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kodzuken-chan · 2 years

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🧬Regret Veins Pt.4🧬

Pairing: Sanji x Fem.reader

Genre: Angst/ Horror/ Fluff/ One Piece X Resident Evil Crossover/AU

⚠️ Warning: Mention of Blood, Needles, Zombies, Kidnapping, Slight Torture, Killing and most likely horror stuff, there will be also cursing don't worry its not more than Shit(Please Don't read if you can't stand this kind of Horror)

A/N: Part 4 is here, and its the last Chapter of Regret Veins series, I hope you guys Enjoyed it as much as I enjoed writing it, to me this crossover series was the most thrilling yet longest Scenario I have written after my writer's block and I'm honestly satisfied with it😌.

And regarding the chapter, there are some RE canon stuffs related to Leon that I kinda changed, mostly in terms of timing compared to the original thing nothing much🫂

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- Word Count: 10.96K Holy Moly I went too far (10,962 words)

- Reader's Age in this Chapter is 21

- Again, I made the gif Myself Proud

- Chapter > One > Two > Three

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Summary: "Umbrella" the name that you always prayed to not encounter for the rest of your life due to what happened to you in the past....

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|Chapter Four|

Finale

After dividing themselves into Teams A, B and C, Team A consisted of Leon & Sanji, Team B consisted of Nami, Zoro and Chopper, and Team C consisted of Luffy, Robin, Brook and Usopp. The three groups parted to their own ways looking for their precious crew mate, in hopes that she'd be alive and safe.

You regained your consciousness, however, the dim light made it hard for you to recognize your surroundings, once your vision cleared, you found yourself trapped inside a cell, the walls were barely hanging in, but at least it seems that your cell was the only one to be intact compared to the other cells around. You got up, feeling the muscles pain rushing all over your body, but you could care less, escaping this nightmare is now your top priority. It was soon when you started hearing heavy foot steps getting closer and closer to your cell, you stepped back, not excited to figure out what's approaching you.

But it was too late, everything happened so quick for you to process, there stood a seven feet tall tyrant infront of your cell, opening the bars effortlessly and throwing you like a grocery bag into the feeble wall. You couldn't help but groan in pain spitting blood out of your mouth, as you tried to get up on your knees again, the tyrant's fist flew over to your abdomen making you unconscious again.

On the other side of Umberlla's mostly destructed facility Ran Sanji and Leon around, searching a floor to another, miserably failing to find you, since the facility was barely consistent. Both men stood there, trying to figure out where to search next.

"I'm going to be honest with you, I followed you just because you said that you know this place, but if you weren't familiar with it, I would have already left to look for my beloved Y/N-chan, however, I don't want to waste time searching in unnecessary places" Said Sanji to Leon

"I know, I'm sure we're gonna find her, this place is huge and full of dangerous damn undeads and god knows what other creatures are ahead of us, so we need to be careful for Y/N's sake too" explained Leon

"Then, what's the plan Mr.Agent?"

"Just give me a second " said Leon as he pulled his device contacting Hunnigan

"Leon where are you now? Its been few hours since you contacted me, can you update me with your current situation?" requested Hunnigan

"I'm still on my mission, but I just found out thay my best friend is kidnapped by the freaking Umberlla, and I'm not leaving her here"

"Alright, Alright, I'll help you, what do you want to know now?" asked Hunnigan

"Can you locate the data base room for me? everything is a mess here"

"Copy that"

"Thanks" said Leon as he placed the device back into his pocket and faced Sanji

"We can go to the data base room, search for her name, if she was really here, we can find her exact location in this place" explained Leon, and Sanji nodded in agreement. However, little the two men knew that they were observed by someone.

"Hohoo, I see we have some guests, I would be so unmannered to leave them without hospitality, how about going to them my dear T-00" motioned the unknown men to the tyrant, as he picked up his ringing device.

"Hello Sir, How can I help you?" smirked the unknown man as he obsreved his cctv screens

"I see some rats wandering around on my screen, send any of your huge ugly creatures and stop them, I don't want them to mess up my plans" commanded the unknown former to the unknown man

"No worries, I have already taken care of them, and our Subject is having a lovely sleep in my laboratory, It would be a pleasure for me if you could join us for the experiment" said the man proudly

"I'll be there in few minutes, can't miss the progress of my success" scoffed the former as he disconnected the call

"Huh, you mean our success, but that doesn't matter now, I will enjoy my reunion with you and we'll get to do lots of things together" laughed the man sarcastically as he injected your unconscious figure with with a small needle.

The two men walked through the facility based on the safest route suggested by Hunnigan, shooting and kicking any undead shows up infront of them without hesitation. However, Leon stopped by a certain room that surprisingly had no doors left.

"Oi, what's the matter, why did you stop?" Said Sanji as he stopped running ahead of Leon

"I have a feeling that I will need some extra ammo, so I'll grab some, and its better if you carried a weapon with you too" adviced Leon

"My legs are enough-" said Sanji but got interrupted by Leon

"I know that you're pretty strong, I saw that the moment we entered the facility, but trust me, I've been dealing with these creatures for so long, and some of them won't be down unless you used weapons."

"Fine" Said Sanji as he walked into the Room taking a look at the weapons. And soon his eyes fell on the submachine gun, he took it, obsreved it, and it filled out his hip pouch with it's ammo

"Submachine gun huh? Nice choice by the way" commented Leon

"So you seem to be close with Y/N, is that how close crew mates are? " asked Leon as he was reloading his guns

"Well, Y/N-chan and I have more than a best friend relationship, I'm her boyfriend, and I'm ready to die for her if I had to" expressed Sanji proudly

"Well, same here, but I'm glad she found someone she loves and can rely on, make sure to take good care of her, she's precious to me" said Leon

Sanji was about to reply back only to stop when both of them heard the sound of the heavy footsteps slowly approaching. These footsteps were familiar to Leon, but to whom it belonged to? He slightly peeked his head from the door frame's edge, but turned back as fast as he can.

"Oh Shit, we don't have time for this!" Cursed Leon under his breath

"What's the matter-"

"Shhhh" motioned Leon to Sanji

"Look, we don't have time to deal with the creature outside. I'm telling you this from a personal experience, so we'll head out quietly when he's not looking"

"I've seen larger than these, but holy shit, he looks tough" exclaimed Sanji after taking a look on the tyrant that was literally smashing every room he's checking with his fist

The two men made their way quietly without grabbing the 7ft tall tyrant's attention. However, that didn't last for too long since few undeads found Sanji and Leon as yummy lunch time meals. The Tyrant looked intensely towards their direction and made his way to them as he tossed the other undeads behind aggressively.

"Oi Sanji! this way!!" Motioned Leon to Sanji.

Running as fast as they can, Leon and Sanji made it finally to the data base room, closing the huge door behind them. Leon ran towards the multiple screens placed in the middle of the room and so did Sanji, before they heard the tyrant and undeads banging on the other side of the metal door.

"Shit, This door won't handle it for too long, we need to be quick, c'mon lets search for Y/N-chan's name!!" Said Sanji

"Alright, I'll do it, cover me up" said Leon as he tried to access Umbrella's system with the given information by Hunnigan, while Sanji made sure that the tyrant and undeads are still behind the door, and of course he glanced at the screen in between.

"Alright! I'm in, I need to search for Y/N's name in Umbrella's search engine"

Once he clicked on the 🔍search🔍 button, a folder with your name appeared on the screen, and Leon immediately clicked on it.

"Found it" Exclaimed Leon

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Asked Sanji

" Its Loading, C'mon C'mon....."

The Loading ended and a screen with your personal details appeared infront of Leon and Sanji

"CLASSIFIED??!" Exclaimed Sanji and Leon in disbelief

"DAMNIT!" Snapped Leon as he hit the keyboard

"Wait...the information insertion is from two years ago, Oi Leon what does that mean, why do they have her details in the system if she was kidnapped like 2 hours ago??"

"I've already told you before, Two years ago she got kidnapped by them and was experimented on , so they must have kept her details since then"

"I swear I'm going to make them pay for this" raged Sanji

" As I searched for her file, I noticed that they used to keep the other subjects in an underground floor" claimed Leon

"Then what are waiting for? let's go, maybe she's down there"

The metal door started shaking and the banging seemed to get stronger. However, Leon and Sanji have already left to the underground floor using an elevator that was surprisingly still working. Stepping out of it, they walked into another door, Sanji seemed to be more surprised than Leon at the sight infront of them, it was a long passage full of cells, well mostly smashed and broken cell, few were barely still intact though.

"What in the world is this-"

"I'm not even surprised at this point, so this is where they're keeping the human and non human subjects" said Leon

"Hey... isn't this the creature that was after us earlier?" Examined Sanji as he pointed out on one of cells

"Yeah, these are called Tyrants, Ugh guess I'm gonna stay all night writing a report about this bullshit" Sighed Leon

"Alright, we need to look for Y/N-chan in these cells, C'mon let's go"

And for the next 10 minutes, Sanji and Leon searched every cell, the intact and the subversive ones in hopes to find you, only to fail miserably again, until they passed by that last cell in the passage. The blood was scattered in different spots inside of it, the floor and walls, it might seem like the other cells they have already checked earlier, however, they were wrong.

Once they noticed your lavender hair band covered in flesh on the ground, Sanji drew closer and took it in his hands, the anger was running through his blood, his silence was enough to show the killing willingness in his aura just to get you back. Leon stood there, guilt rushing into him for not being able to make it faster here, he figured out that you were here at least 30 minutes ago, the scattered blood was still fresh, he just knew it.

"Hey, I'm feeling the same as you right now, but we need to keep searching for Y/N" Said Leon to Sanji as he tapped on his shoulder

"Alexander Issacs" muttered Sanji as he carefully placed your hand band in his pocket

"What?"

"Alexander Issacs, I saw this name on Y/N-chan's ID card earlier in the data base room, he must be working here and is in charge of her"

"Yeah, you're right, I do remember this, he must somewhere close here, if we find him, he can lead us to Y/N's place"

The two men nodded in agreement to each other and immediately rushed out of the cells passage, Only to end up in a department that looked and smelled like a hospital, the place was clean, it didn't feel like the same destructed place they were at few minutes ago.

"Can't believe this place is connected to the place we just came from" claimed Sanji

"Yeah, seems like two different worlds, the undeads probably can't get through this department, it seems protected" agreed Leon

"Oi Look, is this a Laboratory?" pointed Sanji at one of the windows

"Yeah, I guess this is the Laboratory department, we're they've committed the crime, by crime I mean the T-virus" confirmed Leon

"Dr. Alexander Issacs, he's probably in one of these laboratories"

"Yeah, the best place for a psychopath scientist, c'mon lets check each of these labs"

Your eyelids slowly opened, only to be exposed to the intense flashy light settled above you, trying to move your limbs left and right, but it was useless again, why does it feel like shitty Deja Vu, as if this happened before. Taking a closer look at your limbs , you realized that you were tied to a laboratory bed.

"You sure wake up so fast, that brings good memories don't you think so my little lab rat?" the scientist exclaimed sarcastically.

That voice, this feeling, you knew them. You glared at him in shock

"You...." You said gritting on your teeth

"Isn't it a lovely reunion Ms.Y/N? Last time we got intrupted and we couldn't play our game anymore, but now, no one can stop us" laughed Dr. Alexander

"Don't you have anyone else to play your psychopath game with except for me?" You scoffed

"Yes I do, but you're my special subject, I won't let you go that easily because our success depends on you, In fact, I've been watching you ever since you escaped 2 years ago"

"W-watching me?....what do you mean!"

"Oh haven't I told you sweetheart? we attach tracking devices into our special subjects, in case we lost them, it will be easier for us to find them" said Dr. Alexander as he held you from your chin

You aggressively tried to move your head right and left to get his hand off you, until you heard the lab's door opening

"Ohooo, Look who's here, its our Beloved former Albert Wesker" welcomed Dr. Alexander

"So this is the special subject?" Said Wesker as he looked intensely into your eyes scanning your figure

"Yes, and we can start the experiment on your mark sir"

"What are you waiting for then, start!"

Ever since you were caught by them 2 years ago, you never knew the reason for why you were called a special subject, do they know something about you that you don't?

"Is my little lab rat curious to know what game are we going to play??" Scoffed Alexander as he brought a huge transparent needle in his hand

Wesker sat on his special chair in the corner of the laboratory observing carefully each step Alexander does with you

"W-what are you doing! Don't you dare inject me with that needle I-" you yelled scared of the parasitic creature that floated inside the transparent needle.

"Oh well, two years ago, you ran away of me, and I failed to test the T-virus on you, however, I had a sample of your blood, once I escaped Raccoon city before the termination, I tested the T-virus on your blood and guess what~" giggled Alexander as he approached you.

"...." You said nothing but stared intensely at him out of fear

So the T-virus doesn't work on you, is that why you're called as a special subject?

"Oh I forgot to tell you that while you were unconscious, I injected you with an amount of the T-virus to see if it reacts the same as your blood, and it did, isn't that great??" He proudly exclaimed

You remained silent, trying to process what Dr.Alexander have just said, will you turn to these ugly mosnters outside, but he said that your body didn't react to it...you reacalled one of the random conversations you had with Chopper as he was making some medicines

"Anti-bodies?" You questioned the rindeer in confusion

"Yes, I read once that some people don't get effected by diseases and viruses that they get infected by, this is because they have strong anti-bodies that can resist them, the virus sometimes remain inside the person's body, however, it won't effect them, in fact it boosts their immunity against it" explained Chopper to you

So, does that mean that your body contains strong anti-bodies and that's why you didn't get affected by the T-virus? You were engrossed in your thoughts, but immediately snapped out of it once you felt the needle's prick over your arms's skin

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!! LET ME GO!!" You struggled through the various cuffs around your limbs

"Too Late sweetheart" smiled Alexander evily as he injected the huge transparent needle inside of your vein

You terrifyingly saw the parasite inside the needle going straight under your arm's skin and you screamed in pain and disgust. Alexander and Wesker saw your body squirming in pain and the smile never left their faces.

"Y-YOU J-JERRRKKKK!!!, WHAT HAVE YOU INJECTED ME WITH AHHHHH-" You screamed in distress

"I knew that you were curious after all my little lab rat, well, I present you the Las Plagas"

"L-Las P-p-plagas...?!"

"Yes, Las Plagas are Bio-Engineered Parasites who Subjectes their hosts to various degrees of pain, well let's you're experiencing one now, but don't worry it will stop soon once it adapts with your body and later it will be able to hatch its eggs inside of you" elaborated Alexander in amusement

"S-SHIT.....YOU DAMN PSYCHOPATH SCIENTIST!!!" You yelled clenching your fist tightly to the point it started bleeding

"Oh and yes, If your anti-bodies were as strong as we saw with the T-virus, then You'll be able to take control over Las Plagas, it will make you vigorous and the experiment successful just as we wished, however, if you didn't then it will take control over you and You'll die in the most pathetic way" he mocked

The following 10 minutes were mainly just you squirming and screaming in pain, you were able to see the parasite moving under your skin and popping veins. It hurts, you could feel the burning pain thorugh your whole body, not just from the parasite but also from the previous injuries and bruises you got earlier in the cell . The tears formed at the brim of your eyes, why does your life suck like that? everything was always messed up for you, you were barely able to forget the traumatic incident two years ago thanks to Leon and your crew. You just didn't want to die like this... At least not before seeing your friends one last time... especially Sanji.

On the other side, Sanji and Leon were still checking a lab to another, getting out of it empty-handed each time, until they heared the faint screaming coming from one of the Labs ahead, the two men looked at each other in shock at the familiar voice

"That voice-''

"It's Y/N's!"

"Its coming from there!! Let's go!" Exclaimed Sanji

The two men immediately dashed towards the lab, without stopping and with their utmost speed and strength, they kicked the door in Sync aiming the guns straightly towards Dr.Alexander and Wesker, with you cuffed into the metal laboratory bed behind them

"Y/N!!", "Y/N-chan!!!" Called both men

You turned your head, trying as hard as you can to not pass out, you tried to let Sanji's name out of your mouth, as you extended your fingers uselessly towards him, but then, another inflict striked your whole body making you whimper in pain loudly unable to notice Leon next to him.

"YOU BASTARDS!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO Y/N-CHAN!!!" Snapped Sanji as he dashed towards Wesker and Alexander

"SANJI WAIT!! SHIT!!" Ran Leon Behind Sanji as he started Shooting Both Wesker and Alexander

Sanji collided with Alexander while Leon ended up against Wesker, Of course, Alexander was just a scientist, he barely knew few defence moves, but he can't actually stand long in a fight, so, he was trying to run away like a coward until that malignant idea crossed his mind, if he threatened Sanji using you, it will be easier for him to escape and take you his special subject with him, however, Sanji was clever enough to notice the scientist's obvious vile trick and stopped him before his attempt, giving him the amount of kicks he deserved for hurting you.

While on the other hand, Leon was kinda having a hard time dealing with Wesker, Since Wesker was known to use the virus to strengthen himself as it adapts perfectly with his body and boosts his immunity, making him stronger with every dose. Leon shot Wesker with his hand gun and used the shot gun in between, but it was useless, Wesker dodged the bullets with his quickness, with every dodge, he became closer to Leon until they ended up colliding physically.

Sanji was Soon done with teaching Alexander a memorable lesson until he pleaded Sanji to stop, but Sanji sent him to the other side of the department with his iconic Diable Jump. Noticing that Leon was in an intractable situation, he rushed to help him. The two men teamed up together, fought Wesker with everything they've had, until Wesker was finally blockaded by them, he realized that he's no match to them, since he currently isn't carrying another dose of the virus with him, and the best choice is to gain some spare time away. At the End, Wesker fleed and was nowhere to be seen around.

Once Wesker disappeared, Sanji and Leon immediately turned to your cuffed figure on the laboratory bed, to them, your sight was so painful to watch, but despite everything they gently started unlocking the cuffs revealing your agonized body, lots of blood, cuts, bruises, and not to mention your pale skin. Sanji leaned and took you carefully in his arms making sure that he's not harming your suave injured body as Leon stood right next to him, your weak dizzy head couldn't help but fall on Sanji's chest, he was so concerned about you to the point that he haven't noticed how horrible the arm you got injected in looked until Leon pointed it out

"Hey, Look at her arm" said Leon, he had a bad feeling about this

"W-What is this, why does her arm look like that???" questioned Sanji in shock

"I think I have an idea about it, I just hope its not what I'm thinking of" sighed Leon as he carresed your infected arm

"S...anji..." You called almost whispering

"Y/N-CHAN!! Sweetheart....Are you okay??" Asked Sanji as he caressed your face with his thumbs

You nodded, but the pain was still throbbing through your body, but you didn't want to worry him more than he is. It was until you felt a huge warm hand resting over your infected arm, its obviously not Sanji's hand since he was holding you with one and caressing your face with the other. You turned your head, then your eyes were met with Leon's icy blue ones, and he gave you a smile. You stared at him in shock, not believing that he was right infront of you, but he looks different, he grew some beard, his eyes were surrounded by dark circles, you thought that he must have been going through so much.

"L-Leon..." You called

"Yes dear, I'm here...." He said as he caressed your arms with his fingers

Your eyes teared up, the dearest two people to your heart were right here to save you when you almost lost hope of seeing them again, but your slight happiness to see them here faded soon when the pain striked back making you scream.

"Y/N!!", "Y/N-CHAN!!!" Both men called your name in concern

However, as you squirmed in pain, Something else caught Sanji's and Leon's attention, yes that's right, it was the Las Palgas parasite that started moving once again under your skin.

"Oh shit-" cursed Sanji at the sight but was interrupted by you

"S-Sanji... L-Leon...... listen...to me...." You managed to say between your whimpers

"Yes?" They both said, leaning closer so they can carefully listen to you

"These jerks....injected me with ..the T-virus..and...a thing...called....Las..Plagas....its.....its moving under...my skin....and I- Ahhh!" You tried to say but the pain keeps interrupting

"L-LAS PLAGAS?!" Snapped Leon in shock

"What?? What's that?!!!" Snapped Sanji too in fret

"Its...its a type of a Bio-parasite that can control the host's body....it exposes them into various strikes of pain, if your body adapts to it, then you might get stronger, but if didn't, it will just turn you to a worst infected than the one we saw eariler and then kill you" Explained Leon as he gritted on his teeth

Sanji was too stunned to speak, he just found you, he can't let this take your life, not on his watch

"Is there any way to get this Las Plagas out of her body?" Said Sanji as he managed to calm down to think straightly for solutions

" For the T-virus, I suppose there is a vaccine somewhere here, and for the Las Plagas....Yes...there is....I myself got injected with this Las Plagas on one of my previous missions...and the only way to get rid of it is to exterminate it.."

"E-Exterminate?"

"Yeah.... but we need to hurry.... Y/N haven't coughed blood yet, so it means that the Las Plagas eggs haven't hatched yet"

"Wait, Eggs? No... that's not important now, what will happen if the eggs hatched and how can we exterminate this thing?"

"If the eggs hatched, it will be the matter of time before it controls her and... probably end up dying...."

"Shit...."

"And to exterminate the implanted plaga, there is sort of a machine to do that, it kills it instantly"

"But this place is huge...how can we find the machine and how does it look like??"

"We have no choice but to check the places we haven't checked yet, if we didn't find it then I think we should go back upstairs, to where the monsters are waiting for us, and its a laboratory chair attached with sort of tools and computers."

"Alright...How about we ask the others?we're running out of time, maybe they saw the machine while they're looking for Y/N-chan"

"That's actually a good idea, we can reduce the places we need to check and save time too, You can ask your friends and I'll Check it with Hunnigan too"

And So, the two men went on with their plan, Sanji tried to get in touch with anyone of his crew while Leon contacted Hunnigan.

{Sanji POV}

"C'mon.... C'mon..someone please answer...."

"Yeah???who is it??" Asked Nami

"NAMI-SAN!, Oh god thank you..."

"What's the matter Sanji-kun?"

"I can't tell you everything now, but we found Y/N-chan"

"Really?!! Omg thats great ...is she alright??"

"Well no, but I can't go through the details now, I just have one favor to ask you"

"Yes tell me!!"

"Did you see any extermination machine, it looks like a laboratory chair attached to some computers?"

"No...I haven't...but I'll tell you if we found it!"

"Okay, I'll try to contact Robin-chan too-"

"No need, as we looked for Y/N, We met them coincidentally, and now we're together, and she just told me that they haven't seen anything like that either"

"Alright, we'll try to catch up with you soon too"

"Alright, Be careful Sanji-kun!"

"You too !"

{End of Sanji POV}

{Leon POV}

"Hey Hunnigan, can you hear me?"

"Yes Clearly, but where are you now, what's your situation?"

"I'll be quick because I'm running out of time"

"Why? What's the matter??"

"I found my friend, but she's...."

"She's what?"

"She've been injected with the T-virus and the Las Plagas.....It seems that her body didn't react to the T-virus..but...the Las Plagas....she's showing the same symptoms as me when I got injected with it back then"

"Oh my god....Alright so you need to find the Las Plagas exterminator right?"

"Yeah, we don't have much time, she's suffering ..."

"No worries Leon, I'll try to locate the exterminator's place from the safest route as soon as possible, Just keep your radio on"

"Copy that, thanks"

{End of Leon POV}

Once the two men ended their calls, Sanji carried you carefully and started running alongside Leon and they had a little conversation as they searched for the Las Plagas exterminator.

"So, what did your friends say?" Asked Leon as he shoots the undeads appearing Infront of him

"They gathered together, but none of them saw the exterminator, what about you?" questioned Sanji

"Hunnigan said she'll locate it for us through the safest route, so we have to keep searching until she contacts me again"

"Alright...she better hurry up..." Said Sanji as he tightened his hold on you

"Yeah..." said Leon

You settled for a while in Sanji's arms, but the pain started rushing again making you whimper as you gripped Sanji's suit tighter and tighter, the two men stopped running once they heard you calling out their names

"Just hang in their a little longer sweetheart" said Sanji as he kissed your forehead

"Yeah, we're almost there" reassured Leon gave you a worried smile

As the two men kept running, they somehow ended going back upstairs, close enough to the place they first came from, and fortunately, they met the rest of the starwhats, and they were happy to see the three of you back. However, their smiles faded away as soon as they saw your barely moving figure between Sanji's arms.

"Y/N!!!!" Screamed everyone as the approched the three of you

"Oh my god what happened to her???!!" Cried Chopper at your state

"Long story short, she got injected with a virus and a parasite, and now we're looking for the exterminator" elaborated Sanji

"I-is she gonna be okay???" Asked Usopp and Nami worriedly

"Poor Y/N..." Said Robin with a sad expression

But soon, heavy footsteps were echoing in the distance once again, it didn't seem like a one or two, but more than that. Sanji and Leon immediately recognized the sound.

"Shit...not now" cursed Sanji

"Damnit....we don't have time for this..." muttered Leon too

"What's the matter?" Asked Luffy

"It seems that something entertaining is coming from that way" smirked Zoro

"I don't like that ....w-what's going onn?!!" Shivered Usopp as Chopper held into him

"Luffy listen, we have to find the exterminator to save Y/N-chan, its somewhere around here" said Sanji to Luffy

"I think its better for the rest to go back into a safe place, its better if we were less in numbers, because dealing with what's coming would be difficult" added Leon

Before Luffy can even say something, four of those 7ft tyrants appeared in the hallway getting closer and closer. Luffy turned back to his crew and made his decision.

"We still need to find the machine that will save Y/N's life, I know you guys are strong and would be able to handle this, but this island is too dangerous and we need to get out of here before anybody else gets infected, so for now I want you guys except for Zoro to go back to Sunny" ordered Luffy and everyone nodded.

"Its just an advice but, if you can use weapons then i suggest you do as you run back, since you know, the undeads are everywhere " told Leon to the Strawhats

And So, except for Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Leon and you, everyone ran back to Sunny go, leaving the mission of saving you on the four men, however, they have to get rid of the these tyrants first in order to proceed with their searching. The tyrants were only few inches away of all of you, but your pain was back again, everytime the pain strikes you, your veins pops out and your skin turns paler, and of course your whines and heavy breathings brought the men attention to you, they actually left you aside to collide with the other four tyrants.

"Y/N!! What's happening to her??" Said Luffy as he tried to stop one of tyrants infront of him

"SHIT.....WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THESE!!" Said Leon almost getting smacked by the tyrant but dodging it last second

As they fought the tyrants, some undeads appeared out of nowhere approaching your figure, Sanji noticed them immediately ran towards your direction smoothly taking you in his arms and taking off the undeads heads. However, what Sanji and Leon were afraid of the most happened. Your hand clutched into Sanji suit and then moved to cover your mouth, coughing out blood. Sanji stared at you in fear, he's losing you between his arms, he thought, but immediately snapped out of it once he heard Zoro warning him of the giant tyrant behind him.

"Damnit-" he said before flying and hardly bumping into the wall dropping you aside.

"Y/N!!! SANJI!!!" Screamed Luffy in anger as he activated his Gear 2 mode

"That stupid cook" said Zoro in concern as he stopped the tyrant infront of him

"Y/N!!" Ran Leon to you immediately

"Shit..." Cursed Sanji as he got up holding his side running to you despite the pain

"Sanji!! Leon!! You guys go and find the machine!! We've got this!!!" Said Luffy as he stood next to Zoro

Sanji and Leon nodded and instantly rushed to the other side looking for the exterminator. As they ran, Leon felt the device vibrating in his pocket, it was no one other than Hunnigan.

"Hunnigan! Did you find it?!!"

"Yes, you're on the right way! Keep going straight and you'll find the exterminator inside a lab on your right"

"Copy that!!"

"Did she find it?!!" Asked Sanji

"Yeah, its just straight up in one of those labs on the right"

Once the two men made it to the lab, they stood for few seconds making sure no one is inside and went in. Sanji gently placed you on the laboratory chair and rubbed your cheeks with his thumbs before stepping back a little

"What's the matter?" Asked Leon confused

"You take the lead...I'm not good with machines, beside, you said you had an experience with this...so I trust you to do it"replied Sanji

"Alright then" nodded Leon as he started locking the cuffs on your wrists

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Don't worry, I'm just keeping her still during the extermination process, it will be dangerous for her to keep squirming and moving while it works"

"A-Alright..."

"Y/N...I'm gonna turn this on, it might hurt, so just handle it a bit okay?" Called Leon and you just nodded

Once the extermination machine started working, Luffy and Zoro made it to the three of you. Making few engine noises, the machine started doing its work on your body, two tools that looked exactly like a dental drill made their ways to your abdomen, the electrical blue sparks began to appear on the tip of it electrifying your whole body powerfully. You couldn't help but shriek at various types of pain you were going through right now, for instant, you felt that you lost the sense of feeling in your body, that you're gonna pass out, or worse, die.

"Y/N!!!" Yelled Luffy with your name ready to take you out of the machine but getting stopped by Zoro and Leon

"You can't do that! The machine is taking out the parasite that's threatening her life!!" said Leon

"Calm down Luffy... Look even Curly Eyebrows is waiting patiently, it looks painful but it will save her life" reassured Zoro

Sanji watched you squirming right and left as the blue sparks electrifying your body, his fist clutched tightly and he bit his bottom lip, he wants to stop it but he can't...so he just watched you suffering. The huge screen behind the chair showed the parasite's location inside of your body and finally announced that the parasite was exterminated successfully, whilst the tools stopped and went back to its places. Leon and Sanji immediately rushed to you, Leon started uncuffing your wrists, but Sanji was so scared to even touch your suave figure, afraid that he might hurt you more than you are.

"Y-you dummy... I'm not going to break like a glass" you cracked a tiny laugh through the pain as your tiredly looked at Sanji

"Y/N-chan...." He said taking your hand in his, you swear you saw those tears in the brim of his eyes, he've must have been so worried about you.

"I'm fine sweetie....I'm gonna need your delicious banquet to get my energy back" you smiled as you squeezed his hand

"Aye Aye Sir" he jokingly said as he squeezed your hand in return

"Are you feeling okay now Y/N?" Knelt Leon to you

"Leon....yes I'm fine now...thank you so much....you saved me for the second time..and from the same place too..." You said as you squeezed his hand too

"If you weren't dating Sanji, I would have said we're definitely destined" he joked

"Oi!" Said Sanji as he glared at Leon and you laughed

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble and thank you for saving my life..." You said to all of them

"Don't mind it Shishishishi" Said Luffy and Zoro just smirked

However, the joyful atmosphere didn't last for too long, when the whole place around you started shaking.

"W-what's going on?!!" You asked looking around in confusion

"Hahahahahahaha my dear lab rat, I wanted to to see you my special subject improving into something awesome and useful that will change the world, what a shame!! Now die here with your pathetic friends!!" Exclaimed Alexander through the speaker

"That Bastard!! He's still alive!! I'm gonna-" Snapped Sanji

"Oh No you're not going to do anything else to me, you need to do yourself a favor and get out from here in one piece!!! Hahahaha" said Alexander proudly

‼️(Self-destruct activated, facility will start self-destruction in 5 minutes, please vacate the building before the timer ends)‼️

Is all what you heared after Alexander's evil laugh as the the sounds of the warning alrams echoed everywhere

"HOLY SHIT, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" You cursed

"No worries Y/N-chan...get on my back" motioned Sanji to you but you hesitated

"I-I can run its okay, You've been carrying me for too Long-" you said but got interrupted by him

"I'm sorry Y/N-chan, but I refuse your refusal, so please get on my back and hold tightly, let's go back to Sunny" he smiled to you and you nodded

Once you all made it out of the facility, you saw both Wesker and Alexander getting ready to run away with a jet.

"Oh so you made it outside huh-" mocked Alexander but got interrupted by the huge explosion coming from the building

"DAMNIT" cursed both Sanji and Leon as they dodged the falling debrises

"You might have escaped our grips, but no worries, I'm gonna make the whole world a new place with my viruses" said Wesker looking at you

"I'm not going forgive for what you did to Y/N-chan" said Sanji to Wesker

"You dared and hurt my crew mate, and now I'm going to kick your ass!!" Yelled Luffy

After few minutes of the intense staring between the four men and Wesker, Sanji made his way to his captain with a serious look on his face while he was carrying you on bis back

"Luffy, would you mind if I took care of him?"

"Yeah Sure, I don't mind" said Luffy as he crossed his arms behind his head

"Alright, thanks captain" replied Sanji as he made his way to Leon and handed you to him

"S-sanji?" You called confused

"What are you doing Sanji?" questioned Leon

"Take her back to the ship safely, and we'll catch up with you once we're done with them" said Sanji with a serious tone

"But-" hesitated Leon

"You told me that Y/N-chan is as precious to you as she is to me, that's why I'm trusting you to take her back to our ship safely" admitted Sanji

"Alright then, I'll see you guys later" nodded Leon.

With you in his arms, Leon started running pass Wesker and his jet, leaving the monster trio in charge of taking him down. Sanji faced Wesker while Luffy and Zoro were standing aside, waiting to step in if Sanji needed extra hands with this. Alexander didn't dare to come and face the three men, and decided to stay behind Wesker and hid inside the jet like a coward.

On the other side, there was Leon running with you on his back, he had to carry you that way because he was in need to use his weapons to take down the approaching undeads, it shouldn't get any worse but it did when it started pouring. However, that didn't stop Leon as he continued running back reaching the beach were Sunny was docked.

But just then, he felt your fingers clenching into his fabric breathing heavily, immediately he layed you down and was shocked at the sight. Half of your face was disfigured, your skin looked dry and moldy, your eye became milky coloured, the veins were prominent encircling your eyes to the bottom of your cheeks.

"Shit, what's this, Y/N what's happening to you?!!"

"I....I think.....its...its the T-virus.....I..I thought my body was immune against it...but...but...-"

"Shhh its alright, it gonna be okay, it seems that your body is still resisting it....we only have to get you the anti-virus...".

The Strawhats drew closer and approached your figure while Leon Looked around, it seems that he forgot to take an anti-virus while he was in the lab since you didn't show any symptoms of the T-virus before you guys left, but now, he has no choice but to contact Sanji and ask him to get the anti-virus for you.

Going back to the center of Raccoon city infront of Umberlla's facility, Sanji was fighting Wesker powerfully, but Wesker wasted no chance in making it harder for Sanji as the 7ft tyrants showed up, However, Luffy and Zoro were there to stop them. The den den mushi inside Sanji's pocket started ringing, bringing his attention away from Wesker, who used that to his advantage and sent Sanji flying with his all might.

"*Cough*...*Cough*.... Damnit!" Sanji cussed as he held his side in pain, then he picked up the ringing den den mushi

"Hello?? Sanji are you there?!!"

"Oh yeah, what's the matter?! Is there something wrong with Y/N-chan??" Asked Sanji as he dodged Wesker's attack

"It didn't seem to effect her previously, however,The Las Plagas seems to have lowered her immunity system, Her body is showing symptoms of the T-virus, and we need the anti-virus, I couldn't get it, so can you do it instead??"

"T... T-virus?? Shit.....Alright I will get it once I'm done with this bastard!!" Sanji ended the call

"Oh, she showed symptoms of the T-virus now? that's weird, Stupid Alexander said she didn't, and he said what? special subject? Bullshit " Said Wesker as he attacked

"She ain't no Subject you jerk, I will teach you a lesson that you will never forget for hurting and using her as your experimental toy, I better hurry because I got no time to waste" Said Sanji clenching his teeth

"Oh I know, because you're looking for this right?" Smirked Wesker as he jiggled the anti-virus needle gun in his hand

"That's the-"

"Yes, that's right...its the anti-virus you're looking for, but of course, I'm not going to let you have it easily" Said Wesker smashing the needle gun into pieces

"YOU BASTARD!" Rushed Sanji to him in fury

But within seconds, Wesker dashed towards Sanji and punched him again in the same spot sending him flying towards Luffy And Zoro, and then disappear to his jet flying it away. Sanji wenched in pain but got up immediately looking for his opponent.

"Where is that jerk?!" Exclaimed Sanji

"He ran away with his big jet" replied Luffy

"Damnit!" Hit Sanji the ground with his fist in frustration

"What are you going to do now curly brows? He smashed the anti-virus that was supposed to save Y/N'd life" Stated Zoro in a serious tone

"You two go back to Sunny, Maybe Wesker will go after them while we're here, I'm going back inside the facility to look for the anti-virus" Told Sanji to the two

"But Sanji the place is blowing up how are you supposed to find the-" Said Luffy but getting interrupted by Sanji

"A fire like that can't stop a cook, if I didn't find it, regret will run through my veins for the rest of my life"

"Alright, then we'll get going first then" confirmed Luffy and Sanji nodded

And So Luffy and Zoro ran back to Sunny Go leaving the mission of saving your life on Sanji once again. Going back to Sunny, The Strawhats brought you and Leon back to the deck, and you were immediately taken to the infirmary. Leon told Chopper that his treatment effect would probably be temporary or useless, the only way you could be saved from T-virus is to take a dose of the anti-virus.

Fifteen minutes later, Luffy and Zoro showed up on Sunny go, they wondered if you made it safely here until they saw Leon standing by the sick bay's door. They approached him after making sure with the others that Wesker was never seen around in their absence. Once they entered the sick bay to check on you, Luffy drew closer to you and gently carresed your hair giving you a reassuring smile, however, your weak hand grabbed the end of his shirt

"What's the matter Y/N?" He asked confused

"S...San..Sanji...why isn't he with you guys...?" You breathed heavily

"He'll be back, don't worry Y/N" smiled Luffy

Leon watched you from the door frame, praying that Sanji can find the anti-virus quickly. Sanji on the other hand, was enduring the smoke and fire spreading everywhere around him as he looked for the anti-virus, and knowing that he had no time to waste, he immediately ran to the same lab you were trapped in beforehand in hopes of finding any anti-virus left over by the psychopath scientist.

Reaching the Lab, Sanji ruffled through the drawers, tables and the medicines cooling storage rooms, but he found nothing, nothing had the anti-virus inside of it. As he frustratedly walked around, he noticed a small locker hidden under the laboratory bed, he took it and figured out that it needs a pincode to unlock it, but he wasted no time thinking about it and immediately broke the locker with his legs. Sanji had that tiny hope that the anti-virus could be inside the locker, but once the locker was broken, that hope vanished when he only found bunch of documents.

Cursing under his breath and blaming himself for all what happened to you, one of the documents caught his attention, specifically the one titled 'The T-Virus: A Comprehensive Analysis (Backup)'. Sanji immediately took the document in his hands, he went through it quickly, scanning the key terms to find what he is looking specifically for, yes its the information related to the anti-virus , if this is a comprehensive analysis of the T-virus, then they must have written something about curing it. Minutes later, he finally found what he's looking for, 'The Anti-virus: How its made and works against the T-virus '. A sigh of relief escaped Sanji's lips, he can now save your life, he only needs to go back quickly.

The explosions began to get closer and the fire was spreading, things have started to fall apart and the smoke was getting thicker. Sanji started to find it hard to breath, So he hid the documents in his suit and went to find his way out of the facility. After dodging the falling debrises and tiny explosions and fires, Sanji finally made it out of Umberlla's facility in one piece panting heavily. However, he had no time to steady his breathing, he quickly dashed out from Raccoon city's center, going straightly to the beach, to where you were.

Once he was by the shores, he sky walked to Sunny go, praying that he made it on time, that he wasn't late. There you were, laying tiredly on the bed, wondering if Sanji was alright or not, and that's when you heard his voice outside the sick bay.

"Sanji...." You called staggering to go outside

"Y/N! Dear where you going, you need to rest!" said Leon as he braced you to walk

You opened the door and stood by its frame, bracing yourself with Leon, you didn't notice but the tears were already sliding over your cheeks. Sanji stared at you for few seconds before running and taking you in his embrace.

"S...Sanji...." You cried

"I'm here sweetheart, I'm here...you don't have to worry anymore" he reassured

"W... what's this...." You slightly parted as you felt the dampness on Sanji's side, you soon realized that he was bleeding

"Y.. You're bleeding...." You cried again

"Shhhh....Look at me Y/N-chan....its just a small injury, I'll be fine...now we need to treat you...I don't wanna to see you suffer anymore " he said, wiping off your tears

You nodded and he gently took you back to the bed, once he was done, he went out to the others and sat down on the mass's circular bench.

"Sanji!!, You're bleeding" exclaimed Chopper worriedly

"I'm fine Chopper its just a small injury, you can treat me once you finish treating Y/N-chan" replied Sanji pating on Chopper's head

"So...did you find the anti-virus?" Asked Leon

"Unfortunately, that jerk Wesker had one, but he broke it on purpose before I can take it from him" said Sanji

"Yeah, he smashed it without hesitation" agreed Luffy

"So I went back to the facility once again, ln hopes of finding another dose of the anti-virus for Y/N-chan" explained Sanji

"But it seems that you didn't find anything right?" Questioned Leon

"Yeah...but I found something else" Said Sanji as he took out the hidden document from his suit

"What's that Sanji-kun?" Asked Nami

"Its a detailed research about the T-virus, how its made, works and how it can be cured" said Sanji

"But, we already know that she needs the anti-virus to get rid of the T-virus so what's the point of-" Said Franky but got interrupted by Sanji

"The same thought crossed my mind when I first saw that document, however, they've mentioned what kind of supplies do you need to make the anti-virus for emergency cases, So I specifically brought this research to someone I know who would do a great job in this area." Smiled Sanji as he looked at Chopper

"Me?" Questioned Chopper and Sanji nodded

"Yes, its you Chopper, I'm sure that you'll be able to make Y/N-chan the anti-virus by reading those supplies" confirmed Sanji as he handed the document to Chopper

"You can trust me, I'll make this anti-virus no matter what, and I'll save Y/N's life, but first..." Said Chopper

"Hmmm?" Everyone were confused

"Nami will keep an eye on Y/N, if you noticed anything worng going on with her, please tell me immediately. And I want Robin to come and help me a bit while I treat Sanji, so I can start preparing the anti-virus"

"Listen, don't cause any noise or chaos around, Y/N needs to rest and Chopper needs to focus, okay guys?" Lectured Nami the rest and they nodded like 5 years old

Few minutes later, Chopper quickly treated Sanji's injuries, and went immediately to prepare the anti-virus, the rest of the Strawhats were calmly doing their mini tasks to pass the time. Therefore, Leon stood in the ship's broadtail viewing the ocean with tons of thoughts on his mind, he snapped out of it once he felt the tapping on his shoulder, turning around, it was no one other than Sanji offering him a soft drink.

"Thanks...but How's your injury?" Asked Leon

"Its not that bad, I've experienced worse than this" Sanji let a slight laugh out, knowing about the 3 ribs he broke aside of the visible injury

"I'll ask Y/N to go with me once she recovers from the T-virus" stated Leon after few minutes of silence

"W-What do you mean? She's our-"

"Your crew mate and your girlfriend, I know that..."

"Then what else do you mean by taking her with you"

"I have feelings for her"

"... W-what?"

"But don't tell her...She doesn't see me in that way anyway...however, I'll give it try, although I know what her answer would be, you won't stop a hopeless man don't you?"

"..."

"C'mon don't give me that face...I won't take her from you, I'll just do it because I know I might not be able to see her again...I have lots of regrets in my life, but I don't want Y/N to be one of them"

"I see....glad that Y/N-chan had someone like you by her side before we showed up in her life"

"And I'm glad that she found someone she can rely on while I couldn't be, it kinda makes me mad and sad to know that another man took her away from me, but as long as she's happy and smiling, I can be happy too, even if it was from a far"

"Here you go...." Said Sanji handing Leon few documents after a moment of silence

"What are these?" Said Leon taking them

"You might need these for your mission, didn't you say that you need to write a report or something? I thought that these might be in handy" Replied Sanji as he viewed the ocean

"They are...Thanks" smiled Leon as he scanned the documents quickly

" You can have the documents that are with Chopper as well, of course if he doesn't want them anymore"

"That would be a great help too"

Half an hour later, the two gentlemen finished their talk, and they heard Chopper calling out each one for a quick meeting. Everyone alongside Nami who was watching you gathered around Chopper, he took a step ahead and gulped nervously.

"What's the matter Chopper-san?" Asked Brook

"Everyone.... The anti-virus is ready, but..." Stuttered Chopper

"But what? Is there something wrong?" Asked Usopp

"Its hasn't been tested yet, so I'm not sure how effective it will be on her, there may be side effects to it too, so to Sanji Leon specifically...Are you too willing to inject her with the anti-virus dose?"

"I trust you and so do Y/N-chan...I know that it will work well, I hope so..." reassured Sanji to Chopper

"Alright then...I'll head over to the sick bay now" Said Chopper and everyone nodded

Chopper knocked on the door and came inside, he approached and looked worriedly at you, you noticed that in his eyes so you gave him a weak smile.

"Y/N...I've made the anti-virus, and its here with me, but-"

"Its not tested yet and you're afraid that it might not work on me right?"

"How did you-"

"I may have overheard you a little while ago when you spoke to the rest"

"I see...so you still want me to inject you with it, even when its risking your life?"

"Chopper...I know you've did your best while making this, and I trust your skills more than anything else, besides, I don't think my body can stand against the virus any longer, haha..my life couldn't any worse"

"... Alright...I'm going to inject you now...just be relaxed "

You nodded and Chopper brought the needle closer to your skin, until you felt the needle pricking deeply, god how many needles have pricked your skin today, you wondered. For the first few minutes, it sounded like the anti-virus didn't do anything to you, but soon a stroke of pain rushed to your whole body, it felt like an electricution, as a result you began squirm and whimper loudly again. Chopper couldn't help but call your name in panic, while Sanji and Leon immediately broke in to the sick bay.

"I KNEW IT!! I KNEW THAT THIS ANTI-VIRUS IS A FAILURE!!!" Blamed Chopper himself

"Chopper wait! Look at her face!!!" said Sanji as he noticed the dryness and moldiness fading away from your face

"The anti-virus ....ITS WORKING!" Exclaimed Leon in relief

It was only the matter of few minutes before you calmed down and went back to your normal state, breathing steadily. You slowly opened your eyes, bracing yourself with your hands to sit up, once your eyes fell on the three, you saw a shocked expression on their faces, they were basically staring at you in disbelief.

"Y/N!!!!!" Cried Chopper as he jumped to hug you

"Ch-Chopper!" You called surprised as you looked at your hands

"Do you feel any pain anywhere?". Asked Chopper as he parted

"No..not really, I feel much better now, its seems that the anti-virus you made worked!" You smiled proudly

"I'll go tell the others!!" Said Chopper excitedly as he went out to infrom the others

And out of sudden, the two gentlemen jumped over you, both hugging you tightly, as if you're going to disappear if they let go.

"S-Sanji??! L-Leon?!!" You called surprised but you immediately smiled and hugged them back.

Once everything was settled and went back to normal, All of the Strawhats were gathering around while you told them everything about yourself, your past, things you've never told them because of your selfish self, because you wanted to forget, however hiding that from them only caused you problems and drove your friends to unnecessary danger. Soon, a beeping sound echoed around, everyone went silent at it, however it was nothing but Leon's radio device, he received a message from Hunnigan informing him that a helicopter will arrive soon to take him back as an end the mission. He got up from Sunny's grassy ground, crouched infront of you and took both of your hands in his, while Sanji just stood their, puffing the cigarette's smoke.

"Y/N"

"Hmmmm?"

"I have to go soon"

"What?? Already?? But you haven't had a dinner with us yet..." You pouted

"I was looking forward to it actually, but I got a call to go back, I'm so sorry"

"Don't apologize...it should be me...Its already been two year since we last met, but we had to meet up in a situation like that, its a shame.."

"To me it doesn't matter where I meet you, the fact that you're infront of me is enough " he smiled

"Leon...." You called but saw a helicopter approaching

"Duty is calling, I have to go....Y/N..."

"Yes?"

"Come back with me"

"W-what...?"

"Let's go back together, I'll provide you with all what you need, and make sure that Umbrella's people won't be able to touch a strand of your hair-"

"I'm so sorry..Leon... Though I would love to but, I can't go back with you, My captain needs me, and I have to be there for him to achieve his dream... I can't just leave my crew mates either, just how precious you're are to me, they have the same place in my heart"

"Besides, I can't leave my boyfriend, No...I can't live without him" you said taking Sanji's hand in yours squeezing it

"I see....Knew that you'd say that" he Laughed

"Then why did you ask me?" You questioned confused

"No loss from asking, don't you think?" He smiled

You chuckled at his answer and he stepped closer to you, giving you a tight warm goodbye hug, Sanji nodded at you and let go of your hand so you hugged Leon back. Once he seemingly parted, he stared at you, smiled and slowly leaned closer

"I don't know when I'll be able to see you again, but please be careful and take good care of yourself" he said giving you a forehead kiss

"OI!!" Said Sanji under his breath at Leon's sudden action

"You too Leon... Please be careful", You replied, tears forming in your eyes

"Oh come on, don't cry sweetie, it will make it harder for me to leave" he teased and you chuckled

Shortly afterwards, someone in the helicopter lowered the rope ladder to Leon, he gave you another quick hug before taking and climbing to the middle of it. You all watched him, Sanji came closer wrapping his arms around your waist from behind, as if he's telling you that he's by your side.

"Y/N!!!!" Called Leon from up

"YES?!" You answered

"YOU'VE FOUND YOURSELF GREAT PEOPLE!! BUT MY OFFER WILL BE VALID ANY TIME, IF YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND, LET ME KNOW AND I'LL COME TO YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE IN THE OTHER HALF OF THE WORLD." he said and you nodded

"AND THANK YOU GUYS FOR TAKING CARE OF HER, I'LL LEAVE HER UNDER YOUR CARE ONCE AGAIN!!" he said waving his hand as the helicopter slowly departured away disappearing into the horizon.

As Soon as Leon left, the Strawhats pulled up the anchor and started sailing again, and that's due to the undeads and infected animals wandering near by. Later that night, Sanji refused to sleep away from you, so you suggested to bring the extra mattresses hidden in the storage room, and decided to sleep in the aquarium with Sanji for that night. The two you layed down in each other's embrace, Sanji wrapped his arms around you protectively and you snuggled to him.

"Sanji?" You called looking at him

"Yes darling?" He answered snapping out of his deep thoughts

"Why aren't you saying anything? Don't tell me that you're blaming yourself for what happened today"

"Well...yeah...no matter how it ended, I think that what happened to you today was all my fault, if I had just payed attention to you when those zombies attacked us nothing of this could have-"

"Shhhhhh, I told you many times that its not your fault dummy, I've been their target ever since the beginning, it has nothing to do with you, so stop blaming yourself " you said playfully punching him in the chest

"Ugh-" he wenched in pain and you panicked

"OMG I'M SO SORRY, I FORGOT THAT YOU'RE INJURED, ARE YOU HURT??!! LET ME CALL CHOPPER-"

"Stay here princess, I'm just joking, it doesn't hurt that much, I was just teasing you" he chuckled

You blushed at his teasing and tried to playfully punch him again, but he stopped your hands gently before you did so, He said nothing but stayed silent, staring at your forehead for the upcoming few minutes, and of course you immediately knew what's on his mind

"Pfft...Are you jealous from Leon because he kissed my forehead?" You smirked

"W-who said I'm J-jealous!?" He blushed

"If you're not then, how come you sound so pissed" you teased

"Alright Alright, I admit, I'm jealous, I'm the only man who's supposed to kiss you" he pouted

"Don't worry, he's just my best friend, I'm sure that kiss was just a goodbye kiss, besides..." You said leaning closer to Sanji's face

"Hmmm?" He followed you with sleepy gaze, bringing his face closer too

"I won't allow any other lips to touch mine except for these lips of yours" you said finally closing the gap and devouring into Sanji's lips.

He wasted no time but returned it back kissing you passionately. Your night went by flooding your emotions to each other, as if you have longed for each other for years, like there is no tomorrow. But for sure, you left Raccoon city island without any Regret left in your Veins.

★The End★

Thanks for Reading and see you in another writing ~!!

#one piece #one piece strawhats #one piece x reader #one piece scenarios #one piece imagine #sanji #sanji x reader #sanji imagine #sanji scenario #Resident evil #resident evil x reader #resident evil leon #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon s kennedy x reader #leon kennedy imagines #Regret Veins

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serendipitallay · 2 years

Text

Bows ۰˚☽˚⁀➷｡˚ Gwi Nam x Reader

Gwi Nam x Reader

warnings: wounds/cuts, and gwi nam ofc :)

Gwi Nam’s a bit of a softie in this one, since most of the fics I read abt him tend to make him a really smug asshole. (which he kinda is, lol)

Y/N steadied herself against a table, taking a breather and clutching the stitch at her side. Damn, these zombies were fast.

She had been in the library, studying for a test when the outbreak started, a few zombies racing into the library, attacking anyone closest to them. The squelch of flesh being bitten into, and the screams of the terrified students engraved into her memory.

She had run, run all the way to a classroom that was the closest, and had no zombies in it. She didn’t know where she was right now. She didn’t care. The zombies that had been chasing her pressed themselves against the sliding windows, animalistic in their need to get to Y/N.

She stared at them, finding a few familiar faces in the crowd. A boy she sat with in her biology class, a girl she often said hi to when she walked down the halls. These people, she knew them before, to be living, sensible humans, but now they were mere shells of what they used to be. Human looking, be it a little deformed, but all animalistic instinct. All brutal cannibalistic monsters, without a shroud of humanity or sense left within them.

She only hoped that her friends, Cheong San, On-Jo and the others were safe.

She looked around the class, trying to find something to cover up the horrors that lurked outside the room, the only barrier between her and death mere sliding doors and windows. On the other side of the class were more windows, where zombies began noticing her and began pressing themselves against the glass.

Spotting posters and papers around the class, she looked through pencil cases, trying to find something that could be used to stick the papers on to the windows. She fished out a glue stick from one, and began her work. As she stuck them flat on the windows, she could feel them continuously bang harder and harder, and she feared the glass would fail on her and break, letting them in. She rushed to stick the last piece of paper in, and backed away, cautiously eyeing the now covered windows. Finally trusting that she’d be safe, she heaved a relieved breath.

Y/N sat on the floor, back against a wall with her knees to her chest. What the hell was she going to do now?

9th grade

Y/N was sat near the tennis courts, having her lunch and finishing up her physics homework.

She told her friends to go on without her, to leave her alone so she could actually finish it all.

“Y/N! Come on, let’s go eat together, please?” On-Jo protested, grabbing her arm.

“You guys always distract me, I need to do this!”

“Your grades are already high as it is, one unfinished assignment isn’t going to ruin them!”

“I’ll see you at home time later, okay?”

On-Jo stuck her tongue out at Y/N, crossing her arms and turning back to Gyeong Su and Cheong San.

Now she was here, alone, the serene tranquility calming as she tried solving the headache inducing questions.

She heard a groan come from somewhere near her, causing her to look up from her paper and to the source of the sound.

She found Gwi Nam, well known for being a bully, clutching his arm in pain, leaning against the gate of a tennis court and wincing.

Somehow despite all the rumors and talk around school about him beating kids up until they bruised and bled, she still felt bad for him, still felt bad for him feeling an ounce of the pain he had inflicted on to others.

She sighed, gathering her things into her tote bag and walking over to where he was.

He flinched at the sight of her standing in front of him, quickly regaining his composure and clearing his throat. “What do you want?”

“You hurt your arm.”

“I’m not blind, I can see th-”

“I can help wrap it.”

She reached into her bag and took out a small bag, her own little first aid kit her mother always bugged her into bringing to school, in case anything ever happened.

He didn’t say anything, stunned that he was even being offered help from someone he didn’t even know. An ounce of actual care being put in his direction, it felt nice, made him feel warm inside.

“You’re gonna want to take off your jacket for this.”

Gwi Nam felt as if he was in a trance, curiously watching Y/N and following what she said. He wanted to savour this moment for as long as he could.

Y/N took out an alcohol wipe, carefully lifting Gwi Nam’s sleeve up to get a better look at the cut. The blood was beginning to dry in some parts, but it was still very fresh.

“Get ready, cause this’ll sting.”

She pressed the alcohol wipe down, eliciting a hiss from Gwi Nam as he held back the insult he was about to shout at her. “Okay. Now I’m gonna wrap it.”

Taking out a gauze roll, Y/N began wrapping it around the cut gently, as to not hurt him any further. It was quiet, albeit the awkward kind. The two were so close to each other, and barely even knew each other, which made it all the more awkward.

Y/N decided to take initiative in veering the whole atmosphere into something more relaxed for the two of them, playing the small talk card, one of the things she was pretty skilled at when it came to social interactions.

“So… how’d you get this cut anyway?”

Unlike Y/N, small talk wasn’t Gwi Nam’s strong suit in any way shape or form. He was more direct with his words, more on the nose, so to speak.

“I was fighting some asshole, and somehow he got me pretty bad on the arm.” His bluntness caught Y/N off guard.

She hummed in response, concentrating on bandaging the wound as neatly as she could. “Why do you fight people anyway? I mean, all it does is lead to unnecessary injuries like this.” Gwi Nam shrugged, not saying anything more. The heavy silence returned, but now more relaxed than before.

Once she was done, Y/N tied it into a nice bow, smiling to herself, and turning to look at Gwi Nam to tell him she was finished. She was surprised to find him staring at her, a fascinated look on his face.

“I- I’m done.” She cleared her throat, rubbing her thumb across the wound, something she did to whatever ‘project’ she was finished with. She retracted her hand, realising what she had done, but felt it being pulled back by a warm hand.

Her mouth fell agape as she glanced at their hands, then at Gwi Nam. “Thank you.” He thanked quietly, a small smile on his face, before letting go, the warmth gone as quick as it had come. Getting up, he left Y/N crouching there, sneaking one last glance back at her before heading off, thoughts of the girl that had helped him filling his mind for the rest of the day, and for the 3 years he hadn’t seen her for.

Present day, 7 hours after the outbreak.

Gwi Nam stalked the halls of the school, keeping his eyes (or, um, eye 😃) out for Cheong San. The little imp who had taken his eye out. His hands itched in need to get to that eye of his, to make him feel what he felt when he gouged his eye out.

Zombies limped around him pathetically, and he kicked one in the back just for the heck of it. God, these guys were idiots.

A foreign smell hit him then. Except, it wasn’t that foreign; rather, there was a hint of familiarity laced in it somewhere, though he couldn’t place where he had smelled it before.

He decided that Cheong San could wait. After all, where the hell could he and his idiot friends could go right now? He scoffed, and continued to track the scent, finding it leading to a random classroom.

He couldn’t look inside it though, as the windows had been covered up with paper. There were probably more zombies here before, but the halls were relatively clear now, save for a few of them at the end of the hall.

Gwi Nam tried sliding the door open, but found it locked. “Fuck, of course it’s locked.”

He knocked on the door, tapping his foot impatiently, and putting on his best pleading voice he could muster.

“Please, help me! Open the door, please!”

Y/N lifted her head from her arms. She had fallen asleep, but was awaken by the cries she had heard outside. She felt torn. Her mind told her no, sensibly reasoning that they could be infected, but her heart told her to let them in, reckless and blinded by pity.

The knocking became more hurried and desperate by the second, and before she could give it a second thought, Y/N was in front of the door. If she was bitten, then this was on her. She unlocked the door, sliding the door open a smidge.

She was met with a boy, bloody all over and his eye…

His eye. She went to slide the door back in place, but he grabbed it, stopping it from sliding back.

She whimpered, lip quivering as she tried pushing it shut again. He was shockingly strong, sliding the door open with his one hand even as Y/N tried sliding the door shut with all her might.

“What, what do you want?” Y/N asked, carefully backing away, trying not to sound scared.

She scanned the guy’s face, thinking of who the hell this guy could be, but her mind felt cloudy in panic. The boy slid the door shut, locking it behind him. Oh god. She was going to die, she was going to die.

“You seem familiar…” he remarked, walking toward her, an inquisitive look on his face.

Could it be who he thought she was?

“Who the hell are you?”

This girl was brave, very brave, and she smelled so sweet…

Y/N’s back hit the wall, and now she was trapped, with some guy who was vaguely familiar to her (and kinda hot, although she would never ever admit it.)

Gwi Nam leaned in closer, and Y/N tried pressing herself closer to the wall, a feeble and foolish attempt at getting further away from him, as he leaned in closer to her, reeking of the sharp smell of blood.

He stared into her eyes, those familiar eyes, warm and full of emotion.

No, it couldn’t be her, could it?

Gwi Nam was about to say something when the girl’s eyes widened, and a look of familiarity hit her.

“Wait… you’re Gwi Nam, aren’t you?”

Gwi Nam smirked. “The one and only.”

“I can wrap that eye for you.”

Gwi Nam froze, the smirk being wiped off his face instantly. Those words…

It was her. It was really her.

“It’s you…”

Gwi Nam approached Y/N slowly, mouth open, not knowing what to say. They were so close again, like they had been 3 years ago.

He placed a hand on her cheek. “Are you alright?”

“I-I’m good.” She whispered, giving him a small smile and looking into his eye. His other gouged out eye looked horrible, and she thought of repeating what she did all those years ago…

“I meant what I said. I can wrap that eye for you.”

Gwi Nam nodded, taking in her features all at once. Those 3 years she had been on his mind, day and night. It was kind of the bare minimum, what she did, yet it felt like the world to him. He liked how it made him feel; warm, happy and loved. And now, he had the chance to experience it all over again.

“I actually have a few more serious wounds for you to look at.”

Y/N nodded, taking his hand and bringing him over to where there were two chairs for them both to sit on. “Wait here.”

Y/N looked around the class, trying to find something to use to wrap Gwi Nam’s wounds, or a first aid kit, even.

She spotted one hanging on the wall near the teacher’s desk, and grabbed it.

Sitting back down, Y/N felt deja vu as she was about to ask a question that mirrored her own in 9th grade.

“You’ll need to…”

“Take off my jacket for this?” Gwi Nam smiled.

“Yeah.” Y/N breathed.

He shrugged his jacket off, revealing his black long sleeve shirt. “I have a lot of wounds on my shoulders too.”

“Oh. I guess you’ll also have to, you know.”

Taking his shirt off, Y/N tried her best not to stare at his six pack, and instead focus on… his… wounds…

His wounds…

Oh god.

She got up from her chair, slowly backing away, much to Gwi Nam’s confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

Y/N pointed at him, horrified. “You were bitten.” Her voice went hoarse, and she found herself frozen in place.

“Oh.” He simply said. “These? Yeah, I was bitten, but that was hours ago, so I think I’m immune.” He got up, taking a step toward her, but she took a step back in turn.

“Look, I’m fine, people turn in less than a minute, so I’m all good. You don’t need to worry, okay?”

Her back hit a wall again. This was the end.

She submitted to it, closing her eyes, awaiting the cracking of Gwi Nam’s bones, and for him to charge at her, sinking his teeth into her.

“I would never hurt you.”

“Stay away from me.”

“Please, let me hold you and prove I won’t.”

Y/N reopened her eyes, looking straight at Gwi Nam. He looked hurt, desperate; her heart ached at his display of raw emotion.

She barely knew him, yet she felt like she had known him her whole life. He had that effect on her, knew how to hit her heart in all the right spots.

Despite all the things he’d done, she felt like this. Despite her mind telling her to push him away, her heart yearned to finally do this.

Y/N nodded, stepping forward, and Gwi Nam wrapped his arms around her. He felt as though everything he had found everything he needed now, as if new beginning had found it’s way to him.

They stayed like that for a while, and when Y/N was finally sure he wouldn’t turn, she pulled away, her arms still around his torso as she looked up at him, Gwi Nam, some random guy she helped wrap a wound for in 9th grade.

“Do you believe me now?”

Y/N nodded.

He smiled at her, one of his most genuine ones in the past few years, then cleared his throat.

He slowly let go of Y/N turning to grab his shirt and jacket from the chair. “I’m glad you do. Maybe you won’t need to bandage me up then, I’ll just-”

Y/N grabbed his wrist, stopping Gwi Nam in his tracks. He turned back to Y/N, who had her mouth open slightly.

“It’s fine, I can still wrap them for you.”

She led him back to the chairs, sitting down, and opening the first aid kit, taking the gauze roll out. She could almost feel the warmth of spring, the season when she and Gwi Nam first met.

She took out a couple alcohol wipes, tearing the packaging open, looking to him before cleaning the first wound. He gave her a small smile, and she took it as a sign to start. The acohol wipe felt cool on Gwi Nam’s wound, a slight sting accompanying it after, but he could bear it a little better now. Rolling the gauze around the bite, Y/N tied it into the same bow she did the last time she wrapped him up, rubbing her hand across her ‘handiwork’, a habit she still kept to this day.

Gwi Nam’s smile only grew wider at this.

It was quiet again, but more welcoming, more comforting. It was when Y/N was on the second bite on his bicep that Gwi Nam finally mustered the courage to ask her a question he’d been meaning to ask her ever since that day she’d tended to his cut.

“Hey.”

Y/N looked up momentarily from her work, and Gwi Nam took her features in, the way her eyes widened upon being called, her slight pout, her brows rising.

“It’s funny, you know. We’ve done this same thing twice now, and I don’t even know your name.”

Y/N smiled, looking back at Gwi Nam’s bite, “Well, I suppose now is the time for us to finally do this first impression thing right, hm?”

Gwi Nam grinned, and Y/N looked up after tying the gauze into a bow then, sticking her hand out to Gwi Nam and grinning. “Hi, I’m Y/N L/N.”

Gwi Nam took her hand in his, the grin still prominent on his face. “I’m Yoon Gwi Nam.”

After Y/N was finished tending to Gwi Nam, they finally had an actual conversation with one another, learning things about the other and enjoying each others company, as if there weren’t blood thirsty zombies a door away from them now.

✧.* ·˚ ༘

“Yes! I’m telling you, I actually saw it happen!”

Gwi Nam scoffed, “You’re such a liar.”

Y/N shoved him playfully, earning her a laugh from him.

And then the quiet returned.

Right now they were both leaning against the wall behind the teacher’s desk, with Y/N’s knees to her chest, and Gwi Nam with a knee up, and his other leg lounging on the floor.

The world seemed to still as they shared this moment together, where they could just forget of all their troubles and enjoy being in the others presence. It was dark out now, the moonlight shining in through the small cracks where the paper didn’t stick well.

It all felt… strange, to Y/N. All of this, her and Gwi Nam, the fact that she felt some sort of attraction to him, it felt so weird, yet so familiar to her.

He was a bully, mean and an asshole in so many ways, yet when he was with her, Y/N could barely imagine him actually hitting a person. He was sweet, loving, understanding.

He told her of how when he was a child, his mother had died after getting into a car accident, and so he was left in the care of his stepfather.

He told her of how his stepfather acted as if Gwi Nam wasn’t even there. Sure, he cared for him, bought him clothes, fed him, put a roof over his head; but he never once acted as if he were even a child of his, never once spent time with him. Gwi Nam tried everything to gain his attention, and yet, no matter how much he tried, it never worked. He was still nothing to his stepfather.

Y/N felt for him, understanding why Gwi Nam was the way he was. No, she wasn’t justifying it, all the things he’d done were horrible, period; but now she knew the root of why he became who he was today.

Maybe that’s why he had looked so weirded out when Y/N offered to help with his wound that day.

Maybe now, she could help him through his issues, and love him; because underneath the hard crust that was the mean bully Gwi Nam, were all his best qualities, awaiting their moment of glory.

Maybe she was the one who could help him shine.

Love was strange when it came to Y/N, a friend, but an enemy all in one. It treated her badly at times, but would reward her kindly at others. Now, she felt like love was rewarding her. For what deed it was repaying her back for, she didn’t know, but she knew that she loved every second of it.

He took a deep breath in, and Y/N followed, closing her eyes. Gwi Nam took her in again, how at peace she looked, how joy was etched into every inch of her face. It was like she was made to bring happiness wherever she went, spreading it to others lucky enough to be around her.

Y/N, now feeling like she was being stared at, reopened her eyes, looking to Gwi Nam with curiosity. “Can I help you?”

“You already have.” Gwi Nam whispered.

He placed a hand on her cheek, and Y/N leaned into it.

“Y/N, I…”

He looked to her lips, then back at her eyes. Y/N’s breath hitched as she awaited his next move.

She closed her eyes again, letting the moment happen before her.

Gwi Nam smiled before kissing her, their mouths moving in sync with each other. He placed his other hand on her cheek, and she moved closer to him, tangling her hands into his hair, both smiling throughout the kiss.

It felt like everything else didn’t matter in that moment, as if shooting stars began showering down, making their moment all the more magical. Love had never seemed more real than now.

Y/N pulled away, both of them gasping for air, eliciting giggling from the two of them. “I love you, Y/N. Thank you, for showing me what love feels like, thank you, for being so loving.” Gwi Nam rested his forehead against hers, appreciating everything that led up to them meeting, even the asshole who had given him that cut 3 years ago.

thanks for reading <3 ₊˚ପ⊹

i promise i’ll work on requests asap! i’ve just got alot going on now that’s keeping me busy.

anyway, requests are still open, so request now before i close em <3

#gwi nam x reader #gwi nam #yoon gwi nam #aouad fanfic #aouad imagines #aouad x reader #aouad fluff #all of us are dead #aouad #netflix original #cheong san #yoo in soo

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thearcanacheck · 2 years

Text

Druids

Worshipers of the “Old Faith” have an unfair stigma associated with them. People who’ve never met a Druid often assume they spend all day meditating under trees up until it’s time for the next virgin sacrifice.

In truth, these notions were left over from a time when the Clerics and Druids of the world were locked in a heated rivalry. In the spirit of Country Mouse vs. City Mouse, both sides spread vicious lies about the other to lend credence to their belief system.

Unfortunately, due to the standards at the time, Druids and Clerics did everything they could to exaggerate the number of sacrifices they performed, themselves.

Times have changed, and although the bloody altars haven’t seen use in years, the rumors Druids spread about themselves still remain. The days of most Druids are packed end-to-end with house calls in isolated communities, mediating local conflicts, and troubleshooting malfunctioning stone circles. Whether a village is in need of a midwife or IT (Informative Trilithon) support, they can rest easy knowing a Druid is only a short gallop/flight/swim away.

The following Druid subclass represents the small and unrepresentative minority that gets the rest a bad name:

Circle of Blood

Circle Spells 3 Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp, Ray of Enfeeblement 5 Animate Dead, Speak with Dead 7 Phantasmal Killer, Evard’s Black Tentacles 9 Danse Macabre, Enervation

Wild Decay: When you choose this circle at the second level, any beast you transform into may be “undead.” When you do so, you appear visibly decayed, but you are immune to poison and you gain the “undead fortitude” trait from the Zombie statblock. Alternatively, you can transform into an undead monster of the appropriate CR and limitations.

Furthermore, your druid spells are altered in the following ways:

Necromancy spells you cast that normally target a humanoid can also target beasts and plants.

Spells that normally target beasts or plants can also target undead/dead beasts and plants.

If you’re in a position where you’re raising undead beasts/plants, you can only raise creatures of an equal CR to the undead humanoid you would’ve otherwise raised. such creatures gain the “undead fortitude” trait and are immune to poison. They kinda smell too.

Old Blood: At level 6, you’ve learned how to reawaken those who have long since turned to dust. Whenever you cast Animate Dead, you may can target an equal amount of dirt (or a similar substance) that will take the form of a zombie. Undead you command gain extra max HP equal to your Druid level – and they share your alignment.

Return to Soil: Starting at level 10, those you execute become a conduit for new life. When you reduce a creature to zero hp, you can cast Plant Growth on that point as a bonus action, destroying the corpse but not expending the spell slot. Furthermore, when you reduce a humanoid to zero hp with a melee weapon, you can choose to regain one first-or-second-level Druid spell-slot – destroying the humanoid’s body in the process.

Under a Shady Tree: When you reach level 14, you may cast Finger of Death once per day. On a failed save, the target also transforms into an Awakened Tree that is charmed by you for ten minutes. After that time is over, or if the tree is reduced to zero hp, the tree becomes inanimate and the original target bursts out of the trunk – possibly as a zombie if the original spell killed it.

#Druid #not a spell #dnd #D&D #dungeons and dragons #D&D subclass #homebrew #subclass #dnd homebrew #D&D homebrew #Spores Druid is fine and I'd even like to play one someday #but I'd like something a little more....#sanguine #I feel pretty good about the class features but the spell list I'm still unsure about

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kissmetae · 3 years

Text

Hope

❧ AU: x Taehyung || Friends to Lovers (Lowkey slow-burn)

You felt distressed, caught up in your own emotions and confused by your over-thought thoughts. Going through a rough patch as some would say, where everything felt hopeless and you found yourself scrolling pinterest till 1am looking for "angsty" core aesthetics to fit your new "vibe" of life. But it was easier said than done to dig yourself a hole when your best friend constantly stood by filling the hole back up as you dug in an attempt to stop you, help you and make you feel better, despite having his own issue to deal with... his crush on you.

|| ANGST + SMUT | 11k | x reader | masterlist in bio ||

❧ Disclaimer: This is fiction. Actions and events in these stories are often exaggerated and to a certain degree unrealistic. Please have this in consideration when reading fiction, especially if it includes sexual content.

❧ Rating: EXPLICIT || sexual content, unprotected sex || Warnings: mention of feeling hopeless, "deep reflection", (reader is troubled by something going on in their life but it's open for interpretation/unspecified)

❧ Smut features: Vanilla, desperate, first time together, unprotected, reassuring/concent asking/'checking in' (is this ok? Does it feel good?) top!Tae and a power outage.

How do you know when you've reached the complete state of hopelessness? Do people ever become 100% hopeless? You inhaled deeply and sighed it out. Gaze to the white ceiling, back on the bed and legs up against the wall. The tingle in your feet from the lack of circulation made them look somewhat less alive and feel cold. With a tilt of the hips you allowed your legs to slowly fall to the side, forming a new pose in the shape of a 90 degree angle on the bed and allowing for the less zombie-ish color to return to your feet. Hopelessness. Feeling like there is no point yet still stubbornly aching in the inner crevice of the head with a wish for there to be a chance for something else. A change, a plot twist a sudden eureka to make the entire world loose it's zombie color pallet and become lively and vibrant again. Hope. Or a wish for hope. It's probably some basic programming, like survival instinct, hope instinct. But at this point you didn't want to believe. You wanted to be grumpy, upset, frustrated. To curse society and curse what isn't fair and curse all the norms and expectations around you regardless of who made them up! Curse the media, curse the mold for perfect and the lip filler ads, curse the restrictions planted by your own beliefs and curse the cause of said belief! But feeling frustrated and angry is hard. Not only is it exhausting but it's the hardest emotion to let out fully and feel satisfied by after. If anything anger and frustration feels like a self-fueling fire that keeps burning more and more until you get exhausted and slump down on the bed with your legs up the wall. Crying would've been easier. You sat up, feeling a brief spin in the head due to your advanced modelling poses and reached for your water bottle. Water, Zen, calm rivers, refreshment, sound of clucking water in the harbor... rain. You turned towards your bedroom window at the sudden raging pattering sound outside. Even the sky needed to cry today. You reached for your phone, having it be faced down for the past hour or so after giving up on ranting about your dilemma to your friend. You had two types of friends. Those who were there for you when convenient and those who were there for you regardless. Taehyung was one of them. 3 missed calls. 15 texts- make that 16. A sting of guilt washed through realizing he must've been worried sick the past hour. Too exhausted to use your vocal chords you opened the text chat. Taehyung was the definition personified of a caring person. Sometimes to the extent where you'd question if it was more than anyone deserved. Did the world deserve Taehyung? You didn't make it through the second text before your doorbell rang followed by a loud bang. It sounded urgent... You got up from bed and slipped your feet into your white fluffy slippers and made your way to the front door of your apartment. You unhooked the clasp and unlocked your door to see one of the rainstorm's victims dripping water onto your doormat. Taehyung, Dressed in a green raincoat and hair clinging to his forehead and temples. His chest was rising unnaturally with his attempts to regain his breathe. "Tae-" He stepped in, an arm wrapping around your side and the other pressing your head to his wet shoulder. "If you didn't make me so worried... I would've removed my raincoat before hugging you." He squeezed. "See this as my revenge." His heart was beating fast. He pulled back after a few seconds, breathing stable and his red hands reaching to unbutton his raincoat. Did he not wear gloves? He pulled the door shut behind him and gently kicked off his boots. Apparently not. "I'll... go hang your raincoat in the bathroom for it to dry" you said, taking it from him. He was quick to address the elephant. "Why didn't you reply to my texts?" He followed behind you. "I... I left my phone to charge and I got distracted..." you made up, hanging his raincoat up in the shower. "I didn't come here to scold you, but when you tell me you're feeling hopeless, you get that it makes me worried right?" His voice was gentle and he looked at you with concerned eyes, stood in the door to the bathroom. Actually.... you didn't. Why would anyone worry... everyone seemed to always take it as nihilistic comedy or something and swat it away with something along the lines of "you’re just hungry" or the classic "are you on your period?" Maybe you were or maybe you weren't but why would that matter? Just thinking about it made you feel annoyed. As if any deep emotion only was caused by a period, it's just a period, why would anyone, let alone someone with a period themselves ask someone else that in a way that minimizes the reason they feel upset or angry or whatever emot- "Hey?" Taehyung pulled you back out from inside your head. "I don't know..." He crossed his arms over his chest and you knew that look far too well. "We'll talk about it, but right now, I'm here to make it better and take care of you. Did you eat?" You shook your head. "Great! Because I stopped by at the shop on my way... before the rain attacked me and picked up some stuff, including~" he said with an eager tone and walked towards the grocery bag you hadn’t noticed until now. He picked it up and dug his hand in for something. "Du du du du" he sang dramatically and slowly pulled out the familiar dark blue packaging. The love of your life, the source of all things good. Chocolate. The good one! Not the weird orange wrapping one you hated, but the blue one, the holy blue one, your favorite one. "I remember your frustration when you saw the empty shelf of horror last week and it was restocked today so i picked up three just in case." "THREE?!" "Mhm!" He nodded proudly. You could cry, finally, but for other reasons. "TaeTae you're the best." You walked towards him, hugging him tight. He was the bestest of the best, the hero, the savior, chocolate delivery man. Oh what would life be without him. A blush spread across his cheeks. "You did it again." He said shyly "Hm? Did what?" "You called me TaeTae." "You don't like it?" "... I do." -- Taehyung had you stationed at the kitchen table while he cooked. With a focused gaze he scrolled on his phone, reading the next step for the recipe while stirring the pot. You were pretty sure he knew this recipe by heart now, he'd cooked it for you before and he should be confident in it but seemingly not enough yet to put the recipe down. The kitchen smelt amazing and you could feel your hunger cry out for whatever was simmering in the pot. Taehyung gently tapped the wooden spoon against the pot as he added another ingredient. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" He asked. That's where you'd left him hanging in your texts when exhaustion took over... "I just..." "Is it /that/ thing?" Taehyung asked, very much knowing of your source for distress already. "Kinda... but this time it feels different... I’m not nervous or eager, I just felt like I was waiting and waiting and what if I waited so long for nothing and I.... it doesn’t make sense but I just feel numb at this point and like I'm losing hope. Like every odd is set against me and I'm the only one dumb enough to still bet on myself." "And me. Except I'm not dumb, nor are you and I'll always bet on you. Always." Oh Taehyung... "Well, as your personal doctor and advisor and therapist and nurse, care-taker, comfort teddy and so on, I am going to prescribe you with some stuff." You chuckled. "Please go ahead." He placed a plate in front of you and another on the opposite end of the table. "Firstly, a good healing meal." "And you’ve already done everything in your power right now, you’ve been working hard. Maybetoohard." He mumbled under his breathe followed by a fake cough. "That said, let me distract you." "How?" "Well, some old school friends wanted to go out clubbing this weekend and-" "You don't like clubbing." "Hold on, let me get to the point. My suggestion is that you can come too, it won’t only be them. There will be the general club people too of course and I think most of them were bringing other friends or their girlfriends too so... it might be fun? If it sucks, we'll ditch and go to the midnight bowling place or noraebang, yes?" Maybe having some social interaction, an excuse to dress up and good music wasn't such a bad idea? The only thing bugging you was the potential mess there could be... and lately with your stressed mind you hadn't been the best at handling those environments, but after all this was just a club, with dancing people... it couldn't be that bad right? Bowling did sound fun too though... But you knew distraction and fun was what you probably needed. Maybe it wouldn't solve the issues but maybe it'd make it weigh less. The small distractions did a lot, a big one should do even more. "Sure." "Really?!" You could've sworn you just witnessed his ears wiggle from excitement. "I'll come." -- When Taehyung said "clubbing" you expected big flashy neon signs, a red rope and a guard and pulsing music coming from inside... not a giant base, a sax and a set-up of almost 4 different types of synthesizers. A jazz club. You should've known. The band was some sort of electro jazz fusion sprinkled with funk type band, as they introduced themselves as and they weren't bad, not at all. In fact this was a lot cozier than an uncomfortable packed nightclub. You just wish Taehyung told you so you could've worn your comfy flowy favorite dress rather than your tight little black one, wanting to fit in with the scene... Taehyung was dressed in black slacks, a green sweater and a brown coat that was hung over his chair, paired with his trademark assortment of bracelets on his wrist. Including the one you gave him for his birthday two years ago. He never took it off since the day he got it. It made you smile seeing it on his wrist. Taehyung's old school friends, the few you had managed to great during the evening were all really nice and most of them had their arm either around another or a hand held by another. You couldn't help but feel a little awkward, the questioning looks that didn't need to be vocal for you to understand. "Is this your girlfriend?" Taehyung just smiled, maybe playing it off was best... or did he just not notice the silent question? At first you expected a shrug or something but nope... "Would you like something more to drink?" Taehyung asked, leaning in so you'd hear him over the music and pointing towards your nearly empty glass. "I think I'm alright." "What?" "I'm ok." You leaned in closer. "Do you want to dance?" You and Taehyung were seated alone at one of the many tables as the majority were occupied dancing to the beats of the band and the rest drinking at other tables or mingling around. You had been up there at least twice, maybe even three times dancing the best you could and Taehyung always being by your side but your brain was starting to get a little drowsy. "I think I'm going to call it a night. But you can stay if you want." "No no, if you want to go home I'll come with you, let me walk you home." "I'll take a taxi its ok" "I insist." "So do I" the few drink he had had were enough to make his words braver and bolder. "It's late, I don't want you to go back alone regardless of if you take a taxi. I'll walk you." Fine. "Ok" Taehyung swept the remainder of his wine and grabbed his coat and waved some quick goodbyes. It was cold outside. Dark and empty... maybe it was good Taehyung insisted after all. He stumbled slightly, alarming you. Your hands instinctively reached for him and he giggled. "You only had two glasses I doubt you're drunk right now." "Maybe I wiwwle tipdie" he giggled, clearly acting up. "Does wiwwle tipdie Taehyung need help? Should I carry you on my back?" "No! I should be carrying you, do you have a blister on your heal from your shoes? Sore feet? Sore legs? Anything I can use as an excuse?" You laughed, patting him gently on the back. A cold breeze travelled through the street and you pulled your jacket tighter around you. "You're cold?" Taehyung asked "A little... my choice of dress wasn't the best." "I think you look beautiful." The sudden compliment caught you off guard. "... thanks." "Thanks? For what?" "The compliment" "I'm simply stating the facts." He said, looking to the side and slipping his hands into his pockets. "It sure is cold..." Why was it feeling awkward suddenly? Silence between the two of you would usually be comfortable... "Thanks for bringing me too." "Did you have fun?" He turned to face you again. "Yes, it was better than I expected." "I'm glad to hear that." "But let’s go bowling next time." "Sure!" He smiled widely. A source of warmth suddenly surrounded you and you looked up to see Taehyung's face turned away yet again but his arm resting around your shoulder, wrapping his coat around you and urging you closer into his side till your hips almost brushed against each other. The rest of the walk back home was a few minutes of silence, but luckily you didn't live far. "Home sweet home" "How will you get home?" You asked, concerned. "Ah..." he checked the time on his phone. "Well I've missed the last train... so unless I can find a taxi which so far I've seen none I'll have to sleep at the station." "No you're not, come, you can call a taxi from my place and at least wait inside instead of out in the cold." You said, grabbing his arm and pulling him with you through the entrance. "Nobody's picking up?" You asked Taehyung looked down at his phone with a confused look. "It keeps hanging up on me? I don't know if maybe their line is down or something?" "It would explain why we didn't see any on the walk back." "I guess so... so now what?" He looked up at you. "Guess you'll have to stay the night." He grinned. "Can't remember the last time we had a sleep-over" he chuckled and removed his coat. He was right, it must've been years ago... the last time you could remember was a movie night gone sleep over during winter when it had snowed so no traffic was able to move at all. You grabbed a spare cover and a pillow and handed it to Taehyung, sleepiness already present in his eyes. "Hey." Taehyung said, laying out the pillow and cover on your sofa. "If I have a nightmare can I come lay next to you?" He grinned. "If you have to." He replied with a puppy gaze. "Good night TaeTae." His eyes widened and he looked down at the couch. "... Good night." -- The question was when would you wake to the sound of birds chirping instead of the aggressive rasp of the snow plow dragging across the street? It almost sounded like it was more ir less plowing the asphalt off the earth rather than the snow. More irritating was that it just added to your unsatisfying sleep and rough awakening streak. One good morning was all you asked for... You sat up, slid off the edge of the bed and slipped into your slippers that were neatly set up by its side. A scratch of the head and an adjusting pull of the bun on your head and you headed to you first destination; tea. With heavy steps you dragged yourself out of your room and were met by the surprise you had forgotten was left on your couch from last night, sprawled across the sofa... in only boxers. Oh god. The covers were halfway on the floor, only covering his legs, barely. It was cold too but should you just ignore him... no, you couldn't... but what if you woke him up? He was only in boxers and you were already trying your best not to look but your brain had already registered that they were black and Calvins... please no more information... thigh muscles NO! Chest, focus on the chest. He was breathing, he was alive. Inhale, exhale. You carefully made your way towards him. His chest was toned... the type perfect to rest your head on NO! Messy hair... It really didn't help that your best friend was as attractive as he was. You bent down and carefully picked up the cover, pulling it back up over his upper body. He must've been really cold, his nipples- NO. You shook your head furiously to get rid of the thought. You turned around 180 degrees and marched to the kitchen. Tea. Tea. Tea. Tae. TEA! You could hear the covers rustle as he shifted, followed by a soft groan. Oh no... Please no. Although... why was it so dangerous for him to see you in your own home, making tea. I don't know! But regardless it felt like an action movie stealth scene for the grand heist judging by your heart beat. The boiler was too loud, the accidental clink of the mug as you set it to the counter too, the rip of packaging of the tea bag, the wind whistling outside! Sweat? You were sweating, stress consuming you yet again over the moist pointless little thi- "Hey?" The tea cup smashed against the kitchen floor along with your gasp and you grabbed the door handle of the kitchen cupboard for support. Taehyung starred at you with wide startled eyes. Maybe your screech scared him as much as his sudden presence scared you. "Sorry." He chuckled, voice so deep and raspy you could practically feel his vocal chords vibrate. Your heart was pounding hard. Could he at least have been swaddled in the covers and not in his boxers right now... You diverted your eyes to the porcelain shards across the floor. "Wait wait wait!" Taehyung yelped, holding his hand out to stop you from moving. But it was too late. The dark kitchen along with your giddiness had of course resulted in the unfortunate miss step. You sighed, lifting your foot from the chard as you felt something wet trickle down your foot. Taehyung quickly reached to turn the lights on, the bright shine blinding both of you briefly and making the view of him even clearer. "Stay there." Taehyung ordered. Your kitchen was pretty small so there wasn't much space to move without risking another wrong step. A cup of tea and now all this. You slapped your arms to your sides in a deep pout. Making a new cup now just felt wrong but you craved a cup so bad and it was cold... the floor was cold, you were cold... and not to mention everything hanging in form of heavy weights on your shoulders and chilling on top of the imaginary storm cloud above you right now. It's like your issues were mocking you and just making everything worse. Maybe the issue was that you related to the once-was intact mug. You felt split and unorganized, all over the place and dependent on things you knew you shouldn’t be depending your hope and happiness on but yet day after day you’d lose yourself in a visualization of a scenario of perfection were everything would be ok until again the door was slammed in your face and you had to start all over again. No matter how many times you felt like this time would be different and this time you were ready, this time it'd all go your way because the past was forgiven and your time wasn’t right but again and again .... Your patience was running out. You sniffed, wiping the tears from your cheeks with the back of your hand. Taehyung came back holding a broom and a dust pan when he saw your face of tears. "No..." he sounded panicked. He leaned down quickly sweeping the chards to the side of the kitchen and tossing the broom and pan into the pile so he could approach you. Strong lean arms embarrassed you like out of a 6 different angles k-drama scene. A hand found its place on the back of your head, softly petting you as the other pressed you closer to his warm chest. Never had you expected that hugging Taehyung would feel this safe. May it be because he was the one you could be truly vulnerable with or that he was the one that knew what was going on right now, but whatever he did... he did it just right. "You don't need to say anything." He whispered. "I know." He squeezed you a little firmer. "I know." He reassured. "Sssh" his hand felt so gentle as it caressed you. "It's going to be ok." He felt so warm. "I'm here." His skin felt so soft against your hands. "I'm not going anywhere." Your heart calmed down. Taehyung didn't pull away until you became silent and your breathing stable. But even then he didn't pull away completely, only enough to look at your face and caress his thumbs under each eye gently. "I'll reheat the water for you." He smiled softly and reached for the switch on the kettle. You didn't want to let go, not just yet. But he slipped away carefully and kneeled to sweep up the shards and discarded the pieces into the bin. He briefly disappeared and came back holding his sweater, arms slipped in and pulling it over his head as he entered, causing his shoulders to naturally flex slightly as he slipped it on. He grabbed two mugs from the cupboard, added a bag in each and filled them with the hot water. You tugged and fidgeted at your sleeve as you watched, feeling unusually shy in his presence. "Come, let’s sit on the sofa" Taehyung said and grabbed a mug in each hand but quickly came to a halt. "Your foot!" You had forgotten about it too. He placed the mugs back down and watched you as you lifted to check the cut. "Fuck." Taehyung said and quickly ripped a piece of kitchen towel off and handed it to you. Holding one hand against the fridge for support and the other wiping the smeared mess on your foot you watched as Taehyung quickly disappeared and reappeared again with your med kit. "Does it hurt?" He asked, rummaging through the kit. "No, it just stings a little." He pulled out some disinfectant solution and eyes you quickly up and down. Before you knew it he was stood in front of you, kneeling slightly as you felt his large hand grab a hold behind your thigh and his arm scooped you up on him. Your heart was back to its rapid pace again. He set you down on the sofa carefully and went back to grab the disinfectant and the tea mugs. He sat on the floor in front of you, soaking a cotton pad with the solution and gentle pulling your foot towards him by the ankle. "Ah, thanks goodness it doesn't seem to be deep." He said with relief, gently dabbing the cotton pad to the wound. It stung a little but it wasn't too bad. "All nice and clean, do you have cute band-aids?" "Only boring plain ones I'm afraid." Taehyung scrunched his nose. "Boo." With a band-aid beneath your foot and your longed for tea in your hands you sat next to him on the sofa. "An eventful morning." "I should become your fulltime caretaker at this point." Taehyung joked. "Not that I'd mind." "Will you pay me?" He raised his brows as well as the mug to his lips. "No way." You smiled. "Charity work is good for karma." "I already have good karma!" Taehyung protested, pretending to be offended. He laughed that trademark warm laugh that was like a smooth cackle that somehow always triggered a little firework to go off in your chest. You smiled, looking into your mug as if it'd tell you a fortune. ... you swallowed and looked up. In winter the sun rose late and had begun its voyage above the horizon, painting the sky a bright warm orange tone as it shined in through the window behind Taehyung. No. You didn't have feelings for him. You just felt some post-event shakiness and nerves and for the matter of a fact you finally got your much needed cry. It must just be your chest feeling lighter thanks to the cry. "So, do you have any planes today?" Taehyung asked. "I don't even know what day it is." "Good, I don't have plans either and it's Saturday for your information. But I do have a potential plan and that is, since I'm already here, to spend the day with you unless you have important to do's, which you shouldn't, because you need a break." He whispered towards the end. "A fmnn break." He repeated, biting his lip on the word to censor himself, but he got his point across. "A break would be nice... but when I try, I feel distressed as if I shouldn't be doing it because I'm wasting my time. I need-" "A distraction" Taehyung filled in. You nodded. "Then thou shall sit here and watch my live-in-action cooking show live from your kitchen." He said cheerfully, slapping his hands to his thighs as he stood up. "Do you have strawberries?" He asked. "In the freezer." "Yes!" He made his way to the kitchen, worth to mention is the open floor plan of your apartment so you could see him well enough from where you were seated. The soft messy curls on his head bounced with him as he walked. He dramatically pointed at you with a spatula in his hand. "Welcome." He said, speaking deeply into the spatula. "The pancake and strawberry smoothie extravaganza extraordinaire show with your host." He point his thumb and index under his chin. "Kim Taehyung." His goofiness never failed to bring a smile to your face. He went to grab his phone on the sofa table. "I need background music...." he hummed as he scrolled, spatula still in his other hand. "Jeopardy music 10 hours?" He looked up at you for an opinion. "Please no." He giggled and a calm upbeat song started playing from him phone as he put it back down and resorted to the kitchen. While frying up the first batch he was spaced out, humming on the theme tune to jeopardy anyway. You had made yourself comfortable on the sofa, lying down. The sofa smelt like him now. The same sweet comforting scent as the hug had... and his coat the numerous times he'd wrapped it around you when it was cold or shielded you from the rain with it. But speaking of memory, thinking back at those often occurring times you were also reminded about how a previous "friend" used to try and provoke you into being nervous and shy in Taehyung's presence. You'd been close for years and maybe she had an issue with that or something but she'd always find ways to tease you in way. Claiming Taehyung was giving you "looks" or "checking you out" in ways she as a self-declared expert in men deemed were of more than friendly nature. And since she as expert of men by that likely thought all men were the same, proves how reliable of a source she was. Taehyung he just.... you were close. She just wanted to make you feel embarrassed and self-conscious and make it awkward between you. You hated thinking about that. It made you overthink and feel awkward. Like an evil loop. You looked up at the breakfast chef, catching his eye as he quickly looked back down to the pancakes. You could get used to this view. Handsome man in boxers and sweater making you pancakes when you’re feeling blue, the headline in your head spelled out. The Zen experience of the kitchen fan being turned off brought stillness and Taehyung emerges with a plate of pancakes, disappearing and re-appearing again after denying your offer to help with the strawberry smoothies, plates, forks, knifes and every suitable pancake topping he had been able to locate in your kitchen. And a tube of mustard as a joke that you only kept in your fridge for when your dad came over to dinner and his weird obsession with having mustard on everything. It was probably even expired. "Enjoy your meal." "You're my hero Taehyung." You said, stabbing a pancake. "I can be your hero baby." You froze. "What?" "Haven't you heard that song?" He smiled. Oh.. "Hero? By Enrique Iglesias?" "Ah, now that you mention it-" "With the weird music video were goes on this road trip with the girl and then he's suddenly rubbing money over her body in this random stone house." "Is this what you binge on youtube at 2am when I wake up to 15 links and emotional texts." "Do not judge me!" You giggled. "I'm not, I like waking up to those texts from you. You sent them to me for a reason." Taehyung smiled shyly. "Yeah... anyhow! I have a suggestion, a proposal, a-" "Go on" "Since I'm your hero, but even I weren't. I thought maybe I could stay here a few days? Only if you want me to, of course. I just-" he became shyer. "I like to think that you seem to feel better when I'm around and you're going through a rough time so I'd like to be there for you, like you are for me." Your heart made its presence in your chest known yet again. "You should think.... because it's true." "So?" "It'd be nice." He smiled widely. "Great! But I do need to go home and pack some clothes and... some pajamas and Yeontan! He is a great comforter trust me, he has cheered me up many times when I've cried." "Cried? What were you crying about?" "Oh- uhm it's nothing, it's ok now so." He swatted it away. "Boys cry too." He joked, but it tasted weird. "But he's staying with my parents this weekend, but if you want I can go pick him up." He suggested. "It's ok, he needs time with his grandparent." Taehyung chuckled. "Well they love their grandson so I'm sure they wouldn't mind having him stay an extra day or two." -- You couldn't help but feel bad that Taehyung had to sleep on the sofa... His bag with clothes and necessities was placed in the hallway and the covers neatly hung over the backrest. "We could take turns and sleep in the bed every other day." "I told you it was fine." Taehyung insisted, again. "I just feel bad..." "Then let’s both sleep in your bed and call it even." "...." your cheeks felt hot. "See, so I'll sleep on the sofa. Don't worry about it!" What does he mean "see"? ... you were simply imagining what excuse to use as to how your head would coincidentally end up on his chest instead of your pillow. "Or we'll both sleep on the sofa, but it might be a bit cramped." He continued. "Maybe this was a bad idea..." "Hey no! No, I'm just joking. Don't feel bad ok." Taehyung's hands smoothed down your arms. "Beds are better at healing wounds on the feet too." You exhaled deeply. "Oh TaeTae..." "Doesn't this feel like we're having a pajama party or sleep over?" He smiled. "Kinda, should we build a blanket fort and watch movies?" His mouth dropped open. "I'm just kidding!" You laughed He pouted. "Oh you want to?" A nod. "You want to build a fort and watch movies?" You asked with more excitement. More enthusiastic nodding. You both cracked up laughing on the sofa together. "I'm serious though." Taehyung grinned. -- You lied awake in your bed, eyes to the ceiling. For some wild reason you both thought it would be a great idea to binge through the entire twilight saga series as a source of comedy but you only made it up to half-way through eclipse when it became too much to handle for both of you. The first movie was easy to mock and laugh at and make fun out if but once it got more serious and romantic in new moon it started getting a little awkward. To say the least, feeling flustered from watching twilight but not due to the movie itself but from the presence of Taehyung right next to you in your make-shift sofa blanket fort. You couldn't stop thinking about him. And he was out there... on your sofa, right now. And who knew if he was in cute polka dot pajamas with his hair a mess on the pillow or his tight fitted boxers and his hair tied up.. You bit your lip, crossing your legs at the visual. You remembered the first time you witnessed Taehyung tie his hair up and how it felt like being punched in the gut. It's not possible to be that attractive. "Then aren't you attracted to him?" The voice echoed in your head. Just because you find someone attractive doesn't mean you're attracted to them! Which is very much true. But Taehyung's personality was attractive too which was harder to justify the same way. And his person. And him. The entire package. You sighed. Maybe the stupidest thing you could do right now was reach for your phone and google "do I have feelings for my best friend?" Ah yes. A quiz. Maybe it wasn't so stupid after all, it'd say maybe you like him but you're not into him at the very most. Question 1, do you find them attractive. Well who wouldn't? And like mentioned it doesn't mean you're attracted to him. Yes. Question 2, do they like you? Pfft... what kind of question is that? How would you know? I don't know... or yes I guess? I mean he clearly likes you as a friend or he wouldn't be up to making all this effort for you but do they mean platonically? You ticked maybe. Question 3, Do you stalk them on social media? What the??? He's your best friend! The algorhythm shoves his posts in your face weather you like it or not. Sometimes. Question 4, Do you see them a lot? Yes. Question 5, Do you want to know more about them? You already know everything ... but what he cries about to Yeontan is something. Yes. Question 6, when you see them with somebody else who isn't considered their friend, how do you feel? Jealous. Question 7, when they're around you how do you feel? Nervous or self-conscious or nothing or i don’t know... well nervous AND a little self-conscious depending on the situation and if he's dressed or in just his boxers. Nervous. Question 8, Do you think about them? Yes. Always. Question 9, Do you laugh at their jokes? Another weird one but yes. Question 10, are they your ex? Huh? No. Definitely. A lot. You placed your phone screen down on your chest and let out a sigh. Maybe visualizing a kiss or two while in the shower was a crime after all... or was the question why were you in the first place? He was amazing in every type of way and you wanted to know if he was amazing at kissing too andmaybeinbed but you can't just ask him that or try it out, so you had to resort to imagination.... Who were you even trying to convince at this point? You liked him. Definitely. And a lot. The realization did nothing to help you fall asleep unfortunately. Another 15 minutes in dark silence passed when you suddenly heard the floorboards squeak. Maybe Taehyung was going to the bathroom or grabbing a glass of water... But the soft pats of his feet should've stopped by now... Your half open door pushed open a bit more shyly and Taehyung peaked in. Dressed in pajama bottoms, but no shirt. "You're awake." He said, whispering. "So are you." "I can't sleep..." he rubbed his arm. "I feel lonely." As if you'd deny him looking all shy and vulnerable in your door. You scooted to the side in your bed, making raise his brows in hope and anticipation, fingers fidgeting. "Come." You said, patting the bed next to you. The bed dipped gently as he lied down and you put the covers over him. He shifted onto his side, placing his head on your pillow. This was better. But since you just took an online quiz to realize you had feelings for this man currently shirtless in your bed, you couldn’t help but feel incredibly awkward. "How come you're feeling lonely?" You asked, trying to conceal your stiffness "To a start I sleep better when I get to hold something." He said shyly "Who?" You asked, intending for it to be a thought. "When I'm at home, Yeontan." Of course... "He lays on the bed and I feel less lonely and hearing him walk around or do something makes me feel soothed knowing I'm not alone... for the most part." "Are the tears you cry... tears of loneliness?" You could tell it triggered something in him. He bit his lip and nodded gently, eyes glossy. "For the most part it's just me and a pillow." He confessed. "But you could say-... it's something like that, yes." Face to face, mere inches apart. You thanked the darkness of the room that he couldn't see you blush right now but unreasonable fear that he'd somehow "sense" it in the atmosphere still worried you. You shouldn't have taken that stupid quiz it only made you start overthinking and it was probably rigged and the questions were weird so why should you listen to it? Get back to your senses! He's your best friend and you're comfortable with him! Calm down! "... I know it's dumb" Taehyung mumbled. "I know it seems like I'm this easy-going social butterfly with lots of friends who can find someone to hang out with within seconds... but when I'm alone at home, I just feel so empty. Like if nobody sees me, I don't exist. Thus when I'm alone, I'm not real anymore." "That's very philosophical, but what if someone thinks about you while you are alone? Then wouldn't you exist since somebody has you on their mind?" "But it'd be impossible for me to know and people have better things to do than walk around and daydream about me." It stung a little inside hearing him say this. "People are actually capable of multitasking you see, they can do these better things you speak of and think about you at the same time. I think about you a lot, sometimes I think about you while doing the laundry, riding the bus or taking a show- that sound's wrong." Taehyung chuckled. "But you get what I mean." "What do you mean?" He asked "That I think about you and that you aren't alone TaeTae, you never are. If you're ever feeling lonely, maybe think about me. If that helps. Or get to know yourself more, become your own friend or create an imaginary friend!" "I already do that." "Have an imaginary friend?" "Think about you." Oh. "... does it help?" You asked shyly. He shook his head. "It just makes me miss you and want to come to see you." Is it possible to experience a softer heart attack than you just did? Rather than a heart exploding in saw gore-level mess it gently poofed and became a small cloud of red feathers gently falling to the ground. Since when had you become a softie? Two hours ago you were all if there's no sex in the romance novel, it's not worth my time but now you suddenly felt an urge to ransack the romance section of the nearest library to read every cheesy romance story you could find until you could find one similar to your own. Your... own? What? With... with Taehyung? ... not that you’d visualize every male lead character as coincidentally similar to him regardless of how their looks were described in the book.... "Maybe I do need to spend some time with myself to get over it..." No! Stay here with me! "I can spend more time with you." Taehyung looked up. "I think that could benefit us both." He sounded more hopeful now. "Well, you're already here so it's also convenient." Despite the darkness you could make out the smile on his face that appeared. Cute. But wait... did Taehyung suggest he could stay here for you, because he felt lonely? He shifted slightly and the sheets rustled. His leg accidently brushed against yours and your first thought was to tangle your legs with his in a leg tackle war... but you still felt too on edge to act casual and playful with him like you normally could. You swallowed. "How long have you felt this way?" "A while... a long while. At first it was nothing but then it got worse and even more worse when I realized this one thing." "What thing was that if I may ask?" He sighed. "It's hard to explain... but, say a friend." "Mhm?" "A friend feels kinda lost, existentialism and stuff going on, doesn't like to be by himself, then he finds this person and they make him forget it all but once they’re apart it all returns to him again like they were his escape but only for as long as they were together." "Is that only with that one person or all?" "No no, only that person. And then he realizes he might be in love, or he's addicted to the person in a way, but in a good way not an obsessive way just-" "In love?" "Something like that." "You're in love?" "Huh?! What no! This was about a friend! I'm not talking about me!" "Then what did you realize Taehyung?" You could tell his mind briefly blanked in panic. "I realized that maybe I, as said friend need to find that person for me." "A person?" He nodded shyly. "You want to fall in love?" "I don't know... something like that." 'Something like that' seemed to be his catchphrase this evening. But in love? A person? His person?... that couldn't be you... could it? Did he want you to be his person? Were you his person?? The questions and confusion kept spiraling through your head, (finally) making you feel tired and exhausted. "I think... I just want to tend to someone else than myself, to not have to think so much about it and instead take care of somebody else." "Is that why you offered to stay?" "Yes and no, I want to take care of you because I am genuinely concerned and worried about you, I want to be there for you. But also, sleeping on the couch last night, hearing you tiptoe around the kitchen... it made me feel comforted." His voice sounded drowsy. "If you want... I can be your person in this scenario." You suggested. "You've already become.. person." He mumbled, sinking deeper into his half-awake state. -- You stretched your leg out one at the time, twisting your body gently and inhaling deeply into a stretch, gently batting your eyes open. You pushed a palm against the bed to get up into a seated position when something suddenly restrained you, heavy over your abdomen. Surprised, you raised the sheet to see the reminder of what you had forgotten last night. Over your waist, a lean arm with faint thin dark hairs and a few subtle veins travelling up the forearm from the large hand clung to the side of your waist... all attached to the source of warmth to your left, Taehyung. His dark locks a mess on the pillow, his bare upper body now fully on display in the daylight and his polka dot pajama pants haven travelled down a bit too far low for your sanity... Cursed be the eyes in your skull for travelling down the view. You would've noticed it sooner or later regardless, especially since your thigh was a hair between touching it. It, being the weird relief of knowing he got some deep relaxing sleep in... but with an awkward morning surprise... and his arm wouldn't grant you freedom without you accidentally or intentionally having to wake him up. You carefully shifted to at least have your thighs at a safer distance, but your bed wasn't intended for two people, so it was easier said than done. His grip suddenly tightened and a low groan escaped him as he shifted. Why did you feel fear as if you shouldn’t be present in your bed in which he entered himself. If anyone Taehyung should be the one fearing his life right now. His thumb caressed your side gently and it felt nice... soothing. Until his eyes suddenly opened wide with a soft gasp as you felt his morning hard on grace against your thigh. Eyes that pleaded and begged you didn't notice pierced into yours and you decided to play along. "Did you sleep well?" His hand quickly retreated to your disappointment. "Sorry i... I did it in my sleep it wasn't-" "It's ok, you said you sleep well holding something and being held didn't feel too bad..." "Well, in that case, I actually slept better than I have in a really long time." He said, voice raspy and deep still. He rolled onto his back, thankfully, and placed his hand behind his head. "Did you?" "Huh?" "Did you sleep well?" "In fact, I did." You said, answering truthfully and resisting the urge to put your head on his bare chest. If only the lord or whoever would stop testing me... "Hungry?" He asked. You nodded. "Great, I'll fix something ok, but close your eyes." "Why?" "I'm shirtless." ... right. You covered your eyes with your hands and the warmth left your side as he got up and escaped the room. You slowly got up, trying to win some time for him but a few brief seconds later heard the sound of the bathroom door down the hall closing and locking. Yikes. That went smoother than expected. You set up some tea, knowing Taehyung described coffee as the closest to unlethal poison you could find, you knew he'd prefer tea or hot chocolate and that there was no use to ask. You knew him too well. It was nice having him here. And waking up with a strong arm around your waist wasn't too bad either... if only you could've let yourself enjoy the moment instead of freaking out, what if he grew cautious now and you'd never experience it again? You sighed softly, grabbing two mugs from the cupboard. After a while, the kettle clicked and you poured some water into each mug. It had been a while now... ... was he meditating in there? There was no sound of the shower, or anything, not that you were listening. Would it be weird if you asked if he was ok? Since the kettle was off the entire apartment became significantly more silent. You heard a faint mumble. "Fuck..." You swallowed. Ear please momentarily turn off, mind and imagination too please. You reached to put the kettle back on but since the water was already hot it clicked off again after 5 seconds. The bathroom door opened and you braced yourself to not look down. Luckily, he was now wearing his oversized sweater or else you would've failed immediately. He let out a soft chuckle. "I spaced out." His cheeks were flushed red and glowing. Right. "I made you some tea." -- Why were deep topics always easier to talk about at night? Were people like clams? You wake up and it opens a little and once we hit the night the clam is fully open and then closes during sleep to a new no-talk-me-I-not-have-tea-yet to ask-me-about-how-i-view-existentialism cycle? Or were nights just vulnerable with the darkness? In that case you should metaphorically speaking be an open clam all day during winter when the sun goes into its own hibernation. But here you were again, just like last night, except... 20 minutes into the sudden power outage that made your impromptu movie night come to a halt. And it was getting really cold. Bundled up under a cover together, staring at the flicker of the candle on the coffee table in silence. "I was going to offer to make you tea to warm you up but the kettle..." Taehyung said with a soft chuckle. "The power will probably come back any moment soon." He said optimistically. As you looked out of the window earlier, you noticed it wasn't just your place, but the entire block seemed to have an outage. Unusual. But the current roaring rain storm outside likely had something to do with it. The wind was aggressive, the windows shook, it whistled in a creepy way and the trees outside rustled loudly. "How about we play a game?" Taehyung suddenly suggested, breaking off the silence again. He was feeling awkward, you could tell. He always rested his hands in his lap, fidgeting or poking at the cuticles of his nails when he felt awkward. "Sure, what should we play?" His face lit up. "Questions and answers? I can start!" "Shoot!" You folded your legs and shifted to face him on the couch. "What's your ideal type." ... he... immediately went there. "Looks or personality?" Taehyung shrugged. "Both." "Well it depends on the vibe they give off of course... and mainly. I guess tall, but it's not that important, wide shoulders are always nice." You paused to think, how can I describe Taehyung without it sounding like I'm describing Taehyung. "Funny, caring, optimistic, outgoing..." "Like me!" He smiled widely. You leaned back, squinting while caressing your chin, examining him playfully. "Hmmmn" He placed his hands under his jaw, like he was displaying his face and batted his eyelashes. "Not bad, not bad." He looked disappointed. "Just not bad?" You playfully nudged his arm. "It's your turn to answer. "Fine." He pouted, crossing his arms over his chest but cracking a giggle. "I'll ask you the same question." "Very original, you." "It's called recycling, so tell me." "I did." "Huh?" "You." Your heart froze briefly before beginning to pound. "Me?" "Mn!" He said confidently. "You're not bad" he mocked. You swallowed. "I have a question about the rules." "Go on" "If I ask you anything, do you have to tell the truth?" "Yes! Nothing but. So you better tell me what you actually think rather than 'not bad'" "Is the friend you talked about actually you? And am I the person?" He tensed up, swallowing. "I guess it was obvious..." he mumbled, rubbing his arm and looking down at his lap. "I just..." he began, but reluctance interrupted him. "I understand." You said. He looked up, seemingly surprised yet still tensed "I make you feel less lonely." He nodded slowly. "Which makes sense. After all we're best friends." You continued. "... right." He looked away. "Best friends." Taehyung reached up to move his hair away from his eyes, still facing down as if he was considering something. "So... what do you think of me?" His voice sounded more serious. Where to start of course he was gorgeous! Wide shoulders, a build you'd die to slide your hands down, dark big eyes, a sweet smile with plump lips, sculpted perfectly and his honey skin. Person wise... he was someone you'd want to have as your person. "A nice person" He scoffed. "Seriously?" He seemed upset. He finally looked up, meeting your gaze. There was a sparkle in his eye. The warm light from the candle made his face glow even more. "I mean person as in the person you have, a your-person" "A nice your-person?" He tilted his head. "You told me yesterday in bed that you can feel like someone is your person because they bring you comfort and make all your problems go away and you feel better just by being in their presence! A nice that-type-of-person." "But I was talking about you!" He pleaded "And now I'm talking about you." "You are my person, what do you mean?" He asked, placing emphasis on "my" "That you're my person too. Am I being unclear?" "No, not at all. I just wanted to hear you say it." "So you tricked me?" You scoffed. "Not really." He leaned closer. "But maybe I set you up and you simply walked into my trap." "So now what? We're just going to sit here in denial over the fact that we both admitted to being each other's person?" You questioned, feeling slightly panicky and picking at your nails. Was this platonic or not? "We don't have to" he grinned. "But to be clear, I'm not talking about you being my person as in my other half, my best friend type person, even though you are that too bit this isn't it." "Are you trying to tell me that you're in love with me?" He tensed up again. Fuck it. "Then just say it, stop confusing me with your riddles and metaphors and I won't do the same. Just tell me-" His hand pressed against the back of your head as he leaned in almost all the way. He caressed the back of your head gently and your gaze dropped to his soft pink lips with the tiny freckle to the side. You leaned in close enough to brush a gentle touch before Taehyung pressed you closer for your lips to finally collide. It started off desperate yet a little shy. You pressed back, grabbing at his sides and the kiss deepened. Your heart was pounding. Never did you expect he'd just go for it and kiss you when you showed some bold courage towards him but you didn’t have a slightest regret because he tasted so good against your mouth. His plump pink lips so passionate, so needy but also so gentle and triggering an explosion in your chest. Taehyung leaned over you, making you lay down on the couch as he crawled on top and it turned into an even wilder heated make out. Your hand tangled into his hair, his hand rubbed against the side of your waist under your top. Fearing it'd be the first, last and only, you wanted every single piece of this moment you could have. Unintentional, his touch triggered a soft moan to escape your throat, which subsequently triggered a groan from Taehyung. Making a sound like that with his voice should be illegal. It did things to you, things you didn't want to confess. But the box of secret confessions was torn open within seconds as Taehyung, a heavy breathing mess suddenly pulled away from your lips and landed by your ear, exhaling deeply. "Fuck, I'm hard." He groaned and you knew the box was flying out the windows with your filthy confession floating aimlessly around for him to hear but all you managed to stutter out was a choked "huh?" "If you knew how long I've wanted you for." He whispered. "How scared I've been of being rejected because I knew it'd shatter me." The hopeless romantic you knew he was made his attendance known. "A friend?" You chuckled. "Maybe I set myself up with that one, I admit. But I was hoping you'd catch on." He chuckled, still breathless. He planted a kiss against your neck. Were you about to have sex? Would it lead to that? Did you mind? Certainly not... Taehyung pushed up slightly, looking down at you. "May I?" You nodded and he smiled widely, pressing a kiss to your lips. Shifting, he easily found his place between your thighs and grinded up against you slowly with pressure, causing both of you to exhale into a sweet needy moan. Your feelings felt scattered all over the place but this wasn't the time to pick them up. You wanted to let go, to surrender, just for this moment. Let go of everything clawing at your back, clouding the sunny skies and draining you. There is nothing more exhausting than smiling pretending everything is ok while whatever inflated issue in beast form is clawing its nails across your back and the scars sting like lemon juice was just rubbed all over you, feeling disgusting and sticky, let alone in pain and with a sore back from the held tension. He grinded again, sensually this time as the tip of his nose travelled up your neck, inhaling your sweet scent. "Mmm" he hummed softly. Your hand made its way to his nape as he settled by your neck. "I could fall asleep here." He chuckled. "Right here in your neck, it's so warm and smells so nice. It's more effective than lavender." "Are you enchanted by my odor?" He laughed his trademark bubble laugh. "I wish you knew how much fun you are." He squeezed you, rubbing up firmer to you with a desperate grunt. "Fuck I can't take it anymore." He stood on his knees, crossing his arms in front of him and grabbing the hem of his sweater, pulling it up and off, exposing his soft skin and toned chest as it fell to the floor. His hand reached for the button on his pants but before making it to the zipper his attention returned back to you with his hands sliding up under your top and pulling it up over your head. "I just want to make sure again... is it ok?" He asked, eyes big. "Yes, touch me, kiss me, do whatever you want just don’t leave the couch. At least not without me." He smirked at this, finally able to surrender to his greed. Taehyung reached for the waistline of your pants, unbuttoning, unzipping and pulling them down your hips with your underwear going off with them. His fingers softly rakes over your skin as he travelled down your legs, your hips lifted to assist him and then they were tossed onto the floor. He reached for his own zipper again but you sat up, quickly swatting his hand away and reaching for it yourself. He was on his knees between your thighs. You pulled them down, sliding your hands over his soft curved hips, revealing his tight fitted boxers with little to any space left for his hard on. You swallowed. He blushed. Relieved that Taehyung took over the lead again you lied back down as his hands gently pushed you back, slipping the bra straps off your shoulders and reaching behind you to unhook and free you from your final piece of clothing. But with this one he wasn't in a rush. He slowly tugged at the lacey fabric, revealing your chest to him as he bit his lip. "Wow." He mumbled and his patience was gone. One hand grabbed your left boob, feeling it and squeezing it softly as the other slipped into his boxer to touch himself. He whimpered, seemingly trembling as a result of his desperation and the discomfort he must be feeling in those tight pair of... he let go of your boob, quickly pulling his boxers down and himself out. You felt your core twist and ache and his boxers joined the pile of clothes on the floor. Taehyung fell forward onto all fours on top of you. Fully exposed, fully erect and a full sight to take in in the dim light in the dark. Distracted and eyes travelling all over him, his hand suddenly cupped your chin, tilting it up for you to face him. His nose graced over yours in a sweet eskimo kiss before his lips, just as gently pressed to yours. Taehyung's hand slid down your neck, your chest and down until he found himself. Your toes curled as you felt his touch where you wanted him the most in this moment, the tip of him slowly sliding up and down your slit, triggering your need even more. Taehyung let out a shaky exhale. His lips were parted and eyes staring right down at your exposed curves. He positioned himself, slowly sliding the tip in, just to feel... just to get some urgent relief... he leaned his head back and his hands landed a tight grip of your waist. He couldn't take it anymore. Slowly and carefully he began to push. Making sure by studying your every expression that he wasn't hurting you and that it felt good. A sweet whimper escaped you, causing him to grin in delight as he pushed in deeper. He was thick... the gentle stretch he caused felt amazing and you couldn't stop yourself from clenching around him, making him moan and managing to make you even wetter just by the sound. With a soft grunt he slipped in all the way. Giving you a moment to adjust to his size, he moved his hand up to caress your cheek with the back of his hand. His touch felt like magic. Like a gentle feather smoothing over your cheek, but slender and strong, with long dainty beautiful fingers. You leaned into his touch. "Does it feel ok?" He whispered. You gave a reassuring nod. He pulled his hips back and thrusted back in, not too soft and not too hard he picked up a slow but deep rhythm for his movements. Your hands felt their way up and across his back, studying every curve and where he naturally flexed as he moved. His hands were firmly holding you in place at the waist, every desperate exhale and every shaky inhale sending almost an ASMR like tingle down your spine via your ear until your name suddenly slipped his lips. Most people feel a fuzzy like feeling inside hearing their proper name be called but this... this was unlike no other time. His deep voice, following a whimper, exhaling your name like a magic spell and it fading into a shiver-causing moan. To put it simply it was the sexiest thing you've ever heard and it activated a whole new part within you that felt foreign but so so so good. Like your blood had suddenly turned into liquid gold, all happy hormones releasing in a firework spelling the world "nothing else matters" in an imaginary sky. You wrapped your arms tighter around him, moaning his name out felt liberating. And it clearly triggered an equal reaction. His cheeks were already flushed and his eyes went wide. He smirked, growing more desperate, fucking your harder and deeper, chasing release. "Please cum for me." He whispered, pleading. "Please." He didn't need to place a formal request, you were already loosing yourself. The only sound echoing in the darkness being the roaring wind and rain along with your breaths and groans and the sound of his hips and your thighs. Wet, heavenly sounds to you. His sweet moans, his broad back, his dick... everything about him made you feel euphoric. The ever building tension below, the sweat forming on his forehead... "I'm gonna cum" he whimpered. Thinking your body couldn't possibly react stronger to him than it already was, it did. The thrusts grew faster, grunts louder and you could feel yourself leak even more. Back arching, tension growing... it felt even tighter now... you could feel him so well, every movement until you suddenly came un-done with a loud whimper to his ear, setting him off into his own orgasm, cumming deep inside with a string of "oh"s and groans, gritting his teeth together and tensing his face in a greedy expression. He slowed down to a halt, remaining inside, breathless on top of you. The light on the sofa table had reached its end and the faint scent of smoke filled the air as the flame went out, making the room completely pitch black. Taehyung's face nuzzled softly against your neck, inhaling the scent of you deeply and being soothed. "Wow." He coughed, followed by a groan. "Wow." You repeated, happy that the light went out so he couldn’t see your flushed face. "You ok?" He whispered, vulnerability present in his voice. "I didn't go to hard right?" "It was amazing." He let out a breath of release and an awkward chuckle. "I'll pull out.." he said shyly, moving his hips back slowly and gently, slipping out. To your surprise, Taehyung climbed off of you, standing on his feet. The cold air made your nipples ache and your skin shiver. You wanted your human blanket and source of heat back. But you didn’t have to wait for long. A pair of strong arms slid in under you, lifting you up with ease. "The sofa is too tiny." He carried you into your bedroom, gently putting you back down on the bed and laying down on his side next to you, pulling you close to his chest where his heart was still pounding hard. He hugged you tight, caressing the back of your head. His lips pressed against the crown of your head gently. "My good girl." He whispered, sounding almost proud. Your cheeks burned and a weird sense to cry bubbled up but you quickly swallowed it and hugged him tighter, burying your face against his chest. Never had you thought being called a good girl, specifically "Taehyung's" good girl would be able to move you to tears. But maybe it's what you needed to hear, mixed with the hormonal serotonin cocktail your body just released upon you. "You'll always have me." He nuzzled his nose in your hair. With a click the power came back on, including your pink hue nightstand lamp next to the bed. Taehyung's cheeks were deeply flushed, amplified by the flattering pink light cast over him. You giggled. Had this really just happened? Because it felt so right. Or was it just the relief of sex? But masturbating had never made you feel this emotional before... You looked up at Taehyung's face again and he smiled softly, his hand caressing your bare back up and down. It was definitely him.

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medea10 · 3 years

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My Review of Zombieland Saga REVENGE

Yes, Franchouchou has come back after a two and a half year hiatus.

HISTORY: Zombieland Saga is an idol show.

I have already cut my readership in half with that one sentence alone. But this is no ordinary idol show! A maniacal necromancer named Kotarou Tatsumi brings seven girls back from the dead. A former idol from the 1980’s (Junko), a former idol from the 2010’s (Ai), a child star from the 2010’s (Lily), a girl with idol aspirations from 2008 (Sakura), a former biker gang chick from 1997 (Saki), a courtesan from the 19th century (Yugiri), and Yamada Tae! There’s no describing what exactly Yamada Tae is but we don’t question it as she’s best girl.

Kotarou brought these seven girls back to life in order to save the Saga area and revitalize it. Throughout the first 12 episodes, we watch these girls get the hang of being alive again after so long and become an idol group. With Kotarou’s make-up skills, he’s able to fool nearly everybody that these girls are living, breathing idols. Almost everybody! At the end of the series, we get one guy who caught on about Lily, Ai, and Junko. But enough about that! Let’s see how successful Franchouchou has gotten since we last left the series.

REVENGE: So this sequel begins with the girls doing odd-jobs trying to earn as much money as they possibly can. Normally, the girls would do odd gigs that Kotarou was able to conjure up and that’s been good publicity for their group Franchouchou. However, they came into some money problems when they gambled and lost. It’s no doubt that their performance in the 12th episode was a banger and gave Franchouchou a boost in the idol scene. However, they aimed too high by renting out a big amphitheater to have a concert and only 1.6% capacity was filled. So the performance that night was a crash and burn type of thing. The after-effect put the girls in the hole (money wise) and Kotarou spends his days getting drunk at bars.

Seriously, look at this guy! He looks like a drunk, fourth season Eren Yeager. Kinda hard watching Kotarou looking so sad, pathetic, and drunk! It wasn’t until the girls had to perform at a metal concert arena that Kotarou got a kick in the pants. The fool arrives to the performance hella late, screaming for an encore when the audience is totally not vibing for one. And the girls end up singing while the audience goes in (for a lack of a better term) a Blues Brothers style rumble. The important thing is that Kotarou is feeling better and is ready to send his little zombie songbirds out to save the Saga prefecture.

Throughout the season, we follow the girls of Franchouchou as they regain some popularity they obtained last season. Will they do it? In the first 4 episodes, the group gained their own radio show and Ai’s old group (before she died) Iron Frill considered them as rivals. I think they’ll be okay!

BUT WAIT…: What about that photographer fella we saw all last season? He was quickly catching onto Ai, Junko, and Lily looking a little too close in resemblance to the girls that died years ago. Slowly throughout the series, we see him get closer to the truth.

NEW IDOL?: Oh God, did Kotarou commit taboo once again by bringing another girl back from the dead?

No…It was sadly much worse.

While at a public bathhouse, a girl (not wearing her prescription glasses) entered the men’s side, slipped on some soap, and was knocked unconscious. Thinking she died, Kotarou brings her body back to the girls (who aren’t wearing their makeup) saying this girl will be #7 in Franchouchou. And just like I said, she is not dead and now she knows that the idol group she loves are dancing zombies.

Kotarou is truly fucking up royally this season.

Anyways, this is Maimai! She’s a fan of Franchouchou and ends up becoming a temporary member of the group as #7 (for the episode). And, she’s voiced by Kana Hanazawa! If you don’t know who she is by now, blow me. It’s a little scary knowing that there’s one person out there that knows about the secret. But Maimai is much too loyal a fan to ruin something for everyone and is totally chill about her favorite idol group really being zombies.

THE TWO UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: As much as many of us loved the first season to Zombieland Saga, there were two characters we wished got more play and we knew a little more about. Yugiri and Yamada Tae! Tae-chan has been the enigmatic idol from day one. And due to her possible mental disability, we might never know. However, in one episode we do see her stopping off at a cemetary and I do believe that was her own grave.

As for Yugiri, even the detective can’t dig up info on her. She was around in the late 1800s or the Meiji era and there’s only one known photo in existence of Yugiri before her death. This season, we got a two-episode saga to bring us the good word on Saga and its importance. We got a bit of a history lesson about the Saga prefecture during the Meiji era and even what it was like before then. And yes, we did learn how Yugiri died and her connection to Saga. It was quite sad, but definitely one of the best episodes of the series.

BEST SONG: Didn’t think I’d have one for this franchise.

Saga Jihen from episode 9.

Nuff said.

ENDING: Well, we learned some extra details on what happened during the fall and rise of Franchouchou. This mostly has to do with Kotarou’s gamble with booking a huge arena for the girls to perform in. First of all, this arena was the place of Ai’s death. You member! When she was electrocuted right there on stage! Second of all, they didn’t sell the tickets until the day of the concert. What was that end result again? 1.6% capacity filled! Even in Covid-19 times, that’s fucking small. Granted, the audience was full of those memorable fans from season one including Saki’s friend’s daughter, Lily’s father, and the two metal jackasses. But still, not a good! The girls hit a brick wall and felt embarrassed. This was the worst moment for these girls (aside from dying once). After the disasterous event, they were millions of yen in debt, they’re running out of essentials for the house, and Kotarou has gone on a two-month drinking binge. It was then that they decided to do makeup themselves and go out in the world to earn a living and eventually pay off the debt.

Thankfully, they were able to get out of debt and regained their popularity throughout Saga and further. Saki has managed to get a radio show. Iron Frill (Ai’s old group) sees Franchouchou as a worthy rival. Lily gained a lot of fame in a televised competition. So what’s next? Kotarou apologized to Franchouchou for his big mistake the previous year and him spiraling out of control. Seconds later, he announces that their revenge will be to perform at the very same arena that fucked up their career the year prior.

Boy, you do NOT learn your lesson, do you?!

More trouble is on the rise as that reporter who caught on about the girls being zombies has confronted Kotarou. We finally circled back to the final scene from season one. This guy has caught on to the fact that the girls of Franchouchou resemble girls that died. The only one that he couldn’t dig up dirt on was Yugiri. Possibly because the only known evidence for existence is a photo at the bar! What’s more, he has a sneaking suspicion that the girls of Franchouchou are all zombies. In a prior episode, the reporter snapped a picture at the right time exposing Yamada Tae’s head rolling around on the ground. Dude is ready to go public with the story of the girls of Franchouchou being zombies resurrected from the dead unless Kotarou pulls the plug on everything. Kotarou simply said that the girls will get their revenge and will perform at the arena.

And then…a storm hit Saga!

There was a lot of damage around town. And worst off was Kotarou’s place, as it was ripped from its foundation, thrown into the sea, and crumbled into nothing after coming ashore. Worst of all, the special makeup the girls use to hide their zombie state was in that wreckage. Meanwhile, Kotarou spent several days trapped in a bar with the bar owner and nearly drowned. The girls ended up in a safety shelter with nearly the entire Saga prefecture. The good thing is because they’re town celebrities that they were given a top floor to themselves for privacy. The bad thing is that they’ve been here for days and their makeup is starting to come off, exposing zombies. And to make matters worse, that nosy reporter who knows the girls are zombies is also staying at the shelter (though the girls don’t know he knows). The girls decided to use Junko’s doll-crafting paintset to make masks to hide behind. That lasted only five seconds while trying to entertain the children of the shelter.

This is it. The girls are exposed as zombies.

Actually, the kids and parents thought this was part of the act and thought Franchouchou was lifting up the spirits of the arena. And in comes Kotarou just in time! Man, right under the wire. Now we’re like a few days from this planned concert and Saga is still recovering from the huge storm. Morale is quite low and it’s starting to look like a worse outcome for Franchouchou’s revenge than what happened one year ago. Saki used her platform on the radio to reach all of her viewers to see if they could try to come to the arena for their concert that is now a charity concert. So will this concert be a big success or a bigger flop than last year?

Actually, the arena was packed with people. Fans we’ve met in season one and new characters we met this season were even in attendance. Lily’s father ended up clearing away a lot of the debris so that concert goers could get through. Even Iron Frill (Ai’s old group) came in attendance! The concert was a huge success! And can I say that I’m really enjoying Yamada Tae’s Freddie Mercury impression on stage.

Don’t think you’re that clever, Zombieland Saga. We all know!

Yes, the concert was perfect! A great revenge! They even made Kotarou (a grown-ass man) cry. Even the reporter is willing to keep his trap shut (for now) about the girls being zombies. And best of all, NO ONE CAUGHT COVID-19! Yeah, I have to bring that up. The date of the concert was March 8th, 2020. Ahem. March. 2020. But yeah, everything went great. Perfect ending for Zombieland Saga Reven…

AND THEN AN ALIEN MOTHERSHIP COMES IN AND ZAPS THE AREA!

Huh?!

Who wrote that in the script? Some jerkass from Gainax?!

The last 15 seconds of Zombieland Saga leaves us with some sort of unidentified flying object zapping the area. Only Zombieland Saga can get away with this shit. Well folks, let’s see what’s in store for season three, Zombieland Saga: Zombies in Space or Sagapendence Day Zomb-Trek: Deep Space Seven.

Yeah, I know nothing has been greenlit or announced yet, but you know Studio Mappa has something up their sleeves with that ending. Once again, I enjoyed Zombieland Saga’s charm. I didn’t know if there was much more they could offer us after the first season’s stories, like learning how the girls died, Sakura’s past, and especially Lily’s backstory. This season, I wish there was more Yamada Tae. Come on guys, we still don’t know how she died or anything about her past! And what’s up with Yamada Tae being buried next to Sakura? Did they know each other before passing away? I want some answers! But I was blown away when it came to Yugiri’s saga and the tale of Saga itself. We got a literal history lesson about what Saga was once, what it became after a long struggle, the pain some folks went to in order to keep Saga thriving, and all leading up to where we are now.

This was a fun season. I had a lot more fun with the music this season than the previous one. Yeah, believe it or not I liked the songs Franchouchou sang this season than last season. Never a dull moment, especially with Kotarou! Yeah, his crazy-ass was totally there making absolutely no fucka sense. Take that competition Lily entered.

What the fuck was Kotarou doing? That was an epic fail on so many levels.

Well folks, whenever season three or whatever sequel may come, I’m hoping for more information involving Yamada Tae. And you know what else was severely missing from this season, Kotarou’s past with Sakura. I didn’t forget that flashback from season one and those couple of seconds this season aren’t enough to satisfy my hunger. Those are the two things I would like to know more about in whatever comes of the franchise. Otherwise, great time had by all!

Once more, if you are not a fan of idol shows, this is the only one I would highly recommend Zombieland Saga. Crunchyroll has both seasons available for streaming. FUNimation is now dubbing the second season as we speak.

#anime review #zombieland saga #zombieland saga revenge #yamada tae #kotarou tatsumi #saki nikaidou #sakura minamoto #junko konno #ai mizuno #yugiri #lily hoshikawa

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5am-the-foxing-hour · 5 years

Text

Double Double Toil and Trouble

Roman and Remus makes a horror house kinda trail for themselves, the sides and Thomas in the imagination. Deceit is not having a good time. Platonic/Familial DLAMPTR

Can also be found on AO3 here

- - -

Characters: Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Patton, Virgil, Thomas

Warnings: Typical Horror house things, Zombies, Ghosts, Monsters, decapitated heads, body horrors, gore, one Animal death, Clowns mentioned, Cannibalism mentioned. Anxiety, panic, panic attack. Hurt, Hurt/ Comfort.

If i missed any, don’t hesitate to tell me

- - -

General Fanfic Tag list: @ebony-wolf, @nashiraneko, @i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom, @rabbitsartcorner, @punsterterry, @sleepyssnail, @nightmaresides, @virgilswritings, @ninja-girl2846, @ninjago2020, @starryfirefliesbloggo, @garecc, @sympatheticdeceit, @cookiethedevil, @askthesnake, @all-bridges-will-burn, @tacohippy56900, @little-euro-girl, @aggressiveshipper, @imbasicallyshakespear,

- - -

Deceit wasn’t sure how he had been talked into this. To everyone’s surprise, Roman was the one who came up with the idea.

Remus was instantly on board and the twins started to brainstorm ideas on how to make a horror path in the imagination.

To Deceit’s horror, the others actually liked the idea, even Patton and Thomas was in on it.

It became the thing the creative sides spent the rest of their time on. creating a horror path in the imagination. A lot like the horror attractions at carnivals, but outside. The imagination gave they way more ability to change the scenery, but they made sure the path itself was safe and unreachable by the monsters Remus created, all from Zombies to disgustingly looking Frankenstein creations and more.

Deceit still didn’t know how they managed to talk him into joining them. And he knew he would have nightmares for weeks to come if he even set foot along the path, but Thomas’s nervous laughing, borderline already fuelled by slight adrenaline at the horrors to come, despite knowing they would never be in real danger. Logan’s huffing, but he had helped the two twins to make sure their creations were logical. Somehow rising the peg of just how scary and graphic things would be. To say the least, Deceit hadn’t been able to eat anything that day, knowing that if he did, it would come right up again from his nerves. But being the deceitful actor he was, he somehow managed to appear unbothered by the whole idea, even if his voice was dripping far more with sarcasm than normal.

- o -

The day of Halloween was the day they were doing it. Roman was grinning and giddy, wanting to show what he and Remus, with Logan’s help, had been working on to the others.

“Everyone ready?” Remus asked looking at the sides and Thomas.

They were all standing in Thomas’s living room.

A choir of yes, came from the others. Deceit kept silent, trying to keep his breathing calm, he didn’t want the others, especially Virgil, to know he was already far too anxious about this, he didn’t want the anxious side to sense his distress. It would make things awkward.

“Oh and Remember.” Roman suddenly said “If it ever becomes too much for you, you just have to say ‘Chubby Bunny’ and we will be back here and out of the imagination in the blink of an eye.”

“Chubby bunny, got it.” Thomas said, giving away another nervous laugh. Virgil was rubbing his hands together grinning, oh he would enjoy this, in his own way.

“Okay then.” Remus said as he held out his hand to Roman. Roman grinned and took it.

“Off to the darkness we go!” the twins called as they both snapped their fingers on their free hand, and everything became dark.

Slowly a mist started to fall around them, swirling around them, and soon the scenery spread out around them. They were standing in a field, an old gnarly oak in the middle of it, with some lynching ropes hanging from the old branches, swinging in the wind, but no bodies thankfully.

“Okay!” Remus called, as he spread his arms. “WELCOME!” he gestured to the entrance of the path. At the opening, a banner hung that had words written in something dark and runny, from what Deceit could see, it was most likely written in blood… or something similar, he quickly tried to stop thinking about it. framing the two poles that held the banner was two gigantic pumpkins, eyes and mouths glowing from the fire within, as the pumpkins had the theatre faces, one was grinning evilly, while the other looked like it was moaning in fear.

clouds rolled along the dark sky now and again revealing the full moon that shone down on the world in a cold, uncaring pale blue light, the stars twinkled when they were revealed as well. a chilly breeze blew around them, making the fog swirl and dance, it also dragged with it the sounds of a mournful moan from far away. Causing the hair on most of the sides and the hosts bodies to stand on end.

Patton and Thomas both giggled from fear, quickly budding together, holding their hands tight.

“How about we make a buddy system, all link hands, so we don’t end up getting separated?” Thomas asked holding out his free hand, for any side to take.

“Good idea Thomas.” Logan said as he walked over, Roman walked over, Dragging Remus along as the twins still held hands and took Patton’s hand with his free one and grinned. meanwhile Logan took hold of Thomas’s hand, and then Virgil’s, and Virgil in turn grabbed hold of Deceit’s.

With the line in order, Remus first, then Roman, Patton, Thomas, Logan and Virgil with Deceit taking up the rear, they started walking into the path.

Deceit took steadying breaths through his nose, he could do this, he could do this.

His mind hissed at him at the blatant lies he told himself.

- o -

Deceit was not having a good time.

They had met Zombies, monsters, and what else Remus had decided to make, the others screamed and laughed as they kept moving. Deceit was struggling to regain his normal heartbeat more than once, and clung to Virgil’s hand the best he could, without seeming like he would rather cling to the side’s arm. He had a reputation to uphold, and being scared shitless about this was not part of his reputation.

He wasn’t sure how far in on the path they’ve gone, mostly the kept moved forward, or ran once a monster had appeared at the other side of the ropes that framed the path, pumpkin lanterns, smaller than the one at the entrance lit up the way now and again.

He was startled when a loud whiny low moan filled the air and something that at the side of the path in an open clearing appeared, it was big, had way too many limbs and was dripping dark goo like matter onto the dying grass as it slowly moved, the head then snapped to the side one milky white eye staring at them as the creature turned and dashed, making Patton and Roman scream and they were running again, Remus gave away a manic laugh as he almost bounced in his running, a mad grin on his lips, Logan was muttering to himself, out of breath while Thomas made several choking noises, seemingly trying to keep his nerves down. They were still running when Deceit’s foot suddenly snagged on something and he was sent crashing to the ground face first.

He slowly groaned and pushed himself up on his arms, shaking his head and moving one hand to his face, only to jerk back when he found his glove was missing, he scrambled to sit up and looked around.

He was alone.

Deceit shivered as a cold breeze blew past him, dragging with it the low moan of the horrid creature they left far behind. It was enough to make him get back to his feet and start walking, cradling his now naked hand to his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat. He took a shaky breath, as he picked up speed. if he was fast enough he would meet up with the others, they were probably already aware he wasn’t with them anymore.

Or so he hoped…

A small keening noise left him as he started to run.

It was too dark.

The mist did not help as it created beasts and creatures out of nothing. the chilly breeze kept pushing the moans and howls of the creatures Remus made to his ears, making him rigid from fear.

He was sprinting when he suddenly came to a crossroads.

It made him freeze and he stared at the signs, written with the same splattered font as the banner.

He hugged around himself, both to try and calm down but also to keep the chill of the night from sapping more of his body heat.

‘Clown Factory’ read the sign pointing to the left.

He grimaced at that, he was not in the mood for Remus’s crazy almost cannibalistic clowns. he had to suppress a gag at even thinking about them.

‘Dark woods’ read the other sign, pointing to the right.

Deceit hugged himself tighter, he rather not go there, but, if it was between a dark forest… and that… he rather choose the forest.

- o -

Deceit regretted ever choice as the world was darker around him, the naked twisted branches of the gnarly trees made it almost impossible for the scarce moonlight to light up the path, the ropes that lined it was thankfully glowing in the dark, but it wasn’t much of a saving grace to Deceit’s already pretty dented and weakened fake bravery.

He just hoped he caught up to the others soon.

Something shone brightly in the corner of his eye, a cold chilling blue, and he froze there he stood.

As a faint wail came from the lights direction.

Deceit stiffly turned his head to look, only to feel his whole body grow cold as he saw the floating form of something that might have once been a person, head hanging, kept in place by only a piece of skin. It made hollow wails, drifting in the mist, the cold eerie air seems to be charged around it. And Deceit could only watch in frozen fear as a poor bat ended up flying to close. Falling to the ground with a muted thud, smoking, as it was electrocuted to death with one zap.

Deceit quickly turned his head hard enough that his neck snapped and he heard the thing, that clearly was a GHOST, give away another mournful yowl. Deceit noped quickly out of there, eyes fasted ahead of him, he was not going to stick around for that ghost to zap him, Oh hell nO!

The fact that Remus and Roman had told them several times that nothing could reach or hurt them on the path.

He squeaked when a flock of bats suddenly flew over his head and out into another clearing, that was illuminated by the full moon.

Deceit felt himself grow colder as he caught sight of the old, worn down, gravestones, some even broken in half.

“Oh no… No… no no no nononononono...” Deceit looked around wildly, and now when looking closer… he found that there were more gravestones amongst the trees, some overgrown with twisting dying roots or green poison ivy. He made a stifled whimper and walked faster.

He was not going to stick around and wait for whatever thing Remus had prepared for to appear, he almost hoped it would be an undead, or even zombies. The key word being ‘almost’.

The forest was growing thinner in mass, but with the more space the trees only grow thicker, and gnarlier as they reached their naked twisted and turned branches towards the now pitch black sky.

On the other hand, the grave stones only grew in number. Nothing had emerged yet, but Deceit was sprung as tight as a bowstring from nerves.

Deceit froze in his steps when he found that the forest opened up in a graveyard.

The ground was bumpy and was covered by the gravestones, the path widened here, to let the gravestones become part of it.

It should probably tell Deceit that it was safe, but Deceit could barely breathe at the sight.

He turned on his heel only to find the fog extremely thick and dense, making it impossible for him to even see the forest, the mist pretty much ate up the illuminated glow of the ropes.

Deceit gulped before he slowly turned to face the gravestones again and he exhaled shakily as he slowly started to walk, not daring to run, least he wake something.

He was starting to think he was doing a good job, nothing had come out to haunt him, no zombies has risen, no jump scares, nothing, the graveyard was just deadly silent, the distant sounds of crows and ravens cawing far away and the whistling of the chilly breeze, along with his steps on the crunchy leaves and pebble covered path, being the only sound around him.

A long low moan then suddenly grew in loudness behind him.

Causing all the hair on his body to stand on end and he slowly, stiffly, turned his head to look over his shoulder to see how a spectral head was rising from one of the grave stones, jaw barely hanging on the half translucent glowing creature.

Deceit sucked in a breath just as the floating ghost head screamed. Changing colour from the freezing cold blue to a burning red, as the teeth grew extremely sharp and the eyes flashed brightly.

Deceit screamed, and stumbling over his own feet scrambled to get into a panicked sprint, screaming again when the head flew right through his chest, making his get even more chilled.

More ghosts appeared amongst the gravestones, Deceit screamed when one appeared before him, making him try to stop only to slip on the pebbles and slam onto his back, getting the wind knocked out of him.

Deceit didn’t have time, he was panicking, his other arms appeared in a flash and with them he quickly got back into the previous speed, but now pretty much running on his hands and knees, uncaring about how the ground soiled his remaining glove and cut into his naked hand as he dug his fingers into the dirt to gain friction and speed.

He didn’t see the grave stone before he suddenly was right in front of him and he smacked right into it, face first. the stone cracked and sent him tumbling down a sudden steep hill and he cried out when he slammed his shoulder into the corner of another gravestone. The pain left him reeling and he curled up on the ground, chipping for air, barely feeling the warmth that was trickling down his temple, it was nothing compared to the exploding pane that now burned in his shoulder.

A series of moans and wails pressed past the ringing in his ears and he screamed when he found he had rolled out of the path. He grabbed his hurt shoulder with the naked hand, and backed away from the ghosts that was floating towards him. Eyes staring at him with something that sent his panic through the roof. He flinched when he backed into a gravestone, two arms hugging around his stomach as it churned from the stress and panic. Another pair grabbed his hair, now missing the hat as he tried to block his ears, to try and keep the ghosts wails out.

Deceit whimpered and curled up, hugging himself with the remaining arms as he tried to become as small as possible.

He couldn’t breathe, and everything was blurry as tears grew in his eyes, that were squeezed shut.

“Ch-” he started, only to choke on his breath “Ch-chubby-” he tried to force out, but it was so hard!

The ghosts got louder as they moved closer, he could feel the air tremble around him and-

“Ch-chubby b-bun-ny.”

- o -

Virgil was the first one who realised they’d lost Deceit, to no one's surprise really. But trying to tell Roman and Remus to stop and wait for him to catch up was almost impossible. the twins kept egging each other on, making the group keep walking. Virgil was not in a good mood, he had a bad feeling that only grew, but no sign of what caused it, little did he know that it was Deceit’s anxiety and fear he was sensing, as it was unable to be kept hidden from the uncaring mask the deceitful side tended to wear.

They were about to enter the clown factory when the whole mind palace abruptly ended and they were back in the living room.

“Aw no! Things were just about to get good!” Remus whined, stomping on the ground. Roman on the other hand blinked and looked around.

“Who called chubby bunny?” he asked. Patton and Thomas shrugged.

“It wasn’t one of us-” Patton started only to be cut off by the sound of a choked noise and all of them turned around, to find Deceit further away, curled up on the floor. The smallest they had ever seen him, normally pristine clothes covered in dirt and dying leaves, still.

Logan let go of Virgil and Thomas as he walked over towards Deceit. Subconsciously gripping the glove harder. He’d never seen Deceit like this before, panic, fear and anxiety was oozing off him so thickly, Virgil was sure he could touch it.

Logan crouched down before Deceit.

“Dee?” he asked gently, reaching out to place his hand on Deceit’s shoulder, to make sure he was alright, but the moment he couched the other, Deceit screamed and flinched hard, scrambling back until his back hit the coffee table, making it scrape against the floor. Tears coated Deceit’s cheeks along with dirt and blood from his temple. Logan looked startled. and Remus’s complaining died down as both he and Roman starred.

“Easy easy, shh, you’re okay, Dee.” Logan said as he raised his hands in a surrender motion. “You’re safe, we’re back in Thomas’s apartment.” Deceit’s eyes flickered around before they returned to Logan who slowly moved closer, making clear motions of what he was doing, he grunted when Deceit threw himself at him, sobbing into his chest. Logan fell back to sit on the floor, and held Deceit the best he could. doing his best to help Deceit get his breathing back under control, as well as quell the shivers.

“ If you don’t mind me asking, what happened, Dee?” Logan asked once Deceit had managed to calm down slightly.

“G-g-ghosts-” Deceit choked out with a stutter, hiding his face against Logan’s shoulder.

“AH FUCK!” Remus suddenly screamed, causing everyone to wince. “I forgot you’re terrified of ghosts!”

“What?!” Roman barked staring at Remus

“I never would have made that graveyard if i remembered! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s- It’s fine-” Deceit said looking up at them.

“It’s not! You got hurt.” Roman said, giving Deceit a sad look. “We didn’t want anyone to get hurt...”

Logan turned to face Deceit again and reached up to brush his fingers along the scrape wound that was bleeding, Deceit hissed at the touch, but then the wound healed quickly, under Logan’s guidance. Deceit slowly removed his hand from his shoulder, letting Logan start to hel it too, it took longer compared to the scratch, but he managed but summoned a sling anyway.

“Do you want to try again, if Remus removes the graveyard and the ghosts?” Logan asked. Deceit made a panicked noise and quickly shook his head, breath stuttering. “That’s okay, shh, you don’t have to.” Logan quickly soothed.

“So… what do we do?” Virgil asked before he walked over and handed Deceit’s glove back with an apologetic expression. Deceit snatched the glove from Virgil’s hold and held it close.

“I rather not leave Deceit alone right now.” Logan said as he helped Deceit to his feet, snapping his fingers to get the other side into more comfortable, and clean, clothes, before moving over to the couch. “But the rest of you can return to finish the path, if you so wish.”

“You sure Logan?” Patton asked.

“Yes.”

“I’ll join you two.” Thomas spoke up as he walked over to sit down on the other side of Deceit.

“Why?” Roman and Remus asked at the same time, they had wanted to show the thing they’ve made together, for Thomas.

“I was getting close to my limit anyway.” Thomas replied with a small smile. “But you guys have fun, okay.” Remus grumbled something, as Roman walked over.

“To help ease your mind.” he said and kissed Deceit on the forehead, Deceit blinked, as the lingering fear and his mind replaying the ghosts, was changed to feelings of warmth and good things. Deceit relaxed instantly, slumping against Logan who still held him close. Roman smiled and went back to the others and in the next blink they were gone, back in the imagination.

“How are you feeling Dee?” Thomas asked as he put a blanket over the shortest side. Deceit nuzzled into the blanked and Logan’s side.

“Better...” he mumbled, looking at Thomas.

“How about we watch some good old Disney and eat some of the halloween candy and cookies?”

“Not to many, they are for dessert.” Logan quipped.

“Ugh, just let me eat the sweets!” Thomas whined.

“No! they’re bad for your teeth!” Deceit couldn’t help the snort that left him when Thomas pouted at Logan.

In the end they came to a compromise and ate something less sweet, as they watched Tangled, followed by many other movies, and not only Disney, but they strayed from movies that had any kind of ghosts in it. Deceit did pipe up that he could watch Moana, since the grandmother was kind and not scary. But when Thomas asked about Hercules, Deceit shook his head.

- o -

When the others returned, it was to the sight of the three sleeping on the couch, Deceit was curled up between Thomas and Logan, Thomas pretty much lying on top of him as the two snored softly, Logan was slumped to the side, a book forgotten in his hands as he had seemingly fallen asleep reading. Glasses slightly askew on his face.

Patton awed as he took some pictures for the family album.

Virgil walked over and removed the book from Logan’s hands, only making the logical side blink his eyes open and yawn.

“Oh you’re back.” he said in the aftermath of the yawn. “How did it go?”

“It was amazing!” Remus cheered, but kept his voice down to not wake Thomas or Deceit. Roman did a full body shiver before he grinned.

“I am still pumped full of adrenaline.” he said as he jumped on the spot.

Virgil was grinning even if he was full on shaking from the anxieties.

“I am not going to sleep for a long time.” he snickered.

Patton just made a garble noise as he tried to his in his cat hoodie. Roman moved over and kissed his forehead too, making Patton relax.

“You want a kiss to, Mr. Fear?”

“Not yet, let me enjoy this.” Virgil said as he grinned.

Remus moved over and brushed Deceit’s blond locks away from his eyes. Deceit blinked his eyes open and smiled tiredly up at Remus.

“Hey.” Deceit mumbled as he turned his face to look at Remus better. “What’s with that face?”

“I still feel bad...” Remus mumbled looking down, only to look up again when he felt Deceit poke him on the nose.

“It’s okay.”

“But it’s not, you got hurt and scared so bad you got a panic attack.”

“Yeah...” Deceit grimaced “But it’s my fault for not speaking up about it, I was pretty high up on the scare-o meter before we even started.” Remus gasped.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“I… I don’t like being seen as weak… I have a reputation to uphold, you know that.”

“You don’t have to keep it up around me… or them… We won’t think any less of you, or at least I won’t. but if They do I will stab them with a crooked spoon.” Deceit chuckled.

“Ree, no stabby..” Thomas mumbled into Deceit’s shoulder. Only making the two sides burst out laughing.

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bungamawar001 · 4 years

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Wait for me

So, this is set in the same universe as Storm and if you didn’t see that, basically the important thing to note is that Jesse has the ability to see people’s ‘auras’ as bubbles. So, yeah. Also, it got a bit long, so most of it’s under the read more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was going to start raining soon, he could feel it. From how Ms. Kira’s pink bubble was nervously swirling around, she could see it too.

Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem, but people have been saying that the creatures of the End were getting bolder and the Endermen have been spotted more and more often. Some people were theorizing that the End was starting to overpopulate, but Jesse couldn’t care less. He just wanted to go home before the storm hit.

Because this didn’t feel like a normal storm. The sun was setting, and the sky was supposed to be a nice orange hue, but all he could see (and feel) was the slimy, black something infecting the sky above him. It had been like that all week, but today was worse for whatever reason.

He could tell that Ms. Kira didn’t see the black slimy stuff (because he was weird that way), but it was impossible to not notice the constant fatigue that had been plaguing the inhabitants of their town for the past week.

“Hurry, Jesse,” The wind started picking up, and the black thing in the clouds was making its way closer to them. “We’re nearly there, just hold on a little bit, okay?”

“Okay…” Jesse didn’t think that he was the one who was supposed to be holding on. Whatever had been going on this past week hadn’t affected him or Reuben as much. Or at all, really. He assumed that it was part of whatever made them weird, but they weren't getting tired like other people were.

Actually it was only him that wasn’t getting tired. Animals naturally didn’t seem to notice the effects of the black surrounding them.

And he could see that the black stuff hanging above all of their heads was the cause for it. It was seeping into people’s bubbles and dampening the light that was in them.

Jesse could fix it, he tried it on Petra when she was sleeping by reaching into her bubble and gathering up the black in his own aura to separate it from her dark red bubble. She was back to her normal energetic self for an entire day after that. It didn’t last long, unfortunately, and it latched back on to her the night after. So of course, Jesse had started removing the black from her red every night after that. It was tiring, but if it kept Petra’s bubble from feeling dull, he’d keep doing it. Besides, practice makes perfect, right?

He snapped back to the present and froze as he felt the dark (very, very dark) purple bubble of an Enderman appeared behind him and the contact of it against his own bubble made his head swim and his vision flicker dangerously. Ms. Kira didn’t seem to notice and her pink bubble continued down the path, still swirling nervously, but unaware of the danger behind them. Jesse didn’t know what exactly made the Endermen attack, but his vision came back to normal and he quickly ran to walk beside Ms. Kira again.

To his horror, the Enderman didn’t lose interest and go away like he thought it would. Instead, it started to trail behind them, just outside of Jesse’s bubble. Even worse, it seemed that this Enderman’s interest garnered the attention of its friends too. Very soon, he could feel at least 10 (Why were there so many?!?) behind them and hiding in the trees.

“M-Ms. Kira!” Somehow, she still hadn’t noticed their uninvited company (her pink was duller than ever now, he could see the black from the Endermen seeping into her bubble), so when she turned to Jesse and spotted the 10 or so Endermen following them from the corner of her eye, she let out a small gasp and pointed her eyes to the ground.

She reached out and grabbed the back of Jesse’s head to make sure his eyes were facing the ground too, “Don’t look into their eyes, just keep looking down. We’re almost home.”

Ms. Kira took his shoulders and pulled him closer. He normally didn’t like the close proximity of people because their emotions could get overwhelming sometimes - no matter how dull their bubbles were - but the frightened swirling pink of Ms. Kira was better than the suffocating black of the Endermen around them.

“It’s going to be alright, Jesse.” He heard her voice wavering under the brave front she was trying to put up for him, but it was soothing nonetheless, “We’re almost home. Just keep walking, okay?”

Jesse swallowed the lump in his throat and managed to give her a meek, “...kay.”

They picked up their pace, and it would’ve been fine, they were going at a faster pace, their eyes were averted, and the house was just around the corner, but that was also when everything fell apart.

Another Enderman teleported directly in front of them and because they were almost running, they didn’t stop in time to avoid running into it. It let out a furious screech, and in the midst of all the black and the noise, Jesse forgot the warning he was given. He looked up at the Enderman and accidentally met its eyes.

Soon, the one angry shriek became many, and before he knew it Ms. Kira had grabbed his arm and was leading them towards the right, where there was an opening amongst the haphazard circle of Endermen.

She led them into the forest and managed to lose them amongst the trees for a while. Jesse watched as she looked behind them and then glanced at him. There were a few moments of silence before she pulled Jesse towards a cluster of tall grass and gently sat him down into it.

“Stay here, Jesse. I’ll be back. Just wait for me, okay?”

Panicked, Jesse grabbed her arm and whispered as loud as he dared, “You’re leaving?”

He watched as her pink bubble swirled in regret and sadness and a little bit of something else. She didn’t answer him. Instead, she carefully removed his hand from her own, pressed a quick kiss to the top of his brow, and readjusted the tall grass to cover him better before running off in the opposite direction.

Jesse almost jumped up to follow her, but the screeching sound of the Endermen chasing them kept him in his place. That was when he felt them with their dark auras, tearing across the clearing where his caretaker just disappeared to.

He wanted to wait. He wanted to wait so so bad and just let the danger pass and Ms. Kira can take him home and they’ll eat her baked potatoes together with Petra and Reuben… but he couldn’t.

It was his fault they were chasing her. He was the one who made eye contact with them in the first place. So with impossible amounts of determination and a few seconds to gather his guts, Jesse peeled after Ms. Kira and the Endermen. He managed to catch up to them, but…

He didn’t wait to take in the scene in front of him. All he knew was that the Endermen were surrounding his mother caretaker and absorbing her bubble into themselves. That was enough to send him hurtling towards the nearest Enderman and as soon as his bubble came into contact with its own, he watched his energy latch onto the Enderman’s core. He barely registered the pain-laced shriek it gave and pulled as hard as he could.

Jesse didn’t really know what happened after that. He felt the Enderman’s aura poof and disappear into thin air, and he remembered hearing the sound of a bunch of angry, shrieking Endermen. He might’ve passed out at some point because the next thing he knew, he was lying face down on the dirt with the rain pouring down his shirt.

It took him a couple of seconds to regain his bearings, and when he did, it took another minute to recognize the small pink bubble on the ground several blocks ahead of him. The events of that evening came rushing back to him and he frantically crawled his way over to where the figure was lying.

“Ms. Kira?” Jesse reached out for her shoulder (or what he thought was her shoulder. It was cold and it had gotten kinda dark) and tried to shake her awake, “Ms. Kira!”

She didn’t respond, and Jesse didn’t know what he was supposed to do. What do you do when someone’s hurt? It’s best to give them food, right? But Jesse didn’t have any more food, he ate the last of it on the way home.

Maybe she wasn’t waking up because her bubble was too small.

Jesse’s heart lightened up a bit. That must be it! If he could take the black stuff out of Petra using his own energy, he must be able to help Ms. Kira too!

He started to reach out towards the steadily shrinking bubble and gather the remaining black from her pink, but he froze when he felt the familiar stagnant dark grey of a zombie come into the proximity of his bubble. With the black still in his grasp, he didn’t hesitate to hurl it at the incoming danger.

The luck of the universe must have been against him today because all that did was make the zombie’s bubble denser and bigger. It also made it angry, so Jesse did the only other thing that came to mind. He reached out to the zombie’s core and pulled.

He didn’t pass out this time, and he let out a gasp as he saw the zombie’s body fall to the ground with its core still surrounded in his own energy within his bubble. He hurriedly let go of the core and watched it disappear into smoke alongside the body.

His newfound victory didn’t last long. Soon, he felt another zombie come from the same direction. And then another. And another. It wasn’t long before he was surrounded in all directions again. He tried to pull the cores of the zombies again, but he started getting tired after the third one, and he nearly passed out again at the fifth. Looking around, he saw that he could probably outrun them if he tried, but then he couldn’t bring Ms. Kira along with him.

Jesse was at the point where he was desperate enough to stand up and attempt to throw fists at them before an idea popped into his mind. He quickly dug a four by four hole in the ground and somehow managed to get Ms. Kira and himself in with minimal damage. Once inside, he took out the torch that, as an almost unspoken rule, everyone was required to bring. He set it on the floor and turned to Ms. Kira, whose bubble was still smaller than normal.

The weight of the situation finally crashed down on him. They’d just been chased by Endermen. Because of him. Ms. Kira was hurt. It was cold. It was dark. He was stuck in a hole. There were a bunch of skeletons and zombies outside. He had no idea how to get home.

For the first time since the night started, he allowed his tears to flow and quietly cried himself to sleep.

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

Jesse woke up to the sound of burning zombies and skeletons. He remembered to wait until the sounds stopped before digging himself out of his hole. When he got out, he was met with the sight of rotten flesh and bones scattered across the grounds. Satisfied with the lack of mobs in sight he climbed out of his hole and tried to figure out what to do.

He could try to find the road and follow it back to the group home, but Ms. Kira was hurt, and her bubble was smaller than he remembered it being last night. After he internally debated with himself for a couple of minutes, he decided that he’d run as fast as he could back home so he could get some adults that would actually help her. With that plan in mind, he kneeled down next to Ms. Kira’s bubble and observed it as it weakly swirled around her core.

He hugged her as best as he could with her on the ground and stood up to prepare to leave, “Don’t worry, Ms. Kira. I’ll be back. Wait for me, okay?”

With that, he climbed out of the hole and ran as fast as he could towards the path.

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

He didn’t know how long it took to get back home, but once he found the path, he followed it and ran all the way back to the house where he was greeted with the frantic faces of the other two caretakers. He didn’t quite remember what happened, but he faintly remembered yelling and crying at them to find Ms. Kira in the woods.

He remembered them asking what happened while trying to get him to change out of his clothes. He remembered finally calming down once they brought in Reuben and Petra. He remembered being led to his bed and given freshly baked potatoes before falling asleep with Reuben snuggled against him. He remembered waking up in the middle of the night to take out the Ender Pearl he had instinctively picked up and watching the mist swirl slowly within its casing.

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

He woke up in the morning with Petra eating her breakfast at the foot of his bed and Reuben still curled up next to him. Her dark red bubble sparked excitedly when she offered her cookies to him and mellowed down as he quietly declined it. They started back up again when she stood up and turned towards the door while loudly proclaiming that she was going to find Mr. Reed.

True to her word, Mr. Reed came in not long after. But he didn’t care about Mr. Reed at the moment. Jesse asked him about Ms. Kira. He watched as Mr. Reed’s light blue glow dim with sadness as he told him Ms. Kira was going to be alright.

He’s lying.

He didn’t hear anything else of what was said after that and when Mr Reed left the room, Petra sat beside him and asked what happened. It ended with him crying into her shoulder and Petra’s dark red sparking with sympathy and no small amount of discomfort as she carefully hugged him while his own tingling dark turquoise filled the room with a vague sense of grief.

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

For the first week, he was able to feel Ms. Kira’s pink bubble in the upper rooms if he tried hard enough to expand the range of his bubble. And throughout the entire week, he could see her bubble get smaller and smaller. Until one day, he couldn’t feel it at all.

That same day, Mr. Reed and Ms. Beth announced that the town was starting to get dangerous because of the amount of Endermen that were in the area this past week. Somehow, Jesse thought that this might’ve been his fault.

It wouldn’t be for another week before he moved to a new town with Petra and Reuben where they gained some friends in Axel and Olivia.

It was another month after that when news came that a new group who called themselves the Order of the Stone had defeated the Ender Dragon, which somehow caused the Endermen and Endermites to slowly stop spawning in the overworld.

And it wasn’t until years later when Jesse found himself surrounded by more Enderman in Soren's fortress before following Lukas into the water down below.

#mcsm #Minecraft: Story Mode #mcsm jesse #mcsm petra #mcsm reuben #horror #endermen #death #it's not really shown #but it's implied #anyway #cubetober #october #day 6

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thestraggletag · 5 years

Text

Human Nature, Part One

AN: Happy Birthday to me! Here’s a fic I wrote to commemorate the day. Part two needs editing but will be along shortly. Enjoy!

Also can someone please write a better summary? This is an honest request. It can be my birthday present.

Rating: R

Summary: Warm Bodies AU. After the zombie apocalypse is averted it’s up to Belle French to rehabilitate a mostly-dead Mr Gold, against advice of the experts and the wishes of the entire town. As she struggles to fan the spark of humanity back into Mr Gold she fails to notice something else kindling between them.

It took months to get back to Storybrooke after the beginning of what was known as "the treatment" by which most of who'd been affected by the zombie-like virus slowly regained their humanity. It was slow-going, the process done with an overabundance of caution that nobody begrudged, taking into account what the years before had been like. The outbreak had lasted a little under five years, but it had seemed like months, and so much had changed in that time that life before seemed like a distant memory. The idea of just picking up where everyone left off was an impossible fantasy.

When Brisbane had been hit Belle, who'd been visiting relatives at the time, had been lucky enough to get evacuated to Hamilton Island, where the only undead she'd been close to where relatives of locals, who could not bear to put them down and so kept them locked away in the basement of the local pet shelter. Once word of the treatment reached them most of them had been successfully rehabilitated, and soon after that she'd made her way back to the mainland, to be of help where she could and find out news about her family and friends.

She'd first heard news of Storybrooke from Ruby, when internet access was restored. The town had taken a hit, like most, but efforts were underway to rehabilitate as many people as possible. She cried with her friend when she called her to tell her Granny had called her by her name. Speech was a big step in the treatment, and it was then that they both knew that Mrs Lucas was going to make it.

She had to wait a long time for flights to be restored, and by then things were mostly under control. She'd heard from Ruby and others that Storybrooke was a sort of success story unlike any other, with all services restored, schools open and a rehabilitation rate that defied expectations, and a lot of it was attributed to the iron will of Madam Mayor and the security efforts of the Town Sheriff. Quite the formidable power couple, according to Ruby. She thought their love story surrounding their shared son was very cute, as far as apocalyptic tales went.

And though she had thought at first that Ruby's boundless optimism in the face of Granny's recovery was prompting her to paint a rather misleading picture of how things were back home when she finally made it back to town she had to admit it looked as good as she'd described. There were some signs of destruction, some roadblocks that were still only half-cleared and half the buildings seemed to be in the process of repair but there was an air of orderly normality that she hadn't seen in other places. Ruby had been there to pick her up from the bus stop, squealing and hugging her for the longest time before commenting on her silver-streaked hair, telling her she loved it.

"You can totally get hair dye, the pharmacy is up and running again- no idea how Mayor Mills did it but it's almost completely restocked, she must have made some interesting calls to well-connected people- but I kinda dig the look. Goes with your more angular features."

It was a nice spin on things, as if her thinner body and grey hair were audacious fashion choices and not the product of hunger and stress. The upbeat attitude was decidedly contagious, specially once she saw that her beloved library was mostly undamaged. Boarded up still, and a little worse for wear on the outside, but the inside was just as she had left it. She commented on it to Granny as the woman forced a second helping of pie on her. For someone who had undergone the treatment she didn't really look it, with the exception of a slight stiffness to her movements.

"I'm glad the town council moved so quickly to board it up."

"They had nothing to do with it. It was Gold and his crew, mainly that huge mammoth of a man that worked for him, Dove. Did it by themselves, with the help of Marco."

Though Granny's tone was as gruff and as acid as it always was when she talked of the pawnbroker Belle felt a pleasant warmth bloom in her. She'd always had a soft spot for the Scotsman, something she knew was a bit of an unpopular opinion in Storybrooke. He had always had a smile and a polite comment or two for her whenever she saw her, was a staunch ally of the library in town council meetings and was keen on chatting about a book when he returned it, which he always did in person. Once or twice they’d sat together when Granny’s was too full and his was the only table with spare seats. People had warned her after the first time they’d shared a cup of tea in public that she was better off staying as far away from possible from him, but she had refused to comply, specially when she caught the bias in a lot of the stories, like the one Ashley Boyd spun, about Mr Gold cruelly charging interest for the rent of a meager little flat after having been “a little bit late” on the rent. She was never specific about how late till Belle asked, and she reluctantly admitted it was over two months, even past the grace period contemplated on the rental agreement.

“Still, who threatens to evict a young couple with a newborn baby and nowhere to go?”

Ashley was also always careful not to mention her father-in-law, well-off and with more than enough room in his house to host his only son and his wife for a lengthy period of time. Belle could see how her tale of woe lost a little of the dramatic edge with the addition of those pesky details. So she had carried on being friendly with the pawnbroker, even if it made people look at her funny and sometimes whisper behind her back. Just one of the many things that made her strange in the little town, along with her accent and habit of reading in the strangest of moments and places. She hadn’t cared.

“That was so kind of him. I must go over to his house and thank him.”

She hadn’t seen the Scotsman around since her return, but she’d assumed he was busy either with repairs to his home or perhaps the shop, or even trying to restore order to his many properties. He was a fastidious landlord and considering his nature she imagined he’d be one of those people eager to set the world to rights, to restore order.

“You haven’t told her?”

Granny looked at Ruby reproachfully, though she tried to shrug it off. The old woman sighed, not-quite managing to roll her eyes.

“He was amongst the people infected during a breach a couple of years ago. We’ve been told he’s in treatment, but not responding well. It doesn’t quite work on everyone, as you know.”

It felt impossible, at first. Mr Gold was such a vital part of Storybrooke that it made no sense for the town to be still standing without him. He was also so strong, despite his short stature and his reliance on a cane to walk, that it made no sense to think that even the outbreak could’ve gotten to him. He was the sort of man she would expect to survive the apocalypse, if not thrive in it.

It wasn’t until a couple of days later, when she overheard Katherine Knight talk about “visiting Freddie” that she gave more thought about Mr Gold’s situation. Frederick Knight, Katherine’s husband, was amongst the people still being treated and it had not occurred to her that visits to those infected were not only possible, but desirable. It was human contact, after all, the key to guide those afflicted back to their humanity. Contact and communication with loved ones, with people near and dear, was even better, capable of speeding up the process. And she was sure that, though not close, Mr Gold had considered her a friend. She certainly knew him enough to be of help, and she couldn’t imagine people would much object to her taking him off their hands for a couple of hours a day.

It was with a sinking heart that she learned that, though the treatment of the infected was officially managed by the local hospital, the actual efforts were overseen by Mother Superior and her gaggle of nuns, all of which had survived the apocalyptic events. They had done so mostly because the good Mother had ordered the convent’s doors to be bolted at the first sign of trouble. The sisters had spent the entire apocalypse safe behind the tall walls of the convent, living off the produce from the gardens and closing their ears to the pleas for help from outside.

It was no wonder Mother Superior had decided to offer the services of her little lambs when hands were needed to treat the infected once it was discovered this could be done. It was a way to change the narrative, to erase whatever ill-feelings there remained in town regarding the nuns. It was also a way to position herself in a place of power and relevance, one she relished with little subtlety, it seemed to her. She was practically goading when she turned Belle away, telling her Mr Gold was unfit to receive visits of any kind, and that she could give her no further information.

The rumours she heard were not encouraging. People whispered about Mr Gold lashing out against anybody that dared approach him, about him savagely attacking orderlies and snapping out of restraints with a brute force surprising even in an infected. Too violent to be cured, people said, a beast on the outside as he’d always been on the inside. So thin and haggard, in such a state of rot, that he was practically a boney. The town seemed quite content to do nothing about it, so she decided in the end to take the matter to the mayor. Regina Mills was the closest thing Mr Gold had to family. They’d known each other since she was a baby- there were some unsavoury stories about the pawnbroker and Regina’s mother, but nothing anyone could corroborate- and though they usually bickered they seemed to have a certain respect and fondness for each other, at least from what she’d been able to see.

To her credit Regina did seem to share her concerns regarding Mr Gold- Hell, even Sheriff Swan, not his biggest fan, seemed sympathetic- but didn’t think much could be done about it.

“I wish I could tell you Mother Superior or the orderlies at the hospital were exaggerating, Miss French, but I’ve been to see Mr Gold. Even restrained he was quite violent, and my presence seemed to agitate him more than help him. I believe everything that could be done for him is being done. He’s simply… not responding as he should. I am told it happens.”

She seemed to be honestly contrite, which gave her the opening she needed to convince her to demand the hospital let her visit. It took a while, and some back and forth, but she was finally given permission, though begrudgingly, by Dr Whale and Mother Superior. She was full of cautious optimism that morning, joining Mary Margaret Nolan in the hospital entrance lobby to wait for visiting hours to start, listening intently as the schoolteacher told her that she was hopeful her husband would be released soon, given his progress.

Her enthusiasm waned somewhat when Mary Margaret was ushered along a brightly-lit corridor and she in turn was escorted to a key-coded door that led to the basement, and taken down a flight of stairs into a dark hall, where a clearly-recovering orderly was mopping the floors. She was told to go to the “cell at the end”, a phrase that did away with the rest of her cheerfulness. The air down there was damp and stale, and mold grew on certain areas along the walls and in corners. The floor was solid concrete, with an abundance of thin, spidery cracks, and there were heavy metal doors to her left, with small covered windows slots further down that remained shut, but likely was meant for trays.

She found him when she peered into the third door, though it was difficult to see him at first because the cell was unlit but for the light that shone from a small barred window high above and he was in a shadowy corner, standing still. It was only when her eyes adjusted to the darkness that she began to make out his silhouette, and later more and more details. In many ways it was easy to recognise him: custom suit, slightly-uneven gait, favouring one leg clearly over the other, and shaggy hair a tad too long to be respectable. At the same time, however, the man in the cell looked like a complete stranger: rail-thin, with his trousers torn and his suit jacket in tatters. He wasn’t even wearing a tie, something she’d never seen Mr Gold without. The eyes, however, were the most striking difference: clouded over, almost milky-white, dull and unfocused.

“Oh, Mr Gold…”

The living corpse seemed to shudder, head tilting back to sniff the air. She braced herself for anything, any sudden movement or anything that could remotely be construed as violent, but nothing happened. There was definitely something different, though, an awareness that hadn’t been there before. He could certainly smell her, she knew that, and had likely heard her loud and clear- infected tended to have their sense of smell and hearing heightened, even while their organs and muscles deteriorated. So he knew she was there, but did not attack her, did not seem interesting in doing her harm. The way it seemed there wasn’t anything inherently aggressive or incurable about him, he simply had been left alone to rot.

If no one was gonna do anything about it she would.

She decided the best way to establish any sort of relationship was through something she knew Mr Gold enjoyed. She set aside several afternoons a week to sit down on the hard concrete floor next to Mr Gold’s door and read him, choosing books from his favourite authors and genres. She started with Borges, which he had often checked out, and Irvine Welsh, along with some Cortázar and Verne. She would sneak in, unsure whether Mother Superior wouldn’t try to stop her if she knew what she was trying to do, and spend hours reading and drinking tea. Sometimes Ruby would sneak her something to eat- she had decided early on that she needed at least one person who knew where she was going and what she was doing just in case, specially when it became clear no one went to the basement except her. No nuns, no doctors, no one. People were literally waiting for Mr Gold to turn to dust, too squeamish to outright put a bullet in his brain and be done with it but in no real rush to see him recover either.

Spite became a motivator during those afternoons were things didn’t seem to be progressing and it looked like she was wasting her time. Mr Gold would like that, she thought privately. She felt an odd sort of camaraderie when she thought about sticking it to the nuns, about the expression on Mother Superior’s face if she succeeded. She told him about that, and about the progress being made around town. At some point she started calling him by his first name- Ramsay, a confession he made when she’d playfully teased him about having “R. Gold” as the name on his library card- thinking it might spark something.

She would feed him too, whatever large chunks of raw meat she could get from Granny, who she suspected was well aware of what she was doing but said nothing. She was fully cured, herself, with minimal sequels, but her experience seemed to have made her empathetic to Mr Gold’s plight. She had retained some of the incredible sense of hearing she’d enjoyed while undead. It wasn’t unheard of for people to keep a trait or two from their sickness, though it was rare. In some cases the infection had cause certain irreparable changes to their physiognomy, specially in those further gone.

Fortunately for Belle Mr Gold enjoyed the raw meat, though she never saw him eat it. She’d leave it before heading back to the library and it’d be gone in the morning, tray licked clean but Mr Gold back in his corner. It was a relief, somewhat, to see him lose some of his boney appearance, though he was still rail-thin, little more than skin and bones.

Her first big break happened during an ordinary afternoon, while she sat and read to him something by Horacio Quiroga. Mr Gold rather liked the dark short stories, and though some people might have thought them inappropriate reading material for a recovering zombie Belle disagreed, thinking that anything that might elicit a response from Mr Gold, any response at all, was worth trying.

It was while she was nearing the end of The Feather Pillow that she heard a shuffling and later a thump right on the other side of the door. Tentatively she knocked on the metal door, barely containing a happy laugh when something on the other side knocked back, slow but surely. It was the first time that Mr Gold acknowledged her at all and thought it was a small thing it felt like something monumental. It put a smile on her face so bright Ruby teased her about it for weeks, and prompted her to take a leap of faith one afternoon and open the latch that kept the small window on the door covered. There was no glass to further separate them so she was able to tentatively slip her hand through the opening.

“Come here, Ramsay. Come on, you know me. It’s okay.”

Mr Gold did perk up somewhat, and later dragged himself across the room. She forced herself not to flinch as he leaned forward, his nose almost brushing her skin as he breathed in deeply, hesitantly at first but pressing closer when something about the scent seemed to catch his attention or spark something in him. He never made a move to bite so for the longest time Belle just stood there, on her tippy-toes to be able to pass most of her arm through the opening, fighting the urge to pull back. Her fear gave way to cautionary optimism and later awe at the way Mr Gold practically rubbed his entire face against her hand, as if the notion of skin to skin contact was some sort of miracle. He breathed her deeply now, big lungfuls of her scent, nose pressed tightly against her palm or the underside of her wrist, his expression almost desperate. He made a sort of whining noise when she was forced to pull her arm back, and followed her hand until he physically couldn’t anymore.

She cried later that night, back in the safety of her library, away from prying eyes, part out of sheer relief and part out of anger and sadness at the thought that Mr Gold had been left to rot not because he was beyond help, but rather because it was so convenient. So many people had been given second chances once the rebuilding had started, people who had committed questionable or even downright despicable acts during the apocalypse. Ruby had warned her at the beginning about some, like Keith Nott and Greg Aston, who had taken to the chaos of the past years like ducks to water, had grown unruly and dangerous. She had heard only half-stories, mostly from Ruby, mostly things no one could prove or cared to now that the human race had another chance and the population was in dire need of able-bodied men to rebuild and reproduce. If Storybrooke was ready to embrace lowlifes like those they would have to get used to having Mr Gold back, and she’d call out anyone who dared fight her on that on their hypocrisy.

From then on it became routine to let him smell her. Mr Gold seemed to look forward to it, being sure to stay close to the door and letting out a growly sort of purr when she reached out to him. He was also eager to let himself be stroked and his hair petted, which took a bit of getting used to but to her made sense. Mr Gold had always avoided contact as a rule. Though he sometimes tended to invade people’s personal space as a tactic to put them ill at ease, he usually skirted human touch. She’d had occasion to make a study of it, back before the apocalypse, down to how Mr Gold almost always wore gloves on rent day and avoided passing anything hand to hand. She had noticed that once he got familiar with her he let his guard down a bit and sometimes allowed casual touches, fingers brushing over a book exchanging hands, things of that nature. But he’d always shied away from further contact.

Belle had long ago come to the conclusion that he must have been very touch-starved, given how little actual skin to skin contact he seemed to experience day to day. She had seen him flex his fingers often, his hands and entire body full of nervous energy, of a sort of yearning for what he denied himself. Now, stripped of all human pretenses, without the need to protect himself from others, he was seeking out that which he needed like he hadn’t allowed himself before. She told him over and over that it was alright, that he was allowed to want and seek affection, that she would never use it against him or otherwise harm him with the knowledge. She hoped it would stick on the back of his mind, so he wouldn’t be embarrassed when he was himself again, or wary of her.

She hadn’t expected it to feel so… powerful. So heady, to have someone like Mr Gold, who always seemed larger-than-life, lean on her so trustingly, so eagerly. To have a creature capable of immense feats of strength, of untold violence, purr under her touch like a kitten. She’d always wanted to do it, to reach out and give some sort of comfort to Mr Gold, a little bit of the affection he was sorely missing. It was precisely why she told herself to be cautious and not rush into things, given her impulsive nature. If she botched things now, if she lost her progress or got into a situation she couldn’t handle, Mr Gold might never recover. She was sure any excuse would be enough for people to demand he be “put out of his misery”. She couldn’t afford mistakes or miscalculations.

So she took things slow, and kept things close to the chest. Best no one knew of her progress until she could get Mr Gold talking a little, enough to prove without a shadow of a doubt that he was on the mend, and that killing him would be killing a human being and not some well-dressed boney. So she went about her day as normal as possible, helping set the town to rights, cleaning the library, helping Dove with the community garden that grew on some land belonging to Mr Gold and that was still a vital source of a lot of produce the town consumed, though the normal flow of goods and services was slowly being re established across the estate. Dove was an attentive gardener and the work was strangely soothing. She set her afternoons aside for Mr Gold, though, reluctant to miss a day and cause a potential regression. And it helped her too, helped her deal with what she’d lived through, the peace and companionship she found in the basement of the hospital, with Mr Gold. In the hope that sparked in her every time she caught a glimpse of his eyes and they looked less cloudy and more focused, more alive.

She was so focused on those things, so eager to escape to her afternoon trysts, that she forgot to pay proper attention to her surroundings. It was night when she left the hospital, later than she’d realised, but nothing seemed amiss at first. Even after she heard something she didn’t immediately panic. The Rabbit Hole was close to the hospital, and people were still getting celebratory drunk in honour of the ending of the apocalypse. Sheriff Swan was good about keeping things controlled, all things considered.

It wasn’t until they were almost upon her that she noticed them, staggering around shouting at her, some slurred lewd proposition that made her walk faster, but nothing else. When she chanced a glance back she felt the first true jolt of fear, recognising easily the tall, lanky man as Gregory Aston, which made the other man following her his buddy Keith. Greg had made some advances before the apocalypse, which she hadn’t returned, much to his displeasure. But back then they had both lived in a society with strict rules that limited whatever he might have wanted to do when he was rejected. Now he strutted around Storybrooke getting into fights and using his brute strength to get whatever he wanted, having grown used to the more violent times of the apocalypse, when his fighting ability had given him a position of prominence. Keith, on the other hand, had thrived in the smuggling business, specially of drugs, and was still active. Emma was a competent sheriff but the problems of a town like Storybrooke in the post-apocalypse were many, and the resources of the sheriff’s office were limited.

Being the stupid sort of drug dealer one would’ve expected from Keith he often tested his merchandise and shared it with close pals, which included Greg. Belle could see it the closer they got to her, the tell-tale signs of a person under the influence of more than just alcohol.

“Hey, Belle, wait up, we wanna talk to you!”

She began to seriously consider her options. The library was too far away, and it was too late for Granny’s to be open. The station was close by, but the sheriff was doing rounds so no one would be there. It seemed safer to go back to the hospital, where there was bound to be at least a couple of nurses on their night shift.

“Hey, you frigid bitch, I know you can hear us!”

Running probably was ill-advised, but at some point Belle couldn’t fight her instincts anymore. The relief she felt when she burst through the doors of the hospital was short-lived. The reception area was deserted, and access to the rest of the hospital seemed to be blocked, a precaution typical of the days of the apocalypse that people seemed to still be keeping. Frantically she went to the one door she knew the combination to, but when she tried to close it behind her it was wrenched from her grasp, either by Greg or Keith, she didn’t bother to look. Someone grabbed her arm when she raced down the stairs, but years of surviving in a high-stress environment had given her sharp reflexes that helped her pull herself free.

“There’s nowhere to run, sweetheart. We promise we’ll be nice, we just want to be nice to you, Belle.”

She didn’t know when she made the decision. It was in a split second, more instinctual than anything else. Mr Gold’s cell was bolted from the outside but not locked, she’d noticed that from the beginning. She’d been tempted to open the door so many times, but she’d restrained herself. But now adrenaline was rushing through her and the survival instinct that had kept her alive through hell on Earth moved her to make a quick decision, to seek out safety. Without pausing to second-guess herself she unbolted the door, pushing her way inside and closing it behind her.

“Got ourselves a room, how nice.”

“Hope there’s a bed inside!”

It was dark inside the cell. The only light came from the corridor and was too faint to reach inside. Belle knew she was not alone in the room but she could not hear or see Mr Gold. The infected got very good at being quiet and staying out of sight, like the best of predators, which wasn’t an altogether-reassuring thought. Greg and Keith stumbled inside the room, uncoordinated and sluggish from drink and whatever else they’d consumed, and Belle stepped back, seeking who she knew was there.

“Now, Belle, this doesn’t need to be bad. Ugly. We can… can treat you right. Make it good. We’re nice guys.”

Greg had always said that. Belle was sure that, against all odds, he believed it. Even as he clamped a hand around her arm, with enough force to make her wrist hurt, to make her cry out in pain and fight to wrench herself free. Even as Keith laughed next to him, clumsily pawing at his belt. There was a second of all-consuming fear, the kind that paralysed the muscles and made it difficult to breathe. Then there was a growl and she felt rather than saw an arm wrap around her waist and pull her backwards. Another arm went across her chest, securing her against something solid behind her.

“Holy fuck, what the-?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

The sheer terror in both men’s eyes was almost amusing, if it weren’t for the fact that Belle felt the same. Mr Gold’s face was next to hers, snarling, teeth bared in a clear warning. She wanted to say something, so that he’d recognise her as a friend, let himself be soothed, perhaps, but nothing came out. Greg and Keith scrambled backwards, fighting to be the first ones out the door, bolting it behind them for good measure before running away, the sound of their footsteps eventually fading into nothing. They weren’t going to look for help, she knew it. Too messy for them, too dangerous. They’d left her alone, perhaps even hoping Mr Gold would take care of her so she wouldn’t go telling tales and for a moment her anger overcame her fear, so thoroughly that she didn’t notice Gold’s head move, his nose coming to press against her neck. He took a deep, audible breath and Belle froze again, part of her bracing herself for a bite. But none came, Mr Gold seemingly content to scent her. Slowly Belle felt fear drain out of her, allowing her to somewhat compose herself.

“It’s just me, Ramsay, Belle. You know me, don’t you?”

He made a purring sound, the one she’d grown so used to, and loosened his hold on her, not a drop of aggression on him. Belle tentatively petted his hair, excited now to be able to look at him so closely, to notice the very slight tint of pink on his cheeks and the slight warmth of his skin, signs of his recovering humanity. He, likewise, seemed curious about her, hands hovering near her, as if asking for permission to touch, to explore. And though he didn’t dare grab her again he had no problems pressing his nose close to whatever part of her he could reach. He spent long minutes scenting her hair, fingers ghosting over it, as if delighted by the feel of it. Fascinated and intrigued she let him proceed, allowing him to sniff at her forehead, down her neck and over her torso. It was strangely endearing, or at least until he pressed firmly against the juncture of her thighs, taking a deep breath in an attempt to scent her through her underwear and cotton shorts.

“No!”

She pushed against his shoulders and he scrambled away, clearly feeling chastised by her tone and actions. He looked confused, as if unaware of whatever he’d done wrong, and whatever offence she might have felt a moment ago went up in smoke. Slowly, so as to not spook him, she sat down in the cot next to him and turned his face so they’d make eye-contact.

“Hey, Ramsey, I’m sorry. You didn’t know. It’s okay, Ramsey, I’m not mad.”

Something sparked in his eyes, and he tilted his head to the side, brow furrowing.

“R-r-r-r…” With a jolt, Belle realised he was trying to speak. It was more of a growl than anything else, but there seemed to be a purpose to it, a desire to shape it into something. “R-r-rum.”

He splayed a hand against his chest and repeated the word. Belle understood at once what he was trying to say.

“Yes, yes, that’s right. You’re Ramsay, that’s your name. Ramsay.”

She said it slowly, over and over again, delighting in the way he focused on her lips as they shaped out the word. He couldn’t quite repeat it, not entirely at least, but he recognised it without a doubt as his name, the first concrete proof that he could not only understand speech but that he had also recovered a sense of self, and at least partial access to his memories. He also seemed to realise it was a momentous occasion, his lips curling up into a shadow of a smile, looking more like Mr Gold than ever.

Knowing that certainly Ruby or Dove would report her missing tomorrow and that this would be an obvious place to check out, seeing as to how Emma and Regina suspected of her near-constant visits, she settled down to wait, lying down on the cot so her face was close to Mr Gold- Rum, now, in her mind- who was still on the floor, looking at her. She talked to him as one of her hands combed through his tangled hair, told him about Dove and how he was taking care of everything for him, about how the Library was ready for re-opening and how things were slowly returning to normal. There was an understanding in his eyes that hadn’t been there before, as if one more of many veiled had been lifted and he could see the world more clear now than before.

She didn’t recall falling asleep, but she must have at some point. When she awoke there was no panic, even when she registered the grey walls of the cell and the thin, hospital-issue mattress beneath her. Rum was next to her, sitting on the floor leaning against the cot and watching her from beneath a curtain of shaggy hair. It was, she was sure, longer than it had been weeks ago, another sign of his blossoming humanity to add to her list.

“Good morning, Rum.”

She pulled herself to a sitting position, looking around her. Now that there was slight coming into the room from the small window in a corner she could see the room properly, and winced at the signs of decay and disrepair. Surely it couldn’t be conductive to his recovery for him to be locked up in a place like that. She would need to try and convince Regina to do something about it, if she could somehow get the woman to the cell so she could see with her own eyes that Rum was on the mend, and certainly not a danger to anyone.

It was while she contemplated how to go about it all that she heard faint sounds, and later the murmur of voices. Someone shouted her name, desperately- Ruby, it sounded like- followed by others. Rum tensed up beside her, scrambling to stand between her and the door. She was about to try and calm him down when she was startled by the cell door being violently yanked open, Sheriff Swan stepping into the room with her revolver up and aimed squarely at the Scotsman’s head. Behind her Belle could see Ruby, David Nolan- who acted sometimes as Deputy Sheriff, and the major herself.

“No, wait!”

Thankfully for her Rum was a short man, so getting in front of him guaranteed Emma would be unable to shoot him in the head. It didn’t make her drop her stance, though, specially when she saw Rum grab her from behind and snarl.

“Belle, what the fuck? Get out of the way!”

“No, you don’t understand. It’s okay. I’m okay. He’s not gonna hurt me. He’s not aggressive.”

She knew how ridiculous she sounded like, with Rum behind her, teeth bared and hands digging into her skin to the point where she had to admit hurt a little, but it was important that they understood.

“He… he’s on the mend. He just thinks you’re threatening me. Just… just stand down. He’ll relax.”

She wasn’t sure he would, but it was worth a try. Emma, to her credit, didn’t dismiss her words, and obviously noticed Rum was making no move to bite or otherwise attack her. She lowered her firearm and relaxed her posture, and little by little Belle felt Rum do the same behind her, though he kept one of his hands curled protectively on her shoulder, as if ready to yank her back at the first sign of trouble. She took advantage of the tentative peace to recount the events of last night, trying to be as detailed as possible. Though she got some sceptic looks she could see that at least Emma and Regina were considering part of what she was saying, particularly regarding Keith and Greg. When it came to Rum, however, the general consensus seemed to be that Belle was likely being a bit too optimistic, and there weren’t enough grounds to challenge the authority of Mother Superior regarding Mr Gold’s situation.

“No, you’re not listening to me. He’s on the mend. He knows who he is, he has memories. Look at him. At the colour of his skin, at his eyes. He’s better. He knows who I am, I’m sure.”

She stared at Emma, hard, as if daring the blonde to contradict her, to pat her on the head and tell her she was mistaken, confused, seeing things that weren’t there. To her surprise she felt Rum’s hand on her shoulder tighten.

“B-B-B-Be-Belle.”

It was more of a croak than anything, but there was no mistaking what he’d just said. Everyone froze in place and things were deadly quiet for a second or two. Belle could have sworn that when she chanced a glance at Rum there was something of the familiar Mr Gold smirk about him, the satisfied, smug look he often got after striking a deal or getting the better of people. Finally, after what felt like forever, Regina spoke.

“I can’t wait to see the look on Mother Superior’s face when I tell her this.”

Rum’s progress seemed to accelerate after that, though his vocabulary remained reduced. But his understanding of speech and his communication skills evolved immensely, and there was a constant awareness now of what was going on around him and a spark of intelligence that hadn’t been there before.. The major, likewise, was determined to make her own progress and before the week was out she managed to arrange a review of Mr Gold’s case with Dr Whale and Dr Hopper, against the express wishes of Mother Superior. Both reports were as positive as Belle could’ve hoped for, with Dr Hopper encouraging Mr Gold be moved to his own house for the remainder of his recovery, which was usually the next step once patients had developed enough understanding of the world around them.

Belle and Dove worked tirelessly to put Mr Gold’s house to rights, or as close to it as possible. Dove had boarded it up after Mr Gold had been infected, so it was quite the job to open it up again and clean it, but the inside was mostly well-preserved. All around Storybrooke news of the imminent release of the pawnbroker spread around fast, and the reception was more than a little chilly. No one dare take it up personally with Belle- apparently the first idiot to even insinuate something like that had had a pickaxe nearly flung at them by Leroy- but people definitely gave her hostile looks and were otherwise very vocal about how much better things would’ve been if Mr Gold had simply… faded away. It was disgusting and she was grateful that those closest to her seemed to be on the same page.

It was nighttime when Rum was officially discharged. He’d been already moved to a regular hospital room a day before in preparation and to administer any final tests and such. Afterwards they left him sitting in the hallway, which was where she found him. He visibly perked when he saw her, lips curling into that adorable half-smile that she remembered from years ago. He lurched forward towards her, which made her notice his limp was more pronounced than before. Infected people gained strength and agility due to the changes in their bodies, which could also strengthen injured bones and muscle. The more Rum’s body returned to its natural state the more his old injury reasserted itself. It was a strange sort of positive sign.

Thankfully the streets were deserted, like she’d hoped when she’d suggested Rum be released at night. They walked slowly, him leaning slightly against her for balance, looking around with unabashed hunger. He breathed in deeply, scenting the air, silently reveling in his freedom. Certain buildings and sights seemed to catch his attention, his eyes lingering on the diner, the library and specially on his pawnshop. When they finally got to the edge of town and he spotted his house he visibly moved faster, tugging her along and paying little attention to his dragging right leg as he all but sprinted towards it. His movements were still very wooden and stiff but the progress was astounding.

The house was dimly lit, electricity still being strictly rationed, but Rum seemed to want to explore everything at once, at least until something seemed to occur to him and he darted awkwardly up the stairs. When she followed him she found him in his ensuite bathroom, shower already on. He was struggling to take his tattered clothes off, which was no easy feat given his current lack of dexterity. Belle helped him take his jacket off, trying not to smile at his slightly abashed look. What was left of his shirt was partly stuck to his undershirt and skin by grime and blood. It took ten minutes and a pair of scissors to peel the fabric off him safely. His torso was littered in half-healing bite marks and scratches and when she gently touched a couple of them he sighed, pressing his forehead against hers.

“I’m-m-m okay.” She didn’t realise until he tried to console her that she was crying. “Ev-v-v-very-thing is o-k-k-ay.”

His brogue was so thick it was difficult to understand him, and his voice was still raspy and harsh form disuse but the gentleness with which he sought to reassure her made his words soft as butter. She helped him out of the rest of his clothing, leaving his boxers on when it became clear he was not keen on the idea of having her remove them. She rummaged his walk-in closet for a pair of pants, fresh underwear and a t-shirt and left him to shower in peace. Afterwards- thankfully, dressing up had been easier for him than stripping down- she sat him down in front of a mirror and trimmed his hair at his request, pleased at the results. Showered and properly groomed Rum was looking more like himself than ever.

When she brought up the idea that she might stay the night- Dove had prepared a room for her just in case- he looked painfully relieved and agreed vigorously, not letting her out of his sight until she slipped into her own room, leaving the door ajar behind her. He shuffled into the room that she’d pointed out was his and laid on the bed, feeling a strange burning in his eyes, and a heaviness that he didn’t recognise at first. Minutes later he was asleep.

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #Thestraggletag fanfiction #Human Nature

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ciestessde · 5 years

Text

SOSW Halloween: Lyoko Portal

SUMMARY

In an attempt by the evil A.I. “X.A.N.A.” to destroy humanity, it brings several beings from other dimensions to a certain junkyard-of-a-college. Chaos ensues.

This is a "Special One-Shot Wednesday" for Halloween 2019 and includes requests from: "ghostboy1225″ @liam21134 on twitter, "GirlFish" on fanfiction.net, and several anonymous requests given through the OSW polls. (Vaguely connected to the OSW "Behind the Curtain")

Aelita and Jeremie, the two transfer students, were setting up the finishing touches on the project they'd come all this way to complete. Aelita only needed to finish entering the coordinates, and then…

Aelita paused in her typing. She turned to Jeremie. "Do you really think this is going to work?"

Jeremie only had eyes for the screen in front of him. "You want to get back to Lyoko, right?"

"Of course I do-" "Then it'll work." Jeremie reached his hand out toward the activation button.

"Jeremie, NO! Don't activate it yet!" Aelita screamed.

… But it was too late.

Before either of them could react, the portal on the wall of the university's lab whirred to life, screaming a terrible high-pitched whine and filling with unfamiliar energy.

The room was drenched in a blinding white light.

~~~ * ~~~

Harley and Bat froze, turning to look down the stairs to their left.

After a few moments, Bat looked at Harley, who was still staring. "... Don't even think about it."

Harley didn't move, still focused down the stairs. "Bat, someone could be hurt." "And if they are, it's their own fault. You know which lab that is, right?"

"... You don't." "Should I? Since when is there-?"

"Why must you gain courage at the most inopportune times?!" Bat sighed and explained, "It was designated a private lab last month. Transfer students. That's all I know. I thought maybe we could recruit them to get more funding for the club, but it… didn't work out," Bat turned and continued walking, "Whatever they're doing down there isn't any of our busi-"

He heard heavy footsteps and turned. Harley had run down the stairs.

"DAMMIT, HARLEY!"

Against his better judgement, Bat ran after him.

~~~ * ~~~

"Oooh… What happened?" Beetlejuice rubbed his head, floating up off of the ground. Wherever he was, the entire room was full of smoke. "Where's Lyds?" He cupped his hands around his mouth, "LYDIA?! YOU OK?!"

A strange moan came from his left, and further inside the room he heard a girl call out, "Jeremie! Are you alright?" "Yeah… Yeah, I'm ok."

Then… it processed: "This is the World of the Living. I'm… I'm free!" And with a shout of "WAHOO!" Beetlejuice was released upon the school.

But there was a far more pressing issue the students would have to deal with before the poltergeist.

'So… Hungry… There was… light… pulling, and then- '-Wait. This smell… 'Smells… smells like… human, but… Me?'

Danny opened his eyes- -And saw himself.

Except, something was wrong. It… it wasn't him. It couldn't be, because… The face he was looking at - was the face of a corpse.

And it… He… 'I'm just so… so… HUNGRY.'

The other Danny, having regained consciousness, stopped moaning. It smelled like Livings here… Not good. And even worse, was that… himself?

Suddenly, other-him lunged mouth-first at him! And the guy was strong. WAY too strong!

He grabbed the clone(?) by the shoulders. He was managing, just barely, to hold him back - but it was hard to focus with the two Livings on the other side of the room-!

"Ugh…" There was a Living boy - teenager? - lying not five feet from them. Great. Just… Just PERFECT!

But then, somehow, it got worse. Other Him - grew tentacles?!

They grabbed Zombie Danny around the middle, lifting him into the air and SLAMMING him against the floor! They dragged him across the linoleum, leaving deep gouges as they went - miraculously not hitting the Living Boy.

Planting his feet, Zombie Danny used all the inhuman strength in his decaying flesh to TEAR the kagune off of him.

At that, Ghoul Danny apparently decided to go after the easier prey: the Living Boy.

Who finally woke up. Will was grateful, at first, to not be in the Upside Down anymore- -But that gratefulness didn't last long.

Zombie Danny blocked Ghoul Danny's kagune just in time. But that brought him very close to Will. And Ghoul Danny wasn't the only one who was hungry.

It was like he could smell the contents of the boy's head all the way through his skull. Maybe he could - it wasn't like there was a guidebook to his situation!

Zombie Danny's options were running out. If he didn't eat a brain soon, his body really would die this time! He'd become a full ghost, not just half.

And he… He couldn't let that happen. But… And he didn't know these Livings. He didn't know what was going on. But…

But.

He couldn't just let them die, either!

So. Danny forfeited his secret - and transformed.

By the time Bat and Harley made it to the lab, they froze. What else were they supposed to do when faced with such pure chaos?

Some of it was expected - like the two transfer students huddled and madly pressing buttons in the back of a room filled with smoke. Some of it wasn't too unusual - like the teenager panicking on the floor. Maybe he was just here to study, or was someone's younger brother, or… something.

But then there was a glowing teenager holding back another guy who had TENTACLES COMING OUT OF HIS BACK, WHAT THE HELL?!

Zombie-now-Ghost Danny screamed at the typing students, "Look, I don't know exactly what's going on, but you two seem to be the cause, and I just want you to know - I can't hold this guy back forever!" "I'm working on it!"

"Jeremie!" Aelita, her face terrified, pointed at a screen where a weird, almost target- or eye-looking symbol was glowing a bright, ominous red. Jeremie froze. "Oh no…"

Snapping out of it, he looked around the room - panicked for a moment - then started barking orders. "I don't know any of you, and you don't know me, but we don't have much time. If we don't fix this, the entire world - multiple worlds - will be doomed! So, like it or not, we need your help-!"

"Yeah whatever!" interrupted Ghost Danny. Ghoul Danny growled and, stabbing his kagune into the ground, pulled them both forward a couple feet toward the still frozen-in-shock Will. "Just tell me what to do before I lose my grip!" "Aelita! They'll need to go inside Lyoko!" "Right!"

The pink-haired girl pulled out a handful of… buttons? "Not the ghost - OR the kid!" said Jeremie, setting up a complicated-looking laptop display. "Got it."

Aelita placed one of the buttons on her head, then threw one onto Ghoul Danny's stomach. Before they could snap out of it enough to protest, she'd already thrown one onto both Bat's and Harley's heads, as well. "Transferring scan data!" Jeremie said, and the buttons glowed. The light spread through each of their bodies. "Virtualization!"

And like that, Jeremie, Ghost Danny, and Will were the only people left in the room. Danny just floating, Will looking around confused, and Jeremie still furiously typing.

"..."

"... Ok… That was different," Danny said in his echoey voice.

Jeremie seemed to finish, or at least paused to look at him and say, "There was another… guy- that flew off earlier. It's not really my place to ask, but-"

"-Hey, um…" Will stood up, trembling. Danny and Jeremie turned to look at him. "Where… am I?"

"That's…" 'Why didn't I think to ask that?'

"..." Something beeped, and Jeremie looked down at one of the screens in front of him. Typing again, he responded, "It's hard to explain, but you're basically in an alternate reality. The portal we were building- … Glitched." He paused to look Will (and Danny) in the eyes. "We'll get you back home. I promise." Looking back at the screens and typing again, he added, "But I'd really appreciate your help in the meantime."

Danny looked at Jeremie, then down at the shivering Will. "..." He floated down so his feet touched the ground. "Hey, uh. My name's Danny."

He held out his hand. At first, Will just stared at it. But after a couple moments… he took it. "... I'm… Will."

Danny put on his best smile. "Nice to meet you Will. Hey, um… How do you feel about helping me catch a ghost?"

To Danny's surprise- -Will's face lit up!

~~~ * ~~~

It had to be the oddest sense of déjà vu Bat and Harley had ever experienced. There was yet another flash of light, and they were… in a desert?

He and Harley looked… Like themselves, but… 'What the heck?!'

Bat looked like a vampire with bat wings. Harley was… a centaur? Aelita - well, she'd already had that weird pink hair before, but now she kinda looked like an elf. Danny, though, looked pretty much the same.

But… his head was clear. He wasn't hungry anymore?

Groaning, he opened his eyes. He could remember what happened, of course, but that just made him more confused. Why wasn't he hungry anymore…?

Before he got a chance to ask, Aelita grabbed everyone's attention, all business. "You see that tower?" She pointed into the distance. A few miles away was a simple, cylindrical tower. "I need to get inside it. Once I do, I can fix the portal and stop XANA."

"Zana?" asked Harley.

Bat was trembling with rage, refusing to look at Harley. Harley noticed, but… Well, they didn't really have time to talk right now, did they? Lives were at stake here!

"It's what's causing all this. It's an AI that wants to destroy humanity. We thought we had defeated it, but we must have reawakened it when activating the portal somehow. But- It's so far away. And we don't have any vehicles…" "Maybe Bat can help." "Huh?" Bat looked around, searching for the source of Jeremie's voice. "It says here you should be able to turn everyone into bats. That should help you all move more quickly."

"And how, exactly, do I do that?" Bat glared at the sky. "C'mon, just try." Bat turned his head. Harley was giving him a pleading look. "..." Bat turned his face away…

… But a couple seconds later, and everyone was flying above the desert.

~~~ * ~~~

Beetlejuice was flying around the school, at a loss for where to even start spreading mayhem! As he passed by, at just below the speed of sound, someone slapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him inside a closet.

He struggled, and the hands released him. "What gives?!"

"Shhh!" Danny held a finger up to his mouth.

But Beetlejuice didn't listen. "Woah. Dude, what's with the glowing? You get bit by a radio-GHOST-ive spider or something? Ha!"

Danny facepalmed, and groaned, "Look, I don't have a thermos on me at the moment. So can we just skip to the part where you give up and agree to go back to the Ghost Zone and torment me later?"

Beetlejuice just laughed, "'Ghost Zone'? Is that a new theme park or somethin'?"

"Huh?" 'Theme Park? Wait… He's not glowing…

'Oh, crud! 'Is… Is he NOT a ghost?!'

"Look, kid, I like your sense of style and all, black and white is always in, but when it comes to tormenting people… The Ghost with the Most is always PENctual!" From out of nowhere, a giant pen appeared in Beetlejuice's hand and sprayed ink all over Danny, blinding him. "But I INK you get the idea! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Before Danny could think to turn intangible to get the stuff off of him, Beetlejuice flew out of the closet- -and met with a face-full of Fenton Wrist Ray.

"I got him!" Will was practically jumping with excitement.

Danny phased out of the wall (and the ink). "Awesome!" He tackled BJ, pinning his arms to his sides much like he had with Ghoul Danny.

BJ struggled, but Danny's grip was too strong to break. "Hey! I don't appreciate being HUG tied!"

"Dude. What's with the puns?" Danny asked, surprisingly casual.

Suspiciously, the struggling stopped. "Oh, nothing really. I just need a breath of FLESH air!" There was nothing Danny could do, then, to stop him.

BJ turned into gas - and slipped straight through his arms!

~~~ * ~~~

"Look out!" Aelita transformed back into her base form, activating her own wings, and tried to shove Bat out of the way of a laser. But she was too late.

Bat fell, everyone else losing their bat forms and landing with, thankfully, only minor damage.

They had only made it about halfway to the tower, but they were surrounded: From the air came five wasp-like hornets and three stingray-looking mantas. Then, bocking their ground-route, were several large, black, ball-like megatanks, the giant cubes-with-eyes bloks, and a few tall, spindly krabs.

There was no time for a complicated strategy. Aelita yelled, "They can't kill you, but they can send you back to the real world. Cover me while I head for the tower!" and flew off.

Bat pulled himself up. He was thoroughly pissed off now. 'First, Harley runs straight into danger - AGAIN. Then these strangers rope us into helping them. And now I get shot from behind by some BUG?!' He glared at the hornet that shot him, the one in the lead, and, acting on instinct, blasted it with a wave of wind.

Harley shot a fire ball at the same moment, and at the same hornet. The attacks combined, becoming more powerful, and all three of the monsters exploded.

Meanwhile, Danny was focused on the ground enemies, dodging their lasers with ease and slashing at them with his kagune. Hunter that he was, it didn't take him long to figure out that their eyes and the eye-symbols were their weak spots.

After that, it took him no time at all to demolish the entire swarm.

The only ones left after only two minutes were the mantas - as, after seeing what happened to the hornets, they had moved too high for any of them to reach without flying.

"Bat-" "-yeah yeah, I know," he grumbled at Harley. He was still pissed, but the only way out of here was to do as Aelita told them. He was backed into a corner.

Which just pissed him off more.

Flying up with remarkable speed, Bat got above the three mantas and blew them downwards into Harley's fire. A few seconds passed, but the monsters didn't die.

Cursing, Bat stopped his wind attack and manifested some knives. He threw them at the eyes on the mantas' backs, but it still wasn't enough.

Cursing even more, he dodged the mantas' lasers, swooped down, and grabbed Danny. "Hey!" "Shut up and just attack," Bat snarled - and dropped him right on top of the lead manta.

Striking and using the momentum to jump to the next one, Danny took them out in less than ten seconds.

And so, before Aelita even made it to the tower, all the monsters were defeated- -only for even more to show up right in front of the girl.

~~~ * ~~~

"Jeez this kid is tough!" Beetlejuice muttered, hiding behind the door of the Principal's office. Danny had flown by a few times, and a few of those times had almost caught the poltergeist again!

But BJ's plan was working out, so far. Soon, he'd truly be free! Free to explore the Living World without ever having to return to the Netherworld! … Free to spend his life with his best friend.

"All I have to do is get rid of that stupid portal, find Lyds, and I'll be set for my afterlife! And speaking of the poor fool…"

The Principal walked into his office, closed the door - and Beetlejuice possessed him. "Time to go fire some transfer students!"

Unfortunately for BJ, Danny knew an overshadowed person when he saw one. Grabbing Will and shushing him, he followed BJ back to the lab - right where Danny wanted him.

Mission complete and XANA defeated once again, the Lyoko group devirtualized RIGHT before the "Principal" walked in.

Ghoul Danny's hunger returned with a vengeance - but he held himself back. He only needed to last long enough to get back home…

"What's going on here?!" Principal Beetlejuice said.

Jeremie froze. "Um…" "It's not him," said Danny, turning visible behind BJ and setting Will down. "How long before the portal's ready?"

Aelita hit a few buttons, "It's ready whenever you are."

Danny reached an intangible hand inside the Principal, "Then NOW!" and pulled out the poltergeist. The portal came on with a soft whirr - Beetlejuice made one desperate last attempt, "UnHAND m-!" - and Danny LAUNCHED Beetlejuice through it.

The Principal was swaying back and forth, Ghoul Danny chewing on his own hand and his kagune twisting. Ghost Danny flew over and turned him and Ghoul Danny invisible. The Principal, slowly, blinked back to consciousness.

"Wh-what…?" He looked around at the burn and scratch marks all over the walls and floor. "Oh my-!" "Sir," Harley said, walking up to him, "You came down to investigate the explosion, right?" "Explosion?!" "There's no need to worry. No students were hurt. It was just a…" Harley stopped, at a loss for how to get out of this. The Principal's expression was turning into a glare, and Harley started to get nervous.

"-A slight miscalculation with the startup charge," interrupted Bat, "Turns out it didn't require as much energy as expected to open the portal, and that excess energy is what caused the explosion. Thankfully, no one got hurt. And, more than that, as you can see…" He raised an arm to wave at the glowing gate behind him, grinning, "The experiment was a success."

The Principal stood there, staring wide-eyed at the portal to another dimension in his university's lab, for a solid minute. Of course, Bat being down here was extremely suspicious, given his reputation, but… Grinning like a cheshire cat, the Principal went around shaking everyone's hand and congratulating them.

This probably would've continued if Jeremie hadn't expressed the desire to "continue perfecting the experiment that night." "Yes, yes, of course, carry on," the Principal said, "The pursuit of knowledge takes precedence…!"

After he'd left, the Dannys turned visible. Ghoul Danny's kagune were starting to scratch at the floor again. "Alright! Hurry up and open the portal to HIS dimension!" Jeremie did so, and Ghost Danny threw Ghoul Danny into it.

And, for a moment, there was peace.

"Well…" said Harley, "... I guess that all worked out." Bat stomped up the stairs without a word.

"..." Harley ran up after him. "Hey-"

Bat, halfway up the steps, spun around. "WHAT were you thinking!?" Harley froze. "You-... You just-..."

"..." Glaring, Harley walked up the steps between them- -grabbed Bat by the collar- -held him there for a few seconds: "I was saving people. But-" -and hugged him.

"I'm sorry I scared you."

"... "No you're not. You liar."

Reluctantly - and, he'd stress, only because they were alone - Bat hugged him back.

~~~ * ~~~

Back in the lab, Will addressed Jeremie and Aelita, "So, uh… That's an interdimensional portal."

Jeremie grinned. "Sure is!" Aelita noticed Will was shaking again. She tried to reassure him, "We can send you right back to where you were, don't wor-" "Actually," Will stammered, "I, um… Can you send me- back home?" "Huh?" Jeremie said, "I mean, that's what we were planning on- wait. You mean, you weren't-?!"

Will was shaking even more now. Danny rested a hand on the kid's shoulder. He looked to Aelita. "How hard would it be to send him home?"

The two students thought for a few moments.

Jeremie answered. "In theory, we can get his dimension's coordinates from his body's frequency, but… If we get it wrong," he shook his head, "We won't be able to fix it."

Will's shaking got worse for a second. Then stopped. He looked up. "Then…" He swallowed. "... Just send me… back where you found me."

"Are you sure?" Danny asked him. Will trembled a little, but smiled. "I know I'll get home. Someone will come for me. I'm sure of it."

"..." Aelita and Jeremy recalibrated the portal. And, with a small wave, Will walked through. Then, with one final adjustment, Danny went home, as well.

Now alone again, there were a few moments of silence.

… Aelita started giggling. Jeremie looked at her, confused, for a second.

She was looking at the portal- -the fully-functioning, interdimensional portal- -that they had built.

… He starting giggling himself.

Before long, they were hanging off each other and laughing hysterically. Aelita gasped for air. She turned to Jeremie, grinning. "We did it."

He sat up, grinned back, and just said, "Yeah. "We can finally go back."

~~~~~

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{This is part of my “OneShot Wednesday” project - I’m trying to write a one-shot every week that other people have requested! Original Requests one week, and Fanfic Requests the next.

While I will try to keep track of all the requests I receive regardless of how they’re sent, the best ways to send them are: A. Through the current poll. B. If it’s a Fanfic Request, through the pinned tweet on my Twitter C. If it’s an Original Request, through either my email ([email protected]), my Patreon (if you’re a patron), or my Ko-fi.

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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RWBY V6 CH6 Review: Alone in the Woods

Have you ever felt terrified of an episode? Well, that’s a silly question! We’re watching RWBY! Of course we have! But man this may be the most worried about what’s going to happen that I’ve been for a long while. I could say that about the whole volume so far tbf, but MAN have been concerned. So after the outright uncomfortable atmosphere that the last episode presented, what does this one have in store for us? Lets find out.

Overview

Night has come, and our heroes aren't doing great. WBY looks outright ready to pass out as they sit infront of the fire as Ruby checks in on Qrow, whose mood is no better. The good news is that the storm is clearing up and all should be clear by morning. Ruby however is more concerned about if Qrow is doing okay, especially since she sees that he's found a bottle of alcohol. But Qrow shrugs it off, telling her to get everyone to sleep and that he'll wake them up in the morning. During this, Maria is reading the owners journals and as with all the other places, the Brunswick Farm owners were people trying to make a life for themselves, but they didn't make it. Everyone goes to bed... well except Maria who refuses to follow Qrow's orders. Maria is such a blessing.

Morning soon arrives, Ruby being awakened when she hears a bottle that Qrow had shatter. She realizes that they overslept and goes to get up her uncle... who now has a couple more bottles than eh previously had. She isn't happy about this. She looks outright... frustrated tbh. She can't shake him awake so, clearly mad, she simply tosses a bottle at the wall and that wakes Qrow up. It's... an interesting reaction. IDK any alcoholics or had family or friends who became alcoholics, an Thank God for it. But this felt... real. Lie this is how it is when someone you care about is too deep in their alcoholism. Ruby's clearly seen this before, as V5 also hinted. Only this time instead of being annoyed,s he's frustrated and tired of it. But as Qrow comes to, she calms down and hugs him, telling him that he can talk to her or Yang if anything is wrong. Qrow again just brushes it off, wanting to get out of the place. It's such a small, but impactful scene that really amps up the concern for Qrow.

The group gets ready to connect the wagon (I know there's a name for those things but I can't thin of it) to Yang's bike and get out, though all of them are clearly tired. It's not made any better when Qrow's bad luck hits and causes a flat tire. This seems to be the last straw for him as he goes off in a huff. Ruby seems to be the only one not delirious aside form Maria, saying that they can find a spare. But Yang isn't keen on it, pointing out their bad luck. Crashes, storms, monsters, it just looks like something doesn't want them to get to Atlas. It feels like no matter what, they always have to fight in order to pull through. When Ruby says that this is what they signed up for, Oscar makes a very strong point. They signed up to save the world, not to delay the inevitable.

Weiss brings back up the point that she brought up last time, why are they even going to Atlas? Ruby is again shocked that this is even a consideration, but Yang and Blake agree. The Relics may be in vaults currently, so why not just leave the lamp where they are? It could take her who knows how long ti find it if they just drop it down the well. I'd argue that since the Grimm re attracted to them, it wouldn't be too long, but then again she hasn't found the Beacon Relic, so... and even then,t hat's not the point. It's pretty clear that all that the others want to do is just give up on this whole thing and be done with it. Their eyes are lifeless. Their talk is in complete monotone. They look outright lifeless as they tell Ruby to just drop the Relic, all of them tired...

Throughout this, Ruby just looks outright horrified at what she's hearing... but soon she starts to think about this. She walks towards the well, also admitting that she herself is also tired. She takes off the Relic, holding it above the well with trembling hands. Her eyes too look lifeless and her expression emotionless... before she lets out a sigh. She slowly pulls back her hand, seeming to decide that no matter how tired she is, she can't just abandon the Relic until it's safe in Atlas. Unfortunately, she gets startled by a pair of glowing red eyes and that is enough to snap her out of her tired state... but also drop the Relic. She panics, even as the others say that it's fine and that her exhaustion is making her see things. Qrow starts to have Oscar work to fix the tire, but Ruby finally realizes that something is wrong and puts her foot down. She angrily refuses to go anywhere without the Relic. The girls, while still emotionless, agree to go down with her as Qrow angrily goes back into the house, ordering Oscar to fix the tire.

As the girls go through the caverns below, Maria continues to read through the journals. As she reads on, there is clear tension as the girls turn off their Scroll lights to find the lamp glow. Ruby outright even gets Crescent Rose out. SH finally finds the glow of the lamp and runs to grab it... as Maria stumbles upon a page titled The Apathy. One that clearly startles her. Why? Well when Ruby gets the Relic, she also finds the source of the glowing eyes... a horde of Grimm. But not like an that we've seen before. These look humanoid, kinda like the rider part of the Nuckalavee, and... it is creepy. Really, REALLY creepy. Ruby screams as she runs out, which snaps the other three out of their trances. Thy get ready to fight... but their weapons suddenly feel heavy and they once again start feeling tired.

Maria appears, telling them that they have to run. They do so, The Apathy giving chase. They are slow, heck it feels a LOT like a zombie horde. Considering their skeleton-like designs, I imagine that it was intentional. It doesn't help that throughout, all the girls keep feeling the same exhausted feeling. They finally make it into the same cellar that was locked before, but the feeling finally get the better of them. Only Ruby and Maria seem to have any kind of will left and worst, Blake is the farthest back and seems to resign herself to being killed as the Grimm close in. Ruby tries to crawl over to her, and the scene is just... creepy. In her state, Blake already looks lie she's dead. Motionless, wide but empty eyed, her weapon discarded as the horde start to close in on her. Poor Ruby can't get over to her and the others are in no state to help, so all that she can do is scream out Blake's name... and that is enough to activate her eyes for a brief moment. It kills a couple of the Grimm and again breaks everyone out of their daze. Ruby gets Blake and all that they have to do now is get out.

Unfortunately if you recall, the cellar is locked. Yang gets ready to go and break it open... but The Apathy still has plenty of numbers as they again cast their spell. Everyone but Maria goes down, Yang outright panicking ad she screams no while just steps away from the door. But Maria seems to realize something as she crawls over to Ruby. She asks her what her eye color is, to which Ruby replies silver. This makes Maria outright happy as she asks Ruby if she has a family and loved ones. Why? She tells her to focus on the way that they make her feel To focus those feelings as she speaks of how life is a beautiful thing. How life is precious. And how it must be protected. With all of that in mind, Ruby regains her resolve, her eyes flashing. She gets back up and this time, without and provicaiton from trauma or fear, unleashes her Silver Eyes power.

The eyes kill the Grimm, allowing everyone to regain their will. Yang breaks open the door and they all find themselves in the bar where Qrow unsurprisingly is. He's clearly drunken himself into a stupor however, grouchy and seeming detached form everything going on. The objective now is to get out of there as Maria, Yang, ad Blake run outside to where Oscar has fixed the tire. But Weiss isn't ready to go yet. She grabs several alcohol bottles and shatter them at the cellar door. The Apathy start to emerge... and Weiss sets everything ablaze. She and Ruby drag Qrow out, who argues and fights back... until he finally sees the burning Grimm. He's shocked into silence seeming to realize how badly he let himself go, as everyone loads up. Yang drives them all away form the Farm, which continues to burn...

Maria reveals what caused the farms downfall. They came upon financial hardships so hoping to save costs on hiring a Huntsman, the owner went and captured two of The Apathy. He locked them into the cellar, hoping that their influence would keep everyone calm and therefore the negative emotions wouldn't draw any further Grimm in. No Grimm, no Huntsmen needed. But unfortunately, the rest of the horde seeked out their own and their presence soon sucked out all of the residents wills to live. Maria just seems sad as she realizes all of this, throwing the book into the snow. Weiss and Yang apologize for how they acted, resolving to not give up until the Relic is safe in Atlas. Maria feels guilty for not realizing what was happening sooner having never seen a settlement die like Brunswick did.

Ruby however has her own questions. She realizes that Maria knows quite a lot about the Grimm an asks how. But that's not all. She remembers how Maria knew exactly what to do in order to get Ruby to release her eyes power. That's right guys, Ruby is finally asking about the Silver Eyes. She ass how Maria knew about this. Maria answers her question, and he gives the answer that we had all been waiting for since this volume began. Yes my friends, our assumptions have finally been confirmed. Maria was indeed a Silver Eyed Warrior.

Review

Damn man, just... DAMN. Okay, we have quite a bit to talk about. So lets keep the scary part out of the way, and then we'll get to the part I REALLY want to talk about.

This episode didn't go the route that I was expecting. I thought that it was going to be some kind of dream Grimm or a Headless Horseman Grimm. I did NOT expect Zombie Horde Grimm. I also thought that this would be some kind of nightmare episode, but nope! And I'm not complaining, in hindsight that would require a LOOOT of time. Having the cast give into apathy and slowly lose their resolve to continue the fight And even the will to live? That is more horrifying then any nightmare could be, especially since none of them even seed aware of it until Ruby snapped out of it. The Apathy may very well be the most terrifying Grimm in the show, They aren't as vicious as say a Beowulf or Ursa, or even as powerful. But they kill you by simply draining your will power, and as this episode demonstrated, that is more lethal than any Grimm attack so far could ever be.

Because of the apathy, the darkest thoughts of the cast really come out. Qrow becomes more drunk than usual and as I already said, it's pretty uncomfortable and realistic. Especially at the end where he's just full out angry and detached, getting angry at Weiss when she breaks the bottles. The look of horror on his face when he finally sees the Grimm and realizes just how badly he let himself slip is... it's shocking. Yang wants to outright quit after all their bad luck and the recent revelations. Weiss gets the idea in everyone's heads after thinking about it last chapter, and this time doesn't snap out of it. Oscar points out that all that they are doing is delaying their inevitable demise since Salem can't die. Everyone is questioning why they should continue the fight at this rate. Even Ruby even if just briefly, gives in and nearly discards the Relic, showing that even she has her limits.

The entire episode is very creepy and outright depressing. The girls emotionless eyes did NOT help. There was no life int hem, or even in their voices. There was just... nothing. They all almost died because of the Grimm making them not care anymore. And all of this happened because one guy wanted to save money. IDK if he did it out of desperation, greed or both but because of it, everyone died. It's a pitiful situation regardless of the motive. I felt like Maria did, just exasperated. It really further demonstrates how hopeless it seems to be for those outside the Kingdoms. Like what we saw with the girls? Imagine that with a small group of people. Imagine that with a whole city. It's a terrifying. Apathy can be a very dangerous thing, for both those who receive it and those who feel it. IDK if I can ever watch RvB, a show that has tons of it, the same way again... God probably none of them would survive The Apathy... well maybe Caboose would. Grif would be a goner though, although maybe already being apathetic would make him immune or... and I'm getting off track XD Sorry!

So yeah creepy as Hell. The atmosphere and acing were just right. It still had some light moments, like Maria refusing to go to bed and both Blake and Oscar being too tired to make food despite wanting it. That is such a mood. But overall the atmosphere was an uncomfortable as last week, only with plenty of fear for our heroes lives sprinkled in. Very, very well done.

But lets get to the real star of this episode: Ruby. In the past, I expressed how I felt that she got the shaft VERY badly in V5. Clearly, CRWBY is fixing that. Throughout these past six chapters, Ruby has been such an amazing character. Still optimistic and good-intention but she's showing much more of her development and growth. She's stepped up as a leader and is keeping alert. She's questioning things and thinking for herself, but still doing her best to take care of her team. She's frustrated at Qrow and upset about the revelations about Ozpin, but she's not letting them control her. She's outright trying her best to get Qrow to open up infact. She's the only one who gave a damn about Oscar and tried to comfort him, even if Qrow shot her efforts down. And in this episode? Despite The Apathy's effects on her, she refuses to give up. Even as she holds the Relic over the well, her hands are trembling in doubt. She was pulling it away from the well, deciding to keep fighting and go to Atlas because it is the right thing to do. But she also put her foot down, showing frustration with Qrow and REFUSING to leave without the Relic despite everyone around her not caring.

Then we have the climax. First, her attempt to save Blake. Weiss and Yang seem to just give up and even Blake resigns herself to death. But Ruby, despite being weighed down, still tries her damnest to save her teammate. And then when she herself is finally brought down, Maria is able to give her the exact encouragement that she needed. Maria got her to think about the happiness and love that her family and friends give her. That life is a precious, beautiful thing. She signed up for this to save lives and make the world better in any way that she can. That is what motivates her. That is why she is where she is. And it is what gave her the strength to break free and use her powers of her own will. And finally at the end, she FINALLY asks about the eyes. Sure it's not to Ozpin, but it IS to someone who clearly knows and can give her at least some kind of answer.

Maria s exactly the kind of character that Ruby NEEDS to help her along. Maria is a sassy old lady, but also wise, knowledgeable, and also seems to care about saving other lives. She seemed just sad when reading about what happened to the farm. Infact that was where her focus was, finding out what happened that cost so many their lives. It seems like, to me, the Silver Eye powers are fulled by the desire to protect and live. It is fulled by positive emotions, which make sense since the Grimm are fueled by negative emotion. It's hwy Maria got on the girls in Chapter for spewing negativity, It's why she's been so far overall very positive, even though clearly SOMETHING happened that cost her her eyes. She is the wise, but kindly person that Ruby currently needs. Ozpin's shadiness and current broken state can't do that right now. Maria is such a welcome addition to the cast, and so far her inclusion has been so good and looks to be leading to even greater things. I frekain' love her.

Going back to Ruby though.. this is what I have been wanting form her since Volume 3. It feels like the multiple timelines and other characters needing the focus is why Ruby got shafted so badly. There was clearly so much going on that something had to be put on pause, and Ruby ended up being the one to get it. This has everything that I have been wanting to see from her. Her growth as a leader, her encouraging nature in spite of all the bad luck, her questioning things and showing some semblance of frustration and anger, her learning about the Silver Eyes. This is the Ruby Rose that I have been waiting for. I've been incredibly patient with CRWBY getting to this, and it is FINALLY paying off. You guys have no idea how happy I was when Ruby willingly used the eyes. How she refused to give up despite everything and everyone around her trying to provoke her. How she is still resolved to do good no matter what. I'm still hoping for her to open up more about her more negative feelings and have a breakdown so that she can move forward, but right now? This is very much the right direction for her, and I could not be happier about my favorite character right now.

Final Thoughts

This volume continues to give. This chapter was creepy and unsettling, but also tense and impactful. It had an awesome if horrifying Grimm concept that is going to haunt my nightmares. It had one Hell of an end and let us see the true dark feelings of most of the characters. It did wonders for Maria as well. Ut this chapter was especially great because of Ruby. She is truly showing the inspiring figure that she is meant to be as she continues to step up as a leader and try to do what's right. I feel like the missteps with her in V5 have now been amended, and hopefully we'll see things continue to go uphill as we reach the halfway mark. Awesome chapter and I loved every single second of it! Well done CRWBY!

#rwby #rwby6 #rwby reviews #callie reviews

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andrewmoocow · 5 years

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Gravity Soul chapter 11: Escape to Death City, Home of the DWMA? (originally posted on October 28, 2018)

AN: Hello again ladies, gentlemen and every other rainbow in-between, welcome back to Gravity Soul! Last chapter our heroes were forced to flee after losing to Kishin Cipher, and their chosen hiding spot? None other than DEATH CITY! New bonds are built and our heroes decide to get stronger in order to properly take the monstrosity on. Some of these I've been wanting to tackle for a while ever since I even started conceptualizing so I hope you'll love them as much as I do.

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All was quiet in Death City, Nevada. The 1800s-esque cobblestone streets were empty for mere moments until a green portal decorated with various arithmetic symbols shined into view and out of it came the Mystery Meisters, now fresh off their departure from Gravity Falls. "So this is Death City!" Ford declared in amazement. "Have to say, really admire the rustic feel of it."

As the crew gazed around the city with wonder, Dipper on the other hand was more mindful of the suddenly anthropomorphic sun, which sported a wide smile emitting a booming laugh. "Hey, I got a question!" he exclaimed. "Why is the sun suddenly alive here yet normal in Gravity Falls? Is it some kind of magic or something?"

"It's best that you not think about it." Death the Kid stated before he looked onward. "Let's get going everybody, the Academy shouldn't be faraway." He led everybody else through the streets of Death's turf, giving them a tour of it along the way.

"Whoa, everything looks so creepy!" Mabel exclaimed gazing through a shop window. "Makes me wish we brought some cameras to take pictures of the place." Wendy added joining her in staring through the window. "Lord Death's face is everywhere. I know he owns the place, but I feel like this is too much." Dipper stated before his eyes wandered to find a nearby ice cream shop. "And is that some kinda parody of Baskin-Robbins?"

"Here it is, our faithful school!" Maka declared after some more sightseeing gesturing towards the school itself high above the rest of the city with flights of white stairs below. It looked more like a macabre funhouse once again with Death's face with red spire roofs, candles jutting out of the building and a group of three skulls anointing the entrance. And above the school was a group of three black orbs mysteriously floating in the air.

"Talk about some bizarre architecture dude! This is definitely going up on my list of inspirations for my dream house!" Soos remarked pulling out a piece of paper with some crude drawings of buildings on it. "It's gonna have a water slide, a bouncy house for an elevator, and trees that can turn into giant super fighting robots!"

"So do we have to climb all these steps?" Pacifica wondered putting a foot on the first stair. "Yeah pretty much." Patty said just as she immediately bolted for the entrance. "RACE Y'ALL!"

"Patty, this is no time for games!" Maka exclaimed racing after her. "We still need to talk with Death and get his help in stopping Kishin Cipher!"

"We literally just got back from nearly dying Maka, can you lighten up a bit?" Black Star said zooming up the stairs. "How can I lighten up when I just-"

"Lost Soul, we know." Tsubaki interrupted her. "We all miss him too but I don't think that's a very healthy way to express your feelings." she stated. "Speaking of losing someone, where's Mr. Pines?"

"How much longer Soos?" Ford moaned as he, Soos and Pacifica became tuckered out from climbing the stairs. "I think we're still in the tens Mr. Pines." the manchild answered. "Well by the time we join the others, I'm going to punch whoever constructed this place. After I throw up."

The hallways of the Death Weapon Meister Academy proved themselves to be very grandiose. As far as the Mystery Meisters could see, they were surrounded by fancy corridors with arched ceilings that almost seemed like a maze.

"Wow, this place is so fancy!" Mabel exclaimed in awe. "And these must be all your classmates too!" She began waving to everyone that passed by until she unexpectedly bumped into a strange blue man. "Oh sorry mister! Didn't mean to run into you like that."

"It's fine missy." the man answered turning to meet the Pines twins, revealing his pupil-less eyes and piglike snout. "Say, aren't you those kids Death was talking to a while ago?" he asked. "Oh my gosh, it's a zombie!" Dipper exclaimed. "Quick, did we pack any formaldehyde and cinnamon in case we run into situations like this?!"

"Hey calm down guys, he won't eat your brains!" Black Star calmed them down. "Speaking of which, we'd like you to meet Sid Barrett. He helps out Lord Death round these parts and is also my dad." he introduced the zombie. "Wait, he's your father? Guess your mom must be some kind of necrophile!" McGucket remarked, which earned him a smack on the head. "Okay I'm sorry! Maybe she's a necromancer instead!"

"Actually, I'm his adoptive dad." Sid answered. "His real dad was a maniac who had to be put down." he added. "I would later raise the kid as my own until I died and came back to life. I couldn't bring myself to kill a baby, cause that's the kind of man I was."

"Y'know, I actually was a zombie once!" Soos remarked. "But I'm not sure if I looked anything like you sir." he stated. "Thanks for your observation, but this is no time for chit-chat. Shinigami said he wants to see you." Sid declared. "Especially the kids."

"Thank you very much Sid, we'll make a note of that." Kid stated before starting to move again. "Come along everyone, his room should be close." he said leading the others away.

Many steps through the labyrinthian halls later, a strange door with a skull face at the top stood before them. "This should be the place." Stein announced beginning to open the door. "Now right this way."

Within moments, the denizens of Gravity Falls found themselves underneath a series of guillotines lined up like a tunnel. "Are any of these going to chop off our heads?" Dipper wondered fearfully gazing up at the tunnel's ceiling. "No it won't you guys, you just still need some adjusting to things!" Spirit claimed. "Now come on, Death shouldn't be kept waiting."

A strange looking room greeted them at the end of the guillotines. The walls almost looked like the sky and a large platform where Death's mirror was situated was surrounded with many crosses planted into the ground that resembled a desert. "Hello, Lord Death? It's us, the Pines family!" Dipper called, but he received no answer. "Where is he anyway? Sid said he should be here to greet us."

"Salutations kiddos!" Lord Death loudly greeted them suddenly appearing on the mirror, shocking them all. "Oh I am terribly sorry, please forgive me for startling you." he apologized exiting the mirror to see them all face to face. "No, we should apologize for being so impatient!" Dipper exclaimed dropping to his hands & knees and bowing his head. "And also failing to stop Asura & Bill."

"Greetings Death, it is a pleasure to meet you face to face." Ford greeted the Shinigami with a respectful bow. "It's good to meet you too Stanford." Death gingerly greeted back before his tone became solemn. "And I am also terribly sorry about what happened to your brother."

"Hey there man!" Wendy casually greeted Death much to Maka's displeasure. "Shouldn't you be more respectful?" she chided the cashier. "What, you mean like this?" Wendy asked before she bowed as well. "Yeah, that's good enough."

"And I assume these must be your friends as well!" Death exclaimed. "So let me get this straight. This place is run by the literal Grim Reaper itself?!" Pacifica gasped in shock. "Why yes indeed young lady." the Death God answered before making his voice deeper and more menacing. "And I should be expecting your soul very soon."

The blonde girl trembled in her boots before Death chuckled in his regular voice. "Just kidding miss!" he assured her with a pat on her head, making her shiver. "So what is this place anyway? I know it's some kinda school but what's it for?" Gideon wondered. "That is a very good question little one!" Lord Death answered before clearing his throat. "Allow me to explain."

"Welcome to the Death Weapon Meister Academy, also known as the DWMA or Shibusen." he began expositing in an announcer's voice. "It stands as a defense against the forces of evil, which would plunge the world into darkness & drag humanity to the very depths of fear and madness, the demons known as Kishin and their insatiable hunger for destruction."

"To ensure the Kishin never regained their hold on this world, this academy was founded by the Grim Reaper, Death himself!" He then switched back to his normal voice. "So basically, we're an organization that exists to protect & preserve peace!" Death exclaimed. "I guess it's not exactly a typical school. Oh well, that isn't important!" he said forming his hands out of his cloak, clasping them together and pointing at the Mystery Meisters. "For now, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!"

"Work on what sir?" Soos asked as the speech ended. "Why, getting you all ready to face Kishin Cipher! That's why I plan on temporarily enrolling you all at my academy." Death announced to the shock of the party. "We're actually going to become students here?! That sound awesome!" Mabel exclaimed hopping up and down but Wendy only groaned. "Aw man, I seriously wanted to get away from school. Well, at least this place will be less boring."

"Which reminds me, you should all be assigned students to room with." Lord Death said pulling out a tall stack of paperwork and examining it with a pair of glasses. "Let's see, the Pines shall share Maka's apartment. Ms. Corduroy & Mr. Ramirez shall sleep with Black Star & Tsubaki and finally Mr. Gleeful, Ms. Northwest and Mr. McGucket shall move in with my son."

"Uh how did you get our names? We didn't even introduce ourselves yet!" Dipper wondered. "That's also unimportant. Now go along and retreat to your assigned living spaces." Death answered. "I'll see you all soon for your first classes!" With that, the Death God vanished back into his mirror leaving his platform empty.

"Guess that's his way of saying we should get moving." Stein stated with a puff of his cigarette. "I'll see you later. Gonna need to take care of some business." He began leaving the Death Room as the party began going their separate ways. "I'll have you know I live in a very fine & symmetrical mansion." Kid warned Pacifica, Gideon & McGucket. "So if any of you dare disrupt that symmetry, there will be serious consequences."

"I hope you can make yourselves comfortable at our place you two." Tsubaki said to Soos & Wendy. "I can only assume you have some sorta Japanese aesthetic goin' on?" the rotund ex-handyman asked. "I'm asking because y'know, you're both ninjas."

"I wonder if your place is large enough to hold two young girls, two boys, a cat lady, a pig, a sword and an old man like myself." Ford mused preparing to leave as well. "Just make yourselves at home while I take care of my own business." Maka muttered before Spirit suddenly appeared behind her. "Have fun with your new roommates sweetie! And if Dipper tries to make a move on-" Without another word, Maka chopped her father in the face.

"You know what, you can go on ahead kids. I'd still like to speak with Death about Bill." Ford suggested. "Okay, see you soon Ford!" Dipper exclaimed as the children finally exited the Death Room, leaving the scientist alone with the Shinigami, who popped out of his mirror to speak. "Is there any thoughts you want to share with me Mr. Pines? I'm all ears!"

"It's about Bill Cipher sir. You claimed you faced him hundreds of years ago, but how did he manage to find you?" Ford asked as the two of them sat down to some tea. "You almost seem bound to this place, so there's no way you could've gone outside of it to meet him."

"It was actually eight centuries ago when I had first come to blows with Bill." Death explained sipping his tea. "He had actually originally appeared to me, claiming that if we struck a deal, he could help me purge the world of all evils forever and ever. But of course, that was all a lie."

"You did what?!" Ford exclaimed in terror, spitting out his tea. "Sincere apologies for startling you Stanford. I suppose you may have dealt with Cipher as well." Lord Death contemplated. "Indeed I have Shinigami," the six-fingered great uncle confirmed. "for similar reasons as you. He called himself a muse that said I was one of many brilliant minds I chose each century to assist. But obviously, he used me for his own plans as well."

"And according to you, he has returned and fused with Asura as well." Death continued on. "Oh yeah speaking of which, when we left Gravity Falls I heard Asura call your son his 'pesky little brother.' What did he mean by that?" Ford asked again, this time the question made Death nervous before he finally accepted what has now happened. "I've been keeping this secret for ages now, in which only a very small few know it as well, but it's finally time I admitted it." he sighed. "Asura is actually my son."

"My God, it cannot be." Ford gasped. "Though I guessed there may have been some form of connection between him and Kid beforehand, especially due to the similar stripes in their hair, but I never guessed they would be your actual children." he stated. "And another thing, if you're their father then who's the mother?"

"I actually never married. Asura & Kid are just chunks of myself I pulled out and made their own beings. Asura represented my fear while I just wanted a free-roaming Death God which resulted in Kid." Death continued on. "I worry that if I reveal this to him, he wouldn't trust me anymore since I'm basically the father of the ultimate evil. And as for Asura, while I detest him for what he's done in the past, I'm also concerned for what Bill could do to him since he's a completely insane monster."

"I see." Ford commented looking up at one of the windows in Death's room, noticing that the sky was turning red. "I hate to run sir, but the kids should be expecting me to return soon." he stated preparing to return to his great-nephew & niece. "But I promise that your secret is safe with me."

"Good on you Ford. The only others that know it are Sid, my Death Scythes, Excalibur and a few others associates of mine." Death said as Ford finally left. "But I feel the secret won't be kept between us all for long."

"I'm back everyone!" Ford announced stepping into Maka's apartment. "It took me a while to actually find this place, but thankfully Spirit was there to lend me a hand." he stated. "So kids, how are you adjusting?"

"We're doing great Grunkle Ford, this is a great new experience for us!" Mabel exclaimed stepping out of a bedroom. "By the way, you're gonna get Soul's room while Dipper & I sleep on the couch." she added. "Plus Dipper & Maka are already doing nerd stuff in her room."

"Well it's good you're getting used to things. Now what's for dinner?" Ford wondered. "I know, why don't have some smoked sausages?" Blair asked suddenly appearing wearing only an apron with a wiener dog in her hand, much to Ford's alarm as he covered Mabel's eyes. "Don't you have any form of decency furball?!"

"Oh cut me some slack Sixer, with Soul gone I gotta have someone to have fun with." Blair stated defensively. "And besides you are a bit of a silver fox yourself." she playfully cooed before going her own way, leaving Ford aghast and Mabel's innocence preserved. "Seriously, what is a silver fox?!"

Meanwhile in Maka's room, Dipper & Maka were busy chatting and looking through her various books. "Wow, so you have your own weapon form as well? That seems utterly ridiculous and impossible." Dipper commented now sans his vest & shoes while Maka was also dressed more casually in a tanktop and sweatpants. "I agree, but it seems it can only appear when I'm knocked unconscious."

"Ooookay then." Dipper nervously replied before he spotted a framed postcard sitting on her desk. "Hey, what's this supposed to be?" he asked picking it up. "This actually came from my mother, which what inspired me to defeat Asura once and for all." Maka explained. "Everywhere she went, she made sure to send me a postcard of whatever destination she was in. This one in particular contains the Persian word for courage."

"Your mom must've really meant a lot to you if she keeps sending you postcards. Speaking of which, what caused her to not be present in your life?" the boy continued. "My dad was simply too much of a pervert, lusting after far too many other women which worsened our relationship." the Scythe Meister said. "In fact with Soul gone, he's probably the only Demon Scythe that I can use right now."

"Aw chin up, I'm sure you and your dad can patch things up somehow." Dipper assured Maka before Ford came calling for them. "Soup's on everyone! We're having smoked sausages tonight!"

"Let's just eat and later get ready for bed. Tomorrow's going to be your first day at the Academy." Maka stated hoisting Dipper onto her shoulders and carried him to the main room. "Wow, you're really strong for someone your age!"

"Thanks for the sushi dawg, feels like I haven't eaten anything in hours!" Soos thanked as he, Wendy, Black Star and Tsubaki sat down to some sushi she made. "Why thank you very much Soos. It's the best I can do for our guests." Tsubaki replied. "Yeah, make yourselves at home I guess." Black Star added. "So what are your lives like back at your home?"

"Well you probably know how my family is. I'm living with my abuelita, my dad just up & disappeared and my mom died too. But look at me now, still a jolly dude who's everyone's friend!" Soos exclaimed.

"And as for me, I got my dad and three bros, Marcus, Kevin & Gus." Wendy said pulling out a picture of herself and her aforementioned brothers when they were young. "We may get on each other's nerves a lot because manliness and all that, but we all still love each other."

"At least none of your brothers ever felt inferior to you to the point of wanting to become a Kishin!" Tsubaki nervously laughed before her expression turned somber, mourning the fall of her own brother.

"Good lord, look at you in that picture!" Black Star exclaimed staring at the picture, particularly the younger Wendy's hiked-up pants, pigtails & braces. "I'd say the years have been very kind to you Wendy." he complimented, making the lumberjack's daughter blush. "Oh, uh t-thanks Black Star."

"Oh, is that blush I spy Wendy? You got a thing for him?" Soos playfully mocked. "What, no she doesn't!" Black Star screamed. "My heart only belongs to one woman, and her name is The Path to Godhood!"

"Can you not Soos? I know you're only joking, but you're making everyone else nervous." Tsubaki gently scolded him, beginning to blush as well. "Sorry about that Baki." Soos retracted his earlier joke before he made an observation. "Hey, you're getting all red too! You perhaps jealous?"

"Oh just shut up already Soos." Wendy giggled with a sigh. "So you got any places for us to sleep here you guys?" she asked. "Oh I'm sure we could pull out a few spare mats." Tsubaki answered. "Wait, you're being serious? We're actually going to sleep on the floor?"

"It's okay Wendy, it's kinda like being in a sleeping bag. I looked it up on the Internet, and it says the Japanese always sleep on the floor." Soos assured her. "Which reminds me, you got any that can fit me?"

At Death the Kid's mansion, Pacifica, Gideon and Fiddleford were busy making themselves at home as well, sitting down in the dining room with Kid and the Thompsons. "Let us set some house rules everyone. Rule #1, everything must be kept absolutely symmetrical no matter what." the Immature Death God announced. "That especially goes for your Mr. McGucket, with your very looks and all."

"Well if you say so Kiddo, imma keep myself as sym-meteorite as possible!" McGucket claimed boldly, though the children he was now living with weren't so sure of it. "Now you got anything to eat here? I'm starving!"

"Pretty sure I can cook something up." Pacifica stated. "You can trust me, I've been working at Gravity Falls's local diner so I know my way around the kitchen."

"Yay, thanks Pazzy!" Patty exclaimed cheerfully. "It's honestly felt like ages since we had that gumbo at the Shack, I'm famished!" Liz added patting her stomach. "We are truly grateful for you offering to help us with dinner tonight Pacifica." Kid stated leading the younger girl to the kitchen. "So what do you think we should have anyway?"

The next day, far away in the outskirts of Death City, a young man dressed as a clergyman wearing a pair of headphones with Death's face on them bobbed his head to the music playing in them pulled up before the city in a dune buggy resembling a hearse and gazed at the Academy.

At the same time, a man wearing a large bear head appeared out of a coffee shop with a monkey wearing a backwards baseball cap clinging onto his shoulders.

A tall & large Russian man with a large nose wearing heavy winter clothes stepped out of an alleyway followed by another slimmer man with a bearskin hat and duffle coat.

A darker-skinned fellow stepped toward the Academy as well with white war paint on his face in the shape of a keyhole. Along with him was a taller man with a large afro, a pleated sarong and nothing covering his torso.

Another man appeared, his clothing much more loose and a turban covering his entire face. Beside him was a beautiful young woman dressed as a belly dancer.

Finally another lady made herself known, an Asian woman in formal attire who pushed up her glasses with a stern look on her face.

"Lord Death, all your weapons have arrived." Stein confirmed to Death in his room. "And this time, everyone is here."

"Excellent Stein," Lord Death replied. "tell everyone to meet here and we shall make preparations for Operation: Apple of Discord."

Meanwhile at Maka's apartment, the Pines were getting ready for their first day as temporary students at the DWMA. Mabel put the finishing touches on a scabbard she had made for her brother, which was pink in color with a silver metal tip, various ornate gold decorations and a pine tree symbol in the center. "C'mon Dipper, we don't wanna be late! Plus I got a surprise for you!"

"Be with you in a bit Mabel, just gotta do a few more pushups for Excalibur." Dipper groaned struggling to do more warmups under the guidance on the Holy Sword while Blair innocently waved a flag around. "Keep moving Dipper, I don't know what I've been told but all that glitters isn't gold!" Excalibur barked. "You do realize that those two sayings don't make any sense together, right?!" his new Meister panted before his arms finally gave out. "Can we please be done now?"

Pulling out a stopwatch, Excalibur examined it for a bit before giving his answer. "Yes indeed, you have completed all exercises in the allotted time." he answered. "Great, cause lookie what I got for you bro-bro!" Mabel exclaimed revealing her scabbard to Dipper. "Oh yeah, that looks uh, great Mabel."

"FOOL!" Excalibur cried smacking Dipper with the end of his cane. "I sense a bit of nervousness in your tone my boy. Could it perhaps be the color?" he suggested. "Don't let any gender stereotypes bring you down, just accept that your sister has made you a lovely gift."

With that, Excalibur changed into his weapon form to allow Dipper to insert him into his new sheath, which he hung over his shoulder. "Come along kids, the Academy can't be kept waiting!" Ford called about to step out of the door. "Trust us, you're going to love it there!" Maka added and the twins joined them and Crona on their way to the school, leaving Blair and Waddles behind.

Much later, the group had arrived at the front doors of the Death Weapon Meister Academy. Each of them, especially the Pines, knew this would bring them one step closer to stopping Kishin Cipher, rescuing their loved ones and saving Gravity Falls.

Just then, Kid & the Thompsons stepped towards them with Pacifica, Gideon & McGucket in tow along with Black Star, Tsubaki, Soos & Wendy. "Mornin' dudes, you ready for your first day of school?" Soos asked them. "Well since we're coming here during the summer, I guess this would sort of count as summer school."

"You're going to be in the EAT class with us." Black Star stated. "Just as a fair warning, things can get pretty crazy in there so try to keep your heads down."

"Thank you very much Black Star." Ford said pushing open the doors. "Now come along children, we've got work to do!" Suddenly he was interrupted when he opened it to find Stein already inside waiting for him. "Death wants to see you Stanford."

"Oh, me?" Ford wondered. "I am terribly sorry to come and go everyone, but I am needed elsewhere. I'll see you all later!" he quickly apologized stepping through the entrance and walking away with Stein, leaving the kids, Soos & McGucket to wonder what he was needed for.

"So what is your reasoning for pulling me aside Franken?" the author wondered as he was led by Stein back to the Death Room. "Lord Death wants you to join in on a little meeting he's holding with some of his colleagues." the Meister answered letting him inside the room where the Death God was standing before Sid & Spirit along with a host of other colorful characters. "I can only assume these are the other Death Scythes?"

"Indeed they are Stanford." a dark-skinned woman covered in bandages replied. "Mira Naigus, school nurse and DWMA CIA commander at your service Mr. Pines." she introduced herself shaking the scientist's hand. "They are Justin Law of Western Europe, Tezca Tlipoca & Enrique of South America, Tsar Pushka & Feodor of Russia, Dengu Dinga & Alexandre of Africa, Djinn Galland & Zubaidah of West Asia, Azusa Yumi of Oceania and finally...alright, where is she?"

"Where's who?" Ford asked. "Let me guess, Marie is lost again?" Tsar Pushka wondered as if he had experienced this before. Enrique the monkey chattered excitedly while hopping up & down which made Tezca cackle rolling on the floor. "You're right little buddy! Maybe it is because of that eyepatch!"

"Sorry I'm late everyone!" the voice of another young woman cried rushing into the Death Room. This woman in particular had blonde hair & was clad in a black dress with a large yellow zigzag pattern on it and an eyepatch with a lightning bolt symbol. Just the combination of the color scheme and choice of accessory alone made Ford both suspicious & nervous. "Again, sorry I'm late Death! Just got a little lost, as usual."

"Oh don't be Marie." Death stated. "Now then, we have gathered you all here today to discuss a new threat that has emerged and wreaking havoc upon the world. To further elaborate, I'd like to introduce you all to our guest Stanford Pines." he explained introducing Ford to the Death Scythes. "Greetings everyone. As you may know, I hail from a town in Oregon known as Gravity Falls that is currently undergoing serious peril."

"Could you please explain more about this threat Stanford?" Azusa asked. Before Ford could answer, Spirit hurriedly rushed to his side. "I'd try to keep my mouth shut around her if I were you." he whispered. "While she is very respectful, she's also a total bossyboots as well, which earned her the title Queen of the Committee Chairman."

"Excuse me Albarn, but Mr. Pines is trying to speak." Azusa scolded Spirit with a snap of her fingers. "Now please, return to your spot." Much to his chagrin, Spirit obliged as Ford continued to speak. "Anyways ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet Bill Cipher." he announced making the triangle appear on Death's mirror. "A powerful dream demon originating from the second dimension, Bill is currently merged with the Kishin you may know as Asura and the two have made Gravity Falls their domain, hoping to extend their madness across the globe and potentially the rest of the universe as well."

"Are you serious, we're going up against some triangle?" Djinn Galland commented. "Do not be fooled by his simplistic appearance. Bill is a conniving, sadistic monster who can trick or possess anyone to get his way." Ford stated. "He is also highly intelligent, preferring to make deals with his victims to further his own evil deeds."

"Although he can't do much in the mindscape, in our physical realm he is pretty much omniscient. Telepathy, manipulation of things like time & matter, reality warping, the whole nine yards!" Death added. "Combined with Asura's own abilities and godlike Soul Wavelength, the two of them combined are nearly unstoppable."

"What do you mean by nearly sir?" Dengu Dinga asked. "Through some careful research, I was able to deduce that only a zodiac made up of twenty symbols representing 23 souls can create a force strong enough to terminate him." the polydactyl professor stated. Just then he noticed Justin Law barely paying attention and instead listening to his music. "Excuse me young man, we are currently having a discussion that we'd be happy to have you join in on."

"What?!" Justin shouted in Ford's face, much to his surprise. "I said, please take off your earphones and pay attention!" Ford shouted back. "Oh, I am terribly sorry, please proceed." the young Death Scythe politely apologized removing his earbuds. "As I was saying, we must organize a plan of attack on Cipher. One group shall go on ahead & distract him while another shall progress and finish off both him and his four Madnesses, Sloth, Wrath, Greed & Envy."

"Horosho, should be easy." Feodor remarked. "We just go in, wait for you to go after us and everything will be all fine and dandy." he stated. "Don't be so casual. As I stated, Bill can do pretty much anything when in the physical realm, so we must keep ourselves sane if we want to survive." Death said. "However there aren't many ways to keep him from going into our minds."

"I would suggest outfitting our skulls with metal plates since it's the only method we have on hand, but it's very painful." Ford stated. "Are you serious?" Sid wondered and the scientist only replied by knocking on his head, producing a loud clanging noise. "Okay, maybe I could use one of those."

"Oh great googly-moogly, it's almost time for class!" Ford exclaimed looking at his watch. "I hate to come in and run folks, but the twins should be waiting for me!"

"Very well then. Everybody here is dismissed!" Death declared clapping his hands, signaling for his weapons to disperse. As they began leaving the Death Room, Stein stepped up next to Ford. "Hey, I've got an offer for you." he said. "How do you feel about becoming a guest teacher today?"

"Why I'd be delighted Stein!" Ford exclaimed cheerfully. "I actually do have a few degrees so I might know my way around things." he added. "Excellent, I'll be there to assist you along with Marie here." Stein stated introducing him to the blonde woman.

"Oh hey, don't think Mira introduced me! I'm Marie Mjolnir from Oceania, pleased to meet you." Marie greeted, but Ford only returned her greeting with a cold glare. "Are you okay? Why are you giving me the stink-eye?"

In a large classroom filled with multiple academy students, Dipper & Mabel took their seats waiting for the teacher to appear. "What's taking Ford so long? Whatever business Death's got with him, I hope he isn't too preoccupied." Soos wondered sitting down with the twins. Just then a door opened and Stein appeared sitting backwards on a swivel chair and rolling backwards before he fell over. "Good morning class."

"Good morning Professor Stein." the students replied in unison. "Hiya Mr. Stein!" Mabel cried before she was met with a scalpel launched in her direction, only managing to hit the desk behind her. "Oops, sorry sir."

"Anyway, today we have a special guest to lead the class today." the Meister announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you all to meet Mr. Stanford Pines." Ford then stepped into the room waving as the class applauded, with Soos cheering loudly. "Woo, we love ya Mr. Pines!"

Another scalpel flew in Soos's direction, again only managing to hit a nearby desk. "I'll keep my mouth shut." he squeaked ducking down. "Now then, let's get down to business." Ford announced writing his name on the board. "My name is Stanford Pines, a professional in the field of investigating cryptids and other oddities."

"What kind of cryptids did you meet sir?" a young man with thick glasses and horn-like hair asked. "Well that is a very good question young one." Ford answered. "Among the creatures I have researched are gnomes, unicorns, vampire bats, a squash with a human face & emotions, leprecorns, the Hide-Behind and cursed Egyptian super-termites."

As Ford continued speaking, Dipper & Kid decided to strike up a conversation. "So what did your father want my great uncle for?" Dipper asked. "I do not know, but I feel this requires some investigating. Want to join me after class?" Kid offered. "Are you kidding, I'd love to!"

"Hey, don't you want to train with me & Tsubaki on how to swordfight?" Black Star asked. "I would like to do that as well, but I think I'm gonna have trouble balancing it all." Dipper answered. "I could find a way to make another me to do one thing while I do another, but the last time I tried that went horribly wrong."

"And that's how I wound up who I am today." Ford concluded a speech. "Now then, are there any more questions?" he asked. "I got one." a somewhat familiar sounding voice said. "Yes, what do you have to say sir?"

"You ever tried giving up?" Suddenly the classroom turned monochrome as the voice began cackling. "I know that laugh." Ford angrily declared. "Come on out Bill, or keep hiding like a coward if you like!"

"Try turning around to your right Sixer." Ford did as Bill said and much to his horror, he found Marie taking off her eyepatch to reveal the eye of someone who would be possessed by the dream demon. "Did you really think you could escape me old chum? I thought we were best friends!" he exclaimed with a loud "OHOHOHOHO!"

"Quit laughing Bill! You've made my family suffer for far too long!" Ford screamed angrily grasping Marie's shoulders and shaking her back and forth, though Bill only laughed again. "Quit your fighting Stanford, even if you move yourself away from Gravity Falls I'll always be watching you!"

"No you won't, because I've got help!" Ford declared preparing to strangle Marie. "But how can you say that when you're already choking one of your "little helpers?" Toodle-oo!" Suddenly Bill disappeared leaving only the Death Scythe hailing from Oceania in his place, choking as the scientist tightly grasped her neck. "W-what are you d-doing?"

"Come back here you bastard and fight me! I could do this all day!" That was the last thing Stanford would say before he felt Stein punch him in the back. "Three-Fold!" the mad Meister exclaimed. "Gi, Go, Shoku!"

After being punched three times, Ford started bleeding from the mouth and lost his grip on Marie's neck before falling down in front of the stunned students. "Class dismissed." he coldly announced turning his screw and slinging Ford over his shoulder to carry him off, the classroom still deathly quiet.

Minutes later, Dipper and Mabel patiently waited in the school's dispensary for any news on their grunkle's condition. He laid there unconscious in the hospital bed, blood spilled from his mouth and his eyes shut. "What do you think prompted Ford to attack the eyepatch lady?" Mabel asked her brother, who stopped jotting down all he had learned in class to answer. "I don't know. But come to think of it, she does kinda remind me of Bill."

"What do you mean by that?" Mabel continued. "Well her primary colors are yellow & black and she has an eyepatch; but she looks in no way the type that would affiliate with him." Dipper analyzed. Just then, Maka opened the door to find the twins already in the room. "Hey guys, sorry about what happened with Ford."

"It's all right Maka, it's just that Bill hurt him so much that anything reminding him of the guy might trigger him now." Dipper said before Stein & Mira appeared as well with notes on his condition. "Good news children, your great-uncle shall be fine." the bandage-covered nurse announced. "Bad news, we may have diagnosed him with a mild case of PTSD."

"Tell us something we don't know! He's already suffered enough at the hands of Bill before, but what happened when Kishin Cipher has made things even worse for him!" Dipper exclaimed just as they heard moaning coming from Ford. "Hey, he's waking up!"

At the same time, Marie suddenly barged into the dispensary. "I am so sorry about what happened to Stanford! I didn't realize I would make him so mad, yet I don't know how!" she exclaimed before she suddenly tripped over and fell on Ford's body as he awakened. "Oh my back. What happened?" he groaned. "Kids?"

"Ford!" the twins cried in unison hugging their great-uncle. "Kids! Please tell me what happened." the genius said. "You were just standing there talking nerd stuff when you started rambling about Bill before strangling the eyepatch lady." Mabel explained. "Then Mr. Stein punched you so hard that you started bleeding from the mouth!"

"Wait, I did what?!" Ford exclaimed trying to comprehend what his great-niece had said. "Like I said, I'm truly sorry if I made you mad Stanford." Marie said getting up and dusting herself off. "And I assume you must be his great-nephew & niece?" she asked the twins. "Yes m'am! I'm Mabel and this is my brother Dipper!" Mabel introduced her and Dipper. "What's your name eyepatch lady?"

"My name's Marie Mjolnir. Very nice to meet you." Marie said shaking the kids' hands. "I have some apologies myself Marie. I am deeply regretful of what I've done earlier." Ford apologized. "Hopefully you can find a way to forgive me as well."

"Oh it's all right Ford." Marie replied before a crow suddenly flew by the window, squawking "Ahou! Ahou! Ahou!" much to the confusion of everyone in the room. "What the hell is that crow doing outside?" Ford wondered. "We have no idea either." Mira said. "It's been flying around the Academy for weeks, often appearing whenever someone would make a fool of themselves."

"Unrelated topic, but shouldn't you be assembling with Sid, the Scythes and Mifune to move out to Gravity Falls?" Stein wondered. "That's right, I just wanted to make some last arrangements before departing." Mira stated before walking out of the dispensary. "I shall see you all again soon."

With the nurse now leaving the room, the Pines then turned to meet Maka's gaze. "So what brings you here Maka? Well, other than my condition of course." Ford wondered. "I actually came to tell you about a big party Kid is throwing at his mansion to welcome you all to Death City." Maka announced.

"The whole school is invited actually, faculty included!"

"That sounds delightful Maka, I'll make a note of it." Stein commented turning to Ford. "And as for you, I think we should get you back home to recover. Which might mean you can't go to the party."

"Aw man, this could've been the perfect chance for you to find someone to love!" Mabel groaned in disappointment before she felt Marie tap her shoulder. "Did you say love? Are you like some expert matchmaker or something?" the Death Scythe asked. "All I ever wanted to do is find a man to love and we could retire together & have some beautiful children! I'm so desperate I might as well marry a toilet!"

"Well you could find a plumber to hook up with." Dipper snarked. "Preferably one who doesn't wear a tie and beats up evil turtles for a living."

"Mark my words Marie, I'm going to find you a man tonight or my name isn't Mabel Danielle Pines! And it is!" Mabel heroically declared. "Now then, gimme some info. For an possible dating site profile." she said leading Marie out the door. "Well I was born on June 8, 1984 in Oceania. I'm interested in surfing, Norse mythology, kangaroos, biking..."

"I can already tell they're going to be an unstoppable duo." Dipper declared as the two's voices grew fainter. "Speaking of teams, I have some business of my own to do." he said leaving the room as well. "Which one, training with Black Star or investigating with Kid?" Maka asked. "Both of them. We all decided to reach a compromise. See you tonight Maka!"

Soon Maka departed as well leaving Stein & Ford alone in the dispensary. "Okay, now that the children are out of the way, let's get to bringing you home." the stitched-up scientist declared helping Ford out of the hospital bed and leading him by the hand to the exit before Spirit suddenly appeared on the other side. "Hey Stein, you done with your business yet? I've been thinking we should go to Chupa-Cabra's later and-what are you doing?"

"He's simply helping me up, don't take it the wrong way Spirit!" Ford exclaimed nervously taking his hand away from Stein's. "And what is this Chupa-Cabra's place?" he wondered. "Oh it's just great Pines! I mean, you won't find any other place in Death City with babes and booze!" Spirit explained. "You gotta come with us!"

"Okay I'll bite." Ford gave in. "I think I might need a break from all this emotional suffering."

"Thanks for clearing up your schedule and helping us compromise on how to spend your time Dipper." Tsubaki said gratefully as they, along with Black Star, Excalibur, Kid and the Thompsons traversed the halls. "You're welcome Tsubaki. But is there anyone in this school that could tell us where to go from here?" Dipper wondered. "There actually is, and he should be coming up right now." Kid stated just as they came across a tall man with a chin-curtain beard, closed eyes and a rather large forehead drinking some coffee. "Hello again Joe."

"Oh hey kids, good to see you again. How's Oregon been?" the man asked them. "We actually brought something home from there!" Patty exclaimed bringing Dipper to his attention. "We'd like you to meet Dipper Pines!"

"What's up kid, name's Joe Buttakaki." Joe introduced himself shaking the boy's hand. "So what brings you here to Death City?" The Pines brother was silent for a moment before he answered, his voice firm with resolution. "I want to know about the Kishin Asura, and Lord Death's relationship with him."

Joe was silent and then he turned around. "Follow me." he simply stated leading the party away. "I knew the day when someone would ask about them would come. I just thought it would've been just Kid instead of you."

"Well that's the thing Joe, Asura called him his pesky little brother. What the hell is up with that?!" Black Star exclaimed as they moved from the academy interior to its underground hallways. "This was a secret Lord Death has sworn me to keep since I graduated from the academy." the DWMA's tech expert explained. "But word on the street is he's roped another person into his little inner circle of secret keepers."

"Another person?" Dipper wondered scratching his chin to deduce who this individual could be before Excalibur smacked him upside the head. "FOOL! It's most likely he's talking about your great-uncle." he declared to his new Meister, to his shock and exasperation. "Seriously?! We've already kept enough secrets from each other last summer, but this is getting ridiculous! I mean, what other stuff could we be in the dark about?!"

"I-I don't know, I'd prefer t-t-URP-to put the lime in the c-c-coconut and then eat the candle." Ford drunkenly remarked as he sat in Chupa-Cabra's with Spirit & Stein along with Blair, a pair of beautiful women and stacks upon stacks of beer mugs. "Very glad you're enjoying yourself Mr. Pines! Terribly sorry about what happened to your brother too." the first woman, named Risa, said comforting the elderly genius. "Yeah, I can see you're just utterly heartbroken by that." her partner Arisa added pouring Ford another drink. "Here, have another."

"Thank you ladies. You're such nice people." Ford thanked them putting his arms on their shoulders. "You're both absolute babes, but you Risa are just a beautiful butterfly." he slurred putting their faces uncomfortably close to one another and lightly gripping her chest. "I can definitely see that age has been insanely generous to you."

"Hey Ford, buddy?" Spirit interjected putting a hand on his shoulder. "I think all this booze is getting' to you. Listen, I get you're still super depressed over what happened to Stan, but you can't just waste your time just drinking your troubles away."

"You're one to talk scarlet, you'd rather waste your time here than be a good father!" Ford spitted at Spirit, much to his chagrin. "Dude, harsh!" he exclaimed in defense. "But I'm gettin' ahead of myself you're all the best people God ever crapped onto his dumpster fire of an asteroid! Drinks on me ladies and gents!" Ford shouted, leaving everyone stunned and concerned for him. "But how are you going to pay for all this?" Stein wondered. "You probably don't have that much money."

"OfcourseIdoKarloff!" Ford stuttered, his statement barely understandable as he fished some odd currency out of his pockets. "Lemme see I got zeni Beli woolongs Bison dollars bits bells gold rings gil munny rupees bolts lien schmeckles bottle caps all that jazz!"

"Wait, as in literal bottle caps? Where did you get these?" Stein wondered picking up a bottle cap. "Just another post-apocalyptic wasteland that I ran into across the multiverse somewhere!" Ford exclaimed spreading his arms wide. "There were giant roaches everywhere and I was accompanied by the cutest little dog who loved running into forcefields!" He then suddenly dropped to his knees with a crestfallen look on his face as he raised his arms up and screamed "DOGMEAT, NOOOOOO!"

"Seriously Fordsy, you need to chill out!" Blair sternly declared trying to stop Ford's drunken ranting, but was met with being lovingly gazed at by the great-uncle. "Can you hear my thoughts?" he began monologuing to himself. "My buddy from a distant star, I'm not sure I even know who you are. Look at me, like a kid out of school hanging out with a fool. A fool who I think is actually kinda cool."

"Are you okay there Stanford? You're slobbering all over the floor." Stein asked. "Why am I starting to drool?" Ford mused as saliva began pouring from his mouth before he finally fell over on his face, on the verge of a hangover. "We're trying to help you, you've had enough!" Spirit tried to pull him up but his hand was slapped aside. "I KNOW WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH YOU BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!"

With that, Ford slipped into unconsciousness in a pool of his own drool and the stacks of mugs about to fall on him. He could barely make out the sounds of him being picked up off the floor and a door opening.

"Will this give us the answers we've been looking for?" Dipper asked as their group stood outside a large door deep within the academy's underground. "Yes indeed Dipper, welcome to the academy's Secret Vault." Kid declared pushing the door open to reveal a plethora of bizarre machinery lying around. "This is where we keep the various Demon Tools created by Eibon, whom as we discussed a long time ago during our rescue mission, created the Demon Weapons inspired by Excalibur."

"Whoa, Ford would've loved to see this place! Can't wait till I tell him at the party!" the younger boy gasped in amazement examining the various devices the sorcerer created. "There's just so many of them, I probably can't think straight over what they can do!"

"I know what'll help you think, some much needed sword training!" Black Star declared. "Once Tsubaki & I show you the ropes, you'll be an ace in no time! Though obviously not on par with yours truly."

"I'll give him the basics and you'll deal with some of the more complex stuff." Tsubaki suggested picking up a wooden bokken and taking a stance while Dipper prepared as well, summoning Excalibur to his side. "Now then Dipper, everything starts with your stance." she instructed her student as their weapons lightly tapped each other. "Keep your stance wide and your body lowered as you're moving forward."

"Balance is the key, right?" Dipper asked. "Correct." the shadow weapon answered. "Next is your right foot, then your left foot." she continued lecturing as they sparred. "Now go even faster. And as you're moving backwards, keep your eyes on me."

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Patty shouted from afar, popping up with a large key in hand. "Doesn't this seem a little familiar to you guys?" she wondered turning it around to reveal that the teeth were in the shape of an E. "How can this be possible?! It disappeared along with him!" Kid exclaimed in shock taking the key out of his weapon's hands. "This has to be some kind of trap devised to keep intruders away from the Vault!"

"Nope, looks like the real deal to me." Joe guessed gazing at the key as well. "What are you guys talking about and why is that key so perplexing to you?" Dipper asked. "Let me take a look at it."

With the mysterious key handed to him, Dipper observed it looking for clues on what to do. "Maybe I should try rubbing it?" he suggested doing just that. "Sorry kid, but this doesn't look like any magic lamp." Liz snarked. "Or maybe it can open a door to the heart of all worlds!" Black Star chirped. "And it can also be used as a weapon to fight evil shadow creatures with no hearts!"

"Wait, I think I know one thing it can open." Kid announced looking towards a strange cube with ancient writing scribbled on it placed on a pedestal. "What is that thing?" Dipper wondered walking toward the cube. "That my friend is BREW, the legendary Demon Tool that can merge two things into one or create whatever the user desires." Excalibur answered. "If used incorrectly, it can bring about utter destruction as we know it."

Dipper then slowly inserted the key into BREW but unfortunately, nothing happened. "Is this going to be like in the movies and shows where it seems like something doesn't work but then after a few seconds it actually does?" Patty wondered and she was indeed proven right as BREW began to glow and flash wildly, causing debris from all around the room to fly around it. "Called it!"

"Everybody get down!" Dipper screamed before everyone ducked their heads down, all except for Excalibur, who only said "Fool." before BREW stopped shining and dust began forming, leading a large silhouette to appear.

When the dust settled, all that was left was a humanoid man whose appearance was concealed by a simple mask and extravagant robes. "What happened? Where am I?" the man wondered in a panic, unaware of his current surroundings. Just then he heard footsteps and found a young boy standing before him, looking up at his mask. "Excuse me sir, but are you Eibon?"

"Yes, indeed I am little one." Eibon answered quietly. "And you are?" he asked back, though the boy only replied by collapsing on the ground. "Dipper!" the Sorcerer heard a familiar voice. 'Dipper?' he thought. 'What an odd name.'

"Wake up Dipper, are you all right?!" Kid exclaimed trying to wake his younger companion up. "Why yes Mrs. Lincoln, and how was the play?" Dipper woozily asked barely putting his train of thought back on track. "What just happened?!"

"Hello again, old friend." Excalibur greeted Eibon. Although they couldn't see it through his mask, he was most definitely making the Excalibur face.

"Am I in the Secret Vault? How long was I out? Did we win?" Eibon asked still in the dark about current events. "Yes you are, about a few weeks and yes we did." Joe answered all three of the Sorcerer's questions. "That's quite a lot to take in. And who is this boy still?" Eibon continued. "Very few people are allowed in the vault!"

"My name's Dipper Pines Mr. Eibon." Dipper introduced himself shaking the giant's hand. "Very nice to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too young man." Eibon replied accepting the child's handshake. "But still, what kind of name is Dipper?" he wondered. "Oh yeah, that's what most people call me because of this." Dipper replied taking off his hat and pushing aside some hair to reveal his birthmark. "My word, the Big Dipper! Now it makes more sense!"

"That would explain quite a bit. I just thought your folks hated you or something." Black Star added. "So tell me Dipper, what brings you to this vault?" Eibon asked. "I simply came because I want more info on Lord Death and Asura."

"I knew the day would come when someone would ask." the Sorcerer muttered. "Yes the rumors are indeed true, Asura is Death's son." he stated. "Which would make Kid here..."

"My-my brother." the young Death God finally realized. "How has Father kept this from me for centuries?!" he screamed, desperate for more answers. "He simply didn't want you to feel betrayed!" Eibon stated. "I am sorry we couldn't tell you all this time, not just me and your dad."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Black Star wondered. "It wasn't just me that held his secret. All his Death Scythes were in on it as well, and Excalibur too." Eibon revealed, causing everyone to look at the Holy Sword in annoyance. "What, I suppose you're going to get mad at me for keeping quiet as well?"

"What else is he keeping from us? I suppose something related to a certain triangle." Dipper asked, writing in his journal. "I presume you've encountered Bill Cipher as well. As have Death and I." Eibon continued preparing to reminisce on that time. "He came to us claiming that he can help him purge the world of evil, but of course it was all a lie."

"Aw come on Death, we can still work things out! Honest!" Bill Cipher urged the Shinigami as they fought in the Nightmare Realm. "Silence you three-sided scum, or I'll dip you in magma and eat you alive!" Death threatened in a much more menacing voice glaring at the demon through his realistic mask. "You thought your wily words could swindle me, but I shall be tricked no longer!"

"I know you're in there somewhere best buddy! The four of us actually made a good team." Bill stated with a chortle. "You, me, Eibon and Arachne, we would've been unstoppable together! But NOOOO, that little tattletale of a Holy Sword just had to rat me out!"

"It was for the greater good!" Death shouted before he felt his cloak being incinerated by Bill's azure flames. "AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

As the Shinigami screamed in pain, Bill pulled out a stopwatch counting down how many seconds it took for his anguished crying to stop. "Wow, 42 seconds! That's gotta be a new record!" he commented applauding as the Death God's cloak regenerated, Death himself looking more furious than ever. "Death Claw!" he screamed summoning four black tendrils bearing his face to grab Bill by the arms and dragging them towards each other, allowing Death to deal the final blow. "REAPER CHOP!"

With a mighty slap, Bill shouted in pain clutching his eye. "You damn idiot, that was one of my weaknesses!" the demon screamed. "All right, you win you idiot!" he added finally surrendering. "It's about time you golden beast. Now leave this realm and never return, unless you want me to tear you to shreds." Death snarled menacingly sticking his bony hand toward him. "AM, I, CLEAR?!"

"Oh you may have won this time bonehead, but I'm not done with your puny world yet!" Bill cautioned him casting him out of the Nightmare Realm. "And when that day comes, I won't be the only one you'll be worrying about. Until then, I'll be watching you! I'LL BE WATCHING YOU!"

"So you and Lord Death actually worked together with Bill at some point? Gee that totally doesn't sound familiar!" Black Star exclaimed rolling his eyes. "Hey speaking of which, I wonder how Ford is doing?" Dipper wondered before his phone started ringing. "Well speak of the devil." he muttered picking it up. "Go for Dipper!"

"Who is it? And what is that strange contraption you're holding?" Eibon asked as the boy hung up. "It's Mabel sir, something's wrong with Ford!" Dipper exclaimed. "Ford? My word, we've been down here so long I've lost track of time!" Kid fretted exiting the Secret Vault. "We need to get ready for tonight!"

"Aw geez you're right! C'mon Tsubaki, let's get cracking!" Black Star shouted, the two racing ahead of them. "A party, you're having a party? Can I come!?" Eibon asked getting excited. "As much as I hate to say this, but it's best that you stay down here for now." Joe answered. "Hopefully we can meet each other again!"

When the door finally closed leaving Eibon all by himself in the vault, he took a moment to look around, examining all the various Demon Tools he created being stored there. Stepping toward a large machine with a clockwork key inside it, he opened it and found a small plaque with his and Death's signatures on it. "Why must there be so many secrets?"

By the time Ford began regaining some form of thought, everything around him was still incredibly blurry. It felt like he was submerged in some nice-smelling liquid and something round & soft was right in front of him. He could also hear a female singing about pumpkins and magic.

"N-no wire h-hangers, ever." he slurred finally coming to. Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself in a bathtub with Waddles right in front of him. "Waddles? What are you doing here? Where am I?"

"Oh goody, you're finally awake!" a familiar cadence exclaimed. With a rub of his eyes, Blair sat right before him in the tub completely nude. "Goodness gravy!" Ford screamed stumbling out of the tub before unfortunately falling on his face, causing his nose to bleed. "I have asked this once, I've asked this a thousand times! Is shame just nowhere to be found in your dictionary?!"

Waddles oinked twice turning his head in amusement. "Oh don't you start!" Ford scolded the swine. "Look at me, I'm a mess!" he exclaimed. "Then what state were you in earlier?" the Monster Cat snarked, making the scientist realize just what he had become. Gazing deeply into the bathroom mirror, staring back at him was a man completely broken by loss, desperate to relieve himself of his grief even though it was completely fruitless.

"Stanford Filbrick Pines, what happened to you?" he groaned in regret before he pulled a drenched photo of him and Stanley as children posing with their shipwreck the Stan O' War. It wasn't long before all those times where he had begged to relieve himself of the pain, first losing his brother, then making a scene in front of an entire class and finally falling into a hangover, came crashing down and he finally broke down in tears. "Why me?! Just why?!"

"Oh don't cry Forddy." Blair said getting out of the tub to comfort him. "And yes, I am wearing a bathrobe this time. Now come on, let's get you some coffee."

One towel over the scientist's head and a cup of coffee in his hand later, Ford sat down on the couch utterly miserable while the Monster Cat gently massaged his back. "Thank you very much Blair, but I feel it's pretty much hopeless for me. My family's torn apart and Kishin Cipher is running amok back in Gravity Falls." he sighed deeply. "Hey I've always wanted to know, what's your story? Well, other than being a promiscuous cat with magic powers that happens to resemble a witch."

"I wasn't able to tell anyone about it my entire time in Death City, but my past isn't all sunshine and rainbows." Blair answered lying down and resting her legs on his lap. "I did originate from the Witches' Realm, but their destruction loving ways are seriously boring. I just love ditching them and hanging out in Death City, which is where I first met Maka & Soul."

"Interesting. Could you perhaps further elaborate on Witches?" Ford wondered beginning to show a bit of his old self pulling out a notepad to jot down on. "Well, they're like super powerful when it comes to magic and also can live a really long time!" Blair explained. "There are also maybe a few wandering around in Death City keeping themselves hidden using Soul Protect, which they can use to disguise their souls as normal humans."

"Disguising their souls. Gonna have to look further into that." Ford mumbled writing down notes. "Speaking of which, where did the kids run off too? I'm sure they couldn't have gone far." he wondered. "Oh yeah, they went to a party at Kid's place after coming back here to check up on you." the cat answered, to Ford's alarm. "My goodness, the party! I should best get ready! Blair, is there anything around here I can wear?"

Just then, Waddles oinked as he waddled in, wearing a small hand towel on his head as he pointed to Soul's room. "Thank you oh so much Waddles. And I should really dry out my clothes too."

Stepping into Soul's empty bedroom and closing the door behind him, Ford came out moments later in a simple suit with a black jacket with matching shoes, tie & pants and white undershirt. When he turned around to examine himself in the mirror, Blair's slender hands grasped his shoulders. Turning around, the author found the cat dressed up for a night on the town herself in a purple dress with a single slit on the side showing some leg and her hair in a ponytail. Waddles on the other hand wore a tiny bowler hat and a bowtie.

"I suppose you're coming along as well?" Ford asked. "Of course I am, just to keep you grounded. And Waddles is coming too!" Blair answered, and Waddles added with an oink. "That'd be delightful. Now let's get moving!" While opening the door, Ford felt Blair start holding his hand and he held hers with a grin, the three of them finally walking out together.

"I can't believe it, we haven't found you a man all day!" Mabel exclaimed as she and Marie helped themselves to some punch at the buffet table at Kid's party. "And to add insult to the coffin, no hits on your dating profile yet!"

"I know right? At this rate I might as well marry a toilet!" Marie replied. "But which kind would take me, cause I'm leaning toward a porta-potty. At least we can go anywhere together!" Just then Dipper walked up to the buffet table. "What was that about toilets?" he asked with a nervous look. "Oh nothing broseph, we're just talking about Ms. Marie's love life."

"Hey everybody, I got some more mineral water for you if you're thirsty!" a blonde young man with bright blue eyes exclaimed racing into the main hall with platters of wine glasses filled with water. "Hey thanks Hiro, I was getting thirsty!" Marie thanked the boy taking a glass. "And how are those lambchops with applesauce coming along?"

"Doing good, I'll bring them out in a sec!" Hiro replied before he began groaning to himself. "If only I had my own weapon that would make people stop pushing me around. Well other than Excalibur anyway." he muttered. "What's his problem?" Dipper wondered beginning to snack on some hors d'oeuvres. "TL;DR, he's a total wimp that people treat as their servant because he doesn't have a weapon." Mabel answered. "But where can we find a good one for him?"

"Maybe he'd match up well with Mai Thi Hoang from the NOT class over there. She's real nice and could probably treat him well." the Death Scythe suggested pointing to a young Vietnamese girl with red-framed glasses making small talk with Gideon. The two of them then put on their own glasses before menacingly tenting their fingers and declaring "Jackpot." while their lenses shined.

"For the last time Fiddleford, stop pigging out on all that spaghetti! Were you raised on a farm or something?!" Kid complained to McGucket. "As a matter of fact Stripes, I am!" the genius hillbilly replied. "And this ain't spaghetti, it's linguini!"

Kid only responded by briefly gazing at the plate before he snatched it out of Fiddleford's hands and chucked it at the wall. "Now it's garbage." he coldly declared just as he realized the mess he made and hastily cleaned it up, desperate to keep the symmetry of his home intact. "Whew, close call!"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Oh, that must be Ford! Wonder what took him so long?" Maka said opening the doors to find not only Stanford, but also Blair & Waddles as well. "Hello there miss, sorry I took so long." the author sheepishly said stepping inside. "And I've also brought a few plus-ones."

"Oh my gosh, you all look amazing! And Waddles is dressed like a little man out for a night on the town too!" Mabel squealed racing towards the three of them. Maka on the other hand couldn't help but find Ford's suit familiar. "That's the same outfit Soul wore to the Anniversary Eve celebration."

"Oh, I didn't realize! If it's okay with you, I could go back and find a different suit." Ford stated before Maka stopped him. "It's fine Mr. Pines. It's fine." she sighed, still hurting over losing Soul. "Aw don't feel so blue Maka, mama Blair can make you feel all better!" Blair assured the young Meister. "Thank you Blair. I can't believe I just said that."

"Yo old man, how are you recovering?!" Black Star exclaimed rushing up to Ford. "I'm doing fine Black Star. And please don't call me old man!" Stanford said. "Okay then old man." the young ninja replied. "Good grief."

"Black Star, Mabel, can I pull you two aside for a bit?" Dipper asked them. "I want to talk with Ford and I don't want anyone to notice us." he said. "Oh, you mean that stuff about Asura?" Black Star said. "Wait, what's this about Asura?" Mabel wondered. "We'll explain later. Right now, I'm gonna need you to provide a distraction." her brother ordered. "Any ideas?"

"Ooh, I got one!" Mabel chirped. "Why don't we get the orchestra to play a new song, one that's less boring?" she suggested. "Okay, which one?" Dipper wondered to which she replied by pulling out a music sheet, making the boy facepalm. "Seriously, that one? That is just so 2004!"

"Oh man, I love this song!" Black Star exclaimed. "And yes, I know it's hilarious that I, a super manly man, adore a song written by a boy band loved by young girls at the time." he added. "Now what are you waiting for, get them to play it!"

Mabel stepped up to the orchestra with the sheet in hand and shoved the piece they were playing aside in favor of hers. "Hey, can you play this instead?" she asked. After some careful consideration, the orchestra shrugged and played the new song, which Mabel & Black Star began singing along to. "Quit playing games with my head! I'm a sport but I'm not a toy," they harmonized to the high-class remix of their song. "Let's not analyze what I just said! I don't want to be a complex boy!"

Faster than anyone could notice, they all started dancing before Patty leaped onstage with the two and joined in. "I can't tell if you're serious when you are so delirious! I'm just playing it baby, is that a yes, no or maybe?! YES!"

As the trio continued, Ford sighed sitting by the punchbowl. "I swear, youth is wasted on the young." he mused taking a sip. "Indeed, look at them so young and naïve." Azusa Yumi added standing next to him. "And yet sometimes I feel the adults are guilty of this as well, like your hobo friend for example." She then pointed to McGucket pigging out on finger sandwiches while Marie desperately tried to get Hiro & Mai to chat. "He's just too busy absorbing the entire buffet table."

"Now for your information Yumi, my friend is a scientific genius! He helped me build my portal and also constructed various machines that he mostly used to wreak havoc whenever someone wronged him!" Ford hotly argued. "And what do you have to accomplish, aside from being a Death Scythe?!"

"I actually helped defeat Asura for your information sideburns!" Azusa shouted back. "How so, did Death find a way to weaponize your bitc-" Ford prepared to insult right back at her before Dipper pulled on his leg. "Excuse me for a moment, great-nephew."

The two stepped into another room far from the festivities when Ford finally decided to ask what was up. "So what did you pull me aside for?" he wondered. "It's about Asura." Dipper sternly answered crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "Is it true that you've been told about his relationship with Lord Death & Kid yet didn't tell anyone else about it?!"

"Look, Death has sworn me to keep this secret; and I'm not the only one either!" Ford exclaimed. "Tons of people were in on it, Stein, Spirit, Sid, the other Death Scythes, even Excalibur!" he added. "The last one I know about, but seriously! Remember the last time someone kept a secret from the rest of their family? The entire universe was nearly destroyed!" the boy argued. "Twice even, all because Stan made the stupid decision of ruining your science project!"

"I'm not even sure Stanley was the one who broke it! He said he fixed it yet when I presented it, it was an utter mess!" Ford yelled. "And speaking of family, you don't have to bring Stan into this especially after we just lost him yesterday!"

"Gee, this is totally sounding familiar!" Dipper screamed. "Someone keeps a dark secret from their family which tears them all apart!" Suddenly they heard a knocking on the door before it slightly creaked open. "Mabel, I can see you from the other side. Come on in."

"You too Blair." Ford added and Blair stepped into the room carrying an exhausted Mabel in her arms. "I'm sorry Dipper, I couldn't keep singing forever!" she panted before being dropped on the floor. "But silver lining, everybody loved it when I sang with Black Star and Patty."

"You heard everything, didn't you?" Dipper asked folding his arms. "Yeah pretty much! And I gotta say, what a twist!" Blair answered brightly. "I mean, the whole 'villain is secretly related to the hero' thing has been done everywhere, yet I still didn't see it coming!"

"So was that the reason why you told me to sing? You could've easily done without it." Mabel asked. "I know sis, but that still was a good distraction." Dipper replied spreading out his arms. "Awkward sibling hug?"

"Awkward sibling hug." Mabel accepted and they hugged before saying "Pat pat!" in unison. "Dipper, I am truly sorry about not telling you about Death and Asura beforehand." Ford apologized getting down on a knee. "Let's promise that there be no more secrets within our family, no ifs ands or buts!"

"No ifs ands or buts indeed!" Dipper answered. "Now come on guys, the party's still going on!" he shouted walking back to the shindig. Ford and Blair soon followed behind, but not Mabel as she gazed at the wall. "Aren't you coming back with us Mabel?"

"I'll be with you in a bit." Mabel answered not even turning to her brother. She continued staring at the wall in front of her, still conflicted on whether her own secret should get out. On one hand, she'd finally get some closure but on the other, her family would be furious for her playing an important part in the beginning of a certain event.

"I will tell them, no matter what." Mabel solemnly declared, her fists clenched in determination before she turned around and returned to the party, adamant on her decision.

And that's it for this chapter! Now, I was originally going to end off on a fight between Dipper, Mabel & Wendy against Ox, Kim & Kilik, but then I decided to just reduce it to a scene where Ox challenges the three of them because the chapter was packed enough already until I finally decided to save it for next time. Speaking of which, next time Mabel gets stuck in the feels wringer as Kishin Cipher plots to drive the Pines apart for his own misdeeds. But just what does he have planned for her, and who knew emotionally torturing your favorite characters was so much fun?!

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