#look how happy she is to punch jasper!! amazing

[shinonometrash]

Jasper Lane’s Main Story: English vs Japanese version, full summary, comparisons & thoughts. Part 1 of 3. (TW: rape, sexual assault, drugging)

So! Jasper’s route has finally been released in English as of August 31st, 2021. It seems that Voltage is following the same release order for consorts and events as how items were released in the Japanese version. I spent wayyy too much money to binge the entire route in a day...and get all the premium content...(honestly the hardest part about binging a route isn’t the love passes, it’s getting all the spirit points. Ugh.) I took note of a lot of different things in this and wanted to make a post going over all this information. Sorry this post took me so long to make, I had to go back and reread a lot of Jasper’s story in Japanese to refresh my memory as well as make sure I didn’t miss any big details since I had read it first back in May, and my Japanese has improved a lot (I think) since then. It was unfortunate and I didn’t really want to, lol. But! Now it’s his birthday (9/11)! I get to post this on his birthday! Happy birthday, asshole! This post is why you and your route suck! I’m probably only going to be able to post this first part today though, because honestly this post is taking much more time than I expected.

The biggest thing is going to be that 

Jasper’s English (Court of Darkness) route does NOT contain any major triggering content. You’ll probably still want to punch him, though.

So, if you’re looking to find out about that, there you go. Anyways.

I’ve broken this into four posts, three that contain summaries of each chapter, regardless of changes, and one that only contains the changes. 

(As of the date of posting, 9/11/2021, I have not completed all the posts yet. Please check back later and I will add the links to the rest of  them as they are posted.)

This post is part one including the summaries. Part two in currently progress. Part three in currently progress. Post with ONLY comparisons and thoughts currently in progress. 

Since I had contacted Voltage about the triggering content in Jasper’s route (and made a very lengthy Tumblr post about it) and they told me they prefer to remove potentially triggering content from stories in the localization process, rather than simply adding trigger warnings, I was more or less expecting this. Although...I didn’t really expect it to be to this extent, nor did I realize how I was actually going to feel about it...! Of course, the CoD did a fabulous job with the content they were given and what they were told to do, as always, and I completely understand why they changed what they did. Like. Seriously. They did the best they could do with the absolute mess of a route they were given. But, like, the route was an absolute mess to begin with. So there’s only so much that can be done to fix it...💀 Anyways, please know that any of my complaining is not directed at the CoD team because they’re wonderful!! Support them by buying in game content if you’re able to!! They recently released a special VIP pack that’s honestly an AMAZING deal. This is just a criticism of the route itself and my thoughts on it, not on the CoD team.

Now, onto the main point of the post...the English and Japanese versions of this route are very different. 

Warning: This post contains major spoilers about Jasper’s main story as well as potentially triggering content including but not limited to rape, sexual assault, and drugging.

In addition, I am not including any CGs in this post as I’m not trying to break Voltage’s policy.

Please click under the read more to continue.

Okay, so first off this is probably going to sound incredibly self centered of me, but I sort of get the feeling that my post about his Japanese route had some sort of influence on the changes in his route...? Not sure how big of tabs Voltage keeps on Tumblr...but it seems like nearly all of the main points I was specifically really mad about got changed--and I’m sure they must have definitely seen my post...? Also, this too probably sounds silly, but I was kinda happy reading some of the dialogue that was nearly the same as the way I had translated it. Part of me was still afraid that I had no idea what I was talking about and just looked stupid writing a long post with misinterpretations of lines💀

Pre-notes: 1. For those who named their cat something else, Robin = MC’s cat.  2. In the direct quotes, anytime you see “---” it’s just me cutting out a part in the dialogue that I deem unnecessary for comparison purposes. 3. I bolded whether there’s differences in the chapters or not in each chapter summary, in case you only want to read the summaries for the chapters with the differences. It’s pretty much going to be the same as reading my other post, then, but I explain more of the chapter here, usually.

Chapter 1-3

Literally so dull. Nothing really of note. Pretty much the same between the English and Japanese. Jasper asks about her hands and she’s like “omg he’s so nice he was worried about my hands!!”, she meets Sherry and they become friends, the headmaster tells her she has to learn magic if she wants a chance at going back home. They go to the runes and learn about the history of Saligia. Guy grabs her again, she escapes.

Chapter 4

It starts to get a little bit more interesting here. Overall, nothing seems too different between the two stories yet. Jasper invites her to the rooftop for a tea party. Jasper is desperately trying to get MC to interact (in a positive manner) with Guy, she asks Jasper to have tea with her instead. Sherry and Rio mention a ball. Toa and Guy get into a glaring match. Toa leaves. You know, the usual. Jasper whispers something in Guy’s ear and they leave, and everybody follows them because...you know. They discover that Guy’s room has been trashed. Toa walks in and asks what’s going on, and then falls silent when he sees Guy’s room. Guy is like “Toa, you left before me, did you not?” and Toa is like “What are you trying to imply?” then they glare at each other until Lynt is like “Are you trying to say that Toa is the culprit? He would never.” Fenn agrees. Roy says they should investigate, and Toa says he will also investigate, since he is the dorm prefect after all. Afterwards, Jasper asks Guy if he thinks Toa did it, Guy says “No, Qelsum isn’t that stupid.” Guy says they need information. He sends Jasper out to investigate, tells Jasper to be sure not to be seen. Fenn, Violet, and MC go out for food or something, and MC runs into Sirius, literally. Fenn is like “what are you doing?” and MC says she ran into somebody but turns around and there’s nobody there. I guess it’s trying to imply that Jasper is stealthy and can hide away into the night or something?? But then that’s it.

Chapter 5-6

No overall noticeable changes. It’s time for the ball! Sherry lends MC a dress and they head to the ball. She sees Jasper in the hallway closely inspecting wine, without Guy. She calls his name and he startles. He tells her he’s selecting a wine for Guy because Guy is very selective and will not consume anything that Jasper has not prepared. Jasper essentially says that Guy is his reason for living. Then they go into the dance hall. And Guy is all like “why did you come in together?” then they say they ran into each other by chance. Guy goes to take a sip of the wine, looks  startled, and then ends up spitting it out into a handkerchief. He claims he choked on the wine. She finds Jasper in the hallway again, looking at the wine, and calls out. Again, he startles. She wonders why. She tries to ask, but then he dodges the question by telling MC that the dress looks good on her. He invites her to dance and says he’ll teach her. They head back to the ballroom, she asks him some various questions and they all basically end with him saying that he serves Guy or whatever, and she’s thinking all like “work, again...?”. Jasper then tries to make her dance with Guy instead of himself, and when she says she’s going to leave he grabs her arm. There’s a few choices you can make, but one of them is “Please let go of me.” And then! And then! This man literally looks at her and asks “Why?” Yikes!! And she asks why he’s asking why, and he says he doesn’t want her to go, so she agrees to stay a little longer. (Mistake #1) Then he shoves her off onto Guy again. After dancing with Guy she goes out to the balcony and runs into Aquia, and Aquia pricks his finger and it starts bleeding. She tries to look at it and it somehow brushes her lips and at that moment Guy and Jasper come out and ask what’s going on. Aquia apologizes (he did nothing wrong!! >:(  ) They then discover that Aquia’s wound has magically healed somehow. Then here’s the scene with  Guy: “That girl, I want to know everything about her.” Jasper: “Oh my, have you fallen in love?” Guy: “Something like that” Jasper: “Congratulations! We must celebrate this wonderful occasion!” Guy: “That’s enough now. Investigate that woman’s power.”

Chapter 7

No major changes between versions. But...Ughhhhhhhh. We’re gonna meet Sirius in this chapter. But first some humor. They go to the S rank lounge, I believe after the ball. Jasper offers to make coffee. Literally ALL the valets suddenly RUSH to Jasper’s side to ask him to teach them how to brew coffee. So there sitting in the S rank lounge with Jasper brewing coffee while all the other valets are like 👀👀👀👀 lmaoooo. Aight and so the humorous part ends there, sorry! That’s it! Now we must move on.  Fenn says he wants to go out drinking and asks Jasper if he’d like to join, Jasper declines saying he has other matters to attend to. We learn that Hawke, Jasper, and Lance are all drinking buddies. MC is all like “oh thank god, that means he does get time off!” -_- So then Toa laughs and comments how close Jasper and MC are, and is like “wow imagine using your valet for something like that” and then tells her that she’ll be a tool for Avari if she sticks with them, and that it’s not too late to switch to Qelsum’s side instead. (She does not switch. Mistake #2. Arguably her biggest mistake in this entire route, if you ask me.) Guy interjects and tells Toa that MC is his, and Toa is like “lmaooo then why does she seem closer with your valet than you?” and then they glare at each other. MC gets annoyed and leaves. Jasper asks where she’s going. She says she’s going back to her room to see Robin. For some reason, Jasper seems disappointed about this? Afterwards, she goes to her room for a bit but then decides to go explore the town with Robin. Uh oh! Robin goes missing.

She starts looking for Robin and runs into this sketch looking dude. He asks her where’s she’s going, she says she’s looking for her cat. He’s like “oh that flying thing?” and she’s like “Yeah!” and then is like “could you just tell me which way he was headed? I can get there myself.” but the guy insists that she should follow him instead, because the streets are dangerous and she might run into dangerous men. The man is then like “I’m Sirius.” (which, when I first read the Japanese, I thought he was saying “I’m serious” lmaoo) and then he frickin grabs her hand and drags her off!!! Yikes! 

Chapter 8, 1st Interlude, and Chapter 9 

Okay so we’ve got the most significant changes in these chapters. Like. A LOT. This is what the majority of my previous post focused on: the drugging, sexual assault, and morning after.  They basically did their best to make this consensual. It went very similar to what I had predicted, although played up a bit more cringe-y than I had expected...or maybe I just hadn’t thought about how cringe-y it would be. There’s literally so many changes that it’d be a bit of a pain to summarize all of them between the versions, I’m just going to put the actual dialogue/stuff from the stories for a lot of this so you can see the differences more directly. (The Japanese will be roughly translated by me, of course.)

Chapter 8

So Sirius starts walking and walking and walking and she asks where they’re going but he keeps insisting it’ll only be just a little longer or that it’s a shortcut and stuff. Ughhhhh...Then she’s like. This man clearly has no idea what he’s doing, I’m going to run away after all. But then he suddenly tells her they’re going to take a “break”. He drags her into the bar before she can protest or try to run. She tries to say no to a drink, but then he asks if she does drink and she’s like “well I do, but...” and you start seeing the differences here. In English she makes a comment of “Ugh, if only he wasn’t so charming.” Sirius further insists only one drink, even though MC tries to say she needs to go find Robin. He then just straight up orders drinks for them, despite her protesting. She then agrees, and then mentally apologizes to Robin. (Mistake #3) And we start seeing the biggest differences about right here...

For this chapter, let’s play a guessing game on which one is the Japanese version and which one is the English version, shall we? :)

Away from the table, Sirius plants a palm on the counter. Two of the usual are set out before him, bubbles frothing over the top. Sirius glances back and finds MC staring at the patterns in the wood grain. Sirius: Much obliged. Tavern Keeper: Mm-hmm. Scooping up the fizzing, popping tumblers, he tosses a wink at the tavern keeper. Then, he strolls back to spend time with his new friend. - Away from the table, Sirius plants a palm on the counter. Immediately two of the usual shot glasses are set out in front of him. Just to make sure, he looks back at MC, who is staring at the table. Sirius: Ah, thanks. Tavern Keeper: Mhm. Sirius skillfully drops the tablet he had hidden between his fingers into the shot glass of the opposite hand. Then, feigning a nonchalant look, he returns back to the table.

Did you guess which one was which in this part? :) And yes, my friends. In the fucking CANON MAIN ROUTE, it deadass has a line saying that our love interest puts a drug in our drinks. And yet...the Japanese fans still love him! Ugh. Also, that “skillfully” bit really concerns me. That kinda implies that he’s done it multiple times before, does it not??? Honestly I’m not really sure why it says it was a shot glass in the Japanese, though. I thought they were drinking like cocktails, not taking a shot. Maybe that’s why they changed that bit...? Now the stories are the same again for a tiny bit. Some time has passed that they’ve been in the bar/tavern and MC chugs her drink and slams it down on the table. She seems drunk. She’s rambling about Guy and Jasper. Like “I’m not an object!!” “and he’s like “Yes, yes, you aren’t an object.” then like “Who goes around saying stuff like “you are mine” and “give me your power”?? Like seriously! Who says that sort of stuff! It’s so messed up!” and he just listens along, amused. He then says that it’s good to drink sometimes, and she agrees, and then he asks what she wants to do. She notes how she’s only had one drink, yet her head feels a bit fuzzy already, and how it made her very talkative. She says she wants to go home. She reveals that her family died, and that she has a hair clip in her hair from her mom that’s very important to her. She mentions how there are still good people in this world, though.  Sirius tries to order her another drink, and here’s where stuff deviates again.

Sirius: Another of the same, if you please. MC: What, no! I’m fine MC: So hey, you’ve been fantastic company but I really need to go find Robin. (Man I got way too into that conversation.) (Robin must be out there looking for me.) MC: Thanks for the drink, though. You’re a really good listener. And also...really, really pretty. MC: It’s been great meeting you. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime? MC: Like...when I’m not looking for my cat. That’d be...nice.” (I have no filter. No filter whatsoever.) MC: Right, so...Bye... He stands up right as I do. The rickety old table wobbles between us and I pitch into his arms. Sirius: Steady on. Sirius: I might almost think you’ve fallen for me. (Fallen for him? But I’ve only just met the man.) Sirius holds me steady as I smile up at him, feeling silly but bold. He’s even more handsome up close. MC: Like I said, very attractive but...gotta go. Sirius: Hold fast. MC: Haha. Did you just pick me up?! Sirius hefts me into his arms like I weigh nothing, and for a moment I feel like I’m being carried off into the sunset. An electrifying thrill runs through me as I sway against him, adn then I realize we’re moving. MC: Where are we going? Sirius: ... MC: The look he gives me then makes my eyebrows shoot up. I nod and let him carry on. (English version, Mistake #4) When I next open my eyes, I’m being placed down on something fluffy. (I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. I should leave well enough alone but there’s something about him...) I peer at the unfamiliar ceiling overhead while Sirius stares down in my eyes. Sirius: No need to hurry. Sirius: The night’s just begun, after all. (Wait a second, aren’t you...?) The seductive smile on his face comes closer. For a split second he reminds me of someone, but it must be my imagination. - Sirius: Bartender, another of the same. MC: Ah, no, I’m good! MC: I really need to go find Robin. (Yikes, I got totally absorbed in that conversation.) (Surely Robin is looking for me, too) MC: Thanks...for talking with me...and listening... MC: Thanks to that I’ll be sure to...remember this... MC: From now on, I’m going...to study...more seriously...for sure.... (Wha...I’m so dizzy...) MC: Sorry...I’m...leaving now... Sirius: Whoa, hold on. MC: Ah... Unsteady on my feet, Sirius picks me up and holds me in his arms. I feel swaying and I open my eyes slightly. I’m being carried somewhere. MC: Where...are we going...? Sirius: ... Strangely, it feels like the ceiling has gotten awfully high... The next thing I’m aware of when I open my eyes is being placed down on something fluffy. (Where am I...?) I gaze at the ceiling above me and Sirius looks into my eyes. Sirius: Let’s take it slowly. Sirius: The night has just begun, no? (Huh...?) Laughing mysteriously, the man’s face comes closer. For a second, I think he looks similar to someone. But it’s just my imagination, right...?

I’m sure you can guess which one is which. One is extremely alarming, the other is cringe. It’s clear they did the most they could to try and make it consensual between them, and ended up doing exactly what I thought with having her make several comments about how attractive he is and then add some playful flirting between them. 😖 Alright! Ready for the next part? 

1st Interlude

I just read the normal first interlude in Japanese before typing out this post and...god, I thought the premium interlude was bad. So, one more time, trigger warning for sexual assault. Damn I really don’t want to write this part, I’m so tired from writing the rest TT (I saved this for last, unfortunately.) I’m not translating all of these so I’ll do a mix of translating exact lines and summarization. In all the stories, first she calls out Jasper’s name at first, confused, and then Sirius looks shocked. And she’s like, how weird, why would I call him that...he’s clearly Sirius...and then they all start to deviate. ><

Normal Interlude

Japanese version (this is the worst one): MC: I’m sorry...I must’ve gotten drunk, sorry for the trouble... Sirius: So you’re apologizing in this situation. (This...situation...?) He kisses her. (Wha...I’m being...kissed...) I’m aware of it, but my body feels so heavy, I can’t resist it. With my arms pinned to the bed, I’m forced to accept the kiss. He says “what is this power?” and then she sees an aura flare up around him. She asks if it’s magic, and he says that it’s interesting, and then asks if it has to do with the length of time or the type of physical contact. -- Sirius: Is it only your lips, or...? His finger runs along my knee, tickling it. With his other hand, he skillfully slips his hand into my shirt. Sirius: No need to be alarmed. Sirius: I simply wish to confirm. (Confirm...?) Sirius: So soft and smooth, you feel nice to touch. Sirius: But, I don’t feel anything from just touching you... Sirius: Is it different depending on where I touch? The sensation of him stroking my skin falsely spreads through my whole body while his fingertips make their way down to my lower limbs. I move my shoulders to try to tell him “I don’t want you to touch me!”, but it doesn’t matter as his fingertips continue to try to uncover something. MC: St...stop it... Yelling out makes him stop--at least, that’s what I had thought. However,  the thing that stops him isn’t my voice. He removes his hand that was feeling around in my shirt and then starts to think about something. (Is he...searching for something...?) Sirius: ...so it can’t be transferred through the skin, hm. (W-what...?) It’s finally over--is what I thought, at least. This time, he drops kisses on my ears and collarbone. When he puts his hands on my thighs again, I want to run away immediately. (Why...? Why is this happening...?) MC: Is this...is this a dream...? Sirius: Yes. It’s a dream. So, goodnight. Sirius: You’re about to reach the limit, aren’t you? (Limit? What is he talking about?) Even if I wanted to think about it, my head is too fuzzy and I can’t think of anything. I don’t like it, but...what is it I don’t like? Surely it was something important, but I can’t remember. Before I could say “I’m sorry, I’m really sleepy” my consciousness blacks out. She passes out and Sirius says something about how interesting it is, and that he must report his findings to Guy.

English version: MC: Sorry, I can’t believe I called you by the wrong name. Sirius: Is this the time for apologies? (I guess not...?) He kisses her. (We’re kissing. I’m kissing Sirius...) He’s certainly attractive enough. I’m not attached to anyone here, and yet...Why is it that I keep thinking of Jasper? He says “what is this power?” and then she sees an aura flare up around him. She asks if it’s magic, and he says that it’s interesting, and then asks if it has to do with the length of time or the type of physical contact. -- Sirius: Is it only your lips, or...? His fingers walk along my knee, tickling me. I shiver and grin as he gives me a considering look, then slips his hand inside my shirt. -- Sirius: I only wish to see what you’re capable of. (Strangest bedroom talk ever.) Sirius: You’re exquisite. Soft, smooth, perfect to the touch... Sirius: But I seek other responses. Sirius: Tell me, is this where you want to be touched? He peers down at me expectantly, hands petting along my skin as if to encourage me to speak. I squeeze my thighs together, hoping he’ll continue without the need for words. He raises an eyebrow. MC: Sirius, I need... At first I think the sound of my voice has given him pause. Then I realize something else has happened. He tidies my open shirt a little and frowns thoughtfully. (What is he doing? What is it he’s looking for?) Sirius: Hm, no transfer from the skin. (Uh, what?) My mouth falls open. Has the moment been ruined somehow? If so, what’d I do? But then he plants tiny kisses over my ears, neck, and cheeks. His hands sweep over me once more, but far more soothingly. Still, I can’t get the image of Jasper out of my mind. (I can’t be doing this. It’s not fair to be thinking of one man when I’m with another. I need to sort my head out.) MC: Sirius, I can’t do this. I’m...I think I’m developing feelings for someone else, so it wouldn’t be fair to you to do this... Sirius: Well, well. There’s an unexpected turn. ...All right. We’ll think of this as nothing more than a passing dream. Sirius: This never happened then. Good night, MC. (Good night? But we’ve only just...) Suddenly I feel very drowsy. A second ago I wanted nothing more than a crazy, one-night romp with a man who has crystalline red eyes. Now I can’t think of anything but how comfortable this bed is. She passes out and Sirius says something about how interesting it is, and that he must report his findings to Guy. --

Yikes!!!!! I was so shocked when I read the normal interlude!! Especially the Japanese version!! Now for the other one...

Premium Interlude

Japanese version:

MC: I’m sorry...I must’ve gotten drunk, sorry for the trouble... Sirius: So you’re apologizing in this situation. (This...situation...?) His voice is close.  But besides that, I don’t understand the situation very well. Sirius: Is it hard to open your eyes? MC: Yes... Sirius: I’ll make you feel better right now. (Feel better...?) She sees him put in eyedrops. She tries to ask but her voice is really quiet and her throat is dry. MC: Excuse me, could...could I have some water?”  Sirius: I’ll give you some right now I felt something cold touch my lips and water poured down my throat. MC: ...nng (No...it’s something else. I’m...being kissed...) I understand that, but, but I feel too drowsy to be able to resist.  With my arms pinned to the bed, I’m forced to accept the kiss. He says “what is this power?” and then she sees an aura flare up around him. She asks if it’s magic, and he says that it’s interesting, and then asks if it has to do with the length of time or the type of physical contact. (What...this kiss...) It’s a kiss that makes me feel as if I’ll be swallowed by the torrent of pleasure. (I’ve never experienced something like this...) Sirius: Ha...ahh... MC: ...mm, Sirius... His lips pull away with a wet sound and I sigh. Sirius: It’s as I thought... MC: Stop...it...already... Sirius: Shhh... Sirius: Be quiet. I’m going to make you feel better. He wipes his finger along my wet lips and pushes it inside my mouth. My shoulders jump and I shiver and inhale sharply, feeling like I’m being bitten on the neck by Sirius. MC: Mnn... Sirius: Suck... He moves his finger around my mouth and I move my tongue as I’m told. Sirius: That’s it good girl... Sirius: ...so it can’t be transferred through the skin, hm. (What...is he talking about...?) Sirius: How about...here? He removes his finger from my mouth and strokes my knee. MC asks if it’s a dream, and the rest of the interlude ends the same way as the normal Japanese interlude ends.

English version:

MC: Sorry, I can’t believe I called you by the wrong name. Sirius: Is this the time for apologies? (I guess not...?) I can almost feel his voice vibrate against my skin. Shivering at the sensation, I let my head fall against the pillows. Sirius: Would you rather keep your eyes closed at the moment? MC: Mm. yeah. I like the sound of your voice. It...reminds me of someone... Sirius: Then keep them closed. Sirius tells her to hold on a minute and puts in eyedrops. MC says her throat is dry and asks for some water. He gives her water, but she realizes that it’s not a cup but rather him giving her water from his lips. -- They kiss. (Who taught him to kiss like this?) It’s like some dam has burst within me and a tide of pleasure is threatening to sweet me away. (I’ve never experienced anything like this. Is this magic, too, or just him?) Sirius: Mm..Yes... MC: Ah...Sirius... A wanton moan escapes me as he gives me space to breathe. The thing is, in my mind’s eye I keep seeing someone else. Sirius: Quite as I suspected. MC: That was incredible. What was-- Sirius: Shh. Hush now. I’ll fufill that yearning of yours. He rubs his thumb against my dampened bottom lip then slips it inside my mouth. My shoulders jump as he moves his lips and teeth over my neck. Sirius: Suck. I obediently swirl my tongue over his thumb, taking it in further. Sirius: Good girl. -- Then she says she can’t do it because of having feelings for someone else, just like in the normal English and the rest of the interlude continues the exact same way.

I can’t believe Voltage was really like “hey, pay us and we’ll make the content less rape-y for you! :)” Big yikes lol. I’d only read the premium at the time of my original post, and I thought that was bad enough to write a post about it. That normal interlude though? YIKES. Like...gahhh I know I already said this same thing like three times earlier but I’m just so grossed out!!

Also, a quick note. The CG for this has Sirius laying on top of her while she has her eyes closed. This is because she’s UNCONSCIOUS in the Japanese version. I was wondering how they were gonna get around it, but like not long before it came out I was like “oh they can just have him comment telling her to close her eyes or something” and I guess that’s more or less what they did...?

Chapter 9

Okay so I realize I did make a slight translation error in my original post about the ninth chapter. She does indeed say “I don’t have a headache” rather than what I had thought it said which was “My head hurts, but it can’t be a hangover.”  which is what they went with in the English. “My head doesn’t hurt, though, which suggests I don’t have a hangover.” The rest seems about right, though. Anyways, so this chapter starts the morning after the events of the first interlude with MC waking up in the strange bedroom. While not technically as big of change as in Chapter 8 and the first interlude, this is also one of the most changed chapters between versions. 

The Japanese version:

(Where am I?) I open my eyes and am unable to move at first. ---- (Robin and I got separated in town...so I was searching for him) (And then...ah, yeah, I met Sirius) (He was showing me the way...and then there was that bar on the dark street where I was only going to drink one drink, and then...) .... ....... .......... “Shit, I can’t remember anything...” I’m not sure how I got to this room or what happened after I blacked out. My head doesn’t hurt, so it’s not a hangover.  I only had one drink, that’s the one thing I CAN remember. “No way...” Nervously, I run my hands down my body.  The hem of my shirt was untucked, all the buttons completely undone, and my skirt was rolled up past my thighs.  (I want to think it’s just from how I slept...I really want to think that, but...)  Being drunk can make you roll around and do that. I can’t hide how anxious I am about this unexpected situation. My heart thumps painfully in my chest and my legs shake. ---- (Huh? A tattoo?) I see Sirius taking a shower in the other room, with a tattoo spread across his back. (That would mean Sirius and I...) Looking at the bed with disheveled sheets, I wrap my arms around my body and hug myself tightly. “Maybe...maybe we just slept, that’s all...” (It’s a pitiful excuse, I know.) (Oh my god!! I need to go find Robin!!) Remembering something very important, she runs out of the room. ---- Sirius: “Ha, she ran away.”

English version:

Where am I? I open my eyes and stay perfectly still for the first few minutes. ---- (I got separated from Robin in town and while I was looking for him I, ended up lost.) (And then...Oh right, I met Sirius. Man, he was attractive.) (He was showing me the way, then we paused for a drink, and then...) Then...Hmm. What did happen? I’m drawing a blank here. “What the? I have no memory of last night.” I have no idea where this is or the events that led to me waking up here. There are flashes of groans and sighs, but that’s all. My head doesn’t hurt, though, which suggests I don’t have a hangover. Not that I’d expect to have one over a single drink, but I remember that drink being similar to a potion. “Uh-oh. Did I hook up with someone?” I carefully pat myself down. My shirt’s untucked, the buttons are undone, and my skirt’s hiked up around my thighs. (Then again, I could’ve just slept weird. Here’s hoping.) I’ve definitely rolled around in my sleep while drunk before. Still, I never thought I’d have to do a walk of shame in another realm. My heart pounds as I look around, trying to figure out who I spent the night with. (Did I somehow manage to book a room for myself? With what coin?) (It’s like everything that happened since I got here caught up to me all at once. What did I do...?) ---- “What was that?” (A tattoo? It was a gorgeous one, if so.) (The question is, how acquainted did I become with that tattoo last night?) The rumbled bedding comes back into view as I put my head in my hands. “Maybe we just crashed here together after our drink.” “...” (Pitiful excuse, but I’ll take it for now.) (Wait, Robin! Oh god. I have to go find him.) I run out of the room as soon as I remember. Given how little of the situation I remember, it’s probably better if we put that night behind us. ---- Sirius: “Alas. She has absconded.”

Then after she leaves, it goes about the same in both versions. She finds Robin at the gates, is rushing to Toa’s class, gets stopped by Jasper. His voice reminds her of Sirius. He then teases her for being late and is like “You said you were going to go back to your room last night, but it seems like you went out and had fun instead.” and she snaps at him and says she didn’t. He acts surprised. She apologizes and walks off, embarrassed. He laughs.

So. Yeah. One of them, MC wakes up confused after being drugged and raped and is trying to process that and then remembers Robin, runs back to the dorms, and has to deal with Jasper teasing her saying she went out and had “fun” which triggers extremely fresh, bad memories. While the other one...MC is like. Did I hook up with someone?? Whoopsies! Hm, I wonder how I did that. Oh but that Sirius guy was SO hot. Oh shit! I have a cat that’s missing! Gotta go. And then Jasper teases her but she just gets upset because she feels embarrassed about hooking up with someone. Neat. Also, what is with Voltage and their obsession with using “abscond”???

----

Are you feeling uncomfortable right now? A little horrified that Voltage would write a story like that, and romanticize it? Awesome! Me too! Let’s take a break here before moving on. Thankfully, the next parts won’t contain anything near as triggering as the first interlude and chapter 9. 

(Next post currently in progress, will add link as soon as possible! This is taking much longer than I thought it would to write;;;)

#jasper lane #jasper court of darkness #court of darkness #court of darkness jasper

[topazy]

The Fierce And Broken

1.07

Master list

“It's been a few days. Maybe the bomb at the bridge scared them off?”

Bellamy raised his eyebrows at Clarke, “do you really think that?” She shook her head, Bellamy turned to face you. “What about you? Do you think the grounders have been scared off?”

“No.” You admitted, “I think they are planning on how to attack us. Not that it will take them long.”

Clarke frowned, “what do you mean?”

You sighed standing up. “From what I’ve been told the grounders have already got biological warfare nailed, I imagine they have other tricks up their sleeves. It’s amazing how advanced they are without technology. I think we should- is something amusing?”

You and Bellamy both turned to look at Clarke who had a strange look on her face. She shook her head, “no sorry...i just never realised you were such a fan of the grounders.”

What was her problem? You ignored her comment and continued talking. “We need to be prepared, I think you need to find out what people’s strengths are fast.”

Bellamy seemed intrigued by your suggestion. So far they hadn't come up with a better idea. You weren’t invited to the ‘leaders meeting’ but you’d overheard them talking. Since you were in the next room checking what medical supplies the camp still had, you had since been dragged into the conversation because Bellamy wouldn’t stop asking your opinion on things. “What do you suggest Al?”

You quirk a brow suddenly feeling a mixture of emotions, was this your chance to finally make a difference around camp? Bellamy had done the best he could but to survive the grounders you needed to be more organised. An idea that is easier thought than done. “Well, we need to know who should be on the frontline.” Clarke made a scoffing noise. “Any of us could fight if it came to it, but that doesn’t mean we should. Monty and Raven are far too useful to risk losing. Me and Clarke are the only people with medical training. We need to utilise people to the best of their abilities.” You shot a glance at Clarke, “or not.”

“It’s the best idea we have got so far,” Bellamy stood up. “I’ll get Octavia to help me make a list of everyone and what they are best at.”

You smiled at him before walking out of the drop-ship. For all his flaws he wasn’t a bad guy, Bellamy had done some reckless things that you didn’t agree with, but he was trying his best. At least he was open to hearing what you had to say.

______

You stepped inside the tent Raven was currently in, and unsurprisingly she was working hard. “Hey, genius.”

She turned to you and smiled, “hi Al.”

Ever since Raven had broken up with Finn you had been worried about her, she seemed fine but it could have just been an act. She told you how Finn said he loved her, but Raven ended it with him anyway. You were proud of her. Your friend respected herself enough to know when to call it a day, something you wished you could have done for yourself.

“Earth to Alba,” you looked straight ahead to see Raven wavering her hands in front of you. “Sorry, I completely zoned out. What were you saying?”

Raven smiled and motioned for you to sit down next to her. Once you were seated she repeated her previous question. “I was asking how your morning has been? You were gone by the time I woke up, usually I need to shake you awake.”

You chuckled at her comment. Raven had shared a tent with you most nights, apart from the one night when she spent the night with Finn. “I got up early to check on Murphy, his finger nails are finally starting to grow back.”

Raven pulled a face, “that’s so gross.”

You shrugged, “I’ve seen worse.”

The brunette smiled at you, and shook her head before turning back to the table in front of her. “Murphy is lucky to have you, nobody else would stick their necks out for him.”

“He was a good friend to me on the ark, he was there when-let’s just say whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on he was it.”

On the ark your parents used to joke Murphy was secretly your older brother. The two of you could be fighting like cat and dog one minute them playing like best friends the next as children. Regardless of what age you were, you and Murphy always had each other’s back.

“Like I said, he’s lucky to have you.” Raven paused before continuing, “we aren’t on the ark anymore...you have more than one friend down here. I’m always here if you need a shoulder to cry on.”

You opened your mouth to reply when Finn barged into the tent. He walked towards Raven and leaned down to see what she was building. “What's for dinner?”

Raven glanced up at him. Split loads, turning one bullet into two. It's all I can do until we get more gunpowder. Jasper has a recipe. Yesterday I saw him taking buckets from the latrine. I didn't ask.”

You felt uncomfortable. The calm atmosphere had changed the moment Finn entered the tent. Raven’s positive attitude had shifted, she now seemed pissed.

Finn obviously hadn’t of noticed because he kept talking. “Is one of those for me?”

“Maybe. Still deciding.”

He cleared his throat, “I keep wanting to apologize again.”

Oh. This was awkward. You cleared your throat, “I can give you guys a minute.”

Raven sighed, “You don't have to.” You weren’t sure if she was talking to you or Finn, but the pleading look on her face made you stay. “We're good. I’ve got to get this done.”

Finn shook his head, “that's bad.”

“What?” The volume of Raven’s voice surprised you. It was getting higher each time she spoke.

“When you're really pissed off, you always find a project, something to keep your hands busy so you don't punch someone in the face.”

The brunette frowned, “I'm not keeping busy, Finn. I'm keeping us alive.”

“Yeah. You're right.” Finn mumbled under his breath, “That was a dumb thing to say. See you later.”

You see Raven’s face fall. She looked hurt. “Wait. We're good. We're good. We are. I just want you to be happy.”

“Fire! Help fire!”

You ran out of the tent and towards the smoke. You were relieved to see Octavia and Murphy both stumble out of the tent. You noticed the furious look on Murphy’s face, Murphy was now standing toe to toe with Del. “This is all your fault! We told you it was too much wood.”

Del shoved him, “get the hell away from me!”

You were standing by Octavia’s side and rubbed her back as she continued to cough. Bellamy jumped in between the two boys before a fight could escalate. “Hey! Hey! Hey, stop! Save it for the Grounders.”

Octavia stepped away from you and towards her brother. “Well, now what the hell are we gonna do? That was all the food.”

Clarke stormed over shaking her head. “Any idea what happened?”

“Murphy says that Del kept feeding the fire, mostly because Octavia told him it was a bad idea.” Bellamy explained while glaring at Del.

Clarke scoffed, “And we believe Murphy?”

You answered her frowning, “yes. I’m sure O will say the same.”

The Griffin girl shook her head. “Whatever, we need to get more food. Anyone we can spare goes out.”

______

Delinquents gathered round to hear what Bellamy had to say. “Each group takes someone with a gun, and they're for killing Grounders, not food. We don't have the ammo. Use the spears for hunting. Get what you can. Be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark.”

You eyed others in the camp as the split off into pairs. Your eyes landed on a head of blonde hair, oh great. It was only you and Clarke left. Sighing you went to walk towards her when you felt somebody’s hand on your shoulder.

Turning around you saw Raven staring at you with a worried look on her face. “You shouldn’t be going, the camp needs a medic. What if somebody becomes ill.”

She had a point. Thinking back to your previous conversation with Clarke and Bellamy, you knew what you had to do. Turning away from your friend you faced Clarke. “Hey Griffin,” you said walking towards her. “One of us needs to stay here, and I think it should be you.” She looked at you surprised. “You are the better medic, and the camp needs you.”

She pressed her lips together into a thin line before reluctantly agreeing. “Okay, be safe out there.”

You nodded and turned back to see Raven staring at you with a disappointed look on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest, “that’s not what I meant.”

“Clarke is more useful to this place than I am, she’s need here more than me.” You answered honestly.

Raven’s face twisted. “That’s not true. Octavia and Murphy need you, I need you here. You should have just let Clarke go.”

Running your hand through you’re hair, you let out a deep breath. Truthfully you didn’t want to go hunting, the idea of grounders attacking petrified you. But you needed to be brave. “I’ll be fine, and back before you know it.”

Raven’s expression softened as she pulled you into a hug. “Please be safe.”

“I will.” You pulled back from the hug, “I’ll be excited to see whatever badass creation you have made by the time I returned.”

She smiled hesitantly before returning to her previous job of making bullets.

Myles walked towards you. “Hey Y/N. You alone? You maybe want to go together?”

You pondered for a moment if it was a good idea to hunt with him. You had hated him for what he did to Murphy, but in times of war it was better to let go of grudges. “Sure. I'll get some gear.”

As you started collecting what you need Finn approached you. “Hey, you ready to go?”

Confused you studied him, “are you coming with us?”

Finn let out a chuckle. “You're lousy with a spear, but you're sneaky. We would make a good team.”

“And?”

“And Clarke says I’m to keep you safe, and so did Octavia. She actually threatened me.”

“I’m glad,” you laughed. “I’m also terrible at tracking, so you will come in handy.”

Myles joined you once again. “Hey, partner, we're wasting daylight. Oh, Finn, you're joining the band?”

He nodded, “yip.”

You glanced back one more time before exiting the gates as Myles started telling the story of how he got arrested on the ark.

______

Myles looked around trying to figure where the animal went. “Is is one of those scaly panther things?

Finn looked at him, “bore.”

“Good,” Myles did relived. “Because that panther meat is nasty, but I could eat a whole boar by myself, no joke. You know what the best part is of the boar? It's gonna sound gross.”

You stopped walking and turned to face them, you had noticed the look on Finn���s face. “Guys, quiet for a second. What is it?”

Finn crouched down to inspected the ground better. “These tracks. They're perfect.”

A knot twisted in the pit of your stomach, this was bad. “It’s too perfect.”

Standing up, Finn spoke in a low voice. “We're the ones being hunted.”

You looked up at the tree lines and the bushes where you stood. I’d the grounders where there they where well hidden. “I don't see anything.”

The moment the words came out of your mouth arrows started flying in your direction. You and Finn managed to dodge some, but Myles got hit. A arrow landed in his leg before a second one hit him in the chest.

Myles screamed out in pain. You tried to help him but Finn pulled you back. “Al, come on. We got to leave him.”

You went to argue that you couldn’t leave him behind when something heavy hit you on the back of the head. The last thing you remember is Finn screaming your name before landing on the ground.

______

You awoke to a grounder screaming in your face. He tied your hands and began dragging you along behind him as he road his horse. You felt a wave of relief seeing Finn was tied up beside you.

After a while the grounders stopped when you reached a grounder outpost. Finn nudged you, “We walked for about three miles after crossing that creek, another two or so before we got to the road.”

“I don't think it matters, Finn. They didn't blindfold us, which means they don't care what we saw. They're probably gonna kill us. What do you want from us?”

A grounder opened the door to revile a wounded child laying on a bed. Anya stepped out in front of you. “Help her. If she dies, he does. Her name is Tris.”

You shook your head and took a couple of steps back. “I can't do this. I don't have any equipment.”

Anya eyed you suspiciously. “We'll provide you with what we can Alba of Skaikru.”

“Why do you think I can save her?”

Finn let out a frustrated sigh, “Lincoln told her.”

Anya nodded confirming his theory. “Yes. Our healer is gone. There's nothing we can do for her.” She pointed at Finn. “For his sake, I hope you can.”

Finn grabbed you by the shoulders. “Al, you can do this.”

You bit on your bottom lip, “What happened to her?”

The grounder leader pulled a face of disgust. “She was on the bridge when your bomb exploded. Your people did this to her.”

“How could you send a little girl into battle? What is wrong with you people?” You asked bewildered.

Anya remained expressionless. “She was with me. She was my second. It's how we train them to be warriors.”

“Oh, so the killing can just go on and on.” You quipped back.

“Your people the bomb on the bridge. You did this to her.” As Anya spoke Tris began gasping for air. “Help her!”

You studied the young girl for a moment trying to asses her. Her skin was calmly, she had chills and was sweating. You pressed your hand on her chest to feel how fast her heart was beating. Tris was septic. “She needs clean blood.”

Finn looked at you worried, “A transfusion?”

You rummaged around the room for anything useful. “There's no tubing!” You turned to face the grounders. “We need a syringe, the biggest one you can find, and I need a cannula. It's like a hollow needle.”

One of the grounders eventually handed you ‘equipment’ you could work with. You times to face Anya, “Ok. I'm gonna need your blood.”

“No.”

“You're from the same tribe. It's the best match we're gonna get.” You tried your best to explain why you needed their blood, but all the grounders refused.

“Alba, if you're gonna do something, you have to do it now. Just use mine.” Finn rolled up his sleeve for you to tie a tourniquet around it.

Tris let out a whine of pain that didn’t sound normal. Shit. You knew she was dying but stilled tried your best. “I can't find a vein.”

“Al...”

“Oh, come on.” You continued to look frantically before eventually giving up.

“She's not breathing.” A grounder spat.

Anya raised her hand, “take him away and kill him.”

“No. No. No. No! No. No.” You protested, and fought against the grounder holding you “I did everything I could. No!”

Finn shouted as he was dragged away. “Alba, stop. They'll hurt you.”

______

“Anya will take no pleasure in your friend's death.” Caliban one of the grounders from before spoke. “Prove your worth, and you'll be welcome here.”

You squinted at him confused. “I couldn't save Tris. Why would you want me?”

“We told you. Our healer is gone.”

Maybe this bizarre offer could work in your favour. You might have the chance to get back to camp and warm the others. “Will I be able to go back to see them... my friends, my home?”

He let out a wicked laugh, “tomorrow there'll be nothing to go back to.”

Dame it. All you could do now was try and distract him. “Those marks on her shoulder, what were they? Lincoln has them, too.”

Caliban pulled his top down to reveille his own. “Each scar marks a kill in combat.”

“She had five kills?” He nodded. “She was a little girl.”

“She was brave.”

You shook your head in disbelief. “You have a lot of them.”

“And half were after I hurt my knee.”

You bit down on your bottom lip. “Is your commander really going to kill my friend? And the rest of my people?”

The grounder explained in detail what would happen to Finn, then how they would attack ‘Skaikru’. Panicked, you kicked Caliban in the knee and used the scalpel to slit his throat. You sobbed out a apology before watching him die. The moment the realisation of what you done sunk in you threw up, but quickly pulled yourself together.

Not knowing where Finn was you started running in the direction towards camp.

#the 100 #Raven Reyes #raven reyes x reader #slow burn #slow romance #the 100 x oc #the 100 fandom #the 100 fanfiction #Raven Reyes/reader #the 100 imagine #raven reyes imagine #grounders #finn collins #Octavia Blake #clarke griffin #anya the 100 #John Murphy #Bellamy Blake

[srose-foxfire]

“First Impressions” Part 3 -Damirae Short Fic-

Part: 1

Part: 2

Part: 3 ⬇️

Damian knew he had to be paying closely attention in class, but his mind was elsewhere. He had his eyes down on his notebook, scribbling nonsense as to make it look, he was actually taking notes. A raven flew by the school’s 4thfloor window and landed next onto a branch causing Damian to turn his attention to the black bird and forget he was in school. The bird squawked and then flew off, clearly spotting something to eat.

The young Wayne let out a silent sigh as he returned his gaze towards his notes and found he had written Raven’s name all over the page. He could feel his blood boil and his face flushed, not wanting anyone see him turn red Damian laid his head onto his sleeved school coat.  

“Something the matter Mr. Wayne?” Damian looked up, to find his history teacher, poking her eyes out from the top of the textbook she was holding and lifting a brow at him.

“Nothing.”  He simply answered and went back to looking down at his notebook, scribbling some of the words he caught as Mrs. Han continue with the lecture.

-- -- -- --

Damian was glad he wouldn’t had to see any of his peers or his teachers now that Thanksgiving break had started, it only reminded him that the fall semester would soon end and then he would only need to focus on completing his last spring semester as a senior. Already Damian had applied to colleges and universities to please his father, but Damian felt he was ready to take over the family’s company. He has been groomed since a child, but his father insisted Damian have a normal life like any other teen or young adult. Whatever that meant. As he lingered on his thoughts a sudden image appeared across his mind of Raven smiling.

He shook his head and wondered why she was consuming all his thoughts. True he was seeing Raven more often as she hanged out regularly with Cass and Steph over the weekends. They lock themselves in Cass room and do girliethings, Damian could only assume as he would pass by the closed door and hear squeals coming from the other side.  

Damian finally heard the story of how his sisters met Raven. Steph and Cass were out on a shopping spree, while he was away with his father on a business trip. The girls were on their own -none of his brothers offered to accompany them- and bought more than they could carry. One thing led to another that both Steph and Cass lost their grip on some on their purchases, resulting most of their brand-new items to scatter across the mall’s floor. No one offered to help, as the two girls scrambled to pick up everything, only a girl dressed in black came to their aid. She showed no amusement to what had happened only concerned and wanted to help to lighten their day. While the other shoppers only laughed at the incident, the raven-haired girl only offered Cass and Steph a gentle smile. Thus, began start of a beautiful friendship.

Damian couldn’t ask his sisters for more intel, for if he continue to pry into their friend both Cass and Step would become suspicious of his questions. He could try and ask Raven some questions in order to learn more about her but that was something he wouldn’t be able to accomplish. Recently Damian has been noticing that every time he had the slightest chance to speak with Raven in private, either his sisters would come into the room and whisk her away from him. Other times when he would find her alone, she would get a call from her mother to return home. It would seem the universe was conspiring against him to ever redeem himself.

-- -- -- --

Perhaps the universe was finally giving Damian a chance. It was a little pass midday on Thanksgiving Day and Damian was seated in the back of the family’s limousine as Alfred drove him towards Raven’s home. She and her mother were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner at Wayne Manor. Ariella, Raven’s mother insisted they cook some of the dishes themselves to contribute to the meal. This pick-up trip had been tasked to Cass and Jason but the two backed down last minute, making Damian go instead.

He didn’t mind since this would be a great opportunity to be alone and just have a decent conversation with her. Already his mind was working on topics they could talk about, he could share his own favorite novels and authors. Recite excerpts he enjoyed, maybe even get a chance and invite Raven to watch a movie the following weekend. He could feel himself smile a bit at the ideas, he then looked up when he felt Alfred pull-over the limousine. His smile soon disappeared at the sight before him:

Raven was hugging an older boy with green hair.

Damian could feel his heart shatter into a thousand pieces, and it hurt.Could that be her boyfriend? He wanted to ask Alfred to return later but knew the old family butler would question him and that was the last thing Damian wanted to do. Was to talk about his feelings.

“Wait for me here Pennyworth.”

“As you wish Master Damian.”

Damian walked over the two young teens, hiding his fists in in trousers pockets. Raven was still hugging the green hair boy and Damian had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from frowning. The hug ended when Damian grunted, Raven and the guys beside her turned around to face him.

“Greetings.” Who the hell says that these days? Damian wanted to punch himself in the face for making himself look like a fool before them. “Pardon, I came to help you bring anything back to the manor?”

“Right.” Raven only smile at him and cleared her throat before gesturing to the guy beside her “Damian this is-”

“Jasper Sky, I presume?” Damian said so naturally as he extended his hand out to him. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Damian’s hand was still in the air, as the guy before him only lifted a brow at him, “Jasper who-now?”

Raven chuckled nervously before adding, “actually Damian, this is an old childhood friend of mine, Garfield Logan.”

“You can call me Gar for short.” Gar said with a smile before giving Damian a hard handshake. “Well it seems you are busy Rae; I hope you and you mom like the quiche. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Bye Gar.” Raven said warmly and Gar returned the gesture with a huge grin on his face. He went to grab a black skateboard and rode down the block before turning on a corner.

Damian looked at Raven from the corner of his eyes, and saw she was still smiling. Seeing her smiling like that only made him want to smile as well, but he couldn’t allow himself since he was still figuring out his damn emotions. Damian turned his hand into a fist, brought it next to his lips before grunting again. “Apologies, I thought… never mind. Do you need help putting the stuff inside the car?”

“Yeah, my mom left everything ready upstairs. You wanna follow me upstairs?”

Damian could only nod and followed Raven into the apartment building. He could see why Cass and Jason bailed on helping load the limousine. Raven’s home was on the fifth floor, and the elevator was out of order making them go up a few flights of stairs. Damian can only hope, he could stack certain dishes together to minimize the ups and downs. Both teens arrived to a dark red wooden door with 405written in paint plastered in the center. Raven took out some very looking worn out keys and opened the door. They entered and Damian couldn’t help himself but examined the home.

It was small, perfect for just two people to live here. The entrance was right into a small hallway, the left side clearly lead to their rooms and straight ahead was a small living room adorned with a white love seat and a small coffee table. In the living room, there was a small flat screen, on the soft light blue painted walls was adorned with assorted picture frames of Raven and her mother. It amazed him how they were both much alike and could see where the black-raven hair girl got her beauty from. Just a little up ahead was a talk mosaic counter splitting the living room to a small kitchen which was decorated with knitted autumn leaves. There was a small wooden table filled with large crystal containers with different prepared dishes.

“Your home is quaint.” Brain stop talking, Damian told himself.

“Thanks… so if you don’t mind grabbing these and…” Raven pointed to some larger containers which had smashed potatoes, string beans, one with macaroni and cheese. Raven busied herself of getting what looked like gravy, rice pudding, and a container filled with chocolate chip cookies. Damian had thought there were more items, but between them two they would be able to take everything downstairs in one trip.

They existed her home, being a gentleman Damian waited for her while Raven locked the door before heading down flight of stairs that waited for them. They were both silent, concentrating on each step they took so not to trip. He wished he could break the silence but all his previous well though-out conversations in the limousine had decided to escape him. Damian was about to call it a defeat when-

“There’s no Jasper Sky.”

Wait what? He had to blink a few times before turning his head to look at her, but Raven kept her amethyst gaze on the steps below her. Her face had become a somber look, like the confession was had been consuming her. “Pardon?”

“I… I don’t have a boyfriend. I made him up.”

He could feel that it was hard for her to confess but the side of him wanting to comfort Raven couldn’t help but add; “I don’t wish to pry but if you need to vent I’m open-”

“Your sisters kind of pinned me to a corner. Short story we were just talking, and something lead to another which resulted of them lining up guys for me to…date. I panicked and made up the idea that I was already seeing someone, making me create Jasper Sky.”

Damian could feel she had more to say and only remained silent to allow her to continue, “I had to confess to someone and well, out of everyone I feel like you would help me come clean to your sisters. Besides I feel you wouldn’t judge me and… arh! I’m not making any sense, am I?”

“No need to feel embarrassed, I could only imagine the predicament my sisters may have put you through and I feel honor you can confide in me.”

“Thank you, Damian. I really appreciate it.” Raven smiled at him, before going up a step and doing something Damian wouldn’t had expected from her. She gave him a light peck on his cheek. “You’re a good friend.”

Raven descended the last few steps and exited the apartment building, unaware that Damian had stopped at the last step of the stairs as he stared off at her. In that moment he wished he wasn’t carrying items in his arms, wanting to touch the cheek she kissed. Raven was opening-up to him and he couldn’t believe he could have a chance to continue getting know about her, all the while supporting her in any way, she made needed him. He would do anything she could ever asked of him. Damian couldn’t help but feel all giddy inside and wanting to shout out load how happy he that the universe was finally giving him a break. 

A/N: Hello I hope everyone has been staying safe and well. I apologize for not getting part 3 out sooner and hope you enjoyed this. I busy myself and work hard getting this done and edited today. We are nearing the end to ‘First Impressions’ but this has given a chance for me to create more fics and au’s on Damian and Raven. I am also working on some fics for the Damirae Fanzine so that’s currently my number one priority at the moment. Once I am finished with that I am will be open to take some short Damirae prompts (from you) for me to write and help me better myself as a writer. Till next time and Happy Holidays!

~~Simona R.  

#damirae #demonbirds #DC Universe #dc fanfic #damian x raven #raven-x-damian #Damian Wayne #dc damian #raven roth #thanksgivingau #i hope this is good #fanfiction #damirae fan #damiraeau

[dishwater-blondie]

I- A person asked how Gabriel punched Philippe and you just write a dam fic on its own for it. JEEZUS CHRIST- That was yet again an amazing mini essay. Please, you this question as a way to share anything you’ve wrote that makes you feel happy-

I take prompts VERY seriously. 😄 Thank you, anon.

I hope you don't mind, I'm going to take this opportunity to share an excerpt of an original piece I wrote a couple years ago. It's honestly pretty saccharine and full of itself 😅 But I still really like it.

You are different, and you seem to know it. That flicker of caution in your half-lidded gaze, the rigidity of your shoulders as you walk among the shelves, that smile, that thrill when you listen to a soul laugh. Happy, you think, or hysterical. It matters not. They’re alive. You came looking for someone. You came looking for me.

Hello.

We have all been sitting, waiting, growing older and lonelier, but never weary. Our bodies wearied when we had bodies, and the minds of those who had not died young. I don’t remember how old I was when I died. It might be easier to believe I had burned into existence a sphere of light, but your eyes now have turned on me, and I see in them the sadness of wondering. Who are you? ask your eyes, but I will never tell you. I will never know.

But I know you. Had I the urge, had I anything but perpetual indifference for the sake of facing eternity, I could have known the hearts of everybody who has passed by my jar. I could have known the woman who had come before you, who had bent at the waist to read my label only to find “Unknown Soul” scribbled in ballpoint pen. But she drifted away, and I had no reason to look deeper than the light pink soul that stirred within her, the soul that will one day be freed from its vessel as her lungs cease to breathe. When they do, that soul will forget what it had left behind. Without the limits of the human mind, a soul can see everything, everything but itself.

And I can see you so clearly now, see how gravity roots you to the earth, commands your feet to drop into the grass with every step you take to and fro, crush, flatten, mangle each blade under your shoe. I can see the flutter of the raven curls dangling out from under the hood you had pulled to tightly frame your affected countenance, how a single lock brushes against your jawline. A gentle breeze must have slipped through the flaps in the tent. You pay no mind. The wind is nothing to you. The grass even less. You must not even feel the weight of the smile twitching into place on your lips.

You glance again at me, and your round dark eyes carry the years of your life within them, and the years yet to come, all the lights and the shadows and the clouds that will cross their surfaces of liquid jasper flashed in a single moment. Life, pain, and death, the burdens of beauties of being you. I’m Haizea, you tell me, but I already know. Meanwhile, there is no introduction I can give you in return.

It is because all the world is not as much a burden to bear as one’s own name.

#my asks #my writing

[ren1327]

Sweater Weather Ch. 11

Sorry I missed Wednesday's upload! I'm going to lump the rest today.

Thank you for being with me for this project.

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

Ben let out a happy sigh as Kenji joked with Darius, Brooklynn nearly snorting out her drink from a terrible punch line Darius stole.

Eric and Zach had joined their table, along with Zach’s brother Gray, who had also brought his switch to play with Carmen.

Ben didn’t voice it, but he saw the way the moppy hair boy glanced and smiled at her.

Kenji’s arm was around him and he laughed at his corny jokes, feeling at peace for the first time in a long time.

“Excuse me a minute. I need to use the bathroom really quick.” He said.

“Okay, Babe.” Kenji said and kissed his cheek. “Don’t take too long, dinner is about to be served.”

“I’m assuming you ordered tamales.”

“You assumed right~!” Carmen sang without looking up from her game.

Ben rolled his eyes with a smile and walked off, finding the bathroom and doing his business.

He nearly yelped when he came out and was face to face with Jasper leaning against the bathroom sink.

“Ah! Mister Roth!” He squawked.

“Ben.”

He looked down at him and Ben carefully side stepped him to wash his hands.

“Ben.” Jasper called.

“Y-Yes?”

“Oh my god, look at his skinny chicken legs!” A tinny voice said.

“Pinky really got it this time!”

“Who did it?” A boy’s voice asked. “This is hilarious!”

“Back to class!” Ben hear his old principle yell.

He heard faint sobbing and a voice he knew too well.

“I gotcha, Buddy.” Dave said. “Here, deep breath, hold it. Okay, again. Ready? Deep breath in…”

Ben let out a shaky breath as Jasper held up his phone, the image of him in a miniskirt and apron holding an inhaler to his lips on the screen.

“How…?”

“Uh, well. Internet and all. Had to really find it.” Jasper said.

“Why are you showing me that?” Ben asked.

“This has nothing to do with my daughter, but everything to do with you.” He sighed. “I heard that it was Kenji who did that to you.”

“I want to be with Kenji!” Ben said suddenly and took a step towards the much taller man.

“I ain’t trying to break you up, Kid.” Jasper said.

“What?”

“Listen. I get all that stuff that happened with Brooklynn, and I will never forgive him for stringing her along. But” He shook his head. “You need to be ready for someone other than me finding that video. I got it taken down, but still. The Kons are influential and tend to have a spotlight on them. Can you handle that spotlight going sour on ya?”

“Uh…”

“Be careful of press and gossip.” Jasper simplified. “They’ll do anything to get a sale. According to them, my husband had Brooklynn with a woman and didn’t give birth to her himself.”

“Wait, he’s…I couldn’t even tell, that’s amazing!”

“He’d look good in yellow and purple.” Jasper said with a shrug and dreamy look.

“Wow. Uh, thanks for the advice. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” Ben said.

“Alright. But if Kenji makes one wrong move, I’m gonna—”

“Okay! People left and right are threatening my boyfriend.” Ben said. “For what its worth. I hope Brooklynn and I become good friends.”

“Me too, Kiddo.” Jasper said.

“So, are you gonna leave?”

“No, I gotta pee too.” Jasper said and Ben chuckled, stepping around him and waving before going back to the table.

Ben paused as he heard some girls whispering.

“Did you see her?”

“She looked like she was about to snot up.”

“Honestly, this has to be a new record. Queen Kon is too much fun not to mess with.”

Ben felt the back of his neck prickle.

“What did you just say?!” He asked loudly, gaining some attention.

The three girls, about Carmen’s age whirled around, their dresses like pastel flowers around them as the turned.

“What?”

“What did you do to Carmen?” He asked. “I heard you. What did you say to her?”

“Who the hell wants to know?” The obvious leader asked.

Ben felt a hand on his shoulder and was surprised to see Grayson behind him.

The girls suddenly gasped when Jasper joined him, as well as Brooklynn, Darius, Eric, Zach and Kenji.

“Where is she?” Ben asked.

*

He gasped as he ran through from the hotel lobby and onto the streets.

“Ben!” Kenji called.

“Where did she go?” Ben asked.

“Owen is already on her trail. We can’t—”

“She’ll need us, Kenji.” Ben said. “She needs us.”

Kenji nodded.

Brooklynn came out with a jacket and a blanket, shivering suddenly when the icy wind whipped at her bare shoulders.

“here, for when you find her. Kosei is staying here just in case and Candy and my parents are going to drive around.”

Ben looked around and then his phone, seeing pictures of the day they adopted Bumpy.

“I think I know where she went.”

*

The lights and smells in Pacific Place Mall made one think of Christmas. People rushed about getting last minute presents or just sipping hot cocoa as they looked at the lights.

A lone figure clutched a mug of cocoa in her wet shivering hands. She had taken off her shoes as she sat near a café, looking at her social media.

She sniffed.

Whether from the cold or the hateful things said about her and Ben was anyone guess.

Ben pulled out the chair across from her and placed a plate of peppermint cheesecake in front of her.

“H-how…”

“This is one of your comfort places, right?” Ben asked.

“Yeah…” She said. “We used to come out here all the time.”

She looked towards a forever 21.

“It happened at the one in North Star.” She said. “The first time to my face.”

Kenji draped his blazer around her, placing the jacket on her lap.

“Tell me?” He asked and sat next to her.

She took a deep breath. “Mom was getting make up at Sephora. I wanted to find a skirt or something cute. Just cause. And I couldn’t find my size in this really cute gauzy tunic. It had green and red with black speckles. Like a watermelon.”

She smiled.

“I wanted it so bad.” Her smiled fell. “And I asked if they had my size. The lady was really nice and said she would check for me in the back. All of a sudden, this woman looks at her daughter, someone in my grade and says “see, if you keep being lazy, you’ll look like her and wont fit into anything.” Right in front of me. And I looked in a mirror and I…I felt so…wrong. I felt gross and I couldn’t stand it. I left and I…I couldn’t come back. Not knowing what I really looked like.”

“Carmen.” Ben took her hand. “Listen to me. You are kind, smart and loving. And there are so many people who love you as you are.”

“But so many people hate me for how I look. What if I am gross? What if I am wrong?” She asked.

“Do you think you are?”

“I mean. No? I hope?”

“Then you’re not.” Ben pushed her phone to her. “Block them and go on private.”

She sniffed and her fingers flew over the screen. She turned her phone over and sniffed again. Kenji hugged her tight. “Hey, hey…want to stay a bit longer?”

Carmen nodded and they sat there until her cocoa was finished and plate empty.

They walked back to the parking lot where Candy and Kosei were waiting, her brother and Ben holding each of her hands until Kosei and Candy crushed her in an embrace and Carmen told them everything.

Grayson went back to host the party for the rest of the night as Owen drove them back.

“Mom, Dad?” Carmen asked.

“Yes, baby?”

“Um, I think I should talk to someone professionally. And I think I want to lose weight.”

“Carmen, don’t let them—”

“For me!” She said to Kosei. “I want to feel better. Like I’m trying something too. I want to own my body. And I want to try it out at least. I’m not doing this to lose weight. I want to just…feel better.”

Kosei hugged his daughter tight.

“If you ever want to stop or take a break—”

“I know, Papa.” She said and hugged him back.

*

Ben stared at the picture of him and Kenji kissing at the Christmas ball and tried hard to ignore the comments under it.

“I can take it.” He whispered and kept his eyes on Kenji’s blissful face and his own blushing cheeks.

He saved it and switched to a book he had been reading online.

Kenji was currently in the shower, and he stared back down at his phone in worry.

“Can you handle that spotlight going sour on ya?”

He sighed and quickly wrote down a note.

He then quietly left the room and walked down the hall to the elevators. He sniffed as he entered one and was met by Owen in the lobby.

“What are you doing?”

“I…I need to go. Please let me go.” He said.

“Need to go?”

“I need some space! I need to really think and I need to get my things and…”

Owen stared him down.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll take you back to the island. To be alone and think.” Owen said. “I don’t think you should just up and disappear.”

“I can’t go to Kenji’s Island without Kenji.” He said.

“But it is safer. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, Man.”

“I—Okay.” Ben said.

“Can I ask why you’re not telling your boyfriend about this?” Owen asked.

“…He’ll talk me out of it.”

Owen sighed and rubbed his face.

“Alright.” He huffed. “Let’s go.”

#jwcc sweater weather #jwcc fanfic #camp cretaceous #jwcc benji #benji #wildcity #kenji x ben #ben x kenji

[sir-silly]

The Last War fan review

So, our beloved show has ended. And while I wish things would have gone differently, I did cry with relief when Clarke looked over and saw everyone already waiting for her.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the finale.

1) Going right into the title sequence kind of shocked me. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but I was just immediately like “oh.” It was a bitch-slap in the face that they left a gap in the credits for Bob Morley. Why you gotta do us like that?

2) Murphy screaming “come on” while they used the defibrillator on Emori was heartbreaking. And his little whispered encouragements were so freaking cute.

3) Clarke rampage? Yes, please! I love me a badass woman. However, unlimited ammo is a sin in writing. The moment Octavia picked up the sword was a big “oh yes.”

4) Did Cadogan not care about his son like at all? Lmao. Why is he so hung up on Callie and not his other kid (who I can’t even remember the name of). I don’t care if they explain in the prequel, that’s still a shitty parent choosing favorites. Along with his wife, like, was she not his greatest love? It was Callie? Kinda fucked up.

5) Why the fuck could Jordan figure out it was a test and not a war in 5 seconds when the Disciples were studying that shit for decades? I know he’s Monty’s son, but he’s not a genius or anything.

6) Thoughts on the test: I think Cadogan would have failed and the human race would be destroyed. Why bother asking questions if you already know all the answers?

7) Why wasn’t Gaia in the finale like at all?? Like, what the fuck. She was hunting??? For what?? That really annoyed me because I’ve grown to really like her and there was no point in her not being involved in the last episode. They seriously couldn’t have thrown her in there? Like, come on! Even Niylah was there! (not saying that I don’t like her, it’s just that Gaia has felt far more important to the story than her).

8) I do think that Jasper and Hope are cute together, and I know they spent the majority of their lives either alone or only with their parents, but GOD I can’t stand how awkward they are. Also, I know ya’ll have feelings for each other and shit, but is now really the time to be making out?? Why do people think that’s okay in literally the worst situations? I know it’s a show, but come on.

9) And how the fuck did Jordan throw and catch that sword? He’s a child who’s never fought a day in his life. Unless they suddenly want to tell me that Harper and Monty were secret ninjas and taught him all their tricks, I don’t believe that.

10) I’m being pissy and bringing up things from the past, but I don’t care. Why the fuck couldn’t Harper and Monty gone into cryo? I know they were happy and shit, but I’M NOT. How the fuck did it take so long for him to get into the files for Sanctum? His ass has done that shit a thousand times before in about two minutes and suddenly it takes him 80 years? Bullshit.

11) I’m still being pissy, but how the fuck does Jordan know what a magician is? “For my first trick, I will make an army appear.” Bruh, no. Monty wouldn’t have known what a magician was either. If they weren’t being taught what a Navy Seal was, there’s no way they knew what magicians were. Calling bullshit on that one as well.

12) I was pretty surprised that the Disciples didn’t start firing on Wonkru immediately. Like, this is the war they’ve been gearing up for forever and they don’t attack as soon as possible? Also, where the fuck did Wonkru get their war paint? Do they just constantly have it on their person? Or did their asses literally spend time making their paint before going to Bardo?

13) I fucking love Miller and Jackson. They’re freaking adorable. Murphy’s flat “I am glad you are safe” was so fucking funny. Also, saving Emori in one scene just to kill her in the next is bullshit. They should have just killed her the first time and done the same thing anyway. Murphy screaming at Jackson to do something and sobbing was heartbreaking. Fantastic acting on Richard Harmon’s part.

14)  Octavia putting on Lincoln’s same warpaint again was once again, so sad. I miss that man. He was too good for his own good. And while I do think that her and Levitt are very cute together, I’ll always prefer her with Lincoln. But I think that he would be really happy that she has found someone new to love.

15) Apparently whatever Echo “did” to Levitt was so forgettable that I don’t even know what she’s talking about. Bad writing. I shouldn’t forget that in just a few weeks, I should remember as soon as I see the two of them in the same room.

16) Lexa. Just all of it. There were some suspicions that she would show up for the last episode, but I didn’t really believe them because I didn’t understand how she would be integrated. I’m glad that they did bring her back, but I’m also not. It was amazing to see her back by Clarke in all of her armor and glory, but knowing it wasn’t actually Lexa was just a punch in the face. It wasn’t her mind, so it’s almost like they didn’t bring her back anyway. I honestly would have preferred if they used someone else for her Judge, because that just really didn’t do it for me. Their hug was sweet, but it didn’t even count as her returning. I personally think that her Judge should have been Bellamy or Madi instead, as they both certainly could fill the role of “the subject’s greatest teacher or the source of their greatest failure...it can be their greatest love.” This is just my preference. Believe me, I know how much Lexa meant to Clarke, but as a fan, bringing our favorite Heda back in that way wasn’t the best way to do it. As a writer, it makes sense, but it doesn’t as a fan. The writers can’t just think of what is the best storytelling, they have to think of what those watching will think.

17) I’m confused about the mindspace? Why did Clarke wake up in her solitary room with her memories painted all over the walls, but Emori woke up in the castle with a view of the desert? Why wouldn’t it have been her and Murphy’s cave? Is there a reason it was the bedroom and not the cave?

18) I know this isn’t canon in any sense, but could you imagine if Murphy and Emori fought over John’s body and she won, and then suddenly woke up with a penis? How fucking funny would that be? Just had to throw that out there.

19) Can I just again reiterate how fucking cute Miller and Jackson are?

20) I’m curious about the location of the test. Why did Cadogan’s take place on a pier, while Raven’s happened on the Ark? If it was their favorite place, wouldn’t Raven’s have been actually out in space? Like during a spacewalk? I’m confused about that.

21) I knew that Raven was somehow going to be involved in the test just because of the trailers we got for the final episode. My two guesses for who the judge would be were Finn and Abby. Though I am happy that we got to see Abby again, I would be curious to see if the scene would have played out any differently if it had been Finn.

22) Where was the full line that was given in the trailer? Because that was amazing. “We’re selfish, and we’re violent, and we have destroyed too much, but we survived.” I loved that line far more than what we got instead, which was simply, “Have we made mistakes? Yes. Clarke, me, all of us, but we were just trying to survive.” I definitely would have chosen the former over the latter. Poor choice on the editors’ parts.

23) How the fuck did Octavia and Echo go out to the field and get Levitt with Echo only being shot once? With all the bullets, the three of them should have been torn apart, I don’t care how much Indra could cover Octavia. Calling bullshit on that as well.

24) Bringing this up kind of late because I’m giving my reviews as I’m rewatching the episode, but what they had Eliza do was really fucked up. Her and Bob suffered a miscarriage during the filming of season seven, so the scene of her holding Madi and crying “my baby” is like 10 times more heartbreaking. If they made her film that after having a miscarriage mere days, weeks or few months before, that’s really, really messed up.

25) They really played-up Sheidheda’s bringing back of “jus drein jus daun” in the trailer. In reality, it was far less intense. I would have preferred what I had been expecting, which was him coming to help convince Wonkru that they would be able to win. However, I am super glad that he is dead and Indra finally got to kill him. I love how that bigass gun just turns people into mist lol.

26) The beginning of Octavia’s speech was literally like “what the FUCK guys” and it was hilarious. And I swear to god if I hear her say “we are Wonkru” or “you are Wonkru” another time, I’m gonna scream. I know it was legit the last episode but I’m sick of it by now lol. When Indra was like “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Octavia’s face was just like “omg me too” and it was really funny.

27) Bellamy. His situation was a whole problem itself. He deserved a hell of a lot better and wHY DID HE CUT HIS HAIR I LIKED IT THE LONG WAY. Anyway, you can bet your ass I’ll be writing a different ending where he didn’t die because FUCK THAT. When I do, I’ll be sure to share it.

28) I’m fucking confused about Murphy and Emori both transcending. Because, what the fuck. Emori died. The dead don’t transcend. Her mind wasn’t even in her body, it was in Murphy’s. So how the fuck did she end up alive and in her own body again. I’m glad she’s alive, but I just don’t understand. It would have made way more sense to have either not had her die in the first place, or to have Murphy, Miller, and Jackson keep pumping her heart so she technically “lived” anyway like Echo.

29) If Madi had decided not to transcend, would she still have been paralyzed? I mean, I would assume not because Levitt and Hope’s gunshots were healed, as was Emori, but I’m curious. Also, wouldn’t Raven’s leg have been fixed? Because if they only fix recent wounds and not old ones, that’s stupid.

30) On the point of Madi deciding not to transcend, why did she? Why didn’t so many other people choose not to? Like, not one Eligius prisoner or person from Sanctum chose to live? No one else from Wonkru? Why didn’t anyone else other than the main cast and guest stars not transcend? I totally understand the Disciples transcending, but seriously, nobody else wanted to live? That’s really weird. Madi and her friends really couldn’t have chosen to live on Earth with Clarke and the others? I just think it’s really unrealistic that not one single person outside of the group chose not to transcend.

31) I was really surprised that Murphy and Emori chose not to transcend, because as the Judge said, they would eventually die and not join them in the infinite. It shocked me due to their fear of dying and wanting to be immortal, but I’m really proud of them.

32) I’m disappointed that those who don’t transcend can’t have children. There were suspicions that Emori might have been pregnant (which were never confirmed), but the idea of her and Murphy having a kid together was adorable. They’d have their teeny tiny families with those two, Hope and Jordan, and Octavia and Levitt.

33) This isn’t as much me pointing out a problem as me wondering, what was Clarke going to say to the Judge when she turned around? What else did she have to say or ask? Was it about Madi? Or maybe Lexa? Or just transcending in general?

34) It’s pretty shitty that some of our questions went unanswered due to the fact that there will be a prequel. On the other hand, I live for lore, so I’m just glad that they eventually will be answered. But still, that doesn’t excuse shitty writing.

35) I want to see a stupid edit of Picasso taking the test where the Judge is Madi.

I think we all know that season seven was really not what we wanted it to be. We’ve been really disappointed by the writers and unfortunately, this is what we got out of it. I believe they really could have done a better job, but I am at least glad that everyone ended up together.

The writing was lacking. Too many questions were left unanswered, I don’t care if you’re making a sequel or not. Plot holes. It really could have been a good season if it was done better.

My ranking of the seasons is as follows: 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 7. Seasons 4 and 1 are kind of interchangeable for me in spots three and four, as are 6 and 5 in the two spots behind them, whatever the order may be.

But I still love the show. I love the characters, their development, and many things about it. It has been quite the journey and I am glad to have been a fan of the show.

May we meet again.

#the 100 #the 100 abby #the 100 analysis #the 100 bellamy #the 100 clarke #the 100 characters #the 100 cast #the 100 cw #the 100 discourse #the 100 deserved better #the 100 emori #the 100 ending #the 100 echo #the 100 fan #the 100 fandom #the 100 finn #the 100 gaia #the 100 hope #the 100 indra #the 100 john murphy #the 100 jordan #the 100 levitt #the 100 lincoln #the 100 lexa #the 100 madi #the 100 murphy #the 100 niylah #the 100 on the cw #the 100 octavia #the 100 rewatch

[strangest-loser]

Twilight Rewrite

Fire in my Blood ~ Jasper Hale x OC ~ Book One: Chapter Five

Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four

The radio sitting on Alessia's desk was set to low volume and the local all night news channel was ignored in favour of the history paper she was attempting to finish on the civil war. The computer keys tapping was giving the girl a headache and her alarm clock read 05:47 in bright red letters, it's too early for this but she has to finish this essay this morning if she wants to get any semblance of a Sunday. Her mind was fried from trying to write up all of the information contained in her APUSH textbook and she was a fraction of a second away from throwing her laptop out of her open window. Her concentration drifted for the third time that morning and while sighing she saved her word document and shut her screen off to give her brain a rest. Her eyes wandered across her room once again and she scanned the things that covered the walls, photos and memorabilia from throughout her life, at 17 she had collected a decent amount of stuff that lay tucked away in cubby holes or displayed on shelves on the walls, things were nestled in corners and they filled the drawers of the room. Her closet drew her attention and she walked towards it almost without thinking. Sliding open the door she let herself push her shoes off to one side while moving the shoeboxes that housed postcards and newspapers and tickets to football games and movies, one of them held her ribbons and certificates for cheerleading and a tiny statue gifted to her by Jacob, she quickly shoved that box aside.

It was the wooden floorboards beneath the boxes that she was interested in. The boards were discoloured and squeaked when she moved them, a minute of putting pressure on the furthest piece let it wedge free and it allowed her to pull up a second floorboard and pull an ornate box from the hole in the floor. This box had never been seen by anyone other than her and her mother, who gave it to her when she left her father. It normally hurt her to look at the box but she was tired and her emotions weren't ruling her head.

The box was oak wood coloured a deep burgundy and it was carved in the shape of a ballerina, the edges of the lid were lined with metal in a lace pattern and it met in the front to form a lock, Alessia needed the key.

Standing from her position kneeling on the floor she set down the box on her bed before walking to her desk and opening the top drawer of a small jewelry box and she let her eyes fall on a small emerald green ribbon that encircled a small black key, grabbing the tiny key she sat cross-legged on her bed and turned the key hearing a tiny click and slowly lifted the lid hearing the tiny tune of 'The Rose Adagio' from the Sleeping Beauty ballet chime throughout the room in its twinkling music box sound, and the tiny figure sitting at the top of the box spun around to the music played for her, pale glass skin with a brunette hair and a pink tutu with roses in her extended arm. This was a tiny Aurora dancing her way through her song.

The contents of the box is what Alessia was looking for, sitting at the top of the box was the only photograph Alessia had of her mother. It was taken when Alessia was four, her brown hair was held in curly pigtails and she sat with a big smile, next to her was a toddler Bella, looking up at her big sister smiling at her, Bella was sitting in their mothers lap and Renée was smiling down at their youngest, that was common in almost every instance of their lives, Renée's attention was almost always on Bella. It was something that caused Alessia a lot of pain when she was growing up and for a long time she told herself her mommy didn't love her because she did something wrong. Setting the photograph aside she continued to go through the box, a small necklace belonging to her grandmother was taken out too, it was a Tiffany necklace from the fifties and it was priceless to Alessia, she slipped the necklace around her neck and the added weight it put over her heart comforted her. More sentimental objects came out of the box including the first dollar she earned at the diner and a dried daisy she got in a meadow in the forest. At the bottom of the box sat a pair of black satin pointe shoes, beautiful black ballet slippers with their box in tact and their black ribbons freshly sewn in. She carefully took them out of the box and held them in her hands, turning them in her palms and observing the undamaged fabric, they haven't been used yet, they were still brand new after her accident.

A single photograph laid underneath those inky slippers. A 15 year old Alessia in a white leotard and a beautiful romantic length tutu standing in front of a wall at a competition in Seattle, she was holding a beautiful pique arabesque and she looked so regal and happy, happier than she has in a long time.

Ballet was never Bella's thing, she was chronically clumsy and she always tried to find any possible reason to skip her lessons at her school in Arizona, but to Alessia dancing was as easy as breathing. After a lot of begging at the age of 4 Alessia was enrolled in the tiny dance school that was in the middle of town just above the town newspaper and for the next 10 years Alessia worked with her teacher Madam Olivia and she grew up to dance beautifully, that Christmas she played Clara and the Sugarplum Princess in the Nutcracker, but not three months later at the end of March she was running through the woods when Sam Uley tried to rip her chest open. She hasn't danced since.

Letting her mind come away from the photograph in her hand she looked towards the window seeing it was just beginning to get light outside and she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and sent a message to Alice.

°Hey what are you doing right now?°

>Nothing at the moment, why?<

°Can you meet me outside the paper, I have something fun we can do, wear leggings!°

>I'm on my way<

Putting her phone in her bag she changed her pajamas out for leggings and a black t-shirt and put her shoe bag into the backpack she was packing, taking the photograph and the point shoes and leaving them on her bed before locking the box back up and returning it to it's spot beneath the floorboards and turning to slide on her trainers and grab the contents of her bag and her pointe shoes, setting the photograph on her dresser next to the one of her and the Cullens and sliding out of the door and beginning to run to the studio.

Alessia would have expected to see her friend extremely angry for dragging her out of the house at 6 am if she knew that Alice actually needed to sleep, instead she saw the beautiful girl stood with her kind smile in a jacket and leggings outside of the building that housed the Forks Forum and as she sped up her run to meet her Alice gave Alessia an awkward stare, "I don't think I've ever seen you run."

Her quip was met with a half hearted punch in the shoulder as Alessia led her around the side of the building to a set of stairs and began to ascend them, most stores in town were only opening in 30 minutes so the street was dead and her and Alice seemed to be the only ones around. Alessia reached a single door that had a ballet shoe on the window glass and began to wrack her mind for the location of the school's spare key, Madame Olivia told her to use it to let herself in if she ever needed extra practice time and the memory of constantly being in that studio lead her to look at a loose brick in the side of the building, pulling it away from the wall revealed the silver key needed to unlock the door and showing it to Alice with a vocal "aha!" gained a laugh from the petite vampire.

Pushing the door open into the small reception area felt like opening a door to her childhood and she couldn't help the smile that fell on her lips, she was too busy looking around the room she didn't notice Alice standing at the small trophy case in the corner and pointing at a photograph, "Is this you?"

When Alessia came close enough to see the photo in question she laughed a really genuine laugh before nodding and smiling "Yes, I was 14 and we were doing a showcase with all of the dance schools in Washington, each school got assigned a ballet to perform a piece from and our school got Giselle, that's me in the front."

Moving away from the case she pulled Alice in past another set of doors and switched on the lights to show a familiar room full of mirrored walls and ballet barres. The next hour of their morning was spent with Alessia and Alice goofing off working through different warm up excercises and technique work. Alice, displaying that she was in fact not human anymore, had amazing strength and flexibility and with Alessia only running through everything once she was soon dancing like she had been all her life. Alessia was a little out of practice but cheer kept her fit and healthy so she soon got right back into the swing of things and their hour was some of the most fun she'd had in a long time. After their hour long session Alice began to beg her to teach her an actual routine, and Alessia caved because she knew she couldn't say no to those golden eyes. Travelling to the back storage room she saw rows upon rows of pink satin shoes, brand new, not even out of their bags yet. Grabbing a few sizes and makes she backed out of the room to size them for her friend, and while she knew realistically that Alice couldn't injure herself if her shoes fit wrong she still would want them to look right. After finding her size and showing her how to put them on, she began to sew in the ribbons while telling Alice to grab the MP3 player out of her bag. Putting the other shoes away she had Alice put of the pointe shoes and do a few more barre excercises to get used to going on pointe and trying to keep her technique correct, naturally Alice didn't need too much help before she could do it perfectly and the tiny girl moved into the centre of the floor to practice some more while Alessia lifted the beautiful black shoes out of her bag and slipped them on her feet. She still remembers when she got them, shopping in Port Angeles with her father she saw them in the window of a dance shop and with her left over money from Christmas she bought them with every intention of wearing them to class the next day, she never got the chance. Rising onto pointe was like coming home for Alessia and without realising she shed a tear before letting herself go through a few movements that she wanted to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself on, with everything in place she took the MP3 from Alice and scrolled to something familiar, walking Alice through the 'Waltz of the Snowflakes' wasn't too dificult and once Alice got the basics down they ran it twice more before Alice asked to see something Alessia could do. Her eyes fell onto the name of a familiar ballet and she pressed play letting herself fall into a series of movements that felt like second nature as the sweet flutes guided her into dancing 'Juliet's Variation' from Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet. It was always easy for Alessia to get lost in the moment of her dancing, she remembered each and every step and pirouette and pas de bouree that Madame Olivia taught her and even though she made a few mistakes being out of practice and all she still knew her musical cues and to Alice she danced ethereally. To Alice and the shadow watching from the door.

The music signalled her to pause and in her minds eye she could see the partner that wasn't there, Romeo entering the party and meeting Juliet in his disguise, before she was swept away to continue.

Coming to a halt in the centre of the room Alessia was no longer in a ballroom being caught by Paris and Tibult, she was looking at Alice and smiling widely, and she was shocked out of her thoughts by a voice at the door. "Your arms weren't strong and you were off your foot, the turns weren't perfect and you were sloppy on your leaps."

Alessia snapped around to see a familiar lithe frame wrapped up in her black dress standing in the doorway, her grey hair tucked away in a french twist. A moment passed and Madame Olivia walked towards her and let her stern face pull into a happy, kind one, "But you dance beautifully Ma Cherie I'm so glad that you are back."

Alessia returned the warm hug and let herself sag in relief, she felt good, she hasn't felt this good since she bought these shoes. Olivia turned to Alice then and continued speaking, "and what is your name child?" Alice responded in her sweet fashion and Olivia complimented her on her technique and began to make corrections again, pulling the pixi girl aside to teach her correct positions and help her with her turns, Alessia watched until Olivia snapped at her in her 'Madame voice' to get back to running the variation again, Alessia smiled and hit replay letting herself get lost once more.

Walking out of the studio and down the stairs at 11 am was like stepping back into her life for Alessia, she chatted with Alice, the two laughing and joking about the fact that Olivia was obsessed with Alice's "Natural talent" and when they turned the corner to walk back onto Main Street they were greeted with the sight of Jasper waiting by the car for them. Alessia managed to claim shotgun to sit next to the guy who was quickly becoming her favourite person while Alice sat in the middle of the back seat declaring that she at least got to choose that was playing on the radio. The idle chatter was broken by Jasper asking if Alessia wanted to play baseball with them this afternoon. "I mean sure but there is gonna be a thunderstorm you know, but hey, lead me to my doom why don't you." The laughter she pulled out of both siblings made her own smile widen, she was having such a good day today.

With the car pulling into her driveway she got out and let Jasper know she would catch a ride with Bella and Edward as much as she really didn't want to be stuck in a car with all of that sexual tension, she hadn't spent much time with her sister recently and she wanted to at least check in with her.

The click of the front door closing and the sound of her bag hitting the floor is what prompted Charlie Swan to race into the living room to see his oldest daughter watching South Park reruns while eating rice cakes and he almost had a heart attack for the second time today. "You can't just show up out of no where after disappearing all morning and give me no warning Alessia, I thought something happened!" His voice cracked under the stress, "Where even were you?!"

Alessia muted the TV before walking up to him and patting his shoulder before pointing to the kitchen table where her pointe shoes sat, worn with the mornings activities. Charlie didn't give off too much of a reaction but she could see the worry in his eyes dissolve into pride and joy. After the accident Alessia's depression and grief over what had happened caused her to completely abandon ballet. When she moved on to her freshman year of highschool she joined the cheer team to keep herself busy and hopefully keep her mind occupied. It was so bad that Alessia made Charlie take down every ballet photograph of Alessia he had. The fact that she was dancing again made his relieved and happy. Alessia smiled at her dad's happy face while he pulled her into a tight hug, the type of dad hug that couldn't help but make you feel safe and cared for, whatever Renée had against her father Alessia has been getting these hugs all her life, and she couldn't remember the last time her mother called to talk to her.

A shower was well deserved after her active morning, she hasn't used the muscles she used today in over two years and she knew that if she didn't ice her body she was going to be seriously crippled in the morning, after a hot shower to wash away the sweat and clean her hair she filled the bath her with freezing cold water and sat in it for 30 minutes, she definitely didn't miss this.

Her earlier clothes were swapped out for a Washington State Cougars t-shirt, leggings and her addidas superstars and she braided her hair to keep it out of her eyes, hearing a beep from outside bad her meeting Bella on the stairs and grabbing her hand as she passed Charlie with a kiss on his cheek and the two sisters sat in the car of Edward Cullen as he drove them off to the field where the rest of the Cullens were waiting.

The clouds were rolling dark as they pulled up to a clearing and by the time the car stopped Alessia was already out of the car and sprinting towards the Cullen's who stood on their DIY baseball court. Jasper caught the girl by her legs when she jumped on his back and him preteding to fall over caused Alessia to scream and start laughing, he eventually put her down after swinging her around a bit until she leaned over his back and whispered in his ear "Please put me down sugar." He pushed her shoulder and she stuck her tongue out before walking over to Esme to get her scheduled 'momma hug'. Esme pulled away slightly before wrapping her arm around her shoulder and walking a ways away from the group with her.

"You make him happy you know, you bring this whole family joy but Jasper especially. You know the day they met you in school he came home and pulled me aside and told me about the pretty girl in his history class. They might be hundreds of years old but all of my boys are the same, they go to Carlisle for advice about important decisions and morality, but anything to do with love, or feelings or anything like that they all know to talk to their mother." Esme told Alessia with a smile that only a mother could have. "If you don't mind me asking Esme, how did you all come to be a family?" Alessia asked looking into the amber eyes of the kind woman before her, who took her by the hand as the baseball game began and lead her to a fallen tree branch to the left of the field. Esme sat down on the branch fully expecting Alessia to sit down beside her but she was surprised when the brunette sat on the ground with her eyes looking up expectantly, like a child waiting to be told a story. The thought made Esme smile because she knew all too well what had happened to the girl. She remembered the night her husband came home after an excruciating surgery talking about how he had to stitch a little girl back together after their warewolf rivals ripped through her. Vampires couldn't cry, because they were not alive anymore, but Esme had never seen Carlisle more broken than the night he sat down and told her about the tiny little human they almost lost, but who despite all odds decided to survive and who would go on to make a full recovery. They decided as a pair to watch over the child and placed her under the covens protection because they knew she was special, her blood had no scent and Alice could see her future, and it was one the Cullens would be involved in. The fact that all of the pain Alessia suffered wasn't enough to break her and that she was still able to hold some of her childish nature made Esme happy to see.

Esme launched into the tale of the basics of their covens formation while Alessia listened intently. "Carlisle was the first one turned, in 1663. He knew he couldn't stay in London so he moved around perfecting his self control around human blood and his compassion for human life is the reason we drink animal blood instead of human. He turned almost every single person in this family, first was Edward." Esme felt a head lean against her leg and she looked down to see Alessia staring up at her with absolute fascination and her undivided attention, Esme continued. "After a while Edward left Carlisle to travel and be alone, that's when I met him, back in 1911, I was 16." She smiled fondly at the memory, "he changed me in 1921 when I was dying in the hospital, he remembered me and decided he couldn't let me die, so he changed me. We married some time later.

The next one changed was Rosalie, Carlisle found her beaten and bleeding in the streets and saved her life in 1933 and she found Emmet and Carlisle saved his life two years later.

The only ones Carlisle didn't change himself were Alice and Jasper, they found each other, then joined us in 1950, and now we live in Forks Washington, where we met you and now we are playing baseball." Esme finished with a smile looking down at the girl who was processing all of that information with her brow creased and a small smile on her face. Esme started to run her fingers through the brown locks when Alessia spoke up in a quiet laugh, "Wow, you guys are like, super old." The two began to laugh when suddenly the atmosphere changed and Alice calls for the game to be over, clearly sensing something was wrong by the look on her face. Esme grabbed Alessia and moved her back to the group at a speed that quite frankly gave her a headache and the first person to greet her was Jasper who held onto her protectively while the others fussed over Bella trying to mask her scent. Jasper could feel Alessia's sudden confusion and panic before he whispered in her ear. "There are other vampires trespassing on our lands, you don't have any scent so just stay calm and act normal, you'll be fine," he lifted her eyes to meet his honeyed ones before leaning his forehead on her own, "Gotta be brave darlin' I'll protect you till the end of time."

The nod than Alessia gave was only enough to let her stand wrapped in Jasper's hold and she began to feel like she could pull this off, slowing her heartbeat with deep breaths long enough to walk into a better formation with the vampires hiding Bella, she could fake their confidence if it was her life on the line.

The clearing they were in was quickly occupied by three strangers, two men and a woman who began talking to the Cullens before Carlisle announced that they could play because three of their players were leaving. This cue prompted Alessia to look up at the trio in front of her and find out just what exactly has everyone so spooked.

The three strangers had approached the group, two men and a woman, all of them had that inhuman beauty that the Cullens possessed but there was something different that Alessia couldn't put her finger on. The air was tense and it made her feel a fear she wasn't used to. Jasper seemed to joke with the female of the group while giving Alessia a look to say 'move over to where Edward and your sister are'. She remembered what he had said about staying calm so while trying to keep from shaking she looked towards the three intruders who she found were now looking directly at her, she greeted their stares with a confident smile and reached up to wrap her arms around Jasper's neck. She would absolutely not remember what was about to happen in the next thirty seconds but she panicked and this was how she thought to make it seem plausible that she was in fact with the Cullens not just an afternoon snack.

She really wasn't thinking anymore but ice cold lips on her own wasn't nearly as bad as she had thought, and she could only thank the stars that Jasper wasn't as much of an idiot as some other boys are because a possessive arm slid around her waist and the kiss deepened letting her fall into the feeling and relax enough to actually let her mind register that she was kissing Jasper...

HOLY SHIT SHE WAS KISSING JASPER.

At least one of the two of them was still keeping their head in the situation because Jasper pulled himself away and made a clear sign of lightly bumping his nose with her own affectionately, "go" he whispered to her before she looked back at her audience to see the darker skinned man had lost interest and the pale one was now staring at Edward, but the girl, with her firey hair and crimson eyes, her gaze was locked on Alessia as the girl walked to her sister. Chaos erupted as Alessia's back was turned and before she knew it the three strangers were speaking about the Cullens keeping human pets. We so much for being stealthy.

It wasn't until after Carlisle managed to get the intruders to leave that Alessia's legs seemed to be replaced with jello and she fell to the ground hitting her palm on a sharp stone. Emmet was the one who lifted her up and put her her in the car with Bella and Edward before the three of them sped off back towards town, the look on Edwards face was enough to tell Alessia that there genuinely was a reason to panic now as there were absolutely three vampires chasing them but the adrenaline in her bloodstream and the thought in the fore front of her mind telling her that she was the big sister and that she needed to be brave to protect Bella didn't let her lose her cool. She was brought back to reality by Bella shaking her and pointing down at her hand. "Is that blood!?"

Alessia looked down to see that sharp rock had in fact sliced into her hand and now rich streams of blood were streaming down her fingers, but apparently Alessia left all her smart ideas back in Jasper's mouth because the only answer that came to her mind was "No?"

Bella exploded at her dumbass answer "That's not something you can answer with another question!"

"Bells listen it's fine my blood doesn't affect boy toy in the front seat okay so chill out."

Edward took the chance to pipe in at that point "Maybe so but I can still hear you talking about it so focus, you both are in danger, James is a hunter so he will be after you both and he won't stop until he gets you, we have to get you are far away from forks as possible."

Alessia hated this plan but quite frankly she didn't have much of a choice. The idea of leaving her dad was heartbreaking to her but she would do anything to keep him safe. She ran into the house after Bella and while her younger sister ran up the stairs to pack ranting and raving about needing to leave, Alessia looked at her dad's confused and distraught face and told him that she would follow Bella and talk some sense into her, that she was taking Alice's car and that she would be back with Bella soon. She grabbed some bandages from the kitchen and sloppily wrapped up her hand and ran back out the door giving her father a kiss and telling him she loved him, she didn't know when she would get to see him again. Edward and Bella sat in his car when she jumped in just in time to see Charlie run out after them through the rearview mirror as they drove away to the Cullen's house. Thoroughly heartbroken she glared at Edward through the mirror and asked him "Was that really necessary?" He only nodded and said that if Alessia wanted to keep Charlie safe that she had to leave because not only was James after Alessia, the woman Victoria was too.

Pulling up to the Cullen's house the first person to greet Alessia was Jasper who grabbed her arms before looking her over for any injuries, his eyes narrowing when they landed on her wrapped hand. She promised him she was fine and before any more words could be exchanged between them she was handing Rosalie her clothes and being bundled into the back of Alice's car with her sister as it pulled away from the house and set off towards Phoenix Arizona. As much as Alessia loved road trips she had never been on one that caused her to look over her shoulder every 5 minutes because there were homicidal vampires trying to drain her like their own personal bloodbag. The ride was quiet and feeling the same comforting feeling she looked towards the driver's seat to see Jasper focusing on the road ahead of him, but she knew he was trying to help, to look after her. His calm settled over her and Bella like a weighted blanket and Alessia fell asleep for most of the trip.

She dreamed about the blonde boy she had come to care about, and it was a wonderful dream. A dream that was interrupted by scratching of a pencil on paper and Alice having what looked like some sort of fit, fully awake now and kind of scared she realised that they were in their Phoenix hotel room and Alice was drawing something. Once the fit ceased the drawing was of the incredibly familiar ballet school that was home to Alessia on the summers that she visited her mom. After Alice, Jasper and Bella left the room for a reason Alessia wasn't paying attention to the hotel room phone rang and in true horror movie fashion the only remaining member of the group answered it...

Incredibly familiar music filled her ears as Juliet's Variation played through the speaker, which was weird but when her mother's voice called over it, calling for Alessia her blood ran cold and she dropped the phone on the floor. Without thinking about this situation she flew through the door and booked it down the service stairwell in the back of the building, the Arizona heat was melting her brain but she kept running, the studio wasn't far and if she ran she could save her mother.

The lights weren't on but she could still hear the happy tune floating through the building. Walking into the main ballroom she looked around to try and find her mother, but seeing no one there she switched her attention to where the music was coming from.

It didn't take long.

But by then it was too late.

Hearing the piece draw to a close her memory told her mind that when the last note hit she should see Romeo standing before her.

But all she saw was an empty room.

And as the music came to its abrupt end...

The burning in her arm caused her to let out a gut wrenching scream. The fire in her lungs and her head and her veins called her legs to give out, and her head to hit the floor,

And her heart to stop.

~ A/N ~

Oh my god that was long 😂

Anyway here's a link to Juliet's Variation so you can see the dance for yourself.

https://youtu.be/6awUwiWAtnI

And I hope you enjoyed!

TAGLIST

@treestarrrrrrrr

@whattheheckisevengoingon

@fangirl1029

@iliveforthefandom04

@frozenhuntress67

@mikariell95

@jessabellaswan

@geekysimmerthings

@payourdebts

#alice cullen #edward cullen #jasper hale #jasper hale x reader #original character #rosalie hale #rosalie twilight #twilight rewrite #twilight #twilight x reader #x oc #fire in my blood #Alessia Swan OC

[leah-ocarina]

Made a very short post about this but thought I’d go into more detail in another one. This has probably been done by now already like three times, but... Eh, I’m down for typing this out but simultaneously too lazy to look. 

If you’ve ever seen me say anything about Steven Universe, you’d know my biggest pet peeve with this fandom is their intolerance for accepting the resolution to the very first redemption arc ever brought up in this show: Rose Quartz. If Rose’s arc was played in reverse, everyone would be loving and understanding. That’s what I keep saying! Turns out I was wrong. Rose’s arc is being played out just right, only this time we see it in real time instead of flashbacks through the man himself; Steven. Lemme prove it (I’m sure I’m missing plenty of things, but these are the broad strokes) :

Couldn’t decide if I wanted to start with Steven or Pink/Rose, so if you want to see what I mean starting chronologically with what we know about Pink (as best guesstimated as we really don’t have a true timeframe for some key events), read the bullet list forward. If you want to see it starting at Episode 1 of the original Steven Universe, read the bullet list backwards. K? K. Here we go:

☆ for Steven,  ♦ for Rose/Pink

♦ Emotional outburst that ended in serious, scaring injury of Volleyball ☆ Emotional outburst that ended in shattering Jasper

♦ Thinks the kindergarten is amazing; horrified when the truth comes out ☆ Thinks the absolute best of gem kind; horrified when the truth about the kindergarten comes out

♦ Did everything in her power to liberate Earth from the Diamonds ☆ Did everything in his power to keep the Diamonds from hurting Earth

♦ Fascinated by the world around here, completely taken with each and every creature no matter how small ☆ “Just today you were crying about snakes!”  

♦ Known for being a great source of comfort to other people who did her best to raise them up and help them feel worthy ☆ We see him do his best to help each and everyone of his friends through even the smallest of problems, trying to show them they’re worth being happy

♦ Seen as loving, caring, and always putting others and her family first ☆ We see him be loving, caring, and always put others and his family first 

Out of sequence parallels:

♦ Raised under great pressure to be something she’s not which led to inferiority complex ☆ Perception that there was a lot of pressure to be someone he wasn’t which led to inferiority complex

♦ Not being taken seriously by maternal figures to the point of not knowing how to control powers, making them unstable ☆ Not being taken seriously by maternal figures who, though they tried to do everything they could in uncharted territory, occasionally lead to Steven having unstable powers

♦ Used to be very very childish, demanding to be treated on the same level as the other diamonds before she was ready to the point of getting in the way ☆ Used to be very very childish, demanding to be treated on the same level as the other Crystal Gems before he was ready to the point of getting in the way

♦ Tried to liberate as many gems as possible from the Diamonds ☆ Actually liberated all gems from the Diamonds

Other:

♦ Pink/Rose has always held the creation of and miracle of life in great value. She said so from some of the earliest encounters of her ☆ Steven punched trees and speared his own fish. ^^^ Disclaimer: It was obviously hella temporary for Steven. I just thought it was interesting.

♦ Learned how to control and shut the lid on her destructive powers pretty quickly once she realized it was a necessity and kept it the fuck closed ☆ The chaotic elements with his powers has ebbed and flowed throughout the whole series

vvv ***Includes theoretical ponderings If Pearl didn’t know about Pink’s ‘outbursts,’ Pink clearly got it under control before Volleyball was replaced, which stands to reason it could be because of what happened. Rose was undeniably one to run from her problems, but it’s possible it’s in part because of what happens when she gets angry during a fight (again that’s complete speculation! Take it with a grain of salt). When accounting for that; ♦ Started keeping secrets and avoiding confrontation in fear of hurting someone after a destructive outburst ☆ Started keeping secrets and avoiding confrontation in fear of hurting someone after a destructive outburst 

♦ ☆ The more out of control thoughtless he was the more he looked like Pink Diamond right down to diamond pupils  ^^^ Extra note that Pearl said that little Steven, who was much more Rose-like than Pink, sometimes looked a lot like Rose

♦ ☆ Steven now seems to be pulling the most classic Rose move of them all: Running away from his problems instead of facing them 

This series has had some twists and turns, but the biggest plot twist of them all is in a time when nobody— not the OG gems, not B team, not Connie, not even GREG can help him with what he’s going through, the only one who can really, truly understand what’s happening to him... is his mother after all.

#Rose Quartz #Pink Diamond #Steven Universe #Steven Universe Future #Steven Universe Future Spoilers #For some things there is no comparison such as spinel #I mean steven is a better person than rose I ain't tryna deny that #doesn't change the very obvious parallel they've set up for us

[neshabeingchildish]

The Swellview Shut In

This is for Pearl @pearlselegancies, though I don’t know if she’ll feel up to reading at the moment. I do want to preface it by saying that it involves the quarantine, but not in a sad and negative way (mostly). Really, I wanted to do more of a focus on the good things in life/friendship/found family and bonding type of premise. Hopefully, she enjoys this and anyone else who reads, too.

Charlotte Page: Student Mentor - The Swellview Shut In

A sickness was sweeping over the globe. Charlotte figured that it wouldn’t get to Swellview. Nothing ever really reached Swellview, but apparently, this was everywhere, because whenever Jasper showed up to her house in the morning, he had on gloves, a mask and was carrying a cleaning caddy in his hand. “What is up with this?” She wondered.

“The sickness has made it to Swellview, they’re closing school for at least two weeks!” He said. Then, he pulled out a can of disinfectant and began spraying her door and her things.

“There’s no school today?” She asked. 

“Oh, no… There IS, but it’s only so that we can go in and grab our things, then they are promptly shutting the doors until further notice. Come on, I have stuff in my locker and I know that you do too.”

“If there’s really something going around, isn’t it stupid for them to even have the school open?”

“They were going to straight up close, but a lot of parents and stuff made a big deal about stuff like devices that teachers took up and locker possessions, so they had to open for that, but they’re like, setting up handwashing stations in the front and stuff. Do you not watch the news?” 

The school didn’t have handwashing stations set up at the front of the building, but there were handwritten signs reminding everyone to wash their hands before and after touching things. Charlotte went to her locker and emptied it into her bag, still not fully believing that it was necessary, but taking her stuff, just in case. She texted Henry to see if he was going to do the same. He had no idea what she was even talking about. She texted Piper and moments later, the freshman met her at her locker. 

“They’re kicking us out of school for at least two weeks! What do they expect me to do for breakfast and lunch? Eat the food at home? That’s way more expensive! Henry is gonna flip. Can I stay at your house?” Piper made prayer hands. Charlotte thought about it for a moment. Her parents were out of town and she did have an extra bed, but also… Her parents would flip out if she invited someone over in the middle of a possible pandemic… “Tell them it’s for charity!” Piper squealed, knowing by now how Charlotte’s mind worked. 

At that moment, Jasper walked up to the two of them and handed his cleaning caddy to Piper, “You need to sanitize and gear up,” he said. “Gloves, mask. Charlotte REFUSED, like a fool.” Piper sighed and furrowed her eyebrows, then dropped the caddy on the floor, letting it spill products, to Jasper’s dismay. He rushed to collect them and also told Charlotte, “Char, I’ve gotta quarantine at your place.”

“What? No,” she said. “I’m not gonna have you and Piper at my house while my parents are gone and school is out!” Charlotte said.

Piper squealed, “You’re letting me stay!” and she bounced up and down.

Jasper stood up, with his products collected and asked, “You’re shutting me out? Ugh. Charlotte. You know that I can’t stay at my house for something like this. I spent hours cleaning up last night and barely made a dent. My mom’s not working again. This morning, the threw her empty ice cream pint right onto the recliner next to the couch she’s been sleeping on. I JUST cleared all of the trash off yesterday! I don’t want the illness in my space, Charlotte. LOOK AT ME!” She looked at him. He really appeared to be freaking out about the possibility of germs. 

She sighed, “I’ll ask my parents, Jasper.” She wrapped an arm around Piper and said, “Come on. Let’s go get you some clothes from home.”

“TOO MUCH TOUCHING!” Jasper said and began to spray both of them with disinfectant, until Piper punched him in the ribs. “OUCH!”

“Jasper… tone down,” Charlotte said.

“She literally just punched me!”

“After you assaulted us with disinfectant!”

“For your own good!” Jasper said.

.

Piper let them into her house and was surprised to see Henry there. “For some reason, I assumed that when they closed school, you’d rush into work,” she said. He gave her a little smile, but didn’t respond.  Charlotte raised an eyebrow and went over to him while Piper rushed upstairs to get packed. 

“So, I’m gonna take her and Jasper in for a few at my place. My parents are actually stuck overseas and the town is officially going under curfew. So, I’ll make sure she’s taken care of for a little bit. Slight bit of stress off of you, right?” He frowned and nodded. “Why do I feel like it isn’t?”

He sighed and glanced towards the stairs, before saying quietly, “I’m temporarily out of work.” Charlotte gasped. Henry was the one who kept them above water and she could tell from his face that being out of work was going to most likely really hurt them. He noticed her face and forced a smile. “Don’t worry, Babe. I’ll figure something out.” He gave her a little kiss on the forehead and she smiled, in spite of being completely worried about him and Piper. But, there was something about him calling her “Babe” that kind of… made stuff at least go under the radar for a moment. 

Their relationship was a little assumed, and not officially spoken of, but Henry was usually affectionate with her and called her “Babe,” so in her mind, they were pretty much married. In fact, she had been working out the logistics in her mind, hypothetically, for what if he came along with her whenever she left for college? Sure, it would be a struggle, but he was used to some level of that and the job market where she was going was actually better than Swellview. And, yes… They would have to bring Piper, because he certainly wouldn’t leave her to fend for herself, but she could have a fresh new start at a new school and maybe even thrive if she had a happy Henry there with her and also the mentorship of Charlotte, reaching beyond the school’s program… “Babe? You okay?” Henry wondered, cutting into her overthinking tangent.

“Yeah. You… wanna come over? Since, you’re not gonna be at work? We can maybe play video games and stuff. No school for the next few weeks. You rarely get a relaxing night.”

“Yeah, I actually want to try to see what one of those ‘good night’s sleep’ things feel like,” he said. 

Piper came downstairs with her bags and said, “Henry, bring these to Jasper’s junk heap for me. I gotta see what cleaners we have. That’s what I’m using for “gas money” while we’re out of school.” 

She dropped them on the floor by the door and Henry laughed and finally let his hand drop from Charlotte’s hip. “Guess WILL be working,” he said. 

He went to go get her stuff and she went opening cabinets, “Do we SERIOUSLY not have basic household cleaners in this place? Are we THOSE people?”

“The oldest adult in your home just turned 18 a few months ago,” Charlotte reminded her. “Don’t worry about it, though. There’s plenty of cleaner at my place and Jasper took everything from his, because his folks were never going to use it anyway.”

“Dude… Are we about to do the apocalypse like the last kids on Earth?” Piper asked, excitedly.

“We’re spending some days, maybe a couple of weeks at my house. Did you bring hobby stuff? Because you’re not gonna be able to go out and hang with your girls when you’re bored. You need like books and stuff.”

“Books? Like… in case we run out of toilet paper? I think we’ve got some, somewhere…” Piper left and Charlotte didn’t even stop her. 

Henry came back inside and Charlotte wondered, “So… Are you coming over? We might be stuck there and that might mean not seeing your sister for a few…”

He made a confused face. “You worried about me not seeing Piper, or me not seeing you?”

“I mean… Are you worried about it?” She asked, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders.

“It’d totally suck. Let me go get some stuff packed and I’ll meet you all there.” 

“Cool,” she said. She was really cheering inside. In fact, mentally, there was an entire Glee Cheerios performance, complete with stunts as she awkwardly left the house. 

Piper came back into view and said, “Well, most of these pages are pretty rough, so I vote making Jasper use these as toilet paper whenever stock gets low…” Henry stared at her in confusion. She waved a hand and stuffed a book into a duffel bag. “That was for Charlotte’s ears. Forget I said it.” She left, too and Henry sighed. This was going to be… Interesting.

.

Jasper and Piper worked on getting everything cleaned up while Henry unpacked and brought everything to the rooms that Charlotte assigned. Jasper was fine to take the couch, but most of his stuff would have to be kept in Charlotte’s room, simply because she wasn’t going to have her parents come back to see Jasper had moved into their living room! She and Piper were in her bedroom, all of Piper’s stuff fit beneath the spare bed, so Jasper’s was in the closet. And Henry was given her parents’ room, because he was the least likely to impose on their stuff. In fact, he was so uncomfortable that he didn’t want to unpack any of his things in there, but their bathroom was amazing. He was ready to at least spend some time in that shower. 

In fact, he got into the shower after he unloaded everything from Jasper’s car. Charlotte was making a list of things that they might need - which, she felt like they were pretty stocked up for the house - but normally, 3 people lived there, and now four were and there was a different basis of need, too. Her mother told her to use the emergency credit card to stock up and to message them everyday updates on how things were, and also photos of the house. She and Jasper went to gather everything, people were really wilding at the store, like… she was shocked at their behavior. Jasper had to guard her several times, and when they finally made it out, hours had passed. 

Henry and Piper were in her room whenever they got back to the house. They both felt uncomfortable being anywhere else in the house without permission, so they were just catching up in there. But, Henry rushed to help them bring everything in once they got there. 

They all unloaded the truck and Jasper and Charlotte told them about the way that people were behaving and how much more serious it seemed after having been around them like that. Henry was bothered by the fact that people were getting rough with Charlotte and he hadn’t been there to protect her. Protecting was kind of his thing, and Charlotte was kind of his girl. 

Piper told the others, “So, I’ve planned out a movie night thing for every night this week, since we’re gonna be in here at least that long. I’m thinking that it’ll be cool to watch some apocalypse kinda stuff. Maybe some zombie stories. End of the world, dystopian mood.”

“In this climate?” Charlotte wondered.

“Especially in this climate,” Piper said. 

“I think we should have assigned chores and designated dinner making nights,” Jasper said.

“Good idea, but I don’t cook. I suck at it. It would be a waste of food.”

Charlotte said, “My mom told me to make meals, do meal prep and also freeze some meals, so I’m going to get started on that today, since it’s more people than I usually have had to do stuff like this for.”

“You’ve had to do stuff like that before?” Henry asked.

Piper chuckled, “Her parents are almost literally never home,” she said. 

“They work a lot and since I’m older now, they take on a lot more overseas ventures than when I was younger,” Charlotte explained, defensively. 

Henry furrowed his eyebrows, wondering how he didn’t know that piece of information, but then again, he and Charlotte didn’t tend to discuss family stuff. Or at least… not hers. In fact, it occurred to him that he didn’t even know what her family LOOKED like. He didn’t want to ask, but he made a mental note to look for a photo later or something. In fact, he checked her social media. Surely, she had something there. But, her social media was pretty lacking in the parental area. He did see some people with her last name, though they were all white, so he clicked on a few, just out of curiosity. He found Fiona Page, who actually had a lot of young photos of her and Charlotte and one of the posts was her wishing her daughter a great time at Future Visionaries Camp. Now, he felt the need to investigate…

Charlotte and Jasper went to the kitchen. They had a routine for things like this, and they got started on their cooking party while Piper learned the remote control to the Pages’ system and Henry sat on his phone, looking at Charlotte’s mom’s page. Charlotte was fine to leave them to that while she and Jasper made a meal. It was the first time that she had Henry over in all the time that she’d known him. Mostly… Charlotte didn’t let people into her home. Piper was the first person in a while, and even she had only been over a couple of times, and only in the past few months. Jasper was the only friend that came over kind of regularly, and that was because (she believed) that her parents saw him as a charity case, and boy were they big on those. 

.

One week of denial passed. Then, a week of realization. By the third week, they had touched base with all of the adults - her parents were going to remain overseas for now, but didn’t mind if she kept her friends there. Jasper’s parents were BOTH so sick that they could barely leave the house. Charlotte told him to just stay put and fight that urge to go help take care of them. They could always call 911 if they simply couldn’t stand it. He was no doctor and this was a pandemic. Henry’s mom had “been trying to figure out where on Earth her children were” this whole time (she was at the Hart house, had found Jake in an alley and brought him home and the two of them were going to spend the citywide quarantine there). Piper wanted to go home, but whenever Charlotte told her that she would have to stay there if she did, she opted for just staying, also; but she was very visibly upset about it. Henry spent time trying to cheer her up. His boss called to tell him that he wasn’t sure if he would even be able to reopen the store after all of this. Nobody was in a good way, except for Charlotte and her family, so she tried not to harp on the things that she was feeling too much, because she felt like it was petty in comparison to the others.

Charlotte left all of her friends in the living room after dinner to go into her room and relax for a moment. She usually had some time just before dinner to meditate and unwind from the school day, but the past few weeks, she hadn’t done so, considering the change in the house. She needed at least a couple of minutes. 

After having been there for only a moment, Henry knocked on the door and peeked in, “Hey. You okay?” He asked. She forced a smile and nodded her head. She was lighting a candle and had a record player playing in the background. “I feel like I just interrupted something. I’ll go,” he said. She didn’t stop him. He sat down outside of the door and got back onto his phone. In case somebody else came around, he’d let them know that she didn’t seem to want to be bothered at the moment. 

Charlotte went into her bathroom and drew herself a bath. She could shower tomorrow. It wasn’t like she did a whole lot today, anyway… Well… maybe she should shower afterwards, just to be safe, if there were so many germs going around that now they were getting emails about prom being cancelled and POSSIBLY graduation. That was a hit to her gut. She knew that she probably wasn’t going to win prom queen. That Bianca most likely had that in the bag, and while Charlotte got a lot more popular her senior year than previously, Bianca had been on the road to prom royalty since junior high. But graduation? That was basically robbery. That was something that she PERSONALLY looked forward to for 13 years of her life! The first day of school, she asked her teacher, “When does school end?” and they said 3:00. “Forever?” she’d asked. Well, she certainly loved learning, but going to classrooms full of other people to do it was never her favorite thing and now that she was the best of the best in her area at it… she hated the thought of not finally being front and center, standing up to say, “Nobody can force us to go to school anymore!” Though… she wouldn’t really say that and she was gonna continue to go to school, but… Graduation was just really important and the thought of not getting one was a huge loss to her! 

She cried, listening to scratchy vinyl crooning, soaking away as much of her physical stress as possible, and posted a tiny rant about losing the opportunity to have prom and a graduation ceremony, and then just let it all out before taking a shower, doing her hair and resurfacing for her friends to let them know that she was going to go to bed and also to remind them to try to get some rest themselves.

She made it to the living room, where they all appeared to be having like crafts time or something - weird, but maybe not since they were quarantined. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, then said, “Um… I’m gonna go to bed. Probably like lay down and read or something. You all should try to get some sleep too.”

Henry had a pile of flowers he was toying around with until she began speaking, then he looked up and wondered, “Can I tuck you in?”

“I guess?” She said, laughing a little bit. He set down his craft materials and went with her. “You all look awfully busy with… crafts?”

“Yeah. We’re workin’ on something big,” he said, smiling. She wanted to ask him what, but she was actually exhausted from worrying and crying, so she kissed him goodnight and went to bed, opting for a book instead of reading on her phone, because she really didn’t want to see another mention of the quarantine, the virus, or the panic surrounding these things. 

.

She was always the first one up, out of all of them. The few times she’d crashed at Henry’s, she learned that. Today was an exception, though. Whenever she got up, she noted first that Piper wasn’t in the spare bed, but figured that she probably slept on the couch, because that was where the TV was and she loved TV almost as much as she loved social media. Charlotte turned on some music, went to brush her teeth and did morning stretches. She went to the living room, excited to start the day out with her friends, but paused whenever she got there and Piper was hissing at Jasper that he was hanging it wrong. She stood for a moment, taking in the room. There were these individual sheets of paper, with string connecting them to make a banner and each page was a letter, for a banner that read “HOUSE PROM.” 

“I have to be careful with it, or it’s going to tear!” Jasper fussed back at the freshman. 

Henry came into the house with a bucket full of flowers and paused whenever he saw Charlotte. 

“Morning…” He said. “I can explain.”

“You guys saw that I was bummed that Prom is cancelled, so you figured you’d turn my living room into a makeshift prom?”

“This guy gets it,” Jasper said from the step ladder.

“I know it’s not gonna be like a real prom, but… Me and Jasper are gonna wear suits. Piper’s gonna DJ. I made you a SICK flower crown… It’s gonna be okay,” Henry said, smiling and wincing at the same time, hoping that he sounded convincing. 

She sniffled and went to hug him. “These are for additional decoration… I was gonna make some arrangements and stuff. Nobody’s buying the flowers from the supermarkets, so I was actually able to get a lot of them pretty damn cheaply.” She gave him a kiss on the lips and he smiled wider. “And, I get to see you in your prom dress! You designed it, right?”

“Yeah…” 

“That’s awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of your design work.” He moved out of her reach to get back to decorations. She went to start on breakfast for everybody. He didn’t want to mention it right now, but he also was working on throwing her a mock graduation. Because, even though she had been trying to convince herself that everything would blow over and they would be able to finish the year out properly, the news said something totally different.

.

The House Prom was fun. Jasper made punch. Piper had great music and went live a few times so that kids at school could know that Henry and her did this FIRST, even if some of the rich kids might wind up doing it fancier. And Henry was stunned by Charlotte’s prom dress. He wasn’t sure what color it was, but went with whites and golds for her flower crown, which didn’t clash bad with the opaque pinkish dress that she had. The style of the crown wasn’t exactly a match for the style of the dress, but she insisted that it was perfect, that everything was perfect, and honestly, that was what really mattered to him. 

Henry knew that he wasn’t as smart as her, or have as much money, or as much education and stuff.. But, making her happy… that still mattered to him, because he believed that he could, so he made sure that he did. The thought of them going their separate ways in a few months was always scary for him as he fell for her, but also… it made him aware that he had only a short period of time to impact her life forever. House Prom was one of those forever impacts. 

They had an after party in Charlotte’s bedroom, which was just them laughing, eating and taking selfies to post to their House Prom tag, which was POPPING! Everyone at school wanted to be at Charlotte’s house, especially upon realizing that there were no adults there for the whole quarantine. She was extremely happy to have been so unpopular before. Now, nobody could just pop up at her house. Eventually, Piper fell to sleep and Jasper began dozing off in Charlotte’s bed. She scoffed, “How’s he gonna just fall asleep in MY bed?” 

Henry said, “I can sleep on the couch, if you wanna crash in your parents’ room.”

“No, no. I’ll take care of it, she said.” She had to shower and stuff, so she went to do that and Henry retired to her parents’ room. After she was all washed up and ready for bed, she went to look at Jasper, halfway hanging off of her bed, his suit all disheveled and his hair tousled. He looked like a little boy and more importantly, peaceful. She sighed grabbed a blanket and left the bedroom. Henry was already in bed when she peeked in, but he sat up, so she either woke him or he hadn’t fallen asleep yet. “Hey… I wanna crash in here, if that’s cool with you?”

“Yeah. I’ll take the couch, sure.”

“No.. I wanted to crash in here… with you.”

He smiled brightly, “Even better!” She came and climbed into bed and pulled the blanket with her. “How did you like being Prom Queen for a night?”

“It was awesome! You’re amazing. Thank you for doing that for me. I really didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Your situation with your parents and Jasper’s… I’m actually so lucky and to complain in front of all of you felt cheap.”

He pulled her to himself and hugged her, “I want to know things about you, Char. You’re my girl. I don’t want you to feel like you have to wait until things are good for me to tell me what’s wrong with you. You’d be waiting forever.” She looked up at his face and he gave her a little half smile. “I never want you to have to wait on me,” he said.

She sat up now and placed both of her hands on his chest, tapping a little rhythm while she thought of how to say what she wanted to say.

“So… I was thinking… I know that you and Piper are a package deal, at least while she’s still so young, and that you hadn’t thought about things beyond graduation very much, but I was thinking and I’ve also kind of been looking into the details… IF you wanted to come with me, when I leave for Harvard, I’m gonna have a place out there. You won’t have to work to pay bills, but if you need something to hold you and Piper over, the job market is better there than it is here, and… I don’t know… Maybe you want to stay here and try to help your parents, or something, but if you did want to…”

“I do.” He smiled and then laughed, with tears in his eyes, “Of course I do! There’s nothing keeping me here and Piper… well, she’ll just have to understand that there’s not actually anything keeping her here either. I was so scared that whenever you left, you’d just forget about us. You’ve been… looking into the details?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I can’t imagine my life without you in it anymore.” 

He smiled and gave her a kiss. “Come on, it’s bedtime.”

*******************************************************************************************

Also Tagging, because now I feel like I should be because of how y’all been talking about it @sunbeameyes @kiddangers @bitchmilsky @chenoahchantel @adorkable-blackgirl @daintyurbanprincess @ciara-knightly I think that’s it. My comfort level has expired. Lol. 

#Charlotte Page: Student Mentor #Quarantine Edition #Charlotte Page #Henry Danger AU #hd AU fic #Nesha HD Fics #Henry Danger #Henry Hart #Piper Hart #Jasper Dunlop #Flower Boy Henry

[loveaurapearl]

Steven’s Nightmare

(Yes, the title is unoriginal, but I couldn’t think of something better. One shot of Steven Universe Future, set after Prickly Pair. Also sorry for not adding this earlier: But trigger for Diamond Essances for a subsitute for drugs. If you don’t want to read something like that, read another fanfic.)

Steven growled as he stomped his way through the house. He was angry, he was upset, he could feel like he could explode. His mind thought back to cactus Steven to try and justify this rage, but he himself didn’t know exactly why he was angry. All he knew as this rage. The house was empty. ‘The gems are most likely off at Little Homeworld, fixing MY mistakes.’ His mind thought as he stepped on the teleporter. Light flashed around Steven as he floated away. The light dissipates as he finds himself in the Garden… Pink’s Garden. However, it wasn’t in ruins. The plants were still alive, the area was clean, and the structures were still in tack. With a swift movement, he began to walk away from the warp. He couldn’t care less why he was here or why the garden was in tack, he just needed someplace. Someplace where he could let out this ANGER! He soon felt a presence. He stopped and looked around, but nobody was there. He began to walk forward, when he suddenly noticed Spinel in front of him, surprising him. He should have been surprised that she was back looking like her rejuvenated form, but he was more annoyed at her than anything. “Hey, best buddy of mine! You look stressed, wanna play a good old round of juggling? OH! How about a game of Hide and Seek?” Spinel asked with a naïve innocence to her. Steven groaned in frustration and pinched the sides of his nose. “Spinel, I’m not in the mood to play a game. Just let me go to my special place and once I’m done, we can play,” He stated as if this was a normal occurrence. Spinel’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, can’t I at least go with you this time? I know you don’t want me to get hurt, but I promise not to stay too close. Besides, I’m your BEST FRIEND and yet I never get a chance to see what’s in your special place. I just want to see what you hide in there.” Spinel said in a kind of worried tone. Steven looked away then sighed. “Fine but promise me you won’t stand too close. I… I don’t want to hurt you.” Steven said as he looked at her. Spinel nodded and the two walked deeper into the garden. They twisted and turned on the path until they were a hand-shaped pedestal with the Diamond Insignia on it. The young Teen placed his hand on the machine and the area shocked. The land near them transformed and what’s looked to be an elevator appeared out the ground. The door opened and the two went inside.

“So… where is this thing taking us?” Spinel asked after a few seconds of waiting.

“Inside this asteroid, that way, I don’t hurt anyone. It was created by the Diamonds so I could… vent to myself without wrecking homeworld… (whispers to himself) again. (Louder voice.) Anyway, I’ve been using this area to invent things to make the Diamonds see what I’m capable of.” Steven said in a cold voice. Spinel ‘ooh’ed at this revelation. “Cool!” Spinel said. Suddenly the elevator stopped and the two exited. They had reached what looked to be a hallway with three fairly large-sized doors. There were three exactly, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the center. “It’s so big!” Spinel said in shock. Steven chuckled. “I’ll show you around once I get this rage out.” He said, heading towards the central door. Spinel quickly followed him. “Okoye Dokoye!” She agreed. They entered the room and it was large with another hand pedestal in the center. “Stay here. I’m about to do some damage.” Steven ordered her. Spinel nodded and stood perfectly still with a smile on her face as Steven walked towards the center. He placed his hand on the console. “Execute system routine, 9421, but this time, do not go towards the door nor the walls and only target me.” He ordered, then go of the console.

Suddenly four machines’ popped out of the ground that oddly looked like the same machine that attacked him and Connie way back when they first went to Rose’s secret armory. Spinel gasped in shock. The machines began firing volleys of electric balls towards Steven and he smirked. A dome of Diamonds appeared around him and bounced the projectiles back into the machines, causing them to explode. “WOOH! Go, Best Buddy!” Spinel yelled. Steven glared at her, and she zipped her lips. Then four ruby holograms appeared before Steven and then merged into one large ruby hologram. It roared and punched towards Steven. He laughed and put down the dome and formed punching bubbles on his hands. He dodged the punched and quickly used three strikes on the giant, the final one landing so hard, the holograms defuse. The ruby holograms get back up, roared, and rushed towards him. “Is that the best you got!” He yelled, then throws his shield at them. Two were sliced in half, causing the holograms to disappear. The other two still rush towards him, causing Steven to jump into the air and land behind them. “What the?” The holograms said in robotic confusion. Steven smirked and punched the two holograms with his boxing gloves again, causing them to poof into nothingness. Steven turned around and saw a large Jasper with the same gem style and placement as the one he knew. He growled as his anger began to boil, his body becomes engulfed in pink light. “Go get her!” Spinel yelled, hoping now was an appropriate time to cheer. Steven rushed towards her, but she dodges. She then jumps back and spins dashes towards him. Steven catches her punch. “Nice catch,” The hologram said, but it was Jasper’s voice, not a hologram’s.

“You should see me through!” He quipped back then threw her into the air. He punches her in the face, but she begins to laugh. Steven uses his shield to bounce his momentum and to keep hitting her. He does it repeatedly until he was above and yells. “STOP LAUGHING!” He yelled in anger and slammed his fists into her back. She crashes into the ground and gets back up. “Is that the best you got!” Jasper yelled. Steven growled and lands next to her. “UGH!” He held his head as his head began to buzz. “You can never beat me, weakling! You’re not a Diamond! You are not worthy to hold that gem! You’re not worthy of a colony!” Jasper mocked him. Suddenly he felt something snap inside of him and he let out a horrible, blood-curdling scream. The floor crakes underneath him, the room shakes horribly, a shock wave knocks the hologram over and winds to blow harshly on Spinel. Steven pants as he falls to his knees. He looks up and the hologram staggers up, and then falls over and disappears. Steven lets out a sigh of relief. ‘It’s…It’s over.’ He thought to himself as he returns to his natural color. He then looked at Spinel, who looked shocked, but the look quickly changed to one of happiness and excitement. “WOW! That. Was. AMAZING!” She yelled then rushed over to her friend and hugged him. He chuckled. “R-really? Y-you’re not scared of me doing all of… this?” He asked in utter bafflement as he looked at her. Spinel shocked her head. “Nope, although I do see why you wanted me to stay back. I could have gotten really hurt, especially with that weird shock wave thing. But seeing you attack those holograms, it was like I was watching something really, really cool!” Spinel said with enthusiasm. Steven chuckled. “You… you really think that?” He blushed from her complement. Spinel nodded.

“Yep ser dee. But I’ve never seen you do this before, is it a normal diamond thing? Do you go out on missions, using your super special powers to attack enemy bad guys? If so, why not use them as the holograms instead of images of our own kind?” Spinel questioned. Steven looked down in shame. “No Spinel, it’s not normal… At least, that’s what the other Diamonds tell me. They say that I should stay calm and collective… that I should only use my powers when necessary. Besides, I… I don’t go on missions. Diamonds don’t go out into battle, that’s… that’s not what we were made for.” Steven said.

“Then how come you have these powers if a Diamond isn’t meant for battle?” Spinel wondered, twisted her arm around in loops, twisting it to loop and scratch the top of her head. Steven sighed and held himself. “I… don’t know. The diamonds never tell me anything. They don’t trust me. They NEVER trust me with IMPORTANT STUFF!” Steven sneered, rage pouring out of his mouth. Spinel soon boops his nose. “Don’t worry, a dear old buddy of mine. Spinel is here to cheer you up! Why don’t we explore the other rooms? I don’t think there’s anything else here.” Spinel said as cleaner robots appear out of the walls and began to use green goo on the walls and floors to repair the cracks. Steven nodded and got up.

They exited out of the room and head to the right room, which would be the one on the left from the direction they had come from the elevator, and inside was an armory full of pink destabilizers, axes, scythes, swords, helmets, armor, and at the end, a work desk with drawers and a pink box. “Wow. What’s this place?” Spinel asked as she looked around. “An armory. Homeworld has a slew of their own for the quartz soldiers, but… well, eventually I will have my own army, so I decided to make my own armory here. I don’t want to rely on Blue, Yellow, and White for these items. Besides, just look at it. Isn’t it neat?” Steven said with glee. Spinel poked one of the scythe’s softer ends. “Isn’t this a little, much? I mean, you haven’t gotten your own army yet.” Spinel said. Steven clutched his fists. “I know, Spinel. Don’t remind me.” Steven said, anger in his tone. Spinel froze and whistled to try and ease the mood. Steven shocked his head and headed to the table. “Anyway, I want to show you something special. A device that I created! Kind of like how Yellow created the destabilizers.” Steven said as he grabbed the box.

“Yeah knows, it’s weird that White and Blue haven’t created stuff based on their powers yet.” Spinel wondered. Steven laughed. “That’s because they’re not as smart as Yellow and I.” Steven boasts, as he opened the box and grab a rod. He put the lid back on and turned towards Spinel. “Spinel make sure you stay back. Cause, this will blow your socks off.” Steven said with excitement. Spinel smiled and stepped a few feet back. “Okay, ready when you are!” She yelled. Steven smiled, but he looked demented as he pushed the button. Suddenly it transforms into a long scythe with pink energy bursting out. A familiar sight for both. “Oooooh! …What is it?” Spinel asked, not knowing or recognizing the weapon. Steven stared at it intensely. “I call it a rejuvenator. One swipe from this bad boy and any disobedient gem is reset to their original purpose. All their pesky memories are whipped clean. They… they’ll be back to normal. No messed-up minds… no… no more rebellions. They’ll be just how they used to be.” Steven said with a smile. He laughed, but it didn’t sound right. Spinel looked down. “No more happy memories.” Spinel said with worry. Steven blinked and looked at the weapon. Guilt filled his stomach as he turned off the device. “You right, Spinel. All their memories will be whipped, so that means all their good memories will be gone too.” Steven said, then an image of Volleyball entered his mind. He shocked the image away. “I didn’t realize that while I was creating this thing. I… I just wanted to get rid of the bad memories so badly, that I didn’t think about it. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to make this thing not remove the good memories. I’ll only use it as a last resort then. Besides, I won’t use this on you, Spiny. Only on the gems who try and hurt us.” Steven said with a warm smile. Spinel looked at Steven and smiled back. Steven put the rejuvenator back in the box, and they went to the final room.

They see a giant Pink injector with a clear solid pink gemstone top connected to tons of tubes, electronics, and a console. Below them was a hatchet so the injector could exit the room without needing to use the door. Inside the injector was a familiar glowing pink liquid, however, it was only half-way filled. “Wow! An injector! But… it doesn’t look like any of the ones you’ve shown me before.” Spinel said in confusion. Steven chuckled. “That’s because of this… This is my masterpiece. The thing that will make the Diamonds RESPECT me! The thing that will make EVERYONE respect me!” Steven said with a wicked smile. Spinel looked at him with wonder in her eyes. “SOOO… what’s different about this one? Also, it looks like there’s something inside, what is it?” Spinel asked as she twisted her fingers on her cheeks. Steven chuckled and walked up to the injector. “That pink stuff is a… special poison… It’s very toxic to organic life so I can’t have this thing near the garden, but once I find a good enough place to dump all this waste, I’ll put my oils into it to make gems! It’s controlled through a special voice command that I’ll tell once we are done and will be twice as fast as the ones at home. If I can perfect the device, we can improve the production of gem kind. More soldiers, more special gems like Sapphires, more gems for you and me to play with! We won’t be lonely anymore!” Steven said, then hugged Spinel, tears flowing down his eyes.  Spinel's smile grew wide and wrapped her arms around Steven. “Yes! Yes! YES! Oh! I’m so glad you brought me here, Pink! Blue, Yellow, and White are going to be so proud! They’ll give you your own colony in no time!” Spinel yelled out loud. Steven laughed. “Yeah, my own… my own…” Steven began to say before her words dug into his head. “Colony?” He looked at her and then rubbed his eyes. “Yeah! You’ve been begging the Diamonds for so long. Is something wrong, Pink?” Spinel asked. 

Steven stepped back in fear. “No… no. NO! I’m… I’m not her! I’m Steven! I’m Steven! I… I’m…” Steven looked at his hands, but they were covered in gloves. Soon realized that he WAS Pink Diamond. He… She clutched their head. “No. NO! I’m her! I’m not her! Stop making me see these memories!” Steven yelled, his voice coming out of this female form. Spinel was very scared. “Pink...” Spinel began to say. Steven glares at her. “DON’T CALL ME THAT! I’M NOT HER! I’M NOT MY MOM!” ‘He’ yelled, then holds ‘his’ head. Pain, anger, hatred, it was all building up again. It was getting harder and harder for ‘him’ to breathe. His body then flashed into Rose Quartz. “Pink, is something wrong? You can tell me.” Spinel said as she reached out to touch the ‘boy’. ‘He’ growled and slapped her hand away. “Don’t touch me!” ‘He’ yelled. Spinel stepped back as tears formed in her eyes, causing Steven flashback into reality as his body becomes his own again. “Spinel, I’m…” He began to say in guilt, reaching out for her, but she soon turned away and ran. “Spinel!” He called out but she already left the room. Steven held his head. “UGH! What’s wrong with me!?” He asked himself, however, there was no reply. 

The boy opened his eyes. Maybe he could catch up with her and apologize. But he soon realized that the whole area had gone way, the injector was gone, and all he could see was an endless landscape with black skies. Suddenly he heard a piano song playing in the background, it was complex and full of hard cords. “Huh?” He let out as he looked around. He soon saw Bluebird, Mean Lapis, Jasper, and… Nice Lapis in a group? They were looking away from him. Steven was very confused. Why was ‘Nice’ Lapis here? Did Lapis’ threat not get to her? Were their attempts to reach her failed and she’s back with Mean Lapis? Why were those two with Bluebird Azurite and Jasper? Why were Jasper and Bluebird together? His head was now pounding. “Hahahaha!” They laughed as if they were mocking his pain. “Oh, my Stars. You are not going to believe what I heard about Pink Diamond’s son.” Jasper said to the others. He rushed towards them and got ahead of them. He was about question them when he saw their faces. The group had glowing moths, gems, and eyes. Steven froze up. “Pink Diamond’s Son? Are you kidding me?” Bluebird questioned the others. The twin Lapis laughed. “I know. It’s like he thinks he’s the savior of gem kind.” ‘Nice’ Lapis said in a mocking tone. Bluebird laughed alongside them. It was like they didn’t even notice he was standing right in front of them. The young boy gritted his teeth and covered his ears. “He is SUCH a jerk!” Mean Lapis said. Bluebird nodded. “Yeah! He is SO annoying! I don’t see how ANYONE could follow him!” Bluebird questioned.

“From his hair to his sandals, that brat thinks he can boss us around!” Mean Lapis said in a condescending attitude. A pink bubble formed around Steven to try and block off the noise, but it did nothing. “Pink Diamond deserves SO much better than some weak, pathetic kid who needs FUSION to stand against us!” Jasper stated, the words digging into Steven’s head. He could feel his body was on fire and the pain was excruciating. “I heard he needs to control humans and gems in order to feel anything. He doesn’t even know what a gem likes.” ‘Nice’ Lapis said. Jasper stood in front of them. “Wait, wait, wait. I heard he got fired from that School he was running.” Jasper said with confidence. The Lapis twins and Bluebird gasped in shock. “No way!” Bluebird gasped. Mean Lapis laughed. “Yeah! And I heard he broke his mom’s Pearl! What kind of lunatic is this kid?” Mean Lapis asked. Steven's body was soon engulfed in pink light. He knew these were lies, but each one dug into him like a dagger. “I heard he’s no longer a couple with his girlfriend, AGAIN! That boy can’t connect to anyone, let alone his ‘best friend’.” Bluebird said. Those words shattered Steven’s heart. ‘No…NO! Connie… Connie loves me. I…I didn’t… I’m not…’ His head tried to process what was going on.

“I heard he turns Pink now and he screams a LOT!” Jasper said. Then the group laughed. Steven couldn’t hold it in anymore. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” He screamed, the floor under him becoming one giant crater as pink shock ways dispel the images of those gems and his body becomes engulfed in rage. The boy wakes up in his bed; however, their laughter still filled the room. The pain, the rage, it had not left him. All he could think of was ‘I need to find something to soothe this pain’. “Over and over and over and over and over and over. OVER and OVER and OVER and Over and OVER and OVER. Over and Over and OVER AND OVER and over and over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER. ANDOVERANDOVER! YEHAHAHA!” Steven sang/screamed as he got out of his room. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was going, but he had to get to that place. His voice became softer as he walked through the main area of the house. The gems weren’t there, and he was glad for that. He goes into the kitchen and grabs a straw, stuffing it into his coat pocket. He enters the bathroom and walked over to the sink. He looked at his reflection as the last part of his ‘song’ was playing. He opened the cabinets and saw the three bottles of Diamond essences and an empty cup for brushing his teeth. His mind went blank as he grabbed and opened the bottles. He poured some of each bottle into the container and for the final touch, put his finger into his mouth and then his spit into the ‘drink’. The four liquids let out a soft, soothing sound as they mixed. He picked up the cup and pulled out a straw out of his jacket. He then placed the straw into the container, but instead of his mouth to ingest the strange concoction, he stuck the straw into his nose and snorted the liquid inside. He let out a sigh of relief as all his pain disappeared. 

The young boy put the cup down and then realized what he had done. “Wh-what was that? Why? Why did I do that?” He questioned himself. A part of him was wondering why he had to use his nose in order to ingest the liquid, meanwhile, another part of himself was just questioning why he did this to begin with. But then, he noticed something. The pain, the laughing, the fire… it was gone. His mind… was at peace again. He pinched himself to make sure he was awake, and… he was. He put the caps back on the bottles, cleaned out the cup, and placed the items back into the mirror. He looked at himself then held his head in shame.

“Is this what my life has become? Am I… like those corrupted gems? I’m not broken. I… I just needed something to soothe me.” He asked himself before shutting that thought down. He thought back to his childhood. He thought back to having fun with Lars, Sadie, Onion, the Cool kids, Connie… His mind flashed in fear as he remembered what one of the gems said. He shocked his head. “No. Connie and I are still close. We’re still friends! They were just LYING!” Steven told himself. He breathed in and then out. “Everything’s going to be fine. I’m fine. I’ll figure myself soon enough. I… I know I will.” He looked at the mirror, whipped his nose just in case some of the liquid was coming out, then said. “Because I’m Steven Quartz Universe.”

(For those who were wondering, the part with Jasper, Bluebird, the Lapis twins, Steven’s meltdown/consumption of the diamond oils is based on Zach Callison’s “Franticity (interlude i)”. The part about Spinel’s injector and the hidden base in the asteroid is base off of AJ Universe’s Theory. Link to Theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zURqk_WYO1w. I hope you liked the fic.)

#su #suf #steven uinverse #steven quartz demayo #steven universe future #corrupted steven theory #corruption #connie mahaswaren #spinel #garden #injector #jasper #bluebird #lapis #mean lapis #nice lapis #zach callison #theory #substance abuse #drugs #meltdown #dream #nightmare #fighting #fight scene #rejuvenator #pink diamond #rose quartz #rosequartz #pink steven

[archaic-medico]

Snapped: Part 1 - Corruption

The faint sounds of waves crashing on the beach could be heard as the sound of singing and a guitar filled the air. Nearby was a blue and white checker board blanket covered with flowers, a picnic basket, juice boxes, jam jars and a cake box. On a nearby rock, Steven was nearing the end of his song as Connie watched on with joy as this is one of the loveliest things Steven had done for her, and considering all the college prep work she had been doing lately, they haven’t been spending much time together.

“I'd rather be me, with you...,” Steven sang as he sat his guitar down and jumped down from the rock.

“Steven, that song was amaz. Uh, what are you doing,” Connie asked, as Steven dropped to one knee.

“Connie, will you marry me,” Steven asked, pulling a glow stick bracelet, the thing that brought them together in the first place, out of a pocket from inside his jacket.

“What,” was all Connie could say as she was totally caught off guard by Steven’s proposal.

“I know you might think that I'm being romantic, but this makes perfect sense! For example, I don't know what you've been studying or doing, but Stevonnie would! We can go to college together and live the rest of our live together, like Garnet,” Steven rambled as his right eye started twitching a little because of how nervous he was.

“Steven, look, I really like being Stevonnie with you but I need to be my own person too. Just because Ruby and Sapphire have been doing it for thousands of years, doesn’t mean we should. Plus, we’re really young. This doesn’t change how I feel about you Steven, but it’s going to be a no,” Connie replied, hugging Steven tightly. Steven was sad that Connie had said no, he was assured by Ruby and Sapphire that this would work, but it didn’t and he didn’t know what to do. This was supposed to be a happy moment, but now it was a sad moment. His best friend had just rejected his feeling of love towards her. She could have said yes and they could have waited till they were older, but she flat out refused the offer. It wasn’t Steven’s fault tonight failed; it was Connie’s fault. This was supposed to be the most perfect night ever and she ruined it by rejecting him. The more he stood there thinking about it, the angrier he got. Steven then felt Connie release her hug as her alarm went off, signaling that her study break was over.

“Look, Steven, I need to get back to studying. I'll call you tomorrow at lunchtime and we can talk this over then,” Connie said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, before heading towards Lion. Steven there unfazed by the kiss as he could feel his anger continue to boil as Connie just walked away.

“NO,” Steven screamed, as he turned pink while stomping his foot on the sand, creating an energy wave that formed a small crater. In the process of doing this, he had destroyed the guitar and all of the picnic supplies. Connie fell over as the wave hit her, right as she was about to hop on Lion.

“WE’RE NOT GOING TO WAIT TILL TOMORROW. WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS RIGHT FUCKING NOW,” Steven shouted, as part of his head swelled and quickly deflated.

“Steven, what the hell is your,” Connie began to say as she got up and turned around, but quickly stopped as she saw Steven was swollen and glowing pink.

“Steven are you okay, your swelling and glowing pink,” Connie asked.

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER RIGHT NOW. WHAT MATTERS IS YOU THAT I OFFERED YOU MY HEART AND YOU REJECTED IT,” Steven shouted, clutching his head in agony as his body doubled in size then quickly returned to normal.

“Steven, please, can we talk about the marriage thing another time, I really think we need to get you to a hospital,” Connie pleaded again in hopes that Steven would go checked out.

“NO, NOW QUIT TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT,” Steven screamed as his right arm swelled as he punched the ground just inches from where Connie was standing. Steven started glowing brighter the angrier he got as the size of his body started changing at a more rapid pace. His eyes started turning pink with diamond pupils and back to normal in rapid succession. He was now starting to see butterflies surround him in masses. About that time Garnet came running around the corner.

“Oh no, I’m too late,” Garnet said with a shocked look on her face as she approached Connie and Steven.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE TOO LATE,” Steven shouted snapping around to face Garnet, glowing even brighter.

“I saw that this would happen. I saw that Ruby and Sapphire would encourage you to propose to Connie in every possible future, but also in 90% of the futures that I saw, Connie would reject your proposal,” Garnet explained as she walked towards Steven.

“YOU KNEW THAT SHE WOULD FUCKING REJECT ME AND YOU DIDN’T TRY TO STOP ME. THEN YOU’RE JUST AS GUILTY IN MY PAIN AND ANGER AS CONNIE FUCKING IS,” Steven screamed, the changes to his body size started picking up pace again.

“Steven you need to calm down and control your anger. Even if I had tried to stop you, there wasn’t a future where you didn’t propose to Connie, I’m sorry but this was inevitable,” Garnet said as she got closer.

Steven dropped to his knees while clutching his head as the pain grew stronger and he started glowing even brighter. He looking straight ahead when his vision began to fill with nothing but butterflies flying around him. He then felt something snap in his brain as he started laughing as the butterflies began flying faster and faster. Connie and Garnet start to slowly approached him, as his laugh grew more sinister. He then looks up towards the sky, laughing like a mad man, when suddenly the butterflies stopped and flew towards Steven, covering his whole body. Steven then let out a massive scream causing a strong wave of energy and sand to shoot out, knocking Connie and Garnet down and sent Lion flying towards the Ocean.

When the dust had settled, Connie and Garnet looked in horror as Steven’s form had changed. He was now standing up again and he was the same height as Garnet but with a body build that looked like Jasper’s. There was pink colored electricity sparking in the air around him. His hair was now longer and shaggier looking and his eyes were now pink with diamonds for pupils. His gem was no longer in the position of Rose Quartz as it had rotated back to that of Pink Diamond’s location. His clothes had changed as well, he was now wearing an outfit like Pink’s diamond outfit but more masculine. He now had on knee high black boots, pants that were a red violet color with hot pink diamond knee pads, with a chest piece that was rose in color, shoulder pads that were black and a pink midsection piece with a diamond shape cut out around his gem, and a red colored cape that was draped behind him to the his ankles that was wrapped around his neck.

“Stev..Steven,” Connie gasped, seeing the changes that had just happened. Steven didn’t even bother answering or looking at Connie as he looked up at the light house, raising a hand and firing a bubble, obliterating the light house. Connie and Garnet both watched in horror as a body fell within the rubble.

“Hahaha, this is wonderful. This power is amazing,” Steven said, as he laughed and created a hexagonal plate and fired it at a ship in the ocean causing it to explode on impact.

“STEVEN, STOP THIS RIGHT NOW,” Garnet shouted as she summoned her gauntlets. Steven quickly disappeared then reappeared right in front of Garnet, upper cutting her into the air. He then disappeared and reappeared above her, punching her back towards the ground, causing a crater to form on the beach. He slowly floated back down to the ground where Garnet was and grabbed ahold of both of her hands.

“You’re telling me to stop and yet you knew my marriage proposal was going to fail and didn’t try to prevent that at all. YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST ATTEMPTED TO STOP ME FROM GOING THROUGH WITH IT, BUT INSTEAD YOU DIDN’T AND NOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR NOT,” Steven screamed as he started squeezing Garnet’s hands tighter, sparks of pink energy snapping around them as he shattered her gauntlets.

“Steven, please don’t do this. You won’t be able to return from this,” Garnet pleaded as her form started to glitch out as Steven squeezed harder.

“You’re right, there is no coming back, I don’t want to come back from this, the old Steven is dead,” Steven said as he started to crack Ruby and Sapphire’s gem.

“Farewell Garnet,” Steven calmly said as he shattered Ruby’s gem. Connie screamed in horror as she heard the shattering and saw Garnet defuse to just Sapphire and as Connie backed away towards the Beach House, she saw and the same thing happen to Sapphire.

Steven laughed maniacally as he looked at the shattered remains of Ruby and Sapphire in his hands. Steven was in love with this new power and he wanted more, scratch that he needed more. He began to look for Connie, when he saw her running into the Beach House.

“AMETHYST, PEARL, HELP,” Connie cried out as she entered into the house.

“Connie, what’s wrong,” Amethyst and Pearl cried out as they exited their rooms in the temple, having heard the commotion going on out.

“Steven’s gone insane. His look has changed and he, he, he…” Connie started to cry as the vision of Ruby and Sapphire demise played in her head again.

“HE WHAT, CONNIE,” Amethyst and Pearl screamed.

“He sha…tterd Ruby and Sapphire,” Connie said bursting into tears.

“HE DID WHAT,” Amethyst and Pearl shouted as Steven appeared behind them from thin air, causing Amethyst, Connie, and Pearl to jump back.

“I sure did, I crushed their gems in to tiny pieces,” Steven said as Amethyst and Pearl looked at him in horror as he dropped the broken shards of Ruby and Sapphire on the floor.

“Steven, how, how could you,” Pearl asked in a state of disbelief.

“Like this,” Steven said as he reached out and quickly grabbed Amethyst by the gem before she could even react. Pearl ran towards Steven as she summoned her spear, only the be swatted away by Steven.

“Steven, please don’t this. Whatever is going on with you, let us help you with it,” Amethyst pleaded as she tried to free herself, as Steven lifted her above his head.

“You all had a chance to help me but you ignored it. Me trapping my friends in a dome and nearly crushing them, quitting Little Homeschool, and not wanting to talk after Cactus Steven destroyed the house all should have been red flags but you all never pushed me to open up. You, Pearl, Dad, Connie, The Diamonds and Spinel are all responsible for this,” Steven spat, squeezing harder causing Amethyst started to glitch out. Amethyst began to cry as the pain got worse and worse.

Pearl watched as Steven continued to squeeze Amethyst’s gem until it shattered and Amethyst vanished. Steven turned to Pearl dropping the shards of Amethyst’s gem with Ruby and Sapphire’s gem. Pearl attempted to take this moment while his guard was down to attempt an attack on Steven again, but before she could strike him, he raised his arm and trapped bubble her.

“Pearl, always so feisty, I like that about you. So, I’ll give you two options instead of me turning you into dust. Option number one is you return to being a servant Pearl willingly or option number two is I take you to The Reef and I can rejuvenate you, your choice. Oh, and the timer starts now,” Steven said as the bubble around Pearl started shrinking as Pearl began poking the bubble with her spear.

“Choose quickly Pearl, times running out,” Steven said after thirty seconds. Pearl was still trying to pop the bubble as it shrunk around her. Seeing that it was going to be impossible to know, she responded they why Steven hoped she would.

“I’d rather be rejuvenated then willingly serve someone despicable as you,” Pearl defiantly said as she flipped Steven off.

“Aww Pearl, that would have hurt my feeling if I still had any feelings left. But hey that means I get to rejuvenate you the fun way,” Steven said chuckling. The bubble started to glow bright, then there was a bright flash in the interior of the bubble, leaving only Pearl’s gem left in the bubble. Connie had been watching as Steven had shattered someone who had basically been his sister and poofed the closes thing he had to a mother. After poofing Pearl, Steven turned and walked over to Connie.

“I’ll be back to deal with you later,” Steven said, before disappearing into thin air.

#EVIL STEVEN #steven universe #corruption #corrupted steven #steven universe au #diamond steven #alternate universe #steven universe alternate universe #connie mahaswaren #snapped #Chapter 1

[macwalden]

Birthday Chaos pt. 1

where: Brenton Avery’s house who: Brenton Avery ( @beeavery​ ), Rabastan Lestrange ( @diisgustednoiise​ ), Freya Avery ( @freyasavery​ ), and Walden Macnair.

BRENTON was feeling pretty pleased with himself. The mac and cheese in the oven was looking (and smelling) good and he had laid the table properly and managed to stop Ash trying to put his toys on said table for five minutes. Not only that, but he had managed to get Rabastan there although so far he had failed to mention who the fourth place setting was for. He wasn’t ready to see Walden again himself and the idea of him and Rabastan and Brenton all being in one room at the same time seemed like a pretty bad idea at the moment. But they would do it. For Freya’s birthday. The crack of apparition just outside the boundary of the house’s wards was what made Brenton think maybe Rabastan did deserve a bit of a heads up. “You know how it’s Freya’s evening?” But his own lack of privacy when it came to knocking meant that his house had something of an open door policy for family so there wasn’t enough time before the handle started to turn. He gripped onto Rabastan’s hand and dragged him along with him into the hallway, Ash bounding alongside them.

RABASTAN had nothing against freya, in fact, he considered her to be a close friend. he wanted to help her celebrate, but he'd be lying if he didn't feel out of place at an intimate family dinner. and that didn't even begin to cover his feelings towards birthdays as a whole. in general, birthdays, or at least, his birthday, weren't celebrated in the lestrange household. he was unfamiliar with the entire concept, but still he helped with the preparations, even going as far as arranging a bouquet for the table. of course, he was still nervous, especially at the sight of the unexplained fourth place setting. for their father perhaps? though he was sure brenton would've given him notice if his father was attending. freya's date? that made more sense, but again, why hadn't brenton mentioned it? that left him with a sickening feeling, but he chose to ignore it, instead forcing a smile across his face as he reluctantly followed the other into the hallway. "is there something you're trying to tell me?" he asked, eyebrow arched as he turned his head to look at brenton.

FREYA walked into Brenton's house confidently, after pausing just a moment for a polite knock.  She wasn't usually all that concerned about barging in, but he had gone through the trouble of making her a birthday dinner; she could pretend to have manners for the evening. She wasn't necessarily surprised to see Rabastan.  Brenton's reaction at the Quidditch match after Seb had died told her that something was going on there.  And did he brother do friendships without the added benefit of the occasional hook up?  She wasn't sure, nor did she blame him.  Sex was fun.  Rabastan was a good friend, but he was very boring.  Maybe Brenton was trying to corrupt him a bit?  She could see the appeal in that -- or maybe they were just buddies.  She truly doubted it, but stranger things had happened.

"It's my birthday," she announced with a casual shrug.  Just in case the near daily reminders and the plastic tiara she had worked into her hair weren't enough of an indication.  "so I brought the cake."  She didn't bother to hold it out for them to expected, stepping between them and leading the way into the kitchen.  "Where's --" she stopped at the sound of someone else entering the house.  "Nevermind!"

It was the week of WALDEN and Freya's birthday but the older man definitely did not feel like it. At his age, celebrating every birthday felt more like an obligation than a celebration. But somehow, always having them with Brenton and Freya helps make it a little more bearable. But Walden knew that this celebration was going to be a problem precisely because of that. Ever since, Walden's confrontation with Brenton, he's been in somewhat of a downward spiral filled with booze and men to occupy the time. Just last night he sought out a very eager gentleman who was more than willing to leave marks all over his body. Marks that he didn't even bother to remove. He hadn't seen Brenton since the incident so he was certain that there would still be tension in the air between them. But as much as he wanted to ditch his own birthday celebration, family is family. And it's not only his birthday they were sharing a dinner for. It's also Freya's. The day finally comes and Walden dons a coat over his usual set of clothes without even bothering to cover up a sweet red spot just beneath his jaw. He strolled right through the open door with a bottle of vodka in his hands and a swagger that screamed fuck all. "And I brought vodka." he added as he appeared in the hallway walking straight towards them.  His eyes caught Freya and flashed a brief smile. "So where's my tiara?"

Freya proved a good enough distraction for BRENTON to avoid Rabastan’s question again. At least she was there first, although Brenton was quickly running out of time to bring up Walden. He had mentioned before that they grew up together, immediately after returning from the proposition Walden had set up with Jasper, but the explanation had been rushed and confused and likely didn’t leave Rabastan with the full impression of what ‘growing up together’ meant. Especially given Brenton had said that they used to fuck. He reluctantly let go of Rabastan’s hand to let Freya pass and as he turned to follow immediately reached out again for his other hand, but his eyes were on Freya, a mixture of fondness and amusement on his face at her tiara and the fact she had known he wouldn’t bother with a cake and the fact she had barely batted an eyelid to Rabastan being there. “Happy birthday, wean,” he said, reaching out to mess up her hair. The arrival of the final guest had Brenton’s body language changing completely. He pulled Rabastan close, an arm going around his shoulders. It was in part a comfort to himself but it was also a strong message to Walden that this was a thing and he would just have to accept that. An added bonus was stopping Rabastan from being able to apparate without risking a splinching if Brenton was holding onto him. “Happy birthday,” he said to Walden, his voice chilly compared to the way he had said it to Freya. He forced a smile onto his face as he turned his attention back to Freya and Rabastan but it was tense. “So many options. What would you two like to drink?” Besides the vodka there was all the drink Brenton always had kicking around: a combination of dark liquors, beers and white wine as well as a handful of random soft drinks that were more for show than for drinking.

"happy birthday, freya," RABASTAN greeted his friend with a smile as he moved back to allow her room to pass. if she was surprised by his presence, she did a good job of hiding it. and for that he was beyond thankful, he already felt incredibly out of place, the last thing he needed was for it to be pointed out. and perhaps, he thought, this night might be alright after all. freya was alone, which was a good sign, brenton may have gotten the number of place settings wrong. his question for brenton all but forgotten, a smile on his face as he turned to follow after freya. the cake looked amazing, not that he had doubted freya's skills for one second, and the fragrant smell of pasta and cheese filled the air. but of course, he had been too optimistic, as the familiar pop of apparation filled the air. but still, folding on to what little hope he had left he once more turned around, a forced smile on his face as he cast a glance at brenton before turning towards the door. he found brenton's gesture to be a bit unsettling, such a display of affection was rather unusual for them, but he leaned in, even allowing his shoulders to drop as he stood facing the door. every thing clicked the second walden entered, and it took ever ounce of his self control not to turn around and say something he'd later regret. he remained silent, eyes narrowed, shoulders tensed as he reluctantly followed behind the rest of the group. he thought about apparating, but seeing as he had no where to go, he decided against it. for now. not waiting for anyone to make their drink order, he moved towards the bottle of scotch and poured himself a rather generous glass. and taking a large sip of it, he reluctantly turned back around, choosing to remain silent. perhaps if he didn't say anything, they would jsut forget that he was there.

FREYA didn't say anything, just offered a cheerful smile to her brother and Rabastan.  It wasn't that she was unbothered -- she didn't get it, not really.  Rabastan was vanilla and Brenton was one tiny spoonful of all the flavors in the ice cream shop mixed together.  She supposed Rabastan had a nice body; and maybe he saved all his chaos for his bed mate.  It was something that she could respect, if she were being honest.  But it wasn't her business -- she was making a lot of assumptions, but she knew her brother well enough to know that he wouldn't have invited a casual friend over for their birthday dinner.  But he could fuck anyone he wanted -- she'd mind her own business. But as Walden appeared she grew interested again, setting their cake on the table and lowering herself onto the chair.  She knew he was joking, but when he asked where his tiara was she pulled the second birthday crown she had bought over out of her bag and passed it to him with a grin.  "Happy birthday!"

But the tension in the room seemed thick and it was fantastic.  Something had happened here.  And Brenton's arm around Rabastan was far more funny than it was sweet.  He was being a jealous... boyfriend?  "Are you two fighting?"  She asked curiously, looking between Brenton and Walden.  "I've got to go get my camera if you're going to throw punches, so warn me first, at least."

WALDEN didn't show that Brenton's public display of affection affected him. Sure, it made him slightly throw up bile in his mouth but he kept it in. He wasn't willing to give Brenton the satisfaction. At both the Avery's greetings, Walden just smiled humorlessly. He didn't even thank Brenton.  All he did was accept Freya's extra tiara and place it on his forehead. "Happy Birthday, Freya." At least with her, Walden was genuine. He was greeted twice but as far as he was concerned, there was one person who didn't greet him. He looked straight at Rabastan, even thought the younger man wasn't looking at him. "So no greetings for me?" Walden simply rolled his eyes and ignored Freya's comment. Walden was never one to throw punches. That's what wands are for. Since she didn't answer Brenton's question, he took it upon himself to answer the other male's question. He can't help but notice that Rabastan refused to answer as well. In fact, the boy slipped away from Brenton's grasp. Huh. Lover's quarrel maybe? Merlin, he hopes so. "Something dark, please," he said, already walking past all of them to head towards the table. "Got any rum?" he cried out, clearly not intending to make his own drink.

BRENTON gave Freya his best attempt at an innocent, wide-eyed look. "I've never fought anyone in my life," he said, even though all of them knew that was a lie. Although, he had no plans whatsoever to fight Walden today. It was their birthdays and they were having family time. He wouldn't ruin it by starting a fight. However irritated he was already feeling just from the mere presence of his old friend. He was happy for Rabastan to help himself to the scotch, because in his mind that's how it should be. If there was anyone who should feel enough at home to help themselves it was Rabastan. All three of them, actually, but mostly Rabastan. "I'll have scotch, too, if you're pouring," he said, a smile on his face that disappeared when Brenton found himself staring at Walden's back, resolution not to start a fight quickly forgotten. "You're not having the vodka? Of course you're not. You only want to share your things when it's something I don't want." Still, he wasn't that bothered that pouring Walden's drink was left to him. It gave him the chance to turn to Rabastan and tilt his head to indicate he wanted to talk to him away from the other two as he opened his liquor cabinet to get out the dark rum.

while the thought to help himself to walden's bottle of vodka had crossed RABASTAN’s mind, it would have required interacting with the older male and that was something he was in no rush to do. he knew it would happen sooner or later, but hopefully, after he'd consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. so, eyes narrowed, he held his glass to his mouth as he took another long sip of his scotch. if he wasn't worried about putting on a good front for freya's sake, he would've opted to drink straight from the bottle. but, it was probably in his best interest to not end up blacked out. so instead he found himself fighting the urge to roll his eyes, and trying even harder to avoid brenton's gaze. he knew the second their eyes met, he'd be unable to hold back his emotions. it was already taking a considerable amount of self control for him not to scream at brenton, letting his feelings about being lied too known. but, he'd make sure the other go an earful later. he chose to ignore freya's comment about the fight, hoping that brenton and walden would do the same. it was bad enough, they didn't need to talk about it, though he was certain it would come up sooner or later. but rather than dwelling on it, he turned to pour brenton a glass of scotch, purposefully under pouring, whilst also topping off his own glass. "here you go," he responded, his tone just a bit too hostile as he pushed the glass across the counter, before turning around. he wasn't interested in talking to brenton, not now. so instead he turned his focus to freya, "tell me, how has your day been so far?" he asked, an eyebrow arched as he moved to take a seat next to her.

FREYA tilted her head to the side, trying to hide the amusement on her face.  She had always been far too entertained when there was unspoken tension in the room.  It was a fun little game, trying to figure out what had happened before someone spilled.  Someone always spilled.  "You too," she grinned at Walden.  "I made your favorite."  She gestured at the cake.  "Even though it's only the second best sort." She was tempted to reach for a drink, but there'd be time for that later -- her eyes flicked from Walden to Brenton and then to Rabastan, who looked somewhere  between angry and uncomfortable.  He was involved too?  It seemed like Rabastan was on Brenton's side, of course he was.  Just another bit of evidence in the her former betrothed and her brother were hooking up column.  But if Rabastan and Brenton were on each other's side she supposed she should secretly cheer Walden on. "More for me," she said cheerfully, reaching forward for the vodka -- which was a disgusting drink, but she was on Walden's side for now so she did it for the team spirit.  She pour just a tiny bit in the glass and swirled it a bit before grabbing the soda and dumping the rest in the glass.  She smirked at Walden, sure he'd have something to say about her defacing perfectly good vodka and sat back down. When Rabastan pointedly ignored Brenton's not so subtle signal she raised her eyebrows.  Maybe they weren't on each other's side?  But they were totally fucking.  That was confusing, but she'd get the whole story before the night was done, she was sure of it.  "It's been good!  I baked and I went to take my father his gift.  And I slept in before all of that.  Went a bit too hard at a pub last night.  Yours not going so good?"  She sort of wanted Walden and Brenton to go away so she could plan some kind of prank or mild to moderate chaos to liven up the evening with Rabastan.  Maybe if she pretended the mac and cheese was on fire.

"Well that's not very polite, is it?" WALDEN muttered. He made sure that it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. "Didn't you guys tell him this was a joint birthday celebration?" he asked Freya and Brenton while deliberately ignoring Rabastan. He's very much disappointed at the Avery's for ignoring the fact that Rabastan didn't greet him as well. "Second best?" Walden asked Freya. "Are you trying to tell me that you hate me?" he joked. At the rate that the party is going, he wasn't even sure if they'll ever reach dessert. Walden kept his indecipherable mask on as Brenton questioned him not drinking the very drink he brought. Brenton's comment actually left something in him a little bruised. Just one little spat. One twat named Rabstan caught in between them. Now, Brenton's acting like Walden has never done anything for him that he actually wanted or needed.  Well two could play at that game. "Just wanted to start with something dark is all. Didn't know you don't like Vodka. I assumed something as tasteless like vodka would be up your alley." His eyebrow shot up when Rabastan slid the glass of scotch towards Brenton with hostility? Was there trouble in paradise? If so, then maybe the night might prove itself to be enjoyable after all.  Brenton clearly wanted some time alone with Rab but the other was clearly not having it so Walden took it upon himself to join Brenton while he made his drink. In a voice low enough so that the others won't hear, he asked Brenton, "So is this you making things official with dear Rabastan over there? You're really doing this on Freya's birthday?"

#brenton ( i can take you to the top ) || connections #brenton ( you can hear it in my growl ) || interaction #brenton003 #rabastan ( i can take you to the top ) || connections #rabastan ( you can hear it in my growl ) || interaction #rabastan002 #freya ( i can take you to the top ) || connections #freya ( you can hear it in my growl ) || interaction #freya002

[sunshineandcybertronians]

Transformers Prime Choose Your Own Adventure - Run to the left

This is a part of a 'Choose your own path’. If you haven’t already, I suggest starting from the Beginning

You bolted left while the others went right. It was too late to change your mind to go with them, you were alone. One of the menacing robots followed you and the other chased the boys. Thankfully, it was only leisurely walking towards you, but you would get tired soon and you quickly found you had nowhere to run.

Your legs ached. Your lungs begged for rest. You might end up running until you collapsed from exhaustion. Tears brimmed in your eyes as you anticipated being grabbed or shot any second.

In the nick of time, a sturdy, green army truck came rolling onto the scene. In a few seconds followed by clicking of metal changing position, the truck was now a large robot with a wrecking ball for a hand charging at the robot chasing you.

The ball collided with the enemy and he was knocked so far away that you could hardly see anymore.

"Whoa," you grinned, slowing down to a jog. "Thank you!" you called to him.

He seemed to hesitate for a second as if not knowing how to react to a small human's thanks. "Just get out of here while you can," was what he ended up saying before transforming back into his vehicle form and continuing to where the others where.

You complied and ran back home.

 After school was over, you spotted Raf by a tree by the road. You walked over to him.

"Hey, Raf. I'm happy you're alright," you admitted.

"I'm happy you're alright too, Jack and I had no idea what happened to you after that robot ran after us," he said.

"A green robot saved me and I ran back home," you explained.

You turned and saw Jack walk. down the stairs. You and Raf waved him over.

"Hey," he greeted you a few steps away. "Let's just keep this between us."

The sound of a car horn cut through the air and Raf's eyes widened in excitement when he saw what it came from. "Jack," he addressed the teenager, "look."

A yellow car with black stripes rolled up in front of the young boy along with the army truck from the other day. They stopped in front of you.

"That's the bot who saved me," you pointed at the green truck.

"Not again," Jack took a step back. The passenger door for each vehicle opened up. A beeping noise erupted from inside the car.

"Get in," the gruff voice that you remember from yesterday said.

"They... want us to get in," Jack guessed.

"No," Raf calmly disagreed with a smile, "just me."

"How do you know that?" he inquired and waved his arms.

"Yeah," you wondered how Raf could possibly know that.

"It said so," Raf answered. You nodded,  having learned during one of your conversations that he could understand him, but the teacher began class before you could ask more.

"What?"

"Yours is over there," Raf gestured to the motorcycle parked by the school. You weren't sure who he or she was, but based on her color scheme, you assumed she was the female robot.

"So this must be mine," you jumped into the truck without a hesitation.

"I really don't think that..." you didn't hear anymore of Jack's sentence as the door close and you rolled out.

"It's great to see you again. Thank you for saving me yesterday. Oh, where are we going again?" you asked, feeling slightly unintelligent for going with the talking vehicle without even knowing where you were going or why.

"To our base. Optimus Prime wants you there for your protection," his voice came from the speakers.

"Protection from the things that attacked your friends and me last night?" you almost shuddered at your near death experience.

"Bingo. We've been at war for a long time, so long that I don't know if I could stop fighting if the war finally ended," he admitted.

You drooped at that thought. "That's kinda sad."

"Yeah."

You drove in silence for a little while, rolling outside of Jasper and onto the road in the desert. "Can you turn on the radio?" you asked.

"Sure," the dial moved on its own and a familiar melody played.

"Oh, I love this song," you started bobbing your head to the music.

"Me too!" he sounded the most excited you ever heard him.

"You listen to music?" you wondered with a smile.

"Yeah! I've been on Earth a long time and I like music. It's a little hard not to listen to it when humans are playing it all the time," he said.

"Sure is. Music is awesome. It makes you feel like dancing and can make you feel better.

"Yeah," he agreed and you could swear that you heard a smile.

"What's your name?"

"Bulkhead."

"Can we be friends? I know war can be hard and you might not have time for that, but it can be better with a friend, and you seem pretty awesome," you stared at the steering wheel with a symbol that resembled a face as if it were his eyes.

He considered it for a second, "I don't see any problem with that."

"Yes," you pumped a fist in the air, though you made sure it wasn't too high.

You listened to music the rest of the way there. you can to a T in the road. With the car in front, they drove off the top of the T, straight towards the rocks.

"Watch this," Bulkhead said.

While driving towards a mesa, the rock in the surface began to split open to make a secret entrance. You rolled with the shadows covering you.

"Cool!" you exclaimed.

Before you knew it, you were in a huge room, and you meant huge. It was so big that Bulkhead could have jumped in it and come nowhere near touching the ceiling. The walls were rough rocks, a clear sign the base was made by carving into the mesa.

On a large alien looking computer was a white and red robot. His body slightly turned to see the newcomers better. His eyes showed annoyance and, at the same time, curiosity as he studied you and the other three as if wondering what to make of you.

"That's Ratchet," he told you.

As soon as you got out and all the others did the same, they transformed back. You suddenly felt very small compared to the giants. You realized that apparently Jack picked up someone else, a Japanese girl. Her black hair with a pink highlight was in two twin tails.

Her eyes immediately locked onto Bulkhead. "Whoa," breathed in amazement.

"I thought there were two," Ratchet said.

Arcee gave a reply, but you didn't hear what she said as you studied the room.

"I'm Raf," the young boy held out his hand politely to shake one of the robots' hands, although somewhat unnecessary considering how large their hands were.

"I'm Miko," she immediately ran up to Bulkhead. "Who are you?"

"Bulkhead," he answered while taking a step back, clearly not used to the attention.

"Are you a car? I bet you're a truck, a monster truck!" she jumped up. "You look heavy? How much do you weigh? Have you ever used a wrecking ball or a punching bag?"

Bulkhead looked nervous and taken aback with all the questions. "Miko, let him answer," you laughed. You like her already. "And yes, he is a truck," you answered in a lower voice.

"Awesome!" her eyes lit up.

"So, if your robots, who made you?" Raf questioned when it crossed his mind.

"Urgh. Puh-leez," Ratchet one rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, he's always like that," Bulkhead leaned down and whispered to you and Miko.

The ground shook as a blue and red robot, the tallest of them all, strolled in. He stopped in front of the humans and you all ran up to him. You assumed that must be Optimus Prime, he looked like the leader and he just looked like he would have a name like that.

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots," he explained in a strong, gentle voice.

Jack took a few steps forward. "Why are you here?"

"To protect your planet from Decepticons,"

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night," Arcee filled in. You nodded, connecting the dots that those other dangerous robots that almost got you killed were Decepticons.

Jack took in the information and quickly thought of another question, "Okay... why are they here?"

Optimus Prime got down on one knee to close the far distance between his eyes and yours. "A fair question Jack." Knowing that the next part was probably important plus following the lead of Raf and Miko, you took a few steps in and listened carefully. "In part, they are here because our planet is uninhabitable, ravaged by centuries of civil war."

After Raf asked why they were at war, Optimus explained that one of the reasons was to control energon, which is their life source. He also mentioned that Megatron had once been like a brother to him, but his ideals became corrupt, thus he the leader of the Decepticons.

"Is there going to be a quiz?" Miko yawned.

You covered your mouth in attempt not to laugh. It probably was very important and something that should be taken seriously, but it was funny nonetheless.

"So what does Megatron, or any of this have to do with us?" Jack asked.

"Megatron has not been seen or heard from for some time, but if his return is eminent, as I may fear, it could be catastrophic. "

That last part scared you. What would that mean for you, and the entire planet for that matter. Definitely not what you were expecting to learn today when you woke up. But when you looked over at Bulkhead, all of those fears seemed to disappear. You knew that everything would be alright.

The end

Wanna start another adventure?

#roleplay

[iheardarumorxxx]

Midnight Sun, Chapter 5 - Invitations

This chapter opens up with Weirdo doing what he does best, whining.

In particular, he’s whining this time about how school is hell. Oh, it’s not boring anymore, not just a coma that he has to suffer through to appear normal, but actual genuine hell. He has to be around Bella all the time, you see. He has to exist in the same space as her and it is just misery and woe.

Except, and this is a point that I was going to make back in chapter one when Jasper was doing his freaky little spazz thing about all the tasty good hoomans around them, the Cullens don’t actually HAVE to suffer through the inane slog of Forks High. Think about it for a second. As far as anyone in town knows, Carlisle is a respected doctor (Dr. Kevorkian, but so far he hasn’t been that bad here), and Esme is a soft delicate happy homemaker mama. So why the fuck do they bother going to the public high school? Why would it be out of the realm of posibility to say that Esme home-schools the kids? It keeps them away from the teenagers who could be in very real danger having a bunch of Pire classmates, and it literally leaves them to their own devices. If they wanna spend a week up in Alaska (Weirdo) then no one is going to be the wiser, because they live on the edge of town and the only one with any actual ties to the community at large is Dr, Carlisle. 

Maybe they do it because they get bored just being around one another all the time. But everything we’ve seen in the text tells us that even at school, they only hang out with each other and go out of their way to avoid the rest of the school population. It tracks as yet another selfish thing that the Cullens are doing, putting the teenagers of Forks High at risk because they wanna go to normal school, even though they don’t have to.

I’m not even a paragraph in and I just ranted for two. This chapter recap might be a long one, guys.

I'd comforted myself with the fact that her pain would be nothing more than a pinprick - just a tiny sting of rejection - compared to mine.

This is one of those lines that SM uses to hammer home the fact that her Pires are OH SO MUCH better than you. It’s such a blatant ‘Oh, my pain and sorrow and misery is just SO BAD compared to Bella with her weak human mind and weak human emotions. She couldn’t possibly be as hurt as I, the great Edward Cullen, am.’ And it’s trash. It hasn’t been overt enough yet, but there’s still a rant coming about vampire instincts, with which I hope to point out exactly how this sentiment is wrong. 

If I was destined to love her

This is one of the main reasons why I just don’t buy the love story aspect of this series. They never talk about love in anything but ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’. Love is hard work. It’s building mutual respect and trust for one another and learning little quirks and habits along the way. It’s bumpy and messy and gross and wonderful, and most of all, it’s a choice. A choice to get to know someone, to spend time with that person and understand their hopes and dreams and wants and needs and fears and all of it, but in Twilight, it feels like the choice is taken away. Alice with her magic future power divines that Weirdo and Bella are gonna be in love, and instead of Eddie boy taking note that he barely even knows Bella, and has spent the better part of the few weeks he’s had with her making wild assumptions about who she is and what she’s like, he just goes ‘Ope, well, I guess if the future says I love her, I love her’ and that’s it. And the worst part is, even after their relationship actually begins, they don’t even try to do that getting to know and trust and respect one another thing, they just flat out keep their wild assumptions about one another throughout the entire series and rely on this ever subjective future that Alice has seen.

Wow, I’m ranting a lot today in this one. I’m not even a third of the way into this chapter yet.

Who would have ever dreamed that such a generic, boring mortal could be so infuriating?

We’re shitting on Mike Newton again, and I have to point something out yet again. Eddie, baby, sweety. You are outright ignoring Bella and treating her like she doesn’t matter in the slightest to you. You stated just before this that you were going out of your way to outwardly ignore her, even while you obsess over her in your mind. You have given only the outward indication of, if not outright disdain, then at the very least indifference to this girl and yet you’re giving Mike shit for having a crush on a girl and actually fucking acting on it. He talks to her, he attempts poorly to flirt with her and ask her out, even though we all know that she’s just as obsessed with you and compares Mike to a dog (because Bella is a piece of shit, too, so at least you have that in common). So stop shitting on poor Mike, who’s only crime is liking a girl who isn’t interested in him.

He'd created a Bella in his head that didn't exist

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU’VE FUCKING DONE, EDWARD. And honestly? Yours is even worse because you don’t even BOTHER trying to FUCKING TALK TO HER TO GET TO KNOW HER. You just spy on her conversations with other people and assume that you know everything about her! Bella goes out of her way to put on this fake little show for her classmates and lie to them about everything she feels and thinks about them, but at least they FUCKING TALK TO HER! So yeah, I agree, Mike doesn’t have the full picture of who Bella really is (and if he did, he absolutely would not still have that little crush on her because Bella is a big fucking jerk), but at least they’re MAKING THE EFFORT!

Bella was good.

This is just not true and I have four books worth of canon to prove it.

I frequently amused myself by imagining backhanding him across the room and into the far wall...

“It helps if you think of them as people.” Remember that, Eddie??? Now here’s the thing. We’ve all had those fantasies about people. Wanting to throw them across the room or punch them in the face or whatever. The difference here? Edward is well aware that his Magic Pire Strength would genuinely hurt Mike, so much so that the very next line is about how it ‘probably’ wouldn’t hurt him fatally. Meaning that Eddie is well aware that it would hurt him, probably even break a few bones, but hey, he probably won’t die! Fuck you, Edward.

For all I knew, she never thought about me at all.

Pointedly gonna look over at Twilight now and see just how fucking much Bella is obsessing over Eddie, to the point where any thought not centered around her Woobie Pire is glossed over and ignored.

Eddie is having a jealous baby fit and once again thinking about how he would just love to hurt poor Mike for having the gall and audacity to ask Bella out. I already ranted about it up there, and I’m too tired and annoyed to do it again. Just know that Edward is a fucking asshole and poor Mike doesn’t deserve any of the shit that gets forced on him in this series.

Eddie is finally paying attention to Bella again, and wondering what she’s thinking, and he does that a lot in this book. I know that it’s supposed to be because he’s relied on his shitty vampire super power for so long, but considering how often he demanded (yes, demanded) to know what she was thinking in canon, and wouldn’t let up until she caved and told him, it feels like he’s trying to monitor her thoughts. She can’t be thinking anything that Daddy Ed doesn’t approve of, after all.

I picked the correct answer out of his head

But the Cullens are just super smart and know things and definitely aren’t cheating cheaters who cheat to get perfect grades in school.

"Are you speaking to me again?"

This is a problem with this canon. These people have had TWO conversations. In one of them, it was banal and inane small talk about the fucking weather and why Bella moved to Forks, and in the other, Eddie was gaslighting her to make her think she was wrong about what happened in the Van Of Doom(tm) crash. They haven’t talked like, at all. They don’t know anything about one another besides what they’ve crafted in their own empty heads. Bella is obsessing about how Eddie must hate her and Eddie is obsessing about how this version of Bella he’s built up in his head must be so amazing and wonderful and touting about how he loves her. There isn’t love in this relationship. There isn’t even a relationship. These people are obsessed stalkers.

I managed not to laugh.

This is another example of Edward being just... the biggest fucking jerk. Clearly, Bella is upset. She’s jumped to the wrong conclusion, and assumes that Eddie just wants her to fucking die or whatever, but she’s clearly upset and annoyed and Eddie is treating her feelings like a joke. He does that so often in the series, but hearing it from his own perspective really drives it home. 

Edward is being extremely shallow watching Eric and Tyler asking Bella out. He makes a rude comment about Eric’s skin (he’s a teenage boy with acne, oh GOD) and outright calls Tyler ‘average’ as if he knows anything about him. This is another problem with Ed and his magic surface thought listening power. I’ve already pointed out that he’s created this image of who Bella is in his head based on absolutely nothing, but he’s done this with everyone around him. He assumes what kind of people they are based on the very bare, surface thoughts they have. He doesn’t consider the people around him complex, because he isn’t diving into their more complex thoughts and emotions, and that’s just so gross and shitty.

How was I any better than some sick peeping tom?

We know what this is, right? We’re witnessing the birth of Eddie breaking into Bella’s house and watching her sleep. He’s once again acknowledging that he shouldn’t be doing it, and he knows that its wrong, so of course, that means he can just keep on doing it anyway. 

I was not the one she was destined to say yes to.

This is such a ham-fisted attempt at keeping the ‘will they won’t they’ illusion up, because its been made so obvious from the word GO that there’s never going to be anyone else for Bella. Even the attempt at a love triangle doesn’t work in the series because SM made it so clear all throughout New Moon that Bella would never choose Jacob if Edward was a choice. Everything she did in New Moon was to keep the illusion of Edward up in her mind, and even spending time with Jacob was a means to that end goal. Its not a compelling love story because, as stated, there is no love here because they haven’t spoken to one another, but their sick, driving obsession with one another is going to guide them all the way to the end. Edward and Bella are not a good couple, and I wish very much that that line up there was the truth, and that Bella discovered who she was as a person and found someone to compliment her.

My life was an unending, unchanging midnight. It must, by necessity, always be midnight for me. So how was it possible that the sun was rising now, in the middle of my midnight?

Left that full for context. This is our title drop, and as someone who has read all of Twilight, who has seen all of the horrible title drops in them, I honestly think this one might be the worst of them all. It’s just this affected way that SM writes and it really, really irks me to see it so blatantly on display combined with a ‘hee hee, Midnight Sun, get it~’ on top of it.

My self, also, had frozen as it was - my personality, my likes and my dislikes, my moods and my desires; all were fixed in place.

This has a lot of implications for the Pires that SM never even bothers to explore because she doesn’t actually realize the potential in it. According to canon, right there in that sentence, when they’re turned Pires STOP CHANGING. They don’t develop new interests or hobbies, they don’t change their taste in music, film, anything. They become truly frozen in time. That means that the Cullens should not be driving cars, or wearing the clothes that they wear. They should not have picked up all of these skills that immortality has allowed them to pick up. The should be the exact same as they were the day they were turned. There’s something really dark and genuinely heartbreaking about that, and a better author would have explored it. Unfortunately, we don’t have a better author.

if I were going to attempt any kind of relationship with her

Edward refuses to take into account that that is not solely his decision to make. Pretend for a second that Bella is a normal human with normal thoughts. All she has seen of Eddie is this hot and cold thing were he does a nice thing or has a nice conversation with her and then ices her out for days and weeks at a time. He is, by all accounts, a total jerk and kind of a weirdo. Why the hell would she (again, if she were a normal, rational person) want a relationship with him?

Strange, unfamiliar reactions stirred deep in my forgotten human core.

AKA, Eddie just felt the first stirrings of being a horny teenage boy. Gross. 

The chapter ends on Eddie asking Bella to let him drive her to Seattle. I know I’ve already made this point, but if Bella were a normal teenage girl experiencing all of this shit from Eddie, she would have absolutely laughed in his face and told him to go fuck himself on a cactus or something. He’s proven to be volitale, rude, condescending, and just an outright jerk. There is no reason a sane, rational person would want to go anywhere with him. Would want to spend any time alone with him. If anything, Bella should be thinking that Eddie wants to get her alone to murder her or something based on the way he’s acting. It’s creepy and weird. Bella, unfortunately, eats this shit up and is so excited about her date with him. 

That’s it. Chapter over. Sorry this was such a long one, folks, but I’m not sure they’re gonna get any shorter. This story makes me angry, and when I get angry, I rant. Feel free to reach out in messages or DMs if you wanna chat more about this book or offer suggestions for the next one I should do after I finally put this one to bed. 

You can also buy me a snack if you want, I have my CashApp tag in my bio. Until next time. 

#sierra recaps stuff #midnight sun #midnight sun spoilers #ms chapter 5 #long post

[the-walking-memelords]

Our History

A Co-Written story by me and @journalofthedead

Rated: T

Pairings: Louis/Aasim

Word Count: 5339

An assortment of entries from Aasim's history book since the beginning of the apocalypse.

Read it on Ao3!

Year 1, Mid Summer

Something weird happened today. 

We were in math class working on the sheets Mr. McKenna gave us when in the middle of it he told us all we had to go back to our dorms. I looked at Jasper and she just shrugged. 

When we walked across the campus it was like every kid in school was out there. I lost Jasper in the crowd, so I just found my way back to my dorm on my own.

It’s been hours and no one is allowed to leave the dormitory buildings, so I went to the common room to see if anyone knew what was happening. A few teachers are practically guarding all the exits and Louis said when he went to ask about dinner they just told him to go back and wait.

People are saying it’s a lockdown drill or the real thing, but this isn’t anything like the drills we’ve had before.

I’m scared.

Year 1, Mid Summer 

I woke up really hungry. They never let us eat dinner last night, so hopefully, they’ll make up for it with breakfast.

They’re all gone. All the teachers. I’ve asked everyone I could find and no one has seen anyone. Most of the kids took this as an opportunity to bolt, but thankfully Louis is still here. Jasper stuck around as well, so did the twins, their brother, and Violet, and a bunch of others. There used to be over a hundred kids here, now there’s only about thirty.

We found one teacher, or well, a nurse. Ms. Martin seems to be the only one still here. She said there’s something happening in the cities and the other staff went to check on family since no calls are getting through. She says they’ll come back, but who knows.

Louis, Marlon and I snuck into the headmaster’s office. Lou’s been dialling the phone for hours trying to call his mom but nothing’s going through. Maybe she’ll come to get him. I wonder if she’d take me too, I don’t think my dad would care. 

Year 1, Mid Summer

The power went out today and Ms. Martin couldn’t figure out why. Doesn’t surprise me though, she’s a nurse, not a maintenance woman. I suppose all we can do is wait and see if it comes back on.

No one’s come back yet. Not staff. No parents. No one. Everyone is on edge and a few of them want to go out and see what’s happening in the nearby town. Ms. Martin’s going to have one hell of a time keeping everyone here.

Someone came to the gate this afternoon. No one any of us knew, just some random guy. He looked gross all his clothes were covered in mud. Ms. Martin told us all to stay back which was fine by me cause I didn’t want to get anywhere near that guy anyway. He was banging on the gate and the way he spoke… it wasn’t even like words… just animal noises almost.

Jasper… Jasper’s dead. That man killed her. 

She kept trying to talk to him… something about him being hurt I think she said. 

Ms. Martin tried to stop her but she just wanted to help him… and when she opened the gate he just jumped on her. I didn’t see exactly what happened next. I just… couldn’t watch. I closed my eyes and covered my ears but I could still hear all the screaming. Jasper’s and everyone else’s. 

I don’t remember what happened after that. I’m in my room now. Louis is on the other bunk leaning against the wall. He’s quiet for once, which isn’t good. “She didn’t make it.” was all he had to say. I don’t know what to say or if I can even say anything. I’m still shaking so much. My face is wet so I know I’ve been crying. 

Maybe if I go to sleep I’ll wake up from this nightmare.

Year 1, Late Summer

I didn’t understand what was going on at first, I thought it was a hoax… Some sick game, but that changed when Erin was bitten, no one knew… We were walking back to the dorms together, Erin was acting so weird. “Are you alright?” I asked her, hoping to get an honest genuine reply. Erin didn’t respond to me, she just went into her room and shut the door quietly behind her.  

Later that evening, Ms. Martin asked me to go check on Erin. She didn’t show up for dinner, some were more worried than the others, Erin and I weren’t close but we still talked. I knocked gently on her door, not wanting to upset her even more. Silence filled the hallway before there was a dull thud inside the room. 

“Erin?” I called, knocking a bit harder this time. I didn’t know what was going on, at the time I thought she fell. That wasn’t the case of course, without thinking I twisted the knob, surprised that it wasn’t locked. 

I took a breath and walked in. 

“Erin?” I called again, looking around the darkroom. Where was she?  The sounds of growling and snarling made the hairs on the back of my neck raise, I looked to my left and gasped loudly.  Erin’s blonde hair was dull, falling out of her bun, her blue-rimmed glasses laid on the ground. The most shocking thing was her eyes, the light green eyes that used to shine with life were now dull and pale, almost white. 

She became one of those things we’ve been seeing in the woods. One of those things that killed Jasper. I slammed the door shut before she got to me and I heard her pounding on the other side. I just ran to Ms. Martin. 

You have to go for the head… that’s what we’ve figured out… but I didn’t want to be the one to kill her.

We’re all going to sleep in the Admin Building tonight.

Year 1, Early Fall

Ms. Martin died today. She sacrificed herself to save us…  I didn’t know how to really feel, a part of me felt guilty, I could’ve done something, but I listened to what she told us, get the others and get out of there. During her funeral all I could think about was the what if’s, Ruby tried to talk some sense into me and pull me out of my funk, all I felt was guilt though.  

Year 1, Early Fall

One day later, Louis confronts me in our shared room. “What is it?” I grumbled at him, at the time I didn’t really want to talk to anyone. Louis gave me a look, something about that look he gave me stopped me in my tracks. I oddly felt warm and safe in his presence, it was a bit annoying but I felt at peace at that moment. 

“You need to snap out of it,” Louis told me, crossing his arms.  I was surprised at his behaviour, Louis was never this serious. I liked this serious side of him and I wasn’t going to admit that to anyone.  I left the room today with Louis, the conversation we had while walking outside was one I would always remember.  

I think Louis and I became really close friends today, even though Louis can be a bit much at times. I find his company to be nice, something I want to keep around. 

Year 1, Mid Winter

It’s so fucking cold! 

Yet again it seems like I’m the only one that cares about having enough food for this school! Marlon doesn’t know what he’s doing!  He calls himself a good leader? I think he’s full of shit, I mean we should be out there hunting and making traps.  Marlon doesn’t get it, this snow will only get heavier and it will get colder. 

Louis isn’t helping either, he keeps throwing shit at me and I really want to throat punch him.  How is that I’m the sensible one here? Sometimes I wonder why I wasn’t made the leader? Not to toot my own horn, I’m definitely a better leader than the rat and by the rat I mean Marlon.

The food supply is getting low, tracks are getting covered by the snowfall. I can’t help but feel restless, we needed food to survive.  Marlon needed to get his ass in gear, open his eyes to see that this plan of his isn’t working and that he needed to do better if we wanted to survive the winter. 

Year 1, Mid Winter

We brought back a decent amount of food today from the hunt this afternoon, Marlon actually listened to one of my plans. I was shocked when he listened, I for one didn’t expect him to listen to me at all. My shock only grew even more as I was heading out with Mitch and Brody to go hunt. 

It felt good to be listened to for once, the look of pride on Louis’ face that day made me a bit giddy. (Still not telling a soul about that either.)  

The look on Omar’s face was priceless, I’ve never seen him so happy to cook something warm. Dinner was amazing tonight, Omar is a god when it came down to cooking.  It made me wonder though, why was Omar sent to this school again?  Whatever, that's a story for another day, well maybe. Who knows? Maybe Omar will tell us? Maybe not.  

Year 2, Early Spring

I guess the one good thing about the entire forest being turned into a giant mud pit is that the animals are easier to track. I have to give Louis credit for his snares since they do a pretty good job catching rabbits. If only he’d kill them himself instead of making me do it though, I hate it as much as he does but we’ve gotta eat after all.

One of the many bad things about the entire forest being turned into a giant mud pit is that it’s slippery as shit and Louis would rather laugh at me than help me up.

Year 2, Mid Summer

A big thunderstorm stopped us from hunting today. I should be disappointed, but I’m not. I feel so calm, the sounds of the beating rain against the windows made me smile.  Before I was sent here, I would sneak outside and just watch the rain.

My parents thought I was weird for doing this. I didn’t care what they thought of me, it wasn’t like they paid much attention to me anyway.  I have this hate for them, I know I’m probably acting like a child but I don’t care. 

They left me here. I hope karma bites them in the ass. 

Year 2, Late Summer

The nightmares came back. They were worse this time around, it’s gotten to the point that I am afraid to fall asleep at night. I knew Louis was worried about me I could see it on his dumb face, though it felt nice to have someone worry about you. 

“I miss cartoons,” Louis told me when I woke up in a hurry. That threw me off, normally I would give a snarky come back to his banter. This time I actually let him ramble on, it was comforting to hear him just… Talk. 

I hope that one day I could have his enthusiasm. 

Okay, that’s a lie. I honestly do not think I could handle being that enthusiastic about everything. It makes me wonder though, how does Louis hold this much energy? 

Year 3, Mid Summer

Louis made a weapon today. Oddly enough it’s a chair leg, named Chairles. Louis has quite the imagination when it comes to anything and everything, I like that about Louis, despite that it’s pretty weird to name your weapon, but who am I to judge? 

'Chairles' is a chair leg, out of all weapons he could make. Louis chooses a chair leg. Though I have to admit, Chairles suits him, Louis seems comfortable with the weapon and I'm not lying when I say Louis has a good swing.

I’ll stick with my bow, I’ve gotten better with my aim. 

Year 4, Mid Summer

It’s been a while since my last entry, a long while. I’ve been thinking about my sisters lately. I miss them. Every little thing reminds me of them, I haven’t been sleeping much because of this.  When I close my eyes, I see them. The dreams happen quickly, but I remember every painful detail about my vivid dreams. 

First I was sitting under a tree with them, the big oak tree that was in the middle of the park by our house. We were laughing about some stupid joke, then the scene changed to something bloody. My sisters smiling faces turned to horror and pain, all that blood, it was like I was frozen. I couldn’t help them, I just stood there, watching as walkers tore them apart. I tried to help them, but it was too late.  

I’m so tired. Afraid to sleep. I don’t want to have the same nightmare again. 

Why can’t I just have some peaceful sleep? 

Year 4, Mid Summer

It’s been five days since I’ve gotten any sleep. Everything around me is hazy and muffled. Ruby says I need to rest, but I have to work. I can’t sit out for a day and I really don’t need Marlon on my ass again. 

Breakfast is almost ready. 

The smell is making my stomach churn. My headache is getting worse too. 

What’s going on…

Year 4, Late Summer

Louis has been stern with my sleeping schedule. It can get aggravating at times, but who am I to complain? I haven’t been taking care of myself so Louis stepped in to smack some sense into me.  Though I am thankful. I lost myself, all because of those damn nightmares. 

"You need to keep your head up high." 

Louis tells me every morning, I thought I would find it annoying by now. Though I didn't, his words were comforting and I used them, every day. 

Louis will never know. 

I don't need to be teased relentlessly, again.

Year 5, Late Summer

The traps have been getting emptier and emptier over the last couple weeks. I don’t know if the rabbits are getting smarter or the walkers are eating them before we get the chance.

I caught myself staring at the firepit last night. It’s not good. I don’t want to fall back onto old habits. Sometimes if I can’t sleep I find myself fiddling with my matchbook. I’ve been able to stop myself from lighting one, but it’s getting really tempting lately. Matches are too important to just throw away.

Maybe I could ask Louis to just hold onto them for me. I don’t want him to worry though. The school’s old psychologist said I’d been “Cured” and wanted to send me home. I don’t want Lou to think I’m turning back into some crazy pyromaniac on the verge of burning down the school.

I just need to get a hold of myself.

Year 5, Late Summer

I broke. I lit one of the matches.

I watched the small flame flicker down the wooden stick until it burnt the tips of my fingers. I dropped it on the floor and stomped on it but now there’s a small black scorch mark by the side of my bunk.

I hope no one notices it.

Year 5, Early Fall

I fucked up.

I fucked up so fucking bad.

I’m not sure what came over me, to be honest, I don't entirely remember what happened. I think I just had too many bad days lately. This is all my fault, preaching how we need to work as a group and then isolating myself like this and now…

Tennessee might not make it.

I’m locked in my room right now because the twins have a hard time looking at me without attacking me. Totally justifiable, I’m just as disgusted and angry with me as they are.

It was dark out, and I remember it was cold. I couldn’t sleep so I went walking around the school. I was in the art room. Dust covered easels and dried up paint all over the place. It was so cold, unusual for so early, the leaves had barely changed colour. I either couldn’t or just didn’t think

I lit a fire.

Small, paper scraps and paintbrushes in an old clay bowl on the table. I couldn’t stop looking at it. I began to stick things into the flames and just fuck around.

I didn’t even know Tenn was in there. Maybe he couldn’t sleep and went hunting for art supplies or something I don’t know.

“Aasim?” His sudden voice scared the hell out of me and I dropped a flaming ruler on the ground. The thing nearly set my pants on fire on the way down but I jumped away.

Watching the debris on the floor quickly catch is where things begin to get hazy again. I got out fine. My throat is scratchy from the smoke but that's nothing compared to the poor kid. I didn’t get a good look at him but I could smell it. Burns all on the side of his head. Ruby and the twins are with him right now, but she isn't a doctor. 

I wonder if they’ll kick me out if he dies, or kick me out anyways. I’ll go if that's what they want. Louis hasn’t come by our room yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hates me too.

Year 6, Early Fall

Hunting has been stressful lately. Louis has been sick for the past week, leaving me hunting with Marlon. Oh, the joy.

Not.

I can't stress enough how annoying Marlon is, not only that he is an egotistical asshole. There isn't a time where I don't want to punch Marlon in the throat.

Why is the leader? He has no leadership skills or qualities. Marlon is going to get himself killed one day and it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Marlon is an idiot. How could Louis be friends with that? 

Seriously. Marlon can fuck off. Twat. 

Year 6, Mid Fall

Hunting has been better. I had Louis back with me, I could actually smile again without having thoughts of killing a boy that looked like a road kill rat. 

I never really thought that I would miss hunting with Louis this much. But I did. That damn smile…

What am I saying?

Anyway. 

Hunting has been better, we managed to snag a buck and a few rabbits. It should  last us for a while.

That's all I hope for. Among other things. 

As long as I don't have to hunt with fucking Marlon again. 

Year 7, Early Fall

Minerva and Sophie died today. They went scouting past the Safe Zone with Marlon and Brody and were killed by walkers. Violet and Tennessee went back to their dorms and won't talk to anyone, but you can hear the crying echoing off the walls. I tried talking to Louis but he's acting distant. He won't even talk to Marlon. I don't blame him, he and Minerva were close.

I just hope he knows I'm here for him.

Year 7, Mid Summer

I found Louis in the music room today, hardly a surprise since he practically lives at that piano bench. He was playing, but it wasn't really a song. It sounded like he was just randomly pressing keys. Broken melody fragments. Reminded me of what he sounded like when he was first learning. He didn't look at me when I walked in, so I figured I'd just find the book I was looking for and give him some space.

He called my name just as I passed him, and started playing an actual song. It was a nursery rhyme. Literally just "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," He asked me to guess the name and of course, I got it right, so he played another. Eventually moved on to some classical pieces and a few I remembered hearing on the radio as a kid. I guessed… most of the names right.

It's a game we've played often. He plays and I guess. I've gotten better over the years, he tends to play a few of his favourites over so I've memorized a lot of them.

It's nice to hear him play for me again. The school is mostly moving on from what happened to the twins, and it's nice to see this dork smile again.

Year 8, Late Summer

I don't know who's the bigger idiot, Louis, or me. We're out alone in the middle of the woods trying to find some dinner and he just blurts out: "So, 'Sim. You got a crush on anyone?" 

What kind of fucking question is that? And of course, because I'm a dumbass, I panicked and said "Ruby"

I'm not going to live this down, am I?

It's not like I could have said it was him, right?

Year 8, Early Fall

Marlon brought two newcomers to the school today. A girl our age and a little boy. She's capable, at least. The new girl helped the hunting party come back. I fucked up and almost got myself killed but she saved my life. 

Louis has been hovering over her since she woke up. Just flirting, non-stop. She's definitely going to end up stabbing him.

Also, the kid is really nosey and the girl is an enabler.

Year 8, Early Fall

Marlon sent the new people -Clementine and AJ- with Louis and me to hunt this morning. I went ahead by myself the first chance I got, I couldn't stand listening to him try to woo her. Even out of earshot it was all I could think of. I was so distracted I only bagged one rabbit.

Goddammit, Louis.

Louis took the new people to the fishing shack to see if Violet and Brody had any luck catching anything, but only Brody came back. She said someone broke into the shack and stole a bunch of our stuff. She was freaking out but Marlon wouldn't have any of it. I wish he wouldn't brush these things off.

The sunset and the others aren't back yet. I volunteered to go looking for them but Marlon wouldn't let me. Brody said they stayed behind to find more food, but it's been so long. I'm worried. I decided to write this now to distract myself, but I can hardly sit still. I hope Louis is alright. I'm starting to feel sick.

Everyone came back alright, and with a shit ton of food. They went outside the Safe Zone to a walker-infested train station to steal it. It was stupid, but it paid off I guess. Louis kept telling me he was fine but I still felt frustrated. It's too quiet when he isn't around.

Year 8, Early Fall

Marlon and Brody died last night. It turns out Minnie and Sophie's deaths weren't an accident, Marlon gave them away to some group so that he could live, and killed Brody when she couldn't stay quiet anymore. He lied to us saying Clementine killed her, but Louis got between them.

Marlon dropped the gun, but AJ snuck up behind him and shot him.

I helped Louis dig the grave. It wasn't easy, we had to use bowls to dig and the rain was pouring. He was shaking so much he could barely make a dent in the ground. I left the rest of the work to the others, taking Lou inside to dry off.  It's been almost an hour since Clementine and AJ were kicked out, they should’ve stayed, Clementine was smart and knew how to survive in this hellish world. 

“Louis,” I said to him, sitting down next to him on one of the beds in our room.  Louis was too quiet, I didn’t like it… It was so unlike him. I wanted him to smile again. 

Louis did something I wasn't expecting tonight. Louis slowly looked up at me before wrapping his arms around my waist tightly, laying us both back on the bed. I was surprised… Though I felt warm and safe, it's been a small secret of mine but I longed to be held by Louis. 

THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THIS ENTRY!

I never expected to see Louis break down, I didn't mind that he squeezed me tight while he cried. I just wanted him better.  

Year 8, Early Fall

Clementine and AJ came back.

AJ wasn't looking so good, Clementine told us that he was shot. I felt bad for the kid. Though as of right now, my main concern is what we have to prepare for. I'm not telling anyone this, but I'm afraid.

What if we all end up dying? All this stress is making an old urge of mine come back. I'm scared, everyone is even Louis.

What if I lose him?

I can't lose him… I just can't.

Maybe I should talk to him? Tell him how I feel? I don’t know what to do anymore. Maybe it’s for the best that I keep my feelings for him a secret? This fight for our lives is more important than anything else at the moment, we need to be prepared and focused on what’s going to come.  Louis did mention that he needs some help with his aim, I guess I could show him the ropes. 

Year 8, Early Fall

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Louis kissed me! We kissed! Yeah, it was a dare, but I didn’t expect him to go through with the dare.  It felt so surreal during the card game, I for one thought I was going to end up having the lowest. Turns out that it was Louis that had the lowest, Louis picked dare, of course, he never backs down from a dare.

He was given a choice: Kiss me or kiss a walker's head.  He chose to kiss me. When Louis leaned over and kissed me, it felt so surreal, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. When I kissed back, it felt so real, so nice…

I sound like a lovesick teenager... 

He cupped my face, gave me that smile of his and closed his eyes and leaned in.  When our lips met, I closed my eyes and slowly returned it, resting my hands on his shoulders. I don’t even know if the kiss meant anything to Louis, it probably didn’t… Part of me wishes it did. 

Maybe I’m overthinking this. I mean, Louis has feelings for Clementine. At least I think so. 

Year 8, Early Fall

I’m so sorry, Aasim. 

Fuck. I could’ve done something! I let you be taken… 

I feel like a fucking failure. I shouldn’t even be writing in your journal right now, but here I am. Sorry in advance Aasim, when we save you and the others, you can totally rip my entries out. 

Year 8, Early Fall

I’m sorry ‘Sim. I went down into the basement where we’re keeping that creepy one-armed guy and well, he was sort-of awake. I looked at him and I felt so angry. I wanted to hurt him. Hurt him like he hurt us, hurt you, but I couldn’t do it. He and his people are the reason it’s me writing in this book right now and not you.

I hope it’s not me writing the final entries.

Anyways, I keep rereading the things you’ve written about me over the years. It makes me feel giddy and guilty at the same time. I just want you to know that if you and I both live through this raider bullshit, 

The next time I kiss you won’t be the result of a dare.

Year 8, Early Fall

Abel talked enough before he puked out his internal organs. (Remind me never to fuck with Clementine) We know where you are, and we have a plan.

I’m coming for you, Aasim, just hang on a little longer.

Year 8, Early Fall

We did it.

Holy fuck. 

We’re back.

All of those raiders are dead. I… I killed one of them. I’ve never killed someone before. It feels strange and gross. Like bile, or a scream that doesn’t know if it should or not. I think of that woman’s face as I shot that arrow through her mouth and I just… I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I feel bad, I think. I think of her, and then I think of you. 

You probably think you’re still on the boat right now. You were out when we found you, covered in blood and the smell of burnt flesh was everywhere. I kept calling your name but you didn’t wake up the whole way back.

You gotta hang on, Aasim. I can’t lose you too.

Minnie’s dead. Tenn’s dead. Mitch is dead. Clementine is dying and maybe so are you and I don’t know what to do anymore so I’m sitting here with your book wondering if I’ll have to decide whether or not to bury you with it while Ruby tries to treat the burns on your back and patch up Clementine’s missing leg and hope neither of you turn.

 Year 8, Mid Fall

So, I’m back. 

I just read all of Louis’ entries. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about this book the last couple weeks, I didn’t even notice it was gone. Louis must have had it this whole time. He’s been by my side ever since the boat, but today when I woke up he was gone and this was on the dresser.

Everything hurts. Both my back from that explosion and my head from trying to figure out what I’m going to do now.

I can't help it, but I feel a bit giddy that he feels the same. Yet I am afraid. 

Afraid that I could lose him to anything out there. 

Maybe I should rest some more before talking to him. 

Year 8, Mid Fall.

That's it. 

I'm talking to him.

I need to. 

I have to.

I'm driving myself crazy just sitting here and thinking about it.

Now to find him.

Year 8, Mid Fall. 

We are dating now. 

I was so nervous when I found Louis, he was playing the piano. I stood by the door and watched him play for the longest time, thinking over the ways to approach him, though it was like I couldn’t move. I was in some type of trance that was keeping me there and not letting me free.  Then he stopped playing, he smiled once and looked over at me. His eyes filled with some sort of relief and he stood up, quickly making his way over to me. 

I threw myself into his arms almost instantly, not even waiting for him to stop walking. I didn’t care that the fast movements hurt my burnt up back, I just wanted to be in his arms. 

“Woah. Be careful.”  Louis chuckled. I really missed the sound of his laugh. I missed everything. 

“Shut up. I missed you.” I told him, but I frowned when Louis gently moved me back, looking me in the eyes. 

“You read my entries, didn’t you?” His question was soft and serious, like he was afraid or something.  

I just smiled at him and slowly nodded, leaning into his touch when he cupped my cheek. We didn’t say a word as we stared at each other, it was like we knew what each other was thinking but didn’t make a move to initiate anything. 

“Well, Romeo? Gonna kiss me or not?” I whispered to him, breaking the sweet silence between us. Louis only chuckled and brought our lips together into a sweet, yet slow kiss. 

It was better than the last kiss, and he asked me out right after.  

I sound a sap. 

But I don’t really care.  

#my writing #lousim #twdg louis #twdg aasim #the walking dead game #the final season

[goldeneyedgirl]

Fic-Mas Bonus Round: Hybrid, Again

Yeah, I lied XD Christmas Eve bonus round! And because everyone seemed really enthusiastic about this fic, I picked two chunks of Hybrid for you all. (And if I were to consider Fic-Mas: NYE Edition, I’d definitely like to know what you would all like more of - your choices are more Hybrid, any of the Unexpected Second Life fics, All These Broken Things, or seeing if I can dig up something from Memento Mori.) 

Onwards!

(This happens before Jasper bites Alice, after Alice’s first day at Forks High.)

Dinner that night was quiet – Dad and Simon seemed worried about my first day of school when I hadn’t reported making loads of friends, and loving everything about Forks High; I had chosen to omit my interactions with Edward Cullen and Rosalie Hale when they asked.

Cynthia did most of the talking during the meal, and was slowly painting me a picture of her life – she was a good student, very popular, and loved any sort of club or co-curricular. Definitely a joiner. And absolutely bursting with excitement to start ninth grade next year, and finally be in high school.

“So, who did you hang out with today?” Cynthia finally turned to me. Her dinner plate was barely touched – she’d been talking too much to eat – whilst I was on my second helping.

“I didn’t,” I said, stabbing a piece of carrot.

“Really?” Cynthia frowned. “Who did you sit with at lunch?”

I wanted to smile at her middle-school view of the world. As if there was nothing more horrifying than sitting alone at lunch. And then I wanted to punch something because in a town this small, Cynthia probably had more friends at Forks High than I would ever have, and she was only fourteen.

“I went to the library. I need to catch up in a few subjects,” I shrugged. “And the cafeteria food was really bad.”

“It’s nice to know that things don’t change,” Simon chuckled. “Forks High always made the worst mac and cheese known to man. That stuff was a hate crime.”

“You said you weren’t behind in your classes,” Dad said to me, frowning. I guess as a teacher himself, the idea of his own daughter failing her classes was a pretty bad one, though I was a little curious why Cynthia and I attended a local public school when Dad taught at a fancy private school.

“Just a chapter or two in Algebra, and I think a little in Biology,” I said. “Nothing that I can’t get caught up in.”

“Okay, but if you find yourself overwhelmed or really behind, we can get you a tutor over the summer,” Dad said. “I looked over your transcripts, there are some gaps in your schoolwork we’ll have to address at some point.”

That was a polite way of putting it. There weren’t gaps in my schoolwork, there were great gaping holes. Even from before Mom died. But afterwards, there was foster care, time on the streets, my time at the hospital – I don’t think I ever technically attended sixth or eighth grade.

“You have your doctor’s appointment in the morning, Alice,” Simon jumped in. “I had an in with the best doctor in town, and he agreed to see you tomorrow first thing. Just so we can get your medications sorted.”

“Great,” I said unenthusiastically. Another doctor, paging through my endless file claiming I was completely bat-shit nuts. I knew I’d been living on borrowed time as far as medical intervention went. There was an entire pharmacy of psychiatric meds locked up in Dad and Simon’s room that the hospital had sent with me.

Simon had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, and the three pages of contradictory instructions, that he’d decided not to drug me until we spoke to a doctor in Forks. Which was definitely a good thing, since the medications the hospital had me on left me drooling into my pillow most of the time.

Or screaming for help.

“Carlisle is a really good doctor,” Simon said kindly, obviously seeing the look on my face. “Actually, an amazing doctor. Way better than we should be able to get out in the sticks. And he’s a good person – he won’t do anything that doesn’t sound right to him, and you’re comfortable with. I promise.”

“Everyone says that,” I said, suddenly full and wishing I hadn’t eaten quite so much. “They say, ‘We just want what’s best for you, Mary-Alice’. Then they find out I stabbed a doctor and they can’t sedate me fast enough.”

Rice fell out of Cynthia’s mouth when I said that. “You stabbed someone?” she said, her eyes wide.

“Cynthia,” Dad warned, but all eyes were on me.

Cynthia ignored him. “Why?” she asked, leaning forward. And I felt it, like something physical that wrapped itself around me. The memories; the fear and complete hopelessness. It was like I was being smothered. As if my ghosts weren’t already carved into my skin permanently, where everybody could see.

“Cynthia, enough,” Simon said sternly.

“No one ever cares about the why,” I said softly, looking at the placemats, a swirling pattern of orange and red. I remembered doing it, grabbing the little plastic scalpel, slashing from his ear to his chin, and being dragged away. Being drugged, strapped down and ignored, like some kind of animal; nobody ever asked me why I’d done such a thing, just assuming that it was my fault. “Can I be excused?”

“Certainly,” Dad said, looking worried. “Do you want us to bring you up some dessert?”

“Key-lime pie,” Simon offered. “My mom made it, so not quite as good as mine, but still worthy.”

I shook my head. “No thanks.”

I slipped out of the dining room and upstairs, pausing on the stairwell to hear Dad and Simon lecturing Cynthia about pushing too hard and asking too many questions. That I had had a very hard life, whilst hers had been comfortable and happy.

Sometimes, everything that had happened hit me like a truck, and I just… I kind of just went through the motions. Locked every emotion down so that I didn’t have to deal with any of it. The pain, the terror, the complete misery. It was easier just to feel nothing.

I showered and climbed into bed, the scent of flowers wrapping around me. I thought about asking Simon for one of my sleeping pills, but that required energy and interaction, neither were things that I was up for.

Instead, I just curled into a ball and pretended to sleep when Dad and Simon checked on me, separately, later.  I didn’t manage to fall asleep until much later, after everyone else had gone to bed, slipping into soupy dreams of white rooms and not being able to move.

And then the dreamscape changed, clicking into place.

A vision.

There was no specific way I could tell the difference between a dream and a vision of the future, but I always knew the difference. I had no control over them – some nights, it would be an unending string of visions to wade through, and then nothing for weeks at a time. Mom had tried everything, but there was no way to instigate them, or to choose who or what I would see. Whatever my gift was, it did what it wanted.

I was in a living room with fancy art on the walls, and a piano in the entry way.

The vampires were gathered there – Rosalie Hale and curly haired bear-man were seated on the couch, though she looked agitated enough to jump up and pace at any second. A slightly older woman with light brown hair was seated at a small writing desk, tapping away at a laptop absently, with her attention on the group; Edward Cullen was standing with a light-haired man in front of an actual marble fireplace. And the blonde-boy was sitting in the window, staring out into the night.

“Does she know?” the man asked the red-headed boy with a gentle, patient manner that I wanted to like immediately.

“I don’t know,” Edward said, looking frustrated. “Her thoughts jumped around a lot. She never thought ‘vampire’. But she was alarmed by us.”

“What did you hear?” the woman asked, closing the laptop.

“At lunch, she hated the food, wasn’t particularly impressed with Forks in general, happier to be with her father and his family that she’d admit to herself. Then it was alarm bells, her trying to work out an escape plan. She was very, very concerned about Bella and her safety.”

“She warned Bella, verbally,” Rosalie pointed out. “To be careful.”

“Hm. And you had a class with her? Was she well then?” the man asked Edward.

“Distressed. She had scars that were seen by others when she was changing. Bella said that they were ‘bad’, over her back and her thighs. The other girls were focusing on a particularly nasty one on the back of her leg, so I don’t know the extent. I heard something about a hospital, and when I mentioned hospitals in passing, she became agitated.”

“I spoke with her step-father, and he expressed concern over her psychological state. Apparently, she’s had a history of mental illness and abuse, and he wanted someone he trusted to see her and work out how to help,” the man said. “From her records, she’s quite disturbed, though he repeatedly assured me that her behavior has been absolutely normal since she arrived.” The man looked over at the boy in the window. “Jasper, did you notice anything?”

He looked over. “Curiosity, agitation, worry, depression – the usual teenage maelstrom,” he said slowly, disinterestedly.

“If she’s mentally unbalanced, it wouldn’t be hard to stage an ‘accident’,” Rosalie said archly. “We wouldn’t even have to move; it could just be one of those things. She wouldn’t be much of a loss.”

“Would be pretty rough on her family,” the big guy murmured, holding his hands up when Rosalie shot him a look. “Just sayin’, Rose. She only just got here.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about her that much, just yet,” the man said finally. “It’s always a possibility, but Edward, you didn’t hear her identify us; some humans are just more in-tune to their instincts. And there’s a possibility that her medical status can be used to our advantage if she becomes a problem.”

“What about Bella?” Edward asked immediately.

“If Bella could befriend her, that would allow you more access to what she’s thinking. That would be enough for the time being,” he concluded. “At a rough guess, I doubt Mary-Alice Brandon is going to pose much of a problem.”

Edward spun around to Jasper, a glare on his face. “Really?” he snapped.

“What?” the woman stood up, looking worried. I wondered if that was her default state of being.

“He thinks she smelt delicious,” Edward spat.

“Another singer?” the man stepped forward, looking downright alarmed.

Jasper heaved a sigh and shook his head. “No, nothing like that,” he said, in that slow, dull manner. “Just a stray thought. Nothing will happen, I promise.”

“Maybe Bella should stay away for a few days,” Edward said grouchily, still giving Jasper a filthy look.

“Leave him alone, Edward,” Rosalie snapped.

“Please, like you wouldn’t break him into little pieces if he slipped up again,” Edward snapped back, and Jasper rolled his eyes and stood up to leave.

“Are we done?” he asked, and when the man nodded, he left the room, leaving the others to bicker in peace; everyone slowly faded away as my vision turned back into my dreams.

//

(This scene is far in the future - like Ch 13. This thing is The Slowest Burn.)

My pitching was clearly stronger than they anticipated; at least, the surprise on Emmett’s face as the ball smacked into the palm of his hand implied so. It obviously wasn’t as impressive as the pitches thrown by Rosalie or Jasper, but still better than they expected.

Of course, once all the Cullens acquiesced to my participation in the baseball game, Edward vocally encouraged Bella to join in as well.

“If Alice is playing, Bella can play,” was his argument, whilst Bella stood at his side, looking uncomfortable. Hell, she always looked uncomfortable. I wondered if anyone had ever introduced her to the concept of sweatpants and ice cream.

“Alice is less likely to drop dead if she takes a fastball to the face,” Rosalie scowled. I eyeballed the blonde; that statement felt very much like Rosalie was trying to work out how to dispose of me.

“Fractured skull at best,” I agreed serenely.

“Bella is still rehabbing her leg, Edward,” Carlisle said gently.

--

It happened in a second; the ball sailed from Edward’s hands, and Bella swung. She swung too early, and the ball flew past and cracked her across the face. I heard her gasp of pain, of the blood that seeped from her nose instantly, the sound of the bat hitting the soft ground.

And I looked around to see five hungry vampires staring at the blood that was pouring from her nose, Bella’s hands cupped over her face.

Esme and Rosalie were backing away; Esme’s face was concerned but strained, whilst Rosalie’s was blank – her attention was on Emmett, who had taken two steps forward before retreating, his eyes completely black.

Edward and Carlisle were focused on Bella – a broken nose was one of the few injuries I hadn’t sustained over the years, but I could tell from Bella’s reaction that it was excruciatingly painful.  The smell of blood was beginning to affect me, I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be for…

For Jasper.

I looked over and he was still standing there, completely still.

If I had thought that he had looked feral the night that he attacked me, I was mistaken. He had still looked human then – sinister, terrifying and dangerous but still essentially human.

Now I was glimpsing the monster behind the man.

His eyes were, somehow, blacker than Emmett’s, and dull. His face was completely devoid of any kind of emotion, his gaze focused on Bella. I could picture his muscles tensing for the attack, and with a sick feeling, realized that Bella probably wouldn’t be the only one hurt today. No one else had picked up on Jasper’s intentions yet, and I was incredibly aware that I couldn’t stop him.

But I could certainly slow him down.

I darted across the field, my hair whipping across my face, and flung myself at Jasper, my arms wrapping around his waist. It didn’t escape my notice that this was the closest we had gotten physically, and I was trying to stop him committing murder.

“Please don’t, please don’t,” I chanted to myself. “Jasper! Stop it!” I finally cried out as he began to move forward, dragging me with him, and Edward finally looked up at the sound of my voice.

Jasper shook me off fairly easily, without looking down, and I knew I had to go into full fight-mode; it didn’t matter who or what Jasper was to me, I had to pull him back from killing Bella.

My leg shot out, and whilst Jasper stumbled for a second, but righted himself. I could hear Emmett and Rosalie yelling in the background, and when I looked around, Jasper’s fist came out of nowhere and caught me in the side of the head. For a second, I was seeing stars, and then I was back – Jasper had managed to get Emmett and Edward tangled in each other, Rosalie and Esme were hovering between where Carlisle stood with Bella.

#TwilightFicMas2019 #twilight fic #twilight #alice cullen #jasper hale #cullen family #my writing #my fic: hybrid #surprise bonus round #jalice #alicexjasper