#the man who sacrifices himself for his younger brother and hurts him in the process and who is defined by the things he has done for his

[archetypal-archivist]

A story in which Prince Forever falls in love at first sight with the widowed king Philza of a neighboring kingdom and decides that he must marry the man at any cost. To make sure he succeeds he summons a demon, Badboyhalo, to try and make a trade to get Philza's love but BBH refuses, citing that it's not worth it.

Forever takes offense and BBH clarifies, stating that love isn't worth what Forever is trading- the life of a sacrificed lamb- before disappearing. Forever is angry because he killed that lamb himself and it was awful, it literally made him feel sick to have a baby creature in his arms and a knife in his hands, so to have all that be for nothing seems unfair.

Forever keeps trailing after Philza, sending courting gifts (that keep getting sent back) and letters (that are replied to with niceties and polite greetings) but nothing seems to work. So he tries to summon BBH again a month later, this time with a grander sacrifice. Badboyhalo is a little alarmed to be summoned back and turns Forever down flat again, refusing to make a deal because it still isn't worth it. He disappears without clarifying this time and angry at the repeated rejection, Forever digs into his personal coffers and a week later, makes a small sacrifice of raw gold.

This summons BBH again and this time the demon is exasperated- he and Forever start arguing about fairness and whether or not being summoned means a demon has to take a contract at all. It blows up and Forever, in a fit of daring stupidity, breaks the circle that BBH is trapped in because somehow the argument turned into "maybe you aren't granting me this because you're too weak, you couldn't hurt me even if I broke the circle, nyeh nyeh boo boo".

Bad idea. BBH steps out and paralyzes Forever, walking around his frozen form and poking at all the aspects of him that Philza may find unattractive. He also points out all the ways Forever is unhealthy in the process- his tired eye bags, his shaky hands, how cracked his lips are and how he needs to drink more water. He steps away, tells Forever that he wouldn't want to make a deal with someone who would keel over from dehydration a week later before they could pay their end of the deal, and vanishes.

Full of spite and a bit more fearful now, Forever tries to take better care of himself but it's hard because now, his younger brother Cellbit has a son and now Cellbit is looking like the prime candidate for the BrazPol-Culé throne. Marrying Philza would secure himself a future so Forever hand-makes a meal and sacrifices that to BBH, summoning the demon forth again.

Bad is getting tired and concerned for Forever and he asks him outright why he wants a deal so badly. Forever explains about how his future is uncertain and things rarely go well for the princes who don't become kings and how he needs to marry and get heirs and Philza is perfect- he's rich, kind, and has kids already to be heirs.

A little more sympathetic but still unwilling to cut a deal, Badboyhalo advises Forever to get to know his nephew better since Cellbit would hate for anything to disappoint his son and if Richarlyson loves Forever, that's one worry out of his way. Forever takes his advice but continues to pursue Philza, summoning Badboyhalo in increasingly weird ways with wackier, more expensive, or more personal sacrifices.

These little meetings turn into Forever ranting proudly about his nephew and his growing adoration for the kiddo and strengthening bond with his brother, as well as the letters he's been getting from the Lafrench kingdom's princess to broker an alliance. Badboyhalo keeps giving Forever advice and sometimes little hints about how to improve his lot in life, which Forever appreciates greatly. The duo become friends, but Forever still brings up his hopes for a deal and BBH keeps turning him down without a full explanation.

Then a day comes when Richarlyson falls deathly ill and Forever summons BBH by cutting his palm and offering him blood. Very seriously he asks Badboyhalo for Richarlyson's health and safety and asks outright what BBH wants in return for it. Shocked and saddened, Badboyhalo tries to refuse but Forever, at his wits end, breaks the circle and grabs Badboyhalo's hands in his own, red blood dripping between them as he snarls at the demon, demanding an answer.

Finally, Bad answers, choked out with heavy emotion, that anything bought on the mortal coil will mean little in the long run because he's a very strong demon and can only make very strong deals- the kind that demand sacrifices of what people don't want to give. Anything Forever has willingly offered until now, he hasn't been able to accept because those were all things Forever had been willing to lose- and although Forever is saying he'd give up anything, that's not really the case at all. Richarlyson's life, for example, is non-negotiable and there's plenty a demon of Bad's can take from him that Forever hadn't considered.

Forever doesn't hesitate and asks again what Bad wants from him. Bad replies that he doesn't want to hurt Forever, that he's been refusing because the deals have been unfair, been unfair to Forever. What he's giving up is worth far more than what he'll be getting in return. Forever repeats himself, asking for the price.

Finally, Badboyhalo breaks down and says that what he can take is Forever's love. And because he's kind, he's going to offer a choice- either he takes Forever's ability to love or he takes Forever far away from everyone/thing he loves, never to return. Philza included. His family included.

Forever is smart though, and offers Badboyhalo a third option- he offers his love by trying his best to fall in love with BBH. If he's in love with Badboyhalo then he will, by definition, have his love and the price would be paid. Badboyhalo isn't even required to love him back. The demon is silent for a long moment before clarifying that love can't be forced and that if the deal falls through, he'll have to either take Richarlyson's life or force Forever into the extreme end of one of the other two options. However, he is willing to accept the offer.

Forever thanks him, going near boneless with relief, and Badboyhalo catches him as his knees hit the floor, the demon terrified about what will happen next.

There's any number of ways things can go from here, reblog with your own ideas for an ending and I'll reblog back to continue the story. :)

#qsmp #mc #4halo #my writing #story ideas #fanfiction

[halos-top-alien-model]

Sangheili Bracket Round 2 Match 11

More info below:

Meduu the Fierce:

Debuted in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)

The daughter of the legendary Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, Meduu violently took control of her father's property holdings after his death.

Additional commentary: Did not realize how little info there was of her in the encyclopedia. Honestly, I imagine her to have inherited her father's genes of massive fucking height. So badass warrior woman who's huge. What more do you need than that?

Submitted propaganda: Xytan 'Jar Wattinree's daughter. We know basically nothing about her except that she took control of all her father's property holdings through force. She's probably extremely intelligent and badass and stupidly TALL, just like her old man. Meduu would be the coolest character ever if someone actually remembered she existed.

Asum 'Mdama / Bakar:

Debuted in Halo: Glasslands

Born Jan. 20th, 2542 as the second son of Jul and Raia 'Mdama and the younger brother of Dural. He was trained in combat by Naxan - the great-uncle of Raia. When he learned of his mother's death in March 2553, he went to nearby fields to mourn. Then, he began to be fostered by Kasha 'Hilot as he assumed the new name of Bakar. She would take him to Onyx - her new place of work - and he would attend the Pax Institute while there.

It was around September 2558 that Molly Patel would transfer to his school, leading to her, Kareem El-Hashem, and Unggoy Gudam Keschun to come across him being bullied by three human peers. He would at first avoid trying to defend himself, until one of the bullies hits Gudam hard enough to draw blood. However, just as a full-on fight ensues, an instructor named Dinok 'Acroli breaks it up. The next day, Molly would be forced to sit at the same table as Bakar, giving him the opportunity to chastise her for making him look weak, until the other two arrive. Their attempts to become friends with him causes him to leave. Later, he would be stuck in the same self defense lesson being taught by Spartans Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 with the same trio. During a field trip to the Repository, Bakar would open up to the trio a little and bond with them. Then, things took a turn when a beast called a rafakrit attacked. Kasha would go to distract the beast to save everyone else, only to get injured in the process, leading Bakar and his new friends to launch a risky plan to save her. After this, the Spartans and Director Mendez talk with them, which would then lead them to sharing with Bakar the identity of his father: Jul 'Mdama (due to Sangheili customs, he did not know this before). Even after learning the Covenant remnant leader was his father, Bakar would continue to feel hatred toward him. Also during this conversation, they would warn him that his brother had joined up with the Servants of Abiding Truth and had possibly infiltrated Onyx. However, much later, Cortana's message would be sent to all of the galaxy and Onyx's Guardian would awaken. Bakar was at school be it occurred, forcing him to join those hiding in the cafeteria. When Prone to Drift arrives, he and his friends concoct a plan to have Drift reach the Guardian and disrupt its communication with Cortana. Then, the Servants of the Abiding Truth attack the school, killing some people and taking Drift away to the Repository. Bakar and friends would pursue, using some creatures also chasing the Servants in their plan to stop them. After catching up, Bakar would confront his brother and beg him to stop, while Dural felt he had been dishonored and should kill himself. In order to keep the attacking creatures from hurting Bakar, Dural chose to whistle a distraction and sacrifice himself, being carried away. Another creature would remain, but Lucy would arrive and take care of it, getting injured in the process. The kids would take her and Prone to Drift away in the Pelican Lucy brought, then fly close enough to the Guardian so Drift could disable it. Now, Bakar is amongst those living in hiding from Cortana due to Onyx's slipspace bubble being reactivated.

#halo #halo sangheili #sangheili #halo aliens #halo elite #halo elites #halo fandom #halo tumblr #tumblr bracket #tumblr tournament #meduu the fierce #asum mdama #asum 'mdama #halo bakar #bakar #bakar halo

[tvxcue]

okay but looking at how dean acts in s4 compared to s1-3 it’s SO clear it’s abt what happened in hell. he was tortured for 30 years and when he gave in and became the torturer to protect himself that meant the next 10 years he was in the process of becoming a demon. and when he gets back and he finds out sam is drinking demon blood and using his powers and training under a demon dean is terrified that the same thing is happening to sam. “at least he died human” is literally what dean wishes he could have done, he’s so ashamed of what he did and traumatized by it and he wishes he hadn’t, wishes he’d stayed himself instead of letting hell change him. and what sam is doing looks so familiar to him, he’s desperate to stop him, desperate to pull him out before it’s too late for him like it is for dean.

and actually! this makes the mark of cain arc so much more intense and if they had actually leaned into the fact that they’re talking about THEE biblical cain who was a brother THEE biblical abel and that cain commits the first murder by killing his brothers, especially since they changed THEE bible so that cain killed abel to save him from lucifer, from hell, and gave himself in his place, they could have done so much work with dean and sam’s relationship and deconstructed the dynamic they’ve been building up since s3. the older brother gives himself in exchange for the younger, the older brother tries to protect the younger from lucifer, the older brother ensures that his brother “dies human” and becomes a demon in his place. what was that like for abel? to know he is in heaven because his brother took his place in hell? to know his brother killed him for this? is it enough? is it worth the betrayal? is he ashamed of himself? is he angry? why didn’t they fucking cast abel????

#i LOVE colette the oc wife of THEE biblical cain they were THINKING when they did that #but the show insists on being abt two brothers and constantly traumatizing them in relation to the other and then never addressing it #address it!!!!!!!!!!!! they said we will lay out all the pieces for this story and then not put them together #and while we still make a pretty picture it will not be what we could do #and the thing is they could have kept the oc wife colette and juxtapositioned that. #the man who sacrifices himself for his younger brother and hurts him in the process and who is defined by the things he has done for his #brother letting go of that because the person he loves asks him to. it's antigone but who can make me a new brother doing everything for his #brother but that's not all he is and that's not all he can be he can love to. and he remembers that. he is not a killer. everything he has #done he has done for love. #IMAGINE IF SPN WAS GOOD #spn #speaking #dean

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Reiji Maniac [Prologue]

ー The scene starts on the balcony of Banmaden

Shin: ーー Nii-san.

Carla: How is Ayato doing?

Shin: Still in a deep slumber per usual. Whether you stomp or kick him, he gives no reaction whatsoever. Almost like a corpse. 

Can’t we just kill him already?

Carla: Stop. We need him to lure out that woman. If you dare harm him, you will be punished. (1)

Shin: ...Ugh.

Why are we prolonging the process by relying on a hostage?

Whatever. I’m going straight to those Vampires’ castle and demand they hand over the woman!

Carla: No need to rush.

Shin: But...!

Carla: Shin, this is like a game of chess.

Shin: Eh...?

Carla: One must not focus solely on taking down the pieces right in front of them.

If you act hastily, unnecessary sacrifices will be made.

Shin: ...I get what you’re trying to say, but why are you being so careful?

Carla: ...Sakamaki Reiji.

Shin: Eh...?

Carla: The Vampire who was by her side ーー It appeared to me that he was rather sharp of an individual.

He will most likely come to us himself. Then the game will begin.

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom of Richter’s manor

Reiji: ...

*Thud*

Reiji: ...Phew.

( All necessary preparations have been made. Which leaves ーー )

Yui: ...

Reiji: Fufu, she is sound asleep.

( I should go while I have the chance. It pains me to leave without a single word, but I simply cannot keep on bringing her in more danger. )

( Furthermore, if my prediction is on point, this is the best move. )

Yui: ...

ー He leans in

Reiji: I’ll get going. ...Nn.

*Smooch*

ー Reiji leaves the room

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ーー Nn...

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: Huh...? Reiji-san...?

( Reiji-san’s gone. Why...? )

*Rustle*

Yui: ...? This isーー

*Flip*

Yui: ...!

( This is a letter from Reiji-san! )

ー A flashback ensues

Reiji: ーー Please forgive me for leaving you behind.

I will now head towards the Founders’ quarters to retrieve Ayato. I am fairly certain I have pinpointed their whereabouts. 

Please try and behave until I return.

Furthermore, be careful of Richter. Do not trust him under any circumstances.

Until we meet again. I love you, Yui.

ー The flashback ends

Yui: ...Reiji-san...

( I’m sure he went by himself because he doesn’t want to bring me into danger. )

( He said his senses are currently numbed by the Lunar Eclipse so I wonder if he’ll be okay? )

( Knowing Reiji-san, I doubt he has asked any of his brothers for help. )

( However, I might just have to rely on them. )

( I wonder if there isn’t some way for me to contact the Sakamaki castle? )

( ...However, if I act of my own accord, I might end up troubling Reiji-san again... )

*Knock knock*

Yui: ...!

???: I’m coming in.

Yui: Richter-san...

Richter: I made some tea. Would you like to enjoy a cup together?

Yui: Eh...?

( What should I do...? )

( He’s being so kind to offer, but I should probably... )

Yui: Sorry. I’ll pass for now.

Richter: ...I see.

ー Richter leaves again

Yui: ( ...Did I do the wrong thing? )

ー The scene shifts to the outside of Banmaden

Carla: ーー So you have come?

Reiji: Good evening, First Blood gentlemen. 

I am flattered by the warm welcome. (2)

( As expected, they predicted that I would come by myself. )

( This is where the real game begins... )

ー The scene shifts to the reception hall

Carla: ーー Let me hear what you have to say.

Reiji: Well then, let me not waste any time...I have come to retrieve my younger brother. Would you be so kind to return him to me?

Shin: We won’t give him back for free. I’m sure someone as clever as yourself has figured out as much?

Reiji: I cannot hand over Yui. However, I will gladly accept any other request.

Carla: Hmph. ...So that is your approach.

Shin: Are you messing with us!? What else would we even want!?

Carla: Very well.

Shin: Nii-san...!?

Carla: It might be difficult to overwhelm him in one move. In which case, he shall get rid of the other pieces in the way first, before snatching the Queen.

Reiji: Oh dear. Do you enjoy chess? I have a feeling the two of us would get along splendidly

Carla: I have no intention of getting along with you. (3)

Reiji: Now that is truly unfortunate. Personally, I would have loved to sit down with you for a nice chat.

For example...Regarding your ‘plans’, perhaps?

Shin: You little...!

Carla: Shin.

Shin: ...Ugh.

Carla: Reiji, was it?

Your objective is to retrieve your younger brother. Therefore, I would assume that talking about anything else would be a simple waste of time.

Reiji: Good point. My sincere apologies.

( I suppose he will not take my bait that easily... )

( There must be some sort of reason as to why they are after Yui. Especially since her blood is known to be special. )

( I do not know whether they have a concrete plan in mind but if only I could get a better grasp on their goal and ulterior motive... )

Carla: You said you would agree with any other request, no?

Reiji: I am a man of my word after all.

Carla: In that case, become my subordinate.

Shin: Wha...What are you saying, Nii-san!?

Reiji: ( I see. So that is the move he has chosen to make. Carla...I cannot underestimate this man. )

Very well. However, I will not let you have Yui regardless.

Carla: I do not mind.

Shin: You’re trusting this guy!? He might simply pretend to vow loyalty to then try and stab a knife in your back!?

Or rather, that’s obviously his intention!

Reiji: I suppose I cannot blame you for not trusting me. In that caseーー

Shin: ...!

Carla: You bowed down, huh...? However, that is not sufficient.

Grab my hand and press it against your forehead.

Reiji: Understood, my Lord.

Shin: ...Tsk.

Reiji: Please call me at once if you need something. I will be on call until then.

Carla: Very well.

Shin. Bring out Ayato.

Shin: ...Fine.

ー Shin walks away

Reiji: ( ...This concludes game one. Under no circumstances will I let you grab the Queen, First Blood. )

( Furthermore, I will be the last one standing. )

*TIMESKIP*

Reiji: ーー Well then, I shall take my leave now.

My sincere gratitude for returning Ayato.

ー Reiji leaves

Shin: ...Nii-san, why did you do that!? Why would you make him your underling? 

Carla: I simply moved one pawn to obtain the Queen.

Shin: I don’t understand. Why would someone as powerful as yourself bother going through the extra trouble?

Carla: Raw power will only get you so far. While it may be necessary to take the offensive at times, you cannot win the game solely with strength.

Perhaps you should deepen your knowledge on chess a little more.

Shin: ...Roger.

ー The scene shifts to the living room of Richter’s manor

Yui: ...?

Richter: ...

Yui: ( I wonder what’s wrong with Richter-san? He seems to be sulking while sitting on the staircase. )

Richter: ...Oh, it’s you. Is something wrong?

Yui: I figured I would grab myself a glass of water...

Richter: I see...

Yui: ( I wonder why he seems down? Is he feeling under the weather, perhaps? )

( I know I have to take Reiji-san’s words to heart, but a little chat wouldn’t hurt, I suppose... )

Uhm, Richter-san? Is something the matter?

Richter: No...I just ended up remembering Cordelia.

She is no longer with us.

I will never be able to see her again, no matter how badly I want to...

Yui: Richter-san...

( Reiji-san called him a fool, but when I see him like this... )

ー Reiji enters the room

Reiji: Oh my, both of you are together it seems.

Yui: Reiji-san...!

Richter: Why are you carrying Ayato in your arms?

Reiji: I will fill you in on the details later. I would like to bring him to a room now.

Let us go, Yui.

Yui: Y-Yes...

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom

Reiji: ...Phew. I suppose this means we will have one less thing to worry about.

Yui: ...I was worried since you suddenly disappeared, you know?

Reiji: I left you a note, did I not?

Yui: You did but...You were going up against Founders, right?

Besides, the Eclipse is still ongoing, so I was worried whether you’d be okay all by yourself...

Reiji: I see. Thank you very much. However, as you can see, I am unscathed.

Furthermore, I was able to safely retrieve Ayato.

Yui: That’s true, but still...

( I’m genuinely relieved both of them made it back safely, yet... )

( I still wish he would stop acting by himself... )

However, how did you come to an agreement with Carla-san and his brother?

Reiji: Do you wish to know? In that case, please let me suck your blood. To the point where you will feel lightheaded and collapse.

Yui: Eeh!?

Reiji: Fufu, that was a joke.

Yui: ( I feel as if he just skillfully dodged my question... )

( Did he do something which has to remain a secret...? )

Reiji: Well then, what to do next...?

Yui: Aren’t we going to the pharmaceutical facility?

Reiji: No, we will stay here for a while and evaluate the situation.

I do not feel satisfied simply grabbing a few pieces. Now that we have come this far, we might as well aim for victory.

Yui: ( ...Knowing Reiji-san, I’m sure he’s got plenty of ideas running through his head again but... )

( I honestly have no idea what he’s thinking... )

( I wish he wouldn’t do anything dangerous... )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー 

Translation notes 

(1) 断罪する or ‘danzai suru’ can imply both ‘to convict (for crime)’ in general or refer to beheading. I don’t know if Carla would go as far as to behead his own brother, hence why I went with the more neutral ‘punish’. 

(2) Literally he says he feels flattered since they went out of their way to come and greet him outside.

(3) In Japanese, the expression 話が合いそう or ‘hanashi ga aisou’ is used, which more specifically focuses on getting along in terms of having a conversation with each other, since you would both be interested in the same topic. However, in English I decided to translate it as ‘to get along’, so I had to adapt Carla’s phrase a little. A more literal translation would be ‘I have nothing to tell you’ or ‘I have nothing I want to talk about with you’.

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<- [ Dark Epilogue ] [ Maniac 01 ] ->

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #reiji sakamaki #dark fate #diabolik lovers translation #dfreijimaniacprolog

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Seklos and Gaylen, They Were Cagemates! Chapter 5: Cagemates

Plans are made by the boys' families. Kubritz offers a deal.

After four chapters, the boys are finally cagemates!

So, during the longer-than-planned hiatus, a movie was released. Don't worry, not only do I refuse to watch said movie, the exact events of RotT cannot happen in this universe because of things that happen in my outline for the AU.

Content/Spoiler warning: Grieving, loss of child, and suicidal ideation

AO3

FFN

The first thing Merlin had done when he felt his magic return to him was cast his senses outward to look for Hisirdoux.

Well, no, not exactly. The first thing he had done was groan in pain as his many injuries began to heal themselves. Morgana had already brought him to the brink of death twice, only healing him enough so that he would live, and she could continue to torture him. But, after groaning in pain, Merlin had cast out his senses to find his son.

There was no trace of Hisirdoux anywhere. Archie had been a clear signal, as was the Trollhunter. Nari, as distant as she was, had been a powerful beacon.

Hisirdoux’s magic was nowhere in this world. There was only one explanation for this: Merlin’s son was dead. And so, for the first time in many centuries (even whilst ignoring the ones between Killahead and now), Merlin Wylt allowed himself to cry. He did not allow himself to cry for long, of course. He couldn’t let his grief consume him. There was work to be done. An Eternal Night to reverse, a familiar to collect, a sword to repair, and a Heartstone to find.

Merlin had done two of those things, and he had tried to convince Archie to come with him. Merlin owed it to Hisirdoux to at least try to protect his familiar. But, as usual, Archie was too proud to listen to reason. He always thought he knew best on matters concerning Hisirdoux. And, in some ways, Archie had known better since he had known Hisirdoux for longer, but he was clearly in denial of the obvious.

That was a day ago. Now he was in the process of doing the fourth of those things. Merlin had to deal with a tribe of irritable trolls, all crammed into a too-small cave. The sun wouldn’t set for another hour.

Merlin felt a wave of energy pass through him.

It was like an agonized cry of distress coming from his son. It was short, and it was brief, but Merlin could feel Hisirdoux’s fear.

For the briefest of moments, Merlin almost hoped that maybe Hisirdoux was alive. Alive, scared, and in pain. Perhaps hoping that his master would come to save him, as selfish as Merlin knew the thought was.

But no. Hisirdoux was dead. This was merely an echo of his last dying moments, and Merlin must have been close enough to feel it. He wasn’t sure why Hisirdoux had died so far from Arcadia Oaks. Even if in life Hisirdoux hadn’t been the best at following instructions, that one was simple enough that he should’ve been able to follow it easily. Besides, there was no reason for Hisirdoux to abandon Archie like that. Could it have been Morgana? He had foreseen her trying to kill Hisirdoux, and clearly Merlin’s visions had been wrong since the formerly human Trollhunter was even younger than Hisirdoux should be now. But no. Morgana wouldn’t have killed Hisirdoux so far away. She would have dragged Hisirdoux to where Merlin lay gasping for breath and tortured and killed Hisirdoux in front of Merlin.

And to think she had once cared about the boy, or at least, seemed to have cared about him. Merlin wasn’t sure if he would ever know how early her betrayal started.

Merlin would never know how Hisirdoux had died, not unless he stumbled upon what was left of his son’s body. And call Merlin selfish, but he didn’t want to see it. Seeing his son’s corpse would only be useful if Merlin was planning on reanimating it. Bringing his son back was an act of dark magic, and Merlin would not partake in it no matter how desperately he wanted his son to be alive.

Merlin knew how the Trollhunter and his allies saw Merlin. A washed-up, bitter old man who had failed to do nearly anything useful. And Merlin had failed. He had failed his last two apprentices. He had failed to stop Morgana from going down her dark path, whether by guiding her better or just by annihilating the threat no matter what cost it would bring down, Merlin killing the king’s sister.

And he had failed Hisirdoux. For a millennium and a half, Merlin had not taken in another apprentice because he had always planned on returning to his apprentice. Tradition dictated that Merlin only take on a new apprentice should Hisirdoux die, become a master wizard, or should Merlin decide that Hisirdoux was too much of a nuisance to keep around and break the apprenticeship. No matter how frustrating Hisirdoux was sometimes, whether it was disturbing Merlin with his lute or trying to get out of doing his chores by wrestling with a broom, Merlin never would have abandoned Hisirdoux. He was far too attached to his son to do that, and so he had not taken an apprentice during the absence.

Perhaps it was time to change that. There was, after all, an orphan wizard nearby. One who had learned the hard way why a staff was only something a master wizard could safely wield. First off, though, he would need to see if she had any skill beside shadowmancy.

“Fair lady Claire,” Merlin said, approaching her. He kept his voice steady and even, betraying nothing of his grief. “Levitate that rock for me?”

She flinched.

“Sorry, Aja,” Stuart said. “He wasn’t anywhere in Arcadia. Or at least, I couldn’t find him.”

“It’s… it’s not your fault. Zadra and Steve couldn’t find Krel either,” Aja said. It had been a long day of searching for everyone gathered around the dining table of the Mothership. Stuart, Zadra, and Steve had scoured the town and woods for Krel, while Aja and the Blanks had been more successful in their search for the core scanner. Even the success felt weak, though. Between the crash and Krel’s sense of organization, it had taken her all day to find it. It hadn’t helped that three horvaths into searching, she had found herself wanting to walk up to Krel and lecture him on how just because he was smart it didn’t mean his organization patterns were the best ones to follow since only he could find things, but then she’d remembered he was missing and burst into tears. She probably wouldn’t give him the lecture when they found him, not until she had to look for something else he’d hidden away in a place that was only obvious to him.

“But we will find him,” Aja continued. “We have to.”

Aja didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if she didn’t find her brother. She placed the core scanner on the table. “Stuart, do you know how to make a second one of these? We only have one, but if we had more we could split up and look for Krel. Krel and Varvatos.”

“I can try,” Stuart said, “But I get the feeling that I won’t have all the parts. At best I can make a version with a very, very short range.”

“You still want to find the traitor?” Zadra asked.

“Our first priority is finding Krel, but if we find Varvatos in the process we’re not going to leave him to suffer,” Aja said. “We’ll bring him home to the Mothership. He sacrificed himself to save my parents, and I won’t let that sacrifice be in vain.”

Besides, depending on how badly hurt Varvatos was, he might be able to help search for Krel.

For all she knew, Varvatos had already found Krel and was trying to take care of him, especially if Krel had been knocked unconscious and Varvatos no idea where the Mothership was. That happened to Krel a lot, so surely it wasn’t too unreasonable to hope for.

Right?

Krel slowly began to wake up, and he realized he was laying on his side. That didn’t make sense. In his cage, it was impossible for him to lay on his side; he had to remain sitting up. He almost began to hope the past several delsons were all just some awful dream, but he was in so much pain from the cuts and the beating he had endured.

Krel opened his eyes.

He had been transferred to a larger cage, one where he could lay down. He tried to push himself onto all four of his hands and knees and gasped as moving brought more pain to him from every place the batons had struck him. He pushed himself up onto his lower pair of arms instead and saw Douxie laying barely a foot away from him in the same cage. White hair hung in front of his closed eyes. Krel frowned; Douxie’s hair had been darker before. Was that a normal thing that happened when he used his magic? Krel couldn’t be sure, but if it was then capturing Douxie and any other wizard must have been easy if there was unexplained glowing and hair lightening. Humans didn’t glow.

Douxie looked almost peaceful in his sleep, enough so that a small part of Krel was loathe to wake him up. That small part was very easy to ignore. Krel began to nudge at Douxie with one of his upper arms. Douxie groaned out something about arches.

“Please, please wake up.” Krel shoved a little more forcefully. Douxie had sounded hurt back when he had used his magic. Maybe that was normal. Maybe being a wizard was a constant sacrifice, which sounded extremely inefficient.

“What do you want?” Douxie hissed even though his throat hurt. Why were they even in the same cage, for that matter? Douxie wouldn’t have minded if it weren’t for the shoving.

“Oh, good, you’re okay.” Douxie opened an eye to find Krel looking concerned, except something white was blocking most of Douxie’s field of vision. Douxie opened his other eye and focused on the white strand of –

No.

No.

Oh, fuzzbuckets, no!

As the memories of what he had done flooded back to him, Douxie sat up straight and away from Krel’s hands. His head was swimming and he felt sick as he pinched his bangs between his fingers as he glared at the stark contrast.

His hair was white.

Of course it was white. There was a reason why wizards who chose to dye their hair did not let it go bleached for very long, according to Zoe. Dark magic attacked life forces, and that attack could make dyed hair into something eternally white. Of course, this was only if the wizard using dark magic survived.

Douxie hadn’t planned on surviving. He’d planned for himself and Krel to escape, with Douxie’s escape to be death and Krel’s escape to outside of the base.

A woman in green walked towards the cage, hands on her hips. As Krel tensed, Douxie realized she was the same one who had tased Krel. She stopped in front of the cage and gazed at the boys smugly.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced,” she said. “I’m Colonel Kubritz, and I’m going to give you two a deal.”

“Oh, really? And what do we have to give you to let us go?” Krel asked. He didn’t trust this colonel at all, but it was worth asking.

She chuckled. “Oh, no, both of you will be spending the rest of your lives in captivity. I just have a way for you two to extend those lives: if one of you resists experimentation or an order, the other will be punished.” She turned around and began to walk away before casting a glance over her shoulder. “Oh, and keep the conversation quiet, or there will be consequences.”

“Resist as much as you can,” Douxie said in a low voice as soon as she exited the room. Krel looked towards him and saw him staring at the ground. “Don’t pay what happens to me any mind.”

“What? Didn’t you hear her say that you’ll get punished if I resist?” Krel suspected that they’d get punished anyways, but any minimization was a good thing.

“Even if I somehow get out of here, I won’t have anywhere to go. I’ve used dark magic, and it’ll be obvious to everyone.”

“Dark magic?”

“It’s dangerous, and it feeds on life forces, and only evil people use it. Evil, or desperate, like I was desperate to save you. You’re welcome, by the way. But they won’t see it as desperation.”

“Thank you,” Krel said. You don’t seem evil to me, he didn’t say. An evil person wouldn’t have saved Krel, except what did that make Varvatos? Varvatos had saved Krel over and over again, despite the danger it had posed to Varvatos. Despite the way that Varvatos betrayed the Tarrons and had led to Krel and his family being hurt over and over again.

“My familiar, my master, and my,” Douxie cut himself off, shaking his head and biting his lip. “The coven I’ve been taken in by will all outcast me at best. They might just outright kill me for being dangerous. You, though, I’m sure you have something left to live for. If you resist, you might live longer than if you don’t.”

Krel stared at Douxie for a long moment, noting the defeat in his posture. “No.”

Douxie looked at Krel. There were tears forming in his eyes. Krel found the strange urge to hug his companion, but no. The two of them were getting unwanted touches from everyone else, so why should Krel do the same to Douxie? Granted, he had already shoved Douxie, but he would be better from now on.

“No, I’m not going to let you die here,” Krel continued. “Even if everyone else casts you out, you can stay with me. My sister will come for me, and when she does, I’m going to make sure that both of us escape with her.”

Author's note: Now that Claire has officially been made more important to this fic than she was in 3Below season 2 what no I'm definitely not still salty that freakin' Kanjigar got a cameo while Claire only got mentioned in the last five minutes she probably won't show up again (though she may get mentioned).

#krexie #toa merlin #claire nuñez #aja tarron #stuart of durio #lieutenant zadra #krel tarron #hisirdoux casperan #colonel kubritz #area 49b #trollhunters #3below #toawizards #tales of arcadia #and they were cagemates #seklos and gaylen they were cagemates! #my writing #Suicide #death mention

[conaionaru]

Honor and Blood (Ivar the Boneless)

For every mother, every child, every brother

Synopsis: Everybody fins out what happened. Ivar loses his mind and plans to murder everybody in Kattegat till Vanya and his son show up.

Warnings: Ivar, Silas, mentions of murder, mentions of child murder, angst, drowning

Tags:

@youbloodymadgenius​ @didiintheblog​ @xbellaxcarolinax​ @queenbeeta​ @shannygoatgruff​ @lol-haha-joke​ @heavenly1927​

Ivar sat on his father's throne, glaring at the ground, lost in thoughts. Ever since the night his son was born, he hadn't slept. He looked dead outside as he felt inside. His eyes were hollow, surrounded by dark circles, his hair was matted to his head from sweat and sticking out in some places from always running his fingers through it. His eyes are extremely blue, and his legs hurt like Hel.

But he couldn't sleep, wash or do anything else but curse his stupidity. He should have stayed in the hut, like he wanted to, the Ragnarsson shouldn't have listened to the healer and stayed by his wife's and son's side. But he was stupid and went to the Hall to celebrate with his brothers and the people.

Ivar returned to their hut in the morning only to find it empty. His wife and son gone, together with the healer. He threw a tantrum, screamed, cursed both himself and the gods. That's how Ubbe found him, trashing his home with the carved figure of Fenrir in his hand covered by the specks of blood that Vanya left behind during labor.

His brothers had to drag him out of the hut, scoring a few hits to their faces in the process. Hvitserk's left eye is not swollen shut, and Sigurd flinches every time he moves his torso too fast. Yet it did nothing to Ivar's state of mind. Aslaug and Ubbe stayed by his side, trying to get him to eat, drink, and sleep. But the youngest Ragnarsson was deaf to their words.

All he could hear was the last words Vanya told him. "Fuck you." It was said in the mids of their child's painful birth. She was in pain, and he took it with humor, and now it would be the last words that left her lips. If he had known that her tired, happy smile would be the last time he would see her, he would have stayed. He should have laid by her side, holding their perfect son, and watched her sleep.

Now all he ha left of her were clothes, the fading smell, and the necklace he gave her. She hadn't even worn it, and now it was one of the last things to remember her by. After Aslaug and Ubbe force-fed him, he busied himself, cleaning the wooden Fenrir from her blood. It looked like new, but he still saw the bloodstains on it.

Bjorn and the rest of his brothers created a search party, trying to find them, or their bodies. Ubbe only stayed behind in case he got violent again, but he felt numb, hollow. Floki wanted to reassure him that Vanya maybe just needed fresh air and got lost, but they both knew it was wishful thinking. Vanya was probably dead and their newborn with her.

Ivar hated himself so much; he wanted to rip his hair out and murder everyone in the kingdom. Starting with the healer who sent him away, when they found her, of course, then he would burn the man who asked him to stay at the feast longer to celebrate with them. The slaughter will then follow with anyone who could have seen or heard her, no matter if they did. And anyone who would stop him would follow. Expect his brothers and mother; they would search harder to sate his anger.

"Ivar." The blue eyes Viking looked up to see Bjorn walking to him with a grim look on his face. "Two farmers found the healer in the stalls."

"Well, then bring her here!" He spat back, but Aslaug watched Bjorn with a frown. He didn't look happy with the information he gave them.

Bjor sighed and shook his head. "She is dead, Ivar. Someone slit her throat and hid her in the straw."

"Brynja and Margrethe found bloodstains on the ground when they cleaned the hut as well," Sigurd announced, walking into the Hall. "They were by the door; someone tried to clean them."

Aslaug watched the sons of Ragnar crowded in the room, the silence in the room growing thicker. It was clear now; someone killed the healer and his her body. Which meant they wanted to kill Vanya and the child as well.

"Were all of the knights here during the feast?" The Queen asked, looking them over, but Hvitserk nodded.

He mentioned for the thralls by the door, that covered before Ivar in fear. He hit one of them when they poured his cup, so now they kept clear of him. "The thralls counted them—six men dressed in armor during the whole night. Silas was here as well; he didn't leave his seat at all."

Ivar scoffed at the information and dug his nails into the armrest. Aslaug put her hand on top of his, but he wrenched it away, ignoring her hurt expression. He had more pressing matters to attend to than heading his mother's feelings; somebody tried to kill his family. And they may have succeeded, and he had no one to blame.

Silas changed his clothes into some older ones, more fit for searching for his sister. Stithulf sat by the table, watching another knight clean his sword from the healer's blood. The bitch put up a fight and tried to kill the knight. But he got the upper hand and cut her neck open instead, which wasn't the plan. He was supposed to knock her out and pin the murder of the Princess and little Prince on her. A scrape goat they could all hide behind.

"Search wherever they tell you to look, steer clear of the water. It would be suspicious if you discovered the floating boat. The longer it takes them to find my nephew, the better. He will either freeze or starve." Silas ordered tying the neckline of his tunic. Stithulf huffed and downed his cup of wine.

"We should leave. We would survive and would be safer in Slegia. Could blame the heathens for the murders and declare war on them with Eckbert's help." He argued before glaring at the cleaning knight on his right. "If you just did what you were told! And cover that bruise on your neck, you idiot! You fucked up, enough, Pæga !"

The knight frowned at that and straightened his back in defense, not liking the tone the younger knight took used against him. "The pagan tried to claw my eye out and woke the Princess! What was I supposed to do when she wanted to strangle me, boy? Thank her and then rip the babies head off and kill its mother? I am a knight, not a monster."

"You are a useless tool, that's what you are. I gave you the most important job, Pæga. And you messed it up. I should have beheaded you with the rest of Father's old guards. But I kept you alive, and this is how you repay my mercy. Count yourself lucky if you survive the journey back home. Pretend to mourn and search for the corpses of my sister and her child!" Silas spat at them and marched towards the door. When he left the hut with his knights in tow, a shiver shook his body. The air was cold, and clouds covered the sky.

The pagans believed that their gods mourned the Princess's disappearance; they prayed to their false deities for her survival. Fools the lot of them, not even God can save her now, she drowned in the cold water of their homeland and left her child to starve on the boat. Or maybe crows will peck out its eyes and feast on his insides. Whatever end his nephew would meet, Silas needed to look sad. He pretended that he lost sleep over her disappearance instead of having the best rest of his life. Last time he slept this good, his father died.

"Come to the Great Hall! The Queen and the Ragnarssons have something to say." Called out a thrall as the people crowded outside the Great Hall and waited for the news. The ones who were searching the hills and forests would be informed later.

Silas walked by Stithulf's side with a fake grim look on his face. Inside they both celebrated their victory. Stithulf did tell Vanya that Silas needed to be the only option for King. He just didn't voice that murder was the way to achieve it. She paid the price with her and her son's blood. The ginger was the sacrifice needed to raise Silas higher. The bards would sing songs of her horrid "accident" for a few years and sing praises of Silas the Great until the end of times. And Stithulf would be mentioned in every song by name. Sir Stithulf, the Loyal, most trusted man in his king's court. He was so trusted he would be named the heir after Silas died, which by the number of enemies he made for himself wouldn't be too long.

All the knight had to do was support Siflæd's marriage, which put an end to Sila's engagement, leaving the King with no heir. A few more foiled betrothals like this one and Silas would give up hope and name him his successor. Any children Siflæd might sire with Ceolmund would "mysteriously" die, and he would be the only to option left. He deserves a reward for putting up with Silas.

"Dear people of Kattegat, as you know, Princess Vanya and her son have gone missing. The healer who stayed by her bedside was found today, dead. Someone cut her throat and hid her body in the stables, which means that someone planned to murder them. We must recover Vanya and the child soon. The weather is getting colder, and neither was dressed for the cold." Bjorn announced to the people who muttered between themselves their faces twisted in worry.

The good Princess was gone and her child with her, leaving behind her bloodthirsty husband, which meant nothing good for any of them, innocent or otherwise. "People of Kattegat!" Ivar cried out, crawling out of the Hall, tired of listening to Bjorn.

Aslaug runs after him trying to keep him quiet, but Ivar was determined to speak. "You all loved my wife; she fed you and cared for you. And now she needs your help. You all prayed for them to survive, not even a day ago. And now, my son and wife are in danger." He watched the crowd with calculating eyes, ignoring his aching legs, he had more important things to do. Prove a point and rescue his family.

"Somebody attacked Vanya and our child while they slept, an unarmed woman who just gave birth and a newborn child! We will find them, and I swear to you in their names that the culprit will pay. The worse state they are found, the more painful the killer's death will be! Hired sellsword, assassin, or whoever you might be..." He paused to let the words sink in. The crowd rioted, agreeing with his hateful rant. He leaned closer to them and clenched his jaw. "I'm going to fucking murder you."

The folks cheered while his brothers stood behind him, frowning at the threats he made. They agreed that whoever did it must die; everybody did, but Ivar's speech was different. He was unhinged, and it was surprising that nobody was killed by his hand yet.

The crowd scattered as they searched the town, shores, forests, and hills. Ivar stayed in his spot outside watching everybody leave while only his mother and Ubbe remained. He saw Brynja run by with furs in her arms if she found Vanya, the servant was a mess just like him, and that reassured him. At least he wasn't the only one losing sleep over her.

The Ragnarsson could hear some praying for their wellbeing. Ivar prayed as well, all the times he begged the gods so his child wouldn't be like him, and they answered. They gave him a healthy son and let Vanya survive the birth. Only to take them both away when he turned his back. How cruel they were to him, they took his legs, father, and now wife and son. He remained true to them all the time, seventeen years of worshiping them just like Floki taught him. And they took everything from him; they let him find love only to rip it away when he was happy.

A man walked the streets of Kattegat hidden under his grey cloak and hood with a sword strapped to his side. He watched the people run by searching for something, but moved out of their way and made his way into the Great Hall. He looked at the tall building and frowned at the tense atmosphere that surrounded it.

"I stand by my word, Brother! I will kill whoever is responsible!" Ivar hissed his breath fanning against Ubbe's face. But the older Ragnarsson didn't even flinch. Meanwhile, Aslaug poured herself another cup. She needed something to distract herself, or she would go crazy. The gods aren't answering her prayers; they won't give her a vision either. She blamed herself, Vanya saw her demise, she begged Aslaug to protect her son. And she dismissed her worries for delusion.

"All I am saying is that you should watch what you say, Ivar. I am not saying that they won't die. But killing everyone isn't going to solve anything."

"I am going to sacrifice them to the gods so they will bring them back! That's more than you are doing!" The sleep-deprived heathen spat back, throwing his brother's cup to the floor as a thrall run to clean the mess. "Might as well go and fuck the slave you all share."

Ubbe shook his head and pushed anything ivar might throw away from his reach. "I am making sure you don't go around murdering people and don't die before Vanya is found. If you think that I don't care, then you are mistaken. She might not have been my wife or the mother of my child, but I loved her nonetheless. She deserved better than having people slaughtered in her name."

Ivar scoffed at the words and leaned back in his chair by the fire. "I am looking for Princess Vanya!" A voice announced from the door. The Queen and her oldest and youngest sons looked at the intruder.

"And what does a wanderer want with her?" Aslaug questioned, climbing to her feet and walking towards the stranger that she felt she knew. He seemed familiar.

The man looked at her with his emotionless face. "The gods will. I am sure she must have mentioned me. The man in the fire, and the meadow."

Ivar scoffed and glared at him in disdain and anger. Rolling his eyes, he downed his mother's cup of ale. "You are the man from her dreams, then?" Aslaug's eyes widened, looking him over, better. The painted face and dark worn cloak with the sword at his side. Vanya dreamt of him so often and mentioned him to her; she almost felt like she had visions of him herself. The man nodded at the sarcastic question.

"And what's your name?" Ubbe asked, not believing the man at all. Yet the wanderer ignored the mistrust and answered honestly.

"Hoenir, after the God of Silence." He explained, looking at them with void eyes, waiting for the Princess to show up. "The Gods spoke to me and told me to find Vanya, to protect her."

Ivar glared at the wanderer and slammed his fist against the table, making the thralls jump in fright. "You failed already. My wife and our child were attacked while they slept. Their bodies aren't found."

Hoenir watched the prince fume and frowned. He didn't like the answer; he had been traveling from his home for months, and now the one he was supposed to protect is probably dead. "Are you sure she is dead? I dreamt I would meet her here, looking like a Valkyrie."

Ivar scoffed at that, while Aslaug asked him to help search for Vanya. He agreed and walked towards the coast, watching the waves his the shores of his new home. The sea was empty, and despite the dark weather, was it calm as a storm was brewing but not yet ready to destroy everything in its path.

Far away from the city on a small boat, a little child whined, hidden under a red shield embedded with seven arrows. The babe silently cried from his bed of fishing nets, waiting for somebody to pick him up. But no one listened to his delicate calls, only the ravens flying over the boat croaking but never swooping down to see what's on the ship.

Everything else was silent as the dark storm clouds gathered on the sky, hiding the sun from view. The waves softly hit the side of the vessel filled with a barrel of mead and apples. The child whined loud it's little hands reaching for the sharp arrowheads above his head.

A hand rose from the water; the fingers pale with a blue undertone. It clutched the side of the boat in a death grip. Next emerged a head of wet red locks and pale blue eyes with blue lips. The woman carefully hauled herself aboard the vessel and collapsed on her back, the whining child on her right side. She gasped and coughed up water watching the blackbirds circle the sky. Her eyes slowly closed, giving in to the desire to sleep while her hungry child cried next to her. But she was too exhausted to let alone breathe. She spent so much time under the water, sticking her nose out for air and holding onto the boat from below, steering it away from the knights' eyes. Her muscles screamed in protest while the arrow sticking from her shoulder throbbed in pain. With a sigh, she let the darkness consume her.

#vikings #history vikings #vikings imagine #ivar #ivar lothbrok #ivar the boneless #ivar x oc #ivar imagine #ivar ragnarsson #original character #original female character

[oncerpotter2018]

Plot:

Charles Francis Xavier and Erik Magnes Lehnserr were two different kinds of people who lives two separate lives. One is a tormented soul whose a leader of his own street gang in New York City, who has revenge and murder on his mind. While the other is a upcoming Oxford University student, who is optimistic and keen to spread peace to who he meets. Soon their worlds would collide in the most unexpected way. Charles will discover the reality of human nature and Erik will find what it means to love again.

A Banana Fish AU

Chapter 1

It was the last day of finishing College before summer arrives. Charles hadn't slept for ages, his eyes not tired as he rolled over his bed lying awake for hours. Charles had been accepted to the most prestigious and high ranked Universities in the world. He always dreamed of going to Oxford University, the long dream of studying and setting his goals for his bright future. He tried so hard to sleep that night but couldn't get his mind to take a rest until his phone rang that jolted him back to his senses.

"Hello" he answered.

"Hey, sorry did I bothered you?"

"No, it's fine I couldn't sleep anyway" Charles replied in his sleep as he talked with his sister Raven over the phone.

"Okay then, I just want say congratulations on your acceptances and to celebrate guess who got tickets to a long term place someone so wanted to visit for so long"

"Raven, what are you up to?"

There was a pause. Charles looked at the clock hanging above his door realising it was nearing two o'clock in the morning.

"Let's just say that someone will get a chance to finally get his once in a life time chance to take a look at his world favourite library in the world, go experience Times Square... Are you getting me now Charles?"

There was another long pause as Charles over thought what his sister said.

"Wait... Are you saying...?"

"Yes Charles, we're going to New York" Raven said finishing her brother's thought process.

Charles snapped awake, he couldn't believe the surprise that came from the voice of his sister. It was unreal.

"I'm shocked. I'm so grateful but wait you said 'we', what does that mean?"

"Charles.. Seriously? We're family, besides I'm not letting you roam New York City alone, besides New York is the best place to get the newest line of clothing"

Charles heard his sister laugh from the other side.

"So when do we leave, for New York I mean?"

"Tomorrow"

"Wait what, tomorrow?"

"Yes, now get some sleep, I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. Have a good sleep, by Charles" and before Charles could say anything else the phone went silent.

"New York" Charles thought to himself. His mind wondering where on earth did Raven get  tickets to New York? He laid awake for a few more hours before his eyes got tired this time and soon he fell asleep dreaming about what New York City is like. He had only seen the State in pictures, in magazines and in text books. But seeing the real thing up close and personal would be a dream come true. An opportunity to take photos that would last forever. Make memories with his sister. See the place he only dreamed in his head. He thought all of this as he let his mind wonder of what America was like. What the people are like and who he shall met there.

A few miles away in the city of New York, a younger man by the name of Erik Lehnserr waits in silence taking another swing at his cold drink. He drank and drank until the doors to the dinning area bursted open.

"About time" said Erik, taking his drink back to his lips once more.

"Sorry I'm late, I wanted to be presentable for my dear Lehnserr" said Sebastian Shaw, a man of wealth and promises but with a cruel intention at his heart. He raised Erik like his own son after his mother died. He raised him good but the older Erik got the more unspeakable things Shaw did with his new profound toy to break. He walked in, sat on the seat in front of Erik taking his own drink in his hands. Erik didn't take his eyes off Shaw.

"Well enough chit chat, if you dare to kill one more of my boys to get my attention all you have to do was ask nicely" he said back, taking his drink tightly in his hand, his leg crossed with the other and his body relaxed in his seat. Shaw gave a little laugh.

"That's what I love about you Erik, protective of your own kind" he said walking closer to Erik now, his drak eyes deepening into Erik's own green grey ones.

Erik didn't flinch at his touch, didn't move a muscle when Shaw came closer to grab Erik by his cheeks and chin so he could turn his face upwards facing his direction where his eyes were.

"You have such a pretty face" he said "and such good lips" he said rubbing his thumb across Erik's soft mouth. "Why don't you stay here, leave those boys behind and you can have everything you want"

Erik grinned before whacking Shaw's hand away from his face.

"Not in a million years" Erik retorted before reaching for his brown leather jacket and left Shaw and his home. Erik had been keeping a grudge against Shaw since he was a child, and hated him for his lies that only he knew the truth of. Shaw didn't care for him, loved him as he told people, those guests who partyed in his mansion. The truth was Shaw took interest in Erik in cold hearted ways, seeking pleasure rather then compassion. He took Erik away, killing his mother in the process. With both sides at war, Erik's 'Brotherhood of Mutants' and Shaw's 'Hellfire Club' were sworn enemies. Erik swore to kill Shaw not matter how many times he placed his life on the line. Until the day Shaw dies, Erik will never be satisfied. Outside the mansion gates stands Logan Howlett, the leader of the X-Men as his gang wants to be called. Erik let Logan keep the name, it suited him better then what Summer's suggested. 

"Don't you think it's about time to rethink things through" 

"I don't know what you mean" said Erik, not looking at Logan as he walked down the driveway. 

"I mean don't just go head first, have a plan and then attack" 

"Since when did 'The Wolverine' thought things through and made plans. I thought you were the kill or be killed leader type?" 

Logan used to snarl at that nickname but gotten used to over time. 

"Hey, let me drive you to our hide out, I'm sure a few more drinks won't hurt now would it?" laughed Logan as he gestured towards his car. 

Erik have a shark like grin and simlmy nodded.

"Okay wolfie, I'll join you and the others for a pint or two, but tell Summer's to keep his brother away from the older guys, last time it wasn't a pretty sight for the eyes" said Erik stepping into the car.

"I told you not to call me that and fine, but you are buying us the drinks" Logan laughed still hating the short hand version the young kids call him. They made it through the city knowing that to survive means to know what sacrifice means. 

#Cherik #cherik fanfiction #banana fish au #sad fanfiction

[visicnbcrn]

Ajax loves his family, more than anything in this world, even more than the Tsaritsa herself. He would do anything for them, to keep them safe and to keep them happy. Yet as much as he loves his family, there is still a deep seeded resentment towards his parents and the world in general--something he doesn't actively realize on a concious level.

This stems from many things, him falling into the abyss loosing his childhood innocence, having to fight for his life to just survive another day, was one. The other was that his parents were afraid of him, afraid of how rapidly their son had changed from a carefree if not trouble making child to a little hellion bent of fighting everything and stirring up trouble. So much so, that his parents ( his father being the most vocal ) sent him away to military school when he was only 14, in hopes that he gets beaten up and has some disicpline literally knocked into him. However, that was not the case, and Pulcinella recruited him into the Fatui ranks ( effectively making him a child soilder ).

Through the ranks did Ajax soar, his recently developed love for the thrill of battle--thanks to the Abyss's influence had cultivated as he fought killed more and more people, looking for that next high--that next challenge. Despite his love for a good fight, its still a means to cope with his inner demons; those bitter feelings and insecurities that relentlessly scratch and claw at his psyche. In turn did he suffer horrendous nightmares, sleep being a very rare thing.

He wrote letters everyday to his family, checking in on them and telling them vauge details about his progress. Never asking if they were proud of him, despite the numerous discarded letters in the bin stating otherwise. He knew that the answer he wished for, wouldn't be the one he would receive. It hurt him, that it seemed he could never have his parents pride--they always gushed about their eldest children and their successes, yet they never talked about him never painting him in a good light because when they did it was always about how troublesome Ajax is, even as he's fighting in their military. Because even in their own country, the Fatuu are disliked. Most only joining for the money it pays to support their struggling families.

The day when he became a harbinger, the youngest out of the eleven--the day when he received his delusion, his title, and a new mask did Ajax now know as Tartaglia hope that maybe now his parents would be proud of him. Rising up to the highest rank he possibly can--to support them within their small village.

Yet, when he arrived home, decorated in the garb of a harbinger--instead of pride, there was a thinly veiled fear within his parents eyes. Subconciously positioning themselves infront of his own younger siblings as if he were going to attack them. Dull blue noticed this small gesture, his heart shattering into pieces. That hope crumbling into nothing but dust, all he wanted was praise, acknowledgement from his own blood ( he was starved of such a thing, and a desire for it grew to be apart of himself. ) Yet, despite all of this he still loved his parents He still adored his baby siblings and they in turn adored him, he was forever a warrior and family man. He would move mountains for his kin.

( even if his parents wouldn't do the same in turn, It felt as if they only loved him out of obligation. He pushed these intrusive thoughts deep down. )

Over the years, his parents fear in him would grow--whenever they heard of the Vanguard's exploits on the battlefield, of the monstrous form he takes as he slaughters battalions in the name for Snezhnaya and their Archon.

He sends letters regularly with little gifts and souvenirs from where he is stationed. He crafted his lie for Teucer, in fear that if his baby brother knew who he truly was. His innocence would be shattered like his, not in the same way--but those childhood dreams being crushed into smithereens, he feared that in one way or another if he were to find out his true identity before Teucer was ready; not only would his brothers admiration for him decease--being replaced by fear as his world and how it is perceived is shattered.

If Ajax were to get a letter from his parents, saying that he was to dangerous to be around his siblings. That he would have to cease all contact them, never allowed to see them. That he was a monster who shouldn't be around such innocent children. That would break him, because them telling him that--would confirm all of those little fears he had suppressed over the years.

Anger would be first a white hot rage as he cuts through monsters trying to feel something, trying to sort through the shock and despair. He would take job after job completing them with swift merciless brutality casuing the Abyss's hold to grow. Yet, his people, the ones who work under him in Liyue cut him off inviting that he rest and process. He's working himself into the ground and into an early grave. With reluctance, does leave work for a few days to rest and try and calm himself. And in that, does his rage, turn into despondency, depression and his sense of apathy--his humanity seems to fade. So when he returns, Childe had become another person. No longer did he smile like he used to--it appeared more empty and hollow never once reaching his eyes.He was far more efficient, ruthless. Almost absent of emotions, save for the occasional flash of the tumultuous storm that were his emotions on his face.

Childe becomes an even more effective soilder, the Tsaritsa is really his only anchor--a source of praise and acknowledgement, his purpose in life. She was the one who comforted him who soothes his soul. He would do anything and everything for her and her cause. Even if she were to sacrifice him like the pawn, the guard dog he was. Ajax would do it without hesitation.

#『 HEADCANONS || CHILDE || AJAX 』 #|{ man this got long #mcuntaincrn's mun and i were discussing this while in vc last night when the whole dash #was screaming over the emotional state of childe and how hes possibly gunna die #but childe isn't ok this man needs love and validation and if he doesnt he just would lose himself #a literal mindless soilder #but anyways have a heavy slice of angst and pain : ) }|

[notapaladin]

catching fallen feathers

At Jiang Yanli's behest, Nie Huaisang goes to Mo Village to check up on Mo Xuanyu a year after the man's expulsion from Lanling Jin.

He'd expected, at most, to secure a pawn. He leaves with a partner-in-crime (and everything shines just that little bit brighter).

(also on AO3!)

Mo Village isn’t much to write home about. Nie Huaisang wonders if he’d think differently if he was approaching through the front gates (as, undoubtedly, Jiang Yanli had intended when she’d said it’s been a year since Mo Xuanyu was sent home, A-Sang, can you…?) but he doubts it. He remembers Mo Xuanyu’s eyes at each mention of his family, remembers his raw terror of even potentially displeasing Jin Guangyao that hadn’t all been due to his half-brother’s reactions. He thinks the broken-down shack he’s approaching, armed only with medical supplies (A-Li’s idea) and easily-kept food (his cousin Nie Huang’s idea—I can’t imagine they’re feeding him well, Sect Leader, I’ve seen him eat, she’d said--) is a better representation of the family’s heart.

He stands just outside the window, and calls, “Mo Xuanyu?”

Silence. It stretches on for long enough that he begins to think seriously of breaking in, before a rough, sullen voice cracks out, “What do you want?”

Good. He’s alive. Clearly not well—the Mo Xuanyu he’d met a few brief times in Jin robes had been clumsy and easily rattled but an endless font of sunlight given the least kindness—but alive and in condition to speak. He would do. Huaisang pitches his voice lower. “Will you come out? I mean you no harm.”

“...That’s what people say when they do.”

Huaisang winces. Once, he’d come across a group of more senior disciples mocking Xuanyu, plying him with questions and laughing at his enthusiasm when he’d gone on to explain things he’d just learned. It had taken him a long time to realize he wasn’t surrounded by friends. He’s clearly learned it now. Clearing his throat, Huaisang risks further speech. “It’s Sect Leader Nie.”

Mo Xuanyu comes out, and Huaisang tastes bile in the back of his throat.

The boy—a young man really, he supposes, though it’s still strange to think of anyone seven years his junior as approaching adulthood when some days he still feels like a teenager himself—looks terrible. His once-fine hair coils in disarray down his back, unwashed and unbrushed, and his robes are ragged, patched, and too short for him. The cosmetics he’d worn even when the other Jin disciples hurled abuse at him have been applied with a rough hand, making him look even younger and more exhausted than he is. There’s a bruise high on his cheekbone, and his arms bear cuts and bruises of their own. Some of them look self-inflicted.

And he’s staring at Huaisang in unvarnished shock, gray eyes wide. “...It is you.”

Huaisang risks a smile. He hasn’t felt like this since approaching an injured hawk, trying to soothe it enough to heal without being savaged in the process. At least they’ve met. Sure, it was only once or twice, but hopefully Mo Xuanyu will trust him enough to listen—

He staggers back with a wholly undignified yelp when Mo Xuanyu launches himself into his arms. Birdlike and fragile the young man may be (Huaisang can feel his ribs, his collarbones, the rabbit-quick beat of his heart), but Mo Xuanyu is some inches taller than him and actually bothered to train with a sword in the past few years (badly), so it’s not so much a hug as a collision. Sounding half-strangled to his own ears, he chokes out, “Mo-gongzi?!”

Mo Xuanyu all but leaps backwards, falling on his ass in the dirt. He looks terrified, and Huaisang is about to reassure him that he’s fine, just startled, the dust will brush off—and then he starts sobbing. “I’m sorry—Sect Leader, I’m so sorry! I know—you don’t want me to touch you, it’s just that you were nice to me and—”

“It’s alright!” Instinctively Huaisang drops to his knees beside him; part of him wants to put a hand on Xuanyu’s shoulder, a comforting gesture he’s given and received thousands of times, but he’s afraid of causing a further scene. No one can know he’s here; he’s fortunate beyond measure that the shack is so far away from the rest of the compound. He keeps his voice low and soothing, thinking of that injured bird. “It’s alright. I was only surprised. Why don’t we move a little, hm? Sit under that tree just there and have a nice chat. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, I wasn’t sure you’d remember me!”

A wavery attempt at a smile. “You were always kind to me. Not like—the other ones.”

He knows Yanli used to let her unacknowledged bastard half-brother-in-law push her wheeled chair around the gardens. He suspects that probably made the man’s tormentors worse. Brushing off his robes, he rises to his feet. “Come on. I hope you like pork dumplings!”

The shade of the tree is cool, the sun is warm, and it turns out that Mo Xuanyu loves pork dumplings. While he devours them, chasing them down with a flask of tea pressed into his hands, Huaisang takes the time to marshal his thoughts and plan his words. Hesitation will not serve him now; Mo Xuanyu needs firm, clear speech or he’ll fall apart. Finally, when Mo Xuanyu is licking his fingers clean (distracting, if only he didn’t look so much like a starved animal), he speaks. “Can I look at your arms? They look painful.”

Xuanyu freezes. Huaisang thinks he’ll refuse for a moment before his arms are offered, a stiff, jerky motion oozing discomfort. “Here.”

Huaisang is no doctor, but you don’t grow up a member of Qinghe Nie without being able to do basic first aid. He sends a thankful prayer to the heavens that none of the cuts are visibly infected and sets about bandaging them, carefully avoiding the bruises shaped like angry fingers. Mo Xuanyu shakes under his touch, eyes fixed and glazed. It makes something like anger coil through his throat, but he keeps his voice light. Calm. “Does it hurt?”

A mute shake of his head.

He doesn’t want to know. He doesn’t want to know, but he can see Jiang Yanli’s face in his mind, hear her words  in his ears. “Did your family do this?”

Mo Xuanyu chokes, tears his hands from Huaisang’s grasp, and buries his face in them. “They—it’s because I’m wrong, they say. A cutsleeve, not right in the head, I shouldn’t be around decent people.”

They locked me away because they think I’m mad.

“When my mother was still—when she was—but she died, because of me, because I’m useless—“

Oh, Huaisang has heard that before. Useless. Pathetic. Weak. You’ll never be a proper cultivator. A-Li gets sympathy—her lack of cultivation is due to her weak heart, beyond her control—but he knows there are those who hate her, too, for daring to have married into the Jin family with barely enough of a golden core to light a talisman. There is no sympathy for those whose use lies outside of their proper place. (He remembers Wei Ying.)

Mo Xuanyu is raking his nails down his face, leaving red welts behind, and Huaisang knows he should speak now. “You’re not useless. Didn’t you get a lot done at Koi Tower?”

“I did, I did, but—” For a moment he convulses, clutching his head. “My brother—Jin Gu—”

My brother. They killed him and they want me to be happy about it. He remembers a choked-off sob into a gold-laced handkerchief, remembers leaning awkwardly over the arm of Yanli’s chair in his own mourning robes to hug her. He remembers Mingjue.

But here and now, Mo Xuanyu looks like he’s shattering at the mere mention of Jin Guangyao, and Huaisang has to deal with it. Calm. Soothing. Frightened bird. He reaches out, carefully putting a hand on Mo Xuanyu’s shoulder to steady him. “Breathe. You don’t…you don’t have to tell me.”

Mo Xuanyu shakes his head; when he rubs his eyes, his makeup smears even more. His voice has the disgusting liquid quality of someone with a nosebleed oozing back down their throat. “Nobody else listens! They don’t listen to me. They think I’m crazy, a lunatic, but—but I’m not, I swear! We studied the works of the Yiling Patriarch, we learned so much, I was—I thought I was doing good…”

There it is. Confirmation of what he suspected, confirmation that his trek out to this disgusting shack in this forsaken town wasn’t for naught. He can use Mo Xuanyu; the young man would probably even thank him. Perhaps his plan could—

He remembers tired eyes, shaking hands. Mo Xuanyu was…strange, but he was—is—my brother-in-law. A-sang, please, if you can…

He remembers the coldness of all that gold, the rot at its core.

And yet, somehow, he hadn’t expected this. He wakes his own qi and prods at the energy coiled around Mo Xuanyu’s core experimentally—yes, that is definitely a curse. The way the man stutters and gasps when he tries to elaborate on his work (still trying to explain, to prove his worth even as he sobs and clutches his temples) gives Huaisang an idea. “Mo-gongzi.”

Mo Xuanyu blinks tearily at him through his fingers and the fall of his hair. “…Sect Leader Nie…?”

He turns his head, studying the veins in a fallen leaf. It’s still a bright green, browning and crumbling only at the edges. “You and—your brother studied the works of the Yiling Patriarch. I imagine you would have done so at his home, yes?”

Nod.

“You must have seen all sorts of rituals.”

Nod. “I—” A swallow. “I copied them all. I memorized them all.”

“Were there…” Now it’s his turn to hesitate, something twisting uncomfortably in his guts. “Ways to bring back the dead? Not fierce corpses, but...”

Another nod, and Mo Xuanyu’s eyes gleam with bitter determination. It’s a look he’s seen in his own mirror. “So many. The Yiling Patriarch—he was a genius, there were so many old spells collected there. Even—the ones that sacrifice the caster, to summon—to summon evil spirits in his own body.”

He could use that. Mo Xuanyu looks halfway there already; in this village, with this family, Huaisang thinks all he’d have to do to have the man summoning the Yiling Patriarch for mass slaughter would be to hand him the knife. But...but. Well.

It feels wrong. He has to force the words out around a sudden lump in his throat. “Wei-xiong can’t be an evil spirit.”

Mo Xuanyu looks baffled. “But…he’s the Yiling Patriarch—wait, you call him Wei-xiong?!” He’s going to have to remember that wide-eyed look of astonishment; it’s adorable.

Gusu floats in his mind’s eye. “We were schoolmates, once. He was—he was kind. He hated injustice and underhandedness.” He would hate me now. “I don’t think the Self-Sacrifice Ritual would even work, and then you’d throw away your life for nothing and Young Madame Jin would be sad.”

“…You know Young Madame Jin?”

For the first time in their conversation, Xuanyu looks happy. It makes him feel even worse, to remember how he’d barely spared a thought for such considerations when planning this visit; things like friendship weren’t allowed to matter in the face of his plans. “…She sent me to find you. To see…to see how you were doing.”

“Well.” There’s a cracked little laugh. “You’ve seen me. Thank you for the food and the bandages, Sect Leader Nie.”

A dismissal. He looks past him, to the shed. “…No. Come with me to Qinghe.”

That’s startled him; his eyes go wide, his lower lip trembles. “I—what—”

Huaisang rises, offering a hand. “Young Madame Jin would have my head if I left you here. And I think we would work much better together in a proper library, don’t you?”

Mo Xuanyu stays where he is, blinking up at him with an expression of such complete confusion it’s honestly heartmelting. “…You want…to work with me...?”

His brother’s screaming, bloodstained face is imprinted onto his eyelids whenever he blinks. He looks down at Mo Xuanyu—ragged, undernourished, filthy—and thinks he hears the creak of a wheeled chair in a sunlit room, sees the flight of unreachable birds. More sins piled at the foot of Jin Guangyao’s throne. “I do.”

“Why?!”

It’s anguished, and he has to squeeze his eyes shut and shove all emotion down, down, past the raging spiral of fury and grief that threatens to drown him when he thinks of it, to say without screaming, “…Your brother killed mine.”

Mo Xuanyu swallows hard. “He told me—I’m crazy. He said—he said nobody would ever believe me.”

It clearly wasn’t a surprise. He knows. Huaisang wonders how he knows, wonders if Jin Guangyao brags, wonders if another one of his brother’s body parts is hidden—no. He has to stay focused. He can break down in private later, once he’s gotten Mo Xuanyu fully on his side. “Do you hate him?”

Fists clench as the young man grits out, “Yes.”

“Do you want him dead?”

Huaisang swears the shadows under their tree get deeper. “Yes—yes, please, I want them all dead!”

It’s too loud, a shriek, and he jolts at the noise and casts a frantic look around. Seeing that nobody’s running towards them—they must be used to screams, he realizes—he hastens to quiet Mo Xuanyu down anyway. “Shh, shh. Quiet, remember?”

“…Okay.” Xuanyu takes a few deep breaths, closing his eyes. When Huaisang risks patting his head, he can feel the tension drain out of him. Xuanyu’s voice is much softer when he murmurs, “I’ll help you with—anything you want.”

It takes a few moments to identify the feeling coursing through him as relief, and a few moments after that for him to lift his hand from Mo Xuanyu’s head and remember he’s supposed to be the calm, soothing, at-least-slightly-dignified sect leader instead of a jellied pile of relieved tension. I have a demonic cultivator. I—no, we have allies to turn to. We can do this. We can bring Wei Wuxian back, kill Jin Guangyao, and avenge my brother. “So you’ll come home with me? To Qinghe?”

Mo Xuanyu’s smile is tremulous and radiant. “I would be honored.”

It is, he thinks, the beginning of something good.

&

&

NOTES: JIANG YANLI LIVES BECAUSE I SAID SO. unfortunately, because jgs and jgy are dicks, they use her disabling injury/insistence that wwx is innocent as an excuse to lock her up in a tower with very few visitors. nhs is one of them and they bond over a desire for Murder. 

ok so idk if/when i'll ever continue this so CLIFF NOTES for this whole au setting:

--sangyu/wangxian/possibly chengqing endgame!! --several years of experiments, dancing around non-murder-related feelings, and at least one explosion follow mxy being settled into the unclean realm with a LAB and STUFF (nhs spoils him bc mxy's smile is a thing of beauty & maybe...he's soft...) --mxy is still enthusiastic about using the self-sacrifice ritual “i can help both of you!!” “consider: if you do this and wei-xiong finds out i let you, he will kill me” “but–” “AND I’LL BE SAD” “…okay" --nhs supplementing his war fan with a dizi/talisman --the rituals they eventually invent bring wwx back in a body that resembles both his old one and mxy, but since it takes like a year to set up/mxy still wants his family dead from backlash if he fails, he has to move "back home" and it's. bad. for a while. --(wwx: why would you think i'd kill your family for you. mxy: because sect leader nie says you hate injustice? wwx: WE HAVE A DEMON ARM TO DEAL WITH) --(mxy/nhs were not expecting nmj's arm to be quite THAT murderous. it's more docile with nhs around) --the yi city arc goes better bc a) a-qing/songxiao all live and b) mxy and xue yang have a showdown as only ex-coworkers who hate each other can. mxy is a very good demonic cultivator by now --the plot also speeds up a lot bc mxy and nhs TELL PEOPLE THINGS (mostly mxy lbr) --jyl is busted out and eventually strangles jgy with zidian. there is much rejoicing --nhs at some point discovers that the jins seem to be throwing money somewhere odd and finds they've been keeping wen qing alive to do experiments for them. lotus pier is a good, safe place for her to recuperate, right? right --once he gets over the shock of the yiling patriarch having a son, mxy and lsz are fast friends --("what do i do if i have a crush on a boy" "...which boy" "..............jin......ling.........." "YOU HAVE TERRIBLE TASTE" "HE'S YOUR NEPHEW." "THAT'S WHY I'M SAYING THAT.")

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #nie huaisang #mo xuanyu #sangyu #jiang yanli #mdzs au #paladin writes stuff

[fortunatelylori]

This is a long one: having read all of the sympathetic and convincing Sidney Parker posts here, I am wonder if you’re letting Sidney off a little too easily? It seems to me that no matter how much he may want to find love (as has been so eloquently argued here), he has not yet learned true selfless love imo. His half proposal is a point in case. Consider the comparison with Babbers.

Sidney: “What a brute I was… I hope that I am a different man now… If I have changed at all it is in no small part to you. I have never wanted to put myself in someone else’s power before. I have never wanted to care for anyone but myself.”Lord B: “My dear girl don’t you know that I am in love with you… It’s enough that you like me and that you trust me…I have no wish to own you…i want to make you happy. I could never try to lead or constrain you, Esther. All I ask is to walk through life by you

I know he was just getting warmed up, but Sidney’s expression of love is still very firmly about his own development and his own realisation, while Babs’s expression of love is very much about what he hopes to give, and what it means to love. Sidney’s growth arc is incomplete and he still hasn’t fully earned Charlotte, whom Rose Williams has made so generous, brave and loveable. You have already pointed out that this is the midway point in the story, and I completely agree.

But I would love to hear your thoughts on how this circle can be squared: Are we supposed to think that Sidney has done something noble by pimping himself out to Eliza Campion for the sake of his feckless brother and disappointing and destroying his own happiness and, more importantly by JA rules, that of a young inexperienced woman whom he has publicly shouted at, exposed himself to, felt up, kissed, and half proposed to?

Andrew Davies has put Sidney in a hell of a bind: If he breaks it off with Eliza now, he’s a dishonourable cad. If Eliza breaks it off with him, Charlotte looks like second prize to his first great love in the world’s eyes. If he marries Eliza and she dies and he runs back to Charlotte, how can we expect Char to enter that “river” again?

The only comparable situation in JA is Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars, and Edward’s honour was completely intact throughout: his secret engagement occurred when he was young and naïve; he retreated from Elinor once he realised he loved her before more damage was done; he stuck by the loathsome Miss Steele once their engagement was public despite wanting Elinor; Miss Steele throws him over for his brother making clear that she was only ever interested in money and feelings were not at stake.

By contrast, Sidney has broken the heart of an intelligent and worthy young woman for a venal and loveless marriage, though the cynical “bargain” seems to be that he try to love Eliza. Ugh. Badly done, Sidney! How can we redeem Sidney to the point of making him worthy of St. Charlotte? How can he be extricated from this mess without losing his honour and without making Charlotte suffer any further?I would love to see Charlotte released from the passivity she has been forced into here.

She has been robbed of any agency after being established as an active character – a toiler and a spinner. Perhaps she will concoct a way to save Sidney’s soul behind the scenes, showing him in the process what true selfless love looks and feels like. I have a weird feeling that in one episode someone said something like “Men need to be helped without ever knowing they’re being helped…” or something similar. That’s coming back to me now – maybe that’s the only direction this can take:

Charlotte orchestrates Sidney’s rescue with the help of Lady S and the Prince Regent and then retreats back to Heraclitus and rabbit hunting in Willingden, where Sidney comes to find her. After a spot of grovelling and sexy scything in the fields to show that he is not just a dandy city boy but a man of substance, he will win back our Charlotte. Whew! sorry forth long one, had to get it off my chest. Now, about that GOT ending…

Hey there!

Whew … that was INTENSE! Lol … I hope you really meant it when you said you wanted my thoughts on this take because you’re going to get them and …. I don’t think you’re going to like them.

So here goes nothing … I’m going to break this down into topics because your messages covers a lot of ground.

Firstly, the issue of selfless love:

When I was much, much, MUCH younger that I am now, I watched a little movie called Love Story (1970). This film was essentially The Notebook of my mother’s generation. And the most famous line in that film is:

Jenny: Love means never having to say you're sorry

The main female character is standing in the freezing cold with no way to enter her apartment because her husband got pissed off at her and bolted. And that’s what comes out of her mouth … Because love is selfless, right? You don’t need to apologize for anything EVER because love means never having to say you’re sorry.

Let me tell you something: THAT IS COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT! Anyone who believes romantic love should be selfless needs to reevaluate. The belief in selfless romantic love will not help anyone find that kind of love (because it doesn’t exist). What it will do is that it will allow that person to be prayed on by fuck bois/fuck girls everywhere because you are going to continually excuse their behavior … because you have to love them unconditionally, right? WRONG!

Selfless love is acceptable only in a parent-child dynamic. That’s it! As Cersei would put it:

Cersei: On that front, a mother has no choice

Romantic love is very much conditional on treatment, involvement and attraction. When it isn’t, that’s fertile ground for abuse.

You think this is romantic?

Babington: My dear girl, don’t you know that I am in love with you?

Esther: And what is that to me since I do not love you?

Babington: I don’t care. It’s enough that you like me and that you trust me.

What happens six months down the line when Babs catches Esther having sex with Edward in their marital bed? Do you think he’s still not going to care she doesn’t love him back? What Babington is doing in his proposal is lying to himself. No person who has ever been in love ever genuinely does not care if the object of his affection loves him back. We all want to be loved back. We pretend we don’t because we’re so desperate to have that person that we think we’re able to live without it or, most likely, because we think we can talk them round into loving us.

To be clear, I don’t think Esther will cheat on Babington with Edward. But you can bet your bottom dollar Edward will be coming back into her life in season 2 and that she won’t be over him. Guess who will get his heart put through the ringer?

Sidney’s proposal, on the other hand, is very much how an adult should suggest a lifelong commitment to another adult.

Sidney: If I have changed at all, it’s in no small part down to you. I have never wanted to put myself in someone else’s power before. I’ve never wanted to care for anyone but myself.

In his speech what Sidney is laying out is the following: I am well aware I have issues and that we’ve clashed around those issues time and time again. I am committing myself to fixing them because you make me want to do better. I have trust issues but you make me want to hand you my heart because I know you won’t hurt me. I want to share my life with you and make your needs a priority in my life because you make me less selfish.

I’m sorry … but I’ll take Sidney’s proposal over Babington’s any day of the week because Sidney has a plan for our future (lol) while Babington knows I don’t love him but he is so blinded by infatuation that he can’t see he’s promising something he can’t deliver on … and most crucially no one should deliver on.  

Sidney’s growth arc is incomplete and he still hasn’t fully earned Charlotte, whom Rose Williams has made so generous, brave and loveable.

I agree that Sidney’s arc is incomplete but so is Charlotte’s. She’s not fully come into her own either and this isn’t a matter of one character being flawless while the other has to work his way to her perfection.

Sidney doesn’t need to earn Charlotte because Charlotte is not a possession, she’s a person and Sidney is not some lecherous monster that needs to go through the 7 circles of hell in order to “earn” anything. Sidney and Charlotte are two people that have had some conflicts but nothing truly disastrous (until Sidney proposes to Eliza, that is) and in which they both have had their share of blame. It’s not like Sidney has been the sole aggressor in all of this. Charlotte has insulted him and mocked him in an assortment of ways.

In the end they have chosen to put those differences aside and have come together with a new understanding of who the other person is. They’ve chosen to love each other and accept each other’s flaws. There is no discrepancy in worth between the two of them that needs to be addressed by Sidney.

What should happen in a potential season 2 is that he will need to rebuild Charlotte’s trust after breaking it with his engagement to Eliza. But that discussion is separate since his initial proposal comes before the Tom Parker realizes he doesn’t have insurance debacle.

Are we supposed to think that Sidney has done something noble by pimping himself out to Eliza Campion for the sake of his feckless brother and disappointing and destroying his own happiness and, more importantly by JA rules, that of a young inexperienced woman whom he has publicly shouted at, exposed himself to, felt up, kissed, and half proposed to?

I think what we’re supposed to take from Sidney’s decision to sacrifice his happiness to help his brother is that his “outlier” facade was just that … a façade. Beneath all that is a man who is willing to go to extremes for the people he cares about. I also think that it shows Sidney, despite his outward confidence, doesn’t really love himself that much.

You’re making the mistake of assuming Sidney’s decision to marry Eliza is a rejection of Charlotte. I wouldn’t blame Charlotte for thinking it but we have a 360 view of the story that she doesn’t have the luxury of having.

We know Sidney loves her. We know he is heartbroken at having to let her go. But he doesn’t want his brother to go to jail and he has only 1 week to figure out a way out of the hole Tom has dug himself into. I’m pretty sure Eliza was the last option on the list of things Sidney tried to do in order to help his brother.

As for your implication that Sidney somehow dishonored Charlotte, it’s pretty obvious from the tone of the show that the whole “there always has to be a chaperone” and “no kissing before marriage” etc. are not rules they are choosing to include in their version of the regency. Charlotte leaves Sanditon with her reputation intact. It is her heart that is broken and I’d be willing to bet that in Sidney’s mind, he has already convinced himself that she will recover very quickly while he will be in pain for the rest of his life. Because … as I’ve said … he doesn’t love himself enough to realize just how much Charlotte loves him.

If he breaks it off with Eliza now, he’s a dishonourable cad. If Eliza breaks it off with him, Charlotte looks like second prize to his first great love in the world’s eyes. If he marries Eliza and she dies and he runs back to Charlotte, how can we expect Char to enter that “river” again? The only comparable situation in JA is Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars, and Edward’s honour was completely intact throughout

I’m not sure what your point is here? For starters, who cares what “the world” thinks? Charlotte will know that Sidney loves her and only her and that his engagement with Eliza was an act of desperation on his part. And so will we, the viewers, because and I quote:

Sidney: I don’t love her, you know.

Charlotte and Sidney’s situation is exactly the same as Eleanor and Edward’s, with the exception that Sidney didn’t flirt with Charlotte and almost proposed to her while being engaged to someone else the way Edward does.

And if we are going to take “the world’s” opinion into account, I’m pretty sure people very much speculated that Edward was nursing a broken heart over the woman for whom he risked everything, was disinherited and that abandoned him to marry his brother. After all why else would he retreat to the countryside and marry the almost old maid with no fortune, Eleanor Dashwood? See how you can spin anything into something negative if you want to?

How can we redeem Sidney to the point of making him worthy of St. Charlotte?

Sigh … Sidney has always been worthy of Charlotte. He is a good man ... with great AAAABBBSSSS. And while Charlotte getting her heart broken is deeply sad, I think it’s safe to say it’s Sidney that has gotten the truly shitty end of the stick. He has tied himself to a woman whom he does not love and who treats him like he’s her dog.

I don’t think people realize just how hopeless his situation is. It’s not like if he marries Eliza, he can get a divorce a few years down the line. He is stuck with the woman who betrayed him 10 years ago for the rest of his life. And he’s in this situation not even because of his own venal desires or greed. He’s in it to save his brother … a brother that will probably ruin himself regardless. That kind of thing eats at a person.

Charlotte’s state, on the other hand, is not permanent. I’m not trying to minimize her pain. Heartbreak is horrible and deeply traumatizing. But as everyone who has gone through it can tell you, it eventually goes away. You recover, you move on.

I don’t think she will need to go through the entire letting go process because she and Sidney will be reunited and everything will work out for the best but if she had to, she would go through it and come out the other side even stronger than she is now.

I would love to see Charlotte released from the passivity she has been forced into here. She has been robbed of any agency after being established as an active character – a toiler and a spinner. Perhaps she will concoct a way to save Sidney’s soul behind the scenes, showing him in the process what true selfless love looks and feels like.

See … this is confusing to me. On the one hand you think Sidney isn’t worthy of Charlotte, on the other you want her to save him. I would suggest it’s not Charlotte’s job to extract Sidney from the shitty situation he’s in. He has to do that for himself.

As for Charlotte being robbed of agency … what’s that even based on? What was she supposed to do in that situation? It’s not like there’s 80.000 pounds hidden under the Heywood family tree that Lassie can dig up …

After a spot of grovelling and sexy scything in the fields to show that he is not just a dandy city boy but a man of substance, he will win back our Charlotte

And this is the part where you truly lost me … As a born and bred city girl, with a generational line of city dwellers dating back centuries, I will have you know I have SUBSTANCE, ok?!?! I have many, many substances … I’m oh so substantiated and stuff.

All joking aside, why does Sidney need to prove that he is a man of substance? What the hell has he done to make anyone assume he isn’t?

I guess in the end our conflicting views come from our perceptions of Sidney as a person. I don’t think Sidney is a bad boy that needs to be redeemed through his love for Charlotte. I think he has always been a good man who is trying to do his best for those around him, who has had to deal with some pretty shitty situations in his life and who is involved in at least one toxic relationship (with his brother). In addition to that, he has a self-destructive streak (people who get dumped don’t necessarily react to it by setting fire to their whole lives and almost dying in the process) which makes it easy for him to prioritize Tom’s well-fare over his own life.

The reason why he falls so deeply in love with Charlotte is because she offers him a real chance of breaking out of those patterns and being able to be seen and loved for who he is. The problem is that toxic past relationships are still very much encroaching on his ability to move on with his life in a healthy way.

In order to break free, what Sidney needs isn’t to be saved. What he needs is to put a stop to the negative patterns that exist at the core of his relationship with Tom (and Mary by extension) and to put the whole Eliza relationship to rest.  

#sanditon #sidlotte #sidney parker #charlotte heywood #sanditon meta

[muwi-translates]

why u should love sanada fucking yukimura

man, this character... is one of the most lovable otome bois i have encountered in a long time,,, because he’s such a loser.

i wouldn’t even call this a character analysis anymore i just spilled all my feels and love for this stupid wholesome boy. thank you to my two biggest sandman supporters, this is all yuu’s fault. @sea-reiusly @snow--blanket

LET’S START. so,,, aside from the fact that he’s cute-dumb; you should love him because he loves you a lot and he deserves love too.

he is the literal embodiment of boyish selfless love.

if iI had to describe him I would describe him as a big red blanket you can wrap around yourself and make you feel safe and warm. or a big spoon of honey; slightly bitter but also sweet.

1) he is mega Friend for Life

first things first; he would be, and is, a good friend - if not to you then to the people he cares about. his whole concept is ‘boy next door’. he is soft, he won’t disappoint you because he cares about you as a person and he worries sometimes even if he doesn’t show it. for example in Shingen’s route he plays messenger for you - he thinks you’re ‘cool’, you’re his pal. he seems like the type who could develop feelings for you but is content just being close to you as your friend and see you happy. despite being told that he’s ‘tactless’, Yukimura actually, not surprisingly, has the ability to read other people, but just sucks at expressing it to you. so occasionally, he ends up proper advice to other suitors if you’re not on his route:

like the time Kenshin was excited to bring you home with him to Kasugayama and you were torn about leaving the home you’ve come to love and your warlord family. to Yukimura, family and friends are important, that is what one of his 'wants' are, after all. he does it for shingen, he does it for his men and the men in the Takeda army.

in a way he’s a bit like your brother too. except Hideyoshi is the clearly caring, wise older brother and Yukimura is your bratty younger brother who would throw a banana at your face, and pretends he doesn’t give a shit about you but that one time he sees you carrying heavy stuff down the hall he takes it from you and calls you ‘weak’ but he just doesn’t want to see you hurt.

if he's not established to be quite as close to you in other routes (Ieyasu/Masamune), he continues to help you on behalf of sasuke. even though you’re a complete stranger to him and he barely knows anything about you background - especially considering sasuke gave him a coverup story and not what or who you actually are. it's moments like these where he is willing and able to separate 'his job' and 'enemy' and do things that would otherwise produce results the opposite of what he’s supposed to be doing (which is actually a point of conflict in his OWN route, which will I will talk about later uwu)

2) ultimate Fam man

Yukimura is inherently a selfless character. he doesn’t care about himself, he only cares about the people around him and what he can do for them. he overworks himself and shoulders all the stress by himself, to take weight off shingen (it's always 'leave it to me, lord shingen!!' from him). 

I believe he has a mild form of ptsd as well; he mentally and emotionally cuts himself away from feeling anything in battle to perform his best, he has trouble sleeping at night, and he ends up holding things he’s sleeping with very tightly (eg. you). we also learn from Shingen that:

he was raised to be strong and upstanding, but has problems with adapting, so he puts all he has into what he does, meaning he gets hurt more (EN)

when he has his heart set on things, his conviction lasts for a long, long time (CN)

so, he likes it a lot when he gets to surround himself with people he cares about. he comes off as an ambivert leaning on extrovert, based off how he seems to like hanging out with his men not just as their field commander but as their friend, he enjoys parties and even entertains Kenshin. it’s been noted that he is visibly more relaxed and laughs often around his soldiers - so it’s safe to assume he gets energy by being around the people he cares about, because at least he knows that they’re alive.

in fact, the idea of people around him dying makes him angry. he’s willing to put aside his hatred of Nobunaga to ensure that no unnecessary lives are lost, even if he’s sacrificing himself in the process. they all share the simple dream of one day being able to return to their homeland, and Yukimura expects almost all of them to be able to fulfill that dream together.

so when Shingen insinuates that he won’t be able to be there for that, Yukimura gets understandably worried and angry.

okay, so now we know that he's a selfless iron woobie. what else? as stated above we know that he is actually a closet Sensitive Guy(TM). Yukimura is sensitive to his own feelings, at least. he's a Thinker, he thinks a lot and even overthinks. he is a tsundere to himself - because he's hardwired himself to sacrifice other needs and wants aside from the goals he's set for himself. if it’s not something for the benefit of his dream or Shingen or Sasuke - does he really need it?

he clings onto all the light he can hold onto no matter how small for the sake of his dream - it’s literally defined his life, he’s somewhat dependant on using his body to fight for something or someone and that’s why he’s always moving around doing something. Yukimura also respects other people who have a similar mindset (also his highest criteria when it comes to women; he gotta have something to respecc). 

if he didn’t have anything to fight for what do you think would happen? :thinking:,,,, check out chapter 13 of his dramatic route for the answer,,,, it is not pretty :( 

3. 95% giver 5% taker (and only after some self-deprecation)

of course his selflessness also applies to his love interest?? 

even as a lover he's such an adorable loser that makes me want to cry. he is selfless love in the form of a man. he is basically a dog boi. he only wants to take care of you, your happiness is his happiness. he always offers to make YOU happy and not himself first- it's like as long as you're smiling he can keep going, even if he's tired or if he worked all day, he always has time to spoil and coddle you-- if you want all his attention he'll give it to you, no matter how tired or busy he is. in fact, he thinks that its part of the job description, that its his duty to indulge in your desires. even on his birthday, you know the day where HE'S supposed to get something, he goes out of his way to get YOU a present.

the conflict in his route is literally him coming to terms that he wants something for himself, denying himself from his own goddamn happiness. he finds out that you are on the side of his enemies, yet he still wants you because he’s fallen for you - but he tells/forces himself to think that he doesn’t need you after all, because “it wasn’t meant to be” and that he doesn’t deserve you because he brought you to the battlefield. even though he can do exactly what he needs to if you were simply just ‘friends’ or ‘acquaintances’ - the idea of giving himself true happiness by being with the person he loves? nah, fam.

literally the only time he wanted to be selfish for once he slapped himself and said ‘no’. if you didn’t chase after him, the regret would eat at him for a long time, regret that he’ll eventually learn to squash down inside himself and only add to fuel of performing only for others - and not himself.

👏 👏  related analysis: why does he come off as insensitive when it comes to his route? why has he demonstrated that he is actually not Stupid but is also a butthead to you?

answer: defence mechanism - he thinks women are bothersome because they cry. and when women cry he lacks the confidence(?) to use words to comfort them. they embarrass him, he’s a tsundere, he only says things truly from his heart under Very Specific Circumstances where he is completely vulnearable and open (like pre-spice or... some angst situation).

so instead he just falls back to being selfless like he normally is. all he knows is how to care about other people, carry their burdens and wanting them to rely on him. that's why when you're upset at the festival, he just keeps shoving food at you instead of asking 'what's wrong' and going off on that. because his mind is literally just thinking food = good = makes people happy = ok, let's do that then. that's also why he'd rather you be angry than sad. sad is bad because he doesn’t know how to deal with bad except being physically intimate - pretty sure Yukimura would rather die if he had to hug every crying woman he ever encountered.

conclusion: he’s just a lost, lost boi who doesn’t know how to comfort people so he sacrifices himself and puts others ahead of him using actions - he pampers, he lets people vent out on him, the works. what a fucking wholesome loser who needs to love himself for once.

👏 👏 end of insensitive boi in love analysis

there’s a part of Yukimura that is actually a bit insecure. it's odd because he’s usually so confident in himself, and so proud, but he’s also so self-deprecating? under that tough boy exterior is just a boi who wants to be loved. he wants someone who will be there for him and support his stupid ass. he uses himself to hold up everyone else's burdens, but sometimes there's nobody that might be able to do the same to him. he wants someone to come home to, when he's stressed and wants some loving because otherwise he'd hole up his emotions and explode-- if he didn't have Shingen and Sasuke there with him.

his route sort of expresses the fact that Yukimura has never experienced a ‘mature love’ before, or a love where he imagines a life together with them. crushes, probably at some point in his life. sexual experience? how can he not have any??? but mature love? questionable.

these moments are few and far between because its not explored quite as much, but when they do...

he says things like "don't leave me, i'll prove that i'm the man for you." (bitch doesn't have to prove jack shit, he literally radiates with Care and Love) and “I need you”. he just doesn't want you to disappear on him. 

why’d you think you decided to leave without telling him? bitch would fucking fight the sky to keep you with him.

he's scared to lose you because he's finally found someone who is willing to accept him and taught him that its ok for him to be selfish for once and do things for his own sake and his own happiness. what he wants most is to just come home and eat food with you together. every encounter with you is precious to him because you rarely see each other. he wants to spend time with you. he doesn't like it when things cut into plans that seperate the two of you- but he doesn't mind it if plans didn't run as expected as long as he still got to spend the day with you. even if he's busy, he lies to go out with you to do things that YOU want. 

he’s finally come to find some happiness outside of work and outside of how he already copes - that alone is special to him, whether you end up as his friend or as his lover.

so basically:

you should love this guy bc he is mega Lovable and radiates warm Energy,,, he will always care about ur dumb ass one way or another.

#ikemen sengoku #cybird #ikesen #ikesen yukimura #Sanada Yukimura #by the way i fucking love this loser a lot #if you couldn't tell #i stan him so much #he deserves so much love #big loser muscly boi

[subliminalcherry-blog]

Long Ass Enta Rant

The only thing more problematic than defending Enta’s behavior because he’s “14″ and “we all did dumb things as kids” (I sure as hell didn’t do the things Enta does toward my crush at 14 but I’m not going to get into that) is claiming that any hate/criticism directed at Enta is based on homophobia?? Or an adult not understanding how a child’s mind works when they’re in love? 

And after seeing so many posts in the tags about it, I’m going to explain why that’s a garbage conclusion to come to.

Like, y’all do realize that Reo and Mabu are the fandom’s favorite characters, the most popular characters to come out of the show while it’s airing regardless of whether people read the Manga first or not, and they’re both undoubtedly, definitely, and indisputably gay? And they’re both ADULTS out here relentlessly murdering people but they’re still well liked. 

Where are these homophobia claims coming from? They’re both baseless and stupid. A characters sexuality should NOT be a shield from criticism. Ever. 

For people who shit on Reo and Mabu fans for still liking them but in the same breath, criticizing Enta, People can continue to like Reo and Mabu despite all the things they do because we can acknowledge that they’re the bad guys and they’re intended to be the shows main villains or at least so far that is what we are being lead to believe. No one tries to justify the things they do.  No one is saying Reo is in the right for trying to kill multiple children and MAYBE succeeding the second time around. They’re villains. They don’t try to justify their actions or so far have not made themselves out to be victims. And most of all, we don’t see their fans jumping to their defense every time they do something inherently wrong. Most of us were just as shocked as anyone else that Reo’s crazy ass shot Enta. But moving on.

 In the case of Enta, what’s worse than the things he unapologetically does is his fans acting like the things he does aren’t bad and use his age and sexuality to guilt people and deflect criticism from him as a character. First of all, gay people do not need to be coddled and treated like they can do no wrong. Real gay people are human beings who make mistakes and eventually own up to them. Enta has not and has only continued to make mistakes while learning nothing from them. I understand that Sarazanmai is short and fast paced, but that’s still no excuse in my opinion. Second of all, No one is vilifying Enta because he’s gay. That aspect of his character is largely irrelevant compared to the things he does. Enta is not being singled out because he’s the only openly gay character of the main trio. He’s being criticized because the things he does are inherently wrong and mostly without justification. And he’s not the only one being criticized. 

Kazuki, Mabu and Reo have all come under fire for the things they do. Chikai maybe has faced backlash as well, especially for what he does in episode 8, but I haven’t went out of my way to look for it. The only one of the relevant cast, Sara aside, who hasn’t done a thing to warrant backlash is maybe Tooi. You can bring up the fact that he killed someone and his brother covered it up, but he was a child, even younger than Enta and he did it in self-defense - and was lead to believe that was something he must do to project his brother who shifted the blame onto himself. It is in my opinion that Chikai pretty much conditioned him into thinking this was an acceptable lifestyle and choice, but I’m not entirely confident that it was written with that intent so just take that for a grain of salt.

As per the Ikuhara character standard nowadays, Enta is a piece of shit. He makes himself out to be a victim and his fans treat him as such. He refuses to see the error of his ways even if he hurts the person he cares about the most and wants to connect to in the process. He’s not entirely unsympathetic and sometimes he may even be understandable, but he’s shown to take things to illogical extremes, as Ikuhara characters tend to do. He acts entitled to Kazuki, and only loves the idealized version that he once knew or ultimately made up in his head, refusing to accept that Kazuki doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. Enta is the type of character that everyone would hate if he was a straight male character doing these things to a disinterested female character. But suddenly because he’s gay it’s justifiable and endearing and anyone that doesn’t like him is a homophobe? That’s ridiculous. I don’t give a shit what a character or human beings sexuality is. A piece of shit is a piece of shit. 

I’m not even going to lie. I wanted to like Enta at first. I was following Sarazanmai since it was first announced and when the character designs first came out, Right off the bat, I wasn’t a fan of his design or how aggressive he was toward the other characters in the trailers. For me, those were red flags. But I still tried to like him regardless. when he kissed Kazuki, I got excited until the implications of his actions fully set in for me. Kissing someone without their consent isn’t okay, especially if the person is asleep. That was already another red flag for me. And then they reveal that he just stepped up to the next level of creepy by making him sniff kazukis clothes and suck on his recorder for indirect kisses? He has delusions about him? And people tried to justify it because he’s 14 as if it wouldn’t be creepy if it happened to someone in real life or again, if a male anime character did it to a female anime character? Only scenario I could see this not receiving hate wildly in is if it was a comedy anime or something but then we’d still have a number of people labeling the character as a creep.

Enta’s love for Kazuki is unhealthy. It’s more than just being a dumb awkward gay 14 year old who has their first crush on someone. He’s just a character in a long line of Ikuhara character’s that don’t display their love for another person in  way that is understandable or healthy. I don’t see how relatable this character could be on a surface level when you think of all the things he’s done. He’s not a borderline rapist like Ringo from Mawaru Penguindrum, which I’m grateful for because she may be one of the most unlikeable characters Ikuhara has ever written, but he’s basically Lulu 2.0 from Yuri Kuma Arashi except a guy. He even ““dies”” in the same way as her. 

While Kazuki is no saint and getting some of the backlash he deserves, Enta is not entitled to Kazuki and part of the hate directed at Kazuki shouldn’t have anything to do with his feelings or the lack of them toward Enta or being too dim-witted to acknowledge them. Enta is not a victim just because his love is unrequited. He’s a flawed character, borderline unlikeable for some including myself and relatable for others but a flawed Ikuhara character nonetheless. The criticism he receives is not baseless. It’s not based on homophobia. He’s not being singled out because he’s an ““awkward gay 14 year old” as if a homophobe would sit through this show for 8 episodes anyway just to come to that conclusion. Episode 1 was a turn off for even people who aren’t homophobic anyway —

He’s criticized because he’s a flawed character that shows no remorse for his actions, acts entitled, acts like a victim in situations where he’s in the wrong, is a creep and is currently fighting Kazuki for the title of the most unlikeable, most unsympathetic character in the cast for me and no amount of ““self sacrifice” is going to change that for me until i see him change. I think next to Tooi, he’s better written than Kazuki, who imo has been bland and never stopped being bland. But that doesn’t necessarily make him a good character or ““well-written” either. 

At the end of the day, it boils down to your opinions and perspectives. It just gets tiresome seeing people trying to write off criticism toward Enta as irrelevant just because he’s gay or because he’s “14″ as if this “14″ year old wasn’t written by a grown man with a history of writing problematic underage characters? Ringo didn’t initially get a slap on the wrist when she was shitty until she truly earned her sympathy card. None of the characters in Yuri Kuma did either except Lulu who ended up dying despite being the most likeable character in the cast. 

The amount of people I see defending him makes me think this is a lot of you’s first Ikuhara anime. Most of us who have seen Ikuhara anime before would have expected a character like this due to his repetitive story-telling and character molds. Like I said before, Ikuhara has a history of writing problematic characters. Everyone in the main cast is in a way, even Tooi. Sara is squeaky clean for now, but she may end up being a morally grey character as well.

I just can’t take the opinions of people who make baseless claims like that seriously. Or people who try to justify Enta’s actions because of his age either. He’s a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. not a real 14 year old. I don’t get why people are so defensive over him either. I get that we can relate to characters sometimes, but the amount of projection I’m seeing is almost as unhealthy as his obsession with Kazuki.

Anyway, come for me if you want. Send hate or whatever. If you wanna discuss your perspective on Enta’s character, feel free to do that too. 

If anything, y’all should be mad that all the most outwardly problematic characters in the show are gay and barely have any justification for their actions. I mean Kazuki tried to kidnap someone and impersonated Sara because he wanted to form a connection with his brother, but he not only failed at getting Sara kidnapped, he also learns from his actions and tries to form a genuine connection with Haruka on his own. Being dismissive of Enta’s romantic feelings for him shouldn’t be an subject of criticism and shouldn’t warrant a justification. If you aren’t interested, you aren’t interested. Onto Tooi - We don’t know what Tooi’s sexuality is, but his justification for killing a guy was self defense and he was most likely conditioned into believing that the lifestyle he lives is acceptable by his brother.

 What’s Enta’s excuse other than that he was jealous? Reo and Mabu didn’t didnt have a genuine excuse to kill all of those people, including trying to kill Harukawa and then shooting Enta. I understand that they’re threatened with death, but They could have just threatened Kazuki and Enta into giving up the dishes of hope since they had a gun. Just saying. 

Anyway rant over. If you lasted this long, what are you doing with your life. And what am I since I sat down and wrote all this shit.

#sarazanmai spoilers #sarazanmai #i actually considered not posting this but you know what #Someone had to say it and I got enough pent up annoyance at enta as a character just to do it. #Christ i wrote a whole damn book lmao I don’teven wanna reread this for spelling errors.

[pyropsychiccollector]

            It hadn’t been a short and easy battle. Irene Belserion was the strongest woman in Alvarez – and a dragon on top of that. Erza had done the brunt of the fighting, even in her weakened state, but her attacks had only been effective because Wendy had entered the fray to assist her with support Enchantments. On top of that, it took Sting stepping up when Erza got to be on her last legs, and when Wendy was endangered.

            Two Dragon Slayers and Fairy Tail’s strongest woman. And they still nearly lost that battle. If it hadn’t been for Gildarts’s timely arrival, they would’ve been crushed by a meteor that Irene summoned… The battle would’ve continued, too, if it wasn’t for August’s interference when the battle was winding down.

             “That’s quite enough, Irene. Stand down.” August ordered as he stood between Irene and her enemies. Despite being in her battered state, Irene glared at the Magic King ferociously.

            “August…!” The redhead snarled before clutching at her side painfully. She was bleeding profusely, the blood caked her gloved hand as she held her side and breathed laboriously.

            August merely shook his head.

            “The war amongst the humans is over, Irene. Despite the odds stacked against them, Ishgar has earned the right to live. It is not our place to cause them any more grief.”

            Irene clenched her bloodstained hand as it remained at her side; the glare she was sending August intensified by a lot.

            “It’s not over…” Irene hissed, taking one shaky step forward. “… until every last soldier on one side is dead…! We still outnumber these fools, and you alone could crush every last one of them like ants! Why do you hesitate in avenging His Majesty’s death?!”

            August didn’t answer right away, but when he did, he looked the redheaded Dragon Slayer dead in the eyes.

            “Because His Majesty desired death. Or did you forget that was one of his goals?” August gave Irene’s opponents a side glance. “Whether you admit it or not, we will need to ally with Ishgar to exterminate Acnologia. Neither you nor I have the power to kill him, and should I allow this fight to play out to the bitter end, we may very well lose potential resources because you are too proud to admit that you have lost. Humans stand no chance against a dragon… And Dragon Slayers have only marginally better chances; even God Serena was struck down in a single blow.”

            Irene quivered in rage.

            “With the Fairy Heart, I can fight Acnologia by myself…! We don’t need their help to win Ragnarok!”

            August closed his eyes and breathed out his nose exasperatedly.

            “If you continue to act so foolishly, I will let them execute you. With the blood you have spilled, you know they will not restrain themselves; they will kill you.” He looked to Erza and Wendy especially, both looking grieved and angered over Mira’s loss. He turned back to Irene with a stony expression. “This is your only warning. As Commander of the Spriggan 12, I am formally surrendering to Fairy Tail. If you make another move against them, it will be treated as an act of rebellion, and you will be ousted and branded as a traitor.”

            None of Irene’s rage subsided. She looked every bit as murderous as she did during the whole fight. Nevertheless, she did not attempt to call August’s bluff. With her body still tense, though, she did press for more information.

            “… And so? What is your noble plan for ‘cooperation’? The Spriggan 12 has been whittled down to just me and you. Fairy Tail has exhausted themselves to even reach this point. I can’t hold up Universe One forever, so Acnologia will most certainly be arriving very soon. If Acnologia could kill God Serena with a single blow, what chance do these far less experienced Dragon Slayers have? They are but children, taught by the husks of dragons that Acnologia slaughtered long ago. They have no chance against that malevolent force of nature.”

            “Not on their own, no.” August calmly conceded that point. “As of now, our only hope lies with them, because they are Dragon Slayers. You are correct that Fairy Heart would possess the power that we need to overcome Acnologia… But you are shortsighted in regards to who should be given that power.”

            Irene’s eyes narrowed into slits as she processed August’s words.

            “You truly are hedging your bets on them…” Irene muttered in displeasure.

            “You are no longer in a state where it would be safe to absorb the complete Fairy Heart.” August intoned. “We were fairly confident that His Majesty could handle the strain of that power, as he was immortal. But you are on your last legs, and are struggling to maintain Universe One as it stands.”

            “You planned this.” Irene accused with such certainty. August shook his head at her evident frustration and bitterness. Her misguided frustration and bitterness.

            “I had not planned for Invel to usurp control of the Twelve from me. You and Invel both brought this upon yourselves.” Seeing a waspish objection on the tip of her tongue, August cut her off. “I did stand aside to let you and Fairy Tail battle it out… Though it was more of a test for them. To see if they had the strength to stand beside us as allies.”

            Irene stewed in her spiteful bitterness, but did not challenge that assertion. Instead, deciding to challenge the plan itself.

            “… What makes you think they would stand the strain better than I could?”

            The answer surprised Irene, as well as the Fairy Tail Wizards and Dragon Slayers within earshot.

            “Because you are going to bestow portions of Fairy Heart onto each of the Dragon Slayers – not the whole of it on one individual.”

            ~*~

            The war had ended on that day, within a matter of a couple of hours. It was an uphill battle… and they nearly didn’t make it. There were more casualties, and Acnologia didn’t hold back in the slightest. He fought to exterminate dragons and humankind together, but in the end, he did fall. He fell to six Dragon Slayers that were far younger, far more inexperienced than him; and he was foiled by a woman that he had never known was a dragon until her final moments, when he slaughtered her in order to remove the “bigger” threats.

            Acnologia spread himself too thin, attempting to kill everyone that fell within his field of vision. He was destruction incarnate, a “grim reaper” far more terrifying than Bloodman had been, when he was brought back as a Historia. He left such a broad swathe of carnage in his wake, there were contingents of Fairy Tail Wizards and Alvarez soldiers set aside for evacuating Magnolia’s citizens while the battle raged on. Brandish, as exhausted as she was, minimized the death toll as much as she could, but it was a bloodbath regardless.

            Jellal… Jellal had been one of the casualties. He was the only member of Crime Sorciere to have perished in the final battle, but he had done so to buy some Fairy Tail members, as well as Kagura Mikazuchi, enough time to evacuate some civilians. His act of kindness was met with a claw piercing through his chest, heart and all. Though Kagura still never forgave the man for murdering her brother all those years ago, she did thank the man in death for his noble sacrifice.

            A mere day after that battle had ended, Fairy Tail took the time to mourn and bury their dead before they set about repairing all the damage to Magnolia. Natsu… Mira… Master Makarov… Macao… Wakaba… Droy… Warrod Sequen, as well as the other Gods of Ishgar… They lost so much in this war. They thought the war with Tartaros had been the worst that they would ever go through, but they were so, so wrong…

            “I can’t believe I lost my other sister…” Elfman’s voice cracked as he, Lisanna, Cana, and a few others stood huddled in front of the new graves in Kardia Cathedral’s cemetery. Natsu’s grave was right next to Mira’s, so it wasn’t uncommon to see such a large crowd paying their respects as the day went on. Both Natsu and Mira easily made up a large part of the backbone of the guild; it really hurt Erza to inscribe the names on those graves, but she wouldn’t have anyone else do it. That burden was hers alone. Laxus took responsibility for his Grandfather’s grave, after all…

            “I can’t believe she’s gone, either, Elf…” Lisanna’s eyes drooped mournfully as she rubbed his back consolingly. Now she knew exactly how Mira and Elfman felt, when they thought she died all those years ago.

            Cana rubbed her arm gingerly as she stared down at the grave, glancing at Natsu’s out of the corner of her eye.

            “It sucks… Out of everyone that could have died, why did it have to be them?” Cana didn’t even resist when Gildarts appeared out of nowhere and wrapped her up in a bone-crushing hug. She was too drained from crying, and for being there for Lucy, who cried enough for everyone.

            “It’s going to be a very different Fairy Tail, that’s for sure…” Laxus murmured from his place over by the Thunder Legion, which was close by Makarov’s grave. The Dragon Slayer had stepped aside so that others could pay their respects to his Gramps.

            “We’re going to need a new Master…” Freed breathed a heavy sigh. He looked to Laxus with a weary smile. “Laxus, perhaps you could��?”

            But the blond shook his head slowly.

            “No way I’m cut out for it. Even if you don’t count the stunt I pulled at the Fantasia Parade, I still wasn’t able to do anything to stop that knucklehead from running off and getting himself killed… And ironically, Mira ended up doing pretty much the same thing.” Laxus gave a long, tired sigh as he looked down at the ground, a hand gripping his elbow in frustration as he crossed his arms. “I hear Erza turned down the role, too… Though I can’t say I blame her.”

            Evergreen reeled back in shock.

            “Titania refused, too?!”

            Bickslow rubbed the back of his head as he grunted sourly.

            “I think you guys are bein’ too hard on yourselves! I mean, if any of the rest of us does it, we’ll be makin’ way worse mistakes!”

            Laxus gave a subdued smirk at that.

            “It’s not about being ‘qualified’… I mean hell, it’s not like I expect Happy to step up or something.” Laxus rolled his eyes at the absurd thought. “Besides, it’s not like me and Erza are retiring! I’ll always be happy to lend the new leader a hand in getting everyone to settle down, and I’m sure Erza will, too. Erza and I… we just won’t have the heart to keep it up for long. As selfless as we are, we’re not impervious to pain; we’re going to need time to grieve and make peace with ourselves. And considering what we lost this time… that may take a while. Especially for Erza.”

            The Thunder Legion grew pensive as Laxus brought up that point. It’s not like they didn’t know Erza had lost a great deal… they had all lost the same precious people, after all. To them, however, Erza had always been this unbreakable, indomitable knight that stood at the helm when everyone else needed time to recover. Recognizing that this would be one of those rare times when she just wouldn’t be able to bounce back and take charge… it was an eye-opener for them.

            Laxus carried on as they ruminated on that.

            “I can also probably guess that Gildarts isn’t going to accept, either… He’s gonna put up a front as best as he can, but he’s shaken just as much as me and Erza are. Natsu was like a son to him, and he always had a soft spot for Mira. Not to mention how close he was with Gramps… I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit the road tomorrow on another journey. He’s always been a free spirit, but this time it might be his way to cope as well.”

            That gave them even more food for thought… And it really begged the question, who was the next Guildmaster going to be? It was looking to be pretty slim pickings, at this point…

            ~*~

            Toward the back of the throng of mourners, Gajeel leaned against the wall of Kardia Cathedral as he stared at his fellow Dragon Slayer curiously.

            “You’re stickin’ around?” The iron eater asked, his voice betraying slight shock.

            Erik leaned against the gate to the cemetery, head tilted back as his lips twitched between a smirk and a grimace, eyes closed.

            “Not just me. I think Rich and Meredy are going to, as well… Macbeth is thinkin’ about it. Sawyer definitely wants to keep traveling, so he’ll be out of here by the end of today. Sorano’s gonna go join Sabertooth, where her sister is.” He cracked open his good eye and stared at Gajeel shrewdly. “Don’t get the wrong idea. We’re not indebted to you guys. You wouldn’t have won the war without us, so any debts went out the window ‘cause you had our backs, too. Still, can’t deny you guys lost a lot of powerful members, but that’s war for ya. Even if you were pulled in unwillingly, you should’ve been prepared for losses.”

            Gajeel grunted and stared out at the throng of people, packed into the cemetery. Based on the weather, it looked like it was going to rain soon. He wondered if it was brought on by Juvia, wherever she was in that crowd, or if it was just an uncanny coincidence that it was going to rain on such a day.

            “I get it’s not a debt thing… You guys are too proud for that crap. But still, why stick around? Figured you’d all be like Sawyer, wantin’ to keep your freedom.”

            Erik looked back up at the clouds blanketing the sky. It was faint, but he could hear thunder off in the distance. After a long moment, he summed up his thoughts.

            “Rich knows his brother will be stopping by sometimes, and he figures it’s a good a guild as any to join; he thinks Wally might warm up to the idea of joining up, too, since Erza’s here. Meredy’s buddy-buddy with that rain chick of yours.” He paused in his musings as he rubbed his chin. He stared at a head of purple toward the back of the crowd, but he did so in a way that Gajeel wouldn’t be able to catch it. “… And you don’t need to worry about me. I have my reasons.”

            “Huh. Didn’t know the Rain Woman had a friend in Crime Sorciere… I musta forgot all about that.” The Iron Dragon Slayer mirrored Erik in rubbing his chin, but turned his gaze and face downward. Eventually, he couldn’t help heaving a tired sigh. “It’s gonna be so damn different around here…Why’d that spitfire hafta go and be an idiot like that? Wouldn’t be nearly as bad if I could punch his face in for offing the Black Wizard… The most I did was help take down Acnologia. That Pyro took down Zeref all on his own.”

            Erik rolled his eye at the obvious aggravation. Misplaced though it seemed, Erik could tell that Gajeel was grieving in his own way right now. Gajeel was one of the ‘tough guys’ – he wasn’t “supposed” to show his more tender side so easily, much less to a former enemy. Erik respectfully didn’t call him out on the act, though he could have.

            “He was definitely a stubborn, scrappy bastard…” Erik cracked a small grin as a small memory came to mind. “He could be funny when he wanted to, though. Probably the only enemy I ever faced that got me to crack up, mid-battle at that… Might not have known him well, but it’ll be a shame not seein’ his dumbass get fried for the crap he pulls.”

            Gajeel cracked up a little as he returned the grin.

            “He was definitely a dumbass. … But he was our dumbass, I guess…”

            At that moment, a drizzle started to fall down from the sky. The grins dropped, and Gajeel turned his head away; but Erik didn’t miss the tears that were mixed in with the rain. Considering that Salamander was the one to kick his ass back when Phantom Lord was making war with Fairy Tail, Erik wasn’t all that surprised at the Iron Dragon Slayer getting emotional over the Pyro’s death. Makarov’s, too. They were both pretty instrumental in how Gajeel ended up in Fairy Tail – at least, that’s how Erik perceived the grief rolling off of Gajeel in waves.

            No wonder he was toward the back like this, avoiding everyone. Gajeel was a wreck. And it didn’t look like that was going to get fixed anytime soon…

            ~*~

            A week passed by.

            “It’s really too bad Invel won’t play nice…” Dimaria sighed as she supervised a contingent of Alvarez soldiers. Nearby, Brandish was reducing the size of rubble so that it could be easily disposed of. “He’s better at this organization crap.”

            “I don’t really care…” Brandish grunted. It wasn’t hard to see why she was bitter towards the now former Chief of Staff. He used her as a tool, and she murdered indiscriminately because of it.

            The Ice Mage was very lucky August decided he would be put on trial and punished back home. Extremely lucky.

            “He really was just fighting so that we could win the war, Randi.” Dimaria lightly chided her friend, though it lacked any real heat behind her words.

            “A war that Grandpa decided was over…” Brandish caustically reminded the blonde, knowing Dimaria harbored her own grudge against the Ice Mage, but still needed to vent her frustration. Well-intentioned or no, Invel still controlled Brandish, and that pissed Dimaria off like no other.

            “Randi…” Dimaria sighed again. She wasn’t going to get into it with the mass mage. She didn’t even want to squabble over beliefs and ideals. After His Majesty passed, there was a quick and dirty fight for leadership over their forces; at the time, August had submitted to Invel because Irene backed him up, but now August was the undisputed General of the Spriggan 12 once again.

            Lady Irene was gone now. Invel was screwed, and everyone knew it.

            In another area of Magnolia, Neinhart was being made to work alongside a number of Alvarez soldiers. He didn’t like grunt work. His Historias were so much more proficient for menial labor, and he rather missed the respect and glory that came with being a top-ranking elite.

            … But he’d brought it upon himself, really. Apparently sentimentality outweighed resourcefulness, when people saw loved ones returned and forced to do construction work, amongst other chores.

            He’d been immediately demoted, and forced to dispel the Historias… well, except for one, and that one was taken away to speak privately with Lady Irene’s daughter. Which irked him, because that meant he had to keep channeling Magic to a Historia that was just talking…

            “Oi, you just gonna stand there all day, Neinhart? Get back to work!”

            Said purple-haired man twitched at the taunt. Jacob was up on the rooftop of a two-story building, supervising all of the soldiers. Ajeel was also nearby, filling holes in the ground with sand, as well as making sandbags. Neinhart knew that the real reason they were stationed here was to keep an eye on him… Not that he really cared to try anything. He was not going to end up like Invel. If that meant toughing it out and putting up with his demotion, so be it. He would follow all his orders and climb back up to his elite rank; it’s not like they would be able to deny him it for very long – Alvarez lost half of its elite fighting force and its Emperor, so he would be needed for managing all of their guilds and people back home. He belonged in administration!

            That’s what the proud knight told himself, anyway. Repeated in his mind like a mantra. He had to keep himself from attacking Jacob, somehow.

            Jacob, meanwhile, grinned at the clear displeasure etched on Neinhart’s face as he went back to carrying crates around. He should probably sympathize more with his fellow countryman, but Neinhart was a well-known layabout. The little git had this sort of thing coming.

            … That said, Jacob was also well aware that August could have stripped him of his rank, as well. He hadn’t stood against Invel – none of them had, except for Brandish, who Invel disciplined. Jacob knew that the only thing keeping him from being punished like Invel or demoted like Neinhart was August’s mercy. The man had decided Jacob was loyal enough that he had only been following orders when Invel took temporary control – it wasn’t a personal attempt to defy the Magic King on Jacob’s part.

            And Ajeel was a similar case. True, Ajeel had wanted to destroy Ishgar and Fairy Tail all by himself, but he had since gained perspective on wars. It wasn’t a certain thing yet, but August was at least considering naming Ajeel the next Emperor. He wouldn’t be ready for the role right away, but if August decided to make him the successor to Emperor Spriggan, August would be acting as the surrogate Emperor until Ajeel was fully groomed for the role.

            The biggest change for Alvarez would be the peace treaty they would be enacting with Ishgar. That would ensure no more wars between the two continents, at least not in the near future. But more importantly, trading would increase between the two continents because of Alvarez’s changes in international polices. Though it would be a strange shift, Jacob would respect August’s decision and help ensure the others fell in line, too. If August said not to start anything, Jacob was going to make damn sure the Magic King’s vision was carried out. Alvarez needed stability right now – they were in turbulent enough times as it was.

            They didn’t need a bloody revolution like the kind that Invel seemed to crave.

            ~*~

            Despite everything that had happened, Mavis had survived the extraction of Fairy Heart from her body. The intense magical power had been split amongst the six remaining Dragon Slayers, and had for the most part been used up in the fight against Acnologia. Nevertheless, trace amounts remained in the Dragon Slayers and kept their respective Magics intensified. It really was a miraculous power.

            Still, surviving didn’t mean Mavis was in perfect health. She was actually quite drained, and felt more mortal than she had in decades. She was also emotionally impacted by the deaths of Warrod, Makarov, Natsu, and Mira; she’d cried and wailed mournfully for days. All in all, it just left her feeling tired. So very tired.

            … Which was probably why she had agreed so easily to meet with August in private, a week after the war ended. If he tried anything, at least she’d be reunited with her precious loved ones.

            … And with Zeref, who she still felt the need to resolve matters with.

            “You’re my… what?!” Mavis’s voice rose as she stared at the Magic King in shock. August stared back at her seriously, making clear this was no joke.

            “Many decades ago, when Precht was trying to study your condition and save you, he discovered you had another life growing inside of you. He safely delivered the baby from your womb when it came time for him to be born, yet Precht was troubled by how much magic power that babe possessed. Precht abandoned him, sending him down a river… No one took that baby in, so the child eventually wandered. And as fate would have it, the child eventually found his father, who took him to a faraway land and taught him how to control that immense magic power…”

            A wealth of emotions passed through August’s eyes as he regaled Mavis with his story. And Mavis, too, was caught up in the maelstrom of emotions that came with the implications of the story.

            “That child never experienced love from his parents. Both father and mother were unaware they had a child; and so that child grew up, watching countless families lead happy lives, but never knowing that form of love from either of his parents… never understanding what familial bonds were, and why they were so powerful.” August shook his head remorsefully. “… But even so. Even if it was just one time, the child at least wanted to meet his mother. To experience that love for himself. That part may be an impossible dream now, after all that has happened… But I still at least wanted to tell you while I had the chance to… mother.”

            And as if that broke the trance Mavis was in, fresh tears sprang anew, and she barely held herself back from running right up to her son and embracing him. The only thing holding her back…

            “I… I want to hug you so bad…!” Mavis sobbed, using the back of her hand to wipe at the tears in one eye. “But I’m cursed by Anksheram, too…! I kill people just by caring about them!”

            Mavis shook her head mournfully, doing her best to stop crying in front of August. She stiffened when she found herself swept up in a comforting embrace, anyway. She looked up at August with glistening, shell-shocked eyes.

            And despite the potential danger he was in… August smiled softly.

            “Not even death will stop me at this point… Because I do not know if I will ever see you again, and I will not let this chance slip by.” Slowly but surely, the conviction in August’s voice calmed Mavis down. “I have caused you much grief, helping fulfill father’s ambitions while he was alive. But now that he rests in peace… now that I have a choice… I wish to do everything I can to repair all the damage that has been done. Perhaps together, Fairy Tail and Alvarez can build a new future together. It is an ideal to work toward, but not one without merit.”

            Slowly, Mavis closed her eyes, squeezing them shut nervously as she returned August’s embrace.

            … Nothing happened. No fatal outburst of Magic. They stayed locked in that tentative yet firm embrace, each of them silently promising to not let the other go.

            Mavis didn’t think she had the heart to just let her son return to Alvarez, alone. And after everything she lost… she didn’t have the selflessness within her to stay here in Ishgar, working to rebuild Fairy Tail.

            It was her guild. The one she founded with Yuri, Warrod, and Precht. But even so, it was a resilient guild; one that didn’t need her to stand upright. And in a way… she wasn’t defecting or abandoning them; by going to Alvarez with August, she could help stabilize the peace between Alvarez and Ishgar. Fairy Tail wouldn’t have to worry about history repeating itself.

            And she could… have a family. Fairy Tail was her family, too, but August was her flesh and blood that she never knew she had. Mavis felt like she needed this, that she deserved this much at least!

            Mavis was going to miss seeing the daily life of her rowdy guild… But she knew they were going to be just fine.

            ~*~

            Natsu couldn’t help sighing with exaggerated exasperation after Erza had dragged him off from the work Neinhart had him doing. He had already said everything he needed to say to the scarlet knight, back when they defeated Neinhart… so why drag him off now? Was she really so clingy? He told her she’d have to live without him! He knew Erza had that strength, so why was she clinging onto him?

            … It was only when she reunited him with Happy and all their friends that he understood her intent. It wasn’t for herself… Erza already had her last moment with him, but everyone else hadn’t. And they’d all wanted to say goodbye to him, this time. Even people like Laxus, Gajeel, and Erik – they all wanted to see him off. Lucy and Wendy cried. Gray vented at him for being a suicidal moron, but eventually caved and cried as well… Happy and Erza were the only ones who could muster up smiles when he’d muttered his final goodbyes.

            “Y’know? As long as someone lives on in your memories, they’re never truly gone?” Natsu told Erza with a disarming grin, feeling himself begin to fade as Neinhart cut off the Magic circulating to his Historia. “I had to learn that when Igneel died. And I know you’ll learn that, too, Erza. Take care of everyone.”

            Erza took a deep breath as she held back the tears as best as she could.

            “… I will. I suppose I’ll leave Master and Mira to you?”

            Natsu just laughed.

            “Gramps is just glad to finally be retired! And Mira says you better not follow us so soon. She wants ‘alone’ time with me.” He snickered at the scarlet knight’s sour expression. His expression softened as he kept smiling. “I got to see Igneel again. I might not have meant to die, but I don’t have any regrets, Erza – you shouldn’t either. Take care of everyone, but also take care of yourself. I’ll be watchin’.”

            Erza managed to keep herself composed until Natsu fully faded away for good. She’d cried plenty when she first heard about his death, but now only a single tear rolled down her cheek. Because she was going to honor his request. She was going to remain strong and watch over everybody left behind.

            If Natsu embodied the will of Fairy Tail, she was going to carry on that will. They all were.

~*~

Author's Note: I suppose you could call this an epilogue to that "Natsu dies" AU I cooked up. I left a lot of things open for me to write about later, if I wanted to come back to this AU; the battle with Acnologia, how other certain characters are faring after the war ended, the next FT Guildmaster (personally, I'm leaning toward Cana being the next Master in this AU, but I left it open for now), and even Mavis going over to Alvarez. Lots of ideas I could dink around with, but I dunno if I will do that in the near future. Just felt like getting this epilogue out, at least. Hope you enjoyed it a little. :3

#Fairy Tail #Irene Belserion #August Dragneel #Erza Scarlet #Gajeel Redfox #Cobra/Erik #Laxus Dreyar #Neinhart #Jacob Lessio #Dimaria Yesta #Brandish Mu #Mavis Vermillion

[noirbriar]

MDZS AU Headcanon dump: Stay (8)

(Part 1 here)  (Part 2 here)  (Part 3 here)  (Part 4 here)  (Part 5 here)  (Part 6 here)  (Part 7 here)

“Ze Wu Jun.What are you talking about-”

“Wei Wuxian, this I’m afraid would be a family matter.I would like to ask you to kindly leave.” LQR is not having any of it and JC knows his brother, quickly holds him back, eyes urging him to stand down. LWJ knelt before his elders.

“Wei Ying...Its fine.” This was coming anyway.

WWX being WWX he breaks away from JC, telling him to close the doors behind him. JC breathes heavily and rolls his eyes, he chooses to not deal with WWX’s whims now for his own sake and does as asked.

Amongst the crowd of white robed cultivators, the Grandmaster’s inky garbs stands out in stark contrast. Before he makes his way and kneels together with LWJ.

(Its almost a bastardised ceremony of acceptance but thats getting ahead of themselves.) 

”Since I’m Lan Zhan’s partner, and I’m the reason why he is to be punished then all the more I must stay no?”

”YOU-”

”Uncle, calm down please.”

”THIS-!” Some younger disciples quickly tries to calm LQR down, who is on the verge of choking on his own blood ( “Cangse Sanren you and yours-!” ) LXC taking this moment to proceed.

”Wangji.”

”...”

“Your punishment has been decided.You have a choice.”

“Seclusion within the caves in the depths of Cloud Recesses.In solitary isolation for 3 years.”

“Or we will strip part of your cultivation and be banished from the Lan Sect.”

Neither were ideal options. GusuLan has never killed unless in the worst scenarios.Like during the Sunshot Campaign.As a peace seeking clan, they seek enlightenment, and reform the mind, the body, the soul.But the caves...they are Spirit caves where they hone their cultivation. However, when one stay in the labyrinth long enough, they forget worldly desires. Their attachments.Their feelings. Themselves. As the immortals do. He knows what the caves can do...Afterall, it was where he spent as a child after his mother’s death. It is why he can barely remember her now, if not for his brother and back then he was too young to decide against the elders who no longer remained once his brother has taken leadership.

LWJ knows that they know.

They have given him an ultimatum. Have your way and lose your home, your status.Or come home, and re-cultivate yourself as a Lan. If 3 years your heart remains, they will not anything either after that.They can’t.

LWJ is ready to choose when WWX stops him. LWJ has given up much in staying beside him, he won’t let him sacrifice more for his sake. They are LWJ’s only family and WWX knows how important that is.

But you are important too.

“3 years Lan Zhan.Besides I have to deal with the Burial Mounds and the Stygian Tiger Seal during this time.By the time you are out, my obligations would also be finished.It’s not as if we’ll be apart 13 years right?” (hahahahhahahaha please dont hurt me)

“The process is dangerous, all the more I need to s-”

“Lan Zhan,trust me.”

Just as I trust you.

The following days, preparations were made. The Wens will be under surveillance, moving down into Yiling now they no longer need to stay in the mountains. WWX will move to Lotus Pier so the 3 sects can work with him better ( read: control ). LWJ will follow the Lans back to Gusu with a-Yuan. They told him he was going to board with a respected sect, he can learn and become like his Zhan gege. He will change his surname from Wen to Lan only because of his unique status as a ward of the Lan clan.LXC makes a promise to let them reunite on Lunar New Year.The only kindness he can give to the Wens.

WWX and LWJ were kept busy themselves, both with their new obligations, and the only time that have alone were the nights after.( “Lan Zhan, how long do you plan to not tell me?””?””About you and Wen Qing plotting behind my back.Feeding me all those horrible, disgusting medicine and meditation with you?””....You knew?””Its my body.I told you I know what is going on with it when I started demonic cultivation.So?So?Was it long?””...””Ahhh look at you Lan Zhan.Do I have to feed you wine to get the truth out of you again?””What?””Ah.Nothing.Nothing.Ahhhh-Lan er gege Wha-Noooo! Forgive Xian Xian!I’m sorry!””Asking for it.””But honestly Lan Zhan now that I can start cultivating again...should we try double cultivating?As cultivation partners?””Shameless.””Ahhh I knew you would say that-Wait.Lan Er gege what are you doing?Why are you peeling my robes-!””Double cultivation.””I DIDN’T SAY NOW!AH!” )

The morning before the departure from the Burial Mounds, they had a ceremony for a-Yuan at their home for the last time, where he thanks his family and his grandmother for their care before he leaves for another.WWX laughs to himself, watching the tiny child struggling in the stiff new robes.Almost bittersweet as he thinks about the child’s fate and purpose. At the end, a-Yuan instead, waddles over and pulls WWX and LWJ to the seats, face in a huffy determination only a way a child could have.

”A-Yuan wants to thank Xian gege and Zhan gege too.”

A tea, and a bow.

”Thank you for your care and love for a-Yuan.”

If WWX has cried, nobody makes mention of it.Even as he held the tiny boy, the innocence he had chosen to protect against the world.

It was worth it.

As the Sects leave Yiling, WWX following the Jiangs back to Lotus Pier and LWJ to Gusu, the pair stood beside each other, steps heavy in their wake.Finally, as they could not let the couple delay their plans further, a cough here and a nudge there.Its goddamn time.

WWX makes the first step, throwing his arms around LWJ. Poise and image be damned.Let them look.They were already talking at Koi Tower anyway.LWJ thinks as he returns the embrace, hoping to remember this man before the long years they have to spend apart.He feels WWX’s warmth, his breath at his neck before the demonic cultivator leans nearer to his ear, whispering words that he never dreamed he would hear.

“This time, I’ll come find you. I’ll come to Gusu.”

And WWX reaches up, tugs his forehead ribbon off,wrapping it around his wrist, giving LWJ a smirk before sauntering off to a stoned JC and a smug Wen family.

(Somewhere behind, LXC is smiling widely before scrambling to assist LQR who is resembling one experiencing a qi deviation.JC has a jaw on the ground, thoughts escaping him.The Wens are glad and relieved, because goddman it finally.If you had to live with the 2 you would be too.)

“I’ll be taking this Hanguang Jun! You can have it back in 3 years!”

“Mn.”

As they share one last parting glance, they turn away with much difficulty, parting after a long while.

LWJ has waited this long.He can endure this.

Just 3 years.

-----

On the way to Lotus Pier-

“Why...do I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“Ahhh a single dog won’t get it.”

“I dare you say it again you ass.”

“Single dog.”

“Hahaha.Let’s go Jiang Cheng.I’m a guest of Lotus Pier now, aren’t I? Have your disciples carry my things properly now. And I want to drink Shijie’s soup.”

“You and your shamelessness.Which part of guest do you not understand?!”

(Part 9 here)

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #headcanonAU #StayAU #if lan wangji stayed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan qiren #lan xichen #jiang cheng #we get yunmengjiang duo here #and jiang siblings with wwx and jin ling being family #ooc af don't say i didnt warn you #hah.3years. #hahaha #what can happen in 3 years?

[darkling-er]

Hope’s Savior ( John Seed x OC ) | Part 24, Finale

Summary: Trinity-Hope Johnson finds herself in the middle of a holy war, leading the Resistance, while having a complicated relationship with one of the cult’s herald. And she thought her first case would be easy. Oh how wrong she was!

Pairings: John Seed/Fem!Deputy, John Seed/OC, Earl Whitehorse & OC ( uncle&niece ), Joseph Seed/Fem!Deputy ( kind of ), might add more later

Warnings: mild language, violence, eventually smut, masturbation, oral sex, you know guys the usual, use of drugs ( bliss and other, thanks to Sharky ), fluff ( does that even need a warning? ), manipulation, angst, mention of mental illness ( insomnia, depression ), mention of child abuse ( from John’s side ), torture, I think that’s it? I swear it’s not so bad!

Word Counter: 4124

Notes: I have no excuses for myself for not writing the last chapter sooner.

Parts Masterpost | Season Two - Through the Gates

“And I saw as the lamb opened the sixth seal…” Joseph starts, but Hope’s deep sigh interrupts him.

“Please, let’s skip the preaching this time, Joseph...” She says, rolling her eyes and for her surprise, Joseph complies. He cocks his head a bit higher, his eyes narrowing. He’s clearly judging her and her incapability of listening to his words.

Then he closes his eyes with a sigh, like he wants to blow out the anger from his system, and opens them up again.

“Clearly, if you didn’t come for my... ‘preaching’, then you must have a reason for being here.” Joseph says, though it’s not a question, because he knows exactly why they’re there, at his compound.

Hope looks him in the eyes, trying to figure out what to say or what to do. She should have planned ahead, but heck! How is one supposed to plan a meeting like this right after having a vision of the end of the world?

She can see Earl looking at her from the corner of her eyes, waiting for her to speak and ready to step in in any moment if needed.

She thinks for a second to what to say and comes to the conclusion that it doesn’t even matter anymore. Fuck it!

“I’m here for John... We’re not looking for a fight. So as long as you don’t try anything stupid, we won’t either.” Not the cleverest thing she ever said, that’s for sure.

John flinches at her words, looking at Joseph, waiting for a reaction from him and seemingly even more nervous then he was before. What the hell did Joseph do to him, that he fears him this much?

Meanwhile on the Father’s face a smile starts to grow. It doesn’t reach his eyes and he scoffs, anger and disappointment clear on his face.

“Yes, I heard about your...” He starts speaking before he stops, trying to find the right word to describe the two of them. “...bond. John told me all about it... well, mostly all of it.”

He looks her in the eyes with a smile, before glancing at her stomach and for a second panic starts to build up in her. He can’t possibly know, can he?! Not even John knows!

Then Joseph looks back at her eyes, clearly satisfied with her reaction, which she tries really hard to hide.

“But still... It’s ironic, don’t you think? You’re telling ME, to not do anything ‘stupid’, as you said. Meanwhile you were the one, that caused mayhem and chaos across the whole county, while I did nothing, but give you an option to stop fighting.”

She shakes her hand in anger, clenching her hand into a fist as she says.

“Listen to me, asshole! I’m not going to start this conversation with you, so how about you shut the fuck up, and just let us leave in peace, huh?! I’m sure, you’re... ‘children’ are all excited to see us get the hell out of here.”

She just proves even more how much of Wrath she is with her words, but honestly she’s done with Joseph’s bullshit of a talk and just wants to get to safety with John, Earl and Sharky before the end of the world comes.

But Joseph doesn’t let her have it, of course. Her own sin starts to build up in him as well as he points an angry finger in her way, speaking through his teeth, his words filled with venom:

“YOU... Deputy, are an insufferable person!” She scoffs at that and smiles, like yeah, is she supposed to give a fuck what he thinks about her?

“You came here, with your people. You started this whole thing, and now? NOW?! You’re trying to tell me you want to leave in peace? Is that it? Tell that to the hundreds if not thousands of people you murdered, including Faith and Jacob! You are a brat! You deny God’s plans, you cross me and my Family whenever you can. Just so you can what?! Leave in the end with my Brother? He doesn’t want to leave! He doesn’t want you plaguing his soul, you’ve done enough by making him get off the Path! You made him relive his sins, you denied him what God planned for him. So no. You are not going to leave in peace with him by your side!”

Hope blinks at him, trying to process all that he just said. She wanted to interrupt him by saying: ‘How about you let him speak for himself?’ But as Joseph continued, she felt dread in her heart. She blinks at him before muttering to him:

“Jacob’s alive.”

It’s a simple sentence and she feels a shiver crawl up on her skin as she watches Joseph’s reaction. His face looks shocked, then angry. Angry, like she never saw him before and it makes her sick in the stomach and step back a bit.

“Why did you think he was dead?” She asks, but she already knows the answer. He thought that Jacob died, because that was his plan. That was his... seal, to the prophecy he spoke about all the time, and only now does it hit her. Memories storm her as she watches Joseph clench his jaw.

“It was always going to happen this way...” Faith said before dying, ascending into the water. “I’m happy with your decision, even if not entirely." Joseph said when they found out John is alive. She thought that he meant: happy that John lived, not entirely, because she kept it a secret. But really he meant he was happy for John to live, but not entirely because she was supposed to kill him, because that's what God told him, that losing his family was the sacrifice he had to make for the Collapse to come... She didn't realize it at the time, didn't make sense of all that. But now she does and it's already too late.

"You wanted them dead." She whispers to Joseph, who doesn't deny it, just looks her in the eyes, his eyes flaming red behind the yellow tinted glasses. “You wanted them to die.”

He speaks up in return: “It was supposed to be God’s wish. But you denied their destiny.”

Hope feels disgust towards the Seed, more than she ever felt before and she pities the other siblings. She wishes she didn’t kill Faith, she wishes that she could just get rid of Joseph somehow. She wants to give him a piece of her mind, but John speaks up before her. His voice is sore, scartchy for not using it much. He walks from behind Joseph to in between the Deputy and his brother.

“Is this true?” His voice is filled with anger and hurt as he looks at his elder brother. Joseph looks from Hope to his little brother as he tilts his head back.

“It was supposed to set you free.”

“I don’t FUCKING care what it was supposed to be!” John shouts as tears gather up in his eyes. “You lied to me!”

Hope can only watch from behind John the scene and the cultists around them seem buffled by the events, no one is speaking or moving as they watch their two leaders get into a verbal fight.

“I didn’t lie to you, John-” Joseph starts, with a much calmer voice than which he used to talking to Hope.

“YES! YES, you did lie to me!” John shouts into his face, pointing a finger at his brother. “You told me we were going to be a family again! You told me we were supposed to enter your FUCKING Eden together! And now it turns out you were just as much of a liar as anyone else before! You are not better then old man Seed!”

Hope flinches as John’s hurt voice and recalls the time she read Joseph’s book about their parents. She fears he stepped a line, but not because she fears for Joseph’s feelings, hell no! But she doesn’t want Joseph’s wrath to hurt John.

“You don’t know what I sacrificed for this, all of this to become true! I sacrificed so much, for us to make God’s wish true!” Joseph answers, but John had enough of his bullshit.

“You’re crazy!” He says shaking his head and that seems to push Joseph over the line.

Events start to happen too fast, for Hope to react at first. Joseph grabs the gun from his holster and points it at her. She doesn’t have any time to move or react before he pulls the trigger. She hears the shot, but doesn’t feel any pain, and it takes her a moment to realize that John grabbed his brother’s arm and aimed the gun at the sky in time. Earl and Sharky move to cover the junior deputy, grabbing their guns and getting ready for a fight with Joseph, but they can’t get a right aim, as John and Joseph fight each other for the gun in the elder’s hand.

After a short struggle Joseph gets pushed away from John, and he almost fells to the ground, but gains his balance back. Hope tries to see everything from behind Earl and Sharky and is ready to step in if Joseph has the gun, but she watches the cult leader empty handed as he looks at his younger brother.

John aims the gun at Joseph’s head as he backs away, right next to Hope and the others. He doesn’t look away from Joseph, not even for a second, but he blindly reaches for Hope’s hand and she grabs onto him, like her life depended on it. She can feel him shaking from anger, fear and sadness. Meanwhile Joseph just stands there in front of them, defeated.

“So.... this is how it’s going to end, huh?” He asks with a sad and fake laugh.

“You did this for yourself, brother...” John almost spits the last word, no love behind the meaning of the word.

Joseph laughs at that, a mad man’s laughter, no happiness or humour behind it. He tears up, looking at John, his hair which got loose in the fight with John falling into his eyes. Then he looks at Hope and she reflexively steps back a bit, half hidden behind John. Joseph smiles at her, a sad smile.

“We were supposed to be together... You were going to be my reward for all my sufferings.” He says, no anger, just disappointment and want behind his words. She even feels like he believes what he’s saying.

“Well, you were wrong.” She responds, not even disgust in her voice, just pity for the pathetic man in front of them.

He laughs again and all of a sudden charges at them. Hope blinks as she hears the gun next to her fire. Joseph stops merely a meter away from them and looks at his brother, shocked, as if he never would have guessed that John would actually shoot him. He looks down at himself, watching blood trickle down from his abdomen, painting his clothes red.

The cultist start shouting at them, readying their weapons, but before anyone could start a fire a hellish sound welcomes them. The wind picks up and in the distance a blinding light comes to life, before taking the shape of a mushroom.

Everyone looks shocked, except for Hope and Joseph. Hope looks at the man, who in the meantime feel to his knees in front of them and they look each other in the eye:

“It is done, child.” He says pain and happiness painting his face.

Way before anyone can even react Hope grabs John’s arm, who looks at the direction of the bomb, like everyone else and she shouts at Earl and Sharky as she makes them make a run for the truck.

“LET’S GO! NOW!”

It all seems like a dream from then. Events only making their way to her mind. She sees themselves getting into the truck, Earl taking the wheele. Her radio crackles to life and she can hear Dutch’s voice telling her, shocked that she was right. She sees John looking out the window, glancing back at Joseph and his people, who all gather around him and make him sit in another car. But the cultists aren’t going for them, they’re going the exact opposite direction.

It takes them record time to get from Joseph’s compound to the Valley, to John’s bunker.

When they exit the car, they can see the whole county in flames, but they don’t stay around for too long as they all enter the bunker. Inside, a whole crowd is gathered. And while Earl starts speaking to people, searching for Jerome, discussing the events and asking how many of them are gathered inside, Sharky sits down next to a wall, trying to process the events. John stays silent, staying right at the closed door of the bunker, looking into the distance. Hope tries to process everything as well, trying to make out how many people must be inside the bunker, looking for familiar faces. Spotting Liza and Adam somewhere. Watching Jerome and Earl around kids, unfamiliar people dressed in cultist clothes. She walks between them, muttering to some people, making sure everyone is alright, before a shout comes from within the crowd.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE?!” It’s Mary May’s voice and Hope doesn’t have to guess who she is referring to.

The crowd gets a bit more silent as they all gather in a circle. She makes her way back to the door, where John stands, looking at Mary May and the others. He looks out of place, he looks lost. He stays silent, which angers the bartender ever more.

“Get him the fuck out of here! He doesn’t deserve to be in here!”

She says, before Earl and Jerome stop her from grabbing and throwing John out.

Hope makes her way to between them as she raises her hands, her voice tired as she says.

“Relax, just... everyone relax, please.”

Mary May looks at her before getting out of Earl’s and Jerome’s hold and she walks towards John with a fist ready.

Hope stands between them, grabbing her by the chest, pushing her away.

“No, Mary May, stop!”

“Stop?! Deputy, this sonuvabitch did more harm than good! Hell, no good! He’s getting out!”

Hope sighs, feeling exhausted with all the events that happened today and feeling fatigue all of a sudden. But she makes out another protest.

“He’s staying!”

The bartender looks at her, feeling hurt and betrayed as she points at John and her.

“I don’t care if you two fucked, he’s leaving!”

She sighs, getting even more dizzier than before as she pushes the woman away a bit. Mary May backs up, but she’s still ready to jump at John in any second. Meanwhile Hope almost loses her balance, but she says.

“I’m pregnant.”

It’s a simple sentence. And she already told it to a couple of people, she got used to it, but it still makes the whole crowd silent, including Mary May. It’s true she told a couple of people about the pregnancy, but she made sure others didn’t know about it, and it shows as the woman looks buffled about her sentence, just as most of the people around them.

“YOU’RE WHAT?!” She asks as he looks at her, completely forgetting about her revenge on the youngest Seed. “How?”

She makes an exhausted laugh.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the process of getting someone pregnant.” She tries to answer with some humour, because still, in bad situations she deals with stress by making jokes.

“This isn’t funny.” Mary May even says as she looks at her. “Who’s the father?” But she already fears the junior deputy’s answer.

She would have cared more about the announcment, but with all of the events, with Joseph, the bomb, it just doesn’t matter anymore. She turns around, looking at John. She feared his reaction so much about the whole thing, but looking at him now, his fear and shock, she’s just... too... tired.

“John.” She answers, with a smile, before frowning and feeling the ground move under her feet. She panics for a second, thinking that maybe a bomb dropped right at the bunker, but then she hears John’s, Nick’s and Earl’s panicked voice as she falls to the ground. She doesn’t feel the fall and before anything can happen, she’s fast asleep.

Hope wakes up surprisingly comfortable and well rested as she opens her eyes. It takes her a moment to process and realize that she’s no longer in any of the houses of Hope County. And that no longer will she see the sunrise. But it doesn’t make her depressed. The room she’s in is luxurious as she looks around. The bed is a king sized one, with a golden silk blanket which feels like a dream to her skin. There’s a wardrobe, a desk, a couple of bookshelves in the room. There’s two doors, leading... somewhere. And a couple of paintings on the walls, and even a tv in front of the bed.

She sits up, blinking a couple of times making sure she’s awake and she’s not just dreaming about the room. Where the hell am I?

She asks in her head when one of the doors open and Liza comes into the room with a medkit. The young woman looks at her, relieved that Hope’s awake.

“Oh, thank God, you’re awake. We were worried about you, you know.” She says, but smiles as she closes the door behind her and sits in a chair next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

Hope smiles as she answers. “Well... you know. I’m fine, just the usual. The end of the world, trying to calm down people from killing John, getting unconcious like always.”

Liza shakes her head but smiles as she gets some things ready to check up on Hope. A light to check her pupils and some other medical stuff. “Glad you still got your humour, sweetheart.”

“Can’t get rid of that, ever.” Hope responds laughing slightly, then frowns, worry clear on her face.

Liza looks at her and like she reads her mind she says:

“John’s okay... well, Mary May punched him in the face once. But still, he’s not thrown out of the bunker, so that means he’s okay.... You don’t have to worry.”

Hope smiles, thinking that yeah, John probably deserved that punch, but she’s glad people calmed down a bit.

“I should go and find him, you know we still haven’t had the pregnancy talk, sooo....” Hope says after a quick exam, but Liza gives her a warning look.

“You better stay in bed, Hope. Seriously, you should just rest and-”

But the young woman is already up and out of the bed. She’s not hurrying though, because she’s still unsteady, but she smiles at Liza.

“Nope, I’m going.”

The woman is shaking her head.

“Of course you are...”

It doesn’t take her much time to find John, he’s right out the door, sitting on a bench. When he looks up he’s surprised to see her, he probably waited for Liza to come out. He gets up quickly from the bench and walks up to Hope, grabbing her arm gently, like he’s ready to catch her if she falls down again.

“You should be in bed.” He says, worry in his voice, but a smile spread across his face.

“Yeah, well... you know me. I can’t stay put for too long.”

He chuckles lightly.

“I know... it’s annoying.”

Hope smiles at him as she answers:

“And you love it.”

She feels anxious after saying that, because the ‘i love you’ talk never happened between them either, and she bites her bottom lip, which John watches with a soft smile. The softest she thinks she ever saw him and it makes her heart race in her chest.

“I do.”

Hope smiles at that again and sighs, getting ready for The Speech.

“So...” She starts, and John nods.

“So...” He repeats her words, but both of them stay silent as they’re not sure what to say to each other.

“I was going to tell you, you know.” She says after a minute of silence. “Well... I didn’t plan to tell you like this, but... why would anything happen the way we want, huh?”

She tries joking and John nods looking at her in the eyes before glancing at her stomach. It’s still barely visible, but now that she’s out of her jacket and in a single sweater, the swell of her stomach is more visible as well.

John reaches his hand towards her, but takes his hand back when he’s just an inch close to it. She looks at him, reading his face. He looks unsure and worried. Like he fears he would hurt their child just by touching her stomach.

She holds his hand in hers, her palm over his, and she closes the space between his hand and her stomach. He huffs out the air from his lungs as he smiles, amazed just by the touch. She rests his hand there, then he starts brushing his fingers over her belly. A chuckle leaving him, and she sees tears rolling down his face.

“I’m going to be a father.” He says, as he can’t believe his statement.

“Yupp.” She says with an encouraging smile.

She watches him and feels like she could burst from the affection and love that she sees in his eyes as he watches her belly. She speaks before thinking, but not even for a second she regrets saying it:

“I love you.”

John looks up at her, yet again shocked and he laughs, tears rolling down his face and she caresses his cheeks, rubbing away the wetness on his face with a loving smile.

The moment is ruined as chewing can be heard right next to them. Both of them look to the right to see Sharky eating chips. He looks like a child who has been caught stealing cookies.

“Sorry, go on. I’m just watching here.” He says and both Hope and John starts laughing at that.

Sharky smiles at them.

“So... you told him?” Boshaw asks as he looks at his best friend and points at John with his head.

“Told me what?” John asks with a frown, but his happiness is still showing.

“I’m gonna be the Godfather.” Sharky says proudly with a grin.

John looks at him shocked, then at Hope.

“Like hell he will!”

Sharky pouts, offended:

“Heeey!”

Hope only just laughs at them as she starts walking in the corridor, with the two man behind her, arguing like children.

“Trinity! There’s no way in hell, we’re letting Boshaw be the Godfather!”

“Excuse me? I’m going to be the best godfather in the world!” He says, and his sentence is followed with a loud burp.

“This is unbeliavable!” John says facepalming.

Hope only just chuckles at the two of them before stopping as she reaches the end of the corridor and looks at the bunker with shock.

“What the...” She says amazed by the interior garden and luxurious place.

She turns around looking at John in shock, who finally looks proud of himself and his usual smug grin appears.

“Like what you see?”

Hope huffs out a laugh as she looks back at the place then turns around pointing at John:

“Are you serious??? This whole time the bunker was some luxurious ass place? And you put me in the darkest and most depressing cheap ass room when I was here?” She refers to when he got her at the Confession.

He shrugs.

“Well, I mean-” He starts but Hope punches his shoulder playfully and then smiles, looking at the crowd below, everyone seeming happy, even with the events.

John just chuckles and hugs her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulders. His hands caressing her belly while she smiles and looks at the people down there. Earl is there as he looks up and waves to her with a smile. She waves back, then sighs. It’s a sigh of relieve, one that she didn’t have in a long time. Finally she feels at peace, save and happy. Surrounded by people she loves. And just about in some months, she’ll meet someone new that she can love as well. And ironicly it’s all thanks to one person.

“John Seed...” She starts with his full name which gains her a raise of his eyebrows as he humms in question. “You are my savior.” She says with a light chuckle.

He humms with a smile as he responds.

“And you are the whole county’s, my dear.”

A/N: THE END! hahaha finally, I got to the end, and can follow up with the next season, called Through the Gates! Thanks for everyone that followed my little story and had even just a bit of interest in my ocs. ♥♥♥

Tags: @onl-you , @redaurora17

#hope's savior #trinity-hope johnson #my deputy #john seed x deputy #john seed x female deputy #john seed x oc #far cry 5 fanfiction #far cry fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #far cry 5 #my ocs

[peachyjie]

Minus 20? || Zhu Zheng Ting

A/N : So this is a prompt I am really amused in, and am nervous on how this will turn out. But idk how did it turned from badass mafia shooting people to woosh and swoosh Mom I made a unicorn. It took me 3 days to get this brain unclogged and inspiration finally hits me so thank the lord also. Enjoy :>

Requested : Yes, the anon is getting more and more creative each days (Req are back in business ya’ll!)

Pairing : Zhu Zheng Ting - Reader

Genre : Hogwarts!AU + fluff

Summary : Just the usual and iconic Hufflepuff who ended up falling for a Slytherin who’s brother is the Hufflepuff prefect. Yea, that should sums it up.

————•————

“Slytherin takes the win!”

Ziyi gasped for air as the game ended, he laid down on the ground trying to even out his breathing. He stared in silence as the group of Slytherin broke into cheers, some coming down to heave up their seeker, Wang Linkai or known more as Xiaogui who himself has a proud grin on his face.

Xukun came over the heaving prefect and held out his hand. “It’s okay man, there’s next time”, Ziyi nodded before giving himself up to be pulled by Xukun. They congratulated the fellow players from Slytherin before getting off ready for dinner.

“To the 3rd year in a row!”, as the clinks of glass was heard with the proud voice from the Slytherin prefect filled the dining hall. Once again celebrating their unbeaten glory.

Yanjun, Slytherin’s prefect had his arm slung around Linkai, and laughed at the little seeker. Ziyi and the other hufflepuff sat quietly on their side of the table, already done with the game.

Zhengting, a fellow Hufflepuff beater sighed. Xukun nudged him and laughed. “We’re only in our 6th year, cheer up”

Ziyi held up his glass, a warm smile on his face. “To Hufflepuff, who played our best”, Zhengting smiled before clinking his glass on his. Zhengting nodded.

“To Hufflepuff”

“Wang Zi Yi”, all eyes snapped on the figure. You stood in your glory, pride as the green robe drapped on your figure. A fellow Slytherin on the Hufflepuff table.

Wang Y/N, known broadly in the Slytherin’s house. Not by her name, but by her status. Known to be the younger sibling of an Hufflepuff, many had it hard to believe that you’re put in Slytherin.

But Ziyi does, he knows how different you are from him. Since young you’ve shown your traits as a Slytherin whilst he is your polar opposite. So getting in Hogwarts, even he was as confident as you that you’ll be put in Slytherin.

Which also resolve to a lot of people, even the professors questioning which one of you are adopted.

Ziyi smiled. “May I ask why are you in the Hufflepuff table, Wang Y/N?”, you scoffed at your brother’s statement. You stared at Xukun and Zhengting who was ogling on you, and gave out a cold nod.

You slammed down a small parchment box and turned around walking back to your table, going beside Linkai and started joke with the other teams in process.

“That was rude”, Zhengting mumbled. Ziyi only shakes his head softly, a smile still on his face. He took the box and opened it, laid inside is a Burning Bitterroot Balm and a smal note.

“She’s always like that”, Ziyi said staring at Zhengting. Zhengting could see the adoring brotherly love aura penetrating from Ziyi.

Ziyi stared at the small paper and laughed slightly, Zhengting managed to take a small peak on it before Ziyi hid it in his pocket.

You did great, don’t push yourself Ge

“A Slytherin’s soul in a whole. But with me, a Hufflepuff’s heart”

Basically since then, Zhengting started noticing you more often. Especially since you always pass by in the hallways and would oftengreet Ziyi whenever you see him, occasionally giving a small nod to Zhengting and Xukun.

He would learn from Ziyi how you’re so ambitious and so determined to ace all of your subjects, it made you the top in every single class. He knew how you’re also born in natural intelligence, but still stay humble trying to learn more. You’re not cocky but can be cunning when times comes.

It peaks others interest on others whenever they sees you in the hall or basically, anywhere. You’re the professors favorite, sparks others interest which made you the center of love confession. It intrigued Zhengting.

“You obviously have an interest for Y/N”, Zhengting left out a gasp from Ziyi’s words. “Impossible!”, Zhengting yelped as he snatched his broomstick out of Ziyi’s hands.

“From your eyes that sparkles whenever I told stories about my life and Y/N’s to your unending interest about Y/N. Sure, you’re whipped”, Ziyi pats Zhengting’s shoulder with a warm smile on his face.

“I swear, I don’t hav-”

“Oh look, bees buzzing down in their hopeless dreams”, a sudden voice came booming on the fields. The Hufflepuff’s Quidditch team spun around staring at the figure.

The fellow Slytherin’s prefect, Lin Yan Jun. Accompanied by his friends, Wang Lin Kai and Huang Justin. Smirking, he walked closer. Their green robes majestically flows smoothly on their figure.

“Is there anything you need, Yanjun?”, Ziyi asked calmly as he stepped forward. Shielding the others in process. “Just want to see how are you all doing after losing again”, Yanjun mocks and shrugs a little.

“Were bummed but we’re confident enough on the next game, thank you for your concern”, his cool tone peaks the fire in Yanjun. Yanjun stared at Zhengting and scoffs. “This is the useless beater, huh?”

Zhengting widen his eyes in shock, he marches to Yanjun before Ziyi held him down. Ziyi gave him the eye, a meaning to not piss the prefect off. “If you are here not to summon me for any meeting but mock us, I would tell you nicely to leave”, Ziyi stared at Yanjun, which made him laughed.

“A Hufflepuff trying to tell a Slytherin off?”, Yanjun walked closer. Linkai noticed the movement of his prefect’s hands, going in his robe to fetch his wand. He tried to stop him, but was pushed off by Justin who shakes his head on him.

Ziyi stood still, knowing what will happen. “Who do you think you are? Just because your younger sibling is in Slytherin, it doesn’t make you less worthless.”, Yanjun hissed out.

Ziyi smiled, how amusing it was to piss this boy out. “At least Y/N is actually adored and loved by everyone, while you’re trying to act worthy”, Ziyi spite back. This was enough to peaks the other prefect’s off.

Yanjun launches himself on Ziyi, wand in his hand. “Sectum-”

Ziyi was too slow on taking his wand to even defend himself, but he didn’t need to. Out of nowhere, Yanjun felt a sudden force on him. The force was enough to snatch his wand and threw it all across the field.

“This isn’t how a proper duel should be conducted, is it?”

Wand held high, you glared at your own prefect. You walked in front of Ziyi, shielding him from anymore spells. You held your gaze with Yanjun, hard and cold.

“Didn’t I tell you not to bloody mess with my brother, Lin Yan Jun?”

Ziyi tried to grip your hand but you coldly shrugs him off. “Who told you to step into my business, Y/N?”, you stare hard at Yanjun. Your wand glowing, pointing at his chest. Yanjun could clearly feel the radiating warmth.

“I’ve warned you, Yanjun”, you hissed out his name. “Do not mess with my brother”, you glared at Yanjun. Yanjun was about to step forward before Linkai and Justin pulled him away from getting near you.

Professor Zhang walked as fast as he could, raising his voice. “What is the meaning of this?”. He stared at you, your wand still on hand. “Wang Y/N, I expected more professionalism aside of petty spell plays from you. Or was I expecting too much?”

Zhengting walked beside you, trying to interrupt. “But Professor-”, you held his arm. Your grip tight but still soft enough to not hurt him. Zhengting stared at you confused before noticing the hint you’re giving off.

“I am sorry, Professor Zhang”, you replied holding your gaze on your professor. “A simple apologies won’t be enough, miss Wang. Haven’t your prefect teach you the common rules on dueling on the grounds of Hogwarts?”

You turned around staring at Yanjun, slowly giving him a smile. You mouthed to him, and only to Yanjun. “I’ve warned you”

“Deduction of 20 points from Slytherin”

Yanjun stared at you in horror. Zhengting couldn’t take it anymore, he dashes out to the Professor but ended up tripping on his own two feet. You gasped.

When the Professor left the field, you went to help Zhengting up. Dusting the excess dirt of him. Zhengting swore he could feel heat radiating to his face right now, but tried hard to not show it.

“You bloody did it! You’re making us lose the House Cup!”, Yanjun yanked your shoulder forcing you to stared at him. But Ziyi was fast enough, he grips on Yanjun’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Ziyi”, you said to him calmly.

You didn’t do much, just slightly walking near Yanjun and a firm grip on his hand. “I’ve warned you. Mess with my brother, ever bloody business of his involves me”

You gave a knowing look to Linkai and Justin, who nodded at you. Before you know it, the fields were back in normal peace.

You stared at Zhengting in concern. “Are you okay?”, you asked in worry. Zhengting too flustered just blabbered nonsense, making him more embarrassed. You giggled in the process.

“Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?”, you asked out joking. This made Zhengting laughed and shook his head. You stared at Ziyi, glaring at your brother.

“You tripped him”

Ziyi held up his hand in defense, acting innocent. You could only laugh. You were about to walk back to your next class before Zhengting grabs one of your hand, stopping you.

“We made your house lose 20 points, at this rate your house-”

You put a hand on top of his and smile softly. Zhengting could feel his heart skipped a beat, and the warmth of your hand didn’t help the rapid beating either. “I would sacrifice my life to keep you guys alive than winning a bloody House Cup”

Zhengting could feel his heart beating faster and all those mushy feeling in him, the warmth slowly circling in his insides. He stared at you, and he didn’t even care if he stared too long.

Ziyi coughed, taking both of your attention. “This is such a mundane things, I swear”, Ziyi raised his eyebrow. He walk his way to Zhengting, grabbing his collar and pulling him up. Slinging his arm on his shoulder, Ziyi smiles at you.

“Wang Y/N”, Ziyi called you. You crossed your arm and stared at your brother in your usual poker face. “Go to Hogsmeade with this beater on your weekend”

Zhengting stared at Ziyi in horror, he was so ready to hex his own prefect. “Oh, Y/N’s blushing”, Ziyi teased. Zhengting spun his head around, and he got a heart attack. The slight tone of pink decorating your cheeks, whilst you’re trying to tone it down by playing your hands on your burning face.

Zhengting thinks you look cute

You coughed, clearing your throat. “Let’s see if I can gain back that 20 points before this weekend”, giving them a small nod you ran back to the building trying to hide away your embarrassment.

Zhengting stared at Ziyi, punching him on the chest. “You’re an idiot”

Ziyi watched in disbelief. “I helped you scored a date with your crush!”. Zhengting gasp in horror, he stared at Ziyi. “Y/N rejected me you bloody idiot!”

“No”, Ziyi crossed his arm, staring down at Zhengting. “If others think scoring 20 points is a hassle, for Y/N it’s a piece of cake”

“Does that mean-”

“Yes you bloody idiot, she agreed on the date to Hogsmeade”, Ziyi took Zhengting’s broomstick and pass it to him. “So do well on the date, fellow bee”

Zhengting stood there, frozen. He got a date with a Slytherin, with you. He stands rooted on his spot not moving until Ziyi had to drags him back to practice. “We still have practice, don’t forget that”

“You tripped me, remember that”, Zhengting scowls.

Making the prefect’s laugh resonates the green fields

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