#the logic of this episode went out the window when pat did

[gunsatthaphan]

“it’s like we were living a double life until graduation.”

#bad buddy #bad buddy series #ohmnanon #patpran #bad buddy ep12 #bas buddy finale #pranpat #ohm pawat #nanon korapat #thai bl #bl drama #i mean...... #the logic of this episode went out the window when pat did #why did they go back into hiding? #hhhhh #but yknow what #ill take it djkhdfg #theyre just adorable and idc about the rest lmaoo

[my-happy-little-bean]

The Bookkeeper – Chapter 10

Chapter 10: One Last Time, Please

pairings: logan/patton (logicality), roman/virgil (prinxiety) words: 2421 chapter warnings: existential crisis, depressive episodes, references to death chapter summary:

“one last time, please, we can say goodbye again. just for a moment, say it's not the end, will you see me like you did before?

just one night more, and then i’ll close the door; somehow step into a world without you.”

                          – dodie, one last time, please (demo)

[read on ao3] [masterlist]

< previous chapter

—

A fairy’s song is meant to tempt and allure. This is a fact, perhaps not of this world, but of a world not far and not outside of our own. It is prophetic magic that fuels its conquest; it winds around its purpose—present and future—as glimmering strands of gold. 

Roman had heard a fairy’s song before the life he had now, in a forest clearing he eventually shared with someone who believed him. Around a ring of mushrooms, along the crevices of a fallen tree. He attempted to recreate magic’s passionate pursuit in his later musical works, but they never quite swayed in ways similar to how a fairy’s song would softly pull the trees back and forth.

Perhaps it wasn’t actually a fairy’s song, then. Perhaps it was a mere happenstance; a trick of memory and expired time. Perhaps it was just the idea that there was something like that that could exist in the first place; something that could pull at heartstrings and tug not with force, but with an urge to follow instead. 

Whatever it is—a fairy’s song, a prophecy, magic, hope— it was something that Roman had found before; maybe more than he initially realized. 

He heard a fairy’s song in the twinkle of Eric Fray’s magic, and saw a glimpse of it in his grandson’s. He found a prophecy in a forest clearing, soaked in midnight and secrecy.

He saw hope in Virgil Aries from the very beginning. Not a twisted, grim-dark temptation for a life of nothing. He saw hope.

— 

The sound of a bell echoed through Fray and Far Fables. 

Logan’s head darted up at the noise, but didn’t turn around to face the door. The shop had been empty for what felt like hours, so to hear anything at all was either a sleep-deprived hallucination or a surprise. Perhaps it was a customer who didn’t know how to read signs that said ‘closed’. Though, he supposed that the open door was quite contrary to that sentiment–

“Logan?” 

The book in Logan’s hand fell at the familiar voice, and his thoughts snapped into present cohesion. He turned around and blinked.

Patton stood at the door, seemingly miles away from Logan. And he was staring right back at him. Logan paled. 

“Patton! Um, hi. The– the shop’s closed.” 

Patton didn’t take his eyes off of him, but blankly motioned behind him.

“The door was open.” 

Logan looked over Patton's shoulder.

“...So it is.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I...I suppose the shop is open, then.”

A beat of silence. Logan watched as Patton’s gaze scanned the shop. Embarrassment burned his cheeks scarlet. He knew that there was still an array of papers and wine glasses scattering the floors, but now they were accompanied by a mess of books. A few laid flat on the shelves, left open or haphazardly tossed aside. And he looked awful , truly awful, even for him. His hair was stuck up and his shirt was unbuttoned; he was almost as much of a mess as his shop.

(Roman would have something to say about it all.)

Patton coughed awkwardly, shooting Logan an uneasy smile.

“Did a tornado book it here?”  

“No. The weather has been fine.” 

Patton’s attempt landed flat on the floor in front of him. 

“...Right.” 

Silence hung heavy in the air. Part of Logan’s heart ached at the distance between the two of them. He wondered how he could cross it. Only mere days ago was he closer to Patton’s chest than he was to any answer in this life. He swore that it was seconds, maybe minutes since he could hear the way Patton’s brain formed thoughts, the way his heartbeat pulsed softly against oceans and tides, the way his breath exhaled words that meant something, anything, everything .

Logan took a step forward. 

“Patton, I–” 

Suddenly, he felt the front of his foot bang hard into the spine of a heavy book — one of a million still sprawled on the floor. He felt his vision tilt forward, and he was falling, falling, falling–

“Hey!” A soft thud! Logan felt himself land in the grasp of a warm embrace. “Gosh, let’s go sit down, okay?” 

Logan let himself be dragged by Patton to the armchair, flopping on the seat with a huff. He watched Patton sidestep wine glasses and books before sitting across from him. He felt his head go dizzy from the close fall. The heaviness of the last few hours slowly spun around his skull.

“What happened here, Lo?” The question was hushed, worried. Logan grimaced, avoiding Patton’s stare. 

“I lost Roman,” he blurted out, more honest and pathetic than he intended. Patton’s head cocked forward. 

“You...what?” 

“We– we got into this terrible fight and– and ‘m trying to find him, I swear– I have been looking through every book since he left last night but he’s– he’s just gone .” 

Logan ran a hand through his hair, curling in on himself with the tremble of an earthquake. 

“Hey hey hey .” Patton leaned over and rested a hand on Logan’s thigh. “Just...let’s just slow down, okay? Tell me everything, I’m...I’m here.” 

Patton’s words were apparently all that was needed to pull the floodgates open. Logan felt himself unravel as he told Patton everything he knew about Roman, about Virgil, about his magic being gone — anything and everything . 

“I can’t believe Roman and Virgil knew each other.” Patton leaned back as Logan finished. “That must’ve been...well, decades ago.” 

Logan’s heart ached at the thought. He buried his face in his hands.

“I don’t know what else to do, Patton. I thought I had the answer, but every single turn I made ended up being a dead end.” 

“If I could be honest, Lo, I don’t think there is an answer. Not a definite one, at least.” 

Logan looked up at him and frowned. “There’s an answer for everything, Pat.” 

“Well what does it matter then, whether or not you know the answer?” 

A pause. Logan closed his eyes. 

“When my fathers passed away, all I had was my grandfather, Roman, and these books. Every story that my grandfather told me became a part of me. Every world that Roman helped create became a part of my mind. And I was content ; I was content knowing that they were all I needed to live. And now, they’re both gone, it just…it just feels like I have nothing again.” 

Logan’s gaze hovered over to the window next to him. The world yearned for him on the other side. 

“I discovered Virgil’s book after my grandfather passed and it just made the most sense — that there was nothing. And if there was nothing for me to have, there was nothing for me to lose.” 

Logan sighed. 

“I don’t know where I’m going to find the answer, Patton. And without Roman or my magic, I don’t think I’m going to be able to find much else either.” 

“You aren’t without either of them.” Patton smiled sadly at Logan. “You know, it always seems like you’re running on some imaginary treadmill, trying to grab at so many things. When was the last time you really sat down and let everything come to you?” 

“When I met you.” 

Patton drew back ever so slightly. A heavy silence filled the shop. 

“Can I ask you a question, Patton?” Logan finally said. 

“Of course.” 

���Do you think Virgil was right? That there’s nothing?” 

Patton scrunched up his face in thought. 

“I did this workshop during the summer of my senior year and for one of the final projects, I was asked to go to a place of my choosing and recreate it through art. I remember walking out of class alone, surrounded by all these people who had places to go. I was thinking of just doing my piece based on my home since I never really got out much and I was really good at finding inspiration in my house. But I spent most of the summer trying to find all of these places. I made so many collages but disassembled them every time. You know where I ended up doing my project?” 

“Where?” 

“At home. I always ended up at home.” Patton smiled wryly. “But if I hadn’t gone outside of what I already knew, I wouldn’t have found everything I could know.” 

Patton leaned back in his chair. 

“So no, I don’t think Virgil was right. Honestly, I read his book one evening when I stayed the night here, just to see what all the fuss was about. And it seemed more finite than full of possibilites, like you thought.” 

Logan blinked. He tried to remember what Virgil’s book nook looked like, what Virgil had told him. 

‘There’s nothing else here.’

“I don’t think there’s nothing,” Patton continued. “In fact, I think there’s everything. Everywhere you went, everywhere you have yet to go — there’s a bit of the everything in all of that.” He laughed softly. “And thank goodness for art, Lo. It brings us so much closer to the everything, because it brings us so much closer to each other.” 

Logan let Patton’s words wash over him like a calm wave.

“I’m actually kind of happy you didn’t find the answer you were looking for,” Patton added, breaking the growing silence. “While I don’t think there really is a final answer, I think you got something out of searching. And when your search got you out of Virgil’s book and out into the world...well, I think you became stronger because of it.” 

Patton squeezed Logan’s hand.

“So...so don’t give up on looking yet. You have so much to find, Logan. Everything is out there for you to know — you just have to keep looking for it.” 

Logan chuckled quietly to himself. 

“My grandfather always told me that I was good at finding things. And...and I loved doing it. I loved finding the answers, whatever they were” 

Logan felt his chest swell up as he smiled

“I want to find the everything, Pat. And...and I want to find it with you.”

And as soon as the words slipped from Logan’s tongue, his hand glowed blue. 

—

Here’s what Logan knows. 

He knows that there used to be nothing—truly nothing—in his life. There were storms that rocked his waters for so long, he couldn’t breathe. There were days that were quiet, too quiet. There were days when he saw the sky from the other side of a window; there were days when, for all anyone knew, he was nothing. 

There were days when he looked his questions in the eye and stared at every piece of it, as if just looking at it would tell him all he needed to know.

He now knows that is the furthest from the truth.

There is the possibility that the answer blossomed out of the lines on his paper. There is the possibility that the notes scattered on the staff in ways that made sense; in ways that fit. There is magic in a canvas , and there is someone who needs to hold the brush. There is an infinite amount of things that had to be done; to be explored. 

(“They say that the desire to know– truly know– everything about anything runs deep in one’s veins.”)

There used to be nothing. Logan knew all too much of that. 

But now, there is something. 

There is everything. 

--

A navy blue explosion pulsed out of Logan’s hand and rippled throughout the entire shop. Patton gasped, but Logan kept his grip on his hand tight. 

All of the books around them flew up into the air, their pages flipping as they rose. Logan stumbled to his feet in the midst of the wind, dragging Patton up with him and pulling him close to his chest. The books spun around them until the shop seemingly disappeared. 

And in the blink of an eye, everything stopped. 

Logan pulled back from Patton slightly. 

“Is it over?” Patton said, still burying his face in Logan’s chest. 

“It appears so…” 

Logan looked around him. Every book was seemingly in place and back on their shelves, and the mess of papers and wine glasses had disappeared. All that was left was him and Patton. 

Patton took a step back, looking around. “What...what happened?” 

“I’m...I’m not sure,” Logan said, though the answer simmered in his chest. He felt the familiar warmth of his magic course through his body, but he somehow felt closer to it. 

“We need to find Roman.” Logan marched over to the shelves and started scanning through the books. “There has to be something I missed…” 

“Logan! Over here!” 

Logan turned around. Patton stood at the shelves behind the front counter, pointing to a gap in the rows of books. Two of the books were missing. Logan frowned, heading to Patton’s side. 

“The magical explosion must have forgotten to place a few books back.” Logan turned on his heel. “Maybe they’re important, I could try and find them–”

“No! Wait!” Patton grabbed Logan’s shoulder and pulled him back. Logan watched Patton go on the tips of his toes and reach into the gap. Logan frowned. 

Patton pulled out a book; brown, leather-back, and completely unknown to Logan. He didn’t recognize it from his catalogue, nor did he remember ever stumbling upon it. 

“What is this?” 

Patton smiled. “Roman’s favourite book.” 

Logan took the book from Patton, examining the front cover. 

The Midnight Forest by V. Aries. 

Logan looked up at Patton, who just shrugged and nodded at him to open it. Logan flipped through the book. His hand seemingly moved without him thinking too much of it. 

Suddenly, his hand glowed blue once more. He paused, looking down at the page he stopped at. 

“And if swirls of blue and yellow are not enough,” Logan read aloud, “and if the cities beneath are not enough…” 

The words felt as if they were being pulled out from him. He could feel the wind return into the shop, though much more gentle than before. 

Logan pulled Patton closer to him with one hand, holding the book up in the other. He narrowed his eyes at the words. He knew that he didn’t completely know what was happening here, nor did he really know what the answer was; yet somehow, he knew the way there.

Logan closed his eyes. 

“ And if all these answers are not enough, love, may I give you this…”

—

next chapter > 

#TS Storytime 2021 #gabbie writes things #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfic #logicality #prinxiety #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #logan/patton #roman/virgil #logic/morality #creativity/anxiety

[soft-stormcloud]

Dear Happy

On ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26028052

Summary: There’s a side only Patton knows about. 

Trigger warnings: Hurt/Comfort, food mentions, insecurity, depression, lack of motivation, self-deprecating thoughts

A/n: @justmeandmygayships beta'd this for me and if it wasn't for xem there would be a lot of sentences in here that straight up wouldn't make sense so go thank xem by reading xeir fics 

I created a character to put Patton through some Angst(tm) and instead Gray and I ended up shipping him with Patton so cheers to that

Patton wasn’t sure why he was the only one who could see him, as he visited Patton the least of all. He wasn’t so much a side, not a function like Morality, or Logic. But he was a very real part of the Mindscape, despite the others not knowing about him. 

Sometime after the puppet video, Roman took Logan and Virgil into the Imagination for an adventure. It was Roman’s way of an apology, and a very effective one, at that. A day of being spoiled by a prince in a place where you can do and have anything had a way of winning people over. 

Patton stayed behind. They invited him, and seemed sad that he wouldn’t go, but he had to work on his own apology, no matter how many times they insisted it wasn’t necessary. He wanted to. 

He spent the afternoon preparing a surprise of all their favourite treats—Lemon poppy seed bread for Logan (with a brand new jar of Crofters), red velvet cupcakes for Roman, and sugar cookies cut into bats, ghosts, and witch hats for Virgil (with a promise to help decorate). 

Patton found himself getting lost in the music he put on; he danced around the kitchen, apron twirling around like a swing dress, as he sang loud and off-key. He went on autopilot, sliding the cupcakes in the oven, and kneading the bread dough. 

He hadn’t felt so light, so giddy, in a very long time. His stomach fluttered each time he imagined their faces, and he couldn’t help but giggle. He was going to make them so happy. 

“Such a lovely sight.” 

Patton screamed and whipped around, holding the dough like a shield. The boy in the kitchen leapt back like he was startled. He pressed his back against the wall, and they held each other’s gaze. 

“Are you a new side?” Patton shakily lowered the dough, just a bit. I hope not. He’s creepy. 

He shook his head. 

“Then who are you?” Patton flicked his gaze around, half expecting to see more Thomas look-a-likes pouring into the room. 

“I’m…” The boy cleared his throat. “My name is Eden. My function is, well, for simplicity's sake… Happiness.”

Patton blinked. “Happiness?” 

“Yes.”

He set the dough down with trembling hands and smoothed down his apron. “Well, I’m… Sorry for the fright. You surprised me. I’m-”

“I know who you are.” Eden smiled a crooked smile, eyes crinkling. “Patton. I’ve been here since the start.”

Patton frowned in confusion. He’d been there the whole time, and he just now decided to show himself? He wanted to be diplomatic, but it was hard to trust him. How did he know Eden was being honest about his function? How did he know he wasn’t just Deceit in disguise?

Eden tisked and raised a pale hand to examine it. His honey-coloured eyes sparkled through his skin, the photo of Roman he was standing in front of showing through his fluffy, dark hair. 

“What’s happening?” Patton asked in panic. 

“Well…” He laughed weakly. “I don’t stay forever. I guess the scare changed your mood a bit. I really am sorry about that, I wasn’t trying to intrude. It’s just my job.” 

“Wait- Wait- Don’t leave!” Patton swiped out to grab Eden’s hand, but he went straight through. “We still don’t know why I’m seeing you!” 

Eden faded faster the more Patton panicked. He waved and smiled. “Until next time.” 

Then he was gone. 

It was a long time before Patton saw Eden again. He kept an eye out, but part of him was convinced he imagined the entire thing. How can someone be in the Mindscape without anyone else knowing about it? Were there other figments? Why could Patton suddenly see him? 

And why did Patton miss him?

He spent every day on edge, checking every inch of every room for a glimpse of lavender fabric. It was a month later with no Happiness in sight when Patton settled himself shakily at his desk and pulled out his favourite notepad. It had little cartoon cats all over the pages, the lines pastel blue. 

The clock read 2:03. The full moon shone through Patton’s open window, brittle breeze chasing a shiver down Patton’s spine. 

Dear Happiness, 

His hand hovered over the notepad. What the heck was he supposed to say? ‘I miss you, please come back even though we don’t know each other?’ ‘I want to abuse your function and not care about you as a person?’

Patton shuddered. This was a bad idea. 

I haven’t seen you around. Is everything okay? 

You should come over. I want to get to know you more. Maybe we can figure out why I can see you. 

<3 patton 

He waited several weeks before he accepted that he won’t get a response. 

One morning, Patton drifted around the kitchen to make breakfast, eyelids heavy and steps slow. He was halfway through when footsteps shuffled behind him. 

Patton smiled. “Morning, kiddo!” 

Virgil flinched. Patton’s smile faded as Virgil sat at the table, bringing his legs up and propping his head on the table. 

“Hey,” Patton said softly. He rested his hands on the sides of Virgil’s face, guiding Virgil to look at him. “Nightmare?” 

“Yeah,” he mumbled, eyes downcast. “It was… Worse than usual.” 

Patton stroked his soft, warm skin. “You want some coffee?”

Virgil nodded shyly. Patton kissed his forehead and bounced over to the coffee pot, starting a brew. “Breakfast is almost finished, too! Just go ahead and decompress, sweetheart, I got this.” 

Patton turned with Virgil’s coffee, and gasped. Eden had his chest pressed to Virgil’s back, arms wrapped around his torso and chin rested on Virgil’s shoulder. He brought a finger to his lips and smiled. 

“What is it?” Virgil asked nervously, and Eden started to fade. 

“No- Nothing!” Patton hurried over and set down his coffee. “I thought I saw something, but nothing’s wrong, love. There—Made just how you like it.”

Virgil blushed as Eden’s form came back. “Thanks, Dad,” he muttered. 

In the middle of breakfast, Eden reached out and rested a hand over Patton’s. A smile crawled over Patton’s face. 

After Virgil left, Eden stuck around. Patton stood awkwardly, hands clasped and pressed to his chest. 

“So, um…” Patton looked away, face red. “What have you, uh… Been up to? Seen any other figments lately?”

“I got your letter.” Eden smiled sadly. “I can’t just come when you ask, Patton. I come when I’m called.” 

Patton’s face crumpled in distress. “You don’t choose where you go?”

“I go where I’m needed.”

Patton bit his tongue. I need you. 

“You’ll be okay,” Eden promised. “We’ll talk again soon. Just… Keep on, okay?” 

Patton nodded, sniffling. “Yeah.” He forced a smile and straightened up. “Yeah! Of course.”

Eden smiled, then he faded away. 

The next few months were difficult. Patton’s mind grew groggy with constant exhaustion, and he found it hard to focus on anything for too long. One time Virgil had to stop him from pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven without a mitt. 

He found himself lying awake at night, and sleeping all day. He suppressed the urge to ignore Thomas and the other sides’ summonings, and reminded himself to put on a happy face. No one paid him too much attention or looked too closely. It was stupid, but it brought a deep dread to his stomach. 

He was still in bed when they came to check on him. He was half asleep, and didn’t remember answering the timid knocks on his door. 

“Pat?” Virgil’s cool hand brushed Patton’s bangs back as the bed dipped beside his hips. “Is everything okay?”

“Hm?” He rolled over, leaning into Virgil’s touch. Virgil chuckled and ran his fingers through Patton’s hair. 

“We’re worried about you.” Logan stood awkwardly at the side of the bed, clutching his flashcards. “You’ve shown an increase in symptoms of depression, more so than usual, and… Virgil?”

“We know you’ve been repressing again.” 

Patton sat up, face burning. “It’s not that big of a deal,” he mumbled. 

Virgil laced their fingers and shook his head. “We all talked about this. It’s not good for you, and it’s not good for Thomas. You don’t have to hide it.”

Logan nodded. “Virgil put it perfectly. I have nothing to add.”

A hand touched his back, and Patton jumped. Logan and Virgil looked at him in confusion. Eden’s soft eyes met Patton’s, his hand crawling up Patton’s back and rubbing at the top of his spine. 

“Sorry,” Patton mumbled, unable to hide his smile. He squeezed Virgil’s hand. “I just thought I heard something. I’m sorry I didn’t go to you guys.”

Logan hesitantly sat. “If I were you… I’d partake in some leisure activities. Virgil and I can join, if that’ll make it more enjoyable.” 

Patton wiped his wet eyes and nodded. “That’d be great.”

Eden followed them into the kitchen. Virgil and Logan helped him bake bread, Eden weaving between the three of them like a satin lace pulling them together. 

I can get through. Patton smiled as he pulled Virgil into a dance, one of his favourite songs playing on the radio. I can get through. 

xxx 

The day after the Phases episode, Patton visited Roman, who’d been holed up in his room all day. He didn’t even come out for food. 

Patton knocked on the door with his foot, the plates on his tray rattling together. He yipped as he almost spilled the glass of juice. 

“Come in!”

“You mind helping me out here, Ro?” 

He shuffled around, and a moment later, he pulled the door open. His eyes lit up. “Cream of broccoli?!” He took the tray happily and settled back at his desk. 

Patton startled. Eden sat criss-cross at Roman’s feet, leaning back against the leg of the chair. He waved at Patton cutely. 

“Good day, Ro?” He sat at the edge of Roman’s bed, trying not to stare at Eden. 

“Mhm!” Roman spoke with his mouth full. “The Phases video gave me lots of inspiration! I’ve been working on a new project all day!” 

“Well, you gotta remember to eat, too.” 

Roman blushed. “I know, I just didn’t want to lose momentum.” He set his spoon down and wrapped his fingers around the glass. He stared into it with a blush. “Thank you, padre.” 

After eating, Roman got back to work. Eden stood behind him with his hands on Roman’s shoulders, gently kneading. Patton should’ve probably left- Even though Roman couldn’t see Eden, he felt like he was intruding on something intimate -but he couldn’t draw his attention away. 

Had Eden been with him all day? Was he able to be with multiple sides at once? How did Roman snag him for so long, did Eden like him better? 

“You’re overthinking,” Eden murmured, and Patton looked at him in surprise and confusion. He frowned, eyebrows drawn in sadness. “This is why you’re not supposed to know about me.” 

Patton got up to kiss Roman on the forehead, take his tray, and leave. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t look back. 

Over the next few weeks, he struggled with his feelings. It was difficult to take the others’ advice—His habit of shoving down any bad feelings was more ingrained than he realized. Every time he was upset, he tried to convince himself that he wasn’t and it was fine, until he caught himself. Then he sat there in a kind of stumped limbo. He wasn’t sure what the next step was. 

He tried talking to Virgil and Logan about it, but everything they suggested didn’t help much, and he regretted the waste in energy. 

He desperately thought back to all the times Eden had visited before. The only thing he could see in common was that he was in a good mood. It was a long shot, but if he could replicate that, maybe Happiness would show. 

He settled himself early into bed with hot chocolate in his favourite mug, topped high with whipped cream and sprinkles. He was dressed in soft pyjamas, his weighted blanket pulled over his lap and his favourite show on. 

His drink tasted just as good as it always did, and the show pulled giggles out of him throughout the night, but in the back of his mind, all he could focus on was if Eden would show up or not. 

He tried all night, but his frustration rose with the sun. 

He slumped at his desk before bed, letters messy and words running together. 

Dear Happiness, 

I miss you. 

I’m not sure what happened last night. I guess you must have been busy, helping another side or something. That’s okay. They deserve your help. But I miss you. 

What did I do wrong? 

-patton 

Unsurprisingly, Patton didn’t get a response. He waited a few days before giving up.

Maybe Eden just didn’t like hanging out with him. Maybe he was repulsed by Patton, didn’t think Patton deserved his company. 

That was fine. 

He didn’t need Eden. 

Patton’s eyes fluttered open in the darkness of his room one night. His throat burned, and he groaned when he reached for his empty glass on the bedside table. 

He stumbled past the other’s rooms as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He returned with his newly filled glass, and stopped at the top of the stairs. The soft light from Logan’s desk lamp spilled into the hallway through his open door. He wasn’t inside. 

Patton’s heartbeat quickened. The bathroom was empty, and Patton hadn’t noticed him when he was downstairs. Is he okay? Did the dark sides do something with him? 

His hands trembled as he hurried down the stairs. Deceit’s snake eye, his shimmering scales, flashed in Patton’s mind. His gaze flicked to the spot by the blinds. 

His glass teetered on its edge as he dropped it on the table he passed. He threw the front door open, fully intending to cross the street and interrogate the dark sides- 

Logan laid in the grass. 

Patton pressed his hand to his heart. Idiot. He’s fine. 

His mouth creased into a frown. Eden laid next to Logan, hands clasped. 

Patton tiptoed back onto the porch steps. One of the old wood panels creaked, and Logan glanced back. 

“Oh. Patton.” He propped himself up on his elbow and adjusted his glasses. “Is everything okay?”

He nodded, cheeks burning. “Just wanted to check on you.” 

“I’m unharmed.” Logan laid back. “You should join me.” 

Patton’s heart fluttered. He shook his head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t-” 

Logan looked back, and Patton softened. His eyes were owlishly big behind his glasses, his mouth pulled into a concerned frown. 

“I can stay a bit.” Patton sat criss-cross on the soft grass, trying not to stare at Eden. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through the untrimmed blades, the thin slices tickling his palms. 

“You don’t need to worry if I’m not in my room at night.” Logan’s eyes flicked between star to star. “I like stargazing. I like the solitude of it. It’s… In honesty, it’s the only calm I get unless I’m working.” 

Patton stiffened. “I can leave you alone-”

“I enjoy your company.” 

He jumped as soft skin touched his. Eden laced their fingers and whispered, “I miss you, too. Stay.”

Patton blushed and looked away. “I can stay for a bit.” 

xxx 

As lovely as his night with Logan and Eden was, Patton found his mental health rapidly decreasing. Thomas’s life was spiralling out of control, and Patton desperately tried to keep a handle on things, but every choice he made was a mistake. 

His family grew impatient with him. Roman’s creativity was stunted, and Virgil tensed when Patton touched him. Logan was more frustrated than usual—He shut down nearly everything Patton said. 

And after the Intrusive Thoughts video, things seemed hopeless. 

How had he been so… Wrong? How could he treat them all that way, without even noticing? Was he that bad of a person? Was he corrupting Thomas?

If he rarely got out of bed before, he lived there now. He didn’t get up to eat, only to make dinner when someone requested it of him. Anxiety seeped under Patton’s door from Virgil’s room, and the frustration in the house concentrated in Patton’s room. 

Indecision hindered him. He couldn’t get out of bed, because he couldn’t be faced with another day with the potential to fail Thomas, and everyone else in the Mindscape. 

And Eden hadn’t visited him in months. 

I miss you, too, he had said. He didn’t mean it. He would have shown up by then. 

The only time he was able to force himself out of bed was to make a decision he knew he couldn’t mess up. He pulled his hood up and wrapped his sleeves around his palms, trudging across the lawn to the dark sides’ house looming across the street. He crossed the black stone pathway and stopped at the porch, hand raised. 

Inside was chaos—Glass breaking, yelling, laughing, fighting. Deceit wasn’t home, then. 

He climbed down the steps and circled around to the back. He stretched up on his tiptoes to reach over the black panels of wood and feel around for the gate lock. He sighed in relief when he hit it and it came undone, the gate slipping open. 

He took a step into the garden, and voices stopped him. 

“It worked!” Remus’s voice was practically a squeal. Patton crept forward and peeked through the leaves of a yellow rosebush. Remus’s hands clasped Deceit’s, bouncing up and down. 

“And you’re sure?” Deceit asked. His mouth twitched upwards. “Everything went according to plan?”

Patton held his hand to his mouth as Remus pressed a sloppy kiss to Deceit’s mouth. “Yes! We’re gonna be light sides, JJ!” 

Patton inched closer, the new angle revealing Eden hugging Remus’s arm, one hand rested over Deceit and Remus’s. 

Anger bubbled in Patton’s stomach. He whipped around, intention of apologizing lost, and stormed back to his room. 

He scrabbled for the first piece of paper and pen he could find. He nearly ripped the fragile pages as he scratched ink. 

Happiness, 

I’m glad you’re enjoying your time with everyone else. I’m so happy for you all. If you ever need me, I’ll be right here waiting, alone. But we both know that won’t happen. We both know you don’t need me, don’t want me, just as the others don’t. 

I don’t need you anyway. I don’t need you to help Thomas and I don’t need you to feel okay and I don’t need you to do my job. 

I wish we’d never met. 

Morality

PS: did you plan this? 

xxx 

“Pat?”

Patton forced on a friendly face and pulled the door open. It was a few weeks after Janus told them his name, and everyone was tentatively mending relationships. He couldn’t ruin that with his own anger. 

“Everything okay, Roman?”

He nodded. “We, uh… Well, we were thinking a movie night. Uh, now.” 

Patton blinked. They hadn’t had a movie night since they watched Frozen. “That sounds fun, kiddo.” 

“So you’ll come?” Roman smiled sheepishly. 

Patton twisted his fingers in his shirt. “If you want me there, I’m there!”

He grinned. “Perfect! Come on, we still have time to vote!” 

Roman grabbed his hand and dragged him downstairs. Patton’s eyes widened when they stepped into the living room. All of the usual suspects were there- Virgil curled at one side of the couch, Logan in the armchair, plenty of space for Roman and Patton to sit -but three new faces joined them. 

Janus and Remus sat on the loveseat, Remus clothed this time. Remus had his legs thrown over Janus’s lap, and Janus looked annoyed but ran his hand up and down his shin subconsciously. 

And Eden sat on the floor, back pressed to the couch, in the middle of them all. 

Patton settled in the empty seat behind Eden. He didn’t react as Eden said, “I have a good feeling.” 

Patton pursed his lips and glanced down. 

Eden leaned back and rested his head against Patton’s knee. “Hang out with me tonight,” he whispered. 

Patton relaxed into the couch. Remus cackled as he poked at the scales on Janus’s face, who continuously pushed him away. Virgil and Roman argued about Roman tampering with the votes, and Logan took it all in with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. 

“Okay,” Patton whispered back, unable to stop from smiling. “That sounds good.” 

Tag list: @mirror2thespirit thx babe lmao 

#patton sanders #that's it that's the tweet #it's all patton babbeeeyyyy #i don't really feel comfortable tagging the others bc they all play important but brief roles lol *shrugs* #listen if i was surfing the virgil tag and a patton centric fic showed up i would be. sad #patton #oc: eden #oc: happiness #virgil writes #and ik it's obvious but yeah this is based off dodie and thomas's song lol #god this concept has been in my head for so long i just couldn't get a cohesive plot out of it #and then i listened to new dodie music and got approximately 545485748534534 ideas at once #and let me know if you like eden bc honestly? what a boy #also jesus fucking christ these are so many tags i haven't done this in a while #let's do a throwback and send analogical bedroom eyes if you've gotten this far #xx

[miniherodesktales]

kidnap part 2 (10)

Dr Po was a man of learning with over twenty years experience of counselling troubled children and ten years of being a form tutor...how he now wished he had taken early retirement when he had the chance and moved to the Welsh mountains to breed Llamas. Llamas never really bothered anyone.

‘Boys, lads, just take a few deep breaths and stay calm!’ he instructed, rather shrilly it had to be said. ‘I’m sure that there is a perfectly reasonable, logical, safe explanation for this.’

The boys of form 4P looked rather dubious at this and continued to take photos of the dark, twisted forest that had seemingly come from nowhere, enticing the boys to go and explore...

‘And get away from the windows!’ Po shrieked. ‘And-and sit at your desks until you’re told to move!’

With a great deal of muttering and under the breath cursing the boys shuffled back to their desks, all except one.

Oliver Doyle - prefect, magical human, and most surprising of all, boyfriend of Artemis Fowl who was famously allergic to romance - never liked to see anyone suffer and so took the time to pat the distressed doctor on the shoulder.

‘Take it easy, sir,’ he said. ‘It’s probably like you said - a very boring explanation for how we teleported into an evil looking forest....like....I don’t know...aliens?’

‘Aliens?’ Liam echoed. ‘You’re an idiot.’

‘I agree with Oliver,’ said Sam. ‘It’s always aliens in films. Well, it is!’

‘We’re not in a film, moron!’

‘Okay, so have you got a better explanation?’

‘Boys, please!’ Po groaned, slumping at his desk. ‘The Dean knows what he’s doing...the school has a policy for every situation, even the bizarre ones...so while we wait for further instruction I suggest that we all take a leaf out of Artemis’ book and mediate.’

More cursing, only not so quiet this time.

Artemis Fowl the Second was an island of calm. He sat cross-legged on his desk with his eyes closed and fingers beating out patterns of fives on his knees.

‘Great,’ muttered Liam, folding his arms tightly. ‘The school is in trouble and we’re expected to copy Avatar Fowl, master of being a smart ass.’

‘I can hear you,’ Artemis replied, dreamily. ‘And I’d rather be a smart ass than a jackass, jackass.’

‘I love his sass,’ Oliver smiled proudly at Dr Po.

Artemis opened his eyes, bright orange fours cascaded across his vision like bursting stars. Oliver was at his side in an instant.

‘Are you okay?’ he whispered.

Artemis knocked his hand aside. ‘I’m fine.’ He looked around at his rather shaken classmates and then  at his form tutor who was in bits and muttering something about llamas.

‘What’s wrong with everyone?’ he asked. ‘Did something else happen?’

Liam rolled his eyes to the ceiling. ‘No, we’re still stuck in the same nightmare, Avatar. We haven’t moved on.’

‘Then at least our situation hasn’t worsened. Silver lining.’

Even Oliver couldn’t really agree with that one. 

‘It’s not exactly the shiniest of silver linings, Artemis.’

‘It gives us time to think.’

Liam buried his face in hands. 

‘Do not lecture us!’ he begged in a muffled voice. ‘We don’t have that much time!’

Artemis frowned. ‘As the smartest person in this school you may wish to listen to me rather than insulting me and insinuating that I am long -winded -’

Oliver coughed loudly, placing a hand on Artemis’ shoulder.

‘Actually, Arty, maybe you could just give it to us in bullet points, whatever it is you’ve figured out.’

Artemis glared at Oliver, as if he were thinking up a scathing reply, but then he pulled away, muttering, ‘Fine.’ He threw up his hands as he stomped to the front of the classroom. ‘I’ll do all thinking for the whole class seeing as no one can be bothered! And I’ll be extra super-duper concise because apparently we all have the attention spans of fleas! But why should I be surprised - this is a school for rich idiots!’

Sam lent in towards Liam. ‘Did Artemis turn meaner?’ he squeaked, teary eyed.

Artemis spun around to face the rest of 4P, clapping his hands loudly just in case some were not paying attention. 

Po nearly jumped out of his skin.

‘Information is still scarce but I have made five educated guesses for why we have been kidnapped, assuming that this whole episode is deliberate and not the result of a freak phenomenon.’ Artemis began counting them off on his thumb and fingers.

‘Number One: rescue. The kidnapper/kidnappers believe they have taken us for a beneficial reason. This is the least likely explanation.

Number Two:  Possession. We have something they want or need. We should identify that want, protect it, and use it as a bargaining chip. It could be information, a something or a someone.

Number Three: hostage exchange for either a person or persons, power, favours, material items or a combination of all those things. We need to find out who they are bargaining with.

Three:  Ritual sacrifice.’

Everyone winced.

Artemis went on: ‘Number five: A statement. Our capture sends out a message. Maybe they want attention, maybe they’re showing off.’

Po looked confused.

‘What’s four?’ he asked. ‘You missed out four.’

Artemis’ whole body shuddered.

‘Number f-four is worst case scearnario. Torture. They’ve done this for the pleasure of making us suffer. Nothing we can use to negotiate. It will end in a painful blood bath.’

‘We should avoid that one,’ noted Oliver. ‘So what’s the plan?’

‘Plan?’

‘Yeah, what do we do now?’

Artemis glanced nervously at the far corner of the ceiling where a shivering nest of fours were buzzing loudly, menacingly. As he stared at them his headache intensified.

He grimaced, ‘I think we should break for lunch. Quickly.’

And he dashed out of the room.

Oliver flashed a bright smile at the room. 

‘Class dismissed,’ he announced and hurried after his boyfriend.

#artemis fowl #artemis fowl fanfic #artemis fowl books

[jokerxtreme36]

Thoughts on Zero One and Kiramager so far + extra (Spoilers)

Man it has been a while since I’ve done this. I was a bit uncertain to really come back and speak my mind on these since I feel what I say doesn’t really matter, I tend to fear what I say could be an unpopular opinion and get flack for it. I’m still hesitant on writing but I felt like wanting to write again after so long. I don’t know if I’ll bring this back but we’ll see. A lot has happened with Toku that’s surprising, I’m surprised how much Toku has been slowly getting itself up to be official over here thanks to various services like discotek and Shout Factory, in an age where you can officially watch the original Kamen Rider series and Kuuga online, If you told me that 5 years ago, I wouldn’t know what to believe.

Recap:

Been three years since I’ve done this iirc, but here’s My thoughts on the seasons I never wrote my full thoughts on.

Kyuranger: This was an up and down series for me. When I first started, I was hating it, due to awful pacing and was doing an awful job of establishing characters, especially Lucky who was hitting the marks of why I disliked Right and Takaharu, thankfully the series picked itself up around the second quarter with Scorpio’s arc and introducing Tsurugi. Would later go down and up with each arc but In my opinion, ended on a decent note. It does suck it never had a crossover with Zyuohger but I did enjoy the Space Squad crossover, which utilized the strengths of the characters really well and was ultimately satisfying.

Ex-Aid: Ex-Aid was a series I was a bit skeptical by but was one over by the end. I enjoyed Emu and his adventures and I give props for the show having two female Riders (Nico counts, fight me!). If there’s an issue, it’d be that I wish they’d just end with the crossover movie cause I feel the V-cinema’s felt like tacked on alternate endings, I do give them credit for trying to connect it to other films.

Lupinranger vs Patranger: A series I’ve seen that’s either enjoyed or disliked. I’m in the former and do like that they experimented with the concept of two different teams. I dig the idea that the Lupins are influenced by more modern Sentai that get the gimmick of the episode while the Pat’s are more akin to classic seasons where they just focus on the Monster, also doesn’t help that Japan has very low views on their justice system so the Lupins are more favorable. Plus I loved the way it ended on an open note, much like how Sanjo tends to do in his writing.

Amazons: Another divisive series and I’m leaning towards those that dislike it.On its own, it’s alright but as a series that uses elements from a classic series, it mostly is superficial in how it uses it cause the original series was remembered for how violent it could be, but there was more to it than just mindless violence. Also doesn’t help the producer’s comment on how “Recent Rider’s aren’t interesting, this series will give it it’s fangs back” saying the shows before it were not good when they were enjoyed by a lot fans. I do give the series credit for trying to write a gray moral type of setting but its flimsily written that it can come off as irritating,, especially around Season 2. Though I’ll give the movie credit for ending the series on a decent note.

Dino Force Brave: A miniseries that caught a lot of fans by surprise, since Korea commissioned a miniseries/continuation for Kyoryuger given how popular it was. It seemed promising, then I saw who was producing and writing it, instead of Sanjo returning. we got Ninninger’s writer. it retcons things like Torin’s not dead and Devius isn’t mentioned (the latter I don’t mind). The series is short which is both its strenght and weakness because for a miniseries, it isn’t given much time to flesh out the new characters, since they only have 12 minutes for each story, shows like the Ultra Fight series work since its serialized and can work as a movie, this not so much but unlike Amazons, I consider this harmless, its nothing too bad and there’s some merit to it (even if they tried saying it was canon in the last Taisen film)

Build: Now this was a series I was actually surprised by, this series is probably my third favorite post Decade Rider series. The series blends the right amount of silly and mature moments. It has a lot of memorable characters and one of my new favorite villlains in the franchise, Evolt was a great villain that really brought the stakes and made you think how this series was gonna deal with him. I remember the ending being divisive but I was ok with it since it does give an explanation for how Build could interact with the other Riders in future crossovers with how the previous seasons (minus Amazons) could connect. plus the V-cinema’s were well handled from an ok one like Cross-Z to a surprisingly Amazing one that is Grease’s V-cinema, now this is how you do a continuation.

Strongest Battle: Now this was a miniseries that caught me by surprise as well since they brought back returning actors to lead up to the next season. Seeing Arakawa still got it and made me hope to see him return writing someday (hint hint).The cast they got surprised me, some I was glad to see return and some I wasn’t too happy with like Takaharu and to an extent Kagura (but too be fair, she wasn’t as bad as Right), but I was intrigued to see what Arakawa would do with them and I was ok with how they were written here though still dislike Takaharu as a character.

Ryusoulger: Ryusoulger is a series that I’ve seen that is pretty loved from what I’ve seen but sadly I’m on the opposite side, I don’t think it was that terrible but more or less disappointing and somehow boring. Strongest Battle setup a lot of things for Ryusoul to follow up on that it felt like a downgrade, like Gaisorg being underutilized that you can tell they didn’t know what to do with him. The writing was all over the place that it was hard to be invested with the characters, who did their best with what they were given but their wasn’t much stakes. If there’s one thing I enjoyed, I really loved the ending arc for giving us not only a Female big bad but also blowing my expectations and breaking status quo, with Red not being the one to finish off the main villain. The ending arc was great yet at the same time was upsetting that the rest of the series wasn’t up to par with it. But now its gonna be the next adaptation after Beast Morphers. With Hasbro in charge, I’m intrigued to see what they do with it.

Zi-o: From the same minds behind Dino Force Brave and Amazons comes what is meant to be a big celebrate/closure of the Heisei era, but threw logic out the window for what is ultimately a fun kind of mess. I don’t mind continuity but I was iffy on how Zi-o retconned the previous seasons as not connected since that’s what they were trying to do until this series went (rip paper) whoops it broke. The series does have some merit with the idea of the Another Rider’s and showing the development of our protagonist and his attempt to defy fate. I also enjoyed when the series stopped time travelling but instead met the characters in the present day cause then the arcs were written better like in Blade and Agito’s tribute episodes. I haven’t watched Geiz’s V-cinema yet but also heard from the producer’s twitter that Woz’s V-cinema isn’t happening, which sucks cause there’s potential in it.

Now that those are done, here we go.

Kamen Rider Zero One:

Now with the start of the Reiwa era, I was hyped since we had Ex-Aid’s writer returning and we got not only a cool awesome secondary but a surprising Female Rider early on and is our third Rider. The first arc starts off strong with Aruto wanting to save the Humagears from Metsubojinrai. Things were looking good until things went downhill thanks to a certain Gold turd known as Thouser, before I get to my issues, I love his suit and how his finishers have a trademark, but that loses its charm when you see him everytime as he’s a very arrogant and obnoxious about his views on how “Humagears aren’t necessary” almost every time. There’s character’s that are meant to be hated, but then there’s characters that you just want to see go away. Once the arc ends the series thankfully pics up with Fuwa getting Rampage, Yua quitting and the return of Izakuchi and Naki. I’m interested to see where things go from here.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager:

Now this was a series I was cautiously optimistic by, since Arakawa returns to write a new series and after my disappointment with Ryusoul, I was nervous but thankfully this series is off to a good start, was surprised we started with episode 0, which does a good job setting up the main 4 before the red shows up. I was a bit skeptical on Juru since he screamed a lot of traits that they could’ve easily screwed up. Thankfully they’ve been doing a good job with Juru, he’s cheerful and imaginative but not a total idiot (what Right should’ve been) and the series has been doing a good job giving everyone their own center episode while not being afraid to take a few risks. I also enjoy the villains like Garza and his rivalry towards Juru due to having a similar ability to his brother that he despised, especially the fight in episode 4 being a highlight. I like that Juru wasn’t sure if he was qualified into being the leader but saw that his passion could help the team in his own unique way. Another thing I love is the Monsters with them going for a Showa aesthetic on mask based Kaijin but with an added twist of a Kaiju counterpart for them to fight, it’s a nice change of pace from just having them grow. The series has done a great job at bringing back an old style and breathing fresh life to it. Was scared hearing what happened to Juru’s actor but thankfully heard he’s doing ok and I’m excited to see what the series brings next.

#JX36 says something.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML: Scarlet Lady AU: Evillustrator

(That is right everybody. I am taking a crack at writing this episode with @zoe-oneesama Kwami swap au. Here is my take.)

“Ughhh.” Marinette groaned. She had been unfortunate enough to be paired with Chloé and Sabrina. The black haired girl turned to her best friend.

“You wouldn't happen to be willing to trade groups with me, would you Alya?” Marinette asked half knowing her auburn haired friend’s response.

“And deal with that twosome of terror? Sorry Marinette.” Alya said as she patted her shoulder.

“I understand.” Marinette sighed dejectedly. “Just keep me updated on how much fun your having. It will cheer me up knowing that one of us is having a good time.”

“I promise.”

“Forget it Sabrina! I don't have time for a stupid project. Besides, now you have miss goody goody to help you. She will make it easier on you this time.” An annoyed blonde teen stated to her ginger haired friend/lackey.

“Okay, We’ll handle the work. Don't worry one bit.” Sabrina stated with a big smile. She was use to answering Chloé like this. It was a lot of work, but Chloé was right, at least they have Marinette in the group. Things will work out.

“Is everything okay?” The black haired girl asked as she headed towards the two.

“Its fine Marinette.” Chloé answered with a slight annoyed droll.

“Then why can't you help us with the project?” Marinette asked, her tone only showing genuine interest.

“None of your business Miss nosey!” Chloe snapped, she did not want to admit that she had nothing better to do then catch up on what the news was saying about her hero alter ego, Scarlet Lady. But she definitely couldn't let her know that.

“Actually, it is my business since I am part of this group.” Marinette stated, now showing slight hints of irritation. Marinette may not be a super confident individual, but Chloé was not gonna step on her. Not this time.

“It’s okay Marinette. You and I will handle the research and the writing and Chloé will present it. That way everyone does equal work.” Sabrine assured Marinette.

“But... that isn't equal at all. Is... is that how she treats you?” Marinette questioned, genuine concern appearing on her face as she looked at Sabrina.

“Thats how we have always did it. Ever since we were in grade school when I started doing her homework. We have been Best friends ever since.” Sabrina responded sweetly, unaware of how twisted the relationship was.

Inside Chloé’s bag, a red ladybug kwami was listening in.

“Thats why she is never worried about her homework! Oh I am giving her a piece of my mind later.” The kwami mumbled to herself.

The Kwami continued listening in on the conversation. She had been well aware that Chloé was not the nicest person. But even she was surprised by how horrid her treatment of Sabrina was. 

The red Kwami sighed as she felt the bag get pulled away.

The blonde girl walked away in a huff, turning the corner she stopped when she noticed her kwami pop out of her bag.

“We need to talk right now.” The kwami stated.

“Ill listen later, I have to hurry. My appointment with...”

“Your hair can wait.”

Chloé gasped.

“Tikki! How dare you say such a thing.”

“You are more concerned with your hair then the way you treat your best friend. Chloé, that is not how friendships work. Marinette is right.”

“Here we go again.”

“Chloé...”

“Marinette this, Marinette that. Well I am not Marinette.” Chloé exclaimed. “I am Chloé. So stop comparing the two of us!”

“It is not like...”

Chloé took off her earrings and put them in a black box.

‘I am not dealing with this right now.’ Chloé thought to herself. ‘I am gonna get my hair done, and by the time I am back. Those two will have started on the project.”

“What do you mean you're not doing my assignment!?” 

A blond boy stopped trying to reach the book for his project and turned to see Chloé talking with Sabrina and Marinette. 

‘Yikes, this is not going well for Marinette.’ The blonde watched from afar. It does seem that Marinette talked with Sabrina to get her to stand up to Chloé. But it seems that Marinette is stuck in the middle of the two’s arguement.

Adrien sighed. He watched as Chloé pulled out a beret. 

‘Oh, she is trying to bribe her with the hat. A very classic Chloé move.’ Adrien thought when he noticed Chloé getting hit with shoes.

“Thats weird...” The blonde teen commented. “Wait is that a giant Hair Dryer!”

He watched as it started Chasing Chloé around. He quickly went to a private area in the library to transform.

“Plagg! Claws out.”

The blond teen transformed into his alter ego, Chat noir.

He quickly moved and noticed the giant hair dryer was trying to corner Chloé

‘The hair dryer is focused on her, so its clear that she is the target.’ Chat noir watched for a second to memorize how the hair dryer moved.

He quickly managed to leap in front it and swatted it into a bookshelf with his staff. He turned to Chloé

“Get out of here, the akuma is targeting you.”

Chloé nodded and ran out. She needed to find a place to transform. But of course, she put her miraculous away in her bag. She mentally cursed as she moved to a private area where she put on her earrings. The red kwami popped out.

“Chloé! You can't do that everytime you don't want to listen.

“Not now Tikki! There is an akuma.”

“We are talking about this later.”

“Tikki Spots on”

The Blonde teen transformed into her alter ego, Scarlet Lady. complete with impractical heels and utility belt to hold her unnecessary make up.

She quickly moves on the scene to notice Chat noir destroying the hair dryer.

“About time Scarlet.” Chat noir stated, clearly annoyed at his partner for taking so long.

“Not my fault, I had a tough time getting in here. So where is the Akuma?” Scarlet lady dismissed the cat hero’s comment.

“Found him.” Chat noir said as he pounced up to where a peculiar light purple skinned individual was watching from.

The artistic akuma made a dash to escape the cat hero. Quickly drawing a clear wall to block him. Chat noir banged into the wall and before he could gather his bearings the akumatized villain was gone.

“Scarlet where did he....” The black clad hero noticed scarlet lady was busy recording herself to pay attention to where the villain went.

Chat noir jumped down to where she was.

Scarlet lady sighed.

“And here comes my Sidekick to tell me he lost the akuma. Ill be back with an update later.” Scarlet said as she blew a kiss to the camera before closing it.

“You know you can help.” Chat noir spoke, clearly annoyed by Scarlet’s antics.

“I am helping, I am spreading the news that there is a crazy akuma on the loose.” Scarlet argued.

Chat noir rolled his eyes.

“Well, it seemed that the akuma was clearly after Chloé.”

“He is?! I mean, what makes you say that?” Scarlet inquired, covering up her sudden outburst.

“ When I walked in, the hair dryer seemed only interested in attacking Chloé. So my guess is this guy must have been wronged by Chloé. So... that means we have to... protect Chloé from danger.”

Scarlet realized the issue with this plan. She can't be present as Chloé and Scarlet Lady at the same time. She needed to think of something.

“We can't just watch one person the whole time. Lets split up. I will go to where Chloé is, and you search the city for this evil artist guy.” Scarlet lady stated.

“Huh...”

“Something wrong with my plan?”

“No, its that it sounded like a good idea. Alright. You guard Chloé. If the Akuma shows up, contact me. Ill do the same for you.”

Chloé mentally sighed in relief. The cat bought it.

Chat noir headed off, leaving Scarlet lady to go search for the Akuma.

Chat noir searched throughout the school before going out searching rooftops. He had to hand it to the Akuma, he was hard to track. Most Akuma usually are leaving a path of destruction and Chaos, but this guy seemed to play it safe.

The black cat kept moving before noticing a certain black haired girl walk into the Dupain Bakery.

‘Oh its Marinette. Good to see she got out of the library safely.’

Chat noir sighed lovely as his thoughts started to drift towards Marinette. The kind Baker’s daughter that was as sweet as a Macaroon. He felt terrible that she got stuck with Chloé and Sabrina. He lucked out when it came to his science partners. She probably has double the workload because of Chloé.

Chat noir made himself snap out of it. He needed to focus.

“Come on Adrien Focus.” He muttered to himself. “You need to be looking for the evil illustrator. Not thinking about Marinette, or those dupain bakery croissants. Or that feared hole in the wall that looked like someone erased a window... Wait a minute!” 

Chat noir jumped out and before he got there saw the villain fly off on a jetpack, just missing the approaching hero.

Chat noir landed on the Bakery roof with a thud. He made his way to the window hole and popped his head in. Surprising the black haired teen.

“Yikes.. Oh Chat noir. Sorry. I thought you were Nathanael.” Marinette apologized.

“Its alright, I saw the weird hole in your window and the... did you say Nathanael?”

“Yea... he is one of my classmates. He was the guy that made that hole in my window.”

Chat noir thought for a moment, he knew Nathanael. He was an artsy kid, really good at drawing. Why was he akumatized though?

“You think your classmate is the Akuma?”

“I am not 100%, but he was inviting me to his birthday party and drew me this as an invitation. It was drawn in his style. Plus, I remember Chloé making fun of his artwork earlier.” Marinette explained.

Chat noir put the pieces together. That sounded logical, Marinette is a pretty smart girl. Its a good thing he listened to Scarlet’s idea or he might not have found this out. 

“That is very helpful information. Do you know what Nathanael is gonna do next?”

“Well, he shouldn't be causing trouble. I agreed to go to his party if he promised not to hurt anyone.” 

Chat noir nodded.

“That is very brave of you. I...” He paused as he looked at the drawing. He noticed it was only her and Nathanael in the photo.

“Is... anyone else going to this party?”

“He said It would only be me and him.”

Chat noir took a second to calm his seething jealousy. He wants a party with just him and Marinette. But right now he needed to focus.

“Okay, well even if he means no harm, all akuma have a habit of going after the miraculous regardless of intention. Which means sooner or later your friend will cause some harm.”

“Is there anyway I can help?” Marinette offered.

Chat noir felt his heart twinge at the kindness of Marinette. Why couldn't She have been his crime fighting partner.

“Actually there is. all you need to do is find a way to get that pen away from him. Then leave the rest to me.” He said with a charming smile.

“Will do.” Marinette assured.

Chat noir took her hand and kissed it.

“Don't worry about a thing Princess. Ill protect you.” He said before taking off. Both of the teens unaware of the faint blushes on the other’s face.

“I haven't heard a single word from Sabrina or Marinette on how the project is going.” Chloé moaned as she laid on top of her bed.

“Maybe you should be looking for the akuma, or if not, working on your fair share.” The red kwami commented 

“Ughhhhh.” Chloé groaned. “Fine, Ill message Chat noir and see the status of the akuma search.”

She transformed into scarlet lady, and as if blessed by luck she got a message.

“Meet on the roof of Notre Dome at sunset. I know where the akuma is headed. Need you there to purify.”

Scarlet lady smiled.

“ Good job alley cat, you actually did something right.” She said to herself. She looked out the window to notice the sun was pretty low. If she left now she would be able to get there by sunset.

“I am here.” Scarlet lady announced.

“Quiet, we can't draw attention to ourselves.” Chat noir shushed as she moved to his partner.

“ And why is that?”

“Its all part of my plan. We need to wait until Marinette gets his pen.”

“Marinette? What is she have to do with this?” Scarlet lady looked annoyed.

“Long story short, the artist akuma is an artist student friend of Marinette’s called Nathanael. He got akumatized after Chloé made fun of his art. The guy is in love with Marinette, so he said he would stop attacking Chloé if she went out with him on a date.”

“Oh.” 

Scarlet lady didn't know what to say. Marinette was going on a date to protect her. She can not let Tikki hear about this, or she will never hear the end of it.

“So you stay here. I am gonna sneak in closely and when Marinette grabs his pen. I’ll get the Akuma.”

The red hero nods as she watches the cat move off the roof to get closer.

Scarlet couldn't help but think that this was the perfect time for an update video.

Nathanael sat on a boat that he drew, drawing lights on the side of the boat, and a small Eiffel Tower. The artist was making a lovely piece of art.

Suddenly a neon purple butterfly outline appeared over his mask. Hawkmoth, the one that akumatized him was reaching out to him.

“That is a lovely little scene you are setting. But I don't want you getting distracted boy.” Hawkmoth commented

“But I just want Marinette to love me.” Nathanael answered.

“And I want the miraculous! So get to it... or else.” The villain threatened.

Nathanael suddenly felt his hand shake and he dropped the pen. He couldn't control his hand.

“Okay! I will. I Will!” the artist replied, terrified of what would happen if he didn't comply.

“Happy Birthday.”

Nathanael turned to see Marinette. His hand was back to normal. His fear turned to relief after seeing the sweet designer girl.

“Marinette.” He greeted her with a smile.

Chat noir was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Following the moving boat.

He managed to make it to the bridge which the boat was about to pass under.

He did his best to keep his heroic professionalism despite his inner self seething with jealousy. He hated seeing Marinette sit so close to him, smiling and talking with him alone. Why did the akuma get lucky enough to get a date with her?

Chat noir managed to push it aside. He reminded himself its a ploy. Chat noir waited for the boat to pass under the bridge before jumping aboard, in order to avoid the artist’s notice.

Chat noir listened and Heard Marinette speaking.

“I actually draw a little too. Though I am not as talented as you are of course.” Marinette mentioned.

“I am sure you're a wonderful artist.” Nathanael praised.

“Marinette turned her head to see Chat noir behind her, waiting for her signal.

“Well, can I draw you something special for your birthday?’

She gently touches his pen.

Nathanael pauses the musical notes he was drawing. He looks at her.

“That would be amazing.” 

Chat noir takes a step back and Nathanael heard his steps.

“Marinette, let go. I need to draw something. Right now.” Nathanael stated.

“Sorry, but... I am keeping it.” Marinette snagged the pen. “Chat noir Now!” She moved away from him.

Nathanael tried to stand up but Chat noir’s staff blocked him.

“Marinette...” Nathanael spoke, his voice expressing his shock. “You were working with him?”

The artist villain’s voice changed from shock to anger.

“I am so stupid! I actually thought you liked me! But you are really just like Chloé!”

“Seriously? First Sabrina, now you? Why is everyone comparing me to Chloé!?”

“I agree with her” Chat noir shouted. “She is nothing Like Chloé!”

“Thank you, you have no idea how badly I needed to hear that.”

Nathanael kicked Chat noir’s staff which went upwards knocking the pen out of Marinette’s hands and Nathanael moved to catch it. He landed on the mini moon above the Eiffel Tower. Chat noir jumped to attack him. But the artist drew a clear cube above the cat hero to fall and trap him and Marinette.

“Also, I am taking back my promise. Chloé is gonna get a lesson that she will never forget.

Nathanael makes two holes in the boat to make it sink.

“Oh is she now?”

“Nathanael looked up to see Scarlet Lady standing on the bridge that the boat just past under.

“Ill deal with You and then get Chloé.” He jumped off the boat and started to chase after Scarlet lady. Who decided to swing away.

Meanwhile Chat noir and Marinette were sinking while the box trapped them.

Chat noir started banging on the floor.

“Darn it, we are penned in.”

Marinette looks at his staff.

“Chat noir, your stick. It can grow in length right?”

Chat noir started to realize what she meant.

“Of course!”

He grabbed Marinette’s waist.

“Good thinking, hold on.”

He pointed his staff up and made it shoot upwards with them and the cube that was holding them making it fall to the side allowing them to escape the sinking ship.

Chat noir put her down and has his staff go to normal size.

“Nice thinking back there. But now I have to go... Scar won't be able to distract that guy forever. As funny as it would be for her to have to deal with an akuma for once. I should probably intervene.” Chat noir was about to head off.

“Wait.”

Chat noir stopped.

“Yes?”

“Light. Nathanael can't draw without a light source.”

Chat noir smiles.

“Thanks for the tip Princess. You have been the best partner I have ever had.” He gives her a smile before heading off to save Scarlet.

“Another bad akuma taken down.” Scarlet lady bragged to her video feed.

Chat noir sighed as he watched his partner brag to the camera.

Evillustrator cornered her in Notre dome. If he hadn't turned off the lights and used his night vision to snag the guy’s pen. She would have been finished.

He decided to head out rather then listen to Scarlet brag to the scarblog for the next 5 minutes.

He made his way back to the rooftops, heading home. He couldn't help but think about how helpful Marinette was during this whole debacle.

“Why couldn't she have been my partner.” He sighed as he headed home. Wondering how different his life would be if Marinette had the ladybug Miraculous.

(I did it, scarlet lady version of the evillustrator. Tell me your thoughts? Did you like it? )

#ml #ml au #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug au #scarlet lady au #scarlet lady #marinette dupen chang #chat noir #marichat #adrien agreste #chloé bourgeois #this took forever to write #evillustrator #nathanael

[bigherosixfeels]

Mini-Max REVIEW

Yeah, I'm still not over the Hiro and Callaghan scene. I never will be.

The episode begins with a little girl throwing a coin into a fountain. The water begins to bubble and the kid thinks it's magic, so she wishes for a giant pony. Turns out, the water is actually Globby who's stealing the money from the fountain. Fred (in his super suit) shows up and tells him to drop the change. Globby and transforms himself into a big penny and knocks Fred down. He rolls through the streets with Fred chasing him. He tells the others that he needs backup, but they can't because they're in the middle of class. Granville asks if there's a problem and they assure her that there's not. They tell Fred he has to go solo this time.

Fred is determined to get Globby, but he burns a car, breaks a brick wall with a wrecking ball (a wall that an old lady had been spending her whole life painting on) and knocks the giant crab from Mission Fried Rice down. Globby changes into his regular form and literally catches a bus. He gets away and Fred now realizes all the destruction he's caused.

Later on the news, Bluff Dunder reports about how Fred failed spectacularly while trying to catch Globby. Apparently, this isn't the first time it's happened either. Gogo thinks he shouldn't roll solo again and Honey says he gets carried away when he's wearing his suit. Fred also crashed into someone's house as they were about to take a family photo. Someone has to watch the city while they're at school (and watch Fred watching the city) and Hiro has come up with that solution. Hiro is designing a small robot called Mini-Max to watch Fred while they're in class. Fred shows up and they think he heard about him basically having a robotic nanny, but he's excited because he thinks Mini-Max will be his sidekick! Fred asks when he'll be done and Hiro insists it'll be soon. All he needs to do is use his lab at school to finish the programming for his superhero chip. Fred excitedly leaves the garage. Honey suggests they should tell him that Mini-Max is actually not his sidekick, but because of how happy Fred is, they decide not to.

At night, Hiro and Baymax go to the robotics lab, but his student ID rejects entry inside. The robotics lab is currently closed for maintenance until further notice. Hiro questions who okayed this and Professor Granville shows up to tell him it was her. Hiro is surprised because midterm projects are due, but Granville is giving everyone an extension. The lab is off limits for everyone. She says she's going home and suggests for him to do the same.

Of course, Hiro is confused since the lab was fine yesterday and goes around to enter in a different way. He spots an open window and uses Baymax as trampoline. After a few jumps, Hiro manages to get inside. Baymax attempts to jump, but wasn't designed for that. Hiro opens the door for him and they're both inside!

In his lab, Hiro finishes up Mini-Max's chip. Baymax scans around and detects Granville inside as well. She enters inside a lab and looks around to make sure no one sees her. Hiro tells Baymax they have to get out, but Granville is too occupied with her own thing. She tests out a vocal command which is acknowledged.

The next day, we're at Fred's mansion and he's super excited to meet Mini-Max. That's right! We're at the Mini-Max comic-con preview! The second Mini-Max is active, he flips in the air. He introduces himself and says that he's a defender of justice. Fred already sees them as a classic duo. Fred thinks he'll be the serious and logical one while Mini-Max will be the comic relief. He goes to pat his head, but Mini-Max flips him over and pins him down. Fred explains what he was going to do and Mini-Max apologizes and allows him to do the affectionate gesture. Baymax scans his hand and tells Fred he has a minor abrasion on his wrist. He turns on the cooling system in his hands and tells Fred to ice it ten minutes twice a day. Baymax and Mini-Max look at each other and introduce themselves to each other. Mini-Max is programmed to assist and protect his fellow heroes, thwart villainy and be a champion for justice. Baymax states that he's a personal healthcare companion and Mini-Max says, "We all serve in our own way."

Honey Lemon starts a movie (The Mermaiden's Tale). Fred is showing Mini-Max a Captain Fancy comic book. Mini-Max has knowledge on who that is. Fred also shows him Captain Fancy's sidekick. Mini-Max tells him that he doesn't have internal organs.

Wasabi is happy that Granville gave them all extensions on their midterms since he needed more time. So of course they're watching a movie instead of working. Honey states that The Mermaiden's Tale is so much more than a movie. Wasabi adds that you're dead inside if you don't cry when someone throws herself in front of a harpoon.

Hiro, holding the old yearbook he found back in Small Hiro One, walks up to everyone and asks if they ever wonder about Granville. Hiro tells them that she lied to him last night when she said she was going home, but went back inside the lab to work on something. Gogo reminds him that he did the same thing, but argues that he had a good reason for doing so. Hiro thinks that Granville is up to something bad, but everyone (including Mini-Max) laughs it off. Hiro's being serious and wonders why she'd mysteriously stop teaching twenty years ago, only to return now.

We cut back to a scene all the way back from Baymax Returns that shows the alloy Obake wanted. Hiro thinks it's weird that she kept a super rare conductor on her desk as a paperweight. Wasabi thinks Hiro is letting his personal feelings get in the way. Everyone knows how hard Granville is on him and that she gives him a lot of attention. Hiro knows something isn't right and him and Baymax leave. He's going on to discover the truth about her.

Later that night, Hiro and Baymax follow Granville, whose going down Good Luck Alley. Hiro and Baymax have to go undercover. Hiro has his hood up with sunglasses and Baymax is wearing a hat, mustache, shirt and coat. Through the alley, Baymax accidentally bumps into someone and checks to make sure they aren't injured. They're not and Hiro drags Baymax away. Hiro and Baymax continue to follow Granville, but Hiro bump into Yama, accidentally getting pizza all over his freshly dry-cleaned track suit.

Yama orders his goons to go after them. Baymax's coat falls over them. By the time they're uncovered, Hiro is on Tadashi's moped with Baymax in his carrier. He's speeding through the alleyway, but Yama's goons are now chasing him on motor vehicles of their own. Hiro reaches a dead end and Baymax tells him there's no exit. Hiro states they'll have to make one and he begins going directly for Yama's goons. He pushes a button on the moped which activates rocket boosters. He goes flying, we get a slow motion "Oh no" from Baymax, and Yama's goons fall into a dumpster. Hiro and Baymax drive off.

Meanwhile, Fred and Mini-Max are scanning around for trouble. Mini-Max has his own super suit and he looks so cute! Fred doesn't see any signs of illegal activity, but Mini-Max does. They go off to take care of the illegal activity which is Globby stealing money from parking meters. Mini-Max and Fred show up and Globby (in a Cockney accent) says he doesn't know who he's talking about. Fred is definitely not fooled by Globby in a ski mask since you can see the rest of his body. Fred then does his best Cockney accent and Mini-Max says both their accents were highly inaccurate. Globby says he's never been to Cockney and the ski mask is because he heard it might snow. He turned himself into a giant snowball and rolls down the street.

Fred assures Mini-Max that he's all over this and Mini-Max states that he's all over Fredzilla. While Fred tries to stop Globby, Mini-Max stops Fred from causing destruction. He prevents another car from getting burned and the wrecking ball from hitting the old lady. Globby hits a dead end. When Fred breathes fire at him, Globby turns himself into fire and swallows Fred's fireball. He knocks Fred down, but Mini-Max is there to help. He extinguishes Globby until he returns to his usual form and makes another getaway. Mini-Max is pleased to have stopped all Fred-related disasters. Fred comments on how that's not really a superhero type of line, but praises Mini-Max for how well he did. He still thinks they make a great team and before he knows it they'll be finishing each other’s sentences. Mini-Max doesn't finish it. He then asks for a Mini-Maximum fist bump that sends Fred flying off-screen. He asks if they can do a Mini-Medium fist bump next time.

The next day in the nerd lab, Hiro comes in and announces to his friends that Granville is totally up to something. He tells them that she had a mysterious visit to Good Luck Alley. The others are now a little confused by this and wonder why she'd go there. Hiro tells them that he and Baymax were chased away before they could find anything out and discovers something else in the yearbook. He's found someone that could have answers.

Later on, Hiro arrives at a prison and we immediately cut to him meeting up face-to-face with Robert Callaghan. Callaghan tells him that Granville was an excellent teacher and the way she left was a shame. She was in the lab after hours when an incident occurred. Officially, it was known to be a pipe burst, but rumors went around that an unsanctioned project went wrong. She ended up resigning and the matter was not pursued any further. That's all Callaghan knows. Hiro thanks him for the information and turns to leave, but Callaghan calls out to him. He thanks her for saving Abigail. He also tells him that he never set out to hurt anyone and apologizes for what happened to Tadashi. Hiro says that Tadashi would have wanted Hiro to forgive Callaghan and he hopes that he can someday and walks away. Chills. Chills everywhere.

That night at the school, Hiro sneaks into the lab through an air vent. Unfortunately for him, he's caught by a spider-like robot that considers him a threat. Two more of these bots show up and surround Hiro, but before he can do anything, Granville shows up. Hiro asks if the killer spider robots are what she's been up to. She tells the bots to stand down and explains that they're a part of the schools' new security upgrade. San Fransokyo has had a rise in criminal activity lately and is sure that Hiro has noticed. Hiro lies and says he's been so focused on his studies.

Granville takes Hiro to the main area where the brains behind the bots are. She's programming them to detain intruders (like a reckless student breaking in after hours). Hiro tries to come up with either an excuse or lie, but Granville tells him to save him and that they'll deal with his punishment in the morning. As that conversation is going on, Obake hacks into one of the bots. He reprograms the bot to see Hiro as a threat again. Granville commands it to stand down, but it doesn't recognize her authority. She tries to override it, but can't. The other bots then detect Granville as a threat and Hiro tries to fix the code. The bots then attack them and Hiro and Granville make a run for it.

They run into a classroom and Hiro sneaks behind a desk to call the others for backup. They see that him and Granville are in need of help, but are concerned that they'd be recognized. Wasabi points out that no one recognizes them in their gear, but Gogo thinks that she would. Looks like it's up to Fred and Mini-Max! Mini-Maximum justice!

The new duo makes it onto campus and goes down a sewer drain. Mini-Max has a 'glow mode' which basically makes him a nightlight. They look around until they stumble upon a few of the bots. Fred avoids them since he's afraid of spiders, but Mini-Max steps up and manages to take down all of them by himself! I gotta say, Mini-Max really comes in handy. Get it? Because he used his hand to-ah forget it.

Meanwhile, Granville and Hiro are alone and she asks why he's been spying on her. He laughs it off and assures he hasn't been spying on her, but Granville knows he followed her when she went to Good Luck Alley where she was purchasing parts for the security bots. Hiro admits he has been spying and confesses that he knows she used to teach at SFIT before and talked to Callaghan to figure out why she left. Granville realizes she has to work harder to gain his trust and decides to tell him what happened.

Twenty years ago, there was a young genius at the school and she believed that without any limits, he'd achieve great things. She granted him free access to the lab at all times. However, she was unaware that his experiment was extremely dangerous. The boy barely survived the incident. Granville covered for him and told the authorities it was her work. She believes in a way that it was and that she had failed as a teacher. She understands now that students need limits...even geniuses. The door they were blocking off gets pushed by a few security bots. Hiro is luckily not detected, but Granville is and she's stuck. Hiro doesn't hesitate to jump on the bot. It prevents the bot from attacking Granville, but now Hiro is in trouble.

Fred and Mini-Max break into the lab that controls the bots. Mini-Max punches and stomps on a few of them. He then tells Fred to distract the bots while he destroys the CPU. Fred tells himself they're just killer robots and not spiders, but questions if that's any better. Mini-Max gets pinned down by one of the bots and tells Fred to continue heroically without him. Fred doesn't know if he can, but Mini-Max tells him to believe in himself like he does.

Fred wonders how to take down the bots since they see everything as a threat. He then states that threatening him is a threat to the school because he's here to protect it. So, to defeat all threats to the school, the security system has to fight itself. Two bots then end up fighting each other. Fred then thinks that fighting itself is also a threat, so it should fight the part of itself that's threatening that's not a threat. The bots are becoming confused and start to malfunction. He's confused the bots so much that he's overloaded the system and they all break down.

Mini-Max is pleased with how Fred got them to terminate themselves and tells him that he's a great hero. They share a much more pleasant fist bump and laugh in victory. Oh yeah, they're an iconic duo.

The next morning, Granville is in the lab she was using for the security system and cleaning up the mess. Hiro comes inside and comments on how crazy it was. Hiro tells her that he does take risks and that she thinks he's reckless (he says as he trips and knocks over a beaker). He assures her that he's not going to end up like her former student. She tells him that they're done and goes back to sweeping. Hiro smiles at her and turns away to leave. As the door closes, she turns to smile at him.

Unbeknownst to her, Obake is spying on her and he is not very happy with her.

GOOD EPISODE.

Mini-Max is an adorable character! I love that he’s meant to keep an eye on Fred, but Fred sees him as a sidekick. He’s definitely going to be a lot of help. I honestly didn’t expect him to be as powerful as he is, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Hiro knows how to make some awesome robots and Mini-Max is amazing! He’s also super adorable in his super suit. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of him and his adventures with Fred in future episodes.

I liked that this episode addressed how they can’t always be looking out for the city when they’re in class. Luckily, Fred isn’t a student so he can help when the rest can’t, but he does need help and Mini-Max is a great way to not only help with fighting, but also with keeping Fred from accidentally destroying the city in the process.

Professor Granville. I love her. From the beginning, she’s been tough on Hiro, but for good reason. In this episode, we finally get a better understanding of the reason. She acknowledges that she made a mistake with teaching in the past and now knows that students need limits. I thought that conversation between her and Hiro was really good as well as the one at the end where he assures her that he won’t end up like the former student. Granville is truly an amazing professor. She does worry about her students and keeps an eye on Hiro in particular due to past experiences. Their student-mentor dynamic has really been a treat to watch since Baymax Returns and I love how well it progressed in this episode.

Obake was briefly in this episode, but what we got from him was interesting as always. If it wasn’t obvious that he was the former student that Granville had, I think it’s safe to say that it’s obvious now.

I love the background music in this show very much. Specifically, I loved the music that played when Hiro and Baymax were following Granville down Good Luck Alley. It was so good!

This episode currently holds my favorite scene of the show so far. The scene between Hiro and Callaghan was incredible. I don’t think there’s a word that can describe just how amazing it truly is. I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it was for Hiro to see him again and he was so neutral the whole time. He didn’t become furious or anything around that. He was visibly uncomfortable, but remained civil and thanked Callaghan for giving all the information about Granville that he could. And then…the best part happened. Callaghan thanks him for saving Abigail and even though he knows it’s not enough, he apologizes for what happened to Tadashi. That itself was emotional, but Hiro’s facial expressions and his voice cracking to where you know he’s about to cry is what made this scene so heart wrenching. He feels that Tadashi would want him to forgive Callaghan and all he can say after that is, “Someday I hope I can”. I loved that. I love that he didn’t forgive him. He’s clearly not ready and it showed with every expression and how his tone was from the beginning of the scene. Hiro was just so amazingly mature in this scene and I’m still blown away with everything. Ryan Potter and James Cromwell did a fantastic job with this scene. I’m so happy that James was able to come back to voice Callaghan. This scene for many reasons is the closest I’ve been to shedding tears so far. I loved every moment of it.

On a scale of one to ten…I’d rate Mini-Max a 9.2!

#my reviews #great episode! #enjoyed it very much #hiro #baymax #fred #honey lemon #wasabi #gogo #minimax #professor granville #robert callaghan #callaghan #yama #bluff dunder #globby #obake #big hero 6: the series #bh6: the series #bh6 series spoilers #big hero 6 #bh6 #mini-max

[team-free-squiggle]

Logan falls asleep reading on the couch and Patton finds him in the morning

I really hope you don’t mind this being Logicality, @panic-at-theeverywhere!

Thank you so much for the prompt!

~~

Stars and Sunrises

~~

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Summary: Literally the ask - Lo falls asleep on the couch and Patton finds him.

Characters: Logan Sanders, Patton Sanders, Roman is mentioned a couple times

Pairing: Logicality

Warnings: none, just hella gay fluff

~~

It had been a very late night for Logan Sanders. Not because of a Party or a theater performance - those were Roman’s division - and not because of a new episode of Sherlock to watch with Patton (which had happened in the past).

No, this time it was because of the vast, unpredictable, incredibly interesting Universe. 

Logan often, before dating Patton, had spent countless hours each night charting and learning about the stars each night. After they started dating, Patton had gotten him on a more strict sleeping schedule, which Logan had found to improve his overall functioning and health imeasurably. 

That being said, there was something almost mystical and exhilarating about being outside on a Midsummer’s night, being alone but not being lonely. The little fireflies were out, dancing among open flowers and breathing in the scent of the world around them. A small stream would be bubbling brightly through the forest nearby, while Logan himself would be in the open meadow with the fireflies and the flowers. The night sky would be a deep, dark blue filled with a thousand other colors that no one could name but could still see. There would be millions of stars, nothing obscuring them. 

Logan loved it; and that’s one of the places his room lead. In the day time, it would be an observatory; but at night, he would come out to study the real stars. 

It had been something he was reluctant to share with Patton - something all his own. And he missed it, oh so dearly. Not that he didn’t love his boyfriend, spending time with him, and sleeping next to him in the brightly lit room that was made of emotion - but he did miss the deep night, the blues and greens and purples and pinks that made up galaxies only he had ever seen. 

That’s why he was up so late last night, and why he was so happy about it - Patton and Roman were out celebrating Thomas’ latest performance. Patton had told him to go to bed without him, but Logan told him there was something he wanted to study. 

“As long as you actually sleep a little, love.” Pat had giggled before kissing him. Logan smiled fondly at the memory now, as he sat on the couch. 

Yes, there was a couch out in his meadow. Often times, when he was studying the stars, he had fallen asleep. And while the nightscape was gorgeous and mysterious and magical, grass gets itchy after laying on it for three to five hours. 

He had, eventually, just made a little study area right outside the door from his room to this place, complete with a table, notebook, telescope, pens and pencils, a ruler, tape, a stapler, and a couch with blankets and pillows so he could fall asleep to the comforting sounds of nature around him. 

He remembered how he used to get a lot of studying done, and he means a lot. But last night, he just pushed the table away. He lied on the couch, staring up at the stars. He watched the dancing fireflies, trailed his fingers over a few of the flowers that had grown around the couch by now. And he had fallen asleep. 

Now, however, he was glad that he had woken up this early, because it was the start of a new day. The fireflies danced all night, and were sleepily flying past him as he smiled and waved, a few lighting up for their familiar friend. 

The sun was rising. And yes, the silvery light of nighttime magic faded away, but only to bring about a golden dawn. The pinks, purples, oranges and golden yellows painted the sky, a bright blue beginning to work its way through. And though Logan wasn’t imaginative at all, he was able to let himself stare at the sun without fear of his eyes being hurt. Privilege to being a Side of somebody, and living so close to the Imagination.

Then Logan’s breath was taken away, as the sun showed him what the moon had only hinted at - just a bit away, his meadow ended at a cliff. 

He stood up, blanket still wrapped around him, and walked to the edge. There were the golden rays of the sun, shining over waterfalls and streams and rivers and forests and mountains in the distance. He had always been so busy looking up, never out. But now… he wanted to explore this world, not just this world’s stars. 

But, he needed to be in something that wasn’t grass, as it was getting annoyingly itchy in his bare feet, so he went to lie back down on the couch and enjoy the fact that he got to witness the birth of a new day for the first time. This was his mistake, because he fell asleep on the couch again. 

Patton yawned as he woke up, dawn breaking just outside his window. He smiled, happy at the daily renewal of life, before noting with a frown that Logan wasn’t in bed. He then remembered last night, and figured that his Logical boyfriend just would have slept in his own room. 

Patton got dressed quickly, quietly making his way past the other’s rooms and into his boyfriend’s, confused when he saw that the bed was completely made up. No one had slept in there recently, Patton could tell - and then his attention was drawn to golden light seeping out of an open closet door. 

Patton was confused - had he accidentally gone into Roman’s room or something? - but he wandered through the open door anyway, and was floored by what he saw.

The world itself was stunning, Patton noting how the sun was now up over the gorgeous world. He laughed, running through the stream barefoot to the waterfall’s edge, smiling widely at his Logan’s world. 

He turned around, stepping out of the refreshingly cool water, loving the feel of the Earth beneath his feet when he spotted his still sleeping boyfriend. Patton felt really bad, but knew that Logan should wake up, so he gently kissed his boyfriend. 

Logan woke up, gently moving his mouth against Patton’s happily, before blushing that Pat had accidentally found his secret world. 

“Morning, sunshine.” Logan said, a hand reaching out to hold his beloved’s. Patton smiled widely, sitting on the couch properly as Logan sat up and moved the blankets away. 

“Morning, you sneaky little night owl.” They both giggled, before kissing again. Logan explained that he simply wanted to get out here when he had the chance - he would have to show Patton why at night - and Patton said that it was no problem at all. 

“I’d rather you be happy and healthy than be healthy and sad.” Logan’s hand brushed against Patton’s cheek fondly.

“I wasn’t sad. Did I miss it here? Certainly. But you, are far more important to me and make me far happier than a few fireflies ever could.” Patton’s eyes sparkled as they kissed again, Logan promising to let them explore this world together someday. 

Patton’s response just made Logan fall in love with him all over again. 

“Why not start now?” 

So off they went, hand in hand, on a brand new adventure through their world, together as the sun shone over them in a golden light. 

~~

(Sanders Sides)

@astraastro

@madly-handsome

@amber1594

@lie-lie-birdy

@thebaagelboy

@justanotherpurplebutterfly

@ravenclawunicorn1

@ako1209

@funsizedgremlin

@princessbelix

@water13girl

@romanasanders

@deathshadowrules

@virgils-jacket

@fandomsofrandom

@cochroachkappa-blog

@zoeyheys

@chipminkle

@6tick6tock6

@maizieandbirds

@panic-at-theeverywhere

@not-my-patton

@cookieturtleart123

@confinesofpersonalknowledge

@generalfandomfabulousness

(All)

@birdybabybird

@awesomelissawho

#prompt #logicality #sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #fluff

[lil-lycanthropy]

Belong

Words: 5,250 (or something like that)

Parings: None??? This can be read as platonic or romantic idc

Warnings: Angst, Dissociation, Anxiety/Panic Attacks, Nightmares, Flashbacks, slight Blood (nothing gory really), slight Burns (once again, not really bad or anything), Self-Loathing, Negative Thoughts, I think that’s it?

Summary: Everyone’s trying to accept Parker, and Parker is trying hard to be accepted. But the fact of the matter is, he traumatized the sides and they’re not coping well.

Notes: This is for @parkersanders​ as my SAD entry. It’s late (I’m so sorry) because I’m a depressed procrastinator who has to edit things 434753947 times and rewrite all the chapters. Also sorry it’s so long I have no self control, and go big or go home so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyway, hope you like it! I’m in love with your verse and hope you have a happy birthday!

Disclaimer: The fic is based on @parkersanders​‘s fic Silence and Duality (read here), and I use one quote from it in here somewhere, I think in the fourth part? Yeah. Enjoy.

Roman was lounging on the couch when it happened.

Everything was fine, until he thought about Parker. The new living situation wasn’t as fear-mongering as he thought it would be, yet there were still tensions. They were all still slightly worried as Parker settled in, but were trying to hold it together so they wouldn’t trigger anything.

Parker was...interesting, to say in the least. With all their history, it was surreal with him back in their lives now. Dealing with his absence for two decades to having him be sleeping next door felt unreal. It would have been unimaginable even a couple weeks ago, and yet that was their reality now.

Then there was the whole drama of Parker escaping his prison, only to put the other through the same hell he experienced—if only for a much shorter time span. Usually Roman was more than okay with drama, but the things that happened in there, only for Virgil to be the one to save him. It left him feeling very defeated in a way he hadn’t ever been before. The shame, the fear...

Suddenly, Roman’s breath started coming in short pants and he could no longer feel the couch beneath him, the pillow under his head, or the clothes he was wearing. He couldn’t feel...anything.

It was like he was having an out-of-body experience, except that didn’t make sense, because as facets of Thomas personality, they were not capable of such things.

He went completely limp on the couch, not having the strength or mental presence to hold his body upright anymore. Focusing on one thing became impossible, his eyes darting back and forth without taking in any information. Roman didn’t know what was happening.

Roman...

Was that even his name? He couldn’t remember. Why did he even have to have a name? It’s not like he even existed...

Roman continued thinking everything and nothing at once, thoughts crossing his mind so quickly, little bits of nonsense that meant nothing.

After a time, Logan walked into the scene—the Prince, sitting on the couch, limp except for the shallow rise and fall of his chest and his eyes flashing a mile a minute.

“Roman?” Logan said, rushing over and kneeling down.

Roman glanced over, barely acknowledging the presence of the other side. “I-I don’t—”

Logan took a breath to steel his nerves. “May I touch you?”

Roman looked confused, then gave a jerk of his head that passed as a nod. Crouching down, Logan took one of the Prince’s hands and placed it on his chest. “Okay, we’re going to go through some grounding exercises to get you feeling calmer. Can you breathe in, as deep as you can?”

A shuddering breath, then a slower exhale.

“Good. Now, repeat.”

They carried on until Roman was breathing fairly regularly, but he was still far from his normal rambunctious self. “Roman, could you do me a favour?” Another nod. “Can you name five things you can see?”

The Prince looked anxiously around the room. “Um, you, the-the TV, the, uh, carpet, table, and-and the blinds over the window.”

“Four things you can feel, now.”

“Your h-hand, my shirt, the couch, and...exhaustion.”

Logan cracked a smile. “Yes, that I can imagine.”

They went through the grounding exercise until Roman was sitting up and didn’t look quite so pale. Logan summoned a glass of water, which Roman chugged gratefully.

“I know I’m not the best at dealing with emotions, but I am curious—do you know what exactly triggered the attack?”

Roman put his head in his hands, mumbling something incoherent.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t catch that.”

Roman raised his head and said, “Parker.”

“What about Parker? I know our situation is going to take some getting used to, but what about that would cause something this bad?”

Hands now shaking again, Roman brushed back his hair. “I was thinking about, how, y’know, we did all this horrible stuff to him, and then he put us through all that when he got out, and it was terrifying. I’m not saying we didn’t deserve it, but, god—”

“Roman, please calm down. You’re rambling, and I know you well enough to recognize when it’s not coming from a place of stability. You’re right; we have done some unacceptable things in the past. We’re all guilty—”

“Virgil’s not.”

“Well, I’m not going to contradict that statement. However, we’re trying to make things right. As for what you faced in there—Parker preyed on our fears. All of us. But fears are often irrational, and even if they’re not, almost any problem can be solved in some way. As long as you remember that, your fears will have no power over you.”

Roman gave a slightly tearful nod, trying to hide the drops through a smile.

Across the room, hidden by shadows, another figure was also trying to hide his tears. Not with a smile, though—with the sleeves of a faded hoodie and the long edges of his sandy hair.

Parker sunk out, retreating back to his room. Just another day where he was to blame.

There was no shortage of those.

A crash broke the relative silence in the mindscape kitchen as Logan dropped the coffee pot, spilling its contents all over the floor.

It was still early—only 9:00, still an hour before regular scheduled time to go to bed—but Thomas had once again decided to procrastinate on a video, so it was likely they both were going to be awake for awhile yet (Roman, too—no video could exist without his input).

Prolonging the inevitable was fruitless, so Logan decided he may as well start early and get some heavily-caffeinated bean water into his system to give him the energy he would require to get through the night.

Making a pot of coffee was pretty much second nature to all the sides by now. With the amount of times Thomas stayed up late, they had all gotten used to rapid-heart rate, shaky-hands, slightly-nauseated feeling. While drinking coffee in the mindscape was more of a habit than actually useful, they all still did it whenever Thomas would be up late. It was really the only way they would function (except Patton, who preferred hot chocolate and was bubbly around the clock).

However, sometimes things go wrong. Logan was distracted, thinking about both the video and Roman. He had been better since his his dissociative episode three days ago, but it had still bothered the analytical side. He was thinking about how Roman’s own mental state might affect the quality of the video (along with the worry for his friend, not that he would admit that) when he dropped the full pot of coffee, shattering it all over the kitchen tile.

As the coffee flooded the floor, they soaked Logan’s fuzzy socks (he was going for comfort rather than appearance. Just this once. One-time thing. Definitely). It began burning his feet, but worse than that was how Logan’s breath stopped.

Being a side meant not having to shower or bathe. It meant not having to go swimming or step in puddles or going in the rain. Being a side meant that dealing with water was a complete rarity, unless one enjoyed baths for leisure (like Virgil sometimes did. Roman had found that out one day, promised to keep it secret, then proceeded to tell Logan, Patton, and Thomas about Anxiety’s guilty pleasure). The last time Logan had been in water was...

The flashback was the only thing occupying his vision. He could vaguely take in his surroundings, but his immediate thoughts were get out you’re going to drown if you do not find a way to GET OUT YOU’RE GOING TO DROWN—

Gasping for breath was a painful affair as Logan forced his lungs to take in oxygen. He wouldn’t be able to escape unless he could think rationally and come up with a solution, but no matter where he stepped, water squelched between his toes and he knew he was still in danger.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure wearing loose clothing, a hood draped over its head. His mind immediately went to Death.

As he tried to get away, his back hit something solid. He slid down, landing in the puddle on the ground.

A wall, it’s a wall, you’re trapped and you’re going to drown and now you’re cornered—

“Logan? Logan! Can you hear me, kiddo?”

Yes, I can hear you. Who are you, though?

“Are you okay? Logan?”

Please, stop pestering me with questions. I need to think of how to escape this torturous flood.

“We’re gonna go to the couch now, okay, buddy?”

He was abruptly pulled upright, his one arm draped over someone’s shoulder. Shuffling forward, he eventually dropped onto something soft—and dry.

Dry? Soft? No water, no flooding, no walls, what—?

“Can you hear me, Lo?”

Logan looked over to see a gentle face, with worried eyes peering behind a thick pair of glasses.

“Pat-Patton?”

“Yep, I’m here.”

Logan leaned forward, placing his head in his hands. He was slowly coming back to reality, but everything still felt wrong. He was the logical side! He wasn’t supposed to succumb to irrational fears! A flashback, of all things...

But it felt so real.

“I thought I was back...in the place, the one where Parker put me when he was getting out of his own prison...”

Patton’s brow furrowed, and he placed a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “Do you wanna talk about it? Now, I know you don’t like all this ‘emotional crap’ stuff, but I’m always here for you. As your dad.”

A small smile crept out against Logan’s will. “You’re not my dad. And no, I don’t need to talk about anything. It’s stupid.”

“Kiddo, it’s not stupid. I know you think you have to be 100%, all the time, but all of us know you have emotions. Especially me. I know you, Lo.”

Logan shook his head. “I dropped the coffee pot—oh no, it probably made a mess, I should go—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s fine, we’ll get it later. No use crying over spilled milk—er, coffee, right?”

At that moment, Logan realized how much his feet hurt. “I think it burned me, and I need to go remedy that now.”

“No, let me! Be back in a jiffy!”

Someone else suddenly appeared in Logan’s line of vision.

Patton spoke up. “Oh, Parker’s here, too,” he said as he raced up the stairs

Parker looked distraught, then pulled off the hood on his dark sweater. “I’m-I’m sorry. I’ll leave now.”

Logan nodded mutely, regretting opening up and being so vulnerable, not only in front of Patton, but Parker, too (though inadvertently). He felt slightly remorseful about having Parker hear what he’d said, but he was still trying to pick up the pieces.

Parker sunk out, leaving Logan alone for only a moment before Patton popped up with a first aid kit. While he could’ve easily summoned one on his own, Patton liked to have some realism in the mindscape. Said it “made things interesting”.

He flipped the top open, bandaids spilling all over the couch. “Nice socks,” Patton said, before shimmying them off.

Logan’s feet were bright pink. Patton looked them over, but it was all superficial. He slathered on some aloe vera, and put Logan’s socks back on.

“That was one of the most unpleasant things I have ever experienced.”

“Are you talking about my first aid skills, Lo?”

“Of course. But putting my socks back on after? That was low.”

“-gan.”

“Stop.”

---

Parker reappeared back in his own room, which was still almost blank, and he threw himself on his bed. Was he being selfish, making Logic’s breakdown all about him? Of course he was. Logic was the one struggling right now, all because of him.

Guilt washed over him. Even Logic was crumbling because Parker had decided revenge was better than compromise or forgiveness. At the time, he had wanted to break them, but now...

Parker knew what he did was wrong. He wished for some way to undo all the damage.

But what’s done is done. He just has to keep trying.

A couple days later, Patton was laying in bed, looking up at the fairy lights on his ceiling. The little patterns resembled stars, which usually relaxed him. He had designed his room entirely for comfort. Patton was a homebody, and his room reflected that.

However, tonight was different. His mind was replaying Logan’s little breakdown on the kitchen floor. He’d said it was a flashback.

“Triggered by dropping the coffee and getting liquid all over my feet. Roman also might’ve helped with the intensity—he had some trouble a few days ago. My best guess is dissociation. I suppose that was on my mind, distracting my focus.”

That prospect was terrifying. The most logical, grounded side falling victim to the mind’s whims? What chance did the rest of them have?

The lights dimmed as he closed his eyes, falling into an uneasy slumber.

---

Several hours later, Parker awoke to screaming coming from down the hall.

Even with Anxiety, Thomas was a pretty chill guy. Screaming in pure terror was not a very common thing heard around the mindscape, especially not this late at night.

Heart racing, Parker leapt out of bed and threw open his door.

Morality. It was coming from Morality’s room.

Parker burst in, catching sight of Morality thrashing about wildly on the bed, tears streaming down his face from his scrunched-up eyes.

“Morality, wake up!”

Parker rushed over and began desperately shaking Morality’s shoulder. “It’s just-it’s just a dream!” Tears began to flow from his own eyes.

The Heart’s eyes flew open, and he gasped in horror, shoving Parker away with a choked gasp.

Virgil appeared behind them, pushing past Parker in an urgent, but not unkind way, and gathered Patton in his arms. Usually, he was vehemently against physical contact, but he couldn’t leave Patton like that. The moral side needed comfort, and judging from how clingy—er, loving, he always was, it was safe to assume physical contact was what he needed at the moment.

Patton clung onto Virgil, bunching up the darker trait’s shirt in his hands and sobbing into his shoulder. Virgil tentatively wrapped his arms around Patton while Parker stood off to the side, looking distraught.

“Um, I got this...I think. Can you, uh, make sure Logan and Roman are still asleep? I don’t want to overwhelm Pat right now.”

Parker left gracelessly, stumbling into the doorframe on his way out.

“Hey, Parker?”

The side reappeared at the door.

“Thank you, for trying to help him.”

Parker gave a meek nod, then disappeared from view.

Virgil turned his attention back to Patton. His tears were still coming, but his breaths were at least slowing down. “I’m s-so sorry you have to see me like this, kiddo...”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, you’ve seen me during some pretty rough times, and you’ve always helped me through it. Least I can do is return the favour, y’know?”

Patton sat back up, and Virgil summoned a glass of water. He handed to Patton, who drained half the glass in one go. “Thanks, Verge.”

Virgil gulped a little, then nodded. “So, what happened? Was it, like...a nightmare?”

“Yeah,” Patton said softly after a beat of silence.

Nightmares were nothing new to Virgil. Heck, Patton knew that. Ever since he became more comfortable with the other sides, he had still really only opened up to Patton about the nightmares. He was sure Logan and Roman knew about them, but they never brought it up. But Pat said his door was always open for Virgil, any time. So Virgil had taken to going to Patton for comfort after night terrors.

Virgil leaned back, waiting to see if Pat would open up or not. Oftentimes, all Virgil wanted was some comforting after a nightmare without having to relive it. He wondered if Patton was the same.

Eventually, Pat sighed and looked up. “It was about Parker.”

Virgil’s interest was immediately piqued. “Parker?”

“Well, not Parker exactly,” Patton rushed to clarify. “Just...going through that prison again, and the others’, too. Like a mix of the nightmares Parker made for all of us.  Logan and Roman told me about what they went though, so it was like a...mega-terror-extravaganza thing. I can’t really figure out why theirs were in there, I don’t exactly have the same fears as them or anything.”

“It’s because you’re an empath, Dad.”

Patton smiled at him. “Thanks, son.”

“I’m notcha son,” Virgil said, hiding a smirk behind his hand.

“Ok, whatever you say.”

The tension was broken, and even though Patton still had drying tear tracks on his face, the twinkle that was usually in his eye had returned.

But not everyone could recover so easily from emotional turmoil.

Stupid. You should’ve done better. Helping people is easy when you’re a good person, which is why you’re still struggling with it. You only ever bring bad things to the table. What’s even the point in trying to help if everyone’s just trying to push you away?

Parker curled up as his mind realized how hopeless he was. No matter how hard he tried, he would never measure up to the other sides. That’s why they locked him away in the first place, wasn’t it? He contributed nothing. Even Anxiety had a purpose, to keep Thomas safe from harm. Thomas definitely didn’t need another side helping with that.

What exactly was Parker’s purpose now? How could he make it up to the other sides and prove he belonged?

Virgil was having a bad day.

This in itself wasn’t unusual. With him being the embodiment of anxiety, he was always feeling as if his emotions were heightened in a negative way—which is why he was almost always on edge. Then there was the messed up sleep schedule, unhealthy eating habits (whether it was a “physical” feeling or just a placebo effect, the sides all felt happiest when they stuck with somewhat healthy eating, along with cookies where Patton’s involved), and a reliance on caffeine.

He was not exactly a role model regarding self care.

Since a few months ago, after they did “Accepting Anxiety,” he did feel like he belonged with the group more. They made an effort to make him feel welcome, and it did help.

However, that didn’t mean Virgil never had issues anymore.

Today was one of the days his “issues” were making themselves known. He hadn’t slept in over 36 hours, and in that time, had been drinking coffee almost non-stop. Even his body, ever used to being heavily caffeinated, was struggling. His pulse was racing and his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

The worst was that Virgil’s mind refused to stay focused, and turned to negative or intrusive thoughts rather than the task at hand. He had been flitting around all day as a result of the caffeine, but he still felt completely drained.

He remembered how Patton would cook or bake while stressed, as a way to take his mind off things.

And that’s how Virgil ended up standing at the counter, trying to slice up a red bell pepper with a giant santoku knife for his homemade ratatouille (alright, yes, he was thinking of the movie the entire time).

But shaky hands and large knives don’t mix. One wrong move, one second of attention being elsewhere, is all it took for Virgil to miss the pepper and instead slice straight into his thumb.

Blood began to flow out of the wound, dripping onto the counter. Virgil stared at it, fixated on the deep red colour.

He looked like Thomas, in a demonic sort of way. His hair was dark, yet paler than when they were young. His skin was tinted blue and the shadows danced around him like a hazy mirage. His nails were long and black like they belonged on a monster’s hand, not his. His eyes were the scariest: black where the whites were supposed to be, the pupils a deep red instead of black.

The same crimson colour that currently flooded out of Virgil’s hand.

Panic overtook him, spiralling him into the all-too-familiar anxiety attack. This one was worse than any he had ever experienced. Along with the rapid heart rate, the growing pressure on his chest, and his throat closing up, he began to feel lightheaded at the sight of the blood.

The red that looked so much like Parker’s eyes when they first met again after fifteen years...

Tears pricked at his eyes, and every time he tried to catch his breath, it was knocked out of him again as if he had been punched. He collapsed to the floor, wheezing, desperately trying to breathe. When he couldn’t, that just made him more distressed.

It was a never-ending cycle when he got like this. Alone, Virgil was powerless to stop it. His breathing would become more useless until he passed out and his body reset itself. Which wouldn’t be so bad, except when his attacks were that severe, it usually incapacitated him for days while he tried to recover.

Passing out never did seem like a good option in these times of distress. His primordial reaction was to get out of the situation, which would make sense except he couldn’t move, he couldn’t escape the situation, he was helpless on the ground. Thoughts of death always crossed his mind because he couldn’t breathe...

A slight whimper came out against his will, using up what little oxygen he had left. He was truly, undeniably going to die like this.

“Anxiety, please, breathe!”

A voice. A voice belonging to a person. Someone familiar, maybe.

Virgil turned over and was greeted with the face of Parker.

Despite Parker’s appearance being drastically different than when they first saw him a few weeks ago, it was still him. And at that moment, him was a threat.

Rather than hyperventilating, Virgil’s breathing screeched to a dead halt. A tiny part was saying Parker’s fine, Parker’s safe, Parker’s changed for the better, the larger, instinctive part was screaming danger. Absolute danger.

“No, no, no, no, no, please breathe, don’t stop, don’t—”

“What’s happening?” a new voice boomed.

“He—he—”

“What did you do to him?! Never mind, just get out and let me deal with this!”

A face appeared in Virgil’s line of vision, close to the ground. “Verge, bud, I’m gonna wrap this towel around your hand and I need you to take some deep breaths. What’s that little pattern you do? 4-6-8?”

Virgil jerked his hand away as...Roman? Roman bundled up Virgil’s hand, holding the towel in place.

“Sorry, but I need to stop the bleeding, and...Ah! 4-7-8! We’re gonna do that, okay, Finding Emo? Copy me; in for four...”

Roman counted as he took an exaggerated breath, and Virgil followed, choking a bit at four.

“Good, Verge, now hold,” Roman said, silently counting.

“And out.”

They repeated it several more times, and Virgil slowly sat up. He clutched his hand with the towel still on it close to his chest, blood soaking through the fabric.

With a flourish of Roman’s hand, a first aid box appeared next to the pair. Roman popped it open, pulling out some antiseptic, gauze, a butterfly bandage, and the medical tape.

He held out his hand, and Virgil hesitantly placed his own in it.

Roman got to work, applying some antiseptic and the butterfly bandage to hold the edges together. He wrapped it in gauze and finished by taping the edges down.

As he was putting everything back in the kit, Virgil spoke up for the first time.

“You shouldn’t have yelled at him.”

“Who?”

“It’s ‘whom’, and—”

“Ok, I’m going to have to ask you to stop hanging around Logan so much.”

“Anyway. Parker. You shouldn’t have yelled at him. He didn’t do anything wrong; he just wanted to help.”

The Prince huffed out a sigh. “Yeah, I know. I’ll go apologize to him in a bit.”

Looking displeased, but too tired to argue, Virgil nodded his assent.

After being shoved out of the kitchen, Parker had sprinted up the stairs back to his room. His knees buckled and he pitched forward onto his bed, his weak resolve crumbling. Great, heaving sobs made their way out, his chest clenching painfully.

Everyone hated him. He made everything worse, and everyone was suffering because of his actions.

The grief was too overwhelming, and Parker didn’t know what to do. His body shut down, and he fell into a deep sleep.

---

As soon as he was unconscious, Parker’s mind flashed back to all the damage he’d inflicted.

Not only on the other sides, but his host, too. He had almost gotten Thomas killed because he couldn’t control his fear. Then, after escaping his prison, forced him to go though those horrible hallucinations when Thomas had done nothing wrong.

Pitting Creativity against an unbeatable enemy, making him think Virgil was in danger, coating the prison in blood.

Giving Logic a problem with an impossible solution, drowning him in cold water with no escape.

Putting Morality through emotional turmoil, which would be so much worse for the Heart, then falling for eternity.

And Virgil...

Virgil had stood up for him. He had refused to put up a wall, and the other sides had just thrown him in with Parker. Torturing him for five long years, going through unimaginable horrors. Virgil escaping, then having to go through that same hell again to rescue the other sides.

They all hated him now. His purpose, originally to protect Thomas and give him courage, was abolished. He had changed, going from Fear to Sadness.

In reality, he was a traumatized kid that didn’t know what he did wrong, so he was punished for it. His revenge for that had been petty and cruel.

No wonder they never wanted him around.

Parker awoke with a jolt, an unbearable pressure on his chest. He wasn’t breathing, he couldn’t breathe, he didn’t deserve to breathe.

In his mind, he was straddling the border between sleep and consciousness. Enough that he could see is surroundings, but not make sense of what was happening.

He couldn’t feel his arms, or his legs, and even the vice on his chest began to seem less important than before. It was like he was floating away from his body, back into the prison, reliving all the pain he had inflicted on himself and others. The hellish hallucinations swirled around him in his mind, feeding his panic.

It was as if he was still in a dream—no, a nightmare. He wanted to disappear, and he already felt like he was fading away, being stretched too far by regret.

A voice permeated his thoughts, but they sounded muffled for some reason.

“Parker, can I come in?”

He gave no answer. He could give no answer.

“I know you’re in there, I just wanted to, ah, apologize for my un-princely behaviour. If you need your space, I’ll go, but—”

Parker let out a gasp as he choked on air, he didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t think, and suddenly his door was being pushed open by the frantic hands of Creativity.

It was like Parker was watching things happen from an outside perspective. He could hear Creativity calling his name and shaking him, but he couldn’t respond.

“Parker, c’mon, stay with me here—Pat!”

Someone thumped down the hall, and Morality appeared at the door. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I walked in and he was like this!”

Tears poured out of Parker’s eyes and he was trembling even harder. His mouth open and closed like a fish, but nothing came out.

“Oh, crap, Parker, honey, can you hear me?” Patton grabbed one of Parker’s hands. “Can you squeeze my hand?”

Parker continued to heave, making no move to squeeze Patton’s hand.

“Shoot. Can you get Logan, please?”

Roman raced off, then returned with a slightly dishevelled Logan in tow. “What’s going on?”

Logan caught sight of Parker on the bed. “Oh dear. No, that’s not good.”

“What do we do?”

Suddenly, Virgil popped up at the door. “Geez, Princey, you were just supposed to say sorry to him, what could you have possibly done—”

He was cut off when he saw the situation. Parker was spasming in bed because of how hard his muscles were shaking, his face turning blue (due from lack of oxygen, not as an illusion), and he was barely breathing. The other sides were huddled around him, with Patton holding one of his hands.

“Guys, what the heck?” Anxiety said as he rushed over. “Parker, listen if you can; we’re gonna sit you up because, believe me, laying on your back makes it harder to breathe when you’re like this.”

Parker couldn’t respond, he still felt as if he was dying, and no one was trying to do anything to help. They were going to let him die.

Two pairs of hands gently hoisted him up so he was against the headboard of the bed. The pressure eased somewhat, but his body began falling forward.

“Verge—”

“I’ve got him,” said Patton.

The emotional side wormed his way in next to Parker and slipped an arm around his shoulders, holding him up. Morality’s thumb moved back and forth in mini circles, attempting to soothe Parker’s distress. Creativity grabbed one of Parker’s hands and squeezed it, trying to ground him. Logic did the same on the other side.

Slowly, Parker came back to himself, fresh tears spilling from his reddened eyes. He sobbed, utterly exhausted and full of loathing. He took his hands away and buried his head in them, his shoulders shaking with every cry. He mumbled something through the noise, then curled in even further.

“What was that?” Anxiety asked softly.

“I-I’m so sorry. F-for everything. I was h-horrible to you, to everyone, to Thomas,” he gasped out. “I’m sorry.”

Morality wrapped both arms around him. “We forgive you, kiddo. Always.” Logic and Creativity both nodded in agreement.

Anxiety grabbed both of Parker’s hands, gently pulling them away from his face. “Look at me.”

Parker glanced up, fear in his eyes.

Anxiety placed his hands on either side of Parker’s face, and brought their heads together. They rested for a minute as Parker continued to cry silently.

“We forgive you, alright? All of us. We’ve all made mistakes, we’ve all done crap we shouldn’t have. Hell, it was a mistake on these guys’ part to lock you away, and mine for not helping you get out when I did. It’s in the past, okay? And we’ll work things out. Got it?”

“Got it,” Parker sniffled.

“And we’ll always need you. You’re not unnecessary, you’re not evil, you’re not a burden. You’re you, and that’s all we could ever ask for.”

Parker began crying harder, and Anxiety placed a kiss on his forehead. The other four wrapped themselves around them, forming a cocoon of safety.

Creativity, Morality, Logic, Anxiety, and Sadness.

Roman, Patton, Logan, Virgil, and Parker.

Wanted. Good. Loved. Safe.

Enough.

#sanders sides #fanfic #quasimodo speaks #fandom #silence and duality

[reidimagines]

Maybe we’ll meet again

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

prompt: “hi could you do a criminal minds/doctor who crossover where the reader and Spencer are having dreams of each other and in the end they meet after a incident with any doctor who creature?”

Requested: Yes, by @fangirl4bmbct

(A/N): Okay, so I really liked the idea, but I have never actually watched an episode of doctor Who. But, for the sake of this, I’ve watched two episodes and I was confused as heck. So, I’ve changed it up a little bit. I’ve made it more like Supernatural, so that will be the creature because I simply don’t know enough about the Doctor Who creatures. I hope you don’t mind, and the rest will stay the same. 

Y/n jumped up once again, a dream had haunted her. She never really had theses visions, until a few weeks ago. And every time, this guy was in it. He had slightly longer hair, and was on his way to catch a killer. Only the killer was an angry spirit, something that needed burning. Each time he died, only each dream because of a different injury. She was afraid for him. She was afraid he might actually die. 

“Bad dream again?” Victoria, her partner asked. Her green eyes almost glowing in the moonlight. 

“Yeah. Again over this boy. I think his name was Reid.” 

“That’s a weird name. Think it’s his last?” Victoria questioned. 

“Yeah. I think we should do some research. I think it’s close by. I saw a big lake and a small church. I think it’s in that village we passed a couple of weeks ago.” Y/n seemed calm, but her heart was racing too hard to go back to sleep. 

“We can go tomorrow. But now sleep.” Victoria said as she turned over, pulling the blanket over her head. Y/n sighted and ran a hand through her hair. She just hoped tomorrow would be in time. 

Spencer Reid woke up, a scream almost leaving his mouth. He looked around and saw that they were still in the jet. A sight rolled over his lips when he knew it was a dream. He had the strangest of dreams lately. A pretty woman who got pulled into the water after saving him from that... Thing. It certainly wasn’t human. It looked like something between a scarecrow and a fish, one hand was a large fishhook. It was impossible that that would truly happen, but her smile was so kind, and it seemed real enough. The way her hair wasn’t perfect, her make-up slightly smudged as she threw powder on the body. He closed his eyes, but knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep again.

Y/n was reading through books about old legends and myths. She hoped to hind the scarecrow-fish while Victoria was driving. Normally, loud music sounded through the car, but both of them were quite tense. 

“Found anything yet?” Victoria didn’t have her usually light tone, she didn’t make a rude or sarcastic comment. Y/n suspected her to know more then she told.

“No, I found something over a scarecrow with a fishhook, but nothing about him being fish-like.” She said, still concentrating on the book. Victoria tensed slightly up. “You know something, don’t you?” Y:n closed the book and looked at her friend. 

“It’s probably nothing, I mean it’s in an other country, for God’s sake.” Victoria sighted and didn’t need to look at Y/n to know she was looking at her, a questioning, yet calm look on her face. 

“Before I worked with you, I went to Egypt for a couple of months. There I ran into the same problem. A guy, my boyfriend, dreamed about someone getting pulled into water, and he dreamed he tried to safe him. We searched for the man who got pulled into water and he had also dreamed about that. He said he dreamed about a scarecrow stepping out of the water and killing my boyfriend with his fishhook. Only thing is, the thing did happen. They both died. I still think it’s coincidence.” Y/n put the book back down. 

“Do you think we need to go to Egypt to burn it’s body?” She didn’t question her story, she had heard and seen weirder things. 

“No, it’s in the church you saw. I’m pretty sure.” She said, brushing her brown hair out of her eyes. Y/n sighted and focussed back on the book. 

“Let’s first find out if my dreams are happening.” Y/n sighted. Victoria didn’t say anything, but seemed to relax slightly, having told her story.  Y/n hoped it would be okay, she hoped she could save both hers and Reids life. 

A few days had passed, and Victoria and Y/n both had found out a lot about the case. In two weeks, five people had been killed, either drowned or killed with a fishhook. Victoria had found out that the BAU from the FBI was here to investigate it further. But they wouldn’t find it. They couldn’t kill a spirit with guns. So, not knowing what else to do, Y/n kept an eye on the FBI and Victoria Went to investigate the church. 

Y/n made eye contact with Spencer Reid up to four times, and she was sure he had dreamed about her too. He hadn’t spoken to her, but she knew she had to be careful. 

Her phone rang.

“Victoria?” She asked, her voice not more then a soft whisper because of the FBI that stood only a few feet away. 

“Y/n, we have a slight problem. The body is missing.” Y/n almost dropped her phone. 

“Victoria, how the hell do you lose a body?!” She almost yelled, but dropped her voice for the last words to a nasty hiss. 

“I don’t know! i’m waiting for the priest to come. That guy must have been pretty special, to have a place in the bloody church.” Victoria said. Y/n looked up, towards the agents. 

“Tori, I think I have a problem. They are coming towards me.” 

“Just lie your way out. You’re an amazing liar.”

“Okay, I have to go.” She quickly said before she hung up. 

“Excuse me, miss.” An older man asked. 

“Can I help you with something?” She asked with an innocent smile. The man looked at the bald, cute guy next to him. 

“Yes, actually. Do you know the people who lived in this house?” The bald man asked, his voice deep. 

“No, I’m sorry. I don’t live here.” 

“Vacation?” He asked. “Well, something like that.” She shrugged. 

“Have you seen anything weird happen lately?” The older man asked. 

“No, I’m sorry. Like I said, I’m not from here.” She took a deep breath and looked at the time. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to help my friend look for something she has lost.” She tried to walk away, but got stopped by a new, softer voice. 

“A body, perhaps?” She recovered fast and shook her head. 

“Don’t be like that. No, I have to help her look for her cat.” She smiled and tried to walk away, but the older guy had his handcuffs ready. 

“We would like to ask you a few questions about a murder.” He said. Y/n let her head hang and sighted. This would be a lot harder then she had expected. 

Y/n could only hope Victoria knew something was wrong. She had been sitting here for hours and the night was turning dark. She sighted as she sat alone, not trying to look guilty. Spencer Reid, the boy she had been dreaming about, came in with a cup. 

“We are going now, if the unsub has noting to do with you, you’re free to go.” He gave her the cup. “There will be coming another member of my team, trying to talk to you. Just stay calm, you have nothing to hide, right?” She shook her head, almost grinning. This was her chance out. 

“Look, Spencer. Can I call you that?” She paused and gave him her kindest smile. “I know you have had those dreams too. And I know that you know that your ‘unsub’ won’t be killed with bullets.” She looked at him and tilted her head. “You are smart, and you think logical, which this isn’t. But I’m sort of a FBI member too. Only for things that aren’t real. At least, most people think they aren’t real. But they are. And your little team is running into that, unprepared. You had those dreams too, and if you don’t let me help, you and your team are going to die.” She stopped, her voice was mocking and sarcastic, but Spencer knew the words were true. He ran a hand through his hair, thinking fast. 

“Fine. What do you need?” Y/n smiled and lifted her hands. Spencer got his key. 

“Okay, I need to get to my Motel and I need to call Victoria.” She said, rubbing her wrists. 

Spencer was driving as Y/n had a firm grip on the bag. She threw away her phone in frustration. 

“Victoria is on the body’s trail. I’m not sure if she’ll find it before dawn.” 

“Wait, why do we need the spirits body?” Spencer asked. 

“Well, for a genius you sure ask a lot of questions.” She said sarcastically. “But we need to burn it’s body. If it’s an angry spirit, that’s the only way we can kill it. I brought this, what will slow it down, possible hurt it.” She patted her bag and looked out of the window. “And that’s enough questions for you, genius.” 

The car stopped and Y/n wanted to jump out, but Spencer stopped her. 

“No, you stay in the car. This can be really dangerous.” She threw her arms up. 

“Are you fucking kidding me? I have been doing this since I was just a kid. Come on, you won’t survive without me.” But Spencer had gripped her hand and cuffed it to a part of the car. 

“I will take this.” He said and smiled weakly, avoiding her angry eyes. He took the bag, too a gun with salt-rocks and threw the bag to the back of the car. 

“Look, I’m sorry but I don’t want you to get hurt or run off.” He said. 

“Well, you are right I would probably run off, but only after saving your fucking ass!” She snapped as she hit the back of his head. “Let me go, princess. I can save myself, but you will not be able to if I’m right here!” She yelled, leaning forwards. He, however threw the door closed and didn’t look at her. She threw her head back, thinking of a way to get out. She wouldn’t give up.

Y/n had managed to escape, a lost bobby pin was once again her rescue. A salt-rock gun and a few other things were safely in her pocket. She was sneaking to the lake, where sounds were coming from. She had already seen a few limp body’s. Y/n needed to know if Victoria was close to the body, so she stopped and called. 

“Victoria, are you closer to the body?” She hissed in the phone, looking over the bush she was behind. She heard Victoria’s voice, it sounded the way it alway did when they were close to the end. Slightly deeper, faster.

“Y/n, I’m glad you called. Yes, ten minutes and he’ll be burning. How’s it going there?” She said. Y/n looked around. 

“A lot of limp body’s, and I’m not even by the lake. Just be quick.” Y/n hung up and took the gun. Crouching, she walked fast to a small group of trees, hoping she could follow the shadows of the large trees until the lake. 

Even before reaching the lake, she saw three figures, one she recognized as Spencer Reid, the other was big and bulky, hitting the third one. Or at least, trying to hit it. He just vanished. 

“WHOA!” A deep voice said as the bulky man grabbed his gun. 

“Reid, get your real gun out, would you?” He snapped. The spirit appeared again, this time after the bulky guy. Y/n didn’t wait, she jumped out of the shadows and shot the figure. She nearly missed. 

“Okay! What is she doing here?” He hissed once Y/n was closer. 

“Go away, lady’s. This isn’t your type of killer.” Y/n reloader her gun. “It isn’t a demon, so salt and holy water will be useless.” She saw the bulky man looking like she was crazy. “Salt will hurt them, though. Take this.” Y/n threw a small box the the guy. 

“Listen up lady,” He started, but the spirit reappeared. Y/n pointed the gun, but Reid was faster and shot. He missed. The bulky guy got thrown to the ground, the spirit started to pull him to the water, even though he shot. 

“Princess! Use the salt!” Y/n yelled. He did, but to late.”Duck!” She yelled when he didn’t manage. She missed and the bulky guy went under. “So of a bitch!” Y/n said as she ran to the water. 

“Morgan!” Spencer cried out. 

“Don’t go in the water!” Y/n warned, stretching her arms out to stop him, but she was to late. Spencer vanished under water. However, the other came up. 

“Princess! Come out, right now!” She ordered. He swan to the shore, but Spencer didn’t come up. 

“Where is Reid.” He ordered. 

“I’m going in.” She said, not answering his question. She swan into the lake, the cold paralyzing her. He wanted both her and Spencer, but he couldn’t carry two people. 

“Miss! Come back!” The mans voice was more respectful, but she dived. The water was both dark and filthy, so she couldn’t see much. But she saw Spencer. Y/n couldn’t shoot. She grabbed Spencers hand, and with all her force, she pulled. Her breath was too little, but Spencer shot loose. She wanted to swim after him, but a hand, cold and raspy, grabbed her ankle. She got pulled under, a silent scream bubbling up. She felt his hook cut in her flesh when he tried to grab her better, Y/n fought until everything became a new sort of black. 

Couching, Y/n woke up. She felt the sand against her back, the pressure on her chest. Water flooded out her mouth. She heard Spencer sight of relief. 

“Thank God.” He said, relief in his voice. Y/n sat up, hands grabbing her pants, looking for her gun. 

“Where is that son of a bitch? I’m going to kill it.” She hissed as she tried to get up. 

“Easy, lady.” The bulky man said, who was sitting behind her. “He is gone.” Y/n sighted in relief. 

“Good timing, Victoria.” She whispered as she let her head fall back on the sand. “But anyways, what happened after I almost died?” her voice was soar and it was hard to remain so calm. 

“Derek said what you did, so I dived back in.” Spencer said, sitting back and breathing heavy. 

“Well, thank you lady’s. But I’ll have to go.” She tried to stand up. 

“Miss, you can’t go. You died.” Derek said with raised brows. She only grinned as she shook her head. 

“I’ve been dead for longer, princess.” She said as she gripped in thin air for balance. Spencer stood soon beside her. 

“I’ll walk you back. You’ll need your bag.” He said. 

“So, Spencer. I hope I’ll never dream of you again.” She joked when the bag was in front of her at the ground. “Maybe if it’s another kind of dream.” She hit his arm playfully. 

“Well, actually all dreams are the same k-” 

“I don’t need this now.” She said, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“Right. Sorry.” He said with an awkward smile. 

“Maybe I’ll see you again.” She said softly. “But anyways, thank you for saving me and stuff. Give Princess a good slap on the back for me, will you?” She gave him a smile. The smile was sad, she didn’t want to leave him. Not really. She took the bag and walked away, she hoped to be away before the police started to ask questions. They probably knew they would have to lie. One last time, she looked back. One last time, she smiled at Spencer. One last time, she waved slightly. That was before she tried to shrug off the feeling of leaving him. She wasn’t leaving him. She wanted to throw her bag to the ground, turn around and kiss him. But she didn’t. She walked, hoping Victoria would go back to the Motel. 

#Criminal Minds #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid imagine #supernatural

[tatooedlaura-blog]

No Place like Home

for @txf-fic-chicks  post-episode/missing scene fic challenge ... cranked out after feeding the dog and cat and before leaving for church ... proofed while my kid watched, at high volume, Shawn Mendes sing ‘Mercy’ ... any and all errors are her fault :)

______________

She needed to eat.

He needed to eat.

That’s not to say they wanted to eat but need took precedence over desire to curl up and die while the Peacock brothers headed to points unknown with their mother in the trunk and a straight family tree laid out in front of them, uncurving, unbranched and unthinkable.

Scully saw that he was guiding her towards the diner across the street and thinking about shaking his steadying hand from her elbow, she felt him lean in, “we need food before we drink liquor or else we’ll be drunk as soon as we open the magic bottle and passed out by the third sip.”

She couldn’t argue the sound logic and relented, her feet shuffling her across clean roadway and up unchipped curb to a diner that looked like it fell out of Maybury, much, she cringed, like Andy Taylor had. About to slip further into her depression from the last four days, she perked up at the smell of homemade food and ‘Chantily Lace’ playing passively through the speakers. Leading her to a corner booth, complete with red, shiny vinyl seats and chrome table edges, he gestured in a gentlemanly fashion, “ladies choice. Left or right?”

Choosing left so her back was to the wall, she slid in, involuntary smile floating up at the memory of 5-year old Dana and her family eating out on the rare occasion her father deemed them rich enough to afford a restaurant dinner for his family of six.

Mulder caught the memory skirting across her face and tapped her hand, “hey, dime for the thought behind the smile.��

Settling into the cool backrest, the material creaking slightly under her movement, “once in a blue moon, dad would be home and he’d look at the family checkbook and doing all kinds of math in his head and dramatically scribbling for effect on the corners of several old newspapers, he would decide that the bank account could handle taking six people out to the local diner in town for dinner. Now, today I understand that he would have taken us regardless but all his showy dramatics back then made us appreciate our night out more than probably most kids did. We didn’t see him as much as most families so a night out was special enough but then when we’d see just how special it was and we thought it was costing him a small fortune, we made sure not to fight, we were extra polite, we talked and tried to one up dad with stories of how tragically exciting our elementary school lives really were in comparison to his boring existence on a Navy carrier.” Thanking the waitress for the water she’d just set down, Scully pulled the glass towards her, spinning the ice with her straw before looking back at him, “there was a diner like this in town, blue and green instead of red but I swear to you, that waitress over there is the same and I desperately want to ask if she lived in San Diego in the 70’s.”

Mulder, glancing over his shoulder, returned to her gaze a moment later, smiling as well, “I double dog dare you.”

Scully felt some of the angst of the case draining away, “no, I’m good for now with the wondering and the suspecting, proving isn’t necessary to existence at the moment.”

“Fine. Take away my fun.” Opening the menu, “what are we eating? Want to share a shake? Pretend we’re 13 and on our first date?”

With an eye-roll, she poked his leg under the table with the rounded toe of her boot, “I don’t share ice cream well, Mulder. I’m greedy and terrible and need to selfishly have it all to myself. I will, however, give you the cherry from the top in compensation for the denied double-dog dare.”

Tapping the side of her calf back in response, “fair enough.”

&&&&&&&&

Burger and meatloaf consumed, shakes slurped and cherry surrendered, Mulder sat back, “what’s next, G-woman. We don’t leave until tomorrow morning.”

“Well, you’d mentioned gallons of liquor and I’m still pretty okay with that idea.”

Figuring there had to be some kind of liquor store around the town that time forgot, he signaled the bill, stood to leave and held out his hand, “come on. Inebriation awaits.” Dropping a sizeable tip, he then charged the meal to the Bureau and led her out with his now standard hand on her back, guiding her forward simply because it always felt like the natural thing to do.

He chose to turn left randomly and before reaching three storefronts down, Mulder pulled her to a stop by the back of her shirt, halting their beeline to liquor and forgetting. Looking over her shoulder, “what?”

Mulder, eagle-eye that he could be, was pointing to a flyer in the window of the Post Office, “we should go see that.”

Following his finger, she read the sign, “you want to go to Home Elementary School’s production of,” squinting slightly to make sure she was reading it properly, “Wizard of OZ?”

“Yeah. We need some culture, Scully. We never do anything cultural, worldly, sophisticated.”

The eyebrow flew miles into the air, “elementary school plays are cultural, worldly and sophisticated?”

“We just lost, into the general population, an entire incestuous family who keep their mother in a trunk. We need this more than we need the entire contents of a liquor store, trust me.”

Realizing he was completely right, “let’s go.”

&&&&&&&&&

The folding chairs wiggling in haphazard rows across the cafeteria floor transported her back to an age where folding chairs were meant to wiggle in haphazard rows across the cafeteria floor. She grinned as she bought her $3 ticket and nearly giggled at the flying monkey who took it at the door, the small boy poking his friend and whispering, “go show them two seats and they’re tall so put them in the back.”

The friend whispered back, “shut up, Tim, I know what to do.”

“Go!”

In an 8-year old huff, the friend led them to two seats in the back row, handing them copy paper programs before walking away. Scully leaned up to Mulder, talking low into his shoulder, “they think I’m tall.”

“They’re delusional kids huffing glue. You’re the shortest thing in adult world and they’ll be bigger than you by sixth grade.” Dropping into a chair and patting the one beside it, “now, sit before they call the giant squad to come take you away.”

Smacking him hard on the upper arm, she settled in, “you are enjoying this too much already.”

“If I had popcorn, I’d be in heaven.”

While he lamented his missing snack, around them parents and kids, grandparents, friends, assorted other relatives filled the seats for the next 15 minutes, the room soon darkened and the play beginning.

&&&&&&&&&

An hour later, they had witnessed four stage-frightened kids, one tremendously loud and surprisingly on-key Dorothy, two fighting trees who threw their apples at each other instead of the main characters, several set mishaps including the curtain falling to reveal the wizard before the wizard was to be revealed, a crier, two trippers and a nervous nose-picking palace guard who then screamed when he realized his nose was bleeding from the aforementioned furious gold-digging.

Once Dorothy finally got back to Oz and all was set right with the world, the lights went down, another kid wailed at the sudden darkness, then, the stage lit up again, a straggling line of kids awaiting applause in the middle of the floor and visibly fearful it wouldn’t come.

They didn’t have to worry … because Mulder was there and he was so damn happy with what he’d just experienced that he jumped from his seat, clapping as loud as his cupped hands could achieve, his yelling praises and congratulations and hooting driving the rest of the hesitating audience up and standing, first looking at Mulder and each other to see if this was proper etiquette then realizing their kids needed hooting and yelling.

Scully buried four fingers in her mouth, letting out a wolf whistle that echoed throughout the cinderblock room. More whistled joined and it took nearly four minutes for the room to quiet again to a manageable level. Kids cheered, bowing and giggling, coming out to the audience to find their families while Mulder and Scully stood quietly alone, grinning at the best night they’d had in a very long time.

The ticket taking flying monkey turned from his parents in the row ahead of them, “hey, which kid do you belong to?”

Mulder gave him an appraising look, wondering fleetingly what it would be like to be owned by a kid, “none, actually. We were just passing through and decided to take in a show.”

The kid nodded, then looked up at Scully, “sorry I didn’t realize you were that short. I would’ve had Tim put you closer up.”

Scully smiled at him, “I saw the whole thing and it was wonderful. Thank you for doing such a good job.”

Something twinged in Mulder’s chest as he watched her speak to the younger boy. He wanted to see her with her kids, watch her raise them in Scully fashion, science quizzes at the dinner table and midnight slime concocting at the kitchen counter because she had to prove Mulder wrong about the consistency and use of Borax in solution.

He would revisit the fact that he was at these midnight sessions and dinner table tests another time but for now, he took her elbow as the kid turned back to his parents, “come on, shorty, time to go.”

Instead of moving, Scully put her hand on his shoulder and climbed onto the folding chair, making her taller than him by several inches. Standing in front of her now and grinning up like a love-struck fool, she grabbed his tie, fiddling with it for a moment, “not so short now, am I?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

Returning his grin, she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, crowds be damned, “thank you for the culture, Mulder.”

Arms around her waist, he held her steady and safe high up in the air, “thank you for the world, Scully.”

#txf fic chicks post-ep challenge #post-home #you are the shortest thing in adult world #wizard of Oz #my writing #xf fanfic #xfiles fanfic

[wormtitty]

Recovery - Alec/Magnus

Episode coda for 2x08 - let me know what you think!

The late afternoon sun shone through the stained glass windows, warming the room with its colors. Max’s rune ceremony was beautiful. For a few hours, the Lightwoods were able to forget about Valentine, demons, and other threats to focus on the youngest member of their family. Alec walked with his brother down the aisle with family and friends on either side of them: Jace and Clary to the right, and Maryse and Izzy to the left.

And when Max got his first rune, all eyes were on him. For ten seconds, they celebrated the young shadowhunter. Alec watched as Jace pulled Clary away, talking about her safety, he supposed. Maryse dismissed the Silent Brother and the family was alone.

“Max, come with me to the kitchen so we can dig into the delicious cake you picked out.” Maryse said as she took Max by the shoulder and led him towards the exit. The rest of the shadowhunters followed suit, Isabelle’s heels clicking on the floor as she rushed after her little brother into the institute’s kitchen.

When Jace left Alec and Clary alone, the now familiar guilt crawled up his spine. He desperately wanted to believe that she truly didn’t blame him, and the sincerity in her eyes allowed him to pat her arm in recognition. He hasn’t forgiven himself yet; isn’t sure that he ever will.

As he walked closer to Jace and his mother, Alec overheard Maryse apologize, and the tightness in his chest loosened a bit. It broke his heart when the first tear fell from his mother’s eyes. Even in her weakest moment, he realized, she was truly beautiful. How anyone could cheat on her, he would never understand. As he held his sobbing mother in his arms, Alec made two vows.

One, he would give Maryse another chance to redeem herself. She’d made things right with Jace and the next logical step would be to apologize to Magus.

As for the second, Alec vowed to never hurt Magnus in such a way that Robert hurt Maryse. He couldn’t see the future, but he knew with all of his heart that he wanted one with the warlock. He couldn’t imagine intentionally hurting him, and he promised to try his best to always be a safe space for Magnus.

~

Max was on his second piece of cake when Alec walked into the kitchen. He looked incredibly tired, but his eyes lit up when they landed on his youngest sibling.

“Is the cake good?” He asked as he cut a small slice for himself. Max hummed in agreement, his mouth full with a bit of frosting on his chin. Alec smiled and grabbed a napkin to wipe Max’s face. He looked up sheepishly and mumbled a quick “thanks” before shoveling more cake into his mouth. After he’d finished the last bite, Max cleared his throat to get his brother’s attention.

“Alec, I’m sorry. About last night.” Alec frowned as he remembered the night he so desperately wanted to forget. Max continued, “I didn’t mean to be so mean to Magnus. But he’s the first warlock I’ve ever met… and it was a little scary.” He shrugged, suddenly very interested in the empty plate before him. “But it wasn’t very nice to ask him all those things about the darker parts of him. And I’m sorry I didn’t make a very good first impression. Magnus must hate me.” Alec’s gaze sharpened at that, locking eyes with his brother as he leaned on the counter to speak.

“Max, Magnus doesn’t hate you. In fact, I’m afraid he thinks you hate him.” Max’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “He was so excited to meet you. I understand that you’d feel a little uncomfortable in a strange warlock’s home for the first time. I did.” Alec blushed at that, hoping Max wouldn’t notice. “But there’s a reason why I asked Magnus to have the party at his place. I wanted Mom to know that Magnus, as my… boyfriend,” the word felt odd coming from his mouth for the first time, “isn’t going away. I guess we’re sort of a packaged deal.” Alec finished with a lopsided smile, emotion clear on his face.

“Do you love Magnus?” Max asked simply. And Alec paused to think about that. A week ago he would’ve outright shut the idea down. But now… he was allowed to think of love. He loved Magnus’ laugh, and his hands as they danced with magic. He loved many things about Magnus.

“It’s still really early in the relationship, Max. I think it’s a bit more complicated than a yes or no. But yeah, I think I could love him, if we continue dating like we are.” Alec didn’t expect Max to understand, but he was surprised when his little brother just smiled and nodded.

When Alec glanced at his phone, he saw that he’d missed a message from Magnus. It was getting late, and Alec wished Max a good night as he headed towards the loft he’d began to think of as a second home.

~

It was late in the evening when Magnus heard the soft knock at his door. Alec quietly snuck inside, calling to Magnus softly, as if he’d been afraid to disturb the peace. The apartment looked different from before, couches were rearranged and lamps were changed after the party. Magnus sauntered in the main room, a smirk on his lips as he greeted Alec with a quick kiss.

“Ah yes, I felt the urge to redecorate after last night’s extravagance. Do you like it?” He asked, arms spread wide as if revealing some expensive piece of artwork. Alec simply nodded. Sensing his boyfriend’s mood, Magnus gestured to the smaller of the couches.

“Sit, please. Let me grab a drink.” Magnus disappeared into his kitchen, returning seconds later with two wine glasses full of clear liquid. When Alec raised a brow, Magnus snickered and handed a glass to him.

“Relax, it’s only water, my dear.” Magnus pat his knee when Alec flushed a deep pink. “I know you didn’t come here to drink. What’s on your mind?” Alec took a long gulp of his water.

“I just. It’s just been a really long weekend. I wish we could just freeze time. For just a few days, I don’t want to worry about Valentine or the war or my parents. We never have time to just… be still and talk, you know?” Alec’s elbows were leaning on his knees and he wasn’t fully seated on the couch, as if he felt he’d need to leave soon. Magnus carefully placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back into the couch, a silent reminder to relax, that he was there to stay and to listen.

“I know what you mean,” Magnus began with a bitter smile. “I wish I could do that for you, Alexander. But even my magic has its limits. Time must go on. But, it’s not too incredibly late, yes? We still have a few good hours left in the night, then we’ll get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll make breakfast in the morning, okay?” Magnus looked so encouraging that Alec didn’t have to think twice about spending the night. It would be nice to just be together, even for only a few hours.

“Yeah, okay.” And there was that soft smile Magnus had come to love seeing on Alec’s face. He watched as it slowly faded into confusion when Magnus set both his and Alec’s glass down on the coffee table and turned to face the shadowhunter.

“Alec, I want to talk to you about last night, if that’s alright.” And aside from a resigned sort of look on his face, Alec didn’t protest. “Iris was messing with our heads, playing with our greatest insecurities and fears. Poor Clary was in tears when she thought the vampire boy had abandoned her. Jace knocked out your mother while hallucinating that she had tried to kill him.”

Alec nodded along. He only knew bits and pieces from short conversations with Jace, but it was good to hear the whole story. Although, he felt a sinking feeling deep in his gut when he realized where the conversation was going.

“That spell she cast. It affected our minds so that what we saw and heard wasn’t reality. But it didn’t affect our thoughts, emotions, or actions.” Magnus looked at Alec pointedly. “I understand that you feel guilty about Jocelyn’s death. I’ve been alive for centuries, there are many people who’ve deaths I have - and still do - feel guilty about. You are a good man, Alexander. Be kind to yourself… please.”

“Clary called me just before you arrived this evening. She told me that whatever the spell had made you think she said, that you went straight to the roof after only a few moments.” Magnus was grasping at Alec’s hands now, begging him to listen. But yet, he still tried to look away from Magnus’ steady gaze. “Alec, Alec please, look at me.” He released one of Alec’s hands then, only to gently cup his cheek and turn his face towards himself once again.

“I’ve been there, Alexander. I know the turmoil in your head. I have been on that ledge before, ready to end it all. But someone stopped me, cared enough to talk me down so that I could be here today, with you. But Alec, you… you stepped off the ledge. If I had been only seconds later, I couldn’t have-” Magnus broke off with a choking sort of sound, and he was clutching Alec’s hand so tight it hurt. But Alec couldn’t care less about his hand at that moment, because the beautiful warlock before him was trying very hard to hold back tears.

“I know… I know that you don’t understand this yet, Alexander. But you are… incredibly dear to me. I don’t think that I would survive that, Alec. If you’d died,” Magnus was breathing heavily now, tears flowing freely down his face. “I can’t lose you. You have to know that.”

Alec responded in the only way he knew how. Through touch. He carefully pried his hands out of the warlock’s grasp, only for Alec to run his hands up Magnus’ arms, shifting closer so he was in his personal space. His hands came up behind and around Magnus’ neck, and when he closed his eyes, Alec pressed their foreheads together.

Arms wound around Magnus’ back, clutching tightly to the fabric of his shirt as Alec all but climbed onto him before letting out a pained sound and hugged him. The warmth of his embrace relaxed him, even as Alec started to tremble, ever so slightly.

“I didn’t know,” He whispered, “I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want you to think of me like this… weak.” Hiding his face in Magnus’ shoulder, Alec let the first tear fall. “I’m sorry. By the Angel, I am so sorry Magnus. I didn’t think, I wasn’t thinking when I was up there. But you… you saved me, Magnus, thank you.” Alec shuddered as Magnus clung to him. “I’m sorry you had to see that… but I’m glad you were there, to stop it.”

“Oh, Alexander.” Magnus pulled away a little then, so he could hold Alec’s face in place with both hands. “I will always be there for you, got it? Always.” Alec made a soft sound, once again burying his face in the crook of Magnus’ neck. The warlock let out a little breathy laugh when he felt gentle kisses being pressed into the skin of his neck.

“Hey. Hey, stop for a second okay?” Alec leaned away from him then, eyes still closed and biting his lower lip. God, Magnus wanted to kiss him. But there were more important matters at the moment. “Alec, are you okay? Please… be honest with me.” Alec opened his eyes and pressed his lips together in thought.

“Not… not yet. But I will be. With you here, I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.” And that was one of the best responses Magnus could’ve asked for. Suddenly, the distance between them was far too much, and Magnus curled his fingers in Alec’s hair, drawing him closer to ease the ache in his chest that seemed to appear when Alec was close but not close enough.

The air between them was thick and heavy, and Magnus didn’t want to disturb the quiet peace so he whispered when he asked if he could kiss Alec. He made this soft, disbelieving sound before nodding quickly. And Magnus had to force himself to stop smiling so he could finally press their lips together. It was so worth it though, when Alec sighed and parted his lips a little.

He doesn’t know how long they stayed there on the couch like that, but at some point his toes started to get cold so he summoned a few blankets. And really, who was he to complain when Alec laughed and pulled a blanket around them, wrapping them up in their own little world. Magnus pressed soft kisses to his forehead, his eyelids, even nuzzled their noses together - which earned him another laugh from Alec.

“It tickles!” He breathed out, catching on to the curious tilt of Magnus’ head. “Your eyelashes… they’re so long.” Alec sighed, whispering against the warlock’s lips, “I wish we could stay here, like this, forever.”

Magnus hummed in agreement before resuming his quest of mapping out Alec’s face with his lips. When he reached his mouth, Alec tried - and failed - to suppress a yawn. Magnus smiled fondly, his eyes crinkling in the corners.

“Let’s go to bed, hm?” He stood up and held a hand out to Alec, who followed suit, though he was still wrapped in one of the blankets. “Oh, you’re adorable.” Alec scowled, which only spurred Magnus on. After a few seconds of kisses and shared laughter, the two finally made it to the bedroom.

They undressed each other slowly, pausing for soft kisses every so often. It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t heated. There was a time for sex, and a time for intimacy. They understood that tonight, they just needed the comfort of someone by their side. Magnus crawled under the sheets first, patting the open space next to him in invitation. Who was Alec to refuse such an offer?

There they lay, facing each other in Manus’ large bed, two figures curled together, whispering to each other sweet nothings. And the world was at peace, for just a little while. Be it calm before the storm, or something else entirely, they had turned the night into gentle quietness. Alec fell asleep with Magnus holding one hand, and the other tracing patterns onto his scarred and runed skin. Others may have turned away in distaste at the clear signs of battle, but to Magnus, he only saw beauty in Alec’s healed wounds. It was proof that Alec survived, that he lived, and he was here with Magnus.

Yes, he thought, we will be okay. Magnus drifted off into sleep, curled into Alec’s side. There was no place he’d rather be. And so the warlock and shadowhunter slept peacefully for the first time in months.

#okay here it is #sidney writes #my fic #malec #malec fic #shadowhunters #shadowhunters fic #ithilien writes #idk you expressed interest so maybe you'll like???

[calamityauthor]

Consequences Rising Episode VI

           It had been hell getting through St. Louis traffic, but Neblar and Orrwick had finally made it just north of the Mississippi River’s confluence with the Missouri. The large buildings and six lane highways had shrank back to nothing, leaving only wide stretches of corn fields, and homestead cottages. It was a beautiful sight, but something was beginning to fill the air. It was an unsettling feeling that would not let a person relax. Orrwick couldn’t explain exactly what it was, but it was more than just an impending flood.

           Neblar’s phone had been ringing off the hook since shortly after leaving Couliierville. The first few times, Neblar had checked to see who was calling. Each time the screen had a picture of Rose making some goofy face. He had no desire to speak with her or Bertrand at the moment. However, some part of him secretly hoped it was Vischon calling. He would have appreciated some acknowledgement of his grand gesture. At least it would have given him some validation because he was already starting to question the manner in which he had left.

           He had meant to invite Bertrand along. He would have loved the fair and the chance to help fight in a Storm. However, he had left so angrily that the thought had just slipped his mind. Now he was stuck in a car, heading toward a Storm-level disturbance with no intelligence and an apprentice who was just out of his training pants. It was an all too familiar feeling for Neblar. He had lost four apprentices the same way. A mission would come and Vischon would make sure that Neblar was grossly unprepared.

           The phone rang again. Neblar didn’t even check it anymore. “Are you mad at them or something?” asked Orrwick.

           Neblar shook his head, “Nah, I’m just not in the mood to hear from Rose.” He smiled and stated, “I think she believes that I truly do have the sickness just like some of the others.” Neblar adjusted his hat and paused for several seconds. Finally, he spoke again. “I’ll tell you what. I have no idea how I went from her mentor to her treating me like her child or younger brother.”

           “That must be hard,” Orrwick sighed. The dimensions of Neblar’s suffering seemed to run deeper than he had originally thought. Maybe Neblar ignoring Rose’s calls was a way to get back at her? He surmised that Neblar got a little enjoyment in making others worry about him.

           “Not really, actually,” Neblar answered. “Perhaps I’m just used to it?” He gave a little chuckle.

           There was a long silence again before Orrwick asked, “So how much longer do you think it’ll be before we’re there?”

           Neblar looked at the car’s clock and then up at the sky. “Eh, probably about two and half hours or so.”

           “Really? I had no idea we were so close already.”

           “Yeah,” muttered Neblar. “Sedalia sits pretty close to the state lines of Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. Plus, living in Hopewell gives you a pretty good advantage in getting places in a hurry. It’s pretty much in the center of the country, so there are a lot more accessible areas than there would be closer to the coasts.” Orrwick shrugged and nodded. He couldn’t really argue with that logic.

           “That is why Vischon chose Hopewell as a location for the Crown Knight headquarters,” explained Neblar. “Or should I say, Araythith chose it a few years before he died.”

           Orrwick nodded and looked out the passenger window. As he turned his head, a dull pain began to pulsate up his neck and into his lower jaw. Orrwick cracked his neck and massaged the sore area to relax the pain, but it didn’t seem to help. His initial thought was just tension and lack of movement, but as they traveled, the discomfort increased.

           “You’re feeling it, aren’t you?” asked Neblar. Orrwick gave him a confused glare and waited for Neblar to explain. “You’re feeling the sickness. The closer we get to Iowa, the worse it will become.”

           “What do you mean I have the sickness?” Orrwick angrily questioned. He had fought the Depths many times, and never had he come down with the sickness before. “I’ve never gotten the sickness. No, I’m sure this is just a tension ache or something. It’ll be fine once we get out of the car and I can stretch.”

           Neblar gave a sympathetic smile and winked. Orrwick didn’t know what to make of Neblar’s reaction. If it were any other Crown Knight, Orrwick would have been kicked out of the vehicle and either killed or exiled for even being suspected of having the sickness. Neblar just brushed it off like some kind of joke. It didn’t make sense. In fact, the more time he spent with Neblar, the more he realized that most of the things his mentor did made no sense at all. Or perhaps, it was the other Crown Knights that didn’t make sense?

           He had fooled Orrwick. Neblar wasn’t much more optimistic than his apprentice. He knew that Orrwick was beginning to show symptoms of the sickness. Neblar was fairly confident that Orrwick could process and work through it, but the thought still rattled him. What had he done? How could he be so irresponsible, effectively taking a child from his home and bringing him onto a battlefield that was far beyond his skill? The thought conjured a cloud of shame to hang over Neblar’s head. He couldn’t show it, and he surely couldn’t tell Orrwick, but Neblar was worried for his apprentice’s life.

           After half an hour, Orrwick felt a rock in his stomach. Cramps and spasms rippled through his abdomen. It felt like his insides were boiling. Sweat poured from his increasingly pale face as he tried to push through his pain. Orrwick knew he was running a fever. It was such a strange feeling. Crown Knights became ill so rarely that it was almost alien to feel a fever or chills. However, he didn’t wish the pain on anyone. Not only was he in pain and trying to hold down the contents of his stomach, but he was sad. The melancholy mercilessly strangled all happiness, almost too thick to think through or around. It was reminiscent of staring up the mountain from the deepest darkest hole. It could not be surmounted.

           “Oh god, Neblar, please pull over,” groaned Orrwick. Neblar obliged with a nod and whipped the car onto the shoulder of the road. Orrwick barely made it out of his seatbelt before the vomit was spurting from his mouth and nose. He had never heaved so hard in his life. Neblar placidly strolled to the shoulder and placed his hand on Orrwick’s back. “Am I dying?” It was only half a joke.

           “Do you want to know exactly what happens to people who come down with the sickness?” asked Neblar. Orrwick nodded between hurling spells. “Well clean yourself up here and come back to the car and I’ll tell you about it.”

           Neblar maintained his lazy pace back to the car where he watched Orrwick wiping his mouth and taking a few deep breaths of cooling evening air. The young Crown Knight stood up slowly and had to steady himself, but after a few moments, began the short journey back to the Camry. Neblar helped him into the car and even gave him a few sips of water before he too entered the car.

           Orrwick looked horrible. His skin was pale and pasty. Darkness clung to his eyes and faded into a nauseating green hue around the cheeks. His clothes were drenched with sweat and his lips were losing color. Neblar knew it probably felt even worse than it looked which was indeed unsettling. Nevertheless, he gave Orrwick a smile and gentle pat on the back.

           “Alright, Orrwick, let’s talk about the sickness.” Orrwick didn’t respond. He simply sat in the passenger seat, hunched over and looking out the window. Neblar gave another sympathetic smile and continued. “The Depth presence causes the sickness. As their numbers go up, the morale and health of the world goes down. However, we Crown Knights, as well as the Loyalists have a tolerance to it. This is most likely due to the fact that we have much more exposure to the Depths in close quarters.” Orrwick’s face was emotionless and stoic.

           “But you don’t want a history lesson, do you?” sighed Neblar. “You just want to know what’s going to happen to you. Well the bad news is that the Crown Knights officially believe that all cases of the sickness are terminal and must result in exile and/or termination of the afflicted. I do not believe like them, however. In fact, you will find many that feel differently. There are three possible outcomes in the sickness, Orrwick.”

           “The first is that yes, the afflicted does go mad and turns on his or her comrades. They lose sense of right and wrong, and in some cases become conduits to be used by the Depths. The second outcome is that he or she suffering from the sickness just simply withers away and dies as if from some kind of cancer or immunological disorder. This is far more common than the first possibility, mind you. Finally, the third and by far most common outcome is that the person recovers and goes on to live a happy and healthy life.”

           Orrwick perked up a bit as he turned to face Neblar. “Really? You mean, I’m not going to die or try to kill you?” His voice was hoarse and weak from the vomiting.

           Neblar smiled and joked, “Well you might still do just that. But no, most likely, in fact I’d bet this car on the fact that you’ll be just fine. You just need to rest, relax, and get acclimated to it.”

           Relaxing was easier said than done when it felt like your insides were being scraped out with a razor blade. Orrwick had no idea how long this terrible pain was going to last, but relief couldn’t come fast enough. He rested his head on the glass as the waves of agony washed over him one after another. The tension in his muscles was almost unbearable. He wished he could just die and escape such a terrible feeling.

           Neblar looked over at the passenger seat periodically to see Orrwick drifting further and further into sleep. With a sigh of relief, Neblar thought to himself, “Sleeping is better than dying…or going mad.” The quiet also gave Neblar time to think. He knew that there were some decent fighters in the Sedalia area. He also knew that some of the stronger units from Des Moines had already been pulled to aid the deteriorating situation. If they had asked for him in particular then what could they possibly be up against?

           Neblar knew there were more Depths out there than just Desecrates, and some of them made Desecrates look friendly. He understood that so many other Depths are exponentially smarter and stronger than the simple foot soldiers of the Depth forces. Seeing his fair share of nightmares on the battlefield, Neblar would rather fight an endless line of Desecrates than a handful of Wandering or Dragons.

           Thinking of the reports that Vischon had sent him a few days earlier, Neblar ran through the evidence. According to the brief, three Expanded Functions Crown Knights had already been killed as well as one Third Class Crown Knight. Neblar’s mind raced as he tried to picture what he and Orrwick might be up against. He also remembered the wounds from pictures Vischon had shown him of the bodies. Desecrates were always sloppy with their prey. They were borderline mindless and could not function outside of a hive mind without some greater force. No, this had to be something else. The wounds on the bodies from the pictures had been clean slash marks. They were not beaten to death. There were no bruises. In fact, if he recalled correctly, Neblar did not see any signs of fatigue on the bodies at all. Whatever killed them was fast and did not hesitate. There was no struggle.

           The thought both sent chills up Neblar’s spine and made him smile in anticipation. He had not thoroughly fought with exertion in such a long time. It was about time he really got his hands dirty again. If they were dealing with what Neblar’s instincts suggested then it would be an interesting mission. He pressed hard on the gas pedal. He had to get there before too close to sunset. If he could be on patrol tonight, maybe he could stop it quickly?

           Orrwick woke up to the sound of gravel under car tires. His head throbbed and pounded as he jerked awake. His vision was blurry for a few seconds, but slowly a budget motel came into focus. In the gravel lot, he saw one other car parked there with one man standing under a streetlight. Two or three others were obscured by the darkness of the growing shadows.

           Neblar swerved the car into a slanted parking position and was out and standing in a matter of moments. Orrwick meanwhile was struggling with his seatbelt. His fingers twitched and slipped past the release button. He groaned in frustration as he failed to remove the restraint. His stomach was in knots and sweat was still dripping down his dark hair.

           He looked up once more to see Neblar already speaking with the man standing under the streetlight. He was a little angry that his mentor had not helped him out of the car, but he was too sick to complain. It took great effort, but Orrwick managed to open the car door and put one foot onto the gravel. Immediately, his stomach lurched and he gagged just before another round of vomit fell rolled from his mouth onto the parking lot.

           “Oh man, I’m so sorry,” declared Neblar as he hurried to Orrwick’s side. He put one arm around his apprentice and helped him push himself to his feet. Orrwick was a little wobbly at first, but soon found his footing. Everything spun and his vision was still a little blurry.

           “Is everything alright?” asked the man who had been speaking with Neblar.

           “Oh yeah, we’re fine.”

           Taking a clear look at Orrwick’s pale face and vomit residue in the corners of his mouth, the man calmly acknowledged, “Man, he sure has it pretty bad, doesn’t he?”

           Neblar gave the man a smirk and answered, “It’s his first time with the sickness.”

           The man nodded understandingly. “Well we should get him inside. He should feel better in a day or so.” Once again, Orrwick was surprised that no one had once mentioned putting him out of his misery or exiling him. In classes, teachers had always advocated for the immediate destruction of someone afflicted with the sickness.

           The next thing Orrwick knew, he was being tucked into a queen-sized bed in one of the motel rooms. He could barely make out anything about the room except an orange-yellow glow from the lamp near the bed. He wasn’t sure if the walls were the same color or just reflecting the light. Just before he blanked out again, he heard voices talking over him.

           “Neblar, I don’t believe we’ve actually met,” the man from outside started. “I’m Jyduss, Second Class Crown Knight Lord. I’m the leader of this project. And let me tell you, that I do apologize for the accommodations available this evening. With the fair coming, it is quite difficult to find a room anywhere closer into town.”

           Jyduss was a man just under six feet tall with sandy blonde hair that swooped around his brow. He had light blue eyes and appeared to be a little anxious or on edge. He also seemed to be quite relieved to be in Neblar’s presence.

           “No apologies needed! Beats the hell out of sleeping in the Camry. Anyway, nice to meet you,” answered Neblar as he emerged from the bathroom with a damp washcloth for Orrwick’s head. “Can we perhaps do this outside? I don’t want to disturb young Orrwick here. He needs all the rest he can get right now. I need him at his full capacity.”

           The man nodded and slowly yet steadily strode toward the door, leaving it open for Neblar. Once the two were outside, two other Crown Knights emerged from the darkness. “Neblar, I also want you to meet my aides.”

           He pointed to the first who was tall, thin, and lanky. He had a long neck and bright blue eyes. “This is Third Class Crown Knight, Esicher.” He motioned to the other which was another male. He looked much more athletic with the body of a jock and had darker hair. “And this is Brezer, also Third Class Crown Knight.”

           Neblar shook both of their hands with a smile before putting on a more intense glare. He turned to Jyduss. “So tell me what’s been going on here.”

           Jyduss took a deep breath. “It’s not good, Neblar. You know, we always have problems when people gather. But this year is different. The numbers…they’re out of control. And then there’s this mystery assailant that no one has caught a glimpse of.”

           “Ah now Vischon left out that part,” Neblar interjected. “I didn’t know that it had not been seen by anyone.”

           “It’s true,” Jyduss shamefully groaned. “About two weeks ago, when people first began showing up to prepare for the fair, we thought we could handle it. Three days into our increased efforts, however, we came across this thing. At first it struck intermittently. Now, however, it has struck three of the past four nights.”

           “Does it only attack at night?”

           “It seems so, yes.” Jyduss looked completely bewildered. Neblar could tell he was a relatively new leader, completely overwhelmed by the situation. He must have felt like a complete failure. Neblar could relate.

           “Where are the rest of your knights?”

           “Some of them are on patrol as we speak,” explained Jyduss. Neblar could tell that he was a little worried. “After the second killing, I have only allowed those Crown Knights that are Special Functions or higher patrol at night. The others are all either in their homes or performing in house duties in our base of operations.”

           “Rest assured Jyduss,” Neblar began. “I will be patrolling day and night until we get this under control.” Jyduss said nothing but looked relieved. Though he did not know Neblar personally, he trusted Vischon’s word that he would resolve the situation.

           Neblar turned toward the motel. “I would like a tour of the grounds before I get started. Can you please make arrangements for a guard posted here? I do not want Orrwick here alone in his condition.”

           “Of course, Neblar,” Jyduss responded. “I will arrange for one of my men to stand guard until you return.”

           “Also, I will need a guide. I have not been in this area for quite some time and I am sure it has changed.”

           Jyduss nodded and turned to the tall man standing amongst them. “Yes, sir. I will have Esicher here be your escort.”

           Neblar nodded in return with a smile. “Well then now that is all settled, I need to get started. I wish I had more time to speak with you, Jyduss, but you understand that I need to get going.”

           Jyduss looked slightly stunned for a moment. “You’re going out now?! But don’t you want to see the base or meet the other Crown Knights? It would really help their morale if they saw your face.”

           “I’m sorry. I’d love to, but we have to hurry before anyone else gets hurt. And besides, I’ll be doing most of my work from this motel until Orrwick is back on his feet.”

           “I…see,” Jyduss hesitated. He had always heard that Neblar was rough around the edges and a little casual with his manner, but he had no idea how unrefined Vischon’s general truly was. “Well yes, you’re right, I suppose. Please, by all means take your leave with Esicher. He’ll show you around the town and the fairgrounds.”

           With little more than a handshake and a quick nod, Neblar hopped back into the Camry and started the engine. Esicher hesitated for a moment as he approached the car. Halfway between Neblar and Jyduss, he looked back to see a stern nod from his leader. The remaining two Crown Knights watched as the tail lights sped down the road and disappeared, descending into a valley where the town’s heart lay.

           “Neblar, sir, it’s an honor to be on a mission with you,” Esicher hastily exclaimed.

           “Well we’re not exactly on a mission right now, Essie,” he responded. “Your job is to show me around. And by that, I mean show me where the attacks have all occurred. I need to know everything before I can decide how to proceed.”

           Esicher didn’t say anything in return but settled uncomfortably into the passenger seat. And had Neblar just called him Essie? He thought that was weird but tried to chalk it up to one of Neblar’s eccentricities that had become so famous.

           “So how long have you been with the Crown Knights?” asked Neblar. “I know you’re a Third Class, so at least a good long while, I suppose.”

           “Umm, well I,” the question had caught Esicher off guard. “Well I became an Expanded Functions Crown Knight about five years ago.”

           He waited for several silent moments for Neblar to respond but no answer came. Esicher watched intently as he noticed that Neblar may not be paying his full attention to their conversation. He could see Neblar’s eyes scanning every inch of the peripheral darkness. Every dark corner was exposed under his gaze. Esicher could tell that Neblar really wanted to find and stop the Depths soon. He could see Neblar’s face was lit up and anticipating something. Though he did not know Neblar personally, he had seen that face many times. It was a war face that so many others showed when the deepest part of their souls ached for battle.

           Esicher hoped that Neblar’s power would surpass his eagerness. He also hoped that the Decorated First Class leader was stronger than he was strange. Though Neblar’s reputation as the most powerful Crown Knight under Vischon was well known, so was his recent streak of losing partners in battle. Like Neblar, the whispers of a fall from grace had reached Esicher and the other knights in Sedalia. However, Jyduss was still faithful to Neblar and did not believe any such rumors. As such, Esicher never felt it was his place to raise or consider such a debate. He was content to see Neblar’s talent play out in person.

           “So Essie, about where did the first attack occur?”

           “It was in the downtown district behind the Iowa State Bank branch.”

           “Then that’s where we will be going.”

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