#but Alvin definitely sticks with me

[violetsaffron5]

Infinity

| Ao3 | Discord 18+ | Series Masterlist | Taglist | Chapter 7 |

6 | Training

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x f!Reader

Meet Shoko, training with Gojo

Words: 5380

Genre: JJK Universe with slight additional fantasy elements bc reader is not a sorcerer

cw/an: horrible Alvin and the Chipmunks, some body horror stuff with the curse

“I’m Ieiri Shoko, but you can just call me Shoko. It’s nice to meet you,” the brown haired woman in the morgue explains before Ijichi scampers off.

When you arrived at the school in the morning, he met you at the Torii gates, leading the way through campus, giving a proper tour of the facilities and land the school owns.

The last stop being the morgue. You’re told when Satoru arrives, he’ll meet you here, but first you need to have a physical and a few other tests completed. All standard and normal procedures for sorcerers.

Of course, this had you chuckling to yourself because you do technically meet the definition, but you’re not really sure you’re able to do anything like what Satoru has displayed he’s capable of.

You’re not really sure what to do, so you awkwardly extend your hand. She looks up from her notepad with a raised eyebrow, extending her own small, delicate hand. 

Taking the opportunity presented, you quickly look her over. Long white lab coat akin to that of a doctor. Dark circles under her eyes, like she hasn’t slept in days, but despite that, she’s stunning.

“I didn’t realize sorcerers could be doctors. Does that make you a witch doctor?” You chuckle nervously at your own lame joke. “Wait. Is that offensive?”

She doesn’t reply, just gives a soft smile returning to her notes for several minutes before setting it down on her desk, returning to your earlier question about being a doctor.

Shoko explains her technique to you. How she’s able to heal others with her cursed energy, how that’s rare for sorcerers to be able to do. It’s more common for others to be able to only heal themselves, much like you do, Satoru can do it too, but that’s also fairly uncommon.

The morgue is cold and bleak, as you sit on the metal table off to the side of the room. Metal refrigerated cabinets for bodies line the wall, and tiles line the floor with a few drains in the center of several tiles. Aside from a desk and a few metal benches, there’s not much to see in this room.

The room is quiet, the only sound filling the room coming from the velcro of the arm band she’s placed on you to check your blood pressure. It squeezes your arm uncomfortably as she pumps it, checking the time on the wall behind you before twisting the knob on top, the air hissing out of the band as it deflates.

So far, this is all oddly normal. You half expected there to be some sort of witchery involved for this kind of stuff, but Shoko is sitting there taking notes. Grabbing all of her little instruments like this is normal, everyday life for her.

Shoko has you stick your tongue out, placing a wooden stick on your tongue as she uses a light to check the back of your throat. Taps your knee with a patellar hammer to check your reflexes and shines another light in your eyes to check your pupils, leaving black and white dots in your vision for several minutes.

There’s a thought in the back of your mind you can’t shake, which makes your hands cold and clammy. Is Shoko on your side like Satoru, or will the information she’s collecting on you go to the higher ups, so they know how to kill you, should the time come?

“Nervous?” She asks quietly, stethoscope pressed to your chest as she listens to your lungs and heartbeat.

“A little, yeah.” You answer quietly, arching your back as she places the cold metal in the center of your back.

She doesn’t make much conversation. A few comments here and there, but she’s likable nonetheless. Maybe, if she isn't pro-killing you, the two of you can be friends one day. It would be nice to have someone to spend time with occasionally.

You watch as Shoko writes notes on occasion, eventually asking you about your abilities. The one topic of conversation you were sure was going to present itself. You’re sure she’s already heard about the things you can do, the things you’ve done, but you explain anyway as she writes more notes, nodding along the way.

“You’re able to heal from physical cuts and bruises, easily. I wonder if the same would apply to common colds and other illnesses,” Shoko says to herself, tapping her pen against her chin, “or even an STD since you survive off sexual energy.”

Your eyes widen at her thoughts, “if you ever try to do anything like that to me for your own curiosity, I will fuck Ijichi on top of your grave.”

Before Shoko’s able to clarify her thoughts, Satoru and Geto walk into the room. Satoru sits at one of the metal benches in his school uniform, eyes covered with his round glasses as Geto stands next to him, legs and arms crossed, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

Shoko decides to move on with her examination, grabbing her tweezers, a cup and a few vials, before returning to your side.

“I’d like to get a few samples of blood, hair and urine from you, if you’re okay with that.”

You shrug, “sure. What are you going to do with it?”

“Research to see how you’re different. Though truth be told, I’m not sure we will get an answer from this, but we might as well exhaust all options.”

Delicately, Shoko plucks a few strands of hair from your head, and takes two vials of blood before having you use the restroom next to her office, returning with the filled cup, and placing it on her desk.

Once she’s done and has everything marked and tagged properly, Satoru grins, telling you to go out the way you came and he’ll meet you outside soon for training.

“... and then she threatened to fuck Ijichi on my grave, so that was… pleasant.”

Satoru throws his head back in a spirited laugh, “that’s my girl.”

“What do you mean, “your girl”?” That was Shoko’s response.

“You hadn’t heard? Our friend here couldn’t wait to shove his dick in her.” Geto explains, telling Shoko how he walked in on the two of you.

The tips of Satoru’s ears turn red and he huffs at the memory of being interrupted by his best friend.

Shoko rolls her eyes, no stranger to the white haired sorcerer’s escapades, but does give him a little smile. Her own way of saying nice, now that she’s seen you.

Suguru groans, obviously annoyed with his two friends. “We don’t even know what she is. You can’t keep it in your pants for five minutes?”

“Hey! I waited a day,” he answers, shoving a piece of chocolate from his pocket in his mouth, “besides, you should all be thanking me.”

“Thank you for sleeping with her?” Shoko asks, amused.

“Yeah, otherwise we’d have another dead body. So really I took one for the team.”

“It is valuable to know sorcerers will live.” Shoko’s pulling out her notebook again, scribbling several notes down.

“Well, I will. Maybe not others.”

Both Shoko and Suguru give him a strange look, “other sorcerers will likely be fine too.” Shoko points out, “Or really, anyone with above average abilities.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He grumbles, a small pout apparent on his features.

“Alright. Can we hurry this up now? I’d like to get some sleep.”

“You’re going to sleep?” That was Suguru, scoffing because he already knows the answer.

“No, I have several rounds to make and patients to check up on. A few surgeries are scheduled for this afternoon too.”

Satoru isn’t paying attention. He’s zoned out, having removed the glasses from his face, watching the residuals of your energy outside the door to the medical facility.

Shoko and Geto do a little recap, discussing the bodies they’ve found over the last few months. Drained, but impossible to determine how at the time, despite their bodies still being filled with blood.

Satoru watches intently as Yu Haibara comes over, greeting you with a wave. He frowns as he watches your two energies embrace in a hug, your form more stiff than his. Of course he’s giving you a hug. A small annoyed groan leaves Satoru as he rolls his eyes.

“... all were found with smiles on their faces.”

“I can tell now why,” Gojo snickers to himself, only half listening to what’s going on around him.

And there’s Nanami, coming over to greet you as well. You shake his hand, probably with a smile. Satoru suspects he’s inviting you to lunch, to eat at the little cafe he goes to every day and he ticks his jaw at the thought.

“Whore.” Geto mutters to himself.

Satoru clicks his tongue at his friend's comment, “I’ve seen you stick your dick in much w-”

“Moving on.” Shoko announces sternly. “I would like to see what she’s capable of and how she heals. I’m thinking it may be like my technique, but has to take energy from others to use it. It’s hard to tell without having seen it in action.”

Satoru ignores her curious thoughts. Because he has seen it. Instead, he turns his attention back to you. The way your body rolls with laughter at something Nanami and Haibara are saying.

“... would love to get some raw data on her and really get into the composition of her makeup.”

“Are you listening, Satoru?” Suguru asks, an obvious annoyance in his tone.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Get into her raw. Already have.”

“Christ. Did you even use your infinity?” Suguru again, through clenched teeth. Afterall, you’re his least favorite topic of conversation and here he is, talking with one friend who is fascinated with you and your genetics, while the other is fascinated with you for other, completely unrelated reasons.

Satoru purses his lips, hesitating to answer.

“Oh for fucks sake man. I get her pussy was good but she could have -”

“It’s not that!” Satoru whines, tearing his eyes away from you, taking a deep breath. “First, she’s technically a non-sorcerer who has no idea what’s going on. So, I’m not going to kill her. Second, I think there’s more to her than meets the eye. I want to find out what it is. Third, her pussy is great.”

“Wow. Okay. I’m leaving now.” Shoko announces as Suguru gives Satoru an unamused look, one the strongest ignores, stating he needs to leave too, and get to training with you.

“Could just kill her, throw her into a ditch somewhere and be done with all this. Let the humans clean up her mess,” Suguru mutters to himself.

Once Satoru was done, he met you outside and led you out to the forest behind the school, hands in his pocket, whistling along the way as the birds chirped happily in the background, until you were both standing in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by trees.

The buildings of the school are nowhere in sight, but he says you’re still on campus.

“Alright,” he smiles, facing you, “hit me with your most powerful technique.”

You let out a low laugh and raise your eyebrows staring at him until you realize he’s not joking. He really wants you to hit him.

“How do you expect me to do that,” he gives a quizzical look as you walk close to him, “when you have this?”

Trying to place your hand on his chest, you’re stopped shortly, a force whirring between the two of you, before your hand falls, landing gently against the soft fabric of his uniform, where it couldn’t moments earlier.

Smiling, you look up, only to be met with a shit eating grin plastered on his face, “that’s my infinity.”

“Well, don’t use it. That’s not fair.”

“Fiiiiine,” he whines before you grab the collar of his uniform and pull him in for a kiss, easily slipping your tongue past his lips, tasting the familiar warmth of his mouth.

It doesn't take him long to accept it, wrapping an arm around your waist, placing the other on your cheek, letting out soft groans as a small trail of energy goes between you when you pull away slightly. His hand squeezes your hip, before pulling you closer; his kiss is hot, aggressive, needy.

And then your fist makes contact with his jaw. You wince, shaking out your hand, wondering if you’ve broken it - of course his jaw looks sharp as steel, but you didn't expect it to feel that way too.

“Ha - you bitch,” he rubs his jaw, “good job distracting me. I gotta admit, you punch harder than I thought.”

Before he’s had time to recover, you try to take him by surprise again, which just results in him laughing as the two of you fall to the ground. As you sit up, legs on either side of his waist, you giggle about how ridiculous this all seems, and for actually fucking punching him in the face.

He licks the small amount of blood from the corner of his mouth, from when you punched him, and you look so fucking proud of yourself. But in reality, you have no clue what you’re in for.

Slowly, his hands creep up your thighs to rest on your hips and you already know this is going to be a problem. How you’re supposed to be taking this seriously, yet you’re in the middle of the woods trying to resist the urge to squeeze your thighs together, quite literally, on top of him.

He grins, the sharp edges of his canines on full display when you’re suddenly hurled off him, full force into a tree.

You gasp, the wind getting knocked out of you before slumping to the ground. Satoru walks over, offering a hand but you refuse, taking a few deep breaths to steady yourself, trying to process what just happened.

 “Come on,” wiggling his fingers, he keeps his hand outstretched, “you still have a lot to learn.”

Huffing, you take his hand and stand, patting away the dirt on your uniform, as he continues.

“Now, we’re gonna do that again. And this time, you’re going to try to hit me, okay?”

It doesn't take long for your uniform to rip in several places; on the shoulders, elbows, knees, a few other small holes here and there from tree branches. Twigs and leaves are in your hair, dirt from the forest is smeared across your hands and face.

And aside from the first one, you haven't landed a single punch.

Yet you still can't help the feeling he’s taking it easy on you.

You’re tired, having been spending your days with Satoru training. He’s been taking it easy on you, you’ve learned. And he is, in fact, the strongest. He wasn’t lying about that.

Now, he has you practicing with weapons, which you’ve learned you’re a natural at. He says he can teach you the basics, but it would be best to train with Nanami, since he uses a sword of sorts and can help develop your technique a bit more.

He’s had you do this for several hours, multiple times over the course of the week. Satoru says there are a few reasons he has you doing this so often.

One, is for your aim. He has targets set up in the forest by the school, hidden behind trees, in shrubbery, a few in plain sight.

Two, he wants you to try and put your energy into the weapon. It hasn’t worked so far.

The third he hasn’t told you about it yet. Says he wants you to focus on the first two before moving on.

With two throwing stars in hand, you aim at the target in front of you, easily throwing one into the smallest circle available.

Bullseye, you smile to yourself as you see Satoru appear at your side.

“Can you hand me the six inch?” You ask for the small knife, aiming the second star before throwing it. It lands right next to the other, right in the center.

“Add a little more than four inches to that, and then I can.”

The two of you haven’t been together since you left the club over the weekend, but it hasn’t stopped him from insinuating he’s interested.

It’s not that you’re not interested in hooking up again, because you definitely are. But you’re more tired than you ever have been before. Training. Learning about this life you’ve been thrown into. Perhaps sleeping with him and taking more energy would alleviate that symptom.

But there’s something freeing about dealing with this. Getting home in the evening, cooking a small dinner and letting sleep take over your body. It makes you feel human. Normal.

Satoru on the other hand has had no rest. He’s been with multiple women this week. Some alone. Some along with their friends. Chasing that high, that feeling he had when he was with you, with no luck.

He pouts, bringing you the knife you asked for as you steady yourself. Aiming at the next target, just behind the last.

Then there’s a pair of large hands on your hips. You try to ignore them.

Hot breath on your neck. Harder to ignore. So you nudge your shoulders as a set of lips ghost your skin.

A chuckle with a soft lick to the shell of your ear as the hands trail up your waist, giving a firm squeeze.

You clench your thighs together, trying to focus on aiming the damn knife, but you can’t not feel the way his thumbs caress your skin, just below your breasts. His thumbs draw small circles, grazing the underside of your tits ever so lightly with every stroke.

“Throw it,” he whispers into your ear, the warm air sending shivers down your spine as you do what he’s asked… and miss the target completely.

“What a shame,” he whispers quietly by the shell of your ear, keeping the goosebumps present on your skin. “Try again.” He hands you a different knife this time.

Taking a deep breath, you try to ignore him. Just as you throw the knife, he bites into the soft spot below your ear causing you to yelp out in surprise. He chuckles against you as the knife misses again.

“Can you stop that?” you ask annoyed.

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“Reason number three. Distractions.”

“Do you really think a curse user is going to be doing this while fighting with me?” You ask incredulously.

He has his legs spread wide behind you now, so he’s no longer leaning down. The perfect height to be at the shell of your ear, hands splayed across your stomach feeling your deep breaths.

Satoru hands you another knife. He’s silent as you aim, swiping his thumb over your nipple as you throw it, making you miss a third time. You gasp and tense from the interaction as he chuckles before placing his forehead on the nape of your neck.

“With your abilities… there could be situations where you need to be doing things like this,” it’s a whisper, barely audible. You don’t miss the way he grits his teeth slightly or squeezes your side as he says it.

It’s the end of the week now, and Satoru says you’re going on your first “field test,” which is really just the woods you’ve become more familiar with behind the school.

You’re going to be fighting a curse, he says. And you couldn’t be more nervous.

There’s no doubt this was going to happen, but did it really have to be so soon? You’ve failed all your tests and practices during the week by trying to imbue your energy into weapons. And you know from previous life experience that you’re unable to kill a curse as it stands now.

So what the hell are you realistically supposed to do?

Satoru comes up behind you, wrapping a corset around your waist, taking the time to adjust the strings and tie it in the back for you.

“What the hell is this? And where did you get it?”

It’s white, clearly vintage in the way it shapes the waist, small black buttons lining the front. The top rim and down the back is laced with a small blue ribbon - it’s pretty on its own, but when you have the prettiest blue eyes to compare them to, the ribbon is almost ugly.

“A corset. Believe it or not, I found it in a wedding shop the other day. Perfect timing.” He says, pulling the strings tight around the back, making sure it’s not going to fall off.

“And what’s this for?” You question with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugs, before lowering a curtain. Something Ijichi explained to you earlier in the week. It’s dome shaped, looks as if it’s becoming night, despite being the middle of the day. Once it’s completed, you note you can’t really see outside of it. It’s almost like a kaleidoscope.

In front of you stands a creature you didn’t notice before. It’s a woman, or was at one point.

She’s thin, gaunt cheeks with tired, droopy eyes, one of them almost popped out. Her eyebrows are way too thin, and sit way too high over her eyes. The lips that sit below her nose are entirely way too large to have ever been natural as well.

She’s in a corset too. White, stained red with what you can only presume is blood. Waist so thin you could wrap your hands around on either side and intertwine your fingers. Internal organs are spilling out from a hole in the center of the fabric, as if they were compacted entirely way too tight, for way too long and they had no choice but to burst through one day.

The smell is horrible - like a combination of rotting skin and piss. And her skin most definitely looks like it’s rotting with the way pieces of it are hanging off her skin.

“What’s with her?” You ask curiously, nodding your head towards the fragile creature hobbling towards you.

“Curse born of beauty standards. Thought this one was a nice touch, given your powers.”

“You’re insufferable. Take it off me.”

“You wanna get naked? Right now? With a curse standing there?” He teases. You glare at him. “Exorcise it, and then I’ll take your clothes off.”

You continue to glare at him as he smirks.

He’s selfishly hoping you fail, so he can swoop in and save you by letting you ride his dick in the middle of the forest to heal. He’s nothing if not selfless.

This curse is maybe a little stronger than what he thinks you can handle. Totally for testing your prowess and not for riding his dick reasons.

“What am I supposed to do?”

He rolls his beautiful crystalline eyes. “You need to exorcise it. Obviously.”

“Ah, yes, exorcise it. Great plan. That’s like telling a drowning person to breathe. You’re kind of a shitty teacher.”

He gives a toothy grin, “that’s Gojo-sensei to you, baby.”

“No. You would like that way too much.” He juts out his lower lip in a pout.

The curse hobbles on its feet toward you, wearing shoes that are entirely way too small for her body. If this curse is based on beauty standards, then this is one you’re aware of. How feet used to be more desirable if they were smaller, so women would break their feet to fit in smaller shoes.

Poor thing.

 “And how do you think I can kill it? I don’t exactly have cursed energy.”

“You gotta figure that out.”

“Are you serious right now? I’ve known about curses for all of 5 minutes. How do you expect me to ‘figure it out’?”

He shrugs, not giving a real answer to your questions. And now you’re questioning if he even knows either.

“You’re unbelievable.” You scoff, watching the curse as she continues to shuffle in your direction.

“Thanks, I think so too,” he gives an infuriating smile.

The curse is close enough to the two of you know, that she looks between you for several seconds before letting out an ear splitting scream.

“Can you just hold on a minute? I’m a little busy.” You hold up your index finger, as if she’ll know what this means.

“Did you just tell a curse to hold on?”

“I did. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, not at all. You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Wow. Should have fucking drained you when I had the chance.”

“You’ll have more,” He smiles and chuckles, leaning in close, you can feel his breath on the shell of his ear. “And I encourage you to try.”

You groan, he laughs. “Listen, I can’t give you all the answers. You’re going to have to figure some things out on your own.”

He really wants to watch you use your powers before giving you a weapon but if you’re mad, maybe that will help. Maybe your energy works in a similar manner as cursed energy.

The curse is close to you now, and you notice Satoru is no longer standing by your side. When she swipes at you with long nails - like what you would imagine Sleeping Beauties would look like if she never woke up - you jump back.

Up close you’re able to see her cracked skin and thick makeup, red large lips and eyelashes that are too full and too long. She lurches towards you again, so you dodge to the right this time.

“P-preeetttyyy,” the curse cries out with a raspy smoker's voice.

You dodge each time she swipes her claws at you, but you need a plan. You’ll quickly run out of stamina at this rate, but you’re not sure what to do. And Satoru is no help, standing off to the side doing god knows what on his phone.

Over the week, you learned you’re nowhere near as fast as Satoru, and you’re not sure you could ever be that quick, even when he’s not using his techniques. The one thing you know you can do is use your technique.

When the curse swipes again, you run around her side, and hop on her back. Her body is so fragile though, you’re not entirely sure she’s going to be able to hold any weight. No matter how large or small.

It won’t matter in the end because you’re pulling her face towards yours, placing your lips on hers.

And it’s disgusting.

Easily the most horrifying thing you’ve ever experienced in your life. And the taste of her energy is worse. Some people taste like nothing, Satoru is a little sweet. This curse tastes like depression and death. This is hands down the worst thing you have ever tasted, it boils in your stomach until you're hunched over on the ground retching.

“Nuh uh, down girl.” You hear Satoru say next to you, and the curse goes flying a safe distance back. If you were able to pay attention, you would have noticed she was about to attack you. But he wouldn’t let that happen. “So, you really can’t hurt it, huh?”

You shake your head, spitting the remaining saliva from your mouth before wiping it away with the back of your hand.

“Curses aren’t really alive, they’re pure cursed energy. But hey, now we know you can’t live off of that, and you’ll get sick if you try!”

You give a small pitiful smile as you stand to your feet. He hands you a katana, pulling it out of… well, you’re not sure where. Might as well have been thin air since you haven’t noticed it this entire time.

“Really? This is the weapon you’re giving me?”

He shrugs, “thought you’d look hot with it. I’m not wrong.”

You sigh, accepting the weapon as Satoru goes back to the tree he was standing next to, leaning back on it with his arms crossed, watching intently this time.

The curse is obviously hurt after his blow. Her hobbling is worse now, one foot dragging on the side of her ankle, while trying to maintain balance on the other with each step. Despite being mangled, she’s still quick.

You’re still recovering from your little mishap earlier, so when the curse swipes at you once again, she gets you in the leg as you try to hop away. A trail of blood trickles out on your leg and down the pants of your uniform. It stings, but it’s not too bad.

Realistically, dodging can’t be your only plan. And you’ve spent enough time with Satoru this week to learn he’ll inevitably grow impatient if you don’t do something soon.

Looking at the curse, it makes your skin crawl, and you can’t help but wonder if all of them are like this. Disgusting. Wistful and sad. The fact that this thing was born from hatred and jealousy of beauty standards through the ages, and how every so often she keeps calling you beautiful is definitely kicking the creepy factor up a notch.

“Soo-oo pretty.”

“Yeah, I know. You think I’m pretty. Get in line.” You grumble.

The weapon Satoru gave you is imbued with cursed energy, so when she claws at you again, you grab her by the wrist and twist. Her skin is cold, and feels like leather, but is also incredibly thin like paper. With her wrist in hand, you shove her to the ground where she lands with a “humph.”

She lurches forward again, aiming for your feet so you kick her in the face. Her head snaps back as she lets out a shrill cry.

As quickly as you can, you take the blade and slide it through her skin a few times. It cuts like butter as she lets out an incredibly loud scream of pain before dissipating into nothingness.

You stand, panting and holding your side as Satoru claps, coming to your side.

“She was the most beautiful person many people got the pleasure of laying their eyes on, as a human, legend says. But, she got greedy, asking for surgeries over and over again. Died because she never let her body fully recover before going in for the next. Her feet are especially harrowing, because she would break them on her own, like the Chinese tradition, and stuff them in too-small shoes.”

Listening to his tale of the curse, and thinking about what you just went through to kill it, you’re not sure you’re cut out for this life. If these are the things you’re going to have to deal with on a daily basis, how are you supposed to move on and accept it? How could anyone?

Satoru grabs you by the chin, pulling your attention up towards him. He gives a soft, crooked grin, but his eyes hold a hint of sadness you haven’t seen in them as well.

He looks devastating like this. Sun shining behind him, hair glowing from the rays of the sun. Taking a deep breath in, you’re able to smell his cologne, the stench from the curse leaving along with its body. And he smells like a dream after that experience. Looks like an even better one.

You give him a soft smile back.

And because he’s annoying, he pinches your cheek. “How do you feel about your first victory? Against a Vengeful Spirit and you didn’t even die!”

“Uhm, kind of sad.” You answer honestly, still looking up at him.

Satoru watches the sadness in your eyes before they light back up.

Yes, this is sad, but you had nothing to do with it. This curse was born because of someone else. Not because of you. So, if anything, you were able to put it out of its misery and ensure it would never hurt someone.

And that’s something you can add to the list of good you’ve done with your abilities.

“Come on, I’m bleeding and need to heal. Let’s go see Shoko. She’s been wanting to see how my abilities work.”

“You wanna have sex in front of Shoko? Kinky.” he grins, flashing his eyebrows.

“It’s small enough, we can just kiss.” You roll your eyes before winking at him.

He pouts, “you’re no fun.”

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[weirdstuffinthewoods]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

I'm awful at starting niche blogs, so I'm trying to stick to what I know and love. Something I know very well and love very much is this box set right here that I'm still mad at myself for getting rid of (I bought the 3-book treasury it's just not the SAME)

If you're a millennial of any age, you were probably traumatized by one or more of these bad boys. Alvin Schwartz sat down in the late 70s (book 1 was published in 1981!) and said, "you know what? I'm gonna scare the pants off a bunch of kids and they'll thank me for it later." And you know what? I kinda do.

I've spent a lot of time trying to find the root of my horror obsession, and I thought it was seeing the 1990 made-for-TV version of IT at a sleepover in 3rd grade, which resulted in two traumatic years of night terrors, calmed only by...reading the book it was based on? And then all of Stephen King's other works that were definitely not appropriate for a barely 9-10 year old? (For years, I'd skip the adulthood sections of IT when I read it because I found them so boring, so I had a half-finished story in my mind. Go figure.) But that wasn't it. I thought maybe it was finding the Informania: Ghosts and Informania: Vampires books at the Scholastic Book Fair and poring over them obsessively for years (more on this at a later date) but nope.

It was Scary Stories, Alvin Schwartz, and Stephen Gammell.

If you want some of the story surrounding these books, I recommend the Prime/Freevee documentary "Scary Stories". I remember none of it, but that's the ADHD and I can't help it.

From a quick Wikipedia search (they have never steered me wrong and this is a for-fun blog y'all), it looks like Alvin Schwartz is a folklore dude, which I aspire to be. He published multiple other kids' books of folklore aside from the Scary Stories trilogy, including A Twister of Twists, A Tangler of Tongues, but these were illustrated by a dude named Glen Rounds and I mean look:

A little weird, but not nightmare-inducing by any means. Although the amount of hair is concerning. American folklore gets lost in the shuffle a lot so it's cool for kids to see it. Then, a bit before 1981, he meets this fuckin' guy:

Who yes appears harmless but single-handedly molded me as a person with just some watercolor and pencil. Without his illustrations, Scary Stories wouldn't have the legacy they do today. Proof? The books were rereleased in 2011 with different illustrations. From the guy who illustrated the Series of Unfortunate Events books (Brett Helquist). I'm sure those were fine but like come on.

as compared to

Which one is a kid (ie me) going to cover with one hand while desperately trying to read the other page?

Stephen Gammell has a decades-long career which is briefly highlighted in this Bloody Disgusting article, excitingly enough. Before Scary Stories, he actually did another scary book series for kids which has some unsettling illustrations

and he did some historical illustrations for stuff like Thunder at Gettysburg and Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust which no I will not be looking up because I need to sleep tonight.

The article also goes on to mention how amazing Schwartz's research abilities were considering none of these stories were original- they were just collected from around the US and the world and compiled into a (not kid-friendly, no, but) kid-interesting version. There were also audiobooks (books on cassette? I guess?) for at least one of them so I assume all three, and I distinctly remember (I'll point to the exact stories later):

sitting:

-in broad daylight

-at the reading table in my classroom, probably 3rd grade too

-headphones on, volume up

-sweating absolute buckets because I was listening to this baby which ETSY SOMEHOW HAD

ARE YOU JOKING ETSY??? I'm okay though I don't need the nightmares back.

George S. Irving deserved every penny he got for this work and a whole lot more because that man scared the shit out of me. Also found out as I was reading his Wikipedia article that he played Heat Miser in The Year Without A Santa Claus. Well. The more you know, I guess.

Anyway, going forward, I'm going to go in depth on some of my favorites, and hopefully you come with! Send me questions or suggestions on stuff you want me to talk about or look at :)

Also yes I've seen the movie no I will not talk about it here but maybe later because it's been awhile since I saw it

#alvin schwartz #scary stories #scary stories to tell in the dark #stephen gammell

[casadefreewill]

Been messing around with a HtTYD AU idea but all I really got so far is Plagg = Toothless (this is unchangeable and where the AU started, they’re both little gremlin shits, but both do also love their human friend in the end), which makes Adrien = Hiccup, so Marinette should probably = Camicazi, and Tikki = Stormfly (could get some Plikki mileage out of this is we acknowledge Toothless’s crush on Stormfly)

This got me thinking that that means Sabine = Big Boobied Bertha, and plants Gabriel as Stoick the Vast (and Emily as Valhallarama (of the White Arms and Chunky Thighs)), and Felix as Snotlout

But that’s only if we’re sticking canon relation to canon relation.

If it’s just universe and setting:

Gabriel/Hawkmoth definitely is taking on the role of Alvin the Treacherous and Mayura sort of filling in for Excellinor.

Adrien No-Name is Adopted by Marinette’s tribe, the Burnemups (or something along those lines), after washing up on their shores in a basket as a baby (he’s found with a set of silver rings, like fishleg’s necklace, I like evil couple romance so I think the motive for dumping him would be Emily, Gabriel didn’t want to bother with a kid, so they dumped him on Nathalie who was like “Fuck , idk what to do with a kid” so she tossed him and some semi valuable trinkets he might be able to use for cash if he survived into a basket and chucked him into the sea.

Marinette would be heir to the Burnemups, and loved by her parents, but not so popular among the rest of the tribe, who, while they like Tom and Sabine’s current rule, would prefer the Chiefdom transfer to someone a but more decisive and commanding. Someone like Chloé, who despite being a horrible person, is very good at making people do what she wants and advertising herself to the people.

Alya would be a member of the neighboring Beastly Brawlers (or something to that effect), who they meet in a similar fashion to Camicazi. She’s working on creating an information system between the tribes in the archipelago. A news system you might say.

Nino is a member of Marinette’s tribe. He’s training himself to be a musician, he practices some in public, but always the more chaotic noisy stuff. The other more melodic things he okays in secret. Adrien found him practicing once when they were younger and he sometimes joins him now to either listen or try his hand at some instruments.

Marinette’s hunting dragon = Tikki

Riding dragon = Mullo perhaps? Or maybe something equivalent to her new mini scooter.

Adrien’s hunting dragon = Plagg

Riding Dragon = Nooroo (because of Windwalker’s disabilities. Nooroo escaped from Gabriel/used to be his dragon, and eventually found his way to the Burnemups’ island. He’s pretty banged up and very skittish with other humans, but with lots of patience and kindness he’s open to working with Adrien)

Alya’s hunting Dragon = Trixx

Nino’s hunting Dragon = Wayzz

#it’s 2:30 am and I’m rambling #mon’s chatter #ml #miraculous ladybug #httyd #httyd books #adrien agreste #marinette #ml au idea #I love this book series #I gotta read it again

[magenta-teal]

Last Greetings

First i would like to say sorry if i suddenly text you something like this. But i know that i never win againts you if we talked. You always came up with reasons which i couldnt counter, so it might better for me to put it into words.

Maybe you start wondering, why suddenly i came up with that conversation that night, me too, i was surprised myself. Because i knew that i was okay. We were okay. Or maybe it just what i thought.

Little did i know, i've been pretending all this time. It seems like i was alright, when in fact, i wasn't. I didnt realized myself, until i talked with alvin. She saw something was wrong with me, and finally i realized, yes something indeed is wrong with me.

To put it into words, i kept numbing myself. Years over years, i kept believing that i was alright. I kept on denial. And it happened again and again. I couldnt really talk to you how i felt, whether i was sad or happy. The me that you saw all this years, maybe was not the real me.

The real me, i've been hurting a lot by you. Whether the time when you didn't speak the truth to me, or the time when you finally speak the truth but was too late. It could have been better if you speak the truth earlier, so when you finally left me back then in 2020, you didn't give me hope and wonder, whether we can be work out or not.

2 years left me in wonder, until finally you spoke the truth was already more than enough time for me to finally started numbing myself. I couldnt feel pain anymore. Because theres no pain that is more painful than feeling betrayed by someone you love.

If you now wondering why i still want to be with you that time, maybe i was still scared to lose you. Thats why i was okay with that. I tried to understand you, to be real good friend for you, even though i hurted a lot. Because i loved you and i didnt want to lose you.

But dont get me wrong, all the laughs that we shared, all those calls and travels, it never been fake. I was happy. It was one of my happiest moment in life. Maybe this is also the reason why i still want to stick with you. Because i always feel like we are a good team, i can understand you, and you can understand me. Better than anyone else.

So thats why, when someone else appeared in our conversation, i tried to be fine, because im afraid to lose you. Im afraid to lose someone that resonance my energy. Maybe you could see me laughing, like the time when you told me that you cried over your lover. I laughed a lot, not because it was funny. I laughed over my stupidity, to the fact that someone that i loved the most, cried over somebody else.

But again, little did i know, theres so much differences between just listening to your story, and experiencing with my very own eyes. I could tell how happy you were when you talked with him, how excited you were, how your eyes rounding itself. Ahh... I'm hurting again... thats all i know.

Maybe it could have been better if you just keep silent. I told you many times, it's okay if you want to date someone, i know after all you cant live just by yourself. You need someone, i know it better than anyone. But what i asked was, just dont let me know. Not even a bit. But i dont know why you let me know. It seems like you dont care with my feeling at all. Or maybe it just how we expressed love differently. Theres no right or wrong.

Now you can say that you dont date that person. It's also okay, maybe our definition of dating is just different. But for me, you love him for sure. And i think i cannot keep pretending anymore.

I want you to know that i'm hurting, i want you to know that i'm not feeling good.

If you are wondering i suddenly i write this, it's not that i want you to come back to me, it's not that i want you to leave him so you could be mine 100%. No, no at all. I just wanted you to know. All my feelings all over this past years, which maybe you failed to understand. Or maybe i failed to show it to you. I want you to know. Like how you finally open everything to me, i also want to open mine. And this is me, the real me.

I think our definition of love is somehow different. Or too different. The more i think about it, the more i think maybe thats why we never work out.

But again, dont get me wrong. I was happy with you. You are one of the important person i have in my life. You are the one whom matter the most for me. I just dont like the idea theres someone else between us. Thats it.

Now that i see you happy with your life, i also want to be happy for you. So thats why i think my time has finally arrived. Maybe this is the right time for me to go. Cause you finally found someone who understand you. Who always say yes to you. Who never get mad at you. And i'm sincerely happy for that.

Thank you, for the time we spent together. 6 or 7 years is not short. And i'm grateful for that.

Thank you...

[deshoveledmess]

2022, The Year of Growth

Well, 2022 officially ended, it’s currently 020123 1121H. I’m currently at Mellower, a cafe near Bugis station in Singapore. Ordered a $9 pour-over coffee (Why is pour over so expensive when the equipment needed is so much cheaper than espressos?), and writing a brief reflection on the year of 2022. So many things happened recently and in the past year. I was recently appointed as 2IC (Second-in-Command) and will serve a term of three months before appointing the next one. That aside, let’s take a trip down memory lane, month by month, and see how 2022 helped me to grow.

January Here’s the turning point of my life, really, enlistment month. Jan 2nd, I shaved off all my hair, and on Jan 6th, I reported to camp, ready (or not so ready), for my first day on Tekong Island. After falling sick, and booking out, during confinement week, I went home for a short rest before heading back in, and on January 21st, alongside my section mates, we all booked out for the first time together, taking a commemorative photo on the bus. Special shoutout to my section mates Jeremy, PC, Hifzillah, Hansel, Enrico, Solomon, Darren, Xavier, John, Wei Zhe, Theijes, and Taiyu for sticking it through BMT together.

February Queue my obsession with Coffee and cafe hopping. During the next few months, I spent so much money on cafe hopping with my friend Irving.; It was... pretty bad. We went once per bookout, going to roughly 4 or 5 cafes per session. My bank account would not be this sad if we had cut back on the amount of cafes we went to. Oh yea, we also went to PS Cafe at Dempsey Hill, and there was this mad cute waitress there. Her smile, the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Even though she was wearing a mask, the way her eyes smiled as well, oh man. My friends also threw me an early birthday celebration and I got to eat Aunty Shirley’s to-die-for Ondeh Ondeh Cake. My cousin’s threw me a celebration as well, it was a lovely time. On my actual birthday, I went shopping by myself, I ate at a semi fancy Japanese restaurant, and bought myself a watch, further expanding my watch collection.

March POP loh! Congrats to Mohawk Company on the Passing Out Parade, although virtual, it was definitely a celebratory moment. Completion of our 2 months in Tekong Island. I received the “Best in Platoon” award. We got a 5 day block leave, which I fell sick on and wasted 5 days of leave, but received our postings on the Friday of that week. SEA SOLDIER, it said. What’s that? well.... it’s essentially a naval security trooper. I dreaded the idea of being a security trooper, after all, they were just called glorified security guards. However, I would come to call ourselves as Base Defense Specialists. I reported to IDTI (Island Defense Training Instituition) at Clementi Camp for a 5 week security trooper course. Aside from that, I went to Uncle Alvin’s house and prepared a 3 course meal with Ashley for friends. It was a sashimi starter, which required some plating work, a beef steak served with sweet potato puree, and desert was an apple ratatouille with fresh cream.

April First ever bouldering session at Bukit Timah Bff Climb w/ PC and Enrico. Absolutely grateful to PC for introducing us to this sport. We started climbing more with friends from BMT, and still do to this day. At IDTI I learned to fire a GPMG, really cool. One thing to note, this gun can explode... so ya gotta move quick. All in all, what an experience, not every0one is trained to fire 2 guns. Halfway through april, I graduated from IDTI and earned my second “Best in Platoon” award. From here, I was posted to DSTB (Defense and Security Training Branch) at Tuas Naval Base. Here, we went through a 3 week Naval Conversion Course. After which I graduated, without an award :( ahahahahah.

May Welcome to Changi Defense Squadron. I was resolute on joining the boating team at Changi Naval Base. After arguing my way to be posted far from my home, I was informed that, due to my health, I would be unable to join that boating team. During another short 3 week training course at HQ, we took a couple tests, and turned out on the last day of our training. I will never forget that turnout. Officers we had never seen before kicked open the door with a speaker blasting an air raid siren and started shouting at us. Since we had never seen them before, and as they were not in uniform, we all thought it was a prank played on us by our seniors. However, with the emergence of our training officer, we scrambled our bearings together and rushed downstairs. It is here, that I would like to note that, since this was the last day, we all had made Ice tea to consume together. However, we were forced to pour it out and fill our bottles back up with water. being in a rush, this left us with a mixture of half ice tea half water. After dropping 60 over push ups, and bear crawling around the parking lot, we stood at attention for a water parade, where, our officer instructed us to pour our water over ourselves reasoning that “Y’all are sea soldiers. Why y’all scared of a bit of water. You think the rain will stop for you isit? Fucking pour the water now!” Yea, fun times.

210522 Well, this was it, the last straw. I know this is already a pretty long post, but I think this was probably one of the most important days of the year. The last few messages I ever sent to Nat. It probably wasn’t the best way to end things? Neither was it very conclusive? I just kinda stopped texting her after that. From graduation till this day, I texted her every now and then to check up on her, hoping that a relationship was still possible after I made my return to Canada. Today was the final day. The whole time I was writing posts about giving up, I never actually meant them. It was the sort of copium you’d think it was. Delusional. It was tough. tough not to talk to her, tough not to want to just slip a message to her. Just to say hi or something. But anyways, it’s been, what, 7 months now? I hit the living fuck out of the gym, I started going out with friends more, I started to seize life by the throat, I didn’t want to wait around any longer. I think I can confidently say I’m no longer obsessed with the delusion, but I do think she still holds a very special place in my heart, i just, never want to see her again. Well, this would make class reunions a little biut awkward, but oh well. Yeah, I wish I don’t see or hear from her again, who knows what will happen if I do. But you know what they say, be careful what you wish for.

June Gym, and a lot of it. I started experiencing bad back pain back in April. This was when one of my sergeants in IDTI suggested I start training my back. He noticed that my arms and chest were developed, however, my back might not have had the strength to support that weight. So, well, here begins my gym journey. I never really documented any progress, just took the occasional mirror photo every once in a while. But, I started off not being able to deadlift, now hitting 150kg 1 rep. Benching 60kg, and squatting 60kg. I gained overall probably another 6kg, but It’s not all muscle. Working on that.

To Be Cont’d...

[memorydragon]

So I just read of your long post about Aro/Ace Alvin (idk how long ago you wrote cause im scrolling through the Alvin tag, please dont think im creepy lol) but HOLY FUCK I LOVE IT. Alvin is my favorite character from Xillia (probably cause I love whump) he is just a garbage person who is eventually trying his best to be better and I just love him.

It actually wasn’t too long ago (and I wouldn’t think such a lovely message is creepy regardless)!  I’m still quite new to Xillia in general, since I had skipped the PS3 generation while it was out, but my summer teaching gave me a nice salary and quarantine stress was just like... time to get a ps3 and play the Tales games I missed.  Admittedly not the first time I’ve bought a console just for Tales.

I’m glad a few people seem to have liked it at least.  I actually see him as more Aro/Bisexual (though I imagine Elympios had a lot more prejudices against that sort of thing and Rieze Maxia does not, because Jade is just much more open about being bi) than Aro/Ace (Milla on the other hand, is definitely ace while her sister and Aska prove that spirits may have a different concept of sexuality, Milla reads way more ace than them).  I think Jude may have actually given Alvin the words that, which again, is a lot of self-projection and wish fulfillment (it would have been so nice to have someone sit me down and explain Everything) and a lot of fun to think of angst-wise.  I have, admittedly, been thinking a lot about this asshole and his stupid scarf (which I love), because a large part of his whump is just So Frickin’ Queer-Coded that I just can’t help but dump all my self-projection onto him.  Then his attempts to be better, along with some backsliding in Xillia 2, and I was just kind of hopeless about him too.  XD

Hopefully soon I’ll get around to editing my short Jude and Alvin fic and typing my short Milla and Alvin fic that are loosely connected, though Jude’s side leans more towards angst with bittersweet and Milla’s is angst and silliness combined, so I’m not sure how well they work together tonally, but oh well.  I’ve just been rather swamped with grading video homework lately so I’ve been writing but not much typing.  That’s a bit of a lie (not for the past weekend at least, since all I’ve been doing was grading for the past two and a half days, but I’ve had some of these things finished for a while), I’ve just been incredibly lazy with typing anything for a while now (though many thoughts of Alvin have pushed through a bit of that), but messages like these do help with motivation, so thank you!

#This is Mem's life #Tales of Xillia #jayboo565 #And I still get to explain to my students that I didn't finish the grading like I planned to today #because I was burnt out and spent the day in bed with books #but it'll actually work better to go over the video homework next week anyway #when they're doing group projects and I can call them up one by one for feedback #but yeah I love all of the Xillia characters a lot #but Alvin definitely sticks with me #He's just so Lonely #and yeah that's gonna get me every time #I'm aware my Alvin-thoughts say a lot about me #but the fact he biologically can't use spirit artes still fucks me up #now I'm rambling far more than usual and I should have answered this tomorrow #but oh well #sleep now and I'll explain to the freshman tomorrow

[abundanceofnots]

a little (just under 2k) playground scene with Lip and Ian as dads, as per @pink--and--white's request. i apologize to all actual parents in advance.

“How the fuck did we get here?” Lip asks through a huff of incredulous laughter.

Ian shades his eyes from the sun, turning to his older brother with a look of mock concern. “Your memory that bad already, old man? We drove here.”

It earns him a stinging smack on his thigh.

“Asshole,” Lip retorts back. “You know what I mean.”

Ian’s eyes flit back to the scene before them. “Yeah, I do,” he confirms a beat later, his voice more earnest this time.

This, by far, isn’t a new feeling. Lip’s had the exact same thought pass through his mind countless times in recent years, always in a momentary flash of warmth that filled up his whole chest. It happens all the more often now over the most mundane shit, though.

The first time was, probably, when Freddie was born. Then Ian got married, and Al came along, and Liam got to a good school—and after that followed every other quiet (not literally) evening when the whole family gathered up in the kitchen.

In those instants, Lip would stall himself for just a second, getting lost in the overwhelming sounds and visuals, and think, what the fuck.

He’s getting soft. That’s it, most likely. He’s getting soft and sentimental, going on with his extremely unexceptional life, wondering how in the hell did a piece of shit like himself get so lucky, and slowly becomes someone he’d gladly punch in the face not too long ago.

It hits him hard again, this strange sense of pride and wonder, as he sits next to his baby brother on a bench overlooking a kids’ playground.

This one’s the real deal. Everything here is child-proof and clean, with no syringe or dogshit in sight. Frank or some random homeless guy aren’t lying in a drunken coma by the swing sets. There’s not even one bullet hole in the slide. And maybe it’s not so hard to admit that this is actually pretty nice. That this is them now.

Still, the whole thing is, without a doubt, totally ridiculous. Here they are, Lip and Ian—the college dropout and the ex-con, the true sons of the South Side—sneakily munching on their kids’ packed afternoon snacks.

“Dumb luck, I guess,” Ian answers Lip’s question after some musing and takes a sip from Toe’s pink-colored juice box.

Lip hmms before he bites into a baby carrot. “For us, or them?”

“For us. Definitely.”

They’re just two regular dads who carry around lunchboxes and always have a wet wipe or a pack of tissues at hand, ready to blow noses and wipe off residue chocolate from chins and hands. There aren’t enough words in the English language that would describe how incredibly ridiculous this is, because once upon a time, not too long ago, still, Ian wore a jumpsuit with Dav on the nametag and believed this was it for him, and Lip thought the only way to get through life was by drinking himself through the ordeal.

How the fuck did they get here?

“Freddie! Hey, Freddie!” Lip calls out to his oldest, who hangs upside down from the monkey bars, effectively ignoring him. “Fred!” he tries again with an annoyed sigh, and the boy finally remembers how his ears work. “Can you help your cousin on the slide?”

“Okay!”

With a swift motion, Freddie pulls himself up again to grab hold of a bar, unhooking his knees in the process, and jumps down into the sand with practiced ease. He then immediately gets into a run, coming behind the red-headed girl in black overalls who’s been trying to climb the gentle ramp on her own.

“What was that about?” Ian inquires amusedly.

“Early puberty, I think. He doesn’t want us to call him Freddie anymore. It’s Fred. No Fredster, no Fredtastic, definitely no Fredosaurus. Just Fred. Apparently, I went to bed, and my son turned into a middle-aged man overnight.”

“Oof. That’s rough.”

“Yeah. The next thing I know, he’s gonna get a neck tattoo and his first STI. Al, buddy!” His younger son Alvin, at least, seems to have no trouble with hearing. “You need help? Want me to push you?”

“No, I’m good!” the blond kid shouts back from the swing, and to prove his point, he pushes himself harder off the ground to gain momentum.

Lip scratches his forehead. “They don’t need me anymore,” he comments darkly. “I am officially a bother.”

“You’ve always been a bother,” Ian notes before he stuffs his mouth full of grapes. “Come on, Lip. Freddie’s eight. He’s not exactly packing his bags to leave home. He’s still very much a daddy’s boy.”

“I don’t know, man. When I remember what I was already doing when I was his age….”

“Yeah, but that’s different. They’re not like us. They don’t need to be, and that’s a good thing.”

Ian’s right, but the concept of normal as something desirable, something he doesn’t necessarily need to rebel against, is something Lip may never fully come to grasps with. And neither does Ian, even if he says otherwise.

“We might be getting a dog,” Lip says after a while, pausing before he sinks his teeth into a cheese stick.

“No way!” Ian smirks at him. “Look at you, perfect American family and shit.”

Lip snorts at that. He and Tami are pretty damn far from perfect. “You not thinking about getting a pet? A friendly rottweiler for Mickey, perhaps?”

“No. First, I gotta talk him into having another kid.”

That takes Lip by surprise. He knows Ian absolutely adores his little girl, his mini ginger twin that everyone got to call Toe, short for Tomato, but he also knows the whole story behind how she came to be.

“Oh, yeah? You’d like another?”

“Yeah,” Ian admits, and as his eyes drop to his lap where his fingers fiddle with a paper straw, Lip realizes he sounds ashamed about it.

“Not as easy as poking holes in condoms with you guys, huh?” he jokes to release the sudden tension.

“Hah. No.”

“You told Mickey yet?”

Meeting his brother’s eyes again, Ian gives a noncommittal shrug. “I hinted.”

From experience, Lip knows that hinting in Ian’s case almost exclusively means Mickey is fully aware of his intentions and just chooses to ignore them before Ian confronts him head-on.

“Hopefully, you’ll have another girl,” he tells Ian after a quiet moment filled with children’s high-pitched screams and the steady screeching of a swing set. “It’s a lot more physical with boys. These two are already fighting like we used to.”

“Doesn’t really matter when you’re raising a Milkovich,” Ian remarks before yelling: “Hey, Toe? You wanna have a sip of your juice for me?”

The girl waves at them eagerly as she slides down the bendy chute. Getting to a run right as her feet touch the ground, she comes to a jolty halt in front of them, taking a good, hard look at the juice box as if only now realizing what’s expected of her.

“No, thank you,” Toe then peeps and skips off again.

“Polite,” Lip appraises.

Ian gives a low chuckle. “Fuckin’ weird, huh?”

“With Mickey as her dad? A little.”

They watch the kids play for a few minutes. Ian offers to exchange a cheese stick for three grapes, and Lip negotiates it up to five before agreeing.

“You think he’d be against it? Having another kid?” he asks Ian mid-chew.

“I mean, I wouldn’t blame him, after all the shit with Terry. Maybe with a second kid, he’d think there’d be twice the damage he could do. Dunno,” Ian surmises uncertainly. “I know how hard it was for him to even want a kid, and I get why he was scared. Don’t get me wrong, I’m shitting myself every day when I think of the ways I could fuck this up. But he’s a great dad. You saw him with Toe. She’s obsessed with him. The way she laughs at everything he says makes you think he invented comedy or something.”

Lip’s aware that their conversation turned sort of serious once again, but he can’t help not breaking into a smile. “Sounds like you’re kinda jealous of your husband there, Ian.”

“Oh, I hate his guts,” his brother confirms, only partially kidding. “I’m a fun dad, too, you know.” As if on cue, a figure coming their way catches his attention, and Ian nods to where his daughter’s playing, telling Lip: “Okay, watch this.”

Mickey gestures at Freddie with a finger to his lips, coming around the slide just in time to catch his daughter in his arms with a victorious roar.

“Daddy!” Toe announces the good news to everyone around with a loud squeal.

Ian gives his brother a pointed look.

“Fuck, man,” Lip huffs with mock seriousness. “You tellin’ me she loves her dad? What a nightmare.”

“Yo, lunch ladies.” Mickey suddenly approaches them with Toe at his hip. “How ’bout less chit-chatting and more kid-watching? Think I’d remember if I left my kid with a giant fuckin’ bruise on her forehead this morning.”

“Yeah. She’s had a bit of a scuffle with Alvin earlier,” Ian says, reaching out to soothingly rub Toe’s calf as if said scuffle and the tears it brought weren’t already long forgotten.

“The hell’s he doin’ fightin’ someone half his size?!”

“She started it!” Lip counters weakly.

“Okay.” Mickey’s mouth hangs open for a minute before he finds his figurative footing again. “I guess she had her reasons for that. And you should teach your kids to not fight dirty.”

“I go play now,” Toe informs him then, putting a stop to his rant and his bad mood in one go.

“Yeah! You do that!” Mickey replies as he puts her down, matching her level of enthusiasm. She heads for the extensive pirate-ship-like construction this time, watchful cousin Freddie already on her heels, and Mickey drops heavily next to his husband, letting out a prolonged groan into his hands.

“Tough day?” Ian asks needlessly.

“Igor’s a fuckin’ idiot.”

“Told you he was.”

“And I agree, so drop it, a’ight? Hey, by the way.”

“Hey,” Ian echoes before they exchange a quick kiss.

Mickey notices the juice in his hands then and perks up. “That raspberry?” he checks after he’s already snagged the box for himself, taking loud slurps from it to get every last drop. He finishes off with a belch. “Fuckin’ love raspberry.”

Lip finds that anything he’d say at that moment would only spoil the natural fucking beauty of it, so he just appreciates with a private snicker.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Toe yells from the top of one of the pirate ship’s smaller slides. “Come play!”

Mickey pats at Ian’s thigh. “That’s on you, man. I’m beat.”

Putting his fun-dad face on, Ian heaves himself up without a complaint. “Hey, jellybean! Do you think your dad can fit on the slide, too?”

Toe shakes her head vehemently, giggling as she watches Ian jog toward her. “No, daddy! No! No!”

“What, you don’t think I can?” Ian asks again, halfway through his climb up on the board. “Well, take off your socks now because they might get blown off! I’mma fit!”

“Daddy!” Toe howls with laughter as he bumps his head on one of the low railings.

Beside Lip, Mickey imitates the reaction, both his hand and the phone he’s holding with it to record a video visibly shaking. When he notices Lip staring, his grin falters a little.

“These two jokers,” Mickey complains after he ends the recording. “She always laughs at everything he does like he invented comedy or some shit.”

Lip answers with a knowing smile, his chest feeling full of warmth.

Seriously, how the fuck did they get here?

#toe fic 🍅 #my fics #gallavich fic #shameless fanfiction

[irgmugurg]

Belphie's Music Taste

Mammon's Music Taste

Asmodeus's Music Taste

Belphie listening to lofi songs is simultaneously the cutest and funniest thing that I’ve ever heard.

Aw is the bratty little cowboy gonna listen to windchimes and sparkles. Yes. Yes, he is.

Aight hear me out. JUST LISTEN

Belphie listening to country music.

HE HAS THE COWBOY AESTHETIC ALREADY MIGHT AS WELL GO ALL THE WAY.

He’d start it as a joke but he’d gradually love falling asleep to the slow drawl of the music.

he thinks their super cheesy but proceeds to press play

"ugh more country music?" *clicks play*

Or even listening to those sad country army songs about being soldiers and missing your family

He 100% relates these songs to Lilith and having to fight for/against the celestial realm.

AT SOME POINT he’s layed with Beel and they both cried about country music/Lilith (think If Your Reading This and a bunch more by Tim McGraw, Arlington, and Your Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins)

Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlise. FUCK. I’M GOING TO CRY.

I know some of these songs are from the point of view of a daughter and their dad but Belphie can’t help but think of being able to grow up and show Lilith how the world has changed.

Doesn’t even care that most of country songs are religion-based and yeah sometimes he gets so angry at Father for what he took from him but he remembers that now Lilith is up there still. Doesn’t make it hurt any less though.

Wishes he could still hold her, see her grow up, him and beel being her best men at her wedding, connecting the human and celestial realm

listens to circus songs and fucking cries

NICKELBACK. (he isn’t THAT bad okay, sometimes his songs SLAP) ((lullaby,,,belphie relates this song to his feelings of overwhelming anger in the attic)

Falling asleep holding each others hands, reminiscing about Lilith and the times they had together.

Mammon and satan, just to piss him off, played the wild west theme songs (The Good The Bad The Ugly theme) whenever he walked in a room and he would go demon mode (only for them to laugh harder, cowboy looking ass)

gets embarrassed if you hear him listening to country music

changes the song quickly, he can't have people knowing he genuinely likes it

listened to If I Die Young once and thought of Lilith

proceeded to block all mentions of this song

Anyway LOFI MUSIC.

He loves how soft and sweet it is even though it doesn’t match his “style”.

This motherfucker can be berated by Lucifer and he’ll put on headphones and just watch Lucifer scream at him and only hear soft Lofi music.

Lofi hip hop, Jazz, pop. He does not discriminate.

Very often gets the beats and small portions of the lyrics stuck in his head.

LOVES Shiloh Dynasty and all the remixes

But that is not the only thing that Belphie listens to. Oh no, definitely not.

Loves nightcore. Alvin and the Chipmunks who?

Alternatively likes listening to slowed down songs

Listens to the front bottoms and thinks about punching lucifer in his face

OUCH! By Matt Watson

HE LISTENS TO SCREAMO AND EMO MUSIC.

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, SLEEPING WITH SIRENS, PIERCE THE VEIL.

Emo headass.

Is very much stuck in the 2010s (probably the last era he was able to listen to before getting locked in the attic and since getting out has been stuck there) and if MC introduces him to any more then even 2020 music.

It’s the emotions that he relates so heavily to but it also helps him stay awake to do tasks.

His turn to do dishes? Unearthly screaming comes from the kitchen. Please don’t worry he is just vibing.

He has the screamo voice. He doesn’t use it often because I don’t see Belphie as someone to sing along, more bopping to the music and swaying, MAYBE mumbling under his breath but nothing more.

Will do it with Lucifer around just to fuck with him

Why is the thought of Belphie on stage, smudged mascara, black leather clothes and screaming on the top of his lungs hot????

would 100% let you dress him up in that outfit but acts like he doesn't like it

Stop *bonk* being *bonk* a *bonk* belphie *bonk* simp *bonk*

He doesn’t like making playlists because its so much work so if he puts on Lofi to go to sleep to and he will stay sleeping on wild screamo music.

Listens to it most in the attic because that’s where a FUCKTON of his resentment/rebellious vibes come from and because he doesn’t want to bother Beel while they are sleeping.

Asshole probably doesn’t use his headphones anywhere else tho.

Asmodeus and Mammon don’t understand him but they love him nonetheless.

*demonic screeching* “Okay sweetie don’t forget about the student council meeting later today <3”

If Mammon vibes with a song he WILL scream along, incoherently though because he doesn’t know the lyrics.

Beel just kinda sits there. Doesn’t get it either but loves seeing Belphie look so at peace.

Old man lucifer “is that what you kids listen to today?” (but can he talk?? really?? listening to cursed records bc iTs InTeReStInG)

Satan gets it the most out of anyone else. When they have Anti Lucifer-League meetings Belphegor puts on the most rebellious, and relatable (for their cause) at least, songs and they both scream the lyrics.

he isn't shy showing these songs to you but has once attempted to show off his emo scream please don't laugh at him

OKAY BUT CLEANING UP THE LIVING ROOM WITH BELPHIE WHILE YOU BOTH SCREAM IS SO CUTE

Trophy Father’s Son by Sleeping With Sirens, Can You Feel My Heart, Keep Myself Alive, Sleepwalking by Bring Me The Horizon, Last Resort by Papa Roach, A LOT OF LINKIN PARK, Monster by Skillet, and OF COURSE Bring Me To Life by Evanescence

He probably wouldn't listen to wolf in sheeps clothing but *pointing* THATS HIM

Belphie has spent time crying over these songs. On late nights when he can’t sleep he cries about how he thinks Lucifer doesn’t love him and blames him for Lilith’s death. How MC must really hate him for how he’s acted. How different he is from his brother’s. (part of why he won’t listen to it in front of Beel)

please hold him and promise him that you don't hate him

He also LOOOOOVVES classical music but due to his history with it will not listen to it.

Aka how he used to lay on lucifer’s lap while he plays lullabies for him.

If Lucifer is playing classical music in the area tho? He can’t help but suddenly feel really sleepy. And no he didn’t fall asleep close enough to hear Lucifer scribble away on his paperwork (Lucifer knows he does and always has a blanket ready for when this happens).

lay with him and if you listen very carefully you can hear him mumbling the lyrics under his breath as he runs his fingers through your hair

One of my biggest things about belphie is that he is really smart even though he doesn’t like to put in the effort.

He likes to dissect these songs (typically passing thoughts and really paying attention, he won’t put to much effort into it) and get into them and it backfires because that means he’s really listening to these lyrics and it hits him THAT much harder. (STICKING LITTLE WHITE FLOWERS ALL UP IN HER HAAAAAIIRRRR)

End Note: Belphie doesn't have the largest music selection but the songs he listen to either help him sleep or makes him get all up in his feelings (bc he is emotionally stunted and its the only way he can cry).

#do you know how unbelievably angry i am writing these #he made me remember the old country songs I use to listen to #my dad use to listen to country and Spanish music often and as I grew up I slowly got out of that and into other genres #thats why this specific playlist is so nostalgic for me #ALSO GO LISTEN TO BUTTERFLY KISSES DONT YOU DARE SAY BELPHIE DOESN'T CRY AND THINK OF LILITH #i listened to it and went damn I can't believe I just lost my bby girl despite not having any children #obey me shall we date #obey me #om! belphegor #om! headcanons #hcs #headcanon #om! hcs #om! shall we date #swd om #obey me swd #shall we date belphie #belphie x mc #shall we date belphegor #belphegor headcanons #belphegor swd #belphegor x reader #obey me satan #shall we date satan #om! satan #om! lucifer #obey me lucifer #shall we date lucifer #om! mammon #shall we date mammon

[yarrowleef]

Daffodil, Laurel, Lily, Sunflower, Violet, and Wisteria? Also Begonia but I'd like to know your favorites of the old covers and the newer/reprint covers. And the Russian Warrior Cat covers too! Some of their art is quite pretty.

laurel, violet and sunflower answered previously

Daffodil: When did you first start reading the series?

Start of third grade when I was 8 years old, which I believe was 2007!!  .......so like literally most of my life I have given to these cursed cat books. I remember The Sight was the most recent release. It was the first real book series I ever read, and I think I went through the first 2 series within a couple months.

Prior to that I just read stand-alone books and I only read because I wanted to win “accelerated reader” points....i couldn’t do sports, so reading was the only thing I could win at AND I DID WIN. but warriors was the first thing I read that I was actually like...into. and realized I could read for reasons OTHER then winning the most points.

Lily: If your five favorite characters were foods, what would they be?

asdfghgfdxs I honestly have no idea how to answer this question, in part because I don’t think I even have 5 favorite characters. I suppose Firestar is doritos out of obligation. What else can he be?? I mean ok flaming hot cheetos maybe seems more fitting on the surface because ~flame-y~ but lets be honest, Firestar is a bit too bland a character to be spicy. He is one of my favorites for nostalgia sake, I mean it’s Firestar, how can I not be fond of him?

I also have a soft spot for Scourge just because of the sheer ridiculous audacity of him. I wish he’d come back as an evil ghost. Anyway, when I was about 9 and going through my brief (incredibly unfortunate) twilight phase (I was just jumping on the popularity bandwagon tbh) I went to Hot Topic right before one of the movie premieres and they had this...edible bag of blood? it wasn’t actual blood obviously, but I remember it was advertised as being really high in iron to mimic blood, but it was really this sickly sweet mystery juice packaged inside of a fake hospital blood bag. I of course bought it because I went through my edgy phase early, and for some reason thought it would look cool to pretend I was drinking blood. It was the most disgusting liquid i have ever consumed but hey it did also have the unpleasant metallic tang of blood because I guess they were going for authenticity over edibility, so it’s not like I didn’t get what I paid for (or rather what my mom paid for, because i was 9)

Anyway, Scourge is that. He’s awful fake blood juice from the Hot Topic in the mall.

 That's all I got.

Wisteria: Are you looking forward to the Warriors movie?

YES ABSOLUTLEY!!

don't get me wrong, I fully expect it to be terrible. Embarrassing even. I expect they will try to change it for a wider audience appeal, and of course it will end up bad, BUT IT WILL BE SO FUNNY!! I have this inescapable morbid curiosity about it, like I really want to see what they try to do. Like watching a train crash. I can't help it.

Warriors is a silly series. I have a feeling this is why a movie hasn't been made yet, even I would have no idea who to market it for. Yes it's violent and touches on very dark topics, but the fact that its about cute little cats with very dumb names coupled with those dark topics in a way makes it look even MORE silly. I don’t think Warriors will ever have wide appeal outside of its fanbase, the concept looks too ridiculous if you’re not someone already into animal xenofiction like this, but a movie is inevitably going to try to have wider appeal anyway because that's what movie studios feel they need to do. They will either water it down, or worse, try to go a more family friendly comedy route since that’s how general audiences are used to seeing animated talking animals and they think that's the only “”safe”” way to market an animal movie, which will 100% ruin it either way. The second one is more likely, I mean why else do you think they hired the guys who wrote kung fu panda, and the recent alvin and the chipmunks and Spongebob movies to make the script?? [no shade to kung-fu panda, it’s good in it’s own way, but it is not the same vibe as warrior cats at all]. For me, this is simultaneously the absolute best and the absolute worse scenario, because like, it’s horrible, its an insult to everything I love about the warriors world, i have surreal nightmares about it, but it’s so horrible it f*cking hilarious ya know? how can you not be a little curious to watch that train crash (and the outraged reaction posts that will inevitably follow)????

A warriors movie will be bad, I can't see any way that it won't be bad, and honestly? I think that's ok. I don't need a good movie, I simply need a good laugh, and then I'll go back to watching fan animations which will always be more interesting anyway because they don't feel the need to have ~mass appeal~

Listen, we don't actually need a good official adaptation. In some ways, a good adaptation might be bad for the fandom. The fandom is cool because of how wildly different and creative it is, the series is so bare bones with no consistent official art that people can go nuts with it. I worry on the off chance we get a really good adaptation, it might take over the books. People might be less likely to draw/create with their own wild bonkers interpretations of canon in favor of sticking closer to what the official adaptation presented us with, and idk if I want that. I also def don't want to deal with searching "warrior cats" for the rest of my life to only bring up gifs/discussions of the movie/tv show, rendering material and fan creations for the books almost impossible to find. This is something i've suffered with when other books i like get popular adaptations, where as series with bad adaptations (like percy jackson) I have less trouble finding content about the books. 

Begonia: Which book cover is your favorite?

So of the old covers I admit i have a soft spot for the darkest hour, it was my favorite as a kid and I know I tried to redraw it several times. Warrior covers have a tendency to blend together, there’s only so many ways to draw mysterious cats fighting, but I think this cover is one of the most memorable for me, if only for the center art (shout out to the old Fire and Ice cover though, I also really like the center art on that. I wish the box had kept being used for more than just a single cat face in the later series)

but now that i’ve gone and looked, I really really like the full cover art for Tallstar’s Revenge, the colors just look super nice and match his eyes and everything. Tallstar having a fun and more unique looking design gives it extra points. Maybe I just like warm tones idk. And shout out to Wayne for also imagining the moor as a golden-brown field even though it’s probably supposed to be green.

out of the new covers, I like the vibe of Dark River, it just looks spooky and mysterious......and I think this artists cats look better from the side, they are always a little crooked from the front (honorable mention to Place of No Stars cover, I really like the colors and the ominous vibe, it definitely had an impact when I first saw that cover, I just don’t love the look of the cats faces blown up close from the front. The more I look at it the more off it becomes, but the colors are cool)

and I definitely agree the Russian warrior cats art has a very charming look to it, I like seeing it whenever it comes across my dash, but unfortunately I’m having trouble finding a catalogue of it to look at so I can’t pick a favorite

#warrior cats #ask #yarrow speaks #ask game #LMAO typed out half a response then put it in my drafts and forgot for 4 days #LONG POST

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 GOOD Things About Season Two

Oh, season two... how you hurt me so. 

Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about this game-- S2 of TWDG is my least favorite of all five games. I could probably give you a top TEN things that I hate about season two, but... while I don’t love it, I do believe that there is good to be found in it. That’s what I want to discuss today. 

I did have some help brainstorming ideas for this list, so big thanks to @pi-creates, @kaylee-wolf, @taurusicorn2400, and @daisystarss for bouncing ideas around with me! :D

5. The Lee dream sequence.

This scene is super well done. The only reason that it’s so low on the list is because I tend to forget about it due to all the bullshit surrounding it. It usually isn’t until Arvo shoots Clementine that I remember Lee’s gonna show up and make me cry. Then he leaves all too quickly, and it’s back to the Kenny/Jane bullshit train. 

But pushing aside the shitshow, I love this scene. Of course, emotions are all over the place seeing Lee again given the state he was in at the end of s1. Plus there’s something about seeing baby Clementine again after being an older version of her that gets me. 

Their talk is interesting, too, calling back to your choices about Lilly and Carley/Doug, plus discussing Duck being bit. The part that’s always stood out to me, and I’m sure everyone else, is when Clementine asks Lee why people do the things they do.

And Lee’s response is one that doesn’t just apply to s2, it applies to several characters over the course of the series: “Clem, people don't always make sense... 'Cause bad things happen to everyone. And it's hard to keep bein' yourself after they do.”

As the conversation goes on, he also says, “Well, it's not like math, Clem. Sometimes there just isn't a right answer... but part of growing up is doing what's best for the people you care about...even if sometimes...that means hurting someone else.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“...It’s not that easy.” 

Ugh, it’s so good. It ends with Lee asking what he can say to make Clementine feel better, and it really just hurts because y’know it’s not real, y’know that Clementine’s dreaming all of this and Lee’s going to go away.

Overall a powerful scene that gets me every time. 

4. Clementine walking through the snowstorm

Okay look.... I adore this scene. Everything about it. 

Like okay, we have the stupid bullshit that is Kenny and Jane being literal children in the truck, then we nearly crash. Kenny leaves to look for gas, Jane gets Clementine to drive which dumb idea Jane and she crashes. 

That part sucks, but then the actual greatness begins. Jane runs off with AJ, and Clementine’s left alone with nothing but her gun as she begins her walk through the terrible blizzard. 

It has such a sense of loneliness to it-- hearing Clementine shiver and walk around calling out for help before going silent, the song ‘It’s Out There’ that plays while the wind whips and whistles, and then seeing all the frozen walkers standing around like statues really gives you a sense that something terrible is going to happen. It’s this weird calm before the storm kind of thing that also happens to take place during a harsh snow fall? if that makes sense? 

It’s a beautiful scene but it’s also sad, y’know? Sad because once again, Clementine is all alone. She’s been through so much bullshit, and this bullshit train isn’t even at it’s final stop. She’s alone, she’s still injured from when Arvo shot her, she’s gonna freeze to death if she doesn’t keep moving, she has no idea where the fuck Kenny, Jane, and AJ are, and just... it’s a lot. 

But damn it, it’s so good. 

3. AJ is born

AJ being born is one of the best things to happen in S2, and not just because AJ is a super interesting character himself in S2 or even what his being born does for the story. 

If AJ wasn’t born here, then we wouldn’t have had him in TFS where he finally got to become this compelling character and player in the overall story. Don’t get me wrong, his birth does bring an cool aspect to S2 when you willfully ignore how the hell he’s managed to stay alive and healthy the entire time.

Not only that, but we get to see the start of Clementine’s relationship with him. It doesn’t matter what choices you pick, Clementine shows time and time again that she cares about AJ. She nearly breaks down when she believes he died in the snow before the Kenny and Jane fight, then cries again when she discovers he’s alive. 

I enjoy the big sister aspect they went with for Clementine [it definitely beats ANF’s mom nonsense] and I like the growth it shows with her relationship to Rebecca as well... even though that could’ve been written a lot smoother. Rebecca just kind of does a 180 and they blame it on pregnant hormones which.... eh, okay sure. 

For all it’s flaws, this season gave us the start of AJ and I can’t hate it for that, y’know? 

2. Carver is a pretty great antagonist

I like Carver. I think he’s a great antagonist and I really wish they hadn’t killed him off as early as they did.

I find him to be a fascinating character study, y’know? 

From the very beginning, even before we get to physically meet him, we’re told that Carver is a threat. The cabin group are running from someone, and we can easily put the pieces together that Rebecca might be pregnant with his baby rather than Alvin’s.

Then we actually get to meet him when he comes to the cabin and it’s well executed. From Sarah having a panic attack at seeing a glimpse of him through the window, to his friendly and charismatic nature, to the way he talks to Clementine and just... it’s unsettling.

He’s clever, and he knows that Clementine’s covering for the cabin group, but he’s trying to trick her into giving him info. I also hate how smug he gets when he finds the photo of Sarah, but then he just looks at her, and asks, “You have no idea who these people are, do you?” or whatever and just... something about that, y’know? 

Then his “You have a nice day,” as he leaves and you know he’s coming right back with more people, so the group has gotta go. 

Then of course comes his later scenes where he shows up with his people to the lodge, murders Walter while saying he didn’t want to do it but Kenny left him no choice, and he can possibly murder Alvin if Kenny keeps shooting which is a huge holy shit moment because of how Rebecca reacts. 

Ugh, y’know just the way Carver talks to Rebecca and is so matter-of-fact about the baby being his and how he justifies his actions. Like, we can’t forget Reggie and how Carver threw him off the roof only to turn around like “I liked Reggie, he was chill, but he was weak.”

I dunno man, it’s super well done!

I truly believe Carver could’ve gone down as the best antagonist in the series if the writers hadn’t killed him off so damn early to make more room for Kenny to become the new antagonist of the season. Ugh.

I don’t even have an issue with how he died, either. Having Kenny kill him the way he did makes sense and it’s brutal, it was just premature.

Anyway, Carver’s pretty great. One of the best parts of S2. 

1. Clementine 

I mean, are we really surprised? Clementine is what makes this game playable. She’s the best written, most consistent character [which I know is a bit iffy because we do make choices for her but ya get me] and her growth over the season is the most compelling compared to the other characters. 

Hell, of the four Clementine’s we get across the series, this Clementine is my second favorite! She’s fantastic! 

I also love how self-aware she is that her group is just a bunch of morons and she’s gotta do everything around here, but then the same group underestimates her time and time again even though she’s proven herself to be the most competent. 

And on top of that, she goes through so much bullshit. Right from the start, Christa’s still cold to her after what happened to Omid and the baby, then she gets separated from Christa and nearly drowns in a river, then she comes across a dog that attacks and nearly killing her, forcing her to fight back which kills the dog, and then when she finds some decent people, she passes out and this group thinks it’s a walker bite because their “doctor” is incompetent. They lock her up in a shed because ??? so she has to break in and steal supplies to sew up her own arm, which she does and you feel the pain of it the whole way through, BUT THEN she gets attacked by a walker and has to fight it off before the dumb dumb crew come in to help her. 

And that’s just the first part of episode one. 

It’s like the writers were like “Hey, let’s torture Clem so that we can get easy sympathy points from the audience” and then dialed it back a bit because if you look at some of the initial concepts for this season... oof.

But really, S2 in a nutshell is basically “Clementine does anything and gets punished for it.” 

However, it’s not all bad and a lot of it does make her story all the more interesting as it progresses. She goes from a young girl who needs a group to survive, to a survivor herself who is capable of taking care of herself and those she loves. 

This part pertains to my personal ending for this game-- So, by the time we reach the shit show that is the Kenny and Jane fight, I want Clementine to get as far away from both of them as fucking possible. For me, the best endings Clementine can have is to either go alone, or to go to Wellington. 

Wellington’s my personal favorite because I like the idea of Clementine being in a community with strong walls and people to help with AJ. I mean, we gotta throw out the logic when it comes to AJ surviving because in every single endings, he should be dead. 

Honestly, that’s the only thing that keeps me from shooting Kenny. Hell, in my opinion, walking off into the woods with him instead of staying at Wellington is the worst ending in the entire game-- I’d rather go with ding dong dingus Jane than stick around with Kenny, but for me, neither of those are a good conclusion to Clementine’s story and character in S2

Anyway, endings aside, Clementine is the only part of the story that doesn’t make me side eye the writers the way I do for everything else... well, I side eye them sometimes but S2 as a whole is such a mess that it takes a lot to not straight up glare at them and the amount of fuck ups they had here. 

Clementine is hands down the best part of S2.

--- Honorable Mentions

-Big brother Luke in the first couple episodes -This game does have a bunch of different endings that you can get, which is pretty neat until you realize that they mean practically nothing come ANF and they’re totally unbalanced sooo... nice try? -Uncle Pete is pretty cool -The setting of the ski resort is super nice and cozy until murder happens. -In fact, the snowy nature is visually pretty and the skyboxes are some of the best in the series. 

---

So what do you think? Do you agree with this list? What are some of your favorite parts of Season 2? Are you looking at this and asking where the Kenny entry is? Well, I’m sure if you scroll up just a wee bit, you’ll find your answer. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers 

#twdg t5f #twdg #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg kenny #twdg jane #twdg luke #twdg carver #twdg lee #twdg rebecca #twdg alvin

[deeahzee]

what are your top three ships from each season (or your favorite ship if three is too much)?

nah three ships is good, i like me a challenge

for season one... i’d have to say carlee (lee x carley), doulee- or leeoug? idk the ship name, but it’s lee x doug, anddd kenny x katjaa. their lil family i always found super cute

for season two... i’d say walter x matthew, gay dudes just living the life in a ski lodge, kenny x sarita (i always found the idea of them being together really cute) and uhhhhh... fuck, a third ship? rebecca and alvin’s marriage i always thought was alright... but also theres not a lot of s2 ships, soooo... ig i’ll stick with that?

for season three... definitely clem x gabe, it’s a cute ship that gets too much unnecessary hate, javi x jesus (0-0 pls) anddd javi x tripp maybe...? or javi x jesus x tripp :)

as for season four... man. i like waaaay too many s4 ships. clouis is definitely on there, i love then very dearly, ngl i’ve started to become less of a violentine shipper but i still find them really cute... but brodentine i’d definitely say is one of my favorites, annddddd ig that’s all? i pretty much love all the rarepairs, at least the clem rarepairs, soooo yeah :<

#twdg #the walking dead game #daisy talks #fuck do i gotta tag all the ships #nah i’m not gonna #too many #plus it’s almost midnight #i sleepy

[bi-bi-richie]

Meet Me in the Woods (1/4)

In Derry, Maine, most people don’t know about the four spirits that reside there. Of course, everyone has heard of the four elements; Air, Fire, Earth and Water, but they had no idea about the identities behind their abilities.

...

Ao3 - 1 2 3 4

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In Derry, Maine, most people don’t know about the four spirits that reside there. Of course, everyone has heard of the four elements, Air, Fire, Earth and Water, but they had no idea about the identities behind their abilities. For centuries, the spirits passed between different entities, more often than not, humans. The problem was that almost everybody they passed through had the intention of using their abilities for their own selfish desires. The spirits eventually decided to retire in their own individual humans, starting as infants, and act as the little voice in their head as they grew up to insure that they would be their ideal spirit wielder.

The oldest of these spirits is Air. Air is a spirit that craved freedom, the one that touched the sky and, unlike the others, couldn’t be tied down and controlled. The spirit had hope to find someone like themselves, faster than fear and stronger than any danger. Air knew they had no success in finding somebody like this in grown people, but they believed they could mold the young child into what they need. What the world needs.

The second oldest is earth. Earth is nothing like Air, a polar opposite some would say. Earth was a content spirit, never reaching for what they can’t have because they already had it all. They, like Air, could never find somebody like this, it’s impossible to find a human without desires. Still, Earth was sure that they could teach their human to settle with their ability. Show them that they didn’t need to explore the world, instead they could make it. It’s wishful thinking and Earth would stick to it.

The third and second youngest of these spirits is Water. Such a beautiful yet powerful spirit, Water is definitely one of the most respected spirits out of them all but also the most fun. Water has a playful personality that, surprisingly, complimented their mighty ability well. Water wanted that in their human; fun and free but not afraid to do what’s right, even if it means sacrifice. Though the spirit was a lively one, there was no room for love in their existence.

The final and youngest spirit is Fire. Fierce was the only word anyone who looked at the ability of the spirit could use to describe it. They’re unbelievably powerful, even more dangerous than any other spirit and the most destructive. Fire is fearless, like Air, and never stepped down from a fight. Though Water has tamed them in the past, they always came back with more force than before. Fire knew early on that whoever they picked would have to be strong and won’t be pushed down- ever- even if Fire had to teach them.

…

As a child, Eddie always knew something was different. Most people can’t use the wind to help them run faster or hold them in the air while they read a book... or use the air at all. Eddie first learned that when his dad walked into his room when he was 4 and having a windy day in his room so his cape would flap up and down while he played. His dad, Frank, much calmer than anyone should have been, sat Eddie down and asked him about what he was doing. Eddie, convinced he was now in trouble, just ducked his head and told him that he was just playing and somehow willed it to happen. Frank smiled, called him his little bird, and had Eddie agree that he wouldn’t do it in public. Eddie reluctantly agreed but Frank promised that he would take Eddie out into the forest and they could play with it there.

For a few years, they did. Until one day Frank didn’t come home and the wind howled harder than anyone had ever seen that night.

The other side of all of this was Eddie’s mom, Sonia. She was blissfully unaware of her son’s unique ability his whole life since Frank urged Eddie to keep it away from her considering she might not understand the same way Frank did. Eddie didn’t realize why until he heard a voice in his head.

At ten years old, Eddie had surprisingly kept his secret from his mother pretty well. It wasn’t exactly hard to hide, it could be chalked up to the air conditioner being too high or a window being left open. What almost gave him away was a voice.

Eddie was looking out the window one night and saw his neighbors had a fire going in their backyard. He watched it with a smile, missing the days when him and his dad would do outdoor things together. His smile faded when he saw everyone go inside, leaving the fire to rise in height and nip at the leaves above it.

“Blow it out,” a voice said in his head. Eddie almost fell back from how sudden it was and how close it sounded.

“Hello!?” Eddie called out and frantically looked around his room, but he saw nobody and nothing even capable of making noise.

“Quick,” the voice snapped, “that could spread in no time.”

Eddie’s eyes filled with confused tears, unable to understand what’s going on and afraid of something he didn’t know.

“Edward! You have to stop it! A quick puff could take it out in a mere second!”

Then he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Mom!!” He screamed out, “mom help me!!”

In no time at all, Sonia was barreling into the room, wild eyes searching frantically for her son and almost fainting at the sight of him sitting by an open window, sobbing his eyes out.

“Edward! Have you lost your mind!? What are you doing by an open window!?”

Eddie could barely see his mother through his tears. “I-“ he hiccuped, “I heard a voice! In my head!”

There was not a collection of words that could’ve scared Sonia more than those. In less than an hour, Eddie was laying in a hospital bed trying not to cry and listening to his mom scream outside his door. Somehow, everyone had ignored the hard push of wind in the hospital as the doctor explained that Eddie probably just heard a voice from the outside, as he seems physically and mentally healthy.

Eddie heard it again while he slept in that uncomfortable bed in a sadly familiar white room. Eddie trembled when he heard it, but something made it a little less scary than before, and a little more welcoming.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me, Edward, your father wasn’t.”

And for a young Eddie Kaspbak, a few years without his father or the freedom to use his abilities, that was enough.

…

Beverly heard her voice many years sooner than Eddie did. Beverly, like Eddie, had a parent who saw their ability and loved it as a part of them. At the time, Beverly and her parents lived in a small house a little further away from Derry but in Derry nonetheless. It was easy to hide Beverly’s more dangerous ability when there was nobody around to see it. As a baby, her crib caught fire more often than could ever be considered normal. The funny thing was that Beverly never got burned once.

Through too much trial and error and excessive lies to Beverly’s father, Alvin, Beverly lived comfortably with her mother, occasionally her father, and her flame.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t last. Beverly’s mother had been deathly ill for a good year in her life and didn’t survive. In her grief, Beverly, now four years old, set their house on fire without realizing she was letting her power escape her. When sheher and her father escaped, he slapped her and blamed her even though he didn’t have evidence and the firefighters couldn’t find a clear cause for the fire. But Beverly took it to heart. He was right. Now Beverly had nothing left of her mother and she took the blame upon herself.

Alvin moved them fully into the town. Kept them cooped up in a tiny, rundown apartment and let his love for Beverly slip with every sip of beer and drag of a cigarette he took.

One night, Beverly, seven years old, watched herself in her bathroom mirror. A fresh bruise was spreading across her cheek and she knew she’d have to cover it up before she went back to school tomorrow. She watched herself and felt tears slowly leak from her eyes. Thoughts of how she despised her appearance, her uncanny resemblance to her mother and how it’s a curse filled her mind. She felt nothing but hatred for it.

“Don’t do that,” a voice lightly scolded. Beverly leaped backward and frantically looked around

With as much bravery as a seven-year-old can muster, she called out, “who’s there? Show yourself!”

The voice let out a quiet, “tsk tsk,” and Beverly slowly started to realize it wasn’t a voice coming from someone in the apartment.

“Shh, you don’t need to fear me.”

Beverly trembled but couldn’t help but feel comforted by the gentle tone. “Who are you?”

The voice shushed her again, “never mind that. All you need to know is that I’m here for you, Beverly. I love you.”

Hearing that, even at seven and not truly understanding the power behind those three words, caused Beverly to collapse and sob. She had been denied love for so long. A caring voice to tell her everything will be okay. That she was loved.

“And don’t say those things about yourself,” the voice scolded again, but gently. “One of the things I love the most about you is your flame.”

…

Mike has...the perfect life for his ability. It’s unbelievably easy for him to hide it, he didn’t even know about it until he was six-years-old. Ever since he was born, the farm had been doing more amazing in their farming than ever. The soil was always perfect, everything grew at its best and there was rarely a spoiled harvest. It was amazing and unlike anything any farmer had ever seen.

When Mike did discover his ability, he was playing outside alone one day. He loved to be outside, to discover new things everyday. Though he was generally allowed to run around wherever he wanted, he still felt there was more to find. His father warned him of a high cliff above a quarry and that it was too dangerous to go alone. For a long time, Mike held onto that rule but the dullness of that day was just too much to bear for a six-year-boy who craved adventure.

It didn’t take long for his imagination to run wild and rationalize his decision to run off. In his mind, he imagined he wouldn’t get too close and he would come back before his dad noticed he was gone. There’s no way his dad just expected him to sit there and be bored all day! So he ran off, pushing tall grass away without touching it and giggling at how it tickled rather than lightly cutting his arms like it would to someone else.

Eventually, the soft dirt under his feet turned into hard stone, letting him know he was mere seconds away from seeing the quarry he had only started thinking about ten minutes earlier. One shove at a branch and suddenly he was greeted with one of the most breathtaking sights he’d ever seen in his life- not that he was really old enough to cherish it.

The quarry was huge, almost like a canyon in Mike’s mind. He thought the drop below had to be at least 200ft.

It didn’t take long for Mike to decide that getting a closer look couldn’t hurt in the slightest. It was in his best interest! Nobody in the whole wide world could just see the quarry and not get closer. So he did.

He inched closer. Then closer. Ever so slightly closer. Okay, a little closer. Maybe a lot closer. So, maybe too close.

What didn’t occur to Mike was that he had hit the natural edge of the quarry a few inches back. The ground beneath him just grew with every step he took. He didn’t take notice and he didn’t look back.

“Michael,” a voice suddenly stopped him.

Mike stopped, but didn’t bother to look around to find the voice. He just kept walking but at a slower pace.

“Michael,” the voice said yet again.

“Yes?” Mike squeaked out, keeping his eyes ahead.

“What are you doing?” The voice asked.

Mike shrugged, assuming whoever was there could see him. “I wan’ see the quarry my daddy always talks about!”

The voice hummed, “but didn’t he say to stay away?”

Mike paused, then he sat down and thought about it. “But I was bored!”

The voice chuckled. “Michael, it’s time to turn back. You know the way very well.”

Mike huffed as he got up and turned around. What he saw made him almost fall right back over. It was a large strip of stone, perfectly matched to Mike’s small width and as long as he had walked.

“What happened!?” Mike gasped out, his shock was quickly replaced with wonder.

“You made it, Michael,” it explained gently.

“Oh,” Mike sniffed, “can I get rid of it? I don’t wan’ my daddy knowing I was here.”

The voice chuckled again and it made Mike smile in response. “Of course, just go back to the edge and I’ll help you with the rest.”

So Mike did. He hopped along the stone right back to the natural edge of the quarry, mostly unaware of the way the stone path crumbled and fell into the water below. When he turned back around, everything was as it was before. He started walking back home where he knew his parents would be making lunch at this point.

…

Even though everybody had heard their voice relatively young, the youngest of them all was Richie.

When Richie was three, well, he couldn’t exactly speak the right way. He knew words, small sentences but his lisp made things hard to say. The strange thing about Richie was that he knew words he had never been taught by his parents. Words like, “spirit,” or “ability.” Things that Wentworth and Maggie, his parents, would never say and especially in front of a three year old.

The even weirder thing about Richie was that he had the most unusual tendency to be wet. As a baby Richie would be found surrounded by a puddle of water, or wake up from a nap soaked to the bone. When he was learning to crawl and walk, Richie couldn’t do it on tile because he always managed to slip on water that seemed to come from nowhere.

For the first few years of his life, his parents had no reasonable explanation for it. Maggie insisted he just sweated. A lot. Wentworth suggested a leaky roof, but how could he be soaked to the bone even when it hasn’t rained in three weeks? Richie was an unsolved case. The strange unknown “phenomenon” kept them hesitant to send Richie to a daycare or preschool despite how social they knew their son was, especially for a toddler. Maggie convinced most people that there was no point,she was a stay-at-home-mom and Richie was still young .In reality, she couldn’t stand the idea of sending Richie away to people who won’t understand him… even though she didn’t understand either.

It wasn’t until he was four when all their questions were answered.

Another quirk of Richie’s, even as a toddler, was that he could never keep a secret. Obviously he wasn’t trusted with big secrets, like what Wentworth bought Maggie for her birthday, but sometimes one of his parents let out a loud “FUCK” from one room and begged Richie to keep it a secret from the other parent. Not because they really wanted it to be, but because they really didn’t want Richie running around the house chirping out “fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” And, well, that never worked.

Richie was playing in his room that afternoon. Most kids liked to play with actual toys, but Richie liked to play with cups of water. He was the only one who could do it too! He made shapes out of the water, his favorite animal (which changed every week) was a popular choice to play with. Today he made a fox, a playful one (at his spirit’s suggestion) that nipped at Richie’s fingers and ran around his room until Richie decided he wanted to cuddle with it instead.

As he sat on his bed, stroking his water-fox, he rattled off question after question.

“Fox bye bye?” Richie whined.

“I’m afraid so, but one day you can keep him by your side.” Water answered.

“But,” Richie sighed, “I wan’ fox! Can I keeps him?”

Water sighed, “I’m sorry, Richard, but nobody can know about him- or you. You know that.”

“... Not mommy and daddy?”

“Not even them.”

Richie huffed and crossed his arms. “Mommy and daddy no tell.” He sat up from his bed and grumbled, “mommy and daddy tolds me I can tell them a-anything .”

“Richard, let's just play! Make another animal!” Richie sighed, happy that his spirit’s serious tone was gone and rolled off his bed.

“I wan’ cracker.” Then Richie padded off to his bedroom door.

He yanked the heavy door open with all his strength, but he forgot about the fox still running around his room . It let out a loud yip and charged out the door and down the stairs where his parents were watching tv. Richie watched it run down the stairs with wide eyes, ignoring the way Water was screaming in his ear to stop him! Richard, no! But he was paralized.

He heard a shrill scream come from both his parent’s mouths. That’s when he ran downstairs.

…

Despite all the spirits being connected and having similar experiences growing up, they didn’t meet until they were freshmen in high school.

Eddie was homeschooled for a large chunk of his life. He was only allowed to go to school in his last year of middle school, which was probably the most miserable year of his life. Even then, it was a private school. He fought tooth and nail to be allowed into a normal public high school, demanding that his mother gave him a single normal experience. Amazingly, Air didn’t speak once during the fight. Eddie thought that Air would argue against Eddie, considering their belief is that Eddie should be in the forest , perfecting his ability. Eventually, his mother caved, but only because the constant storm patterns scared her into believing that god was angry with her.

Beverly spent elementary and middle school in an all girl’s school. There, she was heavily bullied. Beverly never really understood why, other than the fact that little girls were the biggest assholes in the world. She was miserable every single day of her life as long as she attended there and went home to her father. It was horrible, she couldn’t handle it anymore. Fueled by Fire’s demands to stick up for herself and the anger of being harassed again and again and again, Beverly burned a girl’s cheek. It wasn’t until after what she had done that she realized she didn’t have a lie that could save her secret from being let out. So, she set the school on fire. Lucky for her, nobody could find the source of the Fire. Nobody was going to believe a group of girls, who were notorious for hating Beverly, that it was her fault. Beverly was moved into Derry’s public high school when school started again.

Mike was homeschooled until high school. He begged his family to let him have any other sort of experience, just to be around other kids his age- other people! Despite the constant bitching from Earth in his head that this is perfect for you! A young spirit needs the freedom you have. It was annoying, but Mike didn’t let any of it get to him in the end. Eventually, his parents caved and let him do his last piece of school in a public school with all the other kids.

Then there was Richie. After his parents discovered their son’s unique ability and voice of reason in his head, they had to quickly adapt to accept their son for who he was . They didn’t like the sound of Richie saying that his destiny is to be alone with the water one day- or that’s what Water told him. So Maggie had homeschooled him until middle school. She hated to admit how afraid she was that her son with such a wandering mind would run away with the voice in his head demanding it, or even find out from a teacher that Richie had revealed himself. But she couldn’t contain Richie for long. Richie was allowed to go to a public middle school and high school with the promise that he’d keep his secret safe- no matter how guilty she felt about it.

It had to happen eventually. The four spirits are expected to work in harmony but from a distance. That’s how they worked for years, knowing of each other’s existence but only ever coming together during an important situation. Unfortunately for the spirits, humans don’t work that way. Meeting each other was all the teenagers could dream of when they learned there were others like them. It was going to happen no matter what.

It terrified the spirits.

...

Read the rest on Ao3

#reddie #benverly #stanlonbrough #meet me in the woods #my writing

[edda-blattfe]

Holiday Headcanons

(A.k.a. Writing warm up, cause lord knows I need to get back in the game.)

- Night Raven, a bleak, desolate institution dedicated to the mastery of magic in all forms. Only the strong of spirit can see past the dismal stone walls, into the beating wealth of knowledge it truly possesses. It is not place for the feint of heart....that is, until winter comes around.

- The holiday season gives our beloved headmaster, Crowley, a chance to “warm up” the dreary castle-turned-school with cheerful tinsel, Yule trees, lights, candles, and many more delightful decorations. The hallways are no longer dreadfully dull places where the dearly departed and horrific wonders lurk, but sparkling pine scented pathways. Classrooms no longer seem like prisons to students and all the fields as far as the eye can see is dusted with shimmering snow. Fireplaces are constantly being fed logs, offering everyone some relief from the cold. Yes, Night Raven college looks splendid this time of year.

- No one knows who, or even why they do it, but every morning throughout December a copious amount of festive cookies and pastries are set out in the cafeteria. The cooks swear it’s not them, and the school records support their claims. Students have tried to catch the culprit for decades now, with no success. There are several theories flying around. Some say it’s the ghost of the first cook at Night Raven coming back to help cheer on the students for finals; others believe that it’s Crowley himself wanting to give his students a helping hand. In any case, the food is always phenomenal and greatly appreciated.

- Each dormitory is responsible for their own decorations and function organization. It’s become a sort of competition between Pomefiore, Scarabia, and Heartslabyul. You can probably guess how these dormitories do their thing, so let’s talk about why the others don’t partake.

- Savanaclaw has a long history of not caring if their holiday spirit is visible or not. If someone wants a tree they’ll put it up and pull out the old ornaments, but that’s as far as it goes unless someone wants to volunteer. There is a punching bag dressed as Santa Clause that Leona actually takes the effort to pull out of the closet himself. He gets a kick out of seeing the first year’s reaction to it.

- Ignihyde isn’t the most competitive when it comes to holiday stuff. Most of their decorations are led lights and sticks to a blue, white and silver color pallet. If Idia is feeling a little festive he’ll stick a pair of antlers on his drones with a red light where their “nose” would be.

- Octavinelle is waaay too busy with the holiday rushes at the cafe and contract signings to care about competition. Though, they’d have a good chance of winning if they did! The restruant looks like the holidays stuffed into a single glass ornament for the entire month. Tinsel and holly is literally everywhere! You’re gonna want to watch your step, there’s a few sticks of mistletoe hanging in the mess of cheer.

- Diasomnia tried to join in...but unlike the school, there is no way of dispelling the natural eerie atmosphere that hangs over this dorm. It’s like there’s a spell over the place that turns even the cheeriest of decorations into horrific, macabre pieces straight out of the Victorian era. The dorm members have abandoned all hope of trying to compete and have come to embrace their dark holiday vibe. Besides, they always win the Halloween competitions. It’s only fair that the others get a chance of winning something!

- Vil, Kalim, and Riddle are all hell-bent on winning this year’s competition....it’s a little frightening, to be honest.

- Pomefiore always gears towards a crystal and snowy wonderland theme that matches their dorm’s atmosphere beautifully! In the morning, light streams through the windows and floods the common rooms with glittering crystal rainbows more enchanting than the snowy wonderland outside.

- Scarabia focuses less on theme and more on “how many lights can we put up without violating Crowley’s regulations on light pollution.” EVERYTHING is covered in lights. It’s so strong that dorm members will wear sunglasses at night to avoid ruining their eyes. Jamil makes sure they all get shut off by around 9pm for the sake of sleep.

- Heartslabyul takes a more traditional homey approach. They have trees decked out in glistening ball ornaments and whatever the members had picked up from Sam’s. Golden tinsel is everywhere, as are bells and seasonal tea cups. Red, green and gold are the go to colors here, with occasional wonky pink flamingo wearing a Santa hat or multicolored hedgehog breaking the consistency. Decorative present boxes are everywhere and are typically stuffed with candy (cause Riddle expects to find something in them, he ain’t having any of that empty box nonsense!) for all the members.

- Azul’s favorite part of the holiday season is definitely the music. Say what you will about carols, this man will be seated at his glorious piano, tickling the ivories to whatever holiday diddy is stuck in his head at the time. Karaoke for the month is dedicated to holiday music and nobody misses a night, not even Vil.

- The trouble trio (Lilia, Kalim, and Ace) use this opportunity to sing things like Alvin and the Chipmunk’s “Christmas Don’t Be Late” and “Jingle Bell Rock”. Their rendition of “Santa Baby” remains their best work up to date.

- Vil, Rook, and Epel prefer to sing the “darker” Christmas hymns, like “What child is this?”, “O come, O come, Emmanuel”, and “Carol of the Bells”. It’s a hauntingly beautiful display that earns their audiences’ full attention. (Vil probably gets the whole dorm to do the Carol of the bells, now that I think about it)

- Lilia has a love/hate relationship with this season. On one hand, you have tons of sugary sweet treats literally hanging off tree branches. On the other, elf jokes. Silver gave him elf pajamas as a joke once; it wasn’t pretty. (Lil gremlin went feral on his ass so fast... *imagines Silv video taping Lilia opening his present and seeing the exact moment he realizes what it is before tackling the camera head on...all you see are furious red eyes and fangs before the footage cuts out*)

- Ruggie isn’t a fan of the holidays, but he’s there for all the food!

- Believe it or not, Jade and Floyd actually takes it easy on late payments this time of year, Azul is also more prone to giving extensions. They’ve all seen or read “A Christmas Carol” and know first hand that ghosts are, in fact, very real. They ain’t gonna make Scrooge’s mistake!

- Jamil can leave or take the holiday season, he really doesn’t care that much about it. Nevertheless, he still puts in a lot of effort to make the holidays special for Kalim, who loves it with a childish passion.

- Ortho hasn’t had many Holidays, so he’s still very much in awe of everything.

- Mozus actually really likes the holiday season...at home with Lucious and a book in his armchair placed before a roaring fire, enjoying the peace and quiet.

I’m leaving off there for now, but if you’d like more holiday headcanons shoot me an ask! Gtg work on other stuff. Hope y’all enjoyed!

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland headcanons #diasomnia #pomefiore #ignihyde #savanaclaw #scarabia #octavinelle #heartslabyul #holiday headcanons #edda blattfe #my writing #happy holidays

[phagechildon]

The Greater Good - Chapter 9

It’s been so long since I’ve updated due to personal issues, but I’m finally able to write Hijack again! And due to the long hiatus, this chapter is especially long sitting at around 19,422 words! I know the fandom’s dead but they’re so fun to write! I highly recommend reading on AO3 for a better experience since Tumblr refuses to copy anything that I italicized or bold -_- I didn’t have anyone else edit this for me due to the length and everyone being busy, so I’m sorry for the mistakes! READ ON AO3 - Rated M for Mature due to violence, death, dark and sexual themes

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Fandom: Hijack/Frostcup Story Summary: Jack, unable to handle the dark life he’s living, is now trying to redeem himself by using his skills and demigod powers to protect the innocent. Though he gets more than he bargained for when he meets Hiccup, who unknowingly holds the very fate of the world in his hands.

Last Chapter recap since it’s been a while:  With Zootopia overran by Nightmares and half of them being sold into slavery, Hiccup volunteers himself to be captured in order to free the other prisoners. In the meantime, Jack confronts the Nightmares who are attacking the city, only to realize everything is going according to Pitch's plan - a plan to get Hiccup. Quickly resolving the issue, he flys towards the prisoner camp, hoping he isn't too late. However he's unaware that not only are the Nightmares there to capture Hiccup, but so is Callaghan's Army and the Outcasts. Everything's a chaotic mess and poor Hiccup just wants a break.

TW: Mentions of rape and sexual harassment is mentioned throughout this chapter. It gets sorta but not too bad at the part where I added *** . It stops when you see *** again. I added a very brief explanation of what happened at the end in case you want to skip it!

----

“Shit-” Jack cursed as he hovered over the burning prisoner camp, the smoke so severe he was forced to use one of his sleeves to cover his mouth. The fire was so intense he couldn’t even see past the smoke and flames. He prayed Hiccup wasn’t down there, but he didn’t dare take a chance. He had to at least take a quick glance around.

Toothless hopped off his shoulder and gave him an agreeing nod. “I’ll go left you go right. We’ll meet on the other side.” Immediately the dragon dove down, Jack following suit. Despite how exhausted he was, he formed a thin yet durable layer of ice around his skin. It only gave him at least three minutes before he’d have to take a brief break, but it was better than nothing.

“Hiccup!!” He called as he landed, his eyes widening as he saw the Mother’s Arms soldiers laying in pools of their own blood. Hiccup wouldn’t resort to such bloodshed, and those wounds weren’t caused by dragons either. The cuts were clearly made by swords. What happened here?

Running further in, his eyes caught sight of men adorning different uniforms. “Callaghan’s army?” He mumbled, even more confused than before. They practically disbanded that army. The fact the few survivors were even here meant they probably tracked them all the way from the Hamada Village. But if Pitch made good on his threat, then that meant the Mother’s Arms, Callaghan’s Army, and the Nightmares were all in the camp with Hiccup as their collective target. He knew Hiccup can handle himself, he trusted him, but against three different armies?

“Hiccup!!” He cried out again just as he passed a Nightmare body, his fearful theory being proven true.

This was his fault. He should’ve realized the string of odd coincidences and connected the dots sooner. This was definitely something only Pitch was capable of. If something happened to Hiccup, he’d never forgive himself.

A rattling cage pulled him out of his thoughts as he looked around for the origin. “Hiccup?!” He instinctively called as he ran faster in the direction of the noise. Of course it was in the area most of the smoke was coming from.

The closer he got the more his eyes burned until he felt himself kick something metal.

Looking down, he saw a medium sized bird cage with a barely conscious chameleon in it.

Strange, he didn’t know Mother Gothel liked pets.

Very gently he picked the cage up and opened it. The small reptile looked at him weakly yet thankfully as it crawled onto Jack’s hand.

“I’ll get you out of here little guy,” he reassured as he dropped the cage, hearing it clank against something soft. Glancing down he saw the body of a rather high ranking Nightmare on the ground judging by the clothes, and beside him drag marks. There was something odd about the drag marks though. He wasn’t sure if he was looking too into it, but he could swear the left side leg was more square than the other, meaning the person who was dragged away could be Hiccup. It was definitely worth checking out.

Jumping up he rose above the smoke, seeing Toothless doing the same. “Over here!” Jack called, the dragon turning and flying towards him. “He was taken, but there’s tracks leading in this direction-” he pointed north. “Let’s get a Terrible Terror.”

----

His body still felt heavy as he slowly became aware of the rattling ground that made his teeth clank together. For a moment, he thought he’d heard Jack’s contagious laughter and soothing hum. Unfortunately he must've been half asleep because all he heard now was the booming laughter of someone he didn’t know.

“To think we’d have a princess to collect a bounty for too - this is our lucky day!”

A princess? Who were they talking about?

“Since she’s got some weird powers, we’ll force them to give us more reward money for our troubles,” Savage said, memories of earlier coming back at once. In an instant he paled, desperately wanting to open his eyes to confirm the horror for himself. His body was heavy though, so, so heavy, not even his eyelids would open. Whatever the Nightmares did to him was still severely affecting him, to the point where he felt his consciousness starting to fade again. This wasn’t like the poison, this was something inherently different. Perhaps it was the spell that made him limb as a doll? Whatever it was, he absolutely hated it.

A small noise rumbled from the back of his throat, but it wasn't audible to others. It was swallowed by a gag in his mouth. Of course they’d gag him, they knew he could call for help.

“Hiccup?” Rapunzel’s voice came over softly. The dragon whisperer didn’t realize how worried he was for her until he heard her voice as he relaxed just a tiny bit. He tried to respond, but all that came out was another soft groan. Oh how he just wanted to scream in frustration.

“You’re hurt - I’ll heal you as soon as I can,” she gently reassured, her voice so soothing he tried to solely concentrate on her. It made being paralyzed slightly more bearable. “They keep talking about hearing lots of horses gaining up on us. If it’s another army, we can use the chaos to escape.”

Escape? He wondered if she was able to get out of her ropes. Considering she was a woman and these were Alvin’s men, they probably didn’t take her seriously.

“I’d take your gag off, but they keep making sure it’s still on, sorry,” she apologized, to which Hiccup merely shook his head, the statement confirming his theory. Maybe the situation wasn’t as hopeless as he thought. Even now he could hear the thundering thuds of more horses gaining on them, making him take a deep breath through his nose.

He couldn’t move, but he wouldn’t be useless.

It felt like an eternity as they waited for something to happen. “Incoming from behind! Get the prisoners out of here!” Savage commanded. “Make sure that gag stays on the boy!”

“Yes sir!” Someone answered as the wagon moved even faster than before. He groaned as he felt his body rattle even harder against the wood, causing even further discomfort.

He still couldn’t move, still couldn’t speak.

“I got this,” Rapunzel said, only making Hiccup feel worse. If something happened and she needed backup - shit. He had to do something.

He heard the ruckus, heard the man gasp in shock, and heard her wrecking havoc. The wagon swayed left and right. He heard her gasp in pain, then rebuttal. Part of him started praying Jack and Toothless would show up with a Terrible Terror to save them - to save Rapunzel.

He heard the sound of horse’s hooves catching up from behind them, heard arrows being notched, Rapunzel cry out in horrific pain -

“Stop!” He cried out behind the gag as he sat up, ignoring the fact he couldn’t even move a few moments ago. His eyes opened and saw red leaving the blond’s shoulder where an arrow was sticking out of it as she continued holding the horse’s reins, trying to prevent them from crashing.

There were four on horseback catching up to them, getting more arrows ready, but Hiccup was faster. He dropped to the ground and rubbed his face against the side of the wagon, the gag being pulled down.

It was all a blur. He let loose a dragon noise, he couldn’t even remember which one.

The enemy let their arrows soar, but they never pierced. Instead they uselessly fell to the ground as Hiccup turned, seeing the riders tossed from his seats as the horses made a mad dash in the opposite direction. He squinted his eyes, trying to see what kind of dragon he summoned only to realize why he couldn’t see anything.

He summoned Changelings, and they were both wild and unpredictable.

His eyes met with Rapuzenl’s weak ones as he desperately shot up, his hand wrapping around the arrow and pulling it out of her shoulder just as the wagon tipped over -

And his world went black once again.

----

The Terrible Terror was struggling, and Jack was trying his best to stay patient. The dragon was obviously trying its best as he caught a few words such as ‘this way’ and ‘shit, why.’ Of course Hiccup taught him some of the curse words, dragons apparently loved using them just like humans.

“There might be a lot of people with them, making his scent harder to make out,” he said as his eyes grew heavy again, threatening to close. Toothless said something, but all he could frustratingly make out was ‘It’s-- if they know--- tracking him,’ which was no help since he couldn’t even make out what he meant.

Toothless groaned himself, knowing the theory may help Jack come up with something useful. They were using a lock of Hiccup’s hair, one of the most powerful forms of tracking material you can use aside from a fingernail yet this Terrible Terror was having a hard time pinning his location, which meant whoever had Hiccup was purposefully covering his scent. Callaghan’s army didn’t seem smart enough to do such a thing and the Nightmares didn’t even know about dragons. The only ones knowledgeable enough would be enemies of Berk itself.

Guess it didn’t matter if Jack was aware of this. This half human would stop at nothing to secure Hiccup, and that was just fine with Toothless.

However, he might have to force the demigod to take a break. He was looking even paler than usual; there was hardly any color left in his face. The stupid human hadn’t rest despite dispelling so much energy during the Nightmare attack on the city.

The sound of clinking metal made Jack tiredly look down, spotting a man and women surrounded by six people from the Nightmares. As worried as he was for Hiccup, he couldn’t ignore people in need.

Cursing under his breath, he instructed the Terrible Terror to stop as he dropped out of the sky. The two humans saw him at the corner of their eyes and gasped as he slammed into the ground, ice shooting out and hitting two of the men. Slowly he got to his feet, his staff forming in his hands as the little chameleon from earlier peeked out of his shoulder, shivering as Jack’s body heat left him.

“Stall me all you want Pitch, but I’ll save him,” he hissed, using the wind to quickly zip between the enemies and tap their chests with his staff. All at once they all fell, their hearts and lungs frozen over.

Merciless, but he was in no mood to think about it. Pitch was trying to take the one person who made him feel human and wanted for the first time in a long time. Of course he was in a fowl mood.

“Wow, where were you like, six minutes ago?” The brown haired man with a goatee laughed as he put his sword away. Jack blearingly looked over at him, cursing under his breath as his vision started going in and out. The women behind him with short black hair kept her sword out in alert, something he could respect.

“You guys… alright?” He took a step forward, the world moving around him before fading to black.

----

The floor was moving - it was galloping. His chest and ribs ached, his stomach unsettled. If he had eaten recently he probably would’ve thrown it up. Trying to adjust his position, he found, once again, he was tied up. This time he felt ropes around his arms and foot, a single rope connecting them so he couldn’t fall off the horse without getting trampled.

Perfect, just perfect. Whoever had him now didn’t seem to care about his safety much.

“Slow down, she’s starting to slip again,” he heard a man say. On queue he felt the horse slowing down, the decrease in speed only seeming to make the pain in his chest worse. “Let’s stop and change her bandages, Corona won’t pay for a dead princess.”

Bandages? Did that mean Rapunzel was okay?

The horses came to a stop. He felt someone shift the saddle he was draped against before someone landed somewhat lightly on the ground, confirming one thing. These weren’t the Outcasts. Their speech wasn’t harsh and they didn’t wear heavy armor, meaning they were probably captured by Callaghan’s army. Better than the Nightmares at least.

“What about the Dragon Conqueror?” Hiccup flinched. He hated that nickname.

“Cut him down, but don’t let him out of your sight. He should be waking up soon and we can’t risk him calling for help.”

“Uh… who would he even call out for?” He heard another ask as he too got off his horse.

“Who do you think called for those Changelings back there, hm? Those brutes?”

“Oh… guess you’re right.” The man replied. “I’ll do it then.” He heard someone approach him and tighten the gag around his mouth, making him aware of the rough cloth that was also shoved into his mouth to help prevent any kind of sound from leaving him at all. They were being thorough, unfortunately for him. Luckily for him, they weren’t too bright, he just had to wait for the right moment.

The middle rope was severed, allowing his numb arms and leg to finally separate. Like a rag doll the man pulled him off the horse, not caring as Hiccup’s legs hit the ground hard. Swallowing his pained groan, he felt the man drag him at least six paces away before dropping him.

“H-he’s hurt,” Rapunzel’s sweet voice rang, easing the dragon whisperer’s heart a bit. “Please… be gentle.”

“I’d worry more about yourself,” he heard a man snicker darkly, making Hiccup's eyebrows burrow in anger. “After all, we still have time before we get to Corona, and these nights get awfully cold.”

Oh hell no. No one spoke to someone like that and got away with it. Hesitantly he opened his eyes slightly, realizing he wasn’t blindfolded. They were in a forest of sorts with no river nearby, but that was fine. Gazing around camp, he saw around six men, all of which were watching what seemed to be the leader trying to intimidate Rapunzel who was just giving him death glares. The poor guy had no clue she could probably take half of them at once with her hair alone, but their diverted attention only made this easier.

His body still felt oddly heavy, but nothing compared to earlier. Wiggling his fingers, he pressed them to the dirt hoping to find something sharp to use.

“It’s futile,” he heard a voice say, making him freeze immediately. “Whether you get out of those bonds or not, you’re just gonna get captured again.” This voice… didn’t belong to one of Callaghan’s men. The sheer tone alone made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, unnerving him. This cold empty despair - could it really be someone from the Nightmares?

“Looks like you are smart after all,” the voice chuckled, but he heard no footsteps and saw no one. “I’d save your strength, you’re going to need it where you’re going.”

The response only egged him on, wanting to prove the voice wrong. It must be part of the stupid shadow that attached itself to him, he realized as he searched with his fingers more until they brushed something smooth and cold like metal. The quality didn’t feel the greatest, but the fact he found metal was so astounding he decided not to question it as he maneuvered it between his fingers a bit, making it press against the ropes.

He looked over at the men, seeing them getting closer to Rapunzel who only looked more agitated than before - so did the men. She probably said something to upset them, he realized.

He had to hurry.

A cramp coursed through his hand, nearly making him drop the metal. Cursing under his breath he worked past it as Rapunzel’s and his eyes met. Somehow he knew she was saying it was time to go and got ready to sit up in an attempt to help. He had no clue what she had in mind and hoped she had some sort of plan.

“Once I start, I can’t stop. If you touch, it’s your own fault,” she seethed in warning. The men only laughed as they came forward, making her close her eyes. “Wither and decay-” her eyes snapped open, the entirety of her eyes turning completely black. All the light seemed to be sucked away in the area as the horses immediately ran away, making the men nervously go silent. “End this destiny-” her long beautiful golden hair started wilting to black, the ropes around her wrists and legs dissolving into nothing. The grass and vegetation around her even started to wilt before dying within the matter of seconds. “Break these earthly chains, and set the spirit free.”

“Wh-what?!” The men gasped as they took a step back seeing the dying grass getting closer to them. “T-the hell is this?!”

“Set the spirit free.”

The sight was horrifying, but only urged him to work even faster. By the time she started saying it again he felt the rope budge and quickly pulled his wrists free. Knowing that probably made a sound he quickly sat up and pulled the rope off his his good leg, allowing the rest to dangle for now as the men turned.

“Shit, get him!”

Seeing all six men turn their attention to him, Hiccup quickly pulled the gag off and coughed out the second half. Tossing it, he hit the closest man in the face before he got up on his good leg. None of them came at him with swords, meaning they wanted him alive.

Why didn’t that make him feel any better about their situation?

One made a grab for him, to which he quickly side stepped and pushed the off balanced man to the ground. The attack made Rapunzel gasp as she said the incantation even louder, a horrible crunching noise making them all look to the ground as vines started rising out of the ground, their lush green color turning ashen black.

The men all stopped their attack as their faces paled, seeing the looming dark shadow wash over where they were standing.

With sharp gasps of fear they ran, forgetting about Hiccup and their gear. Honestly the dragon whisperer was just as nervous as he looked up to Rapunzel, feeling as if the soles of his shoes were getting thinner.

“Rapunzel?” He hesitantly called out. She finished the verse only to instantly collapse. The pure black strands slowly became golden again as she groaned. Instantly he hopped over, kneeling over her, afraid to touch her. “Rapunzel, are you okay?”

She opened her eyes a bit, seemingly drained. “Yeah… sorry about that,” she whispered. Very carefully Hiccup helped her sit up, that dark aura gone. He glanced at her shoulder wound, seeing the bandages turn a bit pink. The fall probably opened it again.

He reached forward, but stopped, recalling the disgusting things those pigs were saying. “Your wound-” the blond looked down, seeing the pink and groaned.

“I… can heal it, just, give me a minute,” she breathed, to which he nodded, respecting her space. For now he needed to find something to make a temporary prosthetic out of. Luckily one of them left their bag. Rummaging through it, he found some rope, bandages, and a knife, all of which were pretty useful.

“Maybe this means our luck’s starting to turn around.”

It took a few minutes, but he managed to make a prosthetic out of a rather chunky piece of wood and the other materials he found. In the meantime Rapunzel healed her wound and even healed a few of Hiccup’s.

“So… your hair,” Hiccup started as the glow left the golden strands. “Is there a story behind it?” Rapunzel couldn’t help but smile a bit nervously as she avoided eye contact, meaning it probably wasn’t a happy memory. “You don’t have to - I get it,” the dragon whisperer quickly stammered. “I just think it’s cool, even the darker side of it.”

The blond looked up at him in shock, which made Hiccup look away uneasily. Was that something weird to say? He wasn’t good at talking to normal people it seemed. Then again she wasn’t exactly normal. “I-I just think having both restoration and destruction seems very balanced and probably hard to maintain yet you seem to do a pretty good job-” Rapunzel’s laugh was his queue to shut up, more than thankful she put him out of his awkward misery.

“You’re the first person to call that side of me cool,” she said, obviously amused. The shyness from earlier seemed to disappear as she stood, her shoulder completely healed.

Thank goodness.

“I think it is,” Hiccup said again, this time more confidently as he sat back down and undid the makeshift prosthetic, folding the cloth up a bit more in hopes of making it slightly more comfortable before they started walking. “Sure it destroys things, and can probably severely hurt someone, but that power can sometimes be more of a blessing than healing.” He glanced up as Rapunzel rose a confused eyebrow, thankfully not seeming offended, so he continued. “Just look what you did for us. Healing wouldn’t have driven those men away - trust me, I know how stubborn they are,” he said, sounding annoyed and exhausted, which only made Rapunzel giggle again. “And if you’re ever trapped you can use that to literally ‘escape your earthly chains,’ so long as you’re the only one there.”

The princess gently tucked some hair behind her ear as she shifted her gaze to the ground, seeming to agree. “Yeah… I have used it for some instances similar to that. I was even able to save one of my friend’s dad. But you,” she said, her curious eyes moving back to him, excitement seeming to gleam off her. “You called those Changelings, didn’t you? The soldiers from both camps made it law to keep you gagged!” This time Hiccup’s demeanor changed, knowing there was no hiding it from her.

Was it really okay for him to be out here and not on Berk where he could keep the dragon’s secrets safe? More and more people were learning about the connection humans could have with dragons. Part of him couldn’t be happier as it was always his dream to see the two living in harmony. Yet the rational part of him knew that was also incredibly dangerous. Even if he felt like a prisoner on Berk, maybe… maybe it was for the best.

“Hiccup?” Rapunzel asked, snapping him back into reality. She was in front of him now, looking really concerned. He could trust her, he knew that as an absolute certainty. Yet as he opened his mouth, something stopped him - a chilling realization.

Someone was speaking to him earlier, someone from the Nightmares.

“Shhh,” he quickly hushed, going on full alert. Sensing his uneasiness, she grabbed a handful of hair and cautiously looked around as well. “Someone was talking to me earlier, someone I couldn’t see.”

“What? Who?” She gasped, confused.

“Someone from the Nightmares,” he glowered, hearing approaching hooves from nearly every direction.

Shit - they wasted too much time gathering themselves.

As much as he hated to rely on dragons he didn’t know how to fully train, Changelings were their only chance to ‘disappear’ for a while. Letting out a changeling call, he grabbed Rapunzel’s wrist and ran in the only direction he couldn’t really hear a horse approaching. Of course that didn’t mean anything.

“I know it’s probably hard to trust someone you just met, but if we want to avoid being captured again , you have to do what I say.”

Cold - it was starting to get so, so cold.

Shit. Were they Nightmare soldiers? If so, he couldn’t let them snuff out her light. In fact, he refused to let that happen.

Reaching around his neck, he pulled the ticking thing necklace off and held it out to her. “Here, take this-” he said, watching her grab it with a confused look. “Keep it safely around your neck. All you have to do is imagine someone or a place you want to see, and it’ll guide you there. If we get separated, I want you to use that to get home.”

Her head shot up after processing the words, looking hurt yet determined. “What? Separated? I’m not going to leave you - we’re gonna get through this together!”

But she had no clue what they were up against.

Something pulled the cloth free that was wedged between his limb and the half assed clump of wood on the makeshift prosthetic, making him groan in immense discomfort.

The horses hooves grew even closer, the sound of men commanding them to go even faster now audible.

“I’ll be okay, I have someone coming for me, remember?” He said, taking a deep breath he pictured Jack with one of his signature stupid grins as he felt something start tugging on the rope that bound the lump of wood to his limp. “If I can’t get out of this mess myself, I know he’ll save me. I believe in him.”

The trees, he could hear the leaves shake and tremble as something swooped over them, nearing them from behind. “Protect her, I beg of you!” He cried in dragonese. With all his strength, he stopped running and swung Rapunzel forward. With a cry she catapulted forward, losing her footing before she just - vanished. The trees screamed in agony as something pulled upward, barely missing them.

For just a moment Hiccup let out a choked laugh, not believing that worked as he turned, feeling the rope pulled free.

He couldn’t move, and that was okay.

As much as he wanted to disappear with Rapunzel, he had a feeling that wouldn't be wise. What happened back at the Mother’s Arms Camp, whatever that Nightmare did to him, he felt it somehow bound a Nightmare to him. If he himself accepted help from a dragon, the Nightmares would know, and that was something he couldn't risk.

“Okay, if that’s how you wanna play,” he grumbled as he quickly reached down and picked up the rope, retying it. The horses slowly came to a stop all around him as he stood back up, grabbing a rather strong stick that was at his feet. His breath caught in his throat as the soldiers weren’t wearing Nightmare robes, no, these were uniforms he’s never seen before. The base color was black with everything outlined blue - even the helmets. Red stripes were coming up from the chest plate, boots, and even the shoulder blades.

One of them with long black hair made their horse take a step forward, his posture straightening into one of authority. “You’re a hard one to get a hold of, but nonetheless, you are now property of Claude Frollo of the Josas Kingdom.”

Hiccup couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as he let out a small laugh. “Property? Sorry, I’m no one’s property.”

The man’s glassy gray eyes narrowed, unamused. “You were stripped of your freedom when the Mother’s Arms healed then sold you. You are nothing but a tool and object in which our King will give you purpose.” Hiccup’s eyes widened, recalling something Mother Gothel said to him:

“Selling you to the Nightmares means you won’t have your free will for long, and selling you to Callaghan’s army means they’ll slaughter you considering the way they were talking. The other group of people are barbaric ruffians,” she tisked, her eyes narrowing. “I rarely like to work with their kind. However, I could sell you to the sex-crazed Warlord who’s taken a liking to your description, you’d at least stay alive with him.” The dragon whisperer couldn’t help but groan, feeling disgusted. These must be men who worked for that sex crazed warlord she mentioned. As horrifying as the revelation is, that meant that they really did not have a kingdom, and this man wasn’t really a King.

He could still get out of this.

“I have my own purpose in life, and it’s not to bemuse your master,” he growled as he swung the stick around, picking up momentum and getting in a fighting stance.

Eight armed soldiers against a cursed one legged viking with a stick for self defense - there’s been worse odds.

“Don’t struggle, our Lord prefers his toys undamaged.” The leader looked up to where Rapunzel disappeared, his eyes narrowing. “Where’d the girl go?”

So they were interested in her too - thank gods he got her out of here. “I donno, her hair starting glowing again and she just vanished.” He simply shrugged.

The man frowned more, seeming annoyed. “Don’t worry, our Lord has a way of making people talk. Now, fetch.”

The other men, still on their horses, moved forward, making him curse. One of them was getting a net, another was loading a dart in some kind of paper looking straw.

First thing first, he had to get rid of the horses. If there was one dragon call he knew that scared animals on land, it was the call of a dragon that burrowed deep into the ground. Hopefully there weren’t any nearby that could hear him. According to his observations so far, there were none.

Hopefully.

Taking a deep breath, he let it loose. In an instant the horses bucked in fright, the net falling from the man’s hands along with the dart in the others as the horses all ran. Some of the riders stayed on, four fell on their backs.

Goodie, the numbers were literally halved. Without wasting a beat, he leaped forward and kicked the helmet off the soldier nearest to him. Dazed, the soldier did nothing as he smacked him hard on the side of the face, knocking him out cold. A crunch from the stick made him bite his bottom lip nervously.

Three more to go - he could do this as long as the Nightmare left his prosthetic alone.

Picking up a few rocks, he threw one at a soldier near him, hitting the helmet hard. The man gasped as he quickly took it off, trying to silence the horrible ringing that started giving him horrible tinnitus. Swinging the staff around to gain momentum, he swiped it under the man’s legs, making the man fall right back on his back. A blur of motion to his right made him gasp as he swung up, deflecting the man’s staff from hitting him as he side kicked the other man in the head, hoping it knocked him out. He didn’t have time to check as he parried another strike that tried to trip him, slamming his own stick into the other man’s knees. With a yelp he fell to one knee, giving Hiccup an opportunity to hit him in the jugular.

With a choked gasp the man fell back, the wound bleeding a bit. He wasn’t dead, just unconscious thankfully as he picked up the staff the soldier was wielding and growled, finding it rather heavy. Realizing it would only slow him down, he dropped it and stared at the last man, the leader of the group, glowering at his laughing face.

“Who would’ve thought a defected tool like you had this much fight in them,” he smirked, obviously finding Hiccup’s offended face amusing.

“I’m resourceful, not defective,” Hiccup barked back, twirling the stick to gain some momentum. A crack made him wince slightly as he saw the first few inches cave, hanging onto the rest of the stick by a few strands. The man only seemed to chuckle at the image, obviously amused.

“Even your resourcefulness is defective, it would seem,” he said as he stood up straight, no longer in a fighting stance. It only angered Hiccup more. “Maybe he’ll make you a more useful tool after I give him the retrieval report.”

The dragon whisperer opened his mouth just as he felt something prick the back of his neck. Cursing under his breath he glanced behind him, seeing two men on foot with skid marks on their faces from falling from their horses a little further up. They were all glowering darkly at him. One of them still had the straw from where they shot the dart.

He still had some time.

Turning to the leader, he charged. The man merely chuckled as he took out a staff and blocked Hiccup’s swing, letting Hiccup press against him so their faces were a few inches apart. “Still fighting even though it’s hopeless?” He asked with a softening smirk. “You can feel it, can’t you? The way your head fogs over, the way your limbs start to get so heavy all you want to do is just, collapse-” he pushed heavily against Hiccup’s stick, the branch finally snapping in half. With a cry Hiccup stumbled back on his bottom, feeling the world spinning.

Shit - shit shit - not like this!

“If it’s any consolation, you’re the most challenging adversary we’ve had in a long time,” the leader said as he loomed over him. Hiccup bared his teeth as he closed his eyes and rolled forward between the man's legs. He nearly threw up, but the adrenaline kept him going.

With a surprised gasp the man turned just as Hiccup stumbled to his feet. With a loud roar of defiance, Hiccup swung one of the broken pieces of the staff against the man’s face. With a cry the man took a step back as Hiccup saw a little bit of red form on the man’s cheek as he regained his balance despite the way his eyes swam. There were three of them - no, there was only one of them, and he was rubbing the back of his hand against a rather deep scratch he made across his right left cheek.

Another prick - this time he felt it on the front of his neck as he groaned, feeling the liquid poor into him as he stumbled back like a drunkard. Shakingly he reached up and pulled the needle out, clenching it tightly in his hand with the pieces of his broken stick.

“Don’t worry defective tool, I forgive you for that,” the leader said, though he seemed less amused than before. “We’ll teach you the proper way.”

His eyes swam even more as his limbs started to shake. He didn’t want it to end here, he could handle this, he knew he could!

His good knee collapsed, forcing him to fall to one knee. Okay, maybe he couldn’t… for now at least. He wouldn't give up, he’d never give up.

‘I… believe in you, Jack,’ he mumbled as his world fell to black.

----

It’s cold, that’s the first thought that came to mind as he felt himself stir. Instantly he started to shiver, but it didn’t seem to matter. No cloth was brushing against his skin, making him blanch. He didn’t have any clothes on? And this smell - it was sickeningly sweet, it made it hard to think as his eyes slowly fluttered open. He was in a dimly lit room that oddly felt humid and smelled like weird oils. Then again, the sweet smell in the air made it hard to decipher what exactly he was smelling, let alone pinpoint where it was coming from.

Drugs, he realized after a frustrating moment. That sweet smell was probably some kind of drug that made it hard to think, let alone move.

Great. Just great.

Trying to move his arms, he groaned, feeling them numbly above him in chains. It was taking everything he had not to start coming to conclusions and panicking. If he succumbed to fear, it’d be over.

Taking a few deep shuddering breaths, he tried clearing his mind.

“They haven’t used you - yet,” he heard the same voice from earlier say, making him growl.

Oh right, with everything going on he forgot a Nightmare was attached to him. Wasn’t he lucky?

“Who are you?” He managed to slur out, hating how pathetic his voice sounded like this.

“Does that really matter?” The voice asked back. “The more important question is how are you going to get out of this mess?”

“You’re the reason I’m in it,” Hiccup barked back bitterly. “If you hadn’t touched my prosthetic-”

“You wouldn’t know the truth,” the voice finished for him, making the dragon whisperer roll his eyes.

“Oh yeah sure, what truth, hm? Enlighten me, oh messenger of dark despair,” he mocked.

The voice was silent for a moment before it hummed. “That’s a new one, I kind of like it. It fits quite well considering my message will bring you despair.”

“Oh, shocking,” Hiccup sarcastically remarked. “Try giving your message to someone who believes what you say.” Pulling on the chains, he groaned, not even sure why he tried. Metal, duh, it wouldn’t break that way. Damn the drugs messing with his usually logical brain.

“I had you captured so you could learn the truth the hard way,” the voice merely said. “Don’t worry, you aren’t in any danger. At any point in time, all you have to do is ask for help, and I’ll stop this - I’ll stop all of them.”

Hiccup’s eyebrows furrowed in suspicion, not understanding the other at all. Why would a Nightmare subject him to such a horrific situation, then claim to save him if he asked? It didn’t make any sense. “What truth are you talking about?” The dragon whisperer cautiously asked, knowing he was probably walking right into a trap.

The room grew even dimmer as the shadows started dancing along the walls. Hiccup had to squint his tainted eyesight as a figure started to hazily form. It was a tall man with gray skin and piercing yellow eyes with pitch black hair spiked upwards adorning a black robe that seemed to be made of shadows. For some reason the very sight of him made his heart beat faster in his chest as all his fears started intensifying.

What if he was already used? What if he was turned into a doll for someone else's enjoyment? What if he wasn’t strong enough and gave away all his dragon knowledge?

What if Jack gave up on him? - No, no he shut those thoughts down immediately before even more surfaced, making him glower at the shadow man infront of him. Whoever this was, they were powerful, maybe even more powerful than the Last Quarter Rank. But that would mean-

“You know what’s amusing?” The voice chimed in, cutting his thoughts off there. “Typically when someone is poisoned, I’m able to peer into their mind and form their Nightmares. But you - you’re different,” he said, the revelation slow yet horrifying. “No matter what I tried, you formed your own nightmares - nightmares I couldn’t even see. When you were conscious, I couldn’t even penetrate that thick skull of yours.”

Hiccup felt his breath catch in his throat.

He knew who this was.

“You even manage to break through my General’s influence and move when you were captured by the Mother’s Arms. Even though he was present to everyone else, you should’ve been frozen in place. Yet you weren’t.” His eyes narrowed. “Even after I had one of my men pour my influence into you, all it did was render you unconscious. Yet even in that state I couldn’t get so much as a glimpse of your dreams.” He came over to him, gently cupping his chin in his cold hand. “And why is that, hm? What makes you so special? I realized Jackson must’ve noticed this, after all, why else would he keep someone like you around?” His eyes softened into something darker, something that made him uneasy as the demon gently started moving his thumb against his freckled cheek. “Aside from being easy on the eyes, what stopped him from sending you away like he does to all the others?”

With a growl Hiccup yanked his head back, pulling free from the demigods grip. Pitch merely snorted as Hiccup felt rough cold fingertips against his bare sides, making his eyes widen in both fear and anger.

“Don’t touch me-”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already been inside you, remember what I said earlier?” He smirked, making Hiccup feel both disgusted and violated. He didn’t want to think of being filled with dark influence in that way. “Besides, as I said, I’m here to help you realize the truth, that there’s something different about you, and that’s the only reason Jackson’s keep you around.”

“Don’t call him that,” Hiccup snapped as he used all his strength to swing his body slightly backwards in an attempt to get away from his touch. The demigod merely smirked, seeming amused as he took a steps away, bringing his hands back to himself.

“Jackson senses something off about you too, and knowing his curious nature, he wants to figure out what it is-”

“If you’re trying to make me turn my back on Jack, you’re wasting your breath,” he snapped, not wanting to hear it. “Nothing you say will change my mind about him.”

Pitch curled his lip before letting out a short laugh. “Oh, trust me, I’ve seen how stupidly stubborn you can be,” he said as he started circling him. “No-” Hiccup felt his breath hitch as those lips were at his ear, that hot breath making him want to kick him in the family jewel. “I’m just showing you that Jack is scared of you.”

Those forest green eyes couldn’t help but widen in shock at the statement, unable to help it as he spoke his thought out loud: “Scared… of me?”

No, that wasn’t possible.

“Like I said,” Pitch said as he swung around to face him again. “Not even I, who is stronger than Jack, can read or control you, no matter how hard I try.” Holding a hand out, black sand swirled out and formed a horse. “Not even with this.”

Fear thundered in his chest as he tried to fight it. Of course it didn’t matter. There was nothing he could do as Pitch pressed it to his chest. His entire body went numbly cold, his eyesight fading in and out - but only for a moment.

“Say you hate Jackson, now ,” the demigod ordered, his voice full of power. Numbly Hiccup stared at the black horse that looked like a tattoo on his chest as he waited to feel his lips move.

But nothing happened.

“I can’t even read your thoughts right now, and I’m the leader and source of power for the Nightmares,” Pitch said bitterly as he waved his hand. The horse tattoo dissolved into black sand that fell uselessly to the ground, allowing Hiccup to let out a relieved yet confused breath.

That… didn’t make any sense. There was nothing special about him - he didn’t even have a god parent! He was just a typical human being!

Pitch came close again, his hand once again gripping him by the chin. “What makes you so special, Hiccup Haddock?”

He… didn't know. It made no sense - Pitch wasn’t making any sense! Jack never said he was scared of him, in fact, he always seemed scared for him. Unless… that’s why he tried so hard to make him go back to Berk in the first place…?

“You don’t know either, do you?” Pitch asked as he tilted his head up him. “They’re coming.” He glanced back at what seemed to be a door a little bit aways, but it was too dark to really see clearly. “They bathed you, took measurements, examinations, then lathered you in lotions and oils.” Hiccup’s eyes widened in horror, desperately trying not to imagine so many people touching and violating his body. “They’re probably either gonna dress you up for their so called Lord, or he’s coming to see you in your natural state to decide your fate. But don’t worry, what I said before still stands.” His thumb gently started rubbing his cheek again, feeling the freckled one trembling a bit in fear and uncertainty. “When you finally realize Jack won’t save you, just call for me, and I’ll stop them in their tracks.”

That again - that’s the part he didn’t understand. “What do you have to gain from this? I could just ask for help without giving up on Jack - you can’t see into my thoughts.”

“True,” Pitch chuckled, seeming amused. “But when I step in to help, no one lives except you.” Hiccup’s eyes widened in shock, realizing what he meant.

If he asked for help, Pitch would kill everyone, including the innocent people here. “I’d never ask for your help, no matter what!” Hiccup snapped, which only made Pitch tisk.

“Oh Hiccup, how naive you are about the world. These people are even worse than me. You see, their methods are… invasive in a different way, and the others you call innocent? They’re all looking out for themselves, and will do anything to save their own skin. And I mean, anything .” Slowly he stood up straight and let go of his chin. “You’ll see how the world really is, my dear Hiccup. I’m just a call away.”

The door slammed open, and in that instant Pitch was gone. Glancing up, he saw a few people dressed in expensive colorful silks carrying various accessories and delicate fabrics.

“He’s awake!” He heard a woman gasp. “Do it, quickly! They say he’s aggressive!”

“I’m not-” he coughed out as the sweet scent got more intense. The effects were nearly instant as the world got hazier. In the dim flickering candle light, he barely made out women who now had masks over their faces as they cautiously approached him, a few staying by an odd banal plant by the door.

Their hands were brushing his skin, making him want to snap at them to stop, but not so much as a groan left his lips.

“-many freckles, how strange-”

“No, how glorious!”

“Thin, some muscle but not intruding at all-”

“He’s rather feminine, like some of the female warriors.”

“And his hair, it’s brown yet sparkles red!”

“Too bad there’s a scar on his chin-”

“And that he’s... defective.”

Defective… were they talking about his leg? That didn’t make him defective, he was still capable without it!

Hands were on his hips, so many hands-

He tried to move, tried to tell them to back off, but his body wouldn’t respond. He lay limbless as they continued. Like this, he couldn't even start hyperventilating, the drug was keeping his body too calm. Even when he heard a loud thud and a battle cry a little bit aways, his body remained calm.

‘Relax… you can handle this,’ he shuddered to himself. ‘You just have to hold out until Jack gets here.’

It felt like an eternity, but those hands left him as they all went silent. Did they finally leave?

“What… a fine shell,” he heard an older voice muster. “The red matches his rare hair well, I can see why you had trouble picking between red and green, they both suit him well. Though the green would really make these exquisite freckles pop even under the veils-” Hiccup wanted to stiffen as he felt a cold hand brush against his belly button, though the drugs prevented him from doing so. “And the gold really brings out the color of his skin! Like this, he looks like a phoenix taking human form!”

A phoenix… really? That was something he definitely thought he’d never be compared to. Guess it was better than some other animals.  

“These emerald jewels are really fine touches-” fingers forced one of his eyes open, his blurry vision making it hard to see the man’s features. “What a fine green! Yes, these jewels are perfect - he’s perfect!”

“Lord Follo, if I may interrupt,” the leader from the ambush said, making anger rise within Hiccup. Of course he was here. “Though I can see you’re quite excited to lay with this defect, may I remind you he took out the me and the scouts nearly single handedly? It’s too dangerous to let your desire rush things. If anything were to happen to you…”

“Your concern touches me, just as I desire to touch him-” those hands were holding his sides, those rough fingers running up and down them. They didn’t stop there though, they traveled further down to caress his ass The dragon whisperer willed with all his might to move - to speak - to do anything to retaliate.

But nothing - absolutely nothing worked.

‘Don’t freak out, there’s still a chance - there’s still time!’ Hiccup tried to reassure himself.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed since everything happened, but surely Jack was almost here. The demigod would never let something so horrific happen to him just as he wouldn’t let anything like this happen to him.

“-in your care until he’s properly trained,” the man said as Hiccup slowly tuned back into the world. “But I don’t want his body too damaged. Only do harm that can heal, no more defects on him, got it?”

“Yes sir, as you wish.”

“How naive of the Lord,” he heard Pitch say. No one else reacted, meaning he was the only one who could hear him. “That man just wants you for himself. I give it until tonight before he takes his turn with you.” He chuckled into his ear, making Hiccup squeeze his eyes tightly shut.

That won’t happen. Jack was going to save him, he was sure of it.

----

It felt like only moments after he fell that the world started coming back to the demigod.

“-don’t have time to babysit!” A female voice muffly yelled, obviously annoyed.

“I know but you’re forgetting two major factors!” The male’s voice from earlier hollered back, seeming just as annoyed. “One, this guy saved Pascal, he might have some information, and two, he’s a demigod, Cassandra, a demi- GOD . I know we’re more than capable of getting Blondie back on our own but having godly-like powers as back up would be nice!”

Oh, so that’s why they didn’t just leave him for dead, they wanted to use his powers. Sadly he didn’t have time to entertain them.

Very sluggishly he started to sit up, his entire body achy and sore. He hadn’t used that much power in so long, he couldn’t help the way his face paled. “How… long have I been out?” He instinctively asked no one in particular. The two strangers looked at each other, the female only seeming more annoyed and the male giving a nervous smile.

“Two days and a quarter?” The man guessed, though went silent as he saw the panic overwhelm Jack.

That was technically nearly three whole days. So much could’ve happened in three whole days, including Hiccup giving up on him if he wasn’t dead yet!

“Toothless-” he looked around frantically, seeing the dragon sitting between the two humans eating a seasoned fish. The dragon looked up at him with a face that read ‘finally’ before swallowing the rest whole.

“He’s fine,” the dragon reassured, trying to use simple words so the demigod would understand and stop panicking. A hyperventilating demigod was useless. “Need - --- dragon, ---- --- friends,” he motioned to the humans and the chameleon that was on the man’s shoulder.

The humans behind the dragon looked down at the reptile before back at the demigod, both shocked. “You understand this thing?” The man gasped. “That’s both amazing and horrifying! Then again, you are a demigod so I guess these kind of things are normal for you.”

Jack shook his head, not having time for idle chit chat as he stood. Toothless groaned, hating how impatient Jack was. If words weren’t getting through, he’d have to draw, which was the way Hiccup used to communicate with dragons until he perfected the language.

Grabbing a stick between his teeth, he started drawing in the sand, gathering everyone’s attention as he recalled what Pascal told them earlier.

The first drawing was of a camp. He looked up at everyone to be sure they were looking before drawing flames. Taking a step to the right, he made another drawing of Jack holding a cage with a blob in it, to which everyone deduced was the chameleon. The next drawing was of them flying over two stick figures who were waving for help.

“Hey, we never asked for help,” the female said, but Toothless ignored her and kept drawing. The next one was two stick figures helping one laying down, then of a weird circle creature that must’ve been the chameleon drawing like he was. He drew a stick figure with really long hair with the blob on her shoulder, then an arrow pointing to a figure with a square on his left foot who was obviously Hiccup. He then circled the last picture, pointing at it as he looked at Jack, hoping he’d get it.

Thankfully Jack was good at charades because Toothless was a horrible artist. “Is this girl a friend of yours?” He asked the other two, who both nodded.

“She was kidnapped by the Mother’s Arms almost a month ago and we’ve been tracking them ever since. She keeps leaving red herrings to throw us off,” the woman angrily mumbled as she tightly clenched her fists.

“We finally found their main camp, but a few of the escaped prisoners said another army took her and a man captive and headed in this direction.” The man said as he crossed his arms. “They’re pretty sloppy, they aren’t even trying to cover their tracks,” the short haired female pointed to the tire tracks of a wagon and horses hooves. If they weren’t taking any precautions, it meant they were in a rush. These two didn’t pose a big threat, which meant something else did.

“I went into the camp and saw at least three different types of soldiers in there, all of which are enemies. They were probably being attacked as they fled,” his eyes darkened, hoping beyond hope they didn’t accidentally hit the captives while trying to retrieve them.

Both of their faces paled, the male swallowing thickly. “What armies?”

The demigod diverted his gaze to the fire they set up for lunch, surprised they’d take such a risk and break during precious sunlight hours. Then again they probably had to since they were hauling him around. “Other than the Mother’s arms, I saw Callaghan’s army, and the Nightmares.” Both of them, even the chameleon stiffened in horror.

“The Nightmares…” the female mumbled, not wanting to think of what they’d do if they got a hold of Rapunzel. “We have to move, and fast.” Getting to her feet, she kicked dirt on the fire and picked up the bag close to her. “No more breaks until nightfall.”

The man groaned, looking miserable but didn’t question her as he picked up the other bag. “We walked all through the night! Without my beauty sleep, Rapunzel won’t even recognize me!”

Ignoring the comment, the lady looked to Jack, her dark eyes narrowing. “You don’t have to travel with us, but since they have both of our friends, we’ll benefit from working together.”

Jack pursed his lips, not sure if that was such a good idea. After all they were on foot, he could fly much faster and cover more ground. Yet it was using his powers that put him out of commission for nearly three whole days in the first place. Maybe it would be better if he conserved his energy just in case a powerful Nightmare did have Hiccup. He still wasn’t fully rested...

“Fine, but I’ll rally up some horses, it’ll take too long to go by foot,” he said as he let the wind levitate him. “What’s your names?”

“I’m Eugene Fitzherbert,” the man said, obviously happy the demigod was joining them. “And this is our ice cold demoness-”

“Cassandra. We’re from Corona,” she interrupted.

Corona, he heard the stories. Thankfully they were known as being a peaceful kingdom with trustworthy people, which made him feel even more confident in his choice to travel with them. “I’m Jack Frost, and before you freak out, no, the monster died years ago,” he reassured when he saw her tense. “If your friend’s with mine, she’s in serious danger. Keep following the tracks and I’ll bring you horses. We don’t have a lot of time to waste.”

Without another word he flew off, trying to suppress the panic that still made his heart race.

What if he needed to fly to him at full speed? He had no clue where he was, but it would be better than traveling by foot. Then again, he still felt tired… resting was the best choice so he could actually save him.

Right…?

“He’s fine,” he heard Toothless mumble beside him, making the demigod blink over at him. How would he know if he was fine? He wasn’t with him!

The dragon rolled his eyes, knowing what the stupid human was thinking. “Hiccup is stupid, but also smart and strong,” he said, trying to keep it simple enough that even Jack could understand.

The demigod bit his bottom lip. Of course he knew Hiccup was really smart and fairly strong. There was no doubt he was doing everything he could to prolong whatever they were trying to do to him. What really scared him was the capture’s motives and plans, and what they had in store for Hiccup.

----

It was so hard trying to process everything, from the broken skeletal figures who were forced to pleasure nobles to torturing innocent people for ‘fun,’ the dragon whisperer was relieved he still hadn’t eaten anything so he couldn't throw up as he was given a tour of ‘what’s to come.’

He was fairly certain he recognized a few of the people the man called ‘handlers’ by their clothes and insignia. One had the Hamada Brother logo on their bag who looked strikingly familiar to someone who was working on the Safe House with them. He couldn’t be too sure, but he definitely recognized some people from Zootopia. It was hard not to, and he’d rather forget what he was seeing them do.

There was a man he nearly skipped over in his head. It was the same man who was telling others at a pub about a thief who had kidnapped a little girl, then proceeded to say it wasn’t his first victim. Jack nearly froze him and his buddies as they left.

Now Hiccup wished he had.

The most sickening part of it all aside from how brainwashed these people were were the dead bodies. Some deaths looked purposeful while others looked like it was done ‘in the moment.’

Burn - he wanted all these filthy people to burn. Even when the victims were finally free, he wasn’t sure what they’d even do. That didn’t mean he’d give up on them - he’d never give up on them.

“Lord Follo reserved you for him and I, so luckily you won’t be put on that kind of duty,” he said, and sadly Hiccup didn’t need him to elaborate. “You’re fairly strong, I’ll have you start corpse duty.”

Finally the man set him down, Hiccup just realizing they gave him a prosthetic as he stood on wobbly drugged feet. Glancing down at it, he saw it was mostly covered by fabric, probably because everyone here thought it was some kind of horrifying defect.

Disgusting sexist prejudice assholes. Yet they saw nothing wrong with their whole operation they were running. Made perfect sense.

As much as he wanted to make a fuss, he didn’t dare do it with innocent people nearby. He merely did his job no matter how hard it was to really move his limbs, the medicine still heavily affecting him. Besides, they gave him corpse duty. There was no way he wasn’t going to honor the ones who perished here. Some were even younger than he was.

At some point his eyes met with a woman with long tangled blond hair with golden hooped earrings and a matching necklace. Despite doing what she was told, her face was filled with burning determination. All it took was meeting her eyes for a second to know she was an ally.

Pitch suddenly chuckled softly in his ear, greatly confusing him. Before he could even ask what was so funny, he felt arms grab him. Instinctively he moved and elbowed them in the chest, which only caused another person to grab his attacking arm. Something pricked his neck, making him hiss under his breath.

Not again.

“Oh defect, fighting back is a big no.” Hiccup gasped as what felt like fire started streaming through his veins. This wasn’t the same numbing drug from last time-! “No matter what someone does to you.” His handler whispered into his ear, chapped disgusting lips brushing the skin. The dragon whisperer turned to him with a glare as another man punched him hard in the side, knocking the breath out of him.

“Now now, Lord Follo said to be gentle on the defect’s body. He wants to keep it in pristine condition... for now.” The man huffed before storming away, making his handler chuckle. “The man just wanted a feel. After all, you have everyone looking at you, including the slaves.” The dragon whisperer couldn’t help it as he glanced up, seeing it was true. “I’m surprised they didn’t beg to have time with you.” Hiccup tried to shrug him off his burning and crumbling body, but all that did was make him go weak in the knees. The handler merely propped him up by the hips and held his chin in his hand in order to force him to look at all the onlookers. The blond girl was looking down, ignoring the commotion and continuing her work. “They all want you, even the slaves. Maybe Lord Follo will allow it after he’s grown tired of you.”

“I told you,” Pitch only said to him, making Hiccup struggle even more despite the pain. “Can you hear them? They slaves are trying to talk their owners into requesting you so they can get a break. Cruel, but smart on their part.” The pained dragon whisperer tried to ignore him as he focused on the pain, but his voice just wouldn’t go away. “You’ll end up just like them… mindless, numb - a perfect shell.”

Despite the agonizing burning attacking every nerve, Hiccup moved down and bit the man’s hand hard , making him cry out as he slammed his head against his. Sadly he didn’t even feel the pain as he merely elbowed him in the family jewel, his handler’s howls of pain echoing as he felt another dart hit him in the arm, pulling him into unconsciousness.

Anything to get out of being subjected to that kind of torture. He’d rather feel physical pain than be subjected to that hell anyday. If he kept acting up, maybe they’d prolong it long enough for Jack to find him.

----

They covered a surprisingly good amount of ground in the short time they had the horses, which made Jack hopeful. Toothless was even flying a bit ahead of them to warn them if he saw anything to give Jack some time to rest.  

“So who’s this friend of yours? I think you mentioned her name’s Rapunzel?” Jack asked the other two, trying to fill the awkward silence between them. They were obviously weary of him, not that he could blame them. He was still weary of them too.

For a moment they didn’t answer as they shared uneasy looks, making Jack groan. “Fine, I’ll go first,” he intervened. “My friend’s name is Hiccup Haddock. He purposely got kidnapped to free the people the Mother’s Arms kidnapped from Zootopia.”

Eugene couldn’t help but burst into laughter, and if Jack didn’t know any better, he could’ve sworn he saw a small smirk on Cassandra’s face. “I’m sorry, did you say his name is hiccup ?” He managed out between chuckles. The demigod merely smiled a bit as he nodded, watching as Eugene laughed some more. At least he was getting some reaction out of them. “I’ve heard some pretty unfortunate names but man does that one take the cake!”

“Fitzherbert,” Cassandra warned before tossing a glance over at Jack. “That’s a pretty ballsy move.” “I know,” Jack said with a proud fondness he couldn’t hide. “From what I saw at camp, most of the prisoners did escape, but Mother Gothel must’ve told the warlords about him, which is why he didn’t.”

Cassandra seemed to flinch at that as she avoided complete eye contact. If Jack didn’t know any better, he’d think she felt guilty with the way her back was slouched and the way her eyes were cast a certain way. Eugene looked over at her sadly, as if wishing he could comfort her in some way, though didn’t know how.

“What does her telling them have anything to do with what happened?” She managed to ask after a few moments.

“It’s complicated,” Jack started, not really sure how to explain it to them without going into detail. The less people that knew the better. “The Nightmares are after him because he’s my friend. They want to use him against me. As for Callaghan’s army, he sort of came up with a way to rid them from a village, but now they want his knowledge to repeat it for their own benefit.”

Was that too vague? The other two simply nodded, leaving him to believe it surprisingly wasn’t.

“I bet him and Varian would get along,” Eugene said with a smile, as if trying to lighten the mood.

Not really knowing how to respond, Jack let out a small awkward chuckle. “Probably. He gets along with just about anyone.”

“Princess of Corona,” Cassandra suddenly said, making Jack blink over to her. “She was the host for a powerful magical item called the sun drop since she was born. It… was supposed to be gone, but… so was she .”

“She?” The demigod asked, noting the dark tone in her voice.

Eugene looked between the two as Cassandra rode a little faster, trying to separate herself from the conversation now. “Gothel,” he quietly clarified, keeping his eyes on her to make sure she was okay. “Her mother.”

Mother?! The demigod couldn’t help the way he glanced over at her again. He hadn’t seen Gothel recently, so he couldn’t really make out the similarities.

“Long story short, the sun drop and moon stone were sent back to where they belong, but somehow Gothel came back even though we were sure the bitch was dead and poof, Rapunzel’s hair became enchanted with the sun drop again.”

There was a very complicated story behind that, he was sure of it. “What does the sun drop let her do?”

“Honestly? It’s all a bit confusing, but she mostly uses it to heal.”

Jack decided to stop there as he saw how uncomfortable the topic was making both of them. At least he had a better idea as to who was with Hiccup and what kind of danger she might find herself in. If the Nightmares found out about her power, they’d want to snuff out her light. And if Callaghan’s army found her? They’d enslave her to heal all of them. Thankfully they wouldn’t kill or sell her though.

And if she could heal, that meant there was a pretty good chance he was free from the knife wound and Nightmare poison.

“Hey Jackass!” He heard Toothless wail from ahead. Without warning he jumped off the horse and let the wind carry him, his eyes narrowing as he saw Toothless start to veer off the path.

Catching up to him, he felt his breath catch in his throat. Bodies of soldiers lay dead with their only wagon in pieces, but they weren't just any soldiers. No, they bore the insignia of a horned viking helmet with spikes jutting out of the top.

“The Outcasts,” Jack hissed as he landed, quickly looking through the wreckage. Toothless dropped down next to him and helped, letting out a whining noise a few seconds after.

“Hiccup,” the dragon mumbled quietly, making Jack look up from where he was searching, only for his heart to stop. In the dragon’s mouth was Hiccup’s prosthetic - there was no mistaking the unique design.

So many scenarios ran through his mind, so many horrific ones that always ended with Hiccup’s death. Desperately he shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, recalling the night of their separation:

“I’m well aware of the risks of war, I can do this,” Hiccup said, giving Jack an encouraging smile. “If they take my prosthetic, I’ll find a way to make a temporary one. If they hurt me, I’ll make them think I’m weaker than I am. If they starve and dehydrate me, I'll exaggerate my condition to convince them to give me a larger portion – I’ll be fine Jack; there’s a benefit to having a fishbone like body.”

Right… Hiccup knew what he was doing. Even without a prosthetic, he was a force to be reckoned with, and even if he couldn’t cause chaos, he knew how to stall until Jack got there. He had to believe that in order to stay level headed right now.

Bringing the prosthetic close to his lips, he clenched it tightly. “Hang in there Hic, I’m close, I promise.”

Numbly he looked around the scene a bit more carefully, trying to capture the full story. Among the bodies he saw not only Outcasts, but Callaghan’s army too. It was safe to say The Outcasts smuggled him out of the burning camp only to have the other army swoop in to try to take their prize. It was impossible to tell who was victorious though.

Toothless gently dropped the prosthetic infront of him, looking up at him sadly. The dragon was worried too, he saw it in the way his body trembled slightly. “He’s fine, I know he is,” Jack reassured as he gently pet the dragon behind the ears. The reptile closed his eyes as he let out a few whines, only to stiffen.

The demigod instantly froze too, straining his ears to listen. “Dragons,” Toothless sniffled into a hiss. Jack strained his ears even more along with his eyes, not picking up on anything.

They were being watched though - he could feel those hypnotic eyes bearing into them.

“Ready to exit stage left?” Toothless didn’t know what that meant, but jumped on Jack’s shoulder anyway. Green acid shot at them from four different directions, the wind pulling them out just in time.

“Wow, okay, maybe we should’ve waited-!” He heard Euguene’s voice and cursed under his breath. Looking down he saw speedy taloned footprints being pressed in some loose dirt heading straight for Cassandra and Euguene who just rode up on the scene.

Shit, invisible dragons-! “Changelings - run!” Jack cried. They both commanded their horses to turn

The footprints quickened

They were out of time.

Taking a deep breath, the demigod commanded the wind to press on their backs, shooting them and their horses into the air. It took a lot out of him to do this, but it was the only way.

Their screams followed them up next to Jack as he willed them and himself forward, straining his eyes and ears in case one of the dragons realized where they were.

“Th-thanks for the save,” Cassandra said, finding Eugene’s bluing face amusing despite the near death experience. “Did you find anything?”

“Hiccup’s prosthetic,” he said, putting it in his pocket as he willed them forward, trying to get as far away as possible. “They were captured by people who knew him well, meaning I probably can’t track him,” he cursed under his breath. If Terrible Terrors couldn’t find him, maybe they’d have to rely on a Rumblehorn. Hiccup mentioned they were the best trackers when they first met. The only problem was he had no clue how to find one, let alone train one. Toothless was really helpful and capable of convincing a Terrible Terror to help, but a Rumblehorn? Probably not.

“How are you tracking him?” Cassandra asked, an idea forming. “Was it with that other dragon?”

“Yeah, but I bet they masked his scent knowing I’d be tracking him,” he grumbled, frustrated.

“What if we used Raps’s scent?” Cassandra proposed, gaining Jack’s interest. “If they’re like most enemies we come across, they probably don’t see her as a threat, meaning there’s a chance they didn’t cover her scent.”

The demigod hummed in thought, honestly not knowing if the Outcasts and Callaghan’s army were known to be sexist or not. They were both pretty dumb, he remembered that much. “Let’s try it. They both weren’t there, meaning there’s still a good chance they’re still together. Do you have something important with her scent?”

Both Eugene and Cassandra thought for a moment before Eugene’s face lit up. “Oh Cass, do you still have the flower hair clippy thing you got for her?”

Her eyes widened as she quickly reached into her pocket, a sad smile befalling her face as she stared at the beautiful pink flower clip she got for Rapunzel right before she was kidnapped. “She wore it for a whole day.”

“That should work,” the demigod said as he delicately took the clip in his hands. Now all they needed was another Terrible Terror and hope Hiccup was still with her.

----

When he woke again, he was back in the cell from before, his hands once again chained above his head as the drugs made it hard to think.

Great.

“Do you see how hopeless your situation is now?” Pitch’s voice whispered against his ear, making him groan.

Not this again. He wouldn’t let this go on.

“Actually, it gives me a sense of hope,” Hiccup mumbled, feeling the medicine wasn’t as strong as last time. The demigod couldn’t help the way he laughed, finding this amusing.

“Hopeful? That looked hopeful to you?”

“Yes,” he said as he pulled on the chains a bit, finding they were just as tight as last time. “Because I know I can do better this time.”

“Oh, so that’s what this is about,” Pitch mumbled, sounding bored. “Everyone thinks they can be a hero-” “I don’t want to be a hero,” Hiccup interrupted as he pulled even harder at the restraints. “I just do what I think is right.”

Pitch couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped his lips. “Is there really a difference?”

“Well, literally speaking, the word means protector or defender, given it’s a greek word-”

“A chatty bookworm too, no wonder he likes you so much,” Pitch interrupted, amused.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, wishing he’d just leave him alone already. “I don’t care what people label me as, hero, annoyance, useless - it doesn’t matter. What matters is I stay true to what I believe in, and I certainly don’t believe in you.” Darkness swirled in Pitch’s eyes as that teasing smirk finally fell. The room grew dimmer as the King of Shadows turned his back to him, making the dragon whisperer slightly uneasy.

“You really think you can help these miserable bags of flesh?” He asked with a mocking tone. “You, alone, against a whole army?”

Hiccup bit his bottom lip, knowing this was Pitch’s true presence. “All of them? No, but I can help some, and that’s all that matters.”

Pitch turned to face him again, his annoyed frown slowly lifting into a small challenging smile. “Fine,” he said, snapping his fingers. The hold around his wrists suddenly vanished. With a surprised gasp he fell to his hands and knees, somehow stopping himself from falling flat on his face. “I’ll give you a chance to save these lost souls, but don’t expect me to help you unless you beg for it.”

Hiccup slowly sat up, the medicine nearly making him throw up now that his body was physically moving. “I don’t need your help,” he said as he slowly gazed around the room. Despite being drugged the whole time, he made sure to be attentive. In every room he saw today, including his own, was a banal looking plant. Most castles loved to show off plants with beautiful flowers, so why were they using these boring looking ones?

Unless they had some benefit.

Crawling over to it, and with some difficulty, he finally managed to grab a few leaves. Throwing one in his mouth, he swallowed it and stuffed the others in his waistband, hoping they wouldn't fall out. If something happened and he couldn’t get to one of the other plants located around the castle, he wanted to be sure he had a few for backup.

“So you noticed the drug suppressor, I’m impressed.” Hiccup merely ignored him as he kept focused on his goal.

Now for the hard part - he had to find the girl with wild hair from the courtyard. With so many chains on her, she was probably still undergoing training like him, meaning there was a chance she was nearby.

“I bet you won’t even find a way out of this room,” Pitch mocked from the shadows, but Hiccup ignored him again. Like mentioned before, the dragon whisperer made sure he paid close attention to everything that happened, meaning he noticed something Pitch obviously didn’t.

Taking a deep breath, he struggled to his feet. Surprisingly the room didn’t spin like before and his feet remained fairly stable considering he couldn’t walk at all moments ago. Maybe the plant’s scent had some clearing properties too.  

Stumbling the first few steps, he clumsily made it to the door and pressed his ear against it.

Silence - he didn't hear so much as clinking metal, let alone anyone talking. For once the odds seemed to be in his favor.

For some reason that didn’t comfort him at all.

“It’s useless-” Pitch stopped as the door slowly crept open when the freckled one pulled, making him growl. “What idiots,” he grumbled as he stepped back into the shadows.

Hiccup was more than relieved he finally shut up as he looked down the hall, seeing no one but dozens of cell doors. Frustration started slithering in his heart. There was no way he could check all these cells without someone hearing him, and he couldn't exactly call out either.

There had to be some way to find her before they realized he was missing.

Maybe he should start with the first cell and see what came from checking it. When they were forcing him into clothes, he could’ve sworn he vaguely heard a shouting female further away. With how thick these walls were, there was a good chance she was in the room next to his.

Yeah right, like he’d have that much luck. Whoever was in the room though might have some valuable information.

Taking very light steps, he very slowly started to push on the door. Just like his, it wasn’t locked, leading him to believe the soldiers were far too cocky.

That would definitely come in handy.

Peeking his head in, he couldn’t believe his luck. There chained to the wall just as he was, was the girl with long trusseled blonde hair with golden hoop earrings that matched the green beaded necklace along her neck and wrist. The closer he got, he realized her ankles were chained to the floor as well.

“Freckles?” She asked as her ferocious expression melted into confusion. “How’d you get out?”

Hiccup took note in the way her face was scrunched at the sides, giving him the impression that her pride was hurt. “It doesn’t matter,” he quickly whispered as he slid into the room and closed the door behind him. Pressing his ear against it, he listened again.

No one. Good.

“I’m Hiccup,” he said as he slowly made his way over, trying his hardest to prevent his prosthetic from clinking too loud against the floor. “And you?”

His answer made her narrow her eyes in suspicion as that rather frightening expression from earlier came back. “How do I know you aren’t a trap?” She asked, obviously not letting it go.

“Cause why would I want to be here especially wearing this?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. The girl couldn’t help but nod, seeming to believe that answer at least. “Still, how did you get out?!” She tugged on the chains on her wrists and ankles in annoyance. “Not even I can get out, and I can get out of almost anything.”

“Oh for the love of-” he rolled his eyes before taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself. They didn’t have a lot of time and she was wasting it on questions?

“Someone helped me,” he said, glaring at the darkest corner of the room. “Even though I could’ve gotten out myself.”

The girl couldn’t help but snort. “Someone helped you? That’s not suspicious at all!” She mocked.

“I’m cursed, does that work?!” Hiccup finally snapped, losing a little bit of patience. “This will probably have a really bad ending unless my friend gets here soon, but I refuse to sit back and let myself be treated like this.”

The smile slowly fell from her lips as her eyes never left his face. She must’ve found it convincing because she let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I trust you… for now,” she said. “But if your cursed ass gets us killed I’ll murder you!” “Sounds fair,” Hiccup couldn’t help but smile, relieved she was smarter than to put up too much of a fight. “I’m gonna look at the chains a moment, okay?” He warned as he came forward, studying the metal. It was surprisingly made well, which is probably why they felt cocky enough to keep the doors unlocked. Only a key could get these open.

A key or a dragon, but he couldn’t use the latter with the demon in his shadow.

“I need a key,” he sighed, looking back at the door. “I’ll be right back-”

“No need,” she said, making him look back up at her in confusion. Her smile turned into a proud smirk. “I have two keys, mine and one of theirs, cause I’m just that good.” With a few violent shakes of her hair, Hiccup’s eyes caught sight of a black key that looked familiar somehow, though he’s never seen a black key before in his life.

Without even realizing it, he took it, holding the smooth metal in his hand.

Was this metal? It kind of felt like it, but it also faintly felt like something else, something like… “Gronckle iron?” His eyes widened as he pulled it even closer to his eyes. The recipe was lost to them after Fishlegs couldn't remember what he fed his dragon. The fact that there’s a key made of it meant someone out there had the recipe!

“Uhm, earth to Freckles,” Camicazi called out, her tone sounding almost disturbed. “You still around or?”

Shaking his head he nodded. “Sorry, I guess I geeked out,” he nervously laughed as he didn’t even bother grabbing the other key. He just brought the black one up to the shackles and found it fit, probably even better than the original key.

“Thank the GODS,” Camicazi groaned as Hiccup undid the last chain that was around her neck. The girl wasted no time rubbing at her wrists and neck, her expression darkening the longer she did. “Just wait until I put all of them in chains!”

“Wait-” Hiccup quickly said, noticing her anger was getting the best of her. “Don’t forget about the others. We have to free them before we do anything reckless.”

Camicazi stopped rubbing her wrists as she glared up at him, once again annoyed. “We have to knock some heads together if we want to save them anyway.”

“True, but I have a plan,” Hiccup quickly said, making her raise a skeptical eyebrow. “But there’s a hiccup - or rather two.”

“Anddd what’s what?” She asked, crossing her arms skeptically.

“I need the castle’s layout and patrol patterns,” he bit his bottom lip, hoping this wouldn’t come to a dead end.

Her devious smirk gave him hope.

Hiccup swallowed the dread that was crawling up his throat, knowing that at any moment his good luck was going to run out. Not only did Camicazi know the layout of the castle, as she nearly escaped four times, but she also learned the patrol patterns because she was trying to plan another escape attempt. On top of that, no one seemed to notice they were gone.

All hell was about to break loose, he could feel it.

“There,” Camicazi said with a triumphant smirk as they lowered the next barricade against what barely qualified as a castle gate, successfully locking the training soldiers outside. “That takes care of half of them for a while.” Already they - or rather Camicazi - took out the watch guards single handedly. Hiccup was still in complete awe as she practically floated up the walls like some kind of vengeful spirit before knocking them out.

‘I once battled a brute three times my size and stole his underwear without him even noticing!’ She boasted earlier, to which he believed her. She was definitely a thief not to be reckoned with.  

“Okay, that just leaves the patrolling guards inside the castle, which we’ve estimated to be at least forty.”

Camicazi couldn’t help but let out a soft snort, finding his unusual calmness amusing. Then again, they did have a pretty solid plan. “Forty against two, I like the odds,” she smirked as they very quietly started making their way to the halls. After a while he was walking by himself as they neared the first set of guards.

Four of them, all drunk and laughing about some story he couldn’t even hear. Not that it mattered. His eyes glanced up at the ceiling where Camicazi was crawling along the beams, her predatory eyes scaring even him. Like this she looked like a lion waiting for the right moment to pounce on her prey.

As soon as they walked in front of an open door, she dropped down, a rope keeping her tied to the beam as she used the velocity to kick the four into the room. Drunk, they easily stumbled and fell, to which Hiccup quickly ran and closed the door, slipping the barricade on just in time.

“The hell - let us out!!” One of them cried as another banged on the door. Hiccup glanced up at Camicazi, seeing her already up the rope and making her way further down the hall.

They repeated this process until they couldn’t find anyone else in the halls, only having trouble with a group of five who weren’t drunk. Yet even they proved to be overpowered.

The duo peeked out from one of the hallway door frames into the center room, both out of breath as they observed the area. They closed off all exits and entrances except for two. One was their escape route while the other had too many people gathered around it. Barricading it would’ve given them away. “You know, you aren’t that bad,” Camicazi said, making Hiccup smile a bit as he glanced over at her panting form. “For a boy, that is.”

“Thanks, you’re not bad either, for a girl, that is,” he smirked right back, forcing her to stifle back a laugh. Hiccup’s smile slowly fell though as he glanced back at the room, seeing all the brainwashed innocent people being used as nothing but puppets. They were hardly fed, their ribs were sickeningly sticking out and their eyes held little to no light. Images from the town they found in the forest came back, making clench the staff he stole from a guard.

No, he refused to let history repeat itself. This time he’d save them.

“What I said earlier still goes,” Hiccup said, gaining the other’s attention. “I want you to focus on getting the others out of here. If I get overpowered, leave me behind-” “Freckles-”

“I mean it.” Hiccup punctuated as he looked her in the eyes, letting her see his burning determination. “I wasn’t lying earlier, I’m cursed. There’s someone from the Nightmares watching me from the shadows, someone who probably won’t let me leave.”

Some of the color drained from her face as she physically tensed. “Oh,” she said, silence filling the space after. Hiccup bit his bottom lip uncomfortably as he avoided eye contact. Of course she’d shut him out after hearing that. Who wouldn’t?

“I’m still not gonna leave you,” she said after a few moments, making Hiccup look back at her in confusion. Camicazi was smiling this time, a smile that was warm and not teasing, something so foreign to her face it was odd to see. “I’ll focus on everyone first, but if something happens, I’ll come back for you.”

“No, you can’t do that,” he said, unable to stop the smile of fondness that crept to his lips, feeling horribly touched. “I appreciate it-”

“No butts,” she said stubbornly, that playful smirk returning. “You freed me, I owe you one.” She turned to jump back to the ceiling, but stopped as Hiccup gently grabbed her wrist.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he soothed, catching her eyes again. “My friend’s a demigod, he’s coming to save me, so don’t worry, okay?”

Someone screamed bloody murder, pulling them both back into the moment. It wasn’t unusual for this area, but it would be the last time.

Giving each other an understanding nod, they went to their respective positions. There were only five guards in this area who were armed. The others were neglecting their duties and using their ‘toys.’ Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long.

Eating another leaf he had stored in his hip, he glanced up at Camicazi, seeing she was ready.

The master thief jumped down from the beam and kicked two of the guards hard in the chest, successfully knocking their helmets off. Hiccup ran over, his staff swinging as he slammed it into the back of their heads.

They didn’t move.

‘Three more,’ he breathed, feeling an uneasy chill in the air. This wasn’t Jack’s cold, this was Pitch’s. Of course he wouldn’t let him leave yet.

Screams and cries broke out at the scene from the captives. A few of them stayed silent, some thoughtful, some thoughtless.

“We’re leaving tonight!” Hiccup hollered as loud as he could, readying his staff as guards started running up to him. “If you want your freedom, get behind me!” For a moment, no one moved as the guard charged him. Hiccup easily side stepped as Camicazi swung down and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him flat on his back. Twirling the staff, Hiccup struck him in the sensitive area, forcing the man to let out a guttural howl before going silent, unconscious.

A few started coming forward, both males and females alike. They were hesitant, uneasy, but they were taking the first few steps towards freedom.

Hiccup glowered as he saw a man grab a woman who was looking hopeful in their way, wrapping his disgusting fingers around her throat. “You’re not going anywhere fucking bitch!”

“Cover them!” Hiccup hollered as he ran over, only to skid to a stop seeing another woman hit him with a food tray. The man’s hands fell from the other’s neck, allowing her to quickly scramble from his lap. The women with the tray slammed it hard against his skull one more time before they both ran over.

That’s when chaos broke out. The handlers tried forcing their merchandise to go with them and sneak out the back door, but the other victims wouldn’t allow it. Left and right light started swimming in those dead eyes as they fought back. Camicazi jumped down from the ceiling and fended the handlers who made a mad dash for the line of women who were waiting for freedom as Hiccup helped attack the handlers who tried to get away. The whole time something was nagging at the back of his mind, something he didn’t want to admit bugged him.

He hadn’t seen the Commander or whatever that man was who captured him - the one who was supposed to be handling him. Considering he was high ranking, he could be leading the training session outside the castle.

“Don’t move, or I’ll cut out his throat!” One of the handlers threatened. Hiccup pivoted around on his heels and growled, seeing the man backed into a corner with a knife at the slave’s throat. Within seconds the fear left the slave’s face as he slammed his hand hard on the other’s family jewel. With a howl of main the man dropped the knife. With a shrug the slave ran free. Clenching his staff Hiccup ran forward and swept the man’s feet out from under him before slamming it into his chest.

Thud - Hiccup and Camicazi looked up towards the large doors they closed earlier and cursed. They had less time than they had hoped for.

“Everyone follow me!” He heard Camicazi holler. The captives nodded and followed, glancing over at a few who stayed where they were in fear.

They couldn’t move, they were scared to hope.

“Come on,” Hiccup gently soothed over at twins who seemed frightened out of their mind. Images of finding the little girl and her brother came back, to which he quickly shook the thought away. “If you don’t want to lose each other you’ll follow her, got it?” He pushed a little more, seeing more fear fill their eyes. But they still didn’t move.

He refused to leave them here. “I’m sorry, but you have to go.” Reaching down he pulled them both up by the front of their shirts and gently pushed them in the direction of the line. “Follow them.” Hesitantly the two did as they were told just as something sharp pierced his neck - again.

Cursing under his breath he quickly ate one of the leaves as his eyes met those cold gray ones that were filled with both rage and admiration.

Speak of the devil.

“The defect’s behind this? I have to say, I’m surprised,” he said as he clenched his own staff. He obviously didn't want to hurt his merchandise too badly. “That girl was locked up tight this time, meaning you were the one that freed her.”

“Does it really matter?” Hiccup asked, feeling a nervous bead of sweet trail down the side of his face. The leaf didn’t seem to do anything against whatever was injected in his neck this time. It was starting to get cold. “You won’t get past me.” He said, his eyes narrowing with determination flaring from his eyes. By now the line of slaves was out of sight, thank the gods. Now he just had to fend this man off for as long as he could.

----

Jack made sure they were safely away from the Changelings before setting them all down. All the horses instantly collapsed, reveling in the feeling of dirt beneath their hooves.

Cassandra and Eugene both dismounted their horses, seeming to be thankful for land again too.

“What the hell happened? There were no dragons!” Eugene finally managed to complain.

“Changelings,” Jack and Cassandra said at the same time, making them both look at each other, amused. “They’re dragons that can camouflage against anything.”

Eugene tapped a finger against his chin as he tried to wrap his mind around what happened, his eyes glancing down at Pascal who looked back up at him. “Oh, so like a chameleon, I get it!”

Jack let himself sit down for a moment, feeling more drained then he would’ve liked. “They normally don’t inhabit open areas like that,” he mumbled to himself, wondering if Hiccup had something to do with that.

“You’re right,” Cassandra agreed, crossing her arms in deep thought. “I’ve only encountered them in areas with a lot of cover. Maybe the enemy has a base camp somewhere in the forest. That would explain why the dragons were chased into the open.”

Oh right - that could be a thing too. He really hoped Hiccup called for them though. At least that gave him hope that he was okay.

“A flying human?” He heard Toothless question, horribly confused. Glancing up, Jack couldn’t help but squint, not believing what he was seeing. The dragon was right, there was definitely someone in the sky, but something wasn’t right. It didn’t really look like they were flying, it was more like they were being carried.

Wait… something bright was trailing behind it, something golden?

Getting to his feet, he willed the wind to pull him up. The closer he got, the more he realized that yes, this was a female with really long blond hair but she wasn’t flying, she was being carried by a Changeling!

Could this be Rapunzel?! Since she was with Hiccup it made sense why a dragon had her, although it didn’t explain why the dragon whisperer was nowhere in sight.

Toothless fluttered up next to him as they stayed a safe distance away, not really sure what to do. “I don’t want to hurt it, but I don’t know how to ask it to let her go. Can you?”

Toothless groaned, knowing this would happen. Flying up further up, he grew nervous. Would this wild Changeling even listen to him?

“Hey,” Toothless cautiously called, hoping he gained its attention. He couldn't see it, it was invisible! “Did the dragon whisperer ask you to protect her?”

For a moment, he didn’t think he’d get a response and nearly jumped when he did. “Yes tiny one, he begged me to keep her safe. Why do you smell like him?”

“Toothless is his guardian. Is he okay?” He asked, fearful for the answer.

“I do not know. I took the girl and left. There were many men around him, though I’m sure he’s fine considering-”

“Toothless knows,” Toothless interrupted, glancing down at Jack, hoping he didn’t hear that. “What did they look like?”

“Black clothing with red stripes and a little bit of blue. They didn’t really say anything while I was there.”

“That’s enough, thank you,” he said with a tired sigh. There was never a dull moment with Hiccup. “Let the girl go, we’ll reunite them.”

The dragon’s camouflage slowly faded, revealing the dragon that hovered with her still clenched protectively in its talons. Without another word she was suddenly airborne. Jack wasted no time catching her, nearly sneezing as her hair smacking him in the face.

“S-sorry!” Rapunzel cried out as she desperately wrapped her arms around him, afraid he’d let go. The fear was short lived however as her excited curiosity got the better of her. “You’re flying!” She gasped in excitement.

“I’m aware,” Jack said as they started to slowly descend, finding it difficult when the hair kept smacking him in the face.

“Without a dragon!” She squealed, only to stop mid way. Fearing something was wrong, the demigod looked down at her, though his eyes caught sight of the necklace she was wearing.

That was Hiccup’s! “The ticking thing!” He gasped, looking at her almost desperately. “What happened to him?”

“He pushed me away!” She snapped bitterly yet worriedly. “They were coming from everywhere and he called for help, but the dragon only grabbed me! I have to help him!”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, wondering how that could've happened. A Changeling that size would’ve had no problem carrying both of them, so why didn’t Hiccup go with her?

“Did you see any of them?” He questioned as Toothless landed on his shoulder. Rapunzel looked down in guilt as she shook her head.

“No… sorry. The dragon picked me up so fast I got disoriented, b-but we can find him with this thing!” She quickly held up the necklace, to which Jack nodded. They never tried it out before, but if it was Hiro approved he trusted it with their lives.

“The Changeling ---- black ------, red ------, and blue ------- humans.” Toothless said, hoping beyond hope Jack would get some of it.

It was enough, and the news literally made his blood turn ice cold.

Too late - oh dear gods they were far too late-!

“Can I see the necklace?” He asked urgently as they landed. Rapunzel nodded as she slipped it off as he set her on the ground. Instantly He pictured Hiccup sitting with him at a campfire, laughing and calling him an idiot as the ticking thing’s arrow moved, pointing forward.

“I’m going with you,” Rapunzel said, motioning for her friends not to hug her yet. “He saved my life, now I need to save his.”

Jack’s gaze darkened as he nodded, grateful. “Good, because where he’s at, he’s going to need your healing.”  

----

He felt himself start stirring again, and just like the first time, he could hardly move. Every inch of his body was sore, the lingering effects of the earlier drug taking a drastic effect on his body. Then again it was probably designed to do that.

It was odd though, he wasn’t chained to the ceiling, no he was looking up at it.

“Honestly I’m impressed. You managed to get most of the slaves out, but then you got yourself captured again,” he muffely heard Pitch say, making him groan. “The Lord wants you to suffer for what you’ve done. And this man? He believes the worst punishment is having your own body betray you.”

Hiccup’s eyebrows knitted together after a few moments, confused. “Wh-what?”

Footsteps could be heard rushing towards his room, which made Pitch smile. “Just remember, I can stop him at any moment. Oh, and once he’s finished with you, there’s a whole line waiting for you.”

Hiccup’s eyes widened as Pitch was replaced by his handler who was wearing a black silk robe.

Oh - oh no.

*** “You’re finally awake,” he smirked as he climbed on top of him, the floor - no the bed beneath him bowing down a bit. “Everyone wants you to themselves after what you did, but the Lord gave you to me to punish.” Cold hands crawled over his partially clothed chest, making Hiccup’s stomach flutter, much to his horror. The man sighed at the reaction before dipping down. Without warning lips pressed against the exposed part of his chest, making him gasp in fear.

No - oh gods no he refused to let this happen! And yet, he couldn’t move - he couldn't even lift his pinkie off the bed-!

“S-stop-” he somehow managed to cry out.

The man’s face was suddenly back, those gray eyes fogged over with that damned disgusting smirk on his face. “Since I found you, you belong to me first defect-” lips pressed hungrily against his as those hands went to his sides, running up and down them as if wanting to memorize him.

“Stop - no - Jack-!” He desperately tried crying against the man’s lips, which only allowed the man to push his tongue into his mouth as one of those hands went to his nipple-

“NO!” He screamed as he slammed his head into the other man’s. Somehow it only seemed to spur him on more as he straddled his waist and ground down, making Hiccup miserably whimper.

‘Ask for help Hiccup,’ the demon chuckled as he felt the tongue break through his lips again.

No - he hated this, but he Jack would come - Jack would save him, not Pitch!

Moving his head slightly forward, he bit down hard on the invading tongue. When the man cried out in pain and tried to pull back, Hiccup only bit down harder , determined to bite it off.

‘Jack - I need you please PLEASE where are you?!’

A blinding white pain erupted though his body stemming from his private area, his mind literally going blank as a harsh ringing erupted in his ears.

“You BITCH!” He heard the man painfully wail as the weight against him left. Hiccup’s eyesight slowly started to come back only to realize tears were trailing past his cheeks, making him whimper.

He still couldn’t move, it literally took everything he had to move his head and bite-!

But this is what he asked for, wasn’t it? When he stood up to Jack and told him he’d take whatever came his way because he could handle it, that included this, right? So he shouldn’t complain, he should be able to take-!

...this was his fault for being so naive... wasn’t it?

“You made me BLEED!” He felt a blade press into his side, pain flaring and forcing him to let out a pained cry. “Do it again, and we’ll see what I do next!” Fear flooded through his veins as the man plunged into his mouth again, biting hard on his tongue and drawing blood.

‘Just give the word, and I’ll kill him for you Hiccup,’ Pitch said softly into his ear, those cold yet soft fingers in his hair such a sharp contrast from the horrific pain that was engulfing his tongue and side. ‘Do it, before your body isn’t yours anymore.’

The man left his lips as Hiccup was forced to swallow the mixture of their blood as he was picked up by the hair and turned around. “I’m going to make you feel hell!” The man grabbed his hips, not even caring that the knife was still in his side as Hiccup’s fear hit its peak.

It was hot, the room was hot, the man’s movements seemed to slow as the man grabbed his head and pushed his head into the mattress-

Jack wasn’t there-

Toothless wasn’t there-

He was all alone and he couldn’t stop this! All this time he thought he was ready to face the world, but not this - definitely not this-!

*** “Help-” The door slammed open just as the plea left his lips, the whole room becoming ice cold.

Cold - it was cold - was this Jack - please let it be Jack-!!

It was, and the absolute look of pure murder written on his face was petrifying. The demigod didn’t even lift a finger as an icicle slammed into the man’s side, the same area Jack could see a knife lodged into his precious friend’s side. The man yelped in pain, yet Jack was there before he even realized what happened.

“How. Dare. You .” The whole room froze over in an instant as he grabbed the man by the throat and threw him to the icy ground.

Hiccup let out a relieved sob as he curled up on himself, not even realizing that unlike the rest of the room, he was being spared from the cold. It took all of Jack’s restraint not to let his powers run wild, but thankfully he had someone he wanted to take his anger out on.

“Wh-who the hell are you?!” The man gasped as he felt ice starting to crawl along his skin. Jack’s eyes turned all white as darkness started to seep from him, a darkness that made the man cower against a wall in pure terror.

This man tried to violate Hiccup’s sacred body. This man dared to stab and beat him - made him whimper and cry, and who knows what else he did to his precious one-!

“I’m your worst nightmare ,” his voice deeply rumbled, not sounding like himself at all. The man quivered and whimpered as he felt his veins slowly freezing, looking up at him in pure unfiltered terror.

“Wh-what - a-are you doing to me?!” Jack took a step forward, the ice only seeming to slow as it started to cover his organs. The demigod didn’t speak as he came even closer, making sure to completely freeze something inside the man that made his eyes roll up into the back of his head. “S-stop… I-I b-beg you…”

The room went even colder as anger shot through Jack. “Did you stop when Hiccup asked?!” He snapped, picking the man up by the hair. “Did you stop when ANY of the asked?!” An icicle formed at the man’s lips, all the sides and edges themselves spiky as Jack’s face grew so dark he wasn’t even recognizable. “I want you to take this, all of it, slowly.” The man’s eyes widened as he felt it enter his mouth, the spikes already tearing up his mouth.

A small surprised gasp left Jack’s lips as some darkness fled when he felt a weight press weakly against his chest, shaky twig like arms wrapping around him.  

“D-don’t…” he heard Hiccup’s shaky voice beg, the grip around him tightening. “Please… this… isn’t you.”

The otherworldly glow left his eyes as he quickly turned around and pulled Hiccup into his arms, horribly shocked the auburn managed to get off the bed. He was heavily drugged, he knew that the moment he saw the scene. So how the hell did he manage to get up and make his way to him?

“Hiccup,” he softly whispered as he held him carefully in his arms, mindful of the knife still in his side. “I’m so, so sorry it took me so long to find you,” the demigod practically whimpered as he made sure not to make him feel overcrowded in his arms.

The dragon whisperer merely shook his head as Toothless flew in, uneasily landing next to them upon seeing the scene. Something really bad happened… and something wasn’t right.

“You came-” Hiccup gasped out as he weakly clenched the front of Jack’s shirt and buried his face where he could, unable to help the way his body trembled.“You came, I-I thought you wouldn’t-!!”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh at that as he glanced down at his precious friend. “You thought I wouldn’t? Come on Hic, you know I’ll always be here for you… even if I’m slightly late.” His eyes went to Toothless, seeing the dragon uneasy. “You’re hurt-”

Toothless let out a roar, but Jack was ready this time. He gripped Hiccup’s wrist tightly as he felt the end of the bloodied knife barely poke against his clothes. Furious anger coursed through him as he looked down at Hiccup with such sad eyes.

This is how Hiccup was able to move off the bed despite being drugged.

“He’s not yours,” Jack hissed as he felt Hiccup push even harder against the knife. Bile rose in the back of his throat as he twisted his friend’s wrist, the cry of pain going straight to his heart as the knife clamored to the floor. “Let. Him. Go.”

Pitch chuckled as he formed from the shadows by the bed, seeming more than pleased. “On the contrary Jack, he finally is.” He smirked. Freckled hands wrapped around his throat, making Jack gasp in shock more than pain. “Do you know how hard it was to finally gain some control over him?” He said, quite pleased as Toothless growled at the demigod of darkness. Of course he paid the dragon no mind. “You really know how to pick’em, don’t you?”

Jack hated to do it, but he let his ice run along Hiccup’s hands as a warning. His freckled face wavered, but his grip didn’t. “I refuse to hurt you Hic.”

“No matter what I did, I couldn’t control him. He had to invite me in by asking for help. Even now that he’s under my direct control, I still can’t tell what he’s thinking or look into his past. I can only feel his emotions-” Pitch stopped as his look hardened against Hiccup.

The grip around his neck slowly faltered until those freckled hands left, tears streaming down his cheeks. “-orry - I’m… so sorry-” Hiccup’s eyes opened, revealing pitch black sand desperately swirling in them.

“What?” Pitch hissed as he held a hand out, applying more force. The auburn let out a sharp cry as he tried pulling himself away from Jack slightly, but the demigod didn’t dare let go. He absolutely refused to let the shadow master touch him.

The said dark demigod growled even more, applying more and more force. “Why?! I had you - I finally had you!”

Toothless landed on Jack’s shoulder and reached a paw out to Hiccup, which only made him whimper more. As soon as he touched him, black sand shot out from him - from his eyes, ears, nose and back. Jack literally watched as the nightmare mark on the back of his neck literally dissolved into sand before his very eyes, the sand crawling back to PItch in defeat.

“What…?” Jack even found himself muttering, but only for a second. Composing himself he let out a burst of ice, creating a wall in the room to separate them from Pitch.

“This isn’t over Jackson,” Pitch said, though his voice wavered a bit. If he didn't know any better, it sounded like there was a pinch of fear in his voice. “I’ll make him a Nightmare, the most fearsome Nightmare yet, and it’ll be all your fault!”

Jack ignored him as he quickly gathered Hiccup in his arms and flew as fast as he could out of the room, though knew Pitch wouldn't follow. Not when he had no clue how to bend Hiccup to his will.

The wind made Hiccup shiver, the blood seeping from the wound not helping either. “You’re gonna be just fine,” he whispered into Hiccup’s hair, trying not to dwell on what just happened. They’d have plenty of time to reflect on that later.

Finally finding the exit, he saw the Coronians eyes widen in excitement before they saw the blood. Instantly Rapunzel came running forward, gathering strands of her hair as he landed, gently setting him on the ground.

“You’re gonna be okay Hiccup,” she gently soothed as she wrapped her hair around his chest. Light gently flowed from her into him as Jack looked over to see Cassandra, Eugene and a girl with wild blond hair giving food and water to some of the slaves. They looked so confused and broken… almost like the people of the village they stumbled upon.

Hiccup could’ve ended up just like them.

‘No - I’d never let that happen,’ he swore to himself as he looked up at Rapunzel, seeing her looking for more wounds. “His mouth-” there was blood seeping from the sides of his mouth, making more anger course through him.  

“Hic, I’m gonna open your mouth so we can heal it, okay?” He whispered very gently. Both of them didn’t move until they saw him give a slight nod, though both grew angry when they saw what the source was. Part of the left side of his tongue was nearly bit in half. It took everything the demigod had not to storm back into that sickening place to torture the man more.

Rapunzel whispered soft warnings to Hiccup before healing his tongue, her eyes looking for more wounds. They didn’t see any… but who knows how he was doing mentally.

“Do you feel anymore pain?” The princess softly asked, to which Hiccup shook his head no. She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. “Good. There’s nothing I can do about the drugs, I’m sorry. We’ll have to wait for them to wear off.”

“You’ve done more than enough,” Jack gratefully said as he looked back down to Hiccup, watching with a heavy heart as those foggy forest green eyes held a glint of fear in them. His body was still shaking… that was to be expected though. Hopefully the drugs would wear off soon.

“Don’t worry Hic, I won’t leave your side,” he mumbled as he took off his cloak and draped it on his body. Hiccup shivered but closed his eyes, trying to regulate his panicked breathing. Jack bite his lip, knowing there wasn’t much he could do.

Or maybe there was. “Hic, I want you to focus on me, on my words, okay? Remember… I want to be a bard, so… just focus on me, my story, and my voice until you fall asleep.”

----

Authors Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this super long chapter! =D I didn't have an editor because I didn't want to bother anyone and it's really long so I apologize! Tumblr doesn’t like to copy and past any italicized of bold words I do and it’s really hard to find them all so on tumblr I left it alone, sowy =/ For those who didn't want to read the *** part, the only thing you missed was someone inappropriately touching and trying to rape Hic, but Jack came just in time! But Hic called out for help and Pitch used that moment of invitation to possess Hic - or rather, tried to possess him. I hope you guys liked it!

#phage writes #hijack #frostcup #the greater good

[onechicago-upsteadrhekker]

A Chicago Med Halloween

Here’s a Halloween inspired drabble for our favorite characters!! It’s very light hearted and I hope it makes you laugh!

(Also, sorry that the formatting is kind of weird. I copied and pasted and I’m not sure how to change the format once it’s on a post...Anyways I hope that doesn’t deter you from reading!)

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Because our wives convinced us too?”

Will, Ethan and Connor stared at their reflections, not really sure what to make of themselves.

Connor started shaking his head, “Nuh-uh. I am not going out there like this!”

Will slid his eyes over to him in the mirror, adjusting his shirt, “Well, I’m not to thrilled about it but if we don’t go out there, we would never hear the end of it.”

Ethan shot Connor a look, “Why did your wife have to think of this? And why did she have to rope us into it? Couldn’t she have just made you do it?”

“No way,” His eyes grew wide, his eyebrows shooting up, “There’s no way I would have even considered this if you two weren’t doing this too. If I’m gonna look like an idiot, then so are you!”

They took another minute to gawk at themselves in the mirror before Will sighed, “We are never going to live this down, are we?”

“What is taking them so long?” Ava glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, her arms crossed impatiently.

“They’re probably too embarrassed to come out,” April chuckled.

Natalie grinned, shrugging, “I think they’ll look cute.”

Ava stalked up to the men’s locker/bathroom door and talked through the closed entrance, “Are you guys almost done?”

There was no response, so Ava knocked on the door, “Hello? I know you can hear me!”

She rolled her eyes, huffing in exasperation at the silence, “You aren’t getting out of this one and we don’t have all day, so I suggest you hurry it up and get out here.”

Ava glanced back at April and Natalie who also had their arms crossed, waiting for the guys to make their appearance. Finally, a muffled ‘we’re coming’ cam from the other side of the door and Ava moved back to stand by her friends, satisfied at the answer.

The door slowly opened, and Ethan was the first to grudgingly exit the bathroom. At the first glimpse of the costume, April started sniggering; Ava and Natalie trying to suppress their laughter.

Ethan stood discomfited before heaving an exasperated sigh and sticking his arm into the barely cracked open door to pull out Connor. At his appearance, Ava burst out in giggles not even trying to hide her amusement. Her husband was blushing, but it was hard to tell beneath his costume.

“Come on out Will,” Natalie coaxed sweetly, “Your friends have valiantly faced the music now it’s your turn.”

Will slowly emerged from behind the door, his head ducked in embarrassment as he stood by Connor and Ethan who also had their heads bowed as they shifted uncomfortably.

By now, Natalie, April and Ava were almost in tears from laughing so hard, all three of them taking out their phones to take pictures.

“This is definitely going on the community page,” April stated in amusement as she snapped a photo.

At this, the boys groaned.

“Please don’t,” Ethan wined.

“They’re going,” Ava affirmed also taking a picture, ignoring the way Connor was scrunching his face up at her.

It was hard to take them seriously when they were dressed alike as The Three Amigos.

All three of them had on big, black glued on mustaches with black outfits and a colorful Mexican Serape with cowboy boots complete with a ridiculously large sombrero on their heads. And to top it all off, Will had his guitar strapped around his neck.

Natalie smirked teasingly, “Are you guys gonna sing?”

Their eyes grew comically big as they shouted, “NO!” in unison.

The girls just laughed harder.

“Hey,” Connor exclaimed put out as he gestured at them, fed up with their teasing, “How come you aren’t dressed up?”

April blinked innocently, “We are.”

Will scoffed, “You guys look normal. We look like idiots. And Ava’s not even trying!”

“Yeah,” Connor agreed gesturing to his wife, “How come you aren’t dressed up!?”

The blonde frowned innocuously before protesting, “I’m going as a doctor.”

Connor spluttered, “You are a doctor! That doesn’t count!”

“Besides, Halloween isn’t my holiday. We never had it in South Africa,” She continued as if Connor hadn’t butted in.

“Well, you’re in America now,” Ethan pointed out and Connor and Will nodded in agreement.

Ava ignored that last part.

However, April and Natalie were semi-dressed up. April wearing a headband of cat ears and a tail pinned to the back of her scrub pants and Natalie had a plastic crown in her hair with a sparkly wand stuck in her pocket.

“We should probably get going,” April glanced at the clock, walking up to Ethan to drop a large bowl of candy in his arms.

Natalie nodded and turned to grab another bowl of candy to give to Will as did Ava for Connor. Snapping one last picture they ushered the reluctant doctors dressed as Mexicans towards the PICU.

“How on earth did you convince them to dress up like that?” Ms. Goodwin was shaking her head in wonderment an amused smile crossing her face.

Ava shrugged, “It wasn’t that hard. I’m good at roping Connor into things before he realizes what exactly he’s getting into,” She smirked, “And he can’t really say no to me.”

Natalie grinned, “Will’s a pushover. I was able to sweet talk him into it and once Connor figured out what he’d agreed to, he came begging to Will to not let him be fool alone.”

“And then they both gained up on Ethan, so I actually didn’t really have to do anything,” April finished.

The girls were watching their guys from across the lobby of the Children’s Ward along with Ms. Goodwin.

Connor, Ethan and Will were handing out candy to the kids that were well enough to be out of their beds. The children were laughing at their antics as Will strummed his guitar in a silly matter while Ethan and Connor acted out some kind of skit. They were just being silly because the kids were loving it and played with the three costumed doctors.

“Besides,” Ava began as she watched her husband play with a little girl fondly, “I think deep down, they wanted to do it. For the kids’ sake.”

Natalie and April hummed in agreement, wearing similar expressions of affection

Goodwin nodded, “These children don’t get to enjoy the things most kids do. Bringing Halloween to them; We’ll never know how much it means to them. To have one night of somewhat normalcy.”

The Three Amigos laughed as children started to hang on their legs playfully.

Ava bit her lip, watching Connor lovingly as the world slowed down around her. He might have been grumpy about dressing up in such a ridiculous fashion, but Ava knew that he truly didn’t mind because he knew just as well as she did that these kids deserved as much happiness and laughter in their life as possible and if dressing up in a fake mustache and large hat did the trick then he was all for it.

Chuckling to herself, Ava glanced at her friends who were also watching their husbands with love. She laughed out loud, the ludicrous image becoming clearer in her mind as a smirk played at her lips.

“Next year, I think we should make them dress up as Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

I hope you enjoyed that!! Tell me what you thought and HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃

#chicago med #ava bekker #connor rhodes #rhekker #fanfiction #halloween

[hartigays]

Okay I’d love a fic or ficlet about Billy and Steve spending the day at lovers lake together

“these are so good.”

steve pops another grape into his mouth, smiling around his chipmunk cheeks. everything billy brought for their picnic is delicious, and steve is in food heaven.

“you look like alvin,” billy snorts, poking steve’s cheek. 

steve just smacks his hand away, huffing out a laugh. “you’re the one who didn’t let me eat breakfast. and then brought a feast of a picnic. and you expect me to, what, be civilized?”

“you’re right, my mistake. can’t believe i expected my snobby boyfriend to use his manners during a romantic picnic by the lake,” billy says. his voice is dripping with sarcasm, but his eyes sparkle when he looks at steve.

“you definitely expect way too much of me.”

the look billy gives him is incredibly exasperated, but he leans over anyway, closing the distance between steve and himself. gives steve a soft kiss, smiling into it.

“i’m glad you like it,” billy tells him, his voice soft. he clears his throat and looks away. “or whatever.”

steve takes one of his hands, kissing his palm. “you can be a sap, it’s okay. we’ve been together long enough, we can break that barrier.”

billy just threads their fingers together, rolling his eyes. but his smile is soft, genuine. he’d all but rolled out the red carpet for steve. a picnic by lover’s lake, with delicious food, chocolate-covered strawberries, and champagne. the whole nine yards. 

steve always knew deep down that billy is a romantic at heart. he just had to strip all those walls down to see it, steadily, and carefully. billy tastes like strawberries when steve leans in to kiss him.

“happy anniversary,” steve murmurs when he pulls away. billy’s thumb brushes over his bottom lip, catching for a brief second.

“happy anniversary, princess.”

later, when they’re splashing into the lake, steve is grateful he’d listened to billy’s request to bring swim trunks, even if he’d been a little confused by it at the time. billy dunks him underwater, and they end up splashing each other like children when he resurfaces. 

the more they splash the closer they migrate towards each other, until steve is pressed up against billy’s front. billy just winds his arms around him, keeping him close. smoothes steve’s wet hair off of his forehead and out of his eyes.

billy’s curls are soaked as well, plastered to his face and neck. steve does his best to comb some of it out of the way, before leaning in brush a kiss across billy’s lips. 

“this was romantic, you know,” steve says, smiling cheekily. “all of this. you can’t hide it, you’re all mushy gushy inside like the rest of us.”

“everyone’s mushy gushy inside, steve. it’s called having organs.”

steve snorts, smacking billy’s shoulder. “just let me have my moment, asshole.”

billy leans in close, cupping steve’s face in both of his hands. makes like he’s going to kiss him. when their lips are just a hair’s breadth apart, billy says, “you definitely expect way too much of me.” then proceeds to dunk him back in the water, cackling like an idiot.

they spend the afternoon like that, soft moments punctuated by billy being, well. billy. but that’s the way these things always go down. and steve’s okay with that, he doesn’t want billy to change himself to fit whatever mold everyone expects him to fit into. 

steve fell in love with a gruff, brash asshole with a temper for days and little patience - and he wouldn’t change that for anything. especially not when billy pours his heart into everything he does for him. into every detail of days like today, all in an effort to make steve happy.

and he does. billy does make steve happy. crazily, blissfully, dizzyingly happy. steve just hopes he does enough to convey that to billy. to express just how stupidly in love with him he is.

when they’re packing up to leave, steve sits on the shore of the lake, watching the sunset while billy packs up the basket. billy’s eyes meet his after a moment, and steve sticks his hand out.

“come watch with me.”

billy doesn’t object, just walks over and plops down next to steve, instinctively wrapping his arm around his shoulders. steve leans into him, humming happily.

“really is something else, huh?” billy practically whispers. 

steve pulls back a little. billy isn’t looking at him, instead gazing out across the lake, watching the sun sink below the horizon with wide eyes. the sunset is reflected in the clear blue, and steve’s breath catches in his throat.

he leans in, pressing a sweet kiss to the corner of billy’s mouth, before resting his head on billy’s shoulder. steve presses a kiss there, too.

“yeah, sweetheart. somethin’ else.”

#i hope this was along the lines of what you were looking for 🥳 #we went full sappy bitch mode here!!! #harringrove #stranger things #my fics #anon #ask