#anyway. filed under “posts that could age like milk and leave me looking like an anvil fell on my head” but i'll stand by it. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

once-upon-a-scenario · 4 years

Text

Icarus: Bakugou/reader, Part 5

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 6 (Edited summary because I didn’t like the first one haha) In which Katsuki continues to despise you, but gets accused of being nice more often than he could appreciate. Things aren’t really going his way lately.

(Also there’s a title drop.)

(I might put this series on hiatus for a while, depending on how my feelings about it change (or don’t change)...sorry for how late this update is + my inconsistent as hell writing style, I kinda lost motivation in the middle because idk, I’m kinda dissatisfied with how it’s going so far ;-; And I’ve now remembered that quirk training/sparring wasn’t a huge thing until post training camp arc, but ah well. I’ve already written it in so let’s just ignore that small defiance of canon XD Hope somebody out there can enjoy the story anyway, though! ^^;;;

-Eve)

_____

Katsuki doesn’t believe in red flags, the same way he doesn’t believe in cowering. He tears right through them and doesn’t look back.

You’ve made your stance clear, so this is a turning point. The next time your handkerchief turns up in his uniform pocket, he marches over to the washing machine and shoves it in. It’s only a generic, white cotton handkerchief- hopefully, his mother will mistake it for one of her own. If she doesn’t, he doesn’t care.

Because that’s what you said yourself, isn’t it? We don’t have to be.

He tolerates walking with you, answering your every word through gritted teeth but refusing to back down. Fights don’t have to be physical; the tension carries over from the sparring field to the classroom to the walks home, when Kirishima will later comment on his harshness, but shitty hair doesn’t get it and that’s fine.

(He can’t tell anyone that he has an extra mental image added to the film reel in his brain, that he’s now stuck on loop with you looking back at him from the left fork in the road, your smile sharp with a momentary flash of secret humor as your mouth forms the words,

We don’t have to be.

And the wording of that phrase is a needle in his consciousness, ever-present and irritating, because something about your tone, something about the way you worded it-

The only logical conclusion is mockery, and the only way to retaliate is not to give in.)

We don’t have to be (friends.)

True. You can be proper enemies instead.

_____

But there’s a method to dealing with this. New approach, new rules.

_____

So when he finds you in front of the vending machine after school, examining the drinks on display inside, he stops for a moment and greets you with a blunt,

“The fuck are you doing?”

You tap on the glass at the machine’s front. Do you think milk tea is preferable to boba?

“How the hell should I know anything about your stupid tea?” But he looks at the bottles, because whatever game of faux-friendliness it is that you’re playing, he’s decided not to lose. “Don’t get tapioca though, it’s fucking gross.”

Really? You seem to be in the minority there.

“Well I’m right so does it matter?”

You hum- neither agreeing nor disagreeing- and begin counting out coins. Clink, clink, clink. When the machine regurgitates two bottles, you fish them out and hold them up, squinting slightly as if to examine them.

Would you like one?

He glares. “Keep it. I don’t drink that shit.”

You shrug lightly, unfazed as you slip one bottle into your bag. Ah, well. I suppose Kirishima might want the boba, then.

It’s nice that you’re assuming Kirishima will be there- that you’ll be walking together. As if anybody asked for you to join in. Katsuki just sneers before he whirls around and stalks briskly away, making sure that he’s fast enough to leave you behind.

There’s a certain bitter, unfulfilled satisfaction in the sound of your footsteps leisurely chasing after him.

_____

“Is anybody actually looking forward to camp?” Kaminari groans as the students file out of class.

I am, you remark, entirely too brightly.

“What the fuck is there to look forward to?” Katsuki doesn’t like the way you’re falling into step beside him, as nonchalantly as if you do this every day, but he clenches his fist and bears it. “Also, don’t tell me you’re going to meet up with your shitty boyfriend again.” (Kirishima’s jagged elbow glances off his side. He ignores it.)

Well, you can never get too much training. But no. You hum, adjusting the strap of your backpack and checking your phone. I’m not meeting Takeo-kun today.

___ Not meeting Takeo-kun means you walk home alone. Katsuki kicks at the pavement as he whirls around, determined not to watch you go. It’s not as if he cares. You can be an antisocial asshole if you want to be; doesn’t matter to him. He wonders, though. What you do when you go home. What you do when you’re with your boyfriend. The things he knows of you- your horrible crumpled shirt collar, your insulting serenity, your grades and your quirk- don’t lend themselves to any image of a person outside of school. So there’s another facet of yourself you’re keeping close to your chest. It pisses him off. How many times do you need to fight someone before you figure them out? How much do you need to know before you really win? _____

The bus is bursting with chatter from all sides; Katsuki’s palms begin to tingle as he turns and tries to shout in every general direction, “Can everybody just shut the fuck up for one second?!”

Which just makes them louder.

The only exception is you, staring out the window on one side and watching the scenery flash by. There’s a weird look on your face, your brow slightly furrowed as you lean against the glass pane, apparently lost in thought, which is rude of you, considering that he’s about to decimate you again once training starts.

“Oi,” Katsuki begins, not entirely sure what he’s about to say, only knowing that your thoughtfulness pisses him off, but then you look up and meet his gaze.

Exciting, isn’t it? Seems like we’re going to have some fun.

“…’fun,’ my ass.”

He slouches back into his seat and glares at the floor, additional curse words suddenly dying in his throat. Doesn’t matter. There’s never been much of a point in picking verbal fights with you, if only because you just don’t talk enough to keep things going. He’ll beat you at camp. That should be good enough.

The soft huff of almost-laughter that drifts from your lips just pisses him off that much more.

______

When Class 1-A stumbles out on the other side of the forest after a long, hellish battle, he glances at you. There’s a cut on your forehead and sweat on your brow but you don’t seem to mind. You catch his eye and smile at him, shoulders still shaking with deep, ragged breaths. Like you’re not bothered at all.

He returns the look with a scoff. Same old, then.

______

Training is harsh.

Katsuki creates explosion after explosion from his palms as he stands, planted stubbornly on the baking earth beneath the midday sun, burning his skin and brining his clothes with sweat. It’s gross, but the fire’s getting hotter and the damage from his quirk is getting worse, which really means better.

He’d anticipated a fight, but maybe this is fine- grinding sparks from his hands and watching them get hotter, sharper, louder when they burst. Deku, the fucking bastard, isn’t going to catch up this time. And when he spars with you again, he’ll get the explosions strong enough that he won’t have to resort to fistfights anymore. That’s kind of the point of camp, after all.

______

“You hold back too much.” It’s Day Two. He spots Aizawa-sensei taking you aside and overhears his quiet words, spoken in a low tone under the rest of 1-A’s post-training chatter and groaning. “Your control over Reflection is highly advanced for your age, but you’ve taken it too far. That’s just stunting a perfectly good quirk.” You bow your head. I’ll work harder, sensei. Katsuki fixes his gaze on Pikachu and Mineta, both currently getting told off by Tiger for something or other, and wipes the sweat from his brow. He keeps his mouth in a line and his eyes steady. It’s not as if some cheesy teacher-student moment is anything he should be giving a shit about. He just feels half resentful, half spitefully vindicated by Aizawa-sensei’s comments- the implication that you could be doing better, maybe didn’t necessarily have to get knocked on your ass every time you fought him. As Aizawa-sensei wanders back off towards the Pussycats, Katsuki catches a glimpse of your face. It’s neutral, just the way it always is, eyes staring blankly after your teacher as he leaves, but there’s something off, maybe. Something in the line of your jaw that seems unnaturally stiff, making you look less calm and more just exhausted. Maybe even sad. (Like you have any fucking right to go around looking depressed?) When Class 1-A begins to head back to their base, he stalks up to you, glaring, and slows momentarily to match your dragging pace. It’s not that he particularly wants to talk to you, but he’s pissed enough by what he’s heard that he doesn’t want to avoid you, either. For reasons probably best known to yourself, you don’t object. ”You better fucking improve,” he hisses to you under his breath, quietly enough that Aizawa-sensei could miss it. “And get ready for me to kick your ass again once you do.” For some reason, the stiff lines of your face soften again, just a fraction. I will. Thank you. ”The fuck are you thanking me for?” You shrug with a knowing glance that makes him feel enraged all over again. It’s nice of you to walk with me. And by all accounts, that should make him immediately leave you for Kirishima or Ashido or even Kaminari, but because that would be losing, and he’s long since made up his mind to adapt to the game, he just curses again and sticks with you. The entire journey back is sickeningly reminiscent of the walks home.

_____

Later at night, he catches sight of you, sitting at one of the wooden tables used for dinner with a book held up to your face. The letters on the dark blue cover spell out Greek & Roman Mythology.

He could just go inside and leave you to your own devices, but, “Hey,” he calls out instead, loud and abrupt, just to gloat in the way you briefly tense before turning to face him.

You inhale deeply, shaking your head. Hello. You surprised me.

He snorts. “Yeah, yeah. You just gonna sit there forever?”

I’ll get inside soon, you don’t need to worry about me.

“Who said I was worried, you bastard?”

He glares. You’re still sitting silently, while he stands as close as he can get, hands shoved deep in his pockets and words swimming in his head but the right ones getting lost on the way to his mouth. There’s a brief moment of staring and he hates your practiced blankness, the way you act so goddamn collected when there’s clearly something hidden underneath that you won’t set free. It’s like going round and round in circles, stuck in this loop of a game that doesn’t end because you don’t seem to understand the rules. Though- whatever. He’s getting used to the rhythm. And though you make his blood boil on the best of days, there’s no worth in picking a fight when you’re wilting for some inexplicable reason. Have you ever heard of the story of Icarus? ...what the fuck kind of a non-answer is that? The look on his face must have said something, because, damn it all, there’s a hint of what might almost be amusement in your eyes now- he wonders if you’re even capable of looking amused without also somehow mocking him. “The fuck are you laughing at?” I’m not laughing. You tap the book lightly with a finger. If you’d like, I’ll tell you about him sometime. Just remind me that I owe you a story. “You don’t owe me anything. I don’t give a shit about some stupid story.” But he glances at the book again before he turns to leave. You’ve opened it to an illustrated page, bordered with designs almost like stained glass, a winged figure in the middle of the paper reaching up towards a gold-foil sun glimmering in the dim light. Looks pretty fucking useless, Katsuki decides as he wanders off, leaving you to your own devices. ______

The next morning, you greet him with a smile at breakfast. As he offers a glower in return and turns back to his food, he notes how you yawn your way through the entire meal, your hands shaking and fumbling as you reach for a mug. He’s not about to ask any more questions, because it’s not like he cares; you probably just stayed up the entire night reading your stupid book, and now you’re paying the price for it. He doesn’t owe anybody any explanation as to why he curses you out and hands you the mug instead of leaving you to suffer. “Somebody’s being uncharacteristically nice,” Icy-hot notes in his most insultingly deadpan voice. Katsuki reaches across the table and explodes his toast. ____ The third night of camp is a fairly straightforward situation. The test of courage is done in pairs; Class 1-A is composed of twenty one students; twenty one is an odd number. Therefore, either one group should be composed of three people, or one of these fuckers has to suck it up and go alone. “We should draw lots,” Iida suggests, adjusting his glasses as he turns to seek the Pussycats’ approval. “Or does anybody want to volunteer?” “Count me out of it!” Mineta, the fucking nuisance, already has his eyes bugging out of his tiny head in fear. “I’m not dying at fifteen, no thanks, why can’t I just go with two partners- ?!” Katsuki inhales deeply, feeling a familiar migraine coming on as he prepares to speak up- he can go alone just fine, unlike the majority of these fucking extras- when somebody else’s hand shoots up instead. He turns to look and immediately scowls. Of course. Invisible Girl and Uraraka are hanging off of your arms and practically fucking weeping as you glance at them with raised eyebrows. “Seriously? Aren’t you scared at all?” “Hell yeah, show B-2 what we’re made of-!” I’ll be ok, you say, the words directed to Mandalay. After all, it’s not as though there’s any real danger. _____ Someday, Katsuki might look back and pinpoint this as the moment when everything went to hell. He’s not superstitious- thinks superstition is a fucking ridiculous concept, has never believed in omens- but it’s almost funny how ironic your comment seems in hindsight. Not as though there’s any real danger. The words seem to echo in his head as he feels the rough, scarred hand of the villain close around his wrist and the cold mist begin to swallow him up, Deku reaching towards him from the other side, and he snarls, stay the fuck back you shitty nerd, do you honestly want to mess this up any more than it already is- The mist closes around him. (In the last few seconds, he realizes that though Deku’s accounted for- you’re not. If you die before your sparring rematch, he’s going to kill you.) ____ Shouta almost sinks to the ground in relief when his last unaccounted for student finally stumbles out of the forest. As it is, you’re the one who immediately slumps. He grabs your shoulders as gently as he can, hoisting you to your feet as he examines your face, your limbs, the tears in your clothing. Though there’s not much blood, only a few cuts here and there on your hands and cheek, you seem unnaturally dazed. For a tense second, he’s terrified as he searches your eyes for any dilation, or any sign of consciousness- god, if you’ve inhaled the gas- But then your gaze finally focuses on him and you speak, voice hoarse and ragged. Sensei- sensei- is everybody alright? Where’s- “It’s alright,” he mutters, steadying you as you begin to tremble. “Shh. Calm yourself.” You’re insistent, though, hoisting yourself up on wobbling legs. Sensei, what about Bakugou? “Bakugou’s...” He can’t say it, not now, not here, but you seem to understand anyway. A tear runs down your cheek. Shouta holds you steady as you begin to cry. You’re shaken- crying over Bakugou, a boy you barely seemed to like, is proof of that. Something happened in the forest, something that hurt you, even if it wasn’t necessarily physically. None of the other students have broken down like this so far. For the moment, though, he holds you, and chooses not to ask.

#BNHA #Bakugou Katsuki #Bakugou #Bakugou x reader #Bakugou Katsuki x reader #Katsuki Bakugou x reader #Katsuki x reader #Bakugou x you #Bakugou Katsuki x you #Bakugou x y/n #BNHA reader insert #gender neutral reader #scenario #Mod Eve

37 notes · View notes

herpronuonsarefemslash · 3 years

Text

Teaser for “Hop, Skip, and a Jump”

A Bellamione fic that explores what happens when the Department of Mysteries duels end in Hermione taking Bellatrix down with a whip, which leaves an impression on Bella when she's sent back to Azkaban. Luna invents a longer-range time turner, Hermione is lonely after divorcing Ron, and the Black sisters were just legendary for getting up to gay nonsense... https://www.patreon.com/posts/48881466 Harry is thrashing in Remus grip, refusing to believe it and trying to dive through the Veil. Hermione takes in the other members of her merry band of child soldiers.

Ron's a mess. Black eye. Split lip. Bloody knuckles. Dark red staining the tips of his sweaty ginger hair where it dips against a cut on his forehead. Looks like a soccer hooligan after a riot. Made excellent use of that table leg when he lost his wand, though.Full marks.

Ginny displayed raw elemental force with wind, cold and lightning that her tiny body shouldn't have been able to contain and reflexes none of them could keep pace with.

Luna was bloody terrifying. She nearly killed a man with an origami dragon made out of interdepartmental memos. Hermione nearly threw up after her first real curse connected, after the first time that she did magic that truly harmed another human being. Yet Luna simply cocked her head and looked curiously at the dragon and was about to pet it when it dissolved.Creativity and lack of inhibitions are useful in a soldier, Hermione supposes.

Tonks is badly hurt, but she's breathing at least. What the fuck was that curse? Dumbledore has been letting her read up on Dark Arts, supervised, and she's never heard of those elements being combined. If there's a person spending their rainy Sundays with a notepad working out new ways to use dark arts, it's probably Bellatrix Lestrange.

A magically amplified voice rings throughout the room.

"I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black!"

Harry slips out of Remus' grip and then he's gone.

Fucking invisibility cloak. One of these days, I'm going to hang him with it. ----- Never used an Unforgivable Curse, have you, boy?" she chuckles.

The dark witch's hand is not far from her own wand. She's taunting Harry about having to mean it when he does dark magic.

Pathos versus logos, one French scholar decided when studying the topic. Someone can do ordinary magic emotionlessly, acting out just an idea. Not dark magic. Dark spellwork takes raw emotion and blood magic and dark rites more so.

Which also brings her to the disturbing realization that Bellatrix is not nearly as broken as everyone thinks, and at the same time, she's so much more broken than anyone realized.She's never seen Harry this angry, or this torn up, and he can't summon a cruciatus for a woman who really deserves one.

Bellatrix can let one drop from her lips like its nothing, ten seconds after telling a joke. She's not cold. She's not empty or numb or hollow. Bellatrix Black Lestrange is just too much. She's always boiling over.

She's not dangerous despite being insane because it's not a handicap. Bellatrix is dangerous because she can use her own insanity. Uses her instability as just one more weapon. To be able to do the things she does, to channel wildly different emotions on a moment's notice like that... ----- Hermione spots a bit of velvet rope on the ground, not far from one of the entrances.

"Accio rope," she whispers, calling it slowly into her hand.Bellatrix's fingers are curling around that clawed wand of hers. Any moment now, she's going to make use of the fact that Harry's standing there, barking out curses he doesn't understand the mechanics of, his lip trembling. She's going to kill him.

"Flagellum ingis!" Hermione shouts and the rope in her hand catches fire. Crimson, bloody-looking flames. What had been a few inches of fat velvet is now a thirty-foot coil of nasty-looking black leather. The frayed end becomes a hard metal handle. She swings and, by some miracle, connects. ----- Shacklebolt stares at her for a long time, like he doesn't believe her.

There's a knock on the door.

"Enter," he calls over his shoulder. It's Tonks, wobbling on crutches with an expandable sack under her arm. Her typically pink hair is a messy gray and her metamorphagus skills seem to be trying to shift her dislocated jaw back into shape, against the bracing charm the healers put on her.

"Tonks!"

"Wotcher, Hermione," she chuckles.

"Get it?" Kingsley asks.

"Kreacher wasn't happy about it, but yes."

She tips the sack upside down and drops a huge book on the table. It's bound in crimson silk and black lace. No title on the spine, instead two words. Tojous pur. Always pure. The motto of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. "Looks a bit like fancy knickers, don't it?" Tonks jokes. ----- When the Black Grimoire teleports itself into Hermione's lap, no one's laughing. Arthur Weasley goes white as a sheet and Remus's eyes flicker gold momentarily and she could swear she heard a canine's whine.

"Hermione," Remus says, his voice scratchy and small. "Please. That's..."

"Dangerous," Arthur fills in.

They're all looking at her like she's Darth Vader, suddenly. Like she has to be talked down. Like she's suddenly the most dangerous person in the room. She looks at the book. What spells are in this, anyway, that it being in her lap makes the entire Order of the Phoenix flinch?

"I don't want it!" she protests.

The book teleports itself again. Where it goes, none of them can figure out.

----- The book comes back again the night before the battle. She asks Tonks over to try to get rid of it. "S'not something to be afraid of, little devil," Tonks says. "Doesn't have to be." Little devil is Tonks' nickname for her, after finding a photo of Hermione gothed-out at age eleven, a few weeks before she got her letter. She's stopped using it around others. "I'd think you'd hate the Blacks," Hermione mumbles.Tonks sighs, shifting her skirts out of the way and sitting down on the bench beside her. Hogsmeade is empty. Cleared out so fast that everyone left almost everything. They've been eating like kings, and it helps. Tonks especially is thriving. Crazy bitch decided to put the witch-or-wizard debate to bed for all time by rejoining the war nine days after giving birth, slinging spells while leaking milk into her clothes. "I think that'd be like using a time turner to kill my grandparents," Tonks admits. She puffs at her hair, which goes pink, then blue, then green, then turns to something rather like glass. "Being a Black gave me this ability.” "Let's take a look, shall we?" Tonks squeezes her hand tight, and together they open the grimoire. "I'll keep you safe." ----- She's staggering out of the Great Hall. Bloody. Aching. Alive. Before she can find a banister to lean on, Tonks slams into her. Hermione wails. "Sorry," Tonks squeaks. "Just ribs," she grumbles. "What is it?" "Page two hundred seventeen. Knowing what that curse looks like? Saved my life. Remus' too." Hermione huffs."Next time you're trying to thank me, let's talk, all right?" The Grimoire appears in her trunk on the way back to Hogwarts to re-take her seventh year. This time, it won't leave, even when ordered to. ----- Everything is pain and exhaustion. But Rose is gorgeous. She's everything. Hermione fumbles for her wand, gathers the birth blood into the air and then whispers out an ancient curse with her lips pressed to her eldest's tiny, sticky head. Not all curses are meant to hurt the one at the center of them. The Mother's Curses are darker than night and because of the blood linking caster to target, far more powerful than ordinary spells. ------ They split after Hugo's born. It's more to do with her campaign for Minister, which she loses by a hair, than the 'neglect' of Hugo who she keeps so close she thinks that Molly would have blushed. As divorces go, it's bloodless. Pureblood-muggleborn marriages can be rocky, of course, and she produced heirs for the Weasley line. So from the traditionalist point of view, the muggle divorce and the Gringotts paperwork don't mean much. The same ceremony showed that their children's blood bears more of her magic than his. For that reason, or some other reason, Ron never bad-mouths her in public. She never moves to have their names changed to merely 'Granger'. She hears 'mudblood' whispered for the first time in a long while. ----- On one side of her desk, the plaque bears bold green letters that thrum with sorcery. Hermione Jean Granger, Minister of Magic On the other side, visible only in the presence of a Dumbledore's Army coin, she scratched a second marking in one of Tolkien's half-right, half-wrong scripts of Elvish. here sits a servant of the elves ----- "WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR, A BLACK?" a woman shrieks outside her office. Hermione groans, dropping her fork back into her takeout container.Harry chuckles, glancing up from his case file. "Your damn fault," she mutters."You needed the help, old friend. Be a shame if paperwork killed you after all this." "It'd be the most evil thing that tried, so it makes sense." She flicks her wand at her office door. "In here, both of you!" she barks. ----- "Sarah?" Hermione asks, desperate to hear a human voice across the shuffling of papers. "Yes, ma'am?" "Something's been bugging me about...the incident." Missy stiffens. "What?" she asks, flipping another sheet face down."You said, what do you take me for, then added the word Black." There's a polite throat-clearing so familiar sounding that has Hermione scrambling for her wand and leveling it at a sixteen-year-old girl. "Right. Sorry," she mumbles. "Sounded a bit like..." "Umbridge," the girl laughs. "Professor Longbottom and Professor Abbot complain too." "I keep telling her that's going to get her jinxed," the boy next to her huffs. "Interrupting people who that lunatic tortured in mid-lecture rather than just raising her hand." "Shut up, Ballard." "Go on...uh...""Myn," the girl chirps, offering her hand. "Mynara Wallsworth." Hermione shakes it and then bows. "Enlighten us, wise one." "It's just that the Blacks are notorious. There's a bunch of scratches on the sixth-year Slytherin dorm's walls. Hard to tell with fading, but at least twenty. According to legend, it's one mark for each girl who got a hat trick." "A what?" "Each girl who snogged all three of the Black sisters during school."

4 notes · View notes

andrewmoocow · 5 years

Text

Fooly Falls 2 Ride on Shooting Star chapter 3: Beach Episodes for the Win! (originally posted on March 28, 2019)

AN: Now this is where things will get pretty deep. We already got hints of Haruko's past last chapter, plus the confirmation that she ran into Rick Sanchez at some point in that past. But that leaves the question: will there be an adaptation of FLCL Alternative set in the Rick and Morty multiverse? Who knows? ZKDW ZDV VXSSRVHG WR EH D VXQQB EHDFK GDB VRRQ EHJDQ WR ORVH LWV ZDB. RQ DQ LVODQG LW OLHV KLGGHQ VHFUHWV WKDW ZHUH PHDQW WR EH IRUELGGHQ.

Gwen's next nightmare began when she found herself walking in a single file line with tons of other unfamiliar people in an even more unfamiliar place. "M-Mama, Daddy, Tyrone?!" she asked while quietly panicking over her current situation before her location changed from the crowd to a cruddy apartment. That was when she began to hear voices. "Do you realize what you have done Haruha?!" "Who said that?" Gwen wondered in response to the invisible male's stern voice. "Look at your father when he's talking to you Haruha!" A smacking sound soon followed. "Your slacking off and playing that infernal music nearly got us all in trouble! Either behave like every other girl on this godforsaken planet or never show your face around me again!" The moment Gwen closed her eyes in fear, she next found herself on a stage with various pitch black people clearly resembling shadows with an orange head glaring at her before it began to bellow "PLANET WASPRUS, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!" Gwen winced for a moment while the audience watched patiently, begging her to get on with it as if they were fearing for their lives before she noticed her shadow in the spotlight. It was still the shape of a girl, yet her facial structure and hairstyle gave away who's eyes Gwen was viewing from. "Haruko?!" She then began to hear more voices, the three present sounding even more unfamiliar. "Aw shitballs you guys, we gotta run!" the first voice belched loudly as color-coded silhouettes of a human man, a birdlike creature and a bipedal feline became more opaque. "Running from what? The Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood, the Cromulons or Medical Mechanica?!" a second more high-pitched voice responded that sounded like a character from one of the old cartoons Soos loved. "All of the above!" "And it's not just them. Look." the final voice stoically added pointing to the sky. A gigantic red phoenix with a wingspan that encompassed the entire planet of Wasprus suddenly appeared, startling the large head. "IT SEEMS WE HAVE A SPECIAL GUEST DISQUALIFIER THIS EPISODE!" it boomed. "LEGENDARY PIRATE KING ATOMSK, SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!" The Pirate King flapped its wings, slowly tearing the planet apart as Gwen continued staring at it. There was something majestic about the bird's appearance that made her slowly step forward. Her hair began turning pink and she started reaching out to the bird while the belching man's voice sounded once more. "Don't do it babe, that's Atomsk! His power will seriously screw with your head!" Suddenly, a chibi version of Jinyu landed right in front of her. "I tried to warn you!" she scolded in a squeaky voice. As more chibi Jinyus fell from the sky, Gwen came closer to Atomsk as it looked down on her and screeched loudly. That was what caused the girl to finally awaken with a jerk. Gwen panted quietly clinging onto her bedsheets as she looked around her and Tyrone's room. "What's with these dreams lately?" she pondered before another voice was heard, this one she could recognize from miles away. "BEACH DAY, BEACH DAY, BEACH DAY, BEACH DAY!" Tyrone excitedly burst into their room and ran around for a bit before pouncing his older sister while she continued to lay in bed. "Come on Gwen, beach day!" "Oh right." his older sister muttered. "Beach day."

"So Ezra, what do you think of my new bikini?" Leia asked Ezra showing off her school swimsuit themed two-piece. "Please just stop with this." Ezra responded turning away in embarrassment. "I have far more important things to do, like stare out into the distance." "I think that blue is really your color!" Tyrone complimented the older girl. "Though I don't see the point of the big nametag on the top." The Pines and Ramirez familes have decided on a day at Lake Gravity Falls's beach with Haruko, Jinyu and the Chius along for the ride. However Ford was not present on account on having someone over while they were having some fun in the sun. "Okay Arnold, today marks your first day of manhood!" Juan announced rubbing Arnold's shoulders while Jorge stood by with a bottle of sunscreen in hand. "One of the most important aspects of being a man is being brave around total jalapenas like Haruko over there!" As he set the stage for the lesson, Haruko laid down in a beach chair with a cold drink in hand catching some rays in a rather skimpy bikini. "Or maybe baes like Jinyu!" Jorge added pointing to the other guitar player building sandcastles with Melody, Imelda and Abby. Arnold just blinked for a bit before asking "Okay, what did you just say?" "We're workshopping new slang that I'm sure will become the talk of the town within a few days." Juan answered taking the sunscreen away from his brother to hand to the Northwest boy. "Anyway, the best way to get a girl on the beach to have the hots for you is to give them a very good applying of the good ol' sunscreen. But it's your choice bro." "You could either go for them or maybe a certain other duo." Jorge added. "Grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more!" "I know you two have a crush on both my moms! Can you two not creep me out like that?!" Arnold yelped fumbling with the sunblock. "Hey, who's at fault for making Pacifica so extra thicc?" Juan argued before Haruko called the three boys over. "Yoo-hoo, young male friends! Does one of you want to help this jalapena put on sunscreen?" "This is your chance young grasshopper. Go to her." Jorge beckoned their student in manliness. As the two boys proudly watched him awkwardly step forward, Stan on the other hand was stewing in his wheelchair. "Don't get a nosebleed Stanley, don't be like those old anime men who lust after any female that moves!" he commanded himself. "Don't do it, don't do it! Aw, here it comes." Thankfully for Stan, blood didn't fly out his nose. But instead, his own heart started acting up and made him fall out of the chair onto the sand. "Still better than a nosebleed." "Oh my God, Stan!" Dipper cried as he and Mabel raced to their great-uncle's side. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I'm fine Dipper, simply failed to resist looking like a horny senior." Stan answered while his speech was muffled by the sand. "Think I might need to get outta the sun for a while." "Here Grunkle Stan, just sit down with Gwen and you'll be just fine." Mabel stated guiding the con-man to a table where Gwen was sitting in the shade. "Women. Am I right Gwen?" Stan snarked to his great-great niece. "By the way, where's Ford at?" "Stanford said he'll catch up with us later." Jinyu answered appearing from behind. "He just has some business to attend to."

"So Mr. Kanda, what is your history with Raharu?" Ford asked his new friend Tsukata Kanda in his laboratory. "I remember her quite well from when I was a boy." Kanda stated. "She quite literally crashed into my life and pulled a variety of things outta me, but the only one I kept was this." The agent reached into his jacket and out of it came a small squirt gun. "A water gun? How quaint." Ford commented examining the toy. "My great-nephew and great-great niece had giant robots and guitars come out of their noggins." "Then they must be lucky. Their heads must be ripe with N.O energy for her to use." Tsukata explained. "Use to become strong enough to find the Pirate King and take him back from Medical Mechanica." "That's what I've always wondered about her ever since she first met my family." Ford added. "What's her deal with Atomsk and where did she come from? Is she even from this dimension?" "Dimension?" Kanda wondered before Ford pulled out that old photo of him with Rick. "As it turns out, she may have encountered one Rick Sanchez at some point in her life which would explain her sociopathic behavior; as Rick here is a wanted criminal across multiple universes." "So you're implying she might not be of this world?" the Department of Interstellar Immigration agent continued. "I have no idea either." Ford answered with his shoulders slumping in confusion. "But from what I've gathered, she's become more villainous since we last met. We need to keep the kids on high alert should she ever try anything funny."

"Wow, Arnie sure is taking his sweet time." Jorge commented gazing at his watch as Arnold pretty much started slowly crawling on the sand before he realized what time it was. "Hey Juan, don't you have a girlfriend coming to see us?" "Wait, when did Juan get a girlfriend?" Tyrone asked catching the twins' attention as Juan began panicking. "Beneath all that silliness, you're a sweet guy but when did that ever become a thing?" "I am terribly sorry my brotherhood of man!" Juan exclaimed nervously. "I've just nearly lost track of the time!" He then proceeded to run away from the beach at high speeds. "This way fellow knights of masculinity, follow me!" With the three boys running away followed by Arnold deciding to just give up and cower under the shade, Haruko simply shrugged. "Talk about toast not being good in milk." the Vespa Woman snarked. "Hey Gwen, wanna do it for Shaggy over there?" Dipper and Jinyu were quick to defend the younger girl from the former housekeeper's advances. "I'm fine with either you or Jinyu doing it as well, Pine Tree." the orange-haired woman added smiling, causing Dipper to turn redder than blood. Meanwhile the bus had dropped off a young girl around Juan & Jorge's age who had blue hair, a white knee-length dress, a red jewel pendant, green diamond earrings, matching hair-bow and a flower pot in her hands. "Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend!" Juan declared. "This is Aiko." He then lowered his voice for Aiko. "Come on sweetie, say something." "Uh, hello there. My name's Aiko and I'm dating your friend Juan here." Aiko muttered nervously before she hid her face behind her flower pot. "Haha, she's perfect!" Juan laughed pridefully. "What a beautiful lady! She doesn't drink, swear or sweat! A perfect cinnamon roll as they once referred to people like her!" "My name's Tyrone, a friend of your boyfriend. Hey, nice flower pot you got there." Tyrone introduced himself and complimented Aiko's pot. "You like gardening? I kinda like gardening too." he stated trying to find some common ground between the two. "Uh, yeah." Aiko answered. "So tell us Aiko, what made you want to date my brother?" Juan asked her as the four began walking back to the beach. "What qualities do you find attractive?" "Well I just really like him, that's all!" Aiko responded with a squeak. "Oh, I'm so embarrassed!" She hid herself behind the flower pot again making Juan laugh. "So why did you bring that flower pot here?" Tyrone asked again. "It's my emotional support plant." the flower girl answered shyly. "It may not look like it, but this was very expensive." "See, what did I tell you?! So precious!" Juan cackled loudly. "Oh don't say that Juannie, it's embarrassing!" Aiko blushed with a giggle.

Back at the beach, Jinyu had been nominated to put sunscreen on Haruko. Or so she thought, as the Vespa Woman recoiled upon feeling the solution on her back. "So oily! What SPF is this?!" she cried frantically rubbing herself. Jinyu just gazed at the bottle in her hands and read the label. "Oh, it's tanning oil." "It's what?!" Raharu shouted as her skin suddenly turned a golden tan. "Haha, oldest trick in the book!" Stan applauded with a booming laugh. "Up top!" He held up his hand for Jinyu to give him a high-five, but didn't receive any. "Come on, I just want to feel like I accomplished something with someone as a team!" Jinyu rolled her eyes and returned the high-five. "Yes!" "You're all still holding a grudge I see." Haruko commented. "Just for the past three weeks." Dipper stated scowling. "You were stalking us at Greasy's where we went out to lunch, in the streets and even in Gwen's room! This is nothing!" "You've already gotten what you wanted once before." Jinyu added. "It's time you just gave it all up. Quit it already." "No way." the Vespa Woman declared. "I need to fulfill my wish in order to fulfill my-" She was suddenly interrupted by a volleyball to the face thrown by Aiko jumping for joy while the Ramirez children, Candy, Ezra, Wendy and Mabel stood by. "How embarrassing!" The ball was tossed into the air and Haruko jumped high preparing for a spike. "ATTACK NUMBER...ichi." she shouted smacking the ball downward and crashing it into the sand, blinding everyone. "So, why don't we all call it a truce now?" she offered to Jinyu, Dipper and the Stans before joining the game. "Ready or not, I'm gonna come at you all!" "Yeesh, talk about unsubtle." Dipper snarked before the two heard Gwen approach. "That woman over there, what does she want?" Gwen wondered as they watched Haruko toss volleyballs from above at rapid fire speed. Jinyu gave her answer, as stoic as ever. "That woman's the same as me." "Who wants to go next?!" Jinyu's other half challenged making funny noises into a megaphone. "Uh Jinyu. What is it that you want?" the daughter of Dipper asked the Bel-Air driver. "I was once with someone amazing." the older woman answered. "He was big, strong, and simply amazing. With him, one could simply fly around anywhere in space and live forever. But then, he suddenly disappeared; he abandoned me." "We're talking about the bird guy, right?" Stan interjected. "I said it once, and I'll say it again: dead bird reproductive organs taste terrible!" "Not now Stan." Dipper cringed at the thought of it. "Aw come on kid, you really think I was expecting it to taste like frozen peas?!" his great-uncle complained before Jinyu cut them both off. "As I was saying, it turns out in the end I just wasn't his equal." she continued. "I'm not enough for him. At least, not by myself. And yet we still continue to look for him." "We?" Gwen asked as her father put a hand on her head. "She means Haruko sweetie." Mason stated. "Right Dipper. You chase something because you simply can't catch it. Want to touch it, but you know you can't." Jinyu responded before she turned to Gwen. "You must've experienced something like that in your life, correct?" "You're asking what I really want?" Gwen muttered in surprise. She pondered for a moment before Arnold gave an impressive receive to Tyrone, who retaliated with a spike. "All I want is for me and my family to be safe." she muttered picking up the ball after it rolled to her feet.

Throughout the rest of the day, everybody spent their fun in the sun playing volleyball, eating barbecue, smashing watermelons, surfing and building sandcastles. Even Ford joined in when he finally arrived. "The blue spring of adolescence." Haruko remarked burying Jinyu in the sand with a shovel. "Perhaps this is an extension of our friendship, delayed adolescence if you will." "I'm content with you changing your mind about our relationship." Jinyu replied barely reacting to her other half plotting to get rid of her, even as Haruko began mixing cement. "But regardless, this still doesn't mean I'll let you use any of the children for your schemes. No point in fighting anymore." "Is that so?" Haruhara wondered. "Brainwashing suppression mechanism. They took extra measures ahead of time." Julia replied. "And she's got quite the geniuses to defend her when those fail." "You mean the nerd herd?" Haruko snipped before the two women turned their attention to most of the kids and adults working together on a particularly big sandcastle. Everyone was talking about how tall they can make it, except for Gwen who was perfectly silent as she picked up a crab fawning over a gold coin in its free claw. "By the way," Jinyu spoke again as she was now trapped in a concrete cocoon. "I fail to see the fun in this." "Oop, potty emergency!" Haruko chirped leaving the Jazzmaster woman encased in stone. "When you gotta go, you gotta go! AND I'M GOING!" "You need a lift there Jinyu?" Ford asked towering over the woman, and she quietly replied with "I am perfectly fine Stanford, but thanks anyway." As the kids continued working on the sandcastle, Gwen sat under the shade with Aiko and Ezra. "So, you not gonna swim in the ocean?" Aiko asked cheerfully to the dour girl. "No, no I'm not." Gwen moaned. "Then why even go to the beach if you're not going in the water? Do you have aquaphobia or something?" Ezra commented kicking his feet up on the table. "Better question is, what about you?" the younger girl in the cap replied. "Is it because of Leia?" "W-what gave you that idea you aesaekki?!" Ezra screeched in embarrassment as his face turned redder than Gwen's hair. "I don't know, you just seemed to blush at her swimsuit." Gwen remarked with a barely visible smirk. "Speaking of which, why didn't you bring yours Aiko?" "'Scuse me? That's just what Juan and I didn't agree to." Aiko grinned much to the two's confusion.

As the sun began to set, Juan & Jorge taught Arnold how to make a campfire while Aiko watched, Ian, Leia & Tyrone skipped stones, Ezra sat on a rock by himself and Imelda was getting ready to put Abby to bed. Meanwhile the adults chatted while Jinyu remained trapped in dry cement, with the waves gently taking her off the sand. "So now I have to use these sticks?" Arnold asked trying to light a fire with a pair of twigs. "Exactly my boy! You've been paying attention!" Juan exclaimed as their student in manliness rigorously rubbed the wood together to create a few sparks. "Hey, I'm doing it!" "You're doing amazing sweetie." Jorge congratulated Arnold before the sparks became a full ember. "Woohoo! Hey Aiko, over here!" Juan called to his girlfriend. "Do you think it's cool how much we've taught him?!" The flower pot girl beamed brightly before Dipper stepped toward the three boys. "Hey kids, have you seen Gwen anywhere?" "Beats me. And Haruko is gone too." Jorge responded. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!" Arnold shouted racing up and down the shore in search of his cousin. "Wait, Gwen is gone?!" Tyrone added just as concerned for his older sister. "We have to find her before nightfall. I'm getting worried sick." Dipper announced alerting everyone on the beach to the current situation. After an hour of searching, they regrouped at the table with no success. "Where could Gwen be?" Candy asked. "She couldn't have gone far, but we combed every last centimeter of the beach." Ford stated. "Then there's only one place left on this lake that we haven't touched yet," Stan theorized. "And that's Scuttlebutt Island." "Or as Mabel and I call it, Butt Island!" Soos interjected. "Oh you scallywag!" Mabel giggled. "Uh, excuse me." Aiko squeaked. "I still need to get home. Can someone walk me to the bus?" "Why I'd be Patrick Stewart to milady!" Juan politely exclaimed taking his girlfriend by the hand. "Aw, that's my little gentleman." Melody said grinning. "But on an unrelated note, how are we going to get there?" "I think I've got a plan guys." Jorge announced adjusting his sunglasses. "It's time to set sail on the SS Cool Dude II!" At the bus station, Aiko dropped her timid facade for a more harsh and stingy one as she said goodbye to Juan. "Just so we're clear, I'm being charged overtime! Are we clear?" she demanded. "I am terribly sorry." Juan moaned, which earned him a scoff. "Give it." "Uh, here." Juan whimpered handing Aiko a wad of dollar bills. When she snatched it, all the Ramirez boy got in return was her flower pot. "So, was the character I created to your liking?" Aiko asked examining her earnings. "Oh yes, positively adorable!" Juan answered excitedly before the driver announced the bus's oncoming departure. "Okay, all there." the girl stated hopping onboard. "You boys think girls who're only shy and timid are just so precious. And by the way, the pot is yours." "Oh, uh..." Juan stuttered at the thought before Aiko switched back to her character. "A present for you!" she chirped gleefully. "Thanks Aiko! I'm gonna take good care of this-" Juan responded gratefully when he was cut off. "No. No it wasn't. Let's just say that you exchanged the envelope for that. Wouldn't want people finding out that I'm a rent-a-date." "So I bought this from you!" Juan realized as the bus began to leave. "Bye or whatever." Aiko bluntly said farewell before the vehicle drove away, leaving her fake date in the dust. The boy's train of thought went off the rails when Jorge snuck up from behind him to his shock. "Hey bro, you wanna be pirates?"

"Yo-ho, yo-ho. A pirate's life for me." Tyrone, Juan, Jorge and Leia sang onboard the SS Cool Dude II that was now captained by Ford as it left Melody, Imelda, Abby and Candy on the beach. "An insect took our friend away from her hut, look out me hearties yo-ho. And whisked her away to the island of butts, look out me hearties yo-ho." "We've just set sail and I'm already feeling seasick." Ezra groaned growing tired of the singing while he and Arnold leaned over the back of the vessel. "But we still have to find Gwen." Arnold declared trying to be bold as he was suddenly cut off. "When you were a kid, did you ever draw pictures of fireworks while watching them with your family, only for it to be too late?" "W-who's there?" Arnold yipped in shock. "Wait, Jinyu?! Where are you?" he said looking around for the woman. "Do you know where Gwen is?" "You'd try to draw every last colored speck of light. But the only way to color the night sky itself was with just a black pencil." Jinyu continued monologuing. "They lit up the dark sky so beautifully with all the colors." "What does fireworks have to do with finding Gwen?!" Ezra shouted. "All beautiful things eventually fade away." That was when Arnold reminisced on the sandcastle they all built together. Turns out Gwen put on a small smile at that time. "LAND HO! LAND HO!" Ian roared when the Cool Dude II finally reached Scuttlebutt Island. "Weigh anchor everyone!" "Well, this is it." Dipper declared dropping the boat's anchor as the crew disembarked. "Everyone needs to stay sharp. There's no telling what awaits us here." As they marched onward toward the depths of the island, Jinyu washed up on shore just as a shooting star glimmered over her. "Oh, the first star."

"So why do they say three square meals a day anyway?" Tyrone asked while the group continued exploring the Scuttlebutt woods. "A square only has four sides and I have no idea where the meal part came from?" "Last I remember, it means eating well." Pacifica replied. "That makes sense, but what do squares have to do with it?" Tyrone continued. "Quiet everyone, I hear noises!" Ford alerted putting a stop to their sojourn. The noises in question were quite unusual, ranging from beavers chittering while chainsaws roared and dinosaurs snarled. "Dinosaurs, here?" "Oh no. How hot is it today?" Mabel groaned in wonder. The dinosaur stomped closer and closer until it revealed itself as a cute little T-rex that seemed around Tyrone's height with a peculiar red plate on its back, orange boots and a large snout. "Aw! Hey there little guy!" Juan said becoming amazed at how cute the little dinosaur was before it revealed its frog-like tongue that grabbed the boy by his ankle and swallowed him whole. "HELP ME!" "Oh my God, Juan!" Soos cried out shaking the dinosaur by its torso trying to free his son. The creature relented and laid an egg with green spots patterning it that hatched to reveal a traumatized Juan. "You okay there little dude?" "I think I learned what it's like to be reincarnated. And I also learned what flavor the universe is." Juan stuttered utterly astounded at the experience as the dinosaur walked away. "Really, what was it?" Jorge asked. "It was black licorice. Yeah, we're utterly doomed." his twin brother stated. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna lie down here and contemplate on how the platypus came to be. You all go on ahead." "Where did that thing come from?" Tyrone asked. "I think I know what." Ford stated taking a knee towards a toxic waste spill. "Radioactive ooze, classic!" Stan exclaimed. "And it's not just that. Look over there!" Dipper added as a colony of beavers with chainsaws for tails emerged chittering cutely. "Sweet, chainsaw-tailed beavers!" Leia cheered becoming distracted by the little critters. "Oop, stay back sis! They do have chainsaws for tails." Ian cautioned his younger sister. "Now let's not get too distracted, cause I feel all these freaks of nature must mean we're close." "Yep, I can definitely see a Medical Mechanica factory from here." Pacifica noted turning her gaze to a giant iron nearby. "When did that show up?" Wendy asked. "I honestly have no idea. Weren't they supposed to be done with Gravity Falls when Atomsk first showed up here?" Ezra wondered. "Though I have a strong feeling we'll be proven wrong soon enough." "No turning back now. Gwen is nearby." Dipper declared stepping further into the dark island forest. "Come on guys." While the others followed, Ford stayed behind to examine the waste before putting on some protective gloves to scoop it up in a beaker. "This should be useful." he muttered.

When they finally reached the Medical Mechanica plant stationed on Scuttlebutt Island, the factory was horrendously dilapidated and a small hole was there to serve as their makeshift entrance. "Okay, here's the plan everyone." Ian announced. "Me, Leia, Dipper, Mabel, Ford, Arnold, Pacifica & Wendy are gonna go in first while the rest of you serve as lookout. This could be a bumpy ride ahead of us." "Aw come on Ian, why can't Ford be lookout while I join you guys?" Stan complained. "If you switch us, I'll let you become your dad's successor!" he tried to barter with the eldest Ramirez son, but his offer fell on deaf ears as Ian snuck in first. "Time for me to put that fencing club practice to good use. And Leia, now might be a good time to whip out all you learned from the kickboxing class Stan signed you up for." "I came prepared." Leia grinned determinedly preparing to use her sarong as a whip. "Wish us luck Grunkle Stan." Mabel said to Stan before she joined her group in exploring the factory. "Oh just you all wait, I'm gonna maim her the hardest by the story's end." he grumbled. Ian's group tiptoed into the Medical Mechanica factory watching out for any sign of Gwen. "Just gotta be quiet everyone. No sudden movements." Dipper whispered just as he began hearing the voices of two familiar girls. One voice was struggling to escape while another must've been her captor. Upon hearing the voices, Dipper scooted to the source hiding behind a pair of large doors. "Let's get to know each other better." he listened in on Haruko as his daughter continued to struggle. The father yipped in fear for her safety and began to peer through the doors to get a closer look. "Everyone, over here." he signaled for the others to group up with him. "Oh no." "Let's get to know each other better." Haruko remarked towering over Gwen in a nurse's uniform. "Please stop." the younger girl whimpered before the Vespa Woman unbuttoned the Hawaiian shirt and the shorts she had on to reveal a pink, purple and white striped one piece underneath. "Oh my, looks like someone was planning on having fun today. Now tell me, where can I hit you so you can overflow?" "Overflow? What kinda hot garbage is she on about?" Leia wondered incredulously as they felt an enraged Dipper about to break down the doors. "Oh dammit, someone help me stop Mr. Pines before he makes a huge mistake and blows our cover!" she ordered trying to hold the father back from barging in, but was too late as he kicked down the doors screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER RAHARU?!" Arnold on the other hand got one good look at his captive cousin and made a bright green blob creature emerge from his forehead to everyone's shock. "What, it came outta him?" Haruhara muttered as the creature slithered for a bit before it faced Arnold. "I have no idea what you're supposed to be, but let me give you one command." he said. "Go save Gwen!" Back outside the factory, the rest of the Cool Dude crew awaited their teammates' return when a loopy Juan came wobbling towards them carrying a flower pot in his hands and a strange stone shape on his back. "Oh hey bro, you're back!" Jorge cheerfully greeted his twin. "How did contemplating the universe go?" "I just paid a visit to the Garden of Eden. And the apples were terrible!" Juan exclaimed shaking his head to relieve himself of his daze while planting the stone on the ground, revealing itself to be the same one that Jinyu was trapped in. "Where'd the flower pot come from? Was it a gift from your girlfriend when she dumped you?" Stan asked the pompadour boy, who then screamed at his brother "YOU TOLD THEM YOU IDIOT?!" "I cannot tell a lie!" Jorge quoted George Washington before bringing his brother close. "But I didn't tell them she was basically a callgirl." he whispered into his ear. "That's between you and me. We can Tony Hawk about it later." "Where are the kids?" Jinyu asked Soos. "Oh yeah dude, they just ran in there after Haruko to save Gwen." the former handyman replied brightly. "I'm sure things will be all hunky-dory by sunrise."

Meanwhile in a small house back at Gravity Falls, Aiko had arrived home to her father who was reading the papers. "Hey Aiko." Masurao asked the girl. "Do you know what happened to the flower pot that was in this room?" "No clue." Aiko fibbed going upstairs, prompting suspicion from her father before he put down his tabloids & shut the door behind him, and the room gave way to reveal various machinery hooked up to a screen with the eyepatched man on it. "This is codename Eyepatch." Eyepatch said. "Do you have an update?" "Actually, I have a slight problem." Masurao proclaimed. "What is it?" Eyepatch asked. "The flower pot seems to have gone missing. What about you and the others?" the capped male replied. "Tonkichi and I are waiting for the right moment to strike. But Kanda on the other hand was able to fish info from Stanford about that motorbike chick." Eyepatch explained making a picture of Haruko mindlessly picking her nose while giving a peace sign. "If what he says is true, she's not of this world and we got an interdimensional apocalypse on the horizon."

"So what species of flower is this supposed to be?" Ezra wondered examining the pot. "Doesn't seem like anything I've researched, so I assume it's just a simple weed." Suddenly the factory behind them exploded while Haruko soared high above it with Gwen in hand and Dipper, Mabel, Tyrone & Arnold clinging onto the green creature chasing after her. With a smirk, Haruko tossed the younger girl away to smack the beast with her bass and send it flying with another hit. "Hey, leave my niece alone you creep!" Mabel shrieked clinging onto the biker's front and giving her a hard slap across the face. Haruko returned the slap and it soon devolved into the two women flailing their hands at each other as they kept falling. As for the boys, they continued grabbing hold of the green blob while it continued going after the airborne Gwen. Thankfully they were able to catch her, but she landed face-first into Arnold's chest causing her cap to react and spawn a mass of wires & metals from her forehead that roped her in and absorbed all nearby metal, even the Medical Mechanica factory. "What the hell is going on now?!" Ian shouted while he, Leia, Pacifica, Ford and Wendy evacuated just in time. "More N.O." Ford declared looking up at the giant object above them. "We have to save Gwen quick before it gets any worse!" "G-Gwen." Arnold muttered in shock at the sight before him. "Sis." Tyrone added just as worried sick. Out of complete nowhere, the flower pot made a comeback by landing on Arnold's face and making him lose his grip on the creature. Dipper & Tyrone were sent flying as well due to the shockwave until the three Pines were rescued at the last moment by Jinyu's Bel-Air. "Listen Arnold, you are the only one that can save Gwen." Julia stated from the backseat of the car. "Back here." she called to the trio lying down in her cement confinement. "So that's where you've been!" Dipper exclaimed. "Not even going to ask how you ended up like this." he added before turning to the giant hunk of metal in the sky. "So that thing's got Gwen?" "We've seen some crazy stuff since you and Haruko came into our lives, but this is the last straw!" Arnold added fiercely. "You gotta help us Jinyu, please!" "If you are unable to draw fireworks; well then," Jinyu declared. "Try shooting one in the air!" Her shades twinkled before her limbs burst from the dry concrete and she stepped onto the hood of her car. "Do it again, as many times as you need!" The Bel-Air once more turned into a mech ready for another fight. "On second thought, maybe you should be one instead!" Jinyu exclaimed folding her arms in a similar matter to a certain fusion of a pair of buster machines before tossing Arnold her bass. "Aw yeah, this is amazing!" Raharu cheered mounting onto the green creature while it waved a white flag in defeat. She smacked its butt with her Mustang to make it fly further toward the machine holding Gwen captive before spotting the Bel-Air giving chase with Arnold standing on the hood with guitar in hand. Haruko wordlessly commanded the blob to fire from one of its hoses, but the Bel-Air blocked the energy spheres and the two charged. The nurse gave the transforming car a mighty smack on the arm and chased it once more. "Cream her Arnold, make your mothers proud!" Pacifica cheered her son on before realizing that Mabel was still falling. "Oh my god, Mabel!" she cried politely helping Stan out of his wheelchair so that she can use it to catch her wife. "COMING IN HOOOOOTTTTT!" Mabel hollered descending into the seat of her grunkle's chair. "And she sticks the landing! Thank you, thank you very much!" she declared to an invisible crowd before Pacifica grabbed her face to give her a big kiss. "Knew you'd come through honey." The blob continued firing at the Bel-Air, but thankfully Arnold refused to back down while Dipper was desperate to escape. "I can't take this anymore!" he screamed lighting up three cigarettes to calm his nerves. "Are you kidding dad?! BEST BEACH DAY EVER!" Tyrone shouted excitedly. Haruko on the other hand wasn't feeling the same way as she commanded the creature to once again fire, this time at one of the automobile's rocket boosters giving her an opening. "Hah, got you now!" Then suddenly, the metallic creature roared and whipped the Bel-Air away, ejecting Dipper & Arnold from it and the latter still armed with Jinyu's guitar. This would prove the perfect chance for the son of Mabel & Pacifica to land a fatal blow upon the beast, which led to Gwen finally being revealed. "Are you okay Gwen?! Say something!" Arnold cried for his unconscious cousin. "Oh no no no no! What am I going to do now?!" "Hmph, she doesn't have enough yet." Haruko suggested having already touched down behind the two on the green blob while it deflated. "Enough of what?" Arnold asked the older woman standing over them with her bass. "A tundra? Tsun-dora? Tsundere?" Haruhara muttered to herself before making her findings clear. "She's definitely one of those people." "Just shut up already Raharu!" Dipper snarled dusting himself off after a nasty landing before racing to his daughter's side. "Please wake up Gwennie! Please!" he exclaimed clutching the girl's shoulder which made her moan. "Saying her name ain't gonna help Pine Tree, let an old friend do the heavy lifting." Haruko lifted her guitar skyward ready to bludgeon Gwen, but Arnold had finally had enough. "Leave them alone!" he shouted shoving her away with tears in his eyes. "Aw." Haruko cooed putting down her string instrument and getting close to the boy. "Then take that hat offa her." she whispered into his ear. "Go on, don't be shy. No need to worry. Your voice will reach her." "Don't do it Arnold, it's a trap!" Jinyu called dropping Mabel, Pacifica, the Stans and Tyrone from her car just in time for it to be shot down. "Leave my son alone you maniac!" Pacifica growled, but the five were too late as Haruko sat down with Arnold in her arms. "You can reach it, it's deep inside of her." she continued toying with his arm. "Why don't we do it together, kay?" Arnold gasped, realizing what was happening, and made her back off. "I don't need your help! Let me help her myself!" he shouted defiantly reaching for the bobble of Gwen's cap. "Don't do it Arnold! You have no idea what will happen next!" Dipper cried to his nephew, but his words fell on deaf ears before the cap started whirring violently. Red sparks erupted from the girl's head as it felt like her hat was literally drilling itself into her skull. When all was said and done, Haruko rapidly tip-toed toward Gwen and attempted to remove her beanie from her head with little success. But what was successful was the fall of the metal creature as its pieces began falling into the lake before the eyes of everyone still on Scuttlebutt Island. As the Pines began to get up to see what was happening, they barely had time to react before the beast collapsed underneath them. When all the metal was completely submerged in the ocean, the sun rose and they were saved by Jinyu as she parked her car on the new metallic part of the island. "Come on Gwen, please come back to us!" Dipper cried trying to wake his daughter up one last time. "What is even going on?!" "I told you all not to touch that!" Jinyu cautioned the Pines just as the rest came racing toward them, along with Haruko freeing herself from the scrap. "That was perhaps the best dogfight I had ever seen." Soos commented. "Yeah, you both totally went Red Wedding on each other!" Juan added excitedly. "As in murdering hundreds of innocents, including a few pregnant women and their unborn children?" Ezra bluntly replied adjusting his glasses, prompting the two boys to remain silent. "Yeah, let's just drop the slang thang." Juan announced and Jorge quietly nodded. "The emergency system has been activated." Jinyu informed her other self. "And there's nothing you can do to stop it." "Aw geez!" Haruko complained. "Damn, they're so sneaky. Those schwifty bastards." she remarked staring up at the sky. "This is all because you tried to tempt my son." Pacifica coldly responded. "That's right, Hakama tried to..." Arnold tried to speak up before Gwen finally began to rise from her slumber. "W-where did she come from? H-h-here comes Gwen." "What did Arnold do to her?" Juan asked. "I do not want to know." Jorge replied just as puzzled. "Yeah, let's just keep this an enigma til next time." a raccoon with a strange accent suddenly appeared behind them. "Hehehehe, most of the characters in this story are SOOOO stupid!" "W-what the hell, where did he come from?! We didn't see him at all throughout this entire chapter!" Jorge cried in shock over the raccoon. "Ah yes, I'd like you to meet Bawuu, my new pet raccoon, or so he calls himself." Ezra introduced Bawuu while he perched on his shoulder. "He just showed up to me and declared that we should live together, because he claims most of the animals on the island are imbeciles. And I have a feeling he'll barely add anything to our adventures going forward." "Well, guess we got no other choice everyone." Stan announced. "You're right Stanley, we'll have to search for the makers of the hat. And it's not from some chic fashion joint." Jinyu added. "I suppose I'll just have to bust on in." Haruko remarked knowing what their next objective was. "Right," the white-haired woman replied. "our objectives may be different, but our target is still one in the same." Haruko just stared up at the sky for a moment in silence when she finally revealed the name of that target. "Medical Mechanica."

AN: At long last, chapter 3 is done! Apparently I'm just as talented at procrastinating as I am with everything else I'm good at. Ooh speaking of which, still need to finally get back to work on Gravity Soul! Until we meet again some sunny day everyone!

1 note · View note

gaiatheorist · 6 years

Text

Guns.

Hello, I’m mentally unstable, and I have access to a gun. Don’t hit the panic button, my ‘condition’, whatever it is, is broadly manageable, and I’m in the UK, we don’t have assault rifles. (I have fired an assault rifle, it was an SA-80, on a school trip to Strensall army barracks.) I genuinely don’t know the make or model of ‘my’ air rifle, I haven’t touched it in years, I doubt I’d be able to load it now, with the hand-thing, and the eyes-thing. I’d consider selling it, to buy more beans, but I don’t really know the legalities of selling-on an air rifle. It was bought second-hand, I think the ex paid about £100 for it, from some bloke who knew some other bloke on the allotments. Always the status-things with him, one birthday, he bought me night-sights for it “So we can stay on the allotment later, you won’t have to pack up when it gets dark.” Who says romance is dead, when the man in your life buys you a gadget so you can stand for even longer in a freezing cold mud-bath, shooting rats? The sights/scope/whatever never came out of the box, my fingers aren’t particularly obedient at the best of times, fiddling tiny metal pellets into the slide-thingy of the rifle in the cold, and the dark was never going to happen. We’ll file that one under ‘I married a gibbon.’

It’s the ‘status’ thing that’s really messing with my head. The gibbon started off with someone else’s old air rifle, then upgraded to a ludicrously expensive one, and added all the gadgets, so he could pretend to be GI Joe. Watching someone else shoot rats isn’t really much of a hobby, and the kid and I would be repeatedly ‘shushed’, and told to keep still. It’s genuinely a miracle that he never shot the dog, because the dog didn’t keep quiet or still, the dog chased rats, and barked at fence-posts. The dog is an idiot, but he did kill a lot of rats. Eventually realising that the kid and I were bored senseless standing still, and being quiet, GI Gibbon, complete with his red headlight (rats can’t see red light, apparently, I don’t know whether that’s true?) decided we should ALL shoot rats. (Poison was iffy, with the idiot-dog, and free-ranging hens, ducks, and geese, we did set traps, but one trap only kills one rat, and it’s pretty grim emptying the trap the following day, when the other rats have eaten the trapped rat, leaving a weird rat-suit in the trap.)

Splendid, a ‘family hobby’, except it wasn’t, it was pest control, we were spending upwards of £20 a week on bird-food, and, even with enclosed feeders, the rats were still swarming in for the spillage. Some nights there was a veritable carpet-of-rats, it’s a good thing I’m not squeamish. (I’m actually less squeamish than the gibbon, I’d batter a rat to death with anything that came to hand, he preferred the clean-distance of the rifles.) Every single evening, for a fair few years. In from work, check whether the kid has any homework, buzz around the house tidying up and making dinner, eat dinner, clean up after dinner while the gibbon ‘relaxes’ on the sofa, and then out to the mud-bath to collect eggs, and shoot rats. That’s why we had guns. (I did once earn massive kudos from a gang of ne’er-do-wells on the next allotment, I’d rolled and lit a cigarette, nonchalantly shot a rat clean through the eye-socket, flicked the dead rat over the fence with some old barbecue tongs, paused for a drag on the cigarette, and then re-loaded. NOBODY is used to women-like-me.)

Shooting rats is boring, you’d manage to pick off a couple, and then the rest would smell the fear-blood, and bugger off to raid an allotment where people weren’t shooting at them. The gibbon actually wanted to build a gun-tower, and do overnight rat-shooting. No, thank you, see previous point, once the rats can smell the death, it doesn’t matter how much food is spilled, or how many fancy gadgets you have on your rifle, they’re not going to come back until the blood of their former comrade cools down, and stops smelling of “Oh, shit, I’m dead.” (Once it cools, they think it’s food, they’re opportunistic scavengers.) I was an OK shot, I hit more than I missed, and I ALWAYS hit the head, there’s nothing quite like a squealing gut-shot rat dragging entrails all over the place, while you try to stop your idiot-dog making it into an intestines-and-fur jigsaw.

(Oh dear, I’ve just remembered ‘pancake rat.’ The kid had shot a rat, in the head, as I’d taught him, and, when he approached the mostly-dead rodent, I assumed he was going to throw it over the fence. The allotment backed onto a farmer’s field, and the ditch between the allotment fences and the field was our only ‘security’ against the regular break-ins. We had 8ft chicken-wire fences, with barbed wire on top on all sides, realistically, all the smack-heads would have needed was wire-cutters, and a bit of patience, but smack-heads don’t think straight, on more than one occasion they’d spent time breaking through the heavily fortified gate, when the chicken-wire at the side of it would have gone through with a couple of good kicks. The open field was a weak-point security-wise, even before the reprobates managed to get themselves trapped in a fenced-in area with three geese. It appeared to be accepted practice on the allotments to throw ‘stuff’ in the metre-gap between the back fences and the ditch, to act as obstacles for thieves. ‘Stuff’ included broken glass, rusty barbed wire, anything broken, bagged-up dog-shit, and dead rats. The kid didn’t pick up the rat and throw it over the fence, he re-loaded, and shot it again. I assumed he’d aimed badly the first time, and was finishing off the job. Then he re-loaded, and shot it again. He was literally on top of the rat, he couldn’t miss from that range, so I approached, to see what he was up to.

“Have you killed it?”

“Yes, but I didn’t think it had quite enough holes in its face, so I added some more, for ventilation.”

“Right, you know we pay for the pellets, don’t you?”

“Yes. Do you think it’s dead enough now?”

I crushed the rat’s skull under the heel of my boot.

“It is, it’s flat.”

The gibbon couldn’t stand to feel left out of anything, and came over, to see what we were doing.

“Have you killed one, son? Well done!”

“Yes, I shot it, and then I decided it wasn’t holey enough, then Mum made a pancake-rat.”

I wonder how many years he’ll spend in therapy for that?)

So, we had a rifle each, for vermin control. The crossbows weren’t vermin control, they were part of the ex’s ‘Apocalypse prep’ paranoia, and I wanted nothing to do with them. I suppose he’ll be sorted if we do end up with a ‘Mad Max’ Brexit, they’re no good to me, I can’t load them. I don’t know what sort of ID he had to provide to buy crossbows, that’s really quite worrying, because he doesn’t really HAVE any ID, he bought the big crossbow before photo driving licences, and I think he ordered the ‘compact’ one online. That’s more than ‘quite worrying’, it’s terrifying, he’s generally inept, but not ‘really’ dangerous, and he could just stroll into a sporting-goods shop somewhere, and come out with a crossbow.

What I’m waffling around the edges of here is that once he had ‘a gun’, he wanted a ‘better’ gun, and when he had the ‘better’ gun, he spent an awful lot of time researching the various ways to have that gun made more powerful. He wanted me to have my rifle ‘tuned’ or ‘gassed’, or whatever it was, to make it more powerful, I refused, because all I needed the rifle to be able to do was penetrate rat-skull quickly and cleanly. There aren’t that many guns knocking about in the UK, and, as far as I am aware, there is stringent licencing and regulation around ‘real’ guns, as opposed to piffly air-rifles like mine. I remember the ex, and the old next-door neighbour chatting shit about paying half each to buy a ‘Rhino Hunter’ crossbow. I’m not going to look up the draw-weight or any other statistics for it, I’m probably on enough lists as it is. ‘Rhino Hunter.’, we don’t have wild rhinoceros in the UK, aren’t they endangered, anyway? My delusional ex, and the next door neighbour, who was under the care of various psychiatric teams were planning to buy a ludicrously high-powered crossbow. They didn’t, in the end.

There is no reason for a person living in Yorkshire to have a crossbow that may or may not be capable of taking down a rhino. To my mind, there’s no reason for citizens of the USA to own machine guns. Contentious? I don’t think so, I can’t think of any real-life situation where an automatic, or semi-automatic weapon is ‘needed.’ A teenage girl caught the world’s attention, Emma Gonzales, pointing out links between the president, and the National Rifle Association, then the ‘official’ response being “Let’s not be too hasty!”, before blaming ‘the mental’, not the fact that anyone over the age of 18 can go out and buy a machine gun. (There may be caveats to that, I don’t know much about US gun-law.)

The issue for me, about the particular kind of mentally disturbed individual who would choose to open fire in a school is that most of them don’t walk around with a big placard stating “I am mentally disturbed, and I’m going to murder people.” With this one, there were notes of concern, that weren’t investigated thoroughly, but, for every potential murderer with ‘flags’, there will be many more undetected. The ones that ‘just snapped’, the ones that took great pains to conceal their intent and plans, the ones that the neighbours say ‘seemed so normal.’ The issue isn’t all about the mental illness, there are millions of people, all around the world, with varying degrees of different kinds of mental illness, the distinction between US gun-mentality and the rest of the world is the issue, not the individual’s mental state. (Side-line, but I read a news article this morning about a UK Member of Parliament being the victim of a street robbery. The weapon? A carton of milk. I’m sure it was distressing and painful to be attacked with a carton of milk, but it’s not a gun, is it?) “The guns are not the problem!” “It is our right to bear arms!” “Prise it from my cold, dead fingers!” etc. The guns, in my opinion, are the problem.

The UK is very different to the USA on many levels. We don’t keep guns in our bedside tables or handbags ‘just in case’. That would be against the law, several laws, actually. We don’t carry anything that could be construed as an offensive weapon. (Pretty much anything can be an offensive weapon, depending on intent, and manner of use, the kid and I used to play ‘How would you kill a zombie with that?’, there is very little in this room that I couldn’t use to disable/disarm an assailant, but I’m not likely to be attacked, both of my doors are locked, it’s 5am, pretty much everybody would be too tired to make a very good job of attacking me.) In 1996, the Dunblane primary school shooting led rapidly to an almost-complete ban on the personal ownership of handguns in the mainland UK, we just don’t ‘have’ guns, in general. (Yes, OK, some people DO have guns, but for specific purposes, and stored securely, as well as fewer ‘rampage killings’, we also have fewer toddlers accidentally shooting family members.)

I don’t agree with the US government’s suggestion that arming teachers, or school staff is the solution. I cannot accept the argument of “The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.”, if the ‘bad guy’ didn’t have the gun in the first place, there would be no cause to arm the ‘good guy’. (It’s a good thing we don’t ‘have’ guns, UK schools are struggling to afford textbooks and pens, there’s nothing left in the kitty for guns.) How many guns? One in each classroom, because if they’re centrally held somewhere, you’re factoring in a delay? If that scheme went ahead, surely the ‘bad guy’ would kill the teacher/adult first, potentially leaving a gun on the classroom floor? The fact that ‘some’ Americans are comfortable with firearms doesn’t mean that ‘all’ would be, I saw a tweet the other day, where a teacher had said they wouldn’t trust some colleagues to hold their favourite mug, never mind a gun. I’ve worked with people in schools where I’d have to think twice about letting them use one of my better pens, they’re educators, not the SAS/Marines. Putting guns into schools is not a workable solution. The logistics alone would be a nightmare, especially factoring-in that this gunman was a disgruntled former student, I’ve seen my fair share of disgruntled students, they’re bad enough when they’re throwing chairs, I don’t want to think of the potential consequences of them gaining access to a firearm.

I wasn’t ‘at’ work if or when any ‘incident response’ drills were done, so I didn’t have to deal with traumatised children imagining-the-worst. On ‘my’ school site, I can’t think of a single classroom that didn’t have floor-to-ceiling glass on the corridor-side, and almost all of the classrooms only had one door. Fish in a barrel, it’s a good thing we don’t have guns. It has been heartbreaking to read testimonies from teachers and education support staff all around the world, about ‘drilling’ children, in some cases very young children, on the expected response to an armed intruder. That shouldn’t be ‘expected’, children shouldn’t have to process that, what the USA is doing, in pandering to ‘the right to bear arms’ is normalising in children all around the world that they ‘could’ be shot in their classrooms. That’s profoundly unhealthy, and deeply unbalanced. Nobody, in civilian life, needs an automatic, or semi-automatic weapon, for anything, the vast majority of people don’t need any kind of gun at all.

In amongst the adults-explaining, and the adults-deflecting-and-denying, we have the nearly-adults. Some of those adolescents have just buried their friends, and they’re still making more sense than a lot of the adults calling them ‘reactive’ or ‘hysterical.’ If the USA doesn’t address the fact that ‘anyone’ can buy and even upgrade an assault-rifle, all they’re likely to see is more blood, more lives needlessly cut short, as more people will decide to ‘fight fire with fire’. If the government doesn’t step in, and legislate, some people will decide to arm themselves, there will be more accidental shootings, more suicides, and, potentially more ‘rampages’. These bright, brave children are right, the old men in suits are wrong, the world can see that.

2 notes · View notes

hamilficsfordays · 7 years

Text

New Beginning—Chapter Five: Colossal Load of Bullshit

Disclaimer: I don’t know Lin, nor do I know any of his friends or family.

Also posted on Ao3

Summary: Lin is distraught after losing Alexa. Alexa is feeling the same way about Lin. Things appear to be out of their control. It’s time to fight back and Vanessa knows exactly how to do so.

Rating: T for language

Words: 2874

Askbox / Masterlist / Chapter Four / Chapter Six

Lin and Vanessa headed home that night, trying to get a few hours of much needed sleep and relieving his parents of their babysitting duties.

Lin desperately tried to keep his eyes closed to no avail. He’d watched the sunrise that morning from their bedroom window, feeling the exhaustion drape over his entire body despite no desire to give in.

With only a few minutes before Sebastian was due to wake up, he headed to Alexa’s room, where he grabbed the duffel bag she’d arrived with and attempted to fill it with clothing that his mother had bought her. Being in the room without her was emotionally taxing; it wasn’t long before he was choking back tears.

When the bag was mostly full he sat for a moment on the edge of her bed, breathing; trying to accept this new reality.

Suddenly he’d remembered something, an item in his office that he felt compelled to put inside as well.

His copy of Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton was covered in notes, both written on the pages and on post-it notes. After years of working on his production, it had tons of ideas and concepts stored inside. He grabbed another post it note, writing a quick note and attaching it to the inside of the front cover before he stored it at the bottom of the duffel bag.

Alexa was forced to stay in the hospital, given fluids to rehydrate her before her psych eval. The next morning, Claudia arrived again, greeting her with a small bag of clothing.

“You can’t be serious…” she started, seeing the bag. “You realize none of this was their fault, right?”

“Nothing is set in stone yet.” she insisted. “But for the time being, it looks better if we pull you out.”

“Right. I forgot it’s only about how it looks. How someone actually feels isn’t important to you people.” she rolled her eyes.

A nurse stepped into her room then, two cups in her hand.

“I have a Plan B pill for you.” she offered, handing the cup to the teen. “If you want it.”

She took it without question, swallowing the pill with the water the nurse handed her in the other cup.

“Once you’re back to a hundred percent, they’ll relocate you to the pediatric psych ward. In the meantime,” Claudia pulled a small bag out of her purse, a collection of pills inside. “Your zoloft.”

She took that pill as well. Claudia sat in the chair on the far side of the room, her bag of Alexa’s things at her side.

“I was hoping to talk to you more about what you can expect in the coming days—” Claudia tried.

“Jesus, that sounds terrible.” she admitted before grabbing a clean gown, a towel and a bottle of body wash from the bedside table. “I’m gonna take a shower.”

She walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her and sinking to the tile floor, groaning in frustration.

Finally she stripped, stepping into the searing hot water.

Whether it was the temperature change or something else in her system, a sudden wave of nausea caused her to vomit, stepping out of the shower and running to the toilet just in time.

She managed to carefully re-adjust the water temperature before stepping back into the shower so as to avoid a repeat incident.

A few days passed.

As the sun rose over Manhattan later that week, news of the incident began to spread like wildfire.

“Just in for you this morning, we have reports that Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the broadway hit Hamilton, was in for quite a shock earlier this week when he was sent photos and videos via twitter of his sixteen year old daughter being raped, choked and urinated on while heavily intoxicated at a party last night by fellow male students. The victim was taken to Roosevelt hospital, treated for minor injuries and released just yesterday. Since then, the parents have reportedly had the teen removed from their home and put back in the care of the state. We’ll have more for you on this story as soon as more information is released.”

From the comfort of their living room, Lin and Vanessa suddenly felt very small.

The idea of losing their child after everything that had happened was embarrassing enough, but they had every intention of keeping that information private.

It was very clear that doing so would no longer be possible.

“Can you change the channel?” Lin asked, defeated. “I can’t listen to this.”

Vanessa grabbed the remote, jumping to another news network before realizing they were telling the same story.

“—an array of unlabeled prescription medication and traces of other drugs like cocaine, ecstasy and other opiates. These are some of the things they believe a sixteen year old girl was under the influence of when she was sexually assaulted last Thursday night. Several incriminating photos and videos of the act were posted to twitter last night by members of the Columbia Prep male lacrosse team—statewide champs for the last three years running. Not only did they post them to twitter Katie, they tagged the victim’s father, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer and star of Hamilton, in the hopes that he would see them. Now Miranda, after seeing these tweets, showed up to this party, called the police to break things up, and got an ambulance there to take his daughter to Roosevelt Hospital. She was treated there, given a psych eval and held by doctors until her release yesterday. What we do know so far is that no suspects have been taken into custody and that the foster child has since been removed from the Miranda household and reclaimed by the state.”

“Turn it off.” Lin shook his head in utter disbelief. “How can they even talk about this? It’s supposed to be confidential information.”

Vanessa turned it off, making a note on the laptop in front of her. “Only more collateral damage to add to this case.”

“V,” he reached out, taking her hand. “I’m glad you’re so passionate about taking her back, but you don’t actually expect to sue the entire state, do you?”

“Maybe I will.” She shrugged. “I have to do something. I haven’t seen you this upset in ages.” She squeezed in hand. “Even if I don’t sue, I can at least build a strong enough case to scare the shit out of them.”

“Oh, is that all?” he smiled.

“And at the very least, I got you to smile. That’s been pretty hard to do lately.”

Downtown at the orphanage, Alexa woke up in the same bed she’d had before. Staring up at the same dirty ceiling, listening to the same girls complain about bathroom space.

Only one thought seemed to frequent her mind as she headed into the shower stall that morning.

This is a colossal load of bullshit.

After another bland cereal and soy milk breakfast, she was brought in to a meeting both with Claudia and her superior Janine. Alexa had never met Janine, but seeing her for the first time revealed three truths at the exact time. She wasn’t a natural blonde, she was old enough to remember all of the eighties, like most white women her age with enough money, she’d clearly had some work done.

“How are you feeling, Alexa?” Janine carefully offered a hand to the teen as if she were afraid to break her.

“Fine…?” She sat in one of the two large chairs opposite the desk in Janine’s office, Claudia in the other.

“That’s great.” her smile was off-putting. “I was so glad to hear you made it out of the hospital safely. I hope your experience there was enjoyable.”

Alexa gave her a confused look. “You mean, after I was drugged and raped?”

“Well, I know the doctors took care of you.” she clarified.

“After that rape kit, which was easily the most invasive experience of my life…” she paused. “Well, that I can remember anyway, I was dying to get out of that hell hole.”

“I understand you were given a psychological evaluation?” She was immediately handed a file by Claudia, containing the results of her psychological evaluation.

“Oh yeah, that sucked too.” she added, much to the disappointment of Claudia.

Slightly frustrated with her responses, Janine lowered her voice to whisper to Claudia. “Have you been making sure she’s taking her medication?”

“I’m sitting right here, dude.” Alexa shot back.

“Zoloft once a day in the morning.” Claudia confirmed. “She’s been under my care since I got to the hospital.”

“If you have a problem with my attitude, maybe you shouldn’t have pulled me from the best foster home I’ve ever been to.” the teen pointed out. “Also, zoloft only works if you digest it. I’ve been getting sick all week. You’re leaving opportunity for an insane mental breakdown while I’m under your care.”

Janine turned back to Claudia. “I expect you to handle this.”

Claudia dug through her bag, searching briefly before pulling out a small pill bottle with Alexa’s name on it. She tossed it toward the younger girl who didn’t bother catch it.

“You know what? I refuse to take my meds until you put me back with the Mirandas.”

“We’ll have to put you in psychiatric care if you refuse your medication.” Janine pointed out.

“Just put me back where I was before and I’ll stop refusing! It’s not rocket science!”

“That household has been deemed temporarily unfit.”

“Okay so when does it become fit again?” she demanded. “This whole ‘punishing-so-that-it-looks-like-you’re-doing-your-job’ thing is getting old really fucking quickly.”

“We’ll send you back when and if we see fit.” the blonde pointed out, flipping through the results of her psych eval. “If,” she repeated.

“Don’t I have a say in this? I WANT to go back!”

“Yes well, I brought you in to offer my well wishes after you released from the hospital. If you don’t mind, your case manager and I need to speak privately.”

“So I don’t have a say at all.” Alexa stood up, storming out. “Whatever.”

The door slammed shut behind her.

“If I could speak candidly,” Claudia started receiving a stern look from her superior.

“It’s just, I see no reason to remove her permanently. In fact, I was hoping to send her back before school starts. Lin and Vanessa had enrolled her at this outstanding private school on the Upper West Side—”

“We have plenty of reason to keep her permanently. More youth in our system means more money from the state.” Janine shot back. “Does that not make sense?”

“Well… we’re not a for profit prison—” Claudia tried.

“Can I be frank, Claudia?” she interrupted the older woman. “I know I’ve only been in charge here for a few months, but I’d like to think I have a good instinct about these things. Right now my instincts are telling me that you might not be the best case manager for this job.”

“Wha—I’ve been working here for thirty years.”

“It looks like your case seems to be missing a few—” she pulled a few pages out, sliding them into the paper shredder underneath her desk. “important documents. If the state were to find out that you weren’t staying consistent with a case like this, you could lose your license. Wouldn’t that be a shame?”

Claudia finally seceded, trapped at the mercy of her superior. “What do you want?”

“The important thing here isn’t putting Alexa back in that home, it’s avoiding a lawsuit. That woman—Vanessa—she’s a lawyer. I need you to make sure she doesn’t file a lawsuit. If she does, we’ll have to look into this case file and with so many inconsistencies… your job might be on the line.” She handed the file back to Claudia, a smug smile on her face. “I hope we understand each other.”

Outside in the large room with the other teens, a fight broke out nearby. One of them tossed an open bottle of water at the other, most of the water landing on Alexa, though the two fighting didn’t seem to notice.

Her shirt was soaked, prompting her to angrily return to her bed and dig through her bag to find another one.

Frustrated, she dumped the entire bag out on her bed. There, on the top of the pile, was a large book she hadn’t seen before . There were post it notes sticking out of the pages; the book certainly wasn’t new.

She turned it over, seeing the cover of a biography of Alexander Hamilton.

Why would he give me this? she thought, opening the hardcover to find the first post it note inside.

Meant to give you this opening night. Read it.

I see his passion and drive in you.

Don’t ever lose that.

Love you,

Lin

Alexa could feel her emotions rushing to the surface faster than she could handle, tears building up in her eyes as she read the note over again.

She remembered that night, receiving a text from Lin about the show, about how he was grateful for her.

Most importantly, how he loved her.

She was so scared of the word that she didn’t bother to respond. Now it seemed, she may not ever have a chance to.

Maybe she did love him, but what did it matter if she couldn’t say it?

A tear fell, landing on the first page of the book which she quickly wiped away.

She promised herself that, should she ever see Lin again, holding back feelings would not be an option.

Uptown, Claudia paid the Mirandas a visit that evening, informing them of the decision that had been made.

“I don’t understand.” Vanessa was sat beside her husband with Claudia across the dining room table, obviously uncomfortable being the bearer of bad news. “You said this would be temporary.”

“They came to the conclusion that this was an unstable in environment for Alexa and that they wouldn’t be sending her back. I’m sorry, this wasn’t my choice. They went over my head.”

“We’re going to sue.” she insisted. “Not only because you removed her for unjustified reasons, but being dishonest about bringing her back—”

“Por favor no hagas eso! You can’t sue!”

“We absolutely can!” Vanessa shot back. “I’ve built a bulletproof case against your organization. If you think you’re getting away with this—”

“I wanted to send her back!” Claudia finally admitted. “My superior, Janine, went over my head on this. She wants to keep Alexa.”

There was a pause. Lin, who was unmoved until this point glanced up, shocked to hear what had just been said.

“Let me guess… more kids means more funding.” his wife concluded.

“Sí, she shredded documents from my file for Alexa. If you file a lawsuit, they’ll have to have access to the file and with too much information missing—”

“You lose your license.” Vanessa finished. “Shit.”

Just as the realization hit, Lin slowly sunk down in his chair. “We’re never going to see her again, are we?”

Tobillo, who had been otherwise silent under the table, stood up to lick Lin’s hand as if she understood why he was upset. It was more comforting than he expected it to be.

Vanessa was distraught seeing Lin so upset, it was the worst shape she’d ever seen him in. For a moment she was silent, working out details in her mind to come up with a solution that would put an end to this once and for all.

“I think I know how to fix this.” she finally said. “We can’t sue, but we can pressure them into getting what we want.”

“How?” Claudia pressed, Lin curious as well.

“You wouldn’t happen to have all of the statements you took from that night, would you?”

“She shredded half of them.” Claudia reminded her. “They’re gone.”

“They’re shredded, not burnt. They can be salvaged. If we can get a hold of them and piece them back together, we make copies and we bring it to the press anonymously. That should put enough public pressure on them to back off.”

“That’s impossible.” the older woman insisted. “Even if you could piece the pages back together, how would you get a hold of them in the first place?”

“Use your imagination, Claudia. You’ve worked there for years. Bribe the cleaning staff to let you take the garbage when they’re pulling it out of Janine’s office. As long as you can get a hold of anything in that shredder, we can get what we need to move forward and no one needs to lose the license.”

Another pause. Vanessa, beaming with confidence in her plan, saw a glimmer of hope flash across Claudia’s face.

“They clean every night at nine.” she recalled.

Glancing at her phone, Vanessa noticed it was just after eight. “You better get going then. Let us know when you find it.”

She made a quick exit, headed straight for her place of work downtown.

“Lin,” she put a hand on his shoulder. “I need your help with this too.”

“Whatever you need me to do.” he insisted.

“What you do best. I need you to write something.”

#hamilton fanfic #hamilton fanfiction #hamilcast imagines #hamilton imagines #imagines blog

20 notes · View notes