrugged. “I thought we weren’t dressing up.” She said, looking up at her boyfriend, who nodded in agreement. Halloween was tomorrow, and of course Kim had plans for all of them.

“No, I said we weren’t dressing up as the characters from scooby doo…” Kim said, giving Adam a pointed look. 

Adam held up his hands in surrender, “Like I said, I’m sorry, it’s too soon.” He said, stifling a laugh. 

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you all know I’d have to be scooby. And I’m not dressing up like a dog.” He snapped. 

“But Kev,” Adam said, faking a frown. “I thought you were my dawg.” Kevin glared at him, faking a punch as Adam jumped back. 

“Anyway,” Kim started, looking back at Hailey and Jay, and ignoring the antics behind her. “I promised Stella we would all be at her party tomorrow night, you guys will be the only people without a costume.” 

Hailey sighed, “Kim, we will get costumes, I promise.” Kim opened her mouth, but the warning bell cut her off. Hailey smiled, grabbing Jay’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.” She said, before pulling him away. 

“Please tell me you have costume ideas,” Jay said quietly. 

“Nope.” They rounded the corner, Jay leaning down and stealing a kiss before they entered their classroom. Criminal justice was a little harder to sit through than it was before, but somehow Jay had managed to get his grade up. 

They took their normal seats in the back of the class, waiting for the teacher to begin. “I have an idea,” Jay said, leaning on his hand. 

“Okay?” Hailey said cautiously. 

“I’ll be a firefighter, and you be a Dalmatian.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Hailey scoffed, “No.” 

“Okay. You be the firefighter and I’ll be the Dalmatian.” He said, smirking.

Hailey shook her head, “Try again.” Jay fake pouted, retreating back to his half of the shared desk. 

Finally, their teacher decided to start class, cutting their conversation off for the time being. After about 30 minutes of notes, he passed out an assignment, leaving them to work on their own. Jay turned to face her, smiling. “I’ve got another idea.” He said, Hailey gave him a pointed look. “Squints and the lifeguard from the sandlot.” 

“Why? So every time someone asks us who we are you get to lay on the ground and make me kiss you?” She questioned. 

“Exactly.” He deadpanned. 

“Jay-”

“Okay, okay.” He said, laughing. He loved it when she got all riled up. “Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, cause you’re so short-”

“Jay!” She said, smacking his bicep. 

He laughed harder, “Okay, in all seriousness...we can be Jack and Rose from the titanic…” He watched Hailey’s face slowly morph into slight agreeance, “And Kev could be the iceberg.” 

“I’m done with you.” Hailey said shortly, stifling her own laugh. 

Jay laughed at his own joke, watching his girlfriend pretend to be aggravated with him. “You love me, you know it.” 

“Unfortunately…” Hailey said under her breath. She took a deep breath, “What about Danny and Sandy from Grease?” 

Jay smirked, “You in leather pants? Perfect.” 

“You’re hopeless.” 

…

The next day, Hailey sat in Kim’s bedroom getting ready. They had about an hour before the boys were supposed to come pick them up. Kim and Adam were going as Romeo and Juliet, while Hailey and Jay had finally settled on Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Kevin had grouped up with some of the boys from his team, they were going as zombie football players, very original…

“Kim, you’re going to have to do this.” Hailey said, laughing in defeat. 

Kim smiled, taking over for her. She was waiting for her to ask for help, she’d been struggling to french braid her hair for almost twenty minutes. “I got it.” They sat there for a while in silence, Kim carefully laying pieces of blonde hair over the others, she glanced at Hailey in the mirror, noticing the blank look on her face. “How are you doing?”

Hailey’s head snapped up to meet her eyes, she caught her off guard. “Uh,” She shrugged, “I’m okay, I guess…” 

Kim scoffed, shaking her head. “I’ve said that word so many times recently that I’m not even sure it’s a word anymore.” 

“Yeah…” Hailey said, letting her thoughts wander. “I get that.” And she did, it was like she used the word as a shield. It was her response to everything, and she wasn’t okay, not that it was really a secret. None of them were okay, but saying it made it feel like they were. And deception was something worth clinging onto. 

“You know, we never talked about-” 

“We don’t need to.” Hailey said, cutting her off. 

Kim eyed her cautiously, “Okay.” She wanted to talk, but she didn’t feel like she had any right to push Hailey to. Not after what happened. “Done.” She said, a few minutes later, taking a step back to admire her work.

“Thanks,” Hailey said with a genuine smile, picking up the jar of flower clips they had bought that morning. “You think I should just put these everywhere?” 

Kim nodded, “Yeah, I think so.” She reached down, clicking shuffle on a playlist, a random Taylor Swift song playing. They were both done talking. 

An hour later, the two of them were sitting in Kim’s kitchen talking to her mom when Jay and Adam arrived. Adam just let himself in the front door, Jay choked on a laugh as he waltzed in like he owned the place. 

The boys appeared in the kitchen, “Honey, I’m home.” He said, passing Kim and hugging her mom. Kim rolled her eyes as they all laughed, Jay’s hand finding Hailey’s back like it always did. He was so happy, even though life was still crazy, he was ridiculously happy. Watching Hailey smile and Adam joke around like he used to (before they used it as a distraction) was so nice, and familiar and just so damn good. 

Hailey peered up at him, grinning as he pecked her lips. “Alright, let’s get a picture so you all can get out of here.” Claire said, ushering them together. Jay stood next to Adam, both of them holding their girlfriends securely against their waists. They all smiled brightly, relaxing after the click. 

They quickly bid their goodbyes, making their way out to Jay’s truck. Hailey slid easily into the passenger seat, despite her nude heels (that she was already regretting), while Adam and Kim got in the back. They pulled out of the driveway, and somehow Adam ended up with aux cord. Somewhere in between an old Maroon 5 song and the Weekend, Jay’s hand found hers on the center console. 

Hailey looked down at it and smiled. It was a simple thing that they did every single time they rode together, but it really symbolized how much things had changed. Hailey thought back to the day that he kept his eyes trained on the road, back when she cut him off when he tried to apologize. It was only two months ago, but they were different, everything was different, everything was better. 

 Jay followed her gaze to their conjoined hands, mimicking her smile. She didn’t have to say anything, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Part of him wishes he could go back and stay with her then, he felt like they had wasted so much time, but the other part of him knew that they were better for it. Neither of them were ready for what they have now, then. And what they have was worth the wait. 

Finally they reached their destination, Jay having the park pretty far away due to how many people were already there. They got out, Jay rounding the truck to help Hailey down, even though she hadn’t needed it in a long time. The four of them headed towards the decent sized house, they could hear the music thumping from outside. Hailey slipped her hand in Jay’s, gripping his forearm. 

Jay noticed the look of discomfort on her face, leaning down. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, eying her. 

Hailey nodded, holding on a little tighter. “Yeah, just don’t want to get lost in the crowd.” Jay nodded, believing her lie. She couldn’t really explain it, but she had a terrible feeling in her stomach and the thought of being lost in a sea of people made her want to throw up. Even though it was over, Hailey still found herself looking over her shoulder and watching out for her. And even though all of that meant she was nowhere near being in a party mood, she wasn’t going to bring everyone else down, they all needed a fun night. 

They made their way through the crowded makeshift dance floor, and found Kevin in a living area near the back of the house where he was sitting with Stella, Conner, Matt and Sylvie. “Hey guys,” He called, jumping up and clapping Adam’s back. 

Stella stood, hugging Kim tightly, “I’m glad you guys could make it.” 

Kim squeezed her, “Me too.”

Stella backed away, touching Hailey’s arm affectionately and giving her a kind smile that she returned. “I know it’s kind of crazy,” Stella laughed, “If you need something or just a break, the keys to the upstairs doors are hidden right under the doors, just inside the rooms.” She glanced at the obvious couples, winking. “I trust you guys.” 

They all nodded, Kim blushing, a chorus of “great” and “thanks” sounding. The group dispersed, the five of them huddling up. “Obviously Hailey and I are gonna stick together, if we get lost, meet back here at midnight and we’ll head out?” Jay suggested.

“Sounds good,” Kev said, nodding.

Adam agreed too. “That works for me.” 

That works for me…

Hailey flinched at those words, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut. Her breath caught in her throat. The image of a pulled gun flashing through her brain. She grimaced, trying to push the thoughts away. “Hailes…” She took another deep breath, doing everything in her power to keep her fear at bay. “Hailes.” Someone said, harsher, snapping her out of her daze. 

“Yeah?” She asked quickly. 

Kim eyed her cautiously, “I asked if you wanted a water…”

“Oh,” Hailey shook her head, “No, I’m good, thanks though.” She watched as Kim and Adam slowly disappeared into the crowd, her eyebrowed cinched together. 

Jay stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the rest of the room, “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, concern clear in his bright green eyes. 

Hailey nodded vigorously, “I’m good, I promise.” She said, his face didn’t change. He didn’t believe her. Hailey reached up, pulling him to her level and attaching their lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she deepened it, pulling him even closer. Jay did his best not to get lost in the kiss, but with her it was so hard. She pulled away slowly, peering up at him. “Jay, I’m okay.” Kim was right, it didn’t sound like a word anymore. 

Jay sighed, admitting defeat. “Okay.” He laced their hands together, leaning down and kissing her slowly before guiding her to the dance floor. They stood near the edge, Jay’s hand sitting on her hips as they swayed in sync to the fast music. They danced for a while before some of Jay’s teammates interrupted them. 

Hailey stood securely at his side as they spoke, absently listening to the trashy rap music that was playing loudly throughout the room. “Fuck, shit, bitch…” The sound of a gun being cocked rang through the speakers and Hailey screamed. Suddenly the eyes of everyone around her staring at her. She was frozen in place, forcing the terrible memories away, but she couldn’t. 

“Hailey.” Jay said, but her feet had a mind of their own and she was running towards the staircase, her lungs burning, she couldn’t get in a good breath. “Hailey!” Jay called after her, not even bothering to say goodbye to his team before taking off. 

Hailey booked it up the stairs, dropping to the ground in front of the first door she saw, grasping aimlessly for the key. She slumped against the door, tears streaming down her face as she fought to breathe. Jay booked it towards her, crouching down and finding the key easily. He unlocked the door, then swept his hysterical girlfriend off the floor, carrying her into the room and setting her on the bed. She was still heaving in front of him, and Jay placed two hands on either side of her face. “Hailey, Hailey look at me.” He said, but her eyes stayed trained on his chest. “Baby, you’re safe, look at me, please.” She clenched her eyes shut, more tears falling down her face. When she opened them again, they met his and she launched herself into his arms. 

Jay held her to him, rocking them gently as she cried into his neck. “I-I thought-” She stuttered, sobs wracking her body. 

“I know, I know.” He said, trying to calm her. 

“I thought it was over…” She said, and Jay felt his heart clench in his chest. 

He ran his hand through her braided hair, no doubt destroying it. “It is, it’s all over, you’re safe. We’re safe.” For some reason that made her cry harder, maybe because she hadn’t for the past month, she had been bottling up her feelings to protect herself and everyone else. Because even though she was, she hadn’t felt safe in a long time. 

Hailey pulled away after a long time, utterly exhausted. Jay couldn’t take the look of defeat on her safe, she looked so tired, so broken, that it scared him. How could he not have known how much pain she was in? 

She couldn’t bear to look at him, so she kept her gaze fixed on her lap. He placed his hand on her thigh, and Hailey laid one on top of it. She sniffled, using her free hand to wipe the never ending tears from her eyes. “I’m okay.”

…

The following Monday, Hailey sat in the passenger seat of Jay’s truck. After the events of Saturday night, Jay had no choice but to loop in Trudy and Randall, he had to after he had failed to do so before. They spent the rest of the weekend convincing Hailey to see someone, to talk about everything they had been through. 

It was probably the trauma left over from her parents, but the stigma that therapy made you weak was ingrained in Hailey’s mind, and convincing her to make an appointment was no easy task. 

That’s how they ended up sitting in the parking lot of a private practice right after school, Hailey’s leg bouncing nervously up and down. Jay lifted their intertwined hands off the center console, kissing the back of hers. “I’m going to be here waiting, all I ask is that you go in there and try.” He said, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. 

Hailey smiled softly, nodding. She leaned across the console and kissed him slowly, hoping that she was able to portray just how much love she had for him and trust she had in him through it. Jay pulled away, taking her in. “I love you, Hailey Upton.” 

“I love you, Jay Halstead.” She said. 

“Now, go kick some ass.” He said and she laughed, opening the truck door. She shut it, giving him one last look before walking inside the doors. 

She sat down in one of the waiting room chairs after signing in, a few minutes later an older man with big glasses popped his head out of the back. “Hailey?” 

She stood, “Yes sir.”

The man smiled, “Come with me.” He led her back to an office, gesturing for her to sit on the couch while he sat in the chair across from her. “I’m Dr. Charles, but you can call me Daniel or Dan, or really whatever makes you comfortable.” He explained. 

Hailey nodded, shifting nervously. “So, how does this work?” She asked.

“However you want it to, we can talk or not talk about anything you want.” He said, leaning back in his chair. 

“Okay,” Hailey glanced at the ground, “The-There’s a lot…” 

“That’s okay.” 

Hailey grimaced, finally looking at him. “Where do I start?” She asked.

Dr. Charles smiled. “How about the beginning?”

Hailey sighed, taking a few deep breaths, ready to start confronting all the demons that she had been fighting for so long. 

“Tell me everything.”

...

A/N: This is long but please, please, please read it!!

First, this is the end of this story, but it is not THE end! There will be a sequel and if you want to see a sneak peak, you can find it HERE. I am so so excited to continue exploring this version of these characters, and don’t worry, the next installment will be just as exciting as this one! 

Second, thank you so so so so much to everyone who has shown love to and supported this story. It really means the world to me, you have no idea. This has been such an amazing experience and I have learned so much from writing this, so thank you so much for reading. You guys are truly incredible, and writing has helped me through a tough time in my life. I’m going to say thank you a million time, but thank you, thank you, thank you <3

This story evolved so much lol: in the beginning I had no plan, and then it changed like five times, and we ended up here, so here’s a few things that didn’t make it in.

Nadia was supposed to die in chapter 19, but I decided against it…

I debated Kevin and Stella getting together, don’t hate me for this ahaha

I almost made Kim lose her hearing, but I wasn’t sure I could do the storyline justice with everything else going on

I debated killing Adam (I’M SORRY, i’m sorry…)

And finally (cause you don’t need to know all of my secrets) I ALMOST broke up Upstead at the end

Anyway, there’s some behind the scenes action if you’re interested. 

Back to the point: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING ME AND THIS STORY, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, and i cannot wait to embark on this next journey together!!

So much love,

Anna

@lissethsrojas @puckluck28 @fuckyeahkillianemma @chilly7188 @thebigapocalypsewolf @karihighman @ruzek-halstead @anotheronechicagobog @snowwhite013 @tracysupton @angelsjedi @carissalizz​

#jay halstead #hailey upton #upstead #upstead au #kim burgess #adam ruzek #burzek au #burzek #kevin atwater #erin lindsay #stella kidd #trudy platt #chicago pd #kelly severide #one chicago #chicago pd au

[petra-realsnk]

Rivetra fanfic (divergence au)

Hello guys! I’ve finally finished the first chapter of my first fanfic ever. I must warn you this is just an introduction that sets the premise for what’s coming next, so the pacing will be quite fast in this one. I preferred to do it this way so you won’t have to wait too long for their interactions to happen. I also apologize in advance for any grammar mistakes since English isn’t my first language. This was quite hard to do! I changed some details of the list I posted a couple days ago because I felt it would work better this way. 

This story will rely a lot on the blanks left by Isayama when dealing with Petra and Levi’s relationship, giving these characters a chance to reflect about the nature of their connection, responsability, and the pain of those things which just cannot be (the drama will be served lol). I will also be uploading it on AO3 later on. 

Warnings: depictions of violence, angst, sadness or anguish.  

All the characters belong to Hajime Isayama.

 Tagging: @mikamoony thanks for the support! 

Digging up a grave (Chapter 1)

After the resounding failure of the 57th expedition, the troops of the survey corps retreat hastily towards the shelter of the walls. Humanity has only recently learned about the existence of intelligent titans, of unexpected human nature, although even more surprises remain hidden on the abandoned battlefield... ( 2617 words)

She never reached: 

After so many years fighting, he had grown used to the feeling of having every part of his body active, the tingling blood through his limbs and the acceleration of his perception. In such a tense moment, the sound of the chariot wheels became unconsciously annoying, increasing his anxiety. It was a monotonous and stable noise, almost as much as the danger to which they were constantly subjected. Unfortunately, however, not frantic enough to keep them away from the rumbling of gigantic footsteps dangerously approaching them. It didn't take much reasoning to figure out that getting rid of their fallen comrades was the most effective way to increase their speed and save themselves. However, it took him a moment to vocalize the decision. There was something about it that felt wrong, as if  he was repeating his mistake by leaving them behind. Somehow, it comforted him to know that with that decision he was valuing their sacrifice, for he couldn't let their deaths lead to more casualties. After exchanging several shouts, the tail boards opened, dropping those bodies whose rescue had already posed a considerable risk. 

If the sound of the carts already sapped their weary minds, now it was added the dreadful crash of their friends against the ground, some of them to be eaten by the titans, others to be crushed and forgotten in the same place they went to find their freedom but instead found their deaths. 

Levi tried uselessly to take his gaze away from that sight, he knew it was his job to supervise his soldiers, but his eyes couldn't help searching for her silhouette in each covered figure. He remembered in detail where he had placed her, how he had tied her shroud and tried to keep her badge for himself... So when her body fell, accidentally revealing flocks of strawberry blonde hair,  he was there this time, looking at her once more. Levi felt his stomach drop as if a ball of air had suddenly fallen from his constipated chest. Soon the chariots were able to increase their speeds, distancing them forever, and leaving him with the certainty that now he’ll never know. 

--- 

Hidden in the forest were some still unknown figures. Among them Zeke, whose power had allowed him to approach the battlefield safely. The traitors of humanity had been undercover in the army for several years, but he still felt the need to test the waters for himself, in order to decide how they were going to carry out their next plan. He knew that Annie was in danger, and that Reiner and Bertolt’s identities were soon to be discovered. To his surprise, he found himself in the ideal situation to test out Marley's new weapon. He had brought the silver box with the hope that something similar would happen, but not so incredibly suitable. According to the army leaders, this new product would be able to resurrect and turn corpses into pure titans. This could be a great advantage, since they would be able to profit their soldiers for a little longer. Besides, Paradis was the right place to carry out the experiment on a larger scale without major expense; they wouldn't need ammunition to kill the transformed nor almost any type of security measure (if carried out by someone like Zeke). He just had to wait for the troops to move away and hopefully find some almost complete remains of Eldian soldiers.

He used the scream of his beast titan to stop the nearest pure ones, this way he made sure no more corpses were being eaten nearby, plus making it safe for him to approach them in his human form.

Soon after, Zeke found himself in the middle of a large clearing in the forest, covered in blood and stained white fabrics, revealing what until not long ago would have been humans, although the passage of the titans had left another impression.

Walking among the horrid sight and by seeing the placement of the bodies, he quickly deduced what could have happened. The titans who until recently feasted were now immobile due to his control. Near one of their huge feet, Zeke finds a body whose bones were totally shattered, especially his back, although it remained in one piece. One bare arm revealed a small, pale-skinned hand with the marks of a bite. He quickly noticed it was a young woman, though his face remained unaffected by the sorrowful sight. After a few moments, he raised his gaze from the ground and continued his way in search of complete victims. The sun began to set as Zeke paced, unaffected by the intimidating presence of the titans, luckily finding six more bodies that could be useful. After having deliberated on the state of all of them, he decided which ones were the most likely to become functional beasts. He placed them at a relative distance from each other, facing down, and opened the cold gray box with four syringes. He prepared them all at once, and took a defeated sigh. 

With a relative dose of nervousness, he injected all four bodies as fast as he could, hoping to take the necessary time before they transformed. Unfortunately, when injecting the third body, it hatched immediately, having to flee quickly after only being able to transform three.

In the next few moments he watched as the first titan manifested in a very unstable form. Despite his transformation, he had not managed to regenerate his left arm and one of his legs, which left him lying on the ground. The next one was better, at about 3 or 4 meters high, he could walk despite having slight asymmetries. Finally, the first body injected gave rise to a titan with reddish hair and whose stability was quite doubtful as well. It was clear that her broken back had not managed to regenerate fully, remaining twisted. Despite this, what at one point was Petra Ral herself managed to get up off the ground and move. Seeing such failures Zeke could not help but sigh again, doubting the effectiveness of this discovery. 

The experiment had only half worked. It wasn’t really useful to create a functional army, although it could restore the life of some would-be titan shifter. In any case, these creatures, whose peace had just been disrupted, were now  problem of the survey corps, or at least that’s what he thought… 

---

It would be difficult to say if any aspect of her consciousness ever awakened. Her skin burned, and even though her eyes were open her mind remained black. The creature struggled toward the forest, occasionally stumbling through the trees, causing it no pain or frustration. Some aspect of her, however, was still present. As when one is about to fall asleep and has the sensation of suddenly plunging, Petra would not stop falling. Perhaps it was a loop of her lasts seconds: the lack of gravity and the air leaving her body.  What happened in a single instant had turned into a thick mass that occupied her mind all the time. She remained in that limbo until a depression in the ground made her fall into a ditch, being covered by some bushes, product of the humidity of the area.

The sunlight barely penetrated the foliage, leaving her misshapen body useless. Surprisingly, something about her state came to affect her ... The coldness of the shadow and the shelter of the earth briefly embraced her as she relived her nightmares.

There she laid, indifferent to the passage of time, until suddenly something appeared before her. Among the undergrowth, the titan saw the figure of a woman dragging a smoking limbless body and gently laying it on the ground, near the ditch's entrance. Unaware of the titan's presence, Pieck tried to catch her breath before rejoining the Marleyan fleet. They had managed to exterminate much of the Eldian army, but Reiner, Zeke and Porco were on the brink of death, and they had lost the colossal titan too. She had spent a long time transformed, and her injuries had also forced her to take a break in her human form. Right now, they were especially vulnerable, and Pieck could only pray that she could regain her strength and transform again. She then took several steps away to see how the regeneration of her other two companions was going, and in a matter of seconds, the previously invisible titan catapulted from her hiding place, devouring Porco completely.

Pieck had not yet regained all of her strength, and she could only stare in horror at the result of her mistake. When the shock left her body, she grabbed her companions by their collars and tried to drag them as far as she could, even though they were twice her size. Luckily for them, the titan's physical problems and her unevenness prevented her from rising. Pieck's observant nature made her immediately aware of it, and she thought that perhaps she could wait there for it to regain its human form to devour the lost titan again. However, there would still be more titans around them, and it was a priority now to protect her remaining friends. Perhaps thanks to the adrenaline of the moment she managed to transform, took her companions between her jaws and escaped from that place. Pieck knew that retreating was the safest option for the moment, and it eased her mind to think that the survey corps weren’t likely to find the titan before them. And if they did, it would fall back into their hands soon enough. 

---

She took a sudden gasp that woke her up. Her breathing was uneven, and her senses betrayed her. As the heat of the late afternoon sun touched her smoky skin, Petra had the sensation of having awakened from a long nightmare that she could not quite remember. When she finally half-opened her eyes she felt relieved, but within seconds she fell asleep again. She remained there for hours, torn between lethargy and consciousness. Little by little, the consciousness of "self" returned to her, but she couldn’t help feeling that now there was someone else…

Her dreams sharpened, and the moments of her awakening became clearer. At some point Petra thought that maybe she was resting injured on some makeshift base. The night fell on her and she began to feel the cold on her naked body, making her revisit her dreams once again. The dew of dawn was not long in coming, waking her from her visions. For a moment, in the orange light, she wondered to whom that cup belonged, to whom she was speaking, what was that emotion that felt warm in her chest but cold in her arms... 

Suddenly, the hum of metal pulleys brought her back to life.

Flying over the trees there was a small crew of the survey corps, following an 8-meter titan that was coming towards her. In the blink of an eye,  the creature collapsed on the ground without giving Petra time to identify the situation she was in.

The recovery of Maria Wall had resulted in the almost total extinction of the brigade, but such a victory for humanity and the secrets discovered had pushed some members of the military police to join them, making it possible to carry out modest expeditions near the walls, exterminating the titans that didn't get close enough to be eliminated from the other side. Leading this team was commander Hange Zoë, who had taken over after Erwim's death. She along with Levi were in charge of leading a small group made up of some members of the 104th and a few newbies.

Among the survivors of the last battle was Jean Kristein, who was the first to notice her presence. When he saw the young naked woman lying on the ground, he stopped in his tracks, watching her for a few seconds without being able to believe his eyes. He then threw a black flare, which immediately caught the attention of his companions, who came to help him. Unable to hide the stupor in his expression Jean yelled at Hange "Commander, there’s a human lying on the ground with shifter marks!" 

Hearing this, Levi who had not yet changed the course of his trajectory made a violent turn fearing the worst. Seconds later the new recruits followed, visibly terrified of the finding, yet ready for battle.

When Hange landed on the tree Jean was anchored, she was completely paralyzed. "This can't be true ..." After a few moments, she quickly threw herself to ground level, while Jean followed her fearing a surprise attack. The reaction continued in a chain after seeing the reckless action of the commander. They were still trying to digest Erwin's death, and Levi was quick to yell Hange to get away from the suspicious figure. 

Hange by then was completely bent over Petra's body, "Hey, Petra, is it really you? Can you hear me? What happened?" Jean was slightly further back, a little calmer after deducing that it was an acquaintance, although he didn’t understand how. The way they were arranged covered her up, so when Levi reached the ground he couldn’t see her face at first, but felt slightly disappointed that the legs he saw couldn't be Zeke’s... Hange kept muttering an impossible amount of questions to the woman. Levi proceeded to approach her more calmly after realizing that she couldn’t move. 

"Hey Hange, could you tell me what-". He froze in a way he probably never did before. 

For a few instances his mind seemed to disassociate from what he was seeing. He recognized her face, but was unable to connect the information that reached him. A horrible sense of relief and guilt engulfed him, leaving him expressionless before Petra's immobile anatomy. 

The girl was lying on her side, visibly weakened from having spent God knows how long in the open. Her face looked tired and sad, and her eyes were framed by the marks of her transformation. It was obvious that Petra had been turned into a titan, although this should have happened after her death, something they discovered was possible in that exact moment. Not that Levi wasn't happy to see her, but the guilt of seeing her fall victim to this conflict once again was greater. Her body had been left outside the walls and now she had been forced to return to this hell, through a power that would force her to die once again soon. Once Levi came back to reality, he unbuttoned his cloak and put it over her uncovered torso. Hange had never paid much attention to decorum, much less when something fascinated her, and the other cadets did not dare to approach. Petra’s honey eyes fell on him, and he could feel that it was her, even though she was not quite there ... It was almost impossible to believe that he was seeing her, covered with the cloak that he hadn’t been able to get rid of even after changing their uniforms, decorated with the same wings that he had plucked from her badge that day.

"Petra” He said in disbelief  “Can you hear us? ..."

"Hmn ..." She managed to pronounce.

Hange screamed with excitement once she saw Petra was finally responding. They immediately brought the horses so they could finally return her inside the walls. The sound of her voice had brought Levi back to his senses, who was already taking care of ordering their retreat. Perhaps he could give her father different news from that time… But what would he tell him exactly? He knew perfectly well that his daughter was now in a limbo, carrying a curse.

#digging up a grave #rivetra #rivapeto #levi x petra #levi ackerman #petra ral #snk fanfiction #rivetra fanfic #writing #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #shingeki no kyoujin #aot au #aotedit

[24hlevi]

600 ℱ𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇 ℰ𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉

hello and welcome to my 600 follower event!!

for this event i will be accepting a wide range of requests that can be fluff or angst!

The Fandoms I Will Write For This Event:

- Squid Game

- Attack On Titan (anime + manga)

- Jujutsu Kaisen (anime + shibuya arc)

- Demon Slayer (anime only)

- Chainsaw Man

- Tokyo Rvengers (anime + manga)

- Bungou Stray Dogs (anime only)

here are the prompts!

Fluff Prompts:

1 - A and B going to the fair together

2 - A and B slow dancing in the dark in their shared apartment

3 - A steals B’s clothes for the first time resulting in B becoming a flustered mess

4 - A is someone who promised themself that they’d never fall in love, but after meeting B, it was all changed and A doesn’t complain

5 - A sees their ex while on the streets with their s/o B, and B comes up with a great way to make A’s ex jealous

6 - A and B playing video games together while drinking

7 - A has nightmares almost every night, and B is always there to calm them down afterwards

8 - A proposes to B after 4 years of dating while fireworks go off behind them on new year's day

9 - A is sick at home and B takes care of them despite A’s arguing

10 - A and B are sharing their first christmas together, and A gets B something expensive that they’ve always wanted

Fluff Dialogue Prompts:

1 - “It’s christmas and I wanted to give you this!”

2 - “Can I sleep here with you?”

3 - “I can’t live my life without you.”

4 - “You can cry, I won’t think less of you for it.”

5 - “If you need me, I’m here. I always will be.”

6 - “You’re the peace I crave in this chaotic world.“

7 - “For you, I’d risk it all.”

8 - “I’m happiest when I’m with you, no one else.“

9 - “If I asked you to stay, would you?” “Every time.”

10 - “They don’t compare to you, no one does.”

11 - “I don’t care what others say, I want to be with you and that’s all that matters to me.” (make this lgbt+ related and i’ll love you forever)

12 - “I want you, all of you. Not just half heartedly but wholly. And maybe that’s selfish, but I don’t care.”

13 - “I will never stop fighting for you. I will never stop protecting you.”

14 - “Why are you staring at me?” “Because I think you’re beautiful.”

15 - “I think I’m falling in love with you.” “I think I’m okay with that.”

Angst Prompts:

1 - A is struggling with their mental health, considering death while B comes home to find them about to do it

2 - A is about to propose to B after years of being together, but B breaks up with them first

3 - A and B have been dating for a few years when A starts to distance themselves from B, only for B to find out that they’ve been cheating on them

4 - A comes back to B after months of being separated, but B has already found someone else

5 - A died a few days ago in B’s arms, and now A has to live on as a ghost while watching B live the rest of their life

6 - (End of the world AU) The world is ending in 7 days and A decided to finally try and reconnect with their ex, B

7 - (Zombie AU) A virus has broken out, turning people into zombies. While A and B have lived together for the first months that the virus started, B gets infected and insists that A kills them before they turn into a monster.

8 - A promised B that they would always protect them, and one day, A dies whilst doing that one promise

9 - A is forced to kill their lover, B in order to protect their family and be able to get out of the immense debt their in, but instead B kills themselves so A doesn’t carry the burden of murder

10 - A is kidnaped and B has 12 hours to find them or else they’ll die. By the time B arrives, A is still alive but immediately killed as soon as B walks in

Angst Dialogue Prompts:

1 - “You promised me that you wouldn’t leave.”

2 - “Why do you make loving you so hard?”

3 - “Sometimes, I wish you’d walk out that door and never come back.”

4 - “After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you treat me?”

5 - “Do you even love me anymore?”

6 - “If you’re here to tell me what happened after I left last night, don’t bother. Someone beat you to it.”

7 - “Sometimes I wish I could go to sleep and never wake up.”

8 - “I honestly thought you were different, apparently not.”

9 - “Of course you’re leaving, that’s all you do.”

10 - “You can’t just come back and expect to be forgiven.”

11 - “Why would you do this? Do you not love me?”

12 - “Just please open your eyes. Please.”

13 - “It hurts so much. Why does it hurt so much? I just want it to end.”

14 - “What’s the point in trying if only one of us is willing to?”

15 - “You weren’t there. Why weren’t you there? I needed you! And you weren’t there!”

#600 follower event #reqs open #request

[phoenixyfriend]

Fic Writer Interview

I was tagged by @willowcrowned ​

Tagging: @squirenonny @sergeant-angels-trashcan @the-roadkill-cafe @brawltogethernow​

Remember to make a new post!

How many works do you have on AO3?

160, but that number’s going to go up as soon as I transfer some tumblr fics over

What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,721,084

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Girl Genius, Naruto, Marvel (MCU and comics), Voltron: Legendary Defender, Miraculous Ladybug, Harry Potter, Star Wars Prequels, Hamilton, Doctor Who, Twilight, Attack on Titan, The Good Place, Beauty and the Beast (1991), Enchanted (2007), Hunger Games, Firefly

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Capsaicin, Rattlesnake of the Day, The Universe's Newest Puppet, I Don't Believe You, and Just a Little Death

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to respond to most comments of substance (e.g. I recently had someone commenting with a line of emoji hearts on every chapter of JaLD, which was sweet but not something I can actually respond to), but I have a few sitting in my inbox from months ago, including one that’s currently aged 221 days that I keep MEANING to reply to but just... can’t dig up the energy to, because it’s a really nice, really thought-provoking comment, and my brain is mush.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I’ve got a few but let’s go with The Colors on our Metal Skin.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

So many, the craziest is probably... depends on your definition of crazy?

- That's Science! (minor fandom and minor subsection of a giant fandom)

- Your Exit is in Another Castle(many fandoms)

- Storms, Sincline, and a Single Drop of Sincerity (crack ship treated very seriously)

- To Build a Queendom (main character appeared for all of like five issues of the actual canon)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I got suicide-baited a LOT for SasuKarin fic. So. Yes.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Not very often but sometimes! I have a lot of headcanons and general musings about how characters have sex, but I rarely have a brainstate to write actual smut. If I write smut, it’s usually queer dom/sub stuff with a heavy emphasis on consent in situations that make said consent complicated.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Sort of but I think it was just a really weird search engine access thing.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I remember! I think someone asked for permission once and then didn’t follow through.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times, but most of them petered out. The most recent attempt at such was Sowing Discord with @purronronner​.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I think I come back to SasuKarin regularly enough that it counts.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

So many but let’s say Turn Back the Clock. I had so many plans! I finished the cosplay for an AU version of a character that never made it on page!

What are your writing strengths?

I want to say banter. I love writing banter, and I’ve been told I’m good at it.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I think I have a hard time keeping character voices consistent with canon and within a work, and I'm really bad at juggling really large, complex political machinations even as a reader, let alone as a writer, especially when canon's already giving me trouble. This could be just a thing, and not a weakness, except the fandoms I tend to dabble in are fandoms where complex, large-scale political machinations are A Major Thing.

Also I can't stick to plans, which is probably why I'm so prone to abandoning things.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Really hard to balance in a way that adds to the story instead of taking someone out. I started out with anime fandom, where it’s an ongoing struggle to balance where you keep the Japanese and where you don’t, especially when half the fandom is reading one translation that keeps things, and half the fandom is reading another translation that doesn’t.

- You (probably) want to keep the names of people, but do you keep the names of towns? - How do you choose to translate this title to keep the correct rank in implication as well as direct translation? - Everyone knows the name of this attack, so it shouldn’t cause a hiccup in reading to keep it, but what about the less well-known attacks? - This acronym is widely known by the fandom but only works in Japanese, do you use it anyway? - English doesn’t have the same element of including age and politeness when referring to family members, do you want to work out the correct way to represent aneue and nii-chan and sofu-sama as anglophone slang variants, or do you work with the actual Japanese as shorthand and include an author’s note addressing why characters use the words they do?

More recently, I’ve been in Star Wars fandom, where you’ve got both a bunch of sort-of English made-up words (jizz music, transparisteel, flimsi, kriff) and semi-developed conlangs (most notably Mando’a and Huttese), and there’s that element of 'when is it a good idea to use the words you can find on Wookiepedia, and when is it overkill?'

Characters do switch from one to the other, and there are good, in-character reasons for doing so that revolve around culture and childhood traumas and personhood, but where a tv show can include subtitles to translate for the viewer in time with the spoken words, something like that can break up the flow of the narrative in fanfic. So you have to balance where you include dialogue tags to differentiate, or when it would make sense from a character perspective to include nicknames in another language that can be dropped in among the English (e.g. clones using Mando’a nicknames for Jedi could be a matter of the clones claiming a culture that was refused to them, and it’s something you can build a lot of character development into as a choice), when it makes more sense to just write “and then they said something in X language that the POV character didn’t understand,” when it's best to just italicize the parts in not-POV-language, and so on.

Basically, it’s a hard thing to balance and you always risk alienating readers with it, but sometimes it makes more sense for the characters or setting.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter (I know, not surprising).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I have a few that I'm always going to be fond of, but Red and Gold is one of the ones I'm most proud of.

#Phoenix Answers Memes

[theotherackerman]

Invisible String

Summary:

Reincarnation AU

Everyone is connected someone by an invisible red string of fate, including Mikasa and Eren. This link become very important as they are reincarnated into their new lives 100s of years later. Mikasa has no memories of her past unlike Eren. Eren has been cursed with his memories of all of his past lives. With the help of an entity who takes the shape of Founder Ymir, Eren begins his journey to keep a promise he made in his previous life.

RATING: MATURE

Ships: Eren x Mikasa, Gabi x Falco, Past Levi/Petra , past Levi/Kiyomi, yeah I know it's weird, but you'll see

Other Tags:   Reincarnation, Red String of Fate, spoilers for chapter 139, Does not include extra pages for 139

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Any recognizable elements belong to Attack on Titan.

NOTES: I have changed the chapter names on this fic from the original

CHAPTER ONE: EIGHT TIMES

Die.

Live again.

Die.

The first time he dies, he comes back in the form of a bird. He watches over Mikasa. Day and night. He finds ways to let her know that he's here.

Then he is a blue butterfly. He lands in her hair and follows her so she knows it's him. He can't wrap the scrap around her but he does what he can.

Then he is a bird again. Flying so high. He's free.

But none of that matters.

He's never human again.

Not until this time.

Knowing you caused the Rumbling from birth is a struggle.

The first time Eren sees her is in a dream when her half sister’s mom died. He doesn't know why he knows that or how. He just does.

He's here though.

She's crying.

At first, he just watched her. She looks the same as the first time they met.

"You're going to keep missing chances," a voice sang. There stood Ymir Fritz, just as he had seen her all those years ago.

"You're free.."

"Oh. I'm not actually her. I just took this form so it would be easier to talk to you. I'm the opposite of her."

"Are you the one who cursed me?"

"Nope. Not them either. I'm just a watcher. I've been watching you for a long time, Eren Jaeger. That was your name the first time you were born. That is who's soul you are. And she is the other half," the girl smiled up at Eren. "Oh. Right. You can't see the string."

The girl reached up and pressed two of her fingers to his forehead.

Eren felt a surge of power run down his spine.

"That should help. Look,” Ymir Fritz said as she pointed to the long red string that connected from Eren’s finger to Mikasa. “Soulmates,” the girl beamed. “Two halves of the same whole. It’s so amazing to me that they exist. You know they say you were one in some stories. You were too powerful that way. But I don’t know if I believe that. I just know the string exists regardless of anything we believe. Those people are destined to be with one another. That to me is beautiful. Don't miss any more chances."

The Ymir disappears.

Eren sits down on the beach. He looks the same in this human form as he did the last time he was human. Eren looks and sees her staring at him.

He smiles at her.

Neither of them can be more than nine.

“I was wondering when I would get to see you again,” he says as she sits down next to him in the sand.

“Where are we?”

“Paradis. Are you on Marley too?" He asks her, unsure of where she is. It's a large planet and she could be anywhere.

She nods.

"Well that's pretty funny. I don’t think you remember that though. You’re not cursed like me to remember all of it. It’s funny because...well that's not important. I'm just glad we have this time together. I've missed you,” he smiles at her.

There’s something familiar about him that she can’t place. There’s something comforting about him. She knows if anything happened to him, she’d take vengeance on the one that did it.

“At least I'm not a bird this time,” he mutters as he closes his eyes.

She stares at him like he’s grown three heads.

“Why are you crying?” he asks her after a moment.

“My stepmom died,” she mutters before she pulls her legs up to her chest. “I’ve lost my mom...again...now my sister doesn’t have a mom either.” She wraps her arms around her legs, making herself into a tiny ball.

Eren wants to comfort her more than anything but what good would that do? She doesn't know how he is. She doesn’t even know his name and he doesn’t know her name either.

So they sit there in the sand, watching the waves go in and out until Mikasa is woken from her dream.

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

The second time the entity using Ymir Fritz’s form appears to Eren is when he is thirteen. Eren is having trouble fitting in at school. When you realize that you are responsible for the rumbling and you killed everyone around you, it’s a little hard to make friends. It’s even harder when a girl asks you out but you see her red string is connected to someone else.

Eren sees them everywhere. Red strings.

“Why did you do this?” Eren asks.

“What?” the entity asks as it moves around the room that is nothing but white light.

“Why did you make me see these? Have I not suffered enough for you? What more do you want from me? I set Ymir free. I brought Mikasa to her. I gave up everything for my friends, my family. Why is that not enough? I just want to be normal! Why won’t you let me be normal?”

The entity sighs, “Eren, you’re not normal. Neither is Mikasa. You’re heroes. You’re the sort of people they write legends about. You’re anything but normal. You’re special!”

“But I don’t want to be special! Why can’t you leave me alone? Let me just have this! Let me just have her!”

The entity changes the room.

They’re watching the Wall Titans move. The Rumbling has begun.

“NO!” Eren yells.

The scene changes.

They’re back in the room of white light.

“Oh! Now that’s interesting. You sure do catch on fast.”

Eren grabs the girl and slams her against one of the white walls. “Stop it. I’m not some toy for you to play with. I’m a human!”

“Are you? Or are you a monster?”

The entity disappears.

Eren is alone in the room with the white light and the white walls.

It feels like a century later when Mikasa finally shows up.

“What is this?” she asks him as she pulls on the string.

“Red string of fate. Have you never heard of it?” he asks.

“I thought it was a myth,” she says as she pulls on it. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. See, I get to know everything. How many times we’ve done this. I get all our past history and you get...nothing. Well, I guess not nothing, you’re having these dreams with me. Curses are funny. I broke one and got another. Well, technically, you broke it. Why don’t you just pick someone else? Move on from me?”

She stares at him. “I don’t want to.”

Where did that come from?

She doesn’t even know the boy in front of her.

But the idea of moving on from him makes her very soul hurt.

She can’t do this.

She can’t.

There will never be anyone else.

There never has been anyone else.

It’s only him.

“Oh,” he replies. “I told you to. Then again, you never did listen to me.”

“Probably a good thing I didn’t,” she replies as she crosses her arms across her chest. “You’re stupid, you know? You tell me this is a red string of fate and then you ask me why I haven’t moved on. A red string of fate represents destiny. Soulmates. Why would I want anything else?”

“Because it never works out.”

“Well stop messing it up then,” she tells him as she uncrosses her arms.

He laughs.

“It’s not funny!”

“No, you’re right. It’s not. You mind if I change the scenery?”

She shakes her head.

He waves his hand and it changes.

They’re somewhere in a garden in summer.

There are fireflies flying through the air.

Mikasa looks around amazed by the view.

“Wow, have we been here before?” she asks.

“No, it’s from someone else’s memory I got back then. I’m not even sure where this is.”

And it is. The flowers. The gentle breeze. Trees swaying in the breeze.

Some of the fireflies land in Mikasa’s hair causing her to laugh.

“This is beautiful,” Mikasa says as she holds her hand out and a firefly lands in it.

“Yeah, it is,” Eren says.

But the boy isn’t looking at the landscape.

He’s looking at her.

She picks a flower and hands it to him.

It’s a white hydrangea.

“Why this one?” he asks her as she takes it.

“I think it represents gratitude,” she replies.

How did she know this?

She didn’t know.

He smiles at her.

“Can we just sit and watch the fireflies?” she asks him.

He nods.

And they do.

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

“Eren…..” the entity calls to him.

He doesn’t answer.

“Oh come on, you’re not being any fun for me. Besides, I have good news for you.”

Eren looks over at her, clearly annoyed.

“So you are cursed, just like you thought. But not by me. Actually, I’m here to make it a little easier on you.”

“And why would you do that?” Eren asks as he crosses his arms across his chest.

“Consider it a favor. This will be the last time you’ll see me for a long time as I’m changing things just for you. I won’t have any power to keep this form. So I’m going to send an old friend of yours to you. I think having a friend will be good for you. Plus, I’ve always loved a little chaos. Besides, it’ll be much easier to break your curse this time. All you have to do...is get it right,” the entity explains.

“Get what right?” Eren asks, confused.

“....you’ll see. Look out for your friend. In the meantime, enjoy your time with her. She’ll be arriving soon,” the entity says before giving a wave and disappearing.

Mikasa shows up hours later.

They’re nowhere fancy tonight.

Just her bedroom.

At least Eren guesses its her bedroom.

“What’s wrong?” he asks her.

She explains that she’s in trouble in the first semester of her freshman year of high school for an outburst in her history class.

She hates it there.

She hates hearing about all these titans.

She hates the slander.

Wait, how does she know it’s slander?

Why is she so angry?

“I don’t think what Eren did was right but there has to be a reason for it. I don’t think you can just dismiss him as a monster. He did monstrous things but didn’t Marley do it too? I don’t get it. Why is it okay for one country to do it and not the other?” she asks him, completely frustrated with the situation. “Marley and Paradis are both to blame. Or maybe it’s King Fritz. Either way, we can’t just dismiss Eren as evil no more than we can dismiss Reiner as evil. He broke the wall, didn’t he?”

“So you’re the angry one this time,” he says as he sits down on her bed.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asks as she crosses her legs.

“Nothing. It doesn’t mean anything,” he tells her.

She nods.

“Who are you?” she asks him.

“Just...someone. Your soulmate,” he answers.

“Do you have a name?” she asks, her bottom lip trembles.

“Eren, I’m Eren,” he answers her before he stands up. He examines the bookshelf in her bedroom. There’s a picture of her and someone who looks like Levi. There’s another little girl in the picture. She looks like Gabi. What a strange family, Eren thinks.

“Maybe that’s why I feel like I have to protect Eren because you share a name with him,” she tells him as she stands up and walks over to him. “I’m Mikasa.”

“I know.”

“You know? How?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. I’ll see you again,” and Eren leaves Mikasa alone as he wakes up in the real world.

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

The fourth time they meet, they’re back on the beach.

“It’s been awhile,” he says.

“Not that long,” she answers him as she sits down next to him in the sand.

“What happened?” he asks her.

“I got stood up. My prom date. He..uhh...he stood me up and I got to cry myself to sleep.”

“He’s an idiot, you know?” he tells her. The reality is that Eren wants to find this guy and punch his face in.

“I feel like an idiot. Did I know him before?”

He shakes his head. “Dunno who he is..”

“Maybe I’m just not good enough. I feel like I always get left behind,” she starts crying again.

He holds her until her tears cease.

“Get up,” he says as he stands up and offers her a hand.

Music begins to play.

She takes his hand.

And they dance there on the beach.

Together.

Until she’s awoken from her dream and fades from the scene.

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

The fifth time they meet is in person.

Mikasa is far from home, touring a college that has been recommended to her.

She bumps into him as she’s walking.

“Sorry,” she calls back to him as she is late to meeting up with the touring group.

Her head aches afterwards.

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

The sixth time they meet is when Eren bumps into her in a hurry to get to a job interview.

“Watch where you’re going!” she yells at him.

If only she knew the irony.

She gets another headache that afternoon.

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

Her art is on display at an art show.

She sees him for the briefest of moments.

The words get caught in her throat.

She wants to make her way towards him.

She has to make her way towards him.

But there are too many people trying to talk to her.

She should be networking but all she’s thinking about right now is getting to the boy who has been haunting her dreams since she was a child. She has to talk to him.

But by the time she made it where he was standing, he was gone.

And she is heartbroken.

She has a migraine that night.

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

The eighth time she sees him is the night after her graduation from college.

He’s in her dreams.

They’re back in that white room.

“I tried to find you that night! Why did you run?”

“I...I...couldn’t face you yet,” he tells her.

She tugs on the string again.

“Stop!” He yells at her.

“Why? Clearly, it doesn’t mean anything to you!”

“What if we’re doomed? What if that’s part of this new curse? What if you die because of me?”

“What if I don’t care?”

“You do. I should go.”

“But we’re meant….”

He’s gone.

She’s alone in the white room.

The memories of him disappear.

She awakes feeling empty but couldn't figure out why.

#invisstring #my writing

[renaerys]

Fanfic Year in Review

I don’t do a lot of these types of posts, but you know what, I finished a huge project in 2020 so let’s go. Thanks so much to my fellow writers @quarantined-fics and @powerpuff-ali for the tag!

I’ll put it under a Read More for anyone who is interested in hearing about some BTM shenanigans.

1) List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

Beyond This Morning - My Adult AU PPGxRRB project, and my first proper foray into this fandom as an active contributor. It has a few completed one-shot sequels in the same series.

Shooketh, Not Stirred Series - The high school AU featuring Reds. These are all complete, though I may add more one-shots to it in the future!

I have other stuff on my AO3 account for PPG, including some ongoing stuff. Check it out if you like. :)

2) Number of words written: I don’t know how to figure that out for 2020 only. A lot.

3) Your most popular fic: Beyond This Morning is probably the most popular. I have some Miraculous Ladybug fics that are pretty up there too, but I’m not really active in that fandom as much anymore.

4) Your personal fav: That’s hard... I can’t decide between the original Shook one-shot and Trinity House. I loved the former because it was an homage to my favorite PPG episode, Stuck Up, Up and Away. Blossom being HBIC like she invented it is always going to be my favorite thing ever. And I’m really enjoying Trinity House because it feels different from my other work. I like the spooky aspect of the House, the mixups in the teams, getting to write the Punks, and Brick trying his best to flirt. It’s a melting pot of fun shit. 

5) Your fav scene: Reds watching Frozen with Brisa in Beyond This Morning. Also the opening scene in Chapter 16 with Brick alone and grieving. Also the fight scene in Chapter 14 where Blossom is in charge of everything and winning. I reread those every now and then. 

6) A fic or scene that challenged you: Trinity House in general is challenging for me. It has a combination of thriller/horror elements, comedy, and mystery that are super fun, but also very world-build-y, so it’s a constant struggle to convey information while keeping the focus on the characters’ journeys. I’m really enjoying it, but it’s been hard. The latest chapter with Brick’s team’s challenge was especially taxing, but I really like how it turned out!

7) A line of writing you’re proud of:

“Water under the bridge, that. Flooded now. Dead bodies always float to the surface no matter how lovely and dark the waters appear from the shore.” - Chapter 11 when Buttercup confronts Ace

8) A comment that touched you:

Too many to count. I think the ones that really get me are the ones where people call out things that happened in prior chapters and go, “I KNEW that meant something!” Finding foreshadowing is hugely satisfying, and I like that those people care enough about my stories to pay attention not just to the plot, but to the word choice and the allegories. I remember one person realized that the lab infiltration in the last few chapters of BTM was full of Dante’s Inferno/katabatic journey imagery. That had me yelling for joy because yeah, you’re right and you should say it loudly!

9) Something that inspired your writing:

I like superhero stories, but I often find them shallow in mainstream media. There are some exceptions, and I definitely have drawn inspiration from more mature shows like The Boys and Titans wrt the “realistic” superhero theme. But mostly, I care about women and their stories, and I wanted to write something that was centered on that. PPG has always been a beloved show since I was a little kid. I loved how the Girls are all very different, yet they are able to succeed in their own ways. 

I also really wanted to read a specific type of story that I wasn’t seeing in the fandom, so I had to write it myself. I’m really glad I did.

10) Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

Honestly just finishing BTM and feeling super good about the quality of it feels like a big accomplishment for me. I had a pretty regular update schedule and I stuck to it, for the most part. I look back on it and I see things I could have done better or differently, but that’s the learning process. And I think the lessons learned will serve me well in the sequel...

11) Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

The BTM sequel, yes! I have not previously revealed the title I think, so here it is for those of you who bravely made it to the end of this post: The Alchemy of Us. That’s going to start posting pretty soon. I have some fun ideas for it, and I’m putting a lot of effort into it. I really want it to be good, and I think I’ve learned a lot from BTM and Trinity that will serve me well in making Alchemy the best fic I’ve written when I start posting. 

Trinity House is also ongoing. I’ll be writing that concurrently with the sequel until it’s finished. 

***

There are a number of good writers in this fandom! I think most of them have been tagged already, but in case you’re interested, I’m tagging @kiebs and @avesthetea

#ppg btm #ppg trinity house

[unfriendlyamazon]

tagged in this thanks to @dominocity and i spend more time looking at my ao3 stats then i care to admit...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

36 works on AO3, plus one on my super secret (not really) second AO3 so I don’t contaminate my fandoms.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

165,078

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Baby Dragon - jurassic park if it was a romcom

Liking You and Me - this one is one of the earliest kaijou fics i wrote (besides the one i deleted), and i don’t even know if i like it anymore... but i get frequent kudos and comments so i guess it’s good!

In Awe of Flowers - they don’t even kiss!!! also @jadenvargen drew me a comic in the comments and i never thanked him for it because i was too scared to talk to him and tagging him now so long after the fact seems pretty ridiculous but um thank you jay for real.

Sweater Weather - kaijou for when you had a bad day

A Hand to Hold - kaijou hand kink this one i am actively embarrassed of (also, before i saw the light on trans joey)

4. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try really hard to! If the fic is really old I don’t (i don’t know why i can’t explain it), but I really appreciate when people take the time to comment and I want them to know it.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t... really have any?? I write plenty of angsty situations. Competitionverse (my duke/seto business business au) is probably the angstiest one and the one I have the worst plans for. I have some secret fanfic of 1930s gangster Joey that I’ve kind of put out in the world so maybe that?

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Haaahaha what drew me back to fanfiction after not writing it for at least a decade was domestic portraits of kaijou so, like, that’s what I write. Probably Baby Dragon or In Awe of Flowers.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Not crossovers but I write... a lot of AUs and in fact did an entire compilation one year for NaNoWriMo I never finished. Most niche is the Black Tapes AU that yes I do have a full outline for including timelines for every characters and how they intersect with the grand conspiracy, and maybe the wildest is Long Way to a Small Angry Planet just for making Joey a feathered reptile alien.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I’ve gotten some comments over writing Duke as non-binary and kind of a weird one on my super secret FE3H fanfiction fighting me on a plot point??

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I didn’t, but now I do. I don’t post 90% of what I write, which is maybe weirder?  It’s been really good to be pushed there by friends and develop that part of my writing, so maybe I’ll post more. Probably not tho. I feel like I’ve branded myself as the KaiJou hand kink person but I still don’t write it enough to be anyone’s go-to.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No?? I don’t think so???

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but it’d be super cool.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I guess not technically. Me and @saggiclowns bounce ideas off each other, write fanfiction for each other’s fanfiction, and have definitely developed things together, so maybe that counts? But our IP is individualized.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I have almost exclusively written KaiJou so you think that’d be the obvious answer. I think my actual all time favorite ship that sends me to the moon is probably Marceline/Bubblegum from Adventure Time (the history!!!! the animosity!!!!! the friendship!!!!!!!), I just... don’t want to read AT fanfiction.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Hahahaaaaaaa. I am WIP queen!! Back in the day I’d start a hundred fanfics just to abandon them! The same’s true of today I just don’t post every thought that comes into my head. Star Trek AU deserves so much more of my attention and I do have a plan for it and I bought a special little Star Trek notebook to keep all my thoughts ideas and notes in and then when it comes to writing it I struggle.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Genuinely, to toot my own horn, I feel I write very naturalistic dialogue and for the longest time writing dialogue was the easiest thing in the world to me, to the point that sometimes I would skip over anything else. Also, gosh I love world building. I could go from a blank screen to a fully articulated society complete with maps, pantheons, and intricate histories for every location. The problem is then writing it.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to get very stuck on things and struggle to skip over them. Last year’s NaNoWriMo was a testament to that, and I kept rewriting and getting frustrated and will inevitably end up trashing the whole thing. I pick up new ideas constantly and then discard them for the next thought in my head. It’s part of why I’ve only really let myself write one shots and short fic, but I do have some longer WIP I’d love to actually finish.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

This is a tricky one and I’ve read and listened to a lot of people talk about how other non-fluent languages are presented in all kinds of different art. I personally don’t have a strong opinion. Best practice is to find someone who is fluent in that language to help you translate it (and there used to be whole blogs dedicated to helping people with this, I don’t know if they’re still around), but that doesn’t mean I’ve never jammed anything into a translator.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

This... is interesting because the answer is YuGiOh. Back in my middle school days my friends were very into ygo and wrote silly like chat formatted fics that we posted on DeviantArt (???) that were just really bad and stupid and silly, and the only reason I even thought about ygo was because all my friends liked it. The first fandom I actually really got involved in was Teen Titans, and ATLA I was, like, a recognizable presence. I fell off extremely hard probably thanks to college and have spent most of my life focusing on original fiction and writing my own characters. Then my best friend sent me a piece of fanart that unlocked my childhood memories, and here we are now, in the only fandom.

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I wrote Bite Hard and it might be one of the best things I’ve written... and now I’ve kind of repurposed it into an original fiction??? I think the main characters might always be buddies no matter how much I’ve manipulated them, but it’s kind of spun off into it’s own thing? That’s what fanfiction’s for! Experimentation, playing with ideas, having a sandbox to build in! And then I EL James it and make millions! (jk)

@saggiclowns doesn’t post to AO3 that much, and i don’t know if @danieco even has an AO3 but they are extremely good writers!! also if you write fic, please share your own!

#i also totally forgot about my one single fear street fanfic on ao3 #this is from waaaaaay before the movies i made it my goal to reread every single one and ended up making an ultimate universe for them #i've gotta a few kudos on it since the movies came out which is pretty hilarious #you can thank october for putting me in ygo hell i never would've gotten here without them #i abondoned my old life and started new #my fic #i guess #i forget all my tags

[venomasides]

A Bit Corruptive | Day 2

For the ARK AU. Trapped in the proliferation of Soren, deep within the colony ship, Radar and the Warden have a small disagreement. 

The tunnels are as rank as they pocket they’d spawned in. Mucus clings to the walls just as it clings to their boots, and the half-rotting scent filling the space makes Radar sorely wish the tek suits from their initial escape into the ship had survived. 

It’d be easier to read an alert saying “something-something warning, gastric fumes” than it is to actually smell it. Keeping his breath steady is a chore, but it’s a distraction he’ll willingly take. 

One of the muscle walls tenses as they pass, squelching and groaning. The intruders freeze, fear of collapse flashing unspoken in their minds, but the wall twitches and relaxes again. They follow suit, steps a bit quicker than a moment ago. Naturally, Radar and Atticus continue their journey in silence. They’ve got nothing to say to each other when their goal is so obvious: 

Find a way out so we never have to look at eachother again. 

Radar was convinced that whatever Gods observed them were playing some kind of cruel trick when he awoke here, trapped with him and no one else. Atticus, the bastard. His torturer. 

You could teach him a lesson or two about that, the little voice in Radar’s head insists. It goes ignored, but Radar is sorely tempted. 

…'No one else' was a misleading assumption about their circumstances. Blacking out when he was dragged down meant being blind to whoever else could’ve been taken. For all they knew, the whole tribe might here, wading around in the blood and mucus, only a matter of time passing before they find eachother. 

Then there’s that little voice in Radar’s head. The one who keeps saying things in a voice that isn’t his. There are the eyes in this place, locking onto him an Atticus like security cameras as they pass. 

Best not question it. They have enough questions about this place as it is.

He’d rather hear that little nasty voice over and over than listen to Atticus for less than a minute, but fate is cruel. They reach an impasse in the tunnel, the path before them branching out into two equally dark ducts, and Atticus feels like saying something about it. 

“Keep up. We’re going this way.” The older man moves left, toward the larger tunnel. 

Excuse him?

Radar stops. The little voice screams for blood. 

One hundred lashes, the burning sun, and still he could not tame you. He cannot command you. Teach him a lesson. 

The voice is right. Radar’s grip on his spear tightens. 

It doesn’t matter if the Warden is right too, that the path looks safer. There are exactly two people in the universe allowed to order him around, and Atticus sure as hell isn't one of them. What makes him think he has the right? 

Damn him. 

How dare him. 

How fucking dare him. 

Radar lunges, unaware that his eyes have gone an amethyst shade of purple. 

Atticus turns just in time, bracing for attack. The spear narrowly misses its target, lodging into a wall of flesh barely an inch away from his companion’s throat. Radar forces him against the wall, tugging the spear to pull it out for another strike. 

He struggles beneath Radar’s unusually strong grip. “What the fuck is WRONG with you?!” 

“Never tell me to do anything ever again.” Radar growls, so low it sounds inhuman. He pulls the spear free, aiming the tip for the Warden’s throat. “Do you even know who you’re talking to!?” 

A pause. Atticus looks him up and down, stopping at the eyes. “...I’m not sure that I do. But don’t start-” 

Too late. Radar gives him a shove in retaliation, body fluids sinking deeper into the Warden’s clothes. As hard as Radar tries to sound dignified, his voice cracks.

“I am Radar Lowenthal- Dunelurker, the phoenix rider of Blazing Fury, the slayer of Krota and the rider that took down your ice titan! I’m a survivor. A raider of Scorched Earth, a hunter of the Island, a savior of the fucking Earth that you were trying to destroy even more! I know those places, I am those places- I overcame the trials while you sat in your fancy-schmancy little office and gloated all day!” Radar gives another rough shove, the Warden’s hand falling to his belt, carefully reaching. “I’ve got a fire in me sparked by the dragons themselves, and there’s NOTHING YOU CAN STOP ME FROM-” 

“For the love of-” 

A knife rests at Radar’s throat. The blade’s edge shifts like a plane wing as he swallows, staring forward. 

“Your name is Walter, and you’re a glorified errand boy.” Atticus speaks calmly and quietly. He stares Radar dead in the eye, but the Dunelurker’s gaze offers nothing in return. “Just some kid who died in a car crash, who was lucky enough to have his bones dug up and plugged into the ARK system.” 

Radar’s grip loosens. Atticus slithers out from the trap, holding the spear in place and backing away with the knife still pointed at Radar’s throat. As soon as the Warden releases the spear, Radar has it pointed for him again. Their blades nearly touch. 

“How’d you know that?” Rage is replaced with a new kind of desperation, edging on fear. The spear is jabbed in the air. “You shouldn’t know how I died. You don’t get to.” 

It wasn’t difficult to find him in the Earth records database, unlike the others. The ‘internet’ was an alien thing, overwhelming in so many ways, but like an encyclopedia it had everything one flip of the page away, safely archived. A lot of people showed up at least once after newspapers became commonplace. News articles were abundant, happy to give stories and all the nasty details. 

“San Jose, California.” Atticus echoes the article from memory. “Four teens killed in drag racing incident. You were a passenger. Burned alive.” 

Radar lowers the spear. His face is hollow, rage chased away.

“Quit acting like you’re more than human. You’re not.” Atticus turns his back, walking to the tunnel once more. “Now come on. What you do have is a worried family waiting for you.” 

#Day 2 #A/RK #M/csm #body fluids tw #horror #body horror

[partly-cloudyskies]

1, 12, 16, 18 + one I didnt pick but you secretly want to talk about

This has run long so I’m putting it under a break. Some thought about my current writing projects, an old abandoned project and, uh, word counts below!

1) Welp I got three WIPs:

This is How We Grow: My first real attempt to fully commit to the heightened romance and emotion of an idealized pastoral setting but sometimes there are shadow monsters plus this also acts as an excuse to see more of Soup’s weblena art.

The Longest Shadows: A future fic where Lena becomes a badass shadow witch and Webby learns that the McDuck legacy is a complicated thing rather than the unalloyed good that she unthinkingly embraced as a youth (Yeah how you doin season 3).

The Glass Factory: A Maebea NITW AU where Mae and Bea find and cling to each other out of a shared sense of alienation as they bear witness to an economically depressed city in its final moments before the shockwave of gentrification turns it into something unrecognizable and hostile (YES I’m still working on it!!)

12) A dumb line from an old WIP... there are so many abandoned projects that are like, two chapters and then a separate file full of quotes that I thought were cool and then I never looked back on them again. I’m sure those hold up. Let me check my old writings folder...

OH NO. I have it and I hate it but I’m going to post it anyway:

Detta rises over the Blackfuse mercenary as he struggled with the debris crushing him. Short even for a goblin, she looms over him like a Titan contemplating the fleeting life of mortals. She raises one hand, closed in a fist that sparks and howls with the wind.

“I’m gonna put a hurricane in your skull. See what it does to your brain.”

FOR CONTEXT, this is an old WIP from, like, 2016. It was a World of Warcraft fic that I REALLY wanted to write. It took place during the Panderia campaign and was set entirely in Bilgewater Harbor, an island city of goblins that is almost entirely empty in-game but I always liked its chaotic design. It was about Detta, a goblin Shaman who had given up adventuring and became a freelance problem solver in Bilgewater. She had a Storm Elemental she named Dizzy who she used as a secretary. One day Korkron troopers loyal to Hellscream bursts into her office and tells her they want to hire her to track down a criminal. Tozz, one of the troopers, is assigned to stay with her to make sure she stays on task. Eventually they would find the criminal only to learn he’s a Twilight’s Hammer cultist who had been in Orgrimmar instructing Hellscream’s forces on the secrets of Dark Shamanism and Hellscream was hiding this by killing everyone involved. You can take it from me that it was VERY lore compliant while filling in the spaces that the game devs had left CRIMINALLY underdeveloped and was going to be a dramatic story in the vein of film noir, with intrigue and divided loyalties and shifting motivations all on the eve of war and rebellion and WoW DESERVED to have better story than it did and you know what I’ve decided that is actually a brilliant line and I am PROUD of it and --

You get the picture. Next question!

16) Hm... this is a question that I don’t really have an answer for because all worldbuilding is good worldbuilding if you ask me. I think the thing about worldbuilding is that a good 90% of it doesn’t make it to the page and we kind of struggle with that because if you have all this research material then you might feel compelled to splash it all out on the page so you’d have something to show for all the time you spent. But that’s not what it’s for, it’s so that you have something to refer to when you need it. It’s the big part of the iceberg no one else gets to see. So maps? Spreadsheets? Research? None of it is ridiculous. All of it is good.

I guess the most of it I’ve ever done was for the novel that I wrote. I had a lot of material for that. I drew a map and I even tried to keep it to scale by sketching it out using travel route lines in Google Maps. I guess that is a little ridiculous, but I’ve no regrets.

18) I hate title and I don’t really spend much time on them. I certainly don’t keep track of how many titles I come up with before settling on one. I tend to be direct, I think.

Glass Factory is called Glass Factory because there’s a glass factory in NITW and my story takes place in an art studio. There’s an art studio in Alexandria called the Torpedo Factory, and that and its surroundings is what inspired that story, so Glass Factory. ez.

Longest Shadows is about legacy, the shadows cast by Scrooge and Magica and how Webby and Lena fall under those shadows. Plus it’s Lena so there’s almost a 100% chance any story with her has some kind of shadow reference in the title. So that’s that.

This is How We Grow was probably the most agonizing of my recent WIPs in terms of title. I think it’s a little clunky. But it’s about the two main characters growing and it’s... there’s farming. Plants grow. So... uh, that’s it. I might not be a huge fan of the title but I’ve never considered changing it. Never look back, when it comes to titles. That’s my motto.

Now for a question of my choosing...

14) I can knock out 500 words pretty easily on a good day, like on a real good day I can do a 1000 in half an hour. I’ve had times where I got an idea in the morning, wrote 2000 words about it, edited it by lunch and posted it by evening. But good days are few and far between and mostly I just put in a paragraph or two where I can.

I used to be very obsessive about word count. Like, I still look at it today but now it’s just like “oh, that’s how many words are in this file, okay”, but years ago I practically lived by it. I think part of it was me chasing that NaNoWriMo dragon, which was something I used to be pretty focused on. Now that I’m older I wonder if NaNoWriMo actually helps or does more to hurt aspiring writers. I mean, it’s not like there’s any external consequences to falling short but when you’re young and you’re looking to commit yourself to something, it sucks real hard when you inevitably fall short and it can be discouraging.

These days I’m more in a “what’s important is that you’ve written something” frame of mind. It doesn’t matter if it’s four pages or it’s literally a single word. I’ve had single word days. And it’s okay! It’s okay to write a single word. Progress is progress, when it comes to writing. Now, if I look at the word count, it’s because a chapter I’m in is running longer than I would have liked and maybe I should consider splitting it in two or something because I am the kind of person who likes the idea of a uniform amount of words per paragraph thank you very much. Beyond that, I don’t pay word count much mind and I think I’m a happier writer for it.

So yeah!

[drabbles-of-writing]

Can We Keep Him? (pt 2)

This is part of my Uncursed AU

AO3

Masterpost

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If there was one thing Eda hated most, it was boiling rain.

She could tell by the storm clouds gathering one was on the way. However, she currently had a possible buyer looking over what she had to offer that day. So she impatiently tapped her fingers on the table as she watched the witch hm and haw over every little thing she had.

A boom of thunder snapped her patience.

“Do you want anything?” Eda snapped.

The witch lifted his head and blinked at her, dumbfounded.

“Oh, no, I was just browsing.” He said cheerfully. “I spent all my snails earlier.”

Eda stared at the witch, her left eye twitching as her nails dug into the table.

“Then move along!” She shouted.

“Alright, alright! Jeez,” The witch grumbled, raising his hands and backing off. “Kids these days, I swear.” He mumbled as he hurried along down the marketplace.

Eda didn’t bother to retort. She frantically began gathering up her items in the table cloth. She picked up anything that had fallen and attempted to tear down her sign proudly stating; Human Collectibles!

She had nearly gotten the whole thing down before she heard something sizzle.

Eda whirled her head around. And sure enough, the first drops of boiling rain were beginning to fall.

Eda looked around frantically, spotting a stand that, thank the Titan, had a stone over it. She regrettably ditched the bag of human objects before diving for the shelter, wincing when she felt the drops of rain graze her right leg.

Eda crawled up underneath the shelter, pulling her leg close as she hissed out a string of curses. Thankfully, the burn on her leg wasn’t all that bad. Though it’d definitely bug her for the rest of the day. She considered using her magic to heal it, but decided against it. Using magic on such a small thing wasn't worth the effort.

“Sorry, Lilith,” Eda sighed, peering up at the cloud-filled sky. “Looks like I’m gonna be late again.”

She leaned back against one of the posts holding up the empty stand, settling in for a long, boring wait.

Until a yelp caught her attention.

,

Eda turned her head, looking back out to the open path in the marketplace. Off on the opposite side was an empty clay pot turned over. Beside that pot was a very familiar small plastic crown.

The pot lifted slightly and a black paw darted out, trying to grab at the crown before a drop of rain landed on it. Whoever was in the pot squeaked and instantly retreated their paw.

Only a few seconds later, the paw darted out again.

“Is that…?” Eda squinted her eyes.

Droplets of rain splashed onto the crown. It sizzled and hissed as the boiling temperatures of the water immediately ate away at the crown, bringing it down to a half-circle.

“No!” The pot lifted up higher, revealing the face of the self-proclaimed King of Demons, his face full of horror. “My crown! My beautiful, beautiful crown!” He wailed, once again nearly getting nicked by the rain and drawing his paw back into the safety of the pot.

“Hey, I know you!” Eda called. “Demon Lord, or, whatever your name was.”

The demon lifted his head, spotting Eda and perking up.

“Oh, hey witch lady!” The demon greeted. “You got any more crowns?” He asked hopefully.

Eda gave the demon a deadpan stare before pointing over at her abandoned bag of goods, which was now nearly completely eaten through.

“...oh,” The demon deflated.

“What are you doing out here?” Eda asked. “Everyone knows to get somewhere safe before a rainstorm!”

“Well--I--” The demon faltered for a moment before angrily fluffing up his tail. “Then why are you out here?” He retorted.

“Someone was ‘browsing’ my items when I thought they were gonna buy something,” Eda sighed, knocking her head back against the pole she was leaning on. “Apparently he didn’t think the oncoming wrath of boiling rain wasn’t something to be concerned about.”

“Personally, I think not boiling alive is worth more than a profit.” The demon said, dropping the pot back over his head before standing up, wearing it like a long hat that went down to his legs.

“You’re a demon, you don’t need money.” Eda snorted, watching the demon walk around in the open under the pot for a minute before skittering over towards her.

“...what are you doing?”

“It’s getting hot under here!” The demon said, hurrying underneath her shelter before ditching the pot and kicking it away. “This is a much more adequate roof for the King of Demons.” He nodded in satisfaction.

“Don’t you have, like, an owner?” Eda raised a brow. She reached out and grabbed his large gold tag.

“The King of Demons belongs to no one!” The demon snapped, tugging back and brushing himself off. “I am my own demon!”

“What’s with the collar then?” Eda questioned.

“I…” The demon blinked before looking down at his collar and fiddling with the tag. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Eda said disbelievingly. “How can you not know why you have a collar?”

“I just don’t know!” The demon snapped back. “But I like it!” He said, sitting down and crossing his arms angrily.

“...alright then.” Eda said, turning to look out at the rain.

When she had first met the demon, she had assumed he had been someones escaped pet, due to the collar. It would also easily explain the inflated ego and delusions. People spoil their pets all the time.

But if he didn’t belong to anyone…

“If I may ask, since we’re clearly going to be here for a while,” Eda said, glancing over at the demon. “Does the so-called ‘King of Demons’ have a name?”

“A mortal like you couldn’t bear to know the true name of the King of Demons!” The demon said, raising his head snootily.

Eda gave him a deadpan stare for a few moments.

“How about I just call you King?” She tried.

“That…” The demon frowned and thought for a moment. “That name will suffice.” He decided with a nod.

“Nice to formally meet, King.” Eda said with a bit of a smile, holding out her hand. “I’m Eda.”

“Eda...I can work with that.” King said, taking her hand and shaking it.

“Sorry about the crown,” Eda said, pulling her hand back and looking over at the pieces of scrap that were once some plastic toy. “I could probably find another one.”

“You would...find the King of Demons another crown?” King asked excitedly, tail wagging.

“Only because I feel bad,” Eda said, crossing her arms, though her smile only grew. “And you’ll have to pay me this time.”

King gestured to himself before holding his paws out at his sides.

“Do I look like I have money?”

“Then how about this,” Eda said, thinking on her feet. “In payment, you have to find stuff for me to sell.”

“Like...scavenging?” King tilted his head.

“Sort of,” Eda said.

She dug in her wild mane of hair before pulling out a small dark brown key with a yellow eye on it and showed it off to the demon.

“A while ago, I found this key to the human realm.” She explained. “It’s where I get all my items. Although, recently, it’s getting harder for me to steal stuff from their metal bins without getting caught.”

“Oooh. So you wish to enlist the help of the mighty ruler of demons, eh?” King realized excitedly. “Fear not! For I accept this offer. In exchange for a crown, I will hunt down the greatest human artifacts the Boiling Isles has ever seen!” He said, standing up and posing proudly.

“Thanks, King.” Eda chuckled, tucking the key back into her hair. “Hope you’re a good tracker, though. I don’t set up shop in the same place two days in a row.”

“Pssh, how hard can it be?” King waved his paw. “I just have to look for the loudest witch in the market.”

“Wha--says you!” Eda scoffed. “You’re the loudest demon I’ve ever met! I’m genuinely surprised I haven’t met you yet.”

“Yes, well, I’ve decided to grace this side of the Isles with my presence.” King said. “You’re welcome.”

“Gee, thanks.” Eda shook her head before reaching over and ruffling the fur that connected to his skull by his cheek.

King let out a weird ‘weh’ like noise and struggled for a moment, batting at her hand with his paws.

Which, now that Eda got a better look at them, really didn’t look too good.

Demons had tougher skin than witches, so a few droplets of boiling water wouldn’t cause severe harm. And yet, the way his skin was twisted and discolored from the burns he’d received made Eda's own chest twist.

“Doesn’t this hurt?” Eda asked, drawing her hands back and gently placing one of his wrists in her open palm.

“Eh, I’ve had worse.” King shrugged. “The King of Demons needs no sympathy.” He said, turning his nose away.

Eda frowned, worried about what ‘worse’ such a small demon like King could be referring to.

Her eyes drew to his broken horn.

She decided not to ask and pulled him a bit closer.

“Could I at least try to heal it?” She asked.

Eda had never been good at healing magic. Her best had always been defense and offense, not sitting on the sidelines and tending to the wounded. Lilith had more knowledge in that aspect, thanks to the Emperor’s Coven.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?

“I...suppose,” King said, sounding suspicious. “Just be careful. I don’t want to chip a claw,” He said, this time sounding like he was partially joking.

“I won’t,” Eda promised before turning back to his paw.

A faint yellow glow came from her left hand and she brought it closer to King’s paw, eyes squinted in concentration as she gently pressed a finger to his burns.

King winced as though expecting to be hurt, though he didn’t pull his paw away.

Slowly, Eda ghosted her finger over the burns, smiling as she saw his previously gnarly skin untwisting and fitting back up.

“There we go,” Eda said, bringing her hand back. She couldn’t heal it up all the way, but now it was practically invisible unless you looked for it.

“Whoa,” King turned over his paw, mesmerized. “Do the other one, do the other one!” He chanted gleefully, sticking out his other slightly less-burned paw.

“Alright, hang on, hang on.” Eda chuckled, concentrating as she drew her glowing finger over the burns, bringing it to about the same state as his first paw.

“That should heal up on its own, now.” She said, letting him admire and study his freshly healed paws.

“Thanks...uh,” King squinted. “What was your name again?”

“Eda,” The young witch sighed. “It was Eda.”

“Right, Eda! Thanks. I'll remember next time.” King promised, holding his paws close.

Eda smiled at the demon. What had happened to him to make him so astonished that a witch would help him, she didn’t want to know.

But she did know that right then, she wasn’t going to be quite as alone out here as she thought.

“Anytime, King.”

#uncursed au #drabble post #my writing #the owl house #owl house #toh #eda clawthorne #eda #king #fluff #young eda #they having a time #first meeting