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arty-shadow-morningstar · 3 years

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Con Man's Daughter

Posting this because there isn't enough biodad! John Constantine content.

[Masterlist]

(Part 2)

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I feel like this should be a Damianette story or just platonic relationship after Jon got aged-up to seventeen and Damian wanted a friend his age but doesn’t want to admit it.

So basically there is this big bad in Gotham using magic that Batman was fighting at the time and enlisted John Constantine to help out.

John realizes that the villain is using a Miraculous.

“Oh. I think I know how he gets his powers. And lucky for you, Bats, I know an expert on this special brand of magic.”

And he did the smart thing and called up Marinette who at the time was already Guardian and was looking for other lost Miraculouses like in the Treasure Hunter AU I wrote.

He calls her at a really bad time. She was in the process of being chased by the guardians of the place. Monsters and evil spirits.

“Hello, Dad. What do you need and can you do it quickly?”

“Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. How is my little cupcake up to these days?”

“You called at a bad time.” Gunshots.

“WAS THAT A GUN I HEARD? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOUNG LADY?!”

“Somewhere in Japan. Getting a Miraculous. And why can’t you call me to check in on me and not ask me to help you with whatever mess you got yourself into.” More gunshots sounds and it was telling that Marinette was using a gun.

“Where did you get a gun? And don’t you have school?”

“It’s summer break. Don’t worry Maman and Papa know. Well, the fact that I am in Japan anyways.” Marinette sounded a little out of breath. Roaring and horrifying sounds at the other end. “Can we do this later?”

“As it happens, there is a villain going around Gotham with what I think is a Miraculous.”

Swears on the other end.

“Oi. Watch your fucking language, young lady.”

“How about a No and move the fuck back, old man. I am coming over right now.”

“Old man? I am not that old-” as a magic blue portal opens up in the Bat Cave.

And a red Chinese dragon comes out with someone riding it.

Its rider was a black-haired girl. She had a trench coat similar to Constantine's. I imagine her with a fedora. Like Carmen Sandiego style but not red. Sometimes red but only when she has to steal it from a museum or high security places and she leaves a name card with the name Carmen Sandiego. A sword strapped to her back and a dagger to her thigh.

She had a gun in her hand which she used to shoot the monsters as it was halfway through the portal and yelled out the spell to close it.

“Brilliant entrance but you are in lots of trouble, little lady. What were you thinking about going to another country unsupervised? And isn’t there still a butterfly problem in Paris?”

“One, I wasn’t unsupervised. I had Tikki, a billion years old being and a sort of god. Two.Well, it got boring trying to track Hawk-bitch down. And I found this legend about a guy with a Miraculous who disappeared in the temple and thought hey, more miraculous could mean another edge to defeating Moth-man.”

More bickering and John grounding Marinette who was acting very nonchalant about it.

Okay, at this point, I should say that Batman and Robin are in the background trying to make some sense.

Batman is surprised to find out that Constantine has a daughter who is also involved in magic like her Father but an apparently more specialised kind called the Miraculous. He is a little miffed that he didn’t know about John having a daughter. He did consider it weird at first that she had a slight french accent unlike her father’s Liverpool accent although she pronounced some words like he does.

He also connected some dots that she is also the Parisian heroine, Lady Rouge who Wonder Woman introduced to the League a while back and had declined to join the Young Justice or Teen Titans until everything in Paris was resolved.

Damian on the other hand was suspicious of the new arrival and came to the same conclusion as his father about the daughter thing.

Batman after a few minutes, clears his throat.

The Constantines stop arguing.

“Bonjour. Batman. Robin. Pleasure to meet you. I am Mari Constantine and yes, I am this homeless looking man’s brilliant daughter.” “Hey”

“Well, Mari. Your father thinks you can help us with this new criminal turning Gotham upside down. Literally in some cases. He said that you might be able to help us.” Batman said as he pulled up zoomed in picture of the Miraculous.

Mari looks through the Miraculous grimoire and tells them all about it and power-ups, basically the most effective thing to defeat the guy is to get the Miraculous off them. Plus a spell that would make the Miraculous ineffective if casted within a certain radius of it.

“Thank you for the information, Mari. Constantine, let’s go.”

Mari made to follow them.

“You young lady are grounded and staying here.”

“I don’t need another supervillain using the Miraculous which are my responsibility as Guardian to retrieve them for their own misuse and wreaking havoc on the city. And what if there is an akuma in Paris? I can’t go there if I am grounded in the Batcave although it is a cool place to hang out.”

“You can portal back to Paris but you are not going to follow me. Understood?”

“yes. crystal”

“Good. After me and Batsy get the Miraculous, you can do your Guardian duties.”

Damian snickers. Until Batman cut his mood short, “You are staying behind too. Robin.”

“But Father, why? I am much more capable than Constantine.”

“Hey!” Both father and daughter.

Damian is staying behind too because of the Miraculous power or other reasons and keeps an eye on Mari.

Damian stays behind and there were some protests about mari mad about having a babysitter and Damian doesn’t want to be a babysitter. Despite the two of them being around the same age.

“I got an eye on you so no funny business.”

“Okay, Dad, I am not going to have sex with Robin.” Mari said with a shit- eating grin. Robin definitely didn’t blush.

“I hate you sometimes.”

“I love you too, Dad. Go save the world. Byee.”

John eyes her suspiciously because she is not one to give up that easily usually.

He casts a spell to watch her as they leave. and which she totally knew about.

“So...I have one question.”

“Tt, ask and don’t bother me anymore.”

“Is Batman Bruce Wayne?”

Damian looks up, totally caught off guard.

“I am going to take that as a yes.”

Puts sword at her neck. “How did you find out?!”

“Opened up Google Maps and saw that we are under Wayne Manor. Connected the dots. Also I already knew when Dad made a bet with me once to find out Batman’s secret identity but he never did confirm it for me. And can you please not tell your father about this? I don’t feel like being interrogated by the Bat in the future yet.”

“Father must know about this.”

“I saw you looking at Scarlet here. An animal lover then? You can give her some belly rubs. She deserves it after helping me outrun those monsters.”

His silence was brought. To pet a dragon.

One thing after another and he ends up bringing out his pets-Jerry the turkey, Goliath the dragon-bat, Titus- and her introducing him to her other pets like a hellhound, griffin and other mythical creatures who mostly roam free but come to her when she calls for them and also the kwamis, at least the ones who came with her.

After 30 mins have passed, “So Robin how do you feel about disobeying our fathers?”

“I am in.”

“Depends. Are we going after the (villain's name) ?”

“Yes.”

Awesome montage of them getting rid of the spell John casted and flying out of the Batcave on their respective giant flying pets to the villain’s base.

Meanwhile, their fathers are not doing so well and are trapped in a death trap. John can’t say the spell because the villain made him unable to talk.

“At least, the kids are staying put.”

Cut to Damian and Mari jumping off their pets and onto the roof. Taking out the guards posted there and going into the building all sneakily and also taking out the guards that come their way.

They dropped into the room where their fathers and the villain is.

“Why am I not surprised?”

Villain starts an evil monologue about his mastermind plan to which Damian cuts it short by trying to cut him down with his katana. Mari goes to deactivate the death trap.

They are evenly matched with Damian’s training and the Miraculous.

Mari steps in as Damian was about to be killed. Taps on the shoulder of the villain and when he turns around, gives an awesome right hook that knocks him out.

Takes away the Miraculous and curses him. Wiped the dude’s memories of it.

“When I said stay in the Batcave, I meant stay behind at the Batcave. What point of being grounded, don’t you understand?”

“You mean, Oh, Mari, light of my life, my wonderful daughter, thank you for saving my ass. You are the best.’ by that, right?”

-----

Mari and Damian exchanged numbers and email addresses.

As she was about to leave the Batcave, “It’s been nice meeting you, Mr. Wayne.” and leaves with a wink.

John ‘ungrounds’ her for the look on Batman’s face.

-----

After this, Marinette and Damian become friends who bitch and vent to each other about their alter egos and various villains of their respective cities. (In codes, just in case) They also share updates about their pets and love of drawings.

They have that type of friendship where they trade favors. Mari calls Damian to Paris sometimes to help out with the akuma of the day and Damian sometimes calls her in when Bruce doesn’t let him go investigate a case so he can sneak out by magical means or as back up for when his brothers were too annoying to deal with.

It’s summer break so no missing school.

John and Bruce are aware of their friendship and some of the shenanigans the pair gets into behind their back.

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Right. how this all started...

John and Sabine first met when the latter was still in college somewhere in France. John was tracking down a demonic entity which was targeting Sabine for some reason and she was the next target.

John saved her life and exorcised the demon. There was a heat of the moment thing and they had a one-night stand. There were a few more flings and hook-ups after that night.

And nine months later, Marinette Cheryl Cheng-Constantine was born.

When Sabine first found out, she called John to come over and he thought that it was a call for another hook-up and was very surprised to find out that it was not and that he was going to be a father.

They both like each other but do not want to be in a relationship together so they both remained as friends and John agreed after some strong-arming at the very least to meet his daughter before he goes to do his job. And pay for child support. And help Sabine during her pregnancy.

Pregnant Sabine was someone you don’t want to mess with. And John has never met a demon or anyone scarier than her.

He was at first not into meeting his child and there was a self-pity party he threw himself with how the child was going to live a bad life because he was the dad and how he destroyed every good thing in his life.

That’s why he is going to meet the baby once and leave maybe a letter and the occasional birthday present and stay out of their life. Forever.

The day Marinette was born and it took one look into her eyes for the HellBlazer to fall under the spell and all of his plans to stay out of her life to burn away.

At first, he tried. He really tried but he couldn’t do it.

Lasted 4 months before he came back, wanting to place protection spells on her and sigils around the house to keep away the forces of Heaven and Hell and other entities so they won’t use her against him as a bargaining chip.

Sabine calls him to babysit. He could have refused and Sabine would have easily found a babysitter. He moans and whines about how he is a great mage and not a bloody babysitter. Sabine retorts that it is actually called parenting since he is Marinette’s father. He grumbles but in the end, agrees.

The great John Constantine is wrapped around the little girl’s finger.

He was around for some of Marinette’s firsts. Her first word was “John”.

It made him cry. He wasn’t a good man and he doesn’t deserve someone this precious. His daughter doesn’t deserve someone like him as a father but fate made it that way and what can you do about it.

After an exhausting week of doing the usual and coming back from Hell, he saw that Sabine had sent him a video. It was Marinette taking her first steps.

Chas swears that in all the years that he has known John Constantine he has never seen the man look so happy.

------

When Tom came into the picture, John was there to take care of a toddler Marinette while Tom and Sabine went on dates.

Insert John threatening a much bigger Tom while holding a baby Marinette with wide eyes and hugging a teddy bear with the same coat as John’s. (It was something Sabine brought on a whim and to tease John when he came around.)

Tom is supportive and treats Marinette like his own flesh and blood.

John resolved to leave for good now that Tom would be there to be a father figure for Marinette.

That plan fell into the drain the moment he was going to leave for what was supposed to be the last time before Sabine pulled him back and knocked some sense into him.

His face was a big giveaway. Sabine knows that despite his claims of being a terrible father for Marinette, he was a good one and damnit she was going to make sure that Marinette would get to know her actual father.

Tom later made an awkward talk with John about how he was not going to replace John’s role as Marinette’s father.

Marinette was the flower girl at Tom and Sabine’s wedding. John was there too.

During bedtime, John would read her stories and use his magic to make it come to life. Although he would feel a little drained afterwards, it was worth it to see her smile.

Sometimes he told stories about his tamer adventures. (After cutting out some of the inappropriate bits)

------

When Marinette was about 5 or 6, Sabine was out on an errand and Tom was at home with Mari and helping her with her homework. There was a crash downstairs at the bakery. Tom went down to check it out to find John lying on the ground.

With a weak cough, he said, “Close the door. Close it.” Before losing consciousness

Tom did before a man with pitch black eyes slammed against it.

Thankfully John had installed heavy wards around the bakery when it first opened.

They held against the demon on John’s tail. Tom brought John inside and unsure of what to do, grabbed a rolling pin on the counter.

The man outside started pounding on the glass door and every time his hands touched the door, light glowed outwards, showing the invisible magic barrier around the bakery. Sparks and steams fizzled with every pound.

Despite the reddening and burns of his hands, the not-human didn’t slow down.

“ʝօɦռ....ʏօʊ ӄռօա ȶɦǟȶ ɨȶ'ֆ օռʟʏ ǟ ʍǟȶȶɛʀ օʄ ȶɨʍɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ɨ ɮʀɛǟӄ ȶɦʀօʊɢɦ ȶɦɛֆɛ աǟʀɖֆ. օռƈɛ ɨ ɢɛȶ ʏօʊ,” He laughs, the sound sends chills down the large man’s spine, “ȶɦɛʀɛ ǟʀɛ ֆօ ʍǟռʏ ȶɦɨռɢֆ ɨ ɦǟʋɛ քʟǟռռɛɖ ʄօʀ ʏօʊ.”

Tom knew that Marinette’s father was a con man. Come on, Master and Practitioner of the Dark Arts and Occult. But he was a good father nonetheless despite all his flaws and Sabine liked him enough so that was good enough for him.

Before today, magic was just the sleight of hands and use of fancy tools to sell the illusions. Now, with a could-be-a-demon knocking on his door to get to the father of the girl he sees as his daughter, he’s not so sure.

“Tom? Qu'est-ce qui se passe? (What’s going on?)” A little voice came from the stairs, “Dad!” Marinette padded across the floor to the body of her passed out father.

She shook him awake and there were a few soft slaps to the face.

“Dad, what’s happened?”

John mumbles, “Demon…. possessing some rich guy….. Exorcism…. Doesn’t like me very much…Don’t worry...wards going to hold.”

John manages to stand before falling down and Tom catches him before he hits the floor. He has a concussion. Tom turns to Marinette, “Go, Hide and don’t come out until It’s safe.” which she did

Unfortunately, a while later, Sabine returns from her night out and the demon upon seeing Sabine. “ɛӼƈɛʟʟɛռȶ..”

The demon possessed Sabine and the previously possessed dude hit the sidewalk with a thud.

“ɨռȶɛʀɛֆȶɨռɢ....” The voice coming out of Sabine didn’t sound like her mother which scared Marinette a lot. “օքɛռ ȶɦɨֆ ɖօօʀ օʀ,”the demon pulled a knife out of thin air, ,“ȶɦɨֆ ɮօɖʏ ɢɛȶֆ ɨȶ.”

Tom hesitated until the demon put the knife on Sabine’s neck and put enough force for a thin line of blood to be shown.

He opens the door and the demon knocks him out. Stepping over his unconscious body and looking down on it, “ʄօʀ ȶɦǟȶ, ɨ ǟʍ ɢօɨռɢ ȶօ ʟɛȶ ʏօʊ ʟɨʋɛ ʊռȶɨʟ ɨ ǟʍ ɖօռɛ աɨȶɦ ʝօɦռ, օʄ ƈօʊʀֆɛ.” and cackles. The sound was so wrong and unnerving and little Marinette tried very hard for her sobs not to be heard.

Too bad the demon had super hearing. “Come out, my little blossom. Maman is home. Why don’t you come out and give me a hug?”

It sounded so much like her mother and she nearly believed that it was her mother and not some entity in control of her body.

But she knew better from John’s stories of dealing with demons and how they would use the voice of loved ones to lure them out and into a trap. (Definitely not something one should tell as a bedtime story but Marinette was very different and had an unconventional childhood with John Constantine as her father.)

Wait...she got struck with an idea but she wasn’t sure if it would work.

Before she could do anything, the door of the cabinet she was hiding in was opened and she was dragged out.

The demon lifted her a few feet above the ground by the collar of her dress.

It heard Marinette saying something. “աɦǟȶ ǟʀɛ ʏօʊ ֆǟʏɨռɢ ƈɦɨʟɖ, ֆքɛǟӄ ʟօʊɖɛʀ?”

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.” Marinette was now screaming the words at the top of her lungs. She repeated the spell over and over again with fierce determination.

John, being his paranoid self, taught her the spell for an exorcism, just in case. Demons spared no one, not even a girl.

It screamed “NO….” as Sabine’s body contorted in strange angles before a dark shadow seemed to be dragged down into the ground. It made a desperate attempt to possess John before it was pulled away and disappeared. There was no sign that there was a demon attack.

After John woke up, he managed to piece together that his 5-years-old (Sorry 5 and a half) daughter sent a demon back to hell.

He was a very proud dad. (He was a tad worried about the consequences from this event and demons hold one hell of a grudge. He wanted his daughter to live a very safe and happy life. The bakery’s wards also need an upgrade.)

He also got the job of explaining what he actually did to Tom. And lots of reassuring.

Sabine, on one hand, was not happy that Marinette knew how to do magic. That is until John told her that he did it just in case so she can protect herself and later it was agreed that Marinette can learn some Magic spells and charms to better protect herself and when she is older, she can decide if she wants to continue or not.

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(Part 2)

#bio!dad john constantine #maribat #damientte #damainette #platonic daminette #maybe?#minor swearing

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inkyvendingmachine · 3 years

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“Is there ink in this room...?” “Is there a party in this room?”

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀

First though: Spoilers for the First Scenario from Tales of the Crescent City, which has been reprinted out of the Great Old Ones; We are actively playing, please no spoilers, but also we will have spoilers from it ourselves as we play. Read at your own risk.

aaayyeee gets another one out right away too... now it’ll bet 8 more years for the next one (hopefully not)

Staff in hand, the five run towards the exit only to encounter a weird foggy door, clearly magic, no telling what’s on the other side. Moonlight was ready to sick some goons on them, but a gunshot rings out, which was probably Avedon?? Attempting to kill Fowler or Moonlight?? Who knows, thanks for the distraction dude!! Joey struggles for a moment, fighting Party!Bendy who really wants to go eat, and slips down a stability level (now has starry eyes + tail!! Can’t stop grinning!!! This will be great.), though Joey does manage to go through the door, everyone else following near.

We end up in a kind of castley looking room… that contains no ink, Sammy immediately notices. Meanwhile, Henry notices that the room has a weirdly similar layout to his living room, and there’s literally photographs of his family on the walls. Joey insists that it’s an illusion, a trick to keep us here scared, and insists we go on through the next door. Meanwhile, Sammy tries to snap Jack out of… whatever he’s doing, but Jack just is worried about the fact we’re probably snooping around where we shouldn’t belong, and wants to get back to the party. As everyone heads towards the door, Henry’s family starts fading out of the pictures, only he is in them now… 2 SPOOKY LETS GO.

We end up in a hallway, which seems to be back in Fowler’s Mansion. There’s decorations and the same writing on the walls as was at the studio. But this time, the ink is black… and calling for Sammy. He starts to go for it, and Henry manages to grab him and steer him towards the end of the hall. As they move towards the door, realizing how much of a danger Sammy is in right now, it’s noticed that there’s a mirror on the back… and Sammy sees something in that, and starts running towards it. Joey, having no idea bout this though, simply opens the door and ushers everyone through.

We pile into a new room that’s castley again, but this one doesn’t seem to have an exit. Actually, it seems to be made not to have an exit, as it is a prison cell. The door they came through is bars now instead of being foggy. Joey screams in frustration. Sammy meanwhile, breaks down muttering about how “he was there, he can help,” as Jack tries to console him… Jack knows Sammy doesn’t like parties, but this seems to be more upsetting than usual. Otherwise, he doesn’t notice anything is wrong beyond “we’ve still not gone back to the party.” As this happens, Sammy grabs Jack by the lapels and starts trying to beg for him to get out of this weird party mode he’s stuck in… but it’s not getting through.

Meanwhile, Joey has toon-ed his way through the bars and manages to pick the lock open on the other side. It takes some convincing to get everyone heading down the hall again, but he’s not going to leave anyone in that prison cell. As they reach another foggy door, Joey finally picks up on some of Peter’s mumbling about how Carcosa works, and gets an idea about using the door. Like usual, he ushers everyone through, though this time he holds himself back. Joey closes his eyes and walks through the door, thinking less of a specific place, and more “take me where I need to be to fix all of this.” As he moves forwards into darkness, the hallway gets smaller and smaller, until eventually he hits a locked door. There’s something glowing though…

Meanwhile, the other four pile into what seems to be the room where Sammy knew the vault holding the slick stone was. Some of reality is wonky in here, being half castle, half mansion… but there’s still two guards standing in front of the giant safe hidden by large painting. Henry decides to try “Pulling a Joey” since he’s dressed up as staff, and walks up claiming it’s an emergency and they need the contents of the safe. The two guards seem… wary, and only then does everyone notice, by his lack of stepping in, Joey is… missing? Sammy steps up behind him and tries to help out, or at least make sure he’s ready to help fight if they try to attack Henry… but they manage to convince the guards to let them open the safe. Henry puts in the code, a birthday he got from Fowler’s diary, and opens the safe to… Joey???

Yeah somehow Joey managed to door his way into the safe, which contains the stone!! Very carefully and with Bendy’s help, he manages to take off his comically large bow tie and wrap the stone up in it, then Bendy tucks it in an inner pocket of his vest. He walks out of the safe like nothing is weird about the situation, though the guards are sort of worried about his face… as it seems to fit some of the description of the Yellow King’s… messenger??? who’s been causing issues… but he doesn’t exactly fit, and when Jack steps in to reassure that it’s all fine, they manage to head towards the exit without much more difficulty.

There IS a plate of sandwiches right next to the door, which Bendy stacks up and eats in all one bite… just like in the cartoons!! Except he was still in Joey’s body as all this happens so uhhhh EVERYONE TAKES SANITY DAMAGE FOR WITNESSING THAT.

With a little more confidence on how to control the door, they try to head towards the room with the pictures and ritual circle again… though end up at a gazebo?? Perhaps outside of Fowler’s house, but the garden is really nice at least. Too nice…

We head out towards the mansion, and then uhh a person falls from the sky?? And based on Peter’s screaming, it’s indeed the same reporter guy that started his entire investigation into these matters. Seems weird to be happening here and now and everyone is uneasy,,, especially Joey who miiiiight have a thing about watching people fall to their death. Just a little bit. But the main fact is that Peter does NOT want to be in open air and tries to run back to the gazebo, at which point we all grab him and run back towards the mansion instead.

When we reach the doors going in, they’re foggy again, so Joey takes this as another opportunity to try and get into the ritual room by doing what he’s been doing. Turns out… the less sane you are attempting this feat, the better the results will be.

They end up in the room with the inky circle and the pictures and everything, though half of the room has melted into a hill that leads back down to the lake, and most things are weirdly strewn about now because of it. Sammy immediately goes for the inky circle though gets caught by Henry, who also tries to stop Joey from tampering with the circle since there’s protection runes around it. For whatever reason, Joey believes they cannot hurt him, and goes for the circle anyways, indeed getting hurt and turning into an inky goo creature. Sammy pulls away from a distracted Henry and immediately goes to the ink, while others in the party behold the inky demonic form of Joey/Bendy. Prophet Sammy, however, walks up and reaches out to touch the ink creature's face, asking “My lord, what do you need of me?”

Joey and Bendy have no way to communicate in this form. Internally though, they’re both making a lot of noise at each other.

MEANWHILE, Jack just really wants to get back to the party and suddenly believes he can get there if he just gets through this wall, starts ripping down photos and stuff as…

Fowler shows up.

He demands to know what they thought they were doing, obviously he would know if they were messing with the circle. While Henry tries to talk to him, Prophet grabs the rocking horse and tries to smash Fowler in the back of the head with it.

Fowler seems… pretty unphased by this, and turns to grab Sammy’s face after saying “This isn’t how the story goes.” And starts trying to attack the masked messenger out of Prophet’s system and turn him to the Yellow King. Jack is still foggy brain, but can realize that his friend is being harmed and manages to shove Fowler away from Sammy. Henry steps between Fowler and everyone else, making it clear that if Fowler tries to do anything to hurt them he will attack back. Fowler raises a hand and says “It’s too late, nothing can be done,” before trying to shift the room, and Henry takes a swing at him but… again, just doesn’t seem to affect him. He does get to see the bullet hole though; Fowler did indeed get shot earlier.

Joey finally manages to recompose, at which point he toons out his arm to just… gRAB??? FOWLER??? And fLING?!?? AT LAKE?!?!? Bye dude,

After Joey flings him, there’s a distant splash, as well as some distant ramblings of Avedon that we could hear go silent. That bought us a little time: Joey and Prophet instantly start to put together the spell to convert the stone. Also Prophet removes his mask, it’s a false mask and he refuses to wear it.

Joey actually lets Prophet take the lead on converting the stone, wanting to make sure they get this done right and as quickly as possible so they can move on with all of this. But as soon as the spell starts up, there’s an upset “NO!!” in the distance, and the room starts to shift more. Henry tries to run down to the lake and confront Fowler, stop him?? Inform him that we have a way to get his family back, without doing all this! But Fowler simply replies for him to prove it, before teleporting all of them away. Joey and Prophet both tackle the stone the moment they notice they won’t be able to complete the ritual, and Joey actually manages to grab it… as they end up back at the party.

Prophet and Henry end up seeing the Yellow Sign again, but Henry is able to push it out of himself, and Prophet is... a bit more filled with other things and has less room for sign. Joey starts trying to plan with Henry to get out to the lake; get the family back, then go to the picture room again. Prophet obviously disagrees, though eventually goes along with it when the other two point out that Fowler will probably just continue to kick them out until the situation has changed. Jack objects because we finally got back to the party, at which point Joey turns to him, grabs him, and starts trying to boss-voice demand him out to fight through the sign. For a moment, it works, and Jack looks horrified… and then he slips away again. Prophet also tries a softer approach…? Trying to lead his sheep away from the lies of the false king, but it doesn’t get though… Jack is handed off to Peter to watch and they head towards the door that was found earlier to head out to the lake.

Jack does have some issues with doors now, so it takes multiple people to shove him through and head out into a hut near the ritual site they had been at earlier. Also, Norman is here!! Dressed kinda like the Cheshire cat and peeking out the window of the hut, down to one of the monoliths where Avedon is tied up and being questioned by Doc Moonlight, who’s very sure that he’s with JDS??? (While Avedon thinks JDS is with the yellow king?? It’s a very confusing conversation.)

Well, Norman wants to get his buddy back, and this seems like a good time to try and take out moonlight, so Prophet borrows Henry’s whackity stick and tries to knock him out. That fails though, and the moment he’s threatened, Joey bounds out, turning his arm into a giant cartoon hand claw and going for Moonlight on the way. The doc actually manages to dodge and gets a spell off on Prophet that causes him to Bleed From Face, at which point Jack runs out with Peter nearby to help get Sammy out of danger while he is blind and screaming. Henry also runs out and scoops up the stick to whack Moonlight with, giving opportunity to Joey to pin him down, and then Henry knocks him out. Carefully but with big-ol-cartoony claws, Joey unties a very frazzled Avedon and uses the ropes to tie Moonlight to the thing instead.

With a moment of quiet, they try to start planning out the next step… but there’s only a moment of quiet, as Angels scream in the distance.

#call of cthulu: haunted hijinx #batim #joey drew #sammy lawrence #Jack Fain #Henry Stein #peter sunstram #norman polk #ayyye i had this one typed up already #accedentally went a little harder on this art than i meant to bc i had a neat idea #man this is really what it felt like as we were running all over creation #anyways the next one won't be until next week i can promise you that #today i get my second vaccine shot!!! which also means tomorrow im gonna be DEAD #cause that's my reaction to it i just heckin keel over and curl up

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ink-fireplace-coffee · 3 years

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Marble and Magic Monday: Mafia AU Part 1

A/N: we start the AUs with a Mafia one because y e s

TW: death, blood, guns and knifes. I think that's all.

If there's one thing you need to know about magic, is that it turned into a luxury.

And when people start fighting for something, only the most powerful survive.

Unknown to the Starless people, the city is constantly on the edge for those with magic. Having to choose between three sides - affiliating to the Eterna Realeza, ruled by the Asya family; work for the Striker Gang, a mismatch of powerful outcasts; or going solo… With all the implications of that.

There were little things that could make both empires crumble to the ground, and yet, Jasper Cheasya just happened to be one.

It took him exactly two days to notice he was being observed and followed by no less than six different people: he came from a rich family, and there was no trace of a doubt his status preceded him.

After all, his mom was no other than the Witch.

Since his arrival three weeks ago now, this was the first time Jasper had tried to outrun his followers. And not knowing the layout of the city clearly became a problem. Anxiety growing in his chest with every heartbeat he had ended in a street full of closed businesses.

"I wouldn't turn there," a voice at his back said, right before he was about to go to the right. "That's a dead end, right there. Although," the man kept rambling, "you are gonna end up dead either way."

Jasper finally turned around to face him: a man in his thirties, his broad shoulders and the gun he was carrying were indicative of his job.

"Why did you tell me that?" Jasper tried not to stand small, knowing damn well he was just buying time. The man would not have time to chit chat.

With a simple shrug and a sharp smile he answered: "Because I like to give my preys time to run."

He then swung forward towards Jasper who took off running as fast as he could.

'He needs me alive,' he thought trying to find somewhere to hide in between the alleys and streets. When he heard the first gunshot, the statement vanished.

To his dismay, in between the gunshots and laughs of his hunter, another voice joined the chaos.

"Hey!" It was a girl's, and stood in between Crazy-Man-With-a-Gun and him.

Panting heavily and wanting to roll over and vomit, Jasper sent a last prayer to the Stars and wished his death was as quick as possible.

But Death did not come looking for him. Instead, he just heard more shots… Not aimed at him!

The boy spotted some trash cans and quickly kneeled behind them, trying his best not to make any sound.

The girl and the man were too busy with each other to even think of him anyway…

Agatha hated patrol days. Waving off drunk men and waking up homeless people who were in their territory was by far the most thrilling things that could happen in one of those days.

But try telling that to Kathan.

"Direct others," she mimicked his voice while rolling her eyes. She was worth more than just walking around their territory for the Stars' sake!

She jolted when she heard the first gunshot. What the Hell?

A guy passed running down the street, and in no time she stood in between him and another man.

"Hey!" Her gun was already in her hand, pointing at the man. "Realeza trash, I thought your kind knew this is our territory-" she cocked the gun- "And that we have permission to eliminate all of you if you so much but step on it."

"I'd love to see you try Flower Girl."

A few shots later, the blood right from the man's head dyed the ground red. Agatha scowled and looked at him with disgust one more time before remembering about the other boy.

When he took off running she wasted no more time.

"Stop running," she called, but that weird kid wouldn't listen, and she had to make sure whose side he was on.

'Desperate times…' Agatha launched forward, making the stranger fall to the ground beneath her.

When he tried to escape and grunt, she carefully pushed a little knife to his throat.

Jasper's scream died in his mouth when he felt the pressure of the blade against him.

"Now, now, Pretty Boy, are you sure you want to move again?" her voice was the soft caress of a lover, and that only increased Jasper's fear.

"I will only ask once, and to give you a hint, there's only one correct option." Her mouth was as red as the blood of his hunter. "Whose side are you on, Pretty Boy?"

"Side? I have no idea what you are-Please don't kill me!" he begged when the pressure of the little knife increased. "I truly have no idea what you are talking about, I swear for the Stars."

Only then she pushed the knife away. “If you are lying I promise you-”

“I’m not! I arrived in the city three weeks ago. I have no idea who that dude was or why was he following me!”

Agatha stood up, towering over the boy. “In that case, let me give you a friendly welcome: You got yourself in Striker’s territory, and what happens to people who come here and should not be here…” She looked back at the corpse. “Understood?”

Jasper nodded a few times, popping carefully onto his elbows.

“Now if you aren’t a part of Realeza, but they wanted you…” she muttered to herself. “You are coming with me, Pretty Boy.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Oh well, that’s your word, but the most powerful mafia sending a guy to track you and hunt you down says otherwise. Besides,” she added, “I think you would not turn down protection from us, now would you?”

“Protection?” Jasper’s head felt foggy.

“Yes, protection,” the girl sighed like talking to him was unbearable. “You are important for them, which makes you a valuable piece for us. So come on, I’m bringing you to the Boss.”

And with that, Jasper, the son of the Witch, was taken under the wing of the Striker Gang.

“My name is Jasper, by the way,” he added when the silence in between them was too uncomfortable.

“Agatha. Let me give you a free tip, Jasper: watch your back. I don’t have a clue why you are so important for some people, but if I were you, I would always carry a loaded gun with me.”

Maybe he would have to get one.

------

[Taglist under the cut]

@fuyugomori|| @enchanted-lightning-aes|| @alexwritesfiction|| @dontcrywrite|| @indecentpause|| @writing-is-a-martial-art|| @47crayons|| @the-writing-moon|| @shamblingthing|| @kingsinking|| @fiercely-raging-writer|| @euphoniouspandemonium

#marble and magic monday #my writing #marble and magic: mafia au #writeblrs #writers on tumblr #m&m

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kyu-bri · 3 years

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PMMM Medieval AU

Ok I've been Checked Out of the Meduka Meguca fandom recently but last night during a 11hr post-work week sleep I dreamed up a balls to the wall insanely intricate AU, because my subconcious is ever more creative than my waking self.

A TLDR role list and under the cut I will ramble and speculate in detail:

SAYAKA: An ex squire Knight trainee whose new mission is to overthrow the fucking monarchy after its corrupt rule led to the deaths of her friends. Now seducing an established Knight woman to help her on the inside while she recruits peasants for her rebellion.

MAMI: A rich snobbish merchant, rolling in wealth from inheriting both her dead parents businesses. She too is looking to overthrow the monarchy but is at odds with Sayakas faction because her plan is to become ruler herself.

KYOKO: a thief with brooding backstory. Mami recruits her to do her dirty work behind the scenes to keep her social standing clean.

MADOKA: A young training Goddess of Hope who fell from the moon. She has come to enthusiastically stop all the warring drama and devious plotting. She is in way over her head.

HOMURA: when Madoka fell she brought with her only a magical talisman that would bring one corpse to life to be her right hand. While looking for a noble muscular soldier Madoka tripped and dropped it into an open grave resurrecting a sickly peasant girl. Homura now worships Madoka and they are best friends who are in way over their heads.

Now me screaming trying to decipher my own subconscious:

GOD this AU is so ME. Sayaka going feral and living her best life kicking ass and a catty mean girl Mami countering her specifically. Kyoko poised to compliment, counter and even them out. Oh and MadoHomu are Cute and In Love. If that isnt the core of all of my AUs-

Sayaka was absolutely nuts in this though. My brain didn't spare Kyosuke or Hitomi so much as a cameo but so they're free to be the only reasonable cause for this. Im thinking Kyosuke was ailing as per usual and all that canon drama was the Same but Medieval.

So I'm thinking Sayakas all set to cope with Hitomi financing some lifesaving Medieval leech centric surgery or something before the Evil King whose color scheme is White And Maroon decides to execute Hitomis family for something petty. Hitomi is tragically killed right before Sayaka. Leaving Kyosuke to go shortly after and Sayaka to swear off the monarchy and all traditional law. Withdrawing from her training to be a knight to Be Gay And Do Crime.

Mamis role is both hilarious and perfect. In the dream she didn't do much besides bribe Kyoko and Anime Princess Laugh, but then Madoka was lore dumping (because yes, I DREAMED Madoka explaining LORE to Homura for the audiences (my) benefit.) And she said that Mami was possessed by a Demon of Greed. I'm thinking we could also say a desperate grieving Mami made some sort of deal with it asking for the ability to manage her parents legacy and it's resulted in her becoming the Onceler instead.

Madoka also mentions Kyoko has been scared away from her God bc of humans' actions. Ie she was the holy dutiful priests daughter and then Shit Hit The Fan but Medieval Flavored. The dream legit shows her God was Jesus so I'm declaring the dude God of Redemption, which is a very Kyoko Thing to boot.

While my brain didn't give me any KyoSaya Content tm they're in the perfect position for their epic Rivalry Turned Eternal Companions. Kyoko would be who Mami sends to fuck w Sayaka. Sayaka having probably trying to recruit Mami to her cause before realizing Mamis The Fucking Onceler and inspiring her to create a Rival Gang Of King Hating Rebels.

I'm picturing Sayakas plan fucking up in just the way Kyoko once mocked her that it would and all of Sayakas fight leaving her. As epic as her role is seducing the enemy to benefit her is very Unlike Her, so while the dream poised her as a power couple with the random blond knight lady I'm saying nnnno. And that the arrangement is fitfully miserable and dangerous. Sayaka used to be a loyal hopeless romantic and the Evil that's been committed against her and and those she loves has forced her to harden herself into someone else to be able to fight it.

But while Sayakas in Inevitable Peril and lamenting all of her mistakes and tragedy Kyokos there, fully able to escape but instead of course is like "no fuck that fuck this take my hand dreams come true lets give this nightmare a happily ever after." And its gay.

This would probably pit them both against Mami now but knowing me it would absolutely solve it with gay. And probably a bit of exorcism from Madoka. I theorized briefly if Mami would be a singular tragic death bc she cant be freed bc i liked the idea of tiny baby trumpet blower Nagisa slitting the Evil rich ladies throat and that being the only way to free her from the demon was cool but unless I can give Madoka a second resurrection clause then i would just exorcise her with Homosexuality and Friendship and a bit of Fairy Dust.

Meanwhile with Madoka and Homura they were just off still being cute and oblivious in the dream. I think the dream wanted her to be The One True God but she then shows all the personality traits of Naïve Angel In Training, so bc of the mythology already surrounding her I'm saying thinks a society where Literal Concepts Are Still Being Born and Madoka is the first inkling of Hope that Homosexuality and Friendship can fight Medieval Capitalism on its own.

She's just this bright white and pink pastel glowing entity skipping through a dark dreary forest graveyard looking for soldiers graves to ressurect somebody noble and powerful, gathering twigs in her long Repuntzel hair, when she trips and drops her talisman on a homeless orphan who died of the plague or some shit.

Bonus points to the idea that Madokas supposed to be able to reuse it but bc Homura died of sickness she just dies again right away and Madoka doesn't wanna be mean.

So Homura worships this glowing self positioned manic pixie dream girl bc shes definitely never felt hopeful in her life and so this glowing pastel goddess and drab zombie girl begin a road trip to where the actual plot of the story is happening. Because the moon dropped Madoka like inconveniently far away ig.

And so is the skeleton of a fabulous AU that I will probably not develop further but might make art for because my subconscious brain Also has AMAZING cinematography like when Madoka comes out of her moon all her hair flows out first so from earth it looks like a long pink gunshot through the moon which I suppose all the other characters would see and thus foreshadow their inevitable downfall to the powers of Homosexuality and Friendship and HOPE.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

#pmmm #puella magi madoka magica #au #mine #magia record #this isnt magia record but for obvious reasons yall might like it lmao #royal war au #is what its called now ig

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angelicamerlinbarnes · 3 years

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TUA PIRATE AU

(of the Caribbean? Sort of? I guess?)

(please understand that by AU, I mean they share an incredibly small amount of things in common with the original source material which I barely remember BUT the “story” takes place in the setting of the books/films) (not to be misleading or anything :p)

(BEWARE: abuse, murder, pirates and all of their violent shenanigans, etc.)

(If you can handle watching Umbrella Academy, this will be fine for you.)

Luther is the captain of the guard, and pirates are the bane of his existence. He hates Diego most of all, the man who’s stolen unspeakable amounts of gold from Reginald, Luther’s employer. But as annoyed he is at all of the theft, he purposefully never catches Diego, because he knows Klaus loves him. And Luther may be a man of the law, but he’s also Klaus’ beloved brother-in-spirit, even if Reginald wants them to marry each other for some idiotic reason. (Something about getting Klaus to settle down - ha, he can try.) When Klaus disappears, Luther follows him, having no connections left here - and that’s when he meets Allison. And there are copious laws against getting involved with married women and outlaws alike… so Luther starts to think that maybe bending the rules wouldn’t be so bad. (Klaus is so proud.)

Diego grew up poor, and became a pirate in his early teens when Grace took him in. When she fled the colony, Diego went with her, leaving his childhood best friend Klaus behind. He’s got his own fleet and crew now, and mostly uses his scores as excuses to flirt with Klaus, who’s still just as drawn to him after all these years and often sneaks him into his bedroom when Diego’s in town. Diego’s kept in close touch with Lila and Eudora, both of whom he grew up with once Grace took him away, and they both help him when it comes time for him to crash Klaus’ wedding to Luther (fuck you dude) and steal Klaus away for a life at sea. (Klaus absolutely LOVES this. They kiss a lot. They swing from ropes. Klaus is screaming at all the guards as Diego carries him away bridal-style (ha, I’m so funny). It is delightful.) (His ship is a terror they call The Kraken. Ha, get it? Get it - because Diego’s name - and the monster from legend - okay yeah I’ll shut up now.)

Allison is a badass goddess, covered in colorful tattoos with gold in her hair. She was a prostitute for awhile, stealing a bunch along the way, but one day one of the pirate captains who approached her tried to take more than he paid for. She broke both his hands and killed him in cold blood, then defeated his entire crew in a sword fight single-handedly, earning their respect. She now rides with that same crew as their captain, in one of those off-the-shoulder poet-blouse-corset dresses and high brown boots. Ray is a leutinant who’s been chasing her for years, the two of them flirting back and forth forever… but he’ll never catch her. It’s bad form to arrest your wife.

Klaus is the governor’s bastard son, a totally wild spirit who wears dresses all the time, drinks his weight at parties, and has slept with half the town (marriage is not a problem for him, this is Klaus, we all know he is very down for threesomes). He’s stolen half of Reginald’s shit for Diego over the years, and has been sneaking off to see him just as long, completely in love with his pirate king. Though he’s loved others before - Dave, for example, a soldier whose death broke Klaus into give in to Reginald’s plan to marry him off to Luther (who Klaus loves, just, Not Like That™). The day Diego kidnaps him from his own wedding is the best fucking day of his life - okay, no it wasn’t. That was second best. The best day of his life was the day he and Diego watched Diego’s ship and treasure burn and sink into the sea, and Klaus asked him if he was alright, and Diego just shrugged. Said, You’re the only treasure I need, and kissed him like the world was ending. Yeah. That was the best day of his life, because Diego is the best anything in his life.

Five was a pirate queen until he transitioned a few years ago, though only by word of mouth. No one’s ever seen him. Anyone who works for him doesn’t make it a month outside of the job, usually by his own hands, but people keep coming because nobody knows who he is. He sails alone, though he offers Klaus refuge on his boat for a few days under the moniker Aidan, because he knows Diego loves him, and Five actually respects Diego (if only because he respects Lila who he only respects because he respects Eudora). He hates the Handler for leaving him stranded on an island when he was just a child, an unwanted product of her crew’s hard partying, and has vowed to kill her one day for leaving him alone for so long, ageless in misery. He talks to the mermaid on the front of his ship named Dolores and kills without mercy, and when he finally reveals himself as this skinny pale thirteen-year-old with the grandpa haircut, he revels in the looks on his family’s faces as they try to rebuild their blown brain circuits.

Ben loves Klaus more than life itself, which is, in hindsight, probably why he’s dead. Oh who is he kidding, it’s definitely why he’s dead. Klaus is sort of, kind of, maybe, just a little bit a witch, and they hang witches where they’re from. So when they needed someone to blame for the odd happenings Klaus had caused recently, Ben had taken the blame and worn the noose proudly. Klaus still talks to him all the time, his ghost anyway, and it’s fine - but Klaus lives on the sea now, with Diego, and Ben gets seasick like all the time. (And then he steals Davy Jones’ heart and gets trapped as a tentacle monster, which is honestly not that bad. It helps him scare birds, and Ben likes scaring birds.)

Vanya works as the blacksmith’s apprentice, sad and lonely. She’s been having an affair with the duchess Sissy for years, also working as her maid and a nanny for her son Harlan when asked, but mostly she’s alone, with no one else to care for in the world. (And that creep officer Leonard keeps asking her to marry him, which, just. Ew.) When Five shows up, his hands in his pockets, and offers her a way out, well - what else could she possibly do?

Lila is a badass pirate princess who don’t take no shit from anybody. She wears bright pink ballgowns while skewering people like kabobs, which is funny because she’s a well-known maneater. Literally. (Yes I included a Hannibal character in here because it’s my AU and I can do whatever the fuck I want.) She fell in love with Eudora, and thought she had corrupted the kind sergeant until she found out Eudora had been an undercover pirate the whole time, helping Diego smuggle Reginald’s gold and goods in and out of port. (That’s hot as fucking hell, she blurts when she realizes. Fuck, I’m gonna marry this woman.) She has a serious rum problem she will not be addressing and a collection of pet parrots that will forever prevent her and Ben from becoming friends. When she and Eudora get married, it’s in the middle of the pouring rain while thunder and lightning and gunshots crack around them and they’re killing people and shooting canons left and right (because I may not have shipped Will and Elizabeth but by god if their wedding wasn’t the best fucking thing I’ve ever seen). Now if only she could find the king of the pirates… she’s been hunting Five for years, hoping to prove herself to him, but he just… won’t show up.

Eudora is the sergeant in Reginald’s legions, and has been using her position to help Diego pirate goods since before he even left with Grace. She makes a lot of deals with him, having him carry her cargo and speak with her connections in exchange for her keeping an eye on Klaus for him, which to be honest they both know she’d do anyway. She helped Diego get to Klaus’ wedding and kidnap him, confusing the soldiers in pursuit of the bride, and follows them off to sea, finally home. She feels she owes an eternal debt to Klaus for not being able to save Ben from execution, though she tried, almost desperately. She flirts with Lila all the damn time, and believes in magic, wanting to travel the world looking for it. Most importantly, you should know that she will and has killed for a cheeseburger. (I know they weren’t invented yet shut up.)

Reginald is the governor of the colony, and Klaus’ father. He’s an asshole, one who constantly hunts the pirates because his wife Grace left him to be one. He only has one eye because Grace cut the other out viciously in their last fight, and he’s an abusive piece of shit who lives to terrorize and tax people. Pogo is his assistant / advisor / let-me-stand-here-and-give-you-good-advice-that-we-all-know-you’ll-ignore person. Reginald refuses to die before he catches Grace and sees her hanging in the square - something that seems more and more likely by the day. (HA, Grace says. He wishes.)

Grace is the original pirate queen, and lives in legend. She faked her death after living a double life for years, leaving Reginald and taking her son Diego with her. She knows Reginald doesn’t believe in her death, because she cut his eye out and nearly killed him right before she left, but everyone else believes it. She jumped from the bell tower and Klaus himself “went mad with grief” at the sight of her body, though he of course knows she’s alive and keeps up the story for her benefit. She injured Reginald so severely because he killed Ben, knowing that he wasn’t guilty, and that the witch in question had done nothing wrong anyway. She is known to be fiercely protective of her children, and kind in nature despite her ability to kill you using a historic number of methods. Her crew is made up of refugees who she offered shelter and a better life in exchange for their servitude, including Five, for awhile, who was running a scam. She knows who he is, and remembers his face well - but she keeps it to herself. Though she could match him in a fight easily, she has no interest in battling the boy she has grown to love as a son. (She’s also the one who officiates Diego and Klaus’ wedding, but that’s unrelated.)

The Handler is another pirate queen, and Grace’s greatest rival. She has two pistols at her waist and is not afraid to use them, having such deadly aim that she’s never missed a target - except Diego, which she hates him for. Also for encouraging her first mate and daughter Lila to mutiny, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Her ship is followed by an entire shiver of sharks, who let her use them like water skis whenever she wants. She abandoned Five on an island when he was born into her crew, as she hates children with a burning passion. (There are rumors she eats little boys’ bones. They have yet to be disproven.) Hazel is her snivelling first mate and Cha-Cha is her willing servant and second captain, a master at the wheel and with a sword. Agnes is an old psychic (ha, she’s faking it. She’s got no fuckin’ clue where Five is and will continue to lie whenever asked) she keeps in the brig after kidnapping her years ago, hoping to get a read on Five, who the Handler hates for constantly stealing her goods before they even make it to port. (She has no idea he’s the same boy she left on that island all those years ago - he’s certainly not the only child she’s done that to. But countless are out for her blood… almost every person Grace has rescued was left to die on an island by the Handler.) She eventually dies at Klaus’ hand, who plunges a sword through her heart in defense of his family, who she made the fatal mistake of coming after. (It happened in the same rainy battle where Lila and Eudora were married. He was wearing a yellow ballgown.)

Also Jack Sparrow is super great friends with Lila and he’s married to Will Turner who’s honestly so exhausted but gets along great with Ben and Elizabeth is their ace-aro friend who is a goddamn queen and who Diego has a lowkey crush on and Klaus can geek out with for hours. It’s awesome.

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365days365movies · 3 years

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March 6, 2021: Wolfwalkers (2020) (Part Two)

Living up to the Cartoon Saloon mold so far!

Although, I do have some thoughts on that whole thing, but...we’ll get there in the Review! Still, this is a gorgeous film with a nice story, and I’m looking forward to the second half! So, let’s jump in! Part 1 is right here!

Recap (2/2)

After their night out in the forest, they make their way back to town. Robyn wonders if Mebh’s mom has been caught, which Mebh adamantly denies. However, Robyn has her doubts. In any case, she promises to help Mebh find her mother, and help them leave the woods for a new home.

Robyn heads back home, but as she’s about to enter her human body, she smells something coming from the great hall, which is almost certainly Mebh’s mom, just sayin’. She runs there, past Seán in the stocks, and heads to the hall...before running into her angry father, who’s been hunting her all night. Soon, commotion and gunshots ring out, as does the news of a wolf in the town.

The chase gets far worse, as Cromwell shows up to kill the wolf with his men. Robyn BARELY manages to escape, and manages to make it into the hall, where the cage is. And yes, this is indeed Moll MacTíre (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Mebh’s mother.

Moll isn’t happy that Mebh bit Robyn, and is less happy that Mebh is still in the woods. She tells Robyn to tell Mebh to leave with the pack as soon as she can, and not to rescue her from Cromwell’s clutches. And as Cromwell approaches, Robyn hides.

Cromwell, a devout Protestant, prays to God as the Irish people of Kilkenny are rioting about the presence of the wolf. He pledges to civilize this wild land, and it’s revealed that Moll is there to show the townsfolk that Cromwell has “tamed” her, as he will to the woods as a whole. But he sees Robyn as he says this, and fires at her, but she narrowly escapes by jumping into the river below.

She manages to make her way back home just as Bill arrives, and jumps back into her human body just in time. But it’s not over yet, as Bill is now in BIG fuckin’ trouble with Cromwell, who’s furious. He’s demoted from hunter to foot-soldier, and Cromwell takes over the duty of exterminating the wolves. Robyn tries to stop him, telling him to release the Wolfwalker in front of the town. And Cromwell orders his men to take her to the stocks.

But at Bill’s urging, he gives them both one last chance. Bill has one more chance to find the wolf’s den, while Robyn must remain a scullery maid and do her duty as well. Which is REALLY hard because she can’t risk falling asleep, or will turn once again into a wolf. The next morning, she does what she can, and sends Merlyn to warn Mebh of the danger.

Mebh, meanwhile, waits for Robyn at their tree the whole next day, but she obviously isn’t coming. Merlyn finds her, which leads to Mebh (in human form, of course) coming into town to find her, with Merlyn’s help. When she does, Robyn relays her mother’s message, to her own sadness, and to Mebh’s confusion and anger, as she believes that Robyn is breaking her promise to help her. They both leave in tears.

But on the way home, Mebh overhears commotion about a wolf that Cromwell has captured and is displaying in the courtyard, and realizes that this is her mother. She reacts...poorly, and immediately heads to find her mother. Robyn also heads there, as Cromwell has ordered the townsfolk to attend.

Robyn stops Mebh in the crowd, and uses the bullies to capture her in a cage. She tells Mebh that it’s for her own good, which angers Mebh further. This is all while Cromwell is speechifying, nothing that he was sent there by God to tame the wilds, and the wolves. He unveils Moll, to the shock of everyone, and she’s chained up to show her “obedience”. And that’s then Mebh busts out.

She runs up on stage, to her mom, much to Robyn’s sorrow, Moll’s worry, Cromwell’s shock, and the amusement of the townspeople. Bill is told to catch Mebh, which proves a challenge, and Cromwell grimaces at the townspeople’s laughter. He commands Bill to put Mebh in the stocks, and this angers Moll, who breaks her muzzle and bites Bill OH FUCK DUDE

Mebh manages to escape the men, and climbs up the walls, where she shouts that she is a Wolfwalker, and will come to town with her pack to destroy it and the townspeople. This is war now. And she leaves to gather her troops.

Cromwell shakes this threat off entirely, and pledges to burn the forest down that night to destroy the wolves. He berates Bill for his inability to catch Mebh, and gives him one last chance to prove himself, or be put in chains. He also tells him to kill Moll, and to teach Robyn some manners. DICK.

Once again, Robyn tries to get through to her father, but he angrily turns her away. And as he goes to kill Moll, Robyn is fucking DONE. She stands between her father and the cage, and he responds that he’s doing this because he’s afraid, specifically for her. But he’s distracted by the news of wolves outside the town, and Robyn takes the opportunity.

Sick. Moll and Robin ride out of town, with the men and Cromwell hot on their tail (literally). They get out of town, though, and find Mebh and the wolves as she’s about to invade the town with the wolves. Mother and daughter tenderly embrace, finally, and Mebh and Robyn make up, becoming friends once more. Yay, happy ending!

FUCK SAD ENDING

Well, not an ending yet, but yeah, Moll is shot by Bill, who believes she’s in danger from the wolves. As they surround her, they’re all interrupted by Mebh, howling to heal her mother with wild magic. Moll turns into a golden spirit, and heads towards her sleeping body in the woods, with Mebh and the wolves following.

Robyn tries to go after them, but is held back by Bill. She reveals to him that she’s a Wolfwalker, which upsets her father further. He holds her tight, not wanting to lose her, but she wills herself to sleep, and becomes a wolf. She runs off, leaving Bill behind. Cromwell and his men arrive to burn down the forest, and chain Bill up.

Robyn, Mebh, and the wolves head back to the den, where Moll’s wolf spirit merges with her body, alongside the arrow wound. Mebh tries to heal Moll, but it’s bad. Meanwhile, the men approach, and Robyn takes the wolves to hold them off while Mebh works. Said holding off is also a great sequence, but it’s cut short by Mebh realizing that she needs the pack in order to fully heal her mother.

They retreat to the den, while Bill sees Robin once again, but through...wolf vision this time! THERE we go! Magic’s beginning to settle in through the bite, finally! Cromwell and his men pursue her, and a cannon blast knocks her out. They follow her into the den, and she fights them again after waking up, and disables their cannon fully by making it fire at the ground.

That also knocks her down and out, and Cromwell comes in to finish the job, about to kill her with a sword. But Bill...Bill’s tired of Cromwell’s bullshit.

HOLY SHIT, HE LOOKS FUCKING AWESOME.

Bill’s also, like, IMMEDIATELY good at the wolf schitck, and takes out Cromwell without too much difficulty. But Cromwell figures it out, and ties to kill Bill’s human body, only for Robin to wake up as a human and disable him with her crossbow.

This culminates in a battle by the waterfall, and the DEATH OF OLIVER CROMWELL, HOLY SHIT! Something about the catharsis of that whole thing from an Irish film is...fuckin’ palpable, goddamn. After Cromwell’s death, Bill and Robyn unite as wolf father and daughter, and head out to help Mebh and Moll.

Mebh and Robyn come together, and with the help of the wolves and Bill together, they finally, finally heal Moll’s wound, and bring her back from near death. Mother and daughter happily embrace as well, and Bill and Robyn are officially welcomed into the pack as fellow Wolfwalkers.

They find a new home together, and the new pack is safe

.And that’s Wolfwalkers! I loved it! I’ll elaborate more in the Review. See you there!

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neerasrealm · 3 years

Text

Ice Skate Races

I told myself I’d spend December focusing on some christmas themed shorts and now it’s the 19th. This is the only one I have finished. I’m so sorry. Anyway uhhh wholesome Zalgo minions content to bless your day you’re welcome Word Count: 2081

He strode slowly toward the bodies laying on the floor in front of him. Both of them, killed by gunshots. His expensive knee-length boots squelched quietly as he stepped in blood. He lifted up his foot, a noise of disgust escaping him. He huffed and stepped back. Great...he’d have to clean his shoes later...

‘’Yo dude- dudes! Get over here!’’ a younger voice called behind him. He heard heels walk across the room toward the voice and stop.

‘’Oh!’’ The other voice was more feminine.

‘’Snoooow!!’’ the first voice replied excitedly. ‘’Yo, Jason come look!’’

He turned to look at his two companions. One was tall, completely in black save for a white masked face. The other was much shorter, with messy brown hair, ripped jeans and a blue coat. The shorter one, named Natalie, grinned at him. She had one green eye that shone in the light, and the other was a clock. ‘’It’s snowing!’’ she repeated.

‘’And?’’

‘’And? It’s snow, dude!’’

Jason crossed his arms, looking at her unamused. ‘’You’re like a child.’’

‘’You’re the one who plays with dolls!’’ she snapped back. Jason snarled at her. Before the two could fight each other, the taller one of his companions cleared her throat. The two of them turned to look at her, then huffed and looked away.

‘’I’d rather get home as soon as possible. We’re actually getting a break for once, and I’d like to enjoy said break if I can.’’ Jason muttered.

‘’Exactly! This is our last job before our christmas break, which means…’’ Natalie grinned. ‘’We should celebrate! It’s snowing, it’s december, we don’t gotta worry about Zalgo on our asses…’’ she trailed off, smiling dreamily. Jason rolled his eyes. ‘’What about you, Jane?’’ she asked, turning to the taller girl. ‘’You wanna actually enjoy christmas for once instead of being a scrooge like this idiot?’’ she gestured to Jason as she spoke. Jason grunted and busied himself with pulling wallets from the corpse’s pockets. Jane chuckled a bit.

‘’Sure. Why not?’’ she reached up and took off her mask, shaking her hair out of her burnt face. ‘’What were you thinking?’’ she asked, tilting her head.

‘’Mmm...I think I remember seeing an ice skating rink on our way here!’’ Natalie grinned up at her. ‘’How’s that sound, babe?’’

‘’Sounds fun!’’ Jane smiled a bit and nodded. She turned to Jason, who was searching nooks and crannies for spare cash or anything of interest. Not like the owners of the apartment would be needing any of it. ‘’What about you Jason? You wanna come with us?’’ He glanced at them for a moment, looking unamused as always.

‘’I can’t ice skate.’’ he grunted.

‘’Well neither can I,’’ Nat replied. ‘’You should just come! Have fun for once!’’ he squinted at her as she spoke.

‘’Just go bother someone else, you two…’’ he muttered as he moved away from the shelf he was examining and over toward one of the hallways. Presumably so he could search the bedroom for anything of interest. Natalie huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine then, Mr Grinch…" she muttered. She reached over and grabbed Jane's hand. "We're gonna have a magical christmas experience without you!" She yelled after him. She glared off in his direction for a bit before relenting and pulling Jane off with her.

The two walked down the stairs of the apartment building and out into the cold. She grinned up at Jane as they walked down the street. "You ever been ice skating before?"

"A few times- with my mom and dad." She replied gently. "You?"

"A couple times. Not amazing at it though." She chuckled. "Luckily I have a hot lady to catch me when I fall though." She added with a wink. Jane laughed.

"Sure, sure." She squeezed Nat's hand. They continued walking, enjoying the presence of one another. It was silent for a bit until-

"Natalie! Jane!" They turned around to see Jason running toward them. He stopped, panting a bit before straightening himself up. He cleared his throat. "...I'm coming with you two." He finally said, sounding reluctant.

"I knew it!" Natalie jumped on the spot, pointing at him with a grin. "You do have a heart!"

"...no I don't." Jason glared at her. "And I'm only coming because Zalgo would blame me if you two were to get in any trouble. I am not ice skating."

"Whatever you say, toy-boy."

××××

"I am not ice skating."

"Yes you are!" Natalie snapped at the toymaker. She held up a pair of ice skates. "We already paid for these! You're putting 'em on, whether you like it or not." She tossed them into his lap and sat down on the bench beside him, kicking off her brown ugg boots and putting on the ice skates. Jason sighed and reluctantly did the same. By the time they were done, Jane had already switched out her own shoes and gotten onto the ice. They both stood at the edge of the rink, watching her elegantly skate around the circumference of it.

She skated around toward them and gestured as she approached. "You two coming or what?" She called. Natalie grinned eagerly and stepped onto the ice, wobbling a bit. She gripped the edge of the rink for support and took off, half skating and half stumbling. She definitely didn't know how to skate properly, but she was having fun at least! Jason however was not. He stepped onto the ice and gripped the edge of the rink, glancing down anxiously.

He shuffled along carefully, too unsteady on both his feet and his nerves to try and actually skate. Jane noticed him struggling and cut across the rink, stopping near him. "You need some help?" She asked, reaching out to take his arm. He swatted her away.

"I'm fine! I just-" he huffed. "...I've never done this before."

Jane's eyes widened in surprise. "Never?" She asked, taken aback. Jason was so old yet he'd never gone ice skating?! The toymaker shook his head and glanced away, embarrassed. She held out her hand to him. "It's fun, y'know," she murmured. "You want me to teach you?"

He glanced at her for a long moment, then took her hand in his. She beamed under her mask and tugged him. "Stop trying to walk on the ice. Swerve your legs, you're trying to build momentum and glide. Not run."

Jason gulped nervously and nodded. It took him a while to get it and figure out what exactly she meant, but once he did he found himself grinning and laughing as the two of them skated around the rink, holding each other's hand the whole way. Eventually, Jane reached over and grabbed his other hand, pulling him out to the center of the rink. He looked around nervously. "Jane?" He asked, sounding a little scared. She suddenly let go of him and glided back. Jason yelped in surprise and had to quickly regain his balance. He glanced around anxiously. "Jane! Jane wait, come back!" He reached out toward her, too scared to move himself. She gestured for him to come closer. He whimpered, and nervously skated himself forward. Instead of falling over like he expected, he slid across the ice and over to her. She took his hands again and smiled up at him.

"You did it!" She chirped. Jason blinked in surprise. "See? It's not scary at all." She chuckled.

"...oh." he paused for a moment before breaking into a soft smile. "I- I did it…" he giggled a bit, giddy with the excitement that he learned something, all by himself! However, his joy was cut short by the sound of Natalie yelling behind them. They glanced over at her, watching her get up onto her hands and knees.

"You okay, love?" Jane called as Nat shook her head a few times. She glanced over at them and grinned.

"I'm good!" She managed to get back on her feet then looked over at Jason. "Race me!"

"Hm?"

"Race me!" She repeated. "Around the rink, I'll give you a head start if you think you can't do it!"

Jason stared at her for a moment, then glanced at Jane. A smirk curled up his face and he let go of her hands, turning and skating quickly over to Nat. She took off before he even reached her. "Hey!" He skated after her. "I thought I got a head start!"

Nat laughed back at him. She ended up winning, just barely, and Jason demanded a rematch. Then he declared the second lost race was just a practice run. He won the third, and Nat decided they'd do best out of three. Jane watched them circle around the rink again and again, smiling softly under her mask. Eventually she skated over to the exit of the rink and took her skates off, slipping back into her regular boots.

Jane wandered over to the small coffee stand by the rink and ordered three hot chocolates. She didn't need to watch Jason and Natalie to know who was winning their races, they were making it very loud and very clear. She chuckled a bit as she wandered over to a small table with the drinks and set them down. She walked over to the rink again and leaned against the barrier. "Hey you two!" She called as they skated toward her. They looked up at her, surprised. "I got hot chocolate out here, if you're done yelling at each other."

"Oh HELL yeah!" Natalie turned around and skated back toward the rink's exit. Jason grinned and followed her. Jane sat at the table, watching them toss their shoes to each other before walking over to join her. Nat collapsed herself in her chair and Jane slid over her hot chocolate.

‘’Extra marshmallows, just the way you like it.’’ she murmured. The clock-eyed girl broke out into a grin and stomped her feet against the artificial grass on the ground in glee. Jane passed Jason’s hot chocolate to him. ‘’And I got yours with cream and chocolate flakes.’’ she told him. Jason smiled thankfully and took a long sip of the hot, sugary drink. Jane sighed out and took off her mask, setting it down and sipping her own hot chocolate. They were all quiet, just enjoying the warmth. Jane eventually broke the silence. ‘’You know...I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you smile so much, Jason.’’

He looked over at her, surprised. Natalie looked at him. ‘’Holy shit,’’ she gasped. ‘’It’s a christmas miracle!’’

‘’PFFFFT-’’ Jason wheezed. He glanced at the two girls and smiled sheepishly. ‘’I...suppose I’m...having a good time...’’ he murmured, looking away. He sipped his hot chocolate again to think for a minute. ‘’I’ve never really celebrated christmas much.’’

‘’You haven’t?’’ Nat cocked a brow at him. Jason shook his head.

‘’Zalgo celebrates of course- you know him, he likes indulging in parties and making himself seem great with all his gifts...but he didn’t always, now that I think about it,’’ he paused for a moment, thinking. ‘’But anyway- we have the parties on christmas eve and day obviously, but that’s about all I’ve ever done…’’

‘’What about before?’’

Jason looked at Natalie, confused at the question. ‘’Before?’’

‘’Before Zalgo,’’ she said. ‘’When you were human.’’

Jason paused. ‘’When I was human…’’ he looked away. ‘’Well- it was the eighteen-hundreds so...I can’t say we could do much.’’ he shrugged. ‘’My family was fairly well off, so we could afford to celebrate a little. Some food, and some simple gifts…’’ he paused before smiling, glancing at the girls. ‘’You know, I’m only around ten years younger than the christmas tree.’’

‘’No way!’’ Nat gawked at him. ‘’You’re messing with me!’’

‘’It’s true! They were introduced to england in the forties, and I was born around the fifties!’’ he grinned at her. She broke out into laughs.

‘’Fucking hell dude, you’re old.’’

‘’Not as old as Zalgo.’’ he replied with a sly smirk, which only made the two of them snicker. Even Jane was laughing, albeit fairly quietly. She looked at the two of them and smiled. They didn’t get along very often...it was nice seeing the two be nice to each other for once. She sipped her hot chocolate and glanced between them.

‘’You guys wanna go look at the christmas lights after this?’’ she suggested. The two turned to her and grinned.

#creepypasta fanfic #creepypasta fanfiction #creepypasta #jason the toymaker #clockwork #clockwork creepypasta #natalie oulette #jane the killer #jane arkensaw #writing

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resonanteye · 3 years

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via https://resonanteye.net/horror-movie-reviews-day-one-the-horror-of-everyday-life/

horror movie reviews: day one, the horror of everyday life

a series of reviews, two each day, of horror movies.

day one, movie one: # alive.

1: half the people are crazed and trying to kill the other half of the people, panic and mass casualties, violent infection, etc – yes, it’s 2020-2021 thank you, continue

2: infected people trying to get in and infect people who are quarantined, aggressive mental illness -yes, yes

3: your neighbors are all worse than you ever knew -yes. yes

4: cops eating each other -please do go on

5: oh no several days how will you ever survive with only ramen

two whole days of lockdown

6: so you’re warned to have plenty of food and water, yet you don’t immediately fill up the bathtub at least, or the sinks. and you don’t go into the zombie neighbor’s abandoned apartment to see if there’s food

7: too much tech, not enough walkie talkies. I doubt.

8: I get it, people expect the end of the world to be like, a switch flipped, but no. this shit draaaags forever

9: the golf club is reminiscent of funny games. maybe an intentional nod to his change in mental state

10: slapstick!

11: finally, foraging.

12: the Mormons are at the door

13: we have skipped two weeks, without water or food?

14: and finally the lights out- wouldn’t that go before the running water?

15: oh the melodrama. don’t be a moron, but this magical dude has been alive a month without water

16: Kim Yu-bin is keeping track of her shit. I bet he gets her killed. nice waterworld callback with watering the plant.

17: of course he’s that stupid, he’s the protagonist and you’re a competent woman in a movie. how else would it justify you endangering yourself for him?

18: oh, wait. he HAS water? from where?

19: finally the tech is worth a damn. and she’s feeding him, which is ok because yes helping each other matters but

20: ok yes the tech is nice, good point, this is a scene from hackers vs zombies. slapstick is fine. zombie big mad. give me back my hand you bastards

21: Jun-u. I had been ignoring his name the entire movie. This is a bad habit of mine with zombie stuff.

22: finally some decent fuckin plot movement. there’s kids, in a good movie he’d have to kill one. instead, a treasure trove of all the survival gear. it’s handy when someone else did the preparation FOR you. I mean damn

23: oooh she’s only alive to help HIM. what a fucking surprise

24: reminds me of the pandemic “share a window” website crossed with a gentle, normal mukbang (not a weird fetish feeder one)

25: the zombies are going hooome. the zombies are going hooooooome

26: ok yes sounds scary, looked scary but it seems like there’s only five of them at her door

27: she’s skilled. of course. melee fighter. I like that this isn’t the dumb-ass slow zombies, nor the superhuman ones. just regular people.

28: another pile up!

29: don’t drink koolaid from strangers, but spam? NO NOT THAT EITHER. of course there will be cannibals in this that aren’t sick, that’s another nice callback (the road) (dead alive). I’m still holding out hope a kid zombie gets killed, although it’s unlikely at this point.

30: holy fuckin generational-divide-monologue for the ages

31: oh damn a gunshot in South Korea.

32: look, Kim, I wasn’t given any backstory for you, but I really want you to outlive “regular dumb guy”. the suicide subplot is going nowhere and we both know it

33: it’s never a good look to be fighting zombie hordes on the stairs. I don’t know why, it just isn’t good. just stay in the damn apartment. please.

34: regular Joe, you are doing the right thing by staying behind, keep that up.

35: FUCK THIS SHITTY APARTMENT

36: finally, machine guns. sorry, I’m American. I’ve been waiting for an hour and a half for logic to set in

37: where are they even going? she’s cooler than him, why isn’t she getting messages? so I guess his Instagram saved her? is that a subversiveon of what I’ve been complaining about? I think it is.

7/10 excellent slapstick, callbacks, just enough humor without ruining the narrative. subversive ending in that he’s only in the movie for the sake of saving her life, and neither died. points deducted for lack of depth to the woman in the film, too much depth for the guy, and for showing us a lack of water then changing that enough to keep someone alive for 20 days. (also, he didn’t even fill up the sink, the hell)

number two, day one: condemned

this movie is about squatting, a lifestyle I’m too familiar with. let’s see how close to the mark it gets. oh, and zombie infection stuff. that too.

1: the supe is always the strangest thing in any building in NYC. always. this isn’t a narrator. this is realism.

2: when will rich kids learn that poverty isn’t an aesthetic? when will something that poor people authentically live through, be safe from commodification and the thievery of the privileged? where does class/cultural appropriation end? why are people using their yacht money on a tiny fuckin house? find out on the next episode of generation x, when we discuss the occup- wait no- this is just a zombie flick. sorry about that

3: I know she’s saying other shit on the phone but all I hear is “the rain was such a blessing”

4: montage is always good with good music over it. going anywhere in the city is basically a montage in reality

5: cigarettes cost 14 bucks in New York holy fuckin shit I’m old

6: ominous: “what could be worse than where you are now”, teens having sex, neon lighting, drainpipe footage, “what difference is a day gonna make”, “I won’t make the same mistake like I did in Vladivostok”

7: this bondage shit on the third floor is giving me a real, serious flashback to a job I did briefly which paid incredibly well. every time these characters show up I have a flashback, every time I watch this.

8: every character in this movie is someone I’ve met. every fuckin one. even cookie. I hate that and love it at the same time. I don’t know if you’ve ever lived in bad beat city but this is accuracy.

9: the glitch hallucination is wonderful. don’t show me people’s bad dreams, though. it’s a waste of film. especially someone’s dream who doesn’t know that squats don’t get the garbage picked up. at least he was gentle about her tourist status. (yes, that was fucking gentle. she’s visiting, but they LIVE there. he’ll show you the life of the mind)

10: the colors in this movie reminds me of Mermaid in a Manhole, an amazing movie itself- this is a compliment

11: yes punk means you puke and say “did you SEE that” yes it does

12: the way sickness spreads in close, unmaintained quarters is accurate too. these old buildings were originally tenements and were notorious for being built in a way that contributed to outbreaks of diseases. ny poverty history

13: the glitch used as stand-in for visual mirage is again amazing and continues to be throughout

14: that walk up all the stairs after a day at work to complain about the horror of everyday life, with a back crack and sore feet.

15: the cops are also accurate

16: the plot takes a nice strong left turn here, and it’s perfection. since the development of the plot cookie was leading us to doesn’t matter to the people in this building, it’s better to truncate it. and then we can get to business.

17: yes. if you die in a squat, you’re getting rolled in a carpet and left blocks away. you’ve got to. nobody’s gonna kill you but nobody’s going to be on the street over your ass either.

18: guitar axe skyline lightning. that may be a summary of the whole movie.

19: absolutely pitch perfect “you ruined new york city” rant for the ages

I used to live there

20: if the building wasn’t shit, this would be a nice Shining callback

21: FAWKKING

22: this movie just will not let you have any expected outcome. it’s brilliant.

23: I’ve lived in a brownstone that had a cellar which connected to every building on the block and beyond. that was in Philly, but the construction of this landscape is perfect.

full disclosure- I own this DVD and have watched it a lot. it’s one of my favorite movies, structurally and visually, and I think it’s one of the best horror movies made this decade.

#true stories

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aforgottenballad · 4 years

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Feelings on Sally Face Episode 5

Under a read more for obvious reasons, includes heavy spoilers and potentially triggering subjects.

Disclaimer: I might miss-remember some parts of the story or have missed a piece of lore that would settle minor complaints. I am however disappointed in the ending as a whole and in some of the very harmful tropes included in it. But I’m also just some dude online with an opinion, and you can stop reading at any time.

Rant under cut.

Alright ya’ll. I’ve had a couple days to digest the ending to Sally Face. While playing, I genuinely enjoyed some elements of the game. The chapter started on a dark but nearly hopeful note. Neil and Ash were still working to bring the cult down. It seemed likely Sal would be resurrected. Todd had apparently escaped the hospital, and that had potential to be either a very very good or very very bad thing. Maple was possessed by whatever fucked up the souls of the other apartment tenants, but hey! At least her and Neil weren’t in on the cult like so many fans predicted. Unfortunately, this series has a way of getting darker and darker as it progresses. First thing that bugged me was the lore drop about how the cult was founded. A Native American tribe. Right. Because why wouldn’t Indigenous peoples be in a story without being part of some mystical occult backstory, portrayed as mysterious historical props who worshiped something dark and evil instead of being portrayed as human beings.

But I continued. I really enjoyed playing as Ashley and getting some insight into her character. I enjoyed the task of planting the C4 in the temple... catacomb... thing. We get to see Travis again! I was excited that a lot of us were right about him being indoctrinated but also working to fight the cult from the inside. We knew he had some good in him after all.

When Ash tries to resurrect Sal, we get even more insight into her character, and unfortunately a lot of it is “Grieving, distraught, and full of self-blame”. I want to hug her. Sal’s spirit is apparently revived by those pyramids, and he can dimension warp. We meet Jim, or what’s left of him, and he doesn’t give a fuck about anything anymore but agrees to help Sal anyway. This is, narratively speaking, weird as hell. His entire character arc for four episodes was “Loved his family so much he sacrificed himself to save them”, and suddenly he’s just some glowy dude attached to Magic Spirit Tubes who doesn’t give half a shit. I guess it makes sense as a way to wrap up why he’s been able to drift between worlds but... if he doesn’t care about any of that anymore why help Sal? And what about Rosenberg? Is she like Jim, or do we just have to assume she’s magical because her family helped found the cult? (Explained in an easter egg later on, because this game doesn’t just drop its lore. Not even the CRUCIAL lore. You have to achievement hunt for it.) Sal can enter various doors in the House In The Void to step into alternate realities, and this was my favorite aspect of the game. Each door has a different art style, and I really liked seeing these alternate realities. Steve probably worked the hardest and longest on drawing out and coding these scenes. I genuinely applaud the man for the work put into this endeavor I’m assuming all by himself.

Meanwhile, Ash tries to unbind Larry’s soul from the tree house he died in, which doesn’t work. Did we ever find out why his body was never found? No? Ok that seems important.

After each puzzle, Sal’s body is restored a little bit at a time, but even after turning on all the pyramids and solving the mysteries behind all three doors, he can’t make it back to the “real” world. So Ashley kills herself. Or tries to. Because apparently that’s the only way to complete the ritual, and also because she feels really bad about not unbinding Larry’s soul and about not fixing Sal. Again, I want to hug her, but I have to watch her hurt herself instead, cause Steve doesn’t let us have nice things.

Okay, so this is a gorey game. We know. But one of the BIGGEST no-nos suicide prevention networks will tell you when consulting them about mental illness and suicide in media is NOT to show a graphic suicide in progress. Steve is aware a lot of his fans are A) Young teens to young adults B) Struggling with mental illness.

His main character suffers from depression and anxiety and this fact has resonated with hundreds of fans. It’s irresponsible to purposefully include a graphic suicide attempt, but he did it last chapter, showing a gunshot suicide’s aftermath, then he did it again with Ashley. Call me a wiener if you like, point out the graphic scenes from earlier in the game and call me a hypocrite for not being upset by that, but you have to admit the Spongebob-close-up-shot look to those scenes have a totally different feel. Speaking as someone who actually has a pretty thick skin, but is concerned about the fans who might be in a worse place or who could be as young as 12, that was fucked up.

Anyway, Ash’s attempt doesn’t take, because she’s struck by magic lightning, which infuses Sal’s soul into her. Now her arm is one of those stretchy sticky hands, but with bio luminescence and the ability to kick cultist ass. I actually thought this part was really cool, and was super ready to go on a cultist smacking spree. But again, we can’t have nice things and before we get to do anything badass we have to look at gruesome imagery again.

You get to see Void Larry, who is now old and a wizard or something, but first...

Surprise! Maple and Neil are dead! Not just dead, but hung up from hooks covered in blood! And naked!

Hey?? Hey Steve????? You know how they’re both POC?? And that lynching imagery is EXTREMELY NOT GOOD?!!????

“Two white people are hung up with them” YEAH? WELL WE’VE NEVER SEEN THOSE CHARACTERS BEFORE. THEY’RE JUST RANDOM PEOPLE.

I’ve seen people arguing “The white characters go through terrible things too” but it’s still really fucked up that by the end of the game, every. Single. Person of color. In the game. Has died. Gruesomely. It’s a gorey, dark, bleak game, and white characters die as well, gruesomely; but not all of them. None of them that are named are shown strung up, naked. That’s fucked up. That isn’t okay.

There are also a total of three gay characters in this game. One is Todd, who goes through the standard “bad bad stuff” the game is used to, is the white one, and he survives. One is Neil, one of the aforementioned people of color who died horribly and who only really existed to be Todd’s boyfriend and therefore a source of angst for Todd when he dies. The third is Travis, another man of color, and an abuse victim, who dies to fulfill his character arc as an abuse victim, which is also really shitty to see over and over again as an abuse survivor.

Look, I know Steve pulled a lot of inspiration from old TV shows and horror series that probably weren’t all “politically correct”. I know it’s always been kind of an edgy and dark game. I know Steve probably didn’t think about the repercussions of all his narrative choices. But I also know he actively ignored some people offering to educate him on issues he has no experience with. I know he worked hard on this game, by himself, but we as fans have paid him and waited for years and it isn’t selfish or ungrateful to be hurt and disappointed. He knows his audience is diverse, he knows a lot of us were attracted to the game because of a gender nonconforming main character, a main character who struggles with mental illness, a cast that isn’t 100% white and conventionally attractive. Of course he didn’t need to change the plot for us! It’s his game, his vision, but the least he could have done is research how to not actively hurt and alienate a good portion of us. I don’t think anyone is bad or racist for still finding solace in the characters and in what the story was before this, I’m not attacking you personally, whoever is reading this. I, personally, still have loads of Sally Face art in my queue, I still have active role plays going on, my Sal wig is sitting like 8 feet away waiting for the next time my friends want to take cosplay pictures. I still enjoyed playing the game for the most part. Without this game I wouldn’t even know most of my current friends. It’s just really shitty how it ended like this, and a lot of people I talk to daily either feel too sick to even talk about the game anymore after seeing people like them treated like trash by the narrative or try to focus on the good things they got out of just being part of the fandom but don’t feel comfortable supporting the developer anymore.

Even if there wasn’t all these hurtful tropes packed into the game, and yes, even after unlocking the epilogue, the game just feels cold. It feels rushed, probably because of how much time went into the alternate dimension gimmick. I wish Steve had at least consulted people over the script. It felt like not only did he pour all his work into experimenting with the mixed media, he also just took whatever expectations the fans had and went somewhere completely different just to have his story be “unpredictable”. That isn’t always a good thing. Plot twists, downer endings, dark and scary imagery, all of these things can be done beautifully, but in this case it felt like he just wanted the series to end. The game didn’t subvert expectations, it fed into the harmful stereotypes and tropes all the fans were so hopeful it wouldn’t.

...On top of not making any sense unless you’re able to 100% all the puzzles. And even when you do, it feels like all the bad stuff happened for no reason. The ending doesn’t conclude anything. Even when you unlock the epilogue, all it tells you is that a third of the world has died and that the main cast haven’t accomplished much besides “Trying to help”. Sal and Todd have powers now, but that isn’t elaborated on much. Larry’s spirit is missing, if he even exists in any plane at all anymore. It doesn’t even mention what’s going on with Ash. It just feels like nothing mattered.

#sally face #long post #analysis #sally face spoilers #chapter 5 spoilers

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queen-of-deans-booty · 4 years

Text

Good God, YA’ll: Final Part

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,808

Warnings: typical supernatural violence, language, angst, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: so sorry this wasn’t out on thursday! my sister just went back to college so i got caught up in spending time with her.

I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

By the time Ellen got back, she returned without Sam. She had a look of sadness on her face which gave you the clue that something terrible happened to Sam, she found her daughter in a way that she never wanted to, or both.

“Where is Sam?” Dean asked. Ellen just shook her head as she walked inside the church.

“They took him? Demons took him? Oh my god. What if they're in here? The demons?” the pregnant woman asked in a panic.

“Could they get in?” the Pastor asked.

“No,” Dean assured him as he grabbed his shotgun. Jumping up from your seat, you rushed to him and placed a hand on his chest.

“Let me go. If there are demons out there, and this is serious, then I can protect myself a hell of a lot better than you can. I’m just saying. I can find Sam and Jo, you can stay down here and keep everyone calm and figure out what the hell is going on. If it were up to me? There are no demons in this town.”

“You think there is something making us see demons?”

“Like I said earlier, Roger isn’t human. Figure out what the hell he is while I go and get Sam.”

“Okay, I trust you,” he whispered. Leaning into his body, you kissed him tenderly but quickly before leaving the room. It was now up to you to figure out what was going on in this town while trying to find Sam and Jo.

The town was desolate and calm, there was no way there were demons here. Keeping your ears and eyes peeled for anything suspicious, you walked around town, peeking into houses to see if you could spot Sam or Jo. When you found no sign of them, you continued onto the next street to do the same thing.

This street was the same as the last, but you felt eyes on you as you walked. Someone was watching you, but you didn’t know where or what they were. Passing by a house that has all its doors and windows open, you must have triggered something because you were suddenly being shot at.

As a defense mechanism, you used your magic to deflect the bullets as you approached the man who was shooting at you.

“Get back demon!” he yelled as he started throwing holy water at you. Okay, there were definitely no demons in this town because there was no way in hell that you could ever be one.

“I’m not a demon!” you exclaimed as the two of you started fighting. Knives and guns don’t work on demons, so all he had to protect himself was holy water and some salt that he kept trying to shove down your throat. This man was really testing your patience with this, and you started to grow frustrated.

“Dude! Stop! I am not a demon!” you raised your voice, your eyes turning blue as soon as you said the last word. In the heat of the moment, you placed your glowing blue hand on the guy’s forehead as his skin absorbed your magic. Realization seemed to cross over his eyes, and he immediately stopped trying to fight you.

“What the hell happened?” he asked.

“Go back to the church. It’s safe there. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Don’t talk to anyone, just go there and stay there,” you instructed. He seemed to trust you enough to listen, and as he was running away, you stared at your hand. The power you possessed was always surprising to you. From one of the houses, you heard what sounded to be Sam screaming, and you took off running to it. Approaching the house carefully, you muttered the invisible spell under your breath to conceal yourself. It wouldn’t be good for you to get spotted, and this way, you could easily see what was going on.

Looking in the window, you spotted Jo and Rufus in the corner as they held Sam’s head forcefully. Jo held Sam steady as Rufus poured salt down his throat and said the exorcism.

“Please! Come on!” Sam gasped. When Rufus noticed no change in Sam, they both let go of him to try a different tactic. Jo picked up a water jog and started splashing holy water on the younger brother.

“Look! Something's not right! Do you see that?” Sam spit out a mouthful of water when Jo poured it down his throat once more. “Come on! Stop! Listen to me!”

When they knew none of this was working, the two hunters huddled in the corner to speak privately as Sam caught his breath.

“Why isn't it working?” Jo asked.

“I don't know.”

“Look, listen to me, something's not right!” Sam tried once more.

“But he's not as strong as he thinks he is.”

“You can see that. Please. Please. Just listen to me!” Looking past Sam and the two hunters, you saw Roger staring at Sam with a wicked smile as he twisted his hand. Widening your eyes, you grew concerned when you figured out what the hell he was.

“War,” you whispered before ducking out of sight. There was no way you could get Sam and Jo out of there with War in there, so you hurried back to the base camp to tell Dean and Ellen what you figured out. When you got to the church, you banged on the door until you walked in.

“Did you find Sam?”

“What about Jo?”

“Dean, I know what’s going on,” you panted. Before you could get out what was really going on, there was a pounding on the door and Roger speaking from behind it.

“It’s Roger! Open up!”

“No, don’t open it!” you exclaimed just as Austin did just that.

“I saw them, the demons. They know we're trying to leave. They said they're gonna pick us off one by one,” Roger panted.

“Wait, wait, wait. What?” Dean asked, looking at you.

“There are no demons. That is War! One of the Horsemen!” you whispered to Dean as to not alarm the others in a panic.

“I thought you said there were no demons,” Austin accused Dean of lying.

“There's not. Where did you go?”

“I thought someone should go out and see what's going on!”

“Where did you see the demons and what did they say exactly?” Dean demanded to know.

“We just sit here, we're going to be dead.”

“No, we’re not!” you raised your voice.

“They're gonna kill us unless we kill them first,” War got everyone on edge.

“Man, we got people to protect. Alright, the able-bodied go hunt some demons,” Austin said as he picked up a shotgun.

“This isn’t a damn demon thing! There are no demons!” you tried to make everyone listen. War held up his hand and twisted his ring before panicking and pointing to you, Ellen and Dean.

“Look at their eyes! They're demons!” Everyone stared at you three before panicking.

“Go! Go!” you yelled as the three of you got out of there before they could start shooting.

“What the hell is going on?” Ellen demanded to know. Once you three were safe for now, you stopped to explain everything to her.

“There are no demons, just War. One of the four horsemen. I think that when Lucifer rose, it woke the horsemen. Ellen, I know this might sound scary, but I will protect you. All of you.”

“How? What can you do that we can’t?” she challenged you. Without a second thought, you turned your eyes blue and a wisp of magic danced between your fingers.

“I can do a lot of things I didn’t know were capable. Trust me when I say I will protect you. Jo ad Rufus aren’t demons, War made them look like they were. I came across a man who thought I was a demon, but I “fixed” his sight. I was able to make him see things for what they really were. As long as you’re with me, you’re safe.”

“Shit,” Ellen breathed out. Looking up, you spotted a mess of blonde hair and knew who that was. Jo and Rufus were putting bombs in the window just in case someone decided to come in through there.

“Look, there they are,” you pointed to the duo. “come on, I know a way to get them, but you have to listen to exactly as I say.”

“I would listen to her,” Dean backed you up.

“Okay, you got it. What’s your plan?” Ellen asked.

With the plan set in motion, you grabbed a rock before throwing it into the window. As soon as it tripped the system, the window exploded which caused Dean and Ellen to jump into action. When you knew it was safe, you rushed to the back of the house and to Dean and Rufus who were outside on the porch. Rufus was a strong man for his age and size, so it was taking everything in Dean to keep him down.

“Rufus! Think! We’re not demons!” Dean tried to reason.

“Dean move!” you yelled as you ran up to Rufus. Your boyfriend let go of the older man, and when you got your chance, you slapped a hand on his head, letting your magic work its way through his brain.

“Y/N!” Ellen yelled from inside. Jo may be a small woman, but she was creative. Jumping through the window, you flicked your wrist which sent a small wave of magic to Jo, hitting her square in the face. The magic worked its way into her eyes and mouth, making her see things for what they are. Rufus and Dean walked inside once he got his head screwed on straight.

“We good? Everyone on the same page?” you asked before looking between the hunters.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Hi Jo,” you smiled once the situation calmed down.

“Hey.”

“Okay, we got to find War before everybody in this town kills each—” Dean was interrupted when gunshots rang from the front of the house. Immediately ducking out of sight, you just knew who was shooting at you and how many of them were out there.

“How did you do that? Earlier?” Jo asked as Dean got up and raced for the stairs.

“Wait, Dean!”

“Sam is in the other room,” Rufus explained.

“Look, Jo, there is a lot we need to catch up on. Just know this, whatever I do, just stay behind me. I’ll protect everyone. No more have to die because of this. Where is Sam and Dean?”

“They left. Said something about you handling things.”

“You’re damn right I will. You trust me?” you asked as you looked at the three hunters.

“Yes,” Jo immediately said.

“Then stay behind me and let me handle everything. I need you guys to not to hurt anyone with a gun. Just get their weapons away from them, okay? I’ll do the rest.”

“How? You’re not even armed. How are you going to take on everyone out there without so much as a gun?” Rufus asked.

“Trust me,” you smirked as your eyes glowed a bright blue, “I got myself covered. Just do as I say.”

Without getting Rufus’ approval, you got up and made your way outside. The firing stopped when you hid, but as soon as they saw you, they started firing again. Jo watched from her hiding space as you held your left hand out, a half force field formed in front of you, a force field big enough to shield 4 people. The bullets hit the shield but bounced off as if the bullets were nothing but wads of paper.

The three hunters in hiding got up and followed behind you, amazed at how well they were protected. Using your right hand, you flicked shards of magic at each of the shooters, each and every one of them absorbing the magic through their eyes and mouth.

“Go!” you yelled. The three hunters left your side in all directions, running to the shooters all the while taking cover. They did as you requested, only taking away their weapons before you could get to them. You must have hit about 8 people before you heard a little girl yell for her pastor.

Running over to where the sound was, you saw Ellen kneeling over the pastor with her hand pressed to his upper chest. A young woman looked terrified since she thought that Ellen was demon. Running over to the trio, you looked at Ellen before nodding.

“I got this,” you said before turning to the young woman. “I know this is scary, but it’s not real. Just press your hand here and I’ll prove it to you.”

The young woman was terrified, but she listened out of fear. As soon as she took over, Austin came bouncing out of the bushes and tackled Ellen to the ground. He wasted no time in shoving his gun in her face.

“No!” you yelled as soon as he pulled the trigger. Fortunately, he was out of bullets, and Ellen started to fight him aggressively. Looking at the young woman, you placed your hand on her arm and watched as your magic crawled up her skin and into her mouth. She gasped as she came to the realization that there weren’t any demons around.

“Keep pressure on his wound. I’ll be right back,” you smiled before getting up and helping Ellen. Grabbing Austin’s arm, you pulled t back before slapping a hand to his forehead. As soon as you made contact, he calmed down and looked around in confusion.

“What happened?”

“You were pawns in a game. Don’t worry, you’re okay now. Go help the Pastor. Get him to a hospital,” you directed, taking out your phone and calling Dean to see where he was.

“Yeah?”

“Where the hell are you?”

“We got War’s ring. He’s gone and the red mustang is gone as well. I think this is over.”

“Finally,” you sighed in relief, slumping against the fence behind you.

“I’m what’s called a light witch. A different kind of witch than what you’re used to dealing with. I only care about the safety of others,” you explained to Jo and Ellen when you were back at the bridge with the Impala on the other side of it.

“Well, thank you for what you did today,” Ellen said.

“You’re welcome. If you ever need anything, give me a call.”

“Okay,” Jo smiled.

“Take care of yourselves,” you smiled before laving with the Winchesters.

“So, pit stop at Mount Doom?” Dean asked as he held War’s ring. You three decided to stop at an abandoned picnic table in the middle of a clearing by the woods to just stop and take a break.

“Dean, Y/N—” Sam said pensively.

“Sam let’s not.”

“No, listen. This is important. I know you don't trust me,” he began. “Just, now I realize something. I don't trust me either. From the minute I saw that blood, the only thought in my head was… and I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good, and it feels true, you know? But I think, underneath... I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am. Thing is, the problem's not the demon blood, not really. I mean, what I did, I can't blame the blood or Ruby or... anything. The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that... scares the hell out of me, guys. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse...”

“What are you saying?” you asked.

“I'm in no shape to be hunting. I need to step back, 'cause I'm dangerous. Maybe it's best we just... go our separate ways.”

“I think you’re right,” Dean said after a few minutes of thinking about it.

“Dean,” you sighed.

“I was expecting a fight,” Sam chuckled dryly.

“The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than about doing the job right. And I just, I can't afford that, you know? Not now.”

“I’m sorry, Dean. I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“I know you are, Sam,” Dean sighed. Sam moved to get up, and Dean held out the keys to the car. “Hey, do you, uh, wanna take the Impala?”

“Take care of yourself, Dean. Watch out for him, Y/N.”

“And who will watch out for you?” you asked as he grabbed his bag from the Impala. Sam didn’t say anything but walked to the white pickup truck that was parked on the other side of the road. He said something to the driver and got in. Both you and Dean watched as it drove away.

“Are you just going to let him go?” you asked Dean.

“It’s for the best right now.”

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canumoveurseatup-no · 5 years

Text

Phantom

(Wanda Maximoff x Black!Mutatnt!Reader)

Summary: Reader’s powers get a bit out of control and sort of instills fear in the others. Some hurtful words are said, hearts are broken. (*Ariana Grande; God is a Woman voice*) YUH!

A/N: please REBLOG, COMMENT, LIKE and request if you want anything specific!! Anyway, ENJOY!!

Word Count: 8.8K (I’M REALLY SORRY AH BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!!)

Pairing: Wanda x Black!Female!Reader, Rhodey x Daughter!Reader

WARNINGS: angst, blood, death, surgery, forced experimentation, needles, guns, ANGST AGAIN (I think that’s it)

—————

Y/N’s eyes were phantom white but the veins around her eyes were plague black and crimson red. She snarled at her target and we could tell how afraid he was. Her hair was glowing a blinding silver. We were used to her powers but not like this, this time they had reached their peak. She had a deathly smirk on her lips before speaking, her short fangs becoming visible.

“...Try and hurt me again and I’ll make sure I choke you to death on your own blood-”

——————

-Wanda’s POV-

This mission had been putting everyone through the ringer, we had to fly all the way to Norway to shut down a facility that created mutants and enhanced beings. I felt myself become exhausted. My fingers burned from generating so much energy to counter the enemies attacks.

I groaned as a bullet grazed my shoulder. We were practically getting ambushed. In this area of the facility it was just me, Natasha and Steve, the others were scattered.

These weren’t just normal bogeys that followed the orders of their leader, no. These were enhanced beings with specific mutations that made it harder for us to fight off.

“Y/N, we need you on our end,” I heard Natasha yell into the com, though she was right beside me, I could barely hear her in person over the gunshots and explosions, “and fast!”

Y/N hadn’t copied and I worried. She never takes long to reply to a command. She’s usually right on top of it.

“Rhodes! Do you copy?” This time it was Steve to yell in the com.

“Uh yeah but I’m a bit caught up on my end with NO back up. So you guys are gonna have to deal without my set of hands for a minute” she sassed, I could hear the commotion in the background.

I worried for her being alone in a fight. I knew it was a bad idea for Steve to split us up like this. Not yet has our title proved to be a liability as Steve claimed it would. We worked best together, and we’ve proven that time and time again.

“Y/N, I need you to stay safe, okay?” I grunted as one of the mutants kicked me in my guts.

“Always, my love. You do the same” I could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

“Hi, hello, Avengers: We took care of the looney bitch. Finish up and let’s roll out” Tony sounded relieved to finally be done.

While it was a struggle to fight all of the guys off, Natasha, Steve and I finally got the job done.

We began running toward the exit when we heard static in our com and I heard Y/N’s panicked voice.

“Dad, I need your help. Quick!” Then a high pitched ringing seemed to come through the earpiece, only it wasn’t. The ringing was coming from the building it was darting through the halls.

Without a second thought I ran to Y/N’s location with Nat and Steve on my tail, seeing her up against a few discombobulated mutants... must have been the defective batch. I could tell Y/N’ abilities were about to come into effect, that’s the only explanation for that high pitched ringing. It happens every time when she’s about to fall subject to her mutation.

“Y/N pull back and let’s get out of here” Rhodey flew overhead with Tony and Sam by his side, out of the other entrance came Thor, Bruce, well Hulk, and Peter. Bucky and Clint came from a lower level of the facility.

“I’m trying, dad!” She was stressing out but that only fueled her powers even more.

We all moved to help her before a force field was put around her and a man in a long dark cloak came in with his hood on. I didn’t like the vibe from this guy, but who would? Some random guy comes out of random corner in a Dungeons and Dragons cloak, that is never a good thing.

“Welcome back, Y/N Rhodes” the voice of the man was scratchy and uneven, yet powerful and frightening.

This distracted her and caused the deformed mutants to twist her arms behind her back to trap her.

“My favorite subject. My biggest accomplishment,” he took his hood off and had a scar through his eye, one eye being pure white while the other was an ethereal green. He sent her a crooked smile that churned my stomach “Oh, how I’ve missed you”

Y/N’s facial expression looked pained. Not because of how she was being mutant handled but because of the man standing in front of her.

“Roscovich,” she gasped. “Ezra Roscovich” her lip twitched and the frequency of the ringing only seemed to increase.

Blasts came from up above and I could see it came from Rhodey. “You’re the asshole that tortured my daughter, you took my wife from me!!” the blasts continued as Rhodey flew around trying to hit the guy but he used a force field to counter Rhodey’s attacks knocking Rhodey out of the air.

“DAD!!” Y/N was feeling too many emotions at once, I could feel them radiating off of her, they were overwhelming me. I could see her thoughts they were running at a million miles a minute, I couldn’t keep up. She was never comfortable with talking about her mutation or how it came about and she most definitely didn’t like using it. But now I was seeing quick glimpses of flashbacks and I didn’t know what to make of it.

“You hurt my dad” She wasn’t crying, her voice was low and sinister.

The man named Ezra shrugged and turned to the rest of us.

“You think Ayalla was one you were looking for? You thought she was mastermind behind this whole operation?! Y/N , you of all people should have known better” His accent thick, he stalked toward us and his cloak flowed right with him.

“I wanted my prized possession back,” he looked at Y/N and sent a wink her way, ”It was all a simple trap and of course you took the bait. You lot are so hell bent on trying to save everyone that you couldn’t help but find yourselves here” his smile stirred something in me. I looked at Y/N and she just seemed too calm to be in this situation. Her entire demeanor changed and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Why, Y/N? What is she to you?” My mouth moved faster than my brain, I tried to push through to his mind to find is motives but it all came up blank.

“Why she is everything I’ve dreamt of personified. I worked hard to make her what she is. Countless trials, numerous lives lost, endless formulas, ruined equipment. She is my beloved Phantom” he clapped while jumping up and down like a child.

“But you took her away from me. She was supposed to be mine!” He stomped his foot and his face turned red.

“She’s my daughter. She never belonged to you!” Rhodey removed the helmet to reveal his face.

“But is she?,” Ezra tapped his temple “when I created the essence to make her what she is she became anew.” He gave us jazz fingers as if this was some type of magic trick.

“Her body was like computer and the essence worked as a virus. The essence became an override for her DNA, stripping her of her humanity” he rocked back on his heels sending us a shit eating grin.

Rhodey and Tony held up their hands ready to blast the hell out of this asshole while Clint got his bow ready, Hulk got into stance, ready to pounce and crush this dude and my hands flashed red in a second, but Steve stopped us from taking action.

“This is what he wants, guys be smart about this.”

“Be smart? Be SMART ABOUT IT?!,” I finally lost my cool, “that is my girlfriend in there! His daughter! A member of our family being held hostage and all you have to say is be SMART?!”

“Wanda.” Y/N’s voice resonated within me and calmed me like it always could. “I need you to get everyone out of here”

“I’m not leaving y-“

“This is not up for discussion!,” Y/N rarely ever raised her voice at me so I knew something was about to happen. “I know the extent of my abilities. You all do not. So I need you to get everyone out and sit tight in the quinjet. Trust me!”

The look in her eyes was not the look of Y/N. Her abilities were starting to arise.

“Oh no no no,” Roscovich tsked. “They get front row seats to show! Show me what ya got, Y/N. Show me again what you can do, have you learned anything new? Show them real Phantom”

I tried to get everyone out but the doors automatically shut and locked keeping us trapped.

“Well call me Bob and fuck me running,” I heard Clint mutter under his breath.

Y/N looked at me before her eyes changed along with her hair. She slowly turned to look at the puppeteer behind this whole show, “Wrong. Move”

Right in front of our eyes, the mutants holding Y/N against her will melted like butter in a hot pan. Once she was free she cracked her neck and smiled.

“You want the real Phantom?,” she literally stepped through the force field and came face to face with Ezra. “Well here she is.. and she’s going to end you as if you’ve never existed. Making you wish you never created the thing you’ve made of her” she laughed as if she told the world’s best joke. This isn’t my Y/N.

“Y/N, Don’t! This is what he wants” Steve pleaded.

She turned to Steve and smiled like she was ever so gracious of his concerns.

“Exactly... so, let’s give him a show”

She turned back to him and raised him up in the air without even laying a finger on him.

“You want to play? Let’s fucking play” with a simple snap of her fingers he was thrown across the room.

“I suffer every day.” She raises him up in the air again, this time she contorted his limbs, them being bent in unimaginable ways and he was screaming bloody murder.

“I thought I’d taught you a lesson the last time, granted I thought I killed you. But you don’t even care what I’ve been through as long as it’s not you” her voice was so calm. It was chilling and eerie.

“With this weight I carry of being this way, I will make sure you carry a thousand times the weight so you live with what you’ve done”

From here I could hear his bones cracking, could hear him choking. The deafening ringing increased and almost became unbearable.

“Y/N, Stop!” I stepped forward but without even glancing at me she forced me up again the wall, one by one we were all pushed and stuck to the wall. It was a preventative measure on her part to make sure she isn’t stopped.

Before our eyes there are at least two dozen duplicates of Y/N. They all stood around the room, staring at the floating, contorted man,

“You will pay for what you have done,” one of the Y/N’s said. We had never seen her duplicate like this or at all for that .

“You will forever regret your sins,” this time it was a Y/N that stood near Steve and I.

“You will suffer” - “You won’t even be able to sleep at night”- “We will haunt your dreams”- “We will lurk in every dark corner”- “Every crevice of your pathetic brain” -” “We will haunt you, you will feel us and when you do, you’ll feel nothing but pain and no one will hear you scream”- “And we will make you ROT!!”

Each one of Y/N’s duplicates spoke menacing words. The original just stood there staring, she was a predator ready to pounce on her prey.

Y/N’s eyes were phantom white but the veins around her eyes were plague black and crimson red. She snarled at her target and we could tell just how afraid he was. Her hair was glowing a blinding silver. We were used to her powers but not like this, this time they had reached their peak. She had a deathly smirk on her lips before speaking, her short fangs becoming visible.

“Try to keep me captive... try and hurt me again and I’ll make sure I choke you to death on your own blood. Slowly so you can feel the blood filling your lungs, clogging your airways with no sense of relief. No mercy will be placed upon you”

“Y/N that’s enough!,” Rhodey had seen enough, we all had. I’d seen enough of my lover act out of character, in a way that instilled fear in me to the point I didn’t know if I knew her anymore.

All the duplicates turned and stared at us. They all smiled in sync

“The deed is done” they said in unison before disappearing back into the mind of Y/N.

A blinding white light flashed throughout the room and once it was gone, Ezra and Y/N were sprawled out on the floor unconscious.

The team rushed over to her as she started to wake but I stayed behind. I was frozen, I was scared to get near her. No one touched her besides Rhodey and even then he was hesitant. Everyone else kept their space, their stance ready to run or fight incase the Phantom made another appearance.

“Let’s get out of here, we need to get back,” Steve was cautious, his eyes never leaving Y/N, not even after we got to the compound until she disappeared to our room.

We cleaned up and everyone showed up to dinner except for Y/N, she was probably resting, or beating herself up for how she acted, if she could even remember. I would check on her, but I need time to wrap my head around that whole situation.

“Rhodey... I think we need to talk about Y/N,” Natasha brought her cup to her lips

“There’s nothing to be said, Romanoff. If you continue I’d watch what is about to come out of your mouth next” Rhodey’s silverware made a loud clash against his plate.

“I’m just saying that maybe she needs an eye or a few kept on her, because what we saw back there we have never seen before. It’s something worth looking after if it meant keeping everyone safe,” she put her hands up in a surrender motion as she laid down her case.

“So you’re saying my daughter is a danger to us?,” by now he was fuming, “that is pure bullshit, Natasha and you know it”

“But is it really though?,” I question

“You’ve GOT to be fucking kidding me, Wanda. She’s your girlfriend-”

“Who I am now scared of,” I sighed and felt bad as I let the words slip out.

“In my years of knowing her and loving her I have never seen or heard her act and talk in such a menacing way. That girl back there was not the girl I love and I have a right to be scared even just a bit!”

“Wanda.” Sam warned but I just shook my head

“I was going to keep my thoughts to myself but I couldn’t”

“Thanks for telling me to my face,” Y/N’s voice sent chills down my spine. “Of course it wasn’t me back there. I did what I could to protect us and get us out of there”

“By pinning us against the wall against our will?” Steve butted in.

“To protect you in case things got out of hand!” She cried.

“I’m sorry for scaring you but seeing him flipped a switch that I tried with all my might to flip back but I couldn’t,” she wiped her tears in a frustrated manner and shook her head “My own girlfriend is afraid of me”

She gave a bitter laugh.

“I tried to calm you down Y/N, but you literally pushed me away! The two dozen other versions of you, the things you all were saying. That’s frightening to anyone. It’s enough to throw anyone off. I just need time to think,” I stood up at my end of the table, I finally had the courage to make eye contact.

“Wanda, when we got together we promised to talk things out, not run away. We connected and related to each other because of our abilities and now that you've seen the extent of mine you want to check out early. That’s not fair especially when you said you’d love me no matter what,”

I shook my head and the words flew past my lips before I could keep them from escaping, words that I knew would hurt Y/N, words that I didn’t even mean,

“Someone will love you... but someone isn’t me”

I heard the gasps, I saw the light drain from her eyes, I saw the pain I caused.

“O-okay... okay.” she nodded her head before backing away and rushing off to our shared room.

“Wanda what did you just do?!,” The look Rhodey gave me was different, he always saw me as another daughter ever since I started dating Y/N but this time he looked at me like a deranged stranger.

He rushed off after Y/N and I sat back down in my seat feeling all of their eyes on me. Judging.

“For someone who has fucked up a lot of shit with their abilities you sure have some fucking nerve!,” Sam frowned at me

“Sam!,” Steve came to my defense but Sam wasn’t having it.

“Shut up, Rogers!,” He held his hand up, “Y/N stood by you no matter how bad your powers got out of control. She was there to comfort you and remove the blame when you sulked about what you did in Nigeria”

“SAM!,” Steve called out again, everyone knew that was a sensitive topic.

“SHE was the one that forgave you first and welcomed you first when you played your witch tricks and showed us all our worst fear and damn near ruined us, even after everything she’s been through” he pointed his finger, “But God forbid she wants dibs on the guy who made her into something she hates, God forbid she wants him to suffer like she does every. single. day! God frickin’ forbid she show the very person who changed her and held her captive and killed one of the most important people in her life that she is not weak like he saw her to be. She did all that for you. She loved you despite your mishaps, you’ve scared her multiple times, you’ve hurt her before, Wanda, but she loved you so damn much she worked through it to be with you and you just want to be a coward and leave the girl on her own,” Sam’s chair screeched against the floor as he also went after Y/N.

“I fucked up,” tongue in cheek, I just sat there.

“You sure did,” Peter raised his eyebrows and took a sip of his drink.

“Underoos,” Tony waved him away “Go to the lab, it’s grown folks talking”

Peter didn’t protest, he just walked away sulking like a kid going to timeout.

“You need to fix this, and fast. I’m not sure how many straws Y/N is willing to keep pulling for you after this,” Tony downed the brown liquid in his cup and looked me dead in my eyes.

“I was in the same place with Pepper. I kept fucking up yet she’s still here with me. But I got my act together because I knew if I didn’t change something and make amends I’d lose her. Don’t lose Y/N. Go after her, kid”

I sprinted to our room so fast you’d have thought I was Pietro. But when I got there Y/N was packing a bag and her dad and Sam were trying to keep her from leaving.

“Y/N,” I stepped over the threshold. She snapped her neck to look at me and just shook her head angrily.

“Stay away from me,” I’ve never seen her cry like this. I caused this. Her eyes were bloodshot red, she was shaking from anger, anxiety and sadness and it’s all my fault.

“No, baby ple-”

“You.” her tone was stone cold, “You don’t get to call me that anymore” she hiccupped and continued packing.

“Wanda, I think it’s best if you leave,” Rhodey pointed to the door but I stood my ground.

“No, I already fucked up, I need to fix this I need to fix what I’ve done,”

“You can’t!,” Y/N screamed. She never raised her voice when we argued, I knew I fucked up, big time.

“You can’t take back what you said. Even if you didn’t mean it. I’d never do you like that, Wanda. EVER” she threw her toiletries in the duffle bag and zipped it up.

“You can’t come back from telling someone you don’t love them,” She tried to walk past me but I caught her bicep while she tried yanking herself away, I just couldn’t let her go.

“Let’s sit and talk about this. Let’s solve this how we solve all of our other arguments,”

“This isn’t like our other arguments though, Wanda!” she was right.

“We can’t sit and talk on our bed, criss-cross applesauce and just gaze into each other’s eyes, We can’t hold hands and start our conversation with ‘I feel’, we can’t have a calm, loving conversation about this. I was willing, I was coming to pull you aside so we COULD but you’d already gone behind my back and told everyone else what you should have been telling me.”

I had nothing to say at that point because she was absolutely right.

“You can’t fix this. Not now anyway,” She sniffled and wiped her eyes, tightening the duffle bag on her shoulder

“I need time to think things over. Please just give me time, don’t push me. Give me the time and space I need”

“Y/N please,” I couldn’t let her run away like this.

This is our very first big argument after two years of dating. We were always that couple to walk away when we got too angry to prevent saying words that could hurt each other because you can’t take those hurtful words back. We were that couple to come back when we were calm and were able to regroup, that way we could actually solve the issue. We knew that yelling solved nothing, screaming at each other was no way to be heard, but this was completely different. I had said something way out of line and had no excuse for it other than being afraid. I didn’t talk to her directly about how I felt, I told everyone else except her.

“Wanda, let her go. You both could use some space” Rhodey came to her defense as she walked away from me.

“We don’t need space, we need closure, I can’t lose her, I can’t just let her walk away, we need closure!”

My eyes burned and itched due to the tears. I couldn’t lose her.

“Yeah well ya sure fucked up with that one didn’t you?”

“Not now, Sam! Please not now.” I pleaded. I already know I fucked up big time, I don't need him reiterating that fact.

“Well when then, Wanda? You just hurt the most precious soul on this team just because you were afraid of something you couldn’t understand. You ruined the chance for any closure when you acted the way you did. When you said the things you did”

“Sam...,” Rhodey nudged him with his elbow. “I think she gets it. I think she got it as soon as the words flew out her mouth” He gave me the most deathly glare that not even Fury could compare to.

“I’m gonna go see where she went. Don’t try to pry in anyone’s head to figure out where. Let her regroup on her own”

I was left standing there with the dresser drawers on her side of the room a mess and hanging out of the dresser themselves. There was stuff that tracked from the bathroom into our room. Small stuff like, her hair ties and her headscarf with her bonnet. I pick those to items up and felt the cool silk on my fingers. It smelled just like her shampoo. Almond milk and coconut. I had to find Rhodey and give these to him. She hates going to sleep without them secured on her head.

I rushed down the hall and found him in the common area on the phone. I could hear her voice through the phone, it sounded so broken.

“Rhodey...“ I whisper. He looked at me with annoyance which pained me. I handed him the scarf and bonnet before wringing my hands together, “I know she hates to go to bed without them so you can take these to her”

He just nodded his head and turned his back to me and I wanted to listen in but that was not my place. She wanted space and as selfish as I wanted to be, I’m giving her that space.

I walked back into our room and shut the door. I slid down to the floor, mentally beating myself up. There really is no coming back from that. There is no fixing what I said, there’s no fixing the hurt I caused the one person who’s been in my corner this entire time.

~~~~~~~~~~

It’d been a good three weeks and I’ve had no contact with Y/N. I wonder how she was doing. I haven't been able to sleep, not without her legs intertwined with mine. I haven't been eating, not without her right there cooking with me and making sure I’m eating reasonable portions, with a healthy snack between meals. I haven’t been able to look at myself in the mirror, not without her standing there right beside me doing her hair and getting ready, or me coming up behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist. I’ve been taken off missions due to how reckless I’ve become. I haven't had her yelling at me in my ear that I better make it back on that quinjet safe.

I did all of this to myself and I just want her back. But it’s not that easy.

~~~~~~~~~~

-Reader’s POV-

My mind was a mess. How do you look at someone, who you deeply loved, that hurt you... how do you look at them the same? I still loved her, I was still madly in love with her, but she had to know that she wouldn’t get away that easily. She needed to feel what I felt.

I’ve felt enough pain in my life and for someone who I trusted to a great deal to treat me and talk about me like a monster was a different kind of hurt. It hurt worse than what I went through when I was held in captivity and experimented on for years on end. She was my light at the end of the tunnel but now it just felt like her silhouette blended in with the darkness and I was just aimlessly wandering in the dark.

When my dad calls now I keep things vague. I don't want to dwell on this much longer, it’s like picking an icky scab and not letting it heal. I greatly appreciate the effort but it’s becoming overwhelming to anticipate that one phone call and knowing the upcoming questions.

I didn’t tell dad where I went, but I told him that I was most certainly safe, with much thanks to Clint. The kids and his wife loved me so he was already more than willing to let me stay. Even though me staying here kind of put him in a bad spot since he considers Wanda like another daughter and him not being able to fill her in on my status.

Right now it was me and Laura binge watching our favorite cartoon. The Misadventures of Flapjack.

The kids went to bed and she was just waiting for Clint to get back, he explained this mission to be all hands on deck but I temporarily “retired” so I told him these hands would not be working. It’s about two hours past his estimated time and I can tell Laura was getting worried.

“He’s Clint. He’s coming back home” I pat her knee and finished my glass of wine before going to fill my cup once again. I see why people seek comfort in wine, it mellows you out. It made me feel warm and with that warmth I used it to simulate human contact.

As I came back from the kitchen, Clint walked in with a worried expression on his face.

“Sweetheart how’d it go? What the hell took you so long? I was worried sick” Laura got up from her seat and set her wine glass on the table before walking up to him and kissing and hugging him but slapping his arm in disapproval. I felt the heat envy run down my body. I miss doing that with Wanda when she went on a mission without me and vice versa.

He looked at me before looking back to Laura and shaking his head.

“Hun, let me talk to Y/N alone, please”

Our breath hitched in unison, we know that was never good. Laura eyed me before sending a sad smile and heading upstairs.

“Y/N, sit down”

My body reacting faster than my brain, automatically sitting down and clutching my wine glass. He sat in front of me on the coffee table and leaning on his knees.

“I know your mind is all over the place and I don’t want to put you in even more pain than you already are but you deserve to know”

I didn’t like the sound of this. This news could be about anybody. I carried everybody on the team close to my heart and he knew that.

“Clint who is it? What happened? Don’t sugarcoat it for me, just rip the band- aid right off,” my voice began to shake and it wasn’t because of the wine, “Just say it.“

He gave a deep sigh and whatever he was about to say didn’t make sense to him, he was still trying to process this situation. He was stalling though.

“Clint, plea-“

“Wanda might not make it, Y/N”

My world literally froze. I felt like gagging, I felt dazed, like everything was spinning, like I was sucked into a black hole with no way out. I was feeling too much at once.

“W-what do you mean she might not make it, Barton. What are you saying?” my chest was past the stage of aching at this point.

“She..” He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head, “She’s been a mess... she was taken off missions because of how bad things have gotten with her since you guys separated... but since this was everyone on board we needed her but that wasn’t a good idea”

“Clint, tell me what happened to my Wanda” I felt hot tears already falling out my eyes.

“She was trying to protect Peter and Rhodey when they were getting shot at and... and she got caught in the crossfire. She’s been in surgery since we came back. That’s what took me so long,” He had tears in his eyes but he was adamant on letting them fall “Before she went out cold she wanted anyone who got in contact with you first to let you know that she never meant to hurt you and that she never stopped loving you and she’s sorry for letting her fears take over. She-“

He paused like he was conflicted over whether he really wanted to finish.

“She said that she’s glad it was her and not Rhodey or Peter. She said she’s glad to go out knowing she protected someone you loved.”

God why does this have to happen?

“But she didn’t! She didn’t because she didn’t protect herself!” The wine glass shattered in my hand.

“Take me to her, Clint, or at least tell me where she is so I can be there. She’s gonna make it, she has to!” I wrapped my arms around him and sobbed. I should have been there, I could have had her back.

“I’ll tell Laura the situation and I’ll take you to her. But only if you think you’re ready to see her the state that she’s in”

“Whether I’m ready or not, I need to go!”

~~~~~~~~

I rush in through the automatic doors of the hospital and saw everyone sitting with their heads down.

��Guys.” I sounded so gross and congested.

“Y/N..” my dad walked swiftly to me and pulled me into his arms

“It’s all my fault” I couldn’t stop the sobbing.

“No one blames you Y/N, so why are you blaming yourself?” Steve interjected.

I looked at him like he was crazy, “Well who else’s fault is it? Had I controlled myself that day during the mission none of this would have happ-“

A nurse shushed me but I was not having it

“You shut the hell up” I pointed my finger at her and she just put her hands up as she walked away.

I realized I probably should try a little harder to calm down.

“This wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for me” I shrug my shoulders as I plop down in a chair and play with my hands.

“Y/N,” my dad knelt down in front of me and held my hands, “casualties happen, sweetie. As unfortunate as it is they happen. But I know for sure she would not want you blaming yourself like this. She’s a fighter. She’s not going to give up”

He squeezed my hands in reassurance and I stubbornly nod my head. I didn’t know how much longer I could wait for news on how she’s doing and her status.

~~~~~~~~~~

We all waited another good couple of hours. Peter curled up in the seat and biting his nails, Sam had his head hanging back and was snoring, Tony was nodding off, Bruce and Steve were fidgeting, Bucky was zoned out, Vis and Thor hadn’t said a single word since we’ve been here. Natasha got everyone coffee, for those who were still awake, but my coffee was getting cold, I was non-stop pacing, my dad and Clint just kept telling me to sit down. But I couldn’t.

I was starting to lose hope when a women in surgical attire and blood smears all on them walked in. She takes off her mask before asking, “Maximoff?”

Everyone immediately woke and stood up.

“What’s her status?” I stepped forward. “Please say she’s okay. I can’t lose her” I felt the tears resurfacing.

“Calm down, darling,” she held my hands, “It took a long time but there were some bullets lodged in some tough areas of her body. We actually lost her twice on the table-”

“What?!“ My voice octaves higher

“BUT, we were able to revive her and stabilize her. She’s a strong one. She was fighting to stay alive in that OR”

I felt the weight of the world finally fall off my shoulders. I crouched and hugged my knees and just sobbed. The ugly face, the hiccupping, the whole shebang.

“She’s going to be okay. Your girlfriend is going to be okay,” The doctor crouched right down beside me in comfort. “Whatever happened between you two, you guys can finally fix it and move forward”

“How did you know?” I wiped my nose on my sleeve and sighed.

“I’m a surgeon. I see this a lot. I have so many couples come in here and have the same look on your face of fear and regret. Not everyone is as lucky as you. You guys get a second chance. Don’t miss out on it”

She was right, life is too short and too easily lost.

“When can I see her?”

“She’s still under anesthesia right now. She’ll be under for about another half hour or until she wakes up on her own. But I’ll let you go ahead and sit in there until she wakes up. Just be warned the sight you’re going to see will not be pretty.”

I nodded and she helped me stand up. Before she took me to Wanda’s room, she explained to us how Wanda would need to take it slow for a few months and go to physical therapy.

The doctor finally leads me to Wanda’s room and I see her through the window. She looked so bad I felt another wave of tears. Her skin was greyish, The dark circles under her eyes were alarming. She was wrapped up in so many bandages all over her body. Her face was bruised. She looked dead, even though she was very much alive. She had a breathing tube in her mouth and my stomach turned.

The doctor opened the door for me and pulled up a chair right beside Wanda’s bed and sat me down.

“Try and relax. The tube will be removed soon. She’ll wake up shortly after that and you guys can patch everything up”

I gave her a gracious thank you and turned back to Wanda after she left.

“How could you be so reckless?,” I whispered as I held her hand, “How could you think I’d possibly be okay with you putting yourself in harm’s way whether we’re having a rough patch or not?”

I cried and cried, I’m not sure how I have anything to let out at this point.

“I know you, Wanda... you let pain get to you and then you just want it to end, You thought I was so upset with you that you assumed I would be happy that you were gone when I could never. NEVER, make it without you by my side,”

“Baby, you’re my everything and I’m sorry so fucking sorry this had to happen to bring us back together but we get the second chance others don’t and I don’t want to waste it”

I knew she couldn’t hear me. Or maybe she could and just thought she was dreaming.

I don’t know how much time passed. I just wanted to see her eyes again. The doctor came back in to remove her breathing tube and told me it shouldn’t be too much longer until she woke up.

I felt her hand twitch in mine and she began to cough and stir.

“Calm down, babe. It’s okay just breathe,” I stand and lean towards her, smoothing her hair down. Here eyes snapped open at the sound of my voice and instantly her red eyes flooded with tears.

“I’m dead aren’t I?,” She questioned. I looked at her as if she was crazy. “I must be... because there’s no way you’re actually here..” She cried and stared at me without blinking. She stared at me in the way that if she closed her eyes for a even millisecond I’d disappear.

“No, baby I’m here. You’re very much alive”

“You’re not really here. You hate me too much for you to actually be here.” Her face twisted in hurt and looked down.

“I never hated you, Wanda. Don’t say that”

She wheezed as she cried and I did everything I could to calm her down, she’s already in so much pain, I know this isn’t helping her situation. The bottle of water the nurse gave me, I held to her lips and helped her hydrate.

“I know this is a lot to handle right now. So let’s just appreciate the fact that we’re in each other’s presence again, despite the circumstances, we’re here. We get a second chance. I can’t risk losing you anymore. I need you. I don’t care how cheesy it sounds. I need you, Wanda. I love you so much”

“I’m so sorry, Y/N,” She winced as she turned her head to look at me, “I never meant those things I’m sorry I got insecure and so scared that I fucked us up”

I shook my head and placed my hand on her cheek.

“Everyone filled me in on how bad things have gotten with you..,” She closed her eyes and sighed, “We will talk about this when we get back home. I just need you to rest up,”

She looked at me as if she was terrified. “I can’t sleep. I can’t close my eyes, if I do you’ll be gone a-and-” her vitals started to rise and the heart monitor beeped faster than normal.

I gave her a reassuring smile before kissing each knuckle on her hand, “I’ll still be here when you wake up. I promise”

~~~~~~~

-Wanda’s POV-

I had to stay in the hospital for a few more days and take antibiotics while the doctors kept track of the condition of my wounds. Once I was cleared I was finally able to go home, with Y/N by my side.

When we got to the compound everyone was making sure I was okay before departing so me and Y/N could finally talk about the things we’ve pretty much been waiting a month to talk about.

I sat myself up against the headboard of our bed and she sat directly in front of me.

“Before you start I want to apologize for how I acted-”

“Y/N don't do that. Don’t do that to yourself, don’t take the blame,” I shake my head at her and played with my fingers, “Just...hush for a few and let me explain,”

“No, it’s my turn to go first. Last time we had to have a talk you went first, but it’s my turn this time”

I sigh and nodded my head, remembering our last talk.

“I think it’s time I finally tell you everything. From the time I was captured and how my mutation came about. I’ve kept you in the dark about it long enough”

“Y/N, you don’t have to do th-”

“Except I do,” She looked me in my eyes and shrugged while giving me a small half smile, “I know you’ve been wondering. Dad’s been wondering. Everyone has been wondering. Everyone’s story is known except mine and I don’t think that’s fair. It’s just so fucked that I was embarrassed but you deserve to know. Especially after seeing all that you did that day.”

My lips moved to talk but I’ve cut her off enough already, and I know that’s a pet peeve of hers.

(TW for next section: Death, blood, forced child experimentation, kidnapping, guns, needles)

“I uh... I was on the train with my mom. I was 10, a day after my birthday, the train ride was something I’ve always wanted to do, I told my mom that’s all I wanted, was a train ride into the countryside. The train got hijacked by a few Norwegian men. I was the only child on the train that day. I knew exactly what I was wearing. I had on a black shirt with sunflowers and denim overalls with my heelys, I loved those things so much, I skated all the way to the train station,”

Y/N took a pause and let out a shaky sigh.

“I was skating back and forth happily chanting ‘mama look at me, I taught myself a new trick’, she was so proud of me,” I could see the tears welling in her eyes, I felt like shit for allowing herself to relive this day and experience, “I bumped into a guy and as I looked up at him, he held a finger up to his lips, shushing me, before snatching me and putting his hand over my mouth and in that moment, seven other men stood up and pulled out their guns, my mom stood up to go after me but one of them held a gun to her head,”

“Y/N, you can stop if you ne-”

“I need to talk about this, Wanda” when she looked at me the tears finally fell.

“They told her if she made another move they’d blow her head right off her shoulders right there,” I moved to grab her hands and she squeezed the life out of them but I didn’t mind, “A few people had been running so the men started firing and I was kicking and fighting the guy but he... he was like a boulder that I just couldn't move, I felt so useless”

She sniffled and closed her eyes, she took a pause and I gave her the time she needed.

“Wanda, so much blood painted the seats and the floor...”

I ran my thumb over her knuckles letting her know I was here no matter what and I understood if she needed to stop.

“The men looked at me and my mom. Ezra, he had his gun against my mom’s forehead. He said ‘we take child and no one else has to die’, but my mom made an effort to get the gun from him but they were so much faster, Wanda, so much fucking faster”

I hated hearing this, I hated knowing this happened to her, I hated knowing that she lived with this every single day. I felt sick to my stomach, I wanted to clasp my hand around her mouth so I didn’t need to hear anymore, so she didn’t have to walk through this anymore. But she’s harbored it enough and she deserves my full attention and support no matter how much hearing this disturbed me.

“Everything happened in slow motion, it’s like I saw the bullets slowly come out of their chamber. I saw the look on my mom’s face before the bullets made contact. They... they blasted her like they were a firing squad and she was on death row,”

She let out the most heart-wrenching sob I’ve ever heard.

“I screamed so loud and hard my throat bled. When I heard you were caught in the crossfire while on a mission it felt like I was reliving that day.”

I tried my best to keep my tears at bay but that failed miserably.

“I saw my mom lie there with so many bullet entries it was unreal. Some shot straight through her and landed right at my feet. I could only imagine how dad felt when he had to identify her and then him not being able to find me,” she hurriedly wiped her tears and tried her best to pull herself together before continuing, “Once damn near everyone in the train car died, the men changed their clothes and forced me to get off at the next stop with them and act normal or else they’d kill me too. As appealing as it sounded, I complied . They took me to a secluded area before knocking me out with the butt of one of the guns that killed my mother. When I woke up I was strapped to a metal slate inside what I can only describe as a big test tube.”

She wiped my tears and took my hands back in hers.

“They captured nothing but children from ages maybe 5 to 12. They were in similar tubes like me. Next thing I know I hear blood-curdling screams. As I look around I see all the other children being penetrated with a bunch of needling all over their bodies. I look down and I start seeing the needles coming out of the casing of the tube towards me. I was so numb I didn’t even scream, not even when a needle pierced my eye and injected a serum right into it.”

She blinked fast and winced as if she was feeling it happen again. I felt my eyes sting and water at the description. I was getting uncomfortable at the fact she had to go through this, like people actually did this twisted shit.

“I was the only kid to survive out of the other ninety-nine that were there... because I was luckily number one hundred they continued experimenting on me. They’d inject me with different serums, leave me in rooms of different types of nerve gasses, they paralyzed me,” she hiccupped and stood up off the bed shaking her legs as if to make sure they still worked, making sure the feeling was still there, “They’d put me in different mind-altering situations. They’d beat me until my abilities started to surface and that wasn’t even until I was thirteen.”

She started pacing and I could tell she was starting to panic but she ignored my advances to calm her down.

“Once they started to show it got worse. They’d tie me up and put me in baths with dry ice, burning me. My only way to save myself was to remove a part of my subconscious and personify it to get me out. They’d lock me in vaults with deadly snakes, spiders, anything. Tie me down in a tube and remove the oxygen so I couldn’t breathe, kind of what like Wade went through. They temporarily made me blind for months on end so I wouldn’t rely on my eyesight to see my enemies and fight. They made me deaf, so I didn’t rely on my sense of hearing. I couldn’t hear my own screams. They purposely wouldn’t let me sleep so I would hallucinate, it was like experiencing death first-hand without actually dying. They tortured me up until I was 17 when I was able to kill most of them”

She finally stopped pacing and looked me dead in my eyes.

“They named me Phantom because when they forced me to hurt and kill other people the victims looked at me like they saw a ghost. Because I stalked and haunted the victims like an evil spirit. Because they fucked up my genetic code so bad it was practically gone, to where I pretty much don’t exist right now, Wanda. Because when my abilities are triggered my eyes turn a blinding white. Because I was a pawn for years to do their dirty and when I showed up on surveillance all they could see was a white cloud... like an apparition, a phantom that haunts the lonely roads...”

She sat back down with me on the bed and shook her head

“One day in my cell, the different parts of my subconscious personified themselves on their own and they helped me take them down. Seeing Ezra still alive that day triggered something horrid in me and I couldn’t turn it off. When I found my dad I felt human again. He never stopped looking for me but he came up with no luck until one day I showed up in dirty white scrubs.”

That was only three years ago. She was able to adjust to normal life some how within the span of a year, then she met me.

I hugged her tight and cried in her shoulder, I felt selfish for not even trying to understand her predicament.

“When dad helped me adjust to normal life again and the team found out about me and my abilities they accepted me and helped me use them to save people. To use them for good, to rewrite my story for a better outcome, then I met you and you were just like me and I felt whole for the first time ever”

“And I r-ruined it” I stuttered.

I picked my head up and looked at her with so much regret I felt like I was going to be sick and pass out.

“You didn’t deserve that, any of it, not from me, or them. Anyone,” I brought her body close to mine and she curled right into me, “Let me make this right”

“Wanda we’re already on the road to making things right. Yeah the things you said broke me, but we can work to mend it. I’ve probably said some things to hurt you before but we’re in this together and I don’t want to focus on mishaps. I want to focus on the now. And right now I just want to lay in your arms and love you and have you love me.”

I lay down and pull her close to me, kissing all over her face. I missed this. I don’t want to lose this ever again.

“That can be arranged,”

We were far from perfect and a lot of work had to be done on my part to fix this and gain her trust back, but I was willing to do anything for this woman that was here in my arms like a koala to a tree. I don’t care how long it took to mend us, as long as we became one again, that’s all that mattered to me.

I want her to know how sickingly in love with her I am, it’s almost annoying to some. I would accept and love all parts of her.

I would madly and truly love the being that is Y/N.

I will madly and truly love the being that is Phantom.

___________

tags- @sideeffectsofyou

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