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felswritingfire · 3 years

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(Hades) Gods x Shade! Reader

No matter how much you try, mortality will always catch up to those who are not of gods. Even the most blinded of them learn this eventually. You take your death with grace, choosing to go and explore this new world as soon as Lord Hades permits you to go, impressed by how little you complain and demand. You are one of the brighter parts of his day (night?).

You drift along, catching certain snippets of other Shade’s conversations as you wander aimlessly. You notice a crack in the wall; deciding to muster up your courage, you slip through it to find yourself in the glowing green torches of Tartarus. With what little you have, you hold it close to your translucent body and push forward.

You’re quick to notice the large glowing ball with an oddly familiar symbol floating in the middle of it. You take your time circling it, feeling compelled to touch it. When you do, a beam of light comes slicing through the dreary air to reveal a mighty god who stares down at you at your shocked form...

Zues

Cause of Death: Lightning Strike

Zues is confused when he sees you. He’s even more confused when you start screaming at him, waving your hands about and threatening to fight him yourself.

“You fucker! You killed me!”

He raises a brow. “I think I’d remember if I killed you.” You flipped up your middle finger at him and his eyebrows drew into an angry v. “How rude! I am the God of Gods-”

“I don’t care!”

Zagreus had to high tail it to you before Zues tried to smite you (possibly a second time).

Suffice to say you hoped you’d never bump into that boon again. And you didn’t. No, the God of Gods and Lightning himself decided that he’d have to make a house call himself (Hades was not pleased when a bolt of lightning came crashing down and left a scorched black ring in the carpet).

He picks you out quickly and you try to zoom out of the lobby until he catches you by the back of your robe and then you’re swinging and yelling profanities at him. He’s kinda amused now instead of angry- you’re just so weak and tiny compared to him. It’s hysterical- ow! Did you just bite him?

After you and Zues finish your little “spitting match”- Hades kicks Zeus out and you're forced to hang out in Tartarus for a bit (“but I’m just a simple fisherfolk! I can’t fight anything!” You cry, Hades does not spare you a look as you're dragged out by Meg).

You think maybe that’s the end until you’re approached by a… a squirrel? You almost punt it when his voice spills out as he shoots into a long prattle about how much of a jerk Hades was and how he couldn’t handle someone as grandiose as him appearing before him. Threatened him as a god or something- you were busy trying to figure out how you were going to kill this guy and make sure he stayed dead.

Turns out, after the two of you chattered (argued) a bit about whether or not he actually killed you, Zeus had some neat stories about the gods.

While you were interested in his children’s and brothers’ and sisters’ stories, he was interested in your stories of the mundane. A simple fisherfolk? That was a word? You just fished and traded? Amazing! Tell him more!

After this particular interaction between the two of you, Zeus really ended liking you. Maybe a little too much, but, aw well, it wasn’t everyday a mortal soul had the balls to argue with him for something he doesn’t remember doing (he probably did. Probably. Most likely). He swore that he’d come and see you everyday as he sat on your shoulder as a squirrel, going on and on about how you should feel blessed to be praised by one such as he. You were about to throw him until a giant hand came out and grabbed him (seemed you drifted too close to Lord Hades’ desk), the hulking god flinging him out of a portal.

He continues to pop up and bother you and, to be honest, he’s kinda growing on you. Also, I’m gonna be frank and lay it out that, if he likes you enough, he’s probs gonna want to smash, especially if you lean more towards the feminine side (he’s fucking AWFUL). It’s up to you if you wanna indulge that or not, I don’t recommend it, but you can if you really want to.

We’re going with the option you don’t smash- he’ll be salty at you for a whole ass day before he comes back the one after that as a rat (Hades kept finding out his forms that he used to sneak in so it was an ever constant menagerie of appearances to keep up the disguise) and is like: “I thought you would miss me too much so I came back before you could even complain.”

Zag likes to watch the two of you interact because he finds it absolutely fascinating. It’s like watching… He doesn’t know what it’s like but he’s having a blast as you roast his uncle to bits. It really helps him out when he’s feeling a bit down after failing getting out one too many times.

When you first get Zeus an Ambrosia, he thinks it’s poison and then he gets all prideful because of course you would give him an offering, he was the strongest of all the gods! Him and him alone!

“Silly, mortal, you cannot poison me! I am a god.”

You squint your eyes at him before you huff and pull the bottle closer to you. “Fine, whatever, I’ll just give it to Zagreus- or better yet, Hades if you don’t want it.”

“No! No! I want it! Give it to me! It’s mine!”

During this time, he’s actually experiencing some purer emotions in life- he’s genuinely giddy that you got him the Ambrosia and asks how you got it. You hold up a makeshift fishing rod and grin at him, telling him you snatched it from some nasty shades before you wandered back down to Tartarus.

His gift to you is a little lightning pin that, when you're in danger, will send a nasty bolt of lightning down on your enemies. You wonder what good it’ll do since you’re dead already, but shrug and accept it, thinking that he looks years younger and friendler when his smile isn’t packed full of ego and pride.

Poseidon

Cause of Death: Drowning

Poseidon, Lord of the Oceans, Earthquakes, and many other things, is simply- how do you say? Amused? It’s the best way to describe it at least. Of course he was mostly surprised when he appeared expecting the Little Hades to be waiting for him just to meet a Little Shade in his place.

“Why, hello there, Little Shade! You wouldn’t happen to know where the Little Hades is, would you?”

You shake your head, he doesn’t miss the way you nervously play with your hands, drifting back as some of his droplets float close to you.

He laughs at your simple reply. “Shy one aren’t you?” He leans closer to you, squinting and running a hand through his beard while he hummed.

You fight the urge to take a step back, the smell of salt water making your stomach churn.

His eyes flutter shut as he takes a deep breath. He takes a moment before he opens his eyes again and a look of understanding flashes across his eyes. “You drowned. Didn’t you?”

You stare up at him, eyes round and glassy. You nod.

Before your conversation can go any further, Zagreus comes running through the window, surprised to see his Uncle talking to a Shade (you look so scared- he hopes that you aren’t being bullied). You’re quick to take your leave bowing to both and passing the boon to the Prince before you scurry away into the cover of the other Shades.

He hums to himself, a cryptid smile on his face as his eyes follow after you. Such a strange little thing you were- he wouldn’t mind seeing you again.

It takes a bit, but he does happen to see you again, by peaking through a fountain in a fountain room in the Underworld. He spies you trying to poke at the water that he happened to choose, but jumping back each time. You face scrunched up into one of pure frustration. He asks if you’re doing alright there, Little Shade? Causing you to flash out of existence for a moment before settling back down and looking into the pool with wide eyes. Posiedon almost busts a gut with how hard he’s laughing and you huff telling him that it wasn’t funny.

He says otherwise, but asks what you’re doing. When your face bursts into a large blush you mumble something that he doesn’t quite catch and he’s left with more questions than answers as you take the chance to phase out of the chamber when Zag walks in and steals his Uncle’s attention for a split second. He furrows his brow before asking his nephew about you, which Zag, surprisingly, supplies rather quickly, seeing as the two of you talk a lot: apparently you’re deathly afraid of water after you were thrown into the ocean by your supposed best friend. The memories of the waves crushing you deeper and deeper beneath them sticking with you even in death. So, you were trying to curb that phobia. Posiedon nods, letting the words sink in before he offers the Little Hades a thumbs up and says he’ll help with that.

The next time you see the god, he’s eager to call you over and explain that he’s figured out what you were doing last time and offers to let you mess with some of the drops of water that follow him wherever he goes. You stare at them, eyebrows furrowed and looking just as sick as a shade could look. Yet, you still nod your head and hold out a shaky hand. He smiles at you, praising you for your courage and flicks one towards you; it floats gently before it rests serenely on your palm, allowing you to feel the cool sensation of the droplet. You marvel at it, still shaking with an anxiety before you nod. He pulls it away, it shoots back to rest next to his head and you thank him for going out of his way to help you and ease your fears.

He remarks that you should fear the water out of respect: it’s unpredictable, terrifying in it’s own right- vast and, seemingly, never ending, what could possibly be more terrifying than the unknown, hm? He continues to say that you should also hold onto a bit of bravery at the very least, for untold treasures come from there for those who look.

After that conversation, Poseidon makes it a habit of having you hold onto his droplets of water, making them slightly bigger each time for you to get used to them.

By the time you’re able to touch them freely without experiencing crippling fear- the droplets are almost the size of you. Poseidon praises you the more you grow out of your fear.

You do eventually open up to him about how you died and he never tells you that he already knew. Just allows you to talk in a soft voice as you recall it. It’s a nice bonding experience for the both of you and Posideon decides that you’re his favorite Shade and he’ll treasure you for as long as you exist.

The first time you get him a bottle of Ambrosia, you come to him shivering and sopping wet. He’s confused and concerned as he hovers to you.

“What happened to you, Little Shade? Are you alright?”

It takes you a moment to be able to speak. “I- I found a bottle of Ambrosia. I thought-” you take a deep breath, holding out the bottle with both hands- “I thought you’d like it.”

It’s one of his prized possessions now, he takes little sips of it once in a while, but other than that it remains as one of his most precious memories. He’s very attached to you at this point and you’ll forever have his blessing. His gift to you, aside from the undying loyalty, is a shell necklace, if you ever need him- you only need to whisper his name to it and he’ll appear in an instant.

Athena

Cause of Death: Exhaustion

Athena had been prepared to meet with Zagreus- not a curious shade staring back up at her with all the relevance of one of her worshippers.

“What business do you have with me?”

She raises her brow at your gobsmacked expression, watching as you screw your face up before bowing. “Apologies, m’lady, I only happened to bump into your…” you look at where it glows, furrowing your eyebrow, “your orb?”

“Boon.”

You nod your head in understanding before bowing your head again. “Again, my sincerest apologies.”

Luckily, she didn’t smite you, instead asking the question of how you were even talking to her. Getting a shrug from you, you say that maybe it’s because you worshipped her (unofficially, you were never able to make it up to her shrine much to your disappointment) when you were alive- maybe a deeper bond is there compared to someone who had never prayed to her for her protection and guidance.

When she hears this, she’s very interested, pressing you to elaborate further when the Young Prince comes jogging out of the glowing window, waving to you. You slink away, passing the boon to him and bowing to her once again before you disappear into the mass of Shades that choose to wander their new home as well.

After the conversation, you had caught the Goddess’ attention, planting a desire in her to see you again. Even going as far as to write a letter to ask her uncle for a council with you after a week passed of her placing her boon in Tartarus so that maybe you would drift too close to it once again. But each time only the little prince would find them (which she was fine with, but it still left such an unflattering taste of defeat on her tongue each time it wasn’t you). She figured it would be a moot point to send the letter, but it was worth a try.

But she decided to place her boon down once more before she sent it out. Just to try. And this time it worked.

You were the one she saw and she was absolutely delighted- not that she showed it, choosing to keep her stoic and sharp expression. You greet her in a similar way before: awed before bowing your head to her. You continue to go on about how you're happy to see her again and, despite how little you had been buried with, you hoped that she would take this- a broken sword, despite the worn hilt and the deep scars the littered what was left of the flat of the balde; it was still polished (at least what was left of it)- as a proper offering to her for all she had done in your life- even if it truly wasn’t all her doings.

She takes the sword in her hand, holding it high, her eyes shining as she studies it: truly, it was a warrior’s blade. She watches as the history and memories flash in the smooth iron. She remarks that it is a remarkable offering, but she cannot accept it. It feels wrong taking a weapon of a warrior such as yourself.

You smile as her, shaking your head, urging her to take it, for you didn’t need that blade in this afterlife. You had already fought your battles, killing the man who you had been battling with and quelling the rage that had followed you since you were a child for revenge. Eventually, dying from the strain of the fight with a feeling of contentedness.

Athena raises her brow, remarking how that sounded more along the lines of Ares rather than her.

You nod, but say that you couldn’t help but desire her help for she was the goddess attached to your favorite animal. She had to fight the urge to laugh, a shaky smile slipping through as she nods at you. Such a silly thing you are. She decides that she’ll take the sword as a reminder of you, no matter where you should go now. She also decides that you were forming a rather soft cradle in her heart.

After this, she is quick to ask Zagreus about you every chance she gets- not that he minds too much, he tells her about how you’ve been helping him train and you’ve even told him about your life when you were alive (“a general, can you believe that? They’re so young!” Zagreus says as he shows her the new move you taught him). She’s only the slightest bit miffed at hearing that you and Achilles have begun to form a sweet friendship. She’s pleased to hear that his father has been trying to barter with you to get you into Elysium, though she’s a tad confused on the reason you refuse to.

She asks you about it one day and you say that it would take longer to see her and you would prefer to avoid that. It was the only time the goddess has ever had to fight down a blush.

When you get her a bottle of Ambrosia, she’s in pure awe at the huge bottle.

“How did you get one this big?”

You lean against the new sword you managed to get your hands on- something simple and obviously used- you offer her a lopsided grin. “Well, not just any Ambrosia would work, so I decided to try my luck with Lord Theseus and, The Great Bull, Asterius. Took me a couple of tries but I managed to beat them and snag it.”

Athena smiles warmly at it, telling you that she’ll treasure it and think of you every time she takes a drink of it. She realizes in that moment just how important you had become to her, never feeling this… soft for a mortal soul in her life. Her gift to you is a shield and a new sword: the shield bares her symbol of an owl while the sword was ornate with a divine glow. She promises that no matter what they’ll protect you and so will she, you only need to call out her name.

Aphrodite

Cause of Death: A Broken Heart

When the Goddess of Love first sees you- she thinks you’re absolutely gorgeous (of course not as gorgeous as her). The sad look in your eye and the slight frown that rests on your lips makes her almost fall in love right then and there.

“Hello, little one- do you know where the little godling is?”

You shake your head. “I’m sorry, Lady Aphrodite. I know not where he is.”

She raises her brows, a smile on her face. “How did you know I was Aphrodite, my dear?”

You look up at her, a sudden glint in your eyes has her yearning to see it once again. “No one else could be so breathtaking, my Lady.”

Oh. Oh, she likes you.

She chooses to chatter away with you- despite you mostly listening, adding little things here and there, she feels a strange sense of fullness, like she just ate a full and warm meal for the first time in a very long time, by the time Zagreus arrives. You bid your farewell and she can’t help but follow you with her gaze as your transparent form blends in with the other Shades.

Aphrodite is thrilled the next time she runs into you- or rather you run into her boon. She missed the melancholy look in your eyes, she also doesn’t miss the fact that you’ve come bearing gifts this time: an assortment of colorful flowers rests in your arms and you offer it to her. That glint coming and going like a shooting star as she accepts the offering, holding it up to her nose to take in their sweet scent. How sweet were you to hand her something so delicate.

She asks you where you got them and you remark that you made your way up to Elysium. She’s surprised to hear as such- you didn’t seem like the warrior type. You shake your head, your eyes sweeping low. You weren’t a warrior, far from it- a simple florist if anything. You just drifted until you made it up there and plucked some flowers to make bouquets. You mumble that maybe you’ll be more useful in death.

She tilts her head at the comment, beginning to ask until Zagreus is jogging up to the both of you and it was time for you to leave. She’s a tad annoyed, but reminds herself that the little godling didn’t know- simply trying to break out of this dreary place he calls home and see Olympus in all its glory. She’ll just ask next time.

You gave her another bouquet, this one more beautiful than the last, when she gets the chance to ask you her question. Your eyes pool with a mournful look as you gaze up at her, your hand resting over the place where your heart used to beat as you look to the ground. You explain that you were young when you were wed- just as you were young when you died. You were married off to someone you did not love- someone awful, vile, who beat you down daily just to build you back up so they could laugh when they toppled you over once again. You remark about how you could feel yourself dying little by little, your delicate heart bleeding as your want for life began to dwindle away. You grew sick and you would sit by the window day in and day out, staring out and wondering what your life could have been if you were married to someone you loved. A ghost of a smile blooms on your lips as you look up at her, that glint she oh-so loved twinkling in your eye as you say that you did not die in as much loneliness and pain as you could have; having been making a bouquet dedicated just to her love and sweetness: your Lady Aphrodite who you love, ever so much.

She’s shocked when she realizes the tears that drip down her cheeks, her hand coming to caress your cheek (really your head, she was hulking compared to your small form) with her fingertips. She comments that she would accept every bouquet you made and treasure each flower like it was the one you made for her with your last breaths in the living world.

After that interaction, she comes down a lot more, asking Zagreus if he could bring along her darling florist so that she could talk to you. He always obliges, loving to see the two of you chatter about (well, her chatter about, you usually just listened with a smile on your face as you used the flowers you had plucked into flower crowns for him and Lady Aphrodite). You two become a sort of comfort for him when he’s getting frustrated: seeing your usually melancholy demeanor light up as soon as the goddess appears and in turn the goddess becomes something less vain and more gentle as she speaks to you.

At some point, you’ll probably meet Ares himself- the two never that far from each other, also she adores you, so it only makes sense for you to meet him. He’s honestly a tad unimpressed when you first meet, but when he hears about the heart ache you faced he gains a sense of respect for you, remarking that love is a battle in and of itself and you fought valiantly to keep your ability to love freely (Aphrodite might convince you to have a threesome, I’m not gonna lie, she’s attracted to you on a deep level and she has her trysts with Ares- it’s perfect in her eyes. Though she won’t push you if you don’t desire it).

When you first get her Ambrosia, she’s flabbergasted before it turns into worry for how you got it and the potential danger you were in.

She takes the bottle of gold liquid and the flowers that you had so carefully arranged. Her attention, though, is focused on the said bottle of Ambrosia. “My Darling Florist, how did you get this?” Before you can answer she shoots into a flurry of questions. “Are you alright? Did anything catch you? Hurt you? You don’t seem hurt. Oooh-” she puffs her cheeks out, her gaze sharp- “why did you get me this? It’s dangerous!”

You wait for her to calm down. “I apologize for making you worry, but I simply snuck around and grabbed it from some witches- they didn’t even notice me. And I-” you tap your fingers together, a blush blooming across your face as you look away from the goddess and she decides that she craves seeing that expression on you again- “I thought that you deserved it. It’s a much better offering than my silly bouquets.”

Well, aside from the ‘silly bouquets’ comment (which she corrects you on very quickly), she’s absolutely flattered and it might be the final nail in the coffin that has her falling for you, the little shade in front of her. She decides that you hold a piece of her heart in your translucent hands, though she chooses to keep that information to herself.

Her gift to you is a hairpin that matches hers, though if you don’t have enough hair- she says, you can always pin it to your robe. It’s a blatant claim on her part, but it also helps ease the residual heartache that followed you into death. And, hopefully (a personal hope of her), each time you look at it, you’d fall deeper and deeper in love with her as well.

Artemis

Cause of Death: Arrow to the Heart

She’s confused when she sees you, quick to voice her confusion as well. Also depending on if you're more feminine or masculine (and I don’t mean woman or man, I just mean how you present yourself), she will treat you differently depending. So, for now, we’re gonna go with the more “feminine” option:

“Who’re you?”

You bow. “An honor to meet you, Lady Artemis, I seem to have bumped into that orb on accident. Wasn’t sure what it did and the curiosity got the better of me.”

She hums, she perks when she notices your bow. “You’re a hunter?”

You smile, holding it out to her. “Yes, indeed, my Lady- I prayed to you a lot.” You laughed, adding. “Hoped to join your hunters when I was young.”

She’s quite happy to hear that and begins to chatter along with you. For some reason feeling oddly at ease around you. It’s probably because you were a fellow hunter but she simply can’t help the way she grows an odd sort of… adoration? Something like that, she thinks- for you. She almost laments the fact when Zagreus comes to get the boon.

You nod to him, biding your farewell to the Goddess and passing the boon to the Prince. She doesn’t miss how Zagreus’ eyes shine as you walk away. She almost comments on it but bites her tongue, wanting to observe the prince and the dreamy look that drifts over his features, even as you disappear.

The next time the two of you meet, she asks if she can see you in action. You agree and search up ahead to find something to demonstrate your skills on. You’re quick to find a few Numbskulls. She watches as you take a deep breath, your eyes narrowing on your unassuming targets and your footsteps become silent as you skirt closer to them. You nock an arrow, never looking away. Her eyes gleam with thrumming adrenaline at the way the muscles in your arms tense as you draw the string back. The low groan of the wood barely above a whisper as you wait for them to line up. You hold your breath, releasing the arrow- it goes through all three of them, making them break into dust in a consecutive line, a harrowing scream being wretched from them as they fade from existence. You release the breath you were holding and stand, sending a smile to the young goddess whose eyes shine with stars.

She praises you for your amazing skill and sings of your prowess. You shake your head, looking down at the ground as you argued that you were but a simple bow folk in your living life. Nothing more, nothing less.

She begs to differ! That type of skill only belongs to those of her highest ranking huntresses! She continues to gush about you until Zag comes up and, once again, greets the both of you. That dreamy look coming over his face as he looks at you. She watches as you once again disappear into Tartarus, this time though, after you’re gone, she turns to her cousin and shoots into a tangent about why he had never told her about you before and where did you come from? She has to know!

He answers all of her questions to the best of his abilities but there are even some he doesn’t know about, for example: how you died.

Artemis accepts this and decides that she’ll just ask you the next time the two of you meet.

And, true to her word, she does. She asks you point blank and you can’t help but be slightly taken aback. You laugh softly, leaning on your bow as you begin to recount that you were traversing her forest, as you had done many times before, and noticed fresh foot prints of man. You decided that it would be a good idea to look and you found hunters trying to kill her Golden Stag. You had dove in as quickly as you could, shooting one- the arrow sailing in a clean arch through his wrist before he could let loose his arrow. But as you went to nock another arrow- a searing pain in your chest and heart. You looked down to see blood pooling around your robes, dying the olive green of your cloak a wine red. You remember the last thing you saw was the Golden Stag running away. You smiled telling her that you were happy he got away- you don’t know what you’d do if he had been captured despite your effort.

Artemis suddenly remembers that day: her stag rushing to her and urging her to follow him- he bounded through the forest, frantic and panicked. When they got to a clearing, she was quick to notice the blood and the drag marks of a body. Her stag pressed his nose to the ground sniffing at the pool of blood, his eyes watering and bulbous tears slid down his muzzle. It suddenly made sense. You were the one he was mourning for.

She couldn’t help but grab your hands, resting her forehead against the back of them; thanking you for protecting her stag when she couldn’t. You smile at her, bowing your head to her and thanking her for the countless hunts she went on with you. You pull your hands away from her and hold out your bow to her. She asks what you think you're doing in a watery voice and you say it’s an offering. You couldn’t give much when you were alive and you still can’t give much now, but, this bow- it shall treat her right.

She sniffles as she takes it, trying to hold in tears. She vows to treasure it for all of time as she admires the worn wood.

That day, the two of you became closer as comrades, she would actively come down to say hi to you (and encourage Zagreus to take the leap and court you after she learned of his growing affections for you). The two of you would talk about everything you could think of, explaining how your hunting styles differed or how you could set a trap easier. She had realized that she had never felt this carefree with anyone before. She felt like a child. It felt nice.

When you snag her a bottle of Ambrosia- she’s swaddled in a whirlwind of emotions.

“You… You got this for me?” She asks as she takes the bottle of golden liquid.

You nod, that gentle smiling spreading across your face. “Of course. You had helped me so many times- it is only fair, my Lady-”

“Artemis-” she sniffled, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles- “call me Artemis, my friend.”

She finds you to be a perfect friend- a breath of fresh air from home. She may not feel any romantic feelings towards you, but she still holds you in a dear place in her heart. Her gift to you is a new bow and quiver that will never run out of arrows. The bow is enchanted and you’ll never have to fear it breaking for it will protect you for as long as you exist- in this realm or another.

Ares

Cause of Death: Blood Loss

When Ares first sees you, he is… well- he’s impressed that you stumbled upon his boon, but at the same time… He’s a tad miffed? That you found it?

At the very least he’s condescending as all hell about it:

“What is this? A little lamb came to beg me for power? How foolish. No matter how hard you struggle you will never be much more than some little shade.”

“Ah, sorry, my Lord! Didn’t mean to bump into it!” You hold up the basket in your translucent arms, “I wanted to see if I could find some new ingredients to bake with! I do oh-so miss it, sir.”

Well, he wasn’t expecting that.

He ends up allowing you to chatter on with him despite his obvious judgement on your, what he calls, “soft mortal hobby” until Zagreus comes to do his daily try of breaking out from the Underworld.

As he watches you drift away (after passing the boon and giving words of good luck to the Prince, who happily takes it), he kinda hopes to see you again

And see you again he does! He literally sees you the next day- night? Whatever, he’s never sure when he drops a boon in there- it’s damn dark-

He’s presented with a basket of treats and your gleeful greeting as you chatter that you found ingredients to make some Baklava and you thought that, maybe, he’d like to try it?

He smiles- cruel and sharp- and asks if you truly think that this is a fit offering for a god such as himself?

You shrug, saying he doesn’t have to eat it if he doesn’t want to

He laughs and takes it and you two are off chattering again: him regaling you with his war stories and you of the ingredients you had (somehow) found down here until Zag shows up, once again, the boon is passed to him (this time along with a slice of the delicious, warm Baklava. Which, he’s confused on what it is but he finds out very quickly that it’s his favorite treat).

The two of you talk a lot, which Ares is pleasantly surprised about, usually he’s the scorn of everyone- not that he cares, it causes conflict and he likes that. But you’re so calm and sweet that he just can’t get a rise out of you. Which, on one hand, pisses him off to no end, but, on the other, it’s such a nice change of pace for him. He’s used to the bloodshed and animosity of battlefields- the iron tinged air that follows after the warriors that traverse those fields. And yet, here you are: a shade that always has a treat for him when you run into him and the smell of warm sweetness wafting after you.

So when he learned exactly how you died- he was absolutely floored.

“How did you die, little baker?” He asked one day, fiddling with his knife, tilting it discreetly so that your reflection was in it.

“Oh!” You smiled sheepishly, glancing away from him and placing the bag of flour (how did you even get that? He’d have to ask you next) back into your basket. “Well- you see, I bled out.”

He raised his eyebrow, suddenly very interested. “How? You’re so…” he tilted his head and flipped his knife so that the blade pointed at him and the hilt pointed at you, he poked your arm with said hilt. “Soft.”

“Well…”

You explain that you had a little brother who had a nasty habit of getting into trouble- he was a good person, just made foolish choices- and this time, it had cost you your life. He had pissed off the wrong person and, well, when the man had attempted to grab your brother when the two of you were out walking the stalls on your break- you did the only thing you could think of: you fought.

Of course it went horribly, you’ve never been in a fight before then and, despite all the work you did with dough, it didn’t help much when the man pulled out a knife and dug it straight into your gut. But, you don’t mind too much- your brother’s alive and well and, from what you understand from asking Lord Hades, he had started to be more aware of himself and who he angered. Which made you super happy and proud of him!

Ares can’t help but feel some sort of pity for you. So much life to be taken so quickly and placed in- wait. Why weren’t you in Elysium?

You’re incredibly confused when Ares suddenly disappears (Aphrodite appearing in his place in the blink of an eye- she greets you happily and asks if you have any of Baklava to share today. You do not but you do have some Loukoumades if she wanted some. She did). You’re even more confused when the Underworld shakes and angry yelling fills the entirety of it for a solid ten minutes before all goes back to normal.

You tell Ares about it the next day and he simply hums. Keeping it to himself that he made a whole scene about you not being in Elysium by popping up and butting heads with Hades, of course he got kicked out. That still doesn’t stop him from sending angry letters that can span anywhere from one word letters (usually containing a curse word) to a 30 page essay on why you should be in Elysium instead of milling about in such unkempt places.

The first time you go out of your way to get him a bottle of Ambrosia is the day that both scares the shit out of him and makes him hate you for giving him mushy feelings.

You came to him in, almost literal, tatters: your greenish, transparent form ripped in places, the few wisps of you following after your torn form like they were tied to a string. You had held it up to him in a basket, a plate of Baklava sitting next to it, along with some other treats. “Lady Aphrodite mentioned that she wanted to try my Baklava, so I made her some! Though the Ambrosia is just for you, my Lord!”

He blinked at you, taking the basket in a delicate hold. He turned it this way and that, his chest feeling… warm? He wanted to grimace at the soft warmth that thrummed through his veins, yet it was replaced with a smile as he held up the gold liquid. “Thank you, little Baker.”

It was the first time he felt something so unexplainably soft: so gentle and warm as it settled somewhere between the bottom of his ribcage and the top of his stomach. He listened as you told him how you had gotten it: with Zagreus’ help (you even got to meet Lord Hermes! It was so amazing! He had scoffed at that) he led you to a room with Ambrosia as the prize and, despite the young prince’s worry, you managed to beat the monsters and collect it, mostly, by yourself.

Ares was so flattered, but he couldn’t help the way that your tattered form made him feel a sort of worry. He waved his hands through the wisps of your body before he snapped his fingers and a small blade appeared: a beautifully constructed blade that was an exact replica of his (albeit much, much smaller). He handed it to you, telling you that you should have a proper weapon if you’re going to go out of your way to fight in his name.

Dionysus

Cause of Death: Alcohol Poisoning

Dionysus, unlike many, is incredibly excited to see you sitting there. He adores mortal souls and can’t help but look at them each time Zag chooses his boons and he has the chance to glimpse at their souls (despite his tendency to let them go completely after they die- he can’t help but wonder about them once in a while).

“Why, hello there! What’s a little thing like you doing strolling up to my boon, hm?”

He can’t help but notice the way your eyes are a tad dull, but he writes that off as the dark of Tartarus since it’s gone as fast as he noticed it. You smile up at him, absolutely beaming at the God of drink and madness. “Hello, Lord Dionysus!”

“Oho, you could tell it was me? What gave it away?”

The two of you laugh, diving into a conversation. He offers you a cup of wine and is put off with how long it takes you to decline it. He almost thought you looked absolutely ravenous as you peered into the deep red liquid. He shrugs it off and continues to chatter with you until his favorite Zagman stumbles upon the two of you. He’s quick to say hi to you and even leans down to ask you… something. Dionysus misses it, but still watches the way you stiffly nod before you pass the boon to the prince and scurry off.

He’s tempted to ask about it, but decides that he should probably ask you himself instead of trying to pry. Mortals didn’t take well to people snooping around their private lives, which he could respect.

The next time he sees you though, he relaxes you into a sort of peaceful lull as he chats with you before he drops the question.

You stare blankly at him, that dark look in your eye coming back and making his skin crawl. You suddenly laugh it off waving your hands as you tell him that a god shouldn’t worry about a little ol’ shade like you.

He doesn’t push for an answer but the question still swirls in his mind, even as you toddle off after his Zagman pops up. He decides that he’ll actually ask the Prince this time around.

He asks him point blank and Zag, despite him being hesitant at first, decides to spill how you died. You had been the black sheep of your family, never truly fitting into the carefully set path that they wanted you to follow- so you found solace in drinking from a young age. It had taken the edge off of everything, Zagreus recounted you telling him. It filled you with a warmth you had been missing all your life and you couldn’t help but indulge more and more in it until it slowly became your own personal poison. Dionysus grimaced, for once feeling a sort of queasiness in the pit of his stomach as Zagreus continued on with your story. So, one day, you had drunk yourself into a deep stupor after an awful argument with your parents. But, this time, you never woke up. Instead you woke up floating in the river of blood- the River of Styx.

Dionysus had nodded after the Prince finished the story, playing with the goblet in his hand and swirling the red wine that resides in it. He offers a bitter smile to Zag and bids his farewell (of course leaving a boon of his choice with the lad) popping off back to Olympus.

The next time he runs into you, he asks if you’re feeling alright- if you want to talk. You blink at him, confused at first until realization dawns you. You bite your lip, looking down. He’s quick to assure you that you didn’t have to talk about anything- you two could just have a good time like always. You tell him that you’d like that, not yet ready to face your past. He nods, immediately telling you about an embarrassing story about Ares and how much of a lightweight he was which had you letting out an ugly snort along with your loud cackles.

The god begins to take it upon himself to have you smiling more and maybe remedy those dark clouds that appear in your eyes once in a while. He’s pretty observant despite being piss drunk half the time, it also helps that he’s very intune to your emotions for some odd reason, so he’s quick to pick up on when you feel down or your having something the equivalent to a relapse. He has you drink just a little bit from his goblet since it’s better than quitting cold turkey. And that little bit is always enough to quench your thirst and calm you down. You’ve been needing less and less of it as the days (nights?) pass by.

The first time you get Dionysus Ambrosia is the same day that he almost swears that he’ll marry you. He’s quick to grow emotional with the sheer fact that you went out of your way to get something so special for him, his face almost splitting with how wide of a smile he has on his face.

“You got this for me, man?” He says, holding up the bottle in his hand and inspecting it like it’s a precious jewel. “You know this stuff is hard to come by, super hard.”

You nod, the clouds far from your eyes now. “I had to thank you some way and punching a couple of Shades to get my hands on that was worth it.”

“You punched people for me?”

“Of course.”

He fights the urge to squeal and pops the top off, summoning another cup and pouring some in it. “Here’s to us!” He says as he hands you the cup.

He’s honestly never had so much fun just existing with one person. After that he’s never far from you, one usually not seen without the other around- even despite the Underworld not being Dionysus’ favorite place, he can’t help but be willing to venture down there to see you in person (he’s been trying to convince his wonderful Uncle Hades to let you come up with him to Olympus for a little bit- he’s even got his dad and (other) Uncle in on it. Hades officially hates all of them). His gift to you is a matching goblet that will supply you any beverage of your choice. It also has the double power to protect you from all that wishes to harm you, but you’ll learn that in due time. It’ll be more fun that way, Dionysus muses.

Hermes

Cause of Death: Falling

Usually, Heremes wouldn’t have taken the time of day to chatter mindlessly with a shade. But, it was a different story when that shade summoned him through bumping into his boon- now it’s just interesting!

“Eh? Who’re you? It’s kinda strange for a shade to be here and not my Cos, huh? Did something happen to him? You his stand in or something? That’d be kinda funny because you don’t seem like his stand in- not buff enough or something like that.”

You blink slowly taking in the words of his mile a minute speech as he continues to prattle on. You take a seat in front of the quick mouthed god, getting yourself comfortable as he flutters about and chatters. Not like you minded- he filled in the places where you couldn’t with steady conversation. You nod to some of the quips he makes, just to show you were still listening.

He decides then and there that he likes you a lot and that you should meet Charon. As soon as Zagreus pops up to collect the boon- he grabs the back of your robes and goes zooming off with you in tow. You wave to the panicked prince, allowing yourself to be dragged around. He continues to chatter on and on, only taking a break when he reaches the Boatman (who was not expecting a Shade to be accompanying the God of Messengers). He sets you down, tries to introduce you two to each other- realizes he doesn’t know your name, so you end up telling them your name- and then is quick to say goodbye, after he gives a scroll to Charon, and shoots off.

You end up staying with Charon after learning a bit more about the quiet boatman and Hermes is quite pleased when he realizes that he’d be seeing you around a lot more. He’s quick to flutter about you and chatter for a few quick seconds before zipping off. You wave at him.

The process repeats for a while before he finally takes a moment to really sit with you, Charon having gone to pick up more souls and lead them down the River of Styx. He chatters on aimlessly, asking little questions here and there before he decides to ask the million dollar question: “How did you die?”

You blink slowly as him before murmuring that you fell from a very high place, you head cracking open on the rocks at the bottom and now here you are. He asks why you were messing about on a high place, as that seemed to be something most mortals avoided doing. You explained that there was a kitten stuck in an old root on the ledge and you couldn’t just leave her. So, you crawled onto the branch and put her back onto safe ground, but the root gave way and then you went tumbling to your doom.

Hermes is surprisingly quiet throughout the entire exchange until you reach the end and he says: “you’re a real bleeding heart under all that quiet, huh?” You nod solemnly and he laughs, pulling you into a side hug. How could something with such a fleeting life be so selfless with it? He squeezes you harder before he stands up and bids you farwell, shooting off once again. And, again, you wave as he goes.

He grows attached to you quickly afterwards, bringing you little things that might help make you more comfortable down in the Underworld. Of course Charon is there to keep you company which he’s happy about- and he voices that exact thought to the boatman, who just grumbles out a long: uuuuaagghhh as his reply. He pats his arm and says that he knew he’d get it.

When you manage to get your hands on a bottle of Ambrosia- he’s completely blind sided that he almost trips on his own feet. His face flushing a deep red as he takes the offered bottle.

“How’d- how’d you get this?” His speech is all jumbled and jumpy, though he tries to keep the giddy excitement bubbling in his stomach as bay.

“I saved up my coin,” you said, nodding to Charon who nods back. “And bought it from Charon. I would’ve fought for it, but I’m no warrior.”

A smile splits across his face and the wings on the side of his head flutter. He’s quick to scoop you up and hug you, floating up with you as he does.

Hermes is an absolute giddy mess with your offering, not sure if he should kiss you or simply remain holding you. He had a special place for you before but this just solidifies his adoration for you. His gift to you is a pair of boots with wings on the side of them- an exact replica of his (in your size! Somehow-). He promises that they’ll help you get anywhere you want quickly, also the two of you match! How cute is that?

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phoenixyfriend · 4 years

Text

The Naruto/Frozen Crossover

So I was planning on just doing an image ID thing for this post, but apparently the formatting on desktop is such a mess that it’s easier to just make a new post that’s text only. I can also like. Bulletpoint it so that it can be a little neater. All ideas were made with @firebirdeternal‘s help, because they are the most efficient enabler I have.

Also I added some bits at the end.

Under a cut, because it’s Long As Heck.

I originally had two options: either Mid-teens Elsa and Anna being transported to ninja land sometime pre-canon and running into Haku and Zabuza... or just like. Born as a Daimyou's daughters.

Spoiler alert, we’ve got nukenin and I’m a sucker for an intrusive crossover, so transported to ninja land it is.

Suggestion from Birdie:

Mechanism for crossover: Elsa ices over a Wishing Well by accident after having Wished for someone else who understood her, Anna and her fall in and get Ice Mirror Portaled to Ninjaland, falling out of an iced over pond near a shrine that Haku recently prayed at for similar lonely child reasons?

Which I like! They don’t end up there soon enough to run into Haku, because I want a dramatic chase first, but I like it.

Obviously, Anna is forced to learn about Elsa's powers because it's the only thing keeping them safe

Or at least alive

(Elsa will do ANYTHING to keep Anna safe, and if that means she has to get her hands dirty...)

...neither of them knows Japanese, so, you know. There’s that.

I'm thinking that they end up in/near Kiri at first

And they aren't FAST ENOUGH to get away so Elsa panic-enchants a giant reindeer made of snow to run away across the suddenly-frozen ocean.

She and Anna have to ride and Elsa is probably crying the whole time.

Oh shit this is like. RIGHT after their parents die, I forgot. So that’s a thing! They are in mourning and all that fun stuff.

Point is, they use the powers for a Self Defense thing and BBY Haku is just !!! "Master can we rescue them for Ice Cousin reasons?" Zabuza: Yes, and only for those practical reasons and not because I collect endangered children like people collect pokemon cards.

I imagine that maybe they track rumors of a Yuki-onna down, or the Giant Snow Reindeer rides by and Haku’s just like Wat

The girls just tag along with Zabuza because. Like.

Do they like him? No. Do they trust him? No. Do they enjoy the fact that he considers them pathetic civilians? No.

However, Haku is Baby.

Zabuza is REALLY annoyed at them being Useless Civilian Royals “but Haku likes them so I guess they can stay.”

Age at meeting, three years pre-canon:

Zabuza - 23

Elsa - 18

Anna - 15

Haku - 12

Elsa is 90% anxiety/depression master combo BUT if Zabzua protects her then she's WILDLY dangerous so like. Whatever

Elsa's bingo book nickname options, uninspired:

Winter Witch

Winter Queen

Ice Queen

Snow Queen

Something about a Yuki-Onna maybe

She's Very Stately and kinda breakable but Winter is her Bitch

I mean like, the fact that, if protected, she can shut down the agriculture of a fucking country? That's an S-rank even if she's not that useful in a fight.

She's like. Jinchuuriki-level destruction. Generally speaking she wouldn’t. But she could.

Elsa: What the fuck is a chakra? Elsa: my snow monsters are self-sustaining. Elsa: I'm gonna build us a house.

Zabuza has NO idea how her powers work and it is INCREDIBLY frustrating but “there’s no chakra cost to keep these things going and we have shelters on demand” is too convenient to question after a while.

Haku: Delicate, deadly, incredibly fast ninja work. Elsa: I can't dodge a kunai but watch me wreck your entire country's ecosystem in under a day.

Elsa is a siege weapon.

Meanwhile, Anna is really, really into the physicality of ninja practice.

She's clumsy and she's not very good at ninja stuff, but she sure is determined!

Anna also gets on Zabuza's nerves because she keeps insisting that Haku get to be a kid.

Anna: Let's make flower crowns! Zabuza: No, he needs to train, not- Anna: FLOWER CROWNS

Consider: Haku saying Elsa-nee-sama and Anna-hime.

Or just calling Elsa “onee-sama.”

Anna is also younger than Elsa and way more Fun so she probably gets adjusted to Anna-chan or Nee-chan.

If Zabuza calls Elsa “Hime-chan” or “Elsa-hime” or, Sage forbid, “Elsa-sama/dono” then he’s VERY MUCH making fun of her and he’s probably getting his soup frozen that night.

At one point, Elsa... tries to like. Convince herself to have a crush on Zabuza or Kakashi or something until Zabuza just puts a hand on her shoulder and asks "do you even like men?" "...that's an OPTION?"

Zabuza urging her to try and ask out a Cute Kunoichi and Elsa's like.... I can't decide if she's bright red and a useless lesbian or uncomfortable and ace.

I am SO invested in the siege weapon thing.

SHE IS THE SQUISHIEST WIZARD.

It's not her fault that every single other combatant on the continent is Massively Dangerous in melee! She took a very traditional back-line build!

Enemy: Doesn't it GRATE to protect someone so pathetic, Zabuza? Zabuza: She literally froze an entire castle of enemies to death because they harmed her sister, so. No.

Most Ninjas: Sharp Knife. S-Rank Mega Ninjas: Gun. Elsa: High Yield Explosive Rocket Launcher. Literally loses fights to the Knife People, because she can't bring her power to bear on that scale. But if you can give her Time and Prep? No contest.

Long distance AoE

Like you know how Nagato is literally dying of starvation due to illness and can't walk, but he's also capable of leveling powerful villages more or less on his own?

Elsa is the same Vibe.

It’s like sealing a bijuu in a civilian.

She's honestly both more and less powerful? Like it'd be hard for her to kill everyone in Konoha in the snap of a finger? But also, she could starve out the Country of Fire in a summer.

She WOULDN'T, but she could.

I always read Elsa as gay or ace but my brain keeps trying to ship her with dude ninjas and I have to yank it back on a child leash.

People insinuate that Zabuza is interested in Elsa and he's just "What? Ew she's like five."

"I'm eighteen."

"Five."

BUT

Elsa! Might mistake trust and companionship for a crush!

I can see THAT happening despite gay/ace.

Also like. I don’t think Zabuza is straight.

So mlm/wlw solidarity?

And Haku is probs genderqueer.

So Anna is THE TOKEN STRAIGHT.

Anna is like, the Straight Friend who will go to the mat for her queer friends. Like vicious. In-your-face barking like a mean dog at people who were being bigots.

You know how Elsa in the second movie uses her powers to make toys for kids out of ice?

Okay, so her practicing by making things with Haku.

But yeah, Elsa can't really do "throws ice senbon," but she can do Delicate Geometry Things since she apparently, canonically studies math for fun and loves fractals.

Haku: I can trap you in a prison of ice mirrors, and you are at my mercy. Elsa: LOOK AT THIS CASTLE I MADE???

Haku wants to do Pretty Things like Elsa

OH.

Elsa makes... snow bunnies..

For the ninja distraction reasons but also because it's a Soft Thing that makes her feel better about, uh, everything. And Haku likes bunnies.

Zabuza still takes The Dirty Missions but Elsa gets upset when he does something that hurts innocents and Nobody wants Elsa upset. Even Zabuza doesn't want Elsa upset.

When Elsa gets upset, overnight accommodations are suddenly Very Uncomfortable for everyone except her and Haku.

And then Anna gets upset, which makes Elsa even MORE upset.

And then things just keep getting colder.

Zabuza doesn't want Elsa upset for many reasons, not limited to: "Is actually capable of killing me from outside of Sword Range if she's mad enough, even if it’s not that easy" and "the Small Children would be unbearably sad if she died and honestly so might I."

She's more of a friend than a ward and he's not entirely sure he's okay with that.

Zabuza: "Ew, friendship."

He has absolutely no idea how to have a social interaction with people he isn't Bullying, Raising, or Threatening to Kill.

Elsa and Anna have no trouble convincing people they're related, at least. Different coloration with almost identical bone structure.

A tendency to burst into song when they feel emotions.

Identical weird accent that nobody can place.

FOOD

The girls are royalty, they don't know how to COOK.

But they also want food from HOME.

It's a lot of trial and error.

More error than not, since they have both no knowledge and also a language barrier to overcome. It probably takes YEARS before they can describe things like Unfamiliar Flavors well enough for people to say "OH that sounds like spearmint."

When they run into something they know that’s familiar, it’s life-changing.

Chocolate is more common in the elemental nations than in Arandelle and Anna may or may not cry about it.

Anna is loudly bossy, even at Zabuza.

Zabuza is gruffly commanding, to everyone.

Elsa doesn't actually like being in charge, but when she talks, people LISTEN.

(Haku is just happy to be here.)

Elsa radiates two things: Anxiety, and Natural Command, and she basically just fluctuates between those.

"I don't want to be in charge but also I'm vetoing this."

So, obviously, the main reasons that Zabuza keeps the girls around is that Elsa is a living siege weapon and he thinks she could be convinced to help him run a revolution in Kiri, and also that the Ice Queen schtick is like. Really good for Haku and Zabuza can’t really say no to the kid.

HOWEVER, Anna is clumsy and messy and all that, so Zabuza starts training her in Ninja stuff. Elsa joins in on the “I need to know how to Run Fast to get away from fights I don’t want to have in the first place,” but Anna’s the one that’s like “TEACH ME HOW TO SWORD.”

It’s honestly not that hard to teach her, she’s just really, really, REALLY enthusiastic.

Once or twice someone asks why she’s so bad at this yet running around with an A-rank nukenin and Zabuza’s just like “I’ve only had her for a year and a half, shut up!” because it’s not that he’s a bad teacher, it’s that she was a very pampered civilian until like a week before he met her.

He should get a MEDAL for even getting her to low Chuunin.

Zabuza: I'm taking a job from Gato Elsa, who has Training in economics and politics and bureaucracy: I have a better idea.

This is actually not entirely what I’d do but I wanted to make the joke first ANYWAY here’s an actual plot or something.

Oh, also by this point everyone is Canon Ages so Elsa’s 21 and Anna’s 18 and Zabuza’s 26 and Haku’s 15.

Elsa is getting paid to keep the water from interfering with construction, by way of....

ICE COFFERDAM

Elsa with Haku as her Guard while Zabuza is off running his own mission? Which Anna begged to go on because Cool.

Elsa also kind of keeps her involvement on the ice front semi-secret by claiming she’s there as an engineering consultant.

LISTEN canon made her like geometry, I can ENTIRELY believe she’d be excited about the bridge-building.

Gato has hired someone else on the danger level of Zabuza, who is Threatening to Team 7 + Haku? But then when things look bleak Anna and Zabuza arrive and then Scary Sword Man is on our side and oh dear that's a lot of blood.

Which, you know, fun!

Birdie suggested Raiga which I’m not feeling but I do feel the need to bring up as an option.

It’s also not Kisame BUT

Kisame: [giant lake dome filled with sharks]

Elsa: uhhhhhhhhhhh...

Giant lake dome: [is now a giant ice dome]

Anyway

Gato: I'm hiring an army. Elsa: [giant ice wall around his compound] Gato: ... these guys can walk up walls! Elsa: [adds snowman guards] Elsa: ... Elsa: [adds a ceiling]

Just puts Gato's entire mob in a fucking snow globe.

Zabuza shows up twenty minutes late with (Throwing) Star(buck)s just like "Oh, they dead? No? Want 'em to be? Okay cool I'm gonna go pick up Haku, I'll be back in like an hour."

Anna would... LOVE Naruto

ENERGETIC FRIENDLY GOOFBALL

"I found us a baby brother!" "No, we already have Haku." "BUT LOOK AT HIM."

Anna is only a year or two older than Itachi.

OH RIGHT

I wanted to make a joke about how Naruto also vibes with her because he's less judgmental that she can't really... talk properly.

Sasuke is Judgy and Kakashi is Paranoid and Sakura is Uncomfortable.

Meanwhile Naruto is just like "And I Shall Scream."

Anna, who learned Japanese from Zabuza (rude) and Haku (uber polite): WELL FUCK YOU, GOOD SIR Naruto: YEAH WELL FUCK YOU TOO, LADY Elsa, overly formal: I am... so very sorry.

Anyway, generic missing nin fights and all that.

Elsa gets injured in the process and after a variety of arguments, Naruto manages to convince them to take her to Konoha for medical attention.

Elsa is... usually the one getting injured.

Zabuza and Haku are FAST and Anna is at least learning (even if she’s only been doing it for three years), but Elsa is The Squishy Wizard.

If someone throws a kunai... she can’t... really dodge...

So yeah, gut wound.

Normally they find a nukenin medic to patch them up but Konoha is reasonably close and has some of the more skilled medics on the continent and they DID technically help the Konoha nin so like. Gah.

That’s Zabuza’s final thought. Gah.

Just “Fuck it, let’s save the ice queen.”

Elsa ends up in a half-literal-ice stasis state on the way there and it’s happened before (it is not the first time she’s been stabbed), but it’s always terrifying.

Especially to the Konoha genin who are just like WHAT THE HECK IS THAT.

So they get to Konoha, there’s a whole bunch of stuff about extradition treaties and “you are bringing a literal WMD of a woman into our town” and “we can’t just let MOMOCHI ZABUZA in.”

Anyway, it ends up being that Zabuza has to wait outside the village while Elsa is treated inside, and one of the Teenagers goes in. Obviously, it’s Anna, because Zabuza is INCREDIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE with letting Haku enter a village that’s known for having lots of bloodlines, and anyway, Anna’s the sister.

Bunch of stuff, she’s healing, etc, and then one day Anna comes in and is told “your sister had a bad reaction to the anesthetic, we couldn’t save her, I’m sorry, she’s gone.”

She flips out, gets shown the corpse, flips out MORE, gets escorted out to the village walls where Zabuza and Haku are waiting.

Horrified reactions

Zabuza doesn’t want to admit that it’s EMOTIONS because this is his FRIEND, he is clearly just upset about losing the living siege weapon.

Haku is just super confused and goes “But she’s not dead.”

“What.”

“She’s not dead, I can feel her, I can always feel her, it’s like sensing but just her, because we’re both ice. She’s alive, somewhere over... there?”

And points right in the direction of the Hokage Mountain, which for the purposes of this fic and also Drama is where ROOT headquarters is.

YEP we absolutely have that plot point.

Is Danzo overused as a plot device? Probably. Am I going to diabolus ex machina him anyway? Ye.

They kick up enough of a fuss that the Hokage gets called down.

He wouldn’t, normally, he’d leave it to a couple of skilled jounin and call it a day, except Naruto got involved so like. You can’t. Ignore that.

There’s lots of shouting.

Just like. A lot.

And then part of the mountain explodes!

AS ONE DOES

Elsa comes flying backwards out of the hole, catches herself on a spontaneous ice slide, gets to her feet.

Girl is swaying like MAD.

There are absolutely ANBU (both fake and real) coming after her.

At least one of them gets speared through by an ice spike.

Anna runs up to her, tries to hug her, gets batted away.

Elsa’s staring at her in sheer TERROR and starts muttering something about how Anna died years ago, this isn’t real, etc.

Nobody except Anna understands most of it, but Haku picks up enough to translate when Anna’s freaking out.

Elsa starts doing her Ice Castle thing in the middle of Konoha as a coping mechanism, mostly so she can get Up and Away and Shielded By Ice.

This is not a good look.

Especially because she’s singing, which Zabuza always thinks is a bad omen because it means shit is getting real and one or both of the girls are about to get a powerup or be beaten even harder than otherwise. When they start singing, things get More Dramatic And Extreme).

(Zabuza does not like Disney Musical Rules)

Danzo shows up.

There’s a bunch of arguing.

All the medics insist that nothing she was given at the hospital should have caused amnesia, psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, etc.

It’s. Not hard for Hiruzen to guess what happened.

Namely that Danzo, upon finding out that chakra dampeners didn’t do shit since none of Elsa’s powers come from chakra, decided to keep her drugged up and start using genjutsu to make her more malleable.

Because like. An injured WMD just showed up in your village. What are you supposed to do, not try to kidnap her and turn her to your side? Like, come on. What was he supposed to do?

Not that, Danzo. Literally Not That.

IDK how it gets resolved, probably Anna getting to her with the power of love, because Elsa is ultimately Super Disney.

I also don’t really know where to go from there other than “Maybe Jiraiya can get you home, but also I’m pretty sure Zabuza wants you all to get the hell out of here and take over Kiri” but who knows.

Also

IMAGINE ELSA MEETING GAI.

Imagine Ino getting a puppy crush on Elsa.

IDK that’s it for now.

#Frozen #Naruto #Momochi Zabuza #Yuki Haku #Zabuza #Haku #mini fic #Phoenix Babbles #Crossovers #Phoenix Posts

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incorrect-obeyme · 3 years

Text

Lesson 41 Spoilers

WHO’S READY WOOO!

You meet up with Solomon (apparently he was running late) at the park, and it looks like you’ve been getting assignments and teachings from him! Apparently, you’ve been trying to learn how to summon demons oop. Solomon doesn’t want you to be depressed after getting sent back to the human world, so he gives you a babysitting job (wow thx solomon very nice). The location Solomon sent to you is a huge mansion. You ring the doorbell, only to be greeted by ASMO???

AND THIS IS THE FUNNY PART: YOU CLOSE THE DOOR AFTER BECAUSE YOUCOULDN’T BELIEVE YOUR OWN EYES LMFAO.

You head inside to see the others, but you get startled though and forget how you have a pact with the bros, so you yell out “stay.” (srry bros.) After, you head inside with Satan in the living room. It was Asmo and Mammon’s idea to surprise you with this “babysitting” job. You ask him where Mammon is at, only to hear a soft cry for help. You head inside to a room, seeing Mammon hanging upside down on a rope (lucifer probs did this). You use your pact once again, and Mammon falls to the ground. Mammon gives you the interview for your “babysitting” job but nah, you hug him right into his arms.

After your little reunion with the bros, Asmo takes you on a house tour! He takes you into a room only to see that… it’s Asmo’s bathroom from Devildom?? Asmo explains that Barbatos gave each of the bros a portal with a favourite room from the Devildom! He also tells you that Belphie picked the planetarium. Later he brings up Diavolo and Barbatos, which they will stop by sooner or later. You can also ask about Luke and Simeon here. Asmo doesn’t know about the other two, but he reassures us that they might also stop by as well. You get to kiss each of the bros in this lesson btw! Right when you and Asmo are having a moment, Satan barges in and steals you away (sorry asmo LOL).

Satan takes you to the mansion’s home theatre, and it is revealed that the bros have been staying at the mansion for a week or so. Satan apologizes and explained that Asmo and Mammon really wanted to plan a surprise for you so everyone kept it a secret. You can either kiss Satan here or tell him to meow for you LOL. Levi shows up telling Satan to head to the kitchen because there is an emergency. Satan sighs and heads out, leaving you and Levi alone together in the theatre. Levi asks you if you wanted to see the backyard of the mansion (I SAID YES OF COURSE) and we go there! Levi says that Asmo requested a pool while the bros requested some other things for themselves. He brings up Henry and you can ask him how he’s doing or you want to see him! Levi takes you to his favourite room, which is his bedroom from the Devildom. HE’S REALLY SWEET HERE AND YOU CAN TELL HIM THAT YOU LOVE HIM AAAAAAAAAAAA.

You leave and meet up with Belphie down the hallway. He asks you how he looks with his new outfit on. (cutie.) You hear whispers from the kitchen and Belphie whispers to you to not listen to them.

If you’re wondering what the whispers are, it was the bros struggling to cook an octopus LOL & Beel trying to eat everything as usual.

He leads you to your room and TA DA! It’s your room from the Devildom. Belphie and the brothers knew that you probably preferred the bedroom you had in the Devildom so they asked Barbatos to create a portal just for that. You snuggle with Belphie and he lies down on your lap. This is a sweet moment here as well!

You wake up in the living room with Beel for some reason. Beel tells you that you and Belphie fell asleep in your room. Apparently, he carried you to the living room omg. OK NOW HERE’S A SWEET MOMENT, Beel tells you how light you are now, and he asks you if you’ve been eating well lately. (AWWWWW.) He also tells you that he is going to take you somewhere and tells you that he needs… party crackers…? Both of you head to Beel & Belphie’s bedroom (from the Devildom probably), and you help him out. I picked the option where you search under the bed and KJSHKFHAK it was a bunch of sweets from the Devildom. Later you and Beel’s eyes both meet and Beel is Fliterally INCHES AWAY from your face. You can kiss him here! After that, Beel gets a message from Lucifer that he’s back…?

It turns out that the brothers threw a surprise party for you!!!! You all raise your glasses together and celebrate!

Later, Lucifer notices that you haven’t been eating well, so I picked that I was just tired from this whole surprise party thing. Lucifer asks you if wanted to go somewhere alone with him (SO I SAID YES WOOOOOOOO). He takes you to his bedroom and the moment he shuts the door, HE HUGS YOU AND TELLS YOU THAT HE MISSES YOU. HE EVEN KISSES YOU AWWWWW. Lucifer asks you if you want to spend the rest of the night together in his room…

And that’s the end of Lesson 41! Hope you enjoyed it! I will be posting a summary for Lesson 42 soon!

You can check my masterlist for other summaries here!

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me spoilers #.m

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heyheydidjaknow · 3 years

Text

It is 6 am. I know that it reads like I’ve never heard of pacing. Trust me, I’m aware. Quite frankly, I am entirely too tired to care. It might not even be as bad as I think it is. It’s possible, I guess, but not likely, I don’t think. I don’t have proofreaders, and it’s probably too edgy or too soon for more edge but you’re along for my ride and I’m sorry. I’ll probably rewrite it at some point, but right now I’m happy I’m even awake right now to post it. My eyes hurt and I'm a little queasy but we are powering through. Having said that, let's torture some fucking teenagers.

Chapter 12

Donatello stares at the small knife intensely.

It is an incredibly boring-looking one. Knowing as little as he does about culinary arts, he does not know the exact use of it, its size and shape giving him very little insight into its use in that environment. He is willing to make an educated guess and assume the blade itself is made of carbon steel, which is not exactly a strange choice for a knife in his opinion. It is not a combat or survival knife. It is hardly sturdy enough to last long in a combat setting. He is tempted to call Mikey to ask him to identify it for a second but thinks better of it.

After all, it fell out of your pocket. Questions would be asked.

He picks it up off the floor, weighing it in his hand. ‘This is a kitchen knife, right?’ He picks your jacket off the floor, folding it neatly and placing it on the back of a chair. ‘Why would she carry around a kitchen knife?’ He rests his head on his arms, holding the offending tool in front of his eyes, continuing to analyze it. ‘To fight? She knows carrying around a knife like this with no combat experience is a bad idea, right? Don’t people usually use pepper spray or something when they want to defend themselves?’

An image flashes into his head. You, standing alone in an alley, pointing this poor excuse of a weapon at a member of The Foot or the Purple Dragon. You, falling back and hitting your head and bleeding out with a knife sticking in your side because you fell on it wrong—‘It’s not even in a sheathe’—and trying to crawl back out into the street, begging to god not to—

He blinks, noticing his knuckles going pale around the handle, mouth weirdly dry.

He swallows. He forces his grip to loosen. ‘That’s dramatic.’ He gets up, slipping the knife back into the pocket of your jacket, hoping he put it in the right one. ‘She’s fine. She’s probably just scared after everything that’s happened. It won’t come to that.’

He sets back down, picking the last gas mask up and turning it over in his hands to give him something to do. He will not have time to properly test whether it works exactly as planned, but he is fairly certain that it and its brothers should allow them to breathe with little difficulty when they need to go into the TCRI building through the elevator shaft. If that is the plan they go with, anyways-- he had elected to stay out of the planning party, seeing as creating explosives strong enough to destroy the portal is enough of a challenge on its own, and he has faith in you and his eldest brother to come up with a good course of action. You guys always did. Bradford was dead after all, a fact that he had been informed made their lives considerably easier. In your words, “Mousers are the fucking worst, and if Bradford had gone off and recruited Stockman, we would have to deal with all of that way sooner.” You had quickly admitted that you did not know how long the peace would last, but you seemed pretty satisfied by the way things were happening overall, despite his accidentally causing the power cell to be stolen—“We’ll have the whole thing under control after this mission, don’t you worry.”

You had also claimed that you had the staking out of Shredder’s lair under control, but that is neither here nor there.

The door to his lab slides open. “Donnie,” you call, “we need to go over the game plan. How’re the explosives coming?”

‘Why is there a knife in your pocket instead of a taser?’ “Theoretically? Well.” He shrugs, getting to his feet. “I can’t really test if they work, but they’re good to go, probably.”

You smile teasingly. “They’re not gonna go off randomly?”

“Probably not.”

“Probably?” Your smile widens.

“No promises.”

“Well,” you grin, “I sure hope they’re good explosives in that case; wouldn’t wanna almost bleed out again.”

His stomach churns. “For sure,” he agrees, crossing the room as you start to “walk” back to the war room/kitchen. “Have you guys decided on anything?”

“Well,” you sigh, “Leo’s bein’ Leo if that’s what you mean. I don’t mind their plan, mind, but it seems a bit silly.” You hold the door open for him. “After you.”

“Dude, totally.” Mikey nods eagerly in agreement to something someone said. “I can get him on board, on prob.”

“Good.” Leonardo taps his finger against the blueprint splayed across the counter. “Now all we need is a big enough box.”

“There should be crates down by the docks.” Raphael looks over at you. “Any stores up top sell ‘em that big?”

“Probably.” You lean against the doorway as Donnie steps past you. “You guys know we don’t know what they’re breathing, right?”

“Yeah. So?” The green-eyed brother gestures to him. “He can figure out letting us breathe.”

“Can and did, but I’m not sure that’s what she’s talking about.” The tall boy crosses his arms across his chest absentmindedly. “If the gases they’re breathing are highly flammable—which, knowing the absurd biology of the Kraang, isn’t out of the question—” You stifle a laugh, covering your mouth, “using explosives in there might blow the roof off the place.”

“That’s good, ain’t it?”

“Not If you don’t want to be pressure cooked, no.”

“Is there some other way to destroy the portal?” Leonardo laced his fingers together, leaning his elbows on the worn island.

“Without knowing the metal they’re using?” He shakes his head. “Even if we did, I’m not sure if I could safely create hydrochloric or nitric acid, especially on such short notice, let alone transport it.”

“Then we’re screwed.” Raph looks off. “Perfect.”

“Unless you feel confident in busting out of that building on a time crunch, we’d need someone to be close enough to the bomb to actually use the detonator. Seeing as we need all hands on deck, we really don’t have anyone that could fit the bill.” Even with his back to you, you notice his tension. “Unless you guys just want to crack a window or something, but that would kinda negate the point of doing the whole stealth thing, setting off an obvious alarm.”

“That’s not true.” Mikey points out the obvious. “Y/N could do it.”

“I’m down,” you shrug, moving your hands to slide in your nonexistent pockets. “You’d need to let me know when to do it so I don’t fry you guys, but I might as well add domestic terrorism to my non-existent rap sheet.” You smile wryly at that.

You think you hear Donnie mutter something before speaking up. “I’m not sure there are any buildings high enough up or close enough to be an effective--”

“Sure there is.” Mikey, again. “There’s that apartment building across that alley. It’s plenty tall.”

“Oh yeah, huh?” Raph smiles sharply. “Even has a fire escape to climb.”

The idea of climbing anything anywhere makes you want to vomit, but the idea of having to deal with whatever goes on with the saving of Leatherhead later is enough to ignore it. ‘Stop being a pussy,’ you reprimand yourself, feeling vertigo already. ‘It’s a fucking ladder. A twenty-story high ladder, yeah, but it's still just a ladder.’

“She can’t use a ladder,” the tallest brother protests. “She can’t use one of her legs.”

“Then she can take the stairs, or we can carry her there before we go.” You take slow, deep, quiet breaths. “It’s no big deal. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind doing it, right?”

You are suddenly incredibly grateful that you are leaning against a doorframe. The idea of being carried over buildings, twenty stories into the air, makes the ground sway underneath you. You subtly dig your fingernails into the walls on impulse, trying to slowly relieve the pressure.

“It’s not about—What are you even talking about?” You barely register his bashful embarrassment, swallowing thickly. “I’m just saying…”

You can barely hear them, shutting your eyes as you feel sticky, warm blood on your fingertips, dripping down in between your digits. You wipe the phantom liquid off on your jeans quickly, thoroughly, opening your eyes to see what you register as the other three ragging on Donnie about something you do not catch. You lock your knees to keep them from shaking as bad as your hands, ignoring the nausea and staring straight ahead. ‘Your folks didn’t raise a wuss. Your hands aren’t wet. Snap out of it.’

You force yourself to focus on counting threads in your sleeves. You get to thirty-five before you feel someone shaking your shoulder.

“Dude, you alright?” Mikey was waving a hand in front of your face, having apparently crossed the room from his seat on the counter. “Hello?”

Your eyes snap up from your wrist to look at him. “Hm? Yeah, totally.” You nod. “Just zoned out is all.”

He put the back of his hand to your forehead as if he knew what he was looking for. “You sure? You look sick.”

You nod again. “Just didn’t sleep well last night. I’m fine.”

“Do you plan on zoning out during the mission?” Raphael smirked. “Don—”

“No,” you cut him off sharply. “I’ll be fine. When are you guys going?”

“A couple of hours.” Donnie is staring holes into you. “The hours listed online say actual people work until then, but the actual building is open for another few hours, so by the time we get far enough down to hopefully not feel the effects of the blast, we won’t have to worry about witnesses or people getting caught up in it.”

“Awesome.” You start out the door, using the walls to limp back to the lab. “Meetcha back here in an hour.”

He runs after you. “Need me to come with you? I can help pick a crate out.” The way his words spill out is not lost on you. “O-or I could drive you there if you want—it’s bad to walk around so much on your leg, especially at night.”

“If you don’t mind vomit in your party-wagon, sure.” You slip through the gap in the door, grabbing your jacket and pulling it on. “Honestly, Donnie, I’m fine.”

“But—”

“I walk home all the time.” You use the chair to roll over to your walker, snapping it open and getting to your feet. “I’m just going to go to a hardware store, buy a couple of the largest boxes they have, grab some dinner, and come back. Besides, you have to worry about getting in, right? I’ll be fine, really.”

He wants to argue. He does not.

“Text me if you need anything while I’m out.” You maneuver past him with a bit of difficulty. “Want me to pick up some pizza while I’m out?”

“… yeah.” He nods, shaking off the feeling sinking into his gut with a bit of difficulty. “If you want some, you’ll have to eat it on your own, though.”

You smile back at him. “I’ll get something else to eat,” you roll your eyes, voice oozing with honey seemingly unintentionally. “Don’t you worry too hard about me, now; your brothers give you a hard enough time as is.”

“Don’t get yourself killed and I’ll think about it,” he jokes, mostly serious.

You laugh. “I’ll try, Dad.”

He has never noticed how loud you walk until today. Maybe it is just that it is unusually loud in comparison to him and his brothers, or maybe it is the sound of it knocking around the concrete walls of the lair bouncing the sound off the walls, but he cannot help but notice it, how easily he can identify where you are just by listening. How has he never noticed that? ‘You could hear her down the street, walking past. Anyone with ears could tell where she is, no problem.’

He feels himself grip onto the door to keep himself from running after you and insisting he come with you. ‘If someone can hear her walking down the street, someone can hear her scream. They’ll call someone. Who would leave a teenage girl to get attacked?’ He does not answer his question.

He shuts the door. ‘And she has a point. I still need to figure out how to get us into TCRI without the cameras catching us.’ He sits back at his workstation to think. ‘It doesn’t have to be too advanced. A remote-controlled dolly wouldn’t take much time to build, and I have the code already.’

It is not an effective distraction, but it is enough to preoccupy him for a solid half an hour.

You are back at the time you say you are going to be back. The trip did not take you long, although carrying the boxes and food was an unforeseen challenge, and you bought yourself a burrito and soda, so all is well. You and the guys eat in the kitchen, you do not have another episode and, all in all, you almost forget about the fact you will have to be carried up a twenty-story building.

Standing and staring up at the building they had ended up next to is an easy reminder.

You swallow your dinner back, mouth dry. ‘Commit.’ You fold your walker up, hiding it behind a dumpster and hooking your arms around Donnie’s neck before you can chicken out, shutting your eyes tight, the humming of their van—you had walked—doing nothing to ease your nerves. You hear the others say something before the engine roars back to life, the tires squealing against the asphalt as they drive off.

“I’m not going to drop you,” he promises, barely noticing the extra weight as he hooks one of his arms under your thigh to pull your body flush against his. Your legs immediately tighten into a vice-like grip around his middle, pulling him even closer.

“Fucking better not.” He starts to scale the building with a bit of difficulty, with one arm otherwise preoccupied. “I’ll haunt your ass.”

He smiles at that. He jumps up, grabbing onto the railing of a fire escape and earning a squeak of terror and a quiet string of obscenities from you. He takes longer than usual out of necessity but finds a quiet joy in how hard you cling to him, swallowing laughs drawn out by your swears—his personal favorite is, “Oh fuck me Mother Mary!” which is a result of him overshooting the railing, resulting in both of you violently swinging back and forth for a time.

“Are we on solid ground?” Your voice is pleading.

“We’re on the roof, yeah.”

You let go, sliding down to your knees and lacing your fingers together behind your neck, breathing for the first time in the eternity—two minutes—it had taken to get there. You want to cry, your heart pounding out of your chest as you try to catch your breath.

“Are you okay?”

You nod once, shifting back and putting your head between your knees to regain your head.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ He crouched down in front of you, concerned. “You sure?”

You nod again.

“Are you being honest?”

“I will be in a sec,” you snap shakily.

He backs off, staying in that position.

You give yourself a count of fifteen before looking back up at him. “I’m good.” You take a deep breath, pulling yourself into him again. “Let’s do this shit before I’m not.”

The journey over is painfully silent, other than your guys’ breathing. Balance is the only real problem throughout. Holding you and making sure not to crush you makes the normal measures he would normally use to soften his falls impossible, meaning his jumps cannot be as high or far as normal—the last thing you need on top of everything else is a concussion. The trip might have been rendered shorter had it not been for the need for the Kraang to know nothing of their whereabouts, but he does not think it is too long until he moves to let go of you.

You do not let go of him.

“Y/N?”

Nothing.

“Y/N,” he says again, “we’re here.”

You do not move to let go of you, your heartbeat thundering against his chest.

“I’m going to set you down.” He unhooks your legs, lowering himself and setting you on the floor. “See?” He unlatches your arms, gently pulling you away from him.

Your face is white as a sheet, mind only barely registering the fact you were on solid ground. He would be concerned you were dead had it not been your incredibly fast pulse. You stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused.

You blink, pushing the hair out of your face as you get to your feet. “Sorry,” you mumble. “Zoned out. Tired.”

He hesitantly gives you the detonator. “Alright,” he relents. “You know the plan, right? You remember it still?”

“I’m scared, not dumb.” Your face flushes. “Sorry. That was mean.”

He blinks, confused. “It’s fine,” he shrugs. “Lack of sleep can cause irritability, especially in teenagers.” His voice is soft despite his own anxiety about the whole plan. He hands you your phone. “I’ll come back to pick you up. If I don’t in two hours, text me. If I don’t respond…” he trails off.

Your stomach drops. “You will,” you assure him firmly. “I know you will.”

“If I don’t,” he nods in agreement, if only for your sake, “hell will’ve frozen over anyway.”

You chuckle nervously at that. You reach over, cupping his face in your hands. “Seriously, though,” you make him look at you properly, “kick their asses for me.”

He smiles, his face heating up under your hands. “You got it.” He gets up. “See ya, then.” He smiles tipsily, waves, and runs off.

You watch him bound rooftops, grateful he had seemingly not noticed the violent shaking of your hands as you set the electronics down. You swallow again, dragging yourself and leaning your back against the ledge, crossing your legs in front of you. You lean over, placing the detonator down next to you carefully and picking your phone up. You shakily input the passcode, turn the volume as low as it would go, and press the speaker to your ear, sinking into a song with a slow exhale of breath. While you had refused yourself any illicit substances for the same reason you had gotten rid of your sleeping pills, you saw no issue with relying on music for some stress relief, the familiarity of the slower song letting your heartbeat match its rhythm.

You reach down, pulling your pant leg up and carefully peeling the tape from your good leg, wrapping your fingers around the handle of the paring knife and holding it at your side. Sure, you know, logically, it would do little but hinder you in a fight, but you felt as though you needed something, anything to make you feel less weak. You already feel the embarrassment from clinging onto him so tightly, tears pricking at your eyes. “You’re the literal definition of a damsel in distress,” you mumble, scoffing at yourself. “A young, unmarried woman who is in distress. A crazy damsel in distress at that.” You blink them away. “God, you’re really fucking pathetic, huh?” You chuckle, swallowing again and pressing the phone closer to your ear. “You’re almost a fucking adult and you’re scared of a little height and a little blood. Perspective, Y/N.”

It feels like an hour of sitting, knees now at your chest as you listen to music to take the edge off—‘Like taking ibuprofen for an amputation.’ Regardless of how effective it is, it does something, at least, and that is all you can ask for right now.

You jump out of your skin when your phone buzzes with a text. You fumble with it, pulling it to your face to read Casey asking if you were still free next Tuesday for his stupid fucking game. You text him back that, yes, you are, and hope he stubs his toe for the false alarm.

The text comes at eleven-o-three.

You almost drop the phone, the message “NOW” crossing your screen. You pick the device up carefully, craning your neck back to glance at the building across the street, feeling as though you missed something incredibly important despite knowing the contrary. You swallow one more time and slam your hand down on the button.

The sound of the explosion roars in your ears, your eyes widening at the light now illuminating the roof, images of that night burning in your head and squeezing your throat. You drop the detonator, covering your ears as the ground in front of you is seemingly set alight. It barely registers to you that it is a cold autumn night. Why would you care when all you can hear is screaming? Why bother when your heart is begging to be let out of your chest, when your blood is pooling under you and all your scars are open? All you can see as you shudder, shutting your eyes tightly, is that man’s sides slashed with glass, warm red dripping out of him and onto the dashboard.

You look up, choking on your fear.

You remember what you forgot.

The walls of the top three floors of TCRI?

They are made entirely of the glass now showering down on you.

Table of Contents

Chapter 11

Chapter 13

32 notes · View notes

zoefandom127 · 3 years

Text

Uhhhh this title is def subject to change. I saw a comment for a drabble idea but ive been dreaming abt this for a while and i dont want to forget it so im gonna write this real quick

No Answer

"You stay here while we go inside to find the refugees. We'll radio you when we need transport from the inside."

John explained as he, Marcos, and Lauren jumped through the portal and into a dimly lit hallway. Rumors say that Sentinel Services have set up random stations all around the city, harboring troubled mutants who seek help and liberation. Though many are widely known, they are extremely hard to locate let alone infiltrate. But Sage, being the genius that she is, found one just on the outskirts of the city in a manner of hours.

This warehouse had a series of buildings surrounding it, one of the larger facilities in the system meaning more blind spots in the security. They were hidden in an alley between what looked to be a conference building and the east side of the main warehouse. After going through the blueprints of the warehouse, Clarice memorized every section and hall, every nook and cranny while Marcos, John, and Lauren memorized keypad codes and camera placements.

"Copy that."

John looked back at Clarice. "Be safe. Stay out of sight." Don't get caught. Don't die. Unspoken but so clearly heard.

"Right back at you." Clarice nodded back.

He wasn't too keen on leaving her alone but for the sake of the mission, he kept his mouth shut. Plus, he definitely didn't want to be on the end of Clarice's hard glare and cocked hip at the discussion that he "thinks she can't take of herself." The portal closed behind them and Marcos pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket.

"Sage wrote down the directions. We take a left up here."

The group cautiously walked down a hallway and turned into a wider, main hall. Lauren placed bubbled air in front of cameras to blur the lenses, dropping them as soon as all three of them were not in view. They took another left and stopped in front of a large metal door labeled "Rfge Subjects". Lauren stepped up to enter the code, whispering the numbers under her breath before pushing them on the keypad. The door opened to reveal ten, maybe twelve, mutants ranging from ages 12-18, every one of them huddled in the farthest corner of the room. They kept their heads down and didn't make eye contact with Lauren and Marcos when they walked in, John standing outside the door to watch for Sentinel agents walking by.

Marcos flashed his hands in the dark room to make everything easier to see. The refugees perked up slightly when Marcos showed his abilities. Lauren walked up to one of the younger mutants with hands held up in front of her to show she meant no harm.

"Hi. We're from the Mutant Underground. We're going to get you all out of here." She looked around, addressing everyone.

The refugees looked at one another wearily.

Lauren tried again. "We're one of the good guys. I promise. We can explain later but right now we've got to go."

The 15-year-old, the one Lauren was trying to get through to first, stood and quickly walked over to Lauren's side of the room, looking back at the others and waving at them to join. One by one each refugee stood up to join one another. Lauren smiled down at the 15-year-old and nodded her head.

"John, we're all good here," Marcos spoke up.

John looked in to see if everything was okay before pulling a walkie-talkie from the waist of his jeans and pushing a button to call Clarice.

"Clare, we're done. Portal to room 118."

He released the button and waited but was met with static for a good 20 seconds.

"Clarice?" John's eyebrows knitted together as the tone in his voice changed to concern.

Marcos looked back at John's stiff posture. "What's going on?"

John waited a moment before answering, hoping Clarice would respond before he spoke.

"Something's wrong."

"Guy's what's happening? Why isn't the portal here yet." Lauren questioned, worriedly.

John placed the walkie back in his waistband in stiff movements. "I don't know but Clarice isn't answering. We gotta find another way out."

Marcos took out a paper with written directions to an exit in the south wing. If they opened any door without clearance an alarm would sound throughout the whole building and alert everyone in the building. So much for being discreet.

"Alright, let's go quickly." Marcos ushered everyone out of the room and into the hallway, Lauren already disorienting the cameras that could potentially see them.

"You guys go ahead without me," John spoke gruffly once the big metal door that held the mutants was closed. "I have to find Clarice."

Marcos simply nodded. There was no way he was stopping him. "Be careful."

With that, he and Lauren turned and led everyone down the opposite hall.

John ran down his intended hall, taking the rights, and left he memorized to take him to the side door of the east wing. Without anything to cover the cameras, he would surely be recognized so he had to move fast before people were sent to find him.

As soon as it was in sight, John busted through the east side door without hesitation. The alarm blared through the building loud and unyielding but he didn't care. He looked both ways of the alley before his eyes landed on Clarice with her back turned to him slumped on her knees in front of a figure dressed in a black and red trench coat. The figure had both hands just inches away from either side of Clarice's head. Their hands had red electrical beams coming from the palms and directed to Clarice's temples.

He rushed to her before he even knew his feet were moving. "Clarice!"

The figure looked up, alarmed, to see John and very quickly sunk into the ground. Gone.

John kneeled down in front of Clarice, cupping her face in his hands. Her face was tear-stained and her eyes were glassy. She kept staring ahead. It didn't even seem like she was aware of John's presence.

"I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry," she whispered shakily, still looking past John's face ahead of her.

"Clarice?" John whispered to her, rocks dug into his knees but weren't registered.

On both temples, red-looking veins expanded from her hairline to her eyes and the apples of her cheeks.

"I didn't know. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."

John looked behind to see if he could find who she was speaking to. Nothing.

"Clarice," he brushed a tear just as it fell from her eyes. She was trembling, distraught. It was scary to see. "Clarice we've got to go."

No answer.

He could hear Sentinels and they're not too far. They needed to get out of there.

He stood up and hauled her up with him but her legs proved to not work as she slumped against him. Still, her gaze didn't move. John bent down to place an arm behind her legs and back, lifting her up against his chest. She shuddered and muttered more apologies, to who and for what, he had no idea.

John held her more firmly and brushed a gentle kiss against her hairline as he ran to find Marcos and the others.

there will be a part 2 just so y’all kno😂 i wrote 2 chapters yesterday so go check out the other one on fanfiction.net and ao3. Im prob gonna go back and edit this one l8r but i was really excited to write this! Call me out on any mistakes cuz u alr kno i didnt proofread!

#the gifted #writing #ao3 #fanfic #john proudstar #clarice fong #thunderblink #lauren strucker #marcos diaz #mission gone wrong #angst with a happy ending #part 1

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fanfictrashdump · 3 years

Text

Universe in a Jar, 5 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Mentions of sexual encounters, sarcasm, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

"You have to stop getting frustrated, pet. You know that is what's keeping you from achieving anything," Loki suggested gently, holding onto Persephone's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. The way the words rolled off his tongue gave indication of just how many times he had repeated them. His voice was still gentle, the way it always was when speaking to Persephone, a gentle urging rather than the acid tone he was known for, but the thinning of his patience was beginning to bleed through.

Persephone groaned, falling back onto the living room rug with a dramatic flail. "I know! I just–I can't visualize it!"

"We're just molding the glass. Taking your magic and giving it different shape," Wanda added, helpfully. Luckily, Seph couldn't see the grimace set on the witch's face. "Take the house, for example. How did you shape your portal to fit into your apartment so that you could stuff the farmhouse in it?"

"I didn't. I summon, it happens. Like a fluid, it just fills the shape of whatever it's in. I can't actually control it."

"You can," Loki interrupted her rant, "because I can. I already showed you that I can warp the walls. So, you can, too."

With a huff, she threw her forearm over her eyes, as if this shielded her from the rest of reality. "I don't understand how it works. I haven't needed to understand how it works. The books aren't helping and this is stupid!"

"Hey..."

Seph involuntarily flinched at Stephen's voice coming from beside her. When she peeked over her arm, she found him crouched down to her right, a calm look set on his face–very different from the borderline pitying and frustrated looks she was getting from the rest of the room.

"Here." He held out a bar of her favorite chocolate for her to take, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Where'd you get this?"

Stephen then smirked. "Portal'ed into Old Man James' shop. Can't believe he's still alive, by the way. He has to be a hundred and ten, by now." He shook the bar. "Go on. You know you need it. Studying isn't your thing."

Seph sat up quickly, fidgeting in her place as she fought with the wrapper. "I didn't tell you–I thought you were busy–I didn't intentionally not tell–"

"Hey, you're fine." He waved away her concern. "We both know I don't have the patience to teach."

"That's not true. What you lack is the desire."

He laughed. "That too." He paused just long enough to reach over and tear the wrapper in the corner. "I have some things to take care of at the Sanctum. Do you think you can manage with these two?" He offered a nod in response to hers and he rose to his feet. "Chocolate and a five minute break when she gets overwhelmed. Works miracles," he muttered to Loki as he brushed past and patted him on the back.

"Thanks, Stephen," Seph called after him as he walked through the portal he had just made by the door.

He waved it off for the second time that day, seeming so much more level-headed than she ever remembered him being, and disappeared into the Sanctum halls.

Loki and Wanda stared at each other before the witch plopped onto the sofa nearest Persephone. "Why aren't you asking Stephen to help? He seems to know how you function pretty well."

"Learning from him is a nightmare. He actually has all the patience in the world, but I get easily frustrated, and then he gets frustrated… It goes south very fast from there." She shrugged.

Wanda groaned. "You know, you two not having sex is putting a real damper on our progress."

"Wanda!"

Loki snorted somewhere beside her and Seph stuffed a chunk of chocolate into her mouth.

"She's not wrong, pet."

"Well, you're both going to have to deal with it, OK? This is not up for debate."

Persephone's brow furrowed as she concentrated once again on the veil between the worlds. So far, not even a glimmer was present in her efforts and it was getting more frustrating by the moment. Tutting quietly under his breath, Loki slipped onto the floor beside her. His hand trailed gracefully down her shoulder until he grasped her hand in his. Locking their fingers together, he gently pried her digits open with his own.

"Focus. Can you see where your magic touches reality?" With a shudder brought on by his velvety voice in her ear, she shook her head in the negative. "Can you feel it, then?" She gave a nod. "Stretch your hand to where you feel it begin." He followed her movements until their entwined fingers were nearly touching the wall. No one could deny the smile on Loki's face at the imperceptible twitch of her fingers as the static of magic prickled at the tips. "Your magic is something flowy. Like silk or satin." He hummed under his breath for a beat as he paused to think. "Maybe lighter. Like gauze or gossamer. It's curtain between realities, keeping Nebraska inside of New York. A house within an apartment. An infinite within another infinite. How much or how little one world seeps into the other depends on how much you open the curtain. You control the curtain and you need only to grasp the fabric," he closed his hand around hers, "and pull it open."

His hand moved both of theirs back and a sliver of boring beige wall peeked through the intricate wallpaper that filled the house. Persephone gasped, doubly so when Loki let his own hand drop and the gap between worlds still existed. Committing the sensation to memory, she opened her hand and reality sealed itself back again.

"Once more, love. Peel away the garments and let reality figure itself out," he murmured and another shiver ran down her spine. This time she didn't hesitate, and though her attempt was a little shaky, soon a swathe of beige was barely visible. "There's a clever girl." His fingers danced over the curve of her waist, prompting Seph to stare questioningly over her shoulder. Their eyes locked, eternities passing in quiet contemplation of each other.

"Monster, monster, monster!" Wanda called in a panic, magic swirling in her hands ready for attack.

Seph dropped the divider with a shriek at the sight of the twisted maw of what she assumed was a hell beast. The creature hissed and growled as it slipped through just shy of this reality stitching itself together. Without missing a beat, Loki flicked his hands forward and the monster dissolved into green sparks and stardust that flickered and sparkled on the hardwood floor.

"It's just a void hound. No need to panic," Loki announced matter-of-factly.

"A what, now?" Wanda asked, twisting her hands with sneer to rid the floor of whatever remained of the creature.

"Void hound. Your people call it the monster under the bed or the grim. It's just a shadow that slipped through the cracks in reality."

"You knew this could happen?" Seph had shuffled all the way back against an armchair and away from the walls.

"It's a possibility, but I was here. Besides, I just wanted to show you what was possible. You can open the walls between realities, but what you want to do is mold from the inside. Hounds can't slip in if you don't give them a place to slip into, after all."

"So," Wanda began, "if I hadn't been here and stopped you from eating each other's faces off, what would have happened?"

"Consumed by ever-looming darkness and despair in the void, most likely."

The short silence that followed nearly drained the color from their surroundings.

"Nope. No more magic. Don't need it. Bye." Seph rescued her chocolate bar from the corner it had been flung and was moving quite swiftly out of the living room.

Loki rolled his eyes, a little glad he was well out of her sight. "I was kidding, love! Nothing's going to harm you."

"Nope. I don't–" A loud screech interrupted her. In her distraction, she had not seen Stephen arrive and was not expecting the warm hand on her shoulder.

"Jesus, Peep! It's just me!" He glanced at Loki and Wanda with a disappointed look. "You get rid of it?"

"Yeah, Loki turned it into dust," Wanda retorted simply.

"Good." Stephen turned to look at Seph's tight-knit brow and wide eyes. "Why are you running away?"

Seph answered the question for one of her own that she deemed far more pressing. "There's monsters!?"

Stephen frowned. "Sorcerer, witch, alien sorcerer," he started, pointing at himself, Wanda, and Loki, in turn. "At what point did monsters become too implausible?"

"I don't want monsters!"

"Which is why I told them not to have you opening the veil, but clearly that bit of information didn't stick."

"You told–you knew I was doing this?"

Stephen couldn't help but smile at the little notch forming between her brows, even as his right thumb smoothed it away. He nodded as if there was nothing to it. "I asked them to. I knew you wouldn't ask for help to try out what you've read and I didn't want you to try on your own."

Persephone sighed, her head hanging forward between her shoulders as she tried to work out the situation in her head. She gave up shortly after starting. "Why?"

Stephen shrugged. "I want to fix my mistakes. This is what I can give you, right now. Skills, support, making sure you don't go out without proper tools in a very confusing world. It's not much, but–"

"Shut up, Steve!" There was an edge of exasperation in her tone, though her volume remained soft. "You really gotta learn when to skip self-deprecation station." She wrapped her arms loosely around his waist with a little groan that he replied with a quiet sigh and a gentle, almost hesitant kiss on her forehead.

"My Jiminy Cricket has been busy. I'm out of practice."

"I am not a cartoon cricket, Strange. Or your conscience, for that matter. You wouldn't be in this shitshow if I were," she mumbled from somewhere within the t-shirt he wore.

That pulled a heartfelt chuckle out of the Sorcerer. "You say that, but I call Loki a conceited twat–"

"Be nice!"

"–and that happens."

"To be fair," the Asgardian Prince cut in, "he's not entirely wrong. Though he mistakes conceit with confidence."

"Oh, no, I am confident you're a–" Persephone's hand slammed onto Stephen's mouth, though he continued mumbling behind the makeshift muzzle. He would later swear up and down that it was the principle of the thing that made him finish. Stephen peeled her hand off, shit-eating grin beaming at her. "Do you want some help with portals?"

"Help from the Sorcerer Supreme? Lucky girl." Wanda's tone earned her a half-hearted glare from the woman still clinging to said Sorcerer. "What? It's cute! Stephen pretending he's not still in love with you, you and Loki pretending you definitely don't want into each other's pants, all us pretending we're not delaying an inevitable, tragic end by hiding out–"

"You are way out of line, Wanda."

The witch stomped a warpath, eyes glowing red and tendrils of scarlet weeping from her person. Seph jumped back, sharing a short look with Loki, a mutual understanding to de-escalate the situation if it got too out of hand.

"And you have no idea what you're doing, Strange! We're wasting time. My family–"

"Is a manufactured fallacy! Do you know how many holes you created in the multiverse just because you wanted to play house with Vision? Wong's up to his neck in timelines to be corrected, which I can't help with because I don't want you rooting around my brain to figure out where they are!"

"Stephen…" The hand wrapped around his bicep both made him start and settled down his anger long enough to notice he had been poised to deliver a blow of equal magnitude as Wanda was planning. He snapped his fists closed, orange runes disappearing. "Peep, step back."

Ignoring the command, Seph stared at Wanda with a quirked brow. "Drop it."

"Persephone–" The witch's lip quivered.

"I know. I understand, Wanda. But you two have the potential to destroy each other. Let's not do this. Please." Everyone let out a collective breath when Wanda chose to cross her arms and avert her gaze. "Thank you." She squeezed the bicep in her hand again. "You know, the tractor has been stalling a lot. I'm pretty sure it's the injector." Stephen opened his mouth to protest. "Please. For me?"

The group watched Stephen nod curtly and turn on his heel, marching out the kitchen door towards the barn.

Loki cleared his throat, awkwardly. "I'll put the kettle on, shall I?"

"Thanks, Lo." Letting her shoulders sink, she stepped quietly towards the witch and opened her arms. "Come here." There was no hesitancy at how Wanda launched herself into Seph's embrace, promptly breaking into a sob. "I know, honey. I know."

Wanda's response was a half-choked and raspy, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We'll all be fine." Seph led them to the sofa, gently carding her fingers through auburn tresses in an effort to soothe her friend.

"He just doesn't understand."

Persephone chuckled. "Oh, honey. That is not true. He probably understands better than anyone." She titled her head to catch Wanda's gaze. "He's been losing people his whole life. He's still convinced he's responsible for some of them."

Wanda pulled away, sinking into the back cushion with a scowl. "Then why won't he let me search for my family?"

"Every Universe is slightly different. It's an amalgamation of every alternate path to every decision. There are hundreds of millions of Universes and the one where your family is still alive, may also be the Universe where Thanos won, or Vision joined Ultron or you died. It wouldn't be your family." She shrugged. "In his own, twisted way, he's trying to protect you."

"I don't want his–"

"Protection. I know. But… can you trust that he's doing it for good reason? If you work with him instead of in spite of him, I think you'd get a lot farther."

She got a scoff in return. "I hate him."

Seph giggled. "Join the club. He has one of those faces… and attitudes… and egos."

She smiled up at Loki who had brought out a pot of tea and was precariously balancing two mugs atop it. Craning her neck, she glanced out of one of the back windows to see Stephen scuffing his way up the hill to the barn. Smirking, she slapped her thighs with a resolute nod and got herself out of the sofa.

"I need to go check on him. He'll probably come back and apologize, later. Thanks for your help, today. It was actually good to understand how the portals work." Just as she rounded the corner to exit the house, she paused, stepping backwards until she was back in the living room. "Just for the record, if you ever feel the need to comment on my or anyone's love life to get a barb in because you're frustrated, again, I will lock you in a box and you better hope to God that Stephen and Loki can get you out. Understood?" She held Wanda's gaze until the witch nodded, cheeks reddening. "Perfect. Thanks for the backup, Loki."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, smirking behind his mug and giving her a two-fingered salute before she disappeared out the kitchen.

#marvel #mcu #mcu fanfiction #mcu phase 4 #doctor strange #stephen strange #loki mcu #wanda maximoff #wong mcu #multiverse #marvel phase four #original character

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mymoodwriting · 4 years

Photo

“I’m in.”

If you could kiss Ten, you would, but he was currently occupied. Besides you needed to focus, you were on a mission, and you had only just begun. One of your own had been taken, Lucas, and you were here to retrieve him. Getting on the train was the easy part, thanks to Mark, but nothing was ever that simple.

You had all infiltrated the front car, only to find no one was actually operating the train, it drove itself. That made it easier for Ten to take control by hacking into the operating system and doing a manual override. Once he was in, small holographic screens appeared around his head as he began to go through the trains manifest and gain access to all systems. While he was doing that, best not to distract him.

“Good.” Taeyong said. “So where’s Lucas?”

“For starters there aren’t any cameras but that’s just where our problems begin.” Ten sighed. “The manifest says this train is carrying basic cargo, each car supposedly filled with crates. No one is meant to be here, there’s no real room.”

“Well of course he wouldn’t be on the manifest.” Mark stated. “He was kidnapped and he’s supposed to be taken somewhere discretely, hence the lack of cameras. Or is that not how abduction works anymore?”

“What I’m saying is that we’re going to have to check every train car for Lucas. And there are eight, not including this one.”

“Fuck.” Taeyong ran a hand through his hair. “Y/n, can you sense him?”

“No… I’ve got nothing… nothing at all… which is weird…”

“What do you mean?”

“Ten, can you bring up the train cars?”

“Sure.”

Ten did as you asked, projecting a mini holographic train in front of everyone. You stared at it for a while, trying to understand your own senses.

“It’s like… all the cars are dark. Usually I could at least sense objects, but it’s like I’m blocked… like this train is blocking my powers. I can’t sense or connect to anyone outside this car right now.”

“That’s not normal.” Mark said. “Is it?”

“Not at all… whoever took Lucas… they know about my powers, and how to cut me off.”

“If that’s the case then we can’t use you as a means of communication.” Ten said. “For your sake.”

“I don’t think my telepathy is hackable!” You countered. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, I can see that, I’m saying we can’t solely rely on your telepathic powers. If one of us gets locked in a car we’d wind up cut off from the others. Best to keep comms on as a back up.”

“Ten’s right.” Taeyong agreed. “We keep comms on, just to be safe, and we leave cars open, don’t wanna get trapped too.”

Taeyong went over and slid the side door open, his body sticking out a bit to look at the rest of the train cars. There were eight they needed to search.

“Mark and I can make our way to the last car, then work our way back up here. Y/n, you stay with Ten, keep him safe. I’m sure whoever owns this train knows there’s something wrong by now. Give me a deadline Ten.”

“In about twenty minutes we’ll be going into a tunnel, if we can have Lucas back by then I can stop the train and we can escape without eyes on us.”

“Perfect, keep us updated on what happens up here. Don’t cause trouble.”

“We won’t.”

“Be safe.” You said. “And fast.”

You gave both boys a kiss before Mark created a black portal on the ground. They both jumped in and disappeared, then the portal did too. For a moment you lost touch with them, their minds, but then you felt them again as they opened one of the car doors.

“Can you hear me love?”

“Loud and clear. What do you see Mark?”

“Boxes, just like the manifest said.”

“You don’t sense Lucas do you?” Taeyong asked. “Please don’t tell me we’re gonna have to open the boxes.”

“No, I can sense the boxes, seems to be full of metal, no humans in them, move to the next car.”

“Got it, Ten, care to open the door?”

“Give me a sec.”

Ten opened the next car door for the two, but just like the last, it was filled with boxes, and no Lucas. The third was the same and you began to feel anxious. The intel you had about Lucas being on this train was solid, Ten was never wrong with his hacking, and you trusted his words, but worry began to creep on you. A minor downside of your telepathic communication with the boys was that they were well aware of your current emotions.

“Don’t worry y/n, we’ll find him.” Mark assured. “I know it.”

“And when we do, we’ll get out of here and throw a big party.” Taeyong added. “All your favorites.”

“Promise?”

“Of course baby.”

His words certainly helped relax you, but that moment was short lived. As they entered car number four they became aware that things weren’t right. For starters the car was empty, which contradicted the manifest, but then again it wasn’t a complete lie, and you hated the fact that you couldn’t give them a heads up.

“You’re on my train.”

Another guy was in the car, which wasn’t entirely surprising, dressed in white, and calm. Surely whoever took Lucas wouldn’t just chuck him on a train without some form of security to make sure he didn’t escape. In fact seeing someone only confirmed to them Lucas was here.

“Y/n, mind messing with this guy?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“There’s another guy in the car with us.” Mark said. “Can you not sense him?”

“Another… no… no I can only sense both of you. What the hell!”

“That’s fine, we’ll deal with him.” Taeyong added. “This should be no prob-”

The car door suddenly shut behind Taeyong and Mark, and instantly they lost connection with you. They both became visibly frustrated, but Tae was quickly on his comms.

“What the fuck, Ten.”

“Like you said, whoever owns the train would know something is wrong. I’m losing control.”

“Well get it back!”

“I’m busy with something else right now!”

“Shit.” Taeyong knew what he meant. “We’ll be fine, just take care of her.”

“I know! I’ll contact you when we’re good.”

“Are we just going to stand around?” The other guy asked. “Or are we going to fight.”

“Two against one.” Mark commented. “Not fair.”

“For you.”

Mark made the first move and charged, but his opponent was quick to dodge. In fact they handled themselves well against two. The fight wasn’t going in anyone’s favor for a while, but then things quickly took a turn. The door to the next car opened up, and Mark was kicked through before it shut.

“Mark!”

“We can have more fun this way, can’t we?”

“You know I was going to nicely ask for our teammate back, but I’d rather beat your ass first.”

“You can try.”

When Mark fell into the next car he was surrounded by darkness. There was a bit of light that shined in for a second. It was just enough to see that the car was empty like the last. He quickly turned back around and slammed his fists on the door, but there was no way to get back to Taeyong. He was about to create a portal when he realized he wasn’t alone.

“Hello.”

Mark jumped when he saw himself in the middle of the car, the sudden flash of light making his doppelganger look creepy. Before he could respond the double disappeared and he seemed to be alone again. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, and slowly walked through the car. There was no one else, as far as he knew. For the moment he ignored it and contacted Ten.

“Ten, I got separated from Taeyong. I’m okay but he’s not on comms, and I can’t get back to him. Is y/n alright?”

When you lost your connection to Taeyong and Mark you collapsed to your knees, grabbing your head. You were usually constantly connected, had been for years, so not having that felt like something was wrong, like some part of you was missing. Losing Lucas hurt like hell, and it took a while before you had calmed down, so to lose two at once, and so sudden, you felt like someone had stabbed you.

Ten was quickly by your side when you collapsed, ignoring his other duties to make sure you were okay. You had to pull through, now wasn’t the time to fall apart, you were under attack, and right now you were distracting Ten. He was talking to you, offering words of comfort but you couldn’t really register anything. You took some deep breaths, and slowly regained your composure. Hearing Mark over the comms help remind you that just cause you weren’t linked didn’t mean they were unreachable.

“She’s better now.” Ten responded over comms. “What happened with you?”

“This other guy threw me into another car when the door opened, and it shut behind me. I can’t get back to Taeyong.”

“Fuck. Someone’s been taking back control of the train. I can try to kick them out of the system and get you back with Tae but it’s gonna take a minute.”

“I can-”

The comms suddenly went dead, screeching feedback into your ear. You quickly pulled out the ear piece, as did Ten, knowing the others probably did the same. The train wasn’t just being hacked, so was your communication, both human and inhuman.

“What do we do now?” You asked. “Taeyong and Mark-”

“Can take care of themselves. I just need to regain control of the train.”

“What have you lost?”

“Most of the access to the last few cars. Why?”

“Can you open the one behind us?”

“Yes, but-”

“If I can get to them, I can help. Or if anything maybe I’ll find Lucas.”

“Y/n-”

“I’m not going to stand here and do nothing. I can hold my own just like the rest of you.”

“I know but…”

“What? Can’t protect yourself?”

“I can!”

“Then open the door, the more we argue about this, the more time we waste.”

“Fine. Mark’s three cars away from here.”

“So Lucas has to be in one of those.”

“That’s the idea.”

When the feedback rang through the comms Taeyong ripped out his ear piece and threw it to the side. He was more concerned with the problem in front of him. The two kept eyeing each other, stalking, waiting for the other to make the first move.

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked.”

“Asked what?”

“How it is that we can block your girls’ power.”

“I don’t-”

“Tell you what, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“What?”

Before Taeyong could dwell on the words some more the guy before him disappeared in a mist. Then seemed to reappear behind him and kick him forward. Taeyong stumbled a few steps but stayed on his feet, turning around to see his attacker.

“That’s cheap.”

“Then show me you’re capable. Or are you afraid.”

“Fuck you.”

Taeyong remained still, and yet moved. This guy had the power to teleport, and he had a power too. Duplicates of himself manifested, created from where he stood, and moving away to take physical form. They were just like him, not an empty shell, capable of moving on their own and they could absolutely throw a punch. So besides himself, there were four others.

“Impressive.”

“I’ll show you impressive.”

“Please do.”

Despite the odds stacked in Tae’s favor, this guy could still hold his own. The teleporting did help, but then again they were in a small train car, not much room to move around anyway. So while Taeyong was busy, he was unaware of what was going on with the rest of his team. After losing contact with Ten and you, Mark tried to create another portal, but as he did so everything around him changed. It seemed he wasn’t on the train anymore, but some other plane.

“Not yet.”

Another guy was with Mark, wagging a finger at him. He looked around but the place seemed to be endless in either direction. There was no point running, and he wasn’t even sure he could portal out of here.

“Who the hell are you? What is this place?”

“In time… you’ll know…”

“Huh?”

“Now.”

A burst of white light blinded Mark for a second, then he was back in the train car. His eyes were still adjusting when the door behind him opened and he could see Taeyong, multiple Taeyong’s, fighting the guy from before. Mark didn’t hesitate to jump back into the fight, managing a hit before the guy disappeared before his eyes, just like the last.

“What the hell!”

“Mark behind you!”

Unlike the last, this guy reappeared within view and knocked Mark down. Taeyong helped him back up to his feet. They couldn’t keep doing this forever, the fight needed to end, and they needed to get back on mission. The door that had opened for Mark wasn’t the only one, it seemed all previous doors were open too. The boys didn’t need telepathy to get the same message across, all it took was a look.

With a goal in mind it was easier to fight. All they needed to do was overwhelm their opponent, cause surely teleporting would get exhausting. Taeyong added a few more duplicates to the mix, pushing through his own exhaustion to end the fight. Mark managed to make the last blow, kicking them in the back and throwing them on the ground. The guy tried to get up but it was clear the strength wasn’t there.

“Guys!” Ten’s voice could be heard screaming on comms. “Mark? Taeyong?”

Both put their comms set back in, Mark kicking the guy another time in the side of the chest to make sure he stayed down.

“Ten, perfect timing.” Taeyong said. “Is the train ours?”

“Mostly.”

“You think you can disconnect the fourth car from the train.”

“Yeah.”

“Excellent.”

Taeyong and Mark moved to the fifth car and then gave Ten the go ahead to separate the cars. They watched the other half of the train slow and come to a stop on the track. To celebrate they shared a quick fist bump and moved back into the car, shutting the door behind them. Although that moment of relief was short lived as they realized you weren’t there to connect them.

“Ten, is y/n okay?”

“About that…”

“What happened!”

“She went to go help you.”

“What!” Taeyong yelled. “What does that mean?!”

“I had enough control of the train to open the door behind us but once she went through it shut and I lost her.”

“You what! Why haven’t you gotten her back!”

“She’s not in as much danger as you were.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I…”

“Fuck.”

You were confident for a moment when you went off by yourself, but once you lost your connection to Ten you broke down again. You felt so alone, so impossibly alone, you couldn’t even move for a while. The car you had gone into was empty, and that just made it all worse. You screamed when another door opened, maybe it was Ten, maybe it wasn’t, but either way it was a reminder that you needed to be strong.

You wiped away your tears and forced yourself up, walking into the next car. It was dark at first, then the lights came up, revealing another empty room. The door you came through shut again and you started to get the sinking feeling that this wasn’t Ten but someone else messing with you. The next door opened, but this time you weren’t afraid, in fact you were relieved. You ran into the next car, happy to see that you had found who you were looking for.

“Lucas!”

“I knew you’d find your way to me.”

You ran into his arms, hugging him tight. Physically feeling him was great but not as great as connecting with him again. You missed his presence in your mind, so it was good to have him back, now you needed to reunite with the rest.

“Are you okay? I was so worried about you!”

“I’m fine love, they didn’t rough me up.”

“Good, now we need to get back to the others.”

“Is everyone else here?”

“Yeah, somewhere on this train that is.”

“Good, the gangs all here.”

“Of course, we weren’t gonna leave you behind. Now let’s get-”

The door shut, but this time you weren’t so worried since you weren’t alone. Lucas came up behind you and took your hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“You okay?”

“Yeah… just miss the others.”

“You’ll see them again soon enough.” He kissed your head. “Some things just have to change first.”

“Huh?”

Lucas pulled you back, and you noticed the singular chair, which he was guiding you over to. You stopped in your tracks but his hand didn’t let go, and he tugged you towards him.

“Don’t be scared.”

“Lucas… what are you doing?”

“Helping.”

“How are-”

He sat you down and strapped you in, like it was some kind of roller coaster. When you tried to fiddle with belts he grabbed your hands and held them away. You were scared, and now that you had been linked with him for longer you began to realize he wasn’t really your Lucas, at least not how you remembered him. Something was very wrong.

“Lucas… what’s going on?”

“You’ll see.”

Lucas smiled and kissed you softly. His lips tasted weird, and then you felt it, a wave of exhaustion hitting you. He had drugged you, and your panic was trying to override the sedative. You tried again for the belt but your hands weren’t responding as fast and you just couldn’t get a grip on it. After a moment Lucas cupped your cheek and had you look at him. Your vision was spinning, but you could still see that smile on his face.

“Everything is going to be okay, I promise.”

“Lucas…”

You vaguely saw him put something in his ears, but before you could dwell on it you began to feel this ringing in your head. All the doors on the train opened, you could feel Mark and Taeyong again, but also became very aware about your sudden loss of connection to Lucas, and lack of being able to reach Ten. Then the ringing turned to pain and you screamed.

You couldn’t control it, and worse of all you knew you were causing Mark and Taeyong pain as well. Whatever happened to Lucas, whatever they did to him, this must have been the plan, to use you against your team. You didn’t know how much time had passed but you knew that the pain eventually knocked the two others out, and it wasn’t until then that it settled down. You were exhausted in a way you had never been before.

You could barely hear Lucas, he was talking, although you weren’t sure to who. Although you got a good idea when you think you saw Ten come in, just as unaffected by your pain as Lucas. Nothing made sense but you couldn’t dwell on it as you closed your eyes, and your world faded to black. You could only wonder what had become of the other two, and hope they would be alright despite what you’ve done.

You didn’t know how long you had been out for, but when you came to, you were somewhere different. You were lying on a marble white floor, it seemed nothing was around you, that is until you noticed the elevator, and who was by it. Lucas and Ten stood quietly, watching you, giving nothing away. You tried to get up but you were still too weak to do so, the best you could do was sit up.

“Where are we?” You asked. “What’s happening? What are you doing? What about-”

You stopped asking questions when the elevator doors opened and someone unfamiliar to you stepped out. That’s when you realized you weren’t linked to anyone, and this new person, you couldn’t connect to them either. If you had been blind, you wouldn’t have really known if you were alone or not. You were scared, the fear and panic from before being built on with what was going on now.

“Who… who are you…”

“I’m here to help you.” The man spoke. “So that you may reach your true potential.”

The three began to approach you, and you crawled back as best you could. Suddenly two others appeared in a mist, more strangers to you, and then there weren’t strangers. Mark and Taeyong appeared as well, but they were different. You noticed how their eyes were vacant and that they weren’t all there. A few tears slid down your face, you had no idea what was going to happen to you. The man who seemed to be the leader knelt down in front of you and held his hand out, a soft but wicked smile on his face.

“Consider this your induction. It’s nice to finally meet you, y/n.”

#superm #ten #lucas #taeyong #mark #baekhyun #kai #taemin #superm au #superm scenarios #superm angst #superm 100 #nct #exo #wayv #shinee #nct 127 #part two????#anyone???#maybe....

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wordsablaze · 4 years

Text

1. the fairer sex, they often call it

your beauty hides the pain Lost on the mountain, Jaskier accidentally angers a mage who decides to curse Yennefer with his company and for once, it might actually be a blessing in disguise...

A/N: aka that one trope where characters are magically stuck together, but yen and jas this time !! fic title from ultraviolet by au/ra :p

Jaskier is lost.

Again.

He’d thought he was getting somewhere with the mountain but he decides he was wrong when he finds himself staring at the same flowering bush for the sixth time in a row.

And this time there’s no way he can pretend it’s a different bush because he’d started counting the number of flowers the fourth time and it’s still the exact same.

“Stupid dwarves,” Jaskier mutters to himself as he picks one of the flowers on the bush, tucking it behind his ear.

He usually hates picking flowers but this one looked a little lopsided anyway and would probably have died soon so he doesn’t see the harm in trying to keep himself from breaking down by wearing it for a little while.

Anyway, the small flower is beautiful and had likely been wholly unappreciated so really, Jaskier is doing it no less than a favour.

He smiles despite himself.

Only to promptly jump out of his skin when someone coughs accusingly behind him.

Turning fast enough to make himself dizzy, he ends up face to face with a very angry-looking woman.

Although he’s sure there’s more to her because she seems to be glowing and there’s an uneasy feeling settling in Jaskier’s gut, a feeling that usually arrives just before he gets himself into trouble.

“Oh, hello there. Sorry, I didn’t see you on the quest before…?”

She ignores him, stepping forwards, her gaze travelling to his ear. “Thief.”

Jaskier places his lute on the ground and raises his hands in surrender. If she is about to attack him, he’d rather not have her break his bones and his lute.

“I’m sorry, what? I don’t know you and I really don’t think I’ve stolen from you… have I? I’m truly sorry if I have, you know what us troublesome bards can be like! Wait no, we’re not troublesome, we’re actually quite lov-”

“Enough. You stole my flower,” she hisses at him.

Jaskier blinks.

Sighing, he pulls his latest accessory out of his hair and offers it to her. “I didn’t know it belonged to anyone, I swear. I just- I was... I’m lost.”

Between Geralt wanting nothing to do with his trouble and the dwarves refusing to travel with him, he means that literally and otherwise.

“It smells funny,” the woman, who Jaskier assumes is a mage, comments.

“I beg your pardon?”

He’s pretty sure he’s not the one who smells bad and the poor flower can’t smell like anything but itself so he’s not sure what she’s getting at.

The woman, who is most definitely a mage judging by the way she glares hard enough at the flower to make it wither and crumble into ash, steps forward again.

Jaskier takes a moment to feel personally offended on behalf of his very temporary botanical companion before focusing on not losing his footing in his haste to scramble backwards.

“Hey, hey, look, I’m really sorry about the flower! It’s just I’ve circled the- your beautiful bush half a dozen times and-”

“You smell like her,” the mage interrupts, having seemingly ignored him.

Jaskier sighs at the familiar phrase. “Like whom? You’ll have to be a little more specific.”

“Vengerberg.”

Frowning, Jaskier shakes his head. “Yennefer? No, no, I can assure you I most certainly do not! If anything, Geralt would be the one who-”

He trails off as he thinks of the two of them, thinks of how they’d both left to spend the night in her tent, thinks of how he’d woken up to find they’d had all the fun they’d wanted without him.

The mage smirks and before he can blink, she’s grabbed the front of his chemise and is staring into his eyes as if searching for his soul.

He wobbles but finds he can’t move his arms to try and remove her hand so he just waits until she lets go and throws him aside so forcefully that he topples right into her precious bush.

Seems rather counter-intuitive if you ask him, but she hadn’t so, just this once, he keeps his opinion to himself.

“Ow!” he exclaims instead as he feels countless thorns tear into his skin despite seeing no roses.

Oh, how he wishes he hadn’t taken his doublet off after circling the bush the fifth time because the sun had started to get a little too intense. On the bright side, at least it won’t be ruined like countless others.

“You’ve been in her presence,” the mage says, apparently not caring about her flowers anymore.

Jaskier sits up, wincing as more thorns dig into his skin with a sharpness that seems entirely unnatural. And probably is.

“Well, it’s hardly my fault if she attaches herself to my- to Geralt, is it?”

“Attaches herself?”

Jaskier has a horrible feeling that he’s said the wrong thing.

The mage waves a hand and Jaskier feels himself be thrown out of the bush to where his lute is lying. Groaning as quietly as possible when the new scratches on his skin burn upon hitting the ground, he quickly pulls his doublet out from where he’d stowed it inside the lute case and pulls it on.

It’s ridiculous, he knows, but he feels safer wearing it.

The doublet can’t protect him from a mage and it definitely can’t make what he’s sure will be magnificent bruises in an hour or so hurt any less but he still feels safer with it on for some reason.

Plus, he looks better in the red of clothing than the red of thorn scratches.

“Vengerberg was happy to steal from me time and time again but maybe being attached to another thief will teach her not to take from me again,” the mage tells Jaskier as if he has any idea what she’s on about.

For the record, he does not.

And he’s not even a thief, he’s a bard for the love of-

He doesn’t get time to voice his protest or ask her what she means because she swiftly conjures a portal and with the flick of her wrist, throws him through it.

At least he has the mind to clutch his lute tightly so it goes with him.

Nausea builds and curls and twists in his stomach to the point of agony until he hits the ground with a dull thud, his whole body aching and his eyes squeezed shut so he can try to pretend this is just a nightmare.

“What the hell?”

Key word: try.

He groans.

As soon as the world stops spinning and his skin stops screaming, he blinks his eyes open and grins up at the angry but curious purple gaze directed at him.

“Hello again, darling Yennefer.”

not very exciting yet but hopefully the next chapter will be more interesting... this will probs be eventual ot3 btw :)

thanks for reading! masterlist | witcher sideblog: @geraskifer | next chapter

#the witcher #jaskier #geralt #yennefer #geraskefer #geraskifer #geraskier #yennskier #yenskier #eventual ot3 #netflix the witcher #witcher fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #hurt comfort #post rare species #hurt jaskier #my writing #ybhtp

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star-and-the-motherverse · 3 years

Text

Chapter 3 - Earth and the Lost Soul

The Butterfly Who Lost Her Wings

Word Count: 3981 | AO3 Mirror | Previous | Next

Summary: Marco returns to Earth and sets out to right a wrong.

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* ☾ *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧

A rift in space opened up in the Diaz family’s living room. Marco emerged from it a second later, dimensional scissors in hand. He was exactly where he had intended to land, in the middle of his living room. But only when the portal had disappeared did he realize that he hadn’t fully thought that decision through.

His mother, Angie, immediately noticed his arrival from her standing place in the kitchen. “Marco, you’re home!”

A cold wave of dread washed over him as he caught sight of his mother’s unknowing smile. She threw her arms around him in a hug, but he was completely lost in his thoughts, dismayed by his realization. I’m going to have to be the one to break the news to everyone in Echo Creek…

“Welcome home.”

“Hi, mom.” Marco tried to politely excuse himself to his room, but Angie wasn’t about to let him go so easily.

“Did you get everything figured out with Star?” she asked, letting up on her grasp. “I know she didn’t leave on the best terms.”

He turned around slowly, opting to stare at the wall behind her instead of making eye contact. “Actually… can we talk about it later? I’m really tired.”

Unfortunately, Angie was smarter than that. “Is everything alright?”

“I’m tired,” he repeated. “I’m really, really tired.”

“Marco?” She could only repeat her son’s name as he turned his back and ascended the stairs without responding further. “Marco!”

He shut his bedroom door behind him, trying to listen through the door. When he was certain that his mother hadn’t followed him in an effort to demand answers, he slid down the wall to a seated position on the floor and sighed heavily, his exhaustion finally starting to catch up with him.

His phone in is pocket was being bombarded by incoming messages, now that he’d returned to a place with cell service. He remained there on the floor for several moments before he was able to convince himself to look through his notifications. There were a lot of unread messages from his friends, mostly Jackie. As he was attempting to read through them, he was bombarded by several new texts from Janna.

Janna: yo diaz

are u home yet?

u better answer me

Because of course Janna somehow knew that he was back on Earth. He supposed it really wasn’t all that surprising, once he thought about it. I’m not sure if I’m in the right headspace to put up with this right now…

Marco: Yeah I am, how did you know that?

Janna: not important

ur gf has been harassing me bc u werent responding

next time maybe give some notice before u disappear?

Guilt flooded over him. She had every right to be upset with him, as far as he was concerned. Everyone did. He was the one who left without notice, and aside from a parting message to Jackie—apparently she had still tried to contact him anyways—no one else in his immediate friend group had known where he was.

Marco: I’m really sorry

I didn’t mean to be gone as long as I was

Janna: save your sorries for your gf dude

u cant just disappear for a week w/o warning and pretend nothings changed. shes got every right to be mad if she is

i kinda do too, lucky for u im not the grudge holding type

did star come back with u or is she like staying on mewni or whatever

Marco collapsed backwards onto his bed, defeated. His phone fell out of his hand, currently of little concern to him, now that he was so lost in his thoughts. There’s just no escaping this, is there? Everything had always been about Star, and everything still was about Star. Just as suddenly as she had crashed into his life, she was gone, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, about how the last thing she’d thought to do before disappearing in that explosion was to apologize.

A piece of his world had went with her, and he couldn’t help but feel that he was somehow responsible. There had to have been warning signs, right? Should he have done something differently, or done something sooner? “I hate this,” he murmured aloud, burying his face in his hands. “I hate this…”

Star probably hates this, too, he admitted inwardly. She always did everything in her power to be a positive force in people’s lives. The last thing she’d want is for everyone who cared about her to be moping around. I really hope she knew what she was getting herself into…

He finally spared another glance at his phone.

Janna: ???

Marco: Sorry

I don’t know if I want to talk about it right now, if that’s ok

Janna: yeah sure

if things are awkward between u two now thats ur business, not mine

jackie isnt mad at you fr that btw

Marco: For what?

Janna: uh

at the party?

Oh, right, Marco grimaced. Just before she left for Mewni—and subsequently vanished—Star had confessed her feelings for him in front of everyone at their end-of-the-school-year celebration. Even now, he still couldn’t help but hold some resentment towards her for how hasty that decision of hers had been, especially when she knew he was dating Jackie.

It was almost like she knew that was the last time she’d ever see him, and that her true feelings had been a weight on her chest that she could no longer bear to keep bottled up.

And yet, at the same time, his resentment felt unfair. He had no way of knowing when these feelings of hers had actually emerged, but Star never stopped trying to help him get Jackie’s attention. Even once they were finally dating, Star still went out of her way to include both of them in her lives however she could. As much heartache as it likely caused her, she must have valued their friendship over everything else, if she was able to force herself to put up with it for such a long time.

Conflicted feelings about Star aside, he still had overwhelmingly negative memories associated with that party. He preferred to forget about it where possible.

Marco: Gee, thanks for that, Janna

I’d almost forced that party out of my recent memory, but now it’s back.

Janna: sorry lol

Marco: Why would Jackie be mad at me about that? Star having feelings for me doesn’t change anything

Just wondering why you think that

Janna: i dont, im just repeating what she told me

and she told me she wasnt mad at u, sooo

i dont think shes mad at all tbh? that was a week ago anyways

go talk to her urself dude, im no therapist

Marco: Alright

Thanks, Janna

Janna: no prob

Though he did feel a bit guilty for withholding the truth of the situation from Janna, he swore to himself that he’d be honest about what really happened as soon as he felt able to. Janna was a mixed bag, and even though they were friends—at least, I think we’re friends?—he had no idea how she was going to take the information. He wanted to give himself time to come to terms with it all before trying to explain it to his and Star’s friends.

He had some things he needed to take care of, first. There was someone that he needed to apologize to, more than anything. Hopefully she was home.

His door creaked open, and he slowly made his way back down the staircase. His mother looked up from the book she was reading on the couch, her eyes lighting up with concern. “Marco?”

“I’m gonna go see Jackie,” he said quietly.

“Okay…that’s okay.” Angie stood up and crossed the room to stand in front of him cautiously. “Just… if you need to talk, I’m here for you, sweetie.” She extended her arms in an offering for a hug.

“I know.” He accepted her gesture and rested his head on her shoulder. “I just need to talk to her first.”

He headed out to the garage. It didn’t take long for him to wheel his bike out of the garage and suit up. He never really felt like taking his bike out was all that notable. Nothing would compare to when he tried to teach Star a couple months back, but she—

No, stop it, he told himself, shaking his head as if it would help unscramble his thoughts in any way. Stop thinking about her.

He was sure that the last thing Jackie needed was for him to suddenly show up on her doorstep in tears, especially when he had already done such a terrible job of communicating with her during his impromptu trip to Mewni. His only message to her about the entire situation had been incredibly brief.

Marco: I’m going to Mewni to make sure Star is okay. It sounds like something bad is about to go down there. I’ll be back soon, I promise. Love you

If he could go back in time a week, he would have done a better job of explaining himself. But it’s too late to worry about it now. I just need to focus on the present.

Once he’d shut the garage behind him, he headed off in the direction of Jackie’s house. His gaze rarely lifted from the street, and he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with any neighbors that he passed, out of fear of encountering someone who’d ask questions or demand answers.

It almost felt like some of the color in his life had been leeched away. The only thing that didn’t look any more faded to him was the moon, which was painted a vibrant and shadowy red, slowly climbing its way out of the magenta-colored morning sky—wait, what?

Marco rubbed his eyes fervently in an effort to snap himself out of it, but it didn’t work. No, his fears were completely correct, and he found himself staring up at the Blood Moon, hovering behind the clouds. It wouldn’t be visible for much longer before it sank behind the trees, but the fact of the matter was that it was here. It was still here, lingering in the background like a silent menace. A shudder ran up his spine as he watched it, unable to look away.

The front wheel of his bike suddenly collided forcefully with the curb, threatening to launch him over the handlebars. Miraculously, he managed to plant a foot on the ground to prevent himself from landing in a heap. He let out a trembling exhale as he stared up at it with an intense gaze.

Okay. Why it’s here isn’t important. You’re here to see Jackie, he repeated in his mind, over and over in the hopes that it would stick. She’s worried about you. You haven’t spoken to her in a week. You need to apologize.

With one last fleeting glance at the moon, he backed his bike away from the curb and continued down the road towards Jackie’s house.

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* ♦ *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧

“King River has returned.”

Moon’s gaze snapped up from the book on dimensional travel she had been scouring through. Even if she had publicly said that returning Star wasn’t first on her list of priorities, that didn’t mean that she was about to drop all of her efforts. As she viewed it, her status as as queen was an entirely different person from herself. Queen Butterfly was the one who would look after the kingdom, and Moon was going to find a way to contact her daughter. But hearing the news of her husband’s return reminded her that this situation was far too great in scale to look at it in such a black and white way.

“Is he alright?” she demanded, standing up.

The guard nodded. “He appears to be, yes.”

Moon let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. “Thank goodness…”

She left her notes behind and quickly followed after the guard. It was a slightly unusual scene that she walked into, as there were several large eagles perched around the foyer. But her husband was there, too, and that was all that mattered to her in that moment.

“Moon-pie!” he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her. Their common formalities were forgotten as both of them rushed towards each other and met with a tight hug in the center of the room. “I’m so glad that you’ve returned safely.”

“And I you,” Moon murmured, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I didn’t know how much more of this I could take...”

He pulled back from the hug to hold her hands instead. “You know, you really had me worried, leaving so suddenly!”

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, because I do! But if you and Star had to leave so quickly, it must have been serious...”

She’d sworn to herself that she wouldn’t cry, but her composure was betraying her. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated, her voice choking up on the last syllable.

River frowned in concern. “Did something happen?”

“I-I tried— but I didn’t— Star, s-she— I couldn’t...” River brought a hand up to cup her cheek, and she met his gaze with sad, watery eyes.

“Moon-pie?”

She lurched forwards and buried her face in his shoulder, holding him close as tears began to flow freely.

The few knights that were left in the room lowered their heads and excused themselves from the room, granting them both some privacy.

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* ☾ *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧

After a very brief internal pep talk, Marco was finally able to convince himself to knock on Jackie’s door. As anxious as he was to see her, he tried to focus on the floor as he waited, in the hopes of not overthinking anything.

When the door finally opened and he was face to face with her for the first time in an incredibly long week, he felt a grin take shape on his face. “Hey, Jackie—“

“Marco!” She darted forwards and caught him in a tight hug. “God, I was so worried about you, doofus!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m the worst.”

“No you’re not,“ she argued, holding him tighter. “I saw your message… but I sort of hoped you brought your phone anyways, just in case.”

“I can’t exactly get cell service on Mewni. Earth phones don’t work there,” he reminded her, chuckling halfheartedly. She laughed too, and it managed to brighten his smile a little. There was something comforting and familiar about hearing her laugh.

“I know! I know, it’s just… you left without much of a warning at all. First Star, and then you… you guys really scared all of us.”

“I’m really sorry. I should’ve talked to you first. I didn’t mean to make you worry so much.”

“It’s okay, Marco. I know you didn’t mean to.”

A beat of silence passed as he tried to think of what to say and she patiently waited. Where do I even start?

“Do you think we can go sit down and talk about everything? It’s… a long story.”

“Yeah, of course!” She nodded and beckoned him through the door. “Come on in.”

He followed her upstairs—after a brief hello to her parents—and took a seat in her desk chair. She sat down criss-crossed on the foot of her bed and looked at him expectantly.

Jackie was the first one that dared to break the temporary pause. Her voice was cautious. “I take it that something bad happened?”

Marco was surprised by her forwardness. “W-what?”

“I can tell you have bad news, Marco. Well, either that, or something exhausting happened. I can see it in your face.”

“Oh, uh... yeah, your first guess was pretty on point.”

Jackie frowned sympathetically. “I may not know much about this Mewni stuff, but hey, I’m probably easier to vent at than a brick wall, right?” She leaned forwards and put her hands in her lap. “So lay it on me.”

“...How much do you want to hear?”

“Tell me as little or as much as you want to. If it’ll help you feel better, I want to hear it.”

But there’s so much that’s happened! “Gosh, where do I start?”

“The beginning, maybe?”

Marco nodded, and, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself, he began his story.

“Well... there’s always been a bunch of monsters from Mewni that kept coming after Star. Their leader was named Ludo. He wanted her wand, but him and his lackeys are pretty incompetent, so they never managed to take it. Not until this guy named Toffee came along.”

“Toffee? That’s a weird name…”

“Yeah, I don’t really understand Mewni’s naming conventions, either,” he laughed. “Maybe it’s a normal name there. I mean, to be fair, most of Star’s family is named after celestial bodies, so it’s probably not that weird.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”

“Anyways, Toffee kind of showed up out of nowhere, and we could tell that this was a lot more serious than what we were used to with Ludo.”

“You didn’t ask anyone for help?”

“Star’s not exactly the type to ask her parents for help, so no, we just kind of dealt with it ourselves.”

Jackie pursed her lip. “That sounds like a really bad idea.”

“In hindsight, yeah, definitely. We had no idea who this guy was.” Queen Butterfly made it sound like he’s pretty infamous, he remembered, silently wishing he had asked for more information on Toffee when he had the chance. “He’s the only one who ever managed to take the wand. He kidnapped me, and then he tricked Star into—“

“Excuse me?!” She interrupted, somewhat outraged. “You got— you can’t just gloss over that!”

“But this isn’t about me!” Marco protested. “I’m perfectly fine now, so it’s no big deal.”

“If you’re that calm about literally getting kidnapped, I’m not sure how comfortable I am with you going to Mewni all the time...”

“It’s not a regular thing, I promise!”

“Okay, okay,” she sighed in defeat. “Fine. What happened there? Besides the whole hostage-taking thing.”

“He used me as blackmail to make Star destroy the wand.”

“I thought you said he wanted to take it?”

“That’s what we thought, initially,” Marco admitted. “He had Star use this really weird spell that set it off like a bomb. The whole castle blew up, Toffee included. We thought it killed him, but… well, it obviously didn’t. He came back.”

Jackie furrowed her brow, thinking for several moments. “Not to insult your storytelling or anything, but I’m really lost.”

“Yeah, I’m, uh... kind of skipping over a lot. Sorry.”

“It’s okay... I know there’s a lot to go over, probably.” She glances around her room once before an idea came to her. “Wait! What was up with the night of the school dance? In the graveyard, when that weird little bird dude showed up.”

“That’s Ludo,” Marco explained briefly. “Long story short... when Star tried to destroy the wand, it actually split it in two. Star kept the first half, and Ludo had the other one. That night in particular was when he stole the spellbook from Star.”

“What does that Toffee guy have to do with this?”

Marco tried to recall as much as he could about the days prior to Star’s disappearance, but the fact of the matter was that he hardly knew anything about Toffee’s involvement with the whole situation. There was obviously a lot more to it, far beyond his own knowledge.

“That spell Star used must have put him inside of the wand. For some reason, she used it again, and she got caught in the blast that time...” He took a pause, having a hard time thinking about those that few moments before she disappeared. “Toffee got out. Wherever the spell put him, it put her in his place. I think that might have been his plan all along.”

He was leaving out a lot of the details—he could tell from the slideshow of emotions on Jackie’s face that she knew his explanation wasn’t quite lining up—but frankly, he could hardly make sense of it, either. Even if he had visited Mewni several times now, everything about it and its magic was otherworldly. He couldn’t imagine how crazy it sounded to someone who had never even been there.

It wasn’t that unlike the Neverzone, in that way, though Mewni was certainly a lot less intense. A few things had stuck with him once he left—mostly learned skills, like how to drive a dragoncycle or wield a katana—but all the rest of his memories of that place had faded in a matter of weeks. He supposed it was time shenanigans of some sort, but it was still weird to him that he had acquired these skills when he didn’t remember practicing them at all.

Jackie had remained silent, mulling over his words. In the temporary break in conversation, Marco went on, saying, “Apparently this guy has been involved with Star’s family in the past, but I don’t really know how.”

Finally, she spoke up, offering an idea of her own. “Can’t someone use the same spell, or something? Anything at all?”

Marco shook his head. “I don’t think it’s that simple. The wand seems to be broken for good now, and I think that’s the only way to get to where she is.” He stared at the floor as he was reminded of just how dire this situation was. “She’s trapped in a dimension that no one can get to, and… I can’t tell if that’s worse.”

Jackie immediately dipped her head in understanding, and her sadness was apparent on her face. “Gosh, this really sucks.”

“That’s a heck of an understatement.”

“You were there when this happened? I can’t imagine how hard that was.”

He nodded once, averting his gaze from her when he felt his eyes begin to tear up again. “It should be so easy, but it’s not… everything that could have possibly gone wrong did go wrong.”

Despite his efforts to hide it, Jackie was quick to notice his defensiveness. “Hey... come here.”

He hesitated for several second before finding the energy to move. When he got up, she stood as well and met him halfway in a hug.

“I-if I had known that was the last conversation I was going to get to have with her,” Marco mumbled, his voice never rising above a whisper, “I, I wouldn’t have just let her leave without—“

Wordlessly, Jackie pulled him in tighter, resting her head against his shoulder. “I know,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry.” Marco could tell from her tone of voice that she was upset, even if she wasn’t really showing it in the same way he was.

In that moment, he felt awful for subjecting her to all of it. She and Star knew each other, of course—it was hard for anyone not to be charmed by Star’s infectious personality—but he wasn’t sure if him dumping all of the information on her without warning was a fair way to relay it. I hope she doesn’t feel guilty about what happened.

Nobody should have felt responsible. Not Jackie, not Janna, not Marco. It felt awful to admit it, but Star had been a victim of bad circumstance, and that was all. It wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t supposed to be a mind reader.

A shudder went up his spine. But why do I feel so guilty?

“I’m so glad you’re here, Jackie,” he said, attempting to redirect his thoughts.

“And I’m glad you’re back,” she replied. “I’m so happy that you’re safe.”

At least he didn’t have to wake up for school tomorrow. That was something he didn’t think he could manage.

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #marco diaz #janna ordonia #moon butterfly #river butterfly #motherverse #tbwlhw #immersive

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thisshadowwrites · 4 years

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okay so.. season 3

i have some thoughts, on the main front being that the 2 sex scenes were more uncomfortable than the weird Hannibal/Will/Alaina threesome, completely redundant in showing character growth and simply there to shock the audience. well, we've been shocked. and shown once again that a pg-18 rating is synonymous with a get out of jail sexual assault card. 'but its adult content!' shut up, sit yo ass down.

alucard needed to be betrayed, i get that. for season 3s theme of 'living ones given lot in life'. sypher won a lot in her life, trevor lost a lot. their month is a direct reflection of that especially with the powerful 'we've been living your life, now we're living mine' line. issac is killing and forging humans, may still be v loyal to drac but at least seems to think a bit? Hector gets betrayed again, used for his powers and his 'childlike mind' (btw, wtf. why?)

alucard needed to live the alucard life, killing someone he loved because they hurt him/the ones he loved. and he needed to learn that just because he met 2 decent humans doesn't speak for humanity, no matter what his mom says. be safe kids.

that's just from a story writers perspective. but instead of giving me the urge for a cleansing bleach gurgle, they could have just let the twins?? steal his castle?? if they want it so much?

i know, i know, canon and all that shit but that would have been a better plot hook? you can still let him mope and cry because he failed and shit without assaulting him? let him be stationary in a home that's not his own (because he wouldn't look for the castle alone, he dealt with a crazy father by taking a nap guys) or literally anything else.

okay. issac. i know its kinda the point but boy. going with a horde of known monsters and killers into a city and expecting them to roll over? they don't know you are still undecided on their fate! they are just doing their job in this case. protecting the city against a known threat. they even asked him to leave pretty nice! but yeah, issacs arc was okay i guess. don't really get his murder boner for hector since he very well knows that alucard and crew killed dracula and not hector?

oh hector. they looked at the reek arc from got and thought 'this but with puppy play and just enough hinting at bdsm practices so that we don't have to say anything for ppl to think about it'. its disgusting. all of it.

and im normally someone who enjoys a good torture arc. i gobble that shit up. but every scene with hector was just whimsy, whimsy of the writers projecting as whimsy of the leading ladies. why did carmilla drag him around for one month and beat him senseless? just 'cause she's so wild and unstable! nevermind he'd been perfectly reasonable before!

is there a plan to starving hector and taking his modesty away? no? you're just being dicks? aha.

oh! do they want to subvert the torture porn by sitting a pretty reasonable diplomat in front of him? nope.

i was half convinced that hector was just playing lenore for half the season. he seemed too instantly agreeable to be genuine. maybe that's season 4 shit, maybe they wanted him to lose some more.

got no thoughts on sypher and trevor other than cool shit, i liked the jump in their relationship and they feel very in sync for the season. a portal to other game worlds has been done a thousand times and i hope it continues to be nothing more than a mc guffin.

in the end i would have prob been more surprised if the judge didn't kill kids and collect their shoes

#castlevania #castlevania season 3 #spoilers #thoughts #for fucks sake guys #it's a build up season #and a solid one at that

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renaer-is-allegedly-hot · 4 years

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session 12 notes

one day . one day i swear i will fix this formatting but today is not that day

Lol late is my brand

Let's go

The halflings can stack up under a trench coat

Adam has disguise self

Aerana and asyna don't need to do anything kinda

Now we're talking abt the road to el dorado

We just killed loser boy

Kenku got info from adam, cel and theo

What are we doing lmao

Adam is jiggling the small room's door and we go inside the room

Inside looks like an office, shelf w pickled body parts + cataloguing what the parts r and what they do

They were running away lmao ok

Yes we're still salty about this

"different interpretations of charm person" - jacob, 2020

Body part stuff

No halfling writing system in waterdeep

Dwarf toes, elven ears

Magic items ? Cel rolls perception 22

Weird jar w dull amber colored liquid, don't know if it's magical but noticed; unlabeled

"the jar of necrotic pee" - jacob, 2020

Smells like aloe

Adam smells his fire-resistant potion and it smells more like burnt ash

Smth else cel found has strange engravings

Just looks like metal bar

Boxy squarish iron bar abt the size of a halfling; it's strong but surprisingly light

Adam picks it up and hits a wall w it

Adam rolls for attack, 4

Nothing rlly happens

Makes a ringing sound

None of us can read giant

Looks rlly strange, written in blocky linear runes

A few things on it that stick out like engravings of ppl

Big bearded humanoids but small and fine so difficult to make out

Adam rolled 17 for investigation through files

Some stuff related to running wig shop; shop was at least somewhat a legitimate business

Notes abt billing for criminal organizations and guilds

Some ref to meeting w xant middlemen who would collect bodies

Names

Noska

Hired gorrick to track us down ??

N ?????

Adam looking for a key in the desk, doesn't find it

Head to the chest, adam tries to open

Not locked

A bunch of teeth

It's a mimic, adam has to roll damage

Adam is hit

Adam takes 10 damage

We're looking at diff things around the room and then hear a screech of pain as adam gets bitten

Slams down on adam's hand and four little eyes pop up and stare as it eats adam's hand

Mimic takes 9 damage as adam explodes

Cel shoots an arrow into the eye

22 to hit, 8 damage

Adam uses cutting words

-1d6

"hey fuck"

Adam could try to pull his hands away

Adam pulls his hands out

Adam bends down to it and takes a ration out of his backpack

"dom I'm gonna bend down to it"

The chest has closed back

Adam is going to throw rations instead, dex check

13; doesn't open so adam drops food on its head

Chest sits there looking at adam and eventually out of the side of the chest a weird stretchy amoeba-like arm comes out of it, takes the food and throws it in its mouth

"who's a good boy ? Who's a good boy !! Who's a good chest !!" adam, 2020

Adam takes out all his five rations and makes a trail leading out of the room

Chomper ? Maybe

It looks uninterested and its eyes have shut

Looks exactly like a chest now and hasn't moved; still has an arrow but just looks like a normal chest

It's a small chest that's pickuppable

Adam wants to walk his chest

Adam casts sleep on the chest

7d8s

27hp

When adam casts sleep the chest doesn't move, adam rolls perception 5

Adam tries to pick it up from behind v carefully from the bottom

It's kinda stuck to the floor and the wall; doesn't appear willing to budge

Asyna is still ape!asyna

Tries picking it up from behind like adam

Rolls a 6; won't move

One of its creepy tendrils sticks out and hits ape!asyna

10 bludgeoning damage; ape!asyna basically got slapped but now stuck to the chest

It's kind of loose now

Ape!asyna rolls a 20 and yanks it off the wall, now just dangling off asyna's arm and it's heavier than asyna thought it was

Feels dense

Adam is gonna try and tie its mouth shut

"he kinda starts flailing around a bit" dom, 2020

"aw he likes his new leash" jacob, 2020

Jacob gets hit again

Ape!asyna is gonna try and pull it off, 17 and gets off

Large clump of fur comes off and it's painful

adam "I'm going to try and use centrifugal force to swing it over my head"

"make a strength check" dom, 2020

Rolls 17

Slams it on desk, doesn't let go, nature check adam has no idea what it is

At some point the chest drops off, we stand back and adam casts shatter

11 damage

Chest kind of melts into the floor almost like it deflated, starts snaking way across room until it finds a hole and slithers up and disappears

"fuck you too chompi" adam 2020

Where it dissolves is 20 gold

"n I c e . That was worth the four spell slots" adam, 2020

Adam disguises self and turns into his dad

Adam is a tiefling

Dad is not a tiefling

Taller, dark black hair but not curly, short on the sides + floof forward

Looks more confident than adam

Same freckles

No one knew adam had freckles

Look p similar overall

Sounds the same as adam when he talks

He's a human

We don't know it's adam's dad

"a real dilf" dom, 2020, about adam's dad

"not like your REAL DAD, JACOB, JESUS" dom, 2020

Now we don't have time to unpack ALL OF THAT

Gonna find a hotel or smth

Except gotta disguise selves first

In the wig shop there is any wig u could possibly desire

Some mounted beards

Can't tell if any of the wigs r magical

I don't haAve magicccc :(

Adam puts a blonde wig on the ape

I thought asyna un-aped

Asyna un-apes and disguises self as asyna

Theo takes a long brunette wig w a braid down the back

Cel wants to pretend to be adam's child

Gets a curly dark hair wig

Hammer pants

Cel theo and adam all have freckles

It's nighttime springtime in waterdeep; it's raining

Trades ward going to find a hotel

Avoid own houses for awhile

Going to nearest inn

Let's go to the yawning portal

It is an inn not just a bar

Typ is in fact in the trades ward

One room as the father and two daughters and one room as lesbian elves

Durnan's downstairs and is friends w mirt

We head over to typ

This ward is busier than others we've seen at this time of night

Walk over to side entrance of typ

It never shuts down; always ppl here

Familiar warmth as we approach

Bard competition

Ppl placing bets, drinking, sitting in booths

The rooms r upstairs

Adam calls himself lysander

"a room for me and my daughters"

They get a room on the third story

Room on the third floor

We rendezvous in adam's room

We hear a scream echo out from the well

Adam has two plans

One includes his pants

The pants plan is we track down the dude w the pants

Second includes him singing, waiting to get mugged by the zants

Get mercenary help ?

Pants is plan c

Durnan is plan a

Cel is portia

Theo is lavinia

The doors lock

Long rest? Long rest maybe later

Adam and cel go up to one of the goliaths

"hey there big friend"

He looks like a well-read person

Takes out honey and asks him if he knows what it is

O it's honey

"well there r means of finding this out . For a price"

How much per item - FIVE GOLD

Adam hands him 10 gold and the big rod

"this is a jar of ointment that was first created by the wizard kyogton" I have no idea what that wizard's name is but that's what it sounded like

A dose can be swallowed or applied to the skin and in addition to healing and rejuvenating health, any poison or disease it may have is instantaneously cured

Can't tell how many doses in it

It's v expensive, v rare

Now the stick and he looks uber interested in it

"hm , where did you find this"

"my dad's attic ,,, he's a hoarder"

"let's make a deception check with a capital d"

Nat 1

Adam tells this guy the whole thing and the guy nods

"this is a valuable piece . Would you be interested in parting with it"

Cloud giants made them so their servants could help them build their castles

It's an immovable rod

Writing speaks of ancient cloud giants that were war-inclined

Flat button on the end of it

He sticks it out into the air and presses the button; when he takes his hand away, the rod doesn't fall and it stays floating in the air

Adam grabs onto it but he can't move it

Anybody can push the button tho

Adam asks what the goliath is offering

Offers us 5,000 gold

Adam gets his name - woetheir ????

Woetheir frequents typ when he's here

They're going on a quest; were asked by the open lord to complete a task on the isle of chault

Adam's gonna go to bed

Cel's gonna take a bath

We take long rest

Durnan time

Adam gives durnan a quick rundown of what happened

"ayo what's poppin durnan long time no see my guy"

It's morning it's 9ish breakfast time

Doesn't give any indication whether or not he recognizes them

Adam asks for scrambled eggs and bacon

Adam's asking if he knows anything abt the xants

Theo asks durnan if there's somewhere more secluded they can talk

Gestures to one of the booths and theo cel adam go over

They're uh . Telling durnan everything p much

He has look of passive disinterest but slightly less disinterest the more of the story they tell

"how is mirt?"

"he has renaer and floon"

"he's let himself go"

The xants r v powerful; leadership inscrutable even to open lord herself

Prior, durnan didn't care abt open lord

Guesses whoever obtains the stone would b hunted by the city which could b problematic

Half a million gold dragons

Could get help outside the city ? Roots go deep but do not extend outwards

Flee or contact city officials

"I think theo has a crush on him" adam, 2020

Stone is likely being taken or was already taken to guild hq

We could bust into hq but probs bad idea

Durnan says he's sure anyone could break into xants hq

Lmao durnan sounds so weighed down by life

Every now and then he looks over to well

Durnan is basically saying friendship is magic

The xants don't often come to typ and don't draw swords there

They fear it and durnan

"what's the hole?" adam rolls for insight, dirty 20

Odd expression comes across durnan's face

Mixture of disgust and longing

Uh … disgust and longing … for a hole? Ok durnan

We don't have to talk abt that I guess

Cel asks durnan to send a message to mirt to let him know we're safe but probs not gonna see him for awhile

Apparently the xants aren't too particular abt their henchmen

He says ask the barkeep abt it

Passive perception

At some point durnan leaves and right as theo says that we hear a loud thump and someone says "cripes"

Jones ?

Cel looks under the table and there's jones

Cel drags him out

Theo has a new idea "hey guys let's not go through with using adam as bait yet"

Adam looks down at the goblin and threatens to make him deaf

Plan d is to eat jones

We take jones upstairs

Theo explains her new plan

If the stone is already at their hq

We go to them

Jones doesn't mess w the xants

Why is jones rhyming

What r we talking abt lmao oops I was looking at primary results

I'M SCREAMING I DIDN'T KNOW GOODSPACEGUY WAS 81

No one has asked us for info abt the stone ?

Lmao is this like @me abt what's his name

Jb nevercaught ???? Jp nevercaught ?????? Idk who he is

What's our goal

We gotta figure out what we wanna do ig

We just wanna know where the xants r otherwise we duct tape his mouth and tie him up

"consider it stroked and very, very much needed" jones, 2020

To the dock ward in a wrecked whale oh the wrecked whale

"not the erect whale" cel, 2020 ????

There's a knock at the door

There's no peephole

Asyna asks "who is it"

HAHAHHAHAHA

MARGUERITE LMAO

"uh I work at the bar downstairs uh durnan had some - he wanted to speak to the drow"

I'm screwed

He has page hat on

"first durnan said we could stay as long as we'd like"

And he was offered money by this guy to speak to me

There's an elven man w v long and stringy hair, pointed nose and pointy ears

Looks rlly skinny and physically weak

Looking over scrolls

"guess who"

What the fuck

Nareel ??? naREEL????? WHO THE FUCK IS NAREEL???????

I don't kNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING !!!!!!

The stone fascinates him

Offering us partial membership

Occasional encouragement to go on various missions

He has resources

Treasure and gold involved, but not for the weak-willed

Offering 500 gold for completion of a task

They have captured a high-ranking member of the xants and tried to get info of him

More resilient than they thought he would be

They need him back in three days

Is this a roast session ???? Of aerana ???? When she dips to hang out with the other guy ???????

They're trying to figure out who her friend is

Jones wanted to be a painter

Adam is offering to have jones join us to maybe kill him??????

If he wants gold he has to go get it

They'll keep

"I'm gonna fill your goody bag real good so you better keep your mouth shut" adam, 2020 to jones

Oh god I'm such an avoidant lmao

Oh god I don't

"these conversations will become more difficult as things become more difficult but I think for now that went as well as it could have possibly gone"

"you will find him in your basement"

wHICH BASEMENT

We're gonna go home

To the north ward we go

You go to the basement

The ropes look kinda weird

He's not tied with rope

They're metal bands looped around him

Metal bindings

Doesn't look like he's gonna get out of it

Adam and cel don't see anything out of the ordinary but have noticed things moved around a little bit

Dwarf w dark brown skin, white/gray beard, looks roughed up - not injured, just worse for wear

Adam has him make a wisdom saving throw

Adam charms him

Approaches him first

Adam starts massaging his shoulders

Jfdkaslfha then takes the gag off

"are you here to let me out?" the dwarf

"even better I'm here to spend some quality time with you" adam, 2020

Says he has to get back to the master

Master silgar must be fed

His sacred duty is to feed master silgar

Master silgar has a shimmering son what

"Shakes the oceans with a swish of his body"

In the beginning there was xanathar and then he said silgar should be the one they care for until the seas rise and destroy the city

Controls the eye of the xanathar as the eye of the xanathar control him

His name is ot stillgeer

Adam says his name is cain

Blasphemy for adam to propose bringing lord silgar to him

Lord silgar lives in a great temple

He's the high priest of silgar

We're telling him it's our summer home

Adam winks at everyone and we go upstairs

Adam casts second-level sleep on him

44hp puts him to sleep

Adam is gonna disguise-self a beard when the dwarf next wakes up

Stage it so it looks like he had been there for a month

Everyone changes their clothes

Tally marks on the wall

It's like late afternoon at this time

Adam tells him he woke up after 79 days, rolls for deception

Rolls a 24

Looks over and says "79 days"

"am I dead"

"no but the xanathar want you dead"

"I'm free"

23 for deception

Lord silgar is a fish? A fish ? A goldfish

Lord xanathar loves his goldfish more than anything

Ot has to replace the fish

19 mans is telling the truth

Not really any sign we're being watched when cel rolls for perception

We watch ot, take turns resting and surveilling our own house

Night comes

When asyna is on watch in the tower

Sees figures start making way across street to our house

6 humanoids start trying to break into the house

Glass shatters as one goes through a window

The tapestry was lord silgar

The goldfish has no connection to the koi fish asyna spoke to

Two objectives?

Find the stone

Or control the xanathar w a fish

The stone is a map to half a million gold

#12 #sn #dnd #wdh #d&d

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lonely-bored-writer · 5 years

Text

Not so simple

Summary: When Danny had his accident in the lab, him and his friends thought it would just be ghostly problems that follow. However, yet another incident in gym class reveals that his more human side was just as affected.

Word Count: 1,294

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Inspired by: @phantomsstars

It happened out of nowhere, everyone was baffled. No one expected a “small” electrical incident to cause such affects. The event occurred a few weeks after the incident, after what happened to Danny, team Phantom brushed it off as a minor electrocution that didn’t need medical attention so his parents wouldn’t dig too much. Maddie had done a quick once over on her son before deeming him healthy as can be. His temperature gave her a bit to worry, but nothing else seemed off.

As the teen struggled take hold of his newfound powers, it became clearer by the day that balancing the powers and ghosts with school was not going to be easy. He didn’t realize how much harder it was going to be then he thought. In the weeks following the incident, Danny found new odd things that he just chalked up to being tired or the new ghost side of him. However, it only seem to affect him as a human.

It wasn’t something anyone thought would be a worry, he would suddenly get lightheaded or dizzy. A few times he’d have sudden pains in his chest, paired with an odd almost fluttering feeling in his chest that seemed consistent. Once again, all the teens shrugged it off. They didn’t think it would be an issue, after all they all were too focus on keeping Danny’s uncontrollable powers under wraps and figuring out how to deal with the ghosts finding their way through the Fenton Portal.

It wasn’t until the day Danny finally showed up to gym class again, it also happened to be the day that they were okaying dodge ball. Winning team got an ‘A’, of course Danny know he had to win to help bring his grade back up after so many misses. Sam, Tucker, and him had a game plan. As much as they cared about the other nerds and outcast on their side, they knew the others would appreciating win much more then all of them losing.

So they used to their advantage, using the others to distract or take hits while they worked on taking down everyone else. For once, Danny was having a decent time. In the weeks he’s been too stressed and worried to just sit back and relax. Now he was, even if he was working to not get hit it was still much more calming then his life at the moment. Team Phantom was able to bring the other side down to four jocks with six still on their side, before things crumbled.

Danny had made a mad dash to slip behind one of the others who were about to get hit when he’s body suddenly felt weak, almost giving out on him. He paused, pressing a hand against his chest. The pains were back, his breathe become shallow even as he worked to try and bring more oxygen into his system. He vaguely heard Sam call out his name, but he couldn’t focus. His mind felt off, the room shifting in and out of focus.

“Some…things…wrong…”

Danny managed to gasp out, he felt hands on him moving him to sit. He could hear the mumbles of people around him talking, but it was so hard to focus when he’s body felt like it was shutting down and he’s fear of death rising. The pain was just increasing, the fluttering in his chest becoming more apparent as the seconds ticked by. It felt like he was sitting there forever, but he knew he had only just been seated.

He was able to turn his focus on someone in front of him, Tucker. Eyes’ training on his friend’s worried face, he opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to alert them that this was similar to what has been happening but worse. He couldn’t get a word out before the edges of his vision began to fade faster, he recognize his friend rushing forward before he felt himself slipping and the world around him went dark.

The next moment he awoke, he heard an odd beeping sound. His eyes cracked open to be meet with a too bright room. Hospital. His brows furrowed, the device that was beeping was the heart monitor but it sound no where near like it did in movies and shows. His eyes were with a relieved mother and father, Danny could still register the worry and sadness lingering underneath. Next he saw was Tucker, right by his side as well. He was soon informed Sam’s parents wouldn’t let her come to the hospital.

“I’ll get the doctor.”

Maddie was the second to speak after a silence, leaving the room with Jack. Danny turned his focus to Tucker who went on to explained what happened after he fainted in gym. Apparently the whole class was freaking out, as well as the coach first thought it was an anxiety attack until Sam informed her about the past weeks following the electrocution. She had called an ambulance and the nurse. The nurse arrive not long after Danny fainted.

Danny nodded, choosing to keep his voice in until he knew what all of this was about. Tucker didn’t prob, just informing as they waited for his parents to come back. It was when Tucker was giving details on what happened after he was wheeled out on a gurney that the doctor finally arrive. Danny stayed polite, nodding with a smile as the doctor greeted him. Doctor Peterson.

“… Tachycardia… It appears the electrical shock affected the sinus node… we can’t cure it, but there is medication… Start on Amiodarone…”

Danny felt odd, he wasn’t scared, or really worried, just… surprised. He thought his only problem was going to be ghosts, but this dragged another new thing into his life. Pills. He wasn’t sure how much he liked the idea of that, but the worried and fearful look in his parents eyes were enough to have him know he was going to do everything he could to help make this as little an obstacle in his life.

He didn’t focus too much on what the doctor was saying, his mind racing and thinking over the information that he did pick up, the ones that seemed more important. This wasn’t ideal, but being half dead wasn’t ideal either but he’s making that work. So why not this? It’s not the worse thing that could happen, and he’s not particular hateful that it happened to him. He’s accepted it, he’ll get through it. Long term or not.

“Does that sound good?”

Danny nodded, giving the doctor a reassuring smile before turning his gaze to his parents. Every time in the room, his mom would hold his hand. Giving it reassuring squeezes every time she heard something that worried her. His dad kept his arm resting on Maddie’s shoulders, rubbing it occasional to remind her he’s here. Both pairs of eyes turned to focus on him, it wasn’t hard to miss the worry in them, this time trained more so on how he was handling the news. Even though his life went from being simple, to not so simple in just a few weeks doesn’t mean he couldn’t adapt.

“We got this.”

Danny smiled a genuine smile as his family and friend relaxed ever so slightly. He wasn’t about to let yet another side effect of the incident turn his life upside down once more. After becoming practically half dead, he was sure this won’t be to much of a hump for the Fentons and team Phantom.

#Danny Phantom #danny fenton #danny phantom fanfiction #Danny has a heart condition #caused by the incident #no one expected it #i love writing new things like this #i learned quite a bit while researching #i hope its kinda accurate #i hear alot #that a heart attack was similar to a panic attack #so i just base danny's experience from that #i don't wanna label it as a heart attack tho #i don't know #i'm trying lol #i hope it's good atleast #hoping for accuracy here #tachycardia

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medusahq · 5 years

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A LIST OF WANTED PLOTS FOR HALLOWEEN I’D LOVE TO DO FT. BELOW :

( tw: clowns ) a plot based off the movie, IT. i’d love to do either first generation losers club ?? or perhaps a second generation, set after the OG club thought they shut down pennywise. i haven’t seen the 2nd movie though, so no spoilers pls (i’m probs gonna watch it tonight lmao my dumbass waited long enough).

also i would love a plot based off of the upcoming movie, doctor sleep. i’m not too familiar with the books, but i love the idea. and i would give my soul for someone to play rose the hat w/ rebecca ferguson against my own (female) version of danny. think love/hate and murderous cults.

( tw: murder ) a plot where every month there’s been a killing in this small town, and our muses have lived there their whole lives. and at first, obvs it must be some newcomer who’s doing this shit, but turns out my muse is being forced to kill people unless the REAL bad guy who’s been contacting them anonymously ends up killing their loved ones/your muse.

a plot based on androids and humans. in the near future, androids are owned by humans. they’re considered just machines and aren’t treated like people. but woops, now androids can think and have emotions so there’s been some turmoil. there’s a number of plots i can think of for this.

a plot based on zombies. preferably styled after the walking dead or resident evil, since i’m trash for those. perhaps our muses are there for the beginning of the apocalypse, maybe they used to know each other and meet up later on, maybe one’s ‘enhanced’ like alice in resident evil, maybe we could even say it’s after the zombie apocalypse and everyone’s trying to ‘right’ the world again but there’s some crazy humans in the way.

( tw: murder ) the purge. but hear me out. instead of them both trying to survive, or both killing people, maybe one’s trying to survive and has always been a good person and the other’s always enjoyed the purge/killing folks with their group of crazy friends/family. but the latter ends up not wanting to kill the ‘good person.’ so now they gotta figure out a way to get them both out of there alive before the group slaughters them both.

a plot based on the movie/show/book, the golden compass. though i’m only familiar with the film with nicole kidman lmao. where people have ‘daemons’ and they’re basically their soul animals in physical form. like a familiar for a witch, so to speak. they talk/act human, but they’re an animal loyal to only one person. if one dies, they both die. tbh i want this gay af. where the younger woman ( above 18 ) is fighting against this evil woman who’s trying to separate daemons from people for good reasons but ofc going about it all the wrong way.

a plot based on frankenstein. where this human scientist creates a ‘monster’ out of different body parts and brings it to life. now, the scientist is in charge of teaching it how to behave and ease into society, but there’s going to be a lot of bumps in the road. especially because the monster has a violent streak.

( tw: torture, murder ) a plot where our muses just showed up to a small, unheard of town trying to start their lives over after some sort of failure or tragedy back home. they go to work for this old, rundown circus/theme park that the locals mention was recently set up. it only shows up once a year in the small town, during the month of october. so our muses become workers and it’s fine until things start seeming off about the people/attractions there. even the locals are acting strange. turns out the place is a killing pot for the town’s locals. they hold it every year to put travelers/halloween enthusiasts passing through through a series of horrors and tortures for their own entertainment. our muses are either forced to go along with the ‘entertainment’ or they’ll be kicked off the ‘locals’ team and become the prey, too.

halloweentown plot where one muse is a witch who has never really known what/who they are because they were abandoned as a kid in the mortal world. but they did end up finding out they had magic at some point in their childhood due to a traumatic experience forcing their magic to surface. but they can’t really control it. cut to later on finding out from a friend in their adult life that there’s this magical world called halloweentown and they def reek of witch so they should head on over there before the portal closes. so this muse does, hoping to find their family or people who can help them. either we can do family feels or maybe some random other witch takes them under their wing as a mentor and teaches them.

a medusa/whomever plot. i’d love if maybe it were back in ancient greece. maybe your char is someone trying to come and behead her to have her ability to turn others into stone, or maybe avenge someone who was turned into stone by her. maybe your char is a woman medusa has watched from afar and grown interested in. perhaps a lady that frequents near the area medusa’s cave lies, maybe even one that’s blind so that medusa could never turn her to stone. or do a modern day medusa/assassin plot since i have a muse/verse for it!

other random plots/ideas to consider: based in the twilight franchise world (specifically with a muse that’s the wife of another, and has been turned into a vampire and ends up finding her love after years of the other thinking their wife dead), a narnia inspired plot that’s either beautiful fantasy world or maybe it’s more nightmarish and full of horror creatures, an evil witch who practices dark arts and a ghost who has come to her for help finding a body/way to return to the ‘living’ realm completely.

#wanted plots #plot bunnies #indie rp #indie lesbian rp #indie bi rp #y'all can reblog if you wanna

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marcoacesabo · 6 years

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“How exactly did this happen?”

“Well, when I woke up this morning I found that some of our food supplies were missing. After asking around I learn that it’s been happening for a while but everyone thought it was just Commander Ace again. It was by accident that I also notice some of our medicine missing too. I figured it was a stowaway from that”

“Did you report it?”

“I went to Commander Ace to tell him...and sort of found said stowaway in his bed. Now here we are.”

The two chatting pirates paused in their conversation to give nest of blankets a wary glance. Commander Ace was sprawled all over the soft fabrics, stretched out like a beach Starfish, mouth gaping open in soft snore and hair pushed slightly to the right which they know will cause a cowlick in a few hours.

Attached to his chest was a child they have never seen before spread out in an exact position copying the Flame user to even the breathtaking. The child’s little head was just a few inches down Commander’s Ace’s chin, turning the man’s chest and stomach into a perfect fit bed.

He couldn’t be older the five or six.

“Should we wake them?” The first crew member asks feeling like he was intruding on a scene he shouldn’t be. “If the kid is asleep on the Commander it’s not like he shouldn’t be here right?”

The second could only shrug his shoulder, pulling at his chief coat nervously. “What will we tell him? Hey, Commander, there is a kid sleeping on ya’ and he probs ate our food? I’m pretty sure we’ll get our asses burn for stating the obvious.”

Almost as if answering their questions, the little boy let out a small whimper as if something had scared him. His face twisted, his breaths picking up, and he started to tremble ever so slightly.

Before the two men’s eyes, the commander’s arm went up to rub the child stomach who had been starting to get huffy and the child relax in place easing him out of whatever nightmare he was starting to have.

His tiny face started to clear and he fell into a deeper sleep as Ace makes soft shushing noises, obviously trying to sooth the child. Then his silver eyes snap open and meet with the curious eyes of his crewmates.

The first thing out of Fire Fist Ace’s mouth was “ Please don’t tell Pops.”

Torn between the loyalty of their captain and the loyalty of the Commander the men had said nothing as Ace’s face rapidly paled. “I found them. They fell through a portal and I can’t let them get hurt. They're my child.”

Jeff kicks at the floor “Them?”

“My child doesn’t feel like a boy or a girl. I suggested using gender-neutral pronouns.”

Far use to pronouns preferences among the crew the two men simply noted looking at the child closely now. Well before he- er -them, did not appear that much like the commander at first glance they could now see pieces they inherited from the Commander.

Same nose, same cheekbones and even the shape of eyes belong to Ace, but everything else belongs to whoever was the second parent. Skin tone far lighter, hair as fair as the sun and tiny. Whatever eye color the child held was left unknown but something had them suspecting it wasn’t the silver of the Commander’s that rested in their gaze.

“Why can’t we tell Pops?” Latty- the chief- asks

Commander Ace sighs rubbing the child’s stomach more and watching them breath for a few seconds before answering. “Because I can’t face the other parent yet.”

“You and Pops!?” Horror filled Latty’s voice.

“What? No no no! Pops would just tell him! I would never-! Not with Pops! What’s wrong with you!?”

The three men shuddered at the same time trying to push those thoughts away before Jeff clear his throat. “So Pops knows the mother?”

“Father” Ace corrects voice tight

Let it be known that whatever the world throws at a Whitebeard Pirate they can take it in stride. “Father then? Pops knows him?”

The Commander nods as best he can lay on his back the little one making it impossible to sit upright. “Yes.”

“Oh, so it’s Commander Marco?” Latty thinks out loud then regrets it at the face Ace makes. “Is there something wrong with Commander Marco?”

“Sabo”

Ah yes, the mysterious boyfriend Commander Marco was recently entranced with. No one had seen him but what they could gather was the man being part of some group trying to overthrow the government and that Sabo had some kind of spy job.

Marco had been sold the moment the man yelled “Down with the government. Anarchy!” and had never looked back. It was an open secret that Commander Ace had been utterly heartbroken over that fact when the First came back from his mission a goofy smile on his lips

“Are you even sure they are yours?” Jeff asks instead of breaking the topic of that particular can of worms.

“I gave them a DNA test. They matched mine and Marco’s...”

“I have a child?” Everyone jumps at the sudden voice and they swing their heads in alarm to the wardrobe. Ace sits up abruptly causing the child to wake with a start.

The blue wood door swings open harmlessly revealing an unknown blond man casually eating the missing food that Latty had been searching for. His cheeks were puffed up from the amount of food, casually chewing as his eyes take in everyone in the room.

He looks so relax in the presence of hostile Whitebeard pirates that it was almost comical. A top hat rested next to him leaving his blond locks to fall loosely from the mini ponytail he sported.

“That’s my child?” He asks nodding his scar face at the silent child who is staring at everyone wide eye.

Ace’s arms close around them with a protective growl “Who the hell are you?”

“Sabo.”

“What are you doing in the closet?”

“Being gay.”

Ace’s face loses some of his heat as the answer startles him back. Sabo takes that moment to take a big bite from his apple acting like this is all normal. The little one giggles and that earns them a wink from the closet man.

“How long have you been there?” Jeff asks voice and face guarded.

The blond tilts his head “I’m not sure. Got here before the sun.”

His face is wide as he gives Ace a long hard look, he gives him a wink far more flirtatious than the one he gave earlier “I like the view. Marco agrees with me.”

Ace’s whole face turns red and the little ones breaks into giggles. They pat their father’s forearm as they stage whisper “Papa, Daddy is really funny”

Sabo’s whole face brightens up “I’m Daddy”

“Shut the hell up.”

“Papa don’t be mean to Daddy.”

“Yeah Ace, don’t be mean to Daddy.”

#MarcoAceSabo #pre-relationship #Time travel #Gender-nutruel kid #Ace don't care #Sabo is just a being of choas #I honestly have no idea what this is. I found it in my drafts

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mewmewchann · 6 years

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RWBY: Y.v.S - Harmonic Convergence

While the search for Ruby continues in Mistral, Crimson decides to take the helm for the day in Vale. As well as that, a mysterious someone arrives in the destroyed city, and he’s looking for someone...

(Once again, I’m sorry that this took so long! But I’m really glad as to how it eventually turned out. And I’ve been waiting to introduce [SPOILERS] for a long time. XD) (Hopefully you guys like it!)

If you have any questions about my RWBY fic, feel free to ask! If you want to read the story so far, click here.

“Okay, we’re here.” The female pilot said, as the airship slowly landed. “I hope that...The small amount of you enjoy your stay in Vale.”

“Great.” One of the passengers said, standing up and picking up his violet-coloured suitcase from the seat next to him. After making sure that the crossbow tied to the suitcase was secure, he walked nonchalantly to the front entrance of the airship before stopping where the pilots were.

One of them had a chance to briefly examine the weapon tied to his luggage.

It was an intricate and complex design; made of a lightweight dark steel with eight cylindrical cartridges on either side of it’s body filled with brightly coloured dust. The crossbow’s complicated design almost looked even better than anything Atlas specialists could make.

And if you looked closely at the cylindrical area where the weapon’s bolts would be stored, you could see the words “Melodias Symphony” engraved in neat writing on the metal.

The stranger smirked and gave the pilots a finger-gun sign with his free hand.

“Thanks for the flight.”

“Uh...No problem. Enjoy your stay.”

He swiftly turned around and got off the airship.

The airship had landed in one of the few recaptured areas of Vale. There were barely any people there; mostly people who had survived the attack and their friends and family coming to pick them up and take them somewhere safer.

None of the people here were the one he was looking for.

He took out his scroll again and checked his messages.

Damn...He still hasn’t replied yet? He thought, sighing and putting the device back.

“Okay...” He said to himself, slowly untying the crossbow from his suitcase.

“If I was an aquaphobe trying to save a destroyed city, where would I hide?”

“Neptune, have you ever thought you’re going a bit far with this?”

“A bit far with what?” Neptune asked, checking over Melodias Vanguard in it’s gun form and adjusting some areas of it’s intricate framework with a screwdriver.

Blake raised an eyebrow. “Your teammate.”

“How am I going too far?”

“It’s all you’ve been thinking about for the last few days.”

“What, are you some kind of mindreader?”

“No, but I can tell when someone’s going too far.”

Neptune didn’t respond and continued working on his weapon with the screwdriver.

“Whatever he doesn’t want to say must be important to him.” Blake continued. “Trying to pry it out will only make things worse.”

“I know that, but...” He started, lifting the screwdriver off of his weapon. “I’m just worried that it may be a threat to the team.”

“How would Scarlet be a threat to the team!?”

“Well, whatever he’s hiding is pretty big! And him and Sage are the only people who actually know what it is! It could be something like...I don’t know, some kind of curse? That, uh, while giving him some kind of power, it makes it uncontrollable!” “A curse?” Blake rolled her eyes. “Curses don’t exist. You’re definitely going too far.”

“You have a good point, but you get my point, right? If whatever he’s hiding is something like that, then he could be a threat to the team!” He paused. “I...Just don’t want a repeat of what happened with Weiss and Sun...”

Blake was about to say something when Neptune continued.

“Because...What if he ends up trying to hurt someone? What if he ends up trying to hurt all of us? He won’t be able to keep this for long, and when he eventually snaps, the fall of Beacon could happen all over again...”

Blake started to try and get through to him. “Neptune, are you-”

“SHUT UP!” He screamed as he slammed the screwdriver into the table.

Both of them were silent for a bit.

Neptune sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Before he could finish, the door opened and Crimson casually strolled in.

“Hey, what’s going on in he-” She stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed that the screwdriver had penetrated halfway through the table. “...Oh. Is this a bad time?”

“No.” Neptune said bluntly, while getting up and picking up his weapon. “I’d better head off.”

“Wait, head off for what-” Blake started.

“So I could lead the group again? I kind-of need to do that!”

“You don’t really seem in a fit state of mind to lead the group right now...”

“I’m fi-” Neptune started, before trailing off into silence.

Before he could say anything else, Crimson suddenly interjected.

“If you want, I could fill that post.”

Neptune stopped. “Huh?” “From what I heard, Blake kinda has a point. I could do the leader thing for you until you feel up to doing it. Does that sound cool with you?”

Neptune was just about to say “no” when Blake lightly elbowed him in the side.

“This could be good for you, you know.” She said quietly. “You could do with a break so you can calm down.”

He stopped to think.

Maybe a break is a good idea…

“...Are you sure you want to-”

“Is that a yes or a no?” Crimson asked.

“But are you SURE-”

“Simple question: yes or no?”

“But-”

“Do you want me to do this or not?”

“Okay, okay! Yes!...I’ll let you know when I’m able to do it again.”

Crimson gave him a casual wink. “No prob. Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

“Wait, I don’t think this is what Neptune meant-”

“OKAY YOU IDIOTS LISTEN UP!”

“...Never mind.”

It had only been a few minutes after Crimson had been tasked with taking charge of the group, and she had already managed to get everyone’s attention.

Specifically by standing on a tall building and screaming at all of them. (Blake was beside her trying to calm her down.)

“I am Crimson Foxx, leader of team CLMR of Shade Academy of the kingdom of Vacuo and I would like yoUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!!” Crimson shouted, before turning and pacing slowly in a circle on the building’s roof for dramatic effect. “The task to announce today's potential Grimm-based events has fallen onto me, so SHUT THE HELL UP AND LISTEN CAREFULLY!”

Velvet piped up from the cluster on the street below. “Doesn't...Neptune usually do that?”

Crimson stopped pacing and turned back around, her hand pointed at Velvet. “Neptune is feeling too wussy to do it right now, so I'm doing it for him!” She put her hand down, but continued to face the group. “So until he states otherwise, I WILL BE GIVING THE ORDERS AROUND HERE UNTIL NEPTUNE DECIDES TO MAN UP AND GROW A PAIR! CAPICHE!?!?”

“That’s...” Blake started. “Not why he decided to-”

Crimson turned over and cut her off, lowering her voice for the first time since she had accepted the offer. “I know. I’m just saying that to make sure they listen. People do it in movies literally all the time.”

She turned back around and continued shouting. “And before any of you ask, NO! That doesn’t mean he won’t be fighting!...Probably!” She turned back over to Blake. “...Will he be fighting?”

She shrugged. “Most likely. He just doesn’t feel up to doing the leader thing.”

“Okay, okay.” She turned back around again. “He WILL still be fighting, but I’M doing the leading right now! SO LISTEN UP, ANIMALS!...No offence, Velvet.”

“None taken!” Velvet piped up again.

“ANYWAY LISTEN UP! Most areas are clear Grimm wise at the moment compared to what we had a while ago, but things will most likely heat up later on tonight! But there are still Grimm on the area, so be on your guard and kill every last one you find! But a quick reminder that we are on limited dust at the moment, so try not to use too much! We will have to find more dust at some point after today!”

“I can take care of that-” Fox suggested, but he was quickly cut of by Velvet.

“You mean ‘we’, right? I’m going with you.”

“Come on, it’s not like I’m going into a Grimm infested city.”

“WE’RE ALREADY IN A GRIMM INFESTED CITY!” Coco shouted from the back.

“Ha ha, very funny. Either way-”

“You’re going into a dark cave filled with potential explosives with the hope of ripping them out of the earth with a sharp object.” Velvet said, raising an eyebrow. “Need I remind you that you can’t actually see?”

“...Good point. You’re coming.”

“GOOD!” Crimson shouted from the top of the building. “But like I said, we’ll have to take care of that after today. What we need to focus on is killing as many Grimm as we can at the moment before we get overrun later tonight! Ready? Break!”

Nothing happened.

“...Break!”

Nothing happened.

“...BREAK!”

Velvet piped up again. “...What does ‘break’ mea-”

“IT MEANS LET’S GO! MOVE OUT!”

At that, the cluster of students split off into different directions.

Crimson turned around to Blake with a smirk on her face. “Think I handled that pretty well.”

Blake shrugged. “You sure did. I’m just going to check on Neptune.”

“Have fun with that. I’ll see you in the heat of battle.” She headed over to the building’s edge.

“I’ll be back.” She said in a low voice, before jumping off.

Blake slowly scaled down the building, before walking back to the building she was in earlier.

She opened the door. “You okay?”

Neptune was already prepping his weapon. “Mostly.”

“Were you able to hear everything?”

“She was screaming most of it. It was hard not to.”

“Good point.”

Suddenly his scroll on the table buzzed, and he picked it up.

“What was that?” Blake asked.

Neptune paused. “...Nothing.” He said, slipping the device into his pocket.

“It didn’t sound like nothing.”

“Well, let’s just say, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Ominous. Shall we get goi-”

Before Blake could finish, a portal opened behind her.

Neptune smirked. “Way ahead of you.”

“WE. HAVE. BEEN. SEARCHING. FOR. LITERAL. HOURS!!!”

“Nora, we have to keep searching. She could still be around here.”

Qrow, Jaune, Nora, Ren and Yang had initially wanted to go to Mistral to speak with Professor Lionheart.

But because of Ruby’s sudden disappearance the night before, they had to take a detour to try and find her.

None of them had said a word to Yang after last night.

“But my feet are killing me!” Nora complained.

“I’m sorry, but Ruby is a lot more important right now.” Jaune asserted, before turning over to Qrow. “Speaking of which, any ideas on where she could be?”

Qrow, who had a map out, screwed the lid back onto his flask. “No idea. Raven coulda taken her anywhere-”

“What about there?” Jaune said, pointing over to one of the areas on the map. However, whatever was there was crossed out multiple times.

Qrow shook his head. “No. That city was destroyed years ago.”

“I doubt that. There are loads of cities on this map that have been destroyed – this one, this one and this one for example – but that’s the only one that’s been crossed out.”

“What’s that one called?” Nora asked.

Jaune shrugged. “Can’t say. It’s been crossed out. A lot, apparently.” He looked at the map again. “Though I think it says that it starts with ‘S’-”

“Ruby isn’t gonna be there.” Qrow repeated bluntly.

Jaune gave him a suspicious glance. “How can you be so sure of that?”

Qrow sighed angrily.

“Are there any other cities on the map nearby it?” Ren asked. “We could check in one of those areas.”

“Let me see...” Jaune looked at the map again. “Well, there’s one. It’s...Uh...It might take me a while to see if I can pronounce this...On...Igh...Your-”

“Oniyuri.”

“Yeah, there’s that- wait.” He stopped. “How do you know about that?”

“It’s basically Mistral’s equivalent of Mountain Glenn.” Ren explained calmly. “People were unhappy with the way the kingdom was run, so they tried to build a city of their own. Keyword being ‘tried’; it was overrun by Grimm practically moments after it opened.”

“I see...But there is another one, and it’s a little closer to the main city of Mistral. Let’s see if I can...Kurr...Oh...Your...Ee? Kuroyuri?”

Ren froze.

“Yeah, I think that’s how it’s pronounced...” He noticed that Ren hadn’t replied and turned around. “Hey, are you okay?”

Ren didn’t say anything, prompting Nora to immediately run over.

“Ren, are you-” she started, before he cut her off.

“It’s fine.” He said bluntly. “How close is that city to the one you mentioned earlier?” “Um...” He leaned over to check the map again for a few seconds before turning over to his teammate. “Relatively. And it’s pretty close to Mistral, so that’s a plus.”

Ren thought for a moment.

By this point Nora had suspected what he was thinking.

She put her arm on his shoulder gently. “Ren…?”

“If Jaune’s assumption is right, then Kuroyuri is worth checking.” Ren said, still maintaining a serious tone in his voice. “And if Ruby isn’t there, then it’s close enough to the city so we can let Mistral’s authorities know of her disappearance.”

Jaune looked over to Qrow, who shrugged.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Nora gave Ren an uneasy glance. “Are you...SURE this is a good idea?”

Ren paused for a moment. “Admittedly not so much, but it’s the strongest lead we have.”

Nora’s hand moved from Ren’s shoulder to hold his hand.

Jaune stared for a moment. “Is...Something wrong?”

Ren shook his head. “No. You don’t have to worry.”

Yang, who was at the back of the group, still hadn’t said anything and was eyeing the group with a hot glare.

So now we’re all thinking of the happy couple. She thought. Get a room, you two.

Ren, who had practically sensed Yang’s negativity, turned around to face her, causing Nora to follow suit.

After Yang noticed this, she tutted angrily and looked away.

Ren sighed. “She’s still giving us the silent treatment...”

“Jeez!” Nora said angrily. “It’s like she doesn’t even care about what happened to Ruby! Can you at least show SOME sign of emotion or something!?”

“Guys,” Jaune started, attempting to cool off an argument before it heated up. “I’m pretty sure she does care about what happened. She just has a very...”

He looked over to Yang for a moment. She shot a red-eyed glare back at him.

Jaune flinched back a little and continued. “...Unusual way of showing it.”

“Either way,” Ren said, turning back over to Jaune. “We need to get Ruby back.”

Jaune nodded slowly. “Agreed.”

“Then we should best set off.” Qrow started, as him and Jaune were starting to walk again. “Kuroyuri’s still a pretty long way on foot.”

Ren tensed up a little at the mention of the city’s name, prompting Nora to once again take his hand.

“Ren...” She said, with a comforting gaze. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay with going back?”

Ren calmed down a little and sighed, before turning to Nora with a smile.

“Well, I have you here, don’t I?”

“I thought you said the areas were clear!”

“I said MOST areas were clear! I didn’t say all of them!”

It had been a while since Crimson had sent the group to battle, and the dark sky was lightly tinged with a fiery colour as if to forewarn the impending sunrise.

Neptune was in a group with Crimson, Marina, Scarlet and Coco, and the five of them were fighting a number of Grimm.

“Okay, okay, good point.” Neptune said, twirling Melodias Vanguard around in his hand.

“And besides, there aren’t even that many!” Crimson replied. “The five of us are handling just fine right now!”

“We won’t be when more inevitably show up.” Scarlet said bitterly.

“Unnecessary!”

“Yeah, but he kinda has a point!” Neptune said. “More Grimm might show up.”

“Your word choice is off.” Scarlet said bluntly, as he finished off the Grimm he was dealing with. “More Grimm will eventually show up. There’s no other possibility.”

“Okay, I see Crimson’s point now, that was unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary or not, he’s right.” Coco added from nearby. “Try looking ahead.”

“What do you mean, ‘try looking ahead’?”

Coco rolled her eyes. “I mean turn around.”

He turned around, and saw what Coco was trying to get him to look at. There were three of Beowolves up front, as well two Grimm that he didn’t recognise.

This new Grimm was a large butterfly that had a black body and white wings with a red eye-like pattern, and suspended below the body was a crescent-shaped blade.

“Okay, the Beowolves I understand, but what the hell are THOSE!?”

“Pendulums.” Marina replied calmly.

“Pendu-what?”

“Pendulum Grimm, but people call them Pendulums for short.” She continued. “There were a lot of them in Vacuo, but they’re pretty rare in Vale.”

“Oh COME ON! REALLY!? Whatever the hell’s attracting Grimm to this city is even attracting RARE Grimm!?”

“Thankfully they’re pretty easy to defeat. They are the speedy types, but their bodies are fragile, so cutting off the blade at the bottom is usually enough to kill them.”

“Wow.” Coco said, impressed. “You really know your stuff when it comes to Grimm.”

“I grew up in the desert, Coco. I spent most of my life fighting Grimm.”

“Hey, so did I!” Crimson seconded.

“Then why didn’t you explain what they were?” Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.

Crimson shrugged. “Meh, Marina’s a lot better at explaining this kinda thing than I am.”

“So all we have to do is separate the blade from the body to kill them?” Scarlet asked.

“Pretty much yeah-” Marina started.

But before she could finish, Scarlet had darted forward towards the pack of Grimm in front.

“Hey, wait a second-!” Crimson started to call out, but to no avail.

Scarlet flipped forwards – using the grappling hook on his flintlock to pull himself closer to the nearest Pendulum Grimm – and slashed off it’s blade with his cutlass, before grabbing the falling blade before it disintegrated and threw it at the remaining Pendulum’s blade, hitting it directly and slicing it off.

One of the three Beowolves leapt up to try and attack him, but it burst into flame (courtesy of Scarlet’s semblance) almost as soon as it left the ground, as Scarlet landed in front of it soon afterwards.

The second Beowolf was already preparing to charge. Scarlet flipped the flintlock in his hand, as the engraved patterns on it’s surface began to glow a neon-yellow colour, and pulled the trigger. The electric-charged bullet struck the Grimm directly. It was almost as if the bullet had paralysed it, as it didn’t react when the student calmly walked up to it.

“Wait, what are you doing-!?” Neptune started.

Scarlet wasn’t listening. He walked straight up to the Grimm and placed his right foot on it’s exposed chest.

“Scarlet, get back!” Neptune tried again. “Getting too close could be dangerous!”

He still didn’t listen. He moved his cutlass into his other hand, and grabbed one of the Beowolf’s arms with his free hand. The Beowolf growled angrily and struggled, but was unable to break free.

After letting the Grimm struggle for a while with a confident smirk, Scarlet twisted the Beowolf’s arm in his hand and pulled, ripping it off completely and tossing it aside. As the Grimm’s arm began to disintegrate, he grabbed his cutlass from his other hand and plunged it into it’s chest.

The others were silently looking on in awe.

“WHOA.” Crimson exclaimed, with an ecstatic smile. “THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!”

Scarlet turned around. “Oh, that?”

“Yeah! You ripped it’s fuckin’ arm off! HOW IS THAT NOT COOL!?”

“It could’ve been dangerous-” Neptune started.

“Calm down, rulebook! You have to admit, that looked cool as hell.”

Scarlet smirked, and was just about to head back over.

He had completely forgotten about the third Grimm.

Almost immediately as he had begun to walk over to the others, the remaining Beowolf growled and charged directly towards him.

And before he could react, the Beowolf clawed him directly on the right side of his face, and hit him into a nearby wall.

Before the Grimm could do anything else, Coco took out her gatling gun and shredded the Grimm to pieces with a number of rapidfire bullets.

“Scarlet, are you okay?” She said, as her weapon folded back into it’s handbag form.

He didn’t seem okay. He had his hand over the right side of his face, as if where the Beowolf struck him hurt a lot.

“I’m fine...” He asserted, almost breathlessly. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

Neptune looked over suspiciously as Coco ran over to his seemingly injured teammate. He’s usually able to brush off a hit like that, but he seems a lot more affected by it this time...What’s going on?

“That Beowolf must’ve hurt you pretty bad,” Coco said, as she knelt down beside him. “I could check to see if that attack did anything-”

“N-no! It’s fine!” Scarlet replied quickly, recoiling away from her a little.

“Don’t worry,” She started to reach her hand over. “All I’m gonna do is just move your hair out of the way so I can-”

“Y-you don’t have to do that!” Scarlet said, an edge appearing in his voice. “I-it’s fine! Trust me!”

Coco paused, giving him an incredulous look, before she reluctantly put her hand down.

“Well, as long as you’re sure...” She said with a sigh, as she started to get back up. “Do you need me to help you up?”

Scarlet shook his head and used the wall to pull himself back on his feet.

“...Huh.” Coco said, smiling a little. “Even a direct Beowolf strike isn’t enough to keep you down, huh?”

Neptune was still looking over suspiciously. What the heck was that?

“Okay, if you guys are done here,” Crimson said. “I’m pretty sure there’s something bigger on it’s way!”

“And by ‘something bigger’, you mean…?” Neptune asked.

“You know EXACTLY what I mean!”

As soon as Neptune was about to respond, the sound of a larger Grimm’s thudding footsteps echoed behind them.

“...Oh.” Neptune said. “THAT’S what you meant.”

“Uh, yeah.” Crimson said with a sarcastic look. “No shit, Sherlock.”

The Grimm that appeared was huge, and it looked like two Grimm merged together. The lower Grimm was almost equine, but with a small snout and ears and a long tail with a bladed hook at the end, and was covered in thick bone-like armour. A humanoid Grimm was fused to the top of it – looking like it was riding it – and also had thick armour covering it, but in place of it’s right hand was a long blade.

“Okay, I think you already know what I’m going to ask.” Neptune said, prepping his weapon.

“That’s a Jouster.” Marina explained. “It’s similar in build to a rare Grimm in Mistral who’s name I can’t remember, but it’s covered in plated armour and is obviously armed. It’ll die if you take out either the horse or the guy on top, but doing that is a lot easier said than done.”

“So we don’t have to take out both of them to kill it?” Coco asked.

Crimson shrugged. “Yeah, taking out one of ‘em will do the trick.”

Neptune switched Melodias Vanguard into it’s gun mode and both him and Coco fired at the Grimm with their weapons, only for it to be protected by it’s armour.

“Damn!” Coco said angrily.

“Like I said,” Marina continued. “A lot easier said than done.”

“Then all we need is more firepower.” Neptune said, turning towards his teammate. “Scarlet, do you mind using your semblance?”

“Didn’t have to ask.” Scarlet responded, as a fireball appeared in his hand. He threw it at the Grimm, and it exploded in a burning blast.

However, the Jouster still seemed unaffected, and attacked the group with it’s blade, only for Marina to use her semblance to block the Grimm’s blade with water from her gourd.

“Okay, what is that thing’s armour made of!?”

“Like I said,” Marina continued explaining, as she pushed the blade away with the water. “It’s got pretty heavy armour. It’ll take a while to wear it down, but every little helps.”

“Hold on, I have an idea.” Crimson said.

Marina nodded. “Fire away.”

“If one of us gets the Grimm’s attention, the others could stick behind and fire at it’s armour while it’s distracted.”

“That’s actually a good idea.” Coco said.

“But we need a pretty good distraction in order to divert it’s attention from rapid gunfire.” Scarlet pointed out.

“Actually,” Crimson said, turning over to look at Neptune with a devious smirk on her face. “I know just the thing.”

Neptune looked at her nervously. “...Why are you staring at me like that?”

Crimson shot a knowing look towards Marina.

“Ohh.” Marina said, with another devious smile beginning on her face. “I see what you want me to do.”

“What are you talking about!? What does she want to do!?”

Marina looked towards him with an innocent smile, as she directed a large amount of water from her gourd to nearby her outstretched right hand.

“You’d better start running.”

“Dammit, why hasn’t he responded to any of my messages!?”

A younger looking huntsman (who looked like he was just starting at one of the academies) was waiting impatiently on the roof of one of the buildings in Vale. He was carrying an intricately built crossbow in his right hand and a small violet-coloured suitcase in his left.

“You could’ve at least given me a good idea as to where you are, but no.” He sighed. “Spending too much time in this city has blunted your edge of rational thought.”

He tapped the end of the crossbow on the building’s smooth roof.

“Okay, I gotta calm down...” He said with an impatient edge. “But it would’ve been so much easier if you had given me some kind of calling card to tell me where you were, like a dust flare, or-”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!”

He stopped and turned around to the source of the scream.

“Or a cry for help.”

A smile began to form on his face.

“I’d recognise those water-induced screams anywhere.”

“I don’t think that’s all of them.”

“You don’t think so?” Blake asked.

Lucifer was standing on the side of a building. “Nope. I’m pretty sure that there’s either a couple of Grimm left or a big one headed over.”

“How do you know that?”

The sound of someone screaming nearby sounded almost immediately after Blake’s response.

“That.” Lucifer said, pointing in that direction with his bat. “That’s how.”

“...Isn’t that Neptune?”

Lucifer shrugged. “Probably.”

Neptune suddenly ran over from the direction Lucifer pointed out. He looked out of breath, as if he had been running for a while.

He turned backwards to call out “WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY!?”

Crimson quickly joined him, not looking breathless at all. “C’mon, lighten up a little! Coco and Scarlet managed to wear down it’s armour a little while you were distracting it. And besides,” She gave him a wink. “It was hilarious to watch.”

Scarlet, who had walked over to join them, added his opinion. “I second on that.”

Blake was looking at the three of them incredulously. “...What the hell is going on?”

Neptune stopped, as he had just noticed Blake and Lucifer’s presence. “Please don’t tell me you saw that.”

“Saw what?”

“Oh thank god...”

“Trust me, Blake.” Scarlet said with a condescending smirk. “You wanted to see this.”

“Shut up.” Neptune said with a glare.

“Okay,” Blake said, confused. “Can someone fill me in?”

“A Jouster’s on the way.” Crimson said.

“A Jouster?” Lucifer jumped off of the side of the building. “Aren’t those extremely rare in Vale?” “What’s a Jouster?” Blake asked.

“You’ll know when you see it. Anyway,” Crimson continued. “We managed to wear down it’s armour a little, but Marina and Coco got caught up with other Grimm on the way.”

“How did you get it’s attention away from you?” Blake asked.

“A distraction.”

“That explains the screaming.” Lucifer said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yup.”

The thundering footsteps of the Jouster Grimm got closer and closer, until it finally reappeared and charged at the group with it’s blade at the ready.

But before the blade could hit them, a small portal opened right in front of it and swallowed the tip of it’s blade, and another portal opened near the Grimm’s bladeless arm, and the blade point went through it. The portals disappeared and the blade quickly returned to where it was.

Crimson looked impressed. “Whoa.”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to learn how to do that for ages now.” Neptune responded. “It takes a lot of energy to pull off, but it’s probably worth it.”

“Well, you managed to take out it’s left arm. But unfortunately, it’ll take a lot more than that to take it out.”

“And as if that wasn’t enough,” Lucifer pointed behind the Grimm with his bat. “Looks like it brought friends.”

A small number of Grimm had started to gather behind the Jouster where Lucifer was pointing.

“Aw, dammit!” Neptune exclaimed angrily.

“I’ll take care of them.” Scarlet said.

“Huh?”

“Someone needs to get those other Grimm’s attention and divert them away from here. I’ll take care of that.”

“Hold on,” Neptune objected. “That could be dangerous-!”

Before he could finish, Blake grabbed him by the arm.

“Huh? What the heck are you-”

He stopped when he noticed Blake’s look.

She was giving him a look as if to say: “don’t object. Some space between you too will be good for you.”

Neptune stopped reluctantly and sighed. “Go ahead.”

Scarlet gave the two of them a suspicious look, before turning around and running towards the other pack of Grimm, the patterns on his two weapons glowing in various colours.

“He’ll be able to keep them busy.” Neptune said, as Scarlet and the other Grimm disappeared from sight.

“Good.” Lucifer said, switching his bat into sniper mode. “Let’s take this thing out.”

Both him and Neptune fired at the Jouster, but with little affect against the Grimm’s heavy armour.

Blake used this as an opportunity, throwing her weapon at the Grimm’s blade and wrapping the cord tied to it around it. Using it as a swing, she swung closer to it, unravelled the ribbon from the blade and stabbed through it’s now weakened armour on it’s lower body.

However, her weapon wouldn’t budge when she tried to pull it back out, leaving her stuck on the Grimm’s body.

“Blake!” Neptune called out.

Blake tried desperately to pull out her weapon, but before she could, a sudden gust of steam swept over the area, and she felt someone grab her from behind and pull her off, finally dislodging the weapon from the Grimm’s armour.

“That was pretty reckless.” She heard Crimson say behind her, as she put her back down and the steam began to clear. “I had to use my semblance before that thing could get you.”

“...Sorry...”

“Hey, no need to apologise!” She gestured over to where Blake was hanging off of the Grimm earlier. “You made a dent in it’s armour.”

“But I think it’ll take more than a dent to make a fatal hit.”

“Well, every little helps.”

“Unfortunately,” Lucifer said. “Now that you’ve penetrated some of it’s armour, it’s gonna be a lot more protective of that area.”

“So we just do the same thing?” Neptune asked.

Lucifer shook his head. “Bad idea. It’ll be able to tell that we’re repeating our strategy after a while.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do!?”

“For now…” Crimson said. “Dodge.”

“What do you mean, do-”

The Jouster suddenly charged forwards with it’s blade at the ready.

“GAH!” Neptune managed to forward-flip out of the way just in time, and attempted to make some shots at the Grimm while he was still in the air, which all struck it’s armour.

“Is that what you meant-” He started as he landed.

“NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!”

The Grimm slashed at them with it’s blade again.

But before it could hit them, Lucifer blocked the strike with his bat and flipped backwards.

And before the Grimm could do anything else, a bright blue flash struck it’s blade.

When the light subsided, the point of the Grimm’s blade was covered in ice.

The group of students looked on in awe.

“Okay,” Crimson said. “What the hell was that!?”

“How am I supposed to know!?” Blake asked.

“Well,” Neptune said. “Scarlet isn’t here, so my first guess would be-”

“There you are!”

Neptune stopped, and the group of them turned towards the source of the new voice.

Someone was standing on top of a nearby building. He looked about the age of someone who was just starting at one of the academies. He had dark purple hair, light lavender coloured eyes and light tan coloured skin. He was wearing a vest styled tailed coat over a dark blue shirt with a purple bow tie, as well as grey trousers and shoes. He had a violet-coloured suitcase in his left hand, and an intricately constructed crossbow in his hand.

He was looking directly at Neptune with a smile. “It’s good to see you again, Neptune.”

Neptune looked at him in awe for a while, before smiling back.

“It’s about damn time you got here!”

“You didn’t give me any specific directions as to where you were.”

“Good point.”

The new arrival jumped off the building to join the group. “I presume this is the group you mentioned?”

Neptune shrugged. “Some of them.”

The others looked on, dumbfounded.

“Um...Neptune?” Blake asked. “Who is this?”

“I’ll save the formal introductions until after we take care of this Grimm.” The stranger replied casually, before turning around to face it.

The Jouster was still reeling from the previous attack, but managed to charge forward.

The stranger remained unfazed.

A portal suddenly opened between him and the jouster, and a small tornado-like blizzard erupted from the portal and towards the Grimm.

The Jouster was hit directly by the storm and was slowed down by the cold.

As the portal closed, the stranger pointed his crossbow at it, as it was loaded with a bolt made of ice dust.

He fired the bolt at the Grimm, followed by another dust bolt of the same type.

Both hit the Grimm directly, freezing a lot of it’s armour.

“That would’ve weakened it enough...” He said to himself, before turning around. “Neptune, now!”

“O-oh! Got it!” Neptune flipped Melodias Vanguard into it’s glaive mode, charged towards the incapacitated Jouster, and stabbed through one of the ice-covered armour plates on the neck of the Grimm’s upper body, and managed to pull the armour right off as he flipped off of the Grimm’s body.

Almost as if on cue, the stranger prepped his crossbow with a fire dust bolt, but instead of firing it, he flipped the weapon into a form resembling a pike.

He ran towards where the armour was ripped off, and stabbed the exposed neck area directly.

After a while of holding the weapon there, the Grimm stopped moving and began to disintegrate.

He sighed, flipped the weapon back into it’s crossbow form and leapt off.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Uh, thanks.” Crimson said. “By the way, who are you?”

“Oh yeah, I still need to introduce myself.” He said with a smile.

“Well, you and Neptune managed to defeat that Grimm, so...” Blake said.

The stranger laughed, before offering a handshake to Blake with his free hand.

“Uranus Vasilias. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Okay, mister Vasil-” Blake suddenly realised the significance of his last name. “Wait, what?”

Uranus paused, as if waiting for something. “...Aren’t you going to return the favour?”

Blake looked over to Neptune, then back to Uranus, then back to Neptune again.

“...You’re related!?”

Uranus sighed, before putting his hand back down and looking over to Neptune. “Do I have to explain everything?”

Neptune shrugged with a smile. “By the looks of things, yes.”

Uranus sighed angrily. “Dammit, bro...”

“Wait, ‘bro’?” Blake asked, before the pieces flew together in her mind.

“HE’S YOUR BROTHER!?”

“Looks like I don’t have to explain it, you just figured it out.” Uranus said. “Yes. I’m his brother.”

“Don’t act all mature, you’re still a year younger than me!” Neptune said.

“Now isn’t the time, she’s still confused. Your turn in the hot seat now.”

“Oh, right. Well, remember how I mentioned a while ago that I was getting backup?”

“...Yeah?” Blake said.

“Well, what I really meant was that he sent me a message asking what was going on, I told him about the Vale thing, and he managed to convince me it was a good idea for him to come here.”

“And if she found out the stunt you’re pulling,” Uranus said. “You’d never hear the end of it from Athena.”

“But you’re here too.”

“But she likes me better than you.”

“Touché.”

“Oookaaay...” Crimson said. “Also, what’s with the case?” She asked, pointing towards the violet-coloured suitcase that he had put down earlier.

Uranus smiled, picking it back up. “You’ll see eventually, miss…?”

“Uh, Crimson. Crimson Foxx.”

“I think that’s my cue to introduce myself too.” Lucifer added. “Lucifer Graye.”

“And, Blake. Blake Belladonna. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Uranus turned back over to Neptune. “Anyway, do you have somewhere I can set up?”

“Wait, set up what?” Blake asked.

“You’ll see eventually.” He turned back over to Neptune again. “Do you?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Let’s head over.”

“Hold on,” Blake said. “Is it...Okay if I check how Scarlet’s doing? I mean, he had to deal with a number of Grimm, so...”

Neptune paused, then nodded. “Go ahead.”

Blake nodded, then ran off.

“I guess that just leaves the four of us.” Crimson said.

“Well then,” Uranus said. “Should we head over?”

Neptune nodded. “Good idea.”

“Really? Was ‘Shield City’ the best name you could come up with?”

“Look, I was short on time, okay!?” Neptune defended.

The four of them were walking through a recaptured area of Vale.

“Either way,” Neptune continued. “It’s a safe area of recaptured blocks in the city.”

“It’s basically our base.” Crimson added.

“I figured.” Uranus replied, studying the nearby buildings with curiosity. “Is there a specific one I can use?”

Neptune shrugged. “There’s plenty. Make your choice.”

Uranus looked at the abandoned buildings for a while, before pointing towards a desolate ‘From Dust ‘til Dawn’ shop. “What about that one?”

“Okay, that actually works.” Neptune said, as they stopped walking and headed inside.

It’s normally stacked shelves were completely empty, aside from a dust-powered lamp lighting the inside, and the counter and chair where the cashier would serve remained intact.

“We’ve already taken the dust, if that’s what you’re looking for.” Crimson added.

“Not what I’m looking for,” Uranus said, walking over behind the counter, sitting down on the chair, and putting his suitcase on the countertop. “But it’s perfect for what I am looking for.”

He clicked the button on the front of the suitcase. But rather than opening, the suitcase folded out into a set of shelves, lined with different types of metals and paint, fine tools, small tubes of powdered and crystal dust and the kind of thing you would find in a weapon builder’s toolbox.

Crimson, Lucifer and Neptune were impressed.

“Whoa!” Crimson exclaimed.

“Whoa indeed.” Uranus replied.

“You made your armoury portable?” Neptune asked.

“Wait, armoury?” Lucifer asked.

Uranus sighed angrily. “Let me guess. You didn’t explain that either?”

“Explain what?” Crimson asked.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Uranus said. “Well...Does the name Jupiter Vasilias ring a bell to you?”

“Well...” Lucifer said. “Other than the fact that it’s your and Neptune’s last name, no.”

“They aren’t from Mistral, I don’t think they’ll know who he is.” Neptune said discreetly.

Uranus nodded. “Got it. Well, he’s a weapon builder. And he’s our father.”

“Your father is a weapon builder?” Crimson asked.

“Yup.” Neptune answered. “He runs a weapon-making shop in Blaze.”

“Blaze?”

“City in Mistral.”

“Oh, right.”

“Anyway,” Uranus continued. “Let’s just say I inherited his skill.”

“Hey, so did I!” Neptune argued.

“Yes, but you spent too much time at Haven to properly hone it. Melodias Vanguard is the best – and only – thing you’ve made, but it has it’s problems.”

“Oh, yeah? Like wh-”

“The only dust type it actually uses is electric.”

“I-it can use other dust types! I just...Haven’t tried it yet.”

Crimson laughed a little. “Hah, sibling rivalry!”

“What about your weapon?” Lucifer asked.

“Oh, this?” Uranus asked, showing him his weapon.

The crossbow looked like it had taken near years to make, and had a sense of true craftsmanship and skill.

Lucifer looked closely to read the cursive writing engraved on where the bolts were fired from. “Melodias...Symphony?”

Uranus nodded, as he politely took it back. “Yup. Melodias Symphony. It’s able to create crossbow bolts from pure dust. All handmade by yours truly.”

Lucifer was impressed. “Wow. Now THAT’S awesome.”

“Anyway,” Uranus set Melodias Symphony down on the countertop. “Do any of your weapons need fixing, or…?”

“As a matter of fact...” Lucifer took out his bat to show him. It had a large gash across it. “It had taken a pretty bad hit when I blocked that Grimm’s attack before you showed up.”

Uranus took the bat to look at it closer. “Hm...The craftsmanship is very impressive...” He looked back up at Lucifer. “Did you make it yourself?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I can patch it up myself, you don’t have to-”

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Uranus said, setting the bat down in front of his miniature armoury. He took out a small welding torch and some kind of metal from one of it’s shelves and started to repair the bat.

Lucifer looked on in amazement. “You’re...Really good at this.”

“Thanks.” Uranus responded, not looking up from his work. “Like I said, I get it from my father.”

He continued to carefully weld the metal back in place for a while, before handing the weapon back over.

“There. Good as new.”

Lucifer looked over the bat. It was like the gash was never there.

“Whoa...Thanks a lot.”

Uranus smiled. “Don’t mention it. Come back if there are any other problems.”

Lucifer nodded.

“Well, looks like we’re done here.” Crimson said, stretching her arms a little. “Luce and I should go.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Please don’t call me that...See you guys later.” He said, as him and Crimson headed off, leaving Uranus and Neptune alone.

“I presume that I have to introduce myself to everyone else?” Uranus asked.

“Yeah...” Neptune said. He looked deep in thought.

“...Something wrong?”

“Well...Uh...I do need you to check something with my weapon.” He answered, handing Melodias Vanguard in it’s gun mode over.

“What is it?” Uranus asked as he took the weapon.

“Well...The trigger has a habit of...” Neptune paused with a sad expression, as if remembering something. “...Jamming...At important moments.”

“A constantly jamming trigger, huh?”

Neptune, still looking sorrowful for a brief moment, nodded.

Uranus smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Blake was running through the streets. The sky was starting to become a more vibrant fiery colour due to the sun slowly rising.

She still hadn’t found Scarlet yet.

Blake was partially lying when she said why she wanted to leave. She did want to check if he was okay, but it was mostly for another reason.

Neptune had been telling her about everything he’s found out about him and why he’s so suspicious of him for a while now, and she had only heard his side of the story.

And now, she wanted to hear Scarlet’s side of the story.

She eventually found him in one of the city streets. It wasn’t long since he defeated the rest of the Grimm, as there were remnants still disintegrating. He had his back to her, so he didn’t notice her arrive.

Blake was about to say something, when she noticed something that made her stop in her tracks.

When she was starting to walk over, Scarlet had moved his right hand away from the lower area of his face.

And part of his hand was covered in blood.

Blake’s eyes widened a little, as she tried to figure out why.

Has...He been coughing up blood!?

She forced that thought out of her mind and tried to get his attention.

“Uh...Hey.”

Scarlet stopped, quickly flicked the blood off of his hand and turned around.

“Sorry if I, uh, startled you.” Blake continued. “I just wanted to check if you were-”

“I’m fine.” He said.

“O-oh. That’s...Good.”

“Doesn’t Neptune want you to stay with the others?”

“Well, yeah, but he said it was fine for me to...”

There was a short awkward silence.

Blake decided to be upfront. “Can we talk?”

Scarlet gave her a sarcastic look. “...Really?”

“Well, now that Neptune’s off doing who-knows-what, and it’s just the two of us, maybe it’s a cue for us to just...I don’t know...Talk.”

Scarlet continued giving her a sarcastic look, but sighed and started to walk towards one of the buildings, while giving Blake a hand signal to follow him.

She followed him to the side of the building (probably a small apartment complex), where a fire escape ladder lead to a platform nearby the topmost window. Scarlet quickly climbed up the ladder and lifted himself onto the roof as if it was nothing.

He looked down to where Blake was watching.

“...Are you going to follow or what?”

“Oh! Of course!” Blake walked up to the ladder, carefully climbing up to the platform and tried to lift herself onto the roof. After a few seconds of struggling to get up, Scarlet grabbed her by the hand and helped her onto the roof.

“Thanks.” She said. “You’re...Uh...Really good at climbing onto buildings.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been doing it a lot recently.” He walked over to the edge and sat down. “It’s a good way to get some space from everything.”

Blake paused. “...Is...Me being here a problem?”

“No, it’s not.”

There was another pause, then Blake walked over and sat next to him on the edge.

“Are you okay?”

Scarlet gave her another sarcastic look. “I already told you. I’m fine.”

“No, I mean...How do I put this?...Well...I don’t know if it was because of what happened with that Deathstalker, or what happened at the tournament, but...You don’t seem fine.”

Scarlet didn’t say anything.

“Oh...” Blake said. “Is...What happened at the tournament still a sore topic?”

“...A little, yeah.”

“...Sorry.”

There was another silence.

Blake was about to say something else, but Scarlet said something first.

“Blake...Can I ask you something?”

Blake was slightly stunned that he broke the silence first. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Do you...Ever feel like an outsider sometimes?”

“Huh?” She was surprised more by his question. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, just...Sometimes, does it ever feel like you’re the odd one out, or...That you just don’t belong with the others?”

Blake was in stunned silence.

Because of course she felt like that.

He already knew that she was a faunus, but that wasn’t the reason.

She had been in the White Fang for years. She had been working with people actively trying to disrupt the peace while fighting for a once pure, now corrupted cause for years. She used to try to hurt people, and now she was trying to save them.

But the only people who actually knew that was the rest of her team, and Sun.

One is dead, one is in a coma, and the other two are at the other side of the world. So she was the only person here that actually knew that.

That was the reason.

“Y-yeah, sometimes...” Blake answered. She wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole truth either. “Why do you ask?”

Scarlet looked away from her, and after a brief pause, replied.

“...I feel like that a lot.”

Blake was taken aback a little. “What? Why?”

“...Also a pretty sore topic.”

“Oh, right. Sorry...But I mean, you still have most of your team. As for me...I’m the only member of team RWBY here. So you still have people you know you can talk to about this kind of thing.”

He didn’t say anything for a bit, and shrugged. “...I guess...But I don’t like talking about it.”

“Well...I guess we’re both in the same sinking ship.”

“Huh?” He turned over to face her.

“I don’t really like talking about my reason either. I’ve barely brought it up with anyone besides Sun, and even then I barely talk about it. So, even though our reasons are most likely completely different, well...” She turned to face Scarlet with a smile. “You’re not alone.”

Scarlet looked at her in mild amazement, before smiling himself. “I guess we are.”

“Okay, what is taking her so long!?”

“Now isn’t the time for your complaining, Lazuli.” Ashe said, as she twirled her scythe in her hand.

“Well, she doesn’t usually take THIS long!” Lazuli argued impatiently.

“She must’ve gotten caught up with other Grimm on the way.”

“Either way, she should at least TRY to hurry up!”

“Now, now. This isn’t the time for arguing.” Fuchsia said calmly. “We’ll be able to take these Grimm out before Lillian gets here.”

There were three Griffons and two Beowolves in front of the three huntresses, preparing to attack them.

Fuchsia was carrying a large fuchsia-coloured sheath with rose-coloured swirl patterns on her back, and out of the sheath she pulled a massive cutlass-style sword. The blade was rose-coloured and the hilt was a dark plum colour, and the handle was decorated with bright coloured fake thorns and a metal rose on the end.

Fuschia darted towards one of the Griffons and sliced it’s head off with relative ease, before removing the sheath from her back with her other hand as it folded into a massive blunderbuss, which she used to shoot the other two.

One was taken out, but another still remained, so Lazuli readied her two sais and ran towards it, slicing the Griffon’s wings off and finishing it off with a stab in the neck.

“Well,” Ashe said with a smirk. “You’re certainly competent when you aren’t complaining.”

Lazuli stuck her tongue out playfully.

Ashe laughed, and started to fight one of the two Beowolves with her scythe, but it was able to block her swipes and slashes easily with it’s claws.

In response, Fuchsia readied her blunderbuss and Lazuli readied her sais.

But before either of them could intervene, a number of small flying blades shot through the air right through the Beowolf’s head.

Lazuli sighed and relaxed her posture. “Freakin’ FINALLY!”

The blades flew back towards another huntress who had joined them.

She had dark skin, gold coloured eyes and long dark brown hair in a fringe over her left eye which had the end dyed dark green. She was wearing a long dark green coat and a white top with a design of a broken clock, as well as beige trousers and dark coloured shoes.

She had a chunky dark gold-coloured bracelet that had a button with an Aquarius symbol on her right hand.

“Impatient and immature as always.”

Lazuli rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Lillian, what took so long?”

“If you must know,” Lillian replied. “There were a couple of Boarbatusks on the way here that I had to take out.”

Ashe gave Lazuli a look as if to say “I told you so”.

“Anyway, did I miss out?” Lillian asked.

“Nope.” Ashe replied, gesturing towards the remaining Beowolf, which was sharpening it’s claws on the ground. “There’s still one more with your name on it.”

Lillian smiled and clicked the button on her bracelet.

The bracelet folded out into a massive sword’s hilt, and the thousands of blades assembled on top of it to form a blade. The Aquarius symbol extended below the blade into a clock face-like array of star sign symbols, which automatically spun to the Leo symbol as the weapon reassembled into a giant sword.

Lillian wielded the massive sword with ease in her right hand, charged towards the remaining Beowolf and, before it could react, sliced the Grimm in half.

As the Grimm disintegrated, she turned back to the rest of her team.

“Will that do?”

“Perfect.” Ashe said with a smile.

“I still don’t get how you’re able to use the flying blade mode-” Lazuli started.

“Aquarius mode.” Lillian corrected.

“Yeah, Aquarius mode. I still don’t get how you’re able to use that with such little gravity dust!”

Lillian tapped the blade of her sword. “It’s all in the craftsmanship, my friend.”

Fuchsia laughed. “On that note, it’ll be best for us to head back to the city.”

“Yeah.” Lillian said with a smile. “Good idea.”

It was taking a lot longer than usual for Ruby to wake up. Usually she would jump out, put her hood on and she’d be ready for the day ahead.

But when she tried to wake up, it took longer.

Because she felt she was in an unfamiliar environment.

First off, she wasn’t in the sleeping bag that she took with her on her journey to Mistral. She was actually on some kind of bed. A comfortable one with a blanket made of some kind of fabric she didn’t recognise.

Second off, it didn’t feel like she was in her usual battle outfit. What she was wearing had the unfamiliar feeling of new clothes, but felt like some kind of linen.

Having enough of this unfamiliar feeling and wanting to see what was going on, Ruby eventually shot awake with a start.

“What th- huh?” She started in confusion.

This definitely wasn’t the forests of Mistral.

She was in a makeshift bed made of some kind of bamboo wood inside a large tent-like structure. She was wearing a basic shirt and trousers made of some kind of linen, as her regular outfit – which had three claw-shaped rips right through it – was hanging on a peg in the corner of the room.

It took Ruby a while to remember what happened the previous day.

“Gah-!” She hurriedly started to lift part of her shirt up to check if she had any scars, but someone said something that made her stop.

“Don’t worry, I already bandaged that up.”

“Huh?” Ruby turned around to the source of the voice.

She wasn’t alone in the room. There was someone making some kind of tea at a nearby dust stove. She was wearing a shallow cut black and red dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets with fingerless gloves. A decoration that looked like it was made of Nevermore feathers hung from the right side of her skirt. She also wore detached black leggings and black boots with red high heels and soles.

She turned around to look at Ruby. She had red eyes, long black hair and light-coloured skin.

Ruby recognised her, as she had seen her in a photo that Qrow had shown her once, but it took longer for her to realise who she was.

Raven smiled warmly. “You’re finally awake. Welcome, Ruby.”

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