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judediangelo75 · 3 years

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Til Next Summer, Little Fox

‘Til Next Summer, Little Fox

Amari McNully was many things.

And a quitter wasn’t one of them.

When he first got into Hogwarts, he had his heart set on becoming a Slytherin. To be a Quidditch champion in his own right, much like his mother did when she used to go to school. She and his father taught him all about the sport wizards and witches can come together and bond over.

His parents even created a camp, so already he was ahead of the pack.

All that was left to do was to be placed in his dream House and bring honor to his family name.

Only… it didn’t pan out that way.

When the Sorting Hat declared he was to be a Hufflepuff, he was crushed. Even more so when his twin sister got into the House he wanted and she had no desire to play Quidditch.

He could sit at the Hufflepuff table dejectedly as others around him laughed and chattered amongst themselves.

When he went home that Christmas, he spoken to his mother about his feelings about the entire thing. Talking to her always made him feel better.

Which it did.

Not only did he feel more at peace about the House he was placed in but also he made a little discovery.

An old mentor from his time at camp, a great friend to his parents, was a Hufflepuff alumni herself.

He always remembered the woman fondly.

Judith Winger. A witch with a strict training regime but with a heart of gold to match her eyes. She mainly trained with his team, the Freddie Foxes, which was the considered to produce the toughest team of Beaters.

She always applied pressure on them to hone their skills but was fair enough to stop and talk to someone if they were in a foul mood or they were pushing themselves too hard.

Amari always remembered little tidbits about herself she would share with him.

“My Papa used to be a Beater himself, teaching me some general basics while he was still alive.”

“I always used to meditate or go broom surfing in a quiet place before a match. A still and quiet mind can help in the long run.”

“You know if you asked your mom, she could probably show you the letterman jacket I designed for her when we were in school. I made one for her, Erika, Phoenix, and I with our house colors to wear around. Even with our nicknames inscribed on the back.”

“My gold fangs were a signature trade mark when I was school. My nickname was Tigress on the Quidditch Pitch.” “And you were Little Tigress outside of it!” “DAVID! FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, I’M NOT LITTLE, YOU STUBBORN GIT!”

He enjoyed having Miss Judith as a mentor, and he could tell that she enjoyed having him as a mentee. She even gave him a pet name.

“Whatchu up to, little fox?”

“Can I help you little fox?”

“Aye, watch the sass there little fox before I made you run three laps around the track.”

One of Amari’s cherished items was a picture from when he was kid.

It was the last day at Camp Cassiopeia. The kids were free to do what they wished and Amari wanted to train with his favorite mentor before he leaves. Miss Judith was always down for some training.

Just as they were heading to store their bats, his mum appeared with a camera in hand, looking to capture some last minute memories of camp that year.

Not wanting to take a picture by himself. He looped his arm around the crook of Miss Judith’s elbow with a laugh.

“Come and take a picture with me, Miss Judith!” He remembered giggling as he said this. Giving a bright, happy expression to the camera lens, he gave his mother a peace sign before she took the picture. Katriona smiled at the pair as she snapped the picture before disappearing to make copies.

Before everyone left, his mum was able to print out the pictures. Before Judith could leave with her husband, Amari ran to find his favorite mentor.

“Ready to go, darling,” Talbott asked his wife, hugging her close while placing a soft kiss on her lips. Before she could reply, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

“Miss Judith, Miss Judith! Wait for a second!” Pale gold eyes glanced over to find a familiar styled mop of blonde hair hurdling up to her. Turning around with a smile, Judith stopped to see what the young McNully wanted.

“Hey there, little fox. How can I help you?” Amari stood in front her and her husband, panting to catch his breath before producing the photo of them, along with a pen.

“I-I was wondering if you can sign this before you go…” Judith took ahold of the physical evidence of her little fox catching her by surprise by having her take a picture with him.

The bright happiness that danced in his gray irises and the amused, confused shock reflecting in her own made her and Talbott smile. Tapping the pen against her cheek, she looked down at the young boy with careful thought before writing her message.

“Here you go, little fox.” Amari took back to the picture back to see what she wrote. He half expected to just see her name, but was pleasantly surprised to find a little message just for him.

‘Let people underestimate you… That gives you the chance to embarrass them! ‘Til next summer, little fox. - Judith Winger’

The young boy beamed at her before give her quick bear hug. Judith was happy to return it, ruffling his blonde locks before releasing him.

“Bye, Miss Judith and Mr. Talbott! See you next year!”

Amari forgot all about his little memento until after coming home from Christmas. When he discovered that his own teacher was a Hufflepuff herself. Going through his box filled with his old camp stuff, he found the photograph. It made him laugh a bit because she mainly wore her House colors, she couldn’t be more obvious if she tried.

Judith took pride that she was a Hufflepuff, and a fierce Beater to the boot. She wasn’t always a Quidditch champion but she was fantastic player to be remembered.

Before leaving to go back to Hogwarts, Amari made sure to keep the photo in his bag. While in the train ride back, he took out the picture and let her mento’s words written in her neat handwriting sink it his mind.

“I will do just that, Miss Judith. I hope I make you proud…”

Whenever Amari felt down, or overlooked, he would take out the picture from that fateful summer and remember her words.

‘Let them underestimate you… That gives you the chance to embarrass them!’

Talk to Amari McNully nice, or you might lose with a resounding “Checkmate.”

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And she is back at it again with another one! I’m not 100% yet but I felt inspired to do another drawing with a quick short story.

I did an old drawing of this by hand awhile back but I wanted to do a better job this time. I just turned 22 and have a new program to work with, let’s see the growth, let’s see the improvement.

And now here we are.

I hope you like your surprise @kc-needs-coffee ! Also a short classic David and Judith interaction, even when they’re much older @that-scouse-wizard 🤣

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jasontoddiefor · 3 years

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Summary: In a world where the different Jedi sects co-exist, Ahsoka Tano and her Master Obi-Wan Kenobi are waiting for a stranger in the desert.

AN: I have started a new WIP.

Ahsoka had learned quite a lot since she had become her Master’s Padawan. Mostly she had been taught how to fight, take down opponents twice her size, how to defend and protect others by building walls higher than anyone could climb, and not get lost in the screaming, tear-stained horror of war. Perhaps it was not the padawanhood that Ahsoka had imagined, but she wouldn’t trade Obi-Wan for any other Master. He was patient, kind, and never lost his temper with her, even when Ahsoka made a foolish mistake, and the day had been longer than a week.

Her Master always kept busy, running around organizing one thing or another. The evidence of his exhaustion was visible in the bags under his eyes he didn’t quite manage to hide behind meditations anymore. He was relentlessly trying to find a way to end this war earlier, to save more people, to lessen the burden on each and every person he loved. Ahsoka would be glad if they could cease fighting within just a few short months, but even she knew that the chance of peace was dwindling with every life lost on either side.

And they certainly weren’t on Tatooine to talk about peace. At most, they were hoping to negotiate non-involvement from the Hutts – at least superficially, of course the Hutts would continue with their underground dealings, even the GAR relied on it – and use of their hyperspace lanes.

“General, if you don’t mind me asking, who are we waiting for?”

Ahsoka was glad that Cody had spoken up. She wasn’t sure if she would have been able to keep her silence much longer. She hadn’t wanted to pester Obi-Wan with questions, but she was curious why they had landed in the middle of the Force-forsaken desert in the middle of the night and not anywhere near Jabba’s palace.

“We are waiting for an informant,” Obi-Wan said. “An old friend, if you will.”

Ahsoka opened her mouth to ask what kind of friend Obi-Wan had on Tatooine of all places when she saw a figure approaching on a speeder. Immediately, everyone looked up. When a few of the more blaster-inclined clones of their small squadron reached for their weapons, Obi-Wan gave them the hand sign to lay low. They exchanged curious looks but dropped the guns, trusting him completely. Ahsoka hoped that she could inspire such trust in her someday.

The person parked their speeder just outside of their camp. From what Ahsoka could see, they were dressed entirely in dark robes, cut not dissimilar to those of a Coruscanti Jedi, while their face was covered by a dark scarf. Various trinkets hung from their belts and arms, as well as twin blasters, making the barest of noises when they approached the camp. Golden jewelry glinted in the light of their fire, feathers, pouches, bells, and something that could be bones chimed sweetly with the wind. The figure stretched, then they took notice of Obi-Wan. Quicker than Ahsoka could have stopped them, they had crossed the remaining distance and thrown themselves at Obi-Wan.

“Obi-Wan!”

Her Master just barely managed to keep his balance as he accepted the hug of the other person. They embraced tightly, an eternity passing in which dark leather-gloved fingers dug into her Master’s back, then let go of each other. The figure removed the dark scarf from around their head, let it fall around their neck, revealing tanned skin, a human face, and dark blonde hair that was framed by little golden feathers tugged behind his ears.

The person smiled openly, rolled forward on their toes and only then spoke. “It’s been a while.”

Their voice was surprisingly soft, melodic almost.

“That it has,” Obi-Wan agreed, smiling just as welcoming, the Force lighting up in reciprocal. “It has been too long since we last saw each other, Anakin. Thank you for meeting us here, even if the circumstances are not ideal.”

The newly named Anakin just shrugged. “I was in the area and really, making an extra stop at Tatooine for you is no trouble.”

The two looked ready to forget about just everyone else still standing around the campfire, watching them, and so Ahsoka decided to do her duty and coughed. “Master, would you be so kind as to introduce us?”

“Ah, yes, of course. Apologies, Ahsoka.”

“Ahsoka,” Anakin mumbled, then snapped their fingers, alight with recognition as they faced Obi-Wan. “Your Padawan, correct?”

Obi-Wan nodded and Anakin grinned, pointing at Cody next. “And then that must be Cody. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Anakin Skywalker, he/him.”

He bowed formally with both his feet firm on the ground, one hand clasped over his heart, the other on his back. Delighted, Ahsoka copied the gesture. It had been ages since she’d been at the temple and someone had greeted her with all the respect Jedi usually gave each other.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Ahsoka returned his greeting, still trying to figure out who this Anakin was that her Master had decided to talk to him about her.

“Anakin here is a Teepo Paladin—”

“Sort of,” Anakin interrupted Obi-Wan, tilting his hand and shaking it in a so-and-so matter. “I haven’t been back to our temple in years, so I’m still not technically a Paladin, but still a Knight on their Search…”

He stopped talking when he realized that nobody had any idea of what he was talking about. Ahsoka didn’t know much about the Teepo Paladins. They were a relatively small group, and unlike the Altisian or Corellian Jedi, they hadn’t joined the Republic Army and stayed mostly on their own, following the Force. Ahsoka had learned about them, and all the other groups the ordinary sentient threw under the header Jedi, in her classes, but she’d never actually met a Teepo Jedi.

“Doesn’t matter,” Anakin said, shaking his head. “How can I help you?”

“We need to negotiate with Jabba,” Obi-Wan said, not wasting a single minute. “Do you think you can tell us something that would be useful?”

“Uh,” Anakin put his head in his hands. “Yeah, he’s a bastard and gates my guts. If he sees me around you guys, it’s definitely not going to be pleasant.”

“What did you do to him?” Ahsoka asked, curiosity taking ahold of her tongue before she could stop herself.

Anakin didn’t seem to mind the interruption; he only eagerly continued his narration. “Decided to steal his latest shipment of slaves and then some. With Coruscant, Corellia, and the Altisian bores—”

“Anakin.” Her Master’s voice rang out sharp, reminding Ahsoka of the times he scolded her.

Anakin rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine, the Altisian Jedi all running the Republic army, the rest, who hasn’t sworn allegiance to a planet or a system, is just doing damage control all around. I’ve wrecked a couple dozen pirate ships already, or so it feels, at least. But yeah, long story short, I won’t be able to help with Jabba, but I can provide backup if it goes sideways?”

Obi-Wan sighed, but even so, he still felt happy and comfortable to Ahsoka’s senses as he hadn’t in weeks. “We’ll take what we can get. I’ll call the Council. Do you want to stay with us for the night?”

Anakin gave him a thumbs up. “Already told my mother I was staying. And I brought my own food, so you don’t have to spare your rations. I think I might even have some sweets.” He glanced at Ahsoka and winked conspiringly, making her giggle.

Obi-Wan’s expression softened. “Alright, alright, I see, you’re set for life. Get comfortable then.”

He turned around to walk a little away from the camp, but from the way his shoulders twitched, Ahsoka assumed that he definitely heard Anakin’s shouted: “Not without you!”

As her Master had ordered, everyone who wasn’t on watch gathered around the campfire and broke out the rations. Anakin did, indeed, share his candy with her and handed out more of the local food to the clones.

“My mother packed it,” he said when he shared more of the salt-covered blackberries. “It would be a waste not to share it.”

Sitting around the fire with them, he fit right in despite not looking much like a warrior. If anything, his attire, decorated with trinkets that had to stem from various planets, reminded Ahsoka of a traveler. But if she were to believe his stories, he must be quite the fighter. Ahsoka knew that more and more pirates were growing powerful and influential without Coruscant’s oversight, but she hadn’t known that the other sects had stepped up to deal with it. She wondered if the Council knew. Though, Obi-Wan hadn’t seemed surprised by it, so they were probably aware.

“So, do you not carry a lightsaber?” Ticker, one of the younger clones, asked. “I only see your blasters. I didn’t know Jedi carried those.”

“The Coruscant sect doesn’t,” Anakin agreed and then turned to Ahsoka. “Though, I think you’re still all taught how to? I know Obi-Wan’s wickedly good with a sniper rifle.”

“Of course,” Ahsoka replied quickly. She got her blaster sessions with the best marksmen of the 212th, who all ensured she should be fine if she ever lost her lightsaber.

Not that Ahsoka was planning on it.

“Right, my Order carries blasters additionally to our lightsabers.” He moved his robes and revealed his lightsaber. “I just keep it a little more hidden away. It makes it easier to work sometimes if people don’t see from a mile away that you’re a Jedi.”

Ahsoka found herself agreeing with him. It made sense and she knew that there had been at least five missions that would have been easier if their target hadn’t immediately spotted that she was a lightsaber. She knew that her Order carried the blades openly purposefully so that they could be easily identified, they had to be as they were an officially recognized member of the Republic, but Quinlan and Aayla didn’t. Most Covenant Jedi actually didn’t, ensuring they could do their work in the shadows. Occasionally, Ahsoka wondered whether she was supposed to know so much about how they operated, or if that was just a benefit of Obi-Wan being close friends with Quinlan.

“And where’s the difference between your… everything and the General’s?”

“Don’t ask me for details,” Anakin said. “Haven’t had one of those discussions in a while, but our differences aren’t that huge. Most of the differences stem from the Republic backing of the Coruscant sect, I think. The members of my Order just also carry blasters and fight entirely submerged in the Force. We also don’t really do missions, which sucks for budgeting because we still have to get funding, and just go wherever the Force takes us. We don’t really have the numbers to provoke the big changes, that’s more up Coruscant’s or Corellia’s alley. We try to help the small people on the ground and hope the big guys make sure we can leave one planet in safe hands and travel to the next.”

That sounded familiar to Ahsoka. The Coruscant sect was the largest, so they had the most influence, even if too many Senators only played pretend at listening to their suggestions. At least the Chancellor trusted them.

“What do you mean, fight submerged in the Force?” A different clone, Storytime, ever the curious, spoke up. “Is that different from the General and the Commander?”

“Oh! Right.” Anakin laughed. “So basically, we cover our eyes and ears during a fight?”

“You do what?” Cody’s alarmed tone made Ahsoka only snort. She still remembered his attempt at getting Obi-Wan to wear a little more armor by pointing at the Revanchist folks that had accompanied them on one mission.

It had been an absolute train-wreck, but they had managed to succeed. Somehow.

Anakin only grinned in reply and reached for the golden feathers behind his ears. He took them off, revealing that they were not, in fact, feathers, but electronic devices with small buttons.

“I tap these, and they block out any and all noise and cover my eyes. Then I trust the Force to keep me safe and tell me where I need to pay attention.”

“That sounds… risky.” If Ahsoka didn’t know better, she’d say that Cody was having a heart attack. His assessment of that fighting style had been exceedingly polite given that he looked as if he wanted to cuss it out.

Anakin shrugged as if it were no big deal to him and, having grown up in such a way, it probably wasn’t. “It wasn’t that difficult to get used to. I grew up here on Tatooine. The sand and the heat steal away plenty of your senses already.”

“You weren’t raised in your temple then?”

Anakin shook his head. “No, not really. We do have a temple, a rather small one, not even a tenth of Coruscant’s size. We raise children there, but most of the time, everyone is just on their Search.”

He emphasized the last word so that Ahsoka concluded it must be a special ritual that wasn’t like their Search for younglings.

“My Master was on his Search when he found me and since the Force didn’t call him home, he continued to travel with me.”

That sounded like a strange childhood to have. Ahsoka hadn’t known anything of the galaxy but the temple walls and Ilum until Obi-Wan had accepted her as his Padawan. Since then, she had seen plenty of other planets, even if she hadn’t had too much time to appreciate their beauty. She wondered how Anakin had gotten his education. Ahsoka had attended many classes of dozens of teachers in the temple. His childhood didn’t appear to resemble hers a lot, but she could easily picture a small human boy trailing after another masked Jedi, chatting with just the same cheer he was talking now.

“Sounds fascinating,” Storytime breathed.

“Once the war is over, feel free to come to visit us. I know of at least one other Paladin who has attached himself to a Clone squadron and is planning to take them home for a visit at least once.”

“That would be very kind,” Storytime replied.

“No problem.”

Anakin then suddenly turned his head, his motion so rash that the clones instinctually reached for their blasters. Thankfully, they recognized Obi-Wan quickly enough that nobody got hurt accidentally.

Obi-Wan only blinked at them and then sat down next to Anakin. “What a lovely greeting.”

Some of the clones sheepishly packed their blasters away while others just shot back a look that was as dry as Obi-Wan’s words. They were on Tatooine; it made sense to be even more on guard than usual.

“And? What did your Council say?” Anakin asked, handing Obi-Wan a plate with food.

“Coruscant is not taking any responsibility for any outside agents who might get involved in this mission,” Obi-Wan replied, the flow of his words so steady that he had to be reciting the words of another.

“That’s council speak for ‘let him do whatever he wants’, right?”

Obi-Wan paused with his meal to confirm his question. “Yes, Anakin, that means you can do whatever you want. But if you get invited by the Republic for a hearing, we’re not backing you up either.”

“Yes, yes, I had expected nothing else from you sticker-to-the-rules Coruscanti.”

“Says the head-in-the-clouds Teepo,” Obi-Wan retorted in the same manner, matching Anakin’s intonation, quoting old stereotypes that used to be hurled as insults but have since only become something almost akin to terms of endearments.

“So, when are we going to leave?” Ahsoka asked. She wanted to know if she should go to bed early or prepare herself for a long night.

“Tomorrow before the sun rises,” Obi-Wan said, glancing at Anakin for confirmation.

“Yes, best to leave early on Tatooine. I’d also suggest trying to get some sleep. Negotiations will be exhausting.”

Obi-Wan hummed in agreement. “You know what that means, Ahsoka.”

“Yes, yes.” Ahsoka stood up. “Bedtime for me. I’m not a little youngling anymore, Master. I know when to get my sleep.”

She bid them goodnight and headed back towards the ship, ready to sleep curled up in the small med-station of their transport that was as close to a proper bed as she could get. She didn’t know how much longer her Master and his friend stayed up, but both looked well-rested when she got up the next day. Her Master, perhaps, even a little less exhausted than usual.

#star wars #ahsoka tano #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #commander cody #fanfic

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boliv-jenta · 3 years

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Happy Birthday

Din x you

Birthday fluff.

"So you'll be back by tomorrow afternoon?" You asked following behind Din as he gathered his things.

"I won't be far so afternoon, early evening at the latest. I'll take you to the market before I leave." He closed the bag he was packing placing it on the floor by the hatch for later. Trying to stop yourself from rolling your eyes at the notion that he had to 'take' you to the market, you picked The Child up from where he was playing on the floor.

"So you said the was an annual thing? Why do you have to do it tonight?" You asked as you both walked down the ramp.

"It's tradition to meditate on the importance of the Mandalorian oath on the anniversary of your birth." Mando explained.

"You mean your birthday?" You asked, a little excitement slipping into your tone.

Din huffed lightly "Yes, it's tomorrow." He preempted your next question.

When you reached the marketplace you told Mando you needed to split up. His baskar visor quirked to the side a little "Ok." He'd replied in a cautious tone.

You hummed in satisfaction. Considering you had limited resources, you were pleased with your decorations. Using some string you bought at the market you had taught the kid to make flower garlands from the local plants. They were draped around the ships interior, you had made some snacks that could be eaten cold so Din could eat later and the kid wouldn't have to wait.

Speaking of which, "Stop that!" you chided him taking the leaves out of his hand.

They were edible and were ok to eat but not in the quantities the child was currently trying to ingest. Thankfully, you had a tin to cover the cake you had made, or the little green glutton would've eaten that by now, too. He might have regretted it, though. You weren't the best baker.

Hearing Din approach you quickly put the kid in his cot and gave him the gift you had gotten Din. Waiting to see what he thought you suddenly felt unsure about all this. Maybe Din would think you were being pushy. You had been trying to get him to enjoy life with the kid a bit more instead of carrying the wait of the world on his shoulders.

"What's all this?" Din's unreadable tone broke you out of your thoughts.

"Happy Birthday!" You said brightly. The kid gurgled and held the small parcel up to Din. Din took it gently with a small 'thank you'. He was hard to read but he hadn't left so you took that as a positive sign. Double or nothing. You told him to close his eyes. He didn't answer. You were worried you'd pushed it too far until he spoke "Oh...sorry, they're closed."

"You too." You laughed as you put your hands over your eyes and the kid copied. Smiling to yourself, you got the cake out and put candles on top of it. You knew it was silly but blowing candles out was a tradition. You figured the kid could blow them out, plus he'd like to see it all lit up.

"Ready? Open your eyes!" You laughed as the kid's face lit up. You weren't sure if it was the candles or the prospect of food. Din, looking down on him, chuckled. You couldn't help the look you gave Din or the blush that rose on your cheeks as you thought about how lucky you were to see this side of him. To look at him no one would know how sweet or patient he was with the kid. Or how he cared for your found family. The kid looked to you expectantly.

"I know it's stupid but I used to love this tradition as a kid. I mean you can't use your wish but am sure the kid can blow these out." you rambled suddenly feeling stupid.

"My wish?" He asked he attention fully on you now.

"Yeah, you make a wish, in your head, and blow out the candles. If you blow them all out in one go your wish is supposed to come true. Obviously you can't..." you trailed off gesturing to Din's beskar helmet.

"So wish then blow them out? Ok." Confusion crossed your features as Din bowed his head slightly towards the cake. Shock quickly overtook the confusion as he raised he hand to the front on his helmet. Was he going to take it off? Would he want you to look? You decided to turn your head away, just in case. The kid had no such compulsion, he almost fell out of his cot trying to get a better look. Curiosity got the better of you and you stole a peek just as Din lifted his helmet enough to blow out the candles. His warm breath on your hand sent a shiver up your spine. You hoped he didn't notice the shaky breath that left you as he replaced his helmet and straightened up.

"So do I tell you my wish?" You place the cake on the table to buy some time to regained your composure.

"No, it won't come true if you tell someone." you answered over your shoulder. Din moved closer, placing his hand on your arm to still you as you tried to busy yourself. You turned to him "What if you tell the person that can make your wish come true?"

You froze. Your mind raced. Did he really just say that? What did he mean? Your heart was beating out of your chest as you turned to him. You opened you mouth to speak....only to be interrupted but the sound of the metal cake plate hitting the floor. The child was sitting in cot covered in cake. You guessed that he had tried to use his powers to bring it to him but it hadn't worked too well for him. All the tension left you as you began to laugh. Din laughed too. He ran the hand that was still on your arm downward and gently slipped his hand into yours. You squeezed his hand in response. An unspoken agreement was made to pick up the conversation later. You both slip into an easy rhythm to get tidied up, you cleaned the floor while Din cleaned the kid. Or at least he tried to. The little womp rat threw his arms in the air in protest, covering Din's visor in frosting in the process. The kid squealed in delight. Laughing you sat on the floor where Din was and proceeded to clean his visor off until he could see you.

"Happy birthday." you smiled. He moved his head forward until his forehead met yours. "Thank you." you could hear the lightness in his voice. You couldn't see but Din smiled widely, looking forward to all the traditions he could celebrate with you in the future.

#pedro pascal character fanfiction #din djarin #din djarin x you #the mandalorian #birthday reblog

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koala-otter · 4 years

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park ranger zukka au

this idea comes from the lovely @s-sokka from the zukka discord!!

features zuko as a park ranger, sokka as a pro-biker (it’s so late, I wrote so much, please excuse this summary)

2.7k words (remember when I said 1k max?? hahahaha)

Zuko had finally reached week three of his tenure as a summer ranger. Only seven more weeks, and he would finally be able to leave behind the Hei Bai Nature Reserve and all of its crazy nature lovers. When his uncle Iroh practically forced him to take the position—explaining that if Zuko refused to work at the tea shop for the summer, he still had to work somewhere, and better yet if he could do it immersed in the meditative balm that was the outdoors—Zuko thought the worst he could encounter was the humming mosquitoes, and maybe the occasional murder hornet. But he was wrong. It was the people.

There were the little kids who dropped their snack wrappers in the parking lot, and their parents who covered them in noxious insect repellants, and the teenagers who carved their initials into trees. But those weren’t even so bad, because after patiently explaining the downsides of littering, the park’s tiny visitors usually nodded solemnly and picked up their trash, and the fumes of such sprays usually dissipated quickly, and when they had the rules explained to them, the teenagers usually had the decency to be apologetic.

The worst, by far, was a young man named Sokka. Zuko had seen him plenty of times before, visiting the park with his friends, back before Zuko had known his name. Sokka usually hung out with a young, bald man with tattoos, and two young women, one whose resemblance to Sokka revealed her to likely be his sister, and another one who berated him while holding his hand tightly as they entered the trail. Zuko had thought nothing of him at first as he seemed like just another avid hiker, but all that had changed on his fourth day as a ranger, when he had seen Sokka for the first time on his own.

Zuko was doing his ranger thing, checking on the different trails in the couple of hours before the park’s closing, when a blue blur sped past him on a mountain bike. Zuko stared after the figure for a few seconds before coming to his senses and chasing after him.

“Hey! You can’t ride that thing here!”

The bike stopped ahead of him, and the figure hopped off and took off its helmet to reveal a wolftail and two bright blue eyes looking directly back at him. Zuko tried to ignore the heat building in his face as he finally got to see Sokka’s perfect features and defined muscles up close.

“Hey, sorry, man, but the terrain’s just perfect for my practice,” Sokka explained, tossing his helmet on the handlebars.

“There are bike paths for a reason,” Zuko said coolly. He reached into the pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled out a pad of paper. “I have to issue you a warning.”

“What?” Sokka said, pulling on his handlebars. “I’ll just go.”

Zuko exhaled in frustration as he scribbled on the pad. “It’s just policy, okay? I don’t want to do it, but I have to. What’s your name?”

At this question, a smug grin filled Sokka’s lips, and he shrugged. “The name’s Sokka,” he said. He waited expectantly for Zuko’s reaction.

Zuko stared at Sokka staring at him. “Okay.” He glanced down at the paper in his hands as he wrote it out, and then looked up to find Sokka still grinning at him expectantly. “Uh, sorry, was I supposed to know that?” He watched as Sokka’s face fell. “Do you work here, too, or something?” he asked in a panic. “Look, it’s only my first week, and I—”

“It’s not that, it’s just—” Sokka sighed and looked up at him despondently. Zuko thought there might even have been a tear in his right eye. “Do you really not know who I am?”

“I—no? Are you famous or something?”

“The pro-biker! Sokka! I won the Omashu tour!”

Zuko turned sheepish as he ripped the paper out of the pad and held it out to Sokka. “Oh, um, sorry. I don’t really follow sports.”

Sokka turned even sadder as he took the paper from Zuko. “That’s okay...Zuko?” he asked, reading his name off of the paper.

Zuko nodded, feeling vaguely regretful for some reason. Sokka smiled sadly back at him.

“Maybe to make it up to me, though,” Sokka said, waving the warning in the air. “We could forget about all of this?”

“What?” Zuko asked.

“You know, you could take back the warning,” Sokka continued, starting to hand it back to Zuko. “This never happened, that kind of thing.” He gave Zuko a hopeful grin.

Zuko’s expression hardened, now angry at the thought that he might have been duped. “No!” he barked.

“Well, fine!” Sokka said, putting on his helmet and pulling his bike toward him by the handlebars again. “I’ll just go then.”

“Yeah, do that,” Zuko replied hotly. He watched as Sokka started to rise onto his bike, and stepped forward to block the path. He pointed to the sign nearby on the trail that read, “Leave only footprints. Take only pictures.”

“And off the bike,” Zuko almost growled.

“Fine, jeez,” Sokka said, hopping off once more. He began walking down the path in the opposite direction, away from Zuko, and stuck his tongue out at him.

As Sokka pushed his bike away, and Zuko continued down the trail, he thought he might never see the other man again in his life. He sighed at the tire tracks in the wet earth of the trail. Never having to deal with them again left him greatly relieved. But, he had to admit, the sight of Sokka’s sad, blue eyes had left a series of knots in his stomach that would take a while to untangle.

Then the next day came, and the appearance of Sokka nonchalantly fishing off the boat launch quickly proved Zuko wrong. As did every day afterward, as Sokka made appearance after appearance at the park, breaking nearly every rule there was in the park ranger handbook. Zuko turned corners on trails to find Sokka hand-feeding squirrels—“Snack for you, too, jerk?” Sokka would ask, while Zuko would point to another sign instructing hikers not to feed wildlife—or sat in the booth checking in visitors only to suddenly spy Sokka walking toward him with bunches of wildflowers in his hand—“For you, Zuko, even though you wanted to get me in trouble,” said Sokka, brandishing the bouquet in front of him, and Zuko answered, “You’re not supposed to pick the flowers, Sokka, just look at them,” and then took them and put them in a vase because he wasn’t about to waste them—and the number of warnings Zuko had had to issue Sokka in just a week and a half was unprecedented.

“Is there a limit to these? I mean, is there a point where he gets kicked out?” Zuko had to ask Jeong Jeong, his supervisor, in the middle of his second week.

“I don’t know,” Jeong Jeong replied, in awe at the number of carbon copies of warnings Zuko had dropped on his desk. “We have never had to issue more than one to any individual visitor.” He picked up one for attempted overnight camping without a permit. “Have you spoken to him about the negative consequences of his actions?”

“Of course I talked to him,” Zuko replied loudly, clearly offended.

“Then try talking to him again!” Jeong Jeong practically roared.

Zuko started hiding the warnings.

But Zuko did talk to Sokka, and often. The time Sokka came to the trail with a lemur on his shoulder, and Zuko insisted the animal had to be on a leash to go on the trail—“He’s not a pet, he’s my friend, and he wants to take a walk!” Sokka replied indignantly—they settled for sitting in the booth and tossing nuts in the air for Momo to catch. Sokka almost got away without a warning that day, but when he laughed at Momo’s flying leap for a macadamia and said, “Hey, he likes them even more than the squirrels do,” Zuko had to write another one out. From the smile on Sokka’s face, though, it looked like he understood it as a joke.

Now he was on week three, though, and Zuko had a brand-new pen and pad for warnings, and the tire tracks on the trail had finally been washed away with a passing storm. He felt he could take anything Sokka threw at him this week, maybe even without shaky hands and the feeling that his heart was jumping into his throat each time he approached the other man.

Static sounded from Zuko’s walkie-talkie, and Zuko brought it to his good ear in time to hear someone on the other end.

“Hey, uh, I got a kid who fell out of a tree over here somewhere,” the ranger on the trail said haltingly.

Zuko pressed the transmit button and brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth. “Copy, this is Zuko from the central booth. What trail? Over.”

“Oh, hey, Zuko! It’s me, Chey,” came the response.

Zuko sighed before pressing the button again. “Chey, about the guy who fell out of the tree: what trail? Do we need an ambulance? Over.”

There was a long line of static before Chey’s voice came back. “I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “I mean, the guy said no, and he looks pretty all right to me. He’s asking for you to come get him.” The static returned once more before clearing abruptly. “Oh, and he says his name is Sokka. Do you two know each other?”

Zuko set down the walkie-talkie and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Copy,” he finally said when he picked the walkie-talkie back up, “I’ll go for him, and you come back and man the booth. And Chey?”

“Yeah?”

“For the last time, what trail?”

Zuko found himself running down the Panda Lily trail, the first aid kit bouncing at his side as he nearly tripped over the laces of his hiking boots and barely avoided the mud puddles that threatened to suck him in. He passed so many trees, from rhododendron trees to birches and redwoods and everything in between, but none of them had dropped Sokka from their branches, so Zuko kept going. He reached a fork in the trail and stopped abruptly at the tree between the diverting roads, and scanned it for any signs. There were none. He stepped back.

“Sokka?” he yelled, his voice hoarse as he cupped his mouth with his hands. “Sokka, where are you?”

A beat passed, and then, from far away, he heard, “Zuko!”

Zuko took off down the road on the right, and finally, he spotted Sokka in the distance, leaning against the trunk of a banyan tree. His right leg was bent, and he leaned on it with his elbow, but the other was out in front of him at an odd angle, seemingly useless. He greeted Zuko with a strained grin.

“My knight in shining armor,” said Sokka.

“Ugh, I definitely should have called an ambulance,” Zuko replied. He knelt down gingerly next to Sokka and laid out the first aid kit.

“Nah,” Sokka said with a shrug, his hand out in a dismissive gesture, “this is nothing.”

Zuko stared at Sokka with a rigid expression on his face, his mouth a tight line.

“Really!” Sokka insisted. “It’s just a sprain. I hurt it a couple months ago, and I’ve been recovering, but I aggravated it.”

“So that’s how you have you all this time to bother me,” Zuko said, gingerly pulling Sokka’s leg straight in front of him. “You’ve been recovering.”

“Well,” Sokka said sheepishly, “I technically do still have practices I should be going to. But it’s more fun to come here and see you.”

Zuko looked up at him sharply, his cheeks flushed, and accidentally jostled Sokka’s leg. Sokka hissed sharply, and Zuko blanched and moved quickly to grab the first aid kit.

“Sorry,” he said quietly.

“S’okay,” Sokka replied, watching his hands unravel a bandage. “It’s my fault for getting hurt in the first place.”

Zuko laughed, low and a little husky. “Yeah, it kind of is.”

He wrapped the bandage around Sokka’s knee tightly, watching his expression for more pain. Sokka stayed relatively placid, only wincing once, and his mouth usually quirked up in a crooked smile.

“Why would you climb a tree?” Zuko asked after a while. “That’s like rule number three on the trailhead sign.”

“What can I say?” Sokka said cavalierly. “I’m a rebel.”

Zuko let out a quick, disbelieving laugh. “Right.”

“Hey, you said it yourself! I break all the rules.”

“Yeah,” Zuko said, pinning the bandage in place, “and it’d be great if you stopped. Even my boss has no idea what to do with all of the warnings I’ve been giving you.”

Sokka considered him for a moment. “I’ll stop if you agree to go out with me,” he finally said.

Zuko dropped a hand to the leaf-littered ground to keep himself from falling over. “What?”

“The tree-climbing? The rule-breaking? I’ve been trying to get your attention this whole time,” Sokka said with a widening grin.

“My attention?” Zuko asked. His brow furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

“Because I like you,” Sokka replied matter-of-factly.

Zuko shook his head. “But what about the bike thing?” he almost demanded. “You couldn’t have liked me then.”

Sokka tilted his head thoughtfully, bringing one of his hands up to brush his chin. “I will admit,” he said, “although I thought you were attractive, I didn’t like you during the bike thing. But I grew to like you over time.”

“Over time?” Zuko repeated, crossing his arms.

“C’mon,” Sokka said, poking him on the arm. “Don’t you like me, too?”

Zuko dropped his arms and looked back at the muddy trail. “Yeah, I do.”

Sokka smiled at him hopefully, “So go out with me?”

Zuko looked back at him, now smiling lightly. “Or else?”

“Or else I’m going to keep climbing the trees.”

“And?”

“Fishing off the boat launch.”

Zuko sighed. “And I can’t trust you to stop there, can I?”

Sokka grinned. “The squirrels aren’t going to feed themselves.”

“Actually, they are, that’s why—” Zuko stopped and sighed. “Okay, yes, I’ll go out with you.”

“Really?” Sokka practically squealed.

“Yeah,” Zuko said, smiling back at him.

Sokka practically lunged toward Zuko, reaching for his face, but managed to jam his leg into Zuko’s all over again. All at once, his eyes shot wide open, and his head fell back, and Zuko had to catch his arm to keep him from falling over, a low moan of pain twisting from his mouth.

“Sokka!”

“Yep, definitely just a sprain,” Sokka said once he had come back around. He gritted his teeth. “Barely hurts at all.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “We need to get you to the booth,” he said, reaching for Sokka’s other hand as he pulled his arm over his shoulders to help him up.

“But you promised you’d go out with me,” Sokka whined.

A small smile brightened Zuko’s face, and a new joy glowed from his eyes. “Yeah, I will,” he said, and before Sokka could make some smart-aleck reply, Zuko leaned toward him, tilting his head slightly at the odd angle from being side-by-side, and kissed Sokka. Even with his injured leg, Sokka came to life beneath him, raising his free hand to cup Zuko’s jaw and brush back the hair falling into his face with his fingers. Birds sang from the tree canopy above them, the leaves shuffled quietly in the shifting wind, and the warmth of dappled sunlight fell across their entangled bodies. If Zuko had not been bearing half the weight of a very heavy and very injured young man, it might have been a perfect kiss. Or maybe that was what made it one.

“All right,” Zuko said when they finally pulled apart. “We should really go.”

“Where are we going again?” Sokka asked, now dazed.

“To the booth.” Zuko helped Sokka hop along beside him.

Sokka nodded, trying desperately to keep his weight on his uninjured leg. “And then we can go out?”

Zuko smiled, and looked further down the trail. “Yeah, then we can go out.”

#zukka #all for the zukka discord #atla fanfic #my writing

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inkweaver22-blr · 3 years

Text

Welcome to chapter 14!

This one has been a long time coming, and I’m not just talking about how long it took me to write.

Fair warning: we see the return of why this fic is marked with an explicit violence tag.

Hope you enjoy!

AO3 Link

Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Fourteen: Monkey Sees, Monkey Silenced

Tang is the Monkie Kid! Or should that be the Monkey Kid?

----------

Tang wondered why it had taken so long for a cycle like this one to happen. He tightened his grip on the Ruyi Jingu Bang as he solemnly watched the city shrink into the distance.

He and MK were swapped in this cycle. Tang was a young 24 year old delivery boy who lived above Pigsy’s Noodles and had a thirst for knowledge. MK, or Mr. Xiaotian, as Tang referred to him, was a 41 year old art professor at the local university who liked to tell Tang stories about the Monkey King.

That meant Tang was Wukong’s successor in this timeline. Or at least, he would be once he met the Monkey King at Flower Fruit Mountain. They were all currently on Sandy’s ship, sailing for the Flaming Mountains that surrounded the island paradise.

Tang took a breath as he felt the magic of the staff flow through him. He had noticed the transfer of the Monkey King’s powers into him the moment he had picked it up. It was very different to any other magics or powers he had in the past.

It was a raw, wild, and pure strength that dwarfed any of his previous skills in terms of power. Tang could feel it swirling inside him. The numerous different abilities all seemed to flow into each other and filled him to almost bursting with great destructive potential. He would have to learn how to properly control them to avoid causing too much collateral damage.

MK had managed to do so countless times before, and Tang himself had many experiences with learning new powers over the cycles. How hard could it be?

Tang turned his attention to the ring of volcanoes they were approaching. He wasn’t sure how closely he would have to stick to the original timeline, but decided not to push his luck with the more important events. That meant he would have to lose the staff when confronted by Princess Iron Fan.

That shouldn’t be too difficult. He may have trained with a long pole-type weapon, but it had been a long time since he had been able to practice. Not to mention how one wielded a staff was much different from how you would wield a guandao. Tang would have no problem losing this fight.

Now he only hoped he would be blasted in the right direction to land on Flower Fruit Mountain instead of into a pool of lava.

----------

Luckily for Tang, he was indeed launched in the proper direction. Landing on the beach would have hurt a lot more had it not been for his new power of invulnerability.

Tang watched as the waterfall curtain parted at his touch, making sure to appear suitably impressed. That wasn’t too hard considering he had always needed either Wukong or MK to open it for him in the past.

He entered the cave and looked around, calling out for the Monkey King. Tang approached the mural at the back of the cave, and felt magic flow into his eyes unbidden. The world around him turned into shining shades of gold as his True Sight activated.

Tang watched in awe as the figures on the mural seemed to come to life and began reenacting moments from the famous journey. He may have memories of actually living these events, but seeing them now was still something special.

In front of him was Wukong becoming Tripitaka’s disciple. Over there was Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing fighting with some demons. Off in the corner was MK, Mei, Pigsy, Sandy, and Wukong standing over his unconscious body. Then there was Macaque, the gold and silver twins, and Spider Queen. Bai Long Ma trotted past with Tripitaka on his back.

Wait, what?

Tang whirled back around to the forms of his family and himself.

No, he had not imagined it. Laying on the ground was the sleeping form of his normal 41 year old self. Projections of the five people he considered his closest family were standing nearby. Sandy and Pigsy seemed to be having a conversation, Wukong was lounging on his tail, and Mei and MK, who was in his normal young form, were looking around the cave.

MK’s and Tang’s eyes met.

The young man seemed to explode into motion as he grabbed the attention of the others and began excitedly pointing at the scholar. The five began waving frantically at him, and Tang, at a complete loss as to what was happening, gave a halfhearted wave back.

Their reaction to that was much more extreme.

MK and Mei were jumping in place as they hugged in joy. Sandy was grinning as he waved both arms even harder. Wukong performed a back flip before pumping his fist in the air. Pigsy looked like he was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down his face.

Tang was absolutely baffled.

Wary of some kind of trick, he looked around the cave once more. With his True Sight active, he saw no signs of anything that could potentially be a trap. He did spot one of the projections of Wukong smirk at him before turning to run out of the cave, however.

Squinting in suspicion at the still celebrating group, Tang decided he would deal with it later. Letting the magic fade from his eyes, he chased after the Monkey King. He did his best to push the strange encounter out of his mind so he could focus on the task at hand.

----------

Fighting Demon Bull King using the full strength of the Monkey King’s power had been quite the rush. Tang felt a little bad about all the extra damage he had caused, but most of it had already been dealt by DBK so he supposed it was worth it to take him down.

Sighing in exhaustion, Tang prepared for bed. As he moved around his small apartment, his eyes caught the glow of the street lamps reflecting off his window, making it shine gold.

Oh right. Those projections of his family from earlier.

With a groan, Tang decided sleep would have to wait. He took a seat in his desk chair and took a deep breath. It took a bit of focus, but he was able to push magic into his eyes and activate his True Sight.

The world turned gold and the group appeared to his left near the kitchenette. Tang swiveled his chair around and watched as they noticed him studying them and began to wave excitedly once more. It looked like they were all saying something, yet no sound emanated from them.

Well that complicated a few things. Getting answers from them would be a lot harder without them being able to properly answer.

“You know I can’t hear anything you’re saying, right?”

The group froze at that, before quickly turning to each other and discussing amongst themselves.

“To be honest, I’m not sure if I trust what I’m seeing,” Tang said, catching their attention once more. “You all certainly look like my family, and Wukong’s True Sight can’t be fooled. But I’ve been through quite a bit of cosmic bullshit to know to be wary of what appears to be people I care about standing over what looks like my unresponsive body.”

The group glanced down at said body and began to shuffle around in awkward embarrassment.

“So here’s what we’re going to do.” Tang pointed at the projection of MK. “You, MK, are going to do your best to act out what’s going on. The rest of you,” he turned to the others, “are not to offer any help or instruction in any way, understand?”

They all reluctantly nodded, looking confused.

“Good. Begin whenever you’re ready.”

Tang watched as the young man did his best to act something out. As the performance continued, Tang felt the suspicion slowly ease and a smile grew on his face.

“Well I know for certain now,” he said once MK had finished. “No matter the timeline, you will always be terrible at charades, MK. No one could ever pretend to do that poorly.”

MK exploded with indignity as the others laughed at him. He crossed his arms in a huff and only turned back to the group once Wukong ruffled his hair playfully.

Tang smiled again as he watched the interaction. Being a good actor came with the ability to tell when others were acting as well. The reactions he was seeing were much too genuine to be faked.

“Okay, I believe you aren’t here for any malicious purposes. But now that I know I can trust you all, how can we go about figuring this out?” Tang drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair. “I could ask you yes or no questions, but without the right ones we could go in circles for hours. Writing out the alphabet and pointing to each letter until we spell out a word would take just as long.”

Tang stood and tried to approach the group. As he did, their projections moved with him, staying a set distance away and phasing through the wall out into the open air. He moved back and turned in place. The group did not move with him this time, remaining in the spot they had appeared.

“Well so much for seeing if we could physically interact,” he said once he sat back down in his chair.

His family seemed just as stumped as he was. They all were talking back and forth before Wukong suddenly jumped up, waving for attention.

“You have an idea, Wukong?”

The monkey nodded before sitting in a meditative pose. After remaining still for a few moments, he took his hands and placed them on his chest. He pulled them away and cupped them before him and began to inspect them closely. It took a couple repetitions before Tang understood what he was trying to say.

“You want me to manifest my soul?”

Wukong nodded as Mei said something to MK, causing him to pout.

“Don’t tease MK, Mei,” Tang said as he got into his own meditative position. “There’s nothing wrong with not being able to act out complex ideas.”

The group all just stared at him in surprise.

“I may not be able to read bad acting, but body language is easy enough to understand,” he said as he began to focus. “Now give me a moment.”

Manifesting his soul while keeping the True Sight active was a bit tricky. He had learned this ability back during the cycle with the copy of Tripitaka sealed into a statue, but never had to use it at the same time as another power. It took him longer than usual, but he was eventually able to bring his soul forward.

It looked the same as it always did. Many strands of light loosely wrapped into the vague shape of a sphere and plenty of empty space in the center. The strand that pointed off into infinity was leading out the window above Tang’s bed. It had taken him a few cycles to realize it always pointed to the West.

“Okay, so what am I looking-” Tang trailed off when he spotted something new.

A second strand was leading off from his soul. It pointed in the exact opposite direction of the first, heading East. It ended at one of the little knots that represented the larger pieces of his soul.

It was positioned directly above the form of his unconscious body.

The others seemed to be able to see the strands as Wukong pointed at the knot floating above his body and began to mouth out a word.

“Start?”

Wukong nodded and pointed towards the strand leading out the window and said another word.

“End.”

Grinning enthusiastically, he finally pointed at the soul in Tang’s hands and said one last word.

“Now.”

Tang’s breath caught.

He knew the strand leading into the West was connected to all the remaining pieces of his soul and would eventually have an end once he reached the last one. He knew his soul looked the way it did to represent how much of it he had managed to gather currently.

That left the start.

Several pieces began to fall into place.

“You’re- You’re the voices I hear calling out my name at the start of each cycle.” Tang absently returned his soul and he stood and stared at the smiling group.

They nodded in affirmation.

Tang’s breath became shallow.

“Are you- Are you from my original timeline?”

The group burst into joyous celebration, nodding and giving each other high fives.

Tang sat back onto his chair in shock.

His family, his first family, were standing only a few feet away.

He didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry.

A sharp pain flashed behind his eyes before he could do either, and he grasped his head as it began to throb.

“Gah!”

He glanced up to see the group now watching him with concern. Wukong was gesturing at his own eyes, closing them slowly in exaggeration. Despite the pain, Tang was able to understand the message.

“Turn off the True Sight?”

Wukong nodded.

“But- ack!” The pain grew sharper. “But I have so many questions!”

Pigsy glared sternly at him and pointed to his bed. Sandy gave a comforting smile and pointed at the ground they were standing on.

Go to sleep and we’ll be here when you come back.

“Fine. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Wukong shook his head sadly and held up three figures.

“Three days?!” Tang gasped as the pain continued to build. “Shit! Okay, fine. Three days.” Tang gave them all one last look over. “I’ll see you then.”

They all gave him a thumbs up and Tang released his hold on the True Sight. He sighed in relief as the pain lessened slightly. His apartment looked much darker without the golden light filling everything.

Tang made his way into bed, physically and emotionally tired. He hated that he would have to wait for his answers. None of this made any sense.

His head throbbed painfully as he tried to think about what had just happened. Resigning himself to not being able to come to any sort of conclusion on his own, he settled down to sleep.

At least he had three days to come up with the proper questions he would need to ask. Hopefully the rest of the cycle would continue as normal so he could get some answers.

----------

The Wukong from his own time had been right when he had told him to wait three days before activating the True Sight again. The massive headache Tang had from overusing it lasted the entire time. It had distracted him during the incident with the weather station on the second day, making him quickly lose control of his abilities.

The seal this timeline’s Wukong had placed on his powers so he could control them helped a bit. The sharp pounding had only receded to a dull throb, but Tang found it to be a drastic improvement. He was able to take down Red Son and rescue his family fairly quickly afterwards.

It was currently the evening of the third day and Tang was making his way back to Pigsy’s Noodles after making his final delivery for the night. He drummed the steering wheel impatiently as he waited in traffic. His headache was completely gone so he could finally get some answers tonight once he was alone in his apartment.

The nerves and excitement eventually got to him and Tang began to take shortcuts down less used side streets to get back quicker. A few blocks away from the shop, he turned down one final alley that was shrouded in darkness, not thinking much of it.

He really should have expected being forcibly pulled from the vehicle and slammed up against the wall.

Before Tang could react, something was slapped against his chest and he felt the access to his powers cut off entirely while his body became paralyzed.

“So this is the Golden Boy’s so-called successor,” said a familiar voice. “Can’t say I’m too impressed.”

Tang’s blood ran cold as he stared up into the sneering face of the Six Eared Macaque. He did his best to struggle but whatever the shadow demon had done had left him completely immobilized.

“Don’t know why he would pick a weak little human like you. Your kind has such terrible senses. You didn’t even notice my presence until it was too late.” Macaque eyed Tang up and down, frowning in disapproval.

“He could have at least found another monkey like us. Would have been way more thematic.” Macaque smirked as he held up a small purple gem with a spiked point. “Luckily I have a way to fix that.”

Sweat rolled down the side of Tang’s face as he watched in fear while Macaque positioned the spiked end of the gem against the base of his throat.

“You can thank me for this later,” Macaque said with a manic and sinister grin.

Macaque stabbed the gem into his neck.

The paralyzing effect holding Tang in place broke and he convulsed on the ground as purple electricity raced across his body.

The last thing he was aware of was the sound of Macaque’s laughter mixing with his own screams before he mercifully blacked out.

----------

Tang slowly regained consciousness.

He didn’t have the dream about the cave so that meant it was still the same cycle. Whatever Macaque had done hadn’t killed him this time.

Although Tang wasn’t sure if the full body ache and fire in his throat was a better outcome.

He was in a bed he realized, and there were faint voices he could just pick up.

Not having the energy to move, he did his best to focus on what was being said.

“-managed to remove the second seal blocking his powers, but left the one that allows him to control them,” said a voice Tang didn’t recognize.

“What about the choker? Were you able to remove it?” Tang recognized Wukong’s worried tone right away.

“That is one nasty piece of jewelry,” said the first voice with a sigh. Tang assumed it was a healer of some kind. “One of its effects is that should anyone other than the one who put it on the victim remove it, the victim would immediately die.”

There were several sharp intakes of breath.

“That’s only one of the effects?” Mr. Xiaotian was here as well it seemed. Were they all waiting for him? “What all does this thing do?”

“There’s only three curses I detected,” said the healer. “You’ve seen the physical changes of the first, and know the dangers of the second. The third is perhaps the most cruel however.

“Your young friend is no longer capable of physically communicating complex thoughts or ideas.”

What?

“What does that mean?!” Pigsy sounded angry, but Tang could notice the undercurrent of fear. “Are you saying he’s lost his intelligence?”

“Not at all. His thoughts will just be trapped in his own mind and he will be unable to share them.”

Tang felt fear begin to gnaw at him.

The healer sighed once more, this time sounding saddened.

“It is truly an insidious curse.

“He’s been rendered completely mute, so he can’t talk. If he were to attempt using sign language, he would temporarily lose the coordination of his hands and fingers. Anything he will try to write or type out would end up as incomprehensible gibberish.

“The best he would be able to do is point at things and shake his head yes or no.”

Tang was suddenly cold.

That was…

No.

No no no no!

He couldn’t lose his ability to communicate! Not this cycle!

He finally had a lead to how this had all started! He needed to be able to ask his family from the original timeline questions!

Who knew when he would ever have access to Wukong’s True Sight again? If it ever happened at all?

Tang struggled to open his eyes, hissing in pain as the light filled his vision. He raised his arm to block it out, only to pause at what he saw.

Hadn’t the healer said there had been a curse that caused physical changes?

Bright golden-yellow fur covered his arm, and his hand had been replaced with a paw.

Ignoring his protesting body, Tang sat up and looked around. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, but it appeared he didn’t need them any more.

He wasn’t in a hospital. The room was set up in a traditional style with the typical furniture one would find in a guest room.

Tang found what he was looking for when he spotted the full length mirror on the opposite side of the dresser.

He climbed out of the bed and made his way over, doing his best to move past the pain.

Tang stepped in front of the mirror.

A monkey with golden-yellow fur, cream colored face and chest, and silver face markings that resembled an open book stared back.

Around the monkey’s neck was a black metal choker, the flat side of the purple gem at its center.

“He could have at least found another monkey like us. Luckily I have a way to fix that.”

Ah. So that’s what Macaque had meant.

Tang pressed his trembling fingers against the glass.

He really shouldn’t be so surprised. It had happened to MK so many times that he should have expected it to happen to him as well.

So why did he feel so numb?

Tang opened his mouth to try and say something, to try and prove the healer wrong. To convince himself this wasn’t actually happening.

But the only sound that came out was a raspy breath.

“Hey, bud?” Wukong poked his head through the door, frowning at Tang in worry when he saw him standing at the mirror. “You… You really shouldn’t be out of bed, kid.”

Tang nodded blankly, shuffling back over to the bed and sitting down. Wukong closed the door behind him and made his way over to sit beside him.

“I bet you have a bunch of questions,” Wukong said.

Tang shook his head.

“No?”

Tang pointed at the door and then to his ears.

“You heard us talking?”

Tang nodded.

“Oh.” Wukong shuffled nervously. “Are… Are you okay?”

Tang took a shuddering breath. He turned to his mentor with tears in his eyes and shook his head.

“Oh, bud.” Wukong quickly scooped the younger monkey into his arms as he began to sob silently. “I’m so, so sorry. I should have been keeping a better eye on you. I should have been there to interfere and prevent this from happening. This is all my fault.”

Tang cried into the Monkey King’s chest.

He cried for the pain he felt at the hands of someone he considered a part of his family.

He cried at being forced into a different form unwillingly.

He cried for the loss of his ability to communicate

He cried for losing what may be his only chance to talk to his family from the original timeline.

He cried at the unfairness of the cycles and the universe in general.

Tang cried.

Yet he barely made a sound.

----------

“Hey, bud!”

Tang looked up from his meditation at the approaching Monkey King.

It was a few weeks later. Wukong had practically forced him to move to Flower Fruit Mountain in order to keep a better eye on him.

Tang didn’t mind. Without his ability to communicate, he couldn’t do his job at Pigsy’s Noodles anyway. Pigsy had let him keep the apartment, just in case he wanted to spend the night in the city.

Tang smiled up at Wukong as he stood. It was nice to be the one with multiple father figures for a change.

“So I think I may have a way around the communication curse,” Wukong announced brightly.

Tang’s eyes widened as he tilted his head in curiosity. It hadn’t taken him long to learn how to convey how he felt through body language alone.

“The curse only prevents you from communicating physically, right?”

Tang nodded.

“Well there’s a power I have that lets me speak to someone from a distance. I, uh, actually kind of forgot about it because my astral projections have a longer range so I don’t use it much.”

Tang snickered silently as Wukong rubbed his head in embarrassment.

“Anyway! How would you like to learn telepathy?”

Tang blinked as he processed that. Telepathy certainly wasn’t a normal power the Monkey King usually had.

It also wasn’t a physical form of communication. You instead projected your thoughts psychically to those around you.

Tang pumped his fists in the air and performed a back flip in excitement. Being a monkey had certainly made him much more nimble.

“I thought you’d feel that way,” Wukong said with a laugh. “Want to get started now?”

Tang immediately sat down and stared eagerly at his teacher.

“I’ll take that as a yes!”

----------

Telepathy had been hard to master.

The first weeks of the process had Tang randomly projecting his subconscious thoughts to anyone nearby. There had been some awkward moments when he accidentally projected things from previous cycles, but he was able to wave it off as daydreams.

It had taken some work, but Tang could now pick out a single person within a few hundred miles and send them a specific message. It was a tiring process, so he didn’t actually use it often, but he could do it.

He could communicate again!

Tang stood alone in the apartment above Pigsy’s Noodles and activated his True Sight.

He had done this a few times after the attack, just to be sure that his family would still be there.

Like the previous times, the group of five and his body appeared to the East of him. They all waved in greeting and Tang waved back.

Tang took a breath and looked MK directly in the eye.

‘Can you hear me?’

MK’s smile didn’t change as he eagerly watched on.

‘Hello? MK? Mei? Anyone?’

None of them reacted.

No.

‘Hello? Please! Can any of you hear me?!’

The groups’ smiles began to fade as Tang became visibly upset, his fists clenched and shoulders trembling.

No!

This wasn’t fair!

He had worked so hard!

Tang fell to his knees as tears poured down his face.

This had been his last hope. His last shot at trying to get any answers.

It hadn’t worked.

Frantic waving from the group caught his attention.

The five of them had knelt down to be closer to his eye level. They were all smiling gently, their expressions kind and forgiving.

MK placed his hands together, forming a heart. The others soon followed suit. Even Wukong.

It’s okay. We still love you.

Tang choked as his tears fell harder. He shakily put his hands together and formed his own heart.

I love you too.

Tang decided this was the only answer he needed.

----------

Bet none of you saw that coming!

I’m going to enjoy seeing you all try to come up with an explanation for what’s going on. :3c

Monkey Tang’s design is something I came up with myself. I’ll see if I can draw it out for a better reference.

Look out everyone! The plot is here and it won’t be stopping any time soon!

Until next time!

#Ink Writes #Monkie Kid #Scattered Cicadas #Tang #Sun Wukong #MK #Qi Xiaotian #Mei #Pigsy #Sandy #Macaque #Six Eared Macaque #LEGO Monkie Kid #Tang Monkie Kid

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 4 years

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03. Strengths and Weaknesses

Previous: Write Whatever You Want

Another person shouldn’t have the power to be able to control every aspect of your life. In fact, some power and responsibility granted to someone else in your life should be a sign of trust and appreciation, not force or obligation…

Grace collected all of the self help and self love books she could from the mall bookstore. It was a section that they rarely went to, the bookstore, a place that they never defiled. She glanced at the sci-fi and fantasy sections… they weren’t empty, but Simon had taken a lot of those to his personal quarters.

She realized that Simon would always occupy some space in her heart and in her mind, but the fact that he could still occupy space in her life was troubling her. She just wanted to get over him and what he’d done… But that would also come with having to face what he did, to look at it all and really think about it. That could destroy every semblance of dignity that she believed their friendship was based on. That could rob her of even the fond memories that she knew would never return.

But, she saw his absence in the book store, where all the spaces were in that section, where all of the journals from the journal rack were all but gone, where the section that had fanfare like models of famous spaceships or bobble heads from certain fandoms had spaces (which very well could have been taken by any number of the kids in the Mall Car, but she thought of Simon and his fanboy things. She thought of his passion for writing and his knack for constructing figures. She thought about the times when she would be reading a book and came to him and wondered, “What’s this word mean?” and how he would either know and give her a hard time, or not know and immediately consult a nearby thesaurus or dictionary. She saw his absence everywhere.

She headed back to her quarters, glanced at the photo booth as she passed, the photos of their kiss now serving as a bookmark for her to figure out how to figure out herself. How do you not know you? You’ve literally been with you since your conception. “I was distracted. By everybody’s expectations of me and by my need to be exalted as the best. Didn’t even matter what I was the best at, as long as I was the best.”

“Looks like you win again,” she heard Simon’s voice say in a memory. She shook her head. She hadn’t won anything in a long time. Maybe she could win some peace of mind if she went through enough of these books. All quotes and motivational “insights,” health advice, and spiritual tips.

The kids were still coming to her for advice on matters. “You are actually older than I was whenever I got here,” she told Shadow. Shadow wasn’t her real name. Couldn’t have been. But, it was the name that she told Grace and Simon that she wanted to be called, and she absolutely lived up to the name, as she seemed to trace Grace’s every move, copy her style, and emulate her. It was cute, to Grace. Having a mini her. She had plenty of kids that looked up to her, even Simon did, at some point. But, now that the Apex was over, and they hadn’t quite figured out what to do next, they still turned to Grace for their step by step and day to day… several of them, anyway. Shadow, definitely.

She was one of the ones who witnessed what happened. One of the ones who endured such a terrible sight as the gruesome fate of Simon. One of the ones to not mourn him herself, but to be very sympathetic to Grace for her loss. One of the ones that she may or may not have instantly grief bonded too as they were nice to her for the first time since she messed up, in the midst of her saying goodbye to not only her first, but her oldest friend… who had become her most determined enemy… There were many mixed emotions with what happened to him, but Grace appreciated the kids that were there for her. She appreciated Shadow, she really did… But she also wanted her to give her some space.

Grace was startled when the girl was waiting for her, for “morning yoga class,” and she didn’t regret to inform her, “It isn’t a class… It’s just me trying to start doing yoga, and you tagging along and doing what you see me doing.”

“I grabbed a yoga book from the bookstore to help me get better at my poses and teach me about meditation,” she said, not at all taking the hint that Grace wasn’t in the mood. Yoga was supposed to be some time to herself, but she also couldn’t just tell her to go away. The way that she had snapped at Simon at the cabin and the way it hurt him… the end of the beginning, she was pretty sure of it… She couldn’t risk shoving Shadow to her downfall, just because she was doing what she had been commended and appreciated for doing previously… though… before, they weren’t close. She definitely gave her more space before, but there was more structure back then, too.

There were rules, regulations, guidelines, laws, ordinances, whatever else in the big book of the Apex. They learned what to do and they did it and to not do it meant consequences. Nothing dire in her day - maybe not being able to go on the next raid or being responsible for some chore or something. But, Grace wasn’t positive what Simon had put these kids through without her there.

She knew that they had seemed unhappy when she next saw them, that the ones who were obediently trying to shove her off of the train and she begged for her life were just as confused as she had been when she and Simon began all of this. Confidence didn’t always mean certainty, and the guilt that she could see on those kids was as thick as the sorrow she saw whenever she returned to see Simon on her throne.

Shadow had been watching her and wanting to be her since her first day in the Apex. Seeing somebody that looked like her in charge, commanding, and carefree… 3 fun years of duty, then one day Simon returned without her, told them that she had betrayed them all, that she was unfit to lead, threw off his hoodie and revealed the most numbers any of them had seen, even on Grace. Some of them mourned her right then and there. Simon didn’t like that.

He explained to them that Grace was no longer like them. She no longer believed in the Apex. She no longer believed in the Conductor. She wasn’t to be mourned and she wasn’t to be missed. She was worse than a null, because they were created for worthless futures. But Grace? She had been given a chance by the Conductor. She had been given status and respect and honor, only to turn on all of their values. To call her a null would be an insult to nulls. She deserved nothing but to be blotted out, voided.

“She’s a void. THE void. Not even human anymore. Its number is low and its spirit is lost. The void is an unfit leader, a danger to us all!” Shadow couldn’t stop crying. This still sounded very sad to her. Simon cupped her chin and said, “Don’t worry. You won’t be punished for emulating it. None of us knew, but now that we know what the void is, we know what the Apex will do, what we MUST do.” He dropped his hand and smirked. “If it ever infiltrates the car again, we wheel it.”

The children all gasped. “You’re… you’re talking about Grace…” Lucy said.

“IT IS THE VOID!” He roared. Lucy and Todd both jumped and clutched each other. Simon pointed to Shadow, “Bring me the procedures. We have to quickly establish who is faithful to the Apex, and who is faithful to the void.” He looked at Lucy.

“I am Apex!” she said.

“And what is the void?” He asked.

“It’s… not Grace… It looks like Grace?” She felt ashamed that she was feeling sympathy for the void. Simon had just explained that it wasn’t Grace anymore. But, if it still looked like Grace, the person who had held her crying when she put her eye out with the harpoon pack while Simon tried to tend to the injury. Ultimately… she just lost the eye and it was Grace who had told her that she still was a whole person and one of her favorite kids. “That eye was important, but the most important thing is that you’re alive and safe and still one of the greatest kids here.” But… Lucy didn’t dare let Simon see her cry over Grace, not after how he had just gotten angry.

“If you see the traitor we used to know as Grace, it is now the void and only to be acknowledged as the void. What is a void, Apex?”

“A leader who is no longer fit to lead?” Lucy said, trying to fix her last mistake by mimicking what she remembered Simon saying before.

“And a danger to us all,” he completed as Shadow returned with his book for him to write in. “Again. What is a void?”

Now, multiple kids said, more confidently, “A leader who is no longer fit to lead. A danger to us all.” He continued writing and getting them to repeat it, until he was satisfied. “And how do we deal with voids?”

“We wheel them?” Todd asked, recalling what Simon said.

“Again!” Simon called.

“We wheel them! We wheel them!” Many of the children began to chant, as was their way. Shadow, Todd, Lucy, Lindsay and Alex looked at each other, Alex noticed Simon looking at them and immediately joined in. Reluctantly, Lindsay and Todd did too.

Simon gave the signal for everyone to stop, a quick cut of his hand across his throat and they did. He put a hand on Lucy’s back and one on Shadow’s, then called five boys’ names and began to walk the girls to the door. Shadow was panicked. She didn’t know what this meant. Simon lead the six kids outside and shut the door behind them.

In a calm voice, he asked, “What is a void, Lucy?”

“A leader who is unfit to lead. A danger to us all.”

“And how do we deal with voids?”

“We wheel them.”

“Good. So, you understood. You didn’t join the Apex when I asked.”

“It won’t happen again, Simon.”

“I have a special job for you. You’ll keep watch for the void. If it comes back, it may be injured or sick. It may try to convince you to be kind to it. Don’t be deceived, Lucy. The void is dangerous. Don’t let it near you and don’t listen to it. The Apex will back you up and we will wheel it, as a collective.”

Lucy nodded her head, “Understood, Simon.” He talked to the boys, too, giving them each assignments - sounding the alarm whenever the void arrived, taking the yokes to carry his throne… Shadow was more and more confused and troubled as it came down to her and Simon.

“Shadow, what is a void?” He didn’t sound as chill as he had with the others. More like cold. It sent shivers down her spine.

“A leader who is unfit to lead. A danger to us all.”

“And how do we deal with voids?”

She sighed and put her head down, “We wheel them.”

Simon smirked and then leaned forward to touch her shoulder. “It took you awhile today. Don’t let that happen again. I can’t leave room for another traitor. If you can’t keep your allegiance to the Apex, you will become familiar with the wheels.” He pointed towards the wheels and she gasped. “The Apex has but one leader now and if you can’t accept that, all traitors will be thrown off of the train.”

“I understand, Simon.” He put her on spotlight duty and she didn’t think that she would ever smile again.

She had been about to throw Grace off of the train. She had been about to kill her idol… She couldn’t take it back, but she poured herself into respecting Grace again as a person. Not the void, not a traitor. But, she felt like Grace didn’t like her anymore. Like… she was tired of her. Probably angry because she was going to push her off of the train..

“Grace…” Grace let out a very frustrated groan and wiped her face with her hands. Shadow frowned and shut up.

Grace tried to continue yoga, but the nagging that she had possibly just shut this girl down was getting to her. “What is it, Shadow?” She asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

“I just wanted to say that I didn’t just go along with it. Simon took me outside of the car. He threatened to wheel me if I didn’t agree with him about you. I was really scared that he was going to do it. I didn’t really want to kill you, even though I tried to.”

Grace sighed again, this time a little less annoyed. An understanding sigh, if that’s a thing. “I know. All of you were under pressure. I know that it was hard for all of you. Simon was sometimes hard for me too, and especially in the end. I can’t make heads or tails about how I feel about him from one day to the next. So, I understand that. But, I’m just trying to move on with my life. I just want to be able to get to the next step without harping on that, but whenever I’m trying, someone is always there. I love your company. I just want to be able to have an hour of time where someone isn’t looking to me for anything!” Grace realized that her voice was loud. She sighed again, “I want a moment to relax. Talking about who tried to kill me and why is not relaxing for me.”

“It’s just that, I know how afraid you must have been out there with him… and I know that I helped. I know how afraid I was with him, but I still helped.”

“Are you asking for forgiveness, Shadow? Because, I thought I made it clear to all of you that I don’t blame anybody for being tricked by Simon. How can I be mad at you for following someone that I recruited you to follow? We were a team. You did exactly what we taught you to do - listen to the leader and trust their judgment. I wouldn’t fault you for that. What I am faulting you for is the fact that I haven’t been able to have one session of yoga and meditation without you all up in my aura.” They both laughed a little.

Grace crawled over to her and wrapped an arm around her, “Seriously, you can’t just depend on me to give you what you’re looking for. You have to be able to forgive yourself for things that you don’t understand why you did. You have to be willing to ask yourself why and explain it to yourself to correct yourself. Never look to somebody else, not even me.”

Shadow smiled and said, “I just needed you to know the truth. I just needed to clear the air.”

Grace smiled, “It’s clear. It’s clean and clear and pure, okay?” Shadow smiled and then noticed her number changing.

She looked at her hand and gasped whenever it turned into a zero. Grace looked at the door that appeared and quickly got up to help Shadow off of her mat. Shadow looked excited for a moment then frowned, “Why me? There’s other kids more deserving of their door…”

“You did all that you needed to do!” Grace cheered. “And you didn’t have to model after somebody else to do it. You just had to be clear and honest and willing to accept the truth. I’m very proud of you.” Shadow opened her door and saw her family, still putting up posters and handing out fliers, three years later. Her eyes welled with tears. She hadn’t thought that they would even miss her, but there they were, still looking…

“Grace… My name was Sunny,” Shadow said. “Is Sunny, like the song. You should listen to it. It’s perfectly fitting for you.” She went through the doorway and Grace watched it all go. She felt her own number move and she looked down. It had gone up? She sighed and flopped back down on her mat. She knew that song, but not the lyrics. Just the melody. It was back to the bookshop, she guessed. There was a little music section and she could probably find that old song in there.

*Sunny plays in the background*

It was her go to yoga song, now. She kinda missed having Shadow around, despite how irritating it had been her last days there. Grace passed by Lucy and Lindsay, sitting on the floor looking at each other and giving affirmations. “

Lucy: When I look at you, I see me.

Lindsay: When I look at me, I see you…

Grace smiled, but kept going, grounding mat beneath her arm, water jug in her hand and a bag on her arm. Alex and Todd ran by her, both swerved to miss her.

Todd: By, Grace, we’re gonna go check out this go kart car that Mandy told us about!

Grace: Have fun!

Alex: We’ll bring you something back!

Grace: No need!

That kid was terrible at tributes when it was a thing. She set up her yoga space and looked at the empty place where Sunny would have been. It didn’t feel the same without the kid, but she also didn’t have that stress of her watching so intently either. She was finally able to actually relax as she went through this new little ritual. Afterwards, she did feel better. The other kids didn’t bother her the entire time, though whenever she finished, Lindsay and Lucy were there to each grab one of her hands and drag her to some place.

It was the signature wall. Apex kids would tag their names onto it and it became a mural of sorts. Grace had seen the wall before and guessed that they were about to show her some new art or something, when she noticed that the taller kids had sprayed over the red “Down with the False Conductor” that had been sprawled across the top, with curvy block letters that read “We Made It Out.” Lucy pointed to a four picture set from the photo booth of Sunny, posing like Grace used to in the mirror, with shoulders out and lips puckered, one of her looking thoughtful, one silly face and one simply smiling. It had “Shadow” written in marker on the slit of white just before the last one. Grace told Lucy, “Gimme a marker.” Lucy still had it and handed it over. Grace drew a line through Shadow and above it wrote “Sunny.” She and the girls smiled at each other.

“It’s a new tradition,” Lucy said. “We came up with it ourselves, without asking you.”

“I love it… Do… we have pictures from the photo booth of everybody?”

“Yep. They were in Simon’s ledger.” Lucy reached into her fanny pack to pull out hers, “We took them for his records. Our skills and weaknesses are on the backs. But me and Lindsay decided to use them for good stuff.” She showed Grace her own photo set, in which she still had two good eyes and flipped it over where she had a list of strengths and under weaknesses: Literally put her own eye out. Grace growled. “My sentiment exactly,” Lucy said.

“Look at you, Luce! If this place was going to continue, you’d be running the joint next.”

Lucy took Lindsay’s hand and pulled her forward. “Didn’t do it on my own.”

“And Lindsay. You’ve always been the silent but strong type.” Lindsay shrugged her shoulders and made an uh uh sound. Then she and Lucy exchanged looks. “What?”

“Well… We know that you’re probably gonna be the last one out, but just in case… There’s no photos of you. We want you on the wall one day too. But, Simon destroyed all of your pictures when he voided you. Can you take a set, and put it on the wall whenever your number drops?”

What if she was nowhere near the wall when she reached zero? What if she never reached zero? “I’ll try,” she said.

They dragged her to the photo booth to take her pictures and the first one was a big, fake smile, the second was a slightly faded one, the third a frown and the last she was starting to cry. She snatched it from the slit and sat down. “Maybe I’ll try another day.”

Lindsay took the photos and the magic from Grace and began to write on the back.

Strengths: Takes responsibility for her mistakes. Good feelings. Big heart. Leadership skills. Makes people happy...Grace was sniffling as she read along with Lindsay writing. She was scared to get to the weaknesses, but Lindsay capped the marker instead of writing any. “What, no weaknesses?”

“Plenty. But, that’s because you’re human and not an asset, like Simon saw us as.” She and Lucy fist bumped, and Lucy handed Grace the photos. “We’re gonna go check out that go kart car too, actually.”

“We won’t bother to bring you anything back.”

“Good!” Grace said. She looked at the photos and sighed, got back into the booth, wiping her eyes. The first one, she still looked sad, the next she tried to fix her expression, the third a smile started and the last, she had a bright smile with slightly damp eyes. She pulled them out. “I’ll get there. I’ll make it out.”

#Infinity Train #Nesha Fanfiction #Infinity Train Fanfiction #Fics #Grace Heals #Grace Monroe Fanfic

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canyouevenwritebro · 4 years

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Sunflowers (pt. 1)

Summary: The reader has been with the Avengers since they rescued her from HYDRA. She has joined them on countless missions since then but this may be the hardest one yet. Set in 2016 CA:CW.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. It’s purely fiction.

Characters: steve rogers, tony stark, natasha romanoff, bucky barnes, sam wilson, wanda maximoff, clint barton, peter parker

Word count: 4.5k

Warnings: angst, depression, violence, death

a/n: hey!!! i did it! my first fanfic.

When the Avengers raided the HYDRA base you were kept in, they found you inside a cryo-chamber sleeping peacefully. After every personnel was captured, they transferred you to the compound along with artifacts and files of experiments they performed. Eventually, they found your file. It was quite lengthy. Your father was working for HYDRA but he turned on them and planned to take them down. As a result, they silenced him and your mother. They knew that whatever he knew about HYDRA, he told her. They spared you because you were just a kid. Instead, you were out on the Thanatos program. It was your father's project and it was almost done up until his betrayal. They thought you would be perfect for the program. They could groom you to the perfect obedient soldier they needed. On top of that, what could be more cruel than using your father's work to torture you?

They gave you a version of the serum used on the winter soldiers, with their own upgrades of course. They incorporated it with the Extremis serum and that left you with a super soldier that can breathe fire. Phoenix, they called you. The ultimate weapon of death.

After briefing everyone on your situation, they woke you up. You stepped out of the chamber confused. You were met with unfamiliar yet kind faces that it overwhelmed you. You made a run for it and nearly burned down the entire medical wing before they tranquilized you again. You woke up in a small glass cell where they told you that they meant no harm. Somehow, you believed them.

That was a year and a half ago. Now, here you were walking around New York and trying your best to be part of society. After extensive amounts of therapy of course. You were on your way back when you saw an old man in a flower shop organizing his stalls. You were mesmerized by the flowers' beauty and found yourself crossing the street to get there.

"Looking for anything specific, ma'am?" he asked

"No, not really. Maybe something cheery?" God, why are you so socially awkward?

"Well, in that case," he said, "here are some sunflowers." He handed you a bouquet.

"My wife loves them. When she's upset, I get her these because they always look towards the sun and the color brightens up the room," he said with a smile.

"Thank you so much," you said as you handed him a $20 bill "Keep the change"

You were now back at the compound and you were rummaging through the kitchen in search of a vase. You didn't find any (Seriously? a state of the art training compound owned by a billionaire doesn't have a vase?)

"I guess a pitcher would do," you whispered to yourself as you headed to your room.

"What is that?" asked Tony.

"Sunflowers. Got it from the guy near the train station. It's a good metaphor when you think about it. They're always looking on the bright side. I didn't get many opportunities to go sunbathing when I was at HYDRA." you said with an awkward chuckle.

"Alright. Fair enough. I'm headed to MIT for the speech thingy. Wanna come?"

"Nah. I still have to catch up on culture." you giggled. Years of working for HYDRA also didn't give you a lot of me-time.

"Okay well if you change your mind, you know how to get there."

"Copy that."

You headed to your room. Yours. You actually owned something. You turned on your TV and scanned through the channels. Doctor Who reruns? Sure. Hours had passed and you've scanned through hundreds of channels. You decided to turn on some news in the background while you read.

"On breaking news, eleven Wakandans are amongst those confirmed dead after a violent clash between the Avengers and independent mercenaries in Nigeria." Your head bolted up and you reached for the remote to turn the volume up.

"Brock Rumlow, former SHIELD agent, led the team of mercenaries to procure a biological weapon being tested at the Center for Disease Control Nigeria Division. It was believed to be a suicide mission as eyewitness account said Rumlow wore a type of bomb in his vest. Avenger Wanda Maximoff contained the explosion only to have the blast thrown into a building killing a total of 30 people. We have yet to receive an official statement from the Avengers. More details tonight only on Channel 6 News at 8." You listened with intent and your heartbeat was beating fast. Those poor victims. Is the team on their way home? Are they okay? How is Wanda doing? Your mind formed a million questions.

"FRIDAY, call Steve Rogers." a faint ding let you know that your request is being done.

"Y/n." Oh, thank god he's okay.

"Steve! Are you guys alright? I saw what happened. I am so sorry."

"We're alright. Search and rescue was already on the scene when we left."

"How's Wanda? Do you need me to do anything?"

"Physically, she's safe, y/n. Emotionally? This is gonna take a toll on her."

"What about the others? Nat? Sam? You?"

"We're gonna be fine. We're on our way home."

You met the team on the law of the compound. They were visibly stunned and you cut through them to hug Wanda. She was your best friend and you know that this was going to affect her greatly. You were right. She locked herself in her room and the only thing you heard was the sound of the news and sobbing.

In his office, Steve kept replaying what had happened in Lagos. Knowing him, he was gonna blame himself for this. You wanted to leave him be but your concern for Wanda kept you standing by his doorway.

"Steve? You got a moment?"

"Y/n. Do you need anything?" he said as he paused the video on his computer.

"No. I just wanna say I'm sorry about Lagos. Sam and Nat told me what happened."

"It's not your fault, y/n. It's mine. Rumlow mentioned Bucky and all sense of the mission disappeared in my head."

"Don't blame yourself. Bucky was or is, your best friend and he's still missing. You have a right to have emotions."

"Thanks. I... uh... I needed that. Have you talked to Wanda yet?"

"No. Her room is locked. Maybe you should try talking to her. Both of us saw you as a mentor. She'll listen to you."

You gave him a faint smile and headed for the kitchen. Maybe some food could help them. You moved the vase of sunflowers from your room to the middle of the large dining table.

Tony walked in and asked everyone to meet in the conference room. He got the news as he was coming home from Massachusetts. After a brief interaction with a grieving mother and the news of the mission, he knew what he had to do.

Inside, you were met by General Ross and his assistant. Rhodey was already inside and the rest of the team followed suit. Wanda had stopped crying but you knew she would never get over this.

The general discussed the Sokovia Accords with the team. As much as you'd like to be on Steve's side, you knew the team needs to be put in check. One more incident like this and the world might lose their trust in you. You agreed with Tony. Rhodey and Sam were discussing, or perhaps fighting would be a better word, over the Accords. Tony just sat there looking like a rebellious teen listening to his parents' lectures.

To prove a point, Tony showed the team a picture of Charlie Spencer. He died in Sokovia after Ultron planned to drive the human race into extinction. You felt your heart drop. He just wanted to do some good and he was caught in the crossfire.

At that point, the fighting and bantering was too much and you just zoned everyone out. You wanted to cry and you knew that the team was slowly drifting apart. Steve walked out after receiving a text. You didn't ask why. He has a private life after all.

You decided to take your frustrations out on the punching bags. You finally had a home. A family. But you feel the world caving in around you. With one last punch, the punching bag came flying through the room engulfed in flames. You fell to your knees as tears clouded your vision. Dum-E, who Tony programmed to follow you around with a fire extinguisher as a joke, finally put his programming to use.

"Y/n." a familiar voice called to you

"Nat. Hey." you struggled through the tears.

"Talk to me."

"I- I just want the team to stay together. You guys are the only family I have."

"Me too, y/n. I used to have nothing till I found this family."

"I want to help. What can I do to help?"

"I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. I'm meeting Steve on the way to try and change his mind. Maybe you can help."

"I'll try."

Nat took you to a cathedral. Steve was on the other end by himself. He looks... tired. On the altar was a picture of Agent Carter.

"Oh. That's why he left."

"Hi, Steve. I just wanna say I am so sorry for your loss," you said as you walked towards him.

"Nat. Y/n. What are you doing here?"

"We didn't want you to be alone and I'm also taking y/n with me to Vienna for the signing of the Accords."

"There's plenty of room on the jet," you said

"Who else signed?"

"Tony, Rhodey, Vision."

"Wanda?"

"TBA."

"Clint?"

"He said he's retired."

"There's still time to change your mind, Steve. Come with us to Vienna." you pleaded one last time

"You know why I can't do this y/n. If I sign, we're surrendering our freedom to people with agendas different from ours."

You felt a lump in your throat. "I'll be in the car." You said to Nat as you turned around not looking at Steve once as you walked out of the church.

"She hates me now, doesn't she?"

"No, she doesn't. She's just scared."

Nat was right. As always. You got in the car and tried to meditate. You didn't want to cry. Not when cameras surrounded you. You tried to steady your breathing but your brain seemed to do the exact opposite.

~~~Flashback~~~

"Injecting serum in five seconds." an emotionless voice said. You tried to break free but you were strapped down to the table. Even if you weren't, it was like you were trapped in your own mind. You couldn't move. The next few hours were a blur to you. The only thing you remember was the excruciating pain coursing through your veins.

"Serum successfully administered."

"Good. Take her to the cell for the remainder of the process."

You woke up in a pool of sweat inside a dark room. Alone. Like you have been since you were a kid. You don't remember much of it. Sometimes you see your parents in your dreams. You were 5 years old and they took you to the park. Your mom was helping you get to the other end of the monkey bars while your dad went to get snow cones. You were happy. But that memory was soon followed by the sound of gunshots and screaming. You couldn't understand what was said but you didn't need to be a genius to know it was full of anger. Your mom told you to hide and you did. But they found you anyway. Since then, you were subjected to vigorous training. You now know 30 languages and deadly fighting skills. You became a weapon and today was the final step of your transformation. Eleven years of training and they deemed you ready. After they reprogrammed your brain to be obedient, of course.

The man in the army uniform handed you a folder. "Your first mission, soldatin," he said, "Procure the obelisk. No survivors. No witnesses. You have 48 hours. Report back here as soon as it is finished." You nodded and opened the folder. It was of a tiny village at the base of the Swiss Alps. In the middle of it was the said obelisk encased in glass. You took a handful of soldiers with you and you headed for the village.

You succeeded in your mission. The obelisk was safely placed inside a containment unit in the jet. The village was burned to the ground. Bodies were piled on the streets and the only sign of life was your team and a handful of livestock the villagers kept. With that, you headed back.

"Very good, soldatin. Go with the doctor." and like the good soldier that you were, you walked behind the man in the lab coat.

You passed by a few offices on your way to the medical wing. Amongst other things, the serum enhanced your hearing. The faintest whispers sounded like normal talking.

"You heard about the mission?"

"Yeah. I heard y/l/n didn't even show mercy for those villagers." the voice chuckled.

"Bettenhauser's gonna be pleased." said another.

"I bet. He and y/f/l/n worked together on the program and seeing it do its purpose mus be so satisfying"

"Her father was an asset for us. That was before he betrayed us, though."

"Well, we got her now. She is an even bigger asset than her father ever was."

You kept walking and you ended up in a room with four other people in coats. In the middle of a room was a large glass case with a chair.

"Step inside the chamber, soldatin. You need to rest." and just like that, your feet dragged you inside. One of the coats placed a mask on you amongst other things. You felt your eyelids getting heavier and heavier and heavier. Gone.

The glass chamber now safely enclosed your unconscious body. Your body was now as cold as ice.

~~~End of flashback~~~

Since that first mission, you had killed hundreds of people for HYDRA. Innocent people. They haunt your dreams to this day but what's done is done. All you could do is help as many as you can.

You were taken out of your trance by the sound of the car door closing. Nat now sat beside you.

"Eagle Hangar please," she said to the driver

The drive to the hangar was silent. So was the flight to Vienna.

"Here goes nothing," you said to Nat as the elevator doors opened. World leaders were gathered in the room and cameras were flashing everywhere. A lady with a clipboard checked you in and quickly walked away.

"I see you are not fans of the spotlight." said the man in the suit. You later learned his name was T'Challa. Prince of Wakanda.

"It isn't very flattering," Nat said to him.

"Well, considering your last trip to Capitol Hill, you seem to be doing great so far." you chuckled at his response. You read about that months ago. You even saw it on YouTube on "Black Widow most iconic moments compilation.

"You don't seem like a big fan as well." You told him

"The accords, yes. The politics? not very. Two men in the same room can get more done than a hundred."

"Unless you need to move a piano." the voice behind you said

"King T'Chaka. This is Y/n Y/l/n. Allow us to apologize for what happened in Nigeria."

"Thank you, Ms. Romanoff. I'm sad to hear Captain Rogers won't be joining us."

"That makes three of us." You replied to him.

Just then, you heard a voice come on through the speakers asking everyone to take a seat. King T'Chaka was giving a statement when both yours and Nat's attention was drawn to his son who was looking out the window.

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" He screamed as he bolted for his father.

Like instinct, you threw yourself in front of Nat. It's something that you started doing after you joined the team. You thought after all the lives you've taken, protecting as many as you can could "wipe the red off your ledger" as Nat put it. You were a very effective human shield as a result of the serums. You weren't immortal nor did you have instantaneous healing due to the reaction between the two serums but you still healed faster compared to average humans. You felt a spray of glass cut through your skin and a searing heat touched your skin. Search and rescue came after the explosion and took you and Nat to get medical attention. You were perfectly fine but Nat had a few cuts and bruises. In typical Nat fashion, she walked it off like it was nothing.

You were taken to a tent to get a fresh set of clothes while Nat talked to Prince T'Challa, now king under horrible circumstances. When you got out, he was gone and she was on the phone.

A few minutes later, your phone rang.

Captain Grandpa calling...

you dropped the call and went to check on NAt

~~~BUCHAREST~~~

News outlets revealed Sargeant Barnes, Bucky, was behind the bombing. You knew Steve was gonna go after him. He'd been looking for Bucky since SHIELD fell. Now, he found him in Romania. Orders were given to shoot him on sight and Steve wouldn't let that happen.

~~~BERLIN~~~

Bucky was now in custody.

"What part of don't make things worse didn't you understand?" you asked Steve

You were in one of the offices watching Bucky getting evaluated by the doctor. You were in the other room talking to Tony about what would happen to your teammates.

"We're lucky they aren't in jail," he said

This was all too much. You went to the bathroom to splash some water on your face. You hadn't slept in 24 hours nor eaten anything. You looked in the mirror and fixed your hair as best you could.

BLACKOUT.

What was happening? You ran out and saw a lot of commotion.

"Get me eyes on Barnes," yelled Everett Ross.

You saw Nat and Tony walking towards the exit.

"What happened? What can I do?" you asked

"Don't know. We need to find Barnes." Tony said

"Please tell me you brought a suit," said Nat

"Sure did. It's a lovely Tom Ford three-piece two-button. I'm on active duty non-combatant."

Just as he said that Agent Carter, the younger, ran past you "follow me," she said. The three of you did and she led you to the facility's lobby.

You had never met Sgt. Barnes but from what Steve told you, he was a good man. The person you saw in the lobby was not him. He reminded you of your time at HYDRA. Cold and merciless. A soldier.

Sharon and Nat ran in and tried to fight him to no avail. You managed to get him down but he pinned you n the floor. He was trying to choke you and as a last effort to break free, you took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of fire. He dodged out of the way and you managed to get up. The next thing you saw was T'Challa going after him. You set fire to the staircase to slow him down but he still got away

You went outside only to see Steve on the rooftop pulling a helicopter from the sky. Sometimes you forget that he's a super-soldier just like you.

"Y/n coordinate evac. Get civilians as far away as you can," said Tony through comms. You wanted to help Steve but you got your orders.

~~~Fast forward to Berlin~~~

You did what Tony said and got civilians to a safe distance. When you went to meet with Nat and Tony, they told you Steve and Bucky were gone. They assumed Sam was with them too.

~~~Steve's POV~~~

"This would've been a lot easier a week ago," said Sam

"If we call Tony or maybe y/n--" he cut you off

"Who knows if the accords will let them help." he had a point. After everything that's happened, the UN would not listen to them even if they found out about Zemo.

"We're on our own."

"Maybe not." you looked at him questioningly. "I know a guy"

~~~End of POV~~~

You were now back in a conference room with General Ross. He gave you 36 hours to bring the three men in. He wouldn't hesitate to kill Steve if it meant bringing Barnes in.

"My left arm is numb. Is that normal?" he asked. Nat put her hand on his shoulder.

"You alright?" she asked

"Always." you knew that was a lie. Numbness in the left arm was a sign of a heart attack. But he's Tony. he could be bleeding to death and still say witty sarcastic remarks. You wish he didn't do that. You wished he'd open up to you more. "36 hours. Geez."

"We're seriously understaffed," said Nat. It was just the three of you there now.

"Would be great if we had a hulk right about now. Any shot?" Nat shook her head

Not even the Hulk. It would be nice if just Bruce and Thor were there. Maybe things wouldn't be as bad. Bruce and Thor would've deescalated matters before you could say Mjolnir.

"You really think he would be on our side?" she asked. You hadn't thought of that but knowing Bruce, he would want the team to be together.

"I have an idea." Said Nat

"ME too. Where's yours?

"Downstairs. Where's yours?" said tony.

~~~QUEENS~~~

"Spiderman? really?" you asked Tony in the car.

"HE stopped a 3000 lbs car going 40 miles an hour wit his bare hands and he swings from webs."

"But he's dressed in a red hoodie and swim goggles." you chuckled. It was probably the lightest moment you had in the last week alone.

You and Tony knocked on the apartment door. It was answered by a middle-aged woman. She was beautiful honestly. She had those kind motherly eyes that reminded you of your mom.

"Hi. I'm Tony Stark. This is y/n y/l/n. Is Mr. Parker here? we have some good news for him." Tony sad

"I'm May., his aunt and no he's not here. He should be home soon though. You're welcome to wait." she invited you in and served you some walnut and date bread. It was horrible but you didn't have the heart to tell her. she was so nice.

"So what is this good news you're here about?" she asked. Tony didn't actually tell you what his plan was. Not in full anyways so you were just as curious as her.

"Oh its a grant from the September foundation that he applied for. I approved." as far as bullshit made-on-the-spot excuses go, that was pretty good.

"Oh, he never told me that.

"He probably wanted to surprise you," you said to her

"Probably. Are you also a receiver of the grant?" she asked

"No. I'm interested in how the foundation is run so I asked to be here" she nodded. You didn't think she'd buy it but she did. Just as he said that the front door opens and a young guy walked in. He couldn't have been much younger than you. He had his earphones n and he was going on about this nice car parked outside. Tony's of course.

He saw the three of you on the sofa and he was clearly starstruck upon seeing Tony. He couldn't even speak without stuttering. He repeated his excuse to Peter and he surprisingly went along with it. Tony asked for five minutes alone with him and you were left in the living room with Aunt May. When they got out of the room, Peter informed his aunt that Tony invited him to the compound to talk more about the internship. You knew it was a lie of course because just a few hours later, Peter was standing next to you on the car to the airport.

~~~BERLIN~~~

Vision informed you that Clint came to get Wanda at the compound. Immediately, you knew this wasn't gonna end well. You don't want to fight her but you don't have a choice

As a last effort, you tried calling Steve but hews just declining your calls. Eventually, none of them would even go through.

~~~Fast forward~~~

"Steve, you know what's about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?" Nat said.

"Just come with us. Please," you pleaded. He looked at the both of you

"Alright, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" yelled tony. just as he did, Peter grabbed Steve's should and landed on top of the helicopter

"Nice job kid"

"Thanks. I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit but it's perfect, Mr. Stark" he went on this babbling for about 45 seconds. You thought it was funny.

~~~

"I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart," Tony said. You wanted the same thing. You all do.

"You did that when you signed," said Steve

"You're gonna turn Barnes over and you're gonna come with us now because it's us" You could hear the sadness and frustration in Tony's voice. "Come on" he whispered

You heard Sam's voice through Steve's earpiece "We found it. The quintet is in hangar five. North runway." you let out a deep breath. This was it. Steve raised his arm as Redwing cut through his restraints.

"Alright Lang," said Steve

"What the hell was that?" asked Rhodes

"I believe this is yours, Captain America"

"Oh great. There's two on the parking deck. One of them is Maximoff. I'm gonna go grab her. Y/n come with me. Rhodey, wanna take Cap?" said Tony as he grabbed you by the arm and flew towards Wanda... and Clint?

"There's two on the terminal. Wilson and Barnes"

"Barnes is mine," said T'Challa

~~~Fast Forward~~~

"Wanda. I think you hurt Vision's feelings"

"You locked me in my room."

"I did it to protect you."

"Wanda, stop this now. I don't want to fight you but you know I will."

"I can't live in fear anymore, y/n." and with that, she used her powers to drop cars at you.

"I'm done playing nice. You want a fight? I'll give you a fight." you said as you aimed fireblasts at her and Clint.

A fight has now ensued between the two teams. Tony attached a miniaturized jet pack to your back so you could chase after the others. Steve and the others were making a run for the hangar when Vision used his laser to stop them in their tracks. You landed in front of them, skin now glowing red from the fire inside you. The others followed suit.

"You must surrender now." Vision's voice thundered over you despite being in an open space. You were now face to face with your friends.

"What do we do, Cap?" asked Sam

"We fight."

"This isn't gonna end well," whispered Nat

"They're not stopping," said Peter

"Neither are we."

a/n: what do you guys think? I hope you like it. it's my first time writing fanfic. criticism would be greatly appreciated. part two coming soon depending on the response to this...

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twistednuns · 3 years

Text

February 2021

Irises and purple, lavender and white hyacinths. For merely three bucks. What a gorgeous bouquet.

My own thai curry recipe. It's THAT delicious.

A pep talk from Manu. Realising I really need to take more chances. And get rid of that dude I've been hanging out with. I've been feeling so stuck lately. I'm toying with the idea of giving it all up. Quitting my job. Leaving the country. Just to see what happens. Because I'm pretty sure I'll love what happens next. / Whatever worlds you live in, there are other worlds out there. If you are uninspired living life a certain way, it’s your duty to change. Nothing, not a relationship or job or housing situation, is worth sacrificing your ravenous hunger for life for. X

I feel my obsession with artificial cherry flavour creeping back up on me. Cherry-flavoured diet coke is one of my guiltiest pleasures.

I keep seeing those multicolour graffiti tags everywhere and I finally found out what kind of pen they use for this effect! I ordered one, I just had to, and it's fantastic. So beautiful and vibrant! I've already asked around how illegal it is to walk around the neighbourhood signing my tag on random surfaces...

Fresh pineapple.

The ocean. Talking about diving. Watching documentaries about marine life like My Octopus Teacher and Blue Planet. Drawing nautical objects, sea dragons and mollusks.

Learning more about apophenia.

It actually smells like spring in the forest and the days are already so much longer. I even saw a deer jumping over the path last night. I even got Frank to join my on my walk for the first time.

A little glimpse of summer. The south of France is my happy place I keep going back to. But there are more little reminders of the world out there, of travel and summer, that I thoroughly enjoy. Like watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat with Samin Nosrat. Not only do I really want to try making my own Tahdig now but I also kept smiling throughout the whole show because they filmed episodes in Italy, Japan and Mexico. Just imagine walking across a citrus market in the Yucatan right now. Or making Pesto Genovese with an Italian nonna in a Ligurian castle. Maybe even learning how to make your own miso in a remote corner of Japan. There is so much longing within me at the moment. What made my virtual culinary travels even better was Netflix's Street Food series. I especially enjoyed the episodes from Bolivia and Mexico.

I May Destroy You. Different, and very relevant.

This year's Valentine's Day happened to be pretty rad. So I've exchanged the boring nerd I had been dating with an exciting artist from Colombia. John is a painter, a poet, photographer and filmmaker who gave me a Spanish copy of an Oscar Wilde book with a poem he had written for me. My cold and cynical German heart is not used to wooing on this level but I love it. On Sunday we walked through the English Garden and Schwabing in the sunshine, took photos, looked at some art and antiquarian bookshop windows. We saw two cats inside the cat café, bought fancy macarons at Maelu and just kept talking. I even found a few interesting books about dream interpretation on my way home. John has a reference to Kleist's tragedy Penthesilea tattooed on his collarbone - Küsse/Bisse ("das reimt sich, und wer recht von Herzen liebt, kann schon das eine für das andre greifen"). He is a Scorpio with impeccable taste and sends me songs he plays for me on the guitar / Cocteau Twins tunes upon waking up. I really needed this.

Having my students create English comics with Pixton. I love how much their avatars actually look like them! I hope they had fun, too.

The smell of cherry-flavoured candy wafting through the air.

Semolina pudding with banana. The subtle heat does something to the bananas; the combination is simply delicious.

I watched the first season of Chef's Table and was really impressed by Francis Mallmann. I admire his courage and lifestyle. The constant change he craves. The way he speaks foreign languages and just bravely does his very own, unique thing. I want to live like that, too.

A crystal clear view of the Orion constellation.

Very fine snow powder against the sunlight. As if it was raining glitter.

Feeling cool and confident. A fleeting feeling but it makes such a big difference.

When we practice forgiveness, we let go of shame. Embedded in our shame is always a sense of being unworthy. It separates. Compassion and forgiveness reconnect us. / reading bell hooks' all about love.

Mustering up enough motivation to go through all my stuff in the basement and put a few items on eBay. I'd been putting this off for years now.

I'm amazed how good my phone camera is. I took some pictures in the pitch-black forest and you can make out the moonlight on the path and even see star constellations on the photo.

Spending quality time with a cuddly kitty boi.

Blue corn quesadillas prepared for me by a bloody gorgeous Mexican metalhead.

Writing that message I should have written weeks ago (letting Simon know that I wasn't particularly interested in dating him anymore).

Trolli burgers. The best gummy candy out there. Arguably the most fun. I love being able to disassemble my food and eat it layer by layer.

John's story about that acid trip on a boat somewhere in the ocean off the Colombian coast. They lay under the bright moonlight and were suddenly surrounded by Gray whales communicating with each other through song.

The spicy smell of a fresh, moist loaf of rye bread. Eating it with soured butter and salt.

The first snowdrops of the year.

Another one about the moon: walking home late one evening there was a lunar corona in the fog. I loved how the light illuminated my arms in that cool, white light.

The morning after the worst weekend in months or maybe even years (with both a mental breakdown and a medical emergency because misery loves company, eh?) Waking up early, pain-free. With a little spark of excitement and motivation. Just lying around for an hour in the darkness. Meditating. Falling back asleep for a little while. Getting up eventually, brushing my teeth and hair, painting my nails.

Painting more. Just experimenting with colour, intuitively. Without putting pressure on myself. The other night I painted with oil pastels and chalky pastel crayons while watching Dawson's Creek (I successfully avoided this series for 20 years and now, in my thirties, I start watching it?).

Bananas with nut butter, dark chocolate and sea salt.

Meditating with the blanket covering my nose. Breathing in fresh laundry smell.

Riding home from school with Anastasia, talking about diving adventures.

Reading Jill Heinerth's book Into the Planet. Her career as an explorer and cave diver is breathtakingly exciting. I couldn't put that memoir down. And it made me even more antsy. I'm really unhappy and bored right now - I wanna go out and learn something new, explore, live a little more.

Going to work without make-up. In the last ten or even fifteen years I put on make-up every single day I went to school. I'm done. Lockdown made me come to terms with the look of my bare face.

Learning about Antarctica cruises. It only takes about 24hours to reach the area from Argentina! I'd really love to go but the cruises are crazy expensive.

My house plants sprouting new leaves.

The moment the pain suddenly stops and you can breathe again.

Tropical breakfast. Banana, kiwi, mango, pineapple. And plain yoghurt. Decidedly non-tropical.

#personal #present perfect #things i love #february 2021 #2021 #february

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aurora-the-kunoichi · 4 years

Text

For The Love of Shell - Chapter 37

Here we go, another chappie!

Here it is from the beginning

Minutes turned to hours, hours turned to days and days turned into weeks, but Leo tried not to notice how slow the days crawled by. He spent most of his time in the dojo meditating keeping away from his brothers and his father, avoiding their questioning stares. He had yet to tell them of his decision with Aurora and dreaded when it would finally be brought up. It was all going to come to a head soon, it had been two weeks since she had returned to the lair to see them and he could see they were getting antsy. He had stopped Donnie from calling her the other day by distracting him with a question about the cameras in the west tunnel. It was a close one, but he couldn’t hold them off much longer. His brothers were many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them, they knew something was wrong.

A curt call of his name from the main lair made his stomach roll, he had a feeling it was time to face the music whether he was ready to or not. Standing from his lotus position Leo gracefully made his way into the main part of the lair and hesitantly approached his three tense brothers.

They stood staring at Leo as he exited through the tunnel, their muscled arms folded over their wide chests. The looks on their faces held no secrets, they were ready for some answers and they wanted them now.

Donnie stepped forward first, his brown eyes narrowing in on his eldest brother, “What’s going on Leo? You’ve been rather distant lately spending most of your time in the dojo, more so without father. And we haven’t seen Aurora in two weeks, which is not like her. What’s going on? When is she coming back to the lair? Is she ok?”

“Yeah spill it.” Mikey laughed nervously coming up next to Donnie.

Leo looked at his two youngest brothers, his gaze guarded and then traveled back to the hothead who still hadn’t moved his green eyes suspicious. He could see the brute of a turtle work his muscles in his jaw as he clenched his teeth waiting for Leo to talk. It was now or never, taking a deep breath Leo copied his brothers and crossed his arms over his chest and let the hot hair press out through his nostrils. “She won’t be coming back.” He said sternly as if it meant nothing. His eyes remained on the red banded turtle eyes as they grew wide in shock.

“What do you mean not coming back?” Mikey growled low in his throat. Something he had never heard his younger brother do before. It sent a chill down his spine.

“I ended it with her over a week ago. It was time for her to move on with her life. She was free of the demon and with the Kingyo’s defeated she no longer needed to hide. I told her she was no longer welcome back to the lair and to live a normal life.” He could hear his own voice tremble trying to control the raging emotions he had been fighting for nearly two weeks. He was beginning to fail. He was miserable and it ate at him from the inside out.

Then he spoke, “You did what?!” Raphael hissed through clenched teeth dropping his hands to his sides resting on the hilts of his sai. Leo could see the fury swirling in his brother’s eyes; he sat waiting for the large brute to lunge forward, to attack him but the blow it never came. The red banded turtle stood frozen in place a deep angry vibration emanating from his lower plastron.

Donnie looked to the ground her name barely a whisper from his lips. The usually gentle genius clenched his fists in anger raising his gaze to Leonardo, the look on his face foreign. “Fuck you Leo.” The hurtful phrase dripped with vehemence, those crass of words he never would have thought would come from his genius brother hurt more then he would like to admit.

“My son, what have you done?” the calm voice of his master came from behind him, his soft paw resting on his forearm. His masters words stung the most cutting into his already broken soul even further. How could he make them understand he was doing this for her and them? He turned to look at his father, but the heavy foot falls of his retreating brothers brought him back around to see all three of them running from the lair no doubt to her apartment. He knew he couldn’t stop them even if he wanted them too.

“Leonardo?” Splinters voice was a bit stern now, he wanted answers.

Reluctantly Leo turned around to face his master, the large turtle falling to his knees before his rat father. His iron like composure threatening to break as his gaze meet with his sensei’s dark searching eyes. “Dad.” Leo started taking a deep breath trying to calm himself. “I had too, she’s never had a normal life. She was given to a monastery at age three and trained by men who gave her no kind of sense of family or comfort, always fighting, always on the run. Now with the demon and the Kingyo’s gone, she can have a normal life, she can get married, have babies. I can’t give her those things and if she continues to be part of our family she never will.”

Leo watched his father’s eyes fill with sorrow and both of his furry hands came to his son’s face, “My son, it saddens me thinking you don’t believe you deserve to be loved by Aurora. Human or not, that woman loved you, loved your brothers. She would do anything for any of you and you four would do the same. I believe she didn’t care about a normal life all she wanted was you and your brothers in her life.”

“But Sensei she knew nothing else. She doesn’t know what it’s like to go on a regular date to a restaurant with a regular human man who can take her on vacations and go to stores to buy her things. To walk down the aisle in a beautiful white wedding dress to her normal human fiancé waiting for her at the end with tears streaming down his face because of how beautiful she looks. He’ll be able to give her a child…. a family.”

“Leonardo, she is her own person and allowed to make that decision on her own. When she was give to the monastery did she have a choice?”

Leo shook his head ‘No’ as his eyes trained in on the open green palms that lay on his thighs.

“When she was thrust into the part of Guardian, did she have a choice?”

Again, Leo shook his head, beginning to see where his master was taking this line of questioning.

“Did Aurora have a choice to fight the demon and vanquish it using your souls as power watching you die in the process?”

“No Sensei.”

“Now when everything was over, did she have the choice to leave this path she was currently on or defer and start a new course which didn’t include mutant turtles and a large old rat?” Before Leo could respond Splinter held his hand up and answered for him. “No, she didn’t, someone again took that decision from her and made it his own. Again the choice was taken from her.”

Leo’s head spun fast and hard with his master’s words, he had taken the first decision she could make on her own, a decision that would affect her life. That didn’t revolve around that stupid urn and that damned demon within her. How could he have been to rash, so blind? How stupid could he be, ending the first thing that meant the world to him? Letting go of someone he loved just as much as his brothers and father, maybe even more? Maybe he wasn’t too late, maybe he could fix this? Maybe?

Heavy footfall sounded, alerting them to the other brothers’ return from the surface, which worried him. It was far too soon for them to return from her apartment. He had figured they would be there nearly all night talking to her, consoling her. Leo turned to meet the angry and worried eyes of Donatello and Michelangelo.

“My sons, you have returned rather quickly from your trip to Aurora’s apartment.” Splinter asked, he too realized the shortness of their departure was not a good sign.

“She’s gone.” Mikey growled at his older brother as Donnie pushed past his younger brother to get to his desk.

Leo mulled over those words as he watched his genius brother hastily drop down on his chair and began feverishly typing away at his keyboard, his concentration solely on his search on the web.

“She’s not home? She’s probably out to dinner or something? Maybe a walk? She’ll be back.” Leo called anxiously playing with the band on his wrist, wondering what Donnie was looking for on the internet.

“No fearless, her fucking apartment is empty. She’s gone.” Leo heard Raphael growl as he jumped over the turnstile his green eyes focused on him. He could see the determination in his walk, heavy and fast never taking his eyes from his older brother.

“What?! That can’t be?” Leo wheezed unexpectedly getting to his feet stepping towards his hastily advancing brother.

“What did you think was gonna happen Leo? All she’s done for the past several years is move from town to town hiding living with the bare minimum just in case she needed to leave in a hurry. And then she’s told she can no longer see the people who matter most to her; of course she’s going to take off. She’s trained to leave at a moment’s notice. To leave to trace.” Mikey spat pacing the lair tears staining the green skin of his cheeks. His hand clenched and unclenched as he moved apprehensively trying not to look at Leo.

“What did I tell you fearless, she wasn’t just yours? We all loved her! I loved her! Now she’s gone, probably forever! How could you do this to us?!” Leo turned back to the advancing brute who was now screaming at him. He was practically onto of him now and the blow Leo waited for before finally came and it came hard. Raphael’s fist collided with Leonardo’s cheek sending the blue leader tumbling backwards just barely missing their stunned father.

“Raphael!” Master Splinter yelled in shock turning just lightly to avoid Leonardo’s flailing feet as he rolled past him.

“No Sensei!” Raphael growled marching past his father to his fallen older brother who was trying to scramble to his feet holding his now throbbing face. “This time he gets what’s coming to him!” His large hands reached down to the stumbling leader and pulled him harshly back to his feet grasping painfully at the dense muscled of his shoulders. “You made this decision without us knowing very well how we would react!” Again his fist shot forth smashing mercilessly into Leo’s nose making him see stars and starting a cascade of blood from his nose.

Leo stumbled backwards, his carapace slamming into a support column of the lair; stars filled his field of vision and he tried blinking them away before another blow from his brother came. Donnie had abandoned his search on his computer and was now standing watching Raph attack him, Mikey as well watching from the distance not doing anything to stop their two older brother’s quarrel. He didn’t blame them; he would want to pummel his face as well. Not wanting to deny his brother’s his rage Leo let Raphael come at him again, his brother’s hands finding the well muscled column of his neck.

Raph looked so intimidating standing over him, fury racing through his veins, his hands closing firmly around his throat slowly cutting off his air supply. His eyes were wild with unbridled hatred for his own flesh and blood. Leo kept his hands at his sides refusing to fight his furious brother. Tears threatened to burst from his younger brothers eyes nearly sending his own that he hide carefully behind his stone like facade spilling down his own cheeks.

“I’m sorry Raph, I thought I was doing what was best for her. We have no choice to stay hidden in the shadows due to what we look like. She does Raph and she deserves to have a happy normal life. I thought she would eventually want to have a regular life and leave us, breaking not just my heart but all of ours. I wanted to protect all of us from that. Protect her from making that decision.” Leo wheezed past his collapsing windpipe.

“Yeah but you didn’t let her have that choice did ya Leo? You took that from her, took her from us! Maybe that’s what gets ya off, making decisions for everyone. You get off on the control!”

Leo’s eyes widened as his air supply was cut off completely, his mouth opening slightly to gasp for air.

“ENOUGH!” Master Splinter yelled again slamming his cane roughly down on the concrete floor. He had, had just about enough of this foolish fight. “Raphael even though your brothers actions were rash and unwarranted he did so thinking it was in the best interest for everyone. He now has to live with the pain of those actions. He does not need further aggravation when he is already hurting.”

Raphael sucked in a mouthful of air and screamed with all of his rage at the top of his lungs into his bothers face before releasing his throat. Spinning on his heals he fled the lair followed by Michelangelo who gave his brother one final sorrowful gaze as he disappeared down the tunnel after his brother.

Donnie let out a shaky sigh and returned to his work on the computer but Leo didn’t have the guts to ask him what he was working on so he turned back to the dojo. He would try and meditate again but he knew he would just sit and stare at the dancing flame of the candle. There would be no rest for him, not for quite a while.

Master Splinter came up quietly behind Donatello watching his green fingers fly over the keyboard with expert precision. He could see her name being typed into several search engines and many different websites. Donatello was trying to find her but was having no luck.

“She’s closed all of her accounts Sensei and has gone off the grid. The only way I’ll be able to track her is by the sales of her painting and that’s only if she continues to paint and sell them for money. She’s a master of disappearing when she wants too, I won’t be able to find her. We’ll never see her again dad.” Donnie’s head hung low his fingers finally stopping their search droplets of the genius’s tears splashing against his worn keyboard.

Master Splinter brought his hand up and rested it on his son’s shoulder, “Don’t worry my son, your fates are intertwined and I do not doubt your paths will cross again. We must have patience and give her time.” His dark eyes trained in on the dojo and the dark form of the lost leader mediating inside. “But I fear it’s not Aurora we need to worry about right now.”

It took nearly a month before his brothers began to talk to him again and another two months before they followed him out as leader for a much needed night of patrol. Raphael was still angry with him and Leo didn’t blame him, didn’t blame any of them, his confidence as leader had been shaken after his reprehensible mistake with Aurora.

Donnie never gave up trying to locate where she had disappeared too. He had an alert on his computer each time one of her painting was sold. They seemed to pop up sporadically across Europe and too frequent in dispersion to sufficiently track her. The loss of her presence had hit them all more than they had initially thought, especially how short of time they had known her. She had wormed her way into their hearts fully taking a part of each of them when she left. Leo didn’t want to admit it but their family felt incomplete, missing an interact piece of their complicated puzzle. Even April had shunned him a bit making her loose one of closest friends. Casey didn’t seem to care either way; he had only spent a few days with her so it didn’t affect him enough to change his stance with Leo. But he did make a few observations of the loss of enthusiasm between the four brothers since her absence.

As the months crept by and winter began to settle over the city they noticed an increase in gang activity in the inner city, robberies and muggings and even a few rapes began to escalate gripping the city in fear. In turn making their patrols more frequent, filling their nights with action which kept their minds from wandering to sore subjects. Leo welcomed the distraction as well as his brothers. Busting low life’s skulls was good for relieving tension and helped with their confidence.

As they made their way over the snowy roof tops to a known hot spot for the gang activity Donnie turned to his older brother in blue.

“They finally gave themselves a name; they call themselves the Purple Dragons, and from what I’ve found in my searches they are led by a guy named Hun.”

“The Purple dragons?” Raph laughed curtly flipping over a large air condition unit to keep up with their stealthy leader. “What a lame name.”

Donnie followed suit avoiding the large unit landing next to Mikey with a heavy thud continuing his momentum forward after his two older brothers, “Lame or not they’re making a name for themselves on the streets. I talked to Chief Vincent last week and she said their fan base is growing like a weed getting a hand full of new recruits almost daily. She thanked us for helping them keep it under control.”

Leo halted just before the ledge of the current building they were advancing on, “Tell Chief Vincent we’ll do what we can.” Bringing his finger to his lips he quieted all further communication as they crept forward silently peering over the side of the building to the scene unfolding below.

A large box truck was backed up to the loading dock of the closed electronic store. Several young men wearing bandanas over their faces were loading stolen merchandise into the back of the truck with haste.

Raphael looked down at the thieves in enjoyment cracking his knuckles, “It’s time to smash some skulls.” With no words spoken the four swung over the ledge dropping down attacking with ferocity. Pulling his katanas from his sheaths as he descended Leo attacked someone carrying a box full of iPhones. The box dropped to the ground as the young man stumbled backwards stunned by the sudden assault.

“Gentlemen, do you mind if I see your receipts for these purchases?” Mikey smiled swinging his nunchaku against another’s man’s side sending him flying sideways making him drop his loot.

It didn’t take long for the four mutant turtles to take care of the inexperienced hoodlums. Tying them up and presenting them like a Christmas present to the police was just an added bonus. With a quick call to Chief Vincent they headed back to the lair. It was Christmas Eve after all and April and Casey were coming down to the lair for dinner. April said she had an unexpected surprise for them all but didn’t elaborate further.

Jumping over the turnstile they came into the wonderful smell of fresh baked ham and all the wonderful sides that came with Christmas eve dinner. Since they found April they had started the tradition of having Christmas Eve with her and once Casey came into the picture and their relationship blossomed it was only natural for him to become part of the tradition.

Coming up to the kitchen, the four turtles noticed the five large beautiful boxes wrapped specifically color coded to each turtle sitting on the kitchen counter, along with a fancy silver one no doubt for Splinter, who was sitting at the table sipping at his steaming cup of tea. As they reached the table their fingers ran over the delicate paper their eyes moving questioningly to April who was leaning up against the oven her hands placed precariously on her hips.

“Presents April? We’ve never gotten each other presents before? We didn’t get you anything?” Mikey asked timidly his fingers playing with the orange ribbon on his assumed present.

“They’re not from me.” The brunette said solemnly turning to the oven checking on the baked ham. “Casey and I both got one as well. It came to my apartment this morning by courier with no sender info. I’ll give you one guess who they came from.”

“Aurora.” Leo answered looking to his younger brothers with sad eyes.

Several uncomfortable moments slipped by as they all stared at the presents.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Open ‘em.” Casey ushered them waving his hands towards the mystery boxes.

Nervously they all went to their boxes but Leo held his hand up and motioned for Splinter, “Please Sensei, you first.”

Splinter nodded and set his tea cup down on the table palming the present on the table. Carefully he set the silver wrapped box in his lap and delicately removed the paper. With precision Splinter sliced open the tape on the cardboard box with his nails prying open the flaps. His hands reached into the box and pulled out an elaborately decorated Japanese wrapping box. Gently his palms moved attentively over the silk and lifted the top open revealing its contents to the old rat. With great care Splinter pulled out a brand new black woven kimono from Japan to replace the tattered old one he had been wearing for years. Silver scrolling wove around the back in intricate design passing over the sides to the breast of the garment. Four elaborate hand woven turtles lined the bottom of the garment finishing off the piece beautifully. The smile on his master’s face showed his delight to the thoughtful gift. The origin of the beautifully crafted garment showed she had returned to Japan in her travels.

Leo motioned for Mikey to go next and the youngest turtles ripped haphazardly at the orange paper, opening the box his eyes zeroed in on the item concealed inside. His head cocked and reached his hands into the box pulling out a set of white nunchakus. Turning them cautiously in his hands he looked to his brothers in confusion. He already had a set of nunchaku he got from his father. They were his babies, he didn’t need another pair? But as his hands turned the old weapons in his fingers he saw black writing on the handles. His baby blue eyes widened and mouth dropped open in shock he nearly shrieked in excitement clutching the weapons to his chest!

“What Mikey? What’s written on them?” Donnie asked with enthusiasm wanting to know what was so special about them.

“They’re signed by Bruce lee! They’re a pair of Bruce Lee’s nunchaku!”

Raphael came up next to his little brother looking over the items with excitement, it was very cool and something Mikey would cherish forever due to the fact Bruce Lee was his favorite actor. Mikey had spent hours when he was younger perfecting his moves to the T when he was finally given his weapons. There was many night Splinter had to carry the young terrapin to his bed as the credits rolled in the darkened lair.

Raphael was next, the large turtle opened his box with unusual hesitance as his oversized mitts pulled out a medium sized mechanical part from several layers of bubble wrap. His green fingers rolled the piece around in his palm eyeing it confused until something went off in his head and his mouth opened in a wide exuberant smile. “She found it……she fucking found it!”

“She found what my son?” Splinter asked softly taking another sip of his piping hot tea.

“A part from the bike I’m rebuilding! I have been trying to find this part for forever! No one has it because the bike is so rare.”

Donnie leaned forward over his box eyeing the part, “You mean that Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird you found at the dump last year? She found the cylinder head you’ve been looking for?”

“Yeah, now I can start working on the body.”

Next Donnie grabbed his purple present and sent it on his lap. Just like Splinter his three-digit fingered hands slide across the wrapping paper with such care as if he was reading brail. A puff of pent up air shot out his nostrils and his fingers finally peeled away the paper and opened the box. As his brown eyes looked in to the box they widened in surprise and then excitement. Unwrapping the small green chip thing from the many layers of bubble tape he began spouting something about being able to hack the government fast with it and wondering how she got her hands on such top-secret equipment. The box tumbled from his lap as he leapt to his feet running to his main computer to install the device. Before he could even sit down Master Splinter called to the over eager genius making him return to his family at the kitchen table. Leo still had to open his.

All eyes were on Leonardo as he ran his fingers over the blue paper of his present, a present from Aurora. From the woman he missed more than anything in this world. He almost didn’t want to open it. Opening it would end the suspense which seemed like letting her go again. She had thought about them still, thought to buy specific presents for each of them, to wrap them with their colors in mind and have them delivered so they could open them on Christmas Eve. It would be rude not to open it to see what she had gotten him. Hesitantly his fingers ran under the edge of the paper and pulled ripping the pretty paper free from the box beneath. Grabbing a small knife from his belt he cut through the tape and opened the box. His eyes fell upon a see through bag and what looking like moister gathered on the inside. Pushing his fingers past the plastic on either side of inside the box he lifted the contents from the packaging and set it down on the kitchen table. With great care Leo opened the bag pushing the plastic down to reveal a beautiful bonsai tree in a handmade ceramic base painted blue. An envelope was tapped to the side with a hand written note inside, it read.

This bonsai tree was taken from the spot where I had fallen when I thought I would take my last breath.

Blood flowing from my body I lay clutching the urn to my body, I could feel my life leaving me as my breathing slowed. I lay alone dying shivering from the cold from the loss of blood and the chill from the mountain air. Coming to terms with my imminent death I closed my eyes and thought of you four, realizing I would never meet you if I gave up. If I let death win.

My complicated life flashed before my very eyes. All the training, all the preparation for my destiny, and the loneliness I had endured. None of it hurt as much as not meeting you, not finding the missing pieces to my soul. It was then I decided I wasn’t going to die there on that forest floor alone. I was going to meet my warriors no matter what. The thought of you four gave me strength to move, to get up and live. The spot in that forest was a turning point in my life to keep going, to survive. You four gave me strength and you four continue to do so.

My life hasn’t been perfect, it was hard and lonely, but I wouldn’t change any of it. I enjoy the chaos, I enjoy the fight, it gives me purpose to help those in need, it brought me to you. If I had to do it all over again I would take the same path over and over again if it meant I got to meet you and your brothers. To love you with everything that I am, to love a mutant turtle with such intensity that the thought of life without you was unbearable. After everything that has happened I don’t regret our meeting, I don’t regret giving myself to you.

This bonsai tree represents my never ending love for you, for your brother, your family. For your presence in this world gives me purpose, to give me life and that I can never thank you enough for.

~Aurora

@bluesakurablossom @alonia143 @imthegreenfairy88

#tmnt #tmnt leonardo #tmnt raphael #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt donatello #tmnt fandom #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt fic #TMNT TMNT fanfiction #Fortheloveofshell #chapter 37

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loopyhoopywrites · 4 years

Text

How Does A Hermit Accidentally Get Published? (A TLD excerpt)

Okay so this is kinda long, and minorly spoilery? But if anyone is interested in how The Hermits’ Guide to Friendship (Vol 1-4) came to be, I just finished typing up it’s origin story. For context, Cedrix and Tim have just been escorted to a private VIP booth at Ye Olde Nightclub by CJ Themir, the author of the guides, who is begging them to help him.

Tag list: @kryskakikomi @shattered-starrs @ifonlyicouldwrite @sybil-writes @raevenlywrites @sunlight-and-starskies @notwritinganyflufftoday @chauceryfairytales @writeblrfantasy @dazed-night-lights

* * * * *

Of all the critiques one could accurately make regarding Prince Cedrix, an unwillingness to help his subjects would not be one of them. Quite the opposite, in fact. Cedrix was, to the despair of his diplomatic advisers, extremely hands on when it came to sorting his kingdom’s problems.

(Rescuing damsels was, perhaps, the only exception to Cedrix’s willingness. Given, however, his sexuality, the lack of male damsels, and the strange cultural expectation that a Rescue equated to a proposal of marriage, this was understandable.)

Despite his willingness, Cedrix looked at CJ, with his fans, fame and, presumably, fortune, and found himself with one question.

“What could someone like you possibly need help with?”

Tim, it turned out, also had a question.

“What happened to your accent?”

CJ sighed, running a hand through his hair. Unlike his previous suave swoop, this time the gesture was a clear sign of stress, turning his artfully arranged curls from a masterful oil painting into something more akin to a child let loose with twelve fingers and a bucketful of muddy paint.

“It’s a long story.” He said, deftly managing to answer and evade both questions simultaneously.

“We have time.” Said Cedrix.

“Okay.”

CJ ran his other hand through his hair. It didn’t help.

“Okay,” He said again, “I’ll- I guess I’ll start at the beginning?”

“That is how most stories start.”

Cedrix crossed his arms impatiently. Tim, always eager for story time, swapped his empty tankard for a new one and snuggled into Cedrix’s side. CJ was twisting his hands nervously, and his left leg was bouncing as if possessed by a particularly hyperactive jackalope. Coupled with the way his eyes darted nervously around the balcony, Cedrix wondered CJ should be the one with a tankard in hand.

“Beginning,” CJ finally repeated, looking Cedrix in the eye only to immediately glance away again, “Well, um, my name isn’t actually CJ.”

As far as beginnings went, this one was hardly a surprise. Cedrix crossed his arms tighter, hoping the story improved. Quickly.

“My name… it’s Daigo. Daigo Ramirez.”

Here, CJ paused, the silence lingering a moment too long, and then a moment longer.

“Sorry,” He said eventually, smiling sheepishly, “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to say that.”

Unsympathetic, Cedrix merely fixed him with a glare that clearly meant get on with it. Tim slurped his drink through a brightly coloured curly straw that hadn’t been there when he started.

“I am – well, I used to be – a hermit,” CJ – Daigo – began, “People have always been a bit… much, for me.” He smiled wryly, as if amused by some private joke. Cedrix snuck a glance at Tim, suspecting that the wizard would be far more sympathetic than Cedrix himself. Tim, however, didn’t seem to be listening, instead busy attempting to balance the cherry from his drink on the tip of his nose. It was only when Daigo cleared his throat that Cedrix realised he’d been staring.

“Continue.” He ordered, dragging his attention back to the author.

“I lived in a rented room above an antiques shop,” Daigo seemed to shift more comfortably into his chair as he settled into his story, although his leg still jiggled distractedly, “It was about as close to solitude as I could afford, given the high demand for isolated towers and caves amongst royalty these days. The store’s owner would leave groceries outside the door once a week, and in return I left rent money under the unwelcome mat. I never had to leave, and no one ever came to visit. Even the store below hardly ever had customers.”

Cedrix couldn’t help but wonder how using the privy fit into this self-isolation situation, but he was far too proper to ask.

“The room I lived in had one window,” Daigo continued, “That looked out over the beer garden of a local tavern. In the summer months, between my daily meditations, I found myself in the habit of watching the patrons who sat out there. Not in an inappropriate way, of course!”

Realising how his penultimate sentence might have sounded, Daigo raised his panicked eyes. Cedrix looked back with impatient indifference. Tim was still struggling with his balancing act.

“I started, um, making notes,” Daigo hesitantly continued, acutely aware that this was not helping his ‘not a creep’ argument, “I wasn’t – I’m not – interested in actually interacting with people myself, you understand, but watching people interact was – is – intriguing to me. I supposed it turned into a sort of… research project.”

“Research project?”

“Um hm.” Daigo agreed, his nervous hands easing from a jerk into a mere twitch as he hit his stride, “I ordered some books, ending up with quite the extensive library, and when I’d learnt all I could from those I began to talk to people.

“Not directly,” He quickly clarified, “But I cultivated a decent number of quill-pals who provided valuable insight into the field of social interactions. It turned into quite the thesis.”

“Am I to assume that this rather lengthy attempt at an explanation is the Guide’s origin story?” Cedrix asked.

“I- well, yes.” Daigo responded, his fidgeting returning with a vengeance as he avoided Cedrix’s gaze, “Only, I didn’t mean to get published.”

“It seems to have worked out fairly well for you.”

“Well!?” Daigo exclaimed, momentarily forgetting just who he was speaking to, “You have to be joking!?”

Cedrix just gave him The Look.

“Sorry,” Daigo’s cheeks quickly turned a rather unflattering shade of horrified pink as he realised he’d just yelled at royalty, “It’s just, all this-” He waved toward the edge of the balcony, where they could just make out his crowd of admirers below them, “-is the last thing I wanted. I hate it.”

“Why did you publish The Guide then?”

“It was sort of… an accident.”

“How does one publish four books by accident?”

“Five if you count the autobiography.” Daigo reluctantly corrected. He caught sight of the copy of From Cave to Rave that Tim had repurposed into a placemat and shuddered. “Here’s the thing. As part of my research, I was writing to a great many people-”

“So you’ve mentioned.”

“-Which meant I was sending a lot of mail. It was agreed that I would leave it outside my door along with the gold pieces needed to cover postage, and my landlord would drop it off at the postman’s guild for me.”

“So?”

“I, um, accidentally left my thesis with my outgoing mail.”

“And it got delivered.” Cedrix surmised.

“I don’t know how!” Daigo stammered, letting out the type of laugh that people only ever laughed if it was a choice between that or crying, “It didn’t have an address on it. It wasn’t even in an envelope!”

Daigo’s leg was now bouncing so fast it was almost a blur, and Cedrix had the sudden bizarre image of it becoming detached and flying across the room.

“Next thing I knew, publishers were practically breaking down my door.” Daigo said, so stressed by the mere idea that beads of sweat were starting to gather in little committees on his forehead. Cedrix would have offered him a handkerchief, but given that Tim had given up on balancing his cherry and was now onto his third cocktail, he had a feeling it might come in handy later on.

“You still had to have given permission.” He pointed out instead.

“They, um,” And here, Daigo looked almost guilty, “Offered me money.”

No almost about it, that was definitely guilt. Cedrix neglected to comment, instead choosing a far more effective rebuttal that he’d long ago picked up from his stalwart knight; the Raised Eyebrow of Disapproval.

“It’s sort of hard to earn money as a hermit,” Diago said, his immediate jump to excuses proving once again the effectiveness of the Eyebrow, “Plus, they said it would be a one time thing! Rewrite a few sections, sign a piece of paper, get paid. They never mentioned all… this!”

Once again, Daigo waved an arm in an attempt to encompass his fame, fortune, and what could almost be considered an army of fans, his face plastered with unbridled horror and despair. Cedrix sighed.

“This piece of paper,” He said, putting the pieces together and creating an all too common portfolio of the utter stupidity of the average commoner, “Am I to assume it was, in face, a contract?”

“…Maybe.”

“And did you, perhaps, happen to read this contract before you signed your name at the bottom of it?”

Daigo’s silence was answer enough, but Cedrix was still going to make him say it.

“Pardon?”

“I skimmed it.”

“I see.” Cedrix said, pursing his lips in thinly disguised disapproval. Luckily for Daigo, Cedrix had never been in possession of anything even close to a generous amount of patience, and he wasn’t about to waste what little he had left on a lecture on the importance of reading the terms and conditions.

“And CJ?”

“My publishers wanted to prove that the advice outlined in my books worked,” Daigo sighed, “And that meant I had to be their first success story. They created this persona for me. It was only supposed to be for a week or so, whilst they advertised The Guide, but, well, my books proved more popular than previously anticipated.”

“An effective marketing technique.” Cedrix couldn’t help but comment. He leant back in his seat, fixing Daigo with a cultivated stare of indifference.

“So,” He asked, finally returning to his original question “What do you expect me to do about it?”

For the first time, Daigo didn’t look away. Instead he leant forward, meeting Cedrix’s gaze with a confidence nobody would have imagined he could have possessed, and Cedrix was suddenly certain that he was about to regret asking.

“I want you to help me fake my death.”

#tld #tld:excerpt #wip excerpt

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darkblueboxs · 4 years

Note

Au where Neil is the Avatar who was born as a fire bender.

anon i lost all control and accidentally wrote a 30k fic for this

...thank you?

anyway here’s the prologue

Iron and Ember

Read here or on AO3 (Check AO3 for content warnings)

The sting of Nathaniel’s latest burn has faded to a dull yet persistent scratch, hissing at every movement of his shoulder despite the layers of bandaging and balm. The court officials avert their eyes as they pass him, arms overflowing with the paperwork of the war machine which spares them no time for little boys who can’t keep their firebending in check. Few still take his parents’ excuses at face value – that point passed six or seven “incidents” ago. Those who have made a connection between the Butcher’s volatile temperament and his son’s ever-evolving array of burns are not foolish enough to direct their accusations towards righthand man of the Fire Lord himself.

It is rare for Nathaniel to be left unattended in the inner courtyard, which is usually reserved for liaisons between high-ranking diplomats and generals. Today is not a usual day; the talks his father is holding with the Fire Lord concern Nathaniel directly. If all goes to plan, he will be sent to the Fire Nation’s most exclusive military school, the Raven Academy, where he will train with the future admirals and councilmen of the empire. Nathaniel doesn’t have much of an opinion on the subject beyond relief at escaping his father’s fiery temperament.

Failure to qualify for the Academy is not an option for the Butcher’s only son, and the Academy only accepts firebenders for students. As the years dragged Nathaniel closer to adolescence with no sign of bending abilities, his mother’s panic grew, and his father’s patience faded. Lola spent several fruitless months terrifying Nathaniel with crackling demonstrations which left Nathaniel’s skin raw and red. It was only after a weekend trip to Ember island, during which Nathaniel and his mother sat on the beach toying with a smouldering campfire until sunrise, that Nathaniel succeeded in summoning flickering sparks to his fingers for the first time. His father sent a messenger hawk to the capital to schedule his assessment as soon as they were home.

He stands before the central fountain, letting his mind fall into a deep, cooling blank carried away by the ripple of the water. Nathaniel’s assessment had been a grilling affair, watched by his mother (white-knuckled), father (stern-faced), the head of the Raven Academy, and a dozen other members of the Fire Lord’s inner circle that Nathaniel did not care to put names to. Two of the Academy’s current students, each marked with a tattoo denoting their place at the top of the Raven hierarchy, each watching his movements with a kind of hunger that Nathaniel would rather forget. The few moves Nathaniel knows are sloppy and self-taught, but he didn’t need to display expertise. Just potential. He gave them everything he had; all he can do now is await the verdict which will arrive at any moment.

Nathaniel hates firebending as much as he loves it. He loves the passion, the energy exploding through him, loves the heat and the intensity, but the power is as terrifying as it is invigorating. Nathaniel has spent too much time on the receiving end of that power, has seen the way his father’s face is transformed by it, as passion turns to fury and hatred and pure, white pain. Nathaniel hates to think of his own face doing the same.

The fear sends heat trickling through Nathaniel’s veins, and he banishes it the only way he knows how. His mother had been teaching him meditating techniques, ways of putting himself into a trance to keep the terror from setting his hands alight. He sways, matching his movement to the ripples of the fountain, his breathing falling into rhythm until he feels the pain and the panic dissolve like meltwater. The movement reminds him of the dancers that performed at the Fire Lord’s birthday celebrations, Southern Water Tribe captives forced to perform for the amusement of tipsy Fire Nation elites. His mother had watched the display with haunted, distant eyes. Nathaniel had been too afraid to ask whether she knew any of the prisoners from her homeland.

Still swaying, Nathaniel copies what he remembers of the movements, raising his arms and rolling them in time with his body. Faintly, he hears a gurgle of movement from the fountain at his back, but his eyes have slipped close of their own accord, so he doesn’t turn to look. A strangled noise snaps him from his trance.

He opens his eyes to see his mother standing before him, her eyes round and wild and burning with something between fear and fury. Nathaniel has seen that fear in his mother’s eyes many times, but never before has he been the source of it. He stops dead. The ball of water hovering over his head collapses, crashing down upon him.

“Mum, I don’t – I didn’t-!”

She slaps him so hard that Nathaniel swears he hears his teeth rattle. “You can’t – You didn’t - If anyone had seen-!”

The sound of approaching footsteps cuts her short, and she straightens, sliding seamlessly back into her public persona. “Silly boy fell in the fountain!” she says brightly, gesturing to Nathaniel’s plastered hair and sopping clothes. “I told him to leave those turtle-ducks alone. Can’t let this one out of my sight!”

The harried diplomat casts a disinterested eye over Nathaniel’s dripping form before turning back to his mother. “The master has accepted your proposition. Your son will be joining the Ravens from tomorrow.”

His mother nods, her lips pressing together into a tight smile as she grips Nathaniel’s shoulder. She has forgotten about Nathaniel’s burn, which feels like fire under the press of her fingers, but Nathaniel knows better than to react.

That night, his mother packs a bag, and they leave under cover of darkness. Nathaniel offers to create a flame to light their way, but his mother slaps his hands away.

“As long as I live,” she hisses through clenched teeth. “You will never firebend again. You hear me? No fire, no water, nothing. You are not a bender. Understand?”

He does. Nathaniel and his mother disappear into the dark, and they are not heard of again for a long, long time.

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought here or on twitter.

#andreil #all for the game #the foxhole court #aftg #atla #anon #my asks #my fic #iron and ember

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wennjunhui · 4 years

Note

Do you think Jun could possibly have ADHD or is that just his personality?

ok yo ive actually been thinking about this a lot these past few weeks??? and like i don’t want to say anything for certain because it’s not really my place, but i honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he did. adhd runs in my family (i haven’t gotten tested it yet but i show like a shit ton of symptoms) so i kinda see it in him too?

he doesn’t ever really stay still, and tends to fiddle around with his hands and copy other members random gestures, or plays with his hoodie strings or something. members have said that like jun literally could not meditate and would love to watch him try (implying that he probably can’t focus enough to do so). and honestly at this point i find it that whenever jun is still its a freaking miracle lol

he also talks like really freaking fast?? which i think has stuff to do with his mouth tryna keep up with his mind. jun has shown himself to be very sharp in terms of finding random connections? like him singing happy birthday when the lights went out and his entire 1+1 spiel (and that whole conspiracy energy it gave). debate night also highlighted some of his quick thinking too! constantly bursts out into random songs, is playing around and messing with others when he’s bored, quick witted flirty pick up lines, etc.

i think his personality definitely parallels it. he’s excitable and it shows, and often very playful. members have said how playful he is when cameras aren’t around, and you definitely see that side of him on cyzj. i think on like official, more serious stuff, he gets shy and is a more mindful of his actions, but on things like going seveteen or chinese shows he’s much more relaxed and you really see more of him, like his presence is just a lot larger, and i think a big portion of that is just how much more he moves.

tldr: he shows signs of adhd and i wouldnt be surprised if he does!

#seventeen #jun #junhui #asdjfkl; this turned rambly #but i legit have been thinking about this for at least a month #i have more stuff in ma head about this #if yall are interested #thank you so much for asking this anon!#:DD

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chemicalmagecraft · 4 years

Text

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 27

A/N: Completely totally random fun fact: Five-card Mao is a fun card game where you're not supposed to tell people the rules, except for, I believe, the fact that if you win a round of Five-card Mao you may create a new rule for the game.

xoxoxo

After getting back from Yuuei, the first thing I did was show my mom the paperwork Shuzenji-sensei gave me. We cried tears of joy together and hugged, then she signed it and I decided to go talk to Kacchan. I figured it'd be a good idea to fill him in on my new powers.

"You can what?" Kacchan asked.

"I can copy Quirks now," I answered. He stared at me for a while. "Are you okay?"

He sighed very loudly. "You know what, why not? You can copy Quirks now. Cool." He stuck out his hand. "How do you do it?"

I grinned and made sparks from my hand. "It's a little finicky, though a bit less thanks to an exploit I found out about, but if I fulfill the right conditions I get a copy of a person's Quirk that I can 'buy' from a new menu."

"And those are?"

"I think it's supposed to be just from either beating someone in a fight or potentially from quest rewards, but one of the rewards for the sports festival quest I got was a choice of two Quirks from a pool limited to people from Yuuei. One of the Quirks I picked was a copying Quirk, which thankfully gives me a copy too."

Kacchan nodded. "Yeah I remember that guy. Kind of an asshole. So what was the other one?"

I felt a sting in my eyes as I activated it. My hair felt weird, and while I couldn't see them I assumed my eyes were glowing red. "Try to use your Quirk."

He snorted. "I know what Aizawa-sensei's Quirk looks like, asshole." I laughed and turned it back off. "So you just... have a bunch of Quirks now?"

I shrugged. "There's a limitation. If I have too many Quirks out then it lowers their effectiveness. But yeah, I have a bunch of Quirks now. I got the Quirks of the past One For All users, there are the two I just said, Super Regeneration from that Nomu thing that I bought because it's a passive boost to healing, the Quirks of everyone I beat in the tournament as another quest reward, and my cat's Quirk, which I tested Copy on."

"Damn. And knowing you, you got some other stupid good thing during the sports festival."

I nodded and pulled out my phone, using Technomancy to turn it on and open my pictures without actually pressing any buttons.

"Showoff," Kacchan muttered, then looked at the picture I took earlier. "Is that a fucking tower?"

"Yup. I got a new spell called Imaginary Architect after that last attack in our fight."

"When you threw fucking swords at me?" Kacchan asked.

"Because I threw fucking swords at you. It's an improved version."

"How the fuck is an entire tower an improved version over being able to make some swords?"

"Now I can make anything out of magic, if I have enough power."

He thought for a moment. "Yeah I guess that makes sense."

I switched to the second photo where the tower was dissolving, the only indication that I was interacting with my phone the blue, circuit-like lines that glowed to life on it and my hand when I did. "And this is what happened when I stopped using Imaginary Architect. Pretty, right?"

Kacchan nodded. "Yeah, it kinda is. Don't suppose you've got enough of an understanding of it to teach it to me yet?"

I shrugged and made a small sphere. I tossed it into the air a bit, then dissolved it mid-throw and replaced it with a small cube. I tossed that cube around a bit, added spikes to it, then dissolved it. Next I made a lab coat with a lot more concentration due to how complicated it actually was, actually making it around my body. I managed to make it a lighter shade of blue than the other IA constructs, but in the end it was only almost white. It did, however, behave exactly like a lab coat made of cloth should, down to how it ripped when I pulled one of the sleeves off. Even breaking a part of the construct didn't destabilize it, which was a failing in most Quirks and spells that made temporary objects. Even my Skill Grimoir worked like that. It was that self-contained... "Yeah, I think I should have a good enough grasp on it now. It's a bit complicated, though."

"This isn't gonna be like Meditation where it just doesn't work, is it?"

I shook my head. "No, from what Todoroki told me Meditation has an aspect to it that my Quirk reproduces automatically."

"How the hell'd he know that?"

"Apparently he can sense magic."

Kacchan twitched. "How the shit does he do that?"

"Beats me. Still, the biggest hurdle to you learning Imaginary Architect should just be that it's really complex. You might want to start out with Bound Blade first."

He sighed. "Ugh, fine."

xoxoxo

I spent the rest of the day (and night) switching between grinding both Imaginary Architect and Item Enchantment and reading up on basic architecture. Around midnight, I decided to check out the hero news. I opened up the website I normally used for hero news (not even using my hands, Technomancy was fun) and scrolled through the articles. One caught my eye.

Pro Hero Ingenium Critically Injured by Hero Killer Stain

"That was what you overheard, wasn't it Sonia?" I asked. She nodded quietly. "Well, thanks for giving me a heads up. Come to think of it, I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me anything you hear about that you think I might need to know? Nothing personal about other people, unless you think they're going to get hurt or something, but stuff like explosions or villainous plotting?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I'll do that!"

"Thanks." I clicked on the article. Yeah it did not look good. "I don't need to tell you to keep an eye on Iida, do I?"

"Nope."

"Thanks..."

I was glad that I was using Technomancy to use the computer, because that freed up both of my hands. My left hand started to glow green with Healing Hands and my right hand glowed purple with Draining Hands to give it something to heal. While I was at it I switched Super Regeneration off. I didn't know if I would be able to help with Iida's brother at all, but it was a reminder of why I got Healing Hands in the first place. I wanted to heal people, and Healing Hands still had its limits even in the nineties.

xoxoxo

I stopped practicing my new skills around noon of the next day to check out one final thing that I had gotten recently that I wanted to mess with. Enlightenment had recently leveled up enough to unlock its next ability:

Allows the user to access their own subconscious mindscape through Meditation.

It would probably be more obviously useful if not for the fact that The Gamer already prevented any form of tampering to my mind, but at the very least it changed Enlightenment from (Passive) to (Active and Passive), meaning that I could hopefully level Enlightenment up at least slightly easier by exploring my mindscape.

I created a perfectly generic object with Imaginary Architect, automatically enchanted with that one slowfall enchantment I'd stumbled upon earlier (though not the floating one), and used Singularity on it. I floated over the construct with my legs crossed in the stereotypical meditation pose and pulled it into the air, adjusting my pull on it when it was halfway between me and the ground so that it just hung there, my 'gravity' pulling on it as much as Earth's. I closed my eyes and let my skills guide me deeper within my own mind.

xoxoxo

I felt like I was falling backwards for what somehow felt like both an instant and an eternity at the same time, scenes from my life flickering in and out of my vision. After that interminable time, I found myself in the foyer of what looked like a hero museum. It felt familiar, and from the looks of it combined some elements from some of the hero museums I'd been in before, though maybe with some other aspects as well. I suppose that made sense, it was my mindscape after all...

The central figure of the foyer was a larger-than-life statue of All Might in a triumphant pose raised on a pedestal.

...

Fair enough...

The statue had a spiderweb of large cracks on it, exactly where the real All Might's wound was. "I know this is my mindscape, but is everything in here going to be so on the nose?" I muttered. I shrugged and picked one of the hallways leading out of the foyer at random, one labeled 'Magic,' and walked through it.

"Whoa," I said. The giant room on the other side looked something like the library of a medieval fantasy magic school, instead of the museum theme of the foyer. The walls were lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves packed with books, there were moving models of various moments scattered around the room, an ornate pedestal with a large book in the middle with a large spiral staircase around it, and balls of light floated around the ceiling to provide light. I walked over to the closest model. It was the tower that I'd made yesterday. As I watched it dissolved like it had when I stopped supplying it with energy, then reappeared after a few moments. I walked away as it looped itself and examined another one. This time it was the flurry of blades that I'd used to finish off Kacchan. Not all of the models were mine, though most of them were, but every example was an example of magic that I was impressed or amazed by. For example, Kacchan and Uraraka's fight, the time I destroyed Todoroki's iceberg, the cavalry battle, the first time I cast Halcyon Wing, those shenanigans with Yang, the Wild, Wild Pussycats' cat spells I'd seen on TV that one time, my fight with Nomu, that one time Kacchan pulled me out of Illusion Barrier to punch me in the face, my first time using the elements with Kacchan, and the first Mana Bolt that started it all were among them. It was nice to see them all memorialized like that, even if it was only in my own head.

After I was done looking at the pretty displays, I checked out a section of one of the bookshelves. It had a label on it, 'Lightning,' with little lightning bolts on it. I pulled a book out at random and opened it to a random page. Most of the text was garbled for some odd reason, but I could make out one passage.

Lightning Bolt

A simple lightning spell. The user gathers electrical energy with lightning mana and shoots it in a burst at the target.

It was almost exactly what my own skill entry for Lightning Bolt said, but without the cost and everything. I frowned and flipped through the pages. I couldn't make out any of the other entries, but to be fair I didn't know too many lightning spells. I really needed to fix that, and with the other elements too. I closed the book and it flew back into its spot with just my intention to return it. I thought about Lightning Aura and Lightning Embodiment, and a dash-like lightning spell I'd made with the hope of creating a flying lightning spell called Arc Step. Those were my other three major lightning spells, so they should probably be somewhere in the lightning bookshelf. Again, my thoughts caused the books to move on their own. Two books pulled themselves out of the bookshelf and floated in front of me.

I plucked one of them out of the air and opened it to a random page. It had Lightning Aura and Lightning Embodiment on it, with one spell in between them. I stared at the passage. It was almost like it was constantly shifting, like some sort of selective but cripplingly bad dyslexia, but I felt like I should know what it was. I almost caught a glimpse of it... I checked one of the other passages that I couldn't read. I didn't have that feeling of recognition, but I still caught a flash of what it might be. Filing that away for later, I turned my attention back to the familiar passage. What could it...

Maybe a lightning version of Kacchan's Fire Ignition? As I thought it, the shifting of the slowed to a stop. The description was still a blur, but I could at least read that I was right.

Lightning Ignition

Maybe it was because I knew what the spell was, but didn't know it? If that was the case... I put the lightning books back and summoned an air book. Yup, Air Aura and Air Embodiment were there with their descriptions, but with a passage for Air Ignition in the middle that I couldn't read the description of. I put them back and looked at some of the other sections of the bookshelves. Aside from the elements, there were several books on healing, enchantment (apparently Elemental Aura and Elemental Ignition, but not Elemental Embodiment, were enchantment-type, plus my buff spells), illusion, offensive, defensive, sensory, movement, mind, summoning, and even more books of magic. There were so many books, most of them almost completely indecipherable. I supposed it represented the sheer scale of what magic could do. Heck, there were even a few bookshelves that I couldn't read the titles of.

After looking through a few books, I decided to check out the book on the pedestal in the middle. For it to be in the middle of a library full of magic, it had to be something impressive, right? I approached the pedestal and... it was just an oversized version of the Skill Grimoir. The pedestal had a counter on it that looked like it was showing me how many Skill Fragments I had at the moment. "Status," I said to check.

The menu didn't open. I frowned. "Menu." Nothing. "Skills." Nothing. "Skill Grimoir?" The giant Skill Grimoir was summoned to my hands, not the one that I could make from my Quirk. I guess it made sense, Quirks being a part of the body, that even if part of my Quirk affected my mind I couldn't use some parts of my Quirk within my own mindscape. Heck, now that I thought about it the only part of my UI that was still was the minimap. "Does that mean my magic won't work?" I asked myself. I created a simple little Magelight and added it to the floating lights. I cast the spell, yes, but even though it felt almost exactly like it did when I did it in real life, it didn't feel like I used any energy in it. "Weird."

I shrugged and looked at my Skill Grimoir. I wondered what it would look like to use it in here. I clearly could, otherwise why would the pedestal have an SF count on it to make up for the fact that I couldn't check my status screen? I flipped through the book for a skill that I wouldn't mind using SF on. There was a decently cheap skill called Shock Sphere that I was fine with. I confirmed the purchase. The words peeled off the page as usual, but when they dissolved into light they didn't go directly to me. Instead, the light split and streaked over to books in the lightning and offensive bookshelves. There were no text boxes, but I knew how to use Shock Sphere when the last of the light entered the books. I summoned both books to see that yes, there was a completed passage for Shock Sphere in them.

"That's... something..." I muttered. I guess that the books were a representation of my skill list? I moved onto the last feature of the room, the staircase. It was made out of floating strips of the same stone-like material as the flooring, but with small bits of red carpet on them. I walked up the staircase to see what was up there. The staircase was long and the tower that it went up was hollow, meaning that I could fly around there with a lot of room if I felt like it. The room at the top of the staircase looked like... maybe it was supposed to be the top of a wizard tower? The large room was circular, with eight large windows that lined up with the cardinal and ordinal directions on my minimap. There was an empty bookshelf, some tables, and a few training dummies and targets by the walls in between the windows. Creepily enough, the space outside the windows was just a blank white void...

I jumped out the window to see what the outside looked like, but realized when I tried to use Float that my copied Quirks weren't working either. I fell for a few meters in surprise before casting Halcyon Wing. The base of the tower was just a part of the circular staircase, instead of the library at the bottom. I tried to fly under the tower to see what would happen, but bonked into a perfectly white floor. There weren't even any shadows, which made sense when you considered the fact that there was also no light. I looked around the white void.

"I wonder what this is supposed to be?" I muttered. "Maybe it's supposed to be something like visualization of magic? I can use my magic in here, plus there were those dummies, so maybe I can use this place like a training ground for my magic. It'd be a bit nicer if it wasn't just this blank white void..." I had an idea. "If this is all in my head..." I closed my eyes and imagined the forest I used to play in as a kid. Soon the image in my head felt almost real and I realized that my eyes had opened at some point. I flew back up and surveyed the new forest. It probably wasn't exactly accurate, even aside from the giant wizard tower that stayed in there when I replaced the void, but it was still a forest in my head.

I flew around the forest for a bit, seeing how it looked. It kind of looked like it was randomly generated with my memories of the forest, because it didn't look like it was exactly the same as the real thing. Certain areas seemed to repeat too. I also checked what would happen if I destroyed a tree or something. It just smashed like a normal tree. Not sure what I expected to happen there. After that, I wondered if I could create NPCs in there. I imagined a ring of bokoblins, like from Breath of the Wild, around me. Before they could attack me I tested out my new skill on them. Shock Sphere, fittingly enough, reminded me a bit of the electric lizalfos from Breath of the Wild. At least, that electrical explosion that they could do. A sphere of lighting magic centered on me enveloped the bokoblins, causing them to convulse. When I ended the spell (which seemed like I could continue it just by supplying more MP), they all fell down and faded out of existence. I hoped it wasn't that deadly in reality...

With the training grounds tested out, I flew back into the tower and jumped down the stairwell. I didn't even feel any impact when I fell on the floor, and the floor didn't look damaged either. I got up and finally walked through the exit hallway of the magic room. I suddenly found myself back at the foyer of the 'museum,' standing exactly where I had been when I first entered my mindscape like I'd teleported there.

"That was interesting. Let's see another room." I walked up to a hallway, which had a sign that said 'Memory Lane.' This time, the room was just a long hallway with paintings hung all along both sides. On the left side I saw memories that were, generally speaking, negative. Fear, anger, sadness, every picture evoked emotions like that in me. Meanwhile every memory on the right was positive. When I looked at the left side it felt like it was longer than the right side, but when I looked at the right side it felt like it was longer than the left. Only when I didn't focus on either side and just stared down the middle did I see that the two sides were equal.

Does that count as a metaphor? I feel like that's a metaphor.

I kept my hand on the wall of happy memories as I walked down the hallway. My hope was that it'd serve as a reminder not to linger on the bad memories. As I walked down the hallway reminiscing, I noticed that some of the memories on the happy side were also on the negative side, just in a different light. I got to the end of the hallway having only cried a few times. Like the last room, exiting it brought me back to the beginning.

I looked at the hallways around the foyer, wondering what else could be in them. "One more," I promised myself, and went through a hallway labeled 'Heroes.' The large room was filled with statues and pictures of various pro heroes. The ones I admired more had more prominent statues, with All Might's being the centerpiece of the room. I noticed with pride that while there was a statue for Endeavor, it was destroyed. Only the legs were intact, with the rest of him just being a pile of rubble with demeaning graffiti on it.

However, I quickly noticed that there was something completely out of place near the All Might statue. A party of seven, who by the way I had never seen any of before, sat at a cheap folding table in cheap folding chairs. And because this was in my mindscape I apparently couldn't see their titles. There was a man with long white hair, a woman with a short, spiky ponytail that kinda reminded me of a pineapple, a blonde man with red eyes, a white-haired man with a large scar over his left eye, a bald man wearing an opened leather jacket with no shirt under it and a pair of goggles on his forehead, a black-haired man in a coat with a collar so high it covered his mouth, and a motherly-looking woman with a beauty mark under her mouth. It looked like they were about to play some sort of card game.

The man with long white hair, who looked like he was the dealer, shouted "Five-card Mao is not in session!" and threw a card at the man in the coat, who was the only one holding his cards. The man picked the card up and added it to his hand, which was currently about twice the size of the others'. The long-haired man said "Five-card Mao is not in session!" again, and threw another card at the other man. They repeated this several more times, the white-haired man's shouting getting more exasperated each time. Soon the man in the coat was holding all the cards.

"I win," he said smugly.

"That's not how Five-card Mao works!" the white-haired man protested.

"How does it work, then?" The man looked through his numerous cards.

The white-haired man slammed his hands on the table, rattling his five cards. "I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU!"

"Then how are we to play the game?" the man asked smugly as he set most of the deck down.

The white-haired man sighed. "You figure it out. That's supposed to be part of the fun..."

"Um..." I said, and all seven of them turned to stare at me in unison. "What are you people doing in my head?" I asked.

"The kid's here," the bald man said. "How is the kid here?"

The motherly-looking woman got up. "I suppose some introductions are in order. Sorry for alarming you, Midoriya. We're... the past users of One For All, the Quirk you have now. My name is Shimura Nana."

"Oh," I said. "So I guess One For All takes some kind of copy of the user's mind?"

The bald man shrugged. "Probably something like that. Name's Daigoro Banjo. Sup."

The man in the jacket nodded. "Hikiishi Jiroku."

"Hello, Midoriya," the scarred man said. "My name is Honenuki Shikotsu."

The blonde man waved at me. "Hello," he said with a small Russian accent. "I am Sokolov Kyousan."

The woman with the ponytail smiled at me. "Hello, Midoriya. My name is Kaizen Futaba. It's nice to meet you."

Finally, the white-haired man got up and shook my hand with an apologetic grin. "And I'm the reason you're in this whole mess, sorry. Shigaraki Ichigo." I gasped. Come to think of it, he looked a bit like that hand guy, Shigaraki Tomura, if he wasn't so... crusty. He winced. "Yeah, like that hand kid you fought. I think he might be my nephew, but I kinda don't like the idea of my brother procreating. He wasn't a very good brother and I doubt he'd make a great father either. You can call me Ichigo, by the way. I understand if you wouldn't want to call me Shigaraki."

"Um... So if you're all here then where's All Might?" I asked.

"Oh, he's in the closet," Shimura said.

"I knew it!" I said.

"Oh no, I meant that closet," she said, pointing to a literal broom closet in one corner of the room. Why was that even there? "Toshinori's openly bi, or at least he was in school."

"Oh, so did you know him when he was in school?" I asked. "Or I guess you would know anyway if you were in his head too..."

She nodded. "I did end up in his head eventually, but I was his teacher at Yuuei."

"Wait, why is he in the broom closet? I asked.

"See, the thing about that is..." Daigoro said. "Maybe it's best if you see for yourself."

I shrugged and walked over to the closet door. I could see something under the crack, but it didn't look like a pair of human feet... I opened the door, revealing a hazy yellow silhouette that was roughly All Might-shaped, but didn't look like an actual person. He didn't react to me opening the door. "Oh," I said.

"Yeah, he kinda creeped us out after a while, so we just stuck him in the closet," Ichigo said.

I waved my hand in front of his face. He didn't react at all... "Is he... conscious?"

"We don't think so, or at least we hope not," Honenuki said.

"We don't remember our times as that strange half-shadow, but at the same time most of ours were short," Hikiishi informed me. "At the very least, he doesn't react to anything and won't until the real Toshinori dies."

"I see," I said. That was kind of disturbing... "So are your real souls in here? Is that how it works?"

Sokolov shrugged. "It's best if you don't think think about it, existentially."

"Okay," I said, closing the door. "Would it be possible to get another chair for me?" I asked. "Actually how did you get those chairs?" I turned around to see that there was an extra chair right next to Ichigo. "Right, mindscape." Ichigo patted the empty chair.

I sat down as Ichigo shuffled his cards really fancily. I didn't even know you could do some of those those things to shuffle a deck of cards.

Or it was just mindscape logic...

"So do you wanna play too, Midoriya?" Ichigo asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks." When he dealt my cards I almost picked them up, but remembered the whole thing with Hikiishi and stopped myself.

"Five-card Mao is now in session!" Ichigo said as he flipped the top card of the deck over, the two of hearts. "I figured we'd do this in the order of what bearer we were, and we could say a bit about ourselves to Midoriya. I'll start." He placed the eight of hearts down on top of the first card. "I was the first bearer. Our enemy, All For One, is.. was my brother. He kinda snapped when our father killed our mother, which to be fair was pretty dang traumatic, but that doesn't really make anything he did cool. We had a few arguments, he locked me in a room for months, then he tried to control me by giving me a powerful Quirk. Still don't get what his plan was there, even with the chance of brain damage. Plus I mean even then we already knew that Quirks could be genetic, so he should've figured I could've been even a little bit more compatible with his Quirk than some random schmuck, so-"

"You're rambling again, Ichigo," Kaizen interrupted him.

"Right. Thanks, Futaba-chan," he said. I guess they knew each other. "So yeah, I used the Quirk he gave me to escape him and join what may have been a precursor to those pro hero organization things, though obviously without the overt government support. Speaking of, I think that's when you come in, Futaba-chan."

Kaizen nodded. She put down the eight of diamonds before speaking. "I was Ichigo's sidekick. He took me under his wing after he couldn't dissuade me from being a hero and showed me ways to use my Quirk that I would have never thought of. When he was on his deathbed I promised to continue the fight against his brother and was the first to have One For All passed to me. If I may, Midoriya, I would like to advise you to not underestimate the power of my Quirk, Mending."

Sokolov nodded. "My turn." He put down the three of spades.

Ichigo picked up the card, took a card off the top of the deck, and tossed them both to Sokolov. "Bad move. Try again."

Sokolov grunted. "What about this, then?" He put down the seven of diamonds. "My mom lost her Quirk to that bastard Hisa-"

Hikiishi threw a card at him. "Watch your language, there's a kid present."

Before Sokolov could pick up the card Ichigo swiped it up and threw it and another card at Hikiishi. "That's not a rule," he said.

Hikiishi picked the cards up, took another one from the deck, and threw all three at Ichigo. "You said can make new rules if you win."

Ichigo glared at him. "I'll give you that one, but only because I agree with the rule." He turned to Sokolov. "Continue."

Sokolov nodded. "My mom lost her Quirk, so I decided to melt the brain of the person responsible. I suppose if we're saying what our Quirks are, I should say mine's Fear. Luckily Kaizen got to me before I could get to him, and she made me her successor."

Honenuki threw his card down next. Seven of spades. "Believe it or not, but I used to be one of All For One's allies. Was born into it, actually. In fact, the Quirk you got from me, Skeletal, was a combination of my birth Quirk, Spike Growth, and a Quirk called Bone Armor. One day, though, I made the... well, not mistake, but I questioned him." He tapped his scar. "How I got this. Kyousan saved my as- life and I didn't really have anywhere else to go, so he basically adopted me."

Banjo slammed down the jack of spades. He shrugged. "Honestly I became a hero because I was bored and liked using Blackwhip. Don't know what Honenuki saw in me, but to be fair he was dying and the other guy was an even bigger jerk. Not really much to say."

Hikiishi looked at his cards for a bit. "I was always good at using my Quirk, Magnetize. I was heavily encouraged to become a hero, so I went with it." He put down the jack of diamonds. "I suppose Banjo saw promise in me when we worked together, because he gave me One For All."

Shimura played the queen of diamonds. "I also became a pro hero because of my Quirk, Float. Well, I really did want to help people too, but having a Quirk that let me fly played a factor in my becoming a hero too. I only ever met Hikiishi a few times before I... well, when he gave me One For all he was about to die. I became a teacher after that, hoping that maybe my successor would be spared the traumatic circumstances of my getting One For All." She laughed wryly. "I'm honestly not too sure I was able to do that for Toshinori..."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Hikiishi muttered.

"I don't blame you," Shimura assured him. "Now it's your turn Midoriya."

"Okay," I said. I looked at my cards. If I understood the rules right, the only card I had that would work was the queen of hearts, so I placed it on Shimura's card. "My name is Midoriya Izuku, as you know. I think the Quirk I was born with was actually Singularity, but it's really weird and didn't even show any sign of being there until a few months ago, when I got The Gamer. I know I'm not very experienced, but I hope to make you all proud."

Banjo grinned at me. "You're doin' great already, kid!" he shouted.

"Yes, I'm proud to call you my successor," Ichigo added with a grin.

The rest of the former bearers echoed the sentiment. I laughed and rubbed at my suddenly wet eyes. "Thank you."

xoxoxo

A/N: Sorry about dumping a bunch of names on you at once, bit that was kinda the only way I though of for how this could go down...

Also sorry for the kinda long wait. I had writers' block for a bit with the OFA scene and then had an awesome idea for the card game that unfortunately involved reading a lot about the minor tarot arcana (I know it was a minor detail, but I thought it was really cool and I just kinda go wild for tarot motifs okay). By the way if anyone's looking things up, remember that most playing cards are the same rightside-up as upside-down so it could be either upright or reversed ;3. Plus I had a lot more irons in the fire that I had to tend to.

Elemental list: Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf Tokoyami: Corvo Uraraka: Nebula and Ion Hagakure: Lucy Tsu: Bubbles Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia All Might: Seth O'Scope

#fanfiction #bnha #bnha fanfiction #the gamer #The Gamer Hero Deku #Gamer Hero Deku #GHD CH27

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turtleduckscribbles · 4 years

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Forged with Fire

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Summary: Four counted himself pretty lucky. He was young, healthy, and a skilled blacksmith to boot. He even considered himself to be pretty capable when it came to all things “hero.” So, naturally, when he notices a certain struggling member of his crew, Four decides to lend him his friendship and support. But when an impending crisis threatens to derail everything he had worked to build, little did Four know that it was him who’d soon be needing help. ~A study of Four’s psyche and how it relates to Wild. Warnings: Angst, panic attacks, psychosis, violence, blood, injuries Notes: LU Fanfic; 3.8k words.

Chapter 1

The series of colossal waterfalls emptying and feeding into Lake Hylia were an incredible force of nature—truly a magnificent sight. Dense clouds of mist refracted beams of light in every direction, dispersing beautiful bows of color across the water. The sun beat brightly down on the disturbed lake, an invitation for all forms of life to emerge and be warmed by its rays.

The Hero of the Four Sword smiled, blissfully content. This was home.

He sat in partial shade underneath a large maple tree close to the lakeshore, mindful of his sensitive skin. With arms lazily resting across bent, upright knees, he gazed out toward the water’s edge and spied his traveling companions—friends that had become dear to him on what he’d like to call another crazy adventure. Most of them lounged lazily in the shallows, floating on their backs or grabbing onto thick, felled branches halfway submerged in water. A few strayed closer to land, opting to sit cross-legged on the pebbly shore or stand in ankle-deep water as they chatted comfortably with each other.

Good, Four thought. We deserve a break after going nonstop for so long.

Upon second glance, however, he noticed that one of them remained slightly apart from the rest of the group, alone in the water.

Four studied the prone figure curiously. The straggler lay spread-eagled on his back, eyes closed as he let the tide wash over him on the shore. His long sun-colored hair fanned out around his head, bobbing and swaying like tendrils of underwater seaweed.

…This again?

Four shut his eyes and rolled his head, loosening the stiff muscles in his neck. He hopped to his feet and stretched downwards, removing his traveling booties and socks and kicking them toward the base of the tree. He threw off the checkered outer layer of his hooded tunic, tossing it in the direction of his shoes, and rolled up his stretchy brown pants as high as they allowed. Gingerly, he began making his way out toward the water, cautious of twigs and sharp rocks that littered the shore.

As the small hero approached, his partially submerged companion gave no sign of noticing. A slick sheen of water shone on his bare chest, which rose and fell steadily to the rhythm of his meditative breathing. Four came near and stood to the side of his comrade, looking down with amusion as water sloshed around his ankles.

“Hey, Wild. You’re gonna drift out to sea if you don’t tether yourself to shore.”

The older teen continued basking in the shallows, ears engulfed and oblivious to his surroundings. Four raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms incredulously.

“Wild, you in there?”

…

“Wild.”

He kicked water onto the prostrate form below him, lightly splashing his face. Alert, the Hero of the Wild shot up out of the water, rubbing the long hair out of his eyes before glancing up and meeting the gaze of his expectant ally.

“Oh. Hey, Four.”

A few seconds of silence ticked by before the corner of Four’s mouth quirked up in an amused grin. “Glad to have you back with us.” Smirking, he leaned back to sit against a moss-covered boulder, resting his hands on his knees. “I was beginning to think you were growing bored of my Hyrule already.”

Copying his companion, Wild reclined back into the water and rested his hands on his stomach, blinking when the water rose too close to his eyes. “I could never grow bored of this, Four. It’s beautiful here.”

Four twirled his finger around his Minish earring, playing with the feathers. “Yeah. Especially when you’re bone-tired from running around Warrior’s world for so long. I swear, it’s too much over there.”

Wild smiled weakly in agreement. They had only just appeared there that morning, once again teleported out of their control. It was a well-met reprieve when the welcoming shores of a beautiful Lake Hylia greeted their vision after what seemed like countless hours of running themselves to the ground in Warrior’s Hyrule.

Now it seemed they could finally find a respite in Four’s homeland—albeit temporary.

The younger teen stared inquisitively at the hero in the water, who was adopting his pensive stance from before. Four continued fingering his earring, searching for something to say.

“So… what next?”

Wild blinked up at his companion. Suddenly, he lifted himself partly out of the water, propping himself up with his elbows. He gave his head a rapid shake, sending water droplets flying. Four scrunched up his nose, turning his face away from the spray.

“Isn’t this your Hyrule?” Wild asked, sweeping his drenched bangs back with one hand. “I assumed we’d just follow your lead.”

“Yeah… except for one major detail,” Four replied, wiping water off his face. “Last time I was here going through this, I distinctly remember being told everything I’d have to do. And now? Total silence.”

Wild tilted his head to the side, thinking. “You’re telling me. Granted, I didn’t have much after I woke from the Shrine of Resurrection, but I definitely had more guidance than we’re getting now.”

“No kidding.” Four shook his head, baffled. “My quests were so structured that going into town seemed like a vacation. Now that’s all we seem to do.” He recalled Ezlo’s pestering advice constantly sounding off in his ear: Link, go there. Link, do this. Link, be careful there, and, for the sake of all that was holy, take pains to remember what I’m telling you!

Now they were lucky if they had any leads at all.

Four readjusted his position on the rock, aware of the water soaking through his pants. “I’m not too worried yet, though. We’ll figure it out,” he reassured his friend with a smile. “That’s what we’re good at, right?”

The Hero of the Wild glanced up at his companion, a small smile of his own lighting up his face. “Yeah.”

Content, Four looked out across the lake. The roar of the bordering waterfalls resounded in his ears, a pleasant white noise mixed with the joyful chirping of birds in the neighboring trees. After a moment of pondering, he turned back to Wild with a resolute expression, his mind decided.

“So actually, I’ve been thinking—”

“Mind if I join?”

Both boys peered toward the source of the new voice. Looking in his element, the Hero of Twilight glided smoothly across the water, approaching them from a deeper section of lake where the rest of their group lounged. Upon reaching shallower waters, he slid up to his long-haired ally and crawled forward onto his stomach, propped up by his elbows.

Wild greeted his mentor with a smile. “Hey, Twi.”

“Hey.” Twilight grimaced, massaging his arms. “Ow… this can’t be comfortable for you guys,” the blue-eyed hero complained, throwing an angular pebble away toward deeper water. “There aren’t nearly as many rocks deeper in. You should come join us over there.”

Four rose to his feet, abandoning his seat on the boulder. “Nah, I should head back. I’ll get fried if I’m out in the sun like this for much longer.”

“Yeah, I get you,” Twilight said, looking down at the tan lines that criss-crossed his skin. “This is what I get for working on the ranch long days without any sun protection. Maybe I’ll take a leaf out of your book.”

“Hey, Twilight! Wait up!”

Wind spluttered along in Twilight’s wake, swimming toward their growing company with haste. The young boy with thick yellow hair reached the shore and stood, gripping the sides of his arms. “Geez, you swim fast.” He danced in place, trying to warm himself from the chill of the breeze. “Why aren't you guys over there with the rest of us? Are we not good enough for you anymore? I thought we were friends.”

Four squinted back at the group members left behind, who gradually began making their way over as well.

“We are friends, Wind,” Twilight countered, rolling his eyes. “We’re all friends,” he added, gesturing towards Four and Wild.

“Really?” Wild chuckled, playfully looking over at the older hero. “I’m not just an insufferable student to you?”

Twilight stared blankly at his protégé, disbelieving. Then, without warning, he shoved the younger teen’s shoulder, causing Wild to fall back into the water laughing.

“Anyway,” the Hero of Winds moped, wringing out the hem of his wet boxers, “what do you guys reckon we should do now? I’m kinda sick of playing in the water.”

“That’s what Wild and I were just discussing,” Four replied, pacing slowly in the water. “We figured we’d be here for a while since we just arrived this morning. Why don’t we take it easy for the day, catch up with—”

“Aw, seriously?” Wind pouted, kicking water in frustration. “But look at all these awesome waterfalls! There must be tons of caves lying around this place, isn’t there Four? Why don’t we check those out?”

“Yeah, Four,” the Hero of Warriors teased, reaching land. The rest of the party trailed closely behind and followed him out of the water, dripping wet. “Legend says that there’s treasure behind every waterfall in Hyrule, and in order to get to it you have to kill a Zora.”

“I never said that, airhead,” the pink-haired hero in question quipped, shuffling his feet in the water as he approached. “Get your facts straight.”

Warrior pulled a face, eyeing the Hero of Legend with irritation. “It’s an expression, you—”

“As I was saying,” Four persisted, ignoring their banter, “I have a house that’s not too far from here, and there should be enough room for us all. Let’s rest up for a bit. Quite frankly, Warrior, running around in your kingdom for so long has me wiped.”

Murmurs of agreement answered around the group. Warrior sighed and raked his hands through his wet hair, styling it out of his eyes. “I hear you, Wiped. Not my fault Sky’s infected lizalfos had to come and rain on our parade in my Hyrule, though.”

The smallest member of their team shrugged and continued providing his input. “Plus, I don’t think it’d be too much of a crime to have a day for ourselves after these rough couple of weeks.”

Four’s eyes darted briefly over to their designated leader, almost as if seeking permission. The Hero of Time extended a hand permissively, allowing Four to continue.

Satisfied, the small hero looked back to the group. “Which brings me to what I’ve been wanting to say.”

Moving past his friends, Four approached one hero who was still lying in the water. Wild looked up and met his smaller comrade’s gaze, uncertain.

“Wild,” Four stated matter-of-factly, “we’re finally back in my Hyrule, and I think it’s time.” He took a breath and set his jaw, prepared for what he was about to propose. “I’d like to forge a proper sword for you.”

Four’s offer was met with silence, his words registering in the minds of each group member. Wind and Hyrule met each other’s shocked gazes, breaking out in wide grins; Sky’s entire face beamed; Warrior nodded appreciatively and Legend looked over at Wild, gauging his reaction; Time crossed his arms, a genuine smile turning the corners of his mouth; and Twilight supportively clasped his protégé’s shoulder, awaiting his response.

Wild was frozen in shock, open-mouthed. He turned to his mentor with the same astonished expression, stumped. Twilight only smiled, raising his eyebrows in anticipation. The long-haired hero quickly shut his mouth and turned back to Four, his head bowed timidly.

“You… you really want to do that? For me?”

“I do. It’s high time you had a dependable weapon, and I’m pretty confident I can deliver. And I mean, we’re here, aren’t we?” Four said, cocking his head. “My grandfather says his forge is as much mine as it is his. Might as well capitalize on the moment.”

The Hero of the Wild dropped his gaze, twisting his amber locks. For a few precious moments, he chewed the inside of his cheek, seeming to debate with himself. Then, gradually, his eyes locked onto Four’s once again, shining with gratitude.

“I would be honored, Four. Thank you.”

Whoops and cheers rang out across Lake Hylia, a joyful feeling permeating the warm afternoon air. Pleased, Four gave a single nod of acceptance, acknowledging Wild’s gracious thanks. He jerked his head toward shore to indicate his intentions and began heading back to land.

As the group made their way on dry ground to towel off and dress, Four mentally reviewed his decision, committed to presenting a sturdy and worthwhile weapon befitting his friend.

If there’s anything Wild deserves, Four thought as he sat down to replace his boots on his feet, it’s something that will last. ~o~o~o~o~o~

The Hero of the Wild wasted no time preparing a delectable dinner that evening. Buoyed up by the events that transpired from their lake swim, the champion arranged a savory prime meat curry dish, using an array of spices and fresh ingredients from a successful hunt. Four’s grandfather generously allowed them to stay and use the kitchen as needed, and as a way of thanks, they all tucked in around the dining table—Grandfather Smith included—happy to share stories alongside a delicious meal.

As cleanup commenced, Four slipped away to prepare his long-awaited workstation, hoping to get a head start on his project. He entered the adjoining room and, as he surveyed his warehouse for the first time in months, felt his heart leap in his chest.

It’s been so long, my friend...

Thrilled, the young smithy trotted over to inspect his firebrick forge, ensuring that all the necessary pieces of equipment were in proper working order. After clearing out old ash and clinker from the firepot and depositing useable bits of coal on the hearth, he began building his fire. He gathered small bits of kindling and set it aside; then, using flint and knife, he scraped bits of magnesium into a small pile and struck the flint, creating a spark. The shavings caught the spark, providing him ample opportunity to feed the kindling inside the firepot. And…

Bingo.

As the young blacksmith began working the bellows to feed the lit furnace, the creak of a door alerted him to an unseen presence off to his right. The blur of long blonde hair disappearing behind the barrier was an obvious indicator of just who it was who lurked out of sight.

Four couldn’t help but bite back a snicker. Amused, he rested a hand on his cocked hip and faced the door.

“You don’t have to be sneaky about it, Wild,” Four giggled, tilting his head kindly. “You can come inside. I don’t bite.”

There was a brief pause before the champion garbed in blue pushed open the door, peeking inside. Cautiously, the long-haired boy crossed the threshold and shut the door softly behind him.

“That’s it,” Four reassured, turning back to his workstation. “You can take a seat right there. I’m just building up the fire at the moment.”

Wild’s intrepid eyes roved the room as he moved toward the indicated chair close to where Four worked, taking in the sight of the wheezing bellows and roaring forge fire. He took his place on the chair, gripping the sides of the seat with both feet planted firmly on the floor.

Four donned thick padded gloves and returned to the fire, not at all minding his company. When the fire reached an appropriate size, he began pushing coal from the hearth around the perimeter of the firepot, ensuring they were heated by the flame. Tendrils of smoke began licking up around the flames, feeding into the smokestack. He would have to keep an eye out for the smoke so it would not overwhelm the fire and stunt the coal. He sprinkled water on the outer coal pieces, pleased with the rising steam. Not too overbearing—but just enough to convert the green coal down to the coke he was looking for.

Now I just need to keep it at this level...

“Your fire,” Wild commented unexpectedly, yanking Four out of his thoughts. “Why not use a simpler method to get it started?” He shifted in his chair. “I mean… you have fire-based items in your inventory, right?”

Four thoughtfully considered Wild’s question. Sure, he had his flame lantern and even his fire rod. Firing the forge would surely take half the time if he were to have used those...

“I dunno,” the smithy slurred, using his gloved hands to push bits of ready, hot coke into the firepot. “I guess it’s just how Grandfather Smith taught me. Back before questing was a thing.” He looked over at his friend with a smile. “It’s the blacksmith technique. Feels more authentic somehow, you know?”

The older teen nodded, his eyes captivated by Four’s practiced hands. The little hero felt the champion’s eyes glued to him, following the whole process with his stare.

Pleased with the buildup of smouldering coke in the firepot, Four strode toward the assortment of scrap metals and ore he and his grandfather stored in the corner crate. He went straight for a long rectangular piece of steel, running his hands along the sides. He turned to Wild, brandishing the metal in his direction.

“Low carbon steel from Mount Crenel, my friend,” the Hero of the Four Sword grinned, waving the steel in the air. “This won’t be breaking on you anytime soon. Excellent for that perfect wield. Isn’t she a beauty?”

Wild nodded along, pretending to know what the smithy was talking about. Chuckling to himself, Four brought the steel bar over to the forge and laid it flat on the hearth, hovering it above the blazing firepot.

And now… hammer time.

As Four heated the metal over the scorching coke, he side-eyed his seated companion. Just like earlier that day, Wild’s attention was cut short and he fell into a trance-like state, staring into the flickering flames. The young smithy shifted his weight between his feet as he considered a question that weighed on his mind. After mulling over different approaches, he gave up and decided to take the plunge outright.

“So… what’s been the deal lately? What happened back there?”

Triggering words.

His companion went deathly still, bright blue eyes widening in surprise. Four could practically hear the cogs turning in his mind, working through a legitimate response.

“Uh… back where?”

“Back at the lake,” Four clarified, turning the steel bar over in the fire. “Both lakes, actually. You know, when you… zoned out.”

Understanding dawned in Wild’s eyes and he looked down, pinching the fabric of his fingerless gloves. He ran his tongue between his teeth, deciding on what to say. “I didn’t zone out today. I was... relaxing.”

“...Relaxing,” Four tested, pulling the steel from the forge. He laid the hot glowing bar on his anvil, securing it with tongs in one hand and gripping a hammer in the other. He began hammering the end first, shaping it into the pointed tip he wanted.

Wild continued fingering his gloves, not making eye contact. He inhaled softly, his shoulders rising with the motion. “Well… I was today, at least.”

It was a lucky thing Four prided himself on his acute sense of hearing—otherwise, he doubted he would have heard Wild’s response over the pounding of his hammer. He looked over, hoping to encourage Wild to continue talking. “And the other time?”

The champion went silent, eyes still downcast. Four bit the inside of his cheek, convinced he went too far. He shouldn’t have pried, it really wasn’t his business. The smithy flipped the bar over, ceaselessly hammering the metal.

“I’m sorry, forget it. I shouldn’t have… I know I’m not Twilight—”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Wild interrupted, sitting up straighter in his chair. “It’s not a secret. It’s just…”

The older hero swept his long hair behind his shoulder and rested his hands in his lap, attempting to sort through whatever was going on in his mind. “It’s just hard to explain sometimes.”

Four nodded and began pounding the length of the bar, flattening it. Wild pressed his lips together, a contemplative look crossing his face.

“These… episodes I have, you guys call them. They’re memories. You know, from my life before.”

The blue-garbed champion paused, heedless of the hammering ringing out in the background. “Things are better now that I’m with you guys, but… I still get flashes of what my life used to be like before the Calamity. What I used to be like. And… it tends to put me in my head.”

Wild slowly rubbed his hands together. “That's what happened that first time by the water. Like I said, it’s not as bad now. But still… it’s not easy to get used to. It’s almost as if… as if…”

Four replaced the hammered steel on the hearth and crossed his arms in contemplation. “Almost as if you’re a stranger to yourself,” he finished.

“Yeah,” Wild confirmed. “And also that you’ve been cheated, because your stranger self was better.”

Both boys froze from the blunt confession. Four stared blatantly at his companion, his brow furrowed in concern. The older hero quickly looked away and wrapped his arms around himself, his cheeks flushed crimson—clearly embarrassed by what he disclosed.

The smithy frowned at the steel that seared red on the hearth, disturbed. He knew Wild had been working through inner demons—as were they all—but to think that this kind, long-suffering friend of his was plagued by such a negative self image was disheartening.

If only he could see what we see…

Four leaned his shoulder against the wall, crossing a foot over the other. “Well… I can’t personally attest to what you were like before your Calamity happened. None of us can,” he murmured, tapping a toe on the floor. “But I can tell you that we like the Wild we have with us now.” He looked towards his companion, a soft smile playing on his lips. “You’d better not change.”

Wild hummed, his cheeks still colored pink. “That’s what Twi always says.”

“He’s right. It’s like what they always say in the smithy,” the younger hero explained, a friendly lilt in his voice. “‘You can’t forge a masterpiece if it hasn't been forged with heat.’”

Though Four didn’t elaborate, his words seemed to strike a chord in his friend. The long-haired champion met the younger teen’s gaze, his brow lifting in realization. He ran a hand through his hair, moved by the meaning behind the analogy.

“I—”

The door banged open and Grandfather Smith entered, wide-eyed and looking more frazzled than Four had seen him in a long time. The small teen leapt away from the wall, his heart rate accelerating in alarm.

“Grandfather Smith? What’s wrong, did something—”

“Link, I just came from the castle. It’s your father. He…”

Grandfather Smith adjusted the green bandana on his sweaty forehead, trembling as he held his grandson’s shocked gaze.

“He requests to speak with you.”

#turtle scribbles #linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu fanfic #loz fanfic #legend of zelda #loz #fanfiction #my writing #hero of the four sword #hero of the wild #hero of twilight #hero of the skies #hero of warriors #hero of time #hero of legend #hero of winds #hero of hyrule

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