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heloflor · 3 years

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As Time Passes Prologue : The Estate

AO3 link

People never choose where they were born.

Balthazar was said to be lucky. He was a prince ! He had all the fame ! All the recognition ! All the things he could ever dream of !

Deep down, he knew it was all fake.

This life felt like a prison. A prison of boredom filled with duties that were choking him more and more. And through the bars, he could see the outside world, he could see the time-agents working for his parents, and all the things they accomplished.

And when Balthazar found an escape route, it was obvious he was meant to go sooner or later.

Note : And here’s the first part of a long fic that I’ve been thinking of for a while now. Note that I have NO idea when the second chapter will come out. While I’m basically done with the school year, I still have some work, so I won’t have all the time of the world. But I still really wanted to get that chapter done.

The prologue is going to be three to four chapters long and will mostly serve to give the characters a backstory along with introducing some side characters. But be aware that the ideas introduced in these chapters won’t be the subject of an arc in the main story, it will be more like things established about the characters that could get a mention or characters that will show up in the main story without much introduction, since the introduction will be done here.

There will also be some small “extra” chapters about things that are related to the fic but overall don’t really play a big role in the main story, like a flashback or, in the case of this chapter, a “where are they now” kind of thing. There could also be smut at some point if I ever decide to try writing about it (no promises).

As for the main fic, let’s just say that, while I write Cavendish and Dakota as a married couple, I’m still a sucker for “getting together” fics. So I might as well write about their history ; ) .

And fun fact, before Cavendish’s appreciation day, I never really thought of a backstory for him and Dakota. But after seeing people talk about them and their possible histories, in arts and even old fics and random posts, I started making my own headcanons. So thanks people for the inspiration !

This chapter can kind of be considered as a Royal AU I guess ? I mean, it’s more of a backstory related to it but the “aesthetic” is pretty much the same as a royal AU. As for the castle, it’s your usual renaissance castle but with futuristic technology like metallic automatic doors for the bedrooms and some floating telegraphic screen things to write notes on; stuff like that. Although, for the clothing, it would be more the Victorian era with royal outfits that look like general outfits (hope it’s easy to picture… Basically it’s not the Renaissance clothing with layer after layer, it’s a less heavy clothing). Also, the garden is an “English garden” with plants that can grow kind of randomly (compared to French garden in which everything is controlled and symmetrical).

I have no idea if this description makes sense but point is, this is basically what most people think about when you say 1700s royalty but with stuff from different time periods because no research had been made on a precise time period. In my defense, this takes place in 2149 so who’s to say people wouldn’t mix time periods ?

And since I took a royal approach and talk economy : know that this story is just some random fic and does not show any politic views or stuff like that. It’s the first ideas that came to mind to justify having the characters as royals. Even the royal situation is more out of convenience than anything. And the fact that this is posted now also has nothing to do with what happened a few days ago; I started working on this way before it.

And finally, if you have any questions or comments about this fic, feel free to ask ! I’m always open to criticism and for an excuse to infodump (as long as it doesn’t end up in spoiling the story) ! And since two fics are doing it, if you’re wondering : no, this fic won’t have an askblog. While I love askblogs, I don’t have the energy to make one. So if you have any questions about the fic, ask in general, not to a character.

One last comment : while this chapter is pretty chill in terms of content, be aware that the rest of the prologue, along with some parts of the main fic, will talk about some pretty serious topics, which is also why this fic might take some time for every chapter because a lot of research is needed here to make sure not to mess anything up (the thought of chapter three of the prologue already scares me). For each chapter, I will put a warning for the content. But overall, I’d advise you to look at the AO3 page if only for the tags (tags will change and be added as the fic goes on).

Anyways, enjoy !

“Greetings, class ! Today, we’re going to continue our history lesson on how our nation came to be. As promised last time, we are going to see the European Fallout of the 2080s.

Throughout the 21st century, Europe went through several economic crises. All of it led to a collapse by the end of the 2070s. At the end of the decade, a crisis raged in the United States and spread to our Europe. In only a few weeks, every country found themselves on the brink of poverty. The consequences of this fallout are still present nowadays as most European countries are much poorer than they used to be. A lot of people tried to find the root of this event and pointed the finger at the Louisiana Purchase.

As for what happened to our England, I told you last time how our country used to be part of the United Kingdom, an alliance made with three other countries. When the fallout started, the United Kingdom was the first to be affected and nobody knew how to make the situation better. After hundreds of arguments and decisions that didn’t go anywhere, the United Kingdom ended up splitting up.

Moreover, people stopped trusting the government of that time, which had a prime minister at its head, and asked for the royal family to stand up and take back the leadership role they gave up years ago. But since the Queen can only do so much, since not every part of the country was affected equally and since a government with one ruler making decisions with a council failed, the system changed. Our country was divided in Estates, each ruled by a Lady or a Lord. The Ladies and Lords were chosen among the richest and most influential families of England. This division helped bringing closeness between the people and the ones ruling over them. That way, solving local issues became easier.

Wishing to be old-fashioned, the Ladies and Lords decided to live in palaces, each palace near the biggest town of the Estate. They also started to refer to each other as kings and queens, though with no desire to question the authority of our Queen. They also chose to raise their children to take over after their passing and chose to host meetings, often turning into balls, to give their children the opportunity to meet the princes and princesses that could become their future spouse. Finally, these families all have a profession related to the Queen and the rest of her court. Of course, they are part of the court as well.

This system, our current system, had been created more than five decades ago now, and look at how greatly it managed to save us from the collapse the rest of Europe is barely recovering from !

And that, children, is why we live and thrive in the Cavendish Estate.”

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

April 20, 2149

“Have you heard about what that person claimed last night ? I heard it had been all over the news !”

Balthazar chuckled. Gossip. Something people sure loved to spread in this town. There was something quite fascinating about it. To see people so willing to believe anything, if they know the person they heard it from.

“What does this weirdo want ?”, he heard one of the ladies whisper to the other.

“My apologies.”, Balthazar replied, knowing full-well the comment was aimed at him. After all, he was the only person wearing a black cloak while sitting on benches at the town’s only green space, looking at the people passing by. Not wishing to bring more attention to himself, and realizing how late it was getting, the blonde walked away, covering as much of his face as possible.

“What a creep.”

Balthazar walked through the town, wishing he had the time to stop at one of the shops that displayed artisanal work. This work was so much insignificant compared to everything he was given, and yet it was so much more valuable ! Those were hand-craft objects, things that people made themselves, with their own talent ! Things they accomplished by their own abilities !

...But he didn’t have time, he had to hurry.

He knew the road by heart by now. First leave the town by taking the smaller streets. Then, there was the long road through the forest. Balthazar always felt uncomfortable while crossing it. The woods were purely decorative, put there by his grandparents to make the ride to the castle more pleasant. This meant that nothing and nobody lived here, and the only noise that could be heard were the occasional blowing of the wind through the leaves and the electric movement of the cameras. They weren’t a lot of them, and Balthazar managed to find a path that avoided them all. He could now rush through the woods, only slowing down once he reached the walls surrounding the royal garden. There was a crack in one part of the wall, at the very back of the garden, hidden behind a set of bushes and just big enough to let the prince go through. It had been there for years.

All he had to do now was hide his cloak into the bushes, remove all eventual filth off his person, grab the book about time theories he left behind and go back inside, pretending to have been reading this whole time. When he started to open the back doors and felt the guards grabbing them to let him in, he felt reassured to see them do their usual greeting. Seemed like nobody had been looking for him.

“Balthazar.”, the prince almost jumped as his mother emerged from one corridor, and took back his previous statement. The queen had her face fully visible with her ginger hair tied into a bun. And while the woman looked calm and composed, the blonde knew that, had she not been raised as a royal, the glare from her icy eyes would lead to a full-blown rage. The queen opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out as she noticed the book in her son’s hands. When she looked back at him, he knew he was in trouble.

“Have you been so taken by your story that you did not hear the commotion inside ?”

“I…”, Balthazar didn’t know how to answer without making it worse for him. He had no idea his free-time had been replaced by something else. How do you pretend to forget about something if you don’t even know what it is ?

“The son of our closest ally was there, more than eager to meet you again.”

“Oh ! A meeting !”, his interjection only reinforced the frown on his mother’s freckled face and the prince gulped. “I…I mean, I thought we already had such a meeting Monday.”

“We chose to have them more often, you are aware of that.”, it wasn’t a question.

“I…”, Balthazar sighed. “I apologize for my lack of foresight.”, that was his best option right now.

“Apologies will not bring a husband.”, the queen reprimanded. She approached him and grabbed his head. “You are close to being thirty now.”, he tone soothed.

“I am only twenty-six.”, her son protested.

“It is already old.”, she insisted. “Soon enough, you will lose your youthful charm.”, she lifted his chin. “You are a handsome man, dear. Do not let it go to waste.”

“I assure you, I am not trying to.”

“Then why avoiding your chances ?”

“…”, the prince looked down.

“Is there something wrong with your suitors ?”, she tried asking. “Would you rather court Ladies ?”

“No, it’s not- ! I really do am interested in Lords.”, his mother raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting a better explanation. “I simply…I do not find these princes to be the most…attractive. Or interesting.”, he mumbled that last part.

His mother eyed him for a moment, before finally letting go of him.

“Remember. You are the heir of the Cavendish Estate. It is your duty to assure our progeny. It is already disappointing to know that you will continue our bloodline with a surrogate instead of your spouse. Do not force us to choose a husband for you.”, and with that, she left.

Truth be told, Balthazar saw all these princes as the same. Rich egotistical men who boasted about the wealth and power their parents managed to get. They were all the same built, all told the same boring discussions, seemingly happy about their situation. Sometimes, Balthazar felt like the only one who wasn’t interested into such talks, who wasn’t satisfied with what he was.

Now, a real man, a strong and muscular man who could sweep him off his feet and crush him without effort, while still showing kindness and acting as a gentleman…Now that was his type of men !

However, he could never admit it to his parents. They would be disgusted with him.

“Your highness ?”, Balthazar thoughts were interrupted by one of the servants approaching. The man bowed his head in respect.

“What is it ?”, the prince asked, taking his royal tone.

“I am here to notify you like you asked. Mr. Elmont and his team are about to come back.”

“Mr. Elmont is back ?”, he asked excitedly.

“He is.”, the servant confirmed.

“Thank you !”, Balthazar quickly said as he hurried down the hallway, his manners forgotten.

It didn’t take him long to reach the basement under the right wing of the castle. This part of the property served as headquarters for the B.O.T.T. agents working for the Cavendishes.

The prince went to the garage. It was there that most people went to talk to the agents, as the rest of the space given to them was used for their personal accommodation.

The garage was a simple room. At the center, there were parking spaces for the cars of the five teams that lived here, including two spare vehicles that were rarely used. Near the walls rested equipment along with tools and car parts. There also was a cooler and several bags for long missions in hostile environments.

There were also pictures. Dozens of framed pictures of all the places they travelled to and the wonders they saw here. Balthazar was always in awe at their view. To think the world used to be so different ! That the world outside of those walls was so diverse ! That there had been so many civilizations, so many different kinds of people over the centuries ! But out of all these people, how many of them had their story told ? How many of them made a difference ? How many were completely forgotten ? The thought of it both fascinated and scared the prince as he wondered about his own place in the world. Would he be a hero, remembered for his great ruling, or would he be forgotten, becoming nothing more than a name on a family tree ? Or worse, what if he was remembered for the bad reasons ? He knew some of the people in the Estate were against the concept of Lords ruling over them. So what would this mean for his future ?

Most often than not, Balthazar envied the time-travelers. Not only did they have the luck to see so many things in their lifetime, but they also had the opportunity to make a change in the world. Sometimes, Balthazar wished he could be in their place.

Ever since he learned to read, he had been studying about time-travel. He started off reading child books about the adventures of the incredible Professor Time and his loyal partner Perry, a creature Balthazar always figured was fictional. Then, as he grew up, he continued with theories and facts about the time-stream, alternate universes and other dimensions. His parents had always been skeptical about this hobby of him, claiming that it could ‘derivate you from your duties’. But overall, the prince managed to convince his mother to let him spend his free-time learning about it, as long as he kept paying attention to ‘important matters’.

Soon after he took the stairs leading to the garage, the portal to the past opened, letting three time-vehicles back. The time-travelers left their vehicles and the blonde quickly took sight of Mr. Elmont’s familiar shape. At the sight of the prince, the agents bowed.

“Your majesty.”, they greeted.

“Gentlemen.”, Balthazar replied, trying to keep his composure. “May I hear the report of your assignment ?”

“Certainly.”, Mr. Elmont replied. He took out one of his holographic devices to give to the prince.

“Thank you.”, the blonde dismissed the group with a gesture. After all, their priority was to report to the king and queen. If they had to clean or tend to the cars, they could do so later.

With the agents away, he turned the device on and a representation of the land visited appeared. There was a text at the bottom, explaining that the time was West-Asia in 1795 and what the objective was. Balthazar spent a good chunk of time reading it all, planning dozens of questions to ask the agents, until his father’s impatient voice brought him back to his royal duties. With envious glances towards the time-machines, he left the garage.

When the evening came, Balthazar had a boring and uneventful dinner filled with talks with his parents about the state of their province before retracting to his room. He sighed, sliding down against the door. What was wrong with him ? He was a prince. He was smart, cultivated, respected, beloved by the court. So why did all the things supposedly important for him feel so dull ? Why did everyday feel like the same boring routine ? And with his parents wishing to intensify the number of meetings with other princes…

He shouldn’t be thinking like this. He knew his parents wouldn’t like it. He was a future Lord ! He was rich ! He had everything !

Well…maybe not everything.

Balthazar found himself drawn to his balcony, putting his weight onto the ramp as he admired the familiar view. He could see the capital from here, its light a display of the grooming activity of the people. Further away, there were other towns, some almost barely visible due to the distance.

What were civilians doing right now ? What kind of activities did they do at that time ? Did they know how lucky they were to live out there ? To be free to do and see anything they wanted ? Or were they envious of his life, just like he was of theirs ?

The prince sighed again. He didn’t know why he felt like that. Ever since he was a child, he had never felt satisfied with being a prince. He never liked having so many duties. He didn’t care about the politics of the allies and enemies his father had. He didn’t enjoy courting. But most importantly, he hated how people only knew and praised him for what his family was, instead of knowing who he was as a person, and what he could accomplish by himself. This was what made his entire work feel so meaningless.

Balthazar went to sit on his bed, putting Dennis on his lap.

“Do you think I overthink things ?”, he asked Dennis. Of course, the plush didn’t respond, but it didn’t stop the blonde from seeing a judgmental look on his companion’s face. “You’re right. I should not be complaining. Besides, surely I cannot be the only member of the court who complains like that…But still, why do you think I feel like this ? Was I not born and raised to rule ? And it isn’t as if I was not born here. Mother and Father care too much about lineage to adopt.

So if ruling is in my blood, why do I feel like I am not made for it ?”

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

April 21, 2149

Another day, another meeting with other Estates, another potential husband to stand.

Everyone was gathered into the throne room. The high members of the Estate were here, along with members of the court and families of friend Estates. Balthazar was standing in front of his throne, next to his parents. The king was doing his usual welcoming speech, his tall stature and floating blond hair making his presence imposing. The prince half-listened to his father’s speech. He had heard it a million times before. Instead of listening, he studied the crowd. One of the men here might very well be his future husband. Whoever it might be, Balthazar hoped he would be strong but also compelling.

As he recognized the last words from the speech, he took it as his cue and walked down the steps separating the thrones to the rest of the room. His father announced the festivities and people started to merge together in a myriad of colors.

Each Estate had a dominating color in their clothing, adorned for the Lords with a dozen medals and titles like his father did. Balthazar wasn’t so bad himself. He was wearing a white shirt covered by a deep blue waist-coat along with leggings, all covered by a matching coat. The three pieces of clothing had gold patterns sewed on them. His stockings were white, contrasting with the black of his boots. His crown was quite simple : a circular piece of jewelry with emeralds engraved in it. The green created an enticing contrast with the rest of his clothing. The only exception were his glasses, carrying the same golden colors as the crown, with an emerald on each branch.

Soon enough, he was approached by a man. He was wearing a brown outfit that complimented his dark hair. His clothes followed the same mold as Balthazar’s, the proper dress code for a prince. From his outfit, Balthazar guessed that he came from the Valjean Estate, an Estate form the far-South that had some French roots and recently became good acquaintances with his own province. The blonde had to admit, that prince wasn’t bad looking.

“Greetings. May your kingdom be prosperous and your family proud.”, the prince extended his hand.

“May your kingdom be prosperous and your family proud.”, the blonde shook his hand. “Prince Balthazar Tiberius of the Cavendish Estate.”, he introduced himself.

“Prince Clement Hugo of the Valjean Estate.”, the prince replied, his accent confirming his origin. “Pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”, Balthazar replied. He knew the protocol, and the prince was slightly his style, so he might as well get things going. “Would you like to head for the garden ? We can have more privacy to talk.”

“A bright idea.”, the other man nodded, following him.

They stayed in the garden for a while, walking along the path near the walls. At every step, Balthazar’s disappointment grew. For a moment, he had thought that he was finally with someone interesting. But like any other prince he met, the man ended up talking politics and royal meetings and other topics that the blonde would rather forget about, if only for one day.

“And that’s how my father solved the issue of that drought.”, the prince boasted. “And now, our Estate is more flourishing than ever. Rather impressive, is it not ?”

“Indeed. Your father is rather impressive.”, the blonde pointed out.

“…Well,”, the prince coughed. “I helped as well with a great work-“

“A significant work for sure.”, Balthazar said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

“Why being so insulting ?”, the prince asked, stopping in his tracks. “Do you not deem your work important ?”

“As a matter of facts, I do not.”

“But…are you not a successful barrister for the Queen ?”

“Oh please ! Do you honestly believe that any of the people I defend would be declared ‘guilty’ without me ? They are part of the Queen’s court ! Our families are too rich and powerful to be opposed !”

The other prince just looked at him, flabbergasted.

“Don’t you see ?!”, Balthazar continued. “Neither of us accomplished anything ! Our professions are nothing but facades ! We didn’t earn any of the things we have ! All our wealth was made by our grandparents ! All the things people praise us for, it was all given to us by our families ! Even our meaningless professions were dictated by them !”

The prince opened his mouth, most likely to protest, but no sound came out.

“Don’t you want to be more than that ? Don’t you want to do something more with your life ?”

“I am doing something with my life !”, he protested.

“But don’t you want more ?”

“…What do you want out of your life, Prince Balthazar ?”

“I…I want to get out of there.”, he gazed at the top of the property’s walls. “I want to explore the world. I want to be the master of my own life. I want people to praise me for my own accomplishments. I want to be more than just a forgettable pawn working for this Estate !”

The prince stared at him, his surprise slowly fading away. For a moment, Balthazar thought that he was going to excuse himself, leaving and not feeling comfortable to talk to him again unless he was forced to. Not like the blonde would mind. This was how half of those ‘relationships’ ended up anyways. At least this one would be as short as he wished it to.

But instead, the prince looked at him with a much more serious expression.

“…I knew someone like you.”

“You…you do ?”

“The youngest prince of the Limgar Estate. He knew his turn as a ruler would never come, but he never wished for it anyways. He wished to leave his Estate, and he tried to.”

“He did ?!”, for the first time in years, Balthazar felt a bubbling excitement. Was it truly possible to leave ? Were there no consequences to it ?

The prince nodded. “Unfortunately for him, he had no choice but using the front gate. He tried to leave during the guards relaying but was seen. And while he managed to go far, as he was on a train by the time his family was warned and it was made clear that he was not supposed to be outside, it only took a call to the friends Estates to end his escapade.”

Balthazar deflated. Of course there was no easy way to get away with such a plan.

“Ever since this incident, he is followed at all times by a guard. As for his reputation…Well, I believe you understand that the entire court now show him every disdain. He is an outcast among his own people. Of course, this is not helped by his rank as the second born.”

The prince let Balthazar a few seconds to take it all in. “I will refrain from confessing your desires to your family.”, he then reassured. “But if I were you, I would reconsider a lot of things. Nobody wants to be shunned by their own kind, especially an heir.”, and with that, the prince bowed to excuse himself and headed back to the castle.

Balthazar stayed behind, dozens of questions on the tip of his tongue but unable to talk. How long had it been since this event ? How many people were aware of this story ? Would it be possible for him to meet that prince ? Did other people feel that same way but never talk about it out of fear ? Not like it would matter anyways, if bringing it up only caused troubles. But still. For once, it would be nice to meet someone who shared his point of view, to prove that they had nothing insane to them.

The blonde watched as the other prince headed back inside, before glancing the other way. For an instant, he considered going to town to forget about this whole thing, but with the current meeting, he knew his parents were watching. With one last lingering glance towards the walls, he headed back inside.

Balthazar almost collapsed in his throne as the evening came. The meeting ended soon after he came back inside. Afterwards, it had been time for his piano lessons, followed by sports and dance and then several hours of working for his law firm. And now, he had to attend as his parents took care of business for the people. Representatives would come to have hour-long discussions about what policies to adopt. Balthazar needed to pay attention and remember as much as possible despite his parents’ advisor noting it all down on a holographic tablet.

By the time they finished, the prince was trying to suppress his yawns, his head resting on his hand from boredom and tiredness. He quickly corrected his posture when his father glanced at him.

Without a word, the three royals stood up, the king dismissing the servants, and went for dinner.

Despite his tiredness, Balthazar went to the B.O.T.T. quarters after dinner. With his mother promising more meetings, he would have little to no free-time in the upcoming days. So he might as well take any opportunity.

He reached the garage and was relieved to see Mr. Elmont here. The man was working on a device.

“Sir.”

The time-traveler looked up in surprise and quickly saluted. “Your Majesty.”

“Is this a bad time ?”, the prince asked.

“Not at all.”, Elmont reassured, a hint of amusement in his voice. Ever since Balthazar had been allowed to meet the time-agents, Mr. Elmont had been kind of a confidant to him. He quickly saw the interest the prince had for his profession and was always more than happy to recount his missions. And meeting the prince in his younger years helped partly close the gap tied to the power imbalance, making the agent more of a friend than a servant. “What can I do for you ?”

“I would like to hear more of your last mission, if this is possible.”, the blonde tried to sound as detached as possible. His parents tended to enforce the fact that Mr. Elmont was under his orders, and he didn’t want the agent to get scolded for patronizing him.

Elmont picked up his holographic device and rested his back against the working table, patting the space next to him as an invitation for the prince.

For the next hour or so, the blonde listened as the time-traveler explained his last mission in detail, talking about the objectives, the places, the people. Balthazar let himself loosen, letting the man see his curiosity.

“BALTHAZAR !”

The prince jumped as his father’s voice filled the room.

“Balthazar ! What are you doing in here at such a time ?!”, the king reprimanded while walking down the stairs.

“Your Highness.”, the time-traveler quickly greeted.

“Agent Elmont ! You know better than to waste the time of an heir on trivial babbling !”

“My deepest apologies, your Highness.”

“Father.”, the prince intervened. “I’m the one who chose to come here. Mr. Elmont did nothing but obey orders.”

“Balthazar…”, the king said in a warning tone. Without another word, he went back up the stairs. The prince glanced at the time-traveler, murmuring a ‘apologies’ before trotting after his father. Once he reached his level, the Lord looked at him. “Balthazar.”

“Father, I-“

“Son, listen. You are an heir. You have a duty, responsibilities.”, he lectured. “Your mother has left you loose for too long. You need to learn to spend your time on what truly matters.”

“I…I understand.”, Balthazar could only agree with his father’s wishes. It seemed that today was going to become the new norm.

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

April 28, 2149

Balthazar collapsed in his bed, ignoring the crown slipping out of his face. It had been a week since his parents had decided to intensify his duties and it was already starting to show. He had had a trial yesterday and, while the client got acquitted like every other, his defense had been the flimsiest he ever displayed. His parents had lectured him, telling him how disappointing he had been. Of course, he had expected their reaction. His profession was a show before anything else. He had to be perfect to prove the greatness of his Estate.

And with the revocation of his free-time, he found himself thinking more and more about the story prince Clement had told him. Worse, he thought of the way the younger brother tried to leave and what the flaws in his plan had been. Mainly, the issues were his choice to use the front gate and to head for a friend’s Estate. If a member of the court goes missing, of course calling friends and enemies was the first thing to do. Balthazar needed to find an Estate that tended to be forgotten by most if he wanted to-

No. He shouldn’t have these thoughts. Even if the outside world seemed so wide and exciting and-

Stop this., he scolded himself. You have a duty to fulfill. Besides, the outside world is dangerous. An accident-prone person such as you would struggle alone out there. And who’s to say other Estates are the same as the capital ? The places that Mr. Elmont sees are from the past. If I leave, I would find myself on my own in much duller places. Unless I pack enough money to get to study-

No. You have to stop this ! You were born to be a ruler !

…But isn’t being close to the people part of being a ruler ? Doesn’t that mean leaving the castle as well ?

Balthazar glanced at Dennis. The plush was standing on the bed near him. At the view of his companion, memories started to flood into his mind. His only day of freedom, a carnival in the middle of the capital. So many games, so many colors, so many noises, so much laugher, so much happiness. The prince had yet to top the feelings of that day.

He sighed. He wanted to get out of there, there was no reason to doubt this. He wanted another life, outside of these walls and among the people. He wanted to find a man that was different from all these princes, much more charming than any of them could dream to be.

But could this life ever become more than just a dream ?

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

May 9, 2149

Balthazar was running down the halls, ignoring the looks from the servants. He had just been warned that every time-traveler would go on a mission that would last at least a month. If he wanted to talk to them, it was now.

He quickly went down the stairs to the garage and was relieved to see the agents still there, making their ways into the vehicles. Once a few took notice of him, they greeted him, getting the attention of the other agents.

“Is Mr. Elmont still there ?”, the prince asked between two breaths. He looked at all the cars and was relieved to notice the agent’s usual time-machine. A second later, Mr. Elmont left his vehicle.

“Go ahead.”, he told the rest of the group. “We will join you afterwards.”

Balthazar watched as the cars jumped into the time-stream. Elmont approached him while his partner entered their time-machine.

“I’m afraid I don’t have much time.”, the agent reminded. “What is it ?”

“I…”, the prince cleared his throat, trying to get his composure back. “I would like to know more about how you became a time-traveler.”

“Oh ? And why is that ?”, Elmont seemed hesitant. Has the king given him a warning due to last time ?

“Am I not allowed to know every part of your profession, including how to reach it ?”, he tried to sound firm. But when he saw the agent look away with a frown, his pretense dropped. “Mr. Elmont, please tell me.”, he insisted.

“…Alright.”, the agent decided. “To become a time-traveler, you need to study for twenty cycles. Each cycle is three months long, and you’re able to take a long break between each cycle. So the shortest time for the studies is five years, with four cycles per year and no break. You can start your studies by the age of fifteen, if you’re certain this is your calling.”, Balthazar listened intensely, maybe too intensely.

“During those studies, you learn about the histories and cultures of the past, including the different views of those times for when you need to do infiltration missions. You also learn about time-travel theories and how your machine works. There’s physical training as well, along with a few driving lessons, especially to learn to drive under pressure. But it’s better to learn to drive before starting out, or during the first cycles.”

“And where did you study ?”

The agent looked at him for a moment before answering. “Every big town has a branch of the time-travel agency where you can learn and be employed. But the B.O.T.T. headquarters are located in America, in the Tri-State Area where time-travel was invented. In the states, there’s also the Institution of Regulation and Punishment for Time-Travel, I.R.P.T.T. for short. So if you want to address B.O.T.T., it needs to go overseas.”

“Edward ?”, the other time-agent called from the car.

“I have to go.”, Mr. Elmont told the prince.

“I understand.”, Balthazar smiled. “May your journey be successful.”

“Thank you.”, the agent bowed. On his way to the car, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Your Majesty. Whatever you might be thinking of doing, please be careful.”

And with that, the time-machine was gone.

Balthazar stayed for a moment, looking at the spare engines. If he knew how to drive, could he be able to leave that way ?

He shook his head. Thinking about it was meaningless. He should go back before any of his parents noticed his absence. He had papers to sort for his next case.

That is, if he did attend to the trial.

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

May 18, 2149

This was a terrible idea.

It was the middle of the night. The castle was silent, devoid of any activity aside from the guards on patrol. Balthazar was standing in front of his bed, where was resting a brown satchel that he filled with books about time-travel, along with a few personal items, including Dennis. And cash. A lot of cash.

Balthazar’s hands were resting on each side of the bag. He was considering his options. Ever since the meeting with the Valjean prince, he had unconsciously been studying the routine of the guards, counting the time between each permutation. He had also gotten an interest for the other Estates, as his mother put it. In reality, he asked her and his father about the Estates they had a relationship with, either positive or negative, to see which places they never paid attention to.

Along with that, he got the opportunity to meet the oldest prince of the Limgar Estate and ask him about what happened with his brother. As expected, he was told about how terribly viewed the younger brother was now. This made the blonde more hesitant about his plan, but not enough to stop him. What he mostly learned from this story was one thing : do NOT get caught.

Finally, he had put in the steps forcing him to leave tonight. He bought bus and train tickets to reach another Estate, along with clothes using an anonymous name. He made sure the shop was near the last train station so that he could change the moment he got to the Estate. He also got himself a much less fancy pair of glasses that he was already wearing. As for the money, he took as much from his account as he could carry, hoping to set a new one to remove any possible suspicion.

Everything was ready. He just needed to go.

And yet…

He started pacing and biting his nails, full of doubt. Should he really do this ? Could he really do this ? This had to be the biggest decision of his entire life ! Was it truly what he wished ? It wasn’t like he had it bad here. He had all the possessions he wanted ! And his parents were good people who wanted what was best for the Estate and for him.

But at the same time, he didn’t feel fulfilled here. He always felt like none of his actions mattered, like nobody would ever care about who he was as a person. The court only wanted to see a perfect royal figure out of him. They never cared about who he was on the inside, about what he liked, what he did and didn’t enjoy.

As for his parents…His father was always working and only talked to him if it had anything to do with the Estate or his profession. Or it would be to reprimand him for not being good enough. And while his mother spent more time caring for him, most of the time, it felt like she was mostly worried due to his accident-prone tendencies.

Being accident-prone…another reason not to leave. As long as he stayed here, he could be safe. But was all that safety really worth staying locked up ? And why wouldn’t he be able to survive on his own ? He lived for twenty-six years for goodness’ sake ! Besides, it wasn’t like anything truly bad ever happened to him. Tripping into bushes or having a vase almost fall on him weren’t going to kill him !

Balthazar looked at his balcony and took a deep breath. His decision was made. It was probably crazy and incredibly stupid, but he was not going to back down now.

He closed his bag and went to leave his room. But as his hand was about to touch the automatic panel, his thoughts went back on his parents. Guilt started to settle in. They were kind and fair people who truly loved him. They didn’t deserve to be left in the dark. The soon-to-be-ex prince went to a drawer and took out pen and paper.

Dear Mother, dear Father.

I’m sorry.

Throughout my entire life, you raised me for one purpose : to be the future ruler of the Cavendish Estate, to make our province rich and prosperous.

But ever since my childhood, I showed reticence over my duties. I always wished for a different life.

I found a

Several years ago, I discovered a hole in the garden’s walls. I used it ever since every time I had enough free-time. I learned a lot about the outside world and all the kind of people that live out there. And I wish to join them.

Tonight. This is what I have decided to do. By the time you find this letter, I will be far away.

Please do not try to find me. I have no desire to remain a prince. I do not deserve to be called a prince.

I hope you will be able to forgive me for this. Believe me when I say I have no desire to hurt you. I love both of you dearly and I always will.

May you be able to move forwards and keep the Estate in its current glory.

My deepest love,

Balthazar Tiberius Cavendish, former heir of the Cavendish Estate

He read the letter several times. After all, this was the very last time he would ever interact with his parents. He could already picture their reaction after finding the letter, their desire to call every Estate they can think of to try finding him. His father would be furious. His mother would be devastated.

…He hoped that one day, they would understand.

…

With a heavy heart, he put the letter on the nightstand. He then took out his crown to put with it.

“Goodbye.”, he whispered, eyes on the crown. He then looked at the time, making sure a permutation was near, and left the room.

Balthazar navigated from bush to bush, avoiding any places where guards were present. Lucky for him, he studied their routines long enough to know where to go and, soon enough, he found himself in front of the plants hiding the crack in the wall. He crossed the plants, found his cloak, put it on and stood in front of the crack.

Sometimes, he wondered how nobody found out about it besides him. He assumed it was a lack of foresight from the gardeners and guards. As for his parents never realizing he was gone, their lack of investment in anything but his royal duties seemed like the most logical explanation.

As he looked at the forest on the other side of the wall, he found himself hesitating again. But he had to remain brave. There was no going back now.

He took a deep breath, and crossed the familiar crack for the very last time.

Despite having crossed it a hundred times, the feelings he felt that time were like no other. There was a new sense of excitement, making him feel lighter than the breeze. For the first time in his entire life, he felt in peace. That was when he knew he had made the right decision.

Once he reached the other side, he opened his eyes and let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He started smiling, then laughing, feeling immense joy course through him. He did it ! He was free !

“Is anybody here ?”

Balthazar immediately covered his mouth and put himself against the wall, cursing himself mentally. Blast ! Of course he was still very far from being out of trouble !

“Albert ? was that you ?”

“Did you call for me ?”

“I believe I heard something near the wall.”

“It’s probably the wind. I just came from here and there’s nobody on sight.”

“Are you sure ? Just because nobody in years tried to invade doesn’t mean it can’t happen. You know some folks started to oppose the court. We wouldn’t be out there if it wasn’t the case.”

“You’re right. Let’s call for team West to investigate closer to the mansion. We’ll take the walls.”

“Alright. Let’s get to the communicator.”

Balthazar waited until he couldn’t hear their footsteps and bolted away, taking the path he knew to be cameras-free. Now it was time for phase two.

The next few hours were extremely tense for Balthazar. His future wasn’t truly into his own hands yet. It would only take one person going into his room before morning to ruin his entire plan.

He took the bus to the closest station, then the train, ignoring all the odd looks people were giving him. It sure was hard for a hooded figure to stay discreet during the night. Lucky for him, the vehicles were driven by robots, so nobody forced him to show his face.

He spent the travel in train looking out the window. Upon reaching the border and seeing the “Now leaving the Cavendish Estate” sign, he felt an odd sense of sadness, almost like nostalgia.

And yet, he was smiling.

It was almost dawn when he reached the Stanmar Estate. It was one of the five Estates unknown or ignored by most, due to their difficulty to rise back after the Fallout. Nobody would look for him here.

After getting off the train, he hurried to the clothes shop. Luckily, they had an automatic system to give out orders anytime. All that was needed was money and a password. Balthazar was glad he didn’t have to talk to anyone. How do you explain a man with thousand in cash but not even owning a phone ? And let’s not forget his dialect. He would have to learn to speak in more familiar terms if he didn’t want to bring unwanted attention to himself.

Balthazar went to an alley, changed clothes, and disposed of his royal outfit with fire. As he watched the clothes burn, the same feelings from before resurfaced, this time mixed with excitement. He truly was free now.

He wondered what to do with the cloak and ultimately decided to burn it as well. It was part of the past. He didn’t need to hide his face anymore.

His new clothes were much more comfortable than he expected. After wearing a tight outfit for years, it felt like a nice change of pace. Pleased with himself, he left the alley.

The first ray of sunshine started to show as the blonde walked with confidence in the town, his plans in mind. He would have to find an apartment and get a job. Maybe he should work into a law firm since he had the experience. He also needed to buy a lot of essentials he had been forced to leave behind, like a phone or a computer and of course a lot of bathroom products. Finally, he needed a bank account, and to get his driver license.

But most importantly, he needed to sign up to the closest school of time-travel. He would start as quickly as possible. Besides, the sooner he was an agent, the better. While he knew people wouldn’t recognize him here, as common folks never learned the names of far Estates, let alone the appearance of their rulers, having a lawyer bearing his name could definitely be suspicious. If he was a time-agent, it could take longer to make a connection.

Balthazar took a deep breath and smiled happily. It was a new day, the start of an entirely new chapter of his life. No longer would he feel like a pawn, getting shaped the way other people wanted. Now he was going to be his own man ! A savior, like Mr. Elmont ! Like the great Professor Time ! People would remember the name Balthazar Tiberius Cavendish as the one of a hero ! For all the missions he accomplished by himself ! He would become a top agent! A savior of the world !

Balthazar jumped in excitement. He couldn’t wait to get started !

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

Note : Well, here’s the first part ! Thanks for reading ! I hope I didn’t go too OOC with Cavendish here, but in my defense, it is a younger version of him who doesn’t know much about the real world, so he’s a bit idealistic (and he got one hell of a reality check after leaving). I also hope that I didn’t hammer his point of view with the whole “wishing to do something of his life” side. Also, yes, he’s gay in this story (rip Hildegard). And yes, he’s a twink with a few kinks. There ! I said it and I assume it ! (I’m actually very ashamed of that part with Cav talking about his ideal man. But at least I see him grow more or less out of this view of toxic masculinity as what a perfect man should look like. And by that I mean that it would still be his type of guy, but he’d learn to get attached to men even if they didn’t fit this type).

And is Cavendish autistic in this ? Honestly I’m not sure. Thing is, I’m writing Cav with the habits he has in the show (though I yet have to make him say “huzza !” in one of my fics), and those habits can be read as autistic. Same for his interest towards time-travel and Professor Time that in this chapter can be read as a special interest. But at the same time, him being so interested by the travel and the outside world is mostly due to how dull and boring his life is, so he gets excited by the things he doesn’t know.

So overall, I guess it can be read as both autistic and not; but I’m not writing him with the intention to insist about him being autistic, the same way I won’t do research on autistic behavior in opposition to how I started looking up info about children with ADHD for the next chapter.

And a word about this chapter : I know that there are a few plot conveniences there and there, especially at the end with the escape, but I tried to make them as cohesive with the story as possible or make them related to future technology, so I hope it doesn’t take people out of the story. Though I guess the inaccuracies with how royalty works is what is the most likely to take people out of the story.

As for Cav’s parents, I hope I was descriptive enough. But if you want more info about their appearance, don’t hesitate to ask ! Just don’t expect a drawing since I can’t draw to save my life 😅. And for their names, after looking up British names I decided to settle with Victoria and William but maybe it could change ? I mean I’m pretty sure William has something to do with the current royal family but I don’t know shit about the British royal family. I didn’t really look anything up about them since this chapter has more of a made-up royalty.

Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for chapter two, in which, after learning about the prince, we’re now jumping into the life of the pauper !

#Milo Murphy's Law #mml #Balthazar Cavendish #my fanfics #As Time Passes #Cav be like :#'aren't you tired of being nice ?#don't you want to go apeshit ?'#hope this chapter is good !#it sure was longer than expected #and yet it still feels like it goes too fast #oh well #now time to wonder how long chapter two will be #As Time Passes Prologue

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prince-toffee · 3 years

Text

She-Ra #0

- Karma -

[Two Years After The Defeat of Horde Prime]

Plumeria

The moonlight of the many Etherian moons rained down and coated the greenery of Plumeria. Plumeria was one of the smallest kingdoms on the planet, there wasn’t anything fancy or kingdom-ly about it. No enormous castles, not even real towns, just a bunce of tree-houses and empty fields. Which in a way was perfect for the refugee clones, the open fields were filled with makeshift tents, with tired, injured, and or defective clones with conditions that had to be looked after, taking up residence in them. Over the two years more and more shelters accumulated since the defeat of Prime and his main armada. It all worked out fairly well, with the clones populating the ground and the Plumerians residing in the trees. They much like most Etherians had mixed feelings about the clones, some were more welcoming than others. Fortunately brawls didn’t break out as often as in some other parts. It was clear that the Princess of the land, Perfuma, wasn’t too thrilled about their presence, but she put on a smile and played nice.

Modulok wasn’t quite sure what the title of ‘royalty’ or ‘Princess’ meant on this world, but it seemed as if the success criteria involved owning some land since there were apparently hundreds of Princesses, some with kingdoms the size of a town, or a nightclub, believe it or not. How the political landscape worked, he did not know. But he didn’t really care either. It was peaceful that was all that mattered to a surgeon and medic like Modulok. The settlement at Plumeria was one of the smaller ones, nowhere near as developed and packed as Doormat or the New Salineas. And again that’s why he liked it, quiet, far away from anything and everything, a grasshopper here, the rustle of leaves there. However something always seemed to go out of its way to find him. Case in point his quite drunk brother, Vultak, who barged into Mod’s tent in the middle of the night.

Vultak clumsily stumbled into the tent, two glasses of some sort of alcoholic drink in hand. He set the glasses on the operating table Mod was currently working on. Before Mod could protest, as he opened his mouth Vultak raised his pointing finger up to him to stop him. V then proceeded to drag a chair from the side to the operating table. V sat down and took a swig emptying one glass. The drunk clone just stared dazed at the patient Modulok was operating on, but caught a glance coming from Mod that was disapproving.

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all, carry on.”

That drew out a sigh from the medic, he was all too familiar with those snappy comebacks as well as his delusional pessimistic rants and ravings, which Mod was sure were about to follow. The two just looked at each other, a sedated individual between them, it was quite a comedic scene to be hold if there were a third party observing.

Modulok had lost his arms in one of the countless wars and had replaced them with cybernetics which could split in two giving him the total of four arms to work with. As a defect Modulok had blood red lenses, eyes and teeth. Not to mention his skinny frame, and lack of weight, and inability to gain weight. He wore a black and red tech suit, not bulky like Hordak’s, much thinner with tubes and cables hanging here or there. Under it you could see his bones and rip cage pressed tight around his skin, in some areas the white bone broke through the skin forming vein-like patterns across his body - common side effects for defects. A unique defect to Mod was that his skin was coloured red, it didn’t mean much, but others thought it looked neat.

Vultak was far more odd and different, some clones even called him the strangest clone alive. One of the oldest living too. V was a defect too, defects liked to stick together, at least most of them, not Modulok specifically. Vultak was thin too, like a walking toothpick. Vultak’s top half of his head was a red glass-looking dome resembling a radar display. No eyes. However a long witch-like nose. And shark-sharp teeth, though that was common with all clones. Possibly his most iconic aspect were his retractable wings being able to extend out of his under-arms, unveiling metallic feathers as sharp as knives. Various experimental technology was incorporated into his arms, giving his wings the ability to cause micro-hurricanes, and gusts of wind. And flight, obviously.

Also, he was thousands years old.

“V, you clearly want something so just say it and get it over with, the less time I spend with you the saner I’ll remain.” Modulok stated tiredly knowing fully well conversations with V could be exhausting. He leaned on his right arm which he placed on the table.

“What? Come on, can’t a brother just want to hang out with his other clone brother from another mothership?...” Mod was unamused and unphased, in the pause and silence his expression did not change. “And also my dearest, most awesome, talented brother, who is a doctor... I could... use some of that reeeeeally good tastin’ medicine that only a certified medic like you can hand out.” Vultak gave him a smile and tilted his head.

Mod gave him an eye roll, “I am not handing you the pills!”

“Oh come on, Mod! This stuff’s getting out on the street anyway! You’re not upholding some moral high-ground, you’re not holding society together! Come on, please, just one.”

Modulok waved him off, shaking his head. “Absolutely not. And I’m not trying to up hold anything, I don’t care what happens out there, but it just so happens that when some stupid non-sense takes place out there it means I’ve got more work here.” In a way he was right, Modulok was the most famous medic from the Galactic Horde, known across countless galaxies, being a defect medic and a medic for defects, that increased his infamous status. If anyone, any clone was in need of aid they turned to him for help, to say Mod was busy would’ve been an understatement. “Don’t even get me started on those pills that Hordak and Dryl made, I have no idea what they were thinking.”

The Isle Pills. Small capsules of biochemical engineering, synthesized from the ‘infected’ ‘tainted’ plants of Beast Island. That was the way people described the island, there were many theories about the landmass, a lot of scary campfire stories, disputes about whether it even existed. Its existence was apparently confirmed by the Princess of Dryl. Something about backstabbing and being imprisoned on the island, the clones weren’t sure, and they didn’t care much. But the nature of the island had been kept secretive, partially perhaps because the lab-partners studying the location don’t know many thing about it either.

It is also to be noted that they, the pills, weren’t meant for wide spread public use, apparently the Drylian Princess herself was against the production of it. But somehow they got out. Modulok was sure Hordak wasn’t thrilled that his experimental treatment for his defection was being distributed like hot buns at a bakery sale.

The pills have an altering affect on the consumer’s mood and how they perceive reality. Where the island would have enraptured an individual in their own fears and insecurities, somehow those mad-scientists altered the effect of the flora to envelop the individual in numbness and sleep-like paralysis. Hordak no doubt developed the pills as a way of coping with his defection and all the pain that came with it. So the product became quite popular with other defects. Including V, to no surprise. The pills were addictive and seemingly untested, and someone was making a profit off of it no doubt.

“They probably weren’t thinking, that’s what! If you ask me that Hordak guy is insane. All his bad decisions always seem to bit us in the rear.” The infamous Hordak, a general from a previous life, a defect that was sent to the frontlines by Prime personally, some even have speculated that he was meant to be Prime’s next bodily vessel. So in a sick twisted way, that defect saved him. Funny how life works.

Hordak somehow ended up on Etheria, he doesn’t even know how, somehow he amassed a large following and took over half a continent, destroyed a lot in the process. People hate him, his face, and that means of course many weren’t thrilled about hundreds of thousands of clones falling from the sky and finding a home and shelter on Etheria. Honestly, Modulok didn’t like him much either. Vultak unlike Mod actually quite liked Hordak as he served under him once, V trusted him.

“Mod, they would’ve hated us with or without him at the helm, at the end of the day he’s one of us, the whole universe hates us, we gotta stick together.”

“Where’s your ‘screw everything’ mentality gone to?”

V downed his second glass and wiped his mouth, “Washed away and washed down...” V just stared at the now empty glass inspecting it suspiciously as if he was looking if the glass was withholding additional liquid from him. It became obvious that V was thinking, contemplating something, he placed the glass down with a ‘clink’ on the table. “...I’ve been getting the nightmares again. And it’s getting worse, it always does. It’s not long ‘til the nightmares start coming out during the day, while you’re awake.”

Modulok understood, of course he did. He too had went through some harrowing experiences, war is never a good thing for the mind. Mod was an excellent surgeon and doctor, he can do some miracles with scalpels and bandages, he could take care of physical wounds. But there were wounds and scars that he couldn’t heal.

Vultak continued, “Do you believe in karma, Mod?” The question gave the medic pause, he didn’t quite know how to answer that, and he was sure this was one of those questions you don’t answer as V was going to no doubt continue and give his own answer. But the short reply would’ve been ‘no’, Mod didn’t believe in any higher power or any metaphysical concepts such as fate or destiny, it all rather felt far-fetched to him. “That our actions and deeds from our previous lives affect and decides our fate and fortune in the future?

That the future takes roof in the past? You do good, you have good fortune, a good life awaits you. You do bad, you have bad fortune, hell’s coming your way. Revenge and retribution on a cosmic level. It’s the universe’s way of punishing the evil and the wicked, that’s us by the way.

And we do deserve it, don’t we. I mean we’re literally walking, breathing, war machines, our sole purpose was to destroy, perpetuate war and cause all around carnage.

Everyone always wants to blame Hordak for Etheria hating us, but every single one of us has had a part in conquering half the damn universe! Countless worlds either chained or turned to dust, all thanks to us, all of us.

All the terrible things we’ve done, and now what? We just get to have a happy ending? No. No, no, no. Karma’s just getting ready, reeling back, ready to backhand all of us to oblivion. We gotta suffer first... Karma’s balance, karma’s proportional. Which isn’t good for us since we did a lot of wrong-doings. Remember the Siege of Denebria, the War for Primus, the Taking of Trolla, the centuries-long Massacres at Epsilon-19, everyone wants to forget that hellscape death-trap. But we just can’t, some things claw their way back to the surface from below all that brainwashing-sauce.

And that’s just the horrid stuff we remember!... Can you imagine how many lives we’ve forgotten? How many years we’ve lost? How many people we’ve forgotten? That four eyed freak robbed us of everything that made us, us!... All that stuff’s gonna bite us in the back.”

Modulok simply listened, he was used to V’s rants and ravings, but all that... seemed different. Usually V made out everything to be a joke, never taking anything serious, he was a jokester. The nihilistic joker seemed to be subdued, some sort of seriousness, some existential dread on his face. Vultak was genuinely opening up to Mod, and he appreciated that. But it was a shame they had to get drunk first before having conversations like that.

Mod became gradually more worried as V continued with the dialogue, after he paused and just began to stare blankly at his glass again Modulok responded, “I appreciate you opening up, kind of, V, I just wish it didn’t take the influence of alcohol... [sigh] Look, V, I know tomorrow is never certain, and that we all carry the weight of scars on our brittle shoulders... but please believe me when I tell you, that everything will be okay, everything will get better. Don’t drown yourself in poison. The world’s not falling apart, and neither should you.” Mod placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, trying to comfort his friend.

Vultak simply looked up at his brother, his face blank, he knew Mod meant well, but it didn’t help much to comfort him. And so V hopelessly replied, uttering almost a warning, “Just you wait doc, the sky’s gonna come crashing down on our heads.”

#hordak #horde clones #horde prime

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charaisgay · 6 years

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Breakdown of the Adventure Time Finale Intro

Adventure time ending has got me in a bittersweet state and I wanna contribute at least something to the commemoration of it. I’ll probably end up drawing some fan art of Shermy and Beth sooner or later because I love the short amount of stuff we get from them, but speaking of Shermy and Beth: I wanted to make an analysis/theory on everything we see in intro of “come along with me”.

Most of this is gonna be stuff that a lot of people have already theorized and put together but not all the breakdown videos get every point I wanna make spot on, so I just wanted to get everything I believe together in one neat little post.

So right off the bat we start in the Ice Kingdom as usual, and in the first second of the into we can see the ball that Patience St. Pim froze herself in during the elements mini series, so we know that she’s still (technically?) alive in this1000 years in the future version of Ooo. If it’s possible, maybe one day she might be unfreezed. I don’t remember if it was stated that that could happen or not.

And in the very next shot their appears to be pink hands gripping onto the bars of an ice cage. The most obvious answer to who is in the cage is of course Princess Bubblegum. In the episode graybles 1000+, we get a glimpse of the future Ooo and what the new Candy Kingdom looks like. It isn’t much of an kingdom but more like hotel inside of a giant futuristic gumball guardian that roams the land. In this future version of Candy Kingdom Princess Bubblegum is nowhere to be found. I believe that the knew Ice King (Gunther) has took to capturing Princesses again and PB is a reoccurring hostage of his. That’s why she wasn’t seen in the gumball guardian. This future version of the Ice King is a lot more hostile (thus why his ice/snow is more apparent and has expanded a great deal from Simon’s ice kingdom) and is competent enough to be an actual threat, and is able to keep PB for an extended period of time. So PB is still kicking around in this future version of Ooo, just not where she’s suppose to be and she doesn’t have the happiest of turn outs.

PB always being captured by the Ice King leads me to believe that this unknown person riding atop the stone duck with a telescope in the ice kingdom, is in fact Marceline. A lot of people believe that this could be a far descendant of one of the humans from the islands after they came back to Ooo, or Simon because of the shape of the backpack is similar to his: but i’m sticking with this being Marcy. My evidence towards this person being Marcy is the stone duck being present. If you remember, the stone duck’s first (or only, I can’t remember it being in any other episode?) appearance is in he episode where Marcy makes her first appearance, during the house searching song. It just seems like too much of a deliberate choice to be a coincidence. And the reason the gear looks so similar to Simon's is because after Simon died: Marcy started using his gear to travel. Or maybe it’s not his, but his influence in her life is still present so she wanted her gear to look like his. Either way, it’s Marcy. And the reason that Marcy is traveling and why she is in the Ice Kingdom is due to her searching for PB. After the Ice King started capturing PB again, Marcy was the one to start saving her after Finn died. (Kind of like history repeating itself) And it’s just a continuous never ending loop of the Ice King capturing PB, Marcy saving PB, and then the Ice King capturing her again, hiding her in a different spot every time to delay Marcy’s search. And at a certain point Marcy just decided to leave home for good and become a nomad seeing as how busy she is with always looking for PB. The two of them can’t stay in one fixed location thus allowing for Shermy and Beth to move into Marcy’s house.

This is of course the Gunther version of Ice king who we got a glimpse of in the graybles 1000t episode. In concept art, he was called the ice thing. And he looks noticeably different from what he looked like in the finale, the main difference being that he no longer has a body. My theory is that he just evolved to become like this over time, but I also like to believe that after his wife, Turtle Princess died (because she’s mortal) he went mad and become a much more prominent monster and threat to the land of Ooo, and he ventures across the land and interacts with everything a lot more than the Ice King we knew did. Maybe he was the main reason and the cause of the land of Ooo being in the decrepit state it’s in.

As the Ice King flies off we get a distant look as what’s believed to be the Pup kingdom. Probably one of the last standing kingdoms. Theirs truck transport road that seems to be taking supplies in, so while the land of Ooo does look pretty barren: their seems to be enough peeps around for jobs like this to still exist.

And as we zoom into the kingdom we get a glance at what Pups look like. Pups are the obvious descendants of Jake and Rainicorn. Jake and Rainicorn did essentially create a new race of beings, and with how fast Rainicorns grow, it would make sense that they would be able to develop into a new civilization and culture in the span of 1000 years.

And it seems like the Pup race has been doing well for themselves seeing as they have a means of space travel. My theory is that some time while the Pup civilization was being created, some of it’s members split off and decided to venture in space. So half of the Pup Kingdom is on earth while the other half is in space. This rocket ship is just a way for them to communicate and send supplies to each other.

And again, referring back to graybles 1000t episode: we can see some of these space Pups having a wedding. When I first watched this episode a while back I didn’t even put together that these guys were Pups. But the evidence is obvious. They had the eyes and signature jowls of Jake, and they all speak Korean like Rainicorn. So yeah, the Pups are doing good.

Going back to the intro, we can even see some of these space Pups floating on a platform in the sky with another Pup trying to attack Ice King. Which is more evidence towards my theory that Ice King is a wanted criminal and a top priority in this state. But wait, that’s not just any Pup firing at Ice King. It’s Gibbon! Charlie’s son.

He’s still alive after all these years. With being so old, his fur turned white and he grew a super long mustache/beard. But you can still tell it’s him. As for how he is still alive after all this time: it’s because he has one of ice crown’s jewels in his eye, thus granting him some kind of immortality. We saw one of the ice crown’s jewels fall out and be used as a wedding ring in the finale, as for how Gibbon got a hold of this jewel: we will never know. But he got it somehow. Either way it’s cool that he’s still around. With being so old, maybe he’s some kind of respected high up authority in the Pup kingdom.

Now for the part in the intro that everyone has been pointing out the most, the Finn and Jake giant stone statues. It’s obvious that these two stone colossus are suppose to be Finn and Jake. The most apparent theory is that Finn and Jake were regarded as such great heroes that they became historical figures and these statues where built of them as monuments. That or maybe it was their grave stones, such brave heroes do deserve a send off as great as they where.

And it seems as if the flame guy (who I will be getting to in a second) has decided to take refugee inside of Jake’s statue. Although, some people don’t believe that this monument is actually Jake but instead Jermaine because of this:

Theirs a slab of stone next to the flame guy that looks like it use to say Finn and Jermaine as opposed to Jake before it got broken. Now theirs two answers I've come up with for this. One: maybe there where three monuments: Finn, Jake, and Jermaine’s, but Jake or Jermaine’s monument got destroyed somehow and only one remains. The one we see could be Jake or Jermaine’s. Or two: later in his life Jermaine become an adventure like Finn, Jake, and their parents, and claimed a great title as a hero reviled only to Finn. And while Jake was still greatly remembered and respected, Jermaine just began to outshine him in the public eye. Jake was kinda lazy and was never really the adventurer type anyways, he just kinda followed behind Finn. Jermaine must’ve created his own identity and did something as great as Finn’s accomplishments. Personally I like to believe a mix between the two options happened. All three of them did have monuments but one got destroyed, and Jermaine did become a great hero thus why he also has a statue in remembrance.

Also, behind the flame guy you can see a shovel and some covered dirt which makes me further believe that those statues where grave stones, and this patch of dirt is one of the brother’s grave. As for the Flame guy, it’s pretty easy to connect that he is a reincarnation of the flame elemental. And the slime guy that he’s firing at is most likely a reincarnation of the slime elemental. Maybe the two elements are at some kind of war. Sadly, this means that FB and less sadly Slime Princess, are not alive anymore like PB, and died some time in the 1000 years after the finale.

And in this shot you can see what’s most likely a descendant of the two headed duck that use to be outside of Finn and Jake’s tree house, and a space Pup spying on Marceline’s old house that now belongs to Shermy and Beth. Maybe he’s just trying to make sure Beth is safe, it make sense: she is a princess after all, and an important leader figure, they wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. This is their way of giving her freedom to do her own thing while also protecting her.

And finally we get to see Shermy and Beth residing in Marceline’s house. It’s interesting that the Pups let their Princess stay away from home, but it’s nice to see them being so non lenient on her. Another interesting bit is that you can see Bubblegum’s greatest uncle cup: which probably means before PB started getting captured again, she lived with or visited Marceline a lot at some point. Maybe it happened after the fall of the old Candy Kingdom.

In the next shot we can see remnants of the old candy kingdom, and what looks like a resident from Lumpy space. So Lumpy Space is still around. But unfortunately, Neddy most likely isn’t, seeing that the giant tree in the candy kingdom has lost it’s foliage and is probably dead, thus not giving Neddy any sustenance to survive off of. Maybe the lack of Neddy’s juice after the tree and himself died is what caused the Candy citizens to relocate, and on they’re search to find a energy to sustain candy life. And PB built the great gumball guardian to protect the Candy people from the threat of the Ice King (or what ever has brought devastation to the land of Ooo) while they travel. On the upside it looks like the Candy Kingdom did survive fairly a long time after the finale, maybe it became abandoned only few hundred years before Shermy and Beth’s time. I say this because of how much the Candy Kingdom has expanded and developed into a more metropolis like city before it’s fall, that would take a lot of time. Maybe the humans from the islands started living in the Candy Kingdom when they came to Ooo and helped the Princess expand.

Oppose to a traveling Finn sitting on top of a stretched out Jake, we see Shermy and Beth traveling on top of grown Sweet Pea. So he’s still alive and seems to be as friendly as he was as a kid. Or at least friendly enough to give Shermy and Beth a ride. In the finale you can see him walking the land with a giant sword, maybe he’s become the exact opposite of the Lich: an immortal being who will forever protect the citizens of Ooo. He seems like the gentle giant type but won’t hesitate to put a stop to evil doers and exhibit his inner strength.

And with that intro ends with Shermy: a reincarnation of the Hero comet, like Finn and Shoko, and Beth: a far far down the line descendant of Jake, and princess of the Pup civilization, fishing just outside of the cave where their house resides. I would love it if these two had some kind of short ten episode mini spin off series or a comic line, I liked their personalities and it would be great to explore them and the future land of Ooo more.

God I love how this show can cram so much information into just 24 seconds.

EDIT: Recently Steve Wolfhard updated us with some more information about this 1000t years Ooo and it turns out that I was pretty much right about my theory that PB was the person in the ice cage. He stated the PB is present in the intro, and I sure as heck didn’t see her anywhere else. The theory that Marcy is the one riding the Stone Duck is still up for grabs though, but i’m pretty sure it’s true. He also stated that the fire and slime guy are indeed reincarnations of the flame and slime elementals,he said the crew wanted to put them in as a way to tell the audience that PB is the only elemental we knew that’s still around now (except Patient St Pim but I don’t think she really counts).

He also gave us some interesting Pup lore on how every Pup is born with a power, but as of late Pups are having their powers taken away at birth. Seemingly the old version of Gibbon is the one taking their powers away. Turns out I was completely off about the Pups giving Beth space to be her own person by letting her stay away from home, in all actuality she’s an exiled Princess who was usurped by Gibbon and that’s why she isn’t at home anymore. She’s basically on the run. So I was right about Gibbon being an high up authority but I didn’t expect him to be evil in a way.

But it’s interesting and it makes some sense: apparently Gibbons powers we’re stolen and it does seem like the crown’s jewel affectd him in a way similar to how the ice crown makes it’s user go insane.

My theory is that after his power was stolen he fell into a depressed state and searched for a way to get it back or something that would give him special abilities again until he found the Ice crown’s jewel. The combination of the ice crowns affect it has on people and his depression was enough to drive him over the edge. So he decided that if he couldn’t have his powers no Pup could, and started stealing their powers (presumably he uses the magic staff he has to do it)

Must’ve took him along time to work his way up the ranks since he didn’t actually become the Pup king until Beth’s time. I say this because Beth does know of her heritage and that she’s suppose to be the rightful leader of the Pup kingdom, so her parents must’ve been in power at some point in her life or else how would she know that? My guess is that Gibbon took over around the time Beth was a little kid (i’m just assuming that in the finale Beth is a teenager around the ages of 14-17) but Beth escaped before Gibbon was able to take her power. We see her parents nowhere and it looks like it’s just her and Shermy, so they most likely didn’t make it out.

Or maybe Gibbon isn’t that vile and he allowed Beth’s parents to continue ruling but appointed himself as their over see-er, he let them stay in charge of the kingdom but they had to have their powers removed. Beth, not wanting to give up her powers: was exiled or ran away. Thus why she still has her powers. It seems as if the Pups do know of her current location (because of the space spy pup) but aren’t really seeking to take her out. Gibbon doesn’t see her as a threat and just lets her do her own thing while keeping tabs on her.

God it’s all so interesting, I wanna know so much about Beth. She seems like such a cool character.

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darkspellmaster · 5 years

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Some Random thoughts on the Shitennou x Senshi story that’s been brewing in my head....

So For things I have so far in regard to the story that I’m working on : Gathering notes and plot since it’s going to have to fit into the main story...ugh why do I do this to myself.

This is what I have so far:

The bad guys in this story aren’t going after Usagi and co, but rather they are focused on Mamoru and the desire to keep the Moon princess away from him at all costs.

Said team consists of One lead, Four Generals under her, and each of them has two to three lieutenants under them. These Lieutenants each create their own monsters to go after the re born Shitennou that they need to kill so that Mamoru doesn’t have any defense against the main four Generals and the Lead bad guy.

Said Bad guy has a very gray area she’s in. Unlike Beryl this isn’t coming out of a desire to take him for herself. Rather the feelings stem from a family bond, and the desire to protect him from what she perceives as the reason why he could die (or did in reality previously). She also has a Cassandra like situation where she sees things that are coming but can’t fully comprehend them, and because of that her choices allowed her to be a pawn of an aspect of Chaos.

Her generals all seem to have a desire to serve her above all else, and they are split even as two males and two females. All four wear uniforms that denotes their position. At least one of the females has yellow ribbons in her red hair, which she keeps up in a Chun Lei like set of buns.

As a side note, I did have names for them, but the list of their names got lost, so now I’m trying to find the right types of stones or minerals for them.

What I know about the lead baddie is that she’s less of a show off than most other villains have been. More in line with Kamen Rider like baddies than strictly Sentai villains. Her views actually make sense when paired with her past and what she’s seen for the future. Up in the air right now if I’m going to allow them to be saved or outright killed off. Since they’re not out to wreck the earth or anything like that. They just want the Golden Kingdom back up and running.

At least one of the Lieutenants falls in love with Minako which brings in some dramatic results for the group later on. Not sure if he remains a foe or becomes a friend...all I have to say for him is Poor Minako.

As for the Shitennou and their history that I have going so far...

Jadeite: (Last name first, first name second)

Human name: Yasuhara Kazuhiko -also known by his stage name Oshi Kazu aka the idol NU.

What I have for his story so far:

So Kazuhiko is the most well known of the bunch. His father and mother are both actors and work for the movie studios. So, since this is being based more around Crystal’s Dark Kingdom arc, after his death in the frozen North, Kazuhiko woke up to find himself in the hospital forgetting everything that had happened to him previously with Beryl and the others. By the end of the Dream Arc, he’s gotten to the point that he’s back to normal and has been on tour, however he’s gotten sick of being a star and wants something normal. His parents as a deal agree to let him sign up for the former high school that Mamoru went to, while he agrees that, as NU, he would continue his acting and singing career.

Of course nothing is as easy as it seems, and the Bad guys (who have been tracking the boys since they’ve come to Tokyo again) have decided to make Kazuhiko the first target.

Jadeite is the only one of the boys that is pure Japanese, though his hair and eyes show that his family has had international blood in their genes.

He first meets Rei when, during a rain storm, to avoid being chased down by fan girls who were stalking him. Kazuhiko wound up in the shrine, and Rei’s grandfather allowed him to stay inside where he could be warmed up.

Rei doesn’t trust him very much.

Usagi and Minako are the second to meet him and they wind up working with him when one of the Monsters of the week attacks his high school.

Jadeite is also the first to be woken up after he puts himself in the way of danger to protect Tuxedo Mask, once he sees he’s Mamoru who’s become a friend to him.

I decided that since the girls got planets, the boys should get flowers. I’m not sure why, it just was a sort of “Yeah, this makes sense okay” moment, for their first transformation.

So Jadeite’s is a Lotus, connecting to his harmonious rank.

Also he uses ice attacks and has a frozen sword.

Jadeite can pair up with Rei for a fire/ ice attack, and there are levels that the attacks can go at as their power ups come directly from Mamoru and Usagi. He’s the first also to ask forgiveness of Usagi when his memories return, and the stone comes to him after he shows he’s willing to put his life on the line for his prince.

As with the other boys he can pair up with the different senshi and create new attacks, and do the same with the boys and Mamoru.

With Usagi he gives her heart attack a frozen boost. Minako’s chains can freeze someone in place, Paired with Makoto her flower wind becomes like mini frozen knives. Mamoru gets a frozen upgrade when he pairs up with him, allowing him to create an icy flash that can freeze people for a moment or two of time, allowing them to get away or blind them with cold.

With the other shitennou he tends to cause different results to their attacks. Kunzite’s energy blast can, and does set off an ice barrier when paired with Jadeite. Nephrite’s shadows create portals that let him throw the ice shards in different locations allowing his ice to act as a targeted attack moving where the enemy moves. With Zosite it’s an icy electric attack, or a crystal like bomb that goes off showering ice everywhere.

Not sure how he and the outer senshi work yet as pairings in regard to their powers.

He’s also the first one to come help the girls when need be and also is trying with Mamoru to figure out why he and the others are now being allowed to come back after their actions in the recent past.

Straight up, he is the first to admit having any feelings for Rei, and decides to work at the Shrine as a means of getting closer to her and gaining her trust and friendship. Also funny note, he and Nephrite later get into a selling competition over who can sell the most charms for the Shrine.

He also tries to help Minako get auditions due to his connections.

Nephrite: Gakuhara Satoshi -No relation to Kazuhiko

Story I have so far: Satoshi or Toshi for short, is from Hawaii and is North American Japanese and several other mixes -he doesn’t know what his mother’s side fully is, except that they have some Irish in there. His father’s family moved to the states pre-ww2 and they run a restaurant on the main Island. Toshi is actually in college, and came to Japan to learn more about his dad’s side of the family.

He works at a catering/restaurant business for his Uncle, and is going to college for business in running a restaurant so he can either start his own or take over his grandparents.

Toshi rides a motor cycle and is also the most open and energetic of the bunch.

After events of the Dark Kingdom, his Uncle and Aunt found him in a motor cycle crash and, as with Kazuhiko, he couldn’t remember anything that happened. He’s since started up classes again at the same college where Mamoru is studying. Though he’s a year above him. The two actually met during lunch and Nephrite connected to Mamoru right away.

He met Makoto by chance outside the local flower shop as he needed additional flowers for center pieces for an event that the family business was catering.

Earlier on Toshi actually gives advice to the girls as they are dealing with the weird goings on with Jadeite but doesn’t get involved until he’s targeted.

Jadeite is always trying to figure out if he remembers or not, and eventually Nephrite get’s targeted fully, and nearly eaten by a plant. Let’s just say the shadows that he controls don’t like it.

Unlike Jadeite he’s a bit more brutal when it comes to destroying those that would hurt him and those that he cares for. He’s also the most compassionate of the four, seeing himself as a big brother sort to the girls and even Mamoru and later the other boys.

He’s 19, unlike Jadeite who’s 17 going on 18.

The interesting thing with Makoto is while his feelings for her do come back he’s struggling with the fact that she’s younger than him, and also that there’s another guy that likes her who’s closer to her age. So he’s constantly having to check his flirting and jealous streak.

He and Jadeite can team up to create a dark ice attack using his shadows as a portal of sorts for an ice blast. When teaming up with Kunzite the shadows act as an attack around a shielded bubble or at times are used as a distraction or attack, depending on what Kunzite is doing with his energy orbs. Zosite can use the shadows as a means of carrying hidden crystals that can be flung out from them.

With Makoto, he can do an shadow and wind/electrical attack on the baddies, allowing them to be held in place while she zaps them. With Usagi it’s boosting her tiara attack or allowing her to make everything go dark if they need to escape. Rei’s fire and his shadows cause a ripple affect with the fire doubling the streght of the shadows allowing them to consume monsters that can be taken down that way. Minako is a tricky one, as it seems to give boosts to the speed of her boomerang. Mamoru has it where he, like with Jadeite, upgrades, and the shadows are part of a smoking La bomber, or give him a shadow sword that can cut through a shadow and allow him to pass through an entry that wasn’t there before.

He’s also the first to want to jump into action, which can be a bad thing at times.

Also he likes to tease Usagi about Mamo-chan and the others sometimes have to tell him to knock it off.

When he’s working his hair is pulled back into a pony tail.

Also the flower for his transformation is a Rose, for obvious reasons. (I think I picked Rose -this may change later. )

Zoisite: Real name -Haruki Jun

Story for him: Okay so Jun’s story is a bit different than the others. While his father is a Quarter Japanese, he’s mostly Swiss and lives with his Mother’s sister who is the Ambassador to Japan. Jun is extremely bright, being right up there with Ami in intelligence. Like Rei he has issues with his father and lost his mother at a young age. Un-like Rei this doesn’t stem from his father being too busy, but rather that Jun is a very anti-social person who was treated badly due to his family lineage (IE: How can you be Japanese when you look so damn white?) by his former classmates.

After the events where he was killed in the Dark Kingdom, He woke up in the hospital in Tokyo under the watchful eye of his Aunt. He was said to have gotten very sick and had a high fever.

I’m still trying to figure out if he should be in school later with the girls, or if he’d be in a more expensive school.

Jun is the youngest at age 15 going on 16, and is in the same year as the Senshi

Anyway, the first one to meet Jun is Ami and Jun get’s annoyed because she’s in his seat, or so he thinks, at a cram school that he went to with his friends.

Jun gains an obsession with Sailor Mercury after she saves him from a kidnapping by the bad guys.

He actually wants to become a fashion designer due to his mother being a costume maker for the theater, and for a while goes out of his way to stage things to make the scouts come to him so he can find out who’s Sailor Mercury.

Jun has a desire to be the most logical of the group of four, and is also the most serious.

He has a hard time with his transformation because he feels that he was the one that let Beryl back into their lives as he was the first one to get changed into his Dark Kingdom form.

Jun’s flower is the lily for transformation (don’t ask me why it’s what came up, still trying to figure if that’s the best for him.)

Like Jadeite, Zoisite pledges loyalty right away to Mamoru, though he does see Usagi as a bit of a ditz. Over time he learns to love her for who she is and respect her as his future queen.

I should note he can’t dance a lick and has two left feet.

He also gets flustered over the fact that he can look more like a girl than some girls, but is okay with doing so for missions to help the girls out. IE, he can be the bait from time to time.

He’s actually below Nephrite in leader order, but he’s the strategy guy, so Nephrite tends to defer to him.

The only person that can get him to at all react in any way other then his normally aloof self is Ami, and she doesn’t know she’s doing that to him.

Jun speaks at least 4 languages fluently. He’s also the shortest of the bunch.

When it comes to attacks he uses up to three that seem to be the main mix.

With Ami he has his electricity connect with her water, and creates a devastating steam like attack that blinds people. With Usagi he can create a force-field that is stronger with her moon power, Rei has it where the crystals channel heat around her and allow her fire attacks more power, Minako has those crystals act as a reflective nature that bounce her light attacks around if need be. Makoto gets a force field around her that grants her a higher charge for her oak lighting attack that won’t bounce back on her.

Mamoru get’s an upgrade with a mirror like attack that allows him to see and hear things from different tech devices and he can use it to get people’s attention about breaking spells and the like.

Kunzite with Zosite becomes a very strong and possibly overpowering energy attack that blocks out sight and hearing for a while when hit with it. Jadeite as I said above does the whole freeze bomb with him and Nephrite does the whole shadow thing.

Kunzite: Aikeizawa Noritaka

Story so far: Noritaka’s got a lot going on for him. His mother is from a royal family in Arabia, making him a prince. His father was a Journalist that was covering there. He actually came to Japan to teach, as he wanted to get away from his family back home. He’s the only one that is out of College and is working at Jubaan High as a Exchange Teacher/Student Teacher in History (Or Japanese Classics, or Geography -still haven’t figured that out yet).

After the situation with the Dark Kingdom, he actually woke up in his apartment in the same building as Mamoru. That’s how he gets to meet him by chance when Chibi Usa runs into him, literally, on her way to visit Mamoru.

I should note he’s the oldest of the group at age 25. He’s also got the most complex situation with the girls to date.

Unlike the others who are single, Kunzite is dating Minako and Usagi’s home room teacher and is engaged to her. This throws in a rather rough kink for Venus and him when he starts to recoginze her and his feelings come back.

Kunzite is the only one that rejects the offer to join the Shitennou and his guilt is eating at him.

His feelings of loyalty for Mamoru expand to his family (Usagi and chibi Usa).

He gets jealous of guys around Minako and has to deal with that.

Flower for Kunzite is an orchid, at least for now.

I can’t say a lot about what I’m planning with him because of the fact that it could spoil things that I want to have as surprises. Though I can say that as a teacher he’s very strict about the girls getting their work done for school even when he’s got his memory back.

Kunzite does flirt with Venus when they’re in costume, which keeps driving him back and forth about his feelings for her and his girlfriend.

His attacks with the boys as per above, Jadeite has the ice barrier attack with him. Nephrite can cause the shadows to act as a distraction or attack depending on what Kunzite needs, and overpowering energy blast that removes sight and hearing with Zosite.

Mamoru get’s a very large upgrade with Kunzite, allowing his sword to change it’s manifestation into something that can draw out the gravity of the earth and use that to hold someone down.

Usagi gets an upgrade in a similar vain, only it’s reverse and makes them float with her attack.

Minako and Kunzite have a chain attack where the orbs circle around the heart and pin the person in place while the heart hits them. Rei gains a energy blast in her fire attack, Ami has a force field around her when she’s doing some tech stuff, Makoto get’s some gravity pull on her throwing attack.

That’s what I got so far.

#senshi x shitennou #shitennou x senshi #shitennou #jadeite x rei #jadeite #kunzite #rei x jadeite #kunzite x minako #mars x jadeite #minako x kunzite #venus x kunzite #jupiter x nephrite #nephrite #nephrite x makoto #zoisite #zoisite x ami #mercury x zoisite #sailor moon #sailor moon crystal

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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years

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I think I’ve managed to pinpoint one of the main storytelling issues of KH3 and it’s one that I wouldn’t have expected: the Secret Reports

In KH1, KH2, and BBS, the Secret Reports are easily obtained through just progressing the story. Some are given to you in cutscenes, some are found in easily accessible chests you encounter with just a little bit of exploration. A few are hidden, but most you just get through playing the game normally

These serve two purposes: they clarify lore bits that have just been revealed in the story and they hint at future plot developments, usually by seeding hints in the words used by the author. They’re an easily accessible source of lore for those who would seek it, and easily ignored for those who don’t care. But they always serve to flesh out the narrative

In KH1, we’re never told outright who Ansem is in the cutscenes. That’s in the Ansem Reports. We learn about the origins and nature of Heartless through Ansem’s own writings of his experiments. We learn about the Hearts of Worlds, what Gummi material is, and the connection between the Keyblade and Princesses of Heart. We learn that Ansem is a scientist who performed extremely messed up experiments. We know that he’s obsessed with learning the truth of the universe. The Final Mix reports provide foreshadowing for the Nobodies in KH2. And the only way that we learn all of this is through the reports, most of which we get through progression and a little bit of exploration. They show up when they’re story relevant, and the game makes sure that the cutscenes corroborate what’s said in the reports, mirroring their content. But you only get the full understanding of everything by reading the reports

KH2′s Secret Ansem Reports start right off the bat by outright stating that the first Ansem was an impostor and the current writer of the report regrets his past actions. Right away it provides the first hints towards the “DiZ is Ansem the Wise” reveal and gives characterization to someone who would otherwise get very little screentime. Again, these all provide needed lore. They discuss the Nobodies and the history of about half of the Organization members. By the time we reach the end of the game, readers of the Reports know exactly what Ansem’s beef with the Organization is, they know how Nobodies function and what that means when fighting the Organization. We know all about Mickey and Ansem’s friendship. There’s nothing confusing in the climax if you’ve been keeping up with the reports that the game handily gives you at critical moments

Even BBS does it right. The Xehanort Reports are split by their relevance to each storyline. Terra’s cover Xehanort’s descent into darkness, personal philosophy on the darkness, and hunt for a vessel so that by the end of Terra’s story we know exactly what the stakes for Terra are and where Xehanort’s obsession with the darkness stems from. Ven’s are all about his personal history with Xehanort and the mechanics of the X-Blade so that we know what his stakes are and what Xehanort intends the means of reaching his final goal to be. Aqua’s are centered around worldbuilding. There’s stuff about the Keyblade War, the three different kinds of Keyblades, and the true purpose of Kingdom Hearts. Aqua gets to learn why he wants the power of Kingdom Hearts, which ultimately means that Aqua players know why they have to beat Terra-Xehanort and Ventus-Vanitas. Each characters’ reports give the player a better understanding of the final stakes of their campaign

KH3′s Secret Reports are, oddly enough, written like past reports. They directly correspond to and clarify information we see in cutscenes, and provide clues for the reveal in the The Lost Masters secret ending. The problem? Like most things in this game, they’re backloaded. You don’t get the chance to obtain any of them until halfway through the climax, where going back to get them would destroy the pacing of the finale. Not to mention that you have to backtrack to get them at all. There’s no reason for them to be tied to the Battlegates other than someone felt that you had to get something unique from them. There’s no reason that the Battlegates can’t spawn earlier than they do. Why can’t we get the report about how Ienzo intends to provide vessels for the hearts in Sora’s after the scene where that concept is introduced, explaining to the audience the complications in the process? Or the report about Xehanort’s interactions with Subject X after Ansem bring up the topic to Ansem the Wise? Or any of Saix’s reports about his friendship with her after his conversation with Lea? And it’s not like they couldn’t have done something similar to past games, where the story-relevant ones are obtained during the story and the ones that forshadow future games are obtained in post-game challenges. They way they are, almost no one is going to go into the ending of KH3 with the full knowledge that they need to fully understand how certain characters are revived, or the emotional impact of certain interactions. There is no “ah-hah!” moment, because all of the hints we needed to start even formulating guesses are withheld until either just before the reveal or, for most people, just after it

#kingdom hearts #kh3 #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts iii spoilers #khiii spoilers #i didn't mean to go off on this topic as much as i did #it's just that i beat all of the battlegates and flan today and this just stood out to me

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madfictionland · 5 years

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Master Xehanort - NOT a flawless mastermind!

I’m always having trouble to understand people in KH ‘discourse’. They have every right to hate the series for many different reasons, please be my guest, but they usually do it with this silly argument that it’s so damn lame and impossible for Master Xehanort to plan all of this and predict so many variables... But I’m like... he didn’t, really... so what’s your problem even...

Sure, Xehanort kind of takes the credit for everything that happened (in DDD) and makes it sound like everything went ‘according to plan,’ but I thought that’s just what villains do, you know? Despite some setbacks, especially *when their other splintered selfs still achieve results that ultimately lead to his final goals*, it is actually fair to claim the credit. In the end it turned out perfectly well and Master Xehanort learnt a big deal of things. And knowledge is extremely important in his line of business. In the end, he WAS too eager regarding creation of his own pure light and darkness which wasn’t the right way.

But it seems like people don’t even live in a logical world anymore (once they decided they don’t like the direction the series took) and they need everything explained by characters for some reason, like a lenghty lecture from Master Xehanort perhaps... with admission after admission about where his initial plans went wrong and how exactly (which is ludicrous to expect even).

Here is a quick look at things he DID NOT predict/planned for:

1. He never planned to be defeated by Aqua and for amnesia Terranort to be created.

2. He never planned for amnesia-esque (thus less efficient) Ansem and Xemnas.

3. He never planned for the exact timing of DDD meeting and his recompletion. His words about how ‘it’s been decided’ are to be taken with a grain of salt, naturally, since Nomura’s concept of time is tricky and *kind of* fixed (since it does happen... it’s ALL been decided already, apparently). And Master Xehanort himself, despite his ambitions and discoveries, seems to be a strong proponent of ‘fate’ which corresponds with that rule of time. He took interest in Ventus because he felt like it was destiny, after all, and there are more instances of such thinking behind Xehanort.

4. He never planned for Ansem and Xemnas to be defeated since he never planned for their creation in the first place.

Now, it doesn’t mean his plans begun and ended in BBS. BBS focuses exclusively on his ambitions and schemes sorrounding Ventus and Terra but there was clearly more behind the man. Including vast knowledge about the lore, nature of the world, hearts and darkness. He did study everything about a keyblade and keyblade war which is a messed-up subject in and of itself, with so many things unclear and hopefully to be explained in KH3. Pure light and darkness? X-blade shuttered into 20 pieces? 7 pure hearts? Hearts born from darkness? Keyblade War connected to Kingdom Hearts? Door to Darkness connected to Kingdom Hearts? Maybe they’re all just legends, hence so many different stories and unclear answers? or at least that’s an explanation they can go with, so it’ll make sense. In any case, all of them crucial info for Xehanort and something to keep in mind when scheming!

See... there are so many things that it’s actually hard to get your priorities straight. I actually know this feeling pretty well when it comes to personal life or fandom activities!

So what did he plan or what were his ideas, logically?

1. Whatever his destination... Norting other people along the way seemed like a great idea (the first experiment being Braig/Vanitas most likely). But what he wanted for his original self was a perfect young vessel such as Ven or Terra, a keyblade wielder.

2. Looking for ways to forge the x-blade/make Kingdom Hearts manifest itself he already learnt of the 20 pieces of it and 7 lights. Whether there is an actual utilization behind number 13... or maybe he thought it was edgy and cool which would be character-accurate if you ask me... the idea behind 13 versions of himself working in perfect unison towards their shared goal was easily hatched. If only the Nortification technike proved to be working... possibilities were endless.

3. Maleficent seemed like a perfect candidate to be set on a path towards 7 princesses. Something crucial and what could come in handy - regarding the Door to Darkness or even the x-blade.

4. He did know how to time travel so he certainly had such an option in mind and taking into account his established, natural curiosity with the world... and with extremes such as darkness/keyblade war... not surprising he would be willing to test it and utilize it. However, it required to abondon his body which he wasn’t going to do just yet. Plus: it would be a very experimental endevour and he had better things to do. (But do you know who did think it was a great idea and felt compelled to initiate it, despite his other ambitions? Ansem Seeker of Darkness, the most brazen and insane version of Xehanort. The premise was literally about gathering 13 “seekers” of darkness so makes sense considering his own strong obsessions.)

5. Knowing that he has many different things to explore (because he has barely even scratched the surface), other than his main goal... he probably did plan to split himself into a heartless and nobody, eventually. He never really got a chance to do it and have his two halfs cooperate in perfect union (which was clearly not the case with Ansem and Xemnas). We’re to assume that amnesia Xehanort, at some point, did remember this original idea of MX, and acted accordingly.

Master Xehanort was an explorer and ambitious darkness wielder. I’m sure there was no shortage of original ideas, pathways and new, potential plans. But in the end, he had Ventus and his main attention and hopes were to exploit him to forge the x-blade. In his eagerness, that’s what he put most of his energy into during BBS. He never really realized or even initiated most of those other plans and ideas. Well... at least not on his own...

But just as Young Xehanort’s heart led him to explore the outside world (which may actually be due to fixed ‘time paradox’) in the same way different versions of Xehanort felt compelled to put into motion different fragments of his plans and ideas. Destiny and fate, the strange feeling and exploration of the unknown and darkness, something that drives Xehanort forward, very similar to how Sora is guided by his heart and in contrast to it. His younger self captures it perfectly and even though his older self (+ other incarnations) act and maybe even feel like they are in control of everything they do to achieve their own goals... at their core they’re still guided by this basic premise:

Both the irony and fascinating factor behind Xehanort. Whenever he is delayed or his plans go not as planned... all these events may still contribute to the final outcome. In the end, he was destined to end up there. So in essence, all went according to plan and his ambitions continue to progress. All of this while the old man Xehanort, his ‘original’ self... sleeps in sort of limbo state.

Now what one needs to understand to even begin to comprehend what Nomura was going for here (which most people don’t care about and it’s actually understandable, all things considered) is that Xehanort exists across many different layers of self and even planes of existence/reality (as a force of darkness or a more spiritual force in his own and Terra’s body).

There is NO ONE PERFECT MASTERPLAN.

What we have here is basically:

- Xehanort’s plan put into motion in BBS - which failed to achieve his master goal (although he did Norted Braig and maybe Vanitas).

- Apprentice Xehanort does his research and formulates some of the plans and ambitions that are later passed on to Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas, along with Apprentice Xehanort’s history and sense of self (he is aided by Nort!Braig in hopes that Master Xehanort will eventually regain his complete memory and sense of self).

- Apprentice Xehanort - being Xehanort - gets obsessed with the darkness and hearts very quickly and achieves a certain mastery. Some of it may be his heart guiding him, despite amnesia. Some of it may be actual memories resurfacing. That leads to him being able to summon his keyblade and extract his heart, though his identity is still pretty twisted and memories incomplete (calls himself Ansem, just like he did in the reports). This twisted sense of self continues into Xemnas/Ansem.

- Ansem pursues his own ambitions and curiosity regarding Kingdom Hearts, Door to Darkness and Darkness. He makes good use of Maleficent (earlier set on a path by MX) and, recalling some of his original Destiny Island’s past, tries to posses Riku (similarities between the two are just too big and you can see why Ansem was so stubborn about Riku’s body).

- Xemnas aspires to become one with Kingdom Hearts of released hearts and achieve eternity, at his highest “tragic villain” moments being influenced by more humane aspects of Apprentice Xehanort and possibly Terra (”Unfortunately, I don’t remember joy”). But beyond that, he is still Xehanort and everything that the man entails, for the most part...

Most of Apprentice/Ansem/Xemnas’es plans, knowledge and ambitions came from MX’s memories that they were able to access OR - what’s more likely - they were simply influenced by them, at first unknowingly. Furthermore, at the peak of their power - especially Xemnas and Ansem - they may recall a great deal of their past and true purpose. But it doesn’t mean they cooperate in perfect unison - because they don’t really know everything, miss important pieces of the puzzle (like keyblade war, for example) and remain their unique, unstable beings, with their own share of drama and goals. Which is why they have self preservation insticts and desire to succeed at their own goals (that wouldn’t be the case if there wasn’t any amnesia factor involved... with their sense of self being 100% Xehanort). But EVEN THEN... there is a catch. They share Xehanort’s core feature - which is this compulsive instint to follow *fate* whenever it presents itself and explore the unknown without fear nor care for one’s safety. Plus, due to different factors, they are far less stable in the sanity department! THAT’S WHY:

- Driven by some of MX’s memories (Point 2 and 4 of MX’s ideas) Ansem explores time travel and meets his younger self whom he directs on the path towards 13 Seekers of Darkness, a ‘crazy’ fail-safe which is actually a part of fixed time paradox...

- Xemnas is actively working towards Nortification project which is the true main goal and premise behind the Organization and their many detours/experiments all along.

- After being visited by Young Xehanort (at some point prior to their respective failures) - they join him without hesitation and serve under the new organiztion and their recompleted self in the future. We are to assume that Young Xehanort (who observed everything through time travel) educated them, hence they know all about their failures and events they missed.

Now, all of those big plans happen simultaneously and, for the most part, independently from one another. It’s not a single master plan but when you have so many versions of yourself somewhere out there... the odds are really in your favor. And that’s not even thanks to Master Xehanort being an efficient mastermind villain (which he is only to some extent) but due to his enormous drive to pursue Kingdom Hearts and study the dark unknown around him. Which is true for all versions of Xenahort, especially those strongly associated with his original self and not influenced by 'lesser’ traits of vessel personas (Braig’s light attitude, for example, since, as a Nort, he is kind of impatient for the final destination but NOT curious enough to dedicate himself fully to all the research and detours).

So even if his BBS plan failed and main variables shift all the time - in the end Master Xehanort remains on top. Not thanks to him, really, but kind of thanks to him. And guess what? Once he returns and recomplates himself... he actually feels like he’s been doing all these things and he gets to keep all knowlegde gathered in the process. Despite setbacks, fate has clearly been in his favor and he emraces it.

Master Xehanort is NOT a perfect chess master, directly responsible for everything that’s happened in the world of KH. But he IS an efficient short-term strategist with many ideas (as we saw in BBS) who, despite his grand goal of becoming god-like, is both driven by and strongly intertwined with fate. Sure, there are many confusing elements to it and time travel in particular wasn’t explained too well, but all things considered - MX not being such a flawless mastermind is why I still love this villain!

#master xehanort #xehanort #kingdom hearts xehanort #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts master xehanort #and yes he is recently being shows playing chess...#but the opening with him in KH3 being a 'a chess master' behind KH1 and KH2 is just an asthetic thing #not a 100% perfect plan that he created for everything to unfold the way it did #this holds true unless KH3 will make it wrong #which i don't think it will but please no spoilers #kingdom hearts reflections

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pml1225-blog · 6 years

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2: the legend of the Legend of Zelda

The fictional chronology of the Legend of Zelda is honestly just a hot steaming pile of dog doodoo. Most people agree that a timeline was kind of cobbled together in 2011 to clarify why there was a seemingly identical kid named Link fighting Ganon so many times, tying together the existing releases. It’s not coincidence that this first appearance of the official timeline was linked to the release of Skyward Sword, the prequel to the entire timeline explaining the origin of the legendary conflict between Link, Zelda, and Ganon. Essentially, the overall story of Hyrule, the world of Legend of Zelda, is that Link, Zelda, and Ganon are destined to wage an eternal conflict over the ages, with each Link who seals Ganon away being christened a new Hero. For example, Link from Ocarina of Time becomes The Hero of Time, Link from Twilight Princess becomes the Hero of Twilight, and the link from Spirit Tracks becomes…the Hero of Trains. (Seriously.) However, while the exact history of the Legend of Zelda is convoluted and almost nonsensical at points*, the sense of lore is so strong and contributes to the experience of so many of these games, especially the ones that I (and everyone else) love the most.

Spirit Tracks was lowkey actually kind of fun.

So much of the magic of the Legend of Zelda comes from the role the “legend” itself plays in the world of Zelda. Like legends in the real world, the stories of the Hero Link are passed down through oral and written tradition by the residents of Hyrule. And like real stories, they morph and redefine themselves over time. Most of the “main games” take place so far in the future from the previous Link that his story is an actual legend – a fable that people tell their children, like the epic of Gilgamesh or King Alexander. Thus, the player often occupies a state built on dramatic irony – the non-player characters will tell you the story of Link, the Triforce, and the Master Sword, all while you (a different Link) are creating a new story with the same elements that people far in the future will tell. This creates so many fun, beautiful, and poignant moments that gives the story a sense of grandness. You are constantly reminded that you are one in a line of Heroes, but also, players who follow the series closely will have actually been all the Heroes at one point in time. It’s a cool feeling, to say the least.

The Hero of Time, as depicted in the opening scroll of Wind Waker.

In the Wind Waker, the Hyrule you enter as a player is one where Ganondorf was defeated, but when he returned, the Hero of Time (Link from the previous game Ocarina of Time) who defeated him was nowhere to be found (there is a Very Important Plot Reason for the Hero of Time to not reappear, but the point is that the populace of Hyrule does not know this). Hyrule is flooded in order to protect the citizens of Hyrule from Ganon’s wrath, splitting the kingdom into separated islands, but his threat is always looming and growing, unbeknownst to the peaceful residents. The Hero of Time’s legend, is therefore, a bit tainted. He succeeded once, but since he seemingly disappeared, people have grown to slowly forget him or not believe in him. This is evident throughout the game. On the island where Link lives, all boys receive the traditional hero’s garb when they become the same age as the Hero of Time and are forced to wear it for a day, hoping to inspire them with courage. However, the meaning of this tradition is long diluted. All Link wants to do is play with his dear sister Aryll. He’s not going to be inspired with courage and set sail for Ganon’s fortress and fight him himself – he’s not the Hero of Time – so why bother with this nonsense?

The face of the future Hero of the Winds, everyone.

Only after some wild coincidences involving Aryll being mistakenly captured in place of a pirate named Tetra does Link begrudgingly set out on his adventure. Even still, he doesn’t set out to kill Ganondorf – he sets out to save his sister. As Link gets essentially roped into defeating Ganondork, the player is constantly reminded through interactions with various residents of Hyrule that the Hero’s story is just a tall tale, and people have stopped believing in a Hero who will come to save them. People are just trying to live their lives as best they can, unaware of the growing threat that Ganondorf presents. The foolish ones who still believe in the Hero are also children like the Rito Medli, and are ushered in as the next generation of sages.

These kids are the future! Fitting with the overall themes of the game of letting the past die to ensure the future, Wind Waker ends with Link and Zelda searching for a new land to call Hyrule after completely flooding this Hyrule (again). It’s kind of like the end of Thor: Ragnarok, except Thanos doesn’t come later (spoiler) (lmao)

When Link finds the flooded Hyrule Castle, where the Master Sword has been hidden, and is confronted with a statue of the Hero of Time, the impact is incredible. You realize that the Hero of Time was real, a young boy clad in green just like you, and you really are the successor, ready to confront Ganon himself.

The moment™, shortly before you get the Master Sword and truly embrace the role of the Hero.

This is the magic that the Legend of Zelda can bring. As Link travels across the flooded remains of Hyrule, the player gets the sense of a people who lost hope. They don’t see Link as the next incarnation of the Hero, but as what he really is: a kid who got thrown into an adventure while he was cosplaying. The fact that Link of Wind Waker can be both is what makes it such a fun game, and gives the player so much satisfaction to create the next chapter of the legend.

#storyworlds #legend of zelda #wind waker #storyworlds meta

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elane-in-the-shadows · 6 years

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Red Queen Fan Fiction - Blood Curse part 16

Find this on wattpad

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

chapter 22

chapter 23

chapter 24

chapter 25

chapter 26

chapter 27

chapter 28

chapter 29

Final chapter

Evangeline POV

Elane’s already asleep when I lay down next to her. Exhaustion has claimed her sooner than me who’s still filled with nervous energy but her closeness calms me. Enough so I can doze off while the memories remain. We killed so many today, and more will come tomorrow, and the day after. Staying in the now royal residence of Pitarus is a luxury compared to the conditions of soldiers camping in the mud, in clammy tents or watching on the walls. It’s not our fate as we aren’t on a campaign, we’re the defenders now, expecting to be besieged by Lakelander forces. We do our best to prevent that.

In my darkest moments, I can’t believe how Father has failed us. He should’ve known better. He must have thought of this. His charge against Detraeon, the Lakelander capital, left our newly-founded kingdom bereft of its main forces. It’s as good as an invitation to attack our home from the west and I’ll never forget Mother’s expression when the scouts confirmed what her animal familiars must’ve already told her about: the approach of an army marching through our lowly-populated western areas. Then her perpetual, sneering confidence was broken by sudden nervousness and cluelessness. She almost looked like a person.

As promising as the prize of the Rift sounds, for the Lakelanders it’s a charge of vengeance as well. When Father fought in the north, he met with the Lakelands’ crown princess Agnes at the head of the defending army and unfortunately, they didn’t battle for months as expected. It was short, bloody, and brutal, and the princess was gravely injured, and likely died although the reports we receive don’t state that. But that didn’t stop her remaining generals to take Father as a hostage.

The Cygnet Queen is unrelenting and rejects negotiation of a ransom. Instead she sent an army in retaliation while we’ve heard nothing from our troops committed to the cause in the North.

Tolly has promised to return from Corvium where he’s watched the former border for so long, so he can support our defense in Pitarus. I can’t wait to see him again.

But for now, our only hope are reinforcements from Tiberias and his grandmother who are out to reclaim Archeon and its surrounding territories at the moment. Either they’ll come to help, or the Kingdom of the Rift will shatter as soon as it was forged.

We’re phantoms in the night. Elane and I dash over the plain outstretching between the walls of Pitarus and the enemy’s camp. She’s thrown a veil of visibility over both of us as and we stop so I can rig the ground with metal spikes. I spread them wide and push them deeper and deeper into the soil. Once the Lakelander forces come this way, our magnetrons will pull the spikes up again to stop and skewer them.

Elane keeps watch, raising her binoculars. She doesn’t have to hide herself and stands like a work of art against the starry night sky. I can’t make out our surroundings like she does as the glamour blurs my sight too much. But Elane has learned from the moment her ability showed up to read and see through the twisting shadows created by her refracting the light.

“Eve,” she whispers, “is it true that you magnetrons can feel each other at work? Aren’t you worried?”

I get up, hurling a last spike into the air before I ram it into the earth. “Seen someone?” I ask.

She shakes her head.

“Well, that’s true. Every magnetron worth their rivets perceives great metal bodies moving, including movements caused by abilities. But there’s no difference – any foe wouldn’t know whether I’m doing this or if a transport drives in the distance.”

Elane lowers the binoculars and turns to me. Even in the shroud she’s cast over us, the starlight becomes her, her red hair shining despite the darkness. She lifts an eyebrow.

“And I know of no magnetron who can use this sense to locate the source,” I conclude. I enjoy her gaze on me and this moment of mutual solitude way too much, given that we’re basically standing on the front lines. But the danger has an arousing aspect as much as the impression of the two of us being alone in the world.

“The night isn’t over yet,” Elane says. The corners of my mouth twitch but her next words far less sensual. “The way to the camp is completely clear, patrols are going to another side of town. We could go to the camp and sabotage a little.” Her eyes are gleaming with mischief yet her recklessness feels like a punch.

“What?” I blurt.

She takes my hand. “Why not? No one will see us and just making traps that might never be activated or waiting for your betrothed to arrive feels terribly passive. Eve, we can – “

I kiss her before she can say more. I don’t want to hear more this topic because it is true: I don’t want to depend on Tiberias Calore. “Okay,” I whisper, “let’s do this.”

Elane gives me her jacket to hide the metal armour I wear, even though she’ll cast another glamour on us, a new one for running. For a split second, I see the night sky and Elane’s smile sparkles like the stars. The glamour ripples and we start to run. Elane’s curvier, bigger and heavier than me with my lean muscles but that doesn’t inhibit her athletic prowess. We move in silence but with determination and Elane casts enough light to reveal uneven spots in the ground. Soon we’ve covered the two kilometres to the camp. We choose a fenced-off spot to enter, hoping to find fewer guards patrolling. And indeed, Elane doesn’t see any in the closest vicinity. I suggest to break into the arsenal to rig their weapons and she agrees, already trying to locate the stock. But this is a task for me, as its mass of metal calls to me. Nevertheless, this plan demands our full attention and careful moves. I stick close to Elane since I can hardly see while she guides us away from people, tents and other obstacles.

We’re there, she gestures to me.

No guards? I reply.

One over there for a moment. Get in.

The arsenal is locked but I can open it with my ability. I only use tiny surges and imagine I had the key so the lock won’t be damaged and will close again. Once I’m done it’ll be obvious enough a magnetron was here but a locked door will buy us time. The lock clicks and I step into makeshift building, my hand gliding over swords, pistols, rifles, guns. I bend and twist the weapons as I touch them, making my way to the transports and tanks farther back. As time passes, I’m growing suspicious this might be a ruse. What if the Lakelanders calculated with the Rift’s shadow princess and her relations, expecting an infiltration? Elane isn’t even with me in this room …

I cut my mission short, frantically feeling my way out – and don’t find Elane standing watch. I whisper her name, remembering she has to stay invisible. But there’s no reaction, nor words or touch, no flicker of light, no anything.

By my colours, love, where are you?

I turn to the wall and take a few breaths. She has to be safe, I tell myself.

I close the zipper of her jacket up to my chin, pull the hood over my face and stuck my silver hair into it. I prowl away from the arsenal, trying to perceive what I can while remaining hopefully inconspicuous but slowly panicking. What are a few sabotaged weapons compared to two captured princesses of the Rift? Their magnetrons can easily repair their arms after they’ve caught us. Fortunately, the Lakelanders don’t have much of our kind here, only a few have arrived as far as we know. A stupid move, as telkies and other magnetrons are the best counter against us. For now, the Lakelanders deploy their infamous nymphs and shivers to damage our fields and town walls.

Pitarus’ walls remain standing – but so far, all we fought in were skirmishes in the outskirts, not a real siege.

There’re very few Reds in the camp besides some servants and technicians. Seems like the Lakelanders are too proud to use foot soldiers while our Reds are committed to defend Pitarus, as they were to go with Father on his invasion.

Someone bumps into me and with a flick of my wrist, a blade’s in my hand and against their throat.

I let the blade dissolves with a gasp. “Elane …!” She just became visible as I entered her glamour.

“Shhh,” she urges me but she’s hardly quiet in her rush to get us moving. Again, my view is reduced to her and useless mirage images of our surroundings as I follow her, this time unable to avoid stumbling. Why this haste? I dread encountering a foe for real and indeed, Elane stops suddenly.

“Magnetron,” she hisses.

My armour suddenly feels heavy. We can’t see each other, but the enemy’s specific sense has to vibrate now, as does mine. If I wasn’t with her, Elane wouldn’t have to worry about that, as she wears no metal and even her weapons are cut from diamondglass instead, an insignia of House Haven.

I cling to her as she draws such a dagger now. She sidles forward until the foe enters our glamour. He immediately turns to me but he’s too surprised to stop Elane from ending with her dagger in his neck.

“What will we do with him?” I ask quietly.

She shrugs. Shrugs. “We climb over the fence 200 m to the left.” She looks at me. her calm face stunning me. But this demeanour lasts only for a second and her lips start to quiver. She has to fight her consternation as well. “They’ll have another body to worry about,” she says, then pauses. “I killed their general.”

I’m not granted the time to gasp or ask questions. We have to make our escape.

Mother’s birds screech in the night sky above Pitarus. Although we’re safe now, Elane only drops the glamour for the door guards to recognize us and let us in. Apparently, her familiars have done their job well as Mother already waits for us in the main hall. I stiffen and banish my excitement caused by our adventure, showing the Queen of the Rift her due respect. Elane has no such restraints, she touches my hand in passing, curtseys half-mockingly and goes directly to her mother-in-law.

“Your majesty, I have a confession to make,” she says. “I persuaded Eve to come with me to the enemy camp and sabotage.”

Mother seems almost amused.

“We were successful, your majesty. Eve damaged the arsenal while I assassinated One or two people. Like General Seydoux.”

Mother actually pats her cheek. “Well done, my dear.” She chuckles. “I’m uncertain His Majesty would rejoice as much but well, if he leaves matters in our hands, we’ll deal with them in our ways.” How lightly she talks about Father’s absence although he’s virtually a prisoner. But Elane smiles back. In truth, I’m envious of her easy access to Mother. I wouldn’t dare, not ever.

Suddenly, Elane’s expression freezes and her smile becomes too broad to be real. “I hope this is enough to prove my worth to you, Your Majesty. So I’ll be more to you than a womb to bear your grandchildren.”

It’s a slap in Mother’s face – and mine. When did Elane become this outspoken person, voicing things I can’t imagine to say?

Mother gives no answer, just inclines her head. Elane turns to the direction of our rooms and I follow, remembering to curtsey and say goodnight to Mother.

“How did you manage to say that to Mother?” I ask her after we’ve showered and lay entangled on the bed.

“Hm?” She breathes against my neck, then lifts her head. “It seemed like an opportune moment.”

“Do you hate being married to Tolly? To have … “

“Eve, it’s just … “ she sighs and pulls me closer, her hair tickling my skin as she tugs mine behind my ear. “I want children, and I think Tolly would be an amazing father. But I don’t want to be reduced to producing heirs, you see. Why rush things?”

“We could die at any time.”

“Well, if you think like that, we won’t have the time to make babies either.” She laughs.

“You’re very fatalistic tonight.”

Elane frowns, then kisses first my neck, then my chin, my cheek, my mouth. “Isn’t it the same for you?” she asks quietly after a while. I wait a long time before I agree.

At breakfast two days later, Mother announces Anabel Lerolan’s impending arrival for later this day. Elane states her polite excitement and is otherwise on friendly terms with our court members as well, all of them waiting to support the defenses again.

Of course, the royal ladies will welcome the queen dowager and her retinue despite our troubles. Picking listlessly with my fork, I ask Mother a few questions about Lerolan’s passage and how safe travel was and is currently. As casually as possible, inquire whether Tiberias will come along.

“She didn’t say,” Mother replies. “Nor have my familiars seen him.” She goes on with describing the successful conquest of the Nortan capital. If I’m lucky, Lerolan’s whole journey is a ruse and Tiberias fell in Archeon, with his grandmother now playing a game with us. Bringing her soldiers along to placate her Samos allies before she’ll have to confess she has no longer a crown to offer.

“But the queen dowager sent me a message,” Mother continues. “She wants to celebrate the victory with a royal wedding.”

My next breaths have to sound like snorting and I don’t care. I need all my control to stop myself from flipping the table. Instead I occupy my mind with the intricate task of turning my fork into a metal rose. How dare Anabel Lerolan to come pluck me like a flower to add to her bouquet, congratulating herself for taking the capital?

Elane, the cousins, guards, and servants leave one after another for the defense and other preparations. I stay seated with Mother. She feeds her kestrel with bits of meat she tosses haphazardly into the air.

“I share Elane’s opinion,” I say as I rise. Mother looks up to me, her bird forgotten and flying back to her perch. “I’m more than Lerolan’s broodmare.”

Mother smirks and my heart sinks. She doesn’t take me seriously. “Of course you aren’t, Eve. We didn’t put so much effort in raising you to become a queen if your whole job was – well.” She shrugs before she has to go into the inconvenient details.

What did I expect her to reply? I’m the perfect Silver daughter, she can’t imagine I’d ever let them down and object to the marriage to Tiberias. I walk to the door. I consider capture by the Lakelanders again, as it can’t be much worse than –

“Eve.” Mother calls after me. I glance back, seeing an unusually soft expression on her face. I must be misreading her. “You know that I’m very proud of you?” she says and now I stop trusting my ears as well. She downs her tea like it was alcoholic. “You want everything, Eve, and you won’t relent before you have it. I respect you for that.”

I’m shaken by disbelief.

“You told your father and me you loved women, and only women and didn’t bat an eye. You said you loved Elane and in the same breath, you claimed the throne of Norta would be yours still, while Elane would make a great match for Tolly.” She sighs. “You don’t give up but see new ways and that makes you everything a queen can aspire to be.

“What more can I wish for?”

I still hold the metal rose I made in my hand. I grab it so hard the thorns I’ve shaped myself draw my Silver blood on its silver body. “I’m happy to please you, Mother,” I reply.

When Queen Dowager Anabel Lerolan arrives at Pitarus, she doesn’t simply add the soldiers she’s brought to our forces, she inspects our army if they were all her own. I follow her more like a guide than her equal but the gazes of our magnetrons sustain me. I’m their princess, second in line, and their loyalty belongs to me, not to the old queen. We’re an independent kingdom and it’s my task to remind Lerolan of that.

“Are you satisfied, Your Majesty?” I ask, my first words since we’ve started this tour along the wall. Birds flying over our heads.

“The Samos never lacked discipline,” she says, “you’re the best example, Your Highness.” Casually, she picks up a stone and obliterates it.

“Are you interested in training with me, Your Majesty?” I smirk, letting my armour shift in answer to her own show.

“For a moment.”

I shoot spikes from the steel I wear on my body but Lerolan lifts her hand and melts them, before they ricochet back to me in a heat wave. Just in time, I can divert them away from me. I look around to check I didn’t hit any of our soldiers in this friendly fire. The birds, obviously tamed by Mother, aren’t disturbed in the least and still glide through the sky.

Lerolan laughs. “You’re truly worthy of your crown, Evangeline of the Rift.”

“Of the Rift, indeed,” I struggle to find the right posture for a second, a blend of imperiousness and aloofness. I’ve always managed to maintain my attitude easily but recently, I feel it turning into a pretend. “You shouldn’t forget who I am, Your Majesty. I’m a princess in my own right, an equal to Tiberias and of a house as old.”

Her smile is deceptively complaisant. “Of course you remember, Your Majesty,” I continue, equally sweet. “This is precisely why you desire me as a bride for Tiberias. Tell me, how long have we until we’ll find my brother dead in his bed so your grandson can claim the Rift in his, excuse me, our right? So Norta can be one again?”

“How nice of you to remind me, Your Highness.” Her smile doesn’t waver. She outstretches her hand in a welcoming gesture as if her touch wasn’t lethal. “Who else could I want for a better ally than your family? Because that is what we are, dear. Allies.”

“Allies who trust each other as much as we trust the Red rebels?”

She sighs, turns away, and continues on her way along the wall. “Careful, Your Highness. My disgraced other grandson had a good idea by making peace with the Lakelands.” Her fingertips touch the wall and dust crumbles off the concrete. “Maybe I should offer them support instead.” Them, the enemy coming closer every day.

I snort. “With whom would you talk, I wonder? Their general passed away last night, due to our commitment to defend Pitarus.”

Lerolan’s head spins to me. Nice to see her shocked. “But now that you mention them, what has become of Maven and Iris?” I go on. “And of my groom – we’ve heard nothing from him since the battle of Archeon. How can there be a wedding if – “

“He’s perfectly alright, Your Highness,” she insists. I can’t tell if she lies.

I nod. “I hope the same is true of Princess Iris. If she died – “

“Your father wouldn’t last long either, I fear. I’m aware.” More concrete turns to dust until a needle pricks her hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” I look around. “Someone must’ve become suspicious of your hand on our wall.” I smile sweetly, she reciprocates before she dashes off, cursing, “insolent,” under her breath.

Lerolan rushes things, and no one else knows whether to call the dinner a welcoming or a farewell festivity. It shall be the latter for me, and the plane to bring Lerolan and me back to Archeon is a shiny but menacing presence in in our hangar. All the time I can beg for is to wait for Tolly’s arrival from Corvium; his journey through the Northern parts of our lands can’t take much longer now. I can’t be denied this, as I’m one of the commanders of the defense and obligated to wait for my replacement. He should be here already, and Mother’s spies, both human and not, are sent to track him.

My crown is the first thing I dress myself with, before I braid, coil, and pin my hair around it. I allow no stray hair and I imagine the hairstyle as both a helmet and emphasis for my bare face and neck. I spend so much time on perfecting my hair, always finding another flaw to correct or a loose hair to fix, that I hardly have time to spare to finish the dress. I indulge in a moment of chaos, first dividing aluminium sheets into shards and pins and then I just pull them onto my body as if I was really a magnet. I like the result, a shirt like a jigsaw from my feet to my ribs, my upper body and shoulder covered in spikes up to my throat. Naturally I’m not content with the first try and thus I shape, smooth and draw the intentional chaos into something aesthetically pleasing and challenging to behold. It’s an art I’m more versed in compared to what awaits me with the snakes of court life.

I trust Elane to make me glitter painfully bright in addition to my work. She appears like my opposite: Her style is dark and loose with her hair falling free and her dress made of black valance folds. Where the metal gives me heaviness and weight, she’s ephemeral, coming in and out of sight just for the fun of it. I know she’s there nonetheless and take her hand, never letting go. When we enter the great hall, not nearly filled with so many off to secure our lands, Elane kisses me, first my hand, then my mouth while regaining visibility right at the moment just before our lips part.

Elane can always smile at people, at any time. I prefer to remain stern as Father told me to, and the same applies to us now. The princesses of the Rift are made of contrasts complementing each other.

Anabel Lerolan is already seated and we take our places before Mother joins us, a panther stroking its head on her skirts like an overgrown kitten as she walks down from her throne to the table.

The four royal ladies toast to each other and to power and strength; the panther growls.

“You two make such a beautiful couple,” Lerolan says. “So stylish and classy.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Elane replies, and toys with a long tress.

“You know I have utmost sympathy for your situation,” the old queen adds. “We’ve always been best friends, King Tiberias V, Robert Iral, and I. I have no joy in seeing you two parted.” She takes a sip and it feels like a new jab. Like she thinks it funny that we brought this situation upon ourselves, and thus have to solve it ourselves.

“Oh, I’m certain we’ll maintain the friendships between our houses,” I say at one point. “I’ll be so glad to welcome King Tiberias VII back among the High Houses.” At least he should be easy to control, even if I have to endure Mare Barrow and her rebels around him.

We rise before dawn, even Elane who’s a positive night owl. I re-shape the remains of last night’s dress into an armour and knives while she gets our bags. “Or we simply elope, Eve,” she suggests one last time.

I laugh huskily. “We’re queens-to-be, have you forgotten?” But deep down, I consider her idea. It feels more comfortable than our current plan.

She shakes her head and follows me out, without letting go of the bags as we enter the corridor under her glamour. Possibly flight is a viable option if something goes wrong. I’m not as confident as I pretend to be, actually I become more and more nauseous with every step. Doubt wants to stop me and it might succeed in the end. There might be another option, even when Elane opens the door to Lerolan’s rooms. She doesn’t appear committed either, rather as sick as I. She breathes raggedly. “Eve, wait … “she pants but the door is already open when I finally notice my sight isn’t blurry anymore. I can see the person on the bed perfectly clear.

Elane’s glamour is gone. Nausea and headache hit me like a kick in the gut. It’s silent stone, everywhere in the room and in Anabel’s limp and lifeless body.

“What …?” Elane wants to pull me away but I remain standing. A snake hisses, two more fall in, and I see the bite marks on the dowager queen’s body.

“Larentia killed her,” Elane whispers.

Of course she did. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still in the suite, waiting for us before she brings her serpents away.

“Didn’t she know? Elane wonders. “That we would do … the same?” She’s so stunned, still doubting we would’ve gone through with a murder.

I shake my head. “That doesn’t change anything.” I step into the room, grit my teeth and take a knife. The silent stone was to poison and paralyze her while the serpents would bite anyway. But I’ll spare Mother the fate and reputation of the poison bride as I planned to do in the first place. I start to stab Anabel’s body until no one will look for a different cause of death, stabbing until I fall to the floor, close to fainting.

“Eve.” Elane rubs my back. “The stone’s too much, let’s leave this place.”

But I can’t. Even though it wasn’t really me, even though I had the same idea, the graveness of this act drags me. We thought we’d hide Anabel’s death by her supposed departure to Archeon but that’s not going to work. There’re too many people involved, too many going to ask questions.

In truth, I merely wanted to make threats to Anabel but Mother created new facts. We’ll deal with them in our ways, she said a few days ago, and she really did.

“I need to get away.”

“Eve?”

I don’t let her hide me. I don’t go to Mother. I leave the residence, hear again birds screeching above me as I move to the wall. I could join the skirmishes farther off and no one would care about the blood on me. But I find the one safe gate, the same Anabel’s used, and exit Pitarus’s walls without explaining to run across the plains. I know nothing and exertion is my release, freeing me from all these games and schemes.

Sunrise announces itself with a few red spots in the grey sky, like in the silly slogan of the rebels. After several kilometres, I first feel, then hear a transport approaching. I wish so much it’s Tolly with his retinue: Indeed, faintly I can perceive more transports farther back. I charge ahead, drawn to the machine.

But it’s not my brother, nor our soldiers.

“What are you doing here, princess?” sneers a familiar voice. The blue eyes of the Red general glare at me as she leans out of a door. I do my best to stare back.

A/N: The next chapter will be a Farley interlude so you can learn how she came to this place and what she did in the meantime during the last chapters ;-)

@clarafarleybarrow @mareshmallow @redqueenfandom @lilyharvord @inopinion @hannaharies @samanthaslytherin @queeniriscygnet @iris-cygnets @spookysamos @runexandra @breebarrcw @mareenattitanos @red-queen-united @redqueenforever @mareburrowxcal @quaffleswaffles @denisematias19

#red queen #red queen fanfiction #war storm fan fiction #evangeline samos #evane #war storm #storm born #blood curse #blood curse ch 16 #elane haven #anabel lerolan

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swapauanon · 3 years

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Melody of Memory Theory: World Tour

So... Here’s my theory about what the World Tour mode will bring to the table.

Please note that I noticed some details which contradicted my “Rhythmia” theory in the REVEAL TRAILER, but I’ll explain my reasoning under the cut.

Basically, while I still think the “film strips” are actually corresponding to the recaps rather than story progress, I still think that progressing through the story will be connected to a collectible, namely, the stars.

Why? Two reasons:

We actually saw a snippet of a cutscene where Riku and Kairi talk to a bunch of stars in the trailers.

The trailers showed that the stars have a “target amount” in the tally whereas what I thought was Rhythmia does not. So you will actually have to get good at Rhythm games to progress, sorry to say.

Anyway, I still think the game will open when Kairi is first put into a coma, but after a quick tutorial, she’ll happen upon the Nameless Star, the two will chat for a bit, and then the Nameless Star will say something that’ll cause Kairi to wake up, just in time for Riku to arrive from the Limit Cut episode to explain the Fairy Godmother’s idea, at which point they’ll put Kairi back into a coma, and Riku will use the Power of Waking to dive into her dreams to join her down a road of melodies and memories.

At this point, the player will be taken to the Main Menu, but only “World Tour” and “Config” will be unlocked. Going to World Tour will trigger the next cutscene.

The cutscene will depict Riku and Kairi arriving in the Final World via a portal. Kairi will explain that she spoke with a star in her dream, just in time for Chirithy to pop in. Chirithy will explain that they had dropped by the Mysterious Tower to give everyone a status update, only to be told that Riku was at Radiant Garden, only to then be told that Riku was inside Kairi’s dream. They’ll catch each other up, comparing notes, and then Chirithy will warn Riku and Kairi that remaining in the Final World for too long is dangerous, before suggesting the memory and melody plan, stating that they’ll get in touch with Naminé to get her help in providing them a road of memories to follow to the stars, suggesting that they use the melodies contained within to bring them together. Chirithy leaves to get Naminé‘s help, and Riku and Kairi depart.

Melody of Memory will then follow the path of the Kingdom Hearts series, going through the songs of each game in the order they were featured.

Most of the songs will be bunched together by game, but the songs of X, UX, 0.2, KH1FM, KH2FM, BBSFM, and Back Cover will be locked behind doors that branch off at points relevant to the world those songs are attached to (i.e. World of Darkness I being right next to Destiny Islands). However, these “Bonus Tracks” require stars of a specific color to open the doors blocking them from the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the game will follow the plot of the Xehanort Saga by release order, going as follows:

KH1->COM->KH2->Days->BBS->coded->DDD->KH3->re:Mind

However, crossing over from one game to the next will require collecting enough TOTAL stars in order to open the doors separating them. Opening these doors will trigger cutscenes that forward the game’s story and flesh out Kairi’s backstory.

However, there will be only ONE re:Mind Track: Nachtflügel (aka, Yozora’s boss theme), and it will serve as the final boss. The cutscene that plays after opening its door will have Kairi and Riku separated as Kairi once again comes face to face with the Nameless Star. This time the conversation isn’t quite as friendly, as the Nameless Star reveals that she was watching Kairi’s entire journey, and found herself disgusted with how she associated herself with so many creatures of the dark (Sora, Riku, Chirithy, Roxas, Naminé, etc) without destroying them. Kairi takes offense to that and asks the Nameless Star who she really is. The Nameless Star then states the following:

“My name was stolen from me, but I used to go by ‘Sora’.”

Before Kairi can question what that means, the Final World will shift into Shibuya the same way it did in re:Mind’s Secret Episode, and the Nameless Star will take on the form of the woman from the “Verum Rex” trailer, and summon a weapon similar to the one Yozora used, before stating that she needs to claim Kairi’s light in order to escape from this prison and save the world from that “fake Sora”. When Kairi tries to attack her, the Nameless Star/”Sora” will steal Destiny’s Embrace with her weapon (the same way Yozora steals the Keyblade in his boss fight), and then use it to Crystalize Kairi. Except when she tries to use her stolen Keyblade to take the light from Kairi’s heart, Kairi shatters, splitting into three lights. The lights will switch between the images of each of the playable trios, before the Nameless Star declares that it doesn’t matter what form the light takes, she will claim it.

Nachtflügel will serve as a Boss Music Stage, with "Princess Sora” as the boss. The world will be Shibuya. Once the player has cleared the stage, the game’s ending will play.

The three lights will merge back into Kairi, who’ll reclaim her Keyblade as Princess Sora crystallizes, wondering out loud how her plan could’ve failed so spectacularly, before Kairi points out that she had used the power of the bonds she had forged with her friends to safeguard her light, a force her Sora would’ve realized was unbreakable. Princess Sora will simply laugh cynically before the crystals completely overtake her, claiming that suspicion and doubt will easily sever those bonds, just as it had done time and again in the past. Shortly thereafter, she’ll crystallize in the same pose Sora did in the Secret Episode’s bad ending, and Shibuya will turn into the Dive to the Heart, with a door appearing behind Kairi.

As soon as Kairi passes through the door, she’s back in the Final World, with the hooded figure from the trailer waiting for her. The two of them have some pre-battle banter, he lowers his hood, Kairi attacks him, and then the credits role. As soon as the credits are over, we’ll get Sora’s one and only scene in the entire game, before we see the familiar words.

An Oath to Return Kingdom Hearts

Then we’ll get the results screen for Nachtflügel, except “Dearly Beloved” will play instead of “Crossing the Finish Line“, to emulate the “Battle Report” from a traditional game.

...

Also, what I thought was Rhythmia is probably just the currency. And each world will probably have at least two tracks, one corresponding to its overworld theme, the other to its battle theme, with “Dark Holes” like “Wave of Darkness I” and “Night of Fate” filling in for everything else. Worlds that feature in multiple games may have future iterations with different tracks (i.e., Destiny Islands in COM having the COM version of “Destiny Islands” play). Boss battles will probably, usually, fall under “Dark Holes” like we saw in the trailers.

That’s... About it for this theory. From this point on I’ll be covering the other game modes we saw on the Main Menu (I’ll be discussing tutorial theories when we get to config) and we’ll see how off-base I was when the game comes out in the near future.

...

We’re in the endgame now folks.

#kh mom #kh theory

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arcticferedir · 7 years

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Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy 2, originally for NES, actually didn’t make it to the states until the PSX remake Final Fantasy Origins, which was the first time I ever played it. It, like final fantasy one, was also paired on the GBA remake Dawn of Souls, while also getting a PSP remake. Also, while I failed to mention before, it like FF1 got a remake for iOS/Android, but I believe they’re just the PSP versions as far as I’m aware.

FF2 is…very different from the rest of it’s ‘family’ in the series. How so? Well let’s go over it.

Story: The story begins with the kingdom of Fynn under attack, suddenly overtaken by monsters literally summoned from hell by Emperor Mateus of Palamecia in an attempt to take over the world through war and force. Four kids try escaping. Firion, Maria, Guy, and Maria’s brother Leon. However, they are wounded and left for dead, but Firion, Maria, and Guy are saved by the Rebel Army, headed by Princess Hilda of Fynn. The story is then the three joining the Rebel Army to save their home, and eventually put a stop to the emperor and his war on the world, all while dealing with the tragedy of war and the sorrow it can bring.

This story is much more involved than the first game was. War is a heavy topic, but the game manages to work it to it’s advantage I feel. There are gains and losses for both sides throughout the story. The three heroes all actually interact somewhat with the other characters, and have…faint traces of personality. Firion seems somewhat brave and headstrong, Maria seems somewhat more cautious, and Guy is…kinda dumb. To be honest if they have more personality beyond that and wanting to save their hometown, I honestly can’t remember. This game’s strength I feel is in it’s supporting cast.

You have Hilda, the princess trying to lead a small rebel force. Gordon, a prince of another kingdom who loves Hilda but is a coward. Plus many others you meet on your journey, including other party members that join and leave your party at certain intervals. Reasons being needing to stay behind to help something/someone else, or…even death. Death of characters plays a somewhat major factor for the story(including for bonus content in the GBA remake, possibly others but I’m not sure if beyond the GBA remake the Dawn of Souls extra bits got added).

Gameplay: Like the first game, it’s a top down RPG. Most things stay the same. Towns and dungeons and bosses and whatnot. Even the ‘choose everyone’s actions for a turn then watch highest speed go first’. There are some…major differences though.

First is magic. Anyone can technically use any magic, there’s no classes or restrictions beyond a person can only know a certain number of spells(but it’s a decent number). They are split into black and white, with black using intelligence and white using spirit for calculations. Also you buy books, and use a book from the menu to teach that character a level 1 spell. As they use the spell, it will gain experience and eventually level up, gaining more power/accuracy/effects, sometimes getting better/flashier visual effects, while also increasing the mp cost, the cost being mp = spell level. You can also use a book in battle to cast a ‘free’ medium level version of the spell. Level 7, I think, but not positive, and the highest level a spell can be is 16.

Another difference, in some versions at least, you have to equip items to use them in battle. People can equip up to two ‘items’ to use in battle, so you have to pick if you want a potion, a phoenix down(the revival item), an attack item, a spell book. Some thought does have to go into it.

There’s also a password system. You can learn certain words, and then ask other characters about these words to possibly get more information or advance the story.

The biggest difference is leveling up. As in, it’s not a thing. FF2 tried to be different, using a ‘stat raising’ system. The more you use/do certain actions, the better your chances of raising stats pertaining to those actions. For instance, casting fire, a black magic spell, has a chance to increase your mp and intelligence. Using an attack with a bow equipped has a chance of raising your strength and will also give you bow experience. Taking damage has a chance of raising your max hp. Some other games use this style of ‘leveling’, mostly notably the SaGa games. The major issue is technically two fold. Sometimes, while raising a stat, you can lower another. Casting magic to raise Int might lower Str. Using white magic to raise spirit might lower int. The other is that everything is ‘chance’. You’ll never lower without a gain, but sometimes it can take you forever to gain stats, forcing you to rely on luck or grinding just to make sure your characters feel up to snuff. Of course, since you don’t need experience to level, many people can grind in the early areas to become super beefy and not have to worry for a lengthy period of the game.

Remake Additions: The most notable addition is the Dawn of Souls ‘expansion’. Without trying to give away too many spoilers, you play a party of eventually four characters from the main game, who end up travelling through literal Hell to essentially help the main heroes out, seeing as how technically the emperor did call monsters from hell to help take over the world. It doesn’t add much to the story, but it is a bit of a nice touch for some more content, I feel.

I believe there’s also a password dungeon in the remake? You can use passwords to generate random dungeons. I’m not sure what else because I played a bit of the PSP version, tried it, and was horribly confused and lost, but at the time I wasn’t really invested in it, to be fair.

Final Opinion: Final Fantasy 2 is something that tried to branch away from what the first one was, while still trying to keep some familiarity. And I give it points for that, I do like when games try something different. However…this kind of flopped a bit for me. While I did enjoy the story and supporting cast, the main characters were…somewhat forgettable, especially considering they start out with not much to them and can be built in any direction you want, with your other party members you get tend to be built in one direction or another already giving them a feel for how they would ‘normally fight’.

The leveling system is also one I never feel comfortable with. I’m okay with random stat gains on level up, like in fire emblem games. But when you have to grind out stats, and you don’t know when you might even get a chance of getting better…it becomes a long, slow grind that drains me. Also to this day still am not sure how to best raise speed/agility on people.

If you want to give it a try, I won’t turn anyone away. However I also don’t blame anyone if it doesn’t appeal to them in the slightest. If anything, maybe watch a let’s play or a longplay of it, and maybe try to at least appreciate the story of the game if you’re at least interested in that.

#blah blah blah #final fantasy #final fantasy ii #final fantasy 2 #ff #ffii #ff2

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once-upon-a-time-psychblog-blog · 7 years

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I’m finding all the CS wedding hype rather amusing… I said I was done with this show a while back but split Queen lured me back in. I bailed again because the show hasn’t redeemed itself and I don’t believe this wedding is an indication of a happy ending. I’m not going to talk about that today. Today is for the upcoming musical episode, where the fan focus hasn’t really been about the musical element at all, it’s been the Captain Swan wedding. Captain Swan are getting married! They are endgame and SwanQueeners will just have to deal with it and accept that Captain Swan is the most beautiful love story ever told, and oh my god Jen chose a wedding dress Grace Kelly wore in a movie called “The Swan” and Grace Kelly was such a style icon that this wedding is so iconic because Captain Swan is the purest of true loves and that must be why Jen chose the dress and they are gonna live happily ever after and they’ll finally have sex on their honeymoon and have CS babies and won’t that be just so wonderfully fantastic! 🙄 I wonder if my fake fangirling and heavily sarcastic tone was detectable in that speech… My response to the first part, about the wedding actually happening is… it may happen, and it may not. Even when couples say “I do” and wear rings after tying the knot, it does not necessarily mean that it is true love and they will live happily ever after. Princess Diana wasn’t happy in her marriage to Prince Charles and look how that ended, which was also dubbed as a fairytale once upon a time by those who knew nothing of Diana’s life or her marriage. 👸🏼 Aside from the fact that all true love’s kisses on OUAT happen during a curse, and it’s always been the first kiss shared that breaks a curse, Captain Swan have had their first kiss outside of a relationship and outside a curse in Neverland so I wouldn’t expect a rainbow blast then. Snowing only get those happen when they are in a curse. In Ruby Slippers, Red kissed Dorothy to break her out of a sleeping curse - first kiss rainbow blast. Hades and Zelena’s first kiss broke the curse Hades brother placed upon him so they got their rainbow blast. Aurora was woken by Phillip and it was the first kiss we saw between them… the only time where a curse has been broken without a kiss was during the frozen arc with but it wasn’t a curse as such, it was a spell. The spell of shattered sight. Spells are different to curses. ✨ So Captain Swan had their first kiss and subsequently been in curses & true love’s kiss has never actually worked for them. You can argue all the other red herrings of Captain Swan being true love but the fact is a true love’s kiss is what is meant to break any curse, true love being the strongest magic of all and that still has not happened. Why is that??? Maybe they are saving it for the wedding day CSers cry. Maybe they are, it is a possibility. But in my opinion it’s highly unlikely. You should know Adam and Eddy’s way of writing by now. What they show you in canon text is NEVER what is intended. Unless of course you refer to the Snowing ship. This is why SUBTEXT is so important. I’m not talking about SwanQueen subtext. I’m not even going to go into a SwanQueen is endgame argument, which may shock you. No, I’m going to just use the OUAT storytelling as it has always been to make my point without bringing SwanQueen into it. 😧 Firstly, this is Adam and Eddy we are talking about. The same guys who gave us the mysterious Lost series, where we were trying to figure out what the hell was going on with this strange island that attracted planes to crash into it that people miraculously survived from. The people were stranded and trying to find a way off the island. The island at first seemed like some sort of conspiracy. There was a Dhama project and the word Dhama in Buddhism means TRUTH. So there was this element of trying to figure out what the truth was. This place didn’t make any sense and was totally confusing. Turns out that it wasn’t a reality as such. Seeing as many years have passed since then I think I am safe to say it… the island was some form of purgatory. They were held there and when some vanished in whatever fate was bestowed upon them, that was their soul moving from purgatory. At least that’s how it was interpreted. The ending actually infuriated a lot of viewers. 😤 So if you aren’t familiar with Adam and Eddy’s work, I suggest that you get to know it and understand that nothing is as straightforward as it seems where those two are involved in the writing. If they are happy with a wedding spoiler to be released (the guys who are strictly “no comment no spoilers”) then it’s safe to say that this wedding isn’t actually going to be as it seems. 💍🙊 Do you remember when Rumple’s dad played “Follow the Lady” before he became Peter Pan? It’s the three card trick where the player must keep their eyes on the marked card (the Queen) whilst it is shuffled around with two joker cards though some use aces. This is also called three card monte. When the swindler has finished moving them around, the player must choose the marked card (the Queen). The players watch carefully trying to keep an eye on that marked card focusing so hard on what they are told to focus on. Only when they turn the card over they believe is the marked card, it turns out they have been focused on one of the two jokers. This is Adam and Eddy’s game when they tell a story. They are telling you to focus so hard on the wedding. It’s the marked card. But when the wedding scene actually happens, you can bet your bottom dollar that when that card gets turned over, you’ll end up with a joker, and the wedding isn’t what it seems. ♠️♥️♣️♦️🃏 This is why SUBTEXT is actually more important than CANON TEXT! Things that are canon because they are written and verbally stated by characters, are generally what they WANT you to focus on, so when they flip that card (the plot) you feel like a fool staring down at a joker. So when it comes to that episode I think I’m gonna sit back, sip my tea, and have a giggle at all these CSers flipping their shit because they truly believed they are actually going to get what they want. 🐸☕️ Naturally they won’t direct their frustration with Adam on twitter, oh no, the’ll misdirect that anger at Swen because they’ll convince themselves that Adam and Eddy listened to us and gave in. But if it goes the way Adam and Eddy like to play, Swen won’t get what they want out of this episode which would be for Emma to realise she is making a mistake at the very least, and as a bonus run off with Regina. Yeah that’s not going to happen either, although it is nice to dream it at this point. What happens in the future who knows? The thing with Adam and Eddy is they aren’t afraid to give nobody what they want or hope for. OutlawQueen didn’t have a true love’s kiss, they didn’t even utter the words “I love you” - funny how that without saying I love you that their relationship can be seen as canon love because of the obvious subtext, whereas something like SwanQueen can’t because they aren’t dating. 🙃 But not going there. 😋 Realistically, it’s been 6 years, and in that time nobody ever gets what they want, and only side characters have ever had true love’s kiss because other wise the story would be over and done with quick if all the mains got their happy endings. I mean, y'all should have learned the routine by now CSers. Oh but what am I thinking, of course you haven’t learned the routine because only canon written things are important to you. Silly me! 🐸☕️ As for the Grace Kelly wedding dress, and the movie The Swan in which Grace Kelly appeared in… let me clear up a few things, seeing as I tend to watch a lot of vintage movies. I love to watch Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day… not only to see such a difference with acting back then to how it is today, but because these women were fashion icons of their time and are still icons in history. I have a particular interest in styles of those eras and how very different they were compared to the styles around today. But the movies… the actresses were great, but the messages of them weren’t always. Some were quite degrading to women in my opinion; The Swan being one of them. 🐥 The premise of the Swan… Prince Albert, visits a banished family of nobles. Their matriarch ( to spell it out for you this means the head of the family) Princess Beatrix (who seemed to act like more of a domineering queen), wants her daughter Alexandra, to marry her own cousin Albert so that the family will be welcomed back into the kingdom. So Alexandra’s mother encourages her to flirt with Albert to gain his affections to regain regal status as she believes he will fall in love with her, marry her, and they can finally rule a kingdom again. (Reiterating this point to CSers because generally they only focus of context rather than any subtext… this is not love, because love is not a choice and love isn’t manipulation in order to gain status or material possessions). 🙄 Princess Beatrix: Oh my dear child, this is the one thing, the one opportunity that all your life I’ve been praying for - for you to become a queen. - Doesn’t she sound like Cora! Not at all like Snow. The one opportunity in all YOUR life that I’VE been praying for. Never mind whether Alexandra has any feelings of her own. I’ll just dream your life for you and you do as I say to fulfil my own dreams for your life. This is such a common thing. When you think in terms of sexuality, though this has nothing to do with sexuality, a lot of homophobic parents like to do, control and force their child to be in straight relationships they don’t want to be in. Controlling and forcing relationships is something a parent should never do, regardless of whether or not their child is heterosexual or otherwise. Control and manipulation is not an act of unconditional love. Anyway, I digress. So back to the story… 😑 Much to her Beatrix’s dismay, Albert doesn’t show much of an interest in Alexandra. So Beatrix encourages Alexandra to flirt with her tutor, Nicholas in order to rouse Albert’s attention. 😧 Princess Beatrix: My dear child, how do you suppose I came to marry your father? You can’t think a man just gets an idea into his head and asks a woman to marry him? Of course not! All your father ever cared for was horses. He wouldn’t even look at me. So I looked once or twice at the riding master. Your father proposed the very next afternoon - on horseback. 🤔 Don’t you just love pushy manipulative people who become parents who then try to manipulate force their children into a relationship where there is no feeling not to mention the fact that Albert was Alexandra’s cousin? I know you CSers are so quick to jump on an incest wagon when you compare Regina who was no blood relation to Snow, was forced into a marriage with Snow’s father, man she didn’t love and therefore was forced to be a stepmother very temporarily to Snow, whom she didn’t want to be a step parent to, rather than also accept the fact that Hook actually had a relationship with Henry’s biological grandmother by choice, and was Baelfire’s/Neal’s step father by your own logic, was even trying to act as such whilst Baelfire was aboard the Jolly Roger, and therefore acted unbeknown to him as Emma’s step father-in-law… so this marrying of a cousin thing should really be a pleasant thing for you guys to hear. Anyway…. 🙃 Dropping the prince and princess titles as writing that is becoming rather monotonous, Alexandra does as her mother wishes and flirts with her attractive tutor Nicholas. However, later the plan backfires when she develops genuine feelings for Nicholas. Nicholas is already quite taken with Alexandra, so when she invites him to the farewell ball for Albert (her last chance for the plan to work) he eagerly accepts. Later when they are dancing at the ball it appears that Albert is getting jealous, (how very possessive considering his apparent lack of interest) but instead of saying something, he appears to show more interest in playing the bass viol in the orchestra. 🎶🎵🎶 Despite the original intention of using Nicholas, Alexandra realises she is quite taken with Nicholas. Here you can see her conflict where she expresses feelings for him but you can see that she is bound by her ploy in order to gain the Kingdom for her family… 💔 Dr. Nicholas Agi: You’re so sweet and so beautiful… Princess Alexandra: Don’t come any closer Nicholas… I’ve never seen a man in love and… he happens to be in love with me. Dr. Nicholas Agi: Are you so afraid of me? Princess Alexandra: Oh, if I am I want always to be afraid. I want to be so good to you. I want a hundred things. I want to tell you everything that’s in my heart… I want to look after you and spoil you and… oh, eat something. The wanting to always be afraid is a hint of saying I want to always be afraid that I will lose you because that’s how I know, in this confusing time where I feel things for you but I’m trying to gain my cousin’s affections, that my feelings for you are genuine. But obviously she cannot be so transparent and say this aloud because of her mission set by her mother. 😔 Eventually, she tells Nicholas that it was all a ploy to get Albert to propose to her and she suspected he felt this way. She realizes that she has some feelings for him but he feels used and that Alexandra has been disingenuous, so refuses her affection. Albert comes to find out about this situation and is a little taken aback. Albert and Nicholas trade insults, and Nicholas then storms out and tries to leave the next morning. 😭 Alexandra, distraught over what happened, tries to leave with him, but he refuses her again. YES… SHE WANTED NICHOLAS NOT ALBERT! Albert’s mother shows up and gets the entire story and is aghast. Albert actually GIVES HIS BLESSING to the pair and says that when he is king he will allow them back into the country. However, Nicholas is still hurt ends up leaving the mansion without Alexandra. 😭💔 So… there you have it. She didn’t actually want to marry Albert, because she actually loved Nicholas. But royalty being what it is, marrying for love is rare. She did end up marrying Albert but it wasn’t for love. These are the last lines where Albert tries to console Alexandra… 😭 Prince Albert: Your father used to call you his swan, so I am told. I think that’s a good thing to remember. Think what it means to be a swan: to glide like a dream on the smooth surface of the lake, and never go to the shore. On dry land, where ordinary people walk, the swan is awkward, even ridiculous. When she waddles up the bank she painfully resembles a different kind of bird, n'est-ce-pas? Princess Alexandra: A goose. Prince Albert: I’m afraid so. And there she must stay, out on the lake: silent, white, majestic. Be a bird, but never fly. Know one song, but never sing it until the moment of death. And so it must be for you, Alexandra: cool indifference to the staring crowds along the bank. And the song? Never. 😭😭😭💔💔💔 Now… first off, Albert insulted Alexandra. She is graceful but only where she belongs… he doesn’t see her gracefulness in any other circumstance. Out of her natural habitat (i.e. with Nicholas whom she actually had romantic feelings for) she would be awkward and ridiculous. Instead of being the regal beauty that she is, she would be more like a goose. It’s all metaphoric to suggest that she is far too good for a man who was actually a nice guy, but not royal and therefore not worthy, despite the fact that she genuinely loves Nicholas. It was suggesting that her life was to be unfulfilled, and that her cousin who wasn’t interested in her to begin with, and who only did become interested when another man was on the scene, who will give her a life where she can be regal and graceful, but she as a Swan cannot sing her (Swan) song and must be silent and subservient to preserve the perfection illusion for the Kingdom. This is the life she was born into and she should just accept it. 😤 What kind of message is that really to women? To settle for a guy you’re actually related to, in a loveless marriage, living a life where the surface everything looks perfectly regal and wonderful, but she can’t even express herself… sounds like such a wonderful happily ever after, doesn’t it? [Oh sorry, insert sarcastic tone here again!] 🙃 And wouldn’t you know it, beautiful blonde woman with a Swan wearing a crown was the poster for that 1950’s movie. Seems to depict the oppressive nature of how royal romances are more of a transaction than of genuine love. Not saying that some aren’t for love, it’s just not often that a royal will marry someone for love. Though I do believe that Kate and William in the UK did marry for love. I guess time will tell. 🙃 Ironically, Grace Kelly was courting her own prince while making The Swan. She met Prince Rainier during April 1955 Cannes Film Festival. By December that year, he proposed to her. Royals do work fast and this is usually down to external pressures in retaining their kingdoms. It was speculated that he was seeking a wife, as a treaty with France in 1918 stated that if he did not produce an heir to the throne, Monaco would revert to France. However this was neither confirmed nor denied. It was also rumoured he had an affair with three different women and the first was during Grace’s first pregnancy, but that was also neither confirmed or denied so we cannot say for sure whether it was a faithful marriage. 😕 Also ironically, that movie featured several eerie similarities to Kelly’s future. Her white lace costumes are quite similar to her wedding dress, and Alec Guinness who plays Prince Albert in The Swan, actually looks a great deal like Grace Kelly’s husband, Prince Rainier in this movie. 🤔 Interestingly enough, Grace Kelly actually did some work for ABC! Yes, she narrated ABC’s made-for-television film The Poppy is Also a Flower (1966). She and Rainier worked together in a 33-minute independent film called Rearranged in 1979, which received interest from ABC TV executives in 1982 after premiering in Monaco, on the condition that it be extended to an hour. Before more scenes could be shot, Kelly died and the film was never released or shown publicly again. Grace Kelly died in a car accident. The beautiful blonde princess lost control of her car after suffering a minor stroke that caused her to lose control of the vehicle. Her daughter, Stephanie, one of her three children, was in the car with her and she tried to regain control by taking the wheel after her mother lost consciousness, but failed to do so. Grace was alive but unconscious, with injuries to her brain, thorax and a femur fracture, she was in a coma on life support until the following day when Rainer decided to terminate the life support as doctors determined that she would not recover. Stephanie suffered bruising, concussion and a fracture to her spine. She didn’t attend her mother’s funeral due to these injuries. 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢 A tragic way for a princess to die, a tragic way for anyone to die really. Her life was cut short, so the happily ever after bit didn’t really happen for them. 😔😔😔😔😔😔 During her marriage to Rainer, Grace was not permitted to act anymore, a decision that Rainer himself imposed after an outcry in Monaco when Hitchcock offered Grace a part which would depict her fictional character as a kleptomaniac. So Grace had no choice but to decline Hitchcock’s offer. Despite acting being her dream and pleasure in life, the only way she could do it would be to divorce Rainer, which would mean leaving her three children in Monaco, and she would never do that. So she threw herself into her role as a princess and engaged in charitable work. Grace Kelly’s dream was to act and it had been her dream from being a very young child, much to her parents initial displeasure. However, her life changed, and she had to put not only her children and husband first, but the reputation of Monaco before herself too. She was no longer in a position to pursue her dreams. After her death, Rainer lived out his life, but never remarried and he is buried alongside her. ☹️ Most see Grace Kelly as this gorgeous blonde woman, who got lucky and married her own Prince Charming in a fairytale come true. But what I see is this whirlwind romance where a proposal was made after 8 months of not actually spending a lot of time together what with their individual commitments (particularly Grace’s as she was filming at the time). She accepted it meant that she had to give up her dreams, sadly her tragic death meant the apparent on the surface perfect fairytale (which it really wasn’t) ended prematurely to what a happily ever after is meant to be. Fairytales don’t end in tragedy. So I really find it somewhat interesting that Jennifer Morrison chose a Grace Kelly wedding dress of all the dresses she could have chosen. It will be interesting to see just how this pans out. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 Follow the lady does not mean follow Emma into the canon plot spoiler that they don’t mind you seeing with blind faith that it will happen. The truth and the clues as to what will happen have already been shown to us, but you guys are too busy focusing on what they tell you to look at. It’s not the big obvious canon things where the truth is found, it’s in the details and the subtext, in the small things. Even in the things you believe are not canon because they haven’t been said. But what do I matter huh? I’m just a fan who ships SwanQueen and as YNB said once only canon ships are worth talking about 🙃 I wonder if that statement will still hold up after all of this is over, or whether Adam and Eddy’s storytelling will teach the lesson that just because something is canon, doesn’t mean it’s set in stone and that it always will be.

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