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#but then i feel so..bad...because the real me is so apathetic boring cold

bimboamyrose · 3 years

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On the Scarlett Sea Part 2 / 2

A ~Pirate~ Metamy Fanfic - [Link to Part 1 & Synopsis] - [AO3 Link]

In collaboration with @mmm-asbestos & their pirate Metamy AU Happy 2021 everyone ❤ ❤ ❤

Part 2

There was no natural light to be found in Amy’s room even in the morning. The ship was incredibly quiet as it sailed on calm waters with its skeleton crew. This combined with the lack of any sort of alarm made it very easy to sleep- maybe too easy. CLANG, CLANG, CLANG! Amy had no idea what time it was and felt disoriented and started when she awoke in the dark, unfamiliar room. CLANG, CLANG, CLANG! The metallic pounding on the door would have sufficed to wake a village.

“Alright, I’m awake… Hang on…” Amy turned on a small desk lamp and stumbled through the dimly lit room to its door. Little more light entered the room. “Where…” she nearly missed the small robot that had awoken her until he tapped her leg. “Oh… which one are you?” she squinted.

“That would be H1.” Metal Sonic stood just down the hall with arms folded neatly behind him.

Amy turned her attention to him groggily. “Why did you wake me…”

“You’ve been in there for 16 hours. I thought you might be dead.”

She blinked at him incredulously. “What time is it?”

“About noon, local. Would you join us on the main deck?”

“Why?”

He stood stoically, looking apathetic. “Aren’t you bored?”

“Are you?”

There was no response from Metal except a mechanical scoff, as if letting out steam. He turned back upstairs without another word. Amy grumbled something under her breath and took her time getting ready with whatever she could find in the room. When she emerged, H1 was still standing guard in front of her door, staring up at her blankly. She stepped around him awkwardly, his gaze following her as she went. Okay, less cute...

The midday sun left Amy squinting on the upper deck. She found Metal Sonic standing nobly right at the bow, watching the seas ahead. Might as well…

Amy came up next to him, mimicking his stately pose. “I had to sleep in this dumb outfit, you know.”

“You really must stop being so irritating when I cannot properly roll my eyes at you.”

“Pft-” Amy tried to hide a snicker. This amused Metal. “So… No clue how far this treasure is, huh? I wonder how long it’ll take.”

“I estimate no more than 12 days; That is how long it takes to navigate to the border of this sea at our velocity.” He glanced down to find a grouchy look on her face. “But… may be quicker.” Unless it’s in a different sea entirely , he kept to himself.

“Great,” she sighed. “So, what do you plan to do for up to 12 days?”

“Hm…” Metal brought his thumb and forefinger to his chin. “... we could spar.”

She whipped her head around to face him. “Again with the swords? What’s with you?”

He shrugged “I learned about the art while researching pirates. I believe I’ve mastered it but I would like to try with a worthy opponent.”

Now it was flattery. He really was impossible to understand. “Well thanks, but I don’t know the first thing about sword fighting- and it sounds like you don’t, either.”

“I assure you, I know plenty ,” he challenged, looking directly at her.

“You can’t learn how to fight by reading about it,” she scoffed.

“Well, perhaps you can’t…”

She raised a brow. “You know, you’re really gonna have to get used to ‘organic’ limitations soon. Unless that’s not really what you want…”

Metal could see that the girl was still doubtful about his intentions. She was unexpectedly clever- he supposed exploiting her kindness would only go so far. Perhaps he should try to limit himself for the time being. “You misunderstand. I am capable of mimicking movements as part of my programming. I don’t usually use weapons and simply wanted the ability to defend myself once I gave up this body.”

“Right…” If it was a lie, it wasn’t a bad one. Maybe he really was bored. “So is there a way you could teach me without all the sharp bits? Something tells me only one of us would get injured, and I’m no mechanic.” A sly smile found its way onto her face.

Now that was an amusing reaction, he thought, if only because she was so quick on her feet. A low snicker radiated from Metal as he beckoned her away. “We shall use the prop swords… for now.”

The pair soon took to the main deck with its wide-open space. Amy did what she could to tie the ridiculous skirt up at her waist and out of the way. Then, Metal Sonic tossed her a cutlass which held a surprising amount of weight when caught. It looked just like a real sword.

“Uh, are you sure these are props?”

“They are real antique swords, but they have been dulled. I assure you they won’t break your skin… Unless I want them to.”

It was hard to tell if he was joking. Ignoring it, Amy jumped out, holding the sword ahead of her with her feet spread. “Well, this doesn’t seem so hard.”

“That is because your stance is appalling.” Metal came up next to her, demonstrating the “proper” way, his pose looking much the same as hers. Her confusion was evident as he described the stance. “Keep your back foot out at a 90-degree angle… sword arm bent at 45 degrees… your feet really should be 91 centimeters apart-”

“Okay, you need to stop throwing random numbers at me,” she pouted.

“Alright…” Metal dropped his sword. With his hands at his hips, he took another look at how she posed. Then he kicked her back foot into the right position.

“Hey! You could be a little more gentle, you know.”

“Very well,” Metal made an exasperated motion as he moved behind her. Amy tried to follow him with her eyes but he grabbed the top of her head and turned it away. “Look forward. Now…” He extended his reach around her, using his hand to lift her elbow slightly. She shuttered a bit at the cold touch. “Does it feel a bit heavier now?”

Amy cleared her throat. “Ah… Yeah, a little.”

“One more thing,” he grabbed her other arm by the bicep, pulling it back toward him forcefully. “Keep this behind you, unless you’d like to lose it.”

A slight gasp escaped her lips at the abrupt movement. She tried to remain unphased. “Okay… Now what?”

He pulled away and stepped to her side. “Try a lunge. Extend your sword.” Amy lifted her elbow, fully extending her sword arm forward. “Good. Now, push off with your back foot to lunge forward.” She did as instructed, jumping forward slightly. “Again- Keep your back foot at the correct angle this time.” Amy’s eyes rolled in her head as she tried the motion again, focusing on keeping her body aligned. “Better… Try it as one swift motion.”

Awkwardly, Amy pushed her sword hand ahead and propelled herself forward all at once, losing her footing slightly. “Ugh! Wait-” Taking a deep breath, she tried the move again. And again. And again. Metal patiently watched her determination as she became slightly better with each thrust. It was so amusing to see the sheer effort it took her. The 16th time was the charm, as she was able to lunge swiftly without losing her footing. “Ha! How was that?”

“... It was fine. Anyone can do it once, though,” he derided.

“Hmph. Let’s see how many more I can do, then.”

To his surprise, Metal didn’t seem to get bored with such basic practice. Her tenacity was enjoyable to experience and she took instruction well, even if she stumbled. Metal moved on to demonstrating how to parry and eventually had her practice the motions together. Around two hours into practice, he came up in front of her, pointing his sword. “Not bad. Why don’t you try to parry an actual lunge?”

“Actually, can we stop for now? I kinda haven’t eaten anything all day.” Amy stood naturally, holding the sword down in front of her with both hands. She went from threatening to sweet in a second.

“Oh- Yes,” he brought his sword down to his side. “Of course. And I should check that we are still on course.” She handed him her cutlass hilt-first but he refused it. “Try carrying it on you. I’m concerned you may forget it’s not as easy to summon as your usual weapon.”

“Pft- You’re concerned about me? That’s new,” she smirked.

“Do not confuse it with amity,” he said flippantly, walking off toward the helm. “You know where the galley is.”

“Whatever, weirdo…” Amy affixed the dulled sword to her waist by the side, undoing the ties that kept her skirt girded around her hips. How anyone got things done with such a cumbersome garment, Amy did not know. The choice of theme still didn’t make much sense to her.

-----

“That should do it,” Tails closed up a hatch on the ship’s engine. He gave the operator a thumbs-up and before anyone knew it, the loud humming and rattling indicated that it was once again fully operational. Some of the crew hung around, cheering, as one of the cameramen leaned in close to the boy.

“Color me impressed.” Rouge sat atop a stack of crates watching the operation. She now wore a much more official-looking fitted navy pantsuit and captain’s hat. “All fixed in under 24 hours! Any chance you’d like to become a permanent member of the crew?”

“Thanks, but I have my own crew,” Tails laughed.

She pouted with a slight sigh. “Suit yourself…” She hopped down from the stack of crates, floating her way up toward the stairs. “I’ll let the crew know we’ll be moving soon. Everyone here, back to your posts.” The cameraman scrambled to shift his focus and follow her up.

A few of the crewmates patted Tails on the back and congratulated him as they got ready to return to their posts. Tails made some small talk until they’d all filed out a few minutes later.

Knuckles stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders. “Finally, we can get a move on. Do you think we’ll catch up to Amy and Metal?”

Tails nodded. “It’ll take a couple of days, but yeah- this ship’s faster.”

“Amy’ll have to hang on ‘til then…” Knuckles held up the compass that Rouge had recovered- it was identical in size and shape to his except that it was gold rather than brass. The arrow pointed in the same direction, though the inscription on the back was different. “ The time has come to find me- it is my turn to bleed. -Scarlett .” The boys found it kind of creepy, but it seemed to serve the same function so it was good enough.

“ Attention all crew: the ship is now fully operational. We will be setting sail in 30 minutes. ” Rouge’s voice was heard over the intercom.

“That’s our cue- come on.”

-----

Back on Metal’s ship, Amy sat on the edge of her seat. She’d brought her lunch back up to the deck and got comfortable under the roof of the helm watching H3 and H4 work. The two little robots ran from task to task, tying various knots and doing whatever one does on an antique pirate ship, sometimes stacked on top of one another for height. Amy clapped in amusement any time they finished something, much to Metal Sonic’s annoyance.

Once they were done, the pair scrambled up the stairs to the helm and gave their master their signature salute. “Very good. That is all for now,” he told them. Rather than scurry off, H4 threw his arms in up, catching H3, who balanced on his brother’s hands with his own.

“Oooh!” Amy clapped and giggled at the silly display while Metal groaned. H4 tossed the other in the air and switched to a handstand himself as H3 landed, their soles connecting. Then H3 rolled into a ball and his brother spun him on the soles of his feet. Amy had burst into full-blown laughter. “Wow, you guys are talented!”

“That’s enough,” Metal interjected. He was authoritative but not harsh in his tone. His henchmen complied, both standing back up on their feet. They waved to Amy as they scuttled off to the lower decks.

“Those guys are fun- did you teach them that?” Amy wiped a tear from her eye as the laughter subsided.

“ No. They were programmed to entertain for some reason. It was not my doing.”

“Well, they’re pretty good at it.” Amy leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of iced tea she’d made to go with her meal. She fanned herself in the heat. “Hey, are they gonna do the same?”

Metal was examining his sharp fingers, having found a scratch in the chrome paint job. “The same what?”

“You know, the same wish. To be organic.”

“What- oh, no,” he shook his head. “They are not the same as me. Or should I say, I am not the same as them…”

“How so?”

Metal had to be careful with his words. “Well… their AI is very simple. They are trained in certain tasks and to look for the right reactions in others as they do so. They’re quite simple- no real ‘emotions’ to speak of.”

Amy placed down her glass. “But you have feelings?”

“They are… simulated. But yes, I suppose you could call them that.”

“Huh. And I thought you operated on blind rage alone,” she chuckled.

Turning to her, Metal leaned an elbow on the railing to his side. “More like… spite.”

“Ha- is that what you feel for Sonic?”

“You could say that.”

The surroundings grew quiet in the absence of Metal’s minions. There was little noise but the gentle swaying of the sea and perpetual whirring from his turbine. Amy closed her eyes and listened as the sails waved in the wind, leaning back so the breeze sailed through her hair to cool her down. The air moved across the soft locks that flowed from her quills. She gently swiped them away when they blew over her face, her sleeves billowing lightly. When her eyes opened, she found Metal staring at her rather intently.

He turned his head away, looking back toward the wide-open deck. “Shall we continue our lesson?”

It was strange, the way he looked at her. She could almost swear there was a yearning in his gaze. She began to seriously consider that he could be telling the truth about his intentions. “Sure, just give me a few.”

Amy hardly noticed how much time had passed during the impromptu “training.” She found that it was much more enjoyable than she anticipated; learning a new skill was fun and Metal Sonic was a surprisingly effective teacher. There probably wouldn’t be time to become proficient at it, but learning to wield a sword was probably at least more entertaining than lounging around the ship most of the day. Still, as daylight dwindled, she was exhausted from the constant exercise and was ready to break for the day. Metal Sonic, for his part, didn’t ever seem to slow down, and was now demonstrating how to perform some combos.All part of being a machine , she supposed.

“Hey, it’s fun watching you and all, but I’m really tired.” She stretched her arms up warily. “Can we stop?”

Metal stopped his demonstration and stood upright. “Hm- Yes, it has gotten late. Will you continue tomorrow?”

Why did he look so excited about teaching her the ropes? Amy wondered how he normally spent his time if he found this to be so entertaining. What else was she going to do out at sea? “... Yeah, sure. It’s fun.” Her smile was sincere this time.

“... Indeed. You don’t learn as slowly as I thought you would.”

“Gee, thanks,” she chortled. “I’m gonna freshen up.” Amy tied the practice sword around her waist and mocked a salute at Metal. She saw his shoulders rise momentarily as if to give her a single laugh. The scenario still felt strange, but Amy was remarkably calm- relaxed, even- as she returned to her temporary accommodation. It was dark by the time she felt ready to leave her room again. It was too early for bed and there was nothing to do, so she returned to the main deck with her lantern in hand.

It was empty. No henchmen, no Metal Sonic- just the swaying ocean and sound of her heeled boots against a hardwood deck. She wondered if she’d have experienced such tranquility while traveling with her friends. Tails’ boat was so much smaller and the three of them already felt like they crowded the space. She missed them. They must be so worried…

Unsure of what else to do, Amy laid down on the bare deck to stare into the dotted sky. It was cold and hard and a bit damp, but the stars overhead were so vibrant she swore she could almost reach out and touch them. She passed some time finding any constellations she could identify in the summer sky.

At the sound of a door creaking open, Amy turned her head toward the captain’s quarters. Metal Sonic stood in the doorway, catching her in his gaze. Only yesterday the sight would ignite Amy’s battle instincts; now she just remained still and silent. There was no reason to fight. It was odd.

Metal looked into her eyes for a minute until she turned her face back to stargazing. His heavy, metallic steps echoed across the empty deck as he approached her. He was otherwise quiet. Metal loomed over her for a moment before joining her, laying next to Amy on the wooden floor and wondering what was so fascinating about the night sky. The way it illuminated out at sea, far from the light pollution of Eggman’s airship and other hiding places, was unlike anything he had seen. He could see why she was so interested.

Amy started giggling after a minute. It was so absurd! They’d normally be trying to rip each other to pieces, but here they were stargazing together.

Metal turned to face her. “What is so amusing?”

“Nothing… Just that, this reminds me of before. Back when you couldn’t talk and I couldn’t fight- you’d kidnap me and we’d just sit there without a word.” The memories weren’t the most positive, but the idea was laughable now. She smiled.

“Ah- yes. Well, I can talk and you can certainly put up a fight now.”

“Yeah,” she giggled. “I had to become strong ‘cause… Well, I was looking for my own freedom, I guess. Like you.”

So she was really beginning to believe him after all. Metal thought that should have been an accomplishment, but his body failed to produce a positive response in his program. What should have translated into pride instead felt like... guilt? That was new. “Did it pay off?” he asked after some silence.

“Well, I got kidnapped again but other than that,” she shrugged playfully.

“Yes, that was… unideal.”

“I get it,” she sighed. “I probably wouldn’t have helped you otherwise. No offense.”

“That is understandable.” Metal turned his attention to the glittery sky, mapping the stars. He was never very interested in it, but he recognized all the common constellations- although they didn’t make sense to him. “Tell me, can you identify constellations?”

“Yeah, I know a few.” She pointed up toward a cluster of stars. “Like… Hercules. It’s pretty prominent this time of year, and it’s easy to recognize.”

“I am familiar with the legend, but this set of stars does not resemble a man…”

“Oh! You gotta, you know, connect the dots.”

His optics allowed him to do that automatically, placing lines between each of the stars in the correct order. The constellation resembled a square with a line coming from each corner, but not a mythical hero. “They are… just lines.”

“Hm… I guess that one’s pretty abstract. How about…” she moved her pointer finger across her vision. “Cygnus. It’s a swan.”

“I have seen swans. This does not look like one.”

“You gotta use your imagination a little!” She scooted closer to him, holding out both hands in front of his face. “See how it kinda looks like a cross when you connect the dots?”

“Yes...”

“Okay. So, the shortest side of the cross is the tail, and the opposite part is like a long neck.” Amy traced each of the stars as she addressed them. “So then, where they cross…”

“Hm… Wings?”

“Yeah!” She giggled. “See? Not so hard.”

It was not how Metal would have chosen to depict a swan. The dots and lines that made up Cygnus were only conceptual, after all. “Perhaps I’ll understand better once I accomplish my goal…”

“Maybe,” she sat up. “Don’t worry if you don’t, though- most of them are nonsense; It’s just for fun!”

That seemed even more pointless. He sat up as well. “I do not comprehend it.”

“You will,” Amy assured. “Things don’t always have to make sense, you know?”

He found some understanding in her words, although “sense” it did not necessarily make. It was amusing, though, he admitted to himself. “I suppose I will.”

They sat chatting a while, Amy trying to explain the meaning of various constellations, Metal doing his best to imagine the abstract figures she described. As clouds moved in and the sky became less visible, the topic moved on to Metal’s interest in pirates. He spoke at length about the life and history of Captain Scarlett and her elusive treasure.

“According to accounts, she used the mirror to become the ‘greatest pirate alive’ and gathered most of her riches during this time. Soon after, her wife, Beryl, became ill and was unable to travel- that is why there are so many letters between them. After Beryl’s death, Scarlett disappeared. It is not known what happened to her or her ship- she likely became shipwrecked and drowned.”

“That’s so sad,” Amy commented. Her eyes were slightly misty.

“Well, piracy had its hazards. Still does. I have a book-” Metal turned his head away, looking intent.

Amy tried to see what he was looking at. “What is it?”

“I hear thunder…” A few seconds later, Amy heard it, too, as a light drizzle began to fall upon the deck.

“Oh, I don’t want to get wet again-” she sprang up.

“To my quarters, then.” Amy sprinted to the safety of the double-doors while Metal followed behind slowly. He was listening for further thunder and determining wind speed. Going in after her, he called to his henchmen, who were sitting at his table playing cards. “H3, H4- Lower the sails. I need to steer.” They both clinked their claws against their heads and jumped past him to start the task.

“Is everything okay?” Amy shook a bit of rain from her hair.

“A minor storm. Stay here.”

Although she had seen many badniks in and around water, Amy worried the rain could affect him. “Will you be alright?” They were both a bit surprised at her question. There was an unexpected tenderness in her concern.

“Yes,” he responded softly. “I am built to withstand worse.”

Amy nodded and he closed the door behind him. It was just her and H1 in the room now. He sat at the table still, cards in hand, and turned up to look at her. She smiled awkwardly, remembering this was the one who was hanging around in front of her room all morning. He patted the chair next to him, inviting her to join.

“So… What are we playing?” He stared at her silently. “Oh, right- you don’t talk. Uh… Go Fish?” H1 gave her a quick, violent nod that made his joints squeak obnoxiously. “Okay, okay! I’ll set up.”

They got two rounds in, H1 pointing at the deck whenever Amy needed to “go fish.” He won the first set but she bested him in the second, and they were now playing to break the tie. The storm outside was intensifying, heavy rain pounding on wood and thunder growing louder.

Amy was studying her cards closely, trying to decide which pair to go for next, when H1 sprang up, making a bee-line for the double-doors and running out into the open deck. “Why did he-” She gasped as her chair slid back and several pieces of furniture were pushed to one side. It didn’t last long as the ship rolled the other way, causing her to crash back into the table with an “oof!” That was more than a bit worrisome. She listened as the thunder and rain grew louder, the ship continuing to sway. Then, a huge crack of thunder boomed in her ears, followed by the sound of splitting wood. Amy quickly made her way to the main deck to see what was happening, immediately being pelted by rain and seawater.

The lower yard perpendicular to the foremast was cracked and practically broken in half, being held together only by H4’s coiling grip. She saw H3 pulling ropes, weighing down that side of the lower foresail to reduce stress on the beam. Metal Sonic was barking orders from the quarter deck above. Amy ran up to the helm just as H1 propelled himself in the opposite direction, toward the bow. His one glowing eye blazed when he spotted her.

“What are you doing? I told you to stay inside!”

“Don’t you guys need help?” Amy held onto the railing as the motion caused her to slip and slide on the wet floor.

“H1 is hoisting the jib, there’s nothing more to do but steer. Get inside, now!” Just then a towering wave came up to their port side. He was sure Amy’s featherweight would be blown off-board if she left the helm now. “Argh! Come here-” Metal steered in the opposite direction, trying to ride it out without capsizing. As the boat rolled, Amy stumbled to his left side and he pulled her in, putting her between himself and the wheel. He held her by the waist with one arm while the other remained affixed to the steering device. “Don’t drown!” he barked.

“What-”

The wave swallowed the elevated deck, leaving Amy and Metal completely underwater momentarily. Metal’s heavy body remained unmoved while her feet were swept off. She’d have been washed away- or at least violently slammed into the railings and water-logged- if he hadn’t affixed his iron grip around her. As the water passed over, Amy sputtered, having swallowed a huge gulp. A whining set of beeps came from ahead of them.

H3 was pointing up frantically, indicating that the top corner of the sail had torn off the yard by the rope. The sail flailed wildly around him until he took hold with both hands again, stabilizing the bottom once again. If the sail ripped any further off the mast it would fold over and become worse than useless, sending the ship to one side with its imbalance. He would send one of his henchmen up if they weren’t already securing half the mast.

“Damn that torn sail,” Metal cursed under his breath.

Amy coughed into his chest in front of him. “Tell me how I can” cough “help!”

He took to his mind frantically, calculating out all the different scenarios in which they would survive if the vessel capsized. He wasn’t too worried about his crew; they could take a beating and were waterproof. But the girl… Whether he kept her by him or sent her away, she had little hope of survival if the ship went down. Their only hope was to hold on and reaffix the sail.

Reluctantly, he made the decision. “The sail needs to be mended. Steer.”

“No!” cough “I can fix it-”

Another wave was about to wash over them. “Shut up and take a breath this time!”

Amy was just able to take in some air before they were engulfed by saltwater for a second time. As it cleared, Metal glanced back at the torn sail. He could fly up and do what he could to reaffix it, but steering the ship and knowing when and where to turn was a lot harder than it looked. He was able to calculate the safest angle with which to navigate into the waves and keep the vessel balanced. Someone without any knowledge on the subject, however...

If she could get high enough, Amy wouldn’t have to worry about being washed off the vessel so long as he kept them upright. “Can you climb?” he asked her.

Pushing her wet hair out of her face, Amy answered. “Yeah!”

“Take that rope and climb up the mast- reaffix the sail by the eye. Here, use my sword to cut the rope. Do you understand?”

Amy nodded. There was determination in her eyes as she took his sword and booked it to the ratline.

“Hurry- Before another wave hits.”

She climbed, struggling against the wind as it vibrated the taut ladder. Water weighed down her long skirt as she went. Once at the top, another wave washed over the main deck, causing the vessel to roll once more. She held onto the ropes for dear life, unsure of how to get to the end of the adjoining yard. Amy turned her gaze in every direction frantically- how do people usually get up there? I could shimmy , the thought, but what do I hold onto?

Despite Metal’s ability, the ship was difficult to control without the proper sails. He felt uncharacteristically apprehensive watching Amy climb as he steered between waves, as if ready to lunge for her if she were to fall. Another wave was now threatening to roll the vessel from the starboard side, so he did his best to focus on steering.

Glancing down, Amy got an idea. She wrapped an arm through the tightly woven ropes and used her free hand to pull out the sword, then promptly sliced through the top of her skirt, revealing the black half-slip beneath it. It was easy to tear off from there and use as an impromptu support system. Amy tied the length of maroon fabric to the yard above her, leaving some room between it and the knot. She hoisted herself up and carefully made her way across the beam on her belly, twisting and dragging the fabric with her. Once she reached the tear, she said a prayer and dropped her body down onto the circle of hanging fabric, hoping it would act as a hammock to support her while she worked.

It wasn’t perfect, but it held. Amy couldn’t believe how high she was, supporting herself with only a bit of fabric on some creaky wood. She was able to do as Metal Sonic had instructed, hanging precariously from the beam and taking hold of it when she felt too much turbulence. Once she’d replaced the rope through the eye of the sail, it was just a matter of getting back down.

A melodic set of rings and tones came from below her. Amy smiled when she spotted H1 on the crow’s nest some feet down. He reached up, uncoiling his extendable arms to pick Amy up and lower her to him safely. “Oh thank goodness,” she threw her arms around the little robot and hugged him close. “I thought I was gonna die up there!”

The vessel was noticeably more stable now that the jib was functioning and the mainsail was secured. Amy heard a whistle and noticed Metal Sonic signaling for them to descend. Climbing down the ratline proved much faster for Amy without the deadweight around her waist, and she rushed back to the helm to see what else needed doing. H1 was already working to tie up the broken beam.

“How are we doing?” Adrenaline rushed through her as she asked.

Metal was taken aback by her excitement; She really seemed to have a knack for putting herself in danger. “Better…. Good work.” He noticed the change in her wardrobe then, but said nothing.

“Oh, it was easy,” she lied. “What else do we need?” They rolled again, listing starboard, and she grabbed onto his arm for balance.

He acted quickly in bringing her between him and the wheel again. “Nothing. We- I need to steer us around the storm.”

The proximity was slightly discomforting now. Amy flushed as she turned away from him to look toward the bow. But the constant motion didn’t allow her to leave his side just yet; They swayed backward while climbing another wave then leaned forward as the vessel crashed down over it. Amy couldn’t stifle a yell when the ship descended, Metal pulling her closer to him still. He wouldn’t admit how much alarm his body was producing as he saw the high chance of tipping forward. The ship’s boom was dunked under the waves momentarily until the entire vessel tipped back, balancing itself like a buoy.

Amy was shaking. Her heart was ready to leap out of her chest, sure she’d be unable to maintain her balance had it not been for Metal’s support. Any rosiness in her cheeks quickly vanished to stark white and she remained speechless in her panic. Metal looked down at her in front of him. He realized he was still clutching her to him, but didn’t ease his grip. He told himself it was in case another wave hit.

They continued to sail over the stormy waters, but it appeared after a few minutes that the worst was behind them. Metal loosened his hold around Amy as her heart rate leveled and her breathing went back to normal. The rain began lightening up, no longer showering the deck. It was a light drizzle by the time either of them found anything to say.

Amy inhaled. “That was… A lot.”

“Yes…” he turned his attention to his minions, who were securing the sail back to the mast. It had been repaired to the best of their abilities with as much rope as they could tie around it.

“So… This ship. It’s kinda falling apart.”

“That appears to be the case.”

There was an awkward silence between them. Amy was still sandwiched between Metal Sonic and the ship’s helm. Now that the shock had faded it was uncomfortable again. “I’m gonna… Step aside…”

“Of course-” Metal removed himself from behind her, taking some steps away to free her. “I did not expect you to do so well.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Amy rung out her locks. They were both soaked, but her clothes were heavy with all the water.

“You may change in my quarters- if you need to.”

“Got another fun outfit planned for me?” she mocked.

“Yes. Come,” he stepped down from the quarter deck toward the captain’s quarters.

Amy scoffed. “I was not being serious.”

Metal addressed the henchmen as he passed. “H1, H3, H4- you did well. We will complete repairs tomorrow.” They all saluted him, and as soon as he turned away, moved on to high-fiving each other noisily. The doors were held open to his room and Amy passed through.

Much of the space was in disarray. The chairs were in different corners of the room, half of them toppled over. The screen had collapsed and any books that lined the shelves had flown off and lay open or bent on the floor. Amy was worried what state her room could be in…

“Well, this is…”

“A mess,” Amy interrupted.

“That is a fair assessment.” Metal made his way to the far corner of the room, bringing the screen upright. “At least this is functional…” He pointed a hand to it, inviting Amy to use it.

Amy was weirded out again by his interest in her attire but was even more uncomfortable in the drenched outfit she had on. She made her way to change while Metal Sonic hung around the room, picking books up from the ground. He’d left her another period-accurate garment to dress up in. The sight of the long-sleeved white nightgown annoyed her at first, but she was glad she at least had something comfortable to sleep in.

When she stepped out from behind the screen, Amy made her way to pick up the floor mirror. It was cracked at the top from having toppled forward but was otherwise functional. She looked ethereal in the white gown, even if it was a little costumey.

“I hope it is to your liking,” Metal said as he approached her. “I understand you were uncomfortable resting in the other clothes.”

Amy had forgotten that the first thing she’d done that morning was to complain about the outfit to him. “I’m surprised you cared to remember.”

“I have ample memory storage; I do not forget.”

“But you still cared.” She smiled up at him.

“... I didn’t want to hear your whining.” Metal stepped away, continuing to tidy up his quarters from the whirlwind.

“Sure.” Amy pretended to study the dress in the mirror, actually watching Metal in its reflection. It was all so elaborate- the ship, the costumes, the sword fighting. What was the point of it all? “Hey, Metal… How come you’re so invested in this pirate act? It seems kinda…”

“Illogical?” He did not turn to look at her.

“I was gonna say inconvenient, but…”

“Hm.” He straightened up the last chair. “I suppose I just wanted something to control,” he shrugged. “It seemed on-theme.” It wasn’t a lie.

Amy had no idea what to expect but the answer still shocked her. It was becoming difficult to doubt him when she realized that she could relate. He really did have nothing to gain but his autonomy. “I understand,” she said simply.

Metal made to return to the deck, holding a door ajar. “Perhaps it will pay off for me, as well.”

“Yeah,” she smiled.

Amy gathered up her wet clothes to dry in her room. It was hard to tell how long she’d spent on deck chatting and then weathering the storm, but she was exhausted- and hungry. She was lucky everything in the kitchen was bolted down but felt less so when her suite was in complete disorder. For once, she didn’t care- simply plopping herself on the mess of sheets and pillows that she could gather atop the plush mattress.

-----

“I am… so sore.” Amy lay on her back directly on the cool wood of the quarter-deck, groaning. “Everything hurts. And it’s sooo hot...”

The ship swayed slightly on the calm water, as Metal turned the helm sharply. “I suppose that means you are too weak to train, then.” He watched the compass eagerly. They had been blown off course by the storm the night before and the arrow was constantly changing direction now.

Ignoring his little insult, Amy darted her eyes up at him. “Is that all you think about?”

“What else are we to do?” He made a frustrated, metallic ring as he turned the ship in the other direction. “How does this ridiculous thing work?”

“How should I know…” Amy yawned. “You seem too busy steering to train me, anyway.”

“H1 can take over once he’s finished with the sails. I suggest you get ready.”

Amy clicked her tongue at him, crossing her arms over her torso. She rolled her head to the side, watching the horizon pass them by. “When you have muscles, you’ll see…” But he was right, there was nothing better to do. It made her think about what her friends might be doing then. Would they catch up to Metal’s ship? She dreaded confronting them at sea, having to convince them of Metal’s plan. Even if they were worried, Amy would rather deal with them after the fact, asking them for forgiveness rather than permission.

Metal stared down at Amy. For all the spying and research he had done on Sonic and his friends, Metal was still astonished by her bravery and tenacity in the face of danger. Looking back on their early meeting, he always categorized her as a weak, defenseless being. Even as Amy had grown strong over the years, this was the first time Metal experienced her pluckiness on its own, unadulterated by the presence of her teammates. It impressed him more than he cared to admit.

The maneuver she’d pulled climbing up the mast had left Amy with a pretty noticeable wardrobe change, too. The short half-slip she wore under the layers of scarves at her waist allowed for her usual mobility; he was almost excited by the prospect of sparring with her now that she could move more freely. Her boots and stockings were in full view and the oversized frills of her blouse were more striking now. Metal had found the billowy ankle-length skirt fetching in its historical context, but now she looked...

“Couldn’t we do it at night when it’s not so hot?” she interrupted his thoughts.

“I am not looking forward to becoming as sensitive as you,” he quipped, getting his mind off Amy’s appearance. “But fine.”

The compass appeared to stabilize again. When he set off to research pirating, Metal failed to realize the amount of waiting involved on seafaring adventures and began to wish he’d commandeered a faster ship. But, at least the company was good.

It was more than Rouge could say for her guests. “Look, I appreciate your help fixing the ship and helping us navigate around that storm, but I’ve been hired to recover whatever’s on that island!”

She and Knuckles argued over the fate of “her” treasure for hours. “I’m telling you I just want one thing!” he asserted.

“And I’m telling you I can’t just hand you an artifact when our funding is on the line. There are legalities-”

“Since when do you care about what’s legal? This is more important than that!”

Rouge huffed, plopping into her desk chair with folded arms. “Maybe if you just told me why you’re after it I could talk to my patrons about-”

“No! No one can know what’s in there!”

“ Stop interrupting me! ” Rouge’s wings flared out behind her as she slammed her hands down on the desk. The two glared at each other, neither relenting until a knock came at her chamber door.

Tails pushed it ajar with sheepish caution. “Uh… Am I interrupting?”

“... You’re fine,” Rouge sighed in exasperation. “Sit.” She rubbed at her temples, taking a breath. “I just want to know what we’re after so I can help. Can one of you please explain what the fuss is about?”

“Come on,” Tails nudged Knuckles. “We’re on the same side…”

Knuckles groaned under his breath. “Fine.” Rouge leaned in to listen, resting her wary head in her hand as he continued. “We’re after a Knuckles Tribe artifact known as the Stone Mirror…” He explained some of its history and how they knew that it was buried among Scarlett’s treasure.

She waited until he was done, and then slid her chair back, pulling a large scroll from the top drawer of her desk. “I’d like to show you something.” Unrolling it revealed a copy of the same map they’d used to navigate, stitched-together from a set of letters written by Scarlett. “These letters were addressed to Beryl over the course of several months- she and Scarlett were married. It seemed Scarlett wasn’t too eager to reveal the location of her stronghold, even to her wife. Some say she sailed there alone after, well…” Pointing to one of the letters at the bottom, Rouge read some of its contents aloud.

“ I am sorry for how my selfish desire has destroyed our happiness. You slit your palm and gave your very blood for me, and in my deception we were cursed. It was the mirror that took your health, and my guilty action that will take you if we do not act. These riches were meant to be your assurance in case of my demise; Instead, I must seal away all that I have earned in the hopes of saving you. There is no time to waste coming for you- Please find me. Love, Scarlett. ”

She set down the scroll. “Earlier in it she writes about meeting some mystic that gave her information about a mysterious mirror and its curse. Something about lying toBeryl?”

“So she mentions it…” Knuckles pondered. “Legend states you need a blood sacrifice from someone else who’s ‘willing and knowledgeable about your intentions.’ Basically you lie and the other person gets cursed. Guess she found out a little too late.”

Rouge sat back in her chair, staring down at the collection of letters. “It’s well recorded that Scarlett recounted making some wish to become a great pirate. Historians just attribute it as a tall tale. Shame about Beryl, though,” she sighed. “In any case- this ‘Stone Mirror’ sounds dangerous.”

Knuckles nodded. “I don’t know how he found out, but I’m assuming it’s what Metal Sonic’s after.”

“... Okay. We’ll create a diversion to snatch up the mirror before the cameras can record it. But we’ll have to beat Metal Sonic there.”

The three of them nodded in agreement- Knuckles promising to find a way to destroy the dangerous artifact. And if they ran into their unexpected enemy at sea, there would be no choice but to subdue Metal Sonic before he could get his hands on it.

-----

Three days went by and there was still no sign of this mystical secret island, orany land for that matter. Actual pirates may have had work to do, but Metal Sonic’s three henchmen seemed to do the all work of a full crew in a quarter of the time. It left Amy and Metal with very little to do other than practice their swordsmanship and chat late into the night.

Amy picked up swordplay like it was second nature. It helped that there was little more to do, but she’d never had issues with swinging a weapon around. After a fourth day of practicing she was getting the hang of perrying against Metal Sonic and was serving combos that would give any other beginner a run for their money. Though she complained of sore muscles and exhaustion constantly, Amy fought against it nevertheless, advancing far quicker than either of them anticipated. Metal was forced to admit that he found it admirable- though he didn’t express it out loud.

Metal, for his part, found himself appreciating Amy’s companionship. Her witty nature complimented Metal’s droll quips, and she found it funny that he put so much effort into his tough pirate charade. He didn’t have anything to counter with when they’d shot back petty insults at one another and she’d finally burst into laughter, remarking on how insistent he was on appearing superior. Metal supposed she had a point, getting his own chuckle out of it. Amy continuously commented on how he would feel differently when his body was organic as if to test him. Of course, Metal played along, but each time he did, there was a nagging twitch in his mind.

The guilt Metal felt over manipulating Amy was beginning to weigh. For years, he’d waited for this kind of opportunity to get the upper hand on Sonic, to become something that not even his rival could imagine. Metal wasn’t sure what form he would ultimately take when he finally got hold of the Stone Mirror, but it was so far from the average organic being that Amy imagined for him. “I wonder what color your eyes will be,” she had mused aloud during an evening conversation- what a wholesome thought compared to Metal’s. He said that he hoped they’d be green like hers and got a laugh over her flustered babbling.

Out of all the things that could go wrong with his plan, feeling remorse was not something he prepared for. It’s not as if he’d ever felt guilty for acting in his own interest in the past, but Metal realized that he’d never worked with someone on a team as an equal, either. There was a sense of kinship between them that grew from fighting against the harrowing storm; They both quickly became comfortable in the other’s presence, as if having been friends for years. That was a first for Metal.

But he couldn’t let all his plotting and past failures go to waste. Metal wasn’t about to let one of his former enemies sway his plans. Amy was nice to have around but there would be others; this was the only time he’d get this opportunity.

But I may as well enjoy myself, he thought. After four days at sea spending most of Amy’s waking moments together, Metal had grown to enjoy their time together; It was a shame it wouldn’t last.

On day five, they met in his quarters while Metal dug around for another sharpened sword. He tossed props aside from a closet as he searched.

Amy stood at the shelf on the opposite end of the room, perusing through a book. “What are you looking for?”

“A sharpened sword,” he answered plainly.

“You have a sword… And claws...”

“It’s not for me- Ah, here we are.” Metal turned back to her, a sheathed sword in one hand and a long, red garment draped over the other. “H3 does find the strangest places to store things…”

Putting the book down, she spun to him curiously. “What’s that?”

“I missed seeing you in red,” he said in the most pompous tone he could manage, holding it out to her.

She took it with a smirk. “Another skirt?” Amy unrolled the garment, revealing a long, notched jacket with gold piping that framed it intricately.

“No, something more fitting this time.”

She threw it over herself excitedly. Belting the jacket at the waist, Amy smiled at her reflection. “Oh, it’s pretty. And way more functional,” she giggled, turning her friendly countenance to him. “Thanks.”

“I thought you would feel that way.” Metal unsheathed the sword and handed that to her as well. “Now we can really spar.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Seems kinda dangerous…”

“Hmph- I doubt you’ll land a hit,” Metal replied confidently. “And rest assured I will stop before the blade touches you.” He pointed the weapon at her theatrically.

Amy rolled her eyes. “It’s lunchtime- I’m taking a break.” She snatched the weapon from him, hanging it gingerly around her waist and making her way down to the kitchen. She was surprised to see Metal Sonic tagging along behind her. “You hungry?” she smirked.

“Something like that…”

She snickered a bit, not sure what to make of the comment but finding his presence enjoyable nonetheless. Amy got to work preparing her lunch while he observed her from across a high table, his cutlass drawn up to his eyes so he could look past it at her dramatically. She glanced at him with a scoff. “Making sure it’s sharp enough?”

“I can assure you, it is.”

Amy stuck out her tongue at him, sitting down on a tall stool to eat her lunch. “You are just as cocky as Sonic…”

Even if that was true, her comment irritated Metal. He sauntered around the table to her side, the sharp point of his weapon aimed at her. She didn’t appear phased. “I doubt that Sonic knows much about swordsmanship.”

“He’s apparently pretty skilled at it, actually,” Amy said, taking another bite.

“Seriously?”

With her mouth full, Amy shrugged. Metal lowered his sword, pacing around to her other side and looming over her shoulder. She continued to ignore his taunts as she ate. “I’m gonna grab some water…” Amy stood, continuing to watch him out of the corner of her eye. Turning back, she heard him speak again.

“En garde,” he announced with a lunge. The tip of his sword stopped just shy of her chest.

Glancing down at his weapon, Amy returned with a sweet smile. “Aw, how am I supposed to take you seriously if you won’t follow through?” She looked back up at him with doe eyes.

Metal met her soft gaze, locking his vision on her endearing face. “Well, would you like me to-”

Before he could finish, Amy had drawn her sword and gone for a parry, knocking his blade to the side. Then she lunged, closing the distance between them and bringing her weapon over his head. He swung his sword back up, blocking the hit. “Hmph! You’re just as impatient as Sonic, too,” Amy smirked.

“Argh!” Metal pushed her sword off and away from him, brandishing his in a ready position. “Will you continue to compare me to that imposter when I am organic?”

Amy held the same pose, teasing by twirling her weapon around in circles. “Depends. Are you gonna keep letting your life revolve around him?”

“Hm- How else would you and I get to spend time together?” Metal lunged, backing Amy against some kitchen equipment until she countered his attack with her own swing. She ducked underneath his next attack and backed away.

“You wanna hang out that bad?” she giggled. “Maybe just ask me out to coffee.”

“Oh,” Metal approached her slowly, his sword still drawn high. “What are those called again?”

“What are what called, weirdo?”

“Let me see…” As he continued his approach, Amy backed out through the kitchen door and into the narrow hallway. “Oh, a date ?”

Caught off guard, Amy lowered her weapon momentarily. He did the same as he neared her, their eyes locked. “Th-That’s not really-” His sword was upon her again a second later. She dodged, not having time to counter the sudden attack.Should’ve expected that, she thought, planning her next move.

But there was little time to think as Metal lunged toward her again, swinging from every direction as she struggled to block with her sword. They continued down the hall, clinking and striking their weapons together. Amy was just managing to remain defensive; he wouldn’t give her an opening.

Finally, Amy got in a parry after ducking from one of his swings and rolling behind him. When Metal turned back around, he narrowly avoided a swing that passed just under his chin. He sprung back. Out of striking distance, they both stared at each other, Metal holding his weapon down by his side. He was surprised that he didn’t feel the need to hold back more, feeling somewhat proud of Amy’s progress. But he wouldn’t let her know any of that.

“Ready to give up?” she teased.

He drew up the cutlass again, taking a step closer. “How easy could I possibly make it for you?”

Rather than fall back, Amy took his challenge and moved in his direction. “I don’t know… Looks like you’re having a pretty hard time to me,” she sneered. She was having more fun than she expected.

“I could say the same!” He rushed her then, Amy countering the next few swings.

Suddenly, they were each backed close to a wall as they stood in tandem in the narrow hallway, Metal just in front of a set of doors. As he swung again, she dove under his attack and through the double-doors. When the room came into full view, Amy looked on in awe. It was a grand ballroom, elegantly decorated in white and champagne- presumably for the wedding that was meant to be held there. Metal nearly landed a hit on her while she was distracted, but Amy seemed to be a master at dodging his lunges.

“Don’t get too distracted,” he taunted her.

“Hmph!”

Locked in battle, they continued moving down the length of the ballroom, circling around the winding rows of banquet tables and chairs. Metal was coming at Amy in full force, giving her little opportunity to counter. He could see her growing more tired now, her heart rate increasing exponentially as her breathing became more shallow. Taking advantage of this, Metal increased his speed and continued his swings, varying the direction so she couldn’t duck behind him again. They fought their way to the front of the room where the space was more open. Footsteps clicked as they stepped across the hard dancefloor that spanned from wall to wall at the front of the ballroom. Soon, Metal had completely backed Amy into a wall as she panted.

Amy realized that she was, perhaps, a bit too confident. Even if she were to get to a point where her skills surpassed his, Metal Sonic couldn’t tire in battle as fast as she would. She had to find a different advantage.

When she tried to perform an unexpected lunge, his sword made contact with her own so harshly that she lost her grip. It clanged to the ground next to her. Metal used his forearm to pin Amy to the wall by her chest.

She let out a grunt as she clashed with the wall behind her. Panting, Amy glared up at him in exasperation. “Are you satisfied now?”

“I am… impressed.” Metal cocked his head to one side, observing as her chest heaved under his grip. “But I knew you wouldn’t best me so easily.”

“Really? I thought you had more confidence in your teaching skills. I know I’m a great coach...”

Metal stared on at her curiously. “Is that so? And what do you teach?”

Amy gestured to the floor with her eyes. “I taught Sonic how to tango pretty well-” She was cut off as he pressed his forearm against her more firmly.

“Hmph- if you think that will distract me-”

“Hey,” Amy’s face softened into a smile as she interrupted him. She reached a hand up, taking hold of Metal’s lapel. He glanced down at the gesture in confusion. “You wanna know how else you’re like Sonic?”

“... Do tell.”

“C’mere.” Amy held an almost saccharine expression as she gently tugged his collar toward her.

She hardly had to pull as Metal allowed himself to be drawn into her. It may have been a ruse- he was fairly confident in that- but he was greatly interested in what she had to say as she lifted her chin to speak into his ear. Metal remained vigilant as Amy continued.

“You’re really cute,” she whispered.

Staggering back, Metal fixed her eyes with his. She twinkled back at him. “What do you-”

A sharp blow to the side of his head sent Metal off from atop Amy and to the ground. He lost command of his sword just as her enormous hammer came into his peripheral view. Of course - the thought ran across his mind as Metal landed on his side noisily. Amy sprinted to snatch his sword from off the ground as he readied to come back on his feet- but her boot heel was upon his chest before he got any further than facing her. Metal’s heavy body banged on the hard dancefloor as she pushed him down under her foot. Amy stood over him with his own sword pointed just under Metal’s chin. She was grinning from ear to ear as she watched his broken eye illuminate for a moment.

Metal would have been furious if she’d looked malicious, but her sparkling grin was so… cheery. “It’s cute that you think you can beat me so easily!” Amy laughed with genuine amusement as she removed her boot from his body.

His left eye now flickering again, Metal could only manage to glare for a second until he found himself chuckling as well. “That was most certainly cheating…”

“Didn’t know you had such strict rules.” Beaming, Amy allowed the hammer to disappear from her grasp and offered Metal a hand up. The lights in his left eye sputtered out again as he stood. “Hey, I almost fixed your eye! Maybe another wack will do it,” she smiled.

“Somehow I doubt that.” He hadn’t let go of her hand, instead using it to jerk her toward him. “But perhaps you could show me your little dance now?”

“Ah… I don’t know if you’d really enjoy it.” Amy offered Metal his sword, holding it between them.

He took it from her gently and slid it down by his side. “Won’t you indulge me?”

Her cheeks flushed lightly. Amy had just said it to distract him; she could teach, but she suddenly felt flustered in such close proximity. “Well… Maybe-”

The room shook then. Metal kept Amy from losing her footing as the ship rolled unexpectedly. They gave each other a look of concern.

“Is it another storm?” Amy asked.

Metal shook his head. “No- come to the deck, don’t forget your sword.”

He was floating out the door before Amy could find the words to respond. She followed him, picking up the weapon she’d dropped to sprint down the hall and up the long staircases.

“Surrender Amy Rose and the artifacts at once!” Rouge was flying above her deck speaking into her megaphone with Knuckles, Tails, and her crew on deck below. Her ship floated across from Metal Sonic’s as cameramen focused on both of the captains.

Metal stood nonchalantly with his arms crossed behind, amplifying his voice to speak. “I can assure you she is under no duress.”

Knuckles had managed to snag a megaphone of his own and was now putting the full force of his voice into it. “Then where is she?!”

Metal squinted at the rumbling noise, his receptors vibrating uncomfortably. “Argh- You do not need to yell into that, I can hear you just fine.”

“Tell us where she is now!” Knuckles was getting ready to threaten him as Amy busted through to the deck. The three henchmen burst through just behind her.

When she spotted her friends, Amy’s face lit up and she ran to the ship’s railing. Metal remained in his stately pose behind her in an attempt to indicate that there was no threat. “Guys!” Amy waved, “I’m okay!”

Leaning close to the rails, Knuckles yelled into his megaphone again. “We can’t hear you-”

“Knuckles, that’s enough! I can hear her just fine so shut up,” Rouge snapped down at him. He crossed his arms irritably, grumbling. “Amy,” she continued, “we’re here to rescue you; are you hurt?”

Waving her hands in front of her, Amy answered as loud as she could. “Rouge, I’m fine! Are you guys okay?”

“Us?” she looked puzzled, “You were the one who was kidnapped...”

“It’s okay, I’m, uh…” she turned to beckon Metal, who looked almost bored at the turn of events. He approached her slowly, keeping an eye on the others. Once he was within reach, Amy clung to his arm in a friendly gesture as his expression became nonplused. “I’m helping Metal! Let’s team up!”

He whipped around to her with reproach. “That is not part of the plan!”

“Plans can change,” she responded in a low voice before addressing Rouge again. “Let us aboard and I’ll explain!”

Completely perplexed, Rouge didn’t know how to respond. Knuckles was shouting at her to repeat what Amy was saying and Tails began to call out to her as well. “Don’t move,” Rouge directed a command at Metal with a glare before floating down to the others. “What do you two want?!”

Tails pushed Knuckles aside in order to get a word in. “We’ve detected an island 30 naughtical miles from here in the direction of the compass- there’s no other land within range. It has to be the place. We can be there in the next couple of hours. We need to get Amy back ASAP.”

“We’re that close?” Rouge glanced back across the way to the other ship, where Amy and Metal appeared to be… arguing? Their tones were too hushed to decipher the speech, but neither was fighting the other. Though they both waved their hands around in apparent annoyance, Amy held him close to her without any resistance. Rouge didn’t know what to make of it. “She said… she’s helping him.”

“Helping Metal Sonic?” Tails looked just as confused now.

Knuckles butted back in, shoving Tails aside. “She said that? What’s his game?”

“How should I know?” Rouge brought her hands to her hips in frustration. “She said she wants to come aboard to explain.”

“That sounds like a trap!”

Rouge nodded in agreement. “But it’s the only way to get her back peacefully. We’ll just have to be ready for him.”

The boys each nodded in reluctant agreement. Rouge took a breath and quietly signaled her crew to be on alert. Approaching the side of her ship, she called out to the others. “You may board. We will extend the bridge.”

Amy and Metal paused their arguing to come to her attention. “Don’t you-” he started before Amy interrupted him.

“No need, we’ll fly over!” She faced him. “Come on, let’s go.” He glared at her with resentment, worried he’d just be ambushed and forced to engage, putting his plan in jeopardy. Amy tightened her grip on his arm and lowered her voice. “I’ll hold on to you so they don’t attack.”

His glare softened. That should work , he thought with some remorse. He wished he could feel more positively about tricking Amy so well she was willing to risk her safety for him. When Metal nodded, she climbed into his arms readily. She really held no doubt in him.

“You three,” he told his henchmen, “... be on alert.” H1 shot forward, standing on the ship’s railing and pointing ahead. “... Yes, I suppose I should bring one of you. Move.” Metal could the others’ clinking salutes as he and H1 lifted off, Metal flying over the sea carefully with Amy. A cameraman on a lower deck followed their path while another stood near Rouge, recording their landing. The little minion stood readily by Metal’s feet as the crew took steps towards them, encircling them steadily. Metal gazed around at them but did not move.

Knuckles came the closest. “It’s time to drop her,” he demanded.

“Very well.” Metal lowered Amy to her feet and she quickly wrapped herself around his arm, taking a step in front of him.

“I’m okay, Knuckles. I’m gonna hang onto Metal for now, okay?”

“Why? What is this?” Knuckles was shouting again, continuing his approach. “Did you do something to her brain?”

Metal scoffed, standing his ground. “What exactly do you think I could do?” A camera came up close to the side of his face while a mic loomed above. He turned his head sharply, his single blazing eye catching the crewmember off guard. “Is there something I can help you with?” The cameraman scrambled back, making himself scarce.

“Metal, just ignore it,” Amy tugged on him while his eye rolled around his screen.

“Alright,” Rouge’s assertive voice cut through the crowd that was quickly forming in front of them. “Everyone back off, you’ll hear my signal if I need you. That goes for you, too, Knucklehead. Move!” As her crew dispersed and the cameras backed to a safe distance, Rouge stood some feet in front of them. “So you made friends with Metal Sonic? I’d find it cute if I wasn’t still bruised from his last attack.”

Amy chuckled awkwardly back at her. “Yeah, well… you look great in your new uniform.”

“Hmph.” Rouge cracked a smile as she saw Amy there, protecting her unlikely friend from attack. It was almost sweet. “Well I’m relieved you don’t look too bad yourself. Cute jacket.”

“Thanks, uh… Metal picked it out,” Amy smiled.

“Really?” Rouge turned her attention to him. “Charming. Now what is it you want?”

When he didn’t respond after a few seconds, Amy cut in. “Metal has a… request. For the Stone Mirror.”

“What?!” Knuckles came booming back, stomping his feet.

Rouge held her arm out in front of him with a brief glare, then continued. “We’ll talk in my quarters. No cameras. Come on,” she turned on her heel and beckoned for only Amy and her “friends” to join her. They all followed behind Rouge awkwardly as the crew murmured around them, cameras following their every move.

Rouge locked the door behind them once they were in the privacy of her office. Then she faced Amy and scolded her. “You cannot go around mentioning magical artifacts in front of the crew. Why do you think you were all after it in the first place?”

Amy shrunk back, still clinging to a silent Metal Sonic. “Sorry… You’re right…”

Rouge sighed with exasperation, sinking into her chair. “Will you all sit?! You’re making me anxious.” As everyone complied, Knuckles most reluctantly, Rouge addressed Metal Sonic with some sarcasm. “I would love to hear what you have in mind for the mirror.”

After some seconds of silence, Amy nudged him. H1 climbed up the chair legs to sit in his lap, staring up at him. Metal shot them each an irritated look before starting. “I would like to use the Stone Mirror to become… organic.” He’d lied to Amy so easily, but was almost embarrassed to show such vulnerability with the rest of his enemies.

“Organic?” Rouge massaged her temple. “I don’t even know what to say to that. And Amy, you believe this?”

“Doesn’t matter if she believes it or not,” Knuckles butted in, “there’s no way Metal Sonic’s getting his hands on the mirror!”

Rouge nodded. “Unfortunately, I’m inclined to agree.”

Amy ignored Knuckles and spoke to her instead. “For the record, I do believe him. And I think it’s a good reason to use the mirror.”

Rouge shushed Knuckles before he could start again. “Amy… There’s something you should see.” She opened the top drawer of her desk and retrieved the same copy of the map she’d shown Tails and Knuckles. “I’m sure you know about Scarlett’s treasure and her letters to her wife, Beryl.” Metal’s piercing glare was already scanning through the text in the letters as Amy nodded. Rouge explained the entirety of the Stone Mirror’s curse, blood sacrifice and all, as Amy listened in shock.

“Amy,” Rouge’s tone softened. “This is a big risk for you…”

“Look, this thing cursed Beryl because of her wife’s dishonesty.” Knuckles got up angrily, pointing a finger at Metal Sonic. “Are you really willing to risk that for him ?”

“ Oh, ” Amy lowered her eyes in thought, her grip on Metal’s arm loosening slightly.

“The only way to lift the curse was for her to give her own blood and leave everything she’d gained behind; Hence why she sent for Beryl to meet back with her on the island. She tragically passed before making it off the ship.” Rouge stood from her desk and circled around to the front, facing Amy and folding her arms. “And I’m sorry to say I don’t trust Metal Sonic as far as I can throw him.”

The new information shouldn’t have changed Metal’s plan. He was willing to do anything for an advantage against his nemesis- or so he thought. But now, spending a few days with one of his enemies was enough to sway him? He supposed he could get The Doctor to sacrifice for him- he would revel in the opportunity to take Sonic down... No, he thought, I can’t let her get in my way. It wasn’t as if she’d be safe from him when he finally transformed into whatever monster he could conjure. And yet…

“If I may,” he spoke finally, placing his claws softly over Amy’s hand as it held his forearm. “Your blood will not be necessary. Someone else can take the burden.” He turned to Rouge. “I am only asking for use of the artifact to fulfill my wish.”

“Fat chance,” Knuckles interjected. “I still don’t believe you’re telling the truth- no way I’m letting you turn into a monster again. No deal.”

“Knuckles…” Rouge strode over to him. “Can I have a word, privately?”

He raised a brow at her but agreed. “... Fine. Tails, keep an eye on Metal Sonic.”

“Sure?” the boy looked at his enemy, sitting calmly with one of his best friends at his side. He hardly looked threatening.

As they stepped out, Amy faced Metal again. “Who’s gonna help you if I don’t?”

“... I believe The Doctor will be willing.”

Tails looked at them skeptically. “Eggman knows you wanna do this?”

“No,” Metal replied, once again carefully curating his words so they did not sound suspicious- or make him feel any worse. “He has few details of my plan. I am not sure how he tracked us a few days ago, but I do not believe he will deny me. I wanted to complete the task independently, but I will do what I must.”

“Well I’ll help you if he won’t,” Amy assured.

“Amy, you’ll die if he’s lying,” Tails shot back.

She scoffed as if it didn’t matter. “We’ll all die if he’s lying.”

“How is that better?! How can you be sure he’s telling the truth?”

Amy paused. She felt his steely fingers on her and focused her ears on his gently whirring engine. H1 looked at her from Metal’s lap expectantly. It wasn’t clear to her just why she’d grown to trust him so quickly, but she knew in her heart he would do the right thing. “Because he wants someone to kick his butt at sword fighting,” she smiled. “I’ve gotten pretty good at it the past few days, you know.”

Metal could no longer look at her. He removed his hand from atop hers and sat silently, trying not to let the guilt overcome him.

Tails’ face contorted. “What are you even talking about?”

The door cracked open then, Rouge stepping back inside. She addressed Metal Sonic directly. “We will allow you use of the Stone Mirror,” she began. “Knuckles will take it immediately after. No one on my crew is to know about it- we’re after the treasure only. We expect to come up on the island in the next hour, so get back to your ship and wait for a tow.”

“That soon?” Metal asked.

“Yes. You are not to step foot on land in order to avoid suspicion. We’ll recover the artifacts.”

“... Very well. Let us return, then.” He removed H1 from his lap and rose, Amy’s fingers slipping away from him.

“Amy’s staying with us,” Knuckles called from the door.

Amy’s cheeks puffed indignantly. “ Amy’s going where she wants. I’m staying with Metal.” She stood and pushed Knuckles out of her way, taking her leave.

Metal thanked Rouge and went past the others without a second glance, his lackey scurrying behind. There was no doubt they were plotting something against him, and Metal was determined to make it onto that island and get his hands on the mirror himself- by force if necessary. He would do anything. Almost anything .

The second Amy and Metal stepped out, a set of cameras once again bombarded them. It assured they went away and off the ship quickly so Metal Sonic couldn’t hear what was being discussed in Rouge’s quarters without them.

Inside, Tails got up from his seat. “Are we really just gonna let Metal Sonic use the mirror?”

“Absolutely not,” Knuckles shot back.

“But Amy doesn’t need to know that yet.” Rouge leaned back on the front of her desk pensively. “We’re getting ahead of him so he can’t threaten us with whatever he wants to do with the mirror. No doubt Metal Sonic will get... forceful.”

“Stubborn girl,” Knuckles grumbled. “It’d be easier to keep her safe if she’d stayed here…”

“Arguing with her would blow our cover; and she can take care of herself. Let’s just be ready for whatever he throws at us.”

Tails’ ears drooped slightly. “I wish Sonic could help us, he’d make quick work of Metal…”

“Who needs him?” Knuckles puffed his chest out confidently. “I’m bored of watching them fight anyway!”

-----

Metal and Amy stood at the bow of his great ship, the breeze blowing through Amy’s hair gently. She leaned forward, looking into the horizon, waiting to spot land. They were moving a little faster now as Rouge’s vessel towed them across the sea. Metal stood next to her watching the compass intently. They continued on the right path. It was minutes away now.

Suddenly the hidden inscription on the back made a lot more sense. He shone a pale violet light over it and read- The Mirror’s bloodlust was nothing to me, for I’d have bled myself dry for you. It didn’t just seem like useless theatrics, but the caring words of someone willing to sacrifice for another. What Metal didn’t understand, however, was how Amy was so ready and willing to do the same for him. Worse than deceptive, it felt undeserved.

Spotting his intense concentration on the compass, Amy spoke up. “Crazy how Beryl gave everything to Scarlett like that, huh?”

Metal did his best to shake his head clear of the guilt. “Yes. I suppose she cared for her.”

“That’s an understatement,” Amy chuckled.

“Is it? Then... what is it you feel that makes you so willing to do the same for me?”

Amy swiveled over to look at him directly. He stared down at the compass, not meeting her gaze. “I guess I think it’ll be good for us both.”

“How can you be so sure? Are you convinced I will immediately betray The Doctor and join your team?”

“I guess not…” Amy frowned at the thought. She knew it was an unrealistic expectation, though she remained hopeful he would change for the better somehow. “But I think we should all be free to make our own choices. Maybe you’ll make some good ones.”

“I am not so sure…”

There was a drawn-out sigh as she leaned her back in contemplation. Amy couldn’t help but see the good in people, and when she looked at Metal now, she saw more than a lifeless machine. There was passion in his voice and enthusiasm in his demeanor whenever they indulged in his interests. There was a small sparkle in his eye when they spoke. She had seen him joyful, and concentrated, and playful, where all she would have previously associated him with was rage. But more than that, Amy felt a connection, like perhaps this was something they were meant to do together. How else could they have become such fast friends? Friends, she smiled at the thought. It filled her with optimism. She rolled her head back on her shoulder to look to him again, their eyes locking this time. He’d been staring- it wasn’t the first time she noticed, but he didn’t dart his eyes away this time.

Softening her eyes, Amy looked at him dreamily in the late afternoon light. “I think you’ll do what’s right for you. That’s enough for me.”

Seeing that honeyed expression and hearing such genuine words, Metal never regretted anything more than he regretted bringing her along. I should have just worked alone, he scolded himself. How could he have miscalculated the outcome so terribly? In his mind, Amy would reluctantly agree to help and he’d otherwise use her as a shield against her friends’ attack;. Nothing prepared him for feeling something toward her. There was a kinship, a bond that quickly formed like puzzle pieces fitting together. They managed to just… click. There was no room in his plan for that. But he was so close…

“I do not believe your friends have such faith in me,” he said finally.

“Yeah, I kinda got that feeling. I think we’re gonna have to sneak onto that island first if you want a chance at the mirror.”

That was nothing short of surprising to hear. “You would deceive your friends?”

“It’s for a good cause- they’ll forgive me. You’ll see.”

For the first time in days, land came into view on the horizon. It was a lush green island with little more than a tall mountain rising from its center. It was tiny even as they approached. Metal and Amy exchanged looks as they spotted it.

“Looks like this is it,” she remarked. “Just a teeny island with a little mountain…”

“It appears that way.” He scanned as far as he could zoom with his optics, getting a closer look at the landscape that was still some miles away. “That, however, is a volcano.”

“No kidding...” Amy glanced around the side of the vessel. “Is there a boat around here? We need to sneak ahead if we want to reach the treasure before the others.”

“I have a better idea...”

As Rouge and her crew were making preparations to dock, Tails spotted something flying in the distance. A look through his binoculars revealed H3 and H4 flying in tandem at full speed, apparently trying to get ahead of both ships. “Hey, those are Metal’s lackeys over there.”

Rouge ripped the binoculars from his hands. “They’re trying to get ahead of us, then? We’ll see about that. Tails, come with me; Knuckles, maybe you should pay our friend a visit.” Knuckles nodded as the others both kicked themselves off and toward the flying robots.

They caught up to them quickly and tried to block their way, but were soon engaged in battle. H3 and H4 used primarily evasive tactics and steadily drifted them in the opposite direction of the island while Knuckles made his way across Rouge’s ship and over to Metal’s.

Knuckles climbed over the tow rope that connected the ships and landed on deck with a shout. “Metal Sonic! Call back your minions, now!” Not hearing an answer, Knuckles stomped across the hard floor until he found the entrance to the captain’s quarters just below the helm. Not one to wait for invitations, he made quick work of the door with his fists. He punched through the splintered wood, finding Metal Sonic sitting across the room, the back of his captain’s hat visible over the winged armchair that faced away from the door. “I said call them back now!” Metal did not respond. “Did you hear me? And where’s Amy?!” Knuckles marched over to the chair, swiveling it around to face him. “I said-”

Instead of Metal Sonic, Knuckles was met with H1, who quickly ambushed him with his long rope-arms, holding him in place. “Damn you little-” Knuckles continued to struggle against H1, his master nowhere to be found.

“Well done, H1,” a shrill voice chimed from the door.

Knuckles twisted his body around clumsily to look. The rage in his eyes grew when he saw him. “Eggman!” Knuckles yelled just as his voice was swallowed up by H1’s coils around his mouth.

Meanwhile, Metal carried Amy swiftly over the water, floating quietly close to its surface. They stuck near the side of Rouge’s ship until they snuck ahead of it. The pair managed to make it to shore well before Rouge’s crew as she and the others remained distracted with Metal’s henchmen. They booked it across the sandy beach and onto the greener area, searching for another clue as to where exactly they’d find the treasure.

“Okay… what now?” Amy’s eyes darted around the scenery looking for any hint of a hidden treasure.

Metal looked to the compass that continued to point northward. “This way,” he instructed, accelerating into the small forest of palms that surrounded the volcano’s base with Amy on his heels. They ran deep into the tropical thicket as the sky above changed hue, the sun nearing the horizon. It wasn’t long before they reached a black stone wall overgrown with moss.

“Looks like this is the end of the line…” Amy ran her hand along the wall in search of another hint.

As Metal approached, he found the hand that held the compass was repelled, as if an invisible force pushed it away. Intruiged, he held out his other arm, feeling no such push. The device’s hand spun left and right wildly as he waved it in front of the wall. “Interesting…” He placed a claw on the wall, scratching at it. He was able to make a mark on its surface with little effort. “This is some kind of volcanic rock. It repels whatever this is made of…”

“Really? Must be why it points in the other direction?” Unsure of what else to do, Amy pulled the little crystal spyglass from her pocket, looking through its eyepiece. She scanned the wall up and down, the atmospheric light turning deep red as it had just before they’d set sail together. She stopped, finding a small spot that glowed faintly. It was a small divot in the rock. “There’s something here...” Amy pawed at the vines that crept up its surface, scratching off years of moss that had grown over the glowing spot.

She finally revealed the formation under all the greenery. “Oh! It’s shaped like-”

“Like a heart,” Metal interrupted, shining his own violet light upon the small heart-shaped crater. He approached it slowly, eyes fixed on the compass. Its rapidly twisting arrow straightened as he neared the spot. The correctly pointed side of the arrow indicated straight ahead. Reaching out, the compass practically jumped out of his hand from the magnetic pull as he moved to place it in the glowing divot.

To their left, the rocky base of the volcano rumbled. They whipped around to find a wall shifting, vines and moss tearing apart as a stone slab lifted off the ground to reveal a narrow entrance to a hollow cave within.

“Well that seems like a pretty clear path to me,” Amy grinned. But it was short lived as a sudden explosion boomed from the direction of the beach. Worried for her friends, Amy looked at Metal with concern. “What was that?”

Metal was just as shocked. “I don’t know…” He raised his eyeline to scan the sky, seeming to spot something not far away. Why here? He asked himself as he recognized the round figure.

“Why are you here?” he amplified his voice to The Doctor.

“To help you get the Stone Mirror, of course!” he called back giddily. “I’ll be happy to give you what you need! What form are you taking?” Another silhouette came into view above not far from them.

Metal shot a glance back at Amy. “When did you call him?” She stared up at Eggman with confusion.

“I didn’t,” Metal responded. Before he could think of what to tell Amy, he watched as H1 hovered down next to The Doctor, his arms still tangled around an enraged Knuckles. But Metal didn’t call for H1, either- which could only mean it was The Doctor’s doing. “Is this how you found me?” Metal growled, incensed at the realization.

“Wasn’t H1 useful?” Eggman cackled. “I know you wanted to work on your own, but aren’t you glad I was watching now that you need me?”

Metal was within reach of completing his mission on his own terms. The sight of his master infuriated him, his determination to succeed without The Doctor's help returning in full-force. He’d convinced Amy, he’d made it to the island- he was going to complete his objective. Why should he feel guilty about that?

“I don’t need you!” he roared. “I have everything I need!” He accelerated toward H1, grabbing the smaller robot by his shoulders as Knuckles uttered muffled curses while they flailed around in mid-air. “ Double-crossing heap of scrap metal! ” Metal’s voice rang out with a harsh mechanical twinge as he took hold of either of H1’s arms and swiftly ripped them out of their sockets, dropping Knuckles a few feet to the ground. As H1 kicked his feet around helplessly, Metal grabbed him by the head and catapulted him out of sight, far back in the direction of the beach.

His eye radiated a fierce, burning glow as he whipped around to face Amy, who looked horrified at his actions. “We need to go, now!”

“What? But what about-”

“Go!” Metal extended his arm out, shoving Amy through the cave opening.

“Metal!” Eggman shouted, “What’s gotten into you? That’ll take me all evening to fix!”

Ignoring him, Metal flew back toward the opening as Knuckles began to slip away from the heavy uncoiling tubes. “I’ll leave you to deal with him, ” he called back to The Doctor. Once inside the cave, Metal shot his arm out once more, grabbing and ripping the compass from its spot in the wall. The limb retracted back past the opening just as the stone wall fell back into place, narrowly avoiding crushing his hand.

They were swallowed in the pitch darkness of the cave. Metal illuminated his thermal vision in search of a path ahead, but was met with Amy’s panicked eyes first. Unable to see, she groped around for a wall to follow until Metal grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him.

She did not look the slightest bit relieved. “Metal! I can’t see anything…”

“I can guide us; let’s go.”

“Wait- what was…” he saw her glance back toward the direction of the cave entrance unhappily. “I mean, wasn’t that kinda harsh? What you did to H1…”

“Perhaps- but he was a traitor as far as I’m concerned.”

“Yeah, but, you really seemed to hurt him...”

The clock was ticking and there was only so much time before the others would come after them. “He will be fine,” Metal grumbled impatiently, starting forward.

Amy let herself be pulled along, but she wasn’t dropping the question. “It’s just… is that really the kind of person you want to be?” Amy quickly remembered how she’d thought of Metal. She had forgotten how absurd it was that she’d agreed to help him and how he’d coerced her into it to begin with.

“I’ve been betrayed, how would you have liked me to react?”

“Were you? It really sounds like Eggman was trying to help you-”

“I don’t need his help!” He cut Amy off. Her eyes cast down anxiously and Metal registered the doubt and unease in her face. She almost looked sick, stumbling in the dark and frightened by his violent reaction. He knew she was right to feel that way, but his mind was made up- he would do whatever it took to use the Stone Mirror without The Doctor’s help. And Amy had to be willing, so something had to be said to assuage her. “I can’t be indebted to him any longer. I need to do this alone.”

“But you can’t do it alone, Metal, that’s the point!” Amy’s hands fumbled over his arm until she reached his shoulder, facing up at the single glowing eye, the only thing she could see. “I know you wanna be independent, but we all depend on people. Don’t you think he cares about you if he’s willing to give you this much freedom?”

In a way, she was right- but without knowing the truth, Amy would never understand. Metal highly doubted The Doctor would actually help if he’d really wished to become organic, but he could not deny his master’s well-meaning interest. They had the same goal, after all… Metal just knew he could accomplish it without him. Perhaps then he could feel as if he were an equal in his empire and not just some high-ranking lackey. But how much of that could he really tell her?

“It is different… He created me, and he can control me. I cannot escape his shadow.”

“Is having flesh and blood really gonna change that?”

“... I do not know.” Any illumination provided by Metal’s eye turned to darkness. To Amy, it looked like he’d closed his eyes, though he continued to lead her forward without issue. He just wanted her to look away, making the guilt easier to beat down- but she held her ground. Metal continued, turning his face from her. “I believe that changing my form will give me some sovereignty, making me more respectable in his eyes... It is complicated.”

“I know.” Amy looked for the red LEDs to come back on so she could look Metal in the eye, but they remained out. “But I think you can accomplish that as you are.”

Metal stopped as they approached a wall. He could still see Amy looking lamentful in his peripheral vision, her hand in his as the other clung to his shoulder assuringly. This must have been where the treasure was stored, but he wasn’t sure he could still bring himself to deceive her. He made himself visible to her again, shining his red light on her face. He felt her exhale, as if relieved, when he did. “Are you… still willing to help me?”

A small smile spread across her lips. “Of course. I just wanted you to know that I think you’re capable, you know?”

Perhaps secretly, he’d hoped she would refuse. But there was no turning back now. “I believe we are here...”

“What is it?”

“A door… without a handle.” He stared at the wall head, a smooth slab that extended from the floor to the ceiling of the cave. The shape of a door looked to be carved into it, a circular cavity in place of where a doorknob would be. Words were painted in a neat script following the shape of the hole, appearing to have faded over the decades. “There is a bore hole. It reads, ‘For my greatest treasure: my gem, Beryl.’”

“Oh, ’cause Beryl is named after a gemstone, right? Pretty romantic,” Amy teased, wanting to lighten the mood.

“It is… clever.” Metal examined the hole in the door, measuring its diameter and determining its depth. Amy knelt ahead of him, her hand sliding off his shoulder and reaching out to the wall. She ran her fingers blindly along its surface in search of a clue. He watched as she felt around the great stone barrier, apparently determined to do whatever she could to help. With Amy’s other hand still held in his own, Metal led her to the carved edge of the doorframe. “This is the door,” he said, her fingers tracing down the groove in the stone. “And the bore hole.” He pulled her hand to the spot in the door where one would find a doorknob.

Amy placed her palm over it. “It’s kinda warm,” she remarked, feeling as balmy air flowed through from the other side.

“Yes,” he agreed, hesitantly pulling away.

“ My gem, Beryl, ” she repeated. “Hm…” Fumbling around her pocket, Amy pulled out the spyglass and held it up with the bluish crystal at the end. “Does this look like beryl?”

Metal’s hard claws clicked against the crystal as he held it between his thumb and forefinger. “It does… how theatrical.” There was amusement in his voice as he realized. “Shall we?”

Amy nodded, beaming with excitement. She brought the eyepiece end up to the hole in the wall, letting Metal push the crystal into the divot until it clicked. Pulling herself up by his arm, Amy gave him an encouraging nudge. Metal paused. He stared down at her a moment. “Go on,” she insisted with a smile.

Before they could move ahead, however, a sliver of orange light entered through the floor of the stone corridor. Looking back, Metal and Amy found the door to the cave once again rising, Rouge’s silhouette just illuminated in the late sunset as it rose. Knuckles and Tails weren’t far behind her but neither Eggman nor any of the henchmen were within sight. “This is the end of the line!” she commanded, stepping into the cave.

Metal and Amy shared a brief glance, and she gave him a single nod. “Do what you have to, but be careful, okay?”

If there was a time for Metal to reverse his decision, it was now. But though he hesitated, Metal returned her nod and turned to face the cave opening. The cavity in his chest began to glow with a white light that quickly brightened, luminous with energy. “I suggest you remain where you are,” he warned Rouge.

She stepped back slightly with a gasp, unsure if she could block his attack. “Amy, call him off before someone gets hurt!” she demanded.

Amy shook her head desperately. “Just stay back!”

Knuckles came charging in then, his eyes ablaze as he rushed past Rouge and started down the length of the corridor. Tails made a fruitless effort to stop him but was quickly pushed out of the way.

Rouge yelled, following after Knuckles. “Don’t!”

The compression chamber in Metal’s chest was charged, brilliant with energy. He turned his head slightly to Amy. “You stand back as well,” he advised. Not letting Knuckles get too close, Metal levitated a few inches up and aimed his chest engine up toward the cave ceiling. Rouge just managed to tackle Knuckles to the ground as Metal’s laser fired into the stone ceiling, causing a pile of gravel to rain down between them. Metal shot himself backward and away from the falling stone. As his feet hit the ground, he forced Amy to the wall and stood between her and the collapsing ceiling, blocking the stray debris with his body.

She shut her eyes and used her arms to shield her head, but Metal didn’t let so much as a pebble past his frame. As the dust cleared, Amy peeked up. Metal towered above her crouched form, only his glowing eye once again visible in the darkened cave as it stared down at her. Amy hid her face, slightly flushed from the excitement- and the proximity.

Metal pushed himself from the wall, offering her a hand. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” she squeaked, accepting the boost. “What about you?”

“No sustained damage.”

They stared at each other for a moment, once again hand in hand. Metal listened to her quickened heartbeat and observed the warmth surrounding her face. Amy panted lightly. She looked especially radiant in his thermal vision, her cheeks illuminated bright red. “Thank you,” Metal blurted out.

She looked at what little she could see of him with wide eyes. “What… what for?”

He wasn’t sure. “For… everything.”

“Well,” Amy slipped her hand away from his gently. “Don’t thank me yet. We’re almost there! Oh-” she hopped past him and lifted her voice, hoping it reached the other side of the debris pile. “Are you guys okay?”

There was a short pause before Rouge called back. “You’re lucky no one’s hurt!”

Amy released her tense breath. “Thank goodness! I’m sorry, we’re going to the treasure room now!”

“The what?!”

They could hear Rouge cursing from across the heap momentarily. Then Metal could just catch Tails utter something before their voices quickly faded away.

“I think we should hurry,” Amy said, hurrying back to his side. Metal simply nodded, reaching for the eyepiece in the wall.

The crystal spyglass turned like a knob in a door. Metal pulled it open and was immediately greeted with a burst of hot air that shot past them, the stone door acting as the only barrier to keep them from being scorched. As the air passed, the enormous chamber beyond became illuminated with torches lining the walls. On the farthest wall, a thin stream of magma flowed down the height of the farthest wall, making the space sear with radiant heat.

Standing ahead of her to look past the door, Metal cautioned Amy. “We are here. But for some reason Scarlett decided to store her treasure in a magma chamber.”

“That’s… terrifying. What else is in there?”

Metal stepped from the back of the stone door, standing in the entrance of the mysterious chamber with its seemingly magical torches and streaming lava. And then there was the treasure; Mounds of sparkling gold coins that glittered even in the dreariest of light were speckled with ingots and gilded statues all across the dusty ground. The center of the room was covered inches deep in jewels, silvery blades buried within the treasure to their gem encrusted hilts. Within it, on a platform mounded with riches, sat an ivory casket, its edges shining with golden filigree inlaid with rubies and sapphires. And finally, atop it all sat a simple stone box, its dull surface clashing with the glimmering room. “What we have been looking for,” Metal said with more lament than he intended.

Pushing past the door, Amy stood next to him and took in the magnificent sight for herself. She gasped with awe, her wide eyes shining with a golden halo in the warm light. “It’s beautiful,” she sighed. Amy stepped inside, giggling. “Rouge is gonna freak!” The balmy air was stifling, but she ignored it and moved ahead, approaching the room’s center.

He followed her in cautiously, kicking random bits of treasure aside. “Be careful, there could be traps…” He watched as she pushed ahead, seeing her trod through the thick blanket of coins that littered the ground without hesitation. She fanned herself and pulled on her blouse collar uncomfortably, but headed straight for the macabre chest that sat in the middle of it all. There was no uncertainty in her stride- Amy was determined to help Metal in any way possible. He didn’t expect that to be so devastating.

Amy made her way up the elevated platform, standing on her toes to reach up to the top of the casket. There was an inscription on the lid of the stone box that sat on it. “ DO NOT OPEN,” it read. Raising a brow, Amy leaned in closer to find additional words on the front. “There’s an inscription on here…” She read it aloud: “The box reads, ‘In this casket lies Beryl, all I loved besides the sea. In this box, my remorse. Leave this cursed object where you found it; The remainder of this wretched treasure is yours. Scarlett.’ Oh…”

Reaching her side, Metal stared at the inscription that just reached his eye level.Remorse, he repeated to himself silently. “I suppose this is what we are here for.”

Amy sighed. “Yeah, I guess we should do this quick,” she reached out to the box.

Metal thought about stopping her, taking her hand and pulling it away from her cursed fate, but he did not get the opportunity. Something suddenly came crashing through the rocky wall of the chamber, chunks of stone booming as they scattered to the ground.

The cavern rumbled. Amy held onto the edge of the casket for support while Metal stabilized himself and turned his vision to the crash site. The bow of a metallic ship had pushed its way through to the cavern, its steely peak unaffected by the collision. As the rubble settled and the early moonlight seeped in through cracks, Eggman strode out onto the deck with a cackle. “What do you think of my new ship?” He extended his arms proudly. “She floats and flies!”

Metal was fuming. There he was, pushing past his immense guilt and moments from fulfilling his goal, only to be interrupted by The Doctor once again. Amy could sense his anger. She quickly found her balance and lifted her hand to his shoulder, trying to give him a reassuring look. He tensed up but did not look in her direction.

When neither of them responded, Eggman continued. “Don’t you like it? I thought we’d get you a better pirate ship for your-”

“Why do you insist on interrupting me?” Metal cut in bitterly.

“Oh come now,” The Doctor continued, “We’re on the same team! You made it this far- don’t let your pride get in the way,” he warned.

As he leaned forward on the bow of the ship, H3 and H4 popped in from the crack in the wall, squeezing their small bodies through the narrow space. Everyone watched silently as they flew crookedly toward Metal. They were scuffed and scratched, one of H4’s arms missing as the socket sparked out weakly. They landed on either side of Metal, clinking their hands to their heads weakly. “Yeesh, what happened to them?” Eggman asked with a grimace.

Clearing her throat, Amy cut in. “Look, I know you wanna help, but we have this under control. So please leave before someone gets hurt!”

“What?” he chortled. “Do you still believe Metal wants to be, what was it- ‘organic’? Ha!”

“Be quiet!” Metal spat back, his voice cutting into a dissonant metallic ring. Amy drew back her hand as she recoiled from the harsh noise.

“ Oh ,” Eggman snickered at the realization that Metal was trying to protect the girl. “Very interesting! But no need to keep up the charade, just grab her along with the mirror so we can get out of here.”

Looking between Eggman and Metal, Amy took several steps away from the robot. “He’s not lying, is he...?”

Metal stared back at her blankly. She would never help him now- his self-reliant plan had no hope of succeeding. If only he hadn’t hesitated…

“Well, hasn’t this been cute?” Eggman cackled cruelly at her fear before addressing his creation once more. Lowering his brow, The Doctor’s demeanor quickly became more serious and authoritative. “Metal, you need me in order to complete your objective. Time for action!”

He was right. Finishing the mission the way Metal had envisioned was out of reach, and Amy would never trust him again. All that was left to do was complete his objective. “It will be easier if you surrender,” he threatened her, narrowing his vision.

“ Of course you were lying.” There was bitterness in Amy’s voice as they glared at one another. She was trapped and outnumbered, but she wasn’t one to go without a fight, and he knew that. She took her gaze around the room frantically, surveying her surroundings. Just as she was deciding her next move, Amy spotted something red in the corner of her eye. She quickly shot her glare back at Metal Sonic, inching away from him.

Knuckles had slipped in through a crack in the stone, quietly scaling the wall near Eggman’s ship. Amy also spotted Rouge and Tails hidden in the ship’s shadow by the cave floor. Rouge brought a finger to her lips as Amy saw her. She knew that Metal would sense her friends if she didn’t keep his attention, so she kept talking. “Why’d you teach me how to fight if you just wanted me to surrender?”

“If you think you will best me in a real fight, you are mistaken. Give up before you get hurt.”

“Hmph! You were gonna kill me anyway- or were you just gonna let the curse do the work?”

The question lacked an answer. For however determined Metal was to get ahead of Sonic, he didn’t want to have to do it at Amy’s expense... Yet there was no calculable scenario in which he would defeat his rival where she wouldn’t intervene. There was no choice but to destroy her, too- whatever he did would only delay the inevitable. “Does it matter?” He took an imposing step toward her.

Amy reached the end of the long casket, turning the corner and putting it between them so Metal faced away from Eggman- and her team. She knew it wouldn’t hold him for long. “So I guess wanting to be friends was a lie, too…” There was genuine lament in her tone, her eyes squinting back sorrowfully. Amy couldn’t believe she’d let herself become attached to Metal- and in such a short amount of time. Whatever connection she’d felt was as good as severed now.

Metal stopped his advance, standing across from her. “...I never said that.”

“You sounded pretty eager to ‘spend time together,’” she quoted him.

“I…”

A loud ZAP was heard behind Metal. He quickly whipped around to find Knuckles falling to the ground before Rouge swooped in to catch him. “Did you really think I wouldn’t put up a barrier? Come now!” The Doctor laughed as he pulled out a small remote and the invisible barrier flashed around the ship. He pressed a button that sent at least a dozen sword-wielding badniks jumping off the deck and after Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge.

In the confusion, Amy jumped up to snatch the entirety of the stone box from atop the casket. Upon pulling down the heavy container, an ivory switch came up from the casket with a distinct CLICK . The cavern immediately began to rumble, Amy attempting to circumvent the treasure-topped platform and run back toward the direction of the ship in all the chaos.

Realizing this, Metal addressed his minions. “You two block her- the box is mine .”

Amy ran, struggling to keep her balance on the shifting cavern floor. Metal quickly propelled himself after her, reaching out with a clawed hand. Thinking fast, Amy tossed the solid stone lid back at him, hitting him square in the forehead. “Augh!” he groaned as he was knocked off route. As his henchmen closed in ahead of her with arms extended, Amy charged directly at them. Just as they reached out to stop her, Amy hit the ground and slipped between them, scraping against the hard floor. H3 and H4 collided with their arms entangled as she hurried to dust herself off and continue forward.

The cave trembled as the single thin stream of magma at the far wall thickened, now forming a pool on the cavern floor as its exit overflowed. A crack near the chamber entrance also burst open, sending boiling lava spewing over the door from which they had entered. Amy pushed forward through the surrounding heat, lugging the heavy weight toward the direction of her friends- and the oncoming battalion of badniks.

But Metal was quickly upon her again, his eyes blazing with the left flickering wildly front the blow to the head. Knowing he wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, Amy instinctively ducked as he approached her. The hefty container slid in front of her and Metal lunged for it, snatching it off the ground to remove the artifact he’d been after- But there was nothing inside except dust.

Peering back at Amy, Metal found its rocky handle in her grasp. She had picked up the Stone Mirror- a simple rounded hand mirror with a handgrip and no discernible features other than its distinctive lack of any actual reflective surface. Amy was turning it back and forth in her hands, wondering if this was really what they’d been looking for. It resembled a hand mirror in shape alone, failing to function as an actual looking glass.

Ahead of them, Amy’s friends were already taking on a troupe of robots. After giving one a swift punch to the head that knocked it clean off its body, Knuckles caught sight of Amy- and the Stone Mirror. “Amy- don’t let him get his hands on it! Destroy it!” he called back, just dodging a swing from another badnik.

Hearing this, Metal tossed the useless box aside and flung himself at Amy once more, drawing his sword. As he brought his weapon down over her, Amy held up the mirror at both ends, blocking his attack with its handle. His sword made contact, but bounced off as he hesitated at the last second. Drawing her own sword, Amy pointed it at him sharply. “I’m not going down so easy!” She lunged at him, managing to push to the side as she changed direction toward the pooling magma at the other end of the chamber.

“H3 and H4, corner her!” Metal commanded. The henchmen had just managed to detangle their limbs. H4 launched himself forward at her while H3 came up on the other side.

The heat thickened as she approached the impossibly hot lava, panting and sweating, struggling to run ahead. Metal Sonic was faster than her and closed in quickly behind. Amy could already see H3 and H4 cornering her into the far wall. Rather than wait to be trapped, Amy swung her arm and pitched the mirror fiercely toward the magma. H4, however, threw out his remaining arm, catching it before it made contact with the boiling pool. “Take it back to The Doctor,” Metal instructed him.

“Crap!” Amy cursed. She spun around and pointed, calling out to her friends. “He’s got the mirror!”

Unfortunately for the little robot, the damage he’d sustained made it impossible to fly straight, and he struggled to avoid obstacles. This made it easy for Tails to fly by, grabbing the Stone Mirror to try and pry it out of H4’s tightly clamped claws. Not having another arm to entangle the boy with, H4 swung the coil around wildly, trying to throw Tails off like a mechanical bull. Seeing this, Metal ordered H3 to help his brother and the minion quickly wobbled off.

Eggman watched in frustration as it all unfolded, most of the robots lying in a heap of scrap at the base of his ship. “This is getting boring,” he yawned, and he flipped another button on his remote that sent out another wave of badniks. “I’ve had enough of this; go after the girl! Make it quick.” He wanted to draw the others away from the ship for a quick getaway once the mirror was secured.

Knuckles groaned in annoyance at the new wave of badniks. “I’ll deal with them- help Tails grab the mirror,” he yelled to Rouge through fierce swings of his fists. She nodded and shot herself toward the battling minions.

Meanwhile, Amy was cornered- Metal Sonic ahead of her while searing magma pooled behind her. “Surrender!” Metal commanded, pointing a steely claw at her while he held his sword down by his side.

“Never!” She had no choice but to get out of the way as lava threatened to melt her boots clean off, so she lunged at Metal Sonic with her sword, putting her full force into the attack. His stance quickly changed and he blocked her attack with his sword.

Metal attempted to counter, but Amy kept after him, swinging at him so furiously that he couldn’t get an attack in. “You lied to me!” she screamed out, her eyes brimming with fury.

“Argh- I did what I had to!” he spat back, holding his weapon against hers.

She gripped her sword fiercely with both hands, pushing against him. Angry tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “I thought we had something!” she wailed. Metal’s guilt bubbled to the surface and he faltered momentarily, giving Amy a chance to push his weapon away and plunge toward him. Metal lost his grip and the sword clattered to the ground away from him.

Amy’s lunge would have impaled him through the chest if it wasn’t for the interference of one of Eggman’s badniks. The robot cut ahead of Metal, blocking her swing. As Knuckles struggled to keep them all back, four more of the rotund bots arrived, surrounding Amy and Metal. She brandished the weapon in front of her frantically, pointing it from badnik to badnik. “Rouge,” she called, “Use the sword!”

Metal’s sword had landed just below where she and Tails struggled against H3 and H4. She kicked H3 aside and shot down, seizing the sharp weapon from the cavern floor. “Tails- move!” she warned. The boy quickly propelled himself away as he saw her aiming the sword at H4’s remaining arm. Rouge flung it at the robot, slicing his hand off at the wrist, sending his clamp-like fingers falling to the ground with the Stone Mirror still in its clutches. “Hold them off!” Rouge caught it mid-flight, clamp and all, and got moving in Amy’s direction with the intention of tossing the artifact in the magma and picking her up on the way back.

“Metal,” Eggman howled from a speaker, “Stop that flying rat and retreat with the mirror at once!”

Giving her a final glare, Metal lifted off the ground. “I wish you’d given up,” he told Amy before thrusting straight up to intercept Rouge.

“Why do you care?!” Amy‘s chest heaved, her weak hand wiping the sweat from her brow as the group of badniks slowly pushed her closer and closer to the bubbling magma behind her.

Rouge wasn’t fast enough to dodge Metal Sonic. All she could do to keep the mirror out of his clutches was to hurl it in the direction of the lava pit just before he made contact with her, sending her plummeting to the cave floor- without the Stone Mirror in hand.

As if slowing time, Metal shot his gaze toward the mirror as it fell. His systems worked at lightning speed to determine its velocity and the likelihood that he could catch it before it was destroyed. Metal was tough, but not indestructible- he wouldn’t survive a plunge into the magma. But it was when he was calculating the possible outcome, already drilling his body through the air and down toward the sizzling pool, that he spotted Amy Rose cornered by badniks against boiling magma, mere feet from being pushed into it.

Suddenly, there was a second option to his trajectory. It was her or the Stone Mirror. Save Amy Rose, or be closer than he’s ever been to fulfilling the very objective to his existence. Why was it a question? So much as considering her over his purpose went against his plan, the very core of his programming; And yet, he had already decided the moment he saw her in mortal danger. Before he could comprehend why, Metal had already shifted his flight path.

Amy was panting and swaying, dizzy from the intoxicating heat of the cave. Her vision was blurry and wet with tears as she fought off the attacks from several opponents at once. If they didn’t end her, the magma would. One of the badniks lunged at her while she parried another and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. Just as Amy thought she would have to say a final prayer, Metal Sonic landed between her and the robot, arms outstretched to form a barrier between them.

The sword-wielding badnik stabbed its weapon forward with no time to stop before the sharp end impaled Metal through the chest. The sword cut into his turbine, causing sparks to fly out as the engine sputtered. He heard the devastating sound of the Stone Mirror falling into the magma next to them, watching it sizzle from the corner of his eye as it sunk in. There went everything he had worked towards- yet this regret was so much less than the remorse he’d felt betraying Amy.

“Metal!” Amy gasped.

“You scrap-heap!” Eggman shrieked at the badnik whose sword was stuck in Metal Sonic’s engine. “When I’m through with you-”

There was no time to finish the statement. Glowing-hot lava began to burst from cracks in all the interior walls as the cavern quaked. Gravel fell from the ceiling as the space began caving in. “Retreat at once!”

All of Eggman’s remaining robots dropped what they were doing to run, leaving Knuckles free. He spotted Rouge crawling across the ground and Tails kicking H3 away from him a final time. Knuckles ran to Rouge, supporting her as she stood. “Where’s Amy?” he asked frantically as they struggled to stay upright on the unsteady ground.

Rouge turned her head back as Tails joined them. “Oh, no…”

Metal gripped the hilt of the sword that stuck out from his chest and quickly drew it out, tossing it to the side. The increased lava flow had left them completely surrounded on a precarious island that would soon be inundated. In her surprise, Amy shook the daze from her head. The tears that had welled in her eyes overflowed as she looked up at him in shock. “You- You came back!”

“I am as surprised as you,” he said, drawing her close to him as the boiling magma rose around them. “Hold on.” Metal lifted them off the ground, faltering as he did. His engine stalled, causing him to hover up and down unexpectedly until they finally passed the pooling lava, crashing onto the cavern floor. They were past the immediate danger, but Metal could no longer fly. As Amy stood, he found that his legs had given out as well- only enough power left to operate his upper body. He ordered his minions over hurriedly. “H3, H4, I need you here.”

The little robots did their best to fly over, dodging falling pieces of the stone ceiling. Metal was taken aback by their appearance. “H4? Where’s the rest of you?” The minion shrugged with what was left of his right arm, only the long coil hanging down from its socket. Realization set in for Metal. He looked back at Amy’s panicked face. “H3 cannot carry me alone. I will have to stay. You go with him-”

“No!” Amy shook her head furiously. “You can’t!”

“My weight exceeds his capacity-” Metal tried to explain.

“Don’t be stupid!” She grabbed hold of one of Metal’s arms, dragging him across the floor at a surprising pace.

Her strength was impressive, but they would never make it out before the chamber caved in at this rate. “We are too slow! Just leave!”

“I won’t!” Amy struggled. “H3, a little help would be nice!”

He and Metal exchanged glances for a moment. Metal quickly realized the stubborn girl wouldn’t be leaving him behind. “Well, help her!” he commanded.

H3 obeyed, swiftly grabbing his master by the other arm and dragging him along. They moved at a running pace now, nearing the half-collapsed wall from which Eggman had crashed his ship.

“Amy, what are you doing?!” Knuckles called out. He’d handed Rouge over to Tails to fly out with and now ran alongside her and Metal.

“Just shut up and run!”

As they all neared the threshold and The Doctor caught sight of Metal Sonic, his ship began to back out from the wall. “Hurry!” he yelled at them as it floated back.

The ceiling was falling down behind them, burying the chamber and all its treasure under mounds of solid stone and liquid earth. The entire cavern was seconds from collapsing. Tails was the first out with Rouge in his grasp while H4 and Knuckles followed closely behind. Finally, Amy and H3 dragged Metal past the cave’s external wall as the entirety of the cavern came down behind them. Stones boomed, pounding to the floor in the direction they’d come from. The crashing stone wall rattled and broke the ground outside, lurching everyone forward and away from the entrance with a gust of wind.

It was a rough landing, but the side of the volcano they’d come out from faced the sandy beach. Knuckles groaned, spitting sand out of his mouth after landing face first. Tails came down, landing softly beside him with Rouge. He set her down on the beach and collapsed onto the soft ground, exhausted. Eggman’s steel ship floated above them as he hung over the rails looking relieved. Metal’s henchmen floated about for a moment before a faint beeping drew them away into the palm tree thicket nearby.

Amy couldn’t bring herself to sit up. She lay in the sand, sweating and heart pounding, staring straight up at the night sky as the adrenaline subsided. Metal’s half-functioning body was strewn beside her face-down. He pushed himself from the sand, flipping over to look straight up. Metal fondled the ground desperately, leaving drag marks in the sand with his sharp claws until Amy’s hand happened upon his, locking their fingers together. He relaxed, relieved to still have her by his side. It was the least he could hope for after giving up his plan to save her, he told himself- but he knew it must have been more than that. They sat in silence for just a few moments.

“... It does look a bit like a swan,” he muttered, staring into the starry sky. Cygnus was in full view over the island.

Amy couldn’t keep from snickering as he spoke, noticing the constellation suspended above them. “Guess you didn’t need to be organic to see it after all- ow! Laughing hurts...”

“Seeing as I am still mechanical, I’m afraid I cannot relate…”

She burst out in laughter, holding her ribs with her free hand. Amy’s shoulders bounced, highlighting the dull soreness in her arms from having dragged Metal’s heavy body across the collapsing cavern. “Don’t start-” she giggled. It always seemed to amuse her when he made those snide remarks.

Some yards away, Rouge sat up, holding the back of her head. “There goes my treasure… Is everyone alright?”

Tails flashed a lazy thumbs-up as Knuckles stretched beside her. “I’ll live,” he remarked gruffly. “What could those two be laughing about…?”

“Who knows?” she grumbled. “A bit cheery for a pair who just cost me my treasure.”

Quick footsteps were heard from the far side of the beach. Rouge’s crew and a set of cameramen were hastily running to meet with her. She sighed. “Back to work, I suppose.” As they stumbled near, Knuckles came to his feet and gave her a hand up. Tails dusted himself off groggily and joined them. The trio were surrounded by sailors and cameras soon enough as Rouge immediately began giving orders, playing up the authoritative remarks for the cameras.

Down the beach, Metal’s minion’s floated near him, H3 holding H1’s sparking body in his arms. Metal pushed himself to sit up, looking at the dismembered robot with remorse. “Perhaps I was a bit harsh…” He took hold of H1 as the metallic husk beeped intermittently and automatically, not appearing to be active.

Pulling herself into a sitting position, Amy groaned. “Is he gonna be okay?” she motioned to H1.

“Yes… I can repair them all. We will be fine.”

Eggman hovered down in his floating Eggmobile, coming to a landing and jumping out to address his creations. “Metal! What happened out there? Is your turbine functional?”

Metal glared at The Doctor for a moment. The lights in his left eye flickered weakly every time he moved his head. He believed he should have been furious, but he had neither the energy nor any strong feelings against his master in that moment. “No,” he responded simply.

“You sure did a number on him,” Eggman said, referring to H1 as Metal held him. “Well, we’ll get ‘em next time… Here, charge up so we can go.” A battery pack was quickly hooked up to Metal’s back, steadily providing his body with the power to operate his legs. Amy watched fondly as Eggman doted over him, a sly smile appearing on her face. The Doctor noticed her peering. “What are you looking at, you pest? You should consider yourself lucky to be alive-”

“That is enough,” Metal said plainly. “Give me a minute…”

“... Fine,” Eggman relented. “I‘ll make preparations to ‘set sail,’” he snickered, getting back into his hovercraft and floating away to the flying ship.

H3 and H4 sat in the sand by Amy and Metal, patiently waiting for him to regain his energy. As The Doctor’s attention turned away from him, Metal pulled the charging cable out from his back and connected it to H1’s body. The narrow strip of light that formed his visor powered on as Metal held him in front of his chest.

“You are quite the little spy…” Metal stared at H1 as he activated, the small robot bobbing his head around as if nervous. “... Very good work. I shall keep you around.” H1 stopped his frantic movement, tensing up for a moment before relaxing. Amy giggled as Metal set him down in the sand between them, reaching out and straightening the bandana around his neck. Metal turned to face her so their eyes met. “Thank you for bringing me with you. I am not sure my body could have been recovered from all the rubble.”

She was beaming warmly. “Well, you didn’t let me die in the end, so…” she gestured vaguely. “Call it even for now.” Amy winked.

“Hm. For what it’s worth, I was not going to permit you to sacrifice yourself. Though I cannot comprehend why…”

“Oh thanks,” Amy snickered through her sarcastic response. “Well, even though you lied… I think I believe you,” she shrugged.

Metal never felt like he needed to justify or excuse anything that he’d done in the past; He only ever did what he had to in the name of completing his objective. And though he resented losing this opportunity, the guilt he felt from lying was somehow much stronger. “Yes, well- I have never apologized for anything in my entire existence, but… I do regret that. I am sorry.”

“Really?” She ran a finger through the sand, leaving faint lines. “Ah, at least I got a sword lesson out of it ...I’ll think about forgiving you,” she responded with a coy smile. Metal Sonic was a bit of a mystery, but she could sense that he was apologetic in saving her and as he reactivated H1. She felt it was genuine, though she promised herself to keep him on his toes if they ever say one another again. “Anyway, don’t you need to charge, too?” she asked.

“There is enough for us both. In any case, I can spend a bit more time with you this way.”

She grinned playfully. “Yeah, too bad we’re in no shape for a dance lesson.”

“I suppose not... Perhaps next week, then.” He forced it out indifferently, but there was hope in his response.

It was unclear whether he was just teasing her. Amy flushed suddenly, turning her gaze away. Nothing could have been stranger than feeling this fondly toward Metal after the emotional roller coaster of the last several days, but the idea of being that close again didn’t sound so bad to her now. Only time would tell how the unusual new friendship would play out from opposite sides, but Amy was more than willing to find out. “Yeah, I guess that’ll work,” she responded finally, smiling back up at him. She couldn’t help but think that he’d be grinning back if he could.

-----

“ The treasure has been… compromised, ” Rouge explained. Footage of her on a beach played on a small hand-held tablet. She was wearing a scuffed-up navy suit but stood with confidence and authority. “ There were some… complications. It may be too dangerous to excavate. ”

B-roll of the surrounding area played as a news anchor reported the story. A dark, tropical beach with a mountain at its center. A pile of rubble surrounded by crew members as Tails pointed at and discussed various spots. Rouge storming off the beach as Knuckles followed after her angrily.

Sonic watched the morning news in awe. He’d been lounging groggily near the Master Emerald when he sat up at the appearance of his friends.

“ … and perhaps most strangely of all, the missing historical ship, the Royal Fortune, was found drifting just offshore. She appears to have sustained some damage over the week or so since she went missing. Her disappearance seems to be related to the notorious Dr. Eggman. ” As an announcer spoke, the recording showed a short clip of Metal Sonic and Amy chatting at the bow of the now-anchored ship, her leaning over a railing nonchalantly and giggling while he stood in a stately manner, his gaze fixed on her. Amy then ducked out of the shot when she spotted the camera. Metal Sonic turned to face it directly, glaring with his left eye flickering eerily. The shot quickly panned away.

“Is that…?” Sonic’s jaw dropped as he watched the clip, unable to fathom just what kind of adventure they’d ended up on. Seeing Amy lounging around with Metal Sonic on a stolen vessel was by the far the strangest, but everyone appeared to be safe and would likely be returning soon, so there was no need to worry. “Heh, can’t wait to hear about this.” Sonic went back to his leisurely position as the story ended, grinning over the unexpected footage of his friends and eagerly waiting to hear about all the fun his team was having without him. Still, he doubted it would be enough to get him tagging along on the next seafaring adventure.

-----

wow so that ended up being like twice as long as intended~ i hope yall enjoyed it. meant to have it up earlier but. that’s life.

this is of course part 2 to what i was working on for @metamy-ship-week

a very very very special thank you to @mmm-asbestos for inspiring this fic and brainstorming the story with me. i am incredibly thankful to have worked on something with someone who inspires me so much ❤ i had a great time

happy new year friends~ i hope 2021 treats you all with kindness.

#reblogs appreciated #metamy #metal sonic #amy rose #metal sonic x amy rose #sonic fanfiction #sth #MetamyShipWeek2020 #metamy ship week #pirates

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drxwsyni · 4 years

Text

Willing ︱Yandere Dabi x f!Reader

@riarora asked: “Could you do yandere Dabi x reader where the reader is one of those people who reads yandere fanfic and knows almost everything, including how to get out, but she doesn’t want to, cause it’s weirdly her dream?”

a/n: ahh yes some good ol’ self awareness. thanks for the request bby, i really liked writing this!

warnings: violence, swearing, kidnapping, suggestive themes

(2.5k words)

_____

It wasn’t hard to tell where Dabi’s intentions lied.

You’d spent more than enough time indulging yourself in mindless scrolling, reading piece after piece pertaining to a certain genre. One that in reality wasn’t the healthiest, but my god was it ever alluring.

Maybe you were lonely, or just apathetic to the red flags that this behaviour presented. Either way, the developing relationship you had with the man was one that you were all too familiar with.

At first it wasn’t obvious―you disregarded his actions as him shamelessly flirting. Dabi had a habit of pushing your buttons, getting you flustered and squirming under his gaze. You could tell he was enjoying himself, seeing what his words did to you.

Once he got bored of the verbal sentiments it moved on to something much more physical. An arm lazily draped around your shoulder, a grip on your chin forcing you to look at him when you turned away in embarrassment. He seemed to enjoy the temporary fear he placed in you when he came up behind you only to wrap his arms tightly around your waist, pulling you firmly into his chest. Every time he did it took you a moment to register the guilty party, but one glance down at the semi-scarred arms and you knew exactly who had scooped you up. If that wasn’t enough, the hot breath against the shell of your ear as he greeted you would do the trick.

If you didn’t know any better you would’ve assumed it was just his personality. The teasing nicknames and lingering stares could be seen as endearing for the most part.

It was when certain attributes bled into the relationship were you able to pick up on the motivation behind his mannerisms.

He had a temper―that much was obvious.

It was never a problem until you idly mentioned in passing conversation that you were saving up money to move away for college. He just...stopped. You thought he didn’t hear you, but not a moment later and he was laughing at you.

“The fuck do you need college for doll? You know that shit is a fucking scam.”

To be fair you never thought he’d have such a strong opinion. As far as you knew you were just some side chick he’d like to mess with when he was bored.

“Well I can’t just keep a dead end job forever. I’d like to move on eventually―meet new people, make better money, y’know…”

The two of you were at his apartment, your back turned to him as you made something to drink in the kitchen. You jumped slightly as one arm wrapped around your waist, the other coming to rest atop the counter in front to you.

His frame leaned into yours, your hip bones digging into the countertop. “What, so you’re just gonna abandon me for some shitty frat boys and student debt?”

The idea almost made you laugh. He was partly correct―the piling debt wouldn’t be fun, but you would have to deal with it just like every other student. As for the college hookups, well it wasn’t something you had actually thought about. You were feeling bold tonight, thinking that perhaps he should get a taste of his own teasing medicine. “Aw, you're not jealous of a few college goers, are you Dabi?”

The hand that was placed on the countertop came to drift towards your face, moving a wayward strand of hair behind your ear. “No need to be jealous of people who I know I’m better than sweets. Just worried about a pretty little thing like you getting hurt is all.”

You smiled at his concern, “I’m sure I can fend for myself, thank you very much.”

The grip on your waist tightened ever so slightly. “Can you though?”

“I don’t―”

“You can barely fucking handle when I mess with you.”

You turned around at the statement, slightly offended, coming face to face with his cold scowl. “Well maybe they won’t be as rude to me.”

At that Dabi’s lips formed into a smirk. “Oh, you think I’m being rude? You’ve got no idea what those little shits might get up to.”

His gaze was piercing, something you could never look at for a long time. You dropped your head slightly and averted your eyes to something else in the room to distract you. “I’ll never know if I don’t go, not like there’s much holding me back here anyways.”

The sudden feeling of Dabi gripping your chin between his thumb and forefinger was momentarily jarring. It forced you to look up at his as he spoke, his other arm still pulling you close into his chest. “So you’re gonna let a bunch of strangers put their filthy little hands all over you? Not sure I like the sound of that princess.”

The closeness flooded your senses with the smell of smoke and cologne. You tried to put some distance between the two of you, but the counter was still pressed firmly into your back leaving no room for escape. “I’m not saying that―I just don’t see myself having a future here. I’ve gotta move on eventually.”

He gave a laugh in response, but it was closer to an exasperated huff. “Nah, fuck that. College is a waste of time, and I’m all the goddamn company you need if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“Listen, as boring as sitting through lectures sounds, I'll take it over my lame ass job any day. And no offence but you do tend to give me headaches with all the shit you put me through.” You made an attempt to move out of his grasp, but you were only met with him pushing you back into the counter quite roughly.

“You’re not going to fucking college.” He was still smirking, but the look in his eyes that was normally vibrant seemed...empty.

Well this wasn’t the turn of events you were expecting.

You liked to think you were a strong person, but his persistence in the matter was unnerving to say the least. “That’s not your decision to make.”

He laughed at your attempt to sound confident, “I can do whatever the fuck I want princess.”

His cocky attitude could almost make you scoff, if it weren’t for the subtle feeling that maybe, just maybe you shouldn’t push him.

...But where’s the fun in that?

“Whatever, I’m sure you can find someone else to annoy.” You turned back around to keep working on the abandoned drink, leaving him to settle his hands on your waist.

“There is nobody else.”

That made you feel a little better, having assumed he only kept you around for entertainment purposes before moving on to something―someone―more serious. But at the same time it was concerning―what was so special about you to him? “Well that’s too bad, I’m not staying here because some asshole is lonely.”

Dabi appeared to be amused with your attitude, hearing the low chuckle from behind you. He went back to having his arms wrapped around you from behind, leaning the side of his head up against yours.. “Aw, you sure dollface? I’ve heard I can be very convincing, bet I could get you to stay somehow.”

You shook your head at his response, “Doubt it. You’d have to do something pretty big to keep me here.”

“Well, I do have my ways sweetheart. Just not so sure you’d agree with what I have in mind.”

Threatening, but not explicit.

“That’s comforting.” This time when you moved to escape his grasp he let you, drink in hand while heading towards the living room couch. You settled on to the worn out cushions, sending Dabi a glare as he used your lap as a footrest when he draped his body across the free expanse of the seating.

Without another word on the subject he chose a movie, letting the room fall into a peaceful absence of conversation.

_____

It was only in your nature to reflect on that encounter with the scarred man, given your expanse of knowledge in regards to the certain kind of behaviour he briefly held.

To be honest it was the first time he showed any real commitment to your questionable relationship. The first time he made it clear that you were his sole focus.

It was nice, but you couldn’t help but pick up on the red flags.

He was a villain. An extremely powerful one at that. He’d mercilessly slaughtered countless people―surely that had some effect on his psyche? If there was any evidence for that, it was this. Nobody with his history just implies something so vaguely ominous without being serious.

But you would never know how serious he was if you didn’t do a little more prodding on the subject.

Just to be on the safe side, you didn’t tempt him with anything that’d make him specifically pissed over one person. If he truly was the person you thought, then you’d have to avoid being the reason he killed someone.

Instead, you took the passive route.

By now you’d given him your phone number, or rather he forced you, saying he would stop teasing you if you did so. Of course he didn’t stop, but that was behind you now.

After that night he seemed a little more...insistent. Usually Dabi wasn’t very talkative, but now he’d taken a liking to keeping up with you through text.

Sometimes it was just idle conversation, but it always had something to do with what you were doing: where you were, who you were with. The talks were still short, but he made the point to ask nonetheless. It gave you the perfect opportunity to push his buttons.

You wouldn’t answer him right away, or you’d be vague with your responses to his interrogative questions. The endeavour to irritate him did little at first, but the more you persisted, the more he got attached to you, the demanding side of his personality started to bleed into your life.

He’d get angry with you for ignoring him. Dabi wouldn’t obsessively spam you with texts―no, he preferred the few he did send to simply disturb you into replying. Warning you that this wouldn’t end well for you. That he knew you were ignoring him. That he’d make you regret acting so stuck up.

Should you have heeded these blatant warning signs? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Yet as time passed and he only got worse, the more you wanted to see just how far he’d be willing to go.

In hindsight, the idea wasn’t the best. You really were going to move away for college, start a new life, maybe meet that special someone.

But Dabi had other plans.

As much as you thought you were being delicate with his temper, his destructive practices proved that everything you had done to avoid violence was in vain.

You should have seen it coming.

He could’ve killed you―should’ve killed you―but he knew this was what he needed. You were what he needed. And the prospect of watching you slip out of his grasp wasn’t something he was ready for. But you were ready for it, and that was the problem.

So Dabi smoked you out of the only place you could call home, along with destroying anything that’d keep you living with any semblance of independence.

The putrid smell of burning materials and, what you prayed wasn’t searing flesh, was the first to hit your senses. You were awake at the ungodly nightly hour the menace chose to send your apartment complex up in flames. If it weren’t for that you were convinced you would have perished in the fire. But Dabi probably planned for that, much like he probably planned for you to be forced out of the only exit that wasn’t being slowly cremated.

Out of the back exit and right into his arms, all the while you were still choking on the air that was riddled with deadly smoke just a few seconds ago. But he didn’t care, not when he had to stifle your screams with his hand, his other arm wrapped around your lower half, pulling you away from the complex where emergency first responders wouldn’t find you.

He let you look at the building that was gradually succumbing to the devastating effects of his quirk. You knew why he was doing it, but it still scared you.

“You see baby, this is what happens when you don’t listen to me. Take a good look at it, cause you’re never fucking comin’ back here again.” His voice was devoid of empathy, but why would he care in the first place? If anything, he was having fun with the matter.

It was your fault, you’d forced his hand. He wanted to be patient with you. Let you come to him.

But no, you had to piss him off. You deserved this for how much you put him through.

Maybe it was the lingering effects of the smoke that was making you lightheaded. Or perhaps the constricting feeling of Dabi’s arm wrapped around your throat. Realistically, it didn’t matter which was the final nail in your coffin. Soon enough you were passed out, body limp and defenceless in his arms to do whatever he pleased.

And so, when you finally came to, your predicament did not come as a surprise.

A chain wrapped around your ankle, secured firmly into the floor. You laid haphazardly on a bed in what you already knew to be Dabi’s old, fairly run down apartment.

He didn’t bother to wait for you to wake up, just leave you alone in the cold room to figure out what had happened.

But you were very aware of the situation.

This is what you wanted, right?

You pushed him. And now he was pushing back.

Out of pure instinct you gravitated towards yanking at the chains, doing anything to loosen them. Only after a few minutes of doing so you remembered just how you’d done your hair that day. Nothing special, but adorned with a few bobby pins.

And yet, when you removed one to pick at the lock, you stopped. Out of curiosity you taught yourself how to use the makeshift key to open such a device, but what was the point?

He’d only track you down if you got out. And judging by his character he wouldn’t be against some less than comfortable forms of punishment. It was clear that he wouldn’t hesitate to burn down anyone or anything in his way either.

And when you spent so much time tempting him to do exactly this, why would you ruin it?

It wasn’t healthy, but it proved how much you meant to him. In an equally disturbing and endearing way, he cared about you. More than anyone else had cared about you before. College plans be damned, you could settle for this at least for the time being.

So you put the pins back in your hair, laying back against the firm mattress.

You didn’t entirely know what Dabi had in store for you, but that made it only the more intoxicating.

Eventually you heard the telltale heavy footsteps approaching the locked bedroom door.

You should’ve been scared. You should’ve been fighting tooth and nail to escape your bindings. But as the sound got louder, and the locks on the door shifted open, you could only think of one thing.

It was dangerous, but you still wanted to know the extent of his pent up desires. And subsequently, how you had to play your cards to reveal these traits without getting yourself or anyone else killed.

But no matter what happened, you wanted this.

#yandere bnha #yandere my hero academia #yandere dabi #yandere dabi x reader #yandere mha #yandere

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madcatdaderpydrawer-blog · 3 years

Text

After drawing the first four underfell kids, I decided that I should probably provide more info about them and make it a regular thing so that when I make one for Colton and Immy I can give info about them too. Plus it gives me the chance to share someone’s death without making it be potential spoilers for the ask series :D (though, they are ask options so feel free to ask the antis if you wanna ^^)

Name: Isaac

Age: 12

Personality: Similarly to Justin, Isaac was looked down upon by most of the people in his village though it was for a very different reason. Isaac is a novice thief and is apart of a small group that go around to different villages and break into houses. He is a smoker, and they are really useful in calming him down. He is very quick to anger and turns violent fast. At first glance he comes off as a cold and uncaring criminal, and that he’d be a pretty cruel and unforgiving group leader. But as he got to know the rest of the group, he started to lighten up. It takes him a while to like people, but once he does he gets rather protective of them. Most of the time he practices tough love, and while he might not be the most emotionally supportive he does try his best. He keeps a bunch of pet animals at his house for Colton. Isaac has a soft spot for elderly people, younger kids and animals.

How he lost his positive trait: As he was forced to resort to crimes to make a living he gradually lost his trait

How he died: He was captured in Hotland by Alphys (with the help of a still in development Mettaton) and kept for days without the King’s knowledge. Alphys wanted the chance to experiment on a living human before giving the soul to the king, one of these experiments being using the DT extractor on a living human. These experiments resulted in Isaac’s soul being permanently scarred as well as gave him severe PTSD and medical trauma. Once she was done with him, she turned him in to the King. He was kept in the castle’s basement for a few hours before he was brought up to the throne room and executed.

Name: Diana

Age: 12

Personality: At first glance she is one of the WORST kids. Which makes sense, seeing as Isabelle is one of the sweetest most genuine kids ever. She is a girl of many masks, putting on different masks to appeal to different groups of people such as her parents and her ballet class. The first person she didn’t blatantly lie to was Isaac, because she quickly realized that he could see through her lies. She is a very clever, snide young girl who tends to overdramatize things and has a hard time portraying her real emotions. She’s bratty and can be very manipulative. While she is dismissive and condescending most of the time, she has a crush on Harland and is unsure how to behave around him. She tries to protect him and Felix from bullies, and it usually works since she is the most popular girl in school.

How she lost her positive trait: She has very overbearing helicopter parents, and developed lying as a coping mechanism so that she could escape from her parents impossible expectations.

How she died: While running away from Undyne, she crossed a bridge with falling boulders and got her skirt caught on one of them as they landed. She couldn’t get her skirt free in time, and Undyne caught up. Having cornered the girl, Undyne let her decide how to die. Either she could get skewered by spears right there on that bridge, or Undyne would cut her skirt free and she would have to jump. Diana chose to have her skirt cut and jumped to her death.

Name: Harland

Age: 10

Personality: He is a very shy kid and at first glance is a rather boring person. He doesn’t talk much to teachers or students, being all around a very gloomy kid. Unlike Paxton, whose standoffish personality made him more ignored then disliked, Harland was bullied constantly at school alone with his friend Felix. He also has a crush on Diana, but can’t bring himself to tell her as he believes she doesn’t feel the same and doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or endure the wrath of his snide friend. He doesn’t have the motivation to do a lot of things that Paxton does, but he likes to write and uses his book as a diary. He is one of the most innocent, kind hearted underfell children and it’s honestly amazing that he made it so far in such a cruel underground. Despite his faults, he can push his fears aside and think of the big picture easier then most and keeps a relatively leveled head in times of peril.

How he lost his positive trait: He developed severe depression due to the neglect at home and the bullying at school. Due to this depression, he eventually lost his perseverance and became rather apathetic

How he died: Him and Paxton both shared an experience with Undyne, and both chose different actions that led to their deaths in different ways. While traveling through the underground, he both children were struck in the arm with a spear while evading her on the long winding bridge section. Paxton decided to cut the spear out of his arm using his pen and a rock, because he was convinced it was the safer option as the glow of the spear would bring Undyne straight to him. Harland, on the other hand, didn’t have the perseverance or willpower to pull it from his arm and continued with it. He eventually got cornered just before the end of waterfall, where Undyne skewered him alive.

Name: Felix

Age: 8

Personality: He is an anxiety ridden mess with very little friends besides for the other antis and his best friend, Harland. They are apart of a ameture suicide pact of sorts, and yes I know how bad that sounds but hear me out. Both of them have rather miserable lives, and the only thing that makes things easier is being around each other. So they came up with the idea to agree not to die/kill themselves, by saying that if they did the other person would kill themselves as well which neither wanted. He was one of the main victims of Colton’s cruel behavior, and would be beat by him constantly though the older kids did step in when they saw it happen. Despite being much younger then him, he is terrified of the five year old menace. He, similarly to Bentley, has undiagnosed ADHD and also untreated anxiety which makes him unable to do much like talk to people or stand up for himself. He knows sign language, and is also one of the nicest underfell children along with his friend. He usually comes to Isaac for advice, which may not be the best idea considering his record but still. Isaac has a very “mentor and mentee” relationship with him in particular, though he shares the same bond with Harland. He’s a very considerate person with a high emotional awareness, and is rather good at gymnastics (flips, spins, etc. that are used in the ways he does combat) He learned from Diana.

How he lost his positive trait: He lost it due to his crippling untreated anxiety and how much he was abused both at home and school. You can’t be brave when you get beat down so constantly.

How he died: He got mauled by the guard dogs after they spotted him since he couldn’t stop trembling, both from the cold and from fear. More specifically Doggo.

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tiaragqueen · 4 years

Text

What I Want To Hear

✂ Pairing: Yandere! Villain! Shinsou Hitoshi x Reader

✂ Word Count: 1,1k+

✂ Trigger Warnings: Manipulation, possessiveness, murder, death

[Edited]

***

If you like my writing, please support me on ko-fi!

“Baby, you understand me now if sometimes you see that I'm mad. Don't you know no one alive can always be an angel? When everything goes wrong, you see some bad.” - Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood [Nina Simone]

You knew there was something wrong with you when you felt nothing over your friend’s death. No, perhaps nothing was too strong of a word. You definitely felt sad, but it was too far down, too familiar, and too frequent until you could only gaze emptily at her photo on the TV. The reporter relayed the news of her suicide – at least, that was what the police concluded based on how she ‘willingly’ jumped over the bridge and fell to the gushing river – with professional coldness.

But you knew better than to trust their judgment because it wasn’t true at all. She was brainwashed to plunge into her demise, and who else in this country that possessed brainwashing quirk if not the infamous Shinsou Hitoshi?

Funny how the police didn’t even think about suspecting him or even got suspicious with his sudden absence. Then again, it was proof of how sly he could be when he wasn’t trying to attract attention.

And it was funny, in a somewhat ironic way, that he was doing this just to grab your attention.

Your phone buzzed beside you, the number that had been haunting you like the monster under your bed lit up the display. What a coincidence; just as you were pinning all the recent ‘suicides’ to him, the said man decided to call you. You contemplated the possibility of him being a secret psychic but decided that it was too farfetched and too frightening. Merely imagining the crimes he would’ve committed beyond people's comprehension sent a chill down your spine, one that you hadn’t felt ever since you rejected him and cut off any contact.

One hand hovering over the quivering device, you pondered if it was worth accepting the call. You could almost hear his deep voice, mocking the futility of your predicament and luring you into his grasp. And honestly, after everything you’d watched these past few days, you thought you deserved at least a little bit of a rest.

But, of course, Shinsou was relentless. He would stop at nothing to get whatever he wanted, even if it meant causing a few casualties along the way. The end always justified the means, after all.

“Are you watching the news right now?” Your correct assumption and his fake questioning tone brought you no relief whatsoever, only accelerating your thumping heart. You didn’t respond, but he must’ve known that you were indeed watching because he soon continued. “What do you think?”

“… I think you’re sick.” you finally replied after seconds of recollection and controlling your voice. You didn’t want to give him another display of weakness, not after you called him on one restless midnight and berated him for his blatant disregard of human lives.

“That again?” Shinsou sneered, and you wondered how good it’d feel to strangle him. Your hands twitched, itching to wrap them around his slender neck. Though, knowing him, he probably thought you were being kinky instead. You shuddered when the image of his sultry smirk flashed on your mind. “Oh, dear. You should be more creative with your insults if you want me to stop.”

“But you’re not going to stop, are you?” You didn’t know why you were him asking that. It was rhetorical, anyway, and the answer was simply too obvious. “Not until I have nobody else with me.”

“There!” he suddenly exclaimed as if he’d been waiting for you to say that. “I was beginning to think that maybe you were really dense, after all, especially after your bold action at that time.” He chuckled, the mockery as clear as the sight of your friend’s body being carried on a stretcher.

You gritted your teeth, aware of what he was referring to. “You’re not my parents! You have no right to tell me what to do!” you screamed to the line, ignoring the logical part of your brain that begged you to not fall victim into his provocation.

And you wished you would’ve listened before you let anger clouded your judgment.

“Ah, you’re right.” Shinsou sighed, and you sensed danger crashed on to your shoulders like a meteor. “How could I forget about them? I’m such a forgetful person…” Another tired sigh drifted into your keen ears as though weary of his own self. “Thanks for reminding me, [Name]. I’ll be sure to visit them later.”

Your throat felt constricted, and it took all of your strength to utter a single word; a word that halted the time and bestowed upon you a fragile hope. “Wait.”

Shinsou was quiet, but you knew he was listening. He was always listening, whether you wanted it or not. That was what initially attracted you to him; how he hung on to every word you spouted despite his apathetic face. When other people would’ve been bored and moved on to a more interesting subject, he urged you to continue instead. The amount of attention you got from him – how intense his lidded eyes against your sparkling ones – was flattering, and you hoped he was the one for you.

However, being a naïve young woman you were, you’d made a mistake of believing every single lie that left his enticing lips. You’d made a mistake of believing that he could be your one and only boyfriend, probably even soulmate because everything looked so easy in movies. How quickly the girl got the boy after a single conversation. How love seemed to fix and justify everything even the most questionable acts. How the misunderstood boy immediately became attached to the girl because she showed him kindness that he never got to experience in his life, or hadn’t received in such a long time.

It looked so easy, you forgot that reality was much different than movies. It was more real, more painful, and more severe.

“Yes…? Do you want to say something, [Name]?” he inquired once a moment had passed since you spoke. Opening your mouth, you whispered.

“… I’m sorry.”

The line went mute, and for a split second, you feared he might’ve hung up. However, a pungent – and slightly relieved, if you discerned deeper – chuckle diminished any doubt and anxiety that bubbled on your chest.

“Now that’s what I want to hear.”

Definite silence greeted you this time, and you slowly lowered your phone. Looking at the clock that ticked off the last hour of your finite freedom, the tears you’d been holding in fear of vulnerability finally trickled down your cheeks.

You kept weeping and weeping until the tears had long run out and you were left curling pathetically on the floor. Even when the front door opened and you perceived a hand stroking your back in a mock attempt of consolation, you refused to look up.

Regardless, it didn’t hinder him from greeting you as though you’d been anticipating his arrival.

“Hello, [Name].”

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otverzhennyy · 3 years

Text

⚔️💤 @sir-huffman.

💝 no help >:U SEND A 💝 AND MY MUSE WILL RAMBLE ON ABOUT HOW THEY PRESENTLY FEEL ABOUT YOURS.

“It’s pretty easy to get Huffman, because from all I know he’s exactly how he presents himself, which is very refreshing, but also annoying, because he’s so nice, it’s nauseating. He has so much goodwill and infinite amount of hard work it is a miracle the man is even standing... but who am I kidding.

It’s exactly those annoying traits that make him so enticing, really. A man who can withstand this type of routine and give results, no matter how trivial his tasks are ? Tsaritsa, I just have to look at how prim and proper he is while patrolling at the exact same second every single day and I won’t be able to think about anyone else. As for my own selfish feelings...

… I want to break him. Challenge his limits and see how far he can go. I want to look at him as emotions take over him, and he gives in his built up frustration. Have his expression contort in ways he never allowed anyone else to see. As if he cannot be mine, I can own as many things about him as I can...

… but he did say he was mine. And there is no way he wouldn’t say something he honestly thinks... that threw me on a loop. Now I don’t even have to physically see him to think about him. Maybe it’s the foreign air getting to me, because there’s no way I can associate this boring city to anybody else, not this stupid tycoon or that bitchy Grandmaster... the way he speaks as if he’s not naive at all, but very aware of his surroundings always trip me off my feet, when expecting this whole place to be full of privileged, gleeful idiots. And, even then, he’s incredible, no matter the type of person you compare him to. That this man is not in Snezhnaya or part of the Fatui is probably the biggest shame there is... I can only imagine what he could do given the right tools. Whenever I see those glimpses of cold execution... it only makes me want to see more of it.

I say he’s a fool, but I’m the biggest one in this story. I speak of how much I love to see anger in his eyes, and his stern tone rise ; he doesn’t need to be loud and obnoxious for me to be fully satisfied that such a serious persona changing the slightest means a hundred more ; that apathetically dropped opinions are just as real than the words a more emotional person would give... but it’s when he smiles the slightest that my vision blur and I’m unable to look him in the eyes.

I have no idea if he realizes those small shifts in body language when he’s content. I’m too used to observe people’s small ticks and habits to not see them in broad daylight. When he’s displeased, sad, happy... it’s irresistible, I have no idea why ; he’s not the first person I met who tend to be more subtle, but none of those meek, boring people ever caught my interest before.

I’m one of those Fatui bad guys who enjoy the displeasure of others, and the ease of my own contempt. I cannot bring happiness to others, because I am simply like this l if I were to act like a good guy full of kindness and generosity, I’d crumble onto myself (but he can, apparently, because of course he can). I know this isn’t me. And faking something you are not never work in the long term.

People are stupid, and keep interpreting things the way they want to make it about themselves ; I don’t care about them, only acting in my own interest since they’re so damn unreliable : the only thing I trust is my nation and affiliations, not individuals.

But when I hear that man laugh, when I see the corner of his mouth rise, when he squeeze my hand back, take an extra break around me, and tell me the, absolutely improbable, impossible thing that he is doing this because it is me who is around him... It makes me believe that someone so perfect like him could even remotely feel an ounce of happiness around me just being me, it’s... it’s enough to break a man’s heart every single time. I should stop kidding myself and stop seeing him, but he... keeps coming back. Since day one. I really hate him.”

#.otverzhennyy ( ic )#sirhuffman #en d me

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dafukdidiwatch · 3 years

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I’m actually pissed that this is a decent movie.

Overview: Arctic Researchers/Scientists stumble on Nazis who live in the center of the earth who have survived by replacing their dying tissue for living ones in a bid for immortality.

And in order for me to talk about this film, I have to talk about this:

Fucking Sky Sharks.

I hate that movie.

I hate it So Much.

I bought it from a Walmart for $10 so what a waste of movie.

The first like, 10 minutes was the movie dragging on showing everyone in the plane in the worst way possible. An old swedish man watching shitty CGI sci-fi porn. A weird gang turn priest man which I for sure might have been the main character but had the weirdest backstory that goes no where and does nothing. Some drunk guy wanting to flirt with a stewardess and the joke is that she wasn’t a super model 20 something. So after going On and ON THEN the sharks come in to show how epic they are.

And they also suck ass. I couldn’t give a shit about the CGI this is a movie about nazi sky sharks I walked in not expecting quality.

Oh yeah, Nazi’s. Forgot to mention the Nazis. Because, you know, they made the sharks. And are also zombies who rose again to take over the world. And our first look is a female blond haired officer killing people in the longest and dullest way possible. Like, there is only so many ways you can decapicate a bunch of people with wires.

After that, move into the “plot” with random ass girl #1 and random ass girl #2 where girl #1 is also in the Antarctic (shocker) and finds a boat, goes in by herself without help/backup, finds out the zombies are not only in there, but also shark tanks because this is where they were raising the sharks.

So to recap: In the COLD NEGATIVE FROSTBITING SNOW COVERED DREADNAUGHT the nazis are not only alive and NOT freezing, but the great white sharks are also alive and NOT freezing. You can say bs science, I say bs movie.

Oh and you know what the sharks feed on?

Misogyny.

God this movie hates women so much. First, multiple porn shots/sexual harassment jokes on just the plane alone (again, first 10 minutes). Then the “sexy” female zombie commander because that’s what was in the Nazi Military: Women. Not saying shit about history or anything, just saying that I know a fetish when I see one. And the Random Ass Girl #1? The reason why she was at the boat in the first place is because she was on a solo rescue mission to help some researchers who found the boat. A Guy and A Girl. The Guy was like, killed normally or shot or something I couldn’t give a shit about. The Girl was stripped naked, hung upside-down by her foot, bare naked ass shown to us, as she is fed to the shark tank.

Yeah, real women friendly.

It also doesn’t help that when Random Ass Girl #1 gets stabbed with, I guess zombie venom for ReAsOnS, she has a shower scene where it shows her being affected and poisoned under her skin....but also how Hot she is by having it shot on her boobs, check, body stretching and curling to show ALL of her body. While under a show that’s in the middle of the fucking room like it’s Hannibal Lector’s bathroom.

And you that that would be the reason I hate this movie but it isn’t dammit. The movie was dull as hell. I’m only talking about the Misogyny for so long because it was the only thing that was actually worth mentioning. I didn’t give a shit about anything else!

The acting is bad and just monotone across the board. Apparently RAG#1 and #2 are like, rich spies from a super rich family corporation which took me a full as 20 minutes to realize. And they have no idea how the fuck to plot a movie! Finding out the sky sharks were because of Dear Old Granddad, results in THREE! SEPERATE! FLASHBACKS! EACH MORE BORING THAN THE LAST!!! I have no idea how you made working with NAZIS dull as shit but this movie found a way. Instead of having the history set in the beginning of nazis doing shit as a teaser to explain later, he just tells his fucking life story of how making Sky Sharks would save the Third Reich. And I Couldn’t Give A Shit.

It got so dull and bored that I literally fast forward through the entire movie to find interesting parts. Spoiler: there was none. Not even with more sharks like eating the world could it entertain me. I just fast forwarded to the very end, and only watched 30 minutes of a 90 minute movie. God I hate Sky Sharks.

So WHY am I bringing it up? Well, it really did set expectations and a bar for Nazis at the Center of the Earth. They both have rediculous titles that you can’t take seriously or expect “great things” from. They both deal with nazis, zombie-ish nazis, genetic research, scientists in the Arctic, and Nazi’s hiding in the Arctic. That is a lot, and I just watched Sky Sharks like 2 weeks before so this was very recent and absolutely in my head.

Which is WHY this movie was a very pleasant surprise.

We start with seeing Nazis doing action pact Nazi shit escaping for science! It even has that Wilhelm scream, but the movie has plot and vision. It didn’t make the nazis seem any more than being just army soldierd and has decent action and sets expectation for the rest of the movie.

And that’s like the big difference between this and Sky Sharks: The Treatment of the Nazis. The nazis here were treated, in my view, as powerful and dangerous. They are meticulous, uncaring, cold and distant. The head Nazi is actually Dr. Mengele, he is in this movie, and he is just so apathetic to everyone.

All the Nazi’s faces were covered in mask so you couldn’t see their faces, making them inhuman. And the first Nazi face we do see is Dr. Mengele as he just, slowly cuts the face off of a person. Methodically. Meticulously. He doesn’t even talk, doesn’t react as the person begs. Just does it. And was going to do it to the girl as well but because she kept talking science, he allowed her to live.

But it was close.

In the beginning it feels like two different movies because it cuts from two researchers who got kidnapped by Nazis surviving their own horror movie trying to escape, and the rest of the researchers being in a Survival Rescue Movie trying to find them. I honestly wanted to see more of the Nazi part because that was the more engaging section. It was filmed, framed, shot as a tense horror movie, where you don’t know if she will live or die.

I also want to approve of the lack of misogyny. Like, first, the Nazis are equal treatment terrible to everyone. They shot one of the researchers who wandered in because he was Jewish. (”I’m non-practicing” lol love that line). Second, the scenes that they did were filmed in a way to highlight the horror but not the sexiness of it. The guy and girl strapped to the table, they are both naked. We don’t see the whole naked body, just enough to establish it while censoring the rest. You see Dr. Mengele looking over them, but there isn’t sign of lust. He is viewing them both as just experiments (which also adds to the horror aspect but I digress). One of the girls ends up being thrown to the Nazi Officers to be raped and killed, but we don’t see that. She doesn’t have a shirt, but it isn’t films as a “sexy” moment, the camera doesn’t move or linger on her body. It is just a straight shot, where she tries to cover herself up. When they close in on her, crawling towards her, the camera focuses more on their approach than on her while at a distance. This is scary, but it isn’t sexualized. Which I approve and is a WAY PLUS from Sky Sharks.

This movie has an odd budget too. There is a lot of CGI. And it isn’t good. Not at all. It works to show things happening like CGI tanks...CGI snow/ice. CGI Robots and lasers. They don’t hide it at all. But then, they also have amazing makeup budget because the “ripping face scene” was amazing physical effects it looked so real. The Nazis are obviously frankenstein stitched up monsters, but they are well done in makeup and design. Like all the close up shit is amazing to look at.

Overall: It was an Alright Movie. Yes, there is plot. There is tension. There is fear trying to survive with the nazi. Bad CGI, and a bit campy at the end, but nothing to detract from the actual movie. It was a fun movie.

#dafukblog #Dafuking Films #week 41 movie #sky sharks #nazis at the center of the earth

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mwolf0epsilon · 4 years

Note

Sorry to bother you. But can we get a story of Norman helping Sammy from the inks Control?

Summary: It was only a matter of time before Norman's curiosity got him deader than that one cat... No good deed goes unpunished.

---

"Somethin' ain't right 'bout the studio." Is the one sentence that precedes a series of catastrophic events in Norman Polk's life. A combination of letters that form a very simple and inconsequential phrase that still held a lot of negative connotation. Easy to dismiss, especially over breakfast as he reads the paper with a bored expression on his face.

His wife sits in front of him, buttering their youngest child's toast while the eldest daughter fetches a glass of juice for herself, and her brother, the second oldest child, glances up to peer over and then around the paper.

"What do ya mean pa?" Aaron's inquisitive eyes catch his one good eye, and Norman finds himself setting the paper aside and picking up his mug. Out of his five children, Aaron is the one to inherit his father's curiosity.

"Just a thought." He takes a sip of his coffee and shrugs "Things been a little weird as of late."

"How do you mean?"

"Aaron don't go listenin' to your pa's nonsense or ya gonna get stuck with his ramblings. You gotta get ready for school, so eat breakfast and get going." Margarite rebuts, before glancing at their two daughters. "That goes for you both as well, you especially Louise, your teacher's been hasslin' me bout you doin' no work."

"Mrs. Wilson is nuts. She picks on me for no reason, the crusty egg!"

"Louise!"

Aaron pouted, clearly unsatisfied with the lack of a response, but thought better than to go against his mother's wishes. Wise kid. Norman was proud he was growing up smart.

He didn't bring it up again until the kids were sorted and off to classes. His wife gives him a long-suffering sigh before crossing her arms and looking at him in the eye.

"Don't go lookin' for trouble Norman. I know ya got the guts to go findin' nothin' good." She pleads with him.

"I don't go lookin' for no trouble Maggie, just curious is all... And things have been weird. It's gettin' to the others..."

"Norman, you do know what them people say 'bout your sorta curiosity don't ya?"

"And what would that be?"

"Curiosity killed the cat. And ya sure are lookin' real cat-like to me..."

Joey Drew had plans, that much Norman knew. It all had to do with that weird machine of his, as well as all those brittle pipes that kept bursting and flooding areas with thick glossy and acrid smelling ink.

What plans, Norman couldn't tell (yet), but the consequences were visible. Structural integrity in the studio was a mess, something Thomas Connor often dreaded about due to his impeccable work ethics.

Things were constantly soiled with ink, and cleaning supply expenses had risen to the point Wally was having to lug in bleach and detergents from home to get stuff cleaned up. Everyone's dry-cleaning bills had likely also suffered with this.

Speaking of, everyone was going crazy.

"I tell ya, meltdown of the century." Wally winced on the rare occasion Norman took the time to sit with others to eat lunch. That day he was sitting with Wally, Buddy and Dot. "Thought Miss Campbell was gonna throttle the poor broad!"

"She has been acting very hostile." Dot winced in sympathy. "Miss Pendle has the patience of a saint if she can bare all that, but she's not the only person Susie has blown up on recently."

"Uh?" Buddy looked over at his friend in surprise. Norman too looked curious. Wally snapped his fingers as he realized what she was on about.

"Oh yeah! The other night right? She went and barged into Sammy's office and things got heated, and not in the good way if ya know what I mean."

"Wait really? Miss Campbell yelled him?" Buddy looked to be in disbelief. He couldn't imagine a petit little lady like Susie yelling at that overgrown peacock of a man. Not when Sammy tended to yell back at people with twice the amount of ferocity.

"Didn't just yell. She tore him a new one! Was so bad I got outta there as fast as I could. Didn't wanna witness no crime a' passion and all that." Wally glanced around, hoping neither Susie nor Sammy were around to hear. "Saw him come outta the office much later when I was about ta lock up for the night. He looked... Rough."

"He always looks rough." Buddy commented.

Norman found himself frowning at that.

Now that he mentioned it, Sammy had been looking a little green around the gills. Like he was sick, or at the very least extremely sleep deprived. With Drew's policy of time being money, and illnesses having to be serious for sick leave, it didn't surprise him that Sammy might have caught a bug and been unable to sleep it off at home.

"Speak a' the devil..." Wally ducked his head and quickly scarfed up the remains of his meal before getting back up and moving off. "Here he comes now."

Buddy and Dot followed his example, not feeling particularly keen on getting yelled at by Sammy. Norman let them go, eating his meal at a leisurely pace as he observed Sammy more carefully.

He didn't just look rough. He looked off.

How exactly, Norman couldn't explain, but it certainly must be something if the hairs on the back of his neck were so fast to raise.

He needed to look into it.

It's a particularly bad encounter in one of the men's bathrooms that tips Norman off to what might be wrong.

After that particularly bad scene involving Drew, Norman had been more cautious with his wandering and observing. His boss's behaviour raised questions, and his threats were definitely ringing alarm bells in his head. How it all involved that wretched machine Norman couldn't figure out.

Until, while putting his burnt hand under cold water (another projector went and caught fire because ink had gotten in it somehow), Sammy Lawrence suddenly barged in and practically kicked in a stall door to then double over a toilet bowl and violently vomit the contents of his stomach.

All this happened in very few seconds and Norman found himself with his unburnt hand clutching at his chest in fright.

"Jesus Christ, ya nearly went and scared the soul out of my body!" He closed the tap and pulled the first aid kit closer, setting to work on bandaging his injured hand. Bless the doc for giving him a kit in the first place, after so many incidents with projectors.

He waited for Sammy to bark out some sarcastic retort, but instead was met with more retching and coughs. Norman became concerned when it didn't stop.

"Sammy?"

He peered into the open stall and was met with a smell that shouldn't be coming from someone's insides. An acrid chemical smell that permeated the studio, due to its origin being pumped through pipes like blood in one's veins. The music director was puking ink.

"Sweet mercy..." That wasn't good. The boy needed that stuff out, which he was managing on his own from how much he was getting sick. The issue was, how much of the crap had he swallowed if it kept coming up? "Sammy what the fuck?!"

"G'way y'fu'kin' ..." He cut off as another wave came up to meet the rest, his nose dribbling with the black sheen of ink, and big fat tears barely clearing the gunk already covering his pale skin "H'hurts..."

The pathetic whimper was enough to break his heart. Sammy sounded scared for once, rather than angry, sarcastic or apathetic.

"How much did ya even get in ya? Did the music department go under again?" Once the music director didn't look like he was going to throw up again, the projectionist scooped him off the floor and noted with horror how unusually light and pointy the blond felt in his arms.

It was like holding a sack of bones... What in the blazes? Just a few days ago he looked healthy enough...

"M'gettin' ya to the infermary. The doc might have somethin' for intoxication... If not then Drew can't just keep ya here, this is a hospital thing."

"N-no... No doctors..." Sammy struggled weakly but gave up once he realized he couldn't squirm out of Norman's grasp. "M'fine..."

"Boy, I have half a mind ta call the doctor myself if ya go sayin' stupid shit like that. You ain't fine."

"J-just stomach ache... It'll go away..."

"Samuel Lawrence you are a dumbass."

How daft did the kid need to be to not see the issue here? Hopefully the resident doctor could convince Drew to let Sammy go to a hospital. Hard to fake getting a toxic liquid in your system after all...

After the encounter in the bathroom it's not long before Sammy goes missing. People start speculating about it, and some are rather mean-spirited about it.

Sure Sammy wasn't the kindest person, but going about saying he ran off with his tail between his legs because Susie dumped him was just plain disrespectful (especially considering he hadn't seen Susie around as of late either).

The stories about him drinking ink tho... Those peak his interest. They are also easy to confirm, as Norman looks in horror at the contents of the drawers in Sammy's office. Empty ink wells. Several of them. Some definitely licked clean.

It explains things Norman wished he hadn't overlooked. The machine, the pipes, the slow descent... The ink was what was wrong with the studio.

Norman realized then and there that he needed to warn the others to get out. Whomever would hear him at least.

Starting with Buddy and Dot. Those kids needed out.

Whatever Drew was planning with that hellish stuff, it couldn't be good for them.

Once the authorities' investigations are closed up and the studio opened back up again, Norman decides it's time to finally grab his light and go down and see what the groaning was. He eats breakfast with his family as quiet as a mouse, lost in thoughts, then goes to work after kissing his wife goodbye.

Once he reaches the door, he finds a card and keys on the entrance mat.

Wally had quit. Good, at least the kid had enough sense to bolt when told to.

Norman is the very first person the set foot back inside the studio.

As such, he's the very first target for one of two creatures still able to access the floors above.

His light catches onto an inky black figure in overalls and a grinning dancing devil mask, then catches the gleam of a blade.

Norman doesn't get the chance to scream as the axe buried itself in his chest, right through his heart. He wheezes out what little air remains in his lungs and it doesn't take long for him to slip away.

What makes it worse is how the figure cradles him gently and murmurs nonsense he can't understand. That voice... Why did it sound so familiar?

It all goes dark. It's too quiet.

The Projectionist screeches as it runs after the figure in overalls and grinning mask. It chases after the thief mercilessly, putting it's hands through the holes it crawls through in an attempt to flee from its burning gaze.

It gets cocky and ends up getting grabbed by the leg and pulled back with force.

The Projectionist may not be able to hear its screams, but it can feel the vibrations. It's terrified.

Good.

It roars in triumph as it plunges it's hand through the figure's chest, bursting it into a puddle and discarded clothing.

Never shall it try to steal it's hearts away, ever again.

The Projectionist carried on, unaware of the poetic justice behind its own actions.

An eye for an eye was just as popular a saying as curiosity killed the cat, after all.

#Eps Writes:#Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATIM #Norman Polk #Sammy Lawrence

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alchemist-shizun · 5 years

Text

So we had an awesome idea and the thing kinda degenerated

-a poem by me and @softanxiouspatton (honestly they did a big part in this they’re so freaking cool so a lot of credit goes to them)

‘Kay, hear us out. Sanders sides AU in which the sides are stuck in the Sims world.

Logan is canonically fluent in simlish, so they'd be able to make it out alive thanks to him. Imagine the following:

*sim blabbering*

"It appears they are asking for your hand, Roman"

"I'VE BEEN ONLY SAYING GIBBERISH FOR THE PAST FIVE MINUTES H O W-"

Virgil exploring the vampire pack: "This is where I live now"

He totally becomes a vampire, but when they exit the game and are back to reality, he goes back to human and he's like "aw c'mon are you kidding"

"Vampires aren't real, you couldn't possibly stay one in our worl-" "I CAN DREAM LOGAN, OKAY"

It becomes a horror game when they realize Virgil can burn and die under the sun in a matter of minutes and they have no idea where he would end up if he did.

Or like, imagine the game actually already considering Virgil as a vampire as they enter and it's pure chaos and panic already

Also Patton finds out he's not allergic to cats in the game since they're basically just ... pixels and bytes

Patton makes friends with the aliens and persuades Logan to accept the scientist carrier so they can make a portal to travel to the alien world

And then, one day, Remus gets abducted by the aliens

"abduct me? that's sexy of you but you could've just asked" "are you sure you want this one?"

Deceit decides to go hiding in the jungle pack because dealing with an alien pregnant Remus would be total hell

So he's like idk,,, an archaeologist

Patton becomes a fairy!!

And Logan is a witch!!

And finally, Roman becomes a mermaid and sings the Ariel soundtrack all day long

What if Remus ended up as a ghost. Like someone had enough of him and just,, stabbed him

(It was deceit)

(he had a chisel in his hand and Remus was very close it wasn't his fault okay)

Now because of that Deceit has to take care of the alien baby

And! GASP!! The baby comes back with them to the real world!

"Okay so I can't stay a vampire but an alien child is totally fine"

"Well if things come back to our world only if they're real, then-" "HOLY SHIT ALIENS ARE REAL"

Logan and Roman respectively

They start bringing aliens into their world, one day Thomas finds one in the kitchen eating pizza

He summons the sides "guys what did you do"

"I think we might need to talk" "Perhaps"

So when they tell him everything Thomas is like "guys they have friends and families too!"

When the aliens leave Remus wonders if he's ever going to see his alien again

And one day he will come back to retrieve the child

"You came back!" "Yeah I'm taking custody of my child and raising them right, you're unstable"

He whines about this for weeks.

After that he goes "ALRIGHT TIME TO FUCK ANOTHER ALIEN"

Everybody just stops him and Thomas bans them from playing the game again

Although one day Thomas logs in just to chill a bit and he finds them all there, standing in a circle

"... what are you doing?"

".... taking vengeance on Remus's child"

And now, the angst

One day Patton becomes super lonely, he goes in the sims world and decides to stay there

The others are worried, but Thomas is seemingly fine (this is because Patton's influence works even through the game)

And so they wonder: if Patton has ducked out, but Thomas is fine, does this mean ...

Does this mean he can function properly without him?

They're shocked by the news, but want to know who else is?

Patton, who had decided to get out of the game for a bit and just so happened to hear the conversation. So he ducks out for real (quack)

And Thomas is v e r y affected

He's just so,,, cold and apathetic

And also overly anxious, since Virgil is the one remaining in control of his emotions

Even Deceit tries to help

They're all affected

Remus is let loose, he just runs around the house screaming

Roman becomes weak, he needs emotions to create

Logan doesn't feel any motivation

Virgil is working overtime

Deceit is overworking too as Thomas keeps lying saying he's fine, plus he's trying to keep that self-preservation safe

They try to confront Thomas about it, it's useless and they can't figure out where Patton is because none can function well enough

Patton comes back to see how "good" life has been and he's shocked to find the result

Virgil just breaks down to tears in relief (are those tears of exasperation, happiness, something else or maybe all of them together nobody will ever know)

Deceit just hugs Patton and doesn't bother lying at all saying he's very glad to see him

Logan is shocked and can't react at all

Roman is actually super weak and Patton starts crying cause he looks like he's about to collapse. Roman doesn't even believe Patton is real at first and says it's a trick of Remus

Remus is low-key glad he's back cause he kinda got bored of how his ideas got easily shot down and he wanted his shock factor back (also he just wanted his brother to be okay again but sh we didn't tell you this)

Once Logan has the motivation and energy to actually react, he just pulls Patton into the longest hug ever

he can't even speak

Patton breaks down and admits everything

The others ask him to simply tell him next time, they also contemplate to delete the game for real

But they can't

because REMUS'S C H I L D

And next thing you know they only go into the game to just relax and do fun little quests together to take their minds off of heavy stuff

THEY GO TO THE JUNGLE AND THE SEA

Roman starts putting red seashell cufflinks to his outfits

Logan makes a habit of reaching for his wand from behind his ear in the real world and Patton gets him a pen that's shaped as a wand

We'd say "Virgil forgets he can go out in the sun" but he's already doing that

So he simply becomes a night owl, his sleeping schedule is messed up, so the others leave some snacks for him here and there in case he needs them

Remus forgets he can't walk through walls anymore and he keeps smacking into them

Roman goes swimming more and stays in the bath longer than ever

And you can find Deceit making a mini excavation site in the backyard

Patton gives good-luck forehead kisses forgetting he has no magic

He keeps jumping up believing his wings would come out any second but never starts flying

One day Remus finds him jumping and he joins in to assert dominance

Virgil having odd cravings for "blood" so he starts eating more read meat

He's EXCITED when Halloween comes around, so he can keep his vampire outfit longer

Remus plans to break into Area 51

Logan joins cause s c i e n c e

Deceit tries to stop them. "If they can't stop us all then why could Dee stop us KEEP WORKING LOGAN"

Roman prays Remus doesn't bring back an alien boyfriend cause that'd be actual hell

He does

Thomas is like "... can I duck out myself? why is there an alien?"

"uuuh bitch first of all he's my bf"

his name is L O T O R

Everybody is like are you kidding me

"I like the bad guys okay"

And Roman "He's got a point, bad guys are hot"

they all stare at him while he just wants the ground to bury him alive

(I mean he's said everyone loves the villain so)

Deceit like O h

Virgil like O H

They're dying, everybody

Patton is like ??? (But he actually knows, being Thomas's feelings he k n o w s)

Lo is just "eh okay let's get this over with"

cut to Lotor eating pizza in the bg and Thomas being like "nOT AGAIN"

I have no idea what we will ever do with this but feel free to take inspiration~

#sanders sides #sanders sides au #virgil sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #deceit sanders #remus sanders #character thomas #patton sanders #ts patton #ts roman #ts logan #ts deceit #ts virgil #ts remus #angst #food mention #basically beware of what Remus could say in here #long post

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ephemeral-afterlight · 5 years

Text

Day 9: Shackled

(We’ll scream, we’ll dream.)

Whumptober 2019 Day 9: Shackled

Word Count: 1816

Relationships: Moceit (NOT consensual), Moxiety (past), allusions to Moduke (past)

Warnings: Unsympathetic Patton, childhood kidnapping/growing up in captivity (mentioned), rape (non-explicit but it does happen), abuse (mainly physical), cursing, lots of vulgar/explicit language, misgendering/deadnaming. Please tell me if I’m missing any.

A/N: yeah, this one is pretty heavy too. it also includes non-con, and although it isn’t super graphic/explicit, i highly advise you to stay away if that will make you uncomfortable. sorry it’s an hour late, blah blah blah, this is becoming a habit and it’s not a good one

Virgil can’t stop feeling so goddamn guilty.

He should have paid more attention, over the years he was with Patton. He should have questioned why his boyfriend would disappear into the basement, often for hours at a time, without a single explanation. He should have seen how disturbed Patton was, realized that he needed professional help. He should have seen it, should have known that Dee was down here suffering all this time, but he didn’t. He didn’t, and now Dee is traumatized, and she’s lost so much of her life and her childhood and her personal autonomy, and it’s Virgil’s fault. It’s his fault.

No, no, it’s not. It’s not his fault. He has to stop doing that. He knows that this is just a product of his anxiety, and he’s unrealistically feeling responsible. There wasn’t anything he could have done. Even if he did find out about Dee’s presence earlier, there would be no guarantee he’d have even been able to help her, and it would probably have just sped up the timeline. Who knows, maybe Patton would’ve left him down here with her.

Like now.

Even here, as Dee stands against the wall, open and unashamed with her nudity, there’s something closed-off in the air. Virgil feels an odd, overwhelming sense of insecurity that comes from a place he can’t pinpoint, somewhere ashamed. He knows it’s not his fault. It’s not his fault. It’s Patton’s doing.

“Dee, I don’t… I don’t know if he’s gonna come down here again, and I’ll try my best to make sure nothing happens to you if he does, but… I’m chained up like you are. I’ll-- I’ll get us out, but I might… I might need a little more time, okay? Not long, but…” Virgil trails off, low, strained voice echoing off the concrete walls of the basement. Delilah’s eyelashes flutter as she snaps to attention, jolts her head up to look for danger, and then relaxes minutely when she processes the statement. Virgil hates Patton. He hates him.

“Y’h… Been down here a long time anyway. Used to it. I c’n wait,” Dee murmurs, eyes trained at her bare feet, and Virgil feels his fury sharpen like a knife. She shouldn’t have to wait, shouldn’t be used to it. She should have had a good childhood, grown up properly. She should have been able to go to sports games with her friends, ordered pizzas and played video games, felt the pride of graduating from high school. She should have been able to feel the joy of her friends using the right name, to buy her first skirt, to have girl’s nights and sleepovers. She should have had a life. A real life. Not this.

Things get quiet again. They’ve been going in and out of bouts of silence for a while, have been lost in their own thoughts. There is a bit of light coming from upstairs, but it’s not exactly enough to see well by, and there isn’t really anything to do but wait. Virgil’s already tried to yank at the shackles, see if they could break if he pulled hard enough, but it was to no avail. So. Now he just… waits.

The creak of the basement door is a sound that is all too familiar to Virgil, one that he heard so many times while rarely ever questioning it. Patton told him he was making friendship jewelry. Virgil should have seen through his bullshit. Aside from the fact that the memories of Patton disappearing down here over and over and over without any repercussions or suspicion through the years are probably going to be ones that will haunt Virgil for the rest of his life, he knows he needs to focus on now, focus on Dee, and focus on keeping Patton busy.

And Patton’s down here in their presence again, rambling on about something that goes completely over Virgil’s head. It’s some shit about how great he slept last night with Virgil not there, how he had the bed all to himself, and Virgil couldn’t give a single fuck about his attempt to make Virgil angry. He’s already angry, and if he really wants to infuriate him, he’s gonna have to do better than that.

“Why, hello, Ethan. You’re looking ugly today,” Patton greets cheerfully, doesn’t notice the way Dee flinches when he says the wrong name. Virgil doesn’t blame her for not telling him. It’s none of his goddamn business to know. Even so, Virgil still feels bad for her, because it’s not like growing up in captivity has really allowed her to do any personal searching, have creative expression, or experiment with herself. Virgil’s parents were similarly strict, and although his situation was never anywhere close to being as bad as Delilah’s is, he sorta gets it.

“Y’know, if you weren’t such a disgusting excuse of a human being, I might have made you my boyfriend. Would you like that? D’you want to be my pretty, docile little housewife? Wanna be my cute little fucktoy, bend over whenever I tell you?” Patton asks, tone high as if he’s talking to a child, or a dog, and that’s probably not far from how he views her. Patton’s narcissistic demeanour is one of the most infuriating things Virgil has ever had the misfortune of witnessing, but he can’t lose control. He needs to reign in his vexation, stay in control of the situation. It’s for Delilah’s sake.

“You couldn’t get with someone you wanted even if you tried. Nobody wants your small dick,” Virgil spits, pulls against his chains again in frustration even as the rest of his body remains still. He’s pleasantly surprised that he’s able to keep the urgency out of his voice, since it’s imperative to not show Patton weakness right now. As soon as he finds a crack in the wall, a break in the code, he’ll latch onto it and exploit it. Virgil can’t let that happen.

“Hmph, really? You seemed to be enjoying my ‘small dick’ all those times I fucked you so good you couldn’t even speak. But maybe that was a different Virgil?” Patton muses, sneers from the side as he strokes Delilah’s trembling face with the backs of his fingers. Virgil wants to yell, and scream, and punch Patton so hard it knocks him straight into hell, but he can’t. He can’t show emotion, can’t show fear. He has to make him angry.

“Oh, please, are you that delusional? I didn’t speak because there was nothing to say. It was boring. I wanted to yawn every single time we had sex, but I guess my plan to stroke your ego and make you think I wanted you worked, didn’t it? The only reason I stayed with you was for your house and money. You cooked for me every night, gave me a bed and a roof, and that’s honestly all I really got out of this. You couldn’t fuck someone into speechlessness if your life depended on it, you’re too boring and vanilla to attract anyone else, and I could easily have up and left a three for a ten. Sorry, bud, but you never had me.” Virgil finishes his rant with a loud scoff, a flourish to really hammer his point home. He can see how furious it makes him. He can relish in the way Patton’s brows pull down with his enragement, even as he senses a whisper of guilt work its way into his chest. Virgil hates that he feels bad, hates that he’s outright lying. He wishes that it were true, but it’s not. And at least he gets Patton’s attention, but then Patton doesn’t look very mad anymore.

“Oh, I see what’s going on here,” Patton says, tone mocking. He looks nonplussed as he turns to Virgil, huffs a laugh as he stalks toward him. Virgil isn’t afraid. He wants to punch him. “You’re trying to distract me.”

“What, like you were too distracted by that pretty young secretary Abby to keep Remus from leaving you?” Virgil retorts scathingly, and even as a flash of anger slices through Patton’s eyes, even as a fist slams into his stomach and he chokes out a whine, he knows he’s won. He knows that Patton knows, too.

“How did you know about Remus?” Patton hisses, yanks Virgil’s head up by the chin when he lolls forward. Virgil stays silent, just apathetically stares Patton down, and the latter of the two growls and whips the palm of his hand across a bruised cheek. The cough that comes out is rough, but he doesn’t yell out, and that just incenses Patton more. “Answer me!”

Virgil breathes slowly out through his nose. He can see Dee cowering in the corner, terrified as she watches them dance, and Virgil slowly raises his head up. His eyes meet Patton’s once more, narrow in the tense silence, and then he spits blood directly in Patton’s face. “Go fuck yourself.”

And he looks furious, madder than Virgil has ever seen him. It’s almost funny, how Patton reels his arm back, prepares to send another blow rocketing into Virgil’s already weak body. But then Patton’s anger bleeds from his face, is replaced by cold amusement and a malicious grin, and Virgil feels dread sink into his stomach. Something is wrong. He’s supposed to be pissed, but he’s not, so what is he planning?

But then Patton spins around, stomps toward an increasingly more horrified Delilah, and Virgil doesn’t bother swallowing down the shout that bursts from his throat. And Virgil can’t do anything, can’t move as Patton slaps away Dee’s defensive hands, can’t break the chains as he pushes her up against the wall. He can’t help her when she shakes her head back and forth violently, can’t stop him when Patton rips an anguished cry from the defenseless girl, and Virgil is going to throw up.

He can’t watch. He can’t watch her terror morph into apathy, watch her face slowly shift from severely distressed to droopy neutrality. He can’t watch her become quiet, watch her arm fall like dead weight to hang at her side. He can’t watch, so he squeezes his eyes shut and blocks it out.

No.

He promised! He fucking promised he would get her out, that he wouldn’t let Patton keep causing her to suffer. He said he would stop the torture, and as soon as he’s being tested, he curls up and cries like a baby? No. No. He isn’t going to break his promise to her. He can’t let her down, betray the meager trust she’s already been kind enough to give to him. She’s gone through so much already, and Virgil gave her hope, and he can’t abandon that. Fuck this. Fuck Patton and every deranged thing he’s ever done.

Virgil opens his eyes, and his vision is tinged in red.

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artificialqueens · 4 years

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(Love)Sick Overseas (Phianca) - Albatross

AN: Phi Phi is feeling a bit under the weather but determined not to let it ruin her vacation. And who should she happen to run into on her way back from picking up cold medicine but Bianca Del Rio?

Just a short, fluffy little Phianca sickfic. And yes, I do think they’d be cute together and no, @VeronicaSanders, there will be no Bitney sequel. No Bitney, ever.

Getting sick in the middle of his trip to the UK had certainly not been part of Jaremi’s plan. No, he had been looking forward to this excursion for months and he’d be damned if something like the sniffles was going to stop him. At first it wasn’t even anything too serious; just a sneeze every now and then or a runny nose in the morning. But by the fourth day it was clear the symptoms were not going away…if anything they were getting worse.

But Jaremi was stubborn, if nothing else.

A bit of cold medicine until it all passed and he’d be fine…at least, that’s what he told himself.

Now here he was, returning from his second trip to pick up some OTC cold remedy and his nose was already protesting mightily. Even his throat was starting to feel scratchy but Jaremi was determined to continue his vacation plans uninterrupted. So what if his head was a little foggy or he was slightly unsteady on his feet every now and then?

Drinking had the same effect so all was good to his mind.

With enough effort he could remember his way around the city and all the places he wanted to visit and that was fine with him. Once he returned to the hotel with this last batch of cold medicine, he’d be off for a bit of shopping around town. Who knows? He might just find some new inspiration for his drag looks while he’s out there. That’d certainly be a plus.

As he was pondering over which stores he wanted to stop at first, a vibration from his pocket captured his attention. Curiously, he pulled the phone from his cargo shorts and felt his heart jolt a little as he recognized the name flashing across the screen. No other than ‘Roy/Bianca’ along with a small icon showing a fully beat and smiling face of the queen in question.

Somewhat amused and certainly wondering as to what his long-time friend could possibly need, Jaremi answered the phone on the fourth ring with a pleasant, “Hello?”

“Turn around, bitch,” came the joking voice on the other end.

Almost painfully, Jaremi instantly twisted himself around at Roy’s insistence and found the older queen speedwalking to meet him. The sharp turn caused his head to spin a little more than it ought have but Jaremi pushed the feeling aside as he greeted his close friend with a bright grin. Before he could even ask what Roy was doing here, he felt a light and friendly rap to his arm as the older queen bitched him out, “I was calling your name for the last two minutes. Looked like a fucking idiot with you ignoring me! You got earbuds in or something, bitch?”

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, Jaremi admittedly vaguely that he had just been lost inside his own thoughts for the last block or so. Rolling his eyes, Roy accepted the answer and asked what Jaremi was doing all the way out here.

“Vacation. Sightseeing,” the younger queen replied. “Just relaxing for once. What about you? Got another show out here or something?”

He knew that answer was unlikely. Not that he stalked Bianca’s tour schedule by any means, but he often made sure he was at least up to date on known shows and as of two days ago he was sure Roy was still tucked away somewhere in the US doing god-knows-what for his next tour. So it came as little surprise when Roy replied with a shrug of his shoulders, “No, just on vacation, too, I guess. If you could call it that. Courtney has some event next week and asked for my help. Figured I’d make a real trip out of it in the meantime. Relax too, you know?”

Nodding in perfect understanding, Jaremi knew all too well what Roy meant. After all, he was one of the hardest working queens in the business. He hardly ever took time off for himself. Even when he wasn’t touring, he always had his hand in something whether it was for a future project or just to help another performer. It was admirable but often Jaremi wondered if Roy would eventually burn out going on like this. It wasn’t his business but he did worry from time to time. More than he’d ever admit verbally to anyone.

Even now Roy seemed a bit anxious just to be doing something and seeing Jaremi must have felt like a godsend as he immediately proposed that the two head out for lunch and catch up. Jaremi could see that he was itching to talk about something of substance and didn’t have the heart to say ‘no’ or even to delay until later in the day. So he simply followed Roy in a state of reluctant obedience as he eagerly led them off down the street to a cafe he’d spotted the day he arrived. Roy had already been on his way there when he found Jaremi so it almost felt like a sign from the universe to invite the younger queen…if Roy believed in that sort of thing.

Though their styles of drag were quite a bit different, especially with Phi Phi lending herself more to cosplay as of late, there were still a number of similarities the two had bonded over. Whether it was creating new and unique looks, comparing tips on how to overcome certain costume design challenges, or just an easygoing kiki with one another as they gossiped over whatever drama had recently been stirred up in their drag centered universe. There was never a lack of topics to discuss, though today Jaremi seemed a bit out of it.

Normally he had a sharp wit, far more than what he’d normally dare say around most other queens, yet this afternoon he wasn’t nearly as quick with the shady remarks. Instead he let Roy dominate the conversation almost entirely rather their typical back and forth. Despite how much Jaremi had tried to hide it, he could feel his mind growing increasingly cloudy as their meal went on. He wished at the very least he had taken some of the medication he had brought but it almost felt a little rude to do so. If only he could subtly sneak off to take some of the pills but even going to the bathroom whilst carrying the bag would have been suspicious.

So all he could do was suffer in silence as his nose began to clog up and his throat felt increasingly dry in spite of however much he drank. And though Roy didn’t comment on it, he had certainly noticed the change from their typical kiki sessions. At first he thought Jaremi was simply tired, and once or twice he worried he was actually boring him, but still Jaremi was trying his hardest to pay attention, not even sparing a glance to his phone, so Roy figured it had to be something else.

One of Jaremi’s usual habits was to go all out on desserts, sampling at least one or two with every meal in a foreign country, but today he declined to even look at that particular menu. It was then that Roy knew for certain something was definitely off with the younger man. As they awaited their checks, he questioned his companion quite bluntly, “What’s up with you, queen? You’ve been out of it since we got here.”

Jaremi faltered for a moment before immediately trying to defend himself but Roy’s withering gaze stopped him mid-sentence. Ashamed, he reluctantly admitted that he was getting sick and hadn’t had a chance to take his next round of medicine before Roy had caught him on the street. He expected Roy to withdraw in concern for his own health because after all, his voice was his money maker, but instead Roy did something quite unexpected. He actually scooted his chair closer and around the table as he touched Jaremi’s wrist in concern. His brows knit together in sympathy that sharply contrasted his exasperated voice asking, “Why didn’t you say something? We could have done this another day! Or even just waited until we got back to the states!”

Shrugging Jaremi tried to play off the situation as though it weren’t as big a deal as Roy was making it. His voice was quiet and starting to show evidence of his illness as he replied, “It’s fine, really. The symptoms aren’t too bad. And it’s been awhile since we talked…It was nice just to catch up by ourselves.”

Shaking his head, Roy muttered, “Idiot.”

The statement would have been more scathing had it come from anyone else but Jaremi’s heart felt like fluttering again as he heard Roy state quite definitively, “Let’s get you back to your hotel.”

Their checks arrived at that moment and despite how usually he’d do anything to keep himself from acting like a child in front of strangers, Jaremi couldn’t stop himself from whining, “I have plans!”

“I don’t really care,” Roy declared apathetically with his trademark glare. “You’re going back to your hotel even if I have to walk you to your room myself.”

The pair stared each other down and if Jaremi had any intention of disobeying Roy’s demand, he ought to have pretended to give in right then but the silent argument went on long enough for Roy to figure out that he’d better follow through on his initially empty threat. Otherwise Jaremi would be back on the streets as soon as his back was turned, probably hacking up phlegm in just a few hours to boot.

No, if he wanted Jaremi to rest, he’d have to escort him back to his hotel and wait until the younger man fell asleep. Which shouldn’t be too long considering how heavy-lidded his eyes already looked.

Much like a rent-a-cop on duty, Roy ushered the protesting queen back to his hotel room. To his surprise it took little more than a sharp glare and a few cutting words to convince Jaremi to take his medication and at least sit on the bed. Beyond that, Jaremi utterly refused to do anything else to indulge Roy’s unwanted mothering. He was all but pouting and nearly on the verge of a temper tantrum that would have rivaled one of Alaska’s yet Roy stood firm with remarkable patience.

“Sleep will be good for you,” he reasoned in as best of a persuasive tone as could be managed, “You already look like you’re about to drop from exhaustion anyway.”

Jaremi couldn’t stop his eyes from rolling at the statement, however true it might be. His muscles were starting to give out and probably the only thing that kept him going right now was his desire to defy the older queen at every turn. But Roy was determined to outlast him. Despite how eager he was for something meaningful to do earlier; getting a sick Jaremi to relax and go to sleep seemed far more important. Deciding to take an approach he had followed a number of times before, he made a shooing motion with his hand and told him to lie on his stomach.

Skeptical, Jaremi only gave him a brief glance, essentially saying, ‘The fuck?’

Rolling his eyes once more, Roy urged him, “Just do it. I’m not gonna do anything sketchy or weird.”

Still, Jaremi was unconvinced…at least until he heard a quiet, almost suspiciously gentle attempt at persuasion, “I promise….Please lay down?”

It was highly unusual to hear such a tone from Roy. Typically he’d just give up after awhile or make some sort of scathing remark but today he was actually being…soft. It was a little off-putting but Jaremi found that he genuinely liked seeing this more caring side of his friend. Thinking at the very least he trusted Roy not to do anything unwholesome, Jaremi relented and laid on his stomach in the middle of the bed while his head rested on a pillow.

He turned to look at Roy as he carefully set himself down on the edge of the mattress so as not to cause it to dip any more than necessary. Just as the younger man was wondering what he planning, he felt the light trace, almost scratching of fingertips running across the expanse of his back. An involuntary shiver rose through his spine at the sensation but much to his surprise he found himself almost leaning into the touch for more.

His voice bordered on a happy purr as he admitted, partially muffled by the pillow, “That feels really good, actually.”

Practically hearing the smirk Roy was undoubtedly wearing, the older man mentioned, “Yeah, Adore loves it when I do this whenever she gets sick or hungover.”

Then almost immediately thinking better of it, he quickly added, “That doesn’t leave this room.”

There was an edge to his voice that caused Jaremi’s stomach to turn but all he gave Roy in response was a content nod. As was the Roy’s intention, the body beside him was slowly relaxing and drifting off to a lazy lull of a sleeplike state. Almost as an afterthought, and perhaps mostly influenced by his sick addled mind, Jaremi found the courage to ask, “What is going on between you two any way?”

This was a common topic of debate amongst the queens and fans alike but no one really had a satisfying answer. Figuring now was as good a time as any, Jaremi took his chance to ask Roy directly. Sounding quite used to the question, the older queen replied with a chuckle in his voice, “What do you think?”

He genuinely wanted an answer, Jaremi realized, and would wait very patiently until the younger man gave him one. Almost guiltily, he forced himself to examine both his own feelings and what he’d observed first and secondhand of the two queens’ atypical relationship. Sounding unsure yet still a bit hopeful, Jaremi answered softly, “I think…you’re just really good friends.”

He turned his head up to face Roy and study his reaction yet much to his surprise, he found a calm, pleased smile waiting for him. The elder queen nodded his head in confirmation and it was there they let that particular conversation drop. Burying his face into the pillow for a minute, Jaremi couldn’t deny just how light and happy he felt. His heart was racing and he was sure his illness had nothing to do with it but either way, he was satisfied with what he had learned.

He was almost at the point of falling asleep when Roy drew back his fingers. Jaremi’s drowsy eyes reopened and he turned to look at the older queen once more. He was mildly surprised to find Roy sliding fully onto the bed to lay beside him.

Trying not to let on just how happy was, Jaremi slowly drawled out, “Gonna stay here till I fall asleep?”

There was a hint of a smirk resting on Roy’s lips as he replied casually, “Maybe a little after that too…Is that alright?”

Feeling like a child who’d just gotten everything and more that they could ever want for Christmas, Jaremi nodded his head and bit back a quiet yawn.

Roy’s eyes had gone noticeably soft as he gazed down at the half sleeping form beside him, still struggling futilely to stay awake. He almost chuckled at the fruitless effort but hid it behind a fond smile instead. He raised a hand to ruffle Jaremi’s hair and urged him once more to finally go to sleep. This time there was no protest, no argument as the younger queen nodded and nestled himself snugly amongst the pillows.

In another very un-Roy-like behavior, he leant down and pressed a brief kiss to Jaremi’s cheek. In truth it was just a little too close the lips to have been accidental but Jaremi was all too willing to let that slide for the time being. All he said in response through his bright grin was a sing-songy declaration of, “You’re gonna get sick tomorrow.”

Shaking his head, Roy laughed softly and affirmed quite adamantly, “I’m not gonna get sick.”

“You’re definitely gonna get sick,” Jaremi mumbled half into the pillow as his eyes slid shut.

Whatever Roy said in response was muffled and unheard as Jaremi dozed off into a content, dream-filled state. True to Roy’s assertions, the next day he felt perfectly fine. Not a trace of Jaremi’s cold to be found in his system. The day after however…that was another story.

#rpdr fanfiction #albatross #bianca x phi phi #bianca del rio #phi phi o'hara #fluff #sick fic #submission #canon compliant #rare pair

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willdoitforher · 4 years

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EXPECTATIONS + everyone

PENELOPE my expectations for penelope were actually pretty spot on. i thought that the confidence wasn’t an act, which it isn’t. that’s genuinely her personality y’all. and then that she had more than the capability to be a soft bitch. i was also correct. what surprised were the next two things in particular. one, i didn’t realise her insistence on putting a stop to josie’s co-dependence was a cue to her own co-dependent traits and the longer she went along that path, the more they would be nurtured. it manifests differently than it does in josie, but it’s equally unhealthy. this girl literally died for her girlfriend. yikes. and two, i was surprised by how truly selfish she is. we all know she’s the selfish and josie is the selfless and so on but she is a genuinely selfish person. to her core. i was surprised by the truly relentless nature of her self interest and equally, the fact that her self awareness of it doesn’t make her want to change it. HOPE my expectations for hope were pretty consistent with her surface level reality. i always knew she had about 45 ongoing identity crises and that most of them tied in her family. adult vs teenager, desires vs duties. the typical heroine stuff. and while that’s still true, and is an absolutely enormous complex in her, i have come to realise i underestimated the true extent of her damage and how it affects her. the level of pathological doubt, abandonment and in turn saviour complex and desperation this girl has going on cannot be understated. i am truly surprised she functions as well as she does. i always knew she loved people hard and uniquely, as both part of being a mikaelson and simply part of being who she is, but i came to realise how deeply that runs. hope mikaelson’s love is like no other and it is consuming and can be overwhelming but it’s also incredibly beautiful. if she loves you, she’s going to love you for the rest of her life, whether she wants to or not. i now think that’s another reason why her i’m dangerous to people complex exists. she knows that the way she loves people has pushed them away before ( ie, in her mind, her father as a child ) and equally, she knows if she lets people in and loves them like she can and they leave, she’ll be fucked. people are dangerous to her too, but she can’t truly admit that without admitting why. like i said, i was surprised by how deep that runs.KAI at this point, i’ve been playing kai for a long time. he’s a violent, manipulative, incredibly intelligent sociopath. none of that has ever been a surprise. the one surprise that i found, that entirely subverted my expectations, was that he is capable of something akin to love that isn’t narcissism. this first became clear to me through his relationship with lizzie because, yes, it may have started out as manipulation with definitively malicious intent but it did bleed into genuine want to see her succeed. he might have given her stockholm syndrome but he’s given himself just as much of a problem. he cares about her now, wants to turn her into what, in his mind, jo could’ve been. it didn’t surprise me he’s given up hope on jo but it did surprise me that it’s projecting, subconsciously, onto lizzie. basically, he’s a made monster and everything that made him is still very much there. whether he acknowledges it or not. ETHAN me, a clown, hasn’t actually written ethan that much but i will give a few of my thoughts that are somewhat relevant. i expected the fact he’s a good guy to be consistent but he’s also very selfish with the way he feels. he might not use it in a manipulative, almost malicious in some cases way like penelope does, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. he won’t let anyone else be stepped over, yes, but he also won’t let himself be pushed around. he knows he’s a good guy and there’s a level of shit he simply won’t take. will 100% call people out on their bullshit eventually. unless you’re maya. then, well, you could get away with murder. his aggression is very intense and genuine ( probably even more intensified now that he’s triggered his curse ) but the lengths he’ll go to surprised me. he may have killed someone without recognising the situation, but the will to do so was still there. was it on an entirely moral ground? honestly, i don’t know. unchecked aggression and a morality complex can be a literally deadly combination. CHRISTIAN christian has taken all of three breaths so far but, thus far, everything has been consistent. major self preservation down to brushing truly corrupt things under the rug. accepts corruption as a part of life and more so a part of his life. his survival is paramount. everything else can burn in his wake. MAXWELL HARVEY/JACKSON ACKERY y’all know the maxwell story. as a tl;dr, obviously i didn’t expect him to turn out to be a cannibalistic, sado-masochistic psychopath with narcissistic personality disorder but here we are. i knew something was wrong from the echoes of neuroticism and fixation that were there from the start but when he started to turn the corner, it truly blindsided me. and even now, as i know what he is as a full picture, he still finds ways to surprise me each and everyday. he’s in a continual process of evolution and i truly have no idea where the train stops. as for jackson, he was actually a revamp of a previous muse, also called jacks. i gave him a revamp when i brought him back, basically totally changed his backstory, and i knew something was again a little off from the word go. he still cared about people, however, so i wasn’t that concerned. once max came into the picture however, who jackson was in full became clear very quickly. jackson is a very high functioning sociopath who’s sadism and violent tendencies have been nurtured well by max’s intentions and their symbiotic venom-esque relationship. the fact that jackson is still a consistent presence in max’s narrative and his own body surprised me, but it also has come to make perfect sense. they’re two halves of the same whole. they basically wrote themselves into existence and i just watched with rapt entertainment. CALLUM honestly, my expectations for callum have been pretty spot on. i knew he’d feel differently once he killed someone again and it became very clear to him everything he remembers is in fact real. it’s given him a sense of innocence lost that was to be expected, but not nearly as much as i thought. he hasn’t reverted back to the person he was when he was first alive but he also isn’t entirely callum, so to speak, anymore either. he’s in a path between and honestly, that makes sense to me. what will really come to interest me is what happens next. AIDY honestly, point blank, i expected aidy to basically be gay and bored and not much else. i was not right. i knew she had something going on, which as you can tell is a theme, but she really was just quiet and bored for a long time. it was only when she swapped bodies with harlow did i realise that her boredom isn’t boredom, so to speak. max, for example, is bored because he’s a narcissist who he thinks no one ( sans parker ) can measure up to him. that makes every interaction worthless in his eyes and therefore, makes him feel bored. aidy is simply apathetic. the reason she was quiet and bored was, actually, because she doesn’t feel anything. she feels one baseline emotion and sparks of things that could be compared to things like love, or excitement, or involvement that people even like max can feel. aidy can’t and doesn’t feel them. the only things that truly enthuse her so she looks like she can are murder, luxury, and bonding with people who feel the same way. they fill the void where her emotions would be. other than that, she exists at a cool medium. apart from max, i have to say she’s the muse i was most surprised by. pleasantly but still. BRADLEY like with ethan, i’m a clown and i haven’t written bradley all that much. i know that he’s a dumb bitch, primarily interested in the capitalist side of the world, and knows that he has to take responsibility for his stupidity. i don’t think he always does stupid things on purpose, but because he’s such a genuinely self-serving opportunist, it backfires on him 9 times out of 10. i think he’s learning from his mistakes, especially with the whole arlo situation that he feels genuinely bad about, but i don’t think it’s enough for him to entirely quit cold turkey.

#meme.#DAMN ALANA #i did it to em but damn #ofindcmitability

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abnormal-angel · 5 years

Text

Summary of My Favorite Quotes from the Enty Podcast (3/11):

Hey, I’m going to have to splice up the podcast audio because it is too long as is for Tumblr. I’ll try and do that tonight. But, I transcribed my favorite parts yesterday so I’ll post those for now.

I bolded the comments by Enty I enjoyed the most and put my comments in (parentheses) and italized. If nothing else this is a good refresher for the timeline of these two, her and JJ, and the Fatih of it all ;)

Enjoy!

-----

"Diane Kruger is an interesting story to me. And she is probably, she and Norman Reedus, are probably the #1 request I get...And it's, I don't know, it's the same. You know? Norman cheats, she forgives. She cheats, he doesn't care. That's kind of the thing."

(I still maintain this isn’t any real type of relationship. I mean he obviously is getting it a lot of other places besides her, meaning she just doesn’t do it for him, even in the bedroom. She just sticks arounf like the girl who hooked up with a guy and now is there every night watching him ignore her and flirt with everyone else in the room. Take the hint d. It is pretty pathetic, especially at this point.)

"I've never heard that they fight a lot. I think that they just...don't care. You know? Maybe they're just... Their apathetic, that's a good word.”

(That’s because he never wanted this to be serious or last this long. It is like two strangers sitting together at a table.)

[Talks about her ex-husband and their relationship]

[Talks about her and Joshua, more just friends than in love and there was overlap between Joshua and her ex-husband]

[Norman has let it slip that there is nothing "kinky" about Diane]

(aka boring as fuck in bed lol! Let’s be real the man loves sex and I bet he enjoys mixing it up a bit at times, she obviously doesn’t fulfill him. I bet she just lays there lol!)

"Norman will have sex with anybody. He'll make the moves on anybody. And obviously, this is something Diane wanted... It happened Dec 2015, that's when the first inkling of it came up. And of course, she was still with Joshua at that time. And this totally makes sense, the story went that Norman and Diane were tipsy and he was on whiskey, she was on vodka, and they were making out in front of everybody. That totally sounds like every single Norman Reedus hookup ever! Okay? I've been writing Norman Reedus tips and they are all exactly the same. Comic con... drunk, go back to the hotel room, have sex, repeat the next day. That's his thing.

So when you hear the story and they’re in the bar and their drunk, I totally get it. There you know what happened. I 100% believe that's what happened and I think that perhaps Diane thought then maybe there was more to it or something? [he giggles at the thought] So, yeah they made out. Then she got him into a chair and she's straddling him. Which would lead you to believe that maybe things with Joshua aren't that great..."

(So again he was three sheets to the wind and that was the only reason she got him to make out with her. I go back to what I was told about on lookers saying he looked very uncomfortable when she was straddling him. So I have to wonder if his whiskey buzz had worn off by then and he wondered wtf he had just done.

And yeah she probably thought he would worship her ass and she would have him in the palm of her hand. But, I guess she really doesn’t know who he is and that to him this act wasn’t a serious thing. She legit was in his mind probably equivalent to a one night stand. Although Enty didn’t say anything about them leaving together and if I remember correctly he left alone not long after she straddled him and made an ass out of them both.)

[Talk about how awful she looked in this situation because she hadn't put it out there that she and Joshua had split when she was seen making out with Norman. She looks awful and "Norman doesn't care..."]

(He didn’t care because she wasn’t anything he was very interested in and it was a one time thing in his mind. Also remember when he heard she lied to him about not being with JJ anymore he ghosted her and pimp Fabienne had to pull him back in with a work related excuse.)

"Now she had said in an April 2016 article that she had never met Norman before filming Sky. She said, "We share a lot of intimate scenes and I was scared about meeting him and not being able to have a drink with him or talk with him." and "I would not recommend having your better half on set, when you have to film intimate scenes with another man," she said. I think that they were filming the movie, they start hooking up, and Joshua visits the set and he can see.”

(Funny drinking with him is the first thing that comes to mind before even talking to him! lol! Her only love besides herself is the bottle!)

(Also this is where I personally disagree. I do not think they hooked up on set. I think she tried several times but after she lied to him that trust for her was gone with him. Also, he had to have seen she was trying to latch onto him and not wanting anything serious I doubt he would be messing around with her when she was following him around like a puppy. But, that’s my opinion.)

“The weird part was you had this happen in Dec 2015. But Diane and Josh didn't announce their split until July 2016. So 8 months after the fact. So what you had was everybody just blasting Diane Kruger for 8 months. And hurting Pacey, everybody loves Pacey. Nobody likes Diane Kruger. They don't have an emotional attachment to Diane Kruger...”

(”Nobody likes Diane Kruger.” - HAHAHA! Ain’t that the truth! Because she is a cold-hearted b*tch to everyone!)

“Over the time of the blog I've down 75 photos of Diane Kruger..75 pictures. She's maybe, maybe, wearing jeans in 2 of them. And I think it took me a decade to see her in a pair of jeans. I always thought about her who cared more about herself and fashion than anything else. And that Joshua was more like an accessory that had to be there. Much like a handbag or a pair of sunglasses...I think Joshua was always an accessory. And then Norman Reedus became that luxury item that you splurge on and break the bank with. And that's kind of what she wanted and Norman's that kind of guy for it.

(Well she certainly broke her career chasing after a man who didn’t want her!)

(I love the accessory comment because it really is true. When she was with JJ I always could tell she really only loved being with him for the camera and media attention. Norman is the very same thing to her, nothing more than her meal ticket to have an excuse to be in the media because otherwise no one cares about her or her career. She is a user.)

"Let's go back to 'Everybody Likes Pacey.'... Everybody in general public likes Pacey and Diane let herself be hammered for 7 or 8 months, 'homewrecker, homewrecker, homewrecker!" And what did they say about Norman Reedus? "Eh, It's Norman." So who's taking the brunt? Diane. Who's getting the sympathy votes? Joshua...

Anyway. She said about it in an interview in 2017 about why they waited until July of 2016. She says, "That break up was a long time coming. Also, we broke up many months before we said we were broken up, so by the time I made that decision it didn't feel like it was so urgent anymore. You don't break up overnight after 10 years, you know what I mean? It wasn't like an urgent, 'omg I can't sleep at night thing,' It felt liberating that I didn't have to worry about that anymore. So that I could immerse myself 100% into something else. That something else was the German language movie, "In the Fade."" Hmmm! "A role she won best actress at Canne's film festival in May."

“Okay. So, do you think that In the Fade coincided with that first time that she got pregnant? Right? So, maybe Diane was seeing Norman but he was seeing 50 other people. So, Diane and the director of In the Fade!

(I heard she has had a few abortions, not miscarriages btw)

And Diane of course... This is how bad she is at this. By letting herself get hammered for 7 or 8 months... After 8 months of letting herself get hammered, she finally tries to get her friends to blame Josh, claiming he messed around for years and holding her career back because he was jealous. [sighs] Pacey doesn't have anything to be jealous about and Joshua Jackson can work all day long... But he was holding her back and he was jealous? She was working all the time. I don't think he was holding her back. The thing is she's never gonna be an A list actress, it's just not in the cards for her. People don't like her and now they like her less. Her cue scores are terrible!”

(She is never going to be an A list celeb. If she was meant to she would be by now. All she has ever been is a mediocre nobody who has to use men to get media attention.)

[Talks about Joshua's team saying she cheated and she was ruthlessly obsessed with her career over the relationship.]

"And again, I think that she... You can't tell everything about someone by the way someone dresses. But when you're seen at any kind of casual place and you're the one person who's wearing a chanel suit or a chanel dress, when everyone else is in shorts and flip flops or jeans and sneakers, and it happens all the time! It just gives everybody the impression that 'oh she thinks she is so much better than us.' And in Diane's case, she does think she's better than everybody. And maybe she is! I'm not saying she's not.

I'm just not a huge fan of Diane Kruger. And I don't know a lot of people who are!

(My favorite line of the whole podcast lmao! SO TRUE!)

"And when they say, 'oh her friends,' I thought to myself what friends does she have? She doesn't. She has some guy friends. And I suppose they could have stuck up for her. But, she doesn't. Go look. Go back and find older pictures of her and see if you can find pictures of her hugging other women at parties or something. Maybe a co-star she's hugging on the red carpet that she's just filmed with and you'll never see her with that actress again. She's just not very loved..."

"She's hooking up with Norman but Norman's hooking up with 55 other people."

"They were totally platonic, they were separated... She was just, there." (Art exhibit Dec 2016)

Feb 2016 - garage pap pics

(with Fatih also through this time)

March 2017 - pap walk from hell

"I'm not saying she reads the site. But, I will say a lot of publicists read the site. Whenever I have a blind about Diane Kruger and like Norman hooking up with a co-star, that he hooks up with from time to time or regularly or frequently. Whenever I write something like that, remarkably, magically she will have some kind of post, usually within hours, but always by the next day, where she's facetiming him or an instagram post talking about how much in love they are. It's always like that. You never see those posts from her until there's something negative written and then the next day boom it's there!"

(It is a definite pattern for her! She basically ignores him unless someone starts questioning her rag fake storyline of “romance.” So contrived and she is so predictable!)

"So they had their child in November of 2018. So if you backtrack that she would have gotten pregnant in what? February? January? Something like that... So, let's say they were together from December 2017 and started trying to have the baby... There is that time though were you can definitely make the case that she was with the in the fade director. And I wonder, because there are plenty of rumors, that Norman Reedus, that he got a vasectomy. Because he's having so much sex with the comic con people right? And condoms break. And he didn't want to have 50 kids running all over, dressed as Walking Dead characters. So I've always wondered I don't know chemicals or something, it's possible. Plus she's 42 and she had a miscarriage before. Which is to be expected when you're having a baby and your over 40."

(She was with Fatih most of November and nearly all of December 2017. She barely saw Norman except in Costa when she was told to bring friends because he wasn’t hanging with her. So, being that cold to her I doubt they were screwing.)

(Also remember that article saying in March of 2018 she was seen in that warehouse district with Fatih? That was right after she trolled baby bump on the set of The Operative. If she was pregnant with Norman’s kid why would she be meeting up in secret with Fatih?)

(I also have always believed he was snipped. He enjoys himself too much not to be and have no accidental kids in 20 years since planned Mingus.)

"She's always been very private about the child...And here's the thing, she has never really been private about anything! You can always get her photo, right? Streets, red carpets, she'll do it all, met gala. She very, very, much wants to have her picture taken. She's that kind of actress who needs that publicity to stay relevant. Okay? Because she has to force herself out amongst it. She's not the type of person that the paparazzi gets all excited about. So she needs to push it. She needs to push where she is. She needs to do those kind of things.

Having a child of Norman Reedus and Diane Kruger, living in New York, you push that baby out in a stoller? You're gonna get some pictures. You're going to be in the tabloids every single day. And that's the kind of thing she needs to keep her career going at 42 years old... People are interested, it's more about Norman, but they want to know about this baby.

There is a lot of speculation that he is not the dad. Sperm wise or other. And the vasectomy thing, yes you can get them reversed. But it could be, has anybody's wondered, it could be perhaps that she doesn't want the child photographed. She has done her instagram thing, 'please do not like or retweet or anything like that about photos of the baby.' And I wonder if that's because the baby doesn't exactly look like Norman. So I want to know if she used a sperm donor. And I think that it's highly likely that she did. To me that makes more sense then him reversing a vasectomy.

(I definitely 1000% believe this kid is not his. Sperm donor or surrogate still makes most sense to me. And yeah why hide the baby? She is not private at all and LOVED trolling that this was his kid when it was in her womb - supposedly. So, why hide it now? She is lying about something with this kid and if it doesn’t look like him that would definitely explain it!)

He is a kind of guy who likes to have fun. You know? If they do end up splitting I think what you'll see is.. I wonder if he'll even, if... the true tell will be if he spends a lot of time on visits and things like that, if he's co-parenting, or if he just kind of fades away.”

“I think he thinks that she's trying to hang onto him. Which may very well be. Because since the time that she's been with Norman she makes much more news. She and Josh were kind of boring. But they were there and they were taking pictures all the time and they would get themselves out. But Norman's on a whole other level because so many people are fascinated with his life and the ins and outs of it and there are all these kinds of walking dead message boards... And like I said, I get the most requests for them out of anything.

(Norman isn’t wrong. She is desperate to hang onto him. But it has nothing to do with loving him and everything to do with loving the media attention.)

But it always is, when you have actresses and actors who always get their pictures taken but then all of a sudden become reluctant when it comes to the children and then you wonder, okay is this the real children?”

(I think he meant is this the real parent.)

“And I don't understand Diane, because Norman doesn't seem her type really. He chain smokes, he drinks every night, he's always on the road, he loves comic cons. It doesn't seem as if the parental life is for him. Ya know? He will.. He loves going back to work! In Georgia, away, he knows that Diane's not coming down to Georgia.

(No media attention in GA and she isn’t allowed to pap the set.)

He canceled a convention he was scheduled to attend because Diane basically made him. She doesn't like him meeting the female fans. She gets super jealous. And he likes meeting the female fans. And if she keeps trying to keep him from seeing stuff, it's not gonna work.

(What’s interesting to me is it seems like he let her semi tag along for years when she didn’t say anything or bother him about his hook ups. But lately she has been getting more and more jealous - probably because she knows he has lost all interest in her, which is why she trolled the pregnancy in the first place. But, she is going to wreck herself by doing this. It is obvious Norman loves his freedom and wants to be able to do whatever the fuck he wants. The more demanding she gets the more she will push him away.

(p.s. fuck you for making him cancel a con, jealous bitch! If you were so comitted and in love with each other he wouldn’t prefer other women to you. Face reality and fug off!)

What's interesting is when Norman goes to these comic cons, he was still wanting to take pictures with everybody, every single female fan. He was, 'take a picture, take a picture, take a picture,' he doesn't care. Now though he doesn't want the photos taken, with Diane [being so jealous], because it interferes. Because then she gives him a hard time and then he can't go. The hooking up that goes on it's just, it's crazy.”

-----

Alright! That’s what I got! I don’t know if he is going to out more or not. He seemed like he wanted to dig around and see if he could find out if she had a sperm donor. I am still on the fence about her even carrying a kid! I also wanted to know a little more about the TH. So, I guess we will have to see if he outs more!

I’ll try and get the audio up soon after I splice it into parts!

#dk wank #enty

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raendown · 5 years

Link

The first actual chapter of my @narutosecretsanta story for @sealkay, this one an actual chapter-ish length.

Sorry about the angst on Christmas...XD

Pairing: MadaraTobirama Chapter: 2/18 Word count: 1655 Summary: When Tobirama is exiled from the Senju clan without warning, without even the chance to plead his case, it feels like his life is over. What does he have to live for now without his older brother to believe in him? Captured by the Uchiha in his moment of weakness, Tobirama slowly learns to live again with the last people on earth he would have ever expected to care for - or to fall in love with.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI in the blog header!

Chapter 2

Exile. Several days later and Tobirama still could not believe the judgment his own brother had passed. A lifetime of devoting every waking hour to protecting his people, honing his skills to support their clan in the best ways he knew how, and what did he have to show for it? Nothing. Only the cold echoing in his ears of the last words Hashirama had spoken to him whispering through his brain again and again on poisonous repeat.

That he had been allowed to live was almost a worse punishment than if they had simply ended his life and been done with it. It would have hurt less. Instead he had been turned away from the only home he’d ever known with nothing but the clothes on his back, stripped of everything he had had ever loved both tangible and intangible. His weapons were taken, his lifelong projects left behind, and he was allowed to take with him nothing that bore the Senju crest. He himself could no longer bear the Senju name, banished from the only home and the only people he had ever known.

All he had left in this world was the name Tobirama and a heart that felt too heavy to bear.

For a time he wandered, aimless and unsteady. The cautious looks some of the elders had given him made it all too obvious they worried he would go against them in anger, though none of them dared to suggest Hashirama sentence him to death for his supposed crimes. A part of him wished they had. With the earth taken so quickly from beneath his feet like that he was left off-balance, harmless and fragile in his state of shock, but he knew that even if he was ever able to pull himself together after such a blow he could never bring himself to attack the people he had loved for so long. Without his clan, his brother, he was nothing. And as nothing he wandered.

Eventually he recognized the sensation of hunger and the ache in his feet from walking without rest but he hadn’t the care to solve either of those problems. His mind, always working too fast for his own good, planned and strategized and provided him with several different options for where to go. Even without the Senju name he would still easily be able to find allies, contacts that owed their loyalty to him personally rather than to the clan as a whole. He didn’t care for any of that either. All he cared about was the memory of how Hashirama had turned away from him, the broken-hearted sorrow in those beloved eyes that told him he had hurt his most precious person so deeply that they could no longer bear to have him in their life. A shinobi’s career was measured in terrible deeds but this, of all things, was too much to live with.

Eventually he collapsed. The human body can only go so long with sleep or water and he couldn’t remember the last time he stopped for either. It was possible he had been wandering for several days, although he hadn’t any solid notion of precisely how much time had slid by in his fog of denial. Tobirama felt his knees growing weak but he forced himself to continue walking until finally they bent and folded under him in utter collapse. He did note the trajectory of his own fall yet he didn’t bother to dodge the tree, simply allowed his forehead to crash in to the bark and welcomed the sweet bliss of unconsciousness.

When he woke again it was slowly and with reluctance, almost more upset with the tree for not finishing the job than he had been with Hashirama. A ridiculous notion, he realized, to expect a simple bump on the head to kill a man of his caliber, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood for thinking rationally at the moment. Tobirama gave himself another couple of minutes to wallow in his own misery simply because he thought he deserved to before eventually all the years of training kicked in and he cracked his eyes open to inspect his surroundings.

He expected nothing more around him than the same trees and bare dirt he collapsed in to before, perhaps the addition of a curious animal or a few more fallen leaves. What he found was bare wood flooring, a dark room with no windows, his arms unbound but his chakra made inaccessible by the seals painted on the walls opposite of where he rested. Tobirama lay still and waited for the anger, the panic, something; any sort of normal reaction for when one realizes one has been taken captive. It should have been worrisome that instead all he felt was empty. Nothing in the room gave any indication of who had found and captured him in his moment of weakness and he had no idea what they intended to do with him but the survival instincts he had relied on for so many years were just…quiet. Muffled. Banked down by the overwhelming pain in his chest whenever he thought about why he had collapsed in the forest.

They could do what they like with him, really. Surely nothing could be worse than the fate he was already suffering through.

It was hours before anyone came, more than long enough for his incurious eyes to wander around and take in a few more details about the space he’d been contained in. Sturdy looking metal bars kept him separated from half of the room, the half with a door leading outside. A single bare lightbulb hung from the ceiling of the far side of the room, unlit, leaving his only source of light to be the few rays creeping in from underneath the door. Were he inclined towards positive emotions at the moment he would have been impressed that wherever this was had electricity. Most clans and villages hadn’t bothered; some cleaved to the old ways while some were too poor to afford such a luxury. Other than a table and two chairs on the other side of the bars there wasn’t much else in the room, nothing to distract his mind from the vast emptiness inside.

Tobirama hadn’t bothered to move from his curled position on the floor by the time the door finally opened and confident steps approached, deliberately loud in the way only a shinobi could be. Civilians scuffed their feet when they walked. Trained killers put pressure in the heel and consciously rolled their foot in a certain way when they were trying to make noise.

“Still dead to the world, huh?” a voice asked as the light was turned on, tantalizingly familiar to his ears. Not that he could be bothered to wonder why it was familiar or puzzle them out. It didn’t really matter who had him. He would die as easily on one blade as he would on another.

Footsteps falling back in to habitual silence, the man came forward until pale feet and dark trousers properly bound for a mission came in to view. Tobirama stared apathetically at the dirt on the plain sandals just outside his little cage until his captor spoke again, words dripping with an attitude he knew even better than the sounds of that voice, identity revealed by the cadence of insults he had been listening to since early childhood.

“Ah, so you’re awake after all,” Izuna said. “You think you can ignore me, Senju?”

“M’not a Senju,” Tobirama whispered. His eyes continued to stare at the other man’s sandals for no reason other than that they were standing where he happened to be facing.

“Don’t pull that shit. You were identified on sight – not hard, you albino freak – and we made sure to check for transformations or any other nonsense before bringing you in.”

Closing his eyes, Tobirama curled a little tighter in to himself and said nothing.

“Awww, is the little Senju scared of the big bad Uchiha?”

“I am not a Senju,” he repeated, almost choking himself trying to force the words out. Something crashed against the bars of his cage.

“Don’t try my patience,” Izuna snapped. “You’re toothless in here. We need you alive as a bargaining chip but that doesn’t mean we need you in perfect condition. There’s a lot of things I could do to you that you would hate to live through, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh. Was that your plan?”

He laughed but it was a hollow sound, a broken sound. Tobirama felt his body convulsing with the need for food, drink, proper rest, and all he did was continue to laugh until Izuna kicked at the bars again in a fit of temper.

“What’s so funny? You think you’re too good for torture? Well I’ve got news for you–”

“I’m afraid your plan to ransom me or to bargain my life for the Senju’s cooperation will not work.” Opening his eyes again, he rolled them up to look at Izuna for the first time, distantly noting that the man looked incredibly different with his hair out of its usual ponytail. “Go get yourself a real Senju; they didn’t want me anymore.”

The man he had long thought of as his greatest enemy stayed for more than an hour trying to get him to talk again but admitting that much had been more reality than he was prepared to face so soon. Tobirama tucked his head down and set his eyes resolutely on the bare skin around his wrists, blocking out the world and letting his mind drift to better places. Izuna’s words ran off him like a gently flowing river until suddenly there was silence.

He was left alone with the slamming of a door and a furious extinguishing of the light but Tobirama hardly noticed. The darkness was bliss and he drifted once more.

#rae writes #madatobi #tobirama #izuna #fanfiction

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chalabrun · 6 years

Text

between the dirt & desperation, ch. 2

Word count: 2,420 Pairings: Symbrock Rating: T Warnings: Animal death, non-sexual vore, violence Summary: Sequel to “Angry & Half in Love with You”, it’s been well over a month since Eddie moved away from San Francisco to start over in his hometown of Manhattan. Yet, it’s difficult to return to a normal life when what you were once addicted to becomes addicted to you. A/N: This is a crossover between Venom (2018) and Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy (2002-07)

( READ ON AO3 )

The symbiote was relentlessly starved when they finally made some sort of harbor a dark place where grime crawled deeper and lower than the rats Venom gorged itself upon, being generous, ginger. It withdrew from coating the whole of Eddie’s body and instead emerged like a serpent, slithering and bobbing as it devoured what it could while Eddie watched on apathetically. Not because he didn’t care, but because it held less horror for him than it should. Those few days together—had it been less? Whatever it was, there had been no time to slow down and think. Here and now, in the deafening silence, there was.

Without having to be told, he knew that it’d known Maria. They had been together for a time, and it let him access that trust through the hum of tension. The hum that sometimes growled. A pigeon panicked and squawked when Venom lunged and crushed the bird in its jaws in a sickening crunch of finality, feathers and thin talons sticking from its jaws before swallowing it down whole. Then, more rats. More crunching and devouring and sick noises instead of what hung in the air like a noose.

Eddie squatted on a crushed cardboard box while it ate, unwilling to shut his eyes lest he saw what Venom did. The blood, the viscera, a taste that would make him retch if he let himself. His skin felt clammy. Oh, he’d been sweating. His clothes clung to his body unpleasantly, almost like he’d been dipped in water. Was it him, or Venom? He couldn’t tell anymore.

All he did know was, in the silence, there wasn’t any censor. While Venom feigned like it was fully absorbed in foraging for prey, everything passed between them. Every badly suppressed sensation, emotion. The cautious relief, the tension, the anxiety—those were Venom’s, he thinks. Or was it both? All Eddie really knew was his own caution, the tension, the suspicion, the—oh. So, there was some overlap. Did he fear it? Suddenly, everything he’d done came in sharp relief and the last month had felt like withdrawal. This…it was like taking a hit but getting none of the high.

Being too fucking aware to drown in the weird colors, to smell sound.

“So, how long are we gonna hole down here and pretend what happened didn’t, Ven?” It’s asked suddenly, tiredly, and now Venom flinches. He can feel it all the way up the appendage. Like a shiver down a spine. His spine, Venom’s? Or theirs. Regardless, Eddie sounded tired, frustrated. Probably not the most inviting front.

Venom slurps down the last rat. It’s morbid seeing it slide down his throat, and he can’t stand to watch. He pressed a finger to his temple, expelling a weary and terse sigh.

“…We’re sorry, Eddie. There’s just so much we didn’t understand—”

He can feel it. Like Venom is going to crumble, like he’d blow away if he didn’t clamor towards Eddie and twist around him for dear life. Eddie wants it, too. He wants it so much he can feel his fingers twitching, biceps tense like they’d open up at the slightest insistence and seize the symbiote in a crushing embrace. But, they can’t. Not yet. Not when Eddie doesn’t trust it. Even if he can feel its fragility, its heart that throbbed painfully.

Not when he can’t distinguish what belongs to whom.

“…Could’ve asked me. I wouldn’t have minded, y’know. Just sat down and watched some fuckin’ boring documentary about… I dunno, goddamn Plato for somethin’. Freud. Those guys. Knew all about how humanity ticks.” Eddie dropped his face in his hand, digging into the hair at his hairline as he watched a trickle of water run past to a storm sewer. He wanted to sleep. But, he couldn’t just leave things hanging like this.

A drop on his forehead. Who…? Nah, it was just beginning to rain. He forgot how cold and dreary Manhattan could be. Glancing towards Venom, the symbiote looking like the alien equivalent of a kicked puppy, the downpour starting.

“Com’mere. I don’t want ya gettin’ all soaked like that.” Putting his hood up, Venom retracted some back into his body, like ink soaking up parchment. The part that remained hung on the hoodie’s collar and tucked itself beneath his chin, warm and pliant beneath his stubble. Meekly did Venom rub himself against his chin, which admittedly tickled. Eddie broke out in a quick grin and chuffed softly, which earned a relieved pause from Venom as it continued to nuzzle into his jawline.

It was a start, at least.

“…We don’t want to end up like last time. We missed you, Eddie. …We want a second chance.” Venom’s words were quiet and admissive, and totally vulnerable. He could feel a tightness in his chest that wasn’t his own.

Eddie nodded, a thoughtful silence descending even as he got soaked, rain dripping from the lip of his hood. “I wanna trust you, Ven. I do, it’s just— …Funny. How people all over the world lead these fuckin’ lonely lives. Top brass. Lowest scum. And everyone in between who doesn’t have anyone to understand them. Not in the way they wish they could. Boy, if they knew the damn cost of it all.” Venom filled a side of Eddie’s hoodie, nuzzling yearningly into the blond’s cheek and rubbing affectionately. Absently, he grazed his lips against the symbiote that began purring deeply. “And now, I got it. Y’think it wouldn’t be this fuckin’ complicated, sharing headspace an’ all.”

Venom breathed softly against Eddie’s neck, pressing into his pulse. “You were kind to her. We saw it through her eyes. You were a good friend.”

Eddie swallowed thickly. “Yeah,” he agreed hoarsely, voice cracking huskily, feeling his eyes mist wetly. “Too bad she ain’t here to say so. Fuck—”

“You’re a real hard guy to track down, Brock. Guess I’m lucky you didn’t get very far.”

Eddie reared to stand and upset whatever water had been accumulating on him, like a statue suddenly come to life, perched over a gloomy autumn fountain and under a funeral shroud sky. There was the red. Red he remembered. But somehow shouldn’t but did. Spiderman. He’d seen him before in the papers, but that red looked different in person. Realer. Too vivid for a dark city.

“Spiderman? Th’ hell’re you doin’ here?” Eddie asked in surprise, Venom having vanished at the right time.

“Enough of the talk. You’ve got the symbiote, Brock. A lot of people are gonna get hurt if you don’t give it up.”

“What, is there a crime against loiterin’ in alleyways? Or are ya suddenly an avenger for fuckin’ vermin?” the blond demanded incredulously, those inscrutable opaque lenses making it impossible to tell what the vigilante was thinking. He could feel Vernom’s trepidation evolve into something malicious, tenebrous shadow building behind him like a nascent forest fire.

“Spiderman!” Venom seethed menacingly, claws curling and fangs bared menacingly. Its eyes narrowed to slits, Eddie feeling its inky substance creep up his skin and over his clothes. So, it was really coming to that? That they’d be the villains jumping innocent people in dark alleyways?

Spiderman poised himself to attack, reflexively wheeling a step back when Venom’s form grew like a cloud, sucking Eddie into that familiar black mist. “Wait—you two know each other?”

“Boy, I wish it was just a mutual acquaintanceship, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t know what a threat that thing is, Brock. And you’re in danger if you keep using it!” Spiderman proclaimed in a truer accusation. “You have no idea what this thing is really capable of.”

The cogs in Eddie’s brain began turning. “Wait—so you were the schmuck who handed Ven over to those exploitive creeps?!” Anger. There it was. Like finding a pilot light beneath a tank of petrol and lighting it. There was an emotion he didn’t mind sharing for once. And it was symbiotic between them.

A rumbling noise interrupted what the two were saying. “I bonded with him temporarily, Eddie. Because…I missed it. I missed us. Spiderman treated us like another suit. It lasted for a few days before a Dr. Richard Reeds parted us.” The hiss it uttered was low and banal, burgeoning with resentment. And now, of course Spiderman wanted to do the right thing and put them on the slaughterhouse floor they liked to call justice. “We’re a monster to him, Eddie.”

Whatever had gone on between them suddenly didn’t matter. Spiderman acted on impulse and slung his webbing on two dumpsters and hauled them back manfully, both metal cannisters careening and bouncing roughly on concrete before Venom enveloped him completely, like drowning in those 20,000 leagues under the sea without a submarine. It was familiar, like a womb. They were one again.

“YOU HURT US!” Venom roared as it caught one of the dumpsters and pitched it at Spiderman who reflexively leaped over it. “And now—you threatened to hurt Eddie! We’ll never forgive you!” It was less heartbreak here and more a possessive and righteous anger. At least, righteous to them. Here, in the darkness, everything felt right. Only Spiderman was wrong. He would never part them!

“Brock, if you’re in here, listen to me: I know how it feels! It feels great, at first. But this…this thing, it’s leeching on everything wrong! It makes it worse and—” Venom roared indignantly and tore the other dumpster in two, leaping to bear the weight on its blow that Spiderman barely avoided, vaulting into the air several feet up and racing up the side of the building. “—It’s going to ruin you if you keep this up!”

“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!” Venom roared furiously, its own webbing soaring its body into the sky as it gave chase to Spiderman who took off in hot pursuit of a place predictably further away from civilians. “We won’t let you or anyone else separate us ever again!” Rage. The white-hot, poetic rage that would make the stars tremble. A romantic rage of tortured poets who saw the futility of gray skies and death. It was here, raw and maligned. Except towards Eddie. Despite everything, nothing could make it hurt Eddie.

His Eddie.

Spiderman landed squarely against the side of a warehouse, practically soundless. He couldn’t let innocent people get hurt, but inside no one was there in the charge of shifts. Maybe it’d cause damage, but all he cared about was the preservation of life. Not lost assets.

Adroitly did he use his webbing to open a narrow enough window near the roof and catapult his way through it, assessing his surroundings in the blink of an eye. The stacks were at least a few stories high, enough to provide ammunition against the symbiote. And—speakers!

Venom rocketed through the same window with a loud violence, struggling to squeeze through compared to the slender Spider. Glass shards rained as it landed heavily, a shake in the air as its tongue tasted the air. “We can hear you, little spider! Climbing higher up the water spout, ha!” the symbiote taunted, arrogance rife in its very veins. It stalked the long avenues of boxes and paraphernalia, Spiderman high aloft and studying its movements.

Wait—were those exhaust vents? And tankards of gas.

That gave him an idea.

“Hey, ugly! Over here!” The jeer got Venom’s attention, the symbiote snarling as it propelled itself upwards and swung through the rafters, just rows away from Spiderman. The masked arachnid dropped down when Venom barreled through and came too close, landing deftly on his feet before he found the exhaust vents. It was natural gas—perfect!

Venom waited for a brief moment, scenting the air for Peter. Quietly, and as swiftly as he could, he knocked off the spouts of two of the two natural gas tanks and a high pennywhistle of air pitched and already the stench of natural gas flooded the room. Booking it from the narrow office, he stood before and where Venom could see him. Luckily, the office’s doors looked sturdy and all but one entrance were locked, as there was only one way in or out.

“Looking for me? Guess we’re like the tortoise and the hare here, aren’t we, big guy?”

Already with a thin pride as it was, Venom snapped and devolved into a galloping morass of oily sludge as it raced towards him, Peter running headlong towards it as if embracing death. Except, he wasn’t. The smell of gasoline was acrid and likely set to implode at any minute.

At the last second did Peter dive aside while Venom barreled heedlessly into the office, ramming into several desks and overturning them in the process. Papers upset by the collision created a hail of white, obscuring their view while Peter locked the office shut with the fumes pent up inside, using his webbing to topple a row of shelving that landed cacophonously and shed its merchandise to effectively lock the pair inside, hauling it with inhuman strength to barricade the windowless room shut.

Feeling the very air shimmer with heat, Peter launched himself skyward and propelled himself by slinging through the skylight, willing that he was right and no one else was around to get hurt. He raced away as fast as his webs could take him, several blocks so before an explosion rocked the air and he was sundered to skid to a stop on a sidewalk, the silent night brightening hellishly as an inferno erupted and plumes of smoke roiled enormously and black into that grey sky, dying it sable.

Peter coughed and groaned softly, rolling on his back as he slowly got himself back on his feet, wiping away a skid mark of dirt on his mask.

Police and fire engines raced past, a cold breeze of their speeding coloring the night that same, vivid red. So different from the violence several blocks away, the vigilante’s heart heavy with a deep regret.

He didn’t like it when people died. Especially people who didn’t know what they’d gotten themselves into, but what choice did he have? Peter watched on as people slowly emerged from their homes, bundling themselves in coats and shawls as they gossiped worriedly for the flames licking the sky.

Peter bowed his head.

He had to get home. His Aunt May would be wondering where he was. Especially after all of this.

#eddie brock #venom #symbrock #veddie #peter parker #crossover #vore cw #kinda #if this doesn't make the fandom hate me idk what will :'D #angst gremlin here with more angst woop woop

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cvenir · 6 years

Text

here i am to introduce EIGHT characters that i actually thought i had already introduced lmao set me on fire !! but yay, take a look under the cut! ofc eventually proper bios will hit my pages and their tasks will expand much more on my children! as always, pinterests and songs are linked if u wanna go a lil deeper

just kidding i drafted that when i was aCTUALLY gonna do 8 but thankfully tea says she won’t accept me until i post 2 intros so yOU SHALL RECEIVE 2 RN and 8 later <33333 gotta keep y’all on your toes heh also i wrote niall’s in my journal on the plane so like... it’s not great (literally just bullets of sentence fragments) but wtvr that’s what bios are for amirite

NIALL O'DONOGHUE looks an awful lot like TARON EGERTON. HE is TWENTY-EIGHT and while they're ASTUTE, they have a tendency to get pretty ARDUOUS. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to DON'T WANNA FALL IN LOVE by KYLE (ok his pinterest is incredibly unfinished look away)

v conflicting mix of soft and hard

king of suppressing his lowkey intense feelings

kinda awkward around others due to the fact that he spent his entire life reading, writing, and studying –– he rarely interacted with other people as a kid and this mostly continued into his adult life

sweet soft boi has a double masters in medieval and renaissance studies and french and romance philology; he’s working on his phd rn while interviewing to become an assistant professor at kola university

grew up w a single mom (never knew dad) and had no siblings so his childhood was even lonelier :////

so like mad libs = his bff :’(

well mad libs and the shoulder flashlight he invented for late night reading (shoutout to amy santiago)

v soft and passionate heart

loves intellectual discussions like my boi has v strong gemini/virgo/mercury influences –– and a libra (or taurus i haven’t decided yet) venus so waTCH OUT

takes friendship v seriously (love u grant <333 @mcnuggcts )

buttt he can be a giant asshole sorry i don’t make the rules

v organized and particular

and scared of getting close to people bc he’s so used to being alone ugh my son!!

but once you get in there you’ll see he’s a good guy like rlly is he just has a bad temper sometimes and can barely express any emotion but anger half the time :///

ISLA VARGA looks an awful lot like ALEXIS REN. SHE is TWENTY-TWO and while they're SAGACIOUS, they have a tendency to get pretty MACABRE. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to COOL GIRL by TOVE LO.

so i’ve played isla before n i’m v sorry to do this but i feel hella lazy so i’m sORRY but here comes a fucking huge wall of text don’t look at me and don’t feel like u have to read it ://// all the triggers i tagged apply to her; she’s p dark so seriously do not read it if you think she will make you uncomfortable!!

to preface, isla is like the embodiment of all of the seven deadly sins, and i molded her a lot after amy dunne (scary, i know) and april ludgate (mostly amy tho april is just deadpan like she is –– when she’s being herself, that is), as she is an incredible pococurante yet perfectionist who borders on sociopathy

soooo this will make sense later but her real name is actually brigid (father’s surname idk) which she now uses as her middle name

so isla’s dad is a fucking rockstar !!! badass right. she’s half-siblings with hadley ( @ofadorations ) and colby ( @shtbgs ) but she actually never met her mom, something she’s not too pressed about

bc she was cute as a button, family friends decided to get her into the entertainment business as a child star almost as soon as she could walk –– she did it all, acted, modeled, danced, sang, she was literally hollywood’s little starlet and she hated every minute of it. the entertainment business loved who they created, but that girl was never her and it weighed deeply on her psyche.

when she was twelve, she decided to fake her own disappearance because she was fed up with everything –– she cut her hair to her ears, dyed it brown (and has continued to do so ever since) and sneaked her way to nyc hoping no one would recognize her

well someone did, and they happened to be a member of ruthless and organized mobs of the city –– in return for keeping her concealed, she pledged her devotion and became one of their most skilled and lethal honeytraps in the business (WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE BC THEY MADE HER START YOUNG I AM SO SORRY FOR WRITING THIS IT JUST PLAYS HEAVILY INTO HER CHARACTER)

along the way, members inevitably died –– people she was sworn to care for –– many times before her eyes as well, which only lead her to realize she enjoyed witnessing all sorts of death, even those of people she was supposed to “love”. emotion was almost nonexistent in isla’s childhood, a trait that bled into her character development.

she began to idolize the gang and its power, something she now craved. still, isla was doing a great job of portraying herself to those around her as a rosy, meek, baby-doll, when in actuality she was a child full of hate who would soon blossom into a young adult of the same tone. she became even more obsessed with death, fantasizing about it as if her unusual thoughts would make her less afraid when it came for her.

eventually, as she grew older, she was accepted into the higher ranks of the mob; this couldn’t have made isla more content. the macabre girl was honored that someone else noticed her genius, the way she could predict things, assess situations, manipulate people to do her bidding. it was only right that she was initiated into a society that praised her for such harshness

but, as all things do, her time in the gang ended after ten years and isla did what she does best: disappeared. she’s relocated back close to home, kola california, and it’s only a matter of time before people and the industry realize just who she is

if she’s acting like her true self, she behaves like a negative, eldritch layabout who likes to watch others suffer (sounds extreme, i know). however, she rarely lets anyone see the real her, and instead accepts various facades in a big game –– the darkness is truly her personality, she’s not faking her cold demeanor. this image enables her to mask her true potential and the fact that she is unflaggingly loyal and cares about those she’s close to.

if i had to give her a label, it would probably be the pococurante (which is defined as: an indifferent person. possibly they’re bored, jaded or even been hurt. either way, they tend not to get attached to things and don’t show much enthusiasm, whether that’s on the outside or the inside, too)

on the other hand, she could be accurately summed up as an arcane, as she’s an enigmatic mystery and she prides herself on being a puzzle that several people have failed to solve. there are many sides to her personality; in some aspects, she’s very much an aesthete considering she spends a great deal of her time taking putting together outfits, so she has a very defined fashion sense and typically dresses like a princess half the time, which is very ironic considering her dark personality. she truly is so GLAMOROUS (and this is why i love alexis for her) and she works that mean girl, hard soul aesthetic while serving looks and also able to come across as incredibly sweet, which is perfect for her multiple personas. she’s a stunner, with both her appearance and personality; as much as she is indifferent and would prefer to fly under the radar, wherever she goes people always want to ask questions, making her into this intangible concept that everyone wants to define.

people will recognize parts of her as if they’ve seen here in another life, and because of her ostentatious, puzzling, and spellbinding personality, she’s unforgettable. on the other hand, she’s also something of a virago, due to the fact that she can be incredibly feisty when angered; but it takes quite a lot to actually set off her fuse, as she’s good at controlling which emotions she shares. for the most part, she is incredibly blasé and even-tempered. additionally, she’s is a bit of a picaro because her primary aim with her life at this point is to be independent and liberated from any and all attachments to other people. mostly, though, she’s is nothing more than a girl who’s afraid; of what, she still can’t decide.

all in all, she’s so much of everything that she isn’t quite certain of her own identity. her character is one shrouded in secrets and shadows yet alluring and sensual. but, lbr, most of all she’s just deadass terrifying. one of her defining characteristics is her desire to make things happen for her through her own abilities and determination. obstinate as all get out, she doesn’t like to own up to making mistakes so she tries to prove that she’s almost invincible to them bc she doesn’t wanna let anyone see her vulnerable, or she doesn’t want to let someone down - this refers only to those that she’s actually close to. due to her apathetic nature, all she really wants to do is let most people down – people she finds boring and useless – and have some fun because of it. however, when it comes to people she truly has allowed herself to care about, her deepest desire is for their happiness because they must be pretty damn special for making her give a shit.

still, because of her evasive tendencies, she almost always does ruin things for herself and for others, even when she actually cares. she’s like a double-edged sword; when she finds something worthwhile, she sees so much beauty and potential in it, but she’s got a midas touch. whenever she wants to obtain it or pursue it, her involvement makes everything fall to ashes, and she is afraid of her own influence. despite her tendency to run away, once she latches on and decides to be truly loyal, she’ll be devoted in such an extent that she would undoubtedly kill for them.

she can be a loudmouth whenever she actually decides to speak, constantly fabricating outlandish stories and even going off like a deranged person, but beneath her caustic and frightening exterior, isla is rather pensive. on the occasion that she chooses to offer legitimate advice, it’s usually very elaborate and composed. still, she doesn’t want people to know about capable she is, or how intelligent she can be, so she hides her rare brilliance with a tough exterior and stoic personality.

idk if you can tell but i like diving into the specifics of my character like their star signs and stuff so i searched an amy dunne mbti and tweaked it bc it really helped describe her even further! she’s a intj !

introverted intuition (ni): isla sees everything around her in a world of symbols, of metaphors, and of potential. her narration will continually be littered with predictions, with ideas about how things are going to be and what will result from this or that. despite her brashness that some may assume is impulsivity, she is a planner, anticipating new “problems” and seeking to rectify them with her own twisted brand of justice. she tries to work everything into her overall system of understanding, of her big ideas about how the world works, including her take on her various false identities she possesses for her previous job as an escort but also to mess with the minds of others around her. she’s always disappointed by how the real world is never as good as the way she imagined it; she is perfect and nothing else can catch up with her expectations.

extroverted feeling (fe): despite her aloofness, and rather lack of any sort of emotional bearing, empathy, or any sort of true feeling, isla is conscious of how others’ perceive her, of the image she’s created, and of how key that social perception is to her success, even if it’s just in her own imagination. she restrains her real opinions in order to adapt to her environment, as she’s somewhat of a chameleon, only a few have had a chance to catch the true witch beneath the crown. she’s the mistress of change, easily altering her identities in order to better fit in with new people, should the situation require it. she’s easily devastated when she reveals her real personality to others, as in the past, some that she’s left truly see her have refused to accept her twisted true-self. even though she is wholesomely selfish and self-seeking, isla is very people-focused, and applies most of her intellect and analysis onto general people-based functions, that may she can have the confidence that she has clearly manipulated and analyzed every aspect of her environment, as she needs this to feel in control.

introverted thinking (ti): as mentioned, isla is highly analytical, always trying to see the why of a scenario, what’s behind human behavior, which turns her attention to psychology and manifests in her flair for anticipating the thoughts and actions of those around her; she is so obsessed with understanding why people tick that she looks past her own slighted judgment, as she herself could easily qualify as a sociopath/psychopath. she’s always trying to fit in any new experience, or piece of information, into her pre-established system of facts, and as such is rarely ever surprised. despite her apathy and lack of care for her life or how it progresses, she’s highly organized and loves to make checklists, arrangements for the future, and methodically ticks of her obligations, one by one. while her emotions and feelings are significantly suppressed, and even nonexistent, she makes up for that human trait with a very powerful mind, one that is quick to learn and adept with languages, memorization, and logic. however, she doesn’t want anyone to know just how brilliant and quick she is, as it’s her greatest asset, thus explaining why she chose not to be a member on the intellectual team.

extroverted sensing (se): isla tends to respond her physical environment with fierce analysis, as expressed in her intellectual capabilities. she’s almost incapable of living in the moment, contrary to how people suspect she is, considering she portrays herself as impulsive and cunningly excitable. in reality, though, even when she’s crossed off everything on her checklist, she’s almost incapable of relaxing, or enjoying the world around her, as she doesn’t find things that other people find beautiful. she struggles the most with the physical side of her plans, even though she is a very physical individual. she is very open with her body and indulges with the lusts of the flesh, as she sensuality is at the same level as her wickedness. along with this, isla craves for the environment that houses her figure to be pleasant and organized, and can’t stand when things are out of order.

#tw sociopath #tw gang #if that's a thing i'm so sorry i'm kinda oblivious w triggers please someone correct me or tell me if i'm missing anything #fckit:intro #tw death #tw childhood trauma #tw prostitution #in a way #tw child abuse #tw human trafficking #could also apply i'm so sorry i'm trying to cover all the bases just in case

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