#sorta forgot to...not copy my own hand exactly | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

keichanz · 4 years

Text

Another Day in Hell || Ch. 5

this chapter is for @noanieactuallydrawingalot. i still absolutely love that amazing art you drew for this story and i’m forever thankful and sooo glad you’re enjoying this story!!! <3

also wanna give a shoutout to my girl @cammysansstuff because she’s been reading and supporting this story since day one and it means the world to me. <3

Read on AO3

Ch. 1 || Ch. 2 || Ch. 3 || Ch. 4 || Ch. 5

The following days were spent in a mixture of more random small talk, light banter – Inuyasha was quick to discover that Kagome was fucking feisty when riled up, and likewise Kagome learned the half-demon had a wit that nearly matched her own – and some light weapons maintenance training. Kagome sometimes went with Inuyasha when he had to leave for some reason or another, whether it be searching for supplies, killing some nuisance deadies (helpfully stabbing some that Inuyasha felled), or inspecting the store for any security breaches or evidence of any unknown presence. Most of the time, however, she stayed behind, letting her shoulder heal and doing her part to keep the space tidy.

Kagome was able to recognize the voices that came out of the radio whenever Inuyasha talked with one of his friends. Most of the time it was the ones called Slayer and Monk, though sometimes a voice that went by Cane came through. Those conversations were always interesting; it seemed that Inuyasha didn’t exactly get along with this Cane guy and they were constantly tossing insults at each other. Kagome suspected they were both purposely trying to piss the other off and while strange – and if she were being honest, somewhat childish – it was also highly amusing.

It was after a particular conversation between him and Monk in which they discussed a rogue and the issue of trusting them with a fawn (??) that Kagome had asked why had had given his real name when he met her and not his alias. Inuyasha had seemed surprised at first, but then he’d shrugged and simply said he’d needed to get her to trust him. Doubtful she would if he’d lied right off the bat and given her a false name.

She’d digested that in silence, though the smile on her face suggested she appreciated that he had, in fact, been true with her from the start.

It was getting easier to be alone now, for which she was grateful, and while she still felt some lingering anxiety whenever she paid too much attention to how long he’d been gone, it was easily manageable. To pass the time, she played cards with an old deck she’d found while sneakily nosing through the stuff Inuyasha had collected over the months. A lot of the time whenever he returned during one of her games, he’d sit down and join her and they’d have the rowdiest, loudest games of Bullshit ever.

It was tons of fun though despite it being just the two of them, and more often than not Kagome was left gasping for breath from laughing too hard.

It was the day before two of Inuyasha’s friends were supposed to show up to take over watching the store and Kagome was in the middle of a rather boring game of Solitaire when the radio crackled to life. So used to the silence of the basement during Inuyasha’s absences, she jumped in her seat with a startled gasp and snapped her gaze to stare at the device where it sat on the table in front of her.

“Ash, come in.”

She blinked. Slayer, she thought, recognizing the feminine voice. Kagome’s brow furrowed slightly; the woman had sounded slightly out of breath and a tad harried. Was everything okay?

“Ash, do you read?” Slayer’s voice came over again and Kagome detected a smidge of impatience.

She bit her lip and glanced at the ceiling door. Inuyasha had been gone for about forty-five minutes and was due back in another fifteen, however it was always unpredictable when his exact arrival would be.

“Dammit, Ash—” Slayer cut herself off with a grunt and Kagome’s frown deepened as she stared thoughtfully at the two-way. That hadn’t sounded very good at all...

“Come back or so help me god I’ll feed all your precious ramen to the stupid zombies!”

Kagome’s eyebrows rose at the rather...unique threat and her lips twitched. Over the past few days she had also learned of Inuyasha’s fervent love – or maybe obsession was a more accurate term – for the noodles and had he been around to hear it she was fairly certain that particular threat would get his ass in gear. The man liked his ramen.

A few more seconds ticked by and the device remained silent. Kagome watched it for another five seconds before shrugging and going back to her game, figuring Slayer must have realized Inuyasha wasn’t around. Putting the five of hearts on top of the six of spades, Kagome idly wondered what had happened and hoped that it was nothing bad—

“Answer me right now, you goddamn prick!”

The shriek coming from the tiny speaker startled Kagome so badly she nearly fell out of her chair and with a gasp, she didn’t think as she reached over and snatched up the radio.

“Uh, er, h-hello?” Kagome spoke into the mic, wincing at how uncertain she sounded.

She received no response and she bit her lip before continuing a little more bravely, “Um, Slayer, right? I’m sorry, Ash isn’t around right now, but I can pass along a message if you’d like?”

She released the switch and waited anxiously, hoping the woman wouldn’t be mad that she’d answered and not the half-demon. A few seconds later the two-way crackled to life and Slayer’s voice, much more composed, came through.

“Hi,” she said amiably and Kagome relaxed. “You must be that woman Ash has told us about. Uh, yeah, I’m Slayer.” She gave a nervous laugh. “I’m sorry you had to hear that...usually he picks up right away so I thought he was deliberately ignoring me. He’s done it before, usually when he’s in a mood.”

Kagome could practically hear the other woman’s eyes rolling and she couldn’t stifle the snicker that bubbled up. “I’ve only known him for a few days, but I know exactly what you mean.”

“I think we’ll get along just fine,” Slayer replied and Kagome could hear the smile in her voice. “Listen, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to go. I did have a reason for contacting him and it’s kinda urgent, so could you please tell him to contact me when he gets back?”

“Of course,” Kagome returned without hesitation, frown back in place. She wanted to ask if everything was okay, but knew it wasn’t her place yet so she refrained. “He should be back in about ten minutes or so. I’ll let him know right away.”

“Thank you,” Slayer said, relief evident in her voice, but there was also an edge to it that was more than a little concerning. “It was nice meeting you...sorta.” A soft laugh floated from the speaker and Kagome echoed it.

“Ditto,” she said and the radio fell silent once more.

Worrying her bottom lip again, Kagome set the two-way on the table and sighed, staring down at the cards on the table. She’d scattered them slightly when she’d been startled from the radio suddenly coming to life so she started gathering them into a pile and stacking them back to replace into the ripped cardboard box.

She had just decided to get in a little PT for her shoulder when the ceiling hatch flipped open and Inuyasha dropped inside with a grunt. His shirt was bloody, which meant he’d had to utilize the sword at his hip – Tessaiga, if she recalled correctly – and Kagome hoped whatever he’d had to cut down was already dead.

She tipped him a smile and sat down on the bed. “Hi.”

He flicked her a glance, grunted, and promptly shed his shirt, unceremoniously dropping it to the floor before digging around for a clean one.

Kagome’s face flamed and though she told herself to look away, her eyes took in his muscled back with unveiled appreciation, catching a glimpse of his chest as he straightened to pull a t-shirt over his head. Hastily she looked away and desperately hoped he hadn’t caught her checking him out. Good lord, but the man was ripped.

“Um, Slayer needs to talk to you,” Kagome said. “She sounded a little weird, so I answered her back on the radio. She said it was urgent.”

Inuyasha frowned and picked up the two-way. “Weird, how?”

Kagome shook her head. “Like she was out of breath and, I don’t know...agitated?”

Nodding, not really liking the sound of that, Inuyasha depressed the switch and spoke into the mic, “Ash to Slayer, come in.”

Her reply was immediate. “Took your sweet time,” she quipped.

He rolled his eyes. “What happened? You said it was urgent.”

Never one to beat around the bush, Sango cut right to the chase. “Monk’s hurt,” she said and even Kagome could pick up on the concern in her voice. “We ran into a group of people that threatened to kill us if we didn’t hand over our weapons and supplies and Monk got a cut in his arm that I think needs stitches.”

“So why don’t you—”

“We ran out last week, Ash,” she cut him off, sounding impatient. “Remember? Because Cane is a fucking idiot and used the last of it so he didn’t bleed out after that stupid stunt he pulled?”

Inuyasha cursed because yeah, he remembered. “Fucking wolf,” he muttered.

“Besides,” Slayer continued, voice soft. “You’re the only one I trust to do it right. It’s Monk, Ash.”

Inuyasha closed his eyes and sighed, thrusting a hand through his hair. “Yeah,” he rumbled, grimacing. “I know. Alright, fine, but Thing One and Two are gonna hafta—”

“They’re already on their way,” she interrupted and the relieved gratitude in her voice was unmistakable. “Left about fifteen minutes ago.”

“Copy. See you soon.”

“Back atcha.”

Inuyasha stared thoughtfully down at the two-way radio for a moment before shaking his head and placing it back on the dock to charge. Ginta and Hakkaku, otherwise known as Thing One and Thing Two, were the biggest scatterbrains he knew and often forgot to put it back on the dock to charge at the end of the night. At least now it would have a halfway decent charge before they carted it around everywhere.

“Looks like you’ll be meeting everyone a day early,” he said as he turned back around, one hand on his hip while the other racked through his hair. When all Kagome did was toss him a distracted smile before adopting her look of pensive concern again, Inuyasha frowned and then crossed his arms.

“What is it?” he asked. He’d gotten to know the young woman pretty well in the past few days and he could tell something was bothering her now.

Her eyes flashed to his at the question and she worried her bottom lip. He cocked a brow, wondering what it could possibly be to make her this hesitant, then she sighed and really, he should have expected what came out of her mouth next.

“Those people,” Kagome began quietly, her gaze searching his, but for what he didn’t know, “that...Slayer was talking about, who wanted their weapons. Did...were they...killed?”

Kagome didn’t fail to notice the way Inuyasha visibly tensed, and when all he did was clench his jaw and harden his stare, she had her answer.

“So,” Kagome said some twenty minutes later and tilted her head, giving him a sidelong glance as her lips twitched. “Thing One and Two?”

From where he stood by the edge of the shop’s roof, keeping a lookout for a huge black truck and straining his ears for the sound of a diesel engine, Inuyasha glanced to his right and studied the profile of the woman that stood beside him. His gaze met hers for an instant before she looked away, back toward the deadened land that surrounded them and the even deader figures that wandered it. A few of them dotted the landscape here and there, but not enough to be a concern, so they more or less went ignored.

Inuyasha’s brows dipped into a slight frown. He knew it was still bothering her. She tried to hide it behind vague smiles and forced laughter, but he could see the strain around her eyes, the way she unconsciously worried her lip and seemed to lose herself in thought. He didn’t like that she was so obviously troubled by this, and several times now he had to stop himself from reassuring her or spewing out complete bullshit just to see a genuine smile on her face again.

Because the fact of the matter was, anything he could say wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference because this was something she had to work out by herself. He knew she didn’t relish the thought of killing someone in cold blood – hell, he was willing to bet his ramen stash she was the type of person who caught insects in her house and released them back outside – but unfortunately, that was the way of the world now. You had to kill in order to survive and she was just going to have to accept that on her own terms, no matter how harsh it sounded.

Inuyasha knew she would. Kagome was strong; maybe not in body, but definitely in will and heart, and he was confident she would come around in time. And until that time finally came around, Inuyasha would be there to protect her and offer his assistance whenever necessary.

“You’ll understand when you meet them,” he finally answered, lifting a brow. “Otherwise they’re known as Smokey and Bandit.”

Kagome actually did a double take at that and her mouth dropped slightly.

“Yeah,” Inuyasha muttered, knowing exactly what she was thinking. “I know. And yes, it was deliberate. I swear to God they’re joined at the hip. Not once in the entire time I’ve known them have I ever seen them apart. Also they’re bona fide idiots.”

“Don’t be rude.”

He shrugged, unapologetic. “You’ll see,” he said and the distant rumble of a diesel engine had him turning his gaze back to the road.

Not ten seconds later he spotted the familiar black dually weaving between the abandoned vehicles on the road, the twin silver stacks rising up on either side of the cab clearly visible. The truck was lifted and altogether a motherfucking powerhouse and Inuyasha loved the thing. His own vehicle had been stolen long ago when everything started but it wasn’t a huge loss; the sedan had been on its last legs anyway and he wasn’t sorry to see it go.

This monster, however, Inuyasha had pretty much claimed as his own, everybody knew it, and he’s not going to lie: he was going be fucking devastated if something happened to it. He considered it a bonus that it was a zombie killing machine and hell yeah it was fun mowing them down with the modified grill he’d fashioned himself. Reminiscent of a pilot that was usually found on trains, the heavy steel frame easily cleared anything in front of it and it was arguably the best idea he’d ever had.

While Inuyasha raised a hand and waved, gesturing for them to drive around back to the loading dock, Kagome came up beside him and gawked at the six-wheeled monstrosity.

Inuyasha caught the look on her face and grinned proudly.

“Beauty, ain’t she?” he boasted and watched as Hakkaku, in the passenger’s seat, threw him a thumbs up as Ginta turned the wheel to go around back.

“It’s huge,” Kagome mumbled, frowning. “Is it yours?”

“More or less,” he answered and gently took her elbow to guide her to the other side of the roof. “I found it shortly after my own car was stolen, cleaned it up, made it better, so as far as I’m considered it’s mine now. Doesn’t hurt that it’s a beast and a definite upgrade from what I had before.”

The two wolves were just backing up to the loading dock and hooking an arm around Kagome’s waist, Inuyasha murmured a word of warning before hopping down to the ground. Predictably the roar of the diesel truck had attracted a number of deadies and Inuyasha told her to stay put before unsheathing Tessaiga and getting to work.

And as always, Kagome watched in awe as the half-demon darted from zombie to zombie and she couldn’t help but think that he was truly a sight to behold as he swung that huge sword of his around. Bodies fell at an alarming rate and there wasn’t a hitch in his stride, zero hesitation as he cut down the undead with a practiced ease that was almost frightening.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t he?” a voice said to her right and Kagome managed to tear her gaze away from the half-demon to find one of the inhabitants of the truck standing beside her, his gray eyes friendly.

“Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve always thought Ash can give Cane a run for his money any day,” the wolf demon said with a mischievous grin and Kagome blinked in surprise.

“Don’t let either of them hear you say that, or you’ll never hear the end of it!” another voice piped up and Kagome shifted her gaze to find wolf demon number two standing in the bed of the truck. The first thing she noticed about him was his blonde mohawk tipped with red and she thought the look suited him.

The one beside her, a tad shorter than she was with hair the same shade as his eyes and streaked with black, snickered and offered her another wide grin.

“Nah, he’s too busy showing off to hear,” he chortled and Kagome had to smile. “And Iris was bitching out Cane again when we left so doubtful he’d even care if he knew.”

“His face was so red!” Mohawk crowed as he hoped down from the bed and landed beside Gray Eyes.

“But from anger or shame, it was hard to tell!”

While the two men laughed at the expense of Cane, Kagome stood there staring between the two of them with a bewildered look on her face, not sure exactly what to say and wondering if they even remembered she was standing there. She suddenly understood why Inuyasha called them Thing One and Two.

And as if on cue, said half-demon sauntered over and barked, “Would you idiots knock it off and introduce yourselves already? Fuck’s sake, how that wolfshit puts up with you two I have no idea,” he muttered as he bypassed them and entered the backdoor to open the bay in order to load the truck.

As one the two wolf demons looked at each other, blinked, then broke into wide grins before abruptly spinning around to face her so fast Kagome took an involuntary step back.

“Our apologies, miss!” they said simultaneously and Kagome could do nothing but stand there and gape as together they took the same stance, legs akimbo with thumbs pointing at their chests, and plastered on matching, toothy grins.

“I’m Smokey, I have dimples!” the gray haired one said proudly.

“And I’m Bandit, the shrewd one!” Mohawk declared, then to Kagome’s utter bewilderment, they performed an odd sort of synchronized dance with fake fighting that reminded Kagome of a bad action film. They concluded it by striking what they probably assumed were power poses but in reality made them look ridiculous.

Well, more ridiculous.

“And together, we’re Smokey and the Bandit!” they chorused and it was glaringly obvious they thought they’re little show was original and awe inspiring.

So of course Kagome, after getting over her shock, smiled brightly and clapped as they blushed and bowed.

“I have to admit,” she started, a teasing note to her voice, “I was a bit disappointed when you didn’t roll up in a black Trans Am, but that definitely made up for it.”

The duo stared at her for a beat of silence before abruptly losing their shit, jumping up and down, talking loudly over one another and basically just acting like rabid fangirls over the fact that Kagome understood the reference and where they’d gotten the names from. She stood there with a bemused smile on her face and inconspicuously inched toward the door where Inuyasha disappeared.

The truck bay door suddenly slid open, revealing Inuyasha in all of his scowling glory as he glared at the two idiots.

“You both need to shut the hell up before you attract every goddamn roamer within a mile radius and I have to explain to Cane why you morons became zombie food while I stood by and watched. Now quit wasting time, make yourself useful and help me load the truck or so help me...”

He let the threat trail off with one last glower before turning and disappearing further into the backroom to gather supplies to take back to the dojo. Bandit grimaced and muttered an apology to Kagome before scampering after him while Smokey chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uh, sorry,” Smokey apologized with a sheepish smile. “It’s not often we meet people who share our love for classic films. Heh.”

Kagome giggled and waved off his apology. “It’s fine,” she said. “It’s a good movie and one of my favorites. I have to ask, though, you do realize—”

“Smokey, get your ass over here before I barbecue it in molasses!” Inuyasha bellowed and Kagome snorted a laugh.

The wolf demon scrambled to obey, tossing Kagome one last smile before scurrying over and taking the box of canned food from Inuyasha’s arms to hand to Hakkaku, making a train.

About half an hour later the truck was loaded up, Ginta and Hakkaku were standing in front of the open bay door and waving them off as Inuyasha and Kagome drove off in the monster of a truck. Inuyasha had had to lift her up into it since her arm was still healing and she couldn’t heave herself up but he hadn’t seemed to mind and in fact did it before she’d even asked.

Leaning out the open window and smiling back at her new friends Smokey and Bandit, Kagome waved one last time then leaned back in her seat with a sigh. They were definitely interesting characters and meeting them made her wonder what his other friends were like. She was especially eager to meet Slayer; it’d be nice to have a girlfriend to chat with again and maybe she’d be able to get some more information about Inuyasha from her.

“I like them,” she announced, reaching up to grasp the handle above her head as they bumped over rough terrain and ran over debris that couldn’t be avoided. “Now I know why you call them Thing One and Two.”

She giggled as Inuyasha snorted, but the grin on his face told of his amusement.

“Told you,” he said and hit the button to put up Kagome’s window. Some of the roamers were a little too close for comfort and he didn’t want one of them reaching in.

“I do have to wonder, though...” Kagome suddenly said and Inuyasha flicked her a brief glance before looking forward again.

“What?” he rumbled, managing to squeeze the massive truck into an alley that led back to the main road. A few roamers were standing around in it, but the mounted pilot took care of them, effortlessly plowing them down and clearing the way.

Kagome tilted her head and tipped him a smile, brown eyes flashing impishly.

“They do realize that Snowman was Bandit’s partner, and not Smokey the Sheriff?”

Inuyasha couldn’t stop the grin from spreading and he barked out a laugh.

“What we’re dealing with here,” he replied, shooting her a smirk as amber eyes glinted wickedly, “is a complete lack of respect for the law.”

Kagome threw her head back and laughed.

Ch. 6

a nod to one of my all-time favorite movies, Smokey and the Bandit. also that last line that Inuyasha says is a quote from the movie. Sheriff Buford T Justice, otherwise known as Smokey, says it to his (very dimwitted) son.

buy me a coffee? C:

#another day in hell #ch 5 #inuyasha #kagome #inukag #keizfanfiction #fanfiction #zombie apocolypse au

49 notes · View notes

gerbiloftriumph · 4 years

Text

So you wanna be a king

Or perhaps just cosplay one.

By request, here’s how I, at least, put together my King Graham outfit.

Part 1: Cloak and Cowl

Disclaimer: I’m totally novice at cosplay and only do it for like one event per year if that, so take what you will or throw it all away.

Also I made this like three years ago, so the details get sorta hazy.

Step one: Research. The best part. Take lots of screencaps of Graham from every angle. Hoard the pictures in your phone like a dragon. Stare at them. They’re lovely. He’s lovely.

Ready to commit to this? It’s mildly expensive and Mostly Time Consuming. But that outfit looks so neat...and I love him...okay. Still good?

Let’s do this.

Let’s start with the cloak and the cowl. The bit that everyone notices first, the dramatic part that snaps behind you when you walk and makes 2015 Graham stand apart from his 1980s days (...other than also not wearing pink anymore).

The best part other than the hat, really.

By the game’s own proof, the cowl and cloak are separate pieces. Which makes your life easier.

I chose a springy red fabric from Joann’s called bengaline. It stretches one way, not both, and it’s delightfully weighted so it snaps and catches the wind in pleasing ways--the effect when walking is almost as bouncy as the video game version. Should you choose the same, know that bengaline is primarily plastic and cannot be ironed (seriously, don’t)--steam it or get it wet and let it air dry to remove wrinkles. Check it out here: https://www.joann.com/sew-classics-bengaline-suiting/xprd757777.html

Bengaline does not feel heavy when you pick it up in the store. It becomes heavy as you wear it. Your shoulders might revolt. Feel free to pick something lighter, cheaper, or whatever is available in the shade of red you love most, but remember that the lighter the fabric weight, the happier you’ll be. Please do not pick velvet. A day at con reveals all truths. Be aware of what you’re putting your shoulders through.

For your reference, according to the receipt I found I apparently bought 6 yards of it (with a half off coupon). This is overkill. You probably don’t need 6 yards. I think I have a ton of it left over and smooshed into deep storage. But then again, it’s red and red is always useful in cosplay, so it doesn’t hurt to have leftovers.

Why reinvent the wheel? I used this tutorial here for the base cloak: https://dangerous-ladies.tumblr.com/post/41564161303/so-you-wanna-wear-a-cape-god-this-new

yes you want a circle cape, not a square cape. circle capes catch the wind better. you’ll be able to tell the difference, i promise.

Side note: you might think you want your cloak to touch your ankles. It looks like Graham’s does. You do not want this. When it scrapes the ground at comic con or renfest, it will get filthy, it will shred, and people (especially you) will step on the back of it. It might even get eaten by an escalator at con. Go up an inch or two--a little goes a long way. It’ll still look great, and you won’t choke.

plus depending on how you stand no one can tell anyway.

Now, for my numbers:

I am 5′6″. I chose 56.5″ (that includes my hem allowance) so that the cloak itself actually ‘swings’ at 55.5″. I copied the tutorial’s neck hole exactly (6″ ‘swing’).

Follow the tutorial’s instructions for the rolled hem. Pin everything. You will hate pins. You may bleed. Doesn’t matter. The cosplay gods are cruel. Keep pinning. If you picked bengaline like I did do not iron it just suffer in silence. Go slowly and carefully, and fight the curve to be as flat as you can.

Time to sew! Put on Game Grump’s King’s Quest 5 LP because it’s the best, and go slowly around your circle at the default sewing machine stitch.

I don’t recommend hand stitching. There is too much fabric and you want to have some sort of life at the end of this. Check with your local public library or that weird relative you forgot about if you don’t have a machine yourself.

Cool, that’s a cloak! Admire it, it’s lovely. I mean, you don’t have a way to wear it yet, but you’re maybe 68% done here so, that’s great!

Cowl time!

I don’t have reference images for what I did three years ago, and there are probably better ways to do this. Feel free to experiment, but here’s how I (probably?) did it:

Measure around your arms and upper chest approximately where the cowl will lay, and make sure you give yourself extra inches so you can still move comfortably. For me, that’s around 48-50″ around. I don’t remember what motivated my number selection for the neck part--it must be wide enough to go around your head, plus room to play with it to make it lie in fun ways like Graham’s. Apparently I picked 28″.

Play with scrap fabric, or if you have lots of extra red feel free to make extra sizes. My cowl looks like this:

That’s 14″ along the neck, 24″ along the body, and a length of 18″--but with a secret 6.5″ tucked inside the cowl itself, so the fabric really is 24.5″ long.

Why would I do that?

To tuck the cowl into the jerkin/undershirt collar and make it look seamless, like a video game character.

Ain’t no sight of tunic around that neck.

Also, the extra fabric gives it more stability and strength, allowing you to play with the collar and get that high edge he has rather than flat fabric. I’d even considered stringing a wire through it in early days, but if you use bengaline the fabric is sturdy enough on its own. Your fabric selection may act differently.

So, I’ve “hidden” 6.5″ worth of fabric in the collar. What would that look like as a pattern? I don’t remember for certain since I didn’t write it down but it probably looked like this:

okay maybe like half an inch seam allowance. an inch is probably overkill. don’t be me.

Since I didn’t want the thickness of a real hem, I did, like, a herringbone stitch (looks like zigzaging triangles) along the part that gets tucked in to the shirt to prevent any fraying, and then I folded it at the dotted line and sewed it in place to get a permanent line.

Unfolded, it looks like this:

In practice, it looks like this:

From the back, it ends up looking a little something like-a this:

Cool, cloak and cowl! You still don’t have a way to wear it, but the pieces are nice. Maybe unfinished and kinda boring, though, since Graham’s King Cloak is Such Luxury.

I mean, it’s fine that way. But it feels unfinished if you’re doing Prologue or Ch2 Graham.

Trimming time~.

I bought one 1″ wide red satin trim roll, and two 2 ¼” red satin trim rolls. Pin the wider trim all along the INNER bottom hem of your cloak (the side with the rolled hem on it), sew slowly. Get your second fresh roll so you don’t run out midway, and do the same on the EXTERIOR. This way, any wonky uneven lines are hidden on the inside and less noticeable.

Nice rule of thumb for cosplay I’ve learned: if you can’t see a mistake from 5 feet away, no one can. Don’t panic.

Do not sew both sides at the same time. It’s tempting, but hard enough to sew around a curve already without trying to keep both sides remotely even. To finish, I folded the long ends over, matched the hem with the cloak, and went for it.

And do the same to the bottom of the cowl with your thinner trim--you only have to do the exterior since no one can see the interior of that piece, so it’s much easier.

Cool! You’re done! You’ve got a cloak and cowl, trimmed and gorgeous.

“But Gerbil,” I hear you complain, “I still can’t wear it! It doesn’t have any attachment to me, even though I have lots of attachment to it since I just dumped like a hundred hours and at least $50 into it.”

Fair enough.

If you used bengaline like me, you’ll discover very quickly that it’s heavy heavy heavy. It’s gorgeous and thick and looks great, but the weight. Sure, it didn’t feel heavy when you bought it, when you sewed with it, when you first put it on. But it’s hour six of wearing it, and your shoulders hate you. If it hangs off your neck like you would assume a cloak should, you will choke. It hurts. The weight must sit on your shoulders.

Luckily, this costume has two separate pieces, and the cowl is going to hide where it hooks to you.

You’re going to buy two snap clips. The big ones. Like, at least an inch. You’re going to pick out an anchor t-shirt from Goodwill. It literally doesn’t matter what it looks like, but it’s going to be one size too small and will go up to your neck. You need it to be totally comfortable to wear (the more breathable the better--this is a hot cosplay), but tight enough that it will not shift under the weight of your cloak movement, thus the smaller size. Sew the snaps to the inside of the cloak and just above your collar bone on the shirt.

(apparently Superman wears it like this too, go figure)

(you might want to wait to sew the snaps on until your jerkin/tunic is finished before you sew the snaps to your anchor shirt, so you can be sure the collars match up--you need to have room for the snaps to sit on the anchor shirt, but still sit under your tunic)

(if you think of a better solution, have at, but please, do not tie it around your neck regardless of the type of material you bought. If anyone steps on the back, yourself included, and it’s attached by your neck, you’re out for the day. Do not.)

(also, one more pitch for the snaps--say your cloak does get caught on something. a wandering dragon, a passing knight’s sword, or ye olde con escalator. if it’s attached by snaps, not ties, it’ll pop right off with enough force, leaving you unharmed, but the snaps are heavy duty enough to stay put all weekend or multiple years without trouble)

And you’re done. That’s a cloak and cowl fine enough for a king, friend. Or at least fine enough for comic con.

A note on the out and about: you’re probably going to feel worn out after a few hours at con. Take frequent sitting breaks. After a few times wearing it you’ll get used to it and can fly around in it all weekend without trouble, but the first few times add unexpected strain to your neck and shoulders so take it a little easier.

Also, high key recommend handwashing the cloak (yes, the whole thing, it smooshes down well in water, I promise, it’s doable, just difficult) in your (clean!) bathroom sink with handwashing detergent, and laying it out to dry on towels. I wouldn’t trust the satin trim to hold up to a machine, but it withstands sink washing just fine.

(Was that useful? Was that atrocious? Do you want more pieces how-to’d? Do you want a full How-To-Graham Tutorial? Let me know, happy to ramble more!)

#King's Quest #kings quest #King Graham #cosplay #maxwelljacks #i really don't actually know if this is helpful or a disaster but since you've asked #i can't say no to helping #feel free to ask me for details #tutorial

22 notes · View notes

gaygwenpool · 5 years

Note

*slams fists on table* MYSTELEON

I knew you wouldnt disappoint! :D tho you already know most of these lmaoo lotsa credit to @herbofoo anyway, i dont remember which of these you came up with but Patchwork wouldnt be the same without your Good Good Content! (And of course thanks for all your patience as i cry about comics lmao)

I’ve lost all shame long since ive started shipping them so brace yourself for the self-indulgent cheese that is Chameleon/Mysterio in my Patchwork verse. (its reallly. really Melodramatic. i gave up all pretense.. also under the cut cuz its long..)

ask meme

Who cooks:

Mysterio! Although Chameleon is objectively The Superior Cook thanks to the long years of being a servant to picky russian nobility BUT exactly because of that, he really doesnt enjoy it, even less when cooking for others and not just himself. So it is usually Beck who prepares meals (that are not bad either, they are just simpler) but as often as they can, they eat out. That said, Cham is very well aware Quentin loves his cooking so sometimes, he makes them something. (Being sick isnt so bad when it means Chammy bringin you a big bowl of hot borscht :)

On the other hand, Cham has quite a sweet tooth which Q notices Fast and decides to learn how to bake. It took more effort and failed tries than it could have, mostly because he got cocky, how hard could this be and just. kept forgetting he put stuff in the oven.. But now he makes quite delicious cookies n cakes which make Dmitri almost tear up because tasty + Quentin baked something Specifically for him??

Who does the laundry and other chores:

Mysterio’s laundry is usually booby trapped so he has to clean it himself and he doesnt even let Cham near it. And he keeps forgetting gadgets in his civvies. Not to mention that again, for the same servant reason, Cham really doesnt enjoy house chores in general, so he usually just gets his own clothes cleaned somewhere else (especially since his fancy suits and even fancier gowns are the highest quality and delicate materials, he doesnt even Know how to clean them..)

As for the rest of the chores, its pretty balanced, although Cham has more of an eye for things that needs to be cleaned up (and Beck already has cooking duties) so he does a tad more.

How many children do they have + Any pets:

In my Patchwork universe there’s a whole Thing about Leon, the Chameleon of the Ultimate universe but I’ve tried to type up a short summary and failed, it’s a long story lmao ^^;; and anyway he isnt exactly their kid, he is just much younger than them and they ended up sorta mentoring him.

However, they have Celavi, the escaped ex-spy beluga.(Yes, it started as a joke based on this post that accidentally grew more and more serious until @herbofoo and me were too attached to let it go) She counts pretty much as their adopted daughter that they both spoil to hell and back, I mean no surprise, she saved Cham’s life once and sometimes, she helps out with heists. (Mostly for the show, you should have SEEN the look on Spider’s face when a beluga splashed him. He is used to humanoid sharks, to Hydroman.. not like. real life beluga that LAUGHS at him) Beck’s voice: “Dont you dare to insult her, SHE IS PERFECT AND FLAWLESS and A GOODNESS INCARNATE!! -she is literally a deserted russian spy that was trained to gather everything that could be used to harm USA-yea, i have a soft spot for those ;)“

She was always surprisingly clever so she never really counted as a “pet” and at one point, she even bonds with a symbiote (together they are Vague, again long story ah ha). They dont talk but have quite some range of vocalisations so communication isnt a problem.

Who’s more dominant:

They both have pretty dominant strong personalities (ok chameleon’s a bit more complicated with that but like.) with big egos who dont like others questioning their superiority. (Of course not at the level of like Doc Ock etc, they are surprisingly flexible and good team players that can be willing to let someone else take the spotlight if they are Nice) But the whole point of their relationship is that neither of them is dominant over the other, they get enough of that literally everywhere else. It’s very reassuring to be so sure that they are on equal footing, cooperating, no hidden nooses around their neck. Especially in their line of work of course!

(Also, for the other interpretation of this question: anythin remotely sexual happens Pretty Late in the story and both of them are somewhere on the ace spectrum so it doesnt happen that often but they are both verses tho Beck bottoms more)

Favorite nonsexual activity:

MOVIES!! Sprawled on the giant comfy couch, closer than technically needed, cuddling and watching old movies with great special effects and/or great actors! Listening to Beck excitedly rant through the most dramatic speech of the story as he explains how the next cliffhanger is done with hydraulics! Focusing so hard on the stars in his eyes and his excited tone and gestures and just the tone of his voice you forgot to listen to the words themselves! Watching Cham’s face flawlessly mimic the faces on the screen in a blink of an eye and secretly guessing which one will he pick next. Feeling his head slowly fall on your shoulder, eyes closed, his mask smooth but not tense, instead just.. peaceful. Slight ping of annoyance, after all, this is A Classic movie dammit, but it’s gone in a second because Mitya hasnt slept since thursday and you are just relieved he is finally getting his rest. Feeling his warmth under your hand on his shoulders and suddenly never ever wanting to get up again.. EHM. anyway

PLANING HEISTS TOGETHER!! and more or less successfully executing them but planning is actually even more fun aside from the Big Reveals and Entrances which are actually harder to coordinate than one would think!

Lots of shobiz/job talk actually, they really enjoy what they do! Lots of people already mentioned that in their hc compilations but i agree, they love goin to see all kinds of movies and plays and performances as well as acting various scenes with one another!

Their favorite place to be together:

NEW YORK CITY BABEYY. Sure they love to travel and see other countries (and cause mayhem there) but.. they love their mess of a city, it’s never the same without the webhead around as well as the bazillion of other heroes n villains bashin each other’s heads.

Any traditions:

Oh so many pop culture references and inside jokes, oh my god. One time, they spent the entire heist (and its planning period) speaking strictly in famous movie lines and titles, Max and other sixers tried to join but didnt last too long :’D

Beck also has a habit of taking pictures of people with Interesting faces or styles he sees and sends them to Cham. Also another fanon classic: together they have a running game, disguising themselves as moderately famous people and the other guessing who..

Their “song”:

‘This is me’ from the Greatest Showman, i just live for the two of them singin it in Cham’s car,off key but fully immersed and living it.

What they do for each other on holidays:

Neither of them are religious but that doesnt stop Beck from going ALL OUT at any opportunity, Sin Six doesn’t do any heists around holidays because you Know he’d make them dress for the occasion or worse, write them themed lines… They still meet for Christmas and Hanukkah and sometimes other holidays too because this is my AU and you can pry festivities-related shenanigans from my cold, cold hands. It’s always at Beck’s place tho because he can turn his hideout into the tackiest holiday-themed showcase but he aint roping them into it.

On the other hand, Cham despises American commercialized holidays in general and Christmas time especially, since it’s not a big thing in Russia and also once again, he has family issues for days. (Although relatively speaking, he is pretty over these, he is not gonna like mope around or anything)

Anyway, what they do for each other is that they try to compromise, Dmitri doesnt sneer at stupid kitsch decorations every 5 minutes and Quentin ..chills a little. :’D To be fair, Beck makes everything fun and having Cham there makes Beck appreciate the details more instead of just goin into BETTER!BIGGER! frenzy.

Where did they go for their honeymoon:

After the fuckin Ages of pinning, when they finally end up together for realsies, they wanted somethin Big and Flashy! (Well Beck wanted and Cham kinda too but also with the option to merge with the crowd unnoticed and take some chill time) Anyway they went on a whole world wide tour! Starting with a luxury cruise, they took their time, lots of crime sprees to plan and execute, lots of local shows to see, lots of dumb heroes to fool, they’re gonna have it all!

Where did they first meet:

Around the time when Cham and Hammerhead had their criminal empire running Fisk to the ground, Otto decided the Sin Six should team up with them for their ressources needed on one heist or something. They agreed but Cham insisted on actually going in the field, it’s been a while since he really stretched his face legs like this and the mafia life was starting to bore him. Doc made him team up with Mysterio much to the fishbowl’s dismay because why do they need another disguise artist?? He is the Master Of Illusions dammit, he can run circles around this guy, what the fuck Otto?? So at the start, he pouts and fumes under his helmet and in general he is his v unpleasant self but… He can’t help but notice that the new guy is a real professional, he even uses Traditional masks, he likes the same movies… And most importantly, he is actually interested in Mysti’s craft, asking questions and even LISTENING to his long winded answers… At one point he even wondered if that X thing was meant as a HOMMAGE to the Y movie, the Six never did that!! (Usually the rest of the sixers dont know the reference, heathens, and when they do, they mock him for it, that he’s copying ideas and mixin them ridiculously. BUT THIS GUY GETS IT!!) So it doesn’t take long for them to hit it off, of course at this point without any real Trust behind it but it’s a start.

(Though Beck does pay a visit to Otto like, buddy pal i know you’ve been planning on manipulating these crimelords to your end somehow and honestly, any other day i’d be down, i actually had a robot prepared for my own backstab but i was thinking they werent that bad and maybe we Could hold our end of the bargain this time and just. leave each other on good terms? Mabye? Obviously it’s purely out of respect for our teammate Kraven since him and Chameleon seem to have some history, nothing more, definitely nothing to do with how bright Cham’s eyes were when i was showing him the back of my stage… )

What do they fight over:

this whole post has been a mountain of cheese but im bringing more! Honestly, goin through my notes on Patchwork, their biggest arguments have always been about.. the other one not taking proper care of himself :’D Or them lashing out because they were scared and worried about the other and they cant stand being so vulnerable while the other pretends it’s not a big deal because they dont know how to handle genuine concern directed at them.

Do they go on vacations, if so where:

GIVE!!! BECK!!!! HIS!!!! ISLAND!!!!!!They actually do have one, it’s where Celavi spends most of the time and they visit her often. But never for too long, neither of them can actually spend too long doing nothing..

#dmitri smerdyakov #mysterio #quentin beck #chameleon #sinister six #marvel #spidey #spider man #hey i got 30 followers here nice! so have some long boring rambles! :D #31 actually wow nice nice !!#patchwork #kao posts

17 notes · View notes

anon-e-miss · 5 years

Text

Intransigence 4

Sooo... I forgot about this... Have some more...

Survival protocols burst through the static, and Prowl was instantly in motion. Outnumbered three to one he had no real hope of fighting, that left flight. Clearly they had not expected him to be functional and as the Praxian sprang up from his back, he caught them off guard. Before they could react, he leapt over the barricade. It was the exact same spot where he had pulled that half-clocked operative over, this was unlikely to be a coincidence. He ran as soon as his peds hit the road below. Blaster fire kicked up pavement where he had been standing less than a nanoklik earlier. Though the bulk of his training had been in pursuit and capture, Prowl was well familiar with evasion, and he ran under the overpass, using it as shelter from the projectile and laser fire. With precious little time, the Enforcer came up with a plan. Using his martial arts training, he scrambled up the support. His attackers scrambled down the overpass several nanokliks, perhaps even a klik after him. Unlike them, Prowl knew his enemies, there training and their weaknesses. Garboil and Nightstalker had tested poorly for their athleticism, their frames were built for strength, not for speed or aerobatics.

“He’s gone!” Garboil called.

“What do you mean he’s gone?” A voice called from above their helms. Barricade was the only other Praxian Enforcer in Iacon, and Prowl had worked with him very briefly at his posting in a precinct on the west side. His presence offered more questions than answers. Prowl had found him to be aggressive, and insubordinate, his involved in this scrap was not startling. The next nanoklik there was another clatter of armour as Barricade leapt off the overpass, and the cool helmed Praxian froze. Unlike his friends, this Spawn of Unicron was athletic and quick. He was also considerably more heavily armoured that Prowl. Calling for back up from the Enforcers would be a fool’s errand, there was no way to know who else might be in league with these three. Instead, Prowl initiated his comms and entered that operatives ID. Static was the only answer he received. That shock stick must have fried his comms, Prowl was on his own.

“He’s gone,” Nightstalker said. “Look.”

“You dumbafts, he can’t just’ve disappeared,” Barricade snapped, and he stalked under the overpass, and out the other side. “He has to be here! How could you fraggers have lost him? H’uh?”

Prowl only had nanokliks to act. As quietly as he could, the Enforcer shuffled along the support structures of the over pass until he reached the edge. Barricade stalked back, cursing his quarry’s designation under his ventilations. With the other Praxian just metres below him, Prowl was forced to freeze. The other two were too close, jumping on Barricade would be reckless, and suicidal, and the slighter Praxian was neither. Not even daring to ventilate, Prowl waited until Barricade stalked off again, waited for him to stop and snarl at Garboil, and then he made his move. He swung from underneath the overhang, and began to quickly climb the side. Just before the tactician could make it safely over the side, blaster fire scored his leg. A damage report flashed across his HUD, Prowl ignored it, despite the sparks, he transformed successfully and raced at full speed back down the highway.

Rather than the precinct, he raised full speed for the Autobase. Someone could comm Autobot Jazz. If they would not let him on base, at the very least they would not let him get shot... in theory. First, however, Prowl needed to get there. His tactical systems displayed a path. Barricade and the others were unlikely to continue their pursuit into the bustling downtown where the bars, clubs and streets were filled with mechanism, a high number of whom would be Autobots, and armed. Taking the next left, the Praxian demanded another burst of speed from his frame. The laser fire that had scored his leg had damaged one of the main cables there, in his altmode it served as part of the support for his undercarriage. It was weakened, it could snap. He only had a nanoklik’s warning before a crushing weight smashed against his hood. A well aimed elbow triggered his transformation sequence, and as the Praxian was forced to violent transform, that cable snapped.

“You put up a better fight that I’d thought,” Barricade sneered against his audials. Prowl felt a nose of a blaster pressed against the back of his helm. “Not good enough...”

With a quick slash of his servo, Prowl knocked the blaster away from his helm, it went off, the sound so loud the tactician’s audial buzzed with static. To their right there was a scream of pain, Prowl did not pause to consider who might have been shot. Barricade was off balance, the smaller Praxian used that to buck the mech off. He rolled and true his rifle all in one motion and levelled it at his attacker. Over the other Praxian’s shoulder Prowl saw Nighstalker writhing in pain, Garboil was nowhere in sight. If the mech had any sense, he would be making his escape, but the damaged Enforcer could not know for sure. His frame ached from the forced transformation, never mind his leg, but Prowl did not allow it to distract him. Half on his chassis, and half on his knees, and arms outstretched, Barricade’s blaster was pointed away from Prowl. They were so close, however, so close that if the slighter Praxian was not quick on the trigger his attacker could still make the drop on him. As Barricade watched him from the corner of his optics, Prowl wondered which of them would break first.

“Drop your weapon, or I will shoot you,” Prowl ordered. “If you so much as ventilate, I will shoot you.”

“I just might shoot you first,” Barricade hissed, false bravado to the end.

“Have ever been hit with an acid round?” The tactician asked. “Even if my first shot fails to kill, the acid will continue to eat away at you circuitry.”

“Frag you,” the other Praxian snarled, but he dropped his blaster, but it was still within arm’s reach. Nighstalk’s whimpers stopped. Prowl was fairly sure he was dead.

“Servos behind your back,” Prowl ordered. Still snarling, Barricade did as he was ordered. He must have expected Prowl to close the gap to cuff him, his frame was tensed, ready to react, but to his misfortune, his smaller compatriot was not an idiot. “Do not move.”

Rather than inch forward, Prowl inched back, never taking his rifle or his optics off the other Praxian. There was no doubt in his processor that Barricade had other weapons, a shock stick at least, and almost certainly other blasters. With his leg crippled, Prowl would not risk attempting to secure the larger Praxian, so long as he kept his distance, their stalemate was in his favour. Prowl waited, completely silent. Surely someone must have heard the gunfire, and yet there was no sound of sirens, no bystanders, nothing but silence for what felt like an eternity. Ped steps echoed down the pavement, and Barricade lunged forwards; Prowl fired. The other Praxian screamed in pain as Prowl’s should hit him high in the back. Twisting around, awkwardly, and rifle still raised, the Enforcer faced this new threat. He found himself staring down a hulking red mech with a very large gun, and the Autobot insignia embossed in the centre of his chassis.

“Now what the frag’s goin’ on here?” The mech demanded over Barricade’s increasingly garbled howl. “Enforcers havin’ a shoot out wit each other?”

“Bit more complicated than that, ‘Hide,” Jazz jogged up, and he brushed the far large mech’s weapon down. “This one’s ours... Sorta.”

“Ya got ops in the Enforcers now?” Hide, as Jazz had called him, asked.

“Nah,” the operative replied. “Reinforcement’s comin’ can ya check the fragger o’er there? See if he’s scrapped?”

“Yah, fine,” the Iaconian said. “In the streets Jazz? They’re gonna have fun wit this one.”

“I have a neutralizer,” Prowl offered, having lowered his gun when Jazz had arrived on scene. He cocked his doorwing at Barricade. “If the damage is not too grave already.”

“Hand it over,” the Polihexian replied, and Prowl did exactly that. Jazz dumped the vial into the gaping would between Barricade’s shoulders. His vents were still wheezing, there was a chance he would live yet. “Don’t look like y’re goin’ anywhere under y’re own steam.”

“No,” the tactician confirmed. “The cable in my leg has snapped. There is one other on the lose. Garboil, one of the Enforcers at my precinct. He, Nightstalker and Barricade attacked me in the same spot as I pulled you over.”

“Same spot Nightstalker liked to pull over his victims,” Jazz replied. “Fragger’s consistent.”

“Was,” Hide corrected. “This one’s scrapped... Not an acid round.”

“Barricade shot him in error,” Prowl explained. “He intended to shoot me in the helm.”

“‘M sorry I brought ya into this, Prowl,” the saboteur said as he examined the prone Enforcer’s leg, and then the rest of his frame for additional injuries. “Didn’t expect ya to be a target.”

“I was already a target,” the Praxian replied. “They had a plan, Barricade appeared in command of the ambush. He is assigned to a different precinct. The fact that you requested copies of their schedules yester-cycle, and I was attacked this mega-cycle are merely coincidences.”

“Flatfoot maybe?” Jazz asked, as he his digits brushed against the burn out wires at the Enforcer’s side. “You outta lay down ‘til the medics get here.”

“I am fine,” Prowl replied, the other mech’s touch was light enough that it barely hurt. Still, the burn from the shock stick was beginning to throb in time with his spark. The pain only temporary, the injury was grievous. “It is possible he could be involved. Though it strikes me as an overreaction to my criticisms.”

“Unless he had somethin’ to do wit this slag, ‘n he’s afraid ya gonna figure it out,” the Polihexian replied.

It was a possibility. Prowl had no respect for the Praefectus, thinking the mech an egotistical PR hound, but he had never considered that Flatfoot could actually be corrupt, certainly not on that level. If the Polihexian Enforcer was involved, he no longer had Prowl to worry about, but the Autobots, which meant if their was something to Jazz’s suspicion, something would be done about it, an Autobot commander was not so easily ignored he himself would be. That was a more frustrating thought than the Enforcer would have expected, so far as he was concerned, it should not have taken an arm of the army to address the dysfunction in Iacon’s Enforcers, it should never have gotten this bad. Even if Flatfoot was not involved, he could not be entirely innocent. There was a reason the Praefectus personally managed Nightstalker and Garboil’s schedule, though he did not know what it was.

“Flatfoot personally wrote the schedule for both Nightstalker and Garboil,” the Enforcer said, and finally thinking of that dataslug, he opened the hidden compartment in his arm. “I believe he did the same for other Enforcers, in other precincts, but I do not know for certain. I have the records you wanted... here.”

“Smart,” Jazz hummed. “Not the sorta trick I’d expect from an Enforcer.”

“When I decided I was going to leave my in-laws’ compound, I to find a way to save credits,” Prowl explained. “I was not permitted to work at that point, or to even have my own accounts, though I had an allowance meant to spend on Smokescreen. Every quartex I transferred some onto an unlisted credit chip. I had to hide it, so I fashioned this compartment.”

“Slick,” the operative said, approvingly.

“How was it you found me?” the Praxian asked. All of a sudden he was looking up at the stars. Jazz supported his helm as his back made contact with the grown. He frowned, he was fairly certain he had not collapsed, no this mech had herded him and he had not even noticed. Before Prowl could sit back up, purely in defiance, Jazz pressed a firm but gentle servo against his chassis.”

“Better safe,” Jazz declared. “Burn that deep means that shock stick weren’t standard issue, ya shouldn’t’ve gotten up after.”

“I have strong survival coding,” Prowl replied. “Again, how did you find me?”

“That shock triggered the slug’s recovery signal,” the Polihexian explain. “I tracked it, ‘n ya. Ya got some moves.”

“It could have gone better,” the tactician replied. Sirens blared in the distance, and Prowl could not help but sigh, Smokescreen was not going to be happy about this.

#intransigence #ficlet #maccadams #tf jazz #tf prowl #miss writes

45 notes · View notes

minijenn · 5 years

Text

Universe Falls Chapter 67

AHHHHH TIME FOR MY LOVELY DIAMOND TO FINALLY SHINE!!!! But for reals I really like how this chapter turned out. ESPECIALLY towards its ending like holy shit things gonna go down and I am super hype for it all. Anyway, I won’t keep ya from it any longer than I need to. Enjoy!

Previous: (lol I forgot to post Peridot and Pacifica on here oh well too lazy to do it now bleh)

***

Chapter 67: Message Received

AFRRS, LGKUQ, FRBSGR, MBR TSAUI GDCA B RWKMZ HUSOFI UB GCBCW WTS KNJTK YBCB GIE WEDHV'F EEEMES HB DUL LQFGRMF XVAA DNJNXYX HWRT

It was an absolutely perfect summer evening. The low-arching sun splashed its warm, dying light across the vast grassy fields, casting long yet lofty shadows that almost seemed to dance across the barn’s weathered surface. A light, gentle breeze skimmed over the acres of farmland, as cricket songs began to echo throughout the hills, even as far as the open, forested valley where Gravity Falls sat far below. And this picturesque view was what the Gems were silently, contentedly enjoying, happy to have a much-earned moment’s rest after a long day at work on the drill. Though Ford had kept to the barn to work on a few odds and ends during this evening break, the kids readily joined in on it as they reclined up against Lion, easily relaxing as Steven strummed a pleasant tune on his ukulele. The trio would have been more than happy to let this peaceful scene continue for as long as possible, but of course, it all too quickly came to an end thanks to the interruption from a certain miffed green Gem.

“Ahem…” Peridot huffed as she stood over the kids. Her hands were positioned on her hips, a power drill clenched tightly in her grip from the work she was clearly intent on continuing.

“Oh, hi, Peridot!” Steven greeted her blithely.

“Welp, I knew this was too good to be true,” Dipper sighed sardonically as he sat up a bit. “What do you want, Peridot?”

“I want to know why we stopped working on the drill!” the green Gem scowled impatiently, nodding over to the Gems still watching the sunset several feet away. “Why are they just sitting there looking at nothing!?”

“Aw, Peri, we’re all just taking a nice little break,” Mabel grinned brightly.

“…A what?”

“We’ve all been working hard and we deserve to take it easy for a bit,” Steven explained. “I mean, just look at that view. It’s beautiful!”’

“It’s going to be blown to oblivion by the Cluster if we don’t get back to work!” Peridot countered crossly.

“Yeesh, tell us something we don’t know for a change,” Dipper remarked with something of a wry, knowing smirk.

“Working hard is important,” Steven added, still smiling calmly. “But feeling good is important too!”

“Yep,” Mabel soundly agreed. “Looks like you still need to learn about one more super important Earth concept, Peri. It’s called… ‘treat yo self’!”

“What are you talking about?!” Peridot fussed, thoroughly annoyed as she accidentally turned the power drill on.

“Hey!” Steven perked up upon hearing the buzzing drill. “What is that, a C?” The young Gem copied the noise on his ukulele, strumming a simple C chord that did, in fact, mimic the buzzing of the drill itself.

“The drill?” Peridot raised a confused eyebrow, looking to the tool in her hand.

“Yeah!” Steven nodded, rising to his feet as Peridot pressed the drill up to an even faster speed. Or rather, an even higher note. “Oh my gosh! Now its music!”

“Whoa! It sorta is!” Mabel gasped, amazed.

“Only Steven could hear music in something like a power drill,” Dipper chuckled, amused.

“‘Music’?” Peridot asked. “What’s that?”

“Whaaaaa?! You don’t know what music is?!” Mabel exclaimed, aptly baffled. “Oh, girl, you are missing out!”

“Look, its like this,” Steven positioned his ukulele before strumming out a simple scale and singing along. “Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do!”

“Do, mi, so, do…?” Peridot repeated, clearly not following.

“Isn’t it pretty?” the young Gem sang, still singing along.

“That’s exceedingly simple,” the green Gem snarked, though she still mused on the beguiling process all the same. “Do, mi, so, it…”

“We’re making music.”

“What’s the point?” Peridot said, crossing her arms.

“The point, is… its fun!” Mabel chimed in, singing a bright note of her own in tune with Steven’s strumming.

“But why even bother?” the green Gem shook her head. “You’re not even making anything!”

“Well, if it isn’t anything, then why does it sound so good?” Steven asked with a good-natured shrug.

“I suppose its just interest, do, mi, so, do,” Peridot theorized as the young Gem kept his lighthearted tune going. “Devoid of substance or purpose, a hypothetical pattern… do, mi, so, ti… For the satisfaction of bringing it to completion!”

“…Sure,” Steven agreed, even if he didn’t really know what she was talking about.

“Should we tell her music isn’t usually that deep?” Dipper asked Mabel, aside.

“Eh, let her have her sciencey fun,” Mabel shrugged.

“Do, mi, so, it… Interest without meaning?” Peridot posed, surprised by such an odd train of thought. One that largely went against everything she had ever known back on Homeworld, much like everything else on Earth as a whole. “Solutions without problems…?”

“And then you just add words,” Steven said, gearing up for a proper song. “Here’s what I’ve been working on. Life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the planet Earth.” The melody was light and bouncy, carrying a message of the immense complexities and contradictions of the planet it was about, a theme that was not lost on Mabel, Dipper, or even Peridot as they all listened intently. “Is there anything that’s worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth, oh-whoooa, come on and sing it with me!”

“Sing?” Peridot repeated, still completely lost.

“The words relate to the key!”

“Key?!” the green Gem asked, even more baffled as she held a small key she had found in the barn up.

“If it’s a pattern, if it’s a pattern, than just repeat after me,” Steven encouraged, nodding over to the twins in the hopes that they’d do the same. Mabel was quick to jump on the offer first as she joined the young Gem in a brief duet. “Life and death and love and birth-”

“L-Life and death and love and birth,” Peridot attempted, albeit a bit shakily. After all, she had never really sung before, and until now, she had never had a reason to.

“C’mon, bro-bro, join in!” Mabel urged her brother in an excitable whisper. “Our plan is working!”

“First of all, you guys didn’t start this whole music thing off with any sort of ‘plan’,” Dipper retorted before finally breaking down into a small, if not somewhat flustered smile. “B-but, fine, just this once.”

“Now, you sing mi, fa, mi, mi, fa, mi, ti, la!” Steven instructed Peridot, who followed along easy enough as all four of them finished the chorus on a high, harmonious note.

“And peace and war on the planet Earth!”

“Ahhh! That sounded so good!” Mabel cheered happily. “Looks like its time to bring Love Patrol Alpha outta retirement with its brand new member, Peri!”

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean,” Peridot remarked dryly. “But what I do know is that was so easy,” she finished, as if suspicious by that fact.

“Yeah, but that’s what’s so fun about it!” Steven nodded, still strumming. “You should write something—you should write a song!”

“About what?”

“Whatever you’re thinking!”

While Peridot still didn’t largely understand the functional purpose of music or songs, she decided to take the young Gem up on this challenge and do exactly that. Making use of the rhyming patterns and lyrical progression similar to Steven’s song, the green Gem spent the rest of the evening crafting out her tune. A tune that, once it reached what she believed to be a satisfactory standard, she decided to present to not just the kids, but the other Gems and Ford as well that night around the fire.

“I guess we’re already here,” she began, standing before the collective group as they all listened in, intrigued and also slightly confused by the green Gem, of all people, suddenly bursting into song. “I guess we already know. We’ve all got something to fear, we’ve all got nowhere to go-”

Admittedly, the message of her melody was a bit disconcerting, or at least it was to the Gems as it reminded them of the dire straits they were up against when it came to the Cluster. Still, Steven, Mabel, and even Dipper nodded Peridot their silent encouragement as she carried on with the rest of her undoubtably passionate preformance.

“I think you’re all INSANE!” she accused truthfully. For certainly, a group of Gems and humans so dedicated to preserving a planet as bizarre and outlandish as Earth had to be out of their right minds. But then again, Peridot couldn’t claim to be much better, given the same goal they were all working towards together. “But I guess I am too… Anybody would be if they were stuck on Earth with you!”

A round of genuinely amused chuckles from the others followed suit, one that Peridot couldn’t help but take pride over, especially as Mabel and Steven both cheered her on even further. On Homeworld, such a display of pointless, aimless expression would have been scoffed off at best, punishable for at worst. But here, on Earth, this sort of thing was welcome, accepted, commonplace even. It was so strange, so unlike anything the green Gem had ever known that she couldn’t help but appreciate it all in some odd way. Because here, there were no expectations or set standards about what a Gem, or a human for that matter, could do or be. Here, anyone could do or say or think anything they wanted. Here, anyone and, at least as far as she’d seen, everyone was free.

“Life and death and love and birth and-”

Peridot remained slightly mystified by this newfound revelation as the next several days carried on, progress on the drill going sound and steady. The large number of hands on the project certainly made the work much lighter for everyone, as they all had their assigned tasks to carry out in inching towards its completion.

“Life and death and love and birth and-”

Over the course of the drill’s construction, Peridot had largely formed a steady rapport with all of the members of her once-tentative alliance. Amethyst was likely the first among these new bonds she had formed among the Crystal Gems at least. The purple Gem was, at least in her opinion, crass and loud and far too outspoken and brazen for her own good, especially considering the solid soldier status she had originally been created for. But gradually the green Gem had found herself growing used to Amethyst’s playful jabs and ridiculous quips, to the point that she could easily say that she respected her for the Gem she was rather than the Gem she had been made to be.

“Life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the planet earth.”

Peridot couldn’t deny that she had been forced to more or less swallow her pride when it came to her dealings with Pearl and Ford. The fact that each of them had an acute, impressive intellect that clearly rivaled her own was a bitter pill to swallow, but one that the green Gem largely had all the same. And in wake of her former bitterness towards the pair, she had found they actually had quite a bit in common, particularly when it came to their shared affinity for technology and science. Over just a few weeks, Peridot had gone from coldly shunning any tips or advice they had to offer on these fronts, to eagerly joining in the exchange of knowledge alongside the author and the white Gem, her former prejudices against them all but forgotten.

“Is there anything that’s worth more?”

It had largely taken Peridot the most time to grow accustomed to Garnet out of anyone else. On Homeworld, fusion between two entirely different types of Gems was a massive taboo, so the Gem leader’s very existence had originally offended the green Gem for reasons she found she wasn’t able to explain. It had taken her quite a bit of time to look past that singular fact, but once she had, she was actually able to see that Garnet was more than just the fusion that composed her existence. The Gem leader was brave, stable, sensible, and most of all patient, even with Peridot and all of her harsh words and sneers and insults she had once had for her and her teammates. And, when push came to shove, that was something Peridot wasn’t about to ignore, even despite however the rest of Homeworld would think of a Gem such as her.

“Is there anything that’s worth more?”

Limited as they were when it came to more of the heavy lifting, the kids still pitched in as much as they could. Since Dipper was largely able to keep up with Pearl and Ford and even Peridot when it came to the scientific side of the drill’s construction, that’s where most of his contributions were found. Steven and Mabel were less versed in the technicalities of the machine, but what they lacked in knowledge, they made up for in helpful enthusiasm. While Peridot had initially callously rebuffed their meager assistance, over time she had gradually come to accept it, perhaps even welcome it when it came to tasks that were too much for her to handle on her own. Overall, the concept of ‘friendship’ was still a new one to her, one that she only really had the information provided to her by Steven and Mabel to go off of. But if what she’d heard of it truly was correct, than it was safe to say that, like it or not, she had come to make friends of just about all of them, as odd and impossible as that might have once seemed.

“Is there anything that’s worth more than peace and love on the planet earth?”

***

It had taken quite a bit of time and a tremendous amount of work, but after weeks of plentiful effort from everyone involved, the drill was finally complete. The entire group stood admiring their handiwork, which was admittedly quite impressive. Despite its notably small cockpit, the drill’s point was sharp and formidable, fortified by titan’s ore to the point that there was no doubt it’d be able to penetrate the surface of the earth easily and safely. And hopefully, this machine, the product of their teamwork and determination, would be enough to end the threat that the Cluster posed to the planet Earth once and for all.

“Nice work,” Garnet congratulated Peridot in particular, giving the green Gem a friendly pat on the back for her hard work. It was enough to startle Peridot though, to the point that she flinched and took up a brief defensive stance, eliciting a collective amused laugh from the others.

“W-we really did it, huh?” Peridot asked, turning towards the drill with something of a small, proud smile.

“We?!” Steven gasped with sudden delight over the ongoing comradery.

“Heck yeah we did!” Mabel cheered, pulling out her camera. “C’mon, everyone get in close! My scrapbook just won’t be complete without a picture of our awesome drill!”

The others all gladly obliged as they bunched in together in front of the drill, all of them smiling (save for Peridot, who was rather confused as to what was going on in general) while Mabel snapped the photo. A memento that would be sure to memorialize their success long after the Cluster was gone and the drill had fulfilled its purpose.

“It is quite impressive, isn’t it?” Ford mused with a grin, looking back at the drill. “And with such a quick turn-around time too! Then again, I suppose we had no choice but to be quick with this, given the circumstances…”

“Oh wait!” Peridot interjected. “That reminds me, I need to check something!” The green Gem hurried over to the drill, rummaging around inside its cockpit as the others stood by, their spirits still collectively high over the machine’s completion.

“She’s come so far…” Steven noted happily, looking over towards Peridot from afar. “It feels like just yesterday that she was fusing with Bill and trying to kill us…”

“No, no,” Pearl shook her head. “That was several week ago.”

“Still, it really doesn’t feel like it was that long ago…” Dipper said just as thoughtfully. “Its kinda crazy to think that that Peridot used to be this Peridot,” he grinned as he nodded over to the green Gem, who clumsily face-planted after falling off of the drill before frantically running back over to the group.

“Coordinates!” Peridot shouted starkly. “We still need the Cluster’s exact coordinates in order to drill to it!”

“Uh, don’t we already know where it is?” Mabel asked with a confused frown. “It’s buried suuuuuper deep underground, right? Which means we could just bam!” She punched her fist dramatically, making a brief drilling noise as she did. “Drill right on down there and kiss that big bad Cluster goodbye!”

“Theoretically, yes, but I understand Peridot’s concern,” Ford agreed. “Regardless of how massive the Cluster might be, we’ll still need to know just how far down past the surface of the Earth it is. But who knows how we’d even access that information in the first place?”

“A-actually…” Pearl spoke up, apparently apprehensive as she averted eye contact with the others. “There’s a Diamond Base that may have those coordinates, but…. Getting there is going to be difficult.”

“How come?” Steven asked.

“Because its not accessible by warp pad. And it’s on….” The white Gem trailed off, directing her gaze, as well as everyone else’s to the bright nightly orb far above them all.

“The moon?!” Steven, Mabel, and even Dipper asked in awestruck unison.

“Yes, the moon,” Pearl replied rather flatly.

“Uh, how are supposed to get all the way up there?” Amethyst asked, hands on her hips. “I mean, we can jump pretty high, but I don’t think any of us can jump that high.”

“Hm, I suppose we have no choice but to construct a lighter-than-air spacecraft,” Ford concluded staunchly. “I’ve never really dabbled too much in advanced interstellar aeronautics before, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s never a bad time to learn!”

“Uh, actually, we’ve sorta been there, done that with the whole build-your-own-rocket thing, Great Uncle Ford…” Dipper pointed out. “It… didn’t really go all that well…”

“Wait, I know!” Steven exclaimed, turning to his pink feline companion as he snoozed peacefully in the grass nearby. “Lion! Can you make us a super special warp to the moon?”

Despite the young Gem’s enthusiasm, Lion responded dully, letting out a long yawn before rolling over to continue his nap. “Come on, Lion, we gotta do this to stop the Cluster!” Steven urged, flopping down on top of his still-sleeping pet. “If we don’t there’s gonna be no more Earth! No more fun times with your pal Waddles… no more Lion Lickers… no more naps-”

Apparently, this plea was somehow enough to call the pink beast to action, for he instantly perked up, rising from his nap as his eyes took on a pale white glow. While the others looked to Lion at absolute amazement at this shift, Steven simply stood by with a satisfied grin over his pet’s eventual compliance. “Guess it was naps.”

“Um, not that this moon trip doesn’t sound cool and all,” Dipper spoke up, aptly hesitant. “But how exactly are we supposed to breathe up there? I mean, I know its not a big deal to you guys,” he said to the Gems. “But its sort of important for the rest of us…”

“Oh, there’s no need to worry about that, Dipper,” Pearl assured. “The Moon Base has its own self-contained adaptable internal atmosphere that should be perfectly livable for any human.”

“Wow, Pearl, you sure do know a lot about this Moon Base place,” Mabel remarked with a curious grin. “Have you ever been there before?”

The white Gem let out a rather sharp, forced laugh at this, tension rising in her shoulders as she quickly rebuffed the question. “W-who me? D-don’t be silly, of course not! I-I’ve only ever… heard about it! T-that’s why I know so much about it!” The others all gave her something of a confused look at this haphazard outburst, but once again, Pearl deflected them all before any further questions could be posed. “N-now come on! We haven’t a moment to waste! Let’s get those coordinates!”

Since no one could really argue with such a vigorous command, the group was quick to follow after the white Gem to do exactly that. It took some doing, planning, and careful squeezing to fit everyone onto Lion (or in several cases, into his mane) all at the same time, but eventually they managed to figure it out. The pink beast hardly seemed labored by his many passengers as he instantly broke into a rapid sprint. His speed only seemed to pick up with each quick step he made across the wide fields until, suddenly, he let out an immense, mighty roar. The pounding sound was enough to pierce a hole into the very fabric of space itself, creating a large, glowing portal that he barreled into at top speeds. Lion’s large group of riders all held on for dear life, with only Steven and Mabel really enjoying the breakneck, wild trip as the pink beast roared another portal into existence. He continued this is steady succession, somehow increasing his speed each time as he ripped through each and every portal like a bolt of lighting across a stormy sky. Eventually, the collection of continuous portals became so radiantly bright that it practically blinded all of them, especially as they neared their destination. And once they did, everything seemed to finally stop all at once.

The space they landed in was large and dark, though none of them had a chance to take it in as Lion crashed out of his final portal, sliding across the floor before slamming into a far wall and knocking the Gems and Ford clean off his back. “Lion! Are you ok, bud?” Steven gasped, immediately alarmed to see that the impact had knocked the wind out of his pink pet. Fortunately though, Lion seemed no worse for wear as he took a much-needed moment to rest in light of all of the power he had just exerted.

“Aw, you poor baby!” Mabel gushed, generously rubbing the pink beast’s mane. “Who’s a good magical portal-maker? You are! You are!”

“I-incredible…” Ford mused, adjusting his glasses as he picked himself up off the ground. “I knew that lion was unusual, but I could have never guessed it was capable of something like this. Clearly, I’ll have to do more research on him in order to-” The author was quick to retract the hand he had extended out to Lion as the pink beast growled in warning protest. “O-on second thought, I suppose that could always wait for… some other time.”

“We made it,” Pearl spoke up, her tone serious as her gemstone emitted a bright light for them all to see by. Sure enough, the peaceful nighttime landscape of the farmlands were gone, replaced by cold sterile walls and floors that clearly hadn’t been touched in ages. Each of the rounded walls were adorned with what looked to be large murals, though without direct light upon them, it was hard to make out exactly what they were supposed to be of.

“Huh, weird…” Dipper mused, glancing around curiously. “You know, I sort of expected the moon to look more like… I dunno, the moon?”

“Well it sure is bouncy like the moon is supposed to be!” Mabel chimed in, taking advantage of the lack of gravity to take a high, unfettered leap into the air. “Come on, bro-bro, you’ve got to try this!”

“Mabel, I don’t know if that’s such a good—w-whoa!” Dipper gasped in alarm as Mabel suddenly yanked him up into the air along with her before sending him spinning freely high above the ground, despite his best attempts to anchor himself back to the ground.

“Hah! Look at me!” Steven chimed in, joining in on the anti-gravity antics as he let himself float freely. “I’m a moon boy!”

“Yeah! Alright, moon boy!” Amethyst cheered him on, leaping to join the kids up in the air, only to end up falling right back to the ground instead. “Hey! Why can’t I be a moon boy?!”

“We’re Gems,” Peridot pointed out with a scoff. “We’re a space-faring race designed to conquer other worlds. Our physical forms adjust automatically to the gravity of any planetoid.”

“Aww… lame,” the purple Gem groaned, sticking her tongue out in disappointment. Right behind her, Dipper and Mabel softly landed on the floor in a jumbled heap of limbs as Ford hurried over to help them up, all while trying to stay grounded himself.

“You know, it just occurred to me that I probably should have told Stanley we were going to the moon…” the author noted as he carefully pulled his nibblings up to stand. “…Ah well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Uh… yeah…” Dipper said, exchanging an uneasy glance with Mabel as they remembered just how harshly the conman had reacted to their last attempt at a trip to the stars. “We… probably shouldn’t tell him about this, just… just ‘cause.”

“I was bouncin’ on the moon one day!” Steven sang brightly as he continued free-floating, only to end up smacking into one of the walls and hitting the ground a moment later. He let out a small groan as he picked himself up off the floor, only to spot the large mural of what looked like a tall, elegant woman on the wall beside him. “Huh? Hey, Peridot! Who’s this supposed to be?”

The green Gem gasped as she shined the light of her own gemstone up at the mural, recognizing the blue, cloaked, graceful figure well. “It’s Blue Diamond!” she exclaimed, taking on an air of immediate reverence before the massive mural. “W-wait! Are they all here? Ah, yes!” Peridot rushed over to the far side of the chamber, where another similar depiction of a different, but still just as regal figure, awaited. “There she is!”

“There who is?” Mabel inquired curiously as her and Dipper joined the pair before mural.

“Behold!” Peridot proclaimed dramatically as she threw an arm out at the stern, stately woman on the wall before her. “Yellow Diamond! Isn’t she magnificent?”

“Uh… sure…” Dipper deadpanned, not particularly impressed.

“Whoa…” Mabel mused, much more fascinated. “She has a really long neck. Like a giraffe!”

“W-wha—you can’t just say something like that about the Yellow Diamond!” Peridot chastised, offended. “Whatever a so-called ‘giraffe’ is…”

“So, who are the Diamonds anyway?” Steven asked. “They seem like a pretty big deal.”

“Are you joking me?!” Peridot scoffed. “The Diamonds are the Gem matriarchs! Together, they make up the Great Diamond Authority that governs Homeworld and all the outlying colonies. We live to serve them!”

The green Gem’s explanation was cut short from a disgruntled hum from Garnet. The Gem leader stood over them, her expression cold and disapproving, a look that both Pearl and Amethyst shared. Even Ford seemed to be bitterly averting his gaze away from the Diamond murals for some reason, making it quite apparent that not everyone seemed to share Peridot’s high opinion of them. “I-I mean…” she recanted with a bit of an anxious laugh. “We were all made to serve them, even if some of us… don’t anymore.” A beat of awkward silence passed at this, though Peridot was quick to fill it by hastily changing the topic altogether. “H-hey! I think that’s a control service over there! Let’s take a look!”

Steven and Mabel readily hurried after the green Gem, curious to see more of the mysterious Moon Base. Dipper, however, did stop short to steal just another somewhat distrustful glance at the visage of Yellow Diamond on the wall before him before moving on with the others. Likewise, Garnet and Pearl in particular exchanged something of an uneasy glance before turning away, both of them knowing all too well exactly who the Diamonds were and what they were capable of.

“I think this is right…” Peridot muttered, examining a nearby panel on the floor. “The material is different from the surrounding stone. If I just do this…” She trailed off, pressing the panel, which in turn, emerged from the ground, alongside several others to create something of a floating staircase all around the edges of the base’s central chamber. The green Gem let out a bright giggle at her discovery, beside herself with excitement over getting to see a space that so few other Gems would ever have the chance to visit.

“This is so incredible!” Peridot gushed as they began making their way up the long, winding staircase. “Only the most elite of the elite can enter these sanctums. We are literally walking in the footsteps of the Diamonds!”

“They must really like stairs,” Steven pointed up as he bounded up them.

“Ooo, what’s this cool glowy orb room?” Mabel asked as they passed through to a higher part of the tower. Sure enough, the room was engulfed in darkness, its only notable feature being the large, rotating spherical light floating in the center of it, its purpose more or less completely unknown.

“Its not what we came here for,” Garnet said sternly, pressing on ahead.

“Can we hurry it up?” Amethyst asked with a huff of impatience. “This place gives me the creeps.”

Since they had get to get what they’d come here for in the first place, no one protested as they finished scaling the lengthy floating stairway, only to finally emerge at the tower’s top. Compared to the base they had arrived in, this deck’s walls were composed almost entirely of clear class windows, giving an open, grand view of the lunar landscape surrounding the structure. The pale, cratered surface of the moon stretched far and wide in every direction, the dark, star-speckled expanses of space itself hanging high above. It was an incredible view, to put it simply, one that the kids all took in with apt awe as they took a moment to pause and take it all in.

“W-we really are on the moon…” Steven practically whispered, completely stunned.

“I can’t believe it…” Dipper shook his head, just as amazed. “I mean, talking about it is one thing, but… we’re actually here, like its nothing. This is totally insane and honestly? I love it!”

“So do I!” Steven quipped, sharing Dipper’s bright smile.

“Ah, I wish I could join in on the excitement you boys are feeling,” Ford said wistfully as he put a hand on each of their shoulders. “But after traversing countless dimensions far beyond the realms of plausible imagination, the surface of the moon is… relatively underwhelming by comparison.”

“Oh my goodness!” Peridot suddenly squeaked, catching everyone’s attention. The others all joined her near the large white throne at the center of the room, coupled by a pristine table surface resting before it. “This looks like it could be brand new!” the green Gem exclaimed, running her hands over the table. “I mean, it’s a relic by today’s standards, but golly! Its so elegant! So simple! So perfect!”

“Ooo! And it makes a great whiteboard too!” Mabel quipped as she drew a smiley face onto the otherwise spotless surface with a marker she had happened to bring, much to Peridot’s horror.

“Stop that this instant!” the green Gem huffed, snatching the pen away from her. “You’re desecrating an important tool of the Diamonds themselves! Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is?!”

“…Huh. Well, disrespectful or not, it does brighten things up a little in here,” Mabel said, taking on a wide grin to match the smile she had drawn on the table. “See?”

“No,” Peridot deadpanned sullenly.

“Hey! Its got one of those glowy hand dealies!” Steven pointed out from his spot on the throne behind them.

“Y-you can’t sit there!” Peridot chastised hotly.

“Why not? Its really cool.”

“That chair is only for the most elite Gems,” the green Gem explained, exasperated. “You can’t just go around sitting where an elite would sit!”

“Well, they aren’t here now, right?” Steven grinned, patting on the ample space next to him on the throne. Peridot hesitated in taking him up on his offer before finally folding, climbing up to join him and laughing in spite of herself over the forbidden pleasure of the act.

“So, uh, what’s this thing supposed to be?” Dipper asked, casually plucking a pale, crystal-like object embedded on the chair’s armrest.

“Put that back!” Peridot fussed before turning her attention to the other controls the throne had to offer. “Hm, ok… let’s see here…” The green Gem experimentally pressed a button, which brought the throne much closer to the control panel, allowing her to properly activate it and begin searching through its holographically projected screens for the data they needed. “Ugh, this is a really old system…” she noted to the others as she began picking through what the panel had to offer. “Just gotta find the right file and… aha!” The projection filled with various graphs, maps, and other information, all of which clearly regarded the Cluster, which Peridot readily translated out for all the others. “There’s the insertion point. Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine. It’s the smaller of the two, not nearly as impressive as yours, Amethyst.”

“Uh… thanks?” the purple Gem shrugged dully.

“But where is the Cluster now?” Pearl asked, a hint of urgency in her tone.

“Hang on… oh! There it is!” A diorama popped up, depicting the vague shape of the Cluster itself, buried deep under the surface of the Earth. Where it would hopefully remain until their drill finally put an end to it. “It’s embedded deep into the mantle. Relative to the barn is roughly two thousand, five hundred units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set.”

“T-that’s it then!” Pearl said, pleasantly surprised. “Mission accomplished!”

“Go team!” Steven cheered brightly over their success.

“Huh, its not often that something like this goes this smoothly,” Dipper noted. “Weird.”

“Weird or not, let’s get the heck outta here,” Amethyst remarked, already leading the way back towards the stairs. “The moon is way more boring than I thought it’d be.”

“Wait! Maybe it doesn’t have to be!” Mabel chimed in, glancing back over the control panel. “Hey, Peri, does this thing have any games on it? Or movies?”

“Pfft, no,” Peridot scoffed. “This wasn’t used for ‘games’ or ‘movies’. It was used for planning the colony. Here, look.” The green Gem activated another file, which just so happened to catch the dwindling attention of the others as they looked over the projection of the planet Earth before them. “So here’s a map of all structures that were originally built on Earth,” Peridot scrolled through a list of the blueprints for structures that included the Galaxy Warp, the Kindergarten, and several others. “All told, this probably only accounts for maybe five percent of what was originally planned.”

“What was the plan?” Steven asked, somewhat apprehensive to find out.

“Well, let’s take a look.” With a single press of a button, the holographic Earth rapidly deteriorated, massive gaps cutting through its surface, its landmasses ruined and its oceans drained, replaced by an inhospitable mess of a planet conquered by Gems and Gems alone. A horrific sight to everyone present, given its implications. All except for, unsurprisingly, Peridot. “Ta da! A finished Earth colony!” she exclaimed proudly. “Just look at this! 89 Kindergartens, 67 spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials! What were you thinking shutting this operation down? It could have been great!”

“No!” Garnet exclaimed suddenly, sharply. “You’re wrong!”

“What are you talking about?” Peridot sneered, baffled. “Its perfect! Look at it!”

“We are looking at it,” Pearl said coldly.

“Yeah! This plan stinks!” Amethyst huffed, properly angry.

“Completing this colony would have meant the extinction of all life on Earth!” Garnet said, just as upset by indeed, what could have been.

“And I thought Cipher’s intentions for the Earth were bad…” Ford muttered to himself, shaking his head. “This is… well, I don’t know if I’d say its worse, but I’d certainly say its arguably just as terrible.”

“Seriously…” Dipper shuddered in fearful disgust. “I mean, we knew Homeworld was awful, but this… this is on a whole other level…”

“Well, it could have been on a whole other level,” Peridot remarked rather callously. “If it had actually been allowed to reach its full potential. Think of the good it could have done! The Gems that would’ve been made, our empire expanded!”

“And all that would have been lost along with it…” Pearl continued bitterly, shamefully. “Rose Quartz believed all life was precious and worth protecting. That’s why she risked everything to stop this colony from happening!”

“Well, if she wanted to protect it, she did a lousy job!” Peridot argued back haughtily. “There’d be no Cluster if the Earth had stayed a colony. Now there’s no colony, and there’s gonna be no Earth. So thank you, Rose Quartz! You doomed the planet!”

A thick cloud of hostile tension pierced the air at this, outraged silence remaining in light of the green Gem’s snide, thoughtless remarks. Wishing for the completion of Homeworld’s twisted, destructive plans for Earth were one thing; but mocking Rose and her bravery and sacrifice was something that Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and even Ford, all of whom had known her personally while Peridot had not, could not simply ignore. Their sharp, furious glares were focused entirely on the green Gem alone, something that the kids instantly noticed more than Peridot did herself. And while Dipper couldn’t really find that much of a reason to rush to the green Gem’s defense after everything she’d just said, Steven and Mabel tried to all the same.

“Heh, aw, y-you guys know Peri!” Mabel shrugged, laughing nervously. “Always sayin’ wacky stuff she totally doesn’t really mean… right?”

“What?” Peridot countered, confused and clearly not about to recant her stance.

“Y-yeah!” Steven rushed to chime in and quell the swelling anger from his guardians in particular. “A-after all, don’t forget: I-is there anything that’s worth more tha-”

The young Gem instantly went silent the moment Garnet snatched Peridot up from her seat by the front of her uniform, keeping a tight grip as she stared down at her with unseen, untold amounts of ferocity. “You,” she began, her voice edged with tranquil rage as the green Gem’s frightened image reflected back at her through the Gem leader’s visor. “Listen to me. Now. You are talking about things that you do not understand.”

Steven gasped the moment he saw a gauntlet materialize around the Gem leader’s free hand, and even though he didn’t agree with the green Gem’s poor choice of words and actions, he knew he couldn’t allow this hostility to continue any further. “Garnet, stop!” he pleaded fearfully. “P-please, its… its not worth it. We’re done here; we got what we came for. L-let’s just… go home…”

Acting upon the young Gem’s nearly tearful request and nothing else, Garnet did as he said, loosening her grip on Peridot and allowing her to clumsily fall to the floor. And then, in a single swift, powerful swing, the Gem leader brought her gauntlet down upon the control panel before her, smashing it—as well as the last remnants of the fortunately failed colony it contained—beyond all hope of repair. Without a word, the Gems turned to leave the same way they’d came, Ford joining them as they all turned their back on the green Gem, on the moon base, on everything they knew Rose had fought so hard to stop in its tracks.

“Tch, figures you still haven’t really learned anything,” Dipper was the first to speak up as he also prepared to leave, though not before sending one final, clearly disappointed remark Peridot’s way. “Even still, after all this time. Honestly, I can’t even say I’m surprised, knowing you.”

“Aw, come on, Dipper,” Mabel hurried after him as he turned on his heel and walked off. “That’s not fair and you know it!”

“What’d I say?” Peridot asked as the twins left. “I was just stating a fact. The rebellion didn’t really ‘save’ Earth, it just delayed the inevitable.”

Steven sighed upon hearing this, partially taking up Dipper’s line of reasoning that, even after all this time and everything that had happened, Peridot was still just as stuck in her stubborn ways as ever. “That’s not the way they see it,” he nodded after his guardians sadly. “They’ve spent thousands of years trying to protect the Earth. I thought… maybe… you finally understood why… But I guess… I guess I was wrong…” The young Gem sighed once more, shaking his head forlornly. He had thought Peridot had come so far, from the hand ship, from her time on the run, from Pyrite. He had thought she had grown and learned and come to appreciate the Earth and all it had to offer from her extended stay there. He had thought… that they all were finally, finally friends.

But in the end, none of that had mattered as much to Peridot as it had to him, clearly.

Steven only paused briefly at the foot of the platform the throne rested on, noticing that the green Gem hadn’t come down along with him. He knew they couldn’t very well leave her there, especially given they still had a mission to complete, and despite his rather mixed feelings about her at the moment, he still called up to her all the same. “Peridot!”

“What? I’m coming!” Peridot retorted, hurrying town the steps. Steven watched her silently as though he froze in sudden confusion upon catching the briefest flash of something in the green Gem’s hand as she passed him by. Something she hadn’t had when they arrived there, and something he knew, she clearly wasn’t supposed to have.

“Let’s go, you two,” Garnet called from the larger staircase and Peridot didn’t hesitate to hurry on ahead. Steven hesitated for another brief moment however, keeping his sights on the green Gem alone as he wondered with a sense of newfound worry and fledgling distrust exactly what it was she planned to do.

***

The trip back from the moon to the barn was silent and awkward, to say the least. After Peridot’s haughty remarks concerning the rebellion and Rose Quartz, neither the Gems nor Ford were too keen on carrying on any sort of conversation with the green Gem, despite the kids’ best efforts to break the thick tension. All the same, the collective group made it back to Earth aboard Lion safe and sound, carrying with them the final piece needed to complete their extensive work on the drill. A victory that, by all accounts, should have felt much more triumphant than it actually did.

“So how much longer ‘till we can use the drill?” Amethyst asked with a huff of impatience as they all gathered around said drill once more.

“Well, with the new coordinates we got from the Moon Base,” Pearl began. “It should be ready to go. But we really should preform some tests first…”

“Still, it stands to reason that we should be able to take it down to the Cluster itself within the next few days, at least,” Ford theorized, glancing up at the drill. “That is… if we even have that much time left.”

Despite the pertinence and importance of the ongoing discussion, Steven, Dipper, and Mabel were all only barely listening in on it. All three of them were preoccupied by a number of contrasting thoughts and feelings, from muted frustration on Dipper’s part, to fretful worry on Mabel’s, to growing suspicion on Steven’s. Suspicion that was entirely focused on one certain green Gem and the unknown device the young Gem had seen her secretly snatch away from the Moon Base.

In fact, in the last hour or so alone, Steven’s suspicion and apprehension had grown so much that he found he couldn’t really keep it to himself any longer. For all he knew, it could have very well been nothing, which was why he had decided against voicing his concerns to the Gems. So instead, he chose to confide in someone who was sure to both believe him and help him get to the bottom of things: the twins.

“Hey, can I talk to you guys for a second?” Steven whispered to Dipper and Mabel while everyone was still distracted with the drill. “A-alone?”

While neither of them knew where the clear dread in the young Gem’s tone was coming from, neither Dipper nor Mabel denied his request as they all slipped away to gather just shy of the barn’s entrance. As soon as they were out of the Gems’ earshot, Steven turned to them with a clear sense of urgency, one that caught them both off guard, even as he spoke his piece.

“I didn’t wanna worry the Gems or Mr. Ford, especially since we’re so close to being done with the drill,” he began, glancing down. “But… I-I think Peridot might be up to something.”

“What, you mean aside from offending everyone by wishing that the Earth had been hallowed from the inside out?” Dipper retorted somewhat sardonically.

Mabel, on the other hand, was much more genuine in her response. “W-what do you mean she’s up to something?” she asked, the slightest hint of fear in her tone. Fear that the green Gem could very well be slipping out of the progress she had made and back into her old, sinister ways.

“I… I saw her take something from the Moon Base while we were leaving,” Steven explained. “I’m not sure what it is, but… I just… I have a bad feeling about it.”

“Well, who can blame you?” Dipper said, crossing his arms. “Peridot pretty much just proved that she hasn’t changed a bit. Heck, for all we know, her trying to ‘get along’ with us could of just been one giant act this whole time. A way to trick us into thinking she’s ok before she comes in with another hairbrained attempt at destroying us so she can get back to Homeworld or something.”

“B-but then why would she work so hard to help us with the drill?” Mabel cut in, anxiously, earnestly. “Dipper, I know you’ve never really trusted Peridot, and I know Grunkle Ford and the Gems are all super miffed with her right now, b-but I don’t think she wants to hurt us or the Earth anymore! You even said so yourself: the Peridot we know now isn’t the same Peridot that first came to Earth or fused with Bill! She’s different than that; she’s better than that. I-isn’t that right, Steven?”

The young Gem was initially silent upon being met with this question, his indecisiveness being conveyed through his expression alone. “I-I… I really wanna believe that, Mabel…” he said sadly, averting both of the twins’ pressing gazes. “But… I just… I’m not…” He sighed, his mounting conflicting feelings towards the green Gem and her incriminating words and actions all becoming far too much to bear. “I… I just don’t know,” he finally answered truthfully. “Not anymore. I thought I did, but… I think we need to find out exactly what that thing she took from the Moon Base really was and why she grabbed it. J-just to make sure.”

Mabel let out a small, worried sigh at this, but all the same, she nodded her quiet agreement, even if she still dreaded what they might possibly find out. Dipper, on the other hand, was much more forward when it came to taking action concerning the green Gem where his sister was not. “Fair enough,” he consented evenly, though his cold expression softened as he glanced over at Mabel. “But… just in case we find something that… you—we may not like… I just… you guys know that we’ll… have to do something about it… right?”

Steven and Mabel exchanged a brief, equally despondent glance, both of them knowing this was absolutely true. If on the unthinkable chance that Peridot really was planning some underhanded scheme, it was their responsibility to put a stop to it, or at the very least inform the Gems about it. For all of the good will and camaraderie they had formed with the green Gem over the past several weeks, the thought that it could all fall apart in an instant had never really occurred to them. Until now, when it seemed as though there was a very high likelihood of that very thing happening.

On another nod of tight, terse agreement between the trio, they decided to make their move. Peridot hadn’t joined the others out near the drill, instead opting to carry on with her own, unknown devices inside the barn. It was there that the kids found her, her back turned to them as she apparently fiddled around with something, no doubt whatever she had taken from the Moon Base. She was quick to slip it away, however, the moment Steven spoke up to garnish her attention.

“Uh… Peridot?” he began, aptly apprehensive.

“Oh! Steven, Dipper, Mabel!” the green Gem gasped, startled as she spun around. “W-what are you three doing here?”

“We, uh… sorta need to talk to you, i-if that’s ok,” Mabel ventured, not making to much of an effort to hide her constant worry.

“Uh… s-sure!” Peridot agreed stiffly as she followed the kids inside of the cabin of the old, run-down truck parked inside of the barn. “Why are we in this broken-down vehicle?” the green Gem asked, genuinely confused.

“I don’t know,” Dipper said, sending her a cold, suspicious glare. “Why don’t you tell us?”

“…What?”

“Uh, a-actually,” Steven interjected as he glanced towards the hand Peridot was holding behind her back. The hand that held whatever secret she was trying her hardest to conceal from them all. “We wanted to ask you about… the Diamonds?”

“Oh!” the green Gem perked up instantly, excitement sparking in her eyes. “Well, I don’t know what the others have told you, but there’s a reason they’re in charge.”

“Oh yeah?” Dipper asked flatly, clearly not caring about this means to an end. “And why’s that?”

“Because they’re objectively better than us!” Peridot grinned brightly. “Every Gem has their own strengths and weaknesses, but not them. They’re absolutely, totally, completely flawless beings. Especially my Diamond: Yellow Diamond, the most perfect, the most reasonable, rational, efficient decider to ever exist in the universe!”

None of the kids really knew what to say concerning this, all of them knowing that Peridot’s incredibly high view of her matriarch was likely very biased. All the same, if her testimony concerning Yellow Diamond was anything, it was proof that the green Gem’s admiration for both her Homeworld and her Diamond still very much stood. “Y-you’re really loyal to her, aren’t you?” Steven asked, not masking his fledgling disappointment at this fact.

“How could I not be?” Peridot rebuffed. “We may have our little truce, but I’ll never forsake the Gem I was made for! And why would I? I mean, she’s an impeccable, impossibly wise powerhouse of a leader! E-even if she does actually happen to be in league with…”

“In league with who?” Mabel pressed, a newfound burst of hope filling her as she caught onto the smallest hint of doubt towards the Diamond filling the green Gem’s tone. But whatever that doubt might have been, Peridot was quick to shake it away in favor of her former adulation.

“O-oih, never mind, its nothing,” she scoffed with a wave of her hand. “J-just some ridiculous rumor I once heard from someone who is absolutely not a reliable source for anything. A rumor that certainly does not bear repeating, especially at the risk of my Diamond catching wind of it!”

“W-well then you better keep it down,” Steven said leadingly, seeing an opportunity and deciding to take it. “Because she’s right behind you!”

“What?!” Peridot gasped, spinning around in alarm and finally giving the young Gem a chance to swipe the crystal she was holding onto away from her. The green Gem barely even had time to react to the theft as the kids rushed out of the truck, slamming the door right in her face as she tried to scramble after them.

“Hey! What do you three think you’re doing!?” she shouted, banging on the window fiercely.

“What’s it look like?” Dipper countered just as harshly. “We’re shutting down whatever it is you had planned!”

“I-I didn’t have anything planned!” Peridot protested, though her bristling posture told otherwise. “Now let me out of here!”

“Save your strength,” Steven shook his head, holding the stolen crystal tight and close. “You’re up against one of Earth’s greatest trapping technologies: the child safety lock.”

“No!” Peridot wailed, sinking back into her seat dramatically. “How could you do this to me? The great and loveable Peridot!? I thought we were finally friends like you wanted!”

“We thought that too, Peridot…” Mabel frowned, genuinely upset. “But then…”

“But then I saw you sneak this off the Moon Base while nobody else was looking!” Steven filled in, his tone much more intense and angry than it usually was as he held the crystal up. “What is it? Tell us!”

“Hmph, its nothing special,” Peridot scowled at the trio from inside the truck. “And definitely not important at all.”

“Oh really?” Dipper asked challengingly, grabbing a hammer lying discarded on the floor as Steven readily held the crystal up to him in shared defiance towards the green Gem. “Well, if its not important, then I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if we just smash it, huh?!”

“NO!” Peridot practically shrieked before finally, sullenly relenting. “Ugh, all right, look. I have a plan. Allow me to explain. That’s a… communicator. Meant for the express purpose of contacting the Diamonds back on Homeworld.”

“What?!” Dipper asked sharply, so outraged and alarmed that he nearly brought the hammer down on the communicator right then and there until Steven pulled it away at just the right time.

“Y-you’re still trying to contact Homeworld?” the young Gem asked, horrified.

“Yes, of course I am!”

“B-but… but we thought you were finally starting to like it here on Earth!” Mabel exclaimed, desperate for proper answers where they really were none.

“Oh, you don’t get it,” Peridot countered evenly. “I’m not trying to leave, not anymore! Instead, I’ve got it all figured out. You simple clods keep trying to protect the Earth, but you can’t do anything right! I’ll admit I let myself get carried away too… laughing, singing, building our little machine… but don’t you see? None of that matters! What matters is that I can be of use to Yellow Diamond! This planet can be of use to Yellow Diamond! I must contact her, to reveal what I’ve discovered!”

“Are you actually serious right now!?” Dipper exclaimed in appalled disgust. “You said so yourself that the Diamonds were the ones who put the Cluster in the Earth in the first place! They’re the ones who want to see it destroyed now, just like they did with that whole colony plan we saw on the moon! You really think they’re gonna stop any of that now?”

“Oh, of course they will!” Peridot said, thoroughly confident in her plan. “If I could just have a chance to talk to Yellow Diamond, then I’m sure I can get her—as fair and reasonable as she’s known to be—to see that this planet could still be a viable asset to Homeworld’s empire. And what’s better is that once she sees things my way, the Cluster will certainly be shut down and the Earth saved. Isn’t that what all of you want?”

“Not like this we don’t!” Steven protested admantly. “Ugh… why do we keep sticking our necks out for you? You’re never gonna be on our side! Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl!” Upon calling out for his guardians, Steven raced off, Dipper trailing right after him so they could reveal Peridot’s heinous plan for what it truly was.

“No! Steven! Don’t get them!” Peridot shouted after them, pulling hard against the locked truck door until she happened to spot Mabel, still lingering beside it. “Mabel! You believe me, don’t you!? Then release me! Now!”

“P-Peri…” Mabel began quietly, tears of clear betrayal finally starting to well up in her eyes as she looked back at the green Gem. A Gem that, up until now, she really, truly had seen as a friend, regardless of everything she had said and done in the past. Even if that friendship had clearly meant nothing Peridot, despite her best, yet futile hopes otherwise. “Peridot,” she said firmer, wiping away her tears to regard her sternly, yet still so sadly. “I… I’m sorry…” she said as she finally turned away, even though she was the one who had nothing to appologize for.

***

A round of shocked gasps rose from the Gems the instant Steven and Dipper presented the communicator to them. Even Ford balked at it, apparently familiar with the device somehow, even as Pearl took it and frantically reaffirmed what it was.

“S-she took a direct line to the Diamonds?!” the white Gem exclaimed in horrified disbelief. “From the Moon Base?! What was she thinking?!”

“She was ‘thinking’ that she was gonna use it to call Yellow Diamond so Homeworld could just come here and pick up right where they left off with that colony plan of this!” Dipper informed hotly. “And she almost got away with it if we hadn’t stopped her just in time.”

“And its certainly a good thing that you kids did,” Ford agreed, casting a bitter glance towards the barn. “To think that we spent so much time with her, but we never saw this sort of underlying treachery coming. Honestly, I thought that I’d at the very least be used to betrayals of this scale by now. In a way, its almost disappointing that I’m not.”

“Ugh, for reals, after everything we’ve gone through, she’s still out to get us!” Amethyst growled sharply. “That’s it! I’m takin’ back all my cool nicknames for her! So long P-dot and P-diddy, hello… AUGH! I’m too mad! I’ll think of something later!”

The round of incensed reactions to Peridot’s deception continued, even as the green Gem honked the truck’s horn almost constantly from her “prison” inside of the barn. Only Steven and Mabel paid any attention to it though, their expressions awash between disappointment, morose, and frustration all at the same time. “I see she knows what a horn is now…” the young Gem noted sourly.

“I’d been meaning to teach her that one…” Mabel sighed, turning away, forlorn.

“You two offered her a lot of your trust,” Garnet noted to the pair, her hands on her hips.

“We did!” Steven huffed. “And it blew up in our faces!”

“I just… maybe we thought that… if we could be her friends then maybe she’d finally stop trying to do all of the bad things she came here to do…” Mabel said, burring the bottom of her face inside of the collar of her sweater. “But I guess she was never really our friend after all, huh?”

“No, she wasn’t…” Steven concluded, shaking his head as he looked back to Garnet. “You guys have been protecting the Earth for thousands of years. She could’ve destroyed all that. I… I don’t know why we thought we could change her mind…”

“Oh, come on, you guys, none of this is your fault and you know that,” Dipper attempted to console the pair as he stepped between them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. “You both always try to see the best in people, and I’ll admit, sometimes I just don’t get it. But then again, maybe its because I’m not able to see things the way you two do. You both tried your best to change Peridot for the better, and in the end it just… didn’t work, but that had nothing to do with either of you. Its just… sometimes you can’t really change what people think, no matter how hard you try.”

“But that’s just it,” Steven countered with a frown. “We don’t want to tell her what to do or what to think. She should just… know, shouldn’t she?”

“Steven…” Garnet began, her tone as steady as ever, though sympathy was clearly there as well. “You always believe in everyone. Like your mother, you seem to have a little more patience than the rest of us. That’s a trait you share too, Mabel. But on the same hand, Dipper’s also right. The truth is, not everyone deserves that patience.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Pearl cut in with as much of an encouraging smile as she could muster. “At least you got this thing away from her before she could do any real damage.”

“Yeah…” Steven and Mabel both smiled at this, glad to know that, despite Peridot��s burning betrayal, in the grand scheme of things, the Earth would stay safe. Until…

A sudden explosion rattled the entire area, its center being the barn itself as one of its sides was effectively blown clean off. Everyone turned with apt alarm to see a familiar green robot bursting out of the building, leaving a trail of clear destruction in its wake as it stormed towards them, piloted by a manically laughing green Gem all the while. “Free! Freeeeedom!” Peridot proclaimed, making an obvious beeline towards them. Or more specifically, towards the communicator they now possessed instead of her.

“What?!” Ford exclaimed, quite surprised to see that Peridot and McGucket’s robot was still functional at all.

“H-how did she escape?!” Steven asked with newfound fear over the bot bounding their way. He quickly got an answer, however, as the green Gem’s bot chucked one of the truck’s doors towards them, only barely missing the kids as it landed hard in front of them.

“Fools!” Peridot shouted triumphantly. “Your invisible rotary shield was no match for me once I applied logic!”

“Yeah! Whatever little bit of logic you actually have!” Dipper taunted back, only for Ford to narrowly pull both him and Mabel out of the way of the rest of the truck Peridot launched at them in turn.

“Now, I’m going to do this right…” Peridot grinned, prepping her bot to take on the Gems as they rushed towards her, their weapons drawn for the fray. The green Gem lashed out, wasting no time on her opponents as she quickly knocked Garnet aside. The communicator passed hands between Pearl and Amethyst a number of times, but in the midst of their frantic tossing, Peridot managed to intervene, snatching the device away just before the white Gem could nab it. “See!?” the green Gem exclaimed, hitting both of the other Gems away just as they tried to steal it back. “None of you know what you’re doing!”

With the communicator finally in her grasp again, Peridot wasted no time in making a hasty retreat in order to get it out of everyone else’s range. However, none of the others were willing to let the green Gem go through with her alarming plans so easily.

“Ohhh, ok! I’ve been ready for this!” Amethyst exclaimed angrily, quickly shapeshifting her form into a sizable, functional helicopter. “Get in!” she shouted to the others, her tone fierce enough to curb any and all comments as they all piled into her surprisingly roomy cockpit.

“Oh, of all the times for me to leave my hyper-sonic magnetic propulsion gun at home,” Ford shook his head as he made sure the twins were secure in their seats. “That would have been more than enough to take Peridot and her robot out in a single shot. Then again, Fiddleford worked on that robot and he usually built his inventions to withstand mine on purpose, so… maybe not.”

“Wait, where’s Steven?” Pearl interjected, noticing that the young Gem was the only one not seated in Amethyst’s cockpit.

“Stupid Peridot, stupid robot!” the young Gem fussed to himself from just a few feet away, still caught up in his earlier woes. “Why did I always have to go and encourage her in the first place?!”

“There’s no time for feeling horrible,” Garnet called as she shapeshifted her arm to reach Steven and pull him onto her lap. “We have to catch Peridot before she contacts Yellow Diamond.”

“That’s right,” Pearl nodded, patting Steven’s head. “You can feel horrible all you want back at the temple.”

With all of her passengers finally ready to go, Amethyst took off, her propeller speeding her onward across the farmland Peridot had already gotten a head start on. All the same, it didn’t take long for the purple Gem to catch up to the rampaging bot, which was in the midst of struggling to twist the communicator the proper way and failing completely, much to Peridot’s growing frustration.

“Grr, come on…” the green Gem growled to herself as her robot’s stubby claws fumbled with the communicator. “Work already, you insipid little-”

“Hey, Perisnot!” Amethyst taunted as she suddenly flew right by the green Gem. Peridot gasped in alarm as the purple Gem overtook her, Garnet and Pearl each launching their own attacks from her cockpit. The white Gem’s spear clipped the robot’s hull first, though the Gem leader’s launched gauntlets were what ended up actually taking the bot down. The blast was enough to knock the machine into a nearby power line, giving it enough of a zap to disable it entirely. As battered and broken as the robot was, it tumbled down the hill before its scattered pieces came to rest in the wide field below, including Peridot and the communicator she had been holding onto.

It took the green Gem a moment to pick herself up and regather her bearings after the crash, but as soon as she spotted the communicator lying in the grass just a few feet away, she didn’t hesitate to spring towards it. Right before she could reach it however, a sudden blast from above derailed her, knocking her back as she briefly glared up at its source.

“Well, I may not have hyper-sonic magnetic propulsion gun,” Ford remarked with a smirk as he spun a much smaller, simpler blaster in his grip. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t go out unprepared.”

For once, Peridot didn’t send any sort of snide remark back as she instead refocused her efforts on the communicator. At the same time, Amethyst went in low as everyone unboarded her, allowing her to resume her usual form as everyone rushed to stop the green Gem before it was too late. They all pounced on her more or less at the same time, creating an essential dogpile as they all scrambled to secure the communicator first while further destroying the robot in the process. Peridot herself only barely managed to sneak out of the wreckage, though she wasn’t as unseen as she had hoped, for only seconds later, Steven was upon her, with Mabel and Dipper following suit right after. The four of them all leapt for the fallen communicator at once, creating an uproarious struggle with no clear winners in sight.

“You’re not gonna get away with this!” Steven shouted as he tried his best to yank the communicator out of Peridot’s hands.

“Yeah!” Dipper added just as fiercely. “If you think you’re actually going to let you get in touch with Homeworld, then you’ve got another thing coming.”

“And you’ve got another thing coming if you think you can stop me, you pesky, persistent pebbles!” Peridot snapped, trying her best to kick the kids away to no avail.

“Augh! You don’t get it, do you!?” Mabel cried as she pulled hard against Peridot, finally letting her grief and frustration with the situation as a whole pour out. “We trusted you! We all trusted you! We all wanted you to change and be better than this, but you’re not!”

“We spent all that time bonding and hoping and caring about you!” Steven added amidst the ongoing struggle. “But it was all for nothing!”

“And that’s exactly your problem!” Peridot bristled as she finally pulled the communicator out of the kids’ reach. “Your emotions rule out reason! You waste all your time ‘caring’ and ‘trusting’ when you could be spending it actually doing important things like saving this pathetic planet! Which is why if none of you will, then I’ll make sure to do what must be done!”

None of the kids had a chance to counter this as the green Gem suddenly snapped the communicator on. The device’s surface instantly enveloped itself in a radiant yellow glow as it rose into the air, far out of anyone’s reach as Peridot laughed excitedly over her victory. “She’ll sort this out…” she grinned, more than ready to detail everything she had planned to her Diamond.

At the same time, the Gems rushed in, grabbing all three of the kids as the communicator continued to brighten. Everyone save for Peridot herself was quick to take cover out of sight behind the fallen robot as the communicator opened up, creating a holographic screen that flashed with the visage of four different colored diamonds. Peridot’s growing excitement grew practically manic as the telltale insignia faded away to what she hoped would be Yellow Diamond herself.

“This is the Yellow Diamond control room.” Instead of the Gem matriarch, another Gem entirely appeared on the other end of the line. Her coloration was unquestionably and appropriately yellow and her attire simple yet elegant all the same. However, what was most telling was her appearance, which was far too familiar for the kids in particular to not immediately pick up on, even from their hiding spot from afar.

“Is that… another Pearl?” Dipper asked, aptly dumbfounded.

“Ooo… she’s really fancy…” Mabel noted, somewhat impressed by her style.

“Who is she?” Steven asked Pearl herself, though the white Gem simply let out a harsh scoff at the question.

“Not all Pearls know each other, Steven,” she remarked rather curtly as the Yellow Pearl addressed Peridot.

“Who authorized you to make this call?” she asked, sending the green Gem a cold look of clear disapproval.

“N-no one,” Peridot answered stiffly, but truthfully. “B-but its an emergency!”

“That’s NO excuse to use the direct Diamond communication channel!” Yellow Pearl snapped harshly, only for another voice to cut into the conversation entirely.

“Pearl.”

Yellow Pearl flinched at this deeper, calmer tone, one that she instantly perked towards as she turned to its off-screen source. “Y-yes, my Diamond?”

“Why is there someone on the Diamond Line?”

“I-I don’t know!” Yellow Pearl exclaimed. “I was just about to tell her that-”

“I’ll take it from here.” The hologram suddenly shifted position, revealing exactly who Peridot had been hoping to speak to in the first place: Yellow Diamond.

Yellow Diamond was, simply put, absolutely radiant. Her poise and posture alone told of a figure with unspoken authority and power. Her figure was astute, elegant, yet firm and lithe, clad in a simple, stately uniform that was telling of a military leader. Her hair was short and angular, her features lovely, yet sharp and dark. In fact, just about everything about her could be summed up as sharp, from her large, pointed shoulder pads, to the shimmering stone resting on the center of her chest, to even her pupils: clear perfect diamonds resting amidst bright, vibrant golden yellow. She sat casually upon a crystalline throne, the vast expanses of space stretching out through the large windows behind her as she typed away on the countless number of holographic screens before her, sparing not even a passing glance at the Peridot who had been so bold as to contact her personally.

“Y-Yellow Diamond…” Pearl whispered fearfully, her trembling hands skimming her mouth as she tucked away behind the robot’s wreckage.

“Yellow Diamond…” Garnet echoed much more coldly, glaring towards the Gem matriarch from their unseen spot.

“Yellow Diamond…” Ford finished just as bitterly, though more to himself than anyone else as he set the depicted Diamond a personal scowl of ire all his own.

Meanwhile, Steven and Mabel exchanged a stunned, yet fearful glance, not really knowing what else to expect from the Gem matriarch based on her stern, severe appearance alone. At the same time, Dipper simply stared her down unflinchingly, knowing that despite Peridot’s foolish conviction, Yellow Diamond would likely still have every ill intent against the Earth. She was still a foe, no matter what she said or what she did and that was something that no attempt at pleading or appealing would likely ever change.

But that didn’t mean Peridot wasn’t going to try all the same. “M-My Diamond!” the green Gem saluted her leader respectfully. “Peridot, reporting in.”

“Which Peridot?” Yellow Diamond asked, her tone bored as she continued on with the work in front of her.

Peridot flinched at this, suddenly remembering something she’d largely forgotten about during her time on Earth. That she wasn’t really anything special; she was just one out of countless other Peridots, a fact that had seemed to fade into the back of her mind when she was on a planet where she was apparently one of a kind. “F-Facet 2-F-5-L, Cut 5-X-G,” she reported her designation dutifully all the same. “I’m sorry to contact you this way, but all other forms of communication have been destroyed, and-”

The green Gem starkly cut herself off as Yellow Diamond simply raised a hand to silence her, her attention turned away on one of her many data screens instead. “This says you’re behind schedule on your mission to…” She trailed off before finally turning to face her underling with a cold, calculated gaze. “How is… the Earth?”

“I-it’s… full of life,” Peridot said, with a hopeful shrug.

“Organic life…” the matriarch sneered in disgust. “And where is the Jasper I assigned you? And why aren’t you calling from the ship?”

“T-the ship was… destroyed…” Peridot admitted rather sheepishly.

“By whom?” Yellow Diamond asked, her eyes narrowing.

“I-it was destroyed by…” the green Gem trailed off, sparing a brief glance at the group hiding behind her. Her eyes briefly met Steven’s first, then Mabel’s, their expressions awash with equal fear that Peridot would rat them out to her Diamond. But instead, of all things, she didn’t. “N-no one!” she vouched, electing surprise from just about everyone in the concealed group. “There was an accident… while we were landing.”

Yellow Diamond sent a brief, disgruntled glare to her underling upon hearing this, but all the same, she was quick to return her attention back to work just as before. “I’ll inform your manager of your incompetence,” she scoffed dourly. “And what is the status of the Cluster?”

“The Cluster… w-will emerge shortly…” Peridot reported halfheartedly.

“Good,” the matriarch finally smiled in clear vindication over this fact. “We’ll finally have some use out of that miserable planet. Thank you for your report, Peridot. There will be a ship heading to your location to take you to your next assignment.”

“W-wait!” Peridot interjected hastily, anxiously. “I wouldn’t have called to waste your time with a report.”

“You already have…” Yellow Diamond scowled, though she still let the green Gem continue all the same.

“No, I-I mean… I… I wanted to…” Peridot trailed off, glancing down apprehensively. She was more than ready to divulge her ideas for preserving the Earth while also making the most efficient use of its resources for Homeworld’s benefit. And yet, just before she could, she was overwhelmed by a rather unsavory rumor she couldn’t shake, especially now as she stood before the Diamond it concerned herself. Which was why, despite the thin ice she already knew she was treading on, Peridot went off on an entirely different tangent instead. “I-I wanted to ask if…” she began, making sure to pose this question as carefully as she could. “I-if you’ve ever heard of a being who goes by the name of… Bill Cipher?”

The reaction to the demon’s name alone from both the Diamond and her Pearl was instant and telling. Yellow Pearl let out a sharp, fearful gasp as she cowered back in alarm. Yellow Diamond herself turned to fully face the green Gem, her previously icy expression instead filled with an undeniably angry sense of curiosity. Likewise, the group gathered behind the robot all carried their own startled reactions to Peridot bringing Bill up at a time like this especially, but even so, they listened carefully for whatever the Diamond might have to say about him.

“Where did you hear that name?” she asked, her burning gaze practically piercing Peridot cleanly through.

“I-I…” the green Gem hesitated, fear too afraid to fully divulge her dealings with the demon to her Diamond, so she went with a much simply explanation instead. “H-here, on Earth, m-my Diamond.”

“Hm,” the matriarch mused, her manner still largely unreadable. “And what gives you the impression that I would know of such a… ‘being’, as you put it?”

“H-he… he said you… t-that the two of you… had an… alliance?”

“What?!” Ford asked in a harsh whisper upon hearing this, the kids and the Gems all echoing his shock with startled gasps of their own.

“I-It can’t be true…” Pearl shook her head, trembling in apt terror at the very thought. “Please say it’s not…”

“Oh, did he now?” Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes, seemingly unconcerned by the green Gem possessing such knowledge. “How… amusing. Though I thought I made it quite clear to that… irksome demon that I did NOT want word of our partnership spreading to the lower ranks. But then again, listening has never been his strong suit…”

“S-so its true then?” Peridot asked, looking to her Diamond with immense, almost pleading dismay to hear the opposite. “Y-you really are working with him?”

“I fail to see how that information is of ANY concern to you,” Yellow Diamond countered as coldly as ever as she prepared to end the call right there and then. “Now, if that will be all then-”

“O-one more thing!” Peridot interrupted anxiously. Despite the effective confirmation of her Diamond working hand in hand with someone as dastardly and deceitful as Bill Cipher, the green Gem still believed she could make her matriarch see reason. Both in regards to the planet Earth and perhaps even in regards to what would no doubt be an ill-fated alliance with the dream demon unless someone helped her see the truth.

“What could it possibly be now?” Yellow Diamond asked, clearly exasperated.

“T-the reason I called…” the green Gem began, still quite nervous as she began to make her genuine appeal. “The real reason, wasn’t to give a report or to talk about Cipher. Instead, I… I believe we should terminate the Cluster!”

“…Why?” the matriarch asked, her quiet, yet icy voice and gaze sending shivers throughout the green Gem’s entire form.

“T-the organic geosystem creates resources unique to this world,” Peridot explained with rising hope that her Diamond would listen, even despite the matriarch’s clearly sullen expression. “We can’t sacrifice all that potential for one geo-weapon! I’d like to tell you some plans I came up with to utilize the planet without disrupting the local-”

“That’s enough,” Yellow Diamond cut her off swiftly and sternly. “I don’t care about ‘potential’ and ‘resources’.”

“W-what?” Peridot asked, taken aback by such a harsh rejection.

“I want my Cluster,” the matriarch said simply, succinctly. “And I want that planet to die. Just make that happen.”

“No!” Peridot protested, speaking before she could even think of what she was saying.

Now it was apparently Yellow Diamond’s turn to be taken aback, her sharp gaze focusing on the green Gem before her in a bitter, hostile glare. Her Pearl let out an appalled gasp at such a rebellion, but even so, the matriarch remained steady when dealing with it. “Are you questioning my authority?”

“I-I’m questioning your objectivity, m-my Diamond!” Peridot countered, offering her leader a quick, respectful salute. One that did nothing to quell the matriarch’s rising anger.

“Well!” Yellow Pearl huffed, shocked at such brashness. Her alarm grew even more when Yellow Diamond suddenly rose from her throne, standing at her full, massive, imposing height that towered well above the green Gem who had brazenly chosen to oppose her.

“You are out of line.”

“I-I just think-”

“I am not interested in the puny thoughts of a Peridot,” Yellow Diamond continued, ignoring Peridot’s best attempts at breaking through to her.

“But I-”

“You have disrespected this channel, and my time with your presence and you would do well to-”

“But-”

“Shut your mouth!” the matriarch snapped, finally silencing the already fearful green Gem as she continued in her outraged tirade. “You have failed at every step of your mission. Your only chance to redeem yourself is to obey this simple order: you are to leave the Cluster to grow. It will tear apart the Earth, and I will take immense satisfaction in erasing that hideous rock off of our star maps once and for all! Is that CLEAR?!”

“I won’t do it!” Peridot shouted back with every ounce of courage she had in her. She had her worries before, from the moment she learned about the matriarch’s apparent alliance with Cipher himself that her judgement was questionable. But now, after everything she’d just heard, she had no doubt; Yellow Diamond didn’t want or care about what was best for the Earth like she did. The only thing she wanted was to see it destroyed, a plan that, after all the time she had spent there, all she had come to experience and see and learn there, all of the friends she had met there, Peridot refused to let come to fruition. “I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!”

Upon hearing this, Steven and Mabel couldn’t stifle a shared smile, even while all of the others continued to watch the ongoing exchange with rising alarm. Regardless of her earlier slip-up, it seemed as though Peridot really had learned something during her time on Earth after all. Many things, in fact, and she was proudly displaying all that she had learned right here and right now for her Diamond, and for everyone else, to plainly see.

Yellow Diamond, however, was far from impressed by this callous defiance. “What do YOU know about the Earth?!” she shouted viciously, but this time, Peridot did not back down. Instead, the green Gem went in with everything she had and then some as she staked her claim and solidified what side she stood on once and for all.

“Apparently more than YOU, you… CLOD!”

As poised and calm as she had been before, Yellow Diamond’s regal manner instantly broke in raw, uncontained fury upon having such a disrespectful insult hurled at her. Her palpable outrage was more than enough to shake blind terror right back into Peridot as she quickly saluted out of habit more than anything else before hanging up the call. “P-Peridot out!” she exclaimed, grabbing the communicator and instantly ending the feed. Yellow Diamond and her Pearl disappeared from sight, though there was no question that on the other end of the line, the matriarch, wherever she was, was still absolutely fuming over the measly Peridot who had somehow worked up enough nerve to call her a clod, of all things, right to her face.

With the call over and the danger diminished, the others didn’t hesitate to emerge from hiding and head over to the green Gem’s side. Mabel and Steven were the first to embrace her in a tight, triumphant hug, both of them elated by her bravery and by the choice she had made, by all accounts, entirely on her own.

“Peridot, that was amazing!” Steven exclaimed with a delighted smile.

“Seriously, that was one of the coolest things EVER!” Mabel added, just as enthused.

“I can’t believe I just did that…” Peridot said, rather stunned by her own actions as she stared straight ahead, baffled.

“We were so wrong about being so wrong about you!” the young Gem said, more than glad to be wrong in this instance.

“I can’t believe I just did that…” Peridot repeated, still largely in a panicked daze.

“You thought you could change her mind,” Garnet said with the smallest of proud smiles.

“But Yellow D got torn down by the ‘Peri-dactyl’!” Amethyst quipped with a bright cheer.

“Uh, I know we’re all really excited about this, but don’t you guys think we should talk about the whole Bill Cipher and Yellow Diamond working together thing?” Dipper interjected with tight, anxious worry. “Because I really think we should talk about that.”

“I agree,” Ford nodded admantly, gravely. “On their own, the threat that each of them poses already can’t be understated but with Bill’s powers and Yellow Diamond’s resources combined, I don’t even want to think about what that could mean for the planet—no, the very multiverse itself!”

“Then let’s not,” Garnet said succinctly.

“W-what?” Pearl balked, confused as she shared Ford and Dipper’s understandable concern. “But Garnet, we have no idea what this heinous ‘alliance’ of theirs could mean for the Earth or for us or for-”

“There’ll be plenty of time to worry about all that later,” the Gem leader shook her head before turning back to the rather distraught green Gem. “For now, we have something to celebrate, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Not yet we don’t…” Peridot sighed as she handed the communicator off to Pearl. “Can one of you take this?”

“Why?” Pearl asked as she took the device.

“Because it can be remotely detonated.”

A ripple of newfound alarm spread through the group at this, especially as the communicator began flashing a bright shade of yellow. “W-why didn’t you tell us that earlier?!” Dipper asked Peridot, who had simply resigned herself to lying on the ground, forlorn.

“How do we stop it?!” Pearl asked, holding the device as far away from her as possible.

“Just get rid of it!” Garnet ordered hastily.

“Amethyst, here!” the white Gem tossed it down to the purple Gem beside her.

“What am I supposed to do with it?!” she shouted frantically before Steven quickly grabbed it and securely bubbled it. Still, Garnet didn’t take any chances with it as she took said bubble and sent it flying far and high into the dawn sky with as much force as she could muster. Sure enough, the communicator exploded safely, creating nothing more than a quickly-dying firework that left nothing behind in its wake.

“Woo!” Mabel cheered excitedly. “Well, that’s one way to start a Saturday morning!”

“I’ll say…” Pearl agreed, letting out an anxious breath.

“I thought I could reason with her…” Peridot spoke up from her spot on the ground, still shaken over what she’d just done.

“Yeah, you made her really mad,” Amethyst chuckled, amused.

“And then you insulted her to her face,” Pearl added with a small smile.

“Which… was pretty amazing,” Dipper added, forcing a bit of a much-needed laugh, even despite the extenuating circumstances. “And honestly kind of hilarious. Even for you.”

”Do you know what this means, Peri?” Mabel asked with a wide, delighted smile. “We’re all best friends again! I knew you wouldn’t let us down when it really mattered and you didn’t! I’m so proud of you!”

“We all are!” Steven chimed in warmly. “And you know what else this means?”

“And I’m a traitor to my Homeworld?” Peridot asked morosely.

“Nope!” Steven’s grin widened as he embraced the green Gem once more. “You’re a Crystal Gem!”

“Whether you like it or not,” Garnet added with a wry smirk. The others all got a good laugh out of this, though Peridot herself simply let out a loud, long, mortified groan. Of all the things that could have happened, the green Gem had never once expected herself to actually become a part of the team of rouges and rebels who had stranded her on Earth to begin with. And yet, here she was, a Crystal Gem all the same, just as Garnet had said, whether she liked it or not.

And if Peridot was perfectly honest with herself, deep down, she truly did like it after all.

***

The receiving end of the Diamond Line shattered into thousands of iridescent pieces as it struck the far wall of the opulent chamber. Yellow Pearl squeaked out a gasp, trembling in fear of her Diamond’s infamous temper as she clung close to the massive throne beside her, watching as the matriarch vetted her immense fury without a single beat of hesitation.

“How DARE that insignificant little traitor try to make a fool out of ME?!” Yellow Diamond shouted hotly, her gloved hands clenched into tight fists as she paced around her spacious chamber. “Why, I haven’t seen such blatant, despicable disrespect and defiance from such a lowly Gem in thousands of years!”

“M-My Diamond?” Yellow Pearl spoke up with an unsteady, wavering smile. “I-if it’s any consolation, I don’t think you’re a clod!”

Her attempt at a consolation was, however, completely ignored as Yellow Diamond continued her uproarious monologue. “If I didn’t have much better things to do with my time, I’d go down to that disgusting speck of a world and shatter that insolent whelp myself! Fortunately though…” the matriarch finally broke into a small, dark grin, even though it was clear she was still quite unhinged in her remaining fury. “The Cluster will take care of that minor aggravation for me…”

“I-it most certainly will, my Diamond!” Yellow Pearl piped up, only to be largely looked over by her matriarch once more.

“But even so, the audacity of that pathetic Peridot is absolutely appalling!” she scoffed bitterly. “To even claim that the Earth bears us any sort of use now, after everything it cost us! Its completely absurd! I don’t even want to think of what Blue would say if she heard such a ludicrous idea! Or even worse, what White would say…”

Yellow Pearl choked out a small, frightened whimper at this, though her fear only grew tenfold as a sudden, instantly recognizable voice let out a callous chuckle right beside her. “Ha! Yellow sure is HILARIOUS when she’s ticked off, huh, Canary?”

“AH!” Yellow Pearl cried, flinching away from the dream demon floating alongside her the moment she spotted him. Her surprise was quickly replaced with aggravated frustration, however, to the point that she didn’t even notice color swiftly drain out of the throne room altogether. “Augh! You again…”

“Great to see you too, Canary!” Bill quipped as brightly as ever, patting the Pearl on her pointed hair condescendingly. “It’s been WAY too long since I’ve caught up with you and Yellow!”

“Not nearly long enough, if you ask me…” Yellow Pearl grumbled sourly, though she did breathe a small sigh of relief as the demon turned his attention away from her and to her angry matriarch instead.

“Y-ellow, Yellow!” Bill greeted cheerfully as he suddenly appeared right in front of the incensed Diamond’s face. “How’s it goin’? I’m not interrupting anything important, am I?”

“YOU!” Yellow Diamond scowled, glaring the demon down harshly. “What in the stars do you think you’re doing, going around and haphazardly divulging confidential plans and classified arrangements to the most commonplace members of my court?!”

“Why, Yellow, I have NO idea what you mean…” Bill remarked, feigning innocence.

“You know full well what I mean,” the matriarch scowled, instantly calling his bluff. “The Peridot stationed on Earth! She said you made contact with her and laid out all of the undisclosed details of our alliance without my permission. And you’re going to tell me exactly why you did this instant!”

“Yeesh, Yellow! Better simmer down over there, otherwise ya might just end up SHATTERING yourself on accident!” Bill joked with a rather mocking chuckle. “Remind you of anyone you used to know?”

Yellow Diamond let out a disgusted, appalled scoff at this, her rage growing even more as she tried to swat the demon clean out of the air on her fury alone. “How dare you even mention what happened to her in such a way, you despicable-”

“ANYWAY,” Bill interjected quickly, hovering high and calm out of the furious Diamond’s range. “I wouldn’t worry about ol’ Greenie if I we you. In case you haven’t noticed, she’s really not the brightest Gem in the case.

“You mean the Peridot?” Yellow Diamond calmed somewhat, raising an eyebrow up at the demon. “Well, I certainly can’t argue with that, given her foolish choice to rebel against me.”

“Speaking of rebels…” Bill began leadingly. “You really don’t think Greenie came up with that whole ‘let’s save the Earth’ idea on her own, do you? Especially since you sent her there to check up on the very thing that’s supposed to blow it all to oblivion in the first place? Sorta makes you think that maybe… just maybe… someone might have… inspired her to act up like that, don’t ya think?”

“…What are you saying?” Yellow Diamond asked, narrowing her eyes at the demon curiously.

“I’m saying…” Bill continued, shrinking himself down so he could take a seat on the matriarch’s shoulder pad. “That all those pesky rebels you, Blue, and White thought you got rid of way back when… aren’t as ‘gone’ as you’d like to think.”

“WHAT?!” the matriarch’s stark, stunned shout echoed throughout the chamber. “Show me! Now!”

“If you say so, Yellow…” Bill almost cheerfully complied, gliding before the Diamond and using his flat form to present images of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl alike to her. “Not a ton of those Crystal Chumps are still kicking, but the ones that are sure are a pain in the equilateral sides, if ya know what I mean. Plus, they’ve even picked up a handful of human pals to help them out from time to time,” Bill continued, showing off each of the Pines as well. “As if they couldn’t get any MORE annoying, huh?”

“Hmph,” Yellow Diamond scoffed, seemingly unconcerned by the lot she had just seen. “A few mere straggling Off-Colors and their pathetic human pets are nothing. The Cluster will wipe them and everything else on that miserable rock out soon enough.”

“Yeah, suuuure it will,” Bill remarked with a flippant wave of his hand. “But here’s the kicker, Yellow. Take a look at who ELSE is still down there, having a GRAND old time spending the past several centuries celebrating ‘her’ victory over you-know-who…”

The matriarch gasped, her eyes wide as she noticed the image of a lone pink gemstone hovering over the demon’s open palm. A gemstone, that for all its infamy across all of Homeworld, she would have recognized anywhere. “Rose Quartz…”

“You got it!” Bill quipped, snapping the gemstone away. “Everybody’s FAVORITE Quartz is still alive and well, unlike a certain… ‘little sis’ of yours she went and wiped out of existence just to save some dumb old planet and a bunch of dumb old humans. Seems like a pretty raw deal that she got to survive when poor little Pinky didn’t… huh, Yellow?”

Yellow Diamond’s former fury was nothing compared to the absolute raw, wrath she was showing now. Her fists were so tight they were shaking, sparks of bright electricity bursting all over her form as her anger consumed her from the inside out. “A mercifully short end brought about by the Cluster is far too good for that… that shatterer…” she seethed, her voice quiet, but the fury in it as clear as day. “Cipher! I have another request for you!”

“Oh, do you now?” Bill asked, almost gleefully curious. “Well, lay it on me, Yellow! I’m sure I’d LOVE to hear it!”

“Bring me Rose Quartz before the Cluster destroys the Earth,” Yellow Diamond ordered coldly, viciously. “I want to be the one to shatter her myself, just like she shattered-” The matriarch cut herself off, her expression filling with pain that she couldn’t even bear to speak to, though she was quick to shake it away. “J-just… just bring her to me. Whatever it takes…”

“You know, normally I’d be all for that kind of hellbent revenge, Yellow,” Bill remarked calmly, casually almost. “But I think I’ve got an even BETTER idea for ya. Me and my pals have a little bit of… unfinished business to take care of down there on Earth in the not-too-far-off future. What do you say to the idea of joining us when we get down there—heck, make a whole trip of it if ya want, complete with your snazzy armada and everything!? That way, you can grind Quartzy up into a bunch of pink stardust the moment you see her, right in front of what’s left of her little army on her own doomed planet, just like ya want! What do you think? Sounds like a winner, just like ALL of my plans do, right?”

“Hm…” A small, vindictive smile filled the Diamond’s features at this. “Yes… The crushing defeat she deserves on the very planet she thought she won from us…. I do like the sound of that quite a bit…”

“So… I take it you’re in then?” Bill asked knowingly, stretching a blue, flaming hand out to seal the deal.

Yellow Diamond’s sadistic smile deepened at this, more than ready to exact the vengeance she had been craving for over 5,000 years now. “Yes, I am,” she firmly, readily agreed, returning the demon’s handshake to solidify their latest treacherous plan. “Rose Quartz’s years of running and hiding are over. Now, its her turn to face the very same fate she brought upon Pink…”

“Oh, Yellow…” Bill laughed more to himself that to the matriarch, knowing the truth that she didn’t and exactly how he could use it all to his advantage in his long, ongoing game. A game that was, by all accounts, very close to reaching its ultimate end. “You have NO idea…”

15 notes · View notes

fae-fucker · 5 years

Text

Zenith: Chapter 41-44

Chapter 41

So the Marauder’s engine is in meltdown and Memory tells the crew to “proceed to the landing bay” and “prepare for engine failure” instead of going to the escape pods? I guess here is where we find out Memory wants them all dead, and can ya blame her?

Lira says that because of their “velocity” and “weight” (there’s that weight thing again), it’s extra hard to cool down the engine for a safe landing.

So. I’m no rocket scientist. But if your engines fail in space ... won’t you just sorta float there? It seems the rest of the ship’s systems are fine, so you’ll have all the time you need to figure out what’s wrong with the engine. It’s written like they’re about to crash, but unless they’re close enough to a planet or similar large mass that exerts gravity over the ship, they’ll be fine for long enough to fix the engine.

I guess maybe you guys should look into getting some ship engineers after all.

Breck says their cooling systems are completely fucked to the point where they’ll all die if nothing happens soon. She also complains about the engineers who did the repairs for the Marauder don’t know how to work on a “classic” because I guess the ship is one-of-a-kind and unique and super high-tech but also vintage to the point where ship engineers who work for the general-king of an entire planet/group of planets don’t know how to handle it.

Which makes total sense.

Lira says that if they leave hyperspace now, they’ll conveniently land right near Adhira, and if you against all odds forgot what Adhira is, it’s where Lira and her sad backstory are from.

God, this thing is so fiking contrived. I can see Shinsay’s desperate claws picking at the scabs that is this plot to make it look less like garbage but only infecting and destroying it more.

After all they’d gone through to get Valen, things just had to go wrong now. The life of a space pirate, Andi thought to herself.

*looks into the camera like I’m on The Office*

What exactly did y’all get through to get Valen? The plan went literally without a hitch lmao. The life of a whiny brat more like.

Chapter 41

“Come on, baby,” Andi said, patting the Marauder’s dash as if it would actually listen to her plea.

“Coming!” an unwelcome voice came from behind her. Andi let out an audible groan.

“Get in a seat, Dextro. Now!”

“I’m trying to lighten the mood, Androma. We all know Lira is fully capable of handling this situation.”

“Thanks,” Lira muttered as Dex plopped into one of the chairs behind her, legs sprawled out in front of him like he was about to watch a film.

Now this is how you sell the danger and suspense of a crash landing!

Listen, Shinsay, I know this won’t actually kill anyone or even hurt them particularly bad. I know you’re just doing this to get them to Adhira so Lira can mope around for a little bit.

But could you at least pretend this is exciting or poses some sort of threat? At least I would respect y’all for trying.

Lira says that they’ll crash land in a relatively safe way, but they’ll probably plow straight into a village unless they lose at least a ton of weight. So Dex blasts the escape pods out. Let’s hope anyone below doesn’t get smashed by an escape pod I guess. Again with the fucking weight thing, too.

Anyway, you know what’s great in a pilot and a Second-In-Command? Literally fainting during stressful moments. Which Lira does right as they’re about to crash-land.

I’m surprised these guys have survived as long as they have with Lira fainting or flipping her shit the moment something goes wrong. Watch Nexus have a subplot about her embracing her emotions or some shit.

Chapter 42

We’re in Dex’s point of view and my mouth literally fell open when I read this.

He had just one second to enable the ship’s metal outer shields before they hit the ground.

YOU’RE TELLING ME

THAT THIS WHOLE TIME THEY’VE BEEN FALLING

THEY DIDN’T HAVE THEIR SHIELDS UP

AND NOBODY EVEN MENTIONED THEM

AND THEY WERE JUST DIRECTING THIS IMPENETRABLE BUT APPARENTLY FRAGILE GLASS SHIP

TOWARDS SOLD GROUND

WHILE FALLING OUT OF THE ATMOSPHERE?!

We’re all idiots. All of us reading this book and you guys for reading this snark. We’re out here expecting quality from a New York Times bestseller written by two airheads when we could be out there selling copies of our own trash! We could all get famous for not having opinions online and being pretty in front of a bookshelf and then we’ll get a book deal as a result of our clout!

Instead we’re here, examining this piece of GARBAGE as if it was a work of art worth thinking about. Shinsay just opened up our skulls and took a huge, dripping dump on all of our brains while stealing our lunch money! AND YOU’RE JUST GONNA LET THEM!!!! BECAUSE YOU TOO ARE A SHEEP, YOUR GAPING MAW HUNGRY FOR MORE WARM ASS-JUICE.

Anyway OH MY GOD THE METAL SHIELDS JUST POPPED RIGHT OFF

A PART OF THE METAL SHIELD THAT’S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THE IMPENETRABLE GLASS SHIP FROM DAMAGE JUST POPPED OFF I’M

the queen’s personal guards come to arrest them i guess and that’s it that’s the chapter someone save me please

Chapter 44

We’re back with Andi while they’re being wheeled away along with the dead ship and I’m not entirely sure what the point of Dex’s chapter was aside from destroying any last remaining brain cells I had.

Andi acknowledges how she should be worrying about Lira, who’s just woken up from her EMOTION OVERLOAD, but instead she thinks about literally everything else. Mostly about how she’s mad at General Cortas for roping her into this mission because it led to her ship getting destroyed, her ex coming back, and her pirating career coming to a halt.

What is happening to my life? she wondered. It was out of control. She was out of control.

Acknowledging your protagonist’s complete lack of agency in this plot won’t make it okay, Shinsay. And doing it now, when the ship’s fucked and the pilot is barely conscious, makes Andi look like a self-absorbed ass.

“There’s nothing we can do right now,” Lira said. She reached out, and Andi felt the warm flutter of Lira’s fingertips on her shoulder. She stiffened at the touch, and Lira pulled away. “A calm mind is a decent one.”

That’s very rich coming from you, Miss Faints-During-Stress.

“Your home may be the ship, Androma. It’s all of ours, too. But Adhira is the planet that gave me life. I just lost control of myself before I could stop our ship from crashing into one of its most profitable crop fields. When Queen Alara finds out...”

Andi didn’t answer.

Lira’s eyes narrowed. “You are not the only one suffering today, Captain.”

O SHE MAD

YOU TELL HER, LIRA

Andi actually feels bad for offending her friend. Which is like, wow, Shinsay making it obvious Andi made a mistake and experiencing consequences? Wow. SJMommy/Celaena would never. We stan two queens.

It won’t matter in the long run but the effort is appreciated.

[Andi] needed to be a leader. She needed to talk to her crew and devise a plan. She needed to apologize to Lira. She needed to sort out how she felt about her conversation with Dex.

But right now, she simply wanted to sit and not be bothered. So she did.

With her mind reeling, her hands balled into fists at her side, Androma Racella, the Bloody Baroness of Mirabel, stared out the back of the wagon as her ship slid over another pile of fresh green dung and allowed herself to pout like a child.

And there goes my sympathy for Andi out the window again.

What shame.

#eff reads: zenith

7 notes · View notes

wincestisasincest · 5 years

Text

Murder in the Blue Morgue -- Part 1

YESSS!

LET’S

GET

SOME

2D DADFIC

Okay, so I’ve noticed that, at least in terms of long-form fanfiction, there’s really not much on 2D being a dad or having kids, especially if you take away the addition of a reader-insert or OC significant other. I find this a little odd, because it’s sOrTa canon that 2D has a couple kids here or there (I say sorta because the email could’ve also been a scam, especially considering how little coverage there was on it in the lore, but screw it, I like the idea and it’s not impossible to believe so we’re doin’ this), and this seems to be a vaguely popular genre with Murdoc, so why not?

Also, this one sorta exists in a weird, out of time Gorillaz universe. All the members are the ages that they are now, Murdoc is there, but no Ace, and it takes place at Kong Studios for the first part, because I forgot how settings work and had already written that part. It’s not that important to the story anyway, I promise.

So, without further a due, let’s get started. Y E E T.

*****

It was exactly the kind of place where she expected a long-lost father to live. You’d figure someone who didn’t want to interact with the kids in his life wouldn’t pick a place with a demeanor that was inviting, and lost-fathers in general have a mysterious, albeit deadbeat vibe. And with that, plus the aesthetic of the band that was impossible to avoid all combined in a perfect storm that could even make someone as determined as she was on edge. And perhaps that was the point, she wondered. Fantastic. The logical part of her mind was smacking her upside the head with reminders that she had nothing to be worried about. She was making a perfectly reasonable request, and it’s not like she would be catching him off guard or anything. It would definitely be something that he could afford, and, if he wasn’t convinced, she did have a few persuasion techniques up her sleeve. And, of course, worst case scenario is that she got declined and asked to leave. Nothing to terrible would happen to her, even in a place like this. After all the band did have a public image to uphold. She would be fine. She took a deep breath, and pressed the button near the door that she assumed to be the doorbell. The black and white screen above her buzzed to life, with the visage of a large, dominating black man meeting her. Him being completely bald and lacking pupils did not put her at ease, even if she did know who he was. “Yeah, what are ya here fo’?” Of course, he didn’t mean to be terrifying, and she could understand that, with all the trouble that the band must get, they would need to be a little harsh with who they let enter Kong Studios. “Um… I’m looking for… Stuart Pot?” The name sounded awkward on her tongue, and who she knew to be Russel could definitely sense it as well. Even though she had had to put up with the name for five years now, it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing that was discussed in the house, and, due to his persona, it especially wasn’t discussed in the context of issues that a normal person would have. “What business could you have with Stu?” While she didn’t know if he intended to be rude or not, the judgement practically penetrated the screen. “I, uh… it’s something financial?” “What?” “It’s something financial, he owes some people money, and-“ “Are you sure about that?” “Yeah, I’m very sure, I,” she could see his resolve to abandon this conversation wipe across his face, “Wait, please don’t go, I… I’m his kid.” “I beg your pardon?” At least she had gotten his attention. “I’m, uh, I’m his kid. He pays, or he should be paying, child support to my mom. And I have something I need to discuss with him. I brought proof.” She flashed the paper with the results of the DNA scan in front of the camera. “Okay.” Was all he said before his face blinked from the screen. She could hear steps from within the building. She took another deep breath. First interaction with this foreign group, and here she was, admitting one of the facts that she always tried to dodge in conversations. Of course, she couldn’t expect to hide anything from his band, but she, at least, wanted to try and see Stuart first, before other member interactions came up. “What’s your name, kid?” The door opened to reveal Russel again, looking down at her, the pinnacle of skepticism. “Uh, Josephine. But people call me Jo.” She shuffled her feet, not knowing if this was an invitation to come in, or perhaps more questions to see if she would slip up eventually. “Why isn’t your mom here instead, Jo?” Crap. “She doesn’t really have a lot of free time, and I’m old enough to be out on my own, so,” the gatekeeper raised an eyebrow, “I mean, it’s about me, so yeah. I’m here.” “And you’re SURE that you’ve got the right place?” He was starting to give in. “Absolutely positive.” Possibly the first sentence that she had without sounding like she knew what she was talking about. Russel sighed and held the door opening, allowing her entry into the elusive building. She took a moment to look around, everything oozing the popular image of Gorillaz. Pictures were sparse, but the way that it was decorated, you just couldn’t match it anyone other than a group that makes alternative music and has a penchant for a more abnormal side of life. “He’s not here right now, but he’s supposed to be back in a couple minutes. You can wait in the kitchen.” She followed him down a hallway as he continued to speak to her. It was impossible not to gawk at the odd idiosyncrasies of the house, the likes of which, even in normal rich people housing, she hadn’t come in contact with before. This was going to be an interesting meeting. They finally reached the kitchen, which reeked of college dorm life, despite the fact that most of the band members were in their forties. The sinks were stacked high with dirty dishes, with a smell wafting upward into the dingy light fixtures that had been around way longer than this building had. The fridge had been subject to so much usage that it looked like one of the after pictures in those before and after drugs ad campaigns. The floor and the rug under the rickety kitchen table gave a visual history of what had gone down in the kitchen, with obvious spills and stains, some food and some possibly not, that one had bothered to clean up. And the trash, though it wasn’t visible, sat, a quiet terror, by itself in the corner of the room, with flies hovering around it. “Okay, I’m pretty busy at the moment with something, but I’m not gonna leave you alone or anything. NOODLE!!” He yelled outside the door and up the stairway. Jo could feel her shoulders get less tense, as she knew who Noodle was, and already much preferred her company to Russel’s, even if she had never met. Not that she was that scared of any of the members, except perhaps Murdoc Niccals, whom she was hoping to avoid as much as possible, but Noodle was close to her in age, apparently, and seemed to have a general happy, kind, comforting, and fun-to-be-around disposition. The young Japanese woman entered the room, carrying a sense of ease with her. She scanned the room tentatively, swiftly locking her eyes on the out-of-place person awkwardly hovering near one of the chairs. “Who’s this?” She didn’t break her gaze to look at Russel. “This is Josephine, 2D’s kid, apparently. Look, I’d love to stick around and chat, but I need to finish work on that bear before it completely rots. Good luck, Jo.” “Nice meeting you…” Her voice faded out as he continued to walk down the hall not waiting for an answer. “Oh, that’s Russ. More concerned with taxidermy than with the family lives of the band. Anyway, I’m Noodle, nice to meet you!” She stuck out her hand, which Jo shook, with the same uncomfortableness that she had in all her interactions thus far. “Well, 2D isn’t here yet, but he should be back soon. Take a seat, I’ll get you something to drink,” she peered through the contents of the fridge, “Are you a fan of orange soda?” “Sure.” With noticeable deftness, Noodle placed a bottle of Fanta in front of her, pulling out Japanese soda for herself. “So,” she removed the bottle cap with her bare hands while Jo held in her shock, “You’re D’s kid?” “Uh, yeah,” Jo weakly screwed off the cap to her own drink, feeling a tad more terrified, “My mom is Kathleen Powell.” “How old are you?” She felt a tad like she was being interrogated, but at the same time, she was just glad to be in the house.” “I’m 15. 15 years. I was born in 2003.” “Where are you from?” “Uh, New Jersey. Lived there my whole life. I live pretty close to New York City, though.” “Why ARE you here?” “Um, I need to discuss something financial with Stuart,” Noodle subtly cringed at the use of his proper name, “I know, it’s more of a mom thing, but she doesn’t really have a lot of free time now, and she didn’t get off on the best note with Stuart, so I figured I would try.” “Does she know you’re here?” Jo was almost sure that Noodle was onto her at this point. “Yeah, of course.” Jo swallowed. Lying was hard. Noodle looked unconvinced. “Well, kid, relax!” Her face melted into a smile as she took a swig of her drink. Jo realized that she hadn’t touched her orange soda, and, not wanting to seem ungrateful, copied Noodle. “You seem nervous, but I promise, ‘D is a really nice guy. I’m sure he’ll be glad to talk to you.” Jo didn’t know her well enough to distinguish honesty from optimism, but either option would’ve done nothing to quell her nerves. “Are you sure, I mean,” Crap. She knew she shouldn’t be discussing this with what were essentially strangers, “I dunno, just like, his kid that he’s never seen shows up? Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t’ve asked that, it’s just-“ “It’s okay. Calm down, kid,” she looked her in the eyes again, this time somewhat less intimidating, even comforting, “As someone who has known him for a long time, you’ll be fine. It might even be nice. And even if it turns out bad,” she smiled again, “I’ll be nice.” “Heh, thanks. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d get this far.” Noodle chuckled. “With Murdoc at the door, maybe not, but Russ would never turn a teenager claiming to be ‘D’s daughter out onto the street. Why did you show up in person, anyway? I’m sure you could’ve emailed.” “Well, mom’s not exactly liberal with his email, and it would’ve been really slow. It’s kinda urgent, I guess, which is why I showed up in person.” “I see.” Noodle took another swig, and Jo once again copied. “Anyway, let’s talk about you. I’m curious what ‘D’s kids are like. Do you listen to Gorillaz?” “Well, I was sort of getting into them when I was little, but my mom told me, who, uh, who my dad was when I was 11, and since then, it was kinda awkward listening to the music, so not really. But I have friends that play it sometimes, and I think it’s good.” “How so?” “Well, I like how it doesn’t really have a genre, ya know? Like maybe you could call it alternative, but honestly, it just does its own thing. And it’s always a really nice retreat from mainstream music, and, if my interpretation is right, it even criticizes mainstream music sometimes. It’s just so different, I guess.” “Hmmm,” Noodle closed her eyes pensively, “I like you already.” Her eyes slowly opened again, and it was the first time that Jo had felt truly relaxed in this strange building. “And who’s this?” The voice came from a lanky man with spiky blue hair, a gap tooth, and black voids where his eyes should be. Or, as Jo called him, her genetic father. Leaning against the doorway, in front of her. So much for being at ease.

*****

And chapter one comes to an overly-dramatic end!

Please comment! I love it when people interact with my writing.

Tune in next time for an actual interaction with blue boy himself!

#gorillaz #gorillaz x reader #2d gorillaz #2d #murdoc gorillaz #murdoc #noodle #noodle gorillaz #russel #russel hobbs #russel gorillaz #2d x reader #murdoc x reader #noodle x reader #russel x reader #gorillaz imagines #2d dadfic #dadfic #children

22 notes · View notes

whenjoshisjoseph · 6 years

Text

13 Things Best Bros Do Together (+1 Thing They Don't): Chapter 5

e) Giving Each Other Massages

<< First / < Previous / Next >

Read it on AO3

“You should fucking watch where you're going,” Bakugou mutters, rubbing Kirishima’s reddened arm.

They're currently sitting on the floor of Bakugou's room, next to each other, Kirishima leaning slightly into his best friend's side. The blonde is currently holding the redhead’s arm in his lap, massaging it gently with his coarse fingers.

“Dude, you can stop,” Kirishima insists. “It's nothing really, I just tripped over your desk and didn't harden in time. But like, I'm fine, so-”

“Did I fucking ask , Shitty Hair?” Bakugou growls. “Your arm is swollen as fuck, so shut the hell up and let me help, dumbass!”

“But I don't need-” Kirishima attempts once more, but stills at his best friend's glare, allowing himself to relax into the touch.

It's strange, thinking about it; Bakugou doesn't seem to be the sort to be so caring, but it turns out that he is...in his own way.

Kirishima sighs contentedly.

“Dude, you're so good at giving massages; I should get hurt more often.”

It's a joke, of course, but Bakugou flares up, grabbing Kirishima’s face with his free hand and tilting it to forcibly face the angry blonde.

“ Don't you fucking dare hurt yourself or I will beat your stupid ass up myself, got it?”

“Yup,” Kirishima replies between squished cheeks. Bakugou drops his hand, and the redhead immediately stretches his mouth out. Damn, but his best bro’s got a strong grip.

“Besides,” Bakugou mutters, uncharacteristically quietly, “it's not a fucking massage.” Kirishima snorts.

“Bro, hate to cut it to you, but this is most definitely a massage.” He indicates to where Bakugou is softly running his fingers across Kirishima's arm.

“I bet you've never had a real message in your entire shitty life, huh? You couldn't fucking tell a massage from a touch if you tried!” Bakugou retorts. Kirishima shrugs in agreement.

“You're not wrong, bro. Everyone expects that I don't need massages cos of my hardened skin, so yeah.”

Suddenly, Bakugou releases Kirishima's arm and moves to sit directly across the other, tugging at Kirishima's legs slightly so that the two boys are pressed a little closer together.

“Give me your fucking hands, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou demands, holding out his own palms.

Now, Kirishima's really confused as to what the heck Bakugou might be doing, but he trusts his best bro, so he places his hands in Bakugou's. And if he feels his cheeks heat up, so what?

“You ready for the best fucking massage ever?” Bakugou smirks, looking straight into Kirishima's eyes with a spark in his own eyes. Kirishima loves it when Bakugou's pumped up.

“Yeah!” he replies enthusiastically. Oh, but he has no idea what's in store for him, because it turns out, Bakugou's good at giving massages. Like, insanely good.

He starts at the base of Kirishima's palms, fingers ghosting over his skin, and works his way up to his fingers, touching along the creases of his hands impossibly gently.

And God, does it feel fantastic; Kirishima is utterly relaxed. Maybe it's the fact that Bakugou, who's possibly the most aggressive student at U.A., is being cautious and soft with him, or that he's unraveling the tension in Kirishima's hands, but something about the whole hand massage has Kirishima biting his lip to control the sounds threatening to escape him.

But when Bakugou looks up at the redhead, it takes one look for him to state:

“What, you trying not to fucking moan or some shit?” He says it so bluntly that Kirishima almost chokes. Bakugou's eyes widen, but he doesn't seem uncomfortable. In fact, he continues on:

“Whatever. Just means you fucking like it. I don't care if you sound weird.” At the same time, he intertwines their fingers and applies some pressure, so that the tension seeps satisfyingly out of Kirishima's knuckles.

“Ohhhh, right there,” the redhead hums breathlessly, leaning closer to his best friend.

Then of course, Midoriya walks in with Todoroki.

“Kacchan, is Kirishima okay now or-” The green-haired boy freezes as soon as he catches sight of the two of them on the floor. Their hands are intertwined, Kirishima's legs are resting lightly over Bakugou's knees, and the two boys are tilted forwards towards each other. Furthermore, Kirishima's bottom lip is swollen from his biting, though it must tell a completely different story to the couple staring at them. It most certainly doesn't help that Midoriya's own lips are reddish, and that dark splotches of colour disappear down his shirt.

All in all, this looks bad. Very bad.

“GET THE FUCK OUT, DEKU, OR I WILL BLAST YOU BOTH TO HELL!” Bakugou snarls, beyond livid.

“I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt-” Midoriya squeaks as Todoroki pulls him out of the room by the hand. As soon as the door shuts, Bakugou pushes Kirishima back and stands up.

“I wish I could've fucking blasted them or something for looking at us like that,” he says, looking down at the redhead, who looks back up at him a little sadly. “What?”

“Why are you pushing me away, bro?” Kirishima asks dejectedly, all puppy dog eyes. “Are you embarrassed of me?”

Bakugou rolls his eyes and throws a plastic bag at him from the bed. Kirishima is obviously fast enough to catch it, albeit a little bewilderedly.

“I forgot to give this to you and seeing those idiots reminded me,” Bakugou explains quickly. Kirishima stands up himself, and peers into it, pulling out…

...The latest issue of Flash Fight Quirks ?!

“You...you got this for me all on your own?” Kirishima asks slowly. He finds it sorta cute when Bakugou flushes. But in a platonic way. Then again, Kirishima's still in shock. That must be why he thinks it's downright adorable.

“Well, yeah, dumbass. You obviously fucking like it, why wouldn't I buy you a copy?”

And suddenly, he's on the floor, because Kirishima has tackled him in a massive bear hug.

“Hey, Shitty Hair, what the fuck did I say about hugging?!” he shouts.

“Sorry,” Kirishima mumbles into his ear from on top of Bakugou. “You're just the best, bro.”

Later, Kirishima is sitting on the sofas with Kaminari, Sero, and Mina, recounting what happened.

“So then, Midoriya and Todoroki walk in, and like, it looks really wrong, so Bakugou gets all defensive and yells at them. That's what you guys heard.”

Sero flops back.

“Well, that makes sense,” he reasons. Kaminari sighs.

“We were just worried, dude,” the blonde chips in.

Mina, on the other hand, has a scary gleam in her eyes.

“Are you sure you two weren't, maybe, cuddling, or something? Like that time on-”

Kaminari and Sero are instantly leaning forward again, covering her mouth.

“She's joking, ignore her,” they say hastily in unison. And before Kirishima can even question them, Midoriya walks up to Kirishima and says, urgently:

“You and Kacchan are really close, right?”

Kirishima can't help it; he flushes bright red.

“Listen, dude, about earlier-”

“No, no, no, I mean as friends, I've totally forgotten about that!” Midoriya reassures him, flashing him a smile, which Kirishima returns.

“Well, we are best bros, if that's what you mean!” he beams.

“That's great! Then, could you possibly find out why Kacchan’s so-”

“DEKU, I CAN FUCKING SEE YOU!” Bakugou roars as he bursts into the room, pummelling towards Midoriya, who yelps and hides behind Kirishima. Bakugou tries to slow down when he sees that Midoriya is using Kirishima as a shield, but trips over the edge of the sofa and ends up sprawled in the redhead’s lap.

“Hey, you,” Kirishima greets cheerfully, pinning his friend down so he can't lunge at the smaller boy. Kirishima doesn't know exactly what is going on, but he knows that Midoriya most likely hasn't done anything to deserve Bakugou's anger.

“Let me go, Shitty Hair, I wanna punch that nerd!” But Kirishima's strong too, and Bakugou just ends up writhing on Kirishima's lap. Kind of like a very angry kitten , Kirishima thinks to himself.

It's as Bakugou's squirming that Kirishima notices that the blonde is moving his right shoulder very awkwardly.

“Bakubro,” Kirishima says gently, knowing that the nickname will get his attention, “does your shoulder hurt?” Bakugou suddenly stops moving. “Bro, what happened?”

“I was walking 'round the corner and shitty Deku appeared from fucking nowhere so I banged my shoulder against the wall really fucking hard,” Bakugou grumbles. Huh . He can work with this.

“If I give you a shoulder massage, will you stop chasing Midoriya?” Kirishima offers. They all hold their breath as Bakugou considers it.

“Fucking fine,” Bakugou finally huffs out. “But you better fucking satisfy me.” Midoriya sighs in relief at the same time Mina, Kaminari and Sero snort, Mina repeating ' satisfy ’ with much joy.

Kirishima counts them lucky that Bakugou didn't hear them.

“MIDORIYA?!” Mina's sudden screech makes them all jump, most of all the boy in question.

“You sound as scary as Kacchan,” Midoriya whispers to himself, before addressing the excited girl. “Um, yes?”

“Do you have hickies ?!” Mina is on the edge of her seat. However, Kirishima doesn't get to see where the conversation goes from there, because Bakugou (who is still very much in his lap) distracts the redhead by nudging him with his elbow.

“Massage,” he grunts, adjusting himself so that he's sitting wedged between Kirishima's legs. Kirishima chuckles but does as he's told, placing his hands on his best friend's broad shoulders.

Truth be told, he doesn't really know how to give someone any sort of massage, let alone a full shoulder massage, so he tries to mimic what Bakugou did earlier to his hands, cos that sure as hell felt good.

He runs his thumbs along the muscles of the blonde's shoulders, being extra careful with the sore one. Kirishima applies a little pressure where he hits stiff areas, because he knows it soothes his own tired muscles.

As Bakugou begins to relax and push back against Kirishima, a soft noise escapes his mouth.

“See?” Kirishima says against Bakugou's ear. “Feels great, right?”

“Fucking Shitty Hair, don't fucking whisper in my ear like that!” the blonde practically gasps. Kirishima doesn't know why Bakugou's talking like that, but sometimes he forgets that Bakugou doesn't like being too close to people; he's obviously telling him to stop because he hates it, which Kirishima respects.

He absentmindedly notices how big his best friend's muscles are, and wonders how cool it would be to feel those muscles flexing around him, like in a hug, or something. Cos best bros usually hug a lot, and Kirishima feels like they should make it a thing. Yeah, he'd like that.

Bakugou has completely and visibly relaxed under Kirishima's touch, eyes closed, and is making small sounds underneath his breath. Yup, Bakugou seems like a slightly less angry kitten now.

Confident that the blonde is satisfied, Kirishima tunes back into conversation.

Except that no-one’s talking anymore.

Wait, when did they stop talking? Was he really that immersed in making his best bro feel good (it is a priority, after all)? More pressingly, why is everyone staring?

Kirishima voices the last one aloud, to which Mina clears her throat importantly.

“Kirishima, look. We all love and respect you, so don't take this personally, but you've gotta realise that there's a time and a place for everything. You can make your boyfriend moan when you two are alone!” Kirishima is certain that Mina would've continued to tease them more if not for two reasons:

She's on the floor laughing her head off, and

Bakugou is standing above her, yelling his head off.

Midoriya silently gets up and leaves without saying a word, presumably to avoid becoming a target, whilst Sero and Kaminari cautiously pick Mina up off the floor, who's in tears by now. Kirishima attempts to lead Bakugou away, too, but the blonde is having none of it. He rounds on his best friend.

“Why the fuck do you put up them when they don't give you a fucking minute of peace without being complete assholes-” a question others have often asked him about Bakugou “-I'll fucking punch them all and then we'll see who's-”

“Dude, chill, they're joking,” Kirishima says, holding his hands up in surrender to show Bakugou that he's not trying to agitate him. Kirishima swears he can hear Bakugou's teeth grinding as he tries to stay calm. “That's what Mina’s like . She's great fun, I promise! Just don't take everything she says too seriously. Maybe give her a chance?”

“Give me another massage and I'll think about it,” Bakugou mutters.

Kirishima grins.

<< First / < Previous / Next >

Read it on AO3

#kiribaku #bakushima #BNHA #kiribaku fic #bakushima fic #BNHA fic #13 things best bros do

27 notes · View notes

kfawkes · 7 years

Text

A little warning next Time? - [Eggsy Unwin X Reader]

[Alrighty anon!!! I love me some Eggsy, so fuuuuck yes. >:) This took me SOOOO fucking much longer than I wanted it to, like literally all day– and also went down so many different paths until I wound up here lol. Hope you like where it went! <3

About: Your boyfriend Eggsy comes home covered in blood holding a bag of guns… That doesn’t seem normal for a tailor…

W/C: 2.4 — sorry guys lol

T/W: As usual lots of cursing! >:)

– Read on Ao3!]

If someone would of told you what you know now just over 18 months ago — things might have been a little easier to process. Maybe you wouldn’t have been as surprised or… you know, worried that you two might die later had a certain someone provided just a little warning.

Or perhaps you’d still be fucked — who really knew? The whole world of espionage was rather new to you, and it wasn’t everyday your boyfriend dropped something like this at your feet. This kind of shit only happened in those cheesy action movies Eggsy loved, right?

That’s what you thought before today, anyway… Before he busted through your apartment door throwing down a bag full of guns like it was just some dirty laundry; his suit ripped to shreds, completely covered in blood; his face just as busted to match.

“Babe, we gotta scram. There’s a fuck ton I gotta tell ya, but I ain’t doin’ it here.” He wasn’t looking at you when he talked, which bothered you more than anything else. The blood you could handle, it wasn’t unusual for him to show up covered in it. The guns however were a little more concerning. “Look, I gotta tell you somethin’, and I ain’t jokin’ luv, alright?”

“Yeah, alright…” You were hesitant, confused and even scared in that moment, but you were ready to listen. He was frantically grabbing things from your drawers and closet, paying no attention to what he grabbed — things you’d not worn in ages and stuff that made no sense to pack like, snow coats and other winter clothing.

“Don’t be cross, will ya? But, I kinda —”

For looking so fucking horrid, he sure acted nonchalant about the whole thing. A moment later he finally stopped shoving piles of clothing into your bags, pulling his eyes to meet yours. Eggsy was breathing quickly, and you could tell something was wrong even it not for the bag of weapons and his beyond butchered suit.

“What the hell did you do, Eggy?” You asked, and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little mortified. He looked like he’d murdered someone, had the shit beat out of him or maybe even both. You were frozen in place, the fear wrapping a tight web around you.

“Nothin’ babe…” This is when Eggsy looks down on his suit, finally seeing how terrible he looked. Your eyes started to fill with salted tears you wouldn’t let slip as he raise his hands and brows towards you passively. “I know how it looks, but I ain’t in trouble.”

You could tell he wanted to keep running around shoving shit everywhere, but that he was stopping for you. It was clear he could see that you needed to know what the fuck was going on. “Then what? Why are you packing my clothes… why are you all fucking bloody— again? And please, pleasedon’t lie to me… What the fuck is with the guns, Eggsy?”

Eggsy tossed a look towards the bag as he pulled his top lip between his teeth lowering his brows. He nodded softly as he run a hand across his chin in thought; deciding how he’d play this. “Alright… listen. I ain’t a tailor.”

When he said that you felt a strange wave wash over you starting from your debts of your stomach; spreading like an almost numbing pain as it fanned through the rest of your body in tiny pinpricks. You didn’t know what to say, so you just pulled your lips tightly together and crossed your arms hoping he’d elaborate.

“And I ain’t ever done a conference for one either…”

Here is the part where you’re starting to feel indignant, and you’re not even trying to hide the displeasure form your face anymore. For the next 45 seconds you completely forgot about the bag and the blood and you just wanted to know what the hell he was getting at. “What the fuck are you talking about.”

“I-I’m with…”

He didn’t finish, and it didn’t make sense but all you could hear was ‘someone else’. “With who?”

Eggsy stepped forward suddenly, his eyes were heavy and sung with pain at your words as he shook his head back and forth. “It ain’t like that. It’s just you, s’always been you, luv… you gotta know that.”

“What is all of this then, hm? What’s going on?” Your words were spitting out so fast you doubted he even understood most of them. But you were feeling at least 3 too many emotions right now and it was taking far more control not to cry than you wanted to admit.

“What I do— for work. It’s sorta like…” He paused sliding his eyes to the large cushioned bed his pup lay on. “Sorta like what JB does, yeah?”

“Your… dog?” You shook your head in almost a full loss of words, tossing the pug a quick look to match the confusion lining your voice.

For some reason though you were pretty positive he wasn’t referring to your 3rd roommate— at least not in the way it seemed. And by the look Eggsy returned as he stepped closer to you, it was clear you’d been right.

He took another step towards you shaking his head, his breathing was still hurried and you could tell his anxiety was raising with each second that passed.

After another moment you took a deep breath in, “You trying to say what I think you are?” All of the anger you felt began seeping off like a teabag in warm water, the feeling of realization spreading alongside it tasting sweet like honey.

Now he’s about a foot from you and his beryl eyes are as solemn as they come while he nod up and down briefly.

In that moment your bedroom spun out losing all form as you think back on the last year and a half in awe. Back to all of Eggsy’s suspiciously long work trips. The strange hours… the near constant blue brown color decorating his ribs and arms… You remembered every excuse he made like they were your own and you started to see it with perfect clarity.

Broke up a fight that’s all, luv… Tripped down a flight, babe…. Was just Dean again, don’t worry, yeah?

Saying you were confused wasn’t exactly accurate, you were well passed the point of normal confusion, and headed straight for the denial and padded room. Only you realize now that you sorta always knew what he was, even if you didn’t want to admit it. And if you were being honest with yourself, you may have even preferred that he was cheating on you to this insane shit.

Cheating would have been easy… You’d dealt with cheaters before: You cry, you cut them out and you move on. But this? This you hardly even knew how to comprehend, let alone process. Where’s a copy of The Dummie’s Guide to My Boyfriend Is a Fucking Spy when you need one?

You step back pressing your back to the dresser, steading yourself as you pull a hand to your head while the room focused in around you. As you scan the walls avoiding his gaze you see the photos from the life you built together. Each vacation and holiday, each smile and kiss… You think on the nights you spent twisted in the sheets pressed warm against his body; and to the coffee filled mornings with sleepy kisses and sloppy hugs. In a few seconds you remember it all, and as you slide your eyes to him, you’re not sure what to think.

“All your work trips? The odd hours… All your fucking cuts and bruises— whatever other bullshit you fed me… Those were all just lies?” Now you’re a mix between really fucking pissed off and maybe even a little turned on if you were being honest… But mostly, you were just sad. Sad and concerned. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I couldn’t… shouldna now even, but I did and I’ll tell you everythin’ you wanna know, I swear— but not here.” Eggsy stepped closer to you, placing his hand in yours. When he spoke this time, you could tell he was holding something else in his voice… Fear. “You ain’t safe here anymore. We really gotta go.”

“… what?” Your brows lowered as you shot your face to his in an instant. You weren’t mad exactly or… were you? It wasn’t every day your boyfriend came storming in with enough guns to man a small army just to tell you he was a fucking spy or some shit. Oh, sorry, but also now your life’s in danger, don’t forget get that part… “Y-you can’t just— this is just a joke, right? This is our home, Eggsy… You can’t just exp—”

Eggsy’s eyes were deliberate and sever when he locked them on yours; and that made everything both easier and harder to understand. His lips were slightly parted as he pull his hands to either side of your face; holding you soft yet urgently between his fingers. “Babe, I ain’t fuckin’ around.”

His azure eyes seemed brighter as they flicked hurriedly between your own; you felt your heart pounding like a thousand drums as he finished, not breaking your gaze once. “D’you trust me?”

“Course I do, Eggy. But you’re just… you’re scaring me.”

He nearly interrupted you with fervid eyes and undertones purring in apprehension and guilt. “I shouldna lied to you— not ever and I ain’t gonna do it again.” Eggsy paused still holding your face gently, and now is the part where you’re really starting to feel anxious; but you merely nodded lightly between his grasp permitting him to continue. “Everythin’ I did was to stop all this from ever happenin’, you gotta know that.”

“I believe you…” You replied softly placing your own hand to the side of his his face, he was warm and his eyes flinched slightly when you touched his bruised cheek.

Eggsy kissed you then spreading his fingers through your hair as he pulled you closer. Pressing his mouth to yours more ardently than you’d felt it and you realized just how terrified he really was. So much so that he was nearly shaking… how had you not noticed it before?

“Can you still trust me?” He whispered quietly placing his forehead against yours.

You couldn’t managed to say anything back at first, but you nodded intently with eyes closed. Of course you still trusted him, but you were overwhelmed and frightened. It was hard to speak with your heart beating so loudly that you could feel it echoing in your ears. ��Where are we going…”

“Somewhere no ones gonna hurt you. All’s you needa know is I ain’t gonna let anythin’ happen to you… I’m gonna keep you safe.”

You stared into those big blue eyes, dancing between specks of blood and tiny gashes decorating his neck and face. His hair was tossed, and he wore a pair of black rimmed glasses with a wide crack in the left frame. As you finish you wondered how much of that blood was even his…

Even with the scene before your eyes, your heart managed to steady in that moment… Eggsy traced his thumb lightly across your chin and lips holding the most doleful of expressions. You’d only seen that look on his face once since you’d met him.

Eggsy gave it to you and then he disappeared for 2 days last year… Before he ran off to do god knows what before the entire world went homicidal.

Thinking back to that day as you scan the face before you made you feel weird and almost sick to your stomach. As you continue thinking on the last 18 months, a lot of strange things started making sense to you.

“From what?” You finally managed to push out of the clutter of your mind. Part of you already knew what the answer would be and you know it doesn’t really matter, but you want to hear it in his voice.

Eggsy doesn’t say anything at first, he merely looks at you with brow furrowed woefully. His mouth was pulled back so far in a frown that your heart ached just looking at it and you couldn’t help but place a hand to his cheek.

“I promise I’ll tell you everythin’ I can… But it ain’t safe here, luv, I told you. We gotta go now.”

What else was there left to do at this point but listen to him? So you nodded diffidently as you licked your lips and snapped your fingers to the side calling JB from his bed. “Alright, Eggy… Lets get the fuck out of here.”

Eggsy smiled at you wholeheartedly, pulling you into a tight kiss before finishing the terrible pack job he’d started. You couldn’t say why you hadn’t listened to his pleading earlier. Maybe you were just tired of not getting any answers or maybe it was the nature of his confession and the manner in which he presented it to you…

Whatever it was, it wasn’t that you didn’t trust Eggsy. Of course you trusted him. You trusted him more than anyone. But he had dropped a bomb bigger than the nuke from Fallout on your ass and it was hard to just accept that you could go from hanging in bed with your dog to having someone on their way to murder you.

Something that big was bound to have a bit of an adjustment period, and yours was decidedly below average.

And all you could think was that this kinda shit only happened in those cheesy action movies Eggsy loved… This shit just didn’t happen to normal people. Not to you or your fucking tailor boyfriend….

Except it was happening. Here you were with a pug named Jack Bower in one hand and your tailor spy boyfriend in the other; staring reverently and incandescently at the blood covered man clutching a bag stuffed to the brim with guns.

You scanned the walls one last time wondering where you were headed or if you’d see the place you two called home again… But when he squeezed your hand, pulling your gaze to his you realized it just didn’t matter where you were or what you had with you… What mattered was that you had Eggsy, and that he had you.

Your home wasn’t a place, it wasn’t a time: it was him.

#eggsy x reader #eggsy unwin #gary eggsy unwin #kingsman #fanfic #fanfiction #kingsman the golden circle #kingsman the secret service #fiction #galahad #eggsy unwin x reader #reader #you #prompt #thank you anon!!

318 notes · View notes

emsider · 7 years

Text

A Sentinel of Shadows update:

So. It is with a somewhat heavy heart (but mostly a relieved one) that I can say my health is on a definite improvement of late. I hope it holds steady, even though I'm waiting for some more test results before I can kinda sorta be a little more confident. Fingers crossed those results end up being nothing.

Which brings me to A SENTINEL OF SHADOWS. I don't think I'll be able to finish it. I was afraid of this for a few months now, but I’ve realized that I really can't bring myself to write long fics anymore. I can do short snippets, a collection of drabbles, oneshots, but long, plotted out works are just too demanding. Quite frankly, I would rather take that time and energy and put it into my original fiction, which I can at least hope to be paid for, rather than fanfic.

I hope that doesn't make me sound too mercenary. There's other reasons why I'll have to shelve ASOS, a lack of precious energy being one of them (I need to heal and mend myself, and long fic writing just isn't conducive to that). But instead of outright abandoning the fic and washing my hands of it, I'm going to tell you all how it was going to go, how it will end, and hope that that makes up for a lack of prose.

I'm sorry to have the update be like this, especially when so many of you have been so tremendously kind, so wonderful, so insightful, so encouraging. You have all helped me so much, and I hate that I cannot give you what you deserve, but I have to think of myself here. Please do not think this is my last foray into Emsider writing. Perish the thought. I adore them and will write for them as long as I have the impulse to do so (and I can't see that changing anytime soon).

Without further ado, the details:

After Emily's arrival at Pandyssia, and the Vicereine's eerie hospitality, she will have the creeping suspicion that something is not Quite Right with the lady Eris. It becomes obvious that Eris has fashioned herself as a copy of Emily's life, down to her appearance, the way she's styled her own royal house, etc. This unhinged attachment to imitation has a deeper purpose, but Emily can't know that yet--all she knows is that it's deeply uncomfortable and she doesn't like it.

Unfortunately for her, Eris senses this, and she leads Emily to the guest chambers--and locks her in there. Now a prisoner, Emily tries in vain to use some of her gifts to escape, only to find that there are several magical defenses already in place around the chamber to prevent her from doing just that--she can, however, use the necklace the Outsider gave her to hear his voice and ask for his help.

The Outsider's voice is distorted and faint (think static on the radio), but what Emily hears isn't exactly comforting: Eris has been raised all her life to respect Dunwall and the Imperial families of the Isles for their might and the reach of their influence. This respect festered into a fascination, and then a flat out obsession: if Eris could become Empress Emily, then she could bring prestige, power, and prosperity to Pandyssia, despite its uncharted wilds and malicious beasties.

This is all well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that (1) Emily is a prisoner, and (2) Eris is now hellbent on becoming Emily at all costs--down to the Outsider's gifts.

When it becomes obvious that the Outsider will not visit Eris, she charges into Emily's room and plans to cut off her hand and stitch it onto her own missing stump. She and Emily fight, Eris snatches the whalebone necklace from Emily's neck, and Emily pushes back until they're both free of the room--and then she unleashes her full power on the Vicereine.

Breaking free, and now in that creepy crawly Shadow form that freaks everyone out in Dishonored 2, Emily runs as far as she can until she slips into a pocket of the Void for safe-keeping. But the Void in Pandyssia is different from the Isles: it's darker, deeper, more fierce.

Now, I had this planned before Death of the Outsider was released, so imagine my surprise to have the final stage of that game be really close to what I imagined. That's not an accusation of theft, btw--I'm not arrogant enough to think anyone from Arkane even knows I write Dishonored fanfic, much less READS it--it's more a comment about minds thinking alike.

While Emily travels this deeper, new darkness in the Void, she finds that she's at the very heart of the Outsider's isle in the Void. She hears whispers, sees snatches of his life, and learns how he was made. Just as she vows in her heart to find a way to free him, the Void drops out from beneath her--and she falls into endless darkness, right back into the Ebonwel, that Things Betwixt place where she reunited with Callista, and met the strange crone, Nadezdha Morev. Callista isn't there, but another familiar face is: Mephista.

Here Emily learns that Eris has the whalebone necklace the Outsider gave her, and with that, used it to complete a glamour that allows Eris to look like Emily. In the time Emily was in the Void and fell through it, Eris has returned to Dunwall in her place, wearing her face--much like Delilah once tried to do. The only way Emily can break the spell and use Eris' own tricks against her is by gaining the power of the Void equal to that of the Outsider--but to do that, she has to learn his name. Learning the name of a god is the sure way to gain that god's power, and command it for yourself.

Emily and Nadezdha hide under the strange cloak the latter gave her, and with it walk through the hidden seams of the Ebonwel, sifting through time and ancient memories. It is here that Emily learns Nadezdha is none other than the Outsider's mother, who abandoned him shortly after he was born because she couldn't take care of him. It is here, in the darkest, deepest, oldest memory that time forgot, that Emily finally learns the Outsider's name: Koschei.

With the power of his name booming in her mind, Emily returns topside to find her court in the middle of a masquerade fete to honor the ties between Pandyssia and Dunwall. Most of the Pandyssian delegate are there, except for Mephista (who never wanted to be a part of this scheme in the first place). Emily, wreathed in Void fog and wisps, marches across the room right up to her impostor, who is wearing both her face and the whalebone necklace. Emily only says one word: Koschei.

And the spell breaks. In a dramatic fashion full of earthquakes and ghastly howls, Eris' glamour falls and fails, and the Outsider is dragged from his place in the Void into the physical realm. When he was made the avatar of the Void, he wasn't given a choice--it was forced onto him unwilling. But he gives Emily a choice now, as he always gives his Marked a choice: she can refuse, and let him fade from memory as the last face of the Void.

She has another option: they share the Void together. The deal is sealed with a dramatic kiss of shadow and whispers, as they lock fingers and seal the deal.

This decision isn’t without consequences. One of Emily's eyes turns pale gray (but she isn't blind--she can see the seams of the world and the Void leaking through), and one of the Outsider's black eyes clears to a vivid, pale brown. They are alive and whole and equal, the Void made flesh.

In the epilogue, Emily sports a jaunty eyepatch (she has dozens of them made, all with different styles and brocades and patterns, and many fashionable people in the Isles emulate her style) to hide her gray eye. She is not so patiently listening to a courtier gush about her crazy masquerade and how dramatic it was. People seem to think it was all a ruse, something done to show that Emily's reign as Empress may be fractured and restless, but it is and will continue to be absolute.

Just then, Corvo arrives from Karnaca, and he's wearing a peculiar look on his face--a mix of a scowl and a smirk. He says he has a friend with him “from Tivia,” someone who wants to pay his respects to the Empress in person. It's the Outsider made human, and he kneels at Emily's feet, kisses her hand, and introduces himself by name for the first time in eons.

"I would know you anywhere," she says to Koschei, urging him to his feet. She's taller than him, but she couldn't care less: he's there, he's alive, and he's beautiful. "Like calls to like, and soul to soul."

They both repeat these words as part of their wedding vows, and so the reign of Emily the Just, Emily the Clever, and Koschei the Beguiled begins, bringing the Isles decades of prosperity and peace. The End.

#emsider #asos tag

24 notes · View notes

claroquequiza · 7 years

Note

What about when hanzo wakes up post blackout and is picked up by McCree?

In Which McCree Stares Death In the Face

“Leave the commlink open,” Genji requested as he strode forward towards the waiting cowboy. “The Yoneyama have been fairly active since the assault on the warehouse.” An excuse, thought Hanzo, to monitor them both. “Soldier and Dr. Ziegler are on standby in case any of them stumble on you two.”

Yep, that’s exactly what it is.

“Is the safehouse secure?” asked Hanzo as he opened the door and slid into the seat, more to forestall anything the cowboy was going to say than anything else. He held back a snort to see that, while he foregone the cape and chaps, he had apparently been staking out the comm with his signature hat, belt, and cowboy boots. His one concession to stealth was the dark blue and grey plaid of his flannel shirt.

Jesse is good enough at sneaking around that blue and grey plaid counts as camouflage for him.

To his credit. he only nodded to him, his face a blank mask, before he pressed the accelerator and the car sped off. True to both his and Genji’s word, he held onto the steering wheel with a seemingly whole arm, and there did not seem to be anything wrong with his knee, either. Hanzo settled into his seat as much as his discomfort would allow, his bag at his feet and Storm Bow cradled awkwardly across his lap. He pointedly ignored the soft beeping warning that his seatbelt was not buckled. He was unwilling to sacrifice even the least bit of his mobility at that time, car safety be damned.

Hanzo has totally leapt out of speeding cars before, and he will again.

“We think so,” Genji replied after a short pause, wondering, perhaps, how much of a minefield his brother’s paranoia presented. “There hasn’t been much indication of Yoneyama activity around there besides cursory visits to their fronts, and they don’t have many in the area.”

Oh, Genji, if only you knew the depths of your brother’s paranoia. It’ll get better though.

“But they have some?”

“None within three kilometers.”

Hanzo immediately pursed his lips. “That does not exclude the harbor where I met the dinghy. They are likely to have at least a contact there, if not a front.” He felt the eyes of the cowboy flash to rest on him for a moment before concentrating once more on the road.

Genji coughed. “If they do, they haven’t–”

“Avoid the expressways,” interrupted Hanzo, staring straight ahead. “Take Route 7. It is not a toll road, and there is no traffic barrier.”

Thanks, Google Earth!

“Will do,” replied the cowboy, turning on his blinker as he made to turn onto his new route.

That was the last anyone said for the hour-long trip.

Exhaustion and hunger were beginning to war inside him, adding to the soreness of his head and muscles and the pain of the blisters, several of which had popped when he threw himself down on the roof. He distracted himself as much as possible from his physical state by keeping a sharp lookout for anyone following the car as they passed out of Niigata City proper into the suburbs of the surrounding prefecture, and the task, though mindnumbing, was mindnumbing enough to make the time pass surprisingly quickly despite his being hyperaware of the man sitting next to him.

When I was in middle school, one of my friends, a redhead, went with us to a waterpark. He forgot his ultrahigh SPF sunblock, though, so he borrowed some SPF 50 from someone else.

It Was Not Enough.

So Hanzo’s little experience with the blisters is based directly on his experience. He couldn’t wear a shirt for a full week, the poor bastard.

The cowboy was mercifully silent, though he kept glancing at Hanzo in a strange way. He had expected thinly-concealed anger, a tightly reined-in urge to mock or criticize or even simply to goad from the cowboy, but if Hanzo had to pick a word for the feeling the cowboy was emanating, it would be simply nervous , which he struggled to explain. If he was expecting Hanzo to attack him again, he was far too relaxed–he was tense, of course, but his limbs and muscles were not battle-ready taut, prepared to deflect and inflict deadly force. He was certainly mindful of his movements, keeping both hands in plain sight, firmly on the wheel, and avoiding any sudden movements as though Hanzo were a skittish bird ready to take flight at any moment, but in a way that was distinctly–abashed?

[TEXT REDACTED], so this car ride is far, FAR more uncomfortable for Jesse than for Hanzo.

Hanzo did his best to wear his usual disinterested expression even as the gears ground away sluggishly in his aching head.

“We’re approaching the safehouse,” the cowboy said at last as he exited the highway and returned to the surface streets.

“Copy that,” replied the gruff voice that had belonged to the tall, muscular, red-visored man who had seemed to be in command of the raid on the warehouse. “Surveillance shows no sign of hostiles in the area, but stay sharp.”

“That’s Soldier: 76,” the cowboy said quietly. Hanzo flicked his eye to the cowboy. “He joined about a month ago. He’s been takin’ on crime syndicates up and down North and South America, so we figured he’d be good t’lead the raid.” Hanzo did not reply. The cowboy ran his metal hand over his beard in a gesture that betrayed his nervousness before continuing, as though he suddenly found the silence intolerable. “And Angie–that’s, uh, that’s Dr. Ziegler or ‘Mercy’ durin’ missions–she showed up just a couple o’ weeks after I did. She was in the old Overwatch, too, doin’ medical research in the Medic Corps. She’s done a lot of work in nanotech and rapid healin’. She’s the one who–” the cowboy stopped himself for a brief moment before continuing, “Uh, anyway. She’ll fix you up right away.”

McCree: Sooooooooo. I guess since he’ll be staying and I’ll be going, the least I can do is tell him who his teammates are. He and Morrison should get along, they got the same size stick stuck up their asses. Poor Angie, though. She might shoot me as soon as I’m out of range of the security subsystem if Shimada doesn’t first.

Hanzo maintained his silence, wondering if the cowboy was merely rambling or would eventually come to a point of some kind. He continued after a fashion as he turned down the darkened residential streets. “Everyone there was old Overwatch, actually. The little guy with the claw arm was Torbjörn, but don’ quote me on that pronunciation. He was in the engineerin’ department, maintains all the macrotech and whatnot in our equipment and on the base, especially our defenses. The guy in the battle armor was Reinhardt. He used t’be in the front lines 24/7. They kept promotin’ him, but he would never do anythin’ but rush straight out into the nearest fight, even now, old geezer that he is. I dunno if you saw his face?” He glanced at Hanzo, but Hanzo merely stared back. The cowboy fidgeted, most uncharacteristically from everything Hanzo knew or guessed about him. “Anyway. Last person there was Tracer. She’s one of our pilots, and she–”

Oh, just you wait until Hanzo has a chance to talk with Reinhardt. Just you wait.

“If you wished to brief me about the team, you should have done so long before the raid.” Hanzo’s good eye widened slightly, surprised at his own outburst. It had suddenly occurred to him what the cowboy was doing, and he had blurted out the criticism before he could think to stop himself. He must truly be at the end of his rope; it had been years since he had slipped up in this way. Nevertheless, he fought the urge to look away, even when the cowboy turned his head to look at him squarely.

The real reason Hanzo hasn’t slipped up in that way for years is because he hasn’t had a sorta-ally for years. He knows how to talk with non-fighters, but usually conflict resolution with fellow fighters ended with someone dying, and it sure as hell wasn’t Hanzo. He has to brush up his non-lethal conflict resolution skills.

“Yeah, I should have.” The admission was, perhaps, even more surprising. The cowboy even had the grace to look a bit ashamed, even as his unwavering brown eyes held Hanzo’s. “I put you on the back burner while we rushed t’get movin’.” He turned back to the road and fell silent for the last few blocks.

McCree: Hopefully that keeps him from shooting me on my way out the door.

Thanks for the prompt!! I hope you liked it!

#asks #behind the scenes #my fics #gofod-alle-rymd

14 notes · View notes

lunasterial · 6 years

Text

title: an elf’s nightmare (before christmas) pairing: myg + pjm length: 6.5k+ words summary: In which Jimin and Yoongi go on a quest to find Rudolph and, in turn, sort out their own romantic problems. author’s note: part two of the fics i forgot to post here: this isn’t that great ngl, but hey it’s a christmas au... that i posted two days after christmas but we’ll ignore that

read on ao3

“I just think they could be more creative with these Christmas songs.”

Yoongi was in the middle of wrapping yet another teddy bear for a three year old, somewhere in the Caribbean this time, when Taehyung spoke. It catches his attention for a while, setting little Sophie’s gift aside before looking up at Taehyung.

“What do you mean?” he says.

It is exactly three days until Christmas and the elves are as busy as ever. Present wrapping, decorating, pine tree planting, the whole shebang just for that one day. And Yoongi is no exception.

“I’m just saying,” Taehyung says over the music playing, “Santa Baby? Really fluffed up if you ask me. The girl’s downright flirting with the boss! Doesn’t she know Mrs. Claus hears her every year?” Taehyung says, a hand playing around with an unwrapped present, another hand reaching for the wrapping paper with it Rudolph's on it. “And her reasoning is completely absurd! As if the boss would actually agree to give her all of that when she hasn’t even been good all year,” he examines the box in front of him, “I guess she won’t be receiving a Tiffany box this Christmas, again,” he shrugs.

Yoongi moves onto the next doll, this time for Troye in California. “They’re not all too bad. Baby, It’s Cold Outside is really good.”

Taehyung scoffs, “That might be even worse! The man in the song—”

Yoongi just continues to laugh at Taehyung whilst he goes on his tangent, finishing up on Troye’s present and starting up on Jaehwan in Jeonju. Little Jaehwan asked for his own copy of Peter Pan . Yoongi smiles at the book in his hand; only a few children ask for books every year and Yoongi’s quite fond of reading. It makes his heart swell every time a child asks for a novel for Christmas.

“—and what was in her drink ? If you don’t think that’s fishy, then I don’t know what is!” Taehyung exclaims.

Yoongi rolls his eyes fondy. The novel gets put down on the conveyor belt where it travels to the elves that place the cards on them. The easiest job there is, Yoongi thinks. Maybe next year he’ll ask the boss to put him there. Gift wrapping getting a little boring.

When Yoongi looks up, Taehyung is at his side, hitting the bell attached to his green hat with a stern face. “Do not mock me, Min Yoongi, or so help me I myself will tell Jimin your undying love for hi— ow! ” Taehyung exclaims when Yoongi hits his shoulder.

“Will you ever shut up?” Yoongi says, pulling his hat down to cover his forehead. But Taehyung can’t take him seriously with the red blush on his face.

It makes Taehyung giggle, “Look how red your face is! It matches your green outfit. You look like Christmas” he teases.

Yoongi was halfway through possibly murdering his fellow elf, a fist in the air ready to punch Taehyung to death, when he was interrupted by possibly the purest helper Santa has.

“Am I interrupting something?” Jimin says with only his head peeked into the room, a small hand gripped onto the side of the door.

“Jimin!” Taehyung says with a sly smile. He subtly pulls Yoongi’s hand down from where it was hanging in the air, locking his own hand in them to make sure Yoongi didn’t do anything stupid. “We were just playing nice,” Taehyung says, looking towards Yoongi with a face that said say a word and I’ll kill . “Right, Yoongi?”

Yoongi looks at Jimin whose eyes weren’t exactly looking at the two, but rather looking towards the middle of them where their hands were.

Yoongi immediately lets go of Taehyung’s hand. “Right,” Yoongi assures.

Jimin doesn’t look all too convinced but he nods slowly nonetheless.

“You were about to tell us something, Jiminie?” Taehyung asks.

Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up in realization, “Right!” he says, then turning his attention towards Yoongi. “It’s our turn to feed the reindeer, hyung.”

“Oh,” Yoongi says.

“ Oh, ” Taehyung teases, sending a sly smile towards Yoongi, pushing him towards Jimin using his butt. “Well, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting! I hear Rudolph’s nose gets its light energy from food! Shoo! Shoo!”

☆

“S-Sorry about Taehyung,” Yoongi says, scratching the back of his neck. “He’s acting a bit weird today.”

Jimin chuckles and Yoongi swears he can hear angels sing, “It’s alright. I bet you’re used to it.”

Yoongi scoffs, shaking his head as he grabbed the bucket of reindeer food and smelled it. What was in reindeer food again?

“I’ve learned to live with it,” Yoongi shrugs, opening the gate to stables of the reindeer, decorated ridiculously with Christmas lights, leaving it open for Jimin.

The reindeer squeal in delight at the sight of the food. One of them standing up to greet Yoongi.

“Woah, Dasher. There’s plenty for everyone,” Yoongi smiles, petting the reindeer. It’s funny and also terrifying, as any of these reindeer could easily squish Yoongi if they wanted to.

“I mean, Taehyung is your boyfriend,” Jimin says as he enters the stables.

Yoongi scoffs, rolling his eyes at the thought him being even remotely interested in Taehyung romantically. “Tae isn’t my boyfriend.”

Yoongi proceeds to pour the reindeer food into its container for them to eat, subtly petting them as he moves along the stable.

It’s a few minutes later that Yoongi realizes Jimin hasn’t spoken for a while. He looks for him, finding him frozen still at the front of the stable, door left ajar, his mouth in a similar stance.

Yoongi tilts his head at the view, scratching the back of his head. “Jimi—”

“Go out with me,” Jimin interrupts.

Yoongi eyebrows shoot up so high, his fringe hides them, “What?’

Jimin seems to realize what he said, his entire face turning as red as Santa’s suit. “I-I mean—”

He doesn’t finish his sentence in embarrassment, hiding his face in his hands. “Oh my gosh.”

Yoongi carefully places down the bucket of reindeer food, walking slowly towards Jimin.

“Jimin?” Yoongi calls.

When Jimin reveals his face, he doesn’t look at Yoongi.

“T-The truth is,” Jimin starts, “I’ve liked you for a while. A-And I’ve always just assumed that you and Taehyung were together so I never acted on it. I guess it was sorta stupid of me to assume. I would’ve asked you sooner had I known…,” his voice trails, realizing what he was saying.

Jimin shakes his head, “This is really embarrassing…”

“No!” Yoongi exclaims suddenly, shocking Jimin a bit that he flinches away. “I mean… it’s not embarrassing, it shouldn’t be. I-I like you, too.”

Jimin, if it all possible, blushes even more. “What?”

“I like you, too,” Yoongi says, more certain this time. “A-And if you still wanna go out sometime, Tae says The Gingerbread House is open until twelve this Christmas. Maybe, you’d wanna have dinner with me?”

“You… you’re not kidding?” Jimin asks, walking towards Yoongi.

“Of course not,” Yoongi answers.

At that, Jimin smiles, “I… I would love to.”

Yoongi grins, “It’s a date.”

“O-Okay,” Jimin says, still a little dazed. Too dazed, in fact, that when he moves his hand to rest on the wall behind him, he misses by a long shot and ends up falling. Luckily, Yoongi’s reaction time is as sharp as ever, catching Jimin as soon as he slips.

“O-Oh,” Jimin says as he realizes their proximity.

Yoongi blushes profusely, feeling his stomach do a backflips the longer he stares at Jimin. Jimin smells so nice, like those peppermint candy canes he passes by every morning on the way to his shift. Jimin is biting his lips, his sweet, cherry red lips. Yoongi just wants to press his entire face on his.

Yoongi was still contemplating whether or not to go on with his plans, when Jimin’s eyes suddenly look like he lost his soul.

“Rudolph!” Jimin exclaims, getting a hold of himself and pulling himself up.

Yoongi can only stare in shock for a while, eyes following the telltale footprints of the reindeer getting away from the stable until he can no longer see its trail.

“Oh my gosh, we’re gonna die. We’re actually gonna die!” Jimin exclaims.

Yoongi, still a bit shock, comments, “Christmas might not come this year but it’s not like we’ll die , calm down”

“ Calm down ?” Jimin says incredulously, “The boss isn’t gonna be able to fly across the foggy skies because there won’t be a bright red nose to guide him!”

Jimin quickly ran across the stables, checking each one to make sure no one else escaped.

“Uh…,” Yoongi stares im bewilderment, “Maybe it won’t be foggy this year?” he tries.

“ Yoongi hyung !” Jimin whines. “Has there ever been a Christmas where it wasn’t foggy?”

“Um,” Yoongi says. “No…?”

“No! Exactly!” Jimin exclaims. He groans, “What are we gonna do ?”

“Calm down ,” Yoongi says grabbing Jimin’s hand as he approaches him. At that, Jimin freezes.

Yoongi gulps, trying to get his brain to think of a solution. “Okay… okay. First, calm down. Let’s start by following her footsteps, she probably hasn’t gone too far away. We might be able to find her.”

That was good, Yoongi tells himself. He sounded logical and rational despite his entire body telling him to flip the fluff out. Maybe he convinced Jimin to believe him.

“O-Okay,” Jimin says, gulping as he nods. “We… we can do that.”

Jimin doesn’t look towards Yoongi, merely dragging him by his hand. The blush on his face burning brighter.

When they exit the stable, Jimin makes sure to close the door behind them. Yoongi was just about to walk head, eyes following the footprints, when Jimin stops him, taking a hold of his hand.

“Jimin?” Yoongi asks, watching as Jimin fixes his their hands so they’re well interlocked.

Jimin smiles shyly, “L-Let’s go?”

Santa probably won’t be needing Rudolph this year; Yoongi’s blushing face could easily be a substitute.

☆

“ We’re gonna die!”

“Calm dow—”

“Christmas is canceled, and we’re gonna die !”

Yoongi chuckles, wiping the sweat off his forehead and starting to lean on a signboard that said Christmas town here! pointing northward. “We’re probably just gonna lose our jobs.”

“ Hyung !” Jimin draws out the last syllable.

Yoongi doesn’t mean to tease, it’s just that Jimin looks so adorable when he distressed, stomping on the ground like a little child. It’s almost endearing.

“Okay, okay ,” Yoongi says, looking around at where they were. Rudolph’s footprints stopped once they reached the part of town where snow no longer fell.

Yoongi exhales. They’d really fluffed up.

“Well,” Yoongi starts, “We can’t go back. She would’ve left another snow trail if she did. So that means we’re going into—”

“The forest?” Jimin squeaks, looking towards the vast expanse of land in front of them. For miles, it looked like it was just trees and then… just more trees.

“We have no choice,” Yoongi says, already getting a headstart. “I think I might know where she headed.”

Jimin wavers for a while, but he quickly catches up when he notices Yoongi not even sparing him a glance.

“Wait a minute,” Jimin says, catching up and grabbing his hand again, “Where do you think he went?”

Yoongi tries to suppress the blush on his face. He fails.

“The Holiday Doors,” Yoongi says, “I’ve heard Tae talk about them once. If you go far out enough into the forest, you'll see a bunch trees in a circle that can take you to different worlds. I’m not sure which one Rudolph would go to, though.”

Jimin hums in contemplation, “Has Taehyung ever seem them?”

Yoongi shakes his head, “No, but they’re definitely real. Jack Skellington managed to travel here once and nearly ruined Christmas.”

“The Pumpkin King himself? What made him do that?” Jimin asks.

Yoongi merely shrugs. He doesn’t know the entire story since he only heard it from Taehyung. “Everybody loves Christmas.”

☆

Jeongguk startles awake, hearing a crash just outside his door. Halloween is far from over, what could he ruckus possibly be?

“Jinnie hyung?” Jeongguk calls.

After a few minutes Seokjin comes into view, the ragdoll coming up the stairs to greet him with a loose arm. “You’re awake!” he exclaims.

Jeongguk frowns, “I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for that crash outside. What was that anyway?”

Seokjin shrugs with his one arm, then proceeding sew back the other. “I was just about to check it when you called me.”

Jeongguk makes grabby hands to Seokjin, taking the thread and needle from him and sewing it himself. “I told you to call me when your limbs started to fall.”

Seokjin smiles when he finishes, “But you’re so cute when you’re asleep, Jack,” he coos.

Jeongguk scrunches his nose, “Don’t call me that. Only humans and townsmen call me that.”

The ragdoll giggles, nodding his head and placing a kiss to his forehead, “Whatever you say.”

Jeongguk smiles up at him, a pretty pink blush spreading on his skin. Seokjin loves it when he’s in this form. Don’t get him wrong, seeing him turn into a skeleton on Halloween is always fun, but in this form his emotions are a lot more readable.

He places a small kiss on Jeongguk’s lips for a while, lingering for a second before pulling away to say, “We should probably check what the noise is.”

And as if on cue, another huge bumping sound occurs. It makes Jeongguk turn to look out his window.

“What could it be?” he says, standing up from his bed.

“Beats me,” Seokjin shrugs.

Jeongguk makes his way down the tower with Seokjin in tow, still a little bit sleepy from being rudely awaken.

When they reach the door Jeongguk can hardly believe his eyes. His mouth turns ajar, eyes widening.

“What is that ?” Seokjin exclaims as scans the figure before him.

Jeongguk walks forward, reaching a hand out towards it. “It’s a reindeer.”

There Rudolph was, standing outside the Pumpkin King’s tower, in all his red-nosed glory.

☆

Yoongi scans the trees around them, feeling completely overwhelmed by the choices.

“Independence day… Thanksgiving…,” Jimin mumbles, reaching a hand to tap Yoongi on his shoulder, “Hey, look, they even have Valentine’s Day.”

“Valentine’s… Day?” Yoongi questions.

“You don’t know what Valentine’s Day is?” Jimin says incredulously.

“No, but I’ve heard Taehyung yapping about it, I think,” Yoongi says, trying to recall the last time his friend mentioned it.

“Well it’s—,” Jimin stops himself, getting flustered. “It’s a day dedicated to lovers, I… guess.”

Jimin starts to play with the hem of his green shirt, the bells at the ends of it ringing softly as he does.

Yoongi blushes, “D-Do you think Rudolph might wanna see what that’s all about?”

“Um,” Jimin starts, “Not really? I don't think so. I hear the boss has been talking a lot about another holiday, though. So she might’ve overheard and wanted to see what the fuss was all about.”

Yoongi hums, “I-I see.”

He examines the trees in front of him. Each of them had a different door, each connecting to a different world, a different holiday. Which one would Rudolph go into?

“This one’s cute,” Jimin says, pointing to one of the trees. “It’s an egg.”

Yoongi looks towards where he was pointing, “Easter,” Yoongi breathes. “Should we try to go in it?”

Jimin shrugs, looking at the door with an uncertain face, “We could try?”

Yoongi bites his lips, grabbing Jimin’s hand as he turns the doorknob on the tree. It’s not like he has any better ideas.“It’s worth a shot.”

☆

“It’s an actual reindeer,” Seokjin says in awe. “I’ve only ever seen the ones Dr. Finkelstein made,” he says.

Jeongguk could only stare at the reindeer, presently galloping in the middle of his foyer. What could he possibly be here for?

“A reindeer,” Jeongguk repeats. He moves closer to the reindeer, walking slowly to not frighten it, reaching out a hand to stroke his head. It’s nose suddenly glows red.

“Ah!” he flinches away, frowning at the light.

Then it dawns at him, “It’s Rudolph!”

“Rudolph?” Seokjin repeats.

“Yes! Rudolph!” Jeongguk exclaims, petting the reindeer with glee. “What are you doing here, little guy?”

Seokjin tilts his head at the scene, “Who is Rudolph?” he asks.

“Only the most important reindeer there is! He lights the way for Sandy Claws’ sleigh every Christmas,” Jeongguk informs him.

“For Christmas?” Seokjin asks, “It’s only three days until Christmas, what’s it doing here?”

“Three days?” Jeongguk exclaims, looking back towards Seokjin, “We need to get him back!”

He eagerly looks around for his suit, quickly putting it on once he finds it. Seokjin merely stares at him with wide eyes.

“You… want to bring him back?” the ragdoll asks, scratching the back of his head.

“It’s three days until Christmas, right? If there were a time when they needed Rudolph the most, it’d be now!”

Jeongguk was already halfway through the door when Seokjin stops him, grabbing a hold of his arm. “You can’t just go out with a reindeer without being noticed! You’re the Pumpkin King, for god’s sake, they’re gonna ask questions! They might even try to feed him to Oogie Boogie before you even get to the Hinterlands!”

This seems to get Jeongguk’s attention, pulling the reindeer back in the tower.

“You’re right,” he says, scratching his chin in contemplation. “What do you suppose we do?”

☆

“This is definitely not it,” Jimin says as he stares at the place. “Why would Rudolph even want to be here?”

Easter Town was infinitely different to Christmas town. For one thing, there isn’t an inch of snow even though it’s December, flowers blooming everywhere. Not to mention there are walking eggs as far as the eye can see.

Yoongi picks up a frantic egg, running around as if its family were on fire. “This is really disturbing,” he says, shoving it to Jimin’s face, its feet kicking back and forth “Look, it has legs. You think Tae would want this as a Christmas present? I don’t know what to give him.”

Jimin’s eyes widen, immediately slapping the egg away from him, watching as it runs away from the with its tint legs. “What the heck, hyung!”

Yoongi grins, chuckling quietly, “You’re so cute. I’m gonna die.”

Needless to say, Jimin’s face turns bright pink. Pressing his lips in a thin line to stop a smile from growing. “Well, I won’t be very cute once I catch you!”

Jimin’s words seem to serve as a catalyst, Yoongi immediately running away from him as a knee-jerk reaction. Jimin seems to be determined running at a high speed that Yoongi’s breath starts to hitch after a few minutes of running.

“I’m gonna get you!” Jimin taunts.

Yoongi starts to giggle, his steps growing slower and slower until Jimin catches up to him, miscalculating his own steps and tripping on his own feet.

“Oh!” Jimin squeals as he trips, landing on Yoongi.

Yoongi groans at the impact, his back aching from hitting the solid ground.

“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry! Are you hurt? Oh my gosh, hyung, I’m—”

“I-It’s okay,” Yoongi says slowly. The situation they’re in suddenly dawning at him as his stare goes from Jimin’s eyes to his lips.

“Oh,” Jimin says, subconsciously licking his lips.

Yoongi can feel his face burn, although he’s pretty sure it’s not just because of the exercise he just did.

“Jimi—”

He presses his lips against Yoongi’s, the bell attached to his hat jinggling at the movement, although Yoongi can only hear the rapid beating of his heart in his ears, the rest of the world silent. The kiss is sloppy because of their inexperience, but Yoongi can’t help but feel like this is perfect.

When they pull away, Jimin is still breathing heavily, and he’s still so close Yoongi can feel it bouncing on his chin. Yoongi was just about to kiss him again when a large shadow suddenly loomed in front of them. They look towards it at the same time.

“Oh my gosh,” Yoongi breathes as he takes in the sight.

The actual Easter Bunny right in front of them, looking ready for the kill.

“Run!” Jimin shrieks, pulling Yoongi up before the rabbit can stomp on them.

☆

“Quietly!” Seokjin reprimands when Jeongguk walked too fast.

“I’m sorry!” he whisper-screamed, pulling Rudolph towards him. The reindeer seems to have taken a liking towards Jeongguk, licking his boney head. He decided to turn into his skeleton form in case someone saw them.

It’s been only a few minutes and Seokjin already looks distressed. Most of the townsmen haven’t woken up but Seokjin doesn’t want to take any chances.

Rudolph is happily trotting alongside of them, his red nose absolutely beaming. Jeongguk doesn’t know what he did, but he’s somehow befriended the reindeer. He seems to be liking just walking around town, seeing how horrifying everything is. If Jeongguk can remember right, it must be a huge contrast towards Christmas Town.

“Sally!” a voice exclaims, and Jeongguk immediately panics.

“Hide him! Quickly! Behind that tree!” Seokjin demands, pushing the both of them towards it.

“Mayor!” Seokjin says, side-eyeing the two just to make sure they were hidden well.

Rudolph looks at Jeongguk, tilting his head in confusion. He merely shushes him, places a finger to his lips for emphasis. The reindeer seems to get it, lowering his head and dimming the light his nose.

“Good boy,” Jeongguk whispers, petting Rudolph with a smile.

“Jack?” the Mayor says. If Jeongguk had blood, he would’ve paled right then and there.

He hasn’t seemed to notice Rudolph though so he says,”Stay back, boy.”

“Mayor! What are you doing up this early?” he asks, straightening his suit.

“Well, I’ve been doing my rounds. I’m looking around for some anomalies in town to feed Oogie Boogie. He’s been a right pain in the ass these days, might just be hungry, though,” the Mayor says to them.

“Anomalies, huh?” Jeongguk says. He gulps, letting out a nervous laugh, “Nope, definitely haven't seen anything out of the ordinary here, Mayor.”

His eyes subconsciously move towards Rudolph, hiding obediently as he was told. If he had a heart it would’ve clenched.

That was definitely the wrong move when suddenly the Mayor decides to follow his eyes.

“My! Do my eyes deceive me? Is that a Reindeer ?” the Mayor exclaims, walking towards it.

“A-A reindeer?” Jeongguk says, looking towards Seokjin for help. The ragdoll merely shrugs, not knowing what to do either.

“Meat for Oogie Boogie. Perfect ,” the Mayor says as he tries to touch Rudolph. The reindeer seems to realize what was about to happen, standing to kick the Mayor away.

“Woah, Rudolph,” Jeongguk says, coming in between the two. “It’s okay, boy.”

The Mayor widens his eyes at the display, ‘Y-You know this animal?”

“I—,” Jeongguk says, petting Rudolph with a smile, “I guess we’ve become friends, haven’t we?”

Rudolph leans into his touch, his nose beaming brightly.

“My, Jack,” the Mayor stands, dusting off his pants. “Do you know what we do to our dear friends, here in Halloween Town?”

Jeongguk frowns, subconsciously walking in front of the reindeer in a defensive stance, “What?” he asks carefully.

“We feed them to Oogie Boogie, of course!” he exclaims, his head turning to show his scary face.

“Come on little reindeer! Oogie Boogie ain’t gonna hurt you!” he says walking toward the reindeer, trying to reach a hand to grab its antlers, but he’s rejected again.

“No!” Seokjin exclaims, coming in between them. “Why does a poor innocent little reindeer have to be in such a situation?”

“Now, Sally, let’s be sensible. Oogie Boogie’s gonna keep disturbing the whole town if we don’t feed him soon!” he tries again, but is ultimately kicked away.

“I’ll get you!” he taunts, jumping on the reindeer in one fell swoop, making Rudolph stand up in surprise. The Mayor falls to ground from the movement.

That gives Jeongguk an idea.

“Hyung, let’s go!” Jeongguk urges, dragging the ragdoll and climbing on top of Rudolph. He waits for Seokjin to do the same before prompting Rudolph to move.

“Get back here!” the Mayor demands, standing up quickly and running to catch them.

“Faster Rudolph!” Jeongguk prompts, and Rudolph speeds up, not caring about what’s in his way.

The Mayor manages to grab onto Seokjin’s leg, holding onto it as if it were dear life.

“Get off! Get off me now!” Seokjin exclaims, kicking the Mayor off but he doesn’t budge. He only holds his leg tighter.

Seokjin gasps as he notices they were no longer running on land, merely floating a few inches above it until Rudolph properly flies in the air.

“You can fly…,” Jeongguk says, “That’s right! You can fly!” he exclaims, patting the reindeer’s body, “Faster, boy!”

Rudolph zooms through the sky, seemingly leaping from cloud to cloud. It must’ve been quite a sight for whoever saw it on the ground.

“Let go! Let go!” Seokjin struggles, kicking and kicking but he won’t budge. He looks positively scared of the height below him.

While he isn’t looking, Seokjin quickly pulls the thread that kept his leg and thigh together, effectively making the Mayor fall. Seokjin can only stare as he does, his scream growing quieter and quieter the further they go.

“Are you alright, Jinnie hyung?” Jeongguk says in alarm, noticing his leg trailing the Mayor.

“I’m fine,” Seokjin says, “Lost a leg that’s all.”

Jeongguk chuckles at him, squealing into the night as Rudolph takes them to the stars. Seokjin thinks he’s never seen a sight as beautiful as this.

☆

“Nope, nope, nope! Definitely not it,” Yoongi heaves, resting a hand on the tree where the Easter door was.

“We didn’t even get to look for her, she might still be there!” Jimin reminds him, but Yoongi shakes his head.

“I’m not going in there again, Jiminie,” Yoongi says, “Who thought bunnies would be this ferocious?”

“I can’t blame it, though. I hear it doesn’t have very good experiences with other worlds. It once got kidnapped by someone from Halloween town!”

“Kidnapped?” Yoongi repeats, “You don't think Rudolph was kidnapped, do you?”

Jimin’s face pales, “Oh that poor girl! What do you think they’d do to her if she really did get kidnapped?”

Yoongi’s already approaching the pumpkin door, “Let’s hope not anything too bad.”

He turns around once he opened the door, offering a hand towards Jimin, “Let’s go?”

Jimin takes it, and they jump in the door together.

A spiral slide is what they greet, sweeping them off their feet immediately. It seems to be a tunnel of some sort that grows darker and darker the farther they go into it. The only indication Jimin is still there is his screaming, otherwise, Yoongi couldn’t tell whether or not he was there.

“Oomf!” Jimin exclaims as his butt touches the ground.

Yoongi groans as he stands, taking in his surroundings. They seemed to have landed in a graveyard, an ominous gray fog laden upon everything.

“Woah,” Yoongi says. “This is definitely Halloween Town.”

Jimin shudders beside him, “You don’t think a ghost is gonna pop up suddenly, do you?”

“Well, I mean— gah !” Yoongi exclaims, watching as a ghost floats to his vision.

“Oh my gosh!” Jimin squeals as the ghost floats towards him. He notices it has the form of a dog, with a cloak on its body and a bright orange, pumpkin nose. But it seems to stop as he scans Jimin’s face, whimpering when he realizes he’s scared.

“Oh,” Jimin says after a while when the ghost still hasn’t attacked him. “You… you’re a good ghost,” he realizes, reaching out a hand to stroke its head. Although his hand goes straight through him. It feels like a cold breeze passing him.

“And you’re name is…?” Jimin asks. It barks pointing its nose to its grave.

Jimin smiles, “Hello, Zero.”

Yoongi looks in bewilderment from ghost-dog to its grave, chuckling in disbelief. “That’s pretty morbid.”

“Oh shush,” Jimin says, trying to hold Zero in his arms. “He’s a sweetheart, look!”

Zero absolutely beams, barking in delight and twirling in the air.

Yoongi can’t suppress the smile that spreads on his face, “I guess he’s pretty cute.”

Zero tries to lick him but it feels just like a cold breeze. It makes him smile fondly nonetheless.

“Aw, look he likes you,” Jimin exclaims.

Zero zooms around him, barking happily.

“I like you, too, little guy,” Yoongi coos, trying to pet him but as usual, his hand goes straight through. “I gotta get used to that.”

“Hyung, can we keep him?” Jimin pleads, “ Please , he’s too adorable to be in Halloween Town.”

Yoongi braces himself for the worst and as he expected, Jimin is already pouting, showing his puppy-dog eyes.

“Jimin,” he says, “No.”

“But, hyung ,” he draws out the last syllable. “Look at him!”

“He probably has an owner!” Yoongi reasons, “Come on, Jimin. Let’s just find Rudolph and get outta here. There’s only three days left ‘till Christmas,” he reminds him.

Jimin bites his lip in contemplation, watching as Zero starts to catch his own cloaked tail. He whimpers. Why did he have to be so cute?

“Oh, Yoongi hyung,” he pouts, “He’s so—”

“No!” Yoongi says sternly. “We can’t, Jimin. The boss ain’t gonna let us keep a fluffing ghost-dog!”

Jimin huffs, trying his best to collect Zero in his arms. “Well if you’re not gonna let me take him, I’m staying right here.”

Yoongi splutters, “ Jimin ! You can’t be serious.”

“You bet your life, I’m serious,” Jimin says, getting comfortable on a gravestone, crossing his legs as Zero tries to nudge his feet.

Yoongi sighs. Jimin’s definitely not gonna budge that easily.

☆

Rudolph touches the ground softly, a trail of golden dust following them as if he were a fairy.

“You can slow down now, boy,” Jeongguk says, petting his head.

They land on Spiral hill, the land stretching out of its curl as they walk along it. The Mayor seemed to have given up, seeing as he can’t see him trailing after them.

“I think we’re safe,” Jeongguk speaks as they reach the end of the hill. He goes back to his human form when he deems it okay.

Seokjin hums, in the middle of taking Rudolph to the edge, “The Mayor’s gone crazy.”

Jeongguk’s eyes widen at the sight of Seokjin limping, “Jinnie hyung, your leg—”

“It’s alright,” Seokjin smiles, “We can replace it. We always do.”

Jeongguk nods, biting his lip as he approaches Seokjin. He grabs the ragdoll by the waist, hoisting him up to carry him.

“Oh!” Seokjin exclaims as he subconsciously places his arms around Jeongguk’s neck.

Jeongguk suddenly feels drawn to Seokjin’s lips, unable to stop himself from placing a kiss on them, licking into his mouth almost immediately. He tastes amazing.

“You sure you’re not hurt?” he asks once they pull away, resting his forehead on him.

Seokjin chuckles, placing a hand on Jeongguk’s chest. “You worry too much.”

He shakes his head, rubbing his nose on Jeongguk’s lightly. Jeongguk positively blushes, smiling fondly at the ragdoll.

Their little moment is ruined, however, as Rudolph neighs, pointing his bright nose to somewhere.

“What is it, boy?” Jeongguk says, placing Seokjin on the reindeer as he looks down to where Rudolph was pointing at.

“What do you see, Jeongguk?” Seokjin asks.

When Jeongguk looks down, he spots two elves. Both of them dressed in all green, seemingly arguing with each other.

Jeongguk turns to Rudolph, “Do you know them?”

Rudolph nods.

Jeongguk takes one last glance at the bickering elves and sighs. It’s time to say goodbye.

“Let’s get you home, boy.”

☆

Yoongi taps his foot impatiently, “ Jimin ,” he says firmly, “We don’t have time for this. I bet they’re already behind schedule because we’re not there.”

“Having two elves absent won’t hurt them,” Jimin retorts, crossing his arms and looking away from Yoongi.

Yoongi scoffs at the display, “Jiminie, please —”

“No,” he says stubbornly, “No, I am not leaving.”

Yoongi sighs, looking at Jimin and then looking at the town ahead of them. “Jimin, poor little Rudolph’s all alone right now. He must miss being in Christmas Town with all of us.”

The guilt noticeably shows on Jimin’s face, a frown growing on his lips.

“No,” Jimin says, although it sounds halfhearted.

Yoongi sighs, “Come on , Jimin!” he exclaims, “Don’t you wanna go home? I don’t know about you, but I could really use some of Taehyung’s sugar cookies right now,” Yoongi says, tapping his stomach and realizing just how hungry he is.

Something seems to switch in Jimin’s brain, however. His eyebrows furrowing and his eyes starting to glare at Yoongi. What did he say wrong?

“Taehyung’s sugar cookies, huh?” Jimin says, “Well, fine . If you miss him so much, then why don’t you just go ahead and leave me here, hmm?” Jimin taunts.

“Jimin…,” Yoongi says in confusion, “What are you even saying?”

Jimin scoffs, uncrossing his legs and standing up. “Don’t play dumb. All day it’s been Taehyung this, Taehyung that. Gosh, it’s like you can’t spend a second without talking about him!”

Yoongi’s mouth gapes, “No I… don’t.”

Jimin ignores him, however, continuing saying, “Are you sure you don’t like him? ‘Cause I can take a hint, hyung. You don’t have to pity date me. I have a lot more pride than that!” he exclaims.

Yoongi doesn’t even know what to say, “Jimin…”

“Oh, don’t keep him hanging!” Jimin says, grabbing Yoongi’s shoulders and pushing him away. “We wouldn’t want your best friend to be kept waiting, right?”

Zero watches frantically as Jimin continues to push Yoongi away from him.

“Jimin, this is ridiculous,” Yoongi says, chuckling in distress.

“Oh, this is ridiculous? I’m sorry! I must be a really bad boyfriend for being jealous over my boyfriend’s best friend whom he talks about all the time in front of me. Yeah, I’m ridiculous.”

Yoongi’s eyes widen as he realizes what Jimin said, a blush spreading on his cheeks immediately. He latches onto Jimin’s shoulders, making him stop pushing.

“Don’t touch me!”

“We’re boyfriends now?” Yoongi asks in a daze, still unable to comprehend what was happening.

Jimin’s face starts to boil, “I-I mean—D-Did I say that?” he splutters, “I mean, if you want to be, I don’t know. We haven’t even been on a date yet, and I know it’s sorta sudden, but—”

Yoongi doesn’t give him a chance to finish whatever poppycock he was about to say, pressing a kiss against his lips eagerly. Jimin squeals with his mouth closed, eyes wide. But slowly Jimin melts into the kiss, closing his eyes and kissing back, the kiss turning unbelievably sweet.

☆

Jeongguk stands awkwardly as he watches the two elves kiss. He looks towards Seokjin in, asking for help but the ragdoll shrugs, helpless.

In the end, Rudolph helps them, letting Seokjin off him before nudging the two kissing elves until they pull apart.

“Rudolph!” the shorter one exclaims, the bell attached to his hat jinggling. His eyes travels from the reindeer to Jeongguk, and his smile immediately melts like snow.

“You!” he says accusingly, “Are you the one that kidnapped Rudolph?”

Jeongguk’s eyes widen at the thought, “No! I would never!”

The elf doesn’t seem all too convinced, his lips in a thin line as he examines the reindeer in front of him.

“I-I think it’s alright, Jimin. I think they were trying to take him back,” the other elf reasons.

The elf, Jimin, if Jeongguk heard correctly, seems to contemplate what he said, glaring up at Jeongguk.

“Who are you?” he asks.

The question takes Jeongguk by surprise. “I’m Jack—”

“His name is Jeongguk,” Seokjin interrupts him, “You may also know him as Jack Skellington, but Jeongguk’s his real name. They call me Sally, but you can remember me as Seokjin.”

Jimin eyes grow as big as saucers, “The Pumpkin King?”

Jeongguk flinches at the way Jimin seems to subtly move away from him.

Seokjin notices his pout almost instantly, quickly speaking up for him, “He won’t hurt you,” he says, looking towards the other elf, “You’re right, we were trying to bring him back. Now, it’d be nice if you showed at least a little goddamn gratitude.”

Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up, “Don’t swear! You’ll get put on the naughty list. You don’t want to receive coal this Christmas, do you?”

Seokjin looks at him in disbelief, “W-Well I don’t receive Christmas presents.”

“No Christmas?” Jimin gasps, “Why?”

“Well, this is Halloween Town,” Seokjin states, “There’s no Christmas here.”

Jimin frowns, “That’s… awful.”

“What happened to your leg?” the other elf asks.

“Huh?” Seokjin says, forgetting that about his missing limb. “O-Oh,” he says in realization, “Got in an accident, that’s all.”

The other elf hums, staring at Seokjin from his missing leg up to his face, “I see. Well, thank you for escorting our Rudolph here. She’s a very important part of Christmas, you know.”

“I know,” Jeongguk says suddenly, “I mean—,” he gets flustered, “W-Who’s gonna light Sandy Claws’ way without him?”

“It’s Santa Claus ,” Jimin corrects him, “And you’re right. Although I’m pretty sure Zero here could do the trick.”

The ghost-dog suddenly jumps at Jeongguk, licking his chin as a greeting.

“Zero!” Jeongguk exclaims, “Boy I missed you!”

He grabs the ghost-dog, twirling him around. When he finishes he notices Jimin staring at him.

“You… you own him?” he asks.

“Yes,” Jeongguk replies. “Although he is quite independent.”

Jimin nods, looking like he was in deep thought. “I see.”

The other elf sighs, placing a hand on the back of Jimin as he says, “We should head back now, Jiminie.”

Jimin nods, grabbing Rudolph softly. “Okay,” he says.

“Happy Christmas you two!” Jimin says with a smile as they walk away.

Jeongguk was raising a hand to wave goodbye when Rudolph turned to look back. Her little red nose beaming brightly at him.

“Happy Christmas,” Jeongguk echoes, sending a smile as Rudolph’s figure grows smaller and smaller.

“I didn’t know Rudolph was a girl,” Seokjin states.

Jeongguk chuckles at the ragdoll, shaking his head in disbelief. “Come on, let’s go home.”

☆

“You’re back!” Taehyung exclaims as they come into view with Rudolph in tow, immediately latching himself onto Yoongi.

“Um,” Jimin coughs.

Taehyung looks between Yoongi and Jimin. Jimin starting to glare daggers at Taehyung and Yoongi sporting a pretty pink blush.

“Oh,” he says in realization. “Sorry!” he exclaims moving away from Yoongi and grabbing Jimin’s hands.

“Where have you been ?” Taehyung demands, “The boss nearly went crazy when he found out two of his elves and Rudolph went missing.”

Jimin chuckles sheepishly, “Oh, um, about that—”

“It’s a long story,” Yoongi tries to explain, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah,” Jimin agrees, sending a knowing smile to Yoongi. It makes him burst out in laughter, Yoongi following not too far behind.

“ What ? What happened ?” Taehyung bounces, the bells attached to his clothes making noise.

Jimin just continues to laugh at Taehyung, telling him to calm down and assuring him that he’ll get the full story soon.

Yeah , Yoongi thinks as he watches the display in front of him, this is gonna be a great Christmas .

#writing #ff: y+j #yoonmin #fanfics #yoonmin fanfics #jimin #yoongi #bts fanfics #christmas au

2 notes · View notes