#yes yes i rebelled against no food in lab but hey

[nataliedanovelist]

ROTTMNT - The Apocalypse That Was, But Never Is ch.4

After a lifetime of rebelling against the Kraang, Casey Jones II has a lot to adjust to. He can handle real food and new clothes just fine, but having his parents alive and well and right in front of him is entirely new - and slightly terrifying - territory.

A fanfic dedicated to @fanficmaniatic and @soundwavemain for creating a beautiful idea that I decided to push a little bit further. You can read the premise here.

Swearing and slight gore warning.

Posted on AO3.

Ch.3 - Ch.5

~~~~~~~~~~

Cassandra patted the dozing toddler’s back, but Casey was stubborn and almost three, so he had no problem telling his mother, “M’not sleepy.”

“Yes you are.”

“No m’not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No m’not.”

Cassandra could play this game all night, until Casey fell asleep, which they sometimes did, but she heard footsteps and saw Mikey coming. “Hey, I heard about the ambush yesterday. Is everyone okay?”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah, we’re okay. Leo’s… a little bent outta shape, but nothing D couldn’t fix.”

Cass was still pretty sore at Donnie, their friendship not quite the same ever since Raph died, but she nodded. If he really tore himself away from that stupid project long enough to help his brother, maybe it was a sign he was getting his head out of the clouds.

“Mikey,” Casey cooed, rubbing an eye and yawning. “Want Weewo.”

Mikey smiled and cupped the toddler’s cheek. “Sorry, champ, but he’s resting right now…”

“Hamato Michaelangelo, you keep that kid away from me, and I will feed you to the hounds.” A voice called calmly, but with a certain old man stern Mikey thought Leo was too young to have.

The mystic warrior rolled his eyes. “Damned echoing caves. Okay, CJJ., let’s go see Weewo.” And he scooped up the toddler and led the way to Leo’s chambers.

Donnie couldn’t believe he and Mikey managed to move their brother safely to his chambers, a slightly more comfortable place to rest than the table in the lab, but he also couldn’t believe his brother was still alive after all that blood loss, awake and talking twenty-four hours later. But he could definitely believe the first thing on Leo’s mind was giving Casey the attention the child deserved.

Cass’s jaw dropped silently when she saw the slightly too large robotic arm attached to Leo’s body, but she closed her eyes and regained her composure, glad to see her old friend alive.

“Weewo!”

“Hey there, buddy.” Leo said tiredly, teaching his organic arm for the boy and holding him, letting him rest against his chest and on his lap. “There’s my little soldier. What’re you doing up? Torturing your mom for me?”

“M’not tired.”

“Ah, gotcha. But brave warriors like you need lots of sleep so they can grow up big and strong, and all that jazz.”

“Wanna stay wif you.” Casey mumbled, holding Leo’s arm and using it like a blanket.

Leo smiled and looked over at his twin, who was standing stiff. “Don’t worry. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”

Donnie grimaced at how little he had been with his family, how precious time is, and how he almost lost so much of it, all because he missed one person so damn much. But he knew he wasn’t ready to miss more people. He would never be ready for that.

The scientist opened his eyes and managed to form a tired smile. He sat in the spare chair, right by Leo’s left side, and said, “I’m not going anywhere.” And he folded his arms and rested them on the edge of the bed, showing that he had no plans of moving anywhere for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hold still, Casey! Let Dr. Delicate Touch take a look.”

“Dr. Delicate Touch threw a building at the Kraang!”

Mikey laughed and said, “Well as long as your not an alien trying to destroy the world, I think you’ll be okay.”

“Dang it, Casey, just let Mikey look at your wrist.” Leo said, rolling his eyes with his skateboard across his shoulders.

Casey had been doing very well on his roller skates, maybe a little too well; he got slightly over-confident and tried to do some flips, which he nearly got right, but he didn’t quite stick the landing and he put all his weight on his left wrist.

“Guys, I’m fine, I swear.” Casey said, standing up and cradling his arm by his chest. “I’ll fix it up at the lair.”

“Casey Jones, just let Mikey or Donnie look at it.” Raph instructed. “We just need to know if it’s broken or not, that’s all.”

Casey still looked very uncomfortable with the situation. Raph wondered how he was treated for injuries during an apocalypse and why he would be so against help now. Just add it to the lists of survival habits the snapping turtle hoped would go away with time. But the teenager winced, shut his eyes, and held out his arm to Donnie and Mikey.

Mikey held his arm very tenderly and gently felt for swelling beneath his wraps, just where his glove ended. “Oh boy, already swelling.”

Donnie lowered his goggles, which made Casey swallow, and the scientist said, “Well, you definitely sprained it. The ligaments are stretched, but not torn, so you’ve only got a mild sprain.”

“Let’s put some ice on that and get you one of those cool sprains for your hand!” Mikey said as he let Casey’s arm go and he held it by his chest. “And we’ll get some stickers so you can decorate it!”

“Thanks.” Casey said, giving a timid smile.

“Aw, I remember our first sprains and broken bones.” Raph reminisced as they walked to the convenient store. “It took all of us and Splinter to hold Leo down so Donnie could pop his arm back in place.”

“Or remember how big Donnie’s ankle was when Leo f- accidentally fell on him?” Mikey asked, eyeing the leader in blue.

Leo narrowed his eyes. “Or when Mikey’s bone was sticking out of his elbow…”

“Ew, gross!” Donnie groaned. “That was not fun!”

“You weren’t the one with the broken arm!” Mikey reminded him fiercely. “It took me a year to get on my board again!”

“And now look at you!” Raph said, rubbing the top of his head. “Best skateboarder in the world!”

“Better than Sydney?” Mikey pushed, knowing fully well he wasn’t better than the coolest pro-skater in the world.

“Okay, now that’s pushing it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Where are you? C’mon out, wittle warrior.” Mikey cooed as he creeped around the cave.

Casey covered his giggling mouth, hiding behind some boxes and sensing that the mystic master was nearby.

Mikey smiled, put a hand on the crates, and quickly bent down. “I’m gonna getcha! Huh,” The hiding spot was abandoned, and Mikey was impressed by the six-year-old's speed and sneaking abilities.

“Where is that wittle guy, hm?” He called out to the cave. “I’m gonna bobble him up when I find him!” Mikey growled playfully, but then was pounced on by a playful child, who landed on his shoulders as he giggled, but Mikey laughed, scooped him up and began tickling him and “eating” him. “Om nom nom! I’m gonna eat you! Om nom nom!”

Casey’s laughter echoed in the caves blissfully, drowning out the sounds of distress a few tunnels away, but as Mikey stopped and let Casey catch his breath, it became clear that something was wrong.

Mikey put the child down and walked on, Casey closely behind him, hoping to play some more soon.

They went into a large cave, the largest hole in the ground and the most important, the Med Bay. A majority of the beds were empty, some holding warriors with broken bones or bad flesh wounds, but far from death. A lot of commotion came from one bed. Donnie was hard at work, Sheldon flying around, Leo holding someone’s hand, Baron Draxum standing with his arms crossed over his chest. When the brave sheep stepped aside to talk to Leo, Casey and Mikey got a clear view of who was lying on the bed.

It was Cassandra. She was pale and painted in scarlet. Casey had seen blood before, it didn’t really scare the child, but that was a lot. Donnie hooked up a small monitor to her, and Casey knew what that meant. Those tools were only used for when someone was dying.

“NO!”

Mikey had completely forgotten that Casey had followed him. He caught him just as the boy ran past him and held him close, but the child kicked and screamed and wiggled in his master’s arms.

“NO! NO! MOMMY! LEMME GO! MOMMY!”

Cassandra tried to open her eyes and move her free hand upward, but her strength was leaving her too quickly. Donnie quickly started closing her wound while Sheldon gave her more blood.

Baron approached the turtle and human and said, “Easy, child, calm down. You won’t help your mother screaming like that.”

“LEMME GO! I WANT MY MOMMY!”

“I know, son, I know.” Baron cooed, scooping up the child and resting him against his chest as he and Mikey left the Med Bay. “But I’ve known your mother for years, since she was nothing more but a look-out for look-outs. She will be fine.”

Casey’s screams turned into sobs, and he clung onto Baron’s white vest, tears falling on the sheep’s bare chest. “M’scared, Baba Baron.”

“I know,” The alchemist replied, and added as he gave Mikey a grave look, “I’m scared, too.”

Mikey’s face dropped; he knew right then and there to prepare for the worst.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Donnie, where’s my mom?”

The scientist stayed silent, wiping his scarlet hands clean with the rag.

“Donnie! Where is my mom?!” Casey demanded.

He couldn’t say it. He didn’t need to. His eyes said it for him.

The child fell to the dirt floor and held himself, sobbing his heart out. Mikey covered his eyes with his hand, his heart broken after losing a friend, and seeing his nephew so broken and sad, at such a young age. Baron held his arms so tightly his nails nearly dug into his maroon skin.

Leo stepped forward and got on his knees. He used his non-robotic arm to tuck some black hair behind Casey’s ear, and start rubbing his back. Casey looked up at his sensei, tears streaming down his face, and the leader said,

“Anatawa Hitorijanai.”

The six-year-old launched himself into Leo’s arms and sobbed, both arms - robotic and organic - embraced him, as the family mourned the loss of a beloved family member.

~~~~~~~~~~

Casey opened his eyes and felt something wet on his face. He tried to wipe his skin dry, but his arm ached and felt heavy. Right, sprain. He sat up and used his other hand to wipe his face with his blanket, sighing tiredly.

The room Donnie had built from him was nice, but only half finished. Cass had given him some old posters to hang in his room, he had a nice bed with more pillows and blankets than he’s ever had in his life, and he had a bookshelf that he was free to fill with his favorite things, he just needed to gain some favorite things first. His gear, mask, and gloves sat on a small table on the right corner of his room, next to his bed.

Casey’s arm ached and he had a headache. Painkillers, maybe some ice on his arm, and a snack? Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

In his maroon-plaid pajama pants and black t-shirt with a skull on it, socks, and wraps and brace, he left his bedroom and headed to the kitchen, where he swore some medicine was kept. He was grateful to find the lair silent and dark, meaning no one else was awake.

In the dimly lit kitchen, Casey made himself a glass of water, pulled out a bag of chips, and set them on the counter while he looked for the painkillers. It seemed like every cabinete held something other than medicine; food, cups and plates, spices, but the medicine was nowhere to be found. Casey was starting to get a little annoyed, his headache getting worse, so he decided some food might help him think.

Sitting at a stool and eating his snack, his wrist was really starting to hurt. Not bad bad, he knew there was worse pain to be felt, but it still hurt. Ice, right. Casey stood back up, opened the freezer, and luckily found a bag of ice waiting for him.

He sat back down, rested his arm on the table, and placed the ice over the swollen area. It felt nice, but he frowned. He really should take off his wraps, wash his arm, and put fresh gauze on. Casey looked up at the door of the kitchen to double check he was alone, sighed, and carefully lifted his arm and started to unwrap his oddly-colored limb.

Meanwhile, Mikey left the bathroom, yawning into his clean hand and ready to go back to bed, but he saw that the kitchen light was on and heard some motion. Thinking someone needed a snack, and deciding he could go for a bite himself, Mikey decided to give them some company.

He smiled when he saw Casey at the counter. “Hey, Case-…” He stopped, deadpanned at the sight.

Casey was rigid. His whole left hand and arm had been unwrapped, showing its true colors. Mikey was at first freaked out, thinking the teenager had an infection, but a longer look told Mikey that Casey’s green skin wasn’t due to an injury.

Casey’s entire hand was green. It continued past his wrist (which was bruised and swollen at the moment), and freckled into average Caucasian human skin, like Cassandra’s, a little before his elbow.

“Mikey!”

“Ohmigosh!” Mikey gasped. “YOU’RE A MUTANT?!”

“Dude!” Casey hissed, shushing him, and put his arms behind his back, leaving the ice pack on the table. “Rude!”

“Lemme see…”

“Get off of me!”

“Casey Jones, you let me see…”

“No!”

The whispering fight continued for only another second, the sprained wrist powerless against the two healthy arms, as Mikey took his arm and carefully held it, examining his skin, which now that the turtle looked closer, Casey’s skin wasn’t just green, but also scaled. Like his. Like his brothers’.

“Casey,” Mikey awed under his breath, then looked up at the hybrid before him. Casey looked away, angry and embarrassed, and Mikey asked, “You’re… Are we… Um… A-Are you a Hamato?”

Casey sighed and held his head by his eyebrows with his free hand, elbow on the counter. Mikey grabbed the ice pack and placed it on the swollen part of his wrist. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“But…” Mikey was starting to put some pieces together, and he wanted to be happy about this discovery, but Casey’s reaction depressed him. “H-How?”

Casey refused to answer. He covered his mouth, not looking at Mikey, his eyes heavy with secrets and emotions.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Mikey asked. “Are you… ashamed of us? I get it that it’s not easy being a fr-…”

“No!” Casey interrupted, finally looking at Mikey, and going from angry to apologetic in a flash. “No, I’m not ashamed! I’m very proud…”

“Well you sure got a funny way of showing it.” Mikey let slip darkly.

“I don’t care about being a mutant.” Casey said firmly. “I’m proud of my family! I just… I wasn’t ready to tell you guys.”

“You told us who your mom was.”

“That was an accident! And plus, c’mon! We have the same name! It wasn’t gonna take long for you guys to figure that out.”

Mikey sighed, trying to be patient, trying to be understanding.

“Look, Master… I mean, Mikey,” Casey said. “I’m sorry, I just… I’m just not ready for him to know. I didn’t really know him. It’s a little different with Mom. I knew her until I was six. I just got her back! I wanted to enjoy that for a bit before trying to… trying to get to know him in that way. Plus, I didn’t want it to affect my parents’ relationship too much, y’know? I mean, clearly they hasn’t even started dating yet.”

Mikey’s face relaxed, feeling sorry for his friend, reminded of how much he lost at such a young age. He nodded, feeling like he was finally understanding, but he just couldn’t help but ask. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, I… I think I get it. But…” Mikey bit his lip, hesitant, but decided to ask anyway. “But who’s your dad?”

Casey looked down at his green skin. “I’m not ready to say it.”

“And that’s okay.” Mikey quickly said. “I’m sorry. You… You take as much time as you need. I’m just…” The box turtle smiled and added with tears in his eyes, “I’m just so happy you’re family.”

Casey smiled back, and allowed Mikey to hug him, Casey resting his left arm, but he hugged Mikey back with his right arm.

When they separated and Mikey stole a chip, he asked jokingly, “Is it Donnie? Is it me? Raph? Ohmigosh, it’s Leo!”

“Shaddup.” Casey laughed, shoving Mikey by the shoulder, and eating a chip.

“So,” Mikey popped another chip in his mouth and asked, “Do you have a shell, too, or…?”

“Eh, kinda,” Casey said, rocking his hand back and forth. It was certainly much easier to talk about himself than his parents. “It’s kinda half formed under my skin. Here,” Casey barely lifted his t-shirt and showed Mikey his lower back.

It was certainly very interesting to say the least. His back looked like a paler green than his arm, with bumps and scales scattered throughout, and when Mikey gently touched it, it felt rough, but still very flesh and not very protective. “It kinda reminds me of Donnie’s shell.” He said, leaving the comment hanging.

“Yeah, not very good against attacks,” Casey explained, pulling his shirt down and turning back around. “But it’s still cool.”

“Are both your arms green?”

“Yup. And my legs, just below my knee.” And he pulled up a pants leg to show Mikey exactly that. Green skin that freckled into peach skin before the knee. “Other than that, I’m all human.”

“Cool!” Mikey exclaimed. “Well, I know for a fact that your parents were proud of you, no matter who they were.”

Casey chuckled and brought his cup of water to his lips. “Heh. Thanks. Can I have some painkillers now?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re doing great, babe! You’re almost there!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

“Wow wow wow, okay, broken thumb, but that’s okay! You break all the bones you want!” The father said sincerely with a faithful smile.

“Oh, wow, that looks pain-…”

“Leo, get your fainting brother out of here!”

“UUUUUUUUUGH, I WANNA FUCKING DIE!”

“Okay okay, there’s too many people in here, and there’s about to be one more, so everyone but Mom and Dad and flying AIs, OUT!” April commanded, sitting on a stool and slipping on gloves.

Donnie leaned on Leo, gagging and nearly ready to throw up. Mikey followed them, giving his brother a good luck thumb-up, leaving Raph by Cassandra’s side as she moaned and screamed.

April ducked between her legs. “Alright, Cass, they’re crowing. It’s time to start pushing. Sheldon…”

Cassandra’s screams could be heard all throughout the tunnels.

Donnie threw up into a bucket while Leo rubbed his shell and rolled his eyes. Mikey paced excitedly, twiddling his thumbs and beyond excited to be an uncle. Baron sat in an old armchair, kicking a hoof unknowingly as he sharpened a spear, his ears on high alert.

The screams eventually faded away to grunt and panting, and there was silence. The men were frozen, fearing the worst. They had tried so hard to help Cass, but there was no way to give her the rest and food she would have gotten in a non-apocalyptic world.

Then there was crying, and the three turtles dropped like puppets cut from their strings, and sighed with relief. Baron smiled and resumed his sharpening.

An hour later, April came into their cave, clean and grinning. The men waited, and she only had them in suspense for another minute.

“It’s a boy! A very healthy baby boy!”

The caves erupted with cheers and cries of joy. Mikey even used his mystic powers to make tiny fireworks explode in the cave, Leo and Donnie did some sort of weird jig, and Baron punched the air and jumped up from his chair.

“Okay okay,” April laughed. “Everyone shaddup so you can go meet him. Anyone who wakes a sleeping baby is getting sent to a labor camp.”

The shushing family carefully walked to the room, everyone taking in a unison breath at the sight of the teeny tiny bundle in Raphael’s strong arms, Cassandra leaning against him, beyond tired with huge bags under her eyes, but her smile was radiant.

Raph looked up at his family, his eyes wet and his bottom lip quivering, his smile just as joyful as his partner’s. “Hey guys,” He croaked.

“Awwww!” Mikey cooed and rested his hands on his knees, looking at the tiny face surrounded by the warm blanket. “He’s beautiful, you guys!”

“What are you naming the bundle of chaos?” Leo asked.

“We’re naming him after the most amazing warrior of all time…”

“Aw, Lou Jitsu!”

“Einstein?”

“Leonardo Jr. it is then!”

“Better not be Shredder.”

“No!” Raph corrected. “We’re naming him Casey Jones! After pushing an entire person outta her body…”

The room clashed with agreement and also a plea to drop the subject.

Raph chuckled and smiled at Leo. “You wanna hold your nephew, fearless leader?”

Leo was a little surprised by the honor of being the first outside the parents to hold the baby, but smiled and nodded. He stepped forward and Raph carefully handed his son to his little brother, showing him what to do, and beyond happy to see Leo holding little Casey, eyes shining at the sleeping newborn.

“Aw, hey there, buddy.” Leo cooed. “I’m your Uncle Leo. Yeah, hi. Welcome to the family.”

#rottmnt movie #rottmnt spoilers #rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt april #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #cassandra jones #casey jones jr #dad raph #fanfiction #gift #fanficmaniatic #the last two chapters will be posted later tonight!

[lilylovesundertale]

Chapter 16 kidnapped

(I have to warn you this chapter is a bit dark if you've been kidnapped before I think it's best for you to skip this chapter-lily)

Crystals pov: where am I I can't talk I'm guessing someone put duck tape on my mouth-

Aziz:*whispers* hey kid I'm here to help-*gets shocked and passes out*

???: You need to be punished for rebelling...

*nobody's pov*

Crystal: *muffled* I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY FRIEND!*all of a sudden Crystal broke Free of the rope tearing the duct tape off of her mouth and lifted up crystals and surrounded the person*

???: Well well well you don't want to murder anyone do you unless you are a murderer

Crystal froze*

???: Too bad I took you when your brother was asleep otherwise he'll be tortured in front of you as you stand there in unbreakable ropes as you watch your brother be tortured

Crystal began crying*

???: So what will it be I hunt down your brother or you give up your little fight and listen to me

Crystal let go of them*

???: Good now what's your name

Crystal: ... Experiment 407

???: Now go to your cell

A few hours later*

Crystal: ... I feel terrible I just want my brother back I want to get out I want to get out

*the door opened*

???: Experiment 407

Crystal: are you here to experiment on me again?

???: Yes now-*gets teared apart*

Drago: *now covered in blood* okay let's go

*Crystal looked at him confused*

Drago: ... Listen I know the feeling of getting experimented on it's painful so very painful to the point you just want to scream. . . And besides this is the only way to make your brother stop hating me

Crystal: I'm guessing you tried giving him his favorite food

Drago: wait he has a favorite food I thought he only liked you and his family

Crystal: I just want to get out of here

Drago: come on I got a wagon there's no way in heck you'll be able to walk

Before Crystal could even say anything dargo lifted her up using his psychic ability putting her inside of a wagon*

Drago: ... This doesn't change anything it's not like I care about you

Later:

Delto:*hug Crystal*

Crystal: ow ow OW OW OW OW OW OW

*delto let's go of Crystal*

Drago: ....

Aquo: hey you kind of cool what's your sexuality

Drago: ... After what happened I don't know if I can love again

Aquo: is this because Crystal murdered your sister

Sunny: uh aquo please don't talk about that in front of crystal

Drago: ... It's not that I was from the lab those same one that kidnapped Crystal once I realized I snapped I didn't want her to go through the same pain as me I used to have a lover but he betrayed me... And Ever since I never felt love again...

Aquo: I know you'r pain I was forced to fight against them

Drago: ... I see

Aquo: well we better go

Leaf: indeed it's getting late

Drago: actually I don't think I should come with you... I hurt so many people that include you... I'm worried that people might hurt you thinking you're bad I don't want to take that risk I'm afraid we're our separate ways... But maybe we'll meet again maybe*begins walking away but stops* ... Hey Crystal if you see my other sibling please take care of them for me their name is Leo *continues walking*

Crystal: ... I promise

Leaf: come on we're almost to the castle we just need to get through the lake

Crystal: I'm kind of wondering how this all began first place-*sunny kissed Crystal which made her turn into a blushing mess*

*leaf is holding back Delto*

Aquo: YES YES YES I TOLD YOU THAT WOULD HAPPEN GIVE ME MY 50 BUCKS

*leaf gave him $50*

Sunny: we have to be careful at this point there's no turning back

Crystal: I understand

Sunny: good also you do realize we can just go around it right

Leaf: sorry it's been a while okay

To be continued don't worry guys there's a DLC right after the ending

#psychonauts au #lily aquado au #my au #psychonauts 2 #lily aquado future #horror #kidnap tw #sunny x Crystal

[writingformymentalhealth]

Chapter 2

Josephine Fawley or as her brother liked to call her the tomboy Princess had a striking romance with Hogwarts very own Pureblood rebel Sirius Black.

Sadly her parents deemed his Brother the so called Slytherin Prince as a better fit and arranged a marriage with the younger Black.

Possible Tw: Arranged marriage, possible smut, swear words, lots of fluff, angst,

Part 1

Part 3

Wattpad book link

Masterlist

The Fawley twins stood on Platform 9 3/4, already having left their parents behind at the station as Isabella Brown came in their direction.

Quentin always described Isabella Brown as the perfect sidekick, and Rory always found that unfair. Quentin’s reasoning was that Isa was pretty average, her dirty blonde hair and dull eyes not making her ugly but certainly not pretty either. Her grades were tolerable and her intelligence questionable.

But despite her brother’s hatred towards the girl, Rory liked to think of her as her best friend. After all, they have been sharing a dorm since the age of eleven...

“Isa!”

“Josie.”

The girls hugged, completely ignoring Quentin, whose eyes were transfixed on a certain blonde arguing with Lucius.

“I’ll leave you two to it.” He mumbled, making his way to the couple, but the girls didn’t hear him already gushing to each other about their Christmas Holidays.

At the time Quentin reached Narcissa Lucius was long gone and silent tears were falling down her porcelain skin.

“C’mere,” Quentin mumbled pulling the girl into a hug.

“You shouldn’t be here he doesn’t like me hanging with you.”

“You aren’t his property, Cissy.”

“I don’t want him to hurt you.” Narcissa’s deep blue eyes met his for the first time today.

“I’m not scared of Lucius.” Quentin said his eyes subconsciously drifting to her lips, the lips he used to kiss so often...

He shook himself out of the trance taking Narcissa’s trunk leading her into the train to find an empty compartment.

Silence engulfed the Teens while Quentin secured both their trunks and Narcissa fidled with her fingers nervously.

“You shouldn’t let him treat you like that.” Quentin said seating himself next to the beautiful girl.

“I will marry him.”

“Cissy-“

“I will do what is right for my family Quentin.”

“But what about what is right for you?”

“What are you saying I should do?” Narcissa asked something desperate in her voice as if she hoped he could show her a way out.

Quentin wanted to say a lot of things, run away with me, he wanted to say, I’ll protect you, but he didn’t have the chance to open his mouth as Lucius entered the compartment a cruel glint present in his eyes. “Fawley, thanks for taking care of my fiancée for me.”

“Pleasure.” the Ravenclaw answered dryly forcing himself to look into Lucius eyes who looked taken aback at the bold response.

“Cissy, Babe, why don’t you tell your dear ex boyfriend what you told me?” Lucius asked a sardonic smile playing on his lips.

Narcissa’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at him but her boyfriend just quirked his brows, his stare cold and dominant giving her no other choice than to oblique.

Quentin’s eyes darted back and forth between the couple trying to find out what was going on. Narcissa wasn’t able to meet his eyes as she swallowed visibly a few times.

“I don’t want my clingy ex boyfriend hanging around me all the time.” she said looking at her hands her voice barely above a whisper.

Quentin froze, his jaw clenched and he felt like he was about to cry but the devilish look in Lucius’ eyes stopped him.

“Well,” he stood up, clearing his throat “I should get going then.”

“Oh no,” Lucius faked kindness, “You don’t have to leave.”

Quentin pressed his lips together trying hard to swallow the lump in his throat, “no worries.”

“No really,” Lucius said the sardonic smile reappearing, “everybody knows you don’t have friends because nobody likes you, so we understand that you are so clingy.”

That hit home.

Narcissa seemed to try to disappear in her seat not daring to look up from her hands.

“I’ll go find my sister.”

“Oh yes family, they have to at least try to like you don’t they?” Lucius taunted but Quentin was already out the door.

On the other end of the train to Hogwarts, Isabella filled Joey in on the latest gossip.

“Regulus hexed a student - a muggle born he probably won’t come back to school,” she just said dramatically, wringing her hands.

“I guess they call him the Slytherin Prince for a reason.” Rory answered dryly, not sure what to think about all these rumors about a boy who used to hide behind his older Brother at any given moment.

“He is pure evil! Have you seen his cold stares? As if he is about to kill someone.”

Joey thought about the girls’ argument for a moment, Isa was right, Regulus always had a cold, unreadable demeanor which intimidated even the older years greatly.

“Maybe.”

Isabella just scoffed. She hated it when her friend didn’t take part in her gossiping.

Thankfully, Quentin entered the compartment in this moment, his lips pressed together in a thin white line.

“What’s wrong Quen? I thought you were sitting with Narcissa.”

“Narcissa and Lucius made up.” He said snappily, getting his sketchbook out of his pocket and started drawing, clenching the charcoal so hard his knuckles turned white.

“Quen-“

“Don’t” Quentin interrupted his sister.

“You could help your sister and sleep with Nicolette.” Isabella said, brushing her fingers through her dirty blonde hair, seemingly unaware of the silent conversation the twins held with their eyes.

“Why would that help me?”

“Oh, haven’t you heard? Nicolette wants to steal your boyfriend. Which isn’t an immense surprise after she slept with half the school, and don’t you remember the incident with Carter?”

Of course Joey knew the story about how Carter cheated on his long-time girlfriend Dorcas with the seductive blonde, everybody did - Dorcas made sure of it. Some rumors about Nicolette giving Carter a love potion went around, but Joey didn’t know what exactly went down. She only knew that every girl avoided Nicolette like the plaque and she herself surely didn’t want that girl near her boyfriend.

“Where do you get all your information from?” Quentin asked, still sketching furiously.

“Well, Fawley, A is for information and-“

“According to what alphabet?” Her brother scoffed, making Isa pout and look out of the window. But Joey couldn’t bring up the energy to comfort the girl, her thoughts being occupied by Nicolette, and the possibility of her stealing her boyfriend.

-

“You did what?”

“We made Slughorn’s toilet explode.” Sirius explained, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

“And how the hell did you make his toilet explode?” His girlfriend asked, trying to sound stern, but the smirk on her face gave her away.

“I can’t reveal all my tricks, love.”

“Aren’t you scared of getting detention?”

“What’s life without a little risk?” Sirius asked, throwing an arm around the petite girl.

Joey always thought of Sirius as a true Gryffindor, he was chivalrous, bold and daring, while she wasn’t a true - anything, known as the longest hat stall in the history of Hogwarts the hat jumping back and forth between all four houses for an hour before reluctantly placing her in Gryffindor. She never felt like she truly belonged there, but Sirius always knew how to make her feel like a true lion, involving her in pranks and bringing out the rebel in her and Joey didn’t want to think about next year when he would be in the Uni sector of Hogwarts - so close yet so far, in a completely different world of alcohol and parties - even more than they already had.

“What’s going on in your pretty little mind?”

“The Future.”

“You don’t look too happy about the future then.” He said, gently pulling her into his lab.

“I don’t want you to go to Uni.” She blurted, and he frowned.

“I’ll still be in the same building, Love.”

“We all know that the Uni students and the school students are strictly separated.”

He laughed his barking laugh, and Joey knew she would listen to his laugh for hours if she could.

“They are separated so some innocent first years won’t see some drunk teens shagging in the hallways, but it’s not forbidden to visit the other side of the castle.”

Joey had to suppress a smile at his crude wording.

“Still, you will live a completely different life with parties and alcohol and-” she paused, hiding her reddened cheeks in the crook of his neck, “girls.”

Sirius had the biggest, cockiest smirk plastered on his face as he turned towards Joey. “You jealous love?”

She tried to hide her face with her hands, but he easily pulled them away from her, exposing her flushed face.

“It’s just with alcohol and pretty Uni girls, I just don’t want you to fall out of love with me.” She mumbled, and Sirius’ amused expression suddenly disappeared, changing into a serious one.

“Josephine Fawley, I’m always going to love you. I’m going to love you in your weakest moments to your strongest ones. Don’t you understand? I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” His grey eyes stared straight into her green ones. “I want you, and only you, every piece of you. And I’m always going to want you, I’m always going to be here loving you with everything.” He said, and a smile tugged at Joey’s lips.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m always Sirius” he smirked making her roll her eyes at the overused pun, “but yes I am completely serious.”

“I Love you Siri.”

“I love you more Josie.”

“That isn’t possible.”

“Yes, it is”

“No, it isn’t”

“Yes, it is”

“No, it isn’t”

“Yes, it-” his sentence cut short by Joey pressing her lips onto his passionately while positioning herself so that she was straddling him, peppering soft kisses along his jawline.

-

The quidditch game Gryffindor against Slytherin was coming up and you could practically feel the excitement buzzing in the great hall.

“I don’t get all this excitement over a stupid game.” Isabella complained playing with the food on her plate.

“We don’t have to go,” Joey said with her mouth full of cornflakes, “Sirius doesn’t play this year.

“Why? Did he want to have more time for other types of exercises?” Isa asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Actually, I wanted to have more time for my beautiful girlfriend,” Sirius said from behind, seating himself next to Joey.

“Hey Siri.” Isabella said, ignoring Sirius’ scrunched-up face as a person other than his girlfriend used this nickname.

“Hey Isa. Are you guys coming to the match today?”

“No, Isa just-“

“Of course we are coming.” Isabella interrupted, earning a weird look from Joey.

“I thought you weren’t playing this year?”

“I am not playing but McGonagall asked me to be the commentator.” He smirked devilishly.

“She’s going to regret this.” Joey mumbled while Isabella congratulated the boy.

The stands at the Quidditch game were annoyingly full and Isa and Joey stood together tightly, watching the Teams warm up.

“On the one side we have the captain of the Slytherin Team, the always unhappy looking Lucius Malfoy while on the other side we have the much more attractive James Potter as the team captain of the Gryffindors.” Sirius’s voice echoed through the pitch making the Gryffindors burst out in laughter.

The game went on James being the first one to possess the quaffle, “James being slightly distracted by a certain redhead still doesn’t stop him from being a better chaser than Lucius.”

“Mr Black.” McGonagall shouted, and Joey could swear that she could see Sirius smirk right in front of her.

“Mathew McKinnon blocking a bludger while maintaining his ever perfect hair, and I know we all ask ourselves how does he do this? Well, I happen to know tha-...yes Professor I do think this is important informa-...look the people deserve to know...no it’s not irrelevant to the game...see now you made me miss a goal.”

Joey saw a defeated-looking Professor McGonagall walk away from the commentator stand making a dismissive hand gesture.

“James stop laughing. I know I am hilarious but you have a game to win.” Sirius announced and Joey looked up, seeing an almost falling of the broom James potter crying tears of laughter.

“Mulciber here seems to be slightly distracted by the fact his girlfriend cheated on him with Lucius” Joey saw out of the corner of her eye that Narcissa left the stands Quentin following her immediately.

Joey sighed standing up from the stands making her way through the crowds to her boyfriend, as she knew his comments would only get more heated from now on. His body rushing with adrenaline from all the cheers and laughter filling the pitch. That was the thing between the two of them. They balanced each other out; he was fire, and she was water; she cooled him down when his fire burned the people around him and he melted her when her water turned to ice, too stubborn and scared to move in any direction.

Just as she wanted to climb up the commentator stand she saw the Slytherin team erupt into cheers as Regulus Black had catched the snitch.

Sirius hopped down the commentator stand, seeming absolutely content with himself.

“Enjoyed the show, Love?” He asked, grinning proudly.

“You never know when to stop do you?”

“It’s one of my charms.”

“It’s most definitely not. You made Narcissa cry.”

“Everything I said was the truth.” He said furrowing his brows.

“You still embarrassed her in front of the whole school.”

She could see something stir in his stormy eyes but just as he opened his mouth a figure in a short skirt and unmistakably red lipstick approached.

“Nice Job, Black.” Nicolette said smiling coquettish and Joey wanted nothing more than to rip out her just-the-right-kind-of-messy-but-not-too-messy hair.

“Thank you, Nici.” He smiled looking at Joey triumphantly.

Nici.

Why did he call her by a nickname?

“I wondered if you could help me in Transfiguration this weekend? McGonagall says you’re one of the best.” The girl asked, smiling brightly showing off her pearly white teeth.

“We already have plans this weekend.” Joey said through gritted teeth and although Sirius quirked an eyebrow at her he didn’t say anything.

“Oh, Okay Sorry.” Nicolette said clearly, forcing a smile as she turned around, walking away without another word.

“Having a jealous streak are we?” Sirius asked, his grin only widening as he saw his usual calm girlfriend all worked up.

“Shut up.”

Part 3

#hogwarts #marauders era fic #marauders era oc #marauders x oc #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black fluff #sirius black x oc #young sirius black #young sirius black fluff #sirius black angst #young Sirius black angst #regulus x oc x sirius #regulus black fanfic #regulus black fanfiction #love triangle #marauders era love triangle #Sirius black love triangle #arranged marriage #Sirius black arranged marriage #regulus black arranged marriage au #sirius and regulus #Sirius and regulus love triangle #fanfiction #fluff #angst #Marauders #hogwarts express #marauders fluff #marauders fic #marauders fanfiction

[tamamatango]

Let’s talk about Kururu, again

Apparently the fandom is growing all of a sudden so I feel like talking about Kururu again cuz that’s all I know how to do and it’s been a while

First off disclaimer that fandom is fandom and anybody can interpret any character any way they want and if you like to portray a character a certain way for whatever reason go for it, more power to you (unless you put them in pedo/incest relationships that are displayed as good in which case fuck you). But in my personal Kirbpinion(TM) the Funimation dub was a fucking mistake because so many fan content creators write a way different Kururu than what he is in canon cuz the dub never got to his best episodes and also upped the sadism to ridiculous levels. Listen I know it’s funny to joke that he’s the kind of guy that has 3 medieval torture chambers but hear me out. Kururu is by no means a perfect person, he’s genuinely pretty rude/blunt (though sometimes his straightforwardness is justified :P), has an ego, sometimes acts pretty gross around others and likes extreme and elaborate pranks way way way too much BUT.

Assuming you’ve watched far enough into the series (like 100+ eps) I do not really understand the interpretation that he doesn’t care about anyone and that friendship and love are things he is totally incapable of. He says that yes but if you pay enough attention to his dialogue it becomes pretty apparent that he displays this attitude for multiple reasons. One is that he does genuinely have a hard time expressing the emotions he feels and often has awkward/guarded ways of doing so. But also he says many times over the course of the series that he has a “reputation” to keep up and wants people to call him a jerk; he wants to look cool and rebellious all the time and he thinks a nasty apathetic attitude is what earns him that status (not claiming that’s a healthy mindset, mind you). He wants to have full control over the way people see him and he gets super frustrated and humiliated when he can’t. This is probably why he gets so upset when people talk about how unpopular he is, because he’s spent so much time honing his image to a T and is like why the fuck isn’t this working?! In other words even though sometimes he is just an actual pain in the neck a lot of his asshole antics are part of a carefully manufactured persona, and he will do anything down to labeling his own memories to prevent other people from seeing through his facade and discovering the parts of him that are vulnerable.

And God forbid anyone does figure out that he does care quite a bit for the people around him, or at least if he didn’t at first he does now. Early on in the series he was commonly referred to as “depressing” and while the meta reason is probably just the anime writers just didn’t know how to adapt the character yet (he started out a little differently in the manga), in canon I believe he was just even more inclined to push everybody away from him, and as he began to get used to working in a group he gradually opened up. He commentates on how “soft” he’s gotten since he came to Earth a couple times, and the fact that he’s surprisingly one of the most loyal to Keroro out of the whole team (in many episodes where everyone abandons Keroro for being dumb he leaves last) and goes out of his way to help when he thinks it’s warranted (he asks for money when things aren’t dire yeah but hey labor deserves compensation :V) shows that he is dedicated to his team. There’s even episodes where he doles out some kind of moral lesson to the squad in his own Kururu-y way, especially to Keroro and Tamama. Even the Hinatas he’ll pitch in to protect when he has to, and we all know he’ll pretty much drop everything if Saburo needs him.

Speaking of which. I think the unspoken reason why he’s best friends with Saburo (besides the surface-level stuff like they’re smart and nerdy and seen as enigmas by everybody else) is because Saburo is the only other person in the cast who understands Kururu’s particular struggle of putting on airs as a means of self-defense all the time. He basically has a carefully managed celebrity life (that he has to constantly work to hide in anime canon), a somewhat formal/reserved public life, and the more quirky enthusiastic side of himself he only shows when alone and to the few people he’s close to and god damn that just sounds like the most exhausting juggling act ever. He has an outlet to free himself through his art but he still has to live with nobody quite knowing what he goes through on a daily basis, which is probably why we see him off on his own for most of the series (until he gets to warm up to everybody better...wonder who that sounds like) and occasionally have his bouts of frustration and insecurity like in 229 where he says “fuck it I’m gonna fight the apocalypse alone because I need something to do,” 354(? I think that’s the number) where he talks about just dropping everything and starting over, and I think one of the Christmas eps where Giroro has to like beg him to go to the Hinatas’ party cuz he says he’s “busy” even though he’s just sitting around pretty much (UPDATE: it’s 294 the implication is probably that he has his show or something but cmon that’s only like an hour lol). I am going off on a tangent now but anyway the point is he and Kururu are the most complicated communicators of the cast and they share feelings only they understand which is why they can more or less read each other’s minds and know exactly what to do when the other is in trouble.

Back to Kururu. Keroro, from what I can tell, is the closest to him out of the Platoon; Keroro gets freaked out by Kururu’s pranks sometimes yeah but they have a lot of common interests as the fun-lovers of the group and Kururu’s also kinda been interested in Keroro enough time follow him around for almost his entire life up to this point so there’s that. He also gets along with the other people he‘s around; we know he and Aki get along from the beginning because of how dynamic their personalities are but later on he gets close to Fuyuki to the point where they just hang out for the heck of it sometimes, and even though Natsumi is very justified in generally disliking him (many of Kururu’s more Eugh moments tend to involve her) even she seems to rely on him often, and in the cursed puppy episode she knows all his favorite foods by heart so she must care in some fashion lol. Dororo and he aren’t evidently super close but I think they get each other on some level as the (in-universe) least popular of the platoon and Dororo at least respects his abilities, and has clearly come to figure out his subtleties based on 229. Giroro and Mois...things get complicated. Just putting on record that I’m not a fan of either ship between Kururu and them. I’ve said this before but I think Giroro and Kururu are in a turbulent sibling-adjacent relationship in that they have completely opposing attitudes but they have a begrudging sense of respect for each other and, ultimately, they’re teammates, so they’ll defend each other when someone they don’t know tries to mess with them. I really don’t think the flirty stuff on Kururu’s end goes beyond teasing and I got kinda sick of that running gag if I’m being honest. (You can probably tell which frog I ship Kururu with by now :P) Mois went from something of a rival to Kururu to his lab partner, which is probably why he goes easier on her than he used to and even strikes up something of a friendship because the only other person he knows that might be capable of handling his technology is an Earthling who’s still against the invasion despite his lax attitude so. She helps :V

Now the question is why Kururu acts like he does if his relationships really aren’t all that bad and I think there’s two components to this. I’ve made it clear by now I think he’s autistic but your mileage may vary there. I think personally his childhood did something to the way he processes things as well. In Secret of the Kero Ball, he’s got a bandage on his head which may imply he got hurt somewhere and then he almost drowned which canonically definitely did something to him lol, was mostly seen alone so who knows if he has a family he still talks to, and then he got drafted into the army and placed into a high-ranking position of great responsibility at a very young age; it’s kind of a no-brainer why he rebeled and got demoted eventually. I’ve got plenty of headcanons about what his early days in the Military did to him but that’s for another day because good God this post went on too long.

In short: Kururu is possibly the most complicated character in the show and the F in Flanderization stands for “Funimation.” That’s it I’m never writing another essay about pee-color frog again I will make real content again at some point I promise

#keroro gunso #sgt frog #kururu #kululu #long post #i sure spent 2 hours on this #imo kururu is a more compelling tsundere than giroro there I said it

[kikithegeek]

An Amateur Review of Ridley Pearson’s Super Sons

Please be aware: This will contain some spoilers for the Super Sons graphic novels written by Ridley Pearson. If you do not wish to be spoiled on plot or character development, please stop reading this and come back once you’ve read through the books yourselves. Otherwise, enjoy this amateur review.

INTRODUCTION

As someone who grew up reading comics from Marvel, DC, IDW, and Archie, it was always fun when legacy characters were introduced or focused on. Characters that were students or the children of characters that my parents grew up with always felt nice to me, and even relatable when they were introduced or shown to be growing up in a similar or the same time period as my friends and I. Taking this into account, it’s no wonder that by the time I was in high school, some of my favorite comics involved Damian Wayne/Robin and Jonathan Kent/Superboy. Yes, I was definitely older than them by the time their series came in, but some of the problems they faced, even the small ones, seemed familiar to my own. Problems such as Jon’s reluctance of moving away from Hamilton County to Metropolis where he’d be leaving behind people he’s known for years into what is essentially a foreign environment for him, or both characters having to live up to the examples their parents have set; something I’m sure many of us can relate to as children are always compared to their parents or successful family members. The growing friendship between them was always a highlight no matter what type of adventure they were on.

In 2019, Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez released the first book in their 3-part series starring Jon and Damian in a sort of rebooted universe. Fan feedback at the time was mixed, with some fans unhappy and others just happy they were getting more content featuring their favorite duo. Personally, I wasn’t paying attention all that much; I was in the middle of college and my focus had drifted away from comic books that year to focus on my studies, but with the recent pandemic and more time to read I’ve fallen back into the rabbit hole of super heroes and villains. I remember there being an outcry against the books when the previews began to be released, but after they did release and finished their run, I didn’t hear anything. No one really actively talked about what the books were about and most of what I heard seemed to come from people who read a handful of pages, if at all, and then never finished it. So, I decided to put my two cents in and read them. I’ll be looking at them as someone who has been a fan of their main-like counterparts for years, and as someone who also acknowledges that this isn’t canon to it and is an alternate universe (or alternate Earth in the cases of the DC comics multiverse), if anything to look at it from a neutral perspective.  

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time I’ve read through Ridley Pearson’s work. In middle school and even through high school, I couldn’t get enough of Kingdom Keepers and Peter and the Starcatcher, even getting tickets to see the touring cast of the latter’s theater adaptation when they came to my state. I’ve read a few interviews on his work with the Super Sons before going into the books themselves, and he doesn’t neglect to say that this series isn’t connected to the normal DC canon (whatever that is these days; any comic book reader knows that reboots, especially for DC in the last decade, usually happen quite a bit). Okay, that’s probably a given, and it makes things easier considering the main target demographic are kids aged 10-14. There’s a lot of content to go over when it comes to everything connected to Damian and Jon, even more so for Batman and Superman, so this makes it less difficult for kids who don’t have much experience with DC outside of the occasional tv show and movie to get into it.

But what about the story itself?

THE STORY

(The majority of the story spoilers are beyond this point since I summarize the books. This is your last spoiler warning.)

The story itself takes place in an alternate future. America is called Coleumbria and the global climate crisis has gotten to the point where it’s a race to find a way to stop the rising temperatures and constant flooding. While Batman and Superman spearhead the projects set to stabilize and then reverse the Earth’s temperature, their sons are moved from Metropolis to a city called Wyndemer with other refugees looking to find somewhere safe from the floods. This causes tensions in the city to heighten as refugees, called “flood runners”, are harassed by locals. Without going too in-depth into the books (otherwise, we’d be here all day), I’m going to summarize them. Certain characters and events might be omitted, but hey, at least it gives you a reason to read them even if I tell you what they’re about.

The first book introduces us to this crisis and shows us how this world’s Jon (who still goes by Superboy in this) and Damian (who is going by Batkid) meet. While there’s some animosity between them at first, with Jon having a not-too-hidden bias against Bruce Wayne, the two eventually start to work together when they realize their individual investigations are connected. Jon and his classmate, Tilly, have been looking into a mysterious illness that’s hospitalized Jon’s mother among many others, and Damian has been investigating sabotages against Wayne Tech dams. They also meet a girl named Candace who is trying to uncover a mystery that’s plagued her since her mom’s passing. After finding clues at a food company called Sage Foods, the group is attacked and manages to escape after Jon is told their attackers were sent by a woman named Arvyc. After finding out that Candace and Damian had set Jon up earlier in the book to be attacked by a few gang members, the group have a short fight before they go to the train station to stop Arvyc’s gang.

The second book opens with the boys helping Candace make it to a boat while escaping a group of girls called The Four Fingers. While they didn’t have as much of a presence in the previous book, had been shown as adversaries of Candace’s. Continuing into their investigations into the virus, Jon and Tilly learn that it was man-made as Candace’s visions lead her toward Coleumbria’s capital. The Four Fingers, meanwhile, are adamant about finding Candace, so they’ve taken to stalking her friends, until they realize they’re “dead ends”, so they choose to follow their own leads. It is revealed that The Four Fingers and Candace all have powers that connects them to certain species of animals; with Candace, she has a connection to birds and she states her grandmother was the same. Tilly comes up with her own vigilante persona, Puppet Girl, and stays behind in Wyndemer as Damian and Jon leave to go to Cinapolis to find the virus’s source. However, the boys get captured and Tilly decides she needs to help them. Candace in the meantime has found an anointing oil her mother had left clues for her to find, which is the key to the throne of Landis, the country she and The Four Fingers come from. It ends with the Super Sons and Tilly saving Candace and helping her get on a boat back to Landis while Arvyc escapes from prison.

The third and final book opens with Jon, Damian, and Tilly trying to track Arvyc down and it’s obvious that they’ve been at this for some time now, but they soon become the hunted. Candace makes it back to Landis and finds one of the rebels her mom had led before she was arrested. As Candace continues on her journey, Jon, Damian, and Tilly are sent by Batman to a LexCorp lab to retrieve a virus sample, only to find it isn’t there. They decide to go to Landis since The Four Fingers were heading there with the virus (and Candace had gone with intentions to stop them), but Tilly needs to stay behind again. The boys and Candace continue their respective journeys through Landis, however a man who’s been pulling the strings from the shadows for the last two books, Sir Reale, has decided to send Arvyc after them along with Talia. Talia and Arvyc attack the boys who manage to outsmart them for the moment, and are reunited with Candace who has been tracking the virus with two warriors named Kizuka and Archer. Tilly, back in Coleumbia, is sent out to retrieve Damian and Jon by Bruce’s assistant, Patience. After meeting up with Tilly, the group find a lab where The Four Fingers have been preparing vials of the virus in order to release it via bombs, and a battle ensues where they learn that sunlight can kill the virus and that Talia is Damian’s mother. Learning that they couldn’t stop all of the shipments, the group gathers the people of the local town to help them in storming the factory. They succeed in killing the remaining virus, save for a vial to be used to create a cure. With Superman’s mission a success and Batman working on a cure, the book ends with Candace being crowned the new Empress of Landis, Jon’s mother waking up, and Batman making Damian Robin.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE STORY

All in all, the story was okay. Personally, I felt like it was rushed in some places, such as how we’re brought from one character or scene to the next with little to no transition or breathing space. The endings were also kind of abrupt, which I feel really brought down the ending for the final book. We don’t really linger on whether or not Superman’s efforts to reverse global worming worked or have a moment where Jon and his dad are able to reunite with Lois. I was also disappointed to see they didn’t go anywhere with the whole “Talia is revealed to be Damian’s mother he had never met before and barely knew anything about” sub plot they had going in book three. People who know me know that the League of Assassins and any character associated with them are among my favorite villains in the Batman mythos, and to see it be brought in only for it to not have anything done with it was disappointing. Heck, you could have taken Talia out of it and the story would have been the same minus Damian being momentarily shaken before getting back to business. At the very least, an ending scene where Bruce confirms she’s his mother would have been nice enough closure for it. This might have been due to there being a page limit (each book was roughly 151 pages long) which lead to things being cut out, but it’s still disappointing nonetheless, especially since I did find myself enjoying parts that had pacing problems.

Pacing and unresolved plotlines aside, some of the things I did enjoy though involved Candace’s story arc. She’s one of the characters made for this series, and watching her figure out her past and come into her own with her powers was really enjoyable. I also felt like small snippets of character interactions between the boys, Candace, and Tilly were really well written. They actually felt like kids.

THE CHARACTERS

Since there are a lot of characters in this series, I’m only going to focus on the four main characters since we’re with them the entire time.

Jonathan Kent is probably the one out of him and Damian who’s the closest to his original counterpart, and I don’t just mean in looks. While he doesn’t have as many powers as he’s come to have in the main DC canon, he does have some of the powers he has early on in his appearances, such as super speed, super hearing, x-ray vision, super strength, and being able to jump high/far. He’s a bit older here though, 12 instead of 10 making him closer to Damian’s age and allowing him to go to the same school as him and Tilly. He holds his dad’s lessons close and seems to be apprehensive about seriously hurting people, mainly in the beginning. Being older though, he’s a bit more mature than his counterpart was before he was aged up, and I feel that this version of Jon is a good blend between the two.

Damian Wayne on the other hand was given the most changes in terms of backstory and how he acts, which goes hand-in-hand. In the original continuity, he was raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, making him spoiled and a literal killer in the body of a child. Here, he was raised by Bruce (how or why, I don’t know. Talia wasn’t brought up until book 3 so I can only assume she gave him to Bruce as a baby and they agreed to never tell him for whatever reason) and Bruce refuses to let him be Robin, leaving Damian to become Batkid (which is a good reference to past incarnations of Batman’s son in older Elseworlds stories). He’s still arrogant and looks for a fight more than he should, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to kill. Beat up a guy who is already out of the fight, yes, but not kill. One thing people who’ve read the books will notice is I’ve been calling him Damian. Well, that’s out of habit; in this series he is pretty adamant about everyone calling him Ian. Why? Again, I don’t know, and part of me is bothered by it because we never find out why he hates his name. I can only assume Pearson had things planned that would explain this a bit more but had to cut them out due to page constraints.

Tilly is one of the characters made for this series, taking the name Puppet Girl as her secret idenity. She’s Jon’s friend and classmate, and is a computer expert, allowing for her to help the team from home until they need her to fly one of Bruce’s machines to them. She hangs around Jon a lot due to going to the same school and because both of them are interning for the Daily Planet. In all honesty, she reminds me of Kathy from before it’s revealed she has powers and is actually an alien since she acts as Jon’s best friend who isn’t Damian, as well as a girl who Jon might have a crush on or vice versa. The blond hair and the purple-pink outfit scheme doesn’t help.

Candace is our final main character and the second character made for this series. We meet her in the books before we meet Jon and Damian, and her story plays a huge role in the overall plot. Candace has been following a string of clues her mother left her shortly before her death, and we learn as the comic goes on that she’s meant to be the next Empress of her home country, Landis, but was forced to flee to Coleumbria when her family was usurped by a general. Over time, she unlocks her power to communicate and control birds, and later to control the weather. I found myself enjoying her story just as much, if not more than the plots that surrounded the title characters, which helps since her story is intertwined with theirs. If I had to compare her to an existing character in the DC canon, I’d say Wonder Woman due to her super human abilities and her being royalty.

THE ART

The art is also good, definitely better than what I can do. However, a complaint I do have is that the characters feel stiff and rigid. It might be the art style, but something felt off at times, mainly with the posing. Again, it’s still better than what I can do, but I feel like it could have been better. I did like how the backgrounds were vibrant and you could tell where the characters were just from a look, and the art is more detailed in general compared to other young reader graphic novels DC has been putting out. Art is pretty subjective, so I’m not going to go into this too much and a lot of these are my own opinions.

The art has come into debate as well, though not for the reasons I mentioned above. When previews for the first book started to be released, a lot of people were critical toward Candace and Damian, particularly toward their skin color. In the preview images, Candace was shown to have a blue-ish-gray tint (you can probably see why this didn’t go over well) and Damian was shown to be paler than Jon (Damian is shown in the original DC canon to be half Arabic and even though he was sometimes shown to have pale skin like Bruce’s, he was also shown to have a tanner complexion due to his mother’s side. Most fan interpretations as a result more often than not have him with tanned skin). After fan outcry, this was fixed with Candace getting a more natural skin tone and Damian’s being brought down to a darker shade than Jon’s. With Damian’s it’s more apparent in the second and third books since in the first one I did notices there were a few panels where his skin tone would be lighter than in others which makes me wonder if it was a last-minute recolor for the first book’s release.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I’d say it’s okay. It’s not great, it’s not bad; just okay. I honestly think that if Pearson and Gonzalez hadn’t been given a page limit then it could have been better since the pacing wouldn’t be as big of an issue and they would have been able to get through all of the mini arcs they had set up. They obviously wanted to tell a bigger story but were only given so much room to work with.

It’s obviously not for everyone, and it’s definitely not the Super Sons people like me have grown up with, but that’s okay. Some of the kids I used to babysit who fall into the range of “I’ve never really read DC comics and only ever saw a cartoon episode on TV” read these books too and they liked it. Same thing for the few kids who did have prior experience with the Super Sons. What dragged them in was the climate crisis and (for the ones who read them after the world went into a lockdown) the fact the characters were trying to find a cure for a virus that was similar to the flu. Yeah, and these were written way before 2020, so that’s actually an achievement on Pearson’s part.

You don’t have to like them; heck, I didn’t really have any interest in them because of the backlash from people like me until my friends started asking me to make this review. But maybe give them a chance. Find a kid in your family or friend group and see if they’d be interested, maybe you can read it together once the craziness of the last year’s calmed down.

#super sons #robin #batkid #superboy #damian wayne #jon kent #ridley pearson #ile gonzalez #review #book review #amateur review

[sweetiepie08]

RebelZ Chapter 6

Invader Zim fanfic

While analyzing Zim’s PAK for weaknesses, Tak discovers strange coding that sends her on a search for answers. The clues lead her to uncover a conspiracy that governs all of Irken society. When the truth sends her on the run, she has no choice but to return to the one place the Tallest would never willingly go: Urth.

Meanwhile, Dib has noticed odd changes in Zim’s behavior. Has the invader simply grown bored of his mission over the last few years, or is there something more interesting going on?

People who asked to be tagged: @incorrect-invader-zim , @messinwitheddie, @reblogstupids, @cate-r-gunn, @agentpinerulesall​

If anyone else would like to be added to the tag list feel free to message me. Also, if you’re on the tag list and you changed your name, please just let me know.

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7.  Chapter 8.  Chapter 9. Chapter 10.

[-]

Dib flipped through the streaming services, looking for something to watch. The documentary had ended, pizza had been eaten, and Gaz had gone upstairs to fix some emergency with one of her online gaming groups. He knew he had surveillance tapes waiting for him on his desk, (or worse, college applications) but he wasn’t ready to check up on them just yet. He was actually enjoying some downtime for once, and he didn’t want it to end.

Then, he heard the all-too-familiar sounds of an alien spaceship landing outside.

Nope, he thought as he hit play on whatever show he landed on. Didn’t matter what, so long as he could pretend he couldn’t hear what was going on in his driveway.

Some muffled arguing came from the front door, followed by the bell ringing. Dib turned up the volume. Not getting out of this chair.

Loud pounding began, accompanied by cries of “Dib-human! Open this door!” Dib turned the volume up as loud as it would go as the pounding continued.

“Jesus Christ, Dib!” Gaz shouted from upstairs. “Just answer the door!”

“Fine!” Dib shut off the tv and stalked to the front door. When he opened it, he found two Irken idiots.

Zim and Tak hung off each other and drank from plastic bottles while their robot pets bolted right in and made themselves at home. “Hey, you grew into your head,” Tak said, lazily pointing her claw at him.

“You know, Dib, there’s a lot of reasons to hate your planet,” Zim slurred, letting himself in. “You keep chihuahuas as pets, some of you refuse to inoculate against deadly diseases, and that Game of Thrones finale was garbage! But at least you don’t need identification to buy gingzor, and that almost makes up for it.” Zim punctuated his short rant by taking a long swig from his bottle.

“And look,” Tak said, pulling a box of ginger snaps out of a plastic shopping bag, “they had edibles.”

“Are you guys drunk? What is this?” Dib grabbed the bottle out of Zim’s hands. He checked the label, gave it a sniff, and took a small taste. Yup, it was exactly what the label said it was. “This is just ginger ale.”

“Eee-yup,” Zim said, swiping his bottle back. “Your light brews aren’t as potent as the ones we’ve got on Irk, but it gets the job done.”

“Wait, are you guys seriously telling me your species gets drunk off ginger?”

“Why?” Tak asked, shoving a cookie in her mouth. “What do humans consume when they want to forget the futility of existence?”

“Uh, alcohol, usually.”

The two Irkens locked eyes, then burst into laughter. “Seriously?” Tak squealed, wiping a tear from her eye. “That’s an antiseptic.”

“Humans really are stupid,” Zim agreed.

“Not that kind,” Dib grumbled, knowing he would be ignored. Then he felt his temper boil. “What are you two doing in my house?!”

“Oh yeah,” the two brushed past him and hopped on the couch like they owned the place. “We need to crash here for a while,” Zim explained. He turned on the tv, got blasted by an old episode of The Office, then turned the volume down.

“Why?”

“We uncovered a conspiracy behind the Irken empire and our government tried to kill us.”

“I discovered,” Tak corrected. “They just caught you harboring me.”

“Eh, details.”

“The point is,” Tak went on, “we’re both marked as traitors and we need to lay low for a while.”

Dib could have sworn his ears perked like a dog’s. An intergalactic conspiracy? There was a story here so juicy he could almost taste it. Still, as he watched the earth’s total Irken population spill ginger ale on the couch and grind crumbs into the cushions, the only question on his mind was, “why here?”

“Need your lab,” Zim tossed off as if it should have been obvious.

“So? Why don’t you go back to your base and use your own lab?”

“Can’t.” Zim took a teal cube out of his pocket and tossed it in Dib’s direction.

Dib caught it and brought it up to his eye to inspect. “What’s this?”

“My base.”

“Your whole base is in this?” Dib strained his eyes, looking at the cube. “What’s going on? How did this even happen?”

“How far back in Irken history do you want to go?” Tak asked, popping open a bottle.

“Wait, you mean you’re actually going to tell me?”

She gave a non-committal shrug. “Eh…”

“Hold on, wait right there.” Dib zipped upstairs to his room, grabbed a notebook, pen, and recorder, then zipped back down. He grabbed a chair, hit record, and poised his pen. “Let’s start at the beginning.”

[-]

Dib scribbled furiously, trying to keep up with Tak’s slurred ramblings. Zim interjected occasionally to add something or explain an Irken concept, but it was clear exactly who the conspiracy hunter was.

“So, anyway, that’s when I realized this parasite has been controlling our entire society for generations and, you know, it’s just a real buzzkill to find out you’re basically living food.”

“I see,” Dib said, making a note to ask about this library planet later (maybe get coordinates?). “And this parasite has been masquerading as the Control Brains.”

“Not ‘masquerading’ exactly,” she explained. “They always were the Control Brains.”

“And, just to make sure I got this, the Control brains are what, again?”

Before they could answer, he heard a loud “eh-he-eh-hm.” He looked over to see Gaz standing in the kitchen doorway. When he met her eyes, she curled one finger, ominously beckoning him over. “Uh, one second, guys.” He put down his pen and followed Gaz into the kitchen.

“Make this quick, Gaz,” he said, peaking back into the living room. “These two are giving me everything.”

“Okay then,” she said, her voice displaying her irritation. “Just answer me this: why are there two destructive aliens drinking like civil war amputee patients on our couch?”

“Revealing their government’s secrets, that’s what,” he answered with unbridled glee. “Turns out, ginger gets them drunk and when they’re drunk, they have no filter. They’ve been rambling on and on about their creepy big-brother-like society for an hour now. Look at all these notes.” He shoved the notebook in Gaz’s face and flipped furiously through the pages. “As long as I keep them drunk and happy, they’ll keep talking. Which reminds me…” He took out his wallet, grabbed a bill, and handed it to Gaz. “Go to the store and buy them out of ginger ale. We can’t let them sober up.”

“Five bucks?” Gaz said, wrinkling her nose. “I assume you’re planning on reimbursing me for the grocery bill later.”

“This isn’t about money, Gaz.”

“Then dig a little deeper, Scrooge. I know your part-time at Dad’s lab pays more than this.”

“And you make plenty off of your twitch gaming streams,” Dib argued. “Come on, this is about furthering human knowledge.”

Gaz raised her eyebrow in her ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ way. “You’re offering me $5 to drop everything, go to the store, and buy out their entire supply of ginger ale without reimbursing me for the bill.”

“Uh…yes?”

She scoffed. “Get a pulse.”

Dib pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed the corners of his eyes. Was she seriously arguing with him about money at a time like this? “Look, what if I give you an acknowledgement when I publish this baby? Like, say, in the forward?”

“You mean the part no one reads?”

“Uh…”

Gaz let out an exasperated huff and looked into the living room at the two Irkens. “So, they’ll really ramble on and on if you stuff them full of ginger, huh? About anything?”

“Yeah, pretty much. We managed to stay on topic so far. I mean, Zim did go on a tangent about the Game of Thrones finale, but we got back on track.”

Gaz smiled. “Did he, now? About what?”

“Something about Westeros crumbling as soon as the credits rolled. I don’t know. You watched that show, not me.”

“Hmm…” Gaz murmured, looking pointedly at Zim. Oh no, she was thinking… Worse! She was plotting!

“Gaz? What are you doing?”

She threw him a wicked smirk and sauntered into the living room. “Hey, Zim!” she called, clear as a bell. “That Game of Thrones finale sucked, right?”

“Don’t even get me started, Dib-sister!” Zim called back, slapping his hand on the couch. “Zim has never seen such a staggering drop in quality!”

Dib dropped his face into his hands. Was it too late to offer a twenty?”

[-]

“I guarantee Dorne and the Iron Islands rebelled as soon as they stepped out of the Dragon Pit.” Zim said, splashing ginger ale on the couch with every gesture. “I’ll bet they only voted ‘yes’ on Bran because this would be the easiest reign to overthrow.”

“Exactly!” Gaz said, slapping the arm of her chair. “Dany promised Yara independence two seasons ago. There’s no way she’s just going to watch him hand his sister a kingdom and not demand what’s owed to her.”

Dib twisted the notebook in his hands as he listened to them rant. They’d been at this since Gaz brought up the subject.

“And what was with them acting like Dany was in the wrong for executing Varys?” Zim added. “He tried to assassinate her!”

“As if Jon didn’t execute a child a few seasons ago for the same thing. And it was obvious that kid was coerced into it by the higher-ranking Night’s Watch men.” Gaz said. “You’ll notice Dany didn’t execute the child Varys manipulated into poisoning her. And he only thought she was ‘mad’ because she stopped listening to his shitty advice.”

“Their ‘advice’ lost her the Dornish forces, the Iron Fleet, and Highgarden’s armies,” Zim agreed.

“Plus another dragon and her best friend. And when she goes into mourning, he’s all ‘Welp, she’s clearly gone mad. Time to put her down like Old Yeller.’ Oh! And what was with Tyrion’s ‘everywhere she goes, evil men die’ speech? Like that’s a bad thing? Yeah, I know. That’s why I liked her.”

“You know wat she should have done?” Zim said. “She should have flown her three dragons to the Red Keep like she wanted to do last season. She could have taken the city with fewer casualties.”

Gaz nodded in agreement. “Maybe even no casualties if King’s Landing surrenders immediately.”

“Then she’d have all three dragons and all the armies in the Seven Kingdoms to fight the White Walkers with!” Zim added.

“Yeah, then maybe there’d be enough time to make the army of the dead live up to the hype! Nice Long Night. Lasted about six hours.”

“What is this show?” Tak asked. “I want to watch.”

“Enough!” Dib burst, jumping out of his seat. “Enough Game of Thrones! If you want to keep complaining, go on the internet and do it! Now can we please get back to you two spilling the secrets of your evil intergalactic empire!”

“There are no more secrets, human,” Tak snapped. “We’ve told all. The only other information I could find is on this.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a square, plastic information drive. “But this technology is too outdated to decode. So, unless you have access to an ancient computer…”

Dib took the square and held it up to his eyes. “This just looks like a floppy disc.”

“Really, Dib-beast?” Zim scoffed. “Your planet’s technology is antiquated, but it’s not that archaic.”

“Actually, that’s pretty outdated for us too,” Gaz said, “but our dad’s got a computer graveyard in the attic. Maybe we can get one of those to work.”

Tak regarded the disc suspiciously. “You’re serious? You think you might be able to get it to work.”

“It could be possible,” Dib answered, eyeballing the disc. It looked about the right size and shape. It may at least fit into the disc drive. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve gotten Irken and Earth technology to work together. It’s worth a shot.”

[-]

After about an hour and a few trips to the attic, they found an old monitor and hard drive they managed to turn on. As the computer booted up, they compared the Irken disc drive to a standard floppy disc. Dib was right. They seemed to match up.

“You really think this has a shot?” Tak asked again. She looked skeptical they whole time the were getting set up, but as the computer whirred to life, Dib thought he could detect a hint of hope in her voice.

“It could,” Gaz answered. “If the magnetic polarity is the same as we use on earth, the computer might be able to read the disc.”

Dib nodded along. While he was good with technology, his area of expertise was more on the engineering side. Gaz was the one with an affinity for coding.

Once the computer was ready, they popped in the drive. They all gathered around the monitor and held their breath. A buffering window popped up on the screen and they let out a collective gasp.

After a few minutes, the picture went black and green Irken text scrolled up across the screen, accompanied by, what sounded to Dib, like a series of chirps, clicks, and hisses. “Um, is it supposed to be making that-”

Tak and Zim threw a sharp hiss in his direction, then went back to staring intently at the screen. When Dib quieted and listened harder, he realized the sounds came from an organic voice and had a deliberate pattern. Holy shit, it’s reading the text! This is their language!

The voice stopped and the screen froze on another set of Irken symbols.

“Oh, my…” Zim choked out, eyes still glued to the screen. “We’ve got to write that down!”

“MiMi,” Tak commanded, “my tablet.”

“Wait, what was that?” Dib asked as he watched the two aliens scramble to scribble down the symbols on the screen. “Was that guy speaking Irken? What did they say?”

“Yes,” Zim answered. “And those are coordinates to the next place we need to go.”

“You mean, I need to go,” Tak cut in. “I’m the one who uncovered the conspiracy, remember?”

Zim scowled and stomped up to her, getting in her face. “You made this my problem when you crashed at my house, drank all my gingzor, and got my base cubified.”

“Why would I ever team up with you?” she shot back.

“I’m every bit as Irken as you are,” Zim argued. “I deserve answers as much as you.”

“Will someone please tell me what that thing said?” Dib shouted. The two stopped their bickering long enough to cast him an icy stare.

“Well,” Dib growled impatiently. If these two thought they were going to force their way into his home, spill ginger ale on his couch, tell him about an intergalactic conspiracy, and not let him in on the details, they had another thing coming.

“This doesn’t concern you, human,” Zim snapped.

“You two waltzed in here expecting me to hide you form your creepy totalitarian government and let you use my lab. Unless you want me to throw you out on your ass…”

“Fine, fine,” Tak said, waving an arm dismissively. “That voice claimed to be Krislotch. He confirmed that he left the clues that lead me to discover the truth about the Control Brains. He also claims more information is waiting on a planet at those coordinates. I must go there next if I want to solve this mystery.”

“We must go there,” Zim but in.

“This is my conspiracy, Zim,” Tak growled, turning back to him. “If there are more answered waiting on that planet, I will be the one to find them.”

“Oh yeah?” he said with a smirk. “How you gonna get there? I’m the only one with a working ship.”

“Dib’s got a ship,” Gaz chimed in. She turned to Tak. “Actually, I think it’s your ship.”

“You!” Before Dib could say anything, Tak had already jumped on the coffee table and grabbed his collar. “You have my ship?!”

“Uhh…”

“Take me to her!”

[-]

“wha-wha…WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

They group stood in the garage and stared at the collection of barely-held-together parts, also known as Tak’s ship. Dib had to admit, his last few forays into space hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing.

“It doesn’t look like this all the time,” he tried explaining. “I’ve gotten it to work. But, you know, sometimes things happen… and when they happen, I have to convince the ship to let me fix it again.”

“And why is she blue?”

“Um… I like blue?”

“Stupid human!” Tak spat, rushing up to her ship. “You have no idea what you’ve been toying with!”

“Fine,” Dib grumbled under his breath. “Only repaired it multiple times of the last six years but whatever…”

“Ship,” Tak commanded, laying a hand on the ship’s windshield. “Respond.”

“Biosignature detected,” the ship said as it began to light up. “You are Tak.”

“Yes, yes, ship! It’s me!” she cried. Dib could almost swear there were tears in her eyes.

“Hmpf, what took you so long?”

Tak looked taken aback. “I was, uh, had a lot going on, you know? Schemes and such?”

“And you never once thought to check in on your ship?”

“When I have to eject, I thought I’d lost you forever,” Tak explained, pressing both hands on the windshield. “I never wanted to leave you behind, but I’m here now. I can take you back.”

“Hey, wait a minute…” Dib protested. He started forward, but Gaz pulled him back.

“It’s her ship, dummy.”

“And how exactly did you get here?” Ship went on.

Tak hesitated. “Well, I…”

“I knew it,” Ship huffed. “You have a new ship now, don’t you?”

“It’s not like that,” Tak insisted. “Yes, I needed a new ship to get around, but I swear, it was a simple matter of transport. That ship means nothing to me. I would trade every other ship in the universe for you.”

The ship went quiet, as if thinking it over. Dib found himself oddly captivated, like when he’d accidently get sucked into his grandmother’s soap operas. He quickly shook himself out of it. This is ridiculous. She’s talking to a ship.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Ship finally said.

“I promise, Ship, I will fix you myself and, after that, I will never even look at another ship again.” She gently caressed its side and the engines purred.

“I will allow you to repair me, for now. After that, perhaps I can allow you to pilot me again, in time.”

Tak smiled and continued to pet her ship while it continued to purr. The scene was almost sweet until Zim decided to break it up.

“Well, well, well,” Zim said, a smug smile on his face, “looks like I’m the only one here with an operational ship.”

Tak only hissed in response.

“So, I guess I’ll be taking those coordinates and be on my way,” he continued, “unless someone wants to grovel for the chance to accompany me.”

Tak stomped up to Zim and unleashed a cavalcade of Irken at him. Dib wasn’t sure what she said, but if cricket/bat/snake could cuss someone out, he imagined it’d sound something like that.

“Okay,” Zim squeaked out, looking up at Tak who now towered over him. “I suppose I could let you come, but only because you asked so nicely.”

“I’m coming too,” Dib declared.

Tak and Zim both turned to him with questioning looks on their faces. “Uh, what?” Zim said.

“I’m coming. I want to see what’s on that planet, too.”

“This doesn’t concern you, human,” Tak spat.

“Excuse me? Who’s house are you two crashing at? Who’s ancient computer did you use to get those coordinates? And who’s been keeping your ship running while you’ve been got?”

“We don’t need-” Zim started, but Dib cut him off.

“Yes you do,” he shot back. “You need my lab to get your base working again. You said so yourself. And Tak, you need my garage and my tools if you’re going to fix your ship. If you want to stay here and use my equipment, to fix your stuff, you need to let me in on the conspiracy.”

The two Irkens looked at each other intently, as if holding a telepathic conversation. Dib briefly wondered if they could communicate semi-telepathically, or at least through pheromones. They did have antenna after all.

Finally, they broke their stare down and turned back to Dib. “Fine, the Dib can come,” Zim conceded.

Dib felt a jolt of excitement jump through his body. “Yeah, Gaz and I-”

“Nope,” Gaz said, turning on her heals and heading back inside.

Okay, so no Gaz. Aw well, he could at least count on her to cover for him while he’s gone. “I will get my space travel equipment and be ready to leave within the hour.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever,” Zim said, and he and Tak headed back inside as well. Dib went further into the garage and began preparing the things he’s need for the trip.

“You’re seriously going to let him come along?” Tak asked as they walked away.

“Eh,” Zim said with a shrug. “If the Dib-worm wants to come to a dead planet where total species-wide genocide took place, let him.”

Dib let the helmet he’d been holding clang to the floor. “Wait, what?”

#invader zim #invader zim fanfiction #invader zim fanfic #iz fanfic #iz #parasite au #iz parasite au #zim #dib #tak #gaz #gir #mimi #rebelz #rebel zim #rebel leader tak #tak ship #sweetiepie writes #sweetiepie fanfic #sweetiepie08 #sweetiepiewrites

[ancientwastedlores]

The Support System (Ch: 10)

STORY SUMMARY: The Avengers have managed to collect all the infinity stones across the universe, and are currently keeping them in far corners of the world, only for research and to see if they can improve the planet and its people. Reader is a researcher with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, as well as a field agent. Loki is currently serving time for his actions in New York City in 2012, and struggling to gain acceptance from the Avengers, when reader decides he just needs a PR manager of sorts.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER AO3: The Support System

A/N: Plot, plot, plot! We make progress with the reality gem, and Loki tried to do a little investigating. Find this chapter on AO3 here. 

Warnings: none 

Audience: general.

______________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 10:

Stephen Strange finally texts you that he’s ready to try and crack the Reality gem.

You, Tony, and Vision, have to go of course, but Thor wants to come to meet the ‘Infinity Beer Wizard’ again. Loki accuses him of being an alcoholic, Thor only laughs.

Stephen receives you at the door, with his cape next to him carrying a tray with cups of coffee. Everyone takes one and walks in to set up, while Thor only smiles at Stephen. He rolls his eyes and makes a large mug of beer appear in Thor’s hand.

‘Haha thanks’ he smiles and walks to the opposite corner of the room to take a seat. He isn’t interested in doing anything else.

‘I’ve put Wong in charge for today’ Stephen walks over to your group. ‘Can I help with anything?’ ‘Nah, we got it. Just tell us how this is gonna work’ you say.

He lifts his hand to show you his sling ring. ‘I’ll be entering the mirror dimension with Vision’. ‘Will you be fine?’ ‘I will, I have my own protection spells around me’. ‘We couldn’t figure out a way to surveil inside, we spent weeks in the lab’ Tony interrupts. ‘You sure you don’t have any magic stuff that’ll help us keep an eye on Vision?’

Stephen scoffs at Tony’s use of the word “magic”. ‘No, just me’.

You see that Tony hates giving up control like this, but it IS for the greater good.

‘I must mention, before we begin…’ Stephen says, ‘If I feel like it’s getting out of hand, and the dark dimension is drawing in, I will pull us out immediately…’ ‘Yes, of course’ you say. ‘…with or without the stone’ he finishes. Tony shoots a look at him. ‘What does that mean?’ ‘I mean you could very well lose the stone if things get out of hand’. ‘We can’t lose even a single stone; they’re supposed to be safe with us’. Stephen shrugs. ‘It’s your call’.

Tony turns back to look at you, ‘Did he tell you about this?’ ‘Tony…’ ‘DID he?’ You sigh. ‘He didn’t about this specifically, but he did warn that the stone may be sucked into the dark dimension’. ‘Tell me we have a backup plan in case that happens’ Tony demands.

You shake your head apologetically.

‘There is no way to retrieve it unless you are willing to risk opening a portal to the dark dimension right above Earth. And if you do that, you’ll have bigger concerns than the stone’ Strange adds.

You genuinely didn’t think Stephen would be okay letting the Reality Stone go, and are now questioning if you should do it at all. You see Tony internally struggle.

‘What are the chances of losing the stone?’ he asks. ‘How have your sessions been with Loki?’ Stephen asks Vision. ‘Good. I have been able to control it so far, and get better at it every time’. ‘Then not much’ Stephen says.

Tony is still understandably unsure. You wish you could weigh in, but you’re genuinely torn as well.

‘We’ll do it’ he says finally. Your eyes widen and you reach out to touch his shoulder. ‘Are you sure?’ you ask. He sighs. ‘No. But I trust Vision’.

You know how hard it is for Tony to let go of control and trust someone. You hug him. ‘It’ll be fine’ you try to reassure him, even if you don’t believe it yourself.

‘Then we may begin’ Stephen motions for you and Tony to get out of the way so he can create the mirror dimension. Once created, he and Vision enter, leaving you, Tony, and Thor alone.

‘So… they’re in the room then’ Thor says. ‘Yes, just… whatever they’re doing, we cannot see, and it can’t affect us’ you explain.

His mug continues to replenish itself. Tony plops down on the floor and crosses his legs, staring at where Strange and Vision stepped before disappearing.

Now, all you can do is wait.

xx

Thor has fallen asleep on the floor, and Tony is up, staring at the wall, no doubt day dreaming up another fantastic invention. You’re laying down with your hands on your stomach, only staring up at the ceiling, not a single thought in your head.

Five hours pass, and you hear static electricity. You shoot up to look, and see golden sparks in a circle appear. Stephen walks out with Vision and someone else.

She has no features- only a body shaped like a woman’s, glowing red. Her movements are fluid, but if she stood still, she could easily be mistaken for just a glass sculpture. You’re fascinated, though you can’t look too much because it hurts your eyes.

Tony wakes up too, and he’s staring at the new person.

‘W-who the hell is that?’ ‘Raunverkuleiki’ Vision says. ‘Reality!’ Thor exclaims. ‘What?’ Tony says. ‘Raunverkuleiki is Old Norse for Reality’ he explains. ‘The origins of the stones aren’t Norse, though’ you say. ‘It turns out Reality comes from Norse...’ Stephen opens his necklace, and the room glows green. ‘Time comes from Hinduism’. ‘Wait, what?’ you ask. ‘You didn’t mention that’. ‘So each one’s from a different pagan belief…’ Tony starts. ‘HEY watch it’ Thor warns, not liking Tony’s use of the word “pagan”. ‘Sorry… I meant. You know what I meant, so who is this now? What happens?’ ‘She speaks to me’ Vision says. ‘What’s she saying?’ Thor asks. ‘She wants to go back. I promised we’d let her go after asking some questions and she agreed’.

Confused looks are exchanged. ‘Well…’ Tony looks at Raunverkuleiki again.

‘There’s no way to take her out of here’ Tony says.

‘If I may…’ Stephen disappears for a moment and reappears again, holding some clothes. ‘It’s made by the same monk who made the casing for my necklace. It should be able to contain her powers till you get to the tower. But you might just want to keep from anyone seeing her face. Or lack thereof’.

‘She finds that offensive and is asking you to apologize’ Vision says. ‘Sorry…’ Stephen says immediately.

Vision takes the clothes and wraps her in them, finally putting a hood over her head.

‘You came by car, yes?’ Stephen asks. Tony nods. ‘Bring it to the entrance, close as you possibly can. We’ll put her in’.

xx

‘Okay, your name is a bit long, can we call you Raun for short?’ Tony asks, driving to the Avengers Tower. ‘She says that’s not her name’ Vision says. ‘Yeah I just… okay, never mind’ Tony parks in his private parking, which conveniently leads directly into his lab, where Bruce is waiting.

‘What the hell?’ he cries, as you bring Raunverkuleiki in. ‘Hello Bruce. This is Raunverkuleiki. She doesn’t like Raun. She is also literally reality, and wishes to go back’ you inform. ‘Um…’   ‘My sentiments exactly’ Tony says. ‘I… go back where?’ Bruce asks. ‘She won’t say, but she’s sure she doesn’t want to stay on this planet’ Vision says. ‘She can help the…’ ‘It’s not her job to’ you interrupt Tony.

He glares at you, but you don’t care. ‘She’s kind enough to answer our questions, but she has no obligation to help us further our research or make new things using her. She has been exploited enough by Thanos and The Collector’.

There is silence for a few seconds.

‘She says she likes you very much’ Vision pipes up, finally. ‘Fine. Ask her if there’s any special conditions she’d like to stay in while we make a list of things we want’ Tony sighs in resignation. ‘She says she liked the case you kept her in when she was a stone. Quite warm, but not too much’.

Tony points to the statis cube. You see Raunverkuleiki sprint to the cube and shut herself in, then promptly curl up against the wall. You’re sure she is whatever her version of asleep is.

‘How’d you do it?’ you ask Vision. ‘Well, I kept manipulating reality until she could no longer keep all the changes together. It took quite a while because she’s pretty strong’. ‘I don’t doubt it’ you look back at her. ‘Can we take a minute to just talk about what we’ve achieved here now?’ Bruce asks. ‘We DID it… we finally did it!’

Tony smiles for the first time in hours, and it makes you feel relieved. ‘We couldn’t have done it without you’ he tells you. ‘If you weren’t such a nerd, I mean’.

You laugh. ‘I bet you want a drink’. ‘You’re absolutely right, but I think I’m going to spend some time here figuring out what I want to ask her’. ‘But… we are celebrating, yes? We’ve been working on this for months’ you say. ‘I’m offended that you feel like you need to ask’ he grins, ‘Do you know me?’

xx

You walk through the corridor to Nat’s room to tell her of the developments and pass by Loki.

‘Hey!’ you exclaim. ‘We did it! She’s alive! She's here!’ ‘That’s amazing!’ he grabs you to give you a hug, and you hug him back. ‘Her name is Raunverkuleiki’ you say. ‘She’s beautiful, she’s in the lab right now, asleep I guess’. ‘Wait, she’s Norse?’ ‘I KNOW RIGHT, apparently Stephen’s Time stone is Hindu. I have so many questions, but it’s been a very emotional day for everyone, so I’m keeping it for later’. ‘Can I… see her?’ Loki asks. ‘Sure, I don’t see why not. Just not right now, okay, she’s tired’. ‘Of course not now, right now I want to talk to you’ he grins at you. ‘I’ve been dying to know, I would have come myself, but Clint wanted my help with something’. ‘I don’t know much, but I can dramatize the little I know’. ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll get us some food; I know you haven’t eaten yet’.

You can’t help but smile. You like how he has silently taken up the responsibility of caring for you, like you did for him. It’s so warm and familiar, you don’t want to rebel against how it feels.

You tell him you’ll be right back after briefing Natasha, and he says he’ll keep the food warm.

‘When is she going back?’ Nat asks. ‘Well, I suppose it’s up to her. Right now, she just wants to sleep, I guess. Vision used the stone for like five hours straight, she’s exhausted as hell’. ‘I hope Tony leaves her be for a whole day then, girl’s earned it’. You nod in agreement. ‘We are celebrating tonight though. I mean it’s months of researching and hypothesising and late night experiments…’ ‘You don’t have to defend it’ Nat laughs. ‘I know, Bruce has been giving me every detail, every day’. ‘Excellent. I’ll see you tonight then’ you turn around to walk away. ‘Hey, listen…’ Nat calls you back. ‘Loki was asking me about when you guys left’. ‘Oh?’ ‘Yeah, he asked if I knew about your past. Asked for access to some of your files. I refused of course, but he said it was to help you. I just want your confirmation on whether I should allow him access’.

You’re obviously uncomfortable with this, and shake your head. ‘I’ll speak to him’ you assure her.

______________________________________________________________

#loki fanfic #loki x you #loki x reader #marvel fan fiction #avengers fanfiction #tom hiddleston x you #marvel loki #avengers fandom #fan fic #loki fluff #domestic loki

[goldstonegolem64]

Book 1 Hope returns  Chapter 46 Vanguard By goldstonegolem64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9HJV1Ben6k

Galra central command

It had been about  eight teen hours since Root rot was sent to conquer and Zarkon was starting to get frustrated  with how long it was taking. 

“ Any word from the weed or any of the ship captains that were sent with him?” Zarkon asked 

After a few second of wait one of the transition officers spoke”  No my lord We are getting nothing but static . But before he did go dark we did receive a message from Root Rot group saying that they had run in with the Valkyrie. “ .

‘ I know that but it was seventeen vs one how could one man take on so many at once or maybe Voltron and or that titan was there as well  “ Zarkon said as he got up from his throne 

“ Should we send the twin or Skyver to assisted Root Rot in his mission?”

“ No he either succeed or he dies. I would rather not send those three to their  deaths. We will deal with at in do time “   Zarkon said as he was leaving the room “ Recall any Sub-commanders and commander that nearest to us, call back the nearest mobile repair bay and tell every refinery to double their work load we are going to need as many mans on deck just in case we are attacked In the coming days” Zarkon left the control room and walked towards Haggar’s lab. As he moved he walked passed dozens of soldiers  each one moved out of his way as they could see he was visibly angered by the failure of his commanders for not capturing voltron, for not stomping out the rebel cells that had been cropping up recently after voltron showed back up.

But then again he had grown complacent over the centuries believing that no foe could stand up to him and the empires might . But that all came back to bite him for not handling this problem himself. But that what project Titan was for .Zarkon stopped in front of the door way to Haggar’s lad then entered the room. As he entered the room he found Haggar looking out of a window .

“So how is the constructs of the Titan project going “   Zarkon said as he walked over to look out the same window 

‘ We are putting on the finishing touches from the data we’ve collected from ever battle that both the Valkyrie and Voltron had been in the past two months and have made the proper adjustments to face both of them at once but there is a draw back  to this upgrade.” 

“ And what is that my dear  “

“  You will need a full on neural link for it to control so if titan is destroyed it will most likely kill you.”

“Well we have the Lazarus protocol . Now on the statue of Root Rot and his men ?”

“All but two are alive and counted for. K-38 and K-2″

“So Root Rot Is dead then”

“ No he is most likely still alive,recovering and adapting  from this defeat. Now should we send a recover team to collect him along with an invasion force to the planet ?” Haggar asked 

“ No We have lost already to many men and recourses on one world and if Voltron and The Valkyrie are there we will lose so many more and with the twins and Skyver mechs being rebuild and upgrade and the new batch of Kurons being grown  and trained we would most likely lost . Speaking of which how is batch two training coming along?”

“ Worst then the first . We tried to lean more into the silver paladins altean d.n.a But this as caused those to come out mindless.”  Haggar walked over to her desk and showed a video of a Kuron in its test tube it looked liked an Altean with tan skin, red cheek marks and pink hair in their mid teens . They were just floating there in it’s pod doing nothing but growing  then the monitor at the front of the pod started to glow red. Then the scientists  in the lab moved  toward the pod and tried to figure out what was going on. Then the Kuron inside started to violently  morphing from a normal body and into a  gray scaled beast. It then Burst through the pod’s glass and attacked the scientist and ripped then apart. It then let out a roar that caused the surrounding kuronsin there pods to start to change as well. They then burst out and started to rampage through out the lad ripping into each other.

“   It seems like they have reverted to a more primitive Mind set if you remove the human D.n.a and try to fill in the gapes with Altean or Galran D.n.a.” Haggar said as she stopped the video 

“ So the silver Paladin is human and Altean so there are other Alteans still alive on the planet Earth then “  Zarkon said as a smile came across his face

“ Yes and no. The Silver paladin dose share some D.n.a with the black paladin but there seems to be small changes to their d.n.a . Like how the Silver paladin heart pumps blood slower then the Black paladins that tends to happen a kid is born in zero or artificial gravity.”

“So he was born on another world then. But there was no other planets in that solar system that could host life.” 

“ Well the first humans we had captured were on the ninth planet of their system. So there ma be colonies on other worlds or moons.”  

“ Alright then we’ll send a scouting ship to find this colony. Now have you found the traitor in are midst yet

“No I haven’t. “

“But we have “ Another voice said 

Both Zarkon and Haggar turned to look at the voice and were supriesd by who they saw.

Else where in the universe

Jay was sitting in the Med bay playing a game of chess against Pidge 

“  Are you sure your ok jay “Pidge  asked as she moved one of her pawns 

“ I’m fine my suit took most of damage and I’ve been through worse “ Jay replied as he moved his knight

“Jay your skin is bright ready and your smoking still are you sure your fine” pidge said as she moved another pawn .

“  It’s fine I’ll just shed of the dead skin of next time I shower next “ 

“ Wait you shed like a lizard  “ Pidge had a strange image in her head of Jay shedding like a snake 

Jay looked up from the chess board and looked perplexed by pidge’s statement “ Yes like a lizard would. “  Then he remembered pidge was not from mars “Sometimes I forget we come from different planets. So something normal to me is weird to you  and Vic-versa”  

“ That is true but still are you going to be alright after all that happened yesterday “ 

“Pigeon I’ve been sitting in this room four hours . I think I’m good at this point. Also Checkmate “

“What. “ Pidge looked at the board and saw that jay had moved his  rook right in front of her king then notice that the queen was behind it and had the bishop that move on black spaces was also aimed toward the rook” Uh didn’t see that coming.Good game jay “ 

“Finally after six game I won once and now I retire on top” Jay said as he shot both his hands up in joy.

“ Alright then so what do we do now “

“ We will jst a bit more before the others show “

“And what do when they ask about the big one sitting just out side of the city’s limits “

“Will let the others deal with at when they get here “ Jay replied 

‘[Captain The castle of lions as entered the planet’s orbit and Allura wishes for both of you to meet them at the as soon as possible}

“ Speak of the devil i guess we should head out then” jay said as he got up from his seat . “Hey Val did you leave the speeder here or is it still in your chest “ his said in his minded 

“ I left it just out the Prometheus’s cargo by door.” Val said 

“ Thank you” Jay said as he and pidge walked out of the med bay 

“ Your welcome  ‘ Val replied  

“ So were taking the not the green lion. “ Pidge asked 

“ Pidge it’s “ looked at his phone” 5 in the morning and people are sleeping so the bikes will do for now” Jay said as he walked down the ramp and saw his silver speeder which he called quick Silver. As he sat down and wait for pidge he saw the castle of lions slowly starting to descend from the clouds  on the other side of the city. As he watched the castle. Pidge riding her speeder” Alright lets go” Jay said as he and pidge drive towards where the castle was landing.

As the castle landed both Jay and Pidge arrived

“ So how do you think the others are going to react to see the big one ‘ Jay asked still sitting as the castle landed a few feet away 

“Don’t know but it’s going to be fun when they learn what happened here. Also do you wonder what happened on their missions “ pidge said as the door they were in front of started to open

“ Why don’t we ask them are selves “ Jay replied as he walked into the castle of lions  followed by Pidge the two walked onto the kitchen first and Found most of the crew  which was Matt, Hunk , Nyma, Rolo , Keith and Shiro sitting  at the table eating the food goo” Sup Guys how did your missions 

Adam spoke first “ We had some trouble but it was a” Adam was cut off by  a blueish green furred ferreteped  as Jay called them suddenly appeared in front of him and grabbed him by the face which kind hurt do to the electrical burns he suffered from the fight 

“ Oh no we truly are in the worst possible reality to be in . Unless it the reality . . What is your name boy “ Slav asked

Jay with his cheeks being stretched out spoke “ Jay Sorin and I’m guesting your Slav ” he replied 

“ Yes .Also if our here now then this realty still has a chance “ Slav said then he was grabbed by the back of the collar by Shiro and was pulled away

“ Sorry Jay He’ s been raving about of end of the world ending conspiracy theory the moment We said anything about the Valkyrie.”  Shiro said as he put Slav down

“ It’s not a Conspiracy it’s a strong possibility” Slav Counters 

Shiro and Slav started to argue about this while Jay and Adam watch and laughed a bit  

“So Hunk Keith Rolo, Nyma how did your mission go?” Pidge asked

“ Keith made a friend with a GAlra pilot “Hunk said

“ They were no my friend I just helped them out see as the five of us were inside of a giant space worm.” Keith replied 

“ but they liked you the most “ Nyma said jokingly 

“ Maybe Galra just know when their in the presents of one any other “ Hunk said 

“ That is true but only for pure bloods seeing as they are all fucking purple “  Jay yelled

“ Thank Jay for the info “ Keith said 

“ So they just were being polite because Keith saved them ok if it comes back to bite us in the butt that’ s on Keith then agreed ” Hunk said 

“ Agreed”  Everyone said 

“ That’s fair .Now Pidge What did you and Jay do while we were away ?” Pidge asked

“ Fought some robeasts and the guy who took my leg nothing to big “Pidge said like it was no big deal 

Everyone was quite for a few seconds before Matt speaking up “  Are you alright did you have a panic attack . Jay where were you during all this”  Matt asked as he looked towards jay 

“ I was being electrocuted for info you shmuck. Also I to was having a panic attack but no one asked if I was ok “ Jay said and that was followed by everyone asking what happened, Why the empire was here did they find out about the plan. As Jay and Pidge were bombard with questions 

“ Ok well answer all this questions but first we need everyone here to fully explained what happened here “ Pidge said 

In the bridge of the castle of lions Allura and coran were talking 

“Princess I have sent a message to the blade and Asmo  telling them about are success on all three of are mission. Is there anything else you would like me to do”   Coran asked 

“  I would like to Have Pidge, Jay, Beau, La-sai ,N-7 and Ace here to get me their mission nreport Also I would like to Talk with Ryner and Isara seeing as she and the Queens Sayers are hear. But besides that I’m good”  Allura said 

Coran could tell something was up with her.” Allura what is wrong you seem off’

Allura bite her lower lip then spoke “ I’m just a little bit worried about the Mission coming up . Maybe we should wait a little bit longer and train more so we can truly be ready for it”

Coran knew that wasn’t the full truth ” I feel the same they have only been paladins for a few months now and they lack the train or at time maturity, Hundreds of years of experience of fighting massive battles. But  I have watched them be on the same level of the original Paladins and I believe that they could be better then them and lead the universe in to a better tomorrow “ Coran smiles thinking about it”  

“ You know just what to say to put me at ease Coran.”She smiled and looked up to coran “ But I’m still worried about the others their so young and I kind of fell like I forced them into this roles with out truly thinking this through. Each one of them nearly at less once on this journey and I’m sending them into a Fight that decide the fate of the universe. “

“I may not know much about humans but from what I’ve seen they have sir pasted all of my expectation and beat ever challenge that came to face them. An I will bet on my life that they will beat this next challenge with flying colors  “ Coran said as he pulled Allura into a huge

“ I hope your right Coran I hope your right.” Allura said 

As the two hugged The door to the bridge opened to revel  the rest of the crew with Pidge and Jay at the front 

“ Hi boss sorry to interrupted but we have something important  to tell you.” Jay said 

“ What is it  “Allura asked 

The team wait for the rest of the crew to join and when they did Jay and Pidge explained what had happened from when they arrived to the fight with Robeast and the squad of copy Valkyrie then the fight with the Thunder Bird and Dread wing. Then the Battle with Root Rot. Everyone stood there in shook as they listened to how Jay was for the second time was nearly killed by the plant man again.

“ So This IronWood guy Called you Dad ?” Lance said just a little weirded out 

“Yeah an the other guy black thorn said like me when I was a teenager witch confused me as well . If they were still alive we could have asked them about that but we still have one of those pilot’s still alive hows that memory collecting going anyway ?”   Jay asked Coran 

“ It’s been going fine and we will fine out soon what that pilot knows in about two more days .” Coran replied ]

‘Ok Is there any thing else you too want to tell Us “Allura asked as she looked at the both of them .

“ Oh that  Jay call Val “Pidge said 

“ On it “ Jay said before talking in his mind “Val It’s time” 

“ We are on are way” Val said This was followed by Music started to play over the comm and the world started to shake 

“ What is that “ Shiro asked

“ That would be are Ace in the hole “Pidge said as she walked up to the terminal punched in a location and a scan appeared showing the Vanguard walking from a massive crated that had something in it covered in Ice and Vines.”   Ladies and Gentlemen we give you the colossus Vanguard the unbreakable and Allura she would like to speak to you and Voltron I don’ t know what that means but I think Shiro might know” 

“ I Do Pidge. Paladin to your lion “ shiro said as he and the rest of the paladins left the bridge

Back a Galra central command 

Thace had decide to move the chip he place in the control room .As he walked to the control room  he felt for just a moment that someone was watching him again. HE looked behind him to see no one behind him. This sent a chill down his spine but he continued to walk towards the control room as he entered the control room. Some one tried to stab him. He quickly grabbed the wrist of his assailant and was about to punch them only to have his free hand grabbed  by someone else in the room followed by a knife stabbing into his leg. He fell to his knee and then was punched in the face. He looked to his right to see Harley smiling at him Then he looked to his left to see Quinn. Both were standing over him. Then they started to whale on him . Each punch  cracked against his face and he could fell his skull crack and his jaw being dislocated. after a few minutes of being beaten on. With his jaw busted he could only say one word “ Why?” 

Quinn moved in closer and whispered in Thace’s ear  “Sorry about this Thace but it’s the only way to make whatever your planning work in are favor “  

Then Harley leaned in “ Look around the room “ 

He looked up again to see serval things about the room. The first thing was that the cameras were destroyed and there was a body of a control room officer knocked out. Then he noticed that the console in the room had a familiar  looking blade in it. Then something clicked in his mind he remembered that there was two blade members that started a family they had kids twins. Both parents dead on a mission leaving the twin. The blade wanted to take the twins in but sadly they had disappeared before and could be found. “  You”

“ Yes we are but we aren’t going to join your little group we just want out of the empires control “Quinn whispered as she and her brother picked up and dragged him out of the room towards Lady Haggar’s lab 

Back with the Paladin

Voltron flow towards the Vanguard with the Valkyrie in toe

Allura stood in the cockpit of the black lion and started at the colossal purple Knight as it stopped and looked up towards the two mechs 

“Shiro before we talk to the Vanguard my I ask when pidge said  that the vanguard wanted to talk to Voltron and you knew what she meant. I just wonder how”

“ I though you knew about me seeing as you are bonded lion” Shiro replied

“ No I don’ t maybe your bond with the black lion is deeper then my own.”

“ Yes and no. You know how Val is Different from the Valkyrie.”  

“ Yes “ Allura replied as she started to see where this was going 

“ Well besides the lions that live in each part of Voltron I’m guessing he is the “

“ I am the Lions young Shiro “ Leonidas said out loud in all the lions  

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds before Hunk spoke up 

“ Who the heck was that?” Hunk asked 

“ I am Leonidas the prideful or as you all call me Voltron “ 

“ So You final decide to reveal yourself good I was tired of waiting “Val said

“ So this guy is the same as Val right . So dose that mean he can fight on his own when were not around to pilot the lions?” Lance asked 

“No I was not build that way.  Where The Valkyrie can pilot  herself do to the fact that she doesn't  have to split herself into five different pieces. But I make up for that by being more flexible with my pilots and each pilot will unlock different abilities. “  

“ But I can manipulate time and I can scan anything and turn it into a weapon. “ 

“ I can rip a hole in the fabric of reality “

Everyone could felt tension between the two that only sibling would have. It was a little awkward until the Vanguard spoke over the comms 

“ And I can open portals to any where I’ve been to which is all of what you called the know universe. Make barriers around me and I can came gravity balls that can pull in and destroy it. “ The vanguard sounded happy to be able to take to other of their kind and completely missed the tension between the Valkyrie and Voltron. “ Sorry if I interrupted what you were doing I’ m just happy to finally meet more of my own kind after being alone for so long a can’t wait to hear everything you’ve seem the past billion years “

“  Before we do that Lady Allura must ask you something” Val said 

“ Yes this is of most important that we know your awnser “ Leonidas said 

“ Oh ok” Vanguard replied 

“ Your up Princess” Shiro said as he turned on the Black lions Outer p.a System 

Allura then spoke “ Hello Vangaurd I am princess Allura of Altea and I request your in are battle against the Galra Empire You do now about the empire right?” Allura asked

“ Thank you for asking. They are current in control of 80 percent of the knew universe and have been draining world of their quintessence to furl their war machines and to keep their Leader and  his wife alive for the passed ten thousand years. And I would like to join you in stopping them. But I will save this I don’  t like fighting all that much. I only fight in self defends and to protect the animals that live inside of me . But what I can do is open wormhole that allow you and the rebels you work with to any place you want to go and any planet or place you want protected I can do that. But I will not put the creatures I care for in harms way but if yo are in dyer need of my help I will fight but only as a last resort  ”   Vanguard said 

“Well at least they know their boundaries . “ Lance said 

“ And where their loyalty lay “ Keith replied 

“ Ok as long as we can count on you when we need you must. That is fine by me “  Allura said 

“ Ok with that out of the way can I ask Both Val and Leonidas a few things ?”  Vangaurd asked 

“ I see no problem with That” Val said 

“ Neither do I”  Leonidas add 

“ Alright time to wait a the next few hours while this three talk “ Pidge said 

As The Vanguard , Val And Leonidas started Talk they switched to a Language that the universal translator couldn’t  understand. But that didn’t really matter to the paladins at the moment they were just happy to have the Vangaurd now truly on there side. But Allura still felt nervous about the battle to come.

Else where in the Crate the cyclone covered in ice and Vines lay there motionless but near the head there was the sounds slamming and sizzling as Root Rot started to break free of his frozen prison . As he burst free from the finally layer of ice. he let out a roar of anger and  as his body had turn from green to brown do to how cold it was. He started to pull  himself out of the exit hole he made and As he did his legs broke of as he continued to pull himself out and crawled to the edge of what remained of the Cyclones head and rolled himself of and ihit the ground hard shattering most of his body leaving only his left arm and head in tacked 

“Cold I H-h-hate the cold” He tried to regrow his missing limbs only for nothing to happen. His body was dying and he need to reset.So he unraveled himself and started digging into the soft earth that the rain and the melting ice had made for him .It would take a few years for him to heal completely  from this fight but it would be all worth it as while he rested he would adapted to the cold an along with that he would start to grow a new colony for his clan with the only thing fueling them is Revenge Bloodlust and a need for fresh meat 

#voltron #Allura #vld adam #takashi shirogane #adashi #kieth kogane #kidgance #kidge #plance #klance #au #OC #hunay #hunk garrett #vld coran #vld shay #RAX #NYMA #rolo #pidge gunderson #matt holt #CANON DIVERGENCE

[angelic-holland]

Seeing the Thing 3

Summary: You and Harrison prepare for the read through for Almost, Maine, Tom continues to annoy you, and you’re reminded why you’re here in the first place. 

Warnings: descriptions of anxiety and panic attacks, bullying (including a little slut-shaming), mentions of sex

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: Check out the rest of the series through my masterlist in my bio! There’s a lot more of interaction between Harrison and the reader but I promise there will be plenty of interaction between Tom and the reader soon! 

“What?” Tom asks, Jackie hanging off his arm.

“You’re seriously going to bring a girl here without, I don’t know, checking in?” Harrison asks. 

“there’s no sock on the door,” Tom slurs, so he’s drunk, of course.

“Why would there be- we’re going to sleep!”

“Yeah you’re sleeping alright,” Jackie laughs. 

“What?” Tom says, turning his head to look at her.

“Nothing, let’s, let’s go to my room,” Jackie says.

“Aren’t you both a little too drunk to be doing this?” Harrison asks, closing his laptop.

“Why’s that any of your business?” Jackie says, crossing her arms over her chest, “if we can’t have sex while drunk, you-,” she says, pointing at Harrison, “shouldn’t be having sex with her,” her fingers stabs towards you.

“Jackie, does it fucking look like we’re having sex?” Harrison says, hands gesturing to your fully clothed bodies. 

You feel your heart start to pound, you’re shaking next to Harrison, his arm around you, fingers rubbing your shoulder, trying to calm you down.

“Whatever,” Jackie laughs, “just don’t start spreading STDs around the campus again Y/N.”

“Again? Excuse me? Get out of my fucking room,” Harrison says, his jaw tight. 

“Goodnight?” Tom says, unsure of what was happening in his drunken stupor. 

Jackie closes the door and you hear them move down the hallway. 

You finally exhale, not even realizing you weren’t breathing until you felt air rush out of your lungs.

“I don’t, I don’t have STDs, what is, what’s she talking about?” 

“I don’t know, it’s probably just a stupid rumor or something she said to get under your skin.”

“But why would she say it, why,” you try to get words to move across your lips but you’re at a loss. You look at Harrison, the light from the moon peeking through his window shades illuminating his face. He’s frowning, eyebrows furrowed, features laced with anger and worry. 

“She’s not worth your time or effort getting upset about okay? She’s drunk, she’s not a nice person to begin with. Just, why don’t we sleep, tomorrow we can start fresh, map out the rehearsal schedule and go from there okay?” He says, moving his laptop to the side table and pulling the covers over you.

“I just, Harrison who else is she telling? If she’s saying this to me, what is she saying behind my back?”

“I dunno, I’m sorry, I can try to find out from other people-,”

“No I don’t want you roped into this bullshit.”

“Y/N, you’re my best friend, you don’t deserve to be talked to like that.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What?” He says as you push the covers off.

“It doesn’t matter, I, I’m not worth the effort it takes to keep up with me, to deal with the things being my friend comes with,” you mumble, feeling your world come crashing down. This is what you always do, your mom would say. You have a friend, a really good friend for about a year or so, and then your insecurities, your anxiety, your fear of being close to someone gets in the way and ruins it. That’s what happened with Ashley, with Harper, with Emily. Last summer, when you suggested you visit Harrison in London your mom laughed at you.

***

“Y/N, the idea of a plane ride gives you a panic attack, there’s no way you could go on a plane for how many hours?”

“6 and a half,” you mumble, moving the food around on your plate. 

“6 and a half hours to visit him. You tried to, with Emily, remember? And guess where that got you? You waste that much money on a plane ticket only to have a panic attack in the airport and not go.”

“But I’m better now, I can take a Xanax again, that’ll help my nerves, if I need to.”

“No, you know why you don’t take those anymore.”

“Mom-,”

“It’s not up for discussion. Eat your dinner y/n.”

***

“Just, wait, stop,” Harrison pleads as you climb off the bed. He goes to grab your arm but stops.

“I’m sorry Haz, for being a shit friend, for needing so much from you and not being able to give you anything in return,” you say, forcing yourself to not cry, not to lose it. The tears are definitely there, welling up in your eyes as you think about losing him, losing Harrison because you can’t be fucking normal. 

“Y/N you can’t mean that, you know you’re not a shit friend, there are just days when you need me, and I’m here for you, that’s what friends do! Please, please don’t go,” He says, his voice was building and building before his last few words, dropping to a whisper.

“I just, I’m sorry Harrison, for being such a shit friend,” you repeat, “I wish, I wish there was more I could do, for you,” sitting down on the edge of the bed. You didn’t want to leave, nothing would make you more upset than leaving. You wanted so desperately to be close with someone, to show them every side of you, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and not run. 

“You wanna know what a shit friend doesn’t do? A shit friend doesn’t buy me a ukelele, a shit friend doesn’t help me pass algebra when she barely knows me. A shit friend doesn’t do all these amazing things just cause, and I would name them because they’re so incredible but I know you get annoyed when I do. You’re the farthest thing from a shit friend, promise.”

“How did I get a best friend as great as you?” You ask, laying your head on his shoulder.

“Do you really want to talk about the microwave tea incident?” He laughs.

“Hey! I’ve learned, now I know…” you smile, remembering the night.

***

You agreed with Gianna to help Harrison. They were in the same algebra I class and you knew him from the production of Hamlet you had just started. 

Normally you wouldn’t but Gianna was really nice and you thought she could become a real friend and you knew that friends helped each other, even if that meant doing something that scares you a little, like inviting a mystery boy to your dorm room to help him study for his first algebra exam. You were sitting in your bed, lounging in sweatpants and a T-shirt, it was late but he had his costume class lab until about 20 minutes ago and this was the only time he could meet. 

You take a deep breath, you did not need your Xanax, you did not need your Xanax, you were not going to panic, you were just going to help him study.

There’s a short knock on your door and you take a deep breath before making your way to open it.

“Hi,” you say, smiling up at the taller boy in front of you.

“Hey, Y/N right? You were at the read-through for Hamlet, you’re our assistant stage manager right?” 

You nod and you both stand awkwardly in your doorway. 

“Oh right, come on in, sorry,” you say, rubbing the back of your neck. No, no getting nervous. You were in the zone, algebra, mathematics, your area of expertise, there was nothing to be scared of. 

“All good,” He laughs and walks into your room, looking around, “gotta single? Nice,” he nods. 

You sigh, a breath of relief. He didn’t ask you why you had a single, he didn’t wonder out loud why you don’t have a roommate, sparing you the awkward ‘I have really bad panic attacks and can’t share a room with a stranger’ talk. 

“Alright you’ve got the study guide and practice questions right?”

“Yup, so shall we get started?”

“Sure, did you want uh tea or anything?” You ask, grabbing a mug from your desk.

“Sure, what’ve you got?” 

“Uh, royal english, this mint one, chamomile although that makes me sleepy so you might not wanna have that, there’s a peach one,” you can feel yourself start to ramble and you’re grateful when Harrison cuts you off. 

“Royal English is perfect.”

You nod and grab another mug, filling them both with water from your mini-fridge. 

“What’re you doing?” He asks as you put the mugs in your microwave. 

“Making tea?” You say, turning back to him with an eyebrow raised.  

“This has got to be some sorta sick joke,” he laughs. 

“I’m sorry?” You ask, crossing your arms over your chest.

“There’s no way you drink microwave tea.”

“Well, how else am I supposed to drink it? We live in dorms, not like I can use a kettle here.”

“Yes, you can.”

“They’re not allowed.”

“And you’re telling me you’ve never broken a rule before?”

“No but you could get fined,” you huff, “and besides it tastes the same.”

“It most definitely does not,” he scoffs.

“Have you ever tried microwave tea?” 

“No, and I never want to.”

“Then how would you know it tastes different?”

“I just do, trust me, tea is my thing.”

“I forgot you represented every British person ever.”

“Hey, not our fault Americans don’t know how to make good tea.”

“Did you want help on your exam?”

Maybe you should’ve taken the Xanax.

His eyes widen and he nods, making you laugh.

“I would’ve helped you either way, sit down,” you nod to your bed, “you might not like microwave tea but it’s good enough for me.”

“This isn’t over, next time I’m making you real tea.”

“There’s gonna be a next time?” You say, taking the mug out of the microwave and dropping a tea bag into it.

“Yep.”

No ‘only if you want’, no ‘you’re weird and you keep tapping your hand against your side so I don’t want to see you again’. Just ‘yep’.

You smiled, sitting next to him and taking the pencil from behind your ear. 

“Let’s get to work.”

***

“I’m very rebellious now, have a kettle for my dorm and everything.”

“Mhm, sucha rebel,” he nods and you laugh.

“But really, you’re a good friend, and I really don’t want you to doubt that because I help you with your panic attacks sometimes. You’re the one going through them, and you still manage to be a fantastic friend despite them. Listen, I’m gonna brush my teeth, you can stay, you can go back to your room, but I really want you to stay.”

“You know, soon we can’t do this anymore.”

“Hmm?” He asks as he stands up, grabbing his toiletries bag.

“Cuddle, fall asleep in the same bed.”

“Why’s that?”

“Cause, you’re taking Gianna on a date.”

“Okay?”

“And she’ll think this is weird.”

“Why?”

“Because, friends don’t do this, sleep in each other’s beds.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” you whisper from his bed. 

“Well, it’s not, it’s not something we don’t haveta do, I haven’t even gone on the date with her? What if she’s a total weirdo? And you’re my best friend, she’s gotta make an exception.”

You don’t respond, thinking about all the times you’ve fallen asleep in his arms, usually after a panic attack, a few times after you’ve both been studying for hard exams, once just because you missed him, the night he came back from London for the school year and Ben has just broken up with you. 

“Y/N, are we okay?”

“Hmm? Course, just thinking.”

“Penny for your thoughts?” He asks, hand paused on the doorknob.

“I should go to bed.”

“Oh.”

“Yep,” you decide, sleeping in your own bed, ignoring the thoughts racing through your mind might actually get you through until tomorrow.

“Breakfast? We can make the rehearsal schedule?” Harrison asks, his voice different. You were too sleepy to discern what his tone meant and how it changed but you nodded.

“I’ll see you tomorrow okay?” He asks, and you nod, why can’t you say anything?

“Goodnight,” his voice is barely above a whisper, and it hurts because you know you’ve fucked up.

He leaves and you grab your backpack, taking a deep breath and counting to 10 before bolting out the door and up the stairs. 

You slam your door shut and you curse, hand rubbing your temple as you pull out your phone. 

“Y/N? What’s up?” 

You didn’t even realize you called Gianna until she started talking.

“Hey girl,” you say, moving to get changed into pajamas. 

“So, did you and Harrison figure out casting?”

“Yep,” you sigh as you put the phone on speaker.

“You know, it threw me for a total loop when Harrison asked me out.”

“Can you come over?” You ask one hand picking at your fingernails.

“Course, y/n, you okay?”

“Yeah, just, just need someone to talk to.”

“I’ll be there in 10.”

What the fuck did you want to talk to Gianna about? 

That you felt like you were going to end up pushing Harrison away? That you were scared you’d ruin your friendship with Harrison like you always end up doing?

You pushed down the impending doom you felt in your chest, grab your toothbrush and toothpaste. As you brushed your teeth your mind wandered to what Harrison was doing. To what Tom was doing. Did he go back to Jackie’s dorm? There’s no doubt in your mind that he did. 

Your body felt heavy like something was weighing it down as you walked back to your dorm, leaving it unlocked for Gianna before sitting down on your bed, trying several different seating positions before settling on sitting up against your pillows, the covers pulled right up to your chin.

Gianna giggles when she sees you but comes and hops up on the bed, sitting perpendicular to you.

“Hey girly,” she says, pulling out her juul, “want some?”

“Nah, thanks G,” you smile, forcing it not to falter.

“So what’s wrong?”

“Hmm?”

“You look like you’re seconds away from crying, it’s fine, I cry all the fucking time, I cried this afternoon after callbacks, because I was so happy Harrison asked me out, so what’s on your mind?”

“Wait, why’d you cry about that?” You ask.

“We can talk about that later, what’s going on girl? I’m here for you, you know that.”

“I just, I’m scared, I think I upset Harrison tonight.”

“Uhoh, did you get into a brawl over who to cast?”

“No, none of that, just, oh man, I was about to sleep in his dorm tonight but I thought of you and-,”

“Wait so you two are a thing?” She asks, looking at you confused.

“No, not at all no, he just like, we sleep in each other’s beds sometimes, you know when I had a panic attack? On the way back to the dorm from Hamlet?”

“Yeah?”

“I get those a lot, and Harrison just helps me calm down after them, and we cuddle sometimes, but we’ve never done anything like that, I don’t wanna do anything like that with him.”

“So you’re like platonic cuddle buddies?” She asks, face lighting up.

You should’ve expected that reaction. Gianna was always easy going, her presence was like a natural calming agent.

“I guess.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I was thinking about you and him going on a date and I didn’t want to make it weird. Like I don’t want to sleep in the same bed as him if you’re going to be dating him.”

“Well, I guess we know what that means?”

You tilt your head, no, you didn’t know what that meant and you held your breath waiting for the inevitable, for her to tell you that you were too clingy, too needy, that you needed to get over yourself, the words “I’m sorry” were on the tip of your tongue before she spoke. 

“We just needa find you a new platonic cuddle buddy!” She laughs before hitting her juul. 

“Oh?”

“Yep,” she says popping her ‘p’ like Harrison does.

“I can’t wait to hear all about your date,” you say as she lays down next to you.

“I can’t fucking wait to tell you all about it,” she says, cuddling into your side.

You let your arm fall around her shoulder and your head lay on top of hers.

“I can see why you and Harrison cuddle so much, you’re great at it,” Gianna says, her arm resting across your stomach. 

You smile, feeling content, forgetting about your small confrontation with Harrison for now.

****

“What the-,” Harrison freezes at the entrance of the bathroom as he sees Tom leaning against the trashcan, dry heaving.

“Hi,” Tom says weakly, a small smile passing his lips before he’s back to dry heaving. 

“What’re you doing? Not going home with Jackie?”

“Jackie’s mean,” Tom says, stumbling to the sinks.

“Yeah? She’s always been mean.”

“Well, how am I supposed to know that?”

“Maybe if you took the time to know girls you try to hook up with before sleeping with them you’d know.”

“What’s the matter with you? You’ve never cared before who I hook up with.”

“Jackie isn’t-,”

“It’s because she was saying those things about Y/N?”

“She’s my best friend, I don’t like hearing about shit like that.”

“Well is it true?”

“No, and if it was why does it matter to you?”

“It doesn’t,” Tom says, splashing cold water on his face. 

“You think you could just, I don’t know, think about what you say before you say it?”

“I’m not a child Harrison,” Tom mumbles pushing past him. 

“Where are you going?”

“To go to bed, why, is Y/N there?”

“No, she’s not, just, go to bed Tom.”

Tom stumbles out of the bathroom mumbling to himself as Harrison leans against the sink.

Should he check on Y/N? No, nope, he should just let her be, they’d meet again tomorrow morning and be fine. Like they always are.

****

You wake up the next morning with a start, Gianna’s arm still resting across your stomach.

“Oh hey sleepyhead?”

“Did we fall asleep?” You laugh as she sits up.

“Yep,” she giggles, grabbing her juul from your comforter and getting up.

“Hey, Harrison and I are meeting for breakfast, to make the rehearsal schedule, you wanna come?”

“Course,” Gianna says, holding her hand out for you to grab. 

***

“So this looks good, we can make a more detailed tech week schedule later, do you want to send out the cast list as well as the rehearsal schedule to the cast?” Harrison asks and you nod.

“Alright I need to go do homework but I’ll see the two of you later?” Gianna says sliding out of the booth. 

“Haz,” you whisper, meeting his eyes.

“I’m sorry if I was weird last night.”

“No, you’re fine. I’m sorry too. I just, change is hard so it’s gonna take some getting used to. Besides, now Gianna is determined to find me a new platonic cuddle buddy.”

“Platonic cuddle buddy?” Harrison asks through laughter.

“Yeah, I don’t know, sounds fun,” you shrug.

“I could be a pretty great wingman too if you need me.”

“Thanks, Haz,” you smile.

****

“Hey everyone congrats for getting cast, so today as you all saw in the schedule we’ll be doing a read through, but first I think we should all get to know each other a little bit, so why don’t we go around the circle, share our names, our pronouns, and we can play a game of two truths and a lie,” Harrison says, settling back into his seat, “I’ll start. I’m Harrison, I use he/him pronouns, and my two truths and a lie, hmm, I’m from London, I’m a gemini star sign, and I’ve got a younger sister.”

You’re silent, you know he’s not a Gemini but you want to let people figure it out. 

“You’re obviously from London,” Ben points out.

“Shocker,” Gianna laughs.

“You don’t have a sister?” Nikk asks.

“Nope, I’ve got one.”

“So you’re not a Gemini, should’ve known, you’re too nice to be a Gemini,” Gianna jokes.

“What’s wrong with Gemini’s?” Tom asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Someone’s a Gemini,” you laugh, not meeting Tom’s eyes you can feel glaring at you. 

They went around the circle, some of the lies making you laugh, ‘I wrestled an alligator’, ‘I fought with the President’, ‘I only have one eye’.

“But you’ve got two eyes right there!” Quentin says, in stitches. 

“Whatever, I’m bad at coming up with lies,” Ben grumbles.

You were grateful they went around the other way, saving you for last. You took the time to come up with your two truths and a lie.

“Hey, I’m y/n, my pronouns are (your pronouns) and, let's see, I’ve got a tattoo, I’ve got a younger brother, and my favorite band is ABBA.”

You know Harrison knows your lie, Ben, too, but they are quiet.

“No way you’ve gotta tattoo,” Tom pipes up and you turn and look at him, smirking. 

“She does,” Ben and Harrison say at the same time and you can feel blood rush to your cheeks.

God damn it.

“You don’t have a brother do you?” Nikk asks.

“Nope, single child,” you say, settling back into your chair.

“Cool, now that we’ve all gotten to know each other a little, let’s get this read through started,” Harrison says and there’s a shuffling of everyone’s scripts as they all open to the first page. 

The read-through went off relatively well, Tom appeared to be watching you the entire time, his eyes burning a hole in the side of your head as you listened to everyone talk. 

You walked in relative silence back to your dorm with Harrison and Tom.

“You really have a tattoo? Why don’t I believe that? What’s it of? Where is it?” Tom asks, as you climb the stairs. You were exhausted, a day full of classes, then tutoring, then the read through. You weren’t in the mood to squabble with him. 

“It’s an ocean wave on my ribcage.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes?” You say, pausing at their floor. 

His mouth opens and clothes a few times like he wants to say something but doesn’t. 

You’re grateful for that. 

“See you tomorrow?” Harrison asks and you nod, pulling him in for a hug. 

“See ya,” you smile as he squeezes you a little before letting go.

You walk up the stairs to your room, feeling Tom’s eyes glaring into your back as you walk away.

****

Taglist: @relise-thefury @importantfireeaglefish @danicarosaline @sighharrington @whltlock @imahoefortomholland @scarletwidow-shipper @professional-fandoms

#tom holland #harrison osterfield #harrison osterfield fic #tom holland x reader #tom holland series #seeing the thing #tom holland x reader series #tom holland x fem!reader #tom holland x reader fic #tom holland fan fic #tom holland fic

[etherian-affairs]

Archae’s Bad Day.

An OC Story about @strawberryoverlord‘s T h e m OC Archae and our favorite murder girl Nihila. 

Written on Discord in portions and compiled here in one solid piece. Small mention of @helila‘s T h e m OC Jim.

T h e m Stories Masterpost

"Intelligence shows this vessel holds the rebel forces bio labs."

That was how Archae was roped into this. Yes she specializes in biological weapons, yes she is great at what she does, yes she was the only one of her caliber in the region of space this operation is taking place in.

But that did not mean she was happy at all about being pressured into cramming herself into a boarding pod with the common soldiers and being catapulted across space to some enemy vessel so she could ascertain the threat level of any biological agents aboard the ship and if needed neutralize them. In fact she is quite unhappy about this. Also a bit scared but that is not to be admitted to the world.

Yet despite all her displeasure here she is. Sitting in this pod and taking deep breaths. On top of all of that the armor she has been put in is rather unflattering. Not a problem you would think someone would give much thought to but Archae was already grumpy enough that this was just a huge insult on top of the rest of this.

This is basically a public outing and it frankly sucked to be in unflattering attire during public outings. Especially when you already are slightly uncomfortable with public outings. 

As Archae puts on her helmet one of the soldiers in the pod with her leans down. "First time doing one of these?*

Feminine voice. Tall. In specialized armor unlike the others here. There is no rank or division insignia, just the emblem of the Horde. An ESS most likely, or some other form of special forces. Though the top of her helmet is blank and featureless while the lower half seems to be some sort of breathing mask. They are connected completely, likely the seals are quite high quality. Classy. Archae can appreciate the find craftsmanship of protecting isolation gear.

Regardless of any appreciation however Archae frowns while she checks the straps on her seat. "Shouldn't you be sitting?"

"No I'm good. It is your first time though I can tell." The soldier laughs lightly. "Don't worry just stay in the shock seat and you'll be fiiiiine."

"I am not concerned about the ride." Archae huffs.

"Oh you should be that's when most deaths occur. Once we're in the ship it'll be easy, just stick with me!"

Archae feels herself blanch under her armor. That is not reassuring.

Suddenly the lights in the pod go green and she feels acceleration. "Really though shouldn't you be sitting?" She finds herself asking.

"As long as I'm in before impact it's fiiiine!"

Archae finds herself clenching the straps of her shock seat tight. Not only is she on a dangerous mission but the one person here who's talking to her is clearly insane. Wonderful.

"We call these boarding pods in kind of a generic way but actually this kind is called an assault ram." The ESS continued talking to Archae. Even as the engine thrummed heavily, as the sound of rock and debris clinking against the hull of their metal coffin rang out. She was still talking. "I normally get sent over in an individual scale torpedo and those use a gel solution for helping you survive deceleration. it's very gooey."

"Please." Archae speaks, she feels sick to her stomach. Anxiety, acceleration sickness, both? Likely both. Archae isn't made for this sort of thing she's a good woman who does good work. Good work that is definitely not this sort of work. "Why are you talking to me?" It comes out exactly as rude and harsh as she wants it.

"Oh! The Marines won't talk to me and I'm supposed to protect you anyway. So I thought we could get to know each other before we never see each other again."

Archae looks up with an expression that screams 'are you fucking kidding me?' unfortunately it's under her helmet. She likes to think the specialist feels it though.

"Oh!" The ESS suddenly says! "Impact soon!"

"Impact??" Archae doesn't like the sound of 'impact'

"Oh did you not read up on how these work? We only decelerate at the laaast moment, and use the forward laser to cut into the targets hull! So we go deep!" The insane woman laughs a bit as she hops into a shock seat. Archae gapes. She knew that was done sometimes, she did not think they'd put her in such a craft.

Someone must want her dead.

Before she can really think about that it happens. Impact. The crashing sound of metal on metal. The whine and screech of the stress of impact.

All coupled with the massive g force pressing Archae into the shock chair. Triggering her panic response, making her mind fuzzy. She can do this. She went through training. She can resist this.

Blackness creeps at the edge of her vision. Then they're stopped. She doesn't black out.

"Hey you did it!" Her mad compatriot calls out. "You're still awake! Now's the part where you stay with me and I take you to the target!"

Archae's head shoots up. The madwoman is already standing and readying one of her many weapons. "How are you already up?!" She hisses out

Then she hears some of the Marines with them laugh and feels the vague combination of embarrassed and murderous that leads one to consider placing a mostly non lethal bacterial agent in people's foods. Not that Archae would ever do such a thing herself. 

"Oh don't mind them! You're a science type!" The ESS readies her weapon, pointing it at the front of their boarding pod, assault ram, whatever it is. Then. "Contact."

The front explodes off and all of the soldiers inside begin firing out through the smoke, the rams sensors painting targets for them through their helmets. Archae can see the display in her own but would barely know where to begin with parsing all of that information.

Archae takes a deep breath, and once the initial sweep is done gets herself up. The sooner this is done the better. Then she can go home, see her cat, read, and poison some marines. Archae nods to herelf, sure of that plan, and steps forward to follow the ESS that is apparently escorting her. 

Of course the specialist continues to try to make small talk with her. Archae can only half listen, only able to partially focus on the incessant banter. She does get confirmation that this is in fact an Executive Solutions Specialist. Number 1172 apparently. 

"So that is how I taught Madame's Hounds to wield knives!" The Specialist shouts over weapons fire as she strides through the corridors of the ship. Her aim is eerily good, sort of horrifying. Her weapon of choice seems to be some sort of customized high powered energy sidearm. It's putting holes in people that's really all Archae knows about it.

She knows much more about this monsters love life though and that's somehow making this entire adventure go from harrowing to frustrating. Apparently this Executive Solutions Specialist is in a romantic relationship with a woman of high standing, lives with her, and they have dogs? How is that even fair?

She's a murder machine!

There is also another issue to address. "Why exactly did you teach the Hounds how to use knives?" Archae's frustration cannot overcome her curiosity about this.

"So they could stab people." The specialist says without missing a beat as she shoots a door panel to trigger the emergency release and expertly murders the crew members hiding inside.

Archae frowns slightly. "Must we stop at every door?"

"I don't want anyone coming in behind us!"

That... Makes some sort of sense. Archae relents on that subject. Then she sighs as they continue their forward March. She has to ask. She needs to know this monsters secrets.

"So how did you and 'Madame' meet exactly?"

"Oh! That's a fun story!"

It also turns out that it is a rather long and detailed story, one that the specialist remembers with almost enviable clarity. Who remembers things this well? All the while they make their way toward their objective, the ships bio-lab. 

"So I killed the terrorists and saved Madame and afterwards she took me into her employ more properly. Which of course I was excited about because she's very attractive." The specialist finished her story as she fired into the lab. That actually made Archae wince, firing into a lab with a high powered energy weapon, but by the screams and sounds of meat hitting metal floor it seems the specialist was hitting her marks just fine every time she popped out from cover to fire.

Archae could appreciate that at least. The lab was going to be intact if a tad messier than she prefers. What she doesn't appreciate is how useless that story of terrorist plots and mass murder is. If anything it just sounds like this Madame is equally as insane as the specialist for falling for this madwoman.

Actually that could be it. Unless things somehow got more romantic between them later, which seems unlikely. Archae doesn't care to ask at this point. It’s starting to make her feel sad and self conscious about her own spinster lifestyle. 

Archae files that whole story away right as the specialist impales one of this ships crew members coming around the corner that they're using for cover with her talons. A knife drops to the ground. "Did they just try to enter melee with you?..." The bio warfare expert asks. She admits that seems wildly stupid even for a rebel species.

"Yep! There's always at least one!" The ESS says as she curls her talons and ruins the stupid aliens internal organs. Then drops the gasping sputtering thing on the ground.

Archae finds herself watching it twitch and die with impassive interest. She doesn't know this species. Maybe she should request specimens to be taken back to her ship... Who knows what they could yield. Sometimes even the dumbest and weakest creatures have biology that can be learned from, and weaponized. 

Her thoughts are interrupted by the specialist. "Labs clear. Let's go."

The two enter the biolab and Archae is less than impressed. A crude workshop with improper safety mechanisms. Sure enough bodies litter the floors. People in hazmat suits and some guards in armor. All with limbs blown away or holes in there torso. "You do not aim for the head." Archae notes.

"Oh not with something with this much stopping power." The ESS replies as she scopes the room and sets herself up into overwatch at the door. "Center mass will be a kill and is a bigger target. Always aim for the largest thing that will ensure the kill."

That is again a potential nugget of actually sage advice taken from the insane ramblings of a killer, and in many ways can apply to much of the weapons Archae produces. Perhaps warfare at any scale has similarities.

With a breath the scientist nods and moves to the lab computers to try and discern what is going on here.

Archae is in her element now. Her bodyguard manages to get the lab door sealed and she has gained access to the lab systems. Data poured out, translated into Horde Standard via the access virus implanted into the ships computers

The specialist is now sitting on the floor near the door. Relaxing and bobbing her head to some beat that Archae cannot discern. Music in the helmet maybe? Oddly enough the so far incessant talker had fallen quiet the moment Archae got to work. Training to allow ‘science types’ to do field work unperturbed perhaps?

"What even..." Archae caught herself expressing her thoughts out loud after the fact. She hears the specialist shift at the words. Briefly Archae ponders if it's even worth it to elaborate to a blunt instrument like an ESS.

Then she decides she wants to speak regardless. It should be her turn to get to talk about something.

"They're not... Making a disease." Archae notes. "These genome maps are for a multi-cellular construct, and they've taken from all over."

"They're making super dogs aren't they?" The ESS replies.

Archae turns around to stare for a moment. "No. No they are not making super dogs."

"Oh. That's what I would make."

There is a long silence as the two stare at one another. Finally Archae takes a deep breath and replies. "Yes. I am sure you would." She then turns back to the computers. "No it's some sort of... Maybe a terror weapon? It is an... idiotically complicated genome map. It is not a pathogen I can tell us that much."

"Why is it idiotic?"

"It's too complex. I can see some of what they're doing and there are such simpler sequence combinations to get the results. This entire map is a mess and they've barely left any notes to work from." Archae actually groans. "There is nothing here for the Horde. This was pointless. I wasn't needed for any of this."

"Well yeah duh." The specialist stands now. Archae looks back again. Surprised at that comment.

"Excuse me?"

"You're a lab scientist. There are field technicians for this stuff. You were sent here to die." The specialist shrugs. Incredibly nonchalant.

Archae sputters. She suspected but to just have it said. So plainly. By this woman nonetheless. "And you know this how?"

"I kill people like you for sport it's really obvious. Also I did tell you I was assigned here to make sure you don't die."

"Wait wait... So I am-"

"Caught in the middle of a power struggle you have no part in! Isn't that fun?"

Archae takes a few deep breaths. Anger starting to well in her chest. She had managed to keep out of these petty power politics for so long and now suddenly this.

Then something impacts the door. Archae actually lets out a yelp of surprise. A scythelike talon suddenly punctures through the door to the lab. ESS-1172 is on her feet and raising her hand cannon immediately.

"That's generally not a good sign!" The specialist declares.

"You think?!" Archae snaps as suddenly the door is forced open and a horrible creature made of scything limbs and large mandibles launches itself at the ESS. A shot is loosed, taking one of the creatures arms clean off.

Unfortunately that doesn't stop it. Archae can barely track what's happening. Horror filling her as the thing apparently knocks 1172s weapon aside and the two enter melee.

A super predator and a macro scale bioweapon clawing and tearing at once another..

Briefly her brain sarcastically notes she can't be sure which is which.

It becomes apparent the creature is going to win this melee if nothing is done. The specialist is a honed killing machine but in this proximity most of her advantages are lost.

She'll die, and then Archae will die soon after.

Just like whoever got her sent here wanted.

The rage boils again. She won't die here. She refuses.

Archaes eyes search for a weapon, something, anything that she can use to turn this fight around. The gun? No it’s on the other side of the fight. Some of the tools in here? Can she grab them fast enough. Her mind spins, undecided on her course of action. Until she catches the specialists claws slashing through the creature.

Archae is the weapon.

In her anger and desperation Archae launches herself at the creatures, onto it's back. Her claws digging into it neck.

It howls and Archae realizes she may have made a mistake as it bucks her off of it. Roaring as it's attention is turned to her.

Fear again, dread. This is how Archae dies. In some terrible lab in an alien spaceship at the talons of some stupid monster. She is sure this is how it all ends. 

Until the grey-purple talons of the ESS suddenly wrap around the things skull and one of its arms. Roaring and throwing it into the computer nearby.

The sidearm maglocked to 1172s hip comes off and she fires at the thing. A quiet pop of a 'silent' weapon. Her thumb playing with some sort of interface on the back of the weapon as she fires again and again.

The creature howls, stumbling. Welts forming. Flesh starting to visibly necrotize. It falls. Whimpering in pain as it dies.

"Well! That was a thing that happened!" 1172 says loudly. "Good thing the needlegun toxins worked huh? Some of them anyway." The specialist notes as she holsters said weapon and retrieves her hand cannon.

"I jumped on it..." Archae says as she stares at her own blood coated trembling hands. "I jumped on that thing."

"You sure did! You saved me!"

Archae pauses in her existential crisis. "... I did... Didn't I?"

"Yep! Which makes all of this pretty awkward actually!"

She saved this specialist. Archae, a lab junky, saved this trained soldier from some monster. She did that all on her own and- wait. Awkward?

"Excuse me?" Archae glances up, then her eyes widen as the specialist levels the hand cannon at her

"Surprise! I'm actually supposed to help make sure you die! Isn't that fun?" She remains so cheerful. Like the entire nature of their situation didn't just drastically change. Like they didn't just spend this whole mission talking.

Archae finds herself... Just about done with this. "NO!" She suddenly yells. "it's not fun! That doesn't even make sense! Why did you protect me this whole way then?!"

"Well you were already here so I thought it would be best if you did actually check this lab." The ESS states matter-of-factly.

"I hate you." Archae suddenly says. Almost hissing it out. "I hate you, this ship, everything going on here."

"But I haven't even reached the best part yet!"

Archae just growls, trying to think of what she can do to escape.

Then the specialist tells her the best part. "I'm not gonna kill you." And lowers her weapon with a laugh.

Archae stares, somewhere between dumbfounded and even more pissed off.

"I like you! Plus you saved me so that makes it awkward. Plus! Madame doesn't even want you dead herself!"

Archae takes a deep breath. "THEN WHY DID YOU EVEN TELL ME?!" She shouts, as loud as she can. She’s angry, and the fact ESS-1172 just laughs at her outburst just makes it worse.

“Just because! I thought you’d like to know!” The Specialist shrugs, and Archae almost loses it. Unfortunately instead she suddenly jolts in surprise, and then winces, as the specialist suddenly turns her hand cannon to annihilate the computers in this room.

"We should be going though! Before the Marines find us and try to kill you!" Ever cheerful the ESS starts to walk out.

Archae has to take a moment to compose herself and follow. "If your Madame does not want me dead then why would you be here to ensure I die?" that wasn't adding up.

"Oh! Well see someone asked her for my services as a favor! The person who actually wants you dead!"

Archae frowns. "And would you happen to know who that is?"

"I do! What was his name...." The specialist hrmms as they walk along now. Wracking her brain for the knowledge she needs. Archae waits, patiently considering if she could maybe take the specialist by surprise and kill her. Probably not. Assuming the Specialist is telling the truth that would be a pointless endeavor anyway, and assuming she's lying Archae might just be dead either way. This sucks, for lack of a better way to put it.

Finally the ESS speaks again. "Oh right! Jimmothy Jimjamin Jimchael Jimfrey Jimpulk Al Kordajim Jimberly Jimbecka Jimantha Jimima Jimmanuel jimessica Jimthina Jimbert Jimila Jimmarie Jimimah!"

Archae stops mid step.

"JIM!?"

#t h e m #archae #jim from HR #nihila #my writing

[nataliedanovelist]

ROTTMNT - The Apocalypse That Was, But Never Is ch.3

After a lifetime of rebelling against the Kraang, Casey Jones II has a lot to adjust to. He can handle real food and new clothes just fine, but having his parents alive and well and right in front of him is entirely new - and slightly terrifying - territory.

A fanfic dedicated to @fanficmaniatic and @soundwavemain for creating a beautiful idea that I decided to push a little bit further. You can read the premise here.

A HUGE shoutout to t.dubber over at TikTok for their videos on Future Donnie and how Leo got his robotic arm. PLEASE go give them a follow and plenty of love!

Swearing and slight gore warning! I tried not to be too descriptive; that’s the beauty of writing, having the power to making something as clear or as vague as you want, but hey someone loses a limb, so reader’s discretion is advised.

Posted on AO3.

Ch.2 - Ch.4

~~~~~~~~~~

After pinning Cass to the hall, Raph picking Casey up and holding him over his head, Mikey sneaking inside Cass’s apartment to make hot chocolate, and everyone calming down and sitting around the living room, thrilling storytelling began. Cassandra was thrown into a tale of a boy being sent back in time to try to stop the Kraang invasion, being too late, but making enough of a difference so the four turtles could banish the alien back into the prison dimension. Oh, and that boy was her son.

Cassandra, sitting on her couch with her knees by her chest, holding a steaming mug, was a little stunned for a moment, then gave it some thought. “Huh. I thought those freaks were experimental gum gone wrong.”

“So,” Casey said slowly, sitting beside Cass on the couch, but giving her a few inches of space. “You’re cool with this? With… me?”

Cass smiled, seeing the striking resemblance between herself and the time traveler. The eyes, the hair, the skin, that was all her. But where on Earth did he get that pointy chin? She shrugged and said, “I have always wanted a family. It’s nice to know I did something worthwhile with my life.”

Casey smiled, her young mother sounding exactly how he remembered her.

Mikey came up from behind Cass and hugged her. “What are you talking about, CJ?! Of course you’ve got a family!”

“Yeah, we’ve got your back.” Raph said, sitting on the floor by Cass. “Apocalypse or no apocalypse.”

“I do have one question for my son,” Cassandra said seriously.

Casey swallowed nervously; there were hundreds of questions she could ask, all of which were less than comfortable to answer.

“How many swears do you know and how many do I need to teach you?”

“Cassandra, no.” Raph said.

“Cassandra, YES!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Donnie was so focused, so caught up in his work, so head-strong, that he was oblivious to everything around him that didn’t involve his project. His aching shell, his sore hands, his stiff eyes, his numbing legs. Even the toddler waddling into his lab.

All Donnie’s mind knew was the goal ahead of him, and that inner voice repeating, “I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this.”

Casey wobbled back and forth on his feet, his hands on the dirt walls to keep balance, and smiled as he watched colorful sparks fly and the shadows dance around the cave. He wanted Donnie, wanted to play a game with him, and so he journeyed to the table where the scientist stood.

Halfway to his destination, Donnie held up a piece of what he was working on to get a better look at it, bring it into Casey’s view, but what the two-year-old saw made his eyes widened with terror. His bottom lip trembling, he started to whimper, and just when Donnie was aware of his presence, the toddler let out a loud, pitiful, sad cry.

“Casey, what are you doing here?!” Donnie scolded, setting the head of his most important project down so he could scoop up the wailing boy. “Where is your mother?! I’ve told everyone countless…”

Cassandra threw the curtain back, rushing after her baby with enough adrenaline to kill a Kraang, and yelled, “What happened?! What did you do to him?!”

“Nothing!” Donnie shouted back, handing the boy his mother, who held him by the shoulder and rubbed his back as Leo and Mikey entered the lab. “You should keep a better eye on your kid!”

“Whoa, hey!” Mikey scolded. “Back off, D. You know how kids are, you look away for one second… Besides, he probably just wanted to see you.”

Donnie groaned and waved them away. “I don’t have time for this. Just stay out of my way so I can work!”

Cassandra turned her back and cooed to her son, “C’mon, my brave warrior, Professor Donnie’s too good for us,” as they left.

Mikey sighed and followed the Joneses out, hoping to help cheer his little guy up, but Leo stayed behind and watched as Donnie resumed his work, sparks flying and shadows dancing once again.

The leader of the broken team stepped closer to his twin and sighed tiredly when he got a glimpse of what Donnie had been working on. “Donnie, what are you doing?”

“I’m working, Leo.” Donnie said coldly.

“No, what are you doing?” Leo repeated. “I love you, but you gotta stop this…”

“Just trust me, I can fix this,” Donnie growled. “I can fix this, I can fix this…”

“What makes you think he’d wanna be fixed, D?”

Donnie cracked his neck, turning to look at his brother so quickly. Leo thought he was startled before, but when Donnie lifted his goggles to his forehead and the red eared slider saw the fury and grief in his brother’s eyes, he would much rather face a hundred Kraang than have to see that face again.

“Look me in the eye and tell me he wouldn’t want to be here with his family.” Donnie’s voice was low and quiet, yet his words ringed in Leo’s head. “That he wouldn’t want to be here for Casey.”

Leo let a defeated sigh leave his lungs and he turned, but as he left, he gave one final, soft warning. “Just don’t lose your family trying to bring him back.” And Donnie was alone.

He tried to resume his work, but dammit his hands were shaking now. He threw his blowtorch on the table with a clatter, turned his shell on his work, and sat on the dirt floor, holding his head and muttering, “I can fix this, I can fix this, I have to fix this, please.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, Jones,” Raph said in a very serious tone. “This is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make in your entire life. It’s time… to choose your wheels!”

Raph, covered in his gray sweats and hoodie with ripped sleeves, led the way into the sports store, with Casey behind him and Donnie, Mikey, and Leo right by his side, all mutants fully covered and in disguise.

Casey observed curiously as kids played with balls by the door, some college girls were shopping for bikes, comparing sizes and prices, an old man looked at the knee and elbow pads, and a store keeper was restocking the small section of spray paint.

“We all love our skateboards,” Leo explained. “But you might like something different! And there’s different types of boards, so you gotta pick some wheels that you like so we can go to the park!”

“Hai sensei!” Casey answered robotically with a salute. “I will not leave this store until I have found my wheels!” And he ran off to complete his mission.

Leo groaned and shook his head with a smile. “He’s too much like his mom sometimes.” And he looked at the basketballs and began dribbling with some kids.

Mikey went over to the newly-stocked spray paints and grinned, Donnie browsed the pair parts section, and Raph went looking for Casey. He didn’t find him by the skateboards or bikes, but he was by the shelves of roller skates and inspecting a shoe with suspicious eyes.

“They make shoes with wheels in the past?”

“Oh yeah!” Raph said, startling Casey for a second, but he quickly recovered. “Roller skates are cool. Give it a try.”

Casey held his chin, found a pair his size, then sat on the bench to try them on, Raph standing with his arms crossed over his chest and smiling.

Casey tried to stand, but had no idea it would be so slippery once on his feet and nearly fell, but Raph caught him and held his gloved hands. “Whoa! Easy there, junior.” He chuckled.

“This feels really weird.” Casey laughed nervously.

“That’s okay, just give it a minute, take it slow.” Raph coached. “Keep your chin up, shoulders straight, drop your hips, make a V with your feet… there we go! Now it’s not about moving your feet, you’re not walking, you’re shifting your weight.”

“Okay,” Casey breathed, still holding Raph’s hands, and they moved down the aisle, Raph walking backwards and Casey moving forward.

“Now… wow.” Raph was prepared to give more instruction, but Casey was picking up on it pretty fast. Raph slowly let go of his hands, still walking backwards, and Casey was skating. “Wow! Look at you!”

They came to the corner, and Raph worried about stopping, ready to catch Casey, but he flinched and turned his ankle correctly, coming to a stop. He grinned and said, “I think I got it!” And he went down the other aisle with Raph standing at the corner, watching with a huge smile.

“Wow, I’m so proud of you!” Raph called. “You’re doing amazing! Amazing! Guys! Check it out!”

“Whoa, nice job, Case!” Leo called, passing the ball to a little kid and waving at his future-self’s student. “Looks like you found your wheels!”

“Aw, baby’s first wheels!” Mikey cheered, taking out his phone and snapping a picture.

“I’m seventeen!” Casey called back, a little annoyed over Mikey’s comment.

“You’re not even born yet, don’t talk to your elders like that.” Mikey joked, making Casey smile and the other turtles in disguise laugh.

“Le’go, boys!” Leo said, catching Casey by the hand and Raph giving him his sneakers back. “Donnie, download that Roller Disco playlist!”

“I will never ever play that from my speakers.” Donnie said dead panned, carrying spare wheels and various parts to the cashier.

“C’mon, Donald, give me a hand here!”

“No!”

Casey smiled, enjoying the blissful moment as they all walked from the sports store to the skate park, the twins razzing and teasing each other the whole way there.

~~~~~~~~~~

“DONNIE! DONNIE, IT’S LEO!”

Donnie shut his eyes and waved a hand, his back to the entrance of his cave of a lab. He had really tried the last few weeks to be more patient with his family, but after his failure a few seconds later, he really wasn’t in the mood for company right now.

“Listen, guys. We’ve been over this.” He reminded his brothers calmly. “If it’s a concussion, break, or a superficial laceration, you go to the Med Bay, like everyone else.”

“No!” Mikey yelled. “It’s Leo!” He repeated, his aging voice strained and panicked. “He’s hurt real bad!”

Donnie sighed into his rag as he wiped some grease off his skin. The panic in his little brother’s voice brought him back to simpler times, when Mikey’s greatest pain was a skinned knee after falling off a skateboard. Besides, maybe stepping away from his project would clear his mind, help him find the problem. “Alright, alright, Michael. I’ll take a look at our fearless leader.”

“Heh, thanks, Mr. Science.” Leo coughed.

“Yeah, yeah.” Donnie quipped and turned to face the new problem. “You two would be lost without me…“

It wasn't just a broken bone, or a concussion. Not even a mutation or an infection.

So much blood drenched Leo’s right side as he leaned on Mikey fully, his eyes shut.

His right arm was missing.

“… shit.”

“He passed out!”

“Nardo?! Damnit. Not good! Michael, bring him here!” Donnie commanded as Mikey gathered his strength and carried his brother to the table. “Sheldon! F-Fuck! What happened?!”

“We were ambushed.” Mikey explained shakingly. “There was a bomb…”

“Oh god…” Donnie scrambled, his flying robot whizzing around, handing him tools and medical equipment. “Hang in there, Nardo. I’ll fix you up. I can fix this.”

If he hadn’t been such a jerk, if he had paid more attention, maybe he would have had more time. Maybe Leo wouldn’t have lost so much blood. Maybe it would have been a little less painful.

Donnie was so caught up on bringing someone back, that he almost lost someone else.

Looking down at the pieces he had been slaving away for months, the skeleton of what could have been his big brother, Donnie squeezed his wet eyes shut, growled in his throat, and grabbed the right arm.

#rottmnt movie #rottmnt spoilers #rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #casey jones jr #cassandra jones #fanfiction #gift #fanficmaniatic #tw: blood #tw: swearing

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

CSUAVS prt 4 start

Having messaged Lance through the files on their missing operative, Keith followed up with an inviting for drinks on Daibazaal, or on Erathus if Lance felt more comfortable there. The Blades could live without him for a quintants, and honestly with how concerned he was for Lance, he'd be completely useless until they'd reconciled. Not receiving an immediate reply was disheartening, but given he'd already stated he was leaving, he had no other choice to do just that. If he returns to Daibazaal, he'd only be nagged to death by his mother until he'd finally admit what had transpired on Erathus and ultimately cause things to be blown way out of proportion. There were a few rebel planets he could take refuge on, yet his mother's words lingered in his ears. He really should visit Shiro. Hunk had practically begged him to visit... And Shiro had always been there for him. Shiro was also the one who'd understood Lance's pain the most. The pain of losing the one you'd planned forever with. Keith could only understand what he himself had experienced. Lance was still alive. He was still alive, and though he'd seen him twice face to face, it felt as if his friend had died and left some new stranger in his body. Those thoughts hitting far too close to home for comfort, especially when he considered the fact that Lance's marks truly seemed to be gone. Calling through to Hunk, Hunk was confused yet ecstatic when he mentioned he planned to visit, agreeing to help hide things from Shiro until they rendezvoused in the region of space that the Atlas was currently patrolling. Requesting permission for a wormhole from Erathus, he was left waiting half a varga before receiving permission. Not wanting to give the Atlas away, he jumped through to a few quandrants away from the ship, where his navigation system informed him that he'd be upon the ship within the varga, possibly sooner if the Atlas was moving in his direction. Keith had hoped the distance would be closer as now he was left to let his mind roam back to the medication sitting on his bed with his Blades uniform. Even if it felt like he was lying to himself, he still wanted to believe that there was no way Lance was taking illicit substances, that he'd abuse that beautiful body of his in such a way. Once he reached the Atlas, he intended to have the samples screened, which may have also been his reason for visiting even if he couldn't state as much to Hunk. It'd break Hunk to know Lance wasn't ok, that he wasn't enjoying his job, and that he'd let himself fall into whatever situation he was now stuck in. Whining softly at him, Kosmo dropped his head down in the half-Galra's lap. His dopey wolf still hurt from being shunned by Lance when they'd grown so close during the flight back to Earth. Ruffling Kosmo's thick fur, Keith silently promised he was going to save Lance from himself, if not for his sake then for Kosmo's. * Dressing in his Blade uniform made asking for help from Shiro all that much easier. Explaining that there was missing Blade member, and that he samples that needed to be tested, there was a small twinge of guilt as Shiro leapt the conclusion he'd hoped he would, that both cases were related. Turning over the samples, Shiro was quick to pass command over to Veronica before spiriting him away to the dining hall to surprise Hunk. Glowing with genuine happiness, he didn't have the heart to admit that Hunk had helped planned everything. Veronica seemed to know he was coming, which made sense given she and Hunk had known each other before the whole "Voltron" thing had gone down. "Keith! Man, it's so good to see you!" Swept off his feet, Keith snorted as he was treated to one of Hunk's trademark hugs. His former teammate quick to release him "Sorry, man. It's just... is it really you?" Laughing at Hunk, Keith nodded slowly "It's been too long. Sorry, even with the fall of the empire work never seems to end. Most of the previous generals were dealt with by Haggar, which is nice and all, but she failed to deal with the ones who had their eyes on that role and have now struck out on there own" "I feel you man. It's like, why can't we all eat and be friends!?" Trust it all to be food related. Crossing his arms, Shiro frowned his infamous dad frown at both of them "Hunk knew you were coming, didn't he?" "Maybe?" "I can't believe you two conspired against me" Spluttering Hunk held his hands up as if telling Shiro to stop "I didn't conspire against you. Keith was the one who called me, and I thought with how busy you've been, it'd be a nice surprise. Man, if only Pidge and Lance were here, it'd be like old times" Uncrossing his arms, Shiro pulled up a screen on his communicator as he spoke "Pidge has had great success with Rover, you know she barely steps out her lab these days" "And Lance has to work. We should call them though" "Yes! I mean. Yeah, it's been ages" Fuck. He couldn't have sounded any more eager if he'd tried "Ooooh. Is someone missing Lance?" Jabbing Shiro in the ribs with his elbow, Shiro yelped "Don't give me that. You and Lance were always close, whether because of your rivalry or not" Moving to pat his back with enough force that he was nearly knocked off his feet, Hunk kept his hand there as he started leading the pair of them towards the kitchen "Yep! Shiro's right. It's not weird if you miss him. I miss him. Shay got tired of me turning around and expecting Lance to be there to taste test whatever was on the stove" "Have either of you talked to him lately?" Hunk shook his head and looked to Shiro who also gave a shake of his head, Hunk then sighing deeply before replying "I haven't talked to him since he arrived on Erathus. Veronica's always telling me he says "Hi", but he hasn't messaged in phoebs. And the few times when we have talked, it's been on Veronica's coms, so it's never for long" "What about you? Has he been talking to you?" Keith could hear the starts of the cogs turning over in Shiro's brain as he started to worry for Lance. He wanted to yell at both of them for neglecting Lance, but he'd done the exact same thing "Actually I talked to him, the missing Blade member vanished near Erathus, so I reached out to him on the off chance he'd happen to have heard something. He promised to take a look at the file and keep an eye out" "Let me guess "As long as it doesn't get in the way of his job"? Veronica said he's happy working as a bodyguard" "Hunk, he's in security. The first job was as a bodyguard, then he was hired to do some kind of planet security..." Shiro's sentence stalled "See, you know about as much as we do. Did he... say how he is? If he's ok?" Other than yelling at him because their friends had no time for him, Lance was totally fine... He hated lying. The atmosphere between the three of them was good. Like... being reconnected with missing limbs he didn't know were missing "He seemed ok. You know Lance though. Surrounded by all the beautiful aliens he could ask for" "I don't know about that. Rachel said he was still upset about Allura when he left. I know he loved her, but he needed to move on" Rachel... He knew the name... "His sister. Don't worry, man. He has enough family that even I get confused and I've known them for years" Thank god for Hunk "I doubt he even remembered her name" "Hey! I do too. He's got a crazy amount of family though. Hunk just said so" Ruffling his hair in the same manner Keith was always ruffling Kosmo's, Shiro was all smiles "I know. I have to get all my teasing in before you leave again. They grow up so fast" Pretending to wipe fake tears away, Hunk bit his lip. Pushing Shiro away, Keith laughed as he dodged his brother's mechanical arm "I remember why I don't come back now. It's this!" "Aw, Keith. Don't be like that. We've all missed you" "Shiro hasn't. He's been too busy pining over Curtis. Isn't that what you said?" Shiro gaped at Hunk, Hunk blushing red "I told you that in confidence!" "If you're both going to tease me, I'm going to tease right back. You're lucky I'm mad at Shiro, or I'd be teasing you over Shay" "You wouldn't!" Pretending to be angered for a moment longer, Keith couldn't hold down his smile "No, man. She's great for you. I'm happy you're happy" Catching him in a headlock, Shiro held him playfully "You're right, Hunk. I think this might be an imposter. Who are you? And where's the real Keith?" Rolling his eyes, Keith huffed "Ha ha. You're hilarious. I don't know what Curtis sees in you. It's definitely not your sense of humour" "You're not about to let his go, are you?" "Not at all" "Quiznak. Right. I guess there's no avoiding it, we're dating" Hunk let out a joyous whoop. Shiro released him half a tick before they were both swept into his arms "See Keith! This is why you need to visit more often! I'm going to make you a celebratory lunch. Keith, make sure he doesn't leave!" "I will"

[snowharvester-blog]

What I Wanted To Say

Summary:

Modern/AU verse. The hardest part of having a best friend? Falling for him, but what are you gonna do when he likes your cousin? Multiple pairings, main Jelsa. 

There he goes again, looking at her with affection in his light blue eyes. 

Elsa Freyis squirmed in her seat when an uncomfortable lurch in her stomach grew as she pressed her pen on her paper harder than needed. She would have laughed at her predicament if she wasn't the one involved. To have any romantic problems in high school was usually beneath her, deeming it to be a fickle and fleeting moment of infatuation that was caused by teenage hormones. But as she gave a sideways glance at Jack Frost; it wasn't about hormones at all.

"-and voila! You just made your prototype for a cherry bomb!" Their chemistry teacher, Mr. Mind laughed triumphantly as he held up the potent concoction for his students to see. The room was suddenly alive with the murmurs of excitement and awe. Some were whispers concerning the mental health of their instructor. Elsa caught the nervous eye of her classmate, Hiccup Haddock, and sighed. It's time to play the role of the responsible student again.

"Mr. Mind?"

The bulbous-headed man with a goatee waved a hand to her direction for a dramatic flair, "Yes Ms. Freyis? I take it you're fascinated by the things that go 'BOOM!' so your finals will be to make a batch of cherry bombs-"

She shook her head, her light blond hair tied in a tight braid bun and her fair face was the epitome of seriousness that was absent on most adolescence's faces. "Producing something that goes… 'boom' can lead to a disastrous result, especially since all forms of explosives are illegal in this country, let alone this school."

There was a chorus of groans and the boy wearing a blue hoodie beside her gave a mock glare and whispered, "Aww, Elsa don't be a killjoy!"

Yes, she was the class nagger but she's also the Student Council president and she will not have a pile of papers containing an accident in her class sitting on her desk and explain to the headmaster how the incident happened, she disliked paperwork.

Mr. Mind gave it some thought and with a huff, he replied "Fi~ne, we'll just talk about the bonding of atoms and memorize the periodic table for your finals."

Elsa didn't let the looks of anger and irritation most of her classmates gave faze her and as soon as the bell rang, she collected her things in her bag and walked out the chemistry lab to her next class. Light footsteps followed her and she didn't need to look to know it was Jack. His scent was icy, it was like breathing into a freezer and no matter what season it is, it remained the same. "Way to kill the fun Sunshine" he grumbled and slung his backpack on his shoulder.

"I'd rather 'kill the fun' than tend to your bleeding hands inside a hospital room," she said in a matter-of-factly tone. Her cheeks suddenly grew warm when he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. 

"I didn't know you actually cared" he teased. She cleared her throat and kept her eyes straight, ignoring the funny looks everyone else gave them. It was still a shock to some people that the uptight and well-mannered young woman was friends with the notorious resident white-haired prankster/incurable troublemaker.

"Elsa! Jack! Wait for me!"

Elsa didn't want to but it would be rude for her to ignore her cousin who was bounding up to them with a bubbly grin on her face. Rapunzel was a free-spirited girl who had an artistic flair. She immediately noticed how Jack beamed as she got closer to them. The young woman with unimaginatively long golden hair gave them a bright smile which he immediately returned while Elsa gave a hesitant nod, "Rapunzel."

"Hey, I just talked to the teachers about doing an art exhibit and they said yes!" she said in an excited tone but giggled a bit when she addressed Elsa, "But I think you already know that."

"Yes, they've already discussed this with the council. We've already calculated the funds so that we still have enough expenses to cover the school fair" Elsa answered, all too aware that Jack wanted to have a conversation with her. There was a twist in her stomach as her subtle stare lingered to his face before turning back to her cousin, "And we also think it's a great idea to let every student explore their artistic side."

"So, uh Blondie" Jack interjected, "What are you gonna do for the exhibition anyway?"

His simple question was quickly replied with an eager explanation of murals and overlapping pictures. Rapunzel was so engrossed with her vision and with Jack being too engrossed to her; Elsa was able to slip quietly away without being noticed. As she walked to the cafeteria to look for Anna, she looked over her shoulder one more time and her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of the two of them.

"Elsie... why don't you just tell Jack about, Y'know, that you liked him?" Anna asked as she scooped up more chocolate ice cream from the carton she and her sister were sharing. It was their Saturday afternoon routine; they would lounge about in Elsa's room and watch a movie or talk about their week with a handful of junk food their parents wouldn't approve of.

Elsa looked up from the book she was reading and stared at Anna like she was crazy. "What are you talking about?" She tried to play dumb, knowing how Anna can get when the topic's about love and crushes. She calls herself the 'love expert', except the sixteen-year-old never had any relationship experiences and based all her pieces of advice from all the movies and teen magazines she and Rapunzel were obsessed with. Whenever they have a sleepover, Merida will always try to escape their wrath of nail polish and teen quizzes by climbing out of the window while Elsa would try to control the situation.

Anna snorted as she swallowed the chocolate treat, "Please, I know you like Jack. I mean like-like kind of like. I think you guys look cute together."

A rush of warmth covered her cheeks, blushing at her sister's words. She cleared her throat, "Just because we 'look cute together', it doesn't mean that it will happen." 

Anna's smile faltered for a moment before sudden realization dawned in her blue eyes, "So you do like Jack!"

Elsa froze with her spoon halfway to her lips; she just fell into a trap. She sighed and lowered the silverware, "Of course I like him, it will be difficult for me to be friends with someone I didn't like."

"You know what I mean" Anna grumbled "This is big news! I'd never thought that you'll have a crush on someone, especially on Jack. Uh- not that he's a bad guy or anything!" she squeaked out.

"I know what you mean," Elsa said, "He's... flighty." 

And that word just scratched the surface of a fifty-foot thick block that described Jack Frost. He was a whirlwind of energy, like the wind; he comes and goes whenever he likes, which also meant that he had no problems cutting classes in school.

He was a loner, always preferred to fly solo but he was still popular to everyone because of his friendly personality. Both the students in their year and the lower ones seemed to follow his every move, especially the female population. Elsa was more than aware that he was good-looking though not in the princely type that Anna swoons to. He was more of the lean, roguish type- a classic rebel without a cause. But her attraction to him wasn't like a good girl falls for bad boy stereotype. He was a gentle soul, he had charisma and he simply loved playing with kids. He made it a priority to stop by the playground and bring a football so they can all have fun.

Although the adults, more specifically Vice Principal Pitch Black had less than positive opinions about him and she wouldn't lie; she shared the same opinion before they became friends.

She was always the stickler for the rules and going against the said rules was like blaspheme in her book. When she was a child, most of her parents' friends would look at her and say, "What a responsible young lady!" Her parents' face would light up whenever she did something perfect. So she strived to make them happy; always on the honour roll, enrolling in a vocal class in summer and joining several groups in the community like a perfect citizen.

But whenever she was with her friends, it didn't matter whether she was perfect or not. They don't care if she blundered something up and they will help her get back up with a smile on their faces.

Anna hummed thoughtfully before she eyes Elsa's hair with distaste, "Elsie, don't you wanna change your hairstyle? It makes you look... old."

The older sibling traced her bun with her fingers and took a deep breath, "This hairstyle is convenient for me."

"But it's boring" Anna pouted, "I think you'll be prettier with a French knot or a side braid. Jack might like it y'know. You're already pretty so why not upgrade your look? You can even grow out your hair like Rapunzel's!"

"I don't to be pretty!" Elsa weakly protested, "I don't want him to notice me just because I will look like Ra-" Elsa immediately closed her mouth and speared her spoon through a large mound of ice cream.

Anna bit her lower lip after she realized that she hit a rather sore spot. Rapunzel's pretty in her own way; she was strong-willed and optimistic while Elsa's more in a mature and sophisticated light. The strawberry blond threw her arms around her sister's shoulders and gave it a tight squeeze,

"I'm not saying you should change yourself Elsie, not into Rapunzel or to anyone. I just wanted other people to see the real you like how I do and you know what?"

"What?" Elsa asked

"The real Elsa's just waiting for the time to show them her true colours. You can't change yourself to please people like what you're doing for mama and papa, you can just be the best you can and do what makes you happy."

The wisdom of her usually clumsy sister's words struck a chord with her. A stirring, a yearning to drop the mask and show them her true self was empowering her. Elsa gently pinched her sister's freckled cheek, "When did you get so wise?"

"English class, we watched a film that contained so many metaphors and people who stood up on their tables quoting 'Captain, My Captain'" she whined. Elsa gave a small breathless laugh before she returned to her book, "It would be better if he will never know."

Anna blinked in confusion as a frown settled on her lips, "Huh? Why's that?"

"Because if he only liked me as a friend; things will be awkward if I told him. I don't to lose Jack as a friend and besides… he already likes someone else."

The change started out small but for Elsa, it was life-changing. It wasn't her intention to wear her hair down since Anna hid all her bobby pins that held her hair in their usual bun so she had no choice but to tie her hair down.

She tried a low ponytail but she suddenly saw Rapunzel's reflection staring at her that she yanked the rubber band off. Finally, she tied her hair into a side braid and constantly blew a lock of hair that fell over her left eye. Thankfully Anna didn't touch her clothes because she was comfortable with them; they were conservative yet stylish with her personal flair. Anna didn't try and make her wear those miniskirts, revealing tops and extremely high heels that threatened to break her feet if she took a single step.

Before the first class, she bumped into Jack and Hiccup by the halls. She couldn't hear what they were talking about but she was almost sure it involved a prank and Hiccup will try and talk the prankster out of it.

"Hey Elsa" Hiccup greeted, "You look... different. A good kind of different" he immediately added.

Jack finally turned around and furrowed a brow at her, "What's with your hair?" She suddenly felt conscious and tugged at the end of the braid, "Just trying something new" before she composed herself and straightened her posture. "That better not be stink bombs in there" she warned, her eyes gave a pointed stare at Jack's locker.

Jack just gave a casual shrug, "Can't say that I'll promise you anything"

A small throb on her temple made her roll her eyes at him and crossed her arms, "I expect you to be in class today. I won't cover your absence again like the last time."

"Can't you just give me a hall pass or something?" he pleaded, using his 'charm'.

"I'm not going abuse my authority" she grounded out "Like I've said, attend all your classes especially Geometry, we have a test today."

Jack was about to retort when she beat him to it,

"And if you ever tried to play the 'I'm sick' card, I can just ask Professor Doppler to give you a special exam. An even harder one" she threatened.

Jack glared at her and crossed his arms, "You wouldn't"

"Try me"

They held a glaring contest, both forgot that Hiccup was still there before Jack gave in and grumbled, "Fine. You're such a mother hen, you know that?" before he turned his back on her to resume his conversation with Hiccup. 

Elsa just smirked and started to walk to the classroom, unaware that Jack peeked at her retreating back over his shoulder.

The art exhibit was an instant hit for everyone. 

Elsa had never seen almost half of the student body immersed in a single event. Many had submitted their project proposals and some had even reserved the rooms to showcase their works. Although there had been some strenuous talks with the creative side of some students like the trio Lock, Shock and Barrel who thought it would be a great idea to present smushed bugs and hang them on the ceiling with piano strings. 

Then there was the Crood girl who wanted to set up caveman murals all over the campus which sounded like a good idea until it involved mud and actual live animals that will leave prints so that it will be… authentic. Anna decided to make a large snow globe where the snow will be Styrofoam and the snowman was glued to the bottoms of the platform.

Merida didn't really make anything but presented a beautiful wood carving of a life-sized bear which made their woodshop teacher, Ralph, approved despite it wasn't her own work. Hiccup just helped the students set up their projects, saying that he wasn't the artsy type and promised her that he will participate in the Annual Science Fair Competition against the other towns and bring a gold trophy for their school. Finally, Elsa placed her own model; tiny transparent crystals were hung to the wooden by a transparent nylon. At first, Anna was confused on how it came together but as soon as the light hits the crystals, a shimmering multi-coloured snowflake was formed on the board, leaving the younger Freyis at awe. Leave it to Elsa to use her knowledge in Geometry to create something beautiful.

A small chuckle came from her left side and saw Jack holding a diorama. His was even more impressive. Miniature models of her and their friends were there wearing costumes inside a fictional world that he created. Elsa spotted a particular model and giggled, "Is that Hiccup riding a dragon?" Jack laughed as well as he swung the tiny black dragon with the tip of his finger "I think Mr. Nerdy-pants would like this."

She looked closely at other models. There was a miniature Anna wearing a winter dress with a snowman beside her and even a figurine of a girl wearing a long green dress; her hair was depicted as a messy bundle of red yarn with an angry scowl on her face. Merida wouldn't be happy about this one, she concluded. Then, there was a tower that was covered with vines and flowers. A girl whose golden hair flowed down to the ground and there was a smile on her face. She wore a simple yet princess-y lilac dress. 

It didn't take a genius to know that it was Rapunzel. Elsa could feel her frown was beginning to show before he pointed at the opposite side of the diorama. There stood a castle was supposedly made of ice and she gasped when she saw herself. The tiny Elsa had the same side braid and she was covered with a blue off-shoulder dress and a cape stood by a paper balcony. Her face was looking up and Elsa saw that it was facing the crescent moon where the miniature Jack was sitting on it with a staff on hand and his trademark blue hoodie was nearly impossible to miss.

It was beautiful.

"You're really hard to make" Jack commented as he watched her observed the castle in great detail, "Your hair's got that braid thingy and I thought it will be good to put you into an ice castle or something."

"Why ice?" she asked, "Are saying that I'm cold?" True, she wasn't exactly the warmest person compared to her friends but it still hurt when someone had called her 'ice queen' behind her back just because she told them off or lectured them when they broke any school rules.

Jack's eyes widened and shook his head, "That's not what I meant! You just told me before that you love winter so I figured why not make you the Snow Queen?"

"The Snow Queen's an evil sorceress, Jack" Elsa explained which caused a momentary expression of misunderstanding on his face.

"But I thought she was the main character?" he said. Elsa just shook her head and straightened herself from her bending. There were butterflies in her stomach as she studied the Snow Queen looking at the white-haired boy on the moon. He put in so much effort on making that, if only he put that much effort into studying so his grade point average would be better than a B-.

Jack placed his diorama next to her snowflake prism and played with the hanging crystals. She leaned her back on the table and closely watched him. His youthful face was filled in with a strong jowl and his eyes brows were dark brown, hinting his natural hair colour. His nose was defined and his lips were thin and always chapped, finally his eyes; the facial feature of his that attracted her to him the most. They were covered with long thick lashes that women, including her, could only achieve by means of mascara and the stunning icy blue colour that ranges from the shade of the sky to a deep cornflower blue. Whenever he looked at her with sincerity and even an amused light; her heart can't help but hammer against her chest cavity.

He was everything she was not. Outwardly cheerful and playful, friendly and outspoken, the antithesis of how she was brought up to be. But he once said that he found her uptightness amusing, if not endearing.

"Sunshine, I know I'm good-looking but you're making me self-conscious."

His cheeky grin forced Elsa to flinch and turned away; all too aware that there was a deep blush that covered her face. The possibilities of him finding out about her attraction to him had now increased. She froze when he threw his arm around her shoulders and gave it another affectionate squeeze like he always does,

"Aaaw you're blushing!" he teased "You're real cute when you act like that"

Did he just flirt with her?

The heat on her cheeks returned tenfold and she wouldn't be surprised if there was smoke coming out of her ears. She was his female best friend and he was her closest male friend so sometimes teasing was normal, though he was the one doing it and in turn, she would just mother the heck out of him. The closest thing they ever did to flirting was playful banter and again, he was the one instigating it. If that was so… did that mean he liked her too?

'Take a chance!' a voice inside her said 'Don't let fear control you'

So Elsa took a deep breath as she spun around to face him and gently peeled his arm off of her, ignoring his concerned frown as she breathed in deeply and said, "Jack, I have something to tell you-"

At that very moment, huge collective gasps were heard from the other side of the room. Rapunzel had just unveiled her own art; it was breath-taking. A large mural with a painting of the night sky with paper lanterns dancing with the wind was so vividly beautiful and detailed one would think that they were watching a lantern festival outside the window. Their fellow students clapped and cheered as Rapunzel blushed prettily and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Elsa swallowed a lump that formed her throat and faced Jack only to find him staring at her cousin with affection in his eyes. Those blue eyes…

"Blondie's amazing huh, Sunshine?"

Elsa tore her gaze from his face and dropped on the ground, her chest suddenly felt tight and the urge to flee from the scene was overwhelming. Luckily when she lifted her eyes, she saw Merida and Anna talking by the bear statue and sprinted towards them, not hearing how Jack called out after her. Anna's blue eyes widened as her sister almost tackled to the ground. She knew she was shaking and when her sister asked her why, all she could say was,

"I need to get out of here."

-;-

"You cannae be serious."

Merida had snorted when she told them her predicament. The Scottish lass was never a fan of Jack and declared him a nemesis when his great stink bomb prank had backfired. His target was Hiccup but the balloons had fallen on the redhead when she opened the library door, which Jack had wrongfully predicted that it would be his best friend. 

The DunBroch had cursed up a storm as she stomped into Jack and Elsa's class and pulled him out by the scruff of his hoodie with every intention to beat him up or make him her archery team's moving target. All of which was avoided after Elsa calmed the fuming girl down and made Jack apologize to her. But it wasn't enough for Merida, even if he`s forced to wear a kilt for a whole year. Anna chose to ignore Merida's offhanded comment and rubbed her sister's back,

"It's alright Elsa, I mean… uh…" she had no words of comfort for her. Elsa knew that Anna would like to grab Jack by the arms and shake him but that will just worsen things. Anna can't even say a mean word about Rapunzel because it wasn't in her nature; plus it wasn't their cousin's fault that Jack likes her. 

Elsa exhaled through her mouth and wiped her forehead which was drenched with cold sweat. She sighed before she composed herself, "No, Merida's right. It was stupid of me to act like that-"

"It's because you have feelings for him" Anna interjected, "It's normal to feel like that Elsa."

However, Merida sat next to her with her arms and legs crossed, "This talk about 'feelings' and stuff just grate my nerves. It's just a crush and nothin' more, give it a week and it'll go away". Elsa tapped her fingertips on her lips before she nodded, "No, I'm okay. I just needed to clear my head, that's all."

Weeks then, two months flew by and they found themselves busy with the annual school fair. They all had to participate, except for Elsa who had to check each and every stall, booth and facility to ensure safety and cleanliness.

It was the day of the school fair. 

There were booths and rides and even a boat ride that can be rented. Food carts lined with the beautifully manicured grass lawns and the speakers blasted cheerful music. Hundreds of visitors flocked the school for a day of merriment and for all the students; no school after the fair to get some rest and recover from their hard day's work.

Elsa did her routinely rounds, checking every booth and asked the visitors what they think of the fair and thankfully it was a success so far. One of the most visited booths was Merida and Astrid Hoffstedder's duck shooting range where it was so challenging that visitors had started to get too serious with it. When 

Elsa saw a teenager with spiky hair complain to Merida that it was too hard; the redhead rolled her eyes and said "If it's too easy then I would'a just given you the prize now wouldn't I? Now shut yer gob and shoot!"

Anna was in food duty, much to her displeasure as she straightened the red cap on her head. The younger girl's face instantly brightened when she spotted her sister among the crowd. Elsa looked up from her clipboard and shook her head when Anna left the pretzel kiosk unattended and ran to her direction with a Cheshire cat grin.

Anna waved two blue tickets at her face and thrust them into her hand, "Consider this my birthday-slash-Christmas present to you!" she squealed. Elsa sighed and looked at the tickets, "Why do I need two tickets for the boat ride?"

Her sister shot her an 'are-you-kidding-me?!' glance and grabbed her clipboard, "Now's the perfect time Elsie! Jack and Hiccup's break will start within five minutes so I got the last tickets from Jimmy so 'Carpet Dim sum'!"

"You mean carpe diem" Elsa corrected as Anna pushed her towards the gaming booth. "Yes, do the Latin thing and grab the opportunity!" before she ran back to the stand where irate customers waited.

Jack and Hiccup's assigned booth was the dunker. Of course, Jack was elated while Hiccup wasn't too thrilled; maybe because he knew that he will be the one to ride the chair that was connected to the bull's eye.

The poor brunette was sitting on the chair above four feet deep water. No doubt it will be ice cold, but it seemed that no one had succeeded yet because the skinny teenager who was in his swimming trunks and a sleeveless shirt that bore their school's logo was still mercifully dry.

"C'mon you guys can do better than that!" Jack taunted the gathered crowd. Elsa chuckled as she walked near the tank where their box was brimming with bills.

Hiccup swallowed audibly as a tall and burly smug looking guy with his black hair tied in a small ponytail stepped up and grabbed the three balls from the jar.

"This is nothing, no one can throw the ball like Gaston!" he boasted. A smaller pudgy guy nodded and backed up his words.

"Yeah yeah, just throw the ball" Jack drawled.

Elsa waved at him from the crowd which he saw in an instant. He jumped down from the platform and approached her, "Hiya Sunshine."

"Hullo, is... everything okay back here?" she asked. She looked over Jack's shoulder and saw Hiccup wipe his forehead with relief when all of the guy's aims fired.

"Yep, so far so good" he replied before he checked his watch and licked his chapped lips, "I could really use a break right now though"

"But who will stay here with Hiccup?" she asked.

Suddenly, Merida's voice entered their conversation. "I'll keep an eye out" she offered.

"Why?" he asked in suspicion.

"Hey I'm doin' ya a favour here snowball. Either you owe me or you can kiss your lunch break goodbye" she bargained, though it was more of a demand.

"But Merida" Elsa cut in, "What about your booth? Won't Astrid be angry that you left her to manage it by herself?"

A frown made itself known on the DunBroch's face and Elsa knew that it meant bad news. "It was Astrid who kicked me out! Tch, just because I said that I'm a better shot than her... honestly; she's just sore coz I got into the Archery Club and she didn't."

Elsa cringed as she imagined that confrontation. Both Astrid and Merida were well-known for their competitiveness and to keep them together; it was like a ticking time bomb. Finally, Jack handed the key to the money box to Merida and cheerfully waved to Hiccup who was gripping the back of the chair. Merida laughed at her friend's predicament before she leaned against the glass and yelled out, "Alright ya wee lads; which one o' you think you can dunk this twig into the water?"

"Merida! Don't encourage them!"

Jack and Elsa laughed when they heard Hiccup's protest. They took a detour to the corndogs where Jack devoured five sticks of them while Elsa worked in her nerves. Just a few more steps and they were on the entrance to the boat ride. Elsa's hand fidgeted to take the tickets and tried to build up the courage to ask Jack to ride the boat with her... and maybe even confess her feelings for him. But when she turned to talk to him, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to Jimmy who was helping a mother and her son into a white boat.

Her heart soared as they made their way to the boats; could it be? Was Jack planning the same thing as well? 'Hold on Elsa,' her mind said, 'Maybe he's just gonna take the boat for a spin with you. Don't get your hopes up.'

But the thought Jack asking her above all people in an intimate ride still made her heart thump loudly. Jimmy Hawkins wiped his tanned hands on his pants before he cheekily grinned at Jack,

"Well, I knew you'd show up sooner or later" he joked before he nodded at Elsa. Jack's cheeks bloomed into a fairly pink tinge before he lightly punched Jim on his arm and said, "I need two tickets."

Jim's face fell as he crossed his arms, "Wait... you didn't have any tickets?"

"Well... no but I thought you still had some and-"

"Sorry buddy but I sold the last ones to Alice and Vanellope."

"But I told you I'm gonna grab a boat with someone!"

"You didn't tell me to keep some for you!"

Jack groaned in frustration and walked away. Elsa apologized for his behaviour before she chased after him to tell her friend that she already got them covered.

But as she cut his path in front of him, Jack suddenly told her, "Man, I was going to surprise Blondie with a boat ride but the tickets were sold out!"

Elsa could hear her heart being struck down into a million pieces. "Ra-Rapunzel?" she stuttered in a faint voice, afraid that her tone sounded more pathetic than what she was feeling.

Jack's eyes had never left the ground and nodded, "Yeah. I'm gonna ask her out and she said that she wants to try it so I figured that it was my best bet." He sighed deeply and kicked a stone out of the curb. He then pocketed his hands into his hoodie, "Damn it, just one shot. I just need one shot, was that too much to ask?"

Elsa's heart squeezed painfully as she watched the helpless expression on his normally smiling face. She bit her bottom lip and chose a decision that will break her heart. But on the other hand... it will make him happy and for Elsa; as long as Jack's happy, she'll be happy too. Even if it meant leaving his side. So with a heavy heart, Elsa took out the tickets and silently placed it into his hand. Jack shot her a surprised look but she just shook her head and kept her eyes to her hands that was still wrapped around his own,

"Go find Rapunzel and take that ride" she whispered before she pulled him into a sudden hug.

"Elsa?"

She pretended not to hear his curious voice or the fact that she was hugging him in the middle of a crowded place. Just this one time, she wanted to be selfish. "Good luck" she whispered close to his ear before she pulled back and forced a smile on her freckled face.

His face was mixed with emotions but she had to turn away when the tears threatened to fall. Elsa faked a laugh as she started to walk away and called out "Make her happy alright?"

"Uh... okay" he answered with a tone of confusion and uncertainty.

Elsa continued to walk along the booths with a fake grin plastered to her face. This was no time for tears; she had to feel happy for them. Jack will ask Rapunzel out, Rapunzel will see how amazing he really is and they will start a relationship and if they're lucky, they will still be together after high school, then college, and then move into the adult world together.

It was that simple.

After all, Jack and Rapunzel would be better suited than she and Jack will ever be.

She didn't know why but she ended up walking back to the dunking booth where Anna was now talking to Merida as Hiccup walked back into the tank after he dried himself with a towel.

Anna waved happily to her direction but her smile was instantly dropped when she saw her sister's devastated expression. It was the fastest she had ever seen Anna run. Her twin braids flew as she grabbed her older sister and barged into an empty tent. Anna poked her head out to see if anyone saw them before she closed the flaps.

"Elsie, what happened?! Did Jack say something mean because if he did, I'll... I'll-"

Elsa shook her head violently before she sat on a chair and wept. Unaware of her sister's arms around her and Merida kneeling in front of her with a concerned face. For a few minutes more, Elsa finally wiped the tears from her eyes and composed herself once again. The two girls beside her were amazed at how fast she can get back on her feet.

The day flew by and Elsa had to check all the booths and help the others clean up the mess. Anna, Merida and Hiccup volunteered to stay and help her but she insisted that she can take care of it all by herself. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Jack or Rapunzel the whole day.

'Maybe they took their date somewhere more private' she seethed in her mind before she sighed and continued her duty with her returned clipboard on hand.

Three 'no school' days and the weekend flew by and everyone had returned to its usual routine like clockwork. Except now, Jack was hesitant to talk to her. Every time they would see each other by chance at the lockers, he would immediately turn to the other direction or pull someone into a random conversation.

Was it something she had done?

That would be stupid, she actually gave him a way to ask her cousin out and now he's avoiding her?

Elsa was so deep into her thoughts that she accidentally bumped into someone and her books flew from her hands down to the floor.

"I'm so sorry"

"My apologies"

Elsa looked up and saw a handsome young man with thick auburn hair. He was wearing a spice brown vest and a rich purple undershirt with the brass buttons that shone under the lights. He exuded the 'prince-aura' (as Anna would like to call it) and he easily flashed an apologetic grin. The blond girl composed herself and said; "No I should've been watching where I was walking- I haven't seen you here before"

The young man stood up and picked up her books, much to her embarrassment. "I just transferred here from another town" he explained. "My name is Hans. Hans Suthernisles"

"Elsa Freyis" she introduced herself, "Strange, it's already the middle of the school year. I didn't think we can still accept transferees and new students at this time."

"Oh, my old school's principal recommended me," he said and flashed a brilliant smile.

Elsa wasn't entirely convinced with this young man. He was obviously someone who can charm his way out of everything but she supposed he was harmless. After all, his... type was almost forgotten in the modern times. The conservative, gentleman with disciplined charm; the kind of man that her parents would like her to marry someday.

"Actually" he spoke up, "I'm a bit lost. See it's my first day here but I can't seem to find half of my classes."

"Can I see your schedule?" she asked. He handed her a white piece of paper and Elsa read his timetable and it turned out that he was in the same class as she was.

"Well, I can honestly say that you won't have any more troubles finding your way around the school" she sighed "I'm your classmate in every class."

"Then I guess I'm one lucky guy," Hans said with a dashing smile. 

Elsa wasn't a girl who can easily be swayed by a single grin except for Jack. But since Jack had decided to ignore her for no reason whatsoever, she led Hans to their Geometry class, unaware that the white-haired boy was eyeing at their way with a glare.

The news of a handsome newcomer had spread through the school like wildfire. 

Elsa chose to focus on her studies rather than her new companion and the swooning ladies, including Anna, who followed him. Thankfully lunch time had arrived and Elsa sat on their usual table and waited for her friends. She watched Hans with his tray of food on hand and scanned the crowd.

There was a nagging feeling that he was looking for her and she won't indulge him.

Anna had arrived with Rapunzel in tow. Elsa's eyes widened as she took in her cousin's appearance. Gone was the golden blond hair that fell to the back of her knees and instead, a chestnut brown colour with a stylish shoulder-length cut replaced it. Rapunzel was all smiles and bounce as she sat on the seat across the blond and whispered, "You'll never guess what happened!"

Elsa tried to keep her face blank and waited for the worst but she found Anna grinning from ear to ear as well. "What is it?" she hesitantly asked.

"I met someone during the boat ride!" Rapunzel squealed. Elsa's heart stopped. Instead of excitement, she felt hurt for Jack. Maybe that's why he was anxious to talk to her. The one bad thing to have a single group of friends was that you can't avoid each other for long.

If Rapunzel had rejected Jack, it would natural for him to think that she had told Elsa the news and he was trying to save face. But how did Rapunzel meet the guy if she and Jack were in the middle of the lake?

"His said his name was Flynn Ryder. Okay; he's a bit cocky and thought his subpar flirting techniques would get me but, I really think he's an okay guy" Rapunzel exclaimed, her cheeks were peppered with a red hue that extended down to her neck. 

Elsa shot a questioning gaze at Anna who, in turn, lifted her shoulder's up with an 'I don't know' gesture. The Freyis siblings had never seen their cousin act so smitten before. She started to tell them about an older man with a goatee and his apparently big ego. Merida and Hiccup arrived in the middle of her tale and when Rapunzel recounted what he looked like; the redhead gaped and slammed her palms against the table, effectively making almost everyone at the cafeteria jump.

"That's the one who conned us!" she yelled indignantly. Hiccup shush-ed her but Merida growled like an angry kitten and crossed her arms, "He can't be that good. You said you've calculated the weight of the ball and switched it to a lighter one!" she complained to Hiccup.

"Wait, so you rigged the game?" Rapunzel gasped. Hiccup nodded before he gulped at Elsa's disapproving frown.

"It was Jack's idea" he muttered.

Elsa massaged her temple and breathed out "Of course it was his idea. I take it that this Flynn character managed to outsmart your own con?"

"Please stop calling it a 'con', I feel like a felon" Hiccup grumbled as he took out his sandwich from the brown paper bag. They all laughed at him before the blond felt the end of her braid being tugged and when she spun around; she saw the one she was looking for.

He graced them with his carefree grin and eased into the seat next to hers. She knew she was staring at him; half a mind to lecture his ear off for ignoring her and for missing their morning classes but the other was just relieved that he didn't just suddenly drop off from the face of the planet and mope into a downward spiral of depression.

Hiccup and Anna greeted him while Merida ignored his presence altogether. Rapunzel gave a sweet grin which he nodded to. It was like they were talking to each other and Elsa can't help but feel curious what it was about.

"You missed class" she reminded him, expecting that he will have a dozen of excuses that will help him weasel his way out of his crime but he just shrugged and swiped a part of Hiccup's sandwich, much to the brunette's chagrin.

"So" he casually bit into the bread "Heard you've got something tailing you." Hiccup, who was drinking on bottled water choked on his drink and gave no-so-subtle kick to Jack who glared at him in retaliation. 

Anna was quick to jump at Hans' defense while Merida just ate her apple without a care. Rapunzel sighed and placed a hand under her chin, "Why does Hans follow you around?"

Elsa cringed as a migraine began to sprawl across her temple, the immaturity of her friends can be exhausting, "He doesn't follow me, I just helped him find his classes since he's obviously new here."

"What, you're on the welcoming committee now?" Jack snorted, earning him a disapproving frown from Hiccup and Rapunzel.

"Well I am the Student Council president, Jack" she calmly reminded him. He opened his mouth to retort but Merida suddenly interjected,

"Aye, the lass is doin' her job. Ya arennae her keeper so back off. She can hang around with whoever she wants to."

"Hey I'm just looking out for her" he growled. It was a strange sound; Elsa had never seen him this defensive before.

"Will you stop hoverin' over her? What are ya, her boyfriend or somethin'?" Merida challenged and in a weird moment, Jack had replied

"I could be but-" before he stopped.

The air around them just got tense. Five pairs of eyes now bore at Jack and there was a fluttering thrill that bloomed in Elsa's stomach that left her in a daze. Jack avoided their gaze and bit rather savagely at the sandwich before they all dropped their stares, one by one.

Except for Elsa.

Was it a chance for her to tell him? To say that she really liked him for more than a year now?

But fear crept into her, endless possibilities of why he said that had forced her to step away from telling him her feelings. Maybe he was just joking to get Merida off his back. But she wanted nothing more than to hear what he was trying to say.

"Ms. Elsa!" a voice came from behind her.

The sound of heavy footfalls and the formality usage to her name made it clear it wasn't Jack. She shifted her head to see Hans walking towards her with his books tucked under his arm.

"You can just call me Elsa. No need for formalities"

They began to walk side by side to their Literature class, and again; she could feel the eyes right on them. But she wasn't comfortable in his presence like how she was with Jack, she can't even figure out why she was always comparing them to each other.

"I haven't got the chance to thank you for your kindness," Hans said as they walked down the hall.

"It's nothing" she replied, "I can't really leave you alone especially since youère new and all.."

The tall man gave her a crooked smile and commented, "You're such a kind person. I can't believe such a magnificent girl exist."

'And you're being a bit too grateful' she thought.

A hand shot between them and encircled around her shoulders. She blinked owlishly before she saw the blue sweater sleeves and a voice that said, "Hey Sunshine."

Hans took a step back to stare at Jack with a blank face before he graced him with a polite nod, "I'm afraid we haven't been properly introduced. My name is-"

"Hans Suthernisles from Misthaven Academy, yeah I heard about you" Jack answered coolly as he pulled her closer to him.

The heat on her cheeks threatened to push steam from her ears and her heart pounded at the sudden closeness of his body to hers. But when she tried to pull away, he kept his grip on her shoulders, gentle but firm at the same time.

"And by your appearance and ill manners, I'd say you're Jack Frost" Hans rebutted with a fake grin, his green eyes were like glass. "I didn't know that Ms. Elsa had such an... interesting friend."

"Yeah, and you better keep your long nose out of her business."

"Jack!"

"Don't think that I can be intimidated by your idle threats. You're merely a delinquent who just seeks attention with childish pranks and had no goals in life by the looks of it."

"Stop it both of you!" she snapped as she finally broke free from Jack's arm (which started to grip her shoulder in a vice-like force) and stood between them, her eyes flashed dangerously, "Now I want you to act like your age and stop acting like a couple of baboons! We have a class to attend so enough is enough."

Jack glowered at them before he marched to the halls with a huff, "Fine"

Hans smirked at his retreating figure before Elsa sent him an icy glare, "You don't have the right to talk to him that way!"

"I deeply apologize for my behaviour but he also didn't have the right to talk to me like that as well" he defended himself.

Elsa held up a hand and sighed, "I know he came off... blunt-"

He scoffed at the word but she pressed on, "but that doesn't mean that you can just say what you want, especially since you're new here!"

He sighed deeply and nodded, "Indeed, I behaved like an uncouth person. I hope that you will forgive me." Elsa didn't want to but it would be immature if she denied him forgiveness. And, after all, Jack started it.

"But if I may be so bold," he said as they continued their way to the classroom, "May I ask if you're in a relationship with him?"

She almost missed her footing before she caught herself, before she cleared her throat and tucked a strand of hair to the back of her ear. "We- we're not involved in an -ahem- relationship. We're just friends."

"Oh"

Elsa hoped that the conversation would end there but then he stopped walking, which made her stop as well. "Then is it alright if I ask you out for dinner?"

She stared, "I just met you"

"Then we'll get to know each other better over a great meal. What do you say?"

"What do you mean you said yes?!" 

Rapunzel's shout echoed throughout the house, the birds that were perched on the tree flew from fright as the layer-haired girl paced in Elsa's spacious room. 

Elsa didn't know why she was making a big deal about this, as well as Merida but Anna was siding with Rapunzel.

"He asked me out to dinner, not marry him" Elsa groaned as she flipped through the pages of her book. Rapunzel made a face before she plopped on the foot of the bed. Anna grumbled as she lay down next to Rapunzel and pouted at her sister.

"What about Ja-rassic Park?" Anna 'smoothly' recovered when Merida's foot connected to her shoulder and gestured to a confused Rapunzel.

"Jurassic Park?" both Rapunzel and Elsa asked at the same time.

"I absolutely have no idea what I'm talking about" Anna whined before she pulled a pillow to her face. Merida and Elsa shared a look as Rapunzel sat up, the ends of her hair curled up.

"Soooo..." Rapunzel started, "You uh, like this Hans person?" For a minute there, Elsa thought her cousin sounded nervous.

"He's a proper gentleman" she coughed out, knowing that Merida and Rapunzel were waiting for a follow-up sentence but sadly there were none.

"You never liked, you know... someone else?" she asked in a sing-song voice.

Anna pushed the pillow from her face and her eyes widened and rolled to her side; mouthing the words 'Could we?' Merida rolled her eyes and leaned against the headboard while Elsa weighed the consequences in her mind. The fact that they didn't tell Rapunzel will inevitably hurt her but now since she has found herself a guy who Elsa wasn't so besotted with, it gave the decision to let Rapunzel in with their secret.

Anna practically bounced on the bed and clapped before she scooted in front of Rapunzel and whispered into her ear. Her green eyes widened and her mouth opened into a silent scream; then there came the-

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Shut. Up!"

"It's true!"

"I need new friends" Merida whispered beside the sighing blond.

Rapunzel's excited face puzzled Elsa, it was strange for the artistic girl to be too elated for simple news like a crush but as her cousin tackled her down, Elsa thought that maybe Rapunzel was just genuinely happy... for what, she didn't know.

"Oh wait until he hears about this, it will be so-"

Elsa's eyes snapped open before she pushed her away and shouted "Rapunzel!" The brunette blinked before she tilted her head, "What?"

"No one can know about this, especially Jack!" she exclaimed.

"But... why?"

"Promise me; promise that you won't say a word!" Elsa made her swore as she clasped her hands to Rapunzel's. The other young woman looked conflicted for a while before she bit her bottom lip and breathed out a laboured, "Okay"

Elsa sighed and hugged her closely, "Thank you"

"But" Rapunzel hastily added, "If you like Jack, why are you going out with Hans? Sure he's cute-"

"Are you kidding? He's has a face of an angel!" Anna yelled before Merida slapped a hand over her mouth and shuts her up with a glare.

"-and nice, but... oh... why not Jack?!"

"Because" Elsa replied, her tone louder than usual as if she was trying to convince herself rather than her friends, "Even if I liked him, it will never work out! He's my best friend and if he didn't feel the same way then our friendship's over. And even if we did start something, what will happen if it didn't work out? I don't want to lose him Rapunzel! I don't want to get through life without him by my side, telling me that everything's going to be alright even if things go wrong!"

It was exhausting. Merida and Rapunzel stared at her with wide eyes while Anna scooped her in her arms and cradled her in a protected embrace as Elsa took a shaky breath to calm herself down. If she can't have Jack as a lover, then she can still be happy with having him by her side as his friend. 

And that thought broke her heart even more.

The restaurant was an expensive place, especially for a high school student and she triple-checked the text message Hans had sent her before she held her coat tighter around her body. Her platinum blond hair was tied up in an intricate braided bun and a pair of dangling earrings caught the lights of the crystal chandeliers that graced the high ceiling. The floors were covered by lush burgundy carpets and tablecloths that were like satin trimmed with gold threads by the edges.

"Yes, mademoiselle?"

She turned around to see a tall man with a receding hairline stand behind the podium; his suit was immaculate and there was a pure white rose pinned on his lapel. Elsa bit her lower lip as she approached the man and said, "Um, there was a reservation under Hans Suthernisles?"

The man nodded as he opened a thick book and browsed the entries under the practiced gaze. Finally, he confirmed their seats and offered to take her coat. The silver formal dress had clung to her like a second skin, making her even more conscious as they walked past other patrons. These were the first-class members of the community; some were successful businessmen and women, some were celebrities and others might have belonged to the hot professions that cashed in top dollar.

They finally reached the table, a small intimate setting with a long-stemmed rose on a crystal vase in the middle and behind it was a large window that was decorated by a rich mauve curtain. It was simply too... extravagant.

While her family was certainly well-off and they were part of the high-class social circle; she and her sister preferred a simpler setting like a burger joint or the occasional mall. For one thing, the atmosphere felt too stuffy for her; as if the walls were closing in and it will suffocate everyone in it. She asked for glass water and it came in a wine glass with a wedge of lemon floating on top of it.

They were supposed to meet here by seven, but it was already eight-thirty. She leaned to her side and scanned the crowd in hopes of catching the sight of her date but with no such luck; she regained her composure, posture as stiff as a board.

Minutes ticked by and she could feel the eyes on her table; knowing getting funny looks from the servers and the neighbouring tables. It was like being in school again; all eyes on her. Judging, waiting for her to commit a mistake. The pain of embarrassment and humiliation crippled her and she fought everything she could from folding her arms to the table and just cry.

She fisted her dress on her lap and stared down at the cloth with a blank expression. Her eyes stung with unshed tears and her face was cold and it was not because of the air conditioning. The choice of walking out with her head held high was certainly tempting but when she raised her head and saw the numerous amounts of people between her and the door, it overturned her decision.

'My first date... and I was stood up'

Was this a cruel joke?

Did Hans got mad because she told him to get off of Jack's back?

No one can be that cold-hearted, right?

A hopeful voice in her mind told her that maybe he was just caught up with something. With a rush of optimism had her open the ivory clutch purse and check her phone for any messages or even a missed call. Elsa was greeted with a blank screen. The urge to cry was too great and a few drops had already fallen to her lap before she covered the lower part of her face with her hand, lips trembling and sobs were forced down as Elsa tried not to make a scene.

But how could she not?

She was in an exclusive restaurant in the presence of the glitterati, some of them may also be her parents' friends and she came there in hopes of starting some sort of bond with anyone other than her friends but now, it seemed that she can't even have a proper date.

Elsa was on the brink of tears when she heard a voice call her name. At first, she thought she had gone crazy because there was no way in a million years would the Jack Frost ever set foot in a classy place like this one.

But when Elsa lifted her head; there he was. There were no suits or a bouquet of roses in his hands, no music that came from the violins came from behind him. It was just him, in his favourite blue hoodie and brown pants, a pair of brown sandals and his silver hair sticking out in every way it wanted.

"Jack?" Her voice sounded like she was dreaming, maybe even delirious with insanity. But Jack placed a hand on her cheek and wiped the trails of her tears with his thumb.

"C'mon Sunshine, let's get outta here."

"How did you know where I was?" she whispered as she pulled her coat closer. The night air was cool and comforting but she was a bit overdressed to casually walk through the streets. Her elaborate hairdo was out of place already and she has hidden her earrings in her purse.

He was walking right beside her, like how he always did, and kept his eyes in front of them, "You can't keep a secret from me Elsa."

A grim smile appeared on her lips and shook her head, "I'm afraid you're right about that one."

The path they were taking was a familiar route that led towards her house. Jack and Hiccup had been there before when they were working on a group project that concerned a large volcano made of paper mache and lava that was curiously created with chili sauce.

"I don't want to go home just yet," she said to him. 

Jack spared her a glance before he silently took her hand and led her to the playground. It was empty except for the moths that danced around the streetlights; their shadows mimicked their movements that flickered the light.

Elsa sat on the bench while Jack stood on a swing's seat, coiling the chains around his forearm as his eyes remained unfocused, he was deep in thought.

"I can't believe this happened" she breathed out, her voice was shaking and her hair was surely a mess by now when she felt several wisps of her hair cover the sides of her face.

"The first date I have with someone, turned out to be one big joke. I feel so stupid."

"Don't be" he quietly spoke up.

"Then maybe he just realized that it was a mistake to ask me out. The resident ice queen who is cold and emotionless" she let out a hollow humor-less laugh. She watched his eyebrows furrow in an angry expression.

"That's not why-"

"And how would you know?" she asked, feeling her temper rise "Do you know his secrets too?"

"Yes I did, that's why I told him to stop talking to you! If he has some sense in that thick head of his, he'll listen!" he easily replied through gritted teeth.

A staggering blow had left her still; a chill ran through her spine, it was like she was doused with ice water. 

"It was you?" she whispered, "You were the reason Hans didn't come?" Elsa suddenly stood up, her clutch fell from her lap but she didn't care.

"How could you- how dare you?!" she screeched, her throat ached as her tone pitched into a sharper level. "You have no right to do that!"

Tears sprung out of her eyes but she didn't care as she advanced towards him, a rush of satisfaction in her chest when she saw a spark of fear in his eyes as he hopped down from the swing. 

"I'm just trying to protect you!" he roared.

"You're not my keeper Jack! He was only- I mean, protect me from what? Hans? He's just asking me out! He didn't have any ulterior motives-"

"He does" he grounded out but at least he wasn't yelling anymore.

That stopped her screaming.

"Wha-what do you mean?" she sputtered. Surely by now, her fair-toned face was now pasty white when Jack confirmed it.

"Not any of those private things" he coughed out, his cheeks and ears turned red, "More like he was trying to take advantage of you and your connections."

"My connections?"

He nodded as he walked to her and lifted his hands to the sides of her head. Thumbs drying the streaks of tears before he led her back to the bench. It was then he explained everything.

It turned out that Jack and Hiccup overheard Hans talking to someone on the phone earlier that day and he was talking about getting close to Elsa and Anna's dad so that Hans' father can find an opening for a hostile takeover on the company her father owned. Jack tried to look for her everywhere and found out where they were supposed to meet when he confronted Hans. How he got Hans to talk was a mystery but she was really glad that he was looking out for her.

He then pulled away and leaned forward, his forearms rested on his knees. "Why were you so itching to go out with that Hans character anyway? You just met him!"

"I don't know; maybe because of the fact that someone actually wanted to go out with me just..."

Elsa folded her hands in her lap and bowed her head.

"Y'know, it's not because you're cold that no one wants to go out with you" he whispered, she almost failed to hear his words as the breeze picked up.

"Then why? I'm not partial to high school romance because they almost never last but I think it's better than-"

"Than what?" he prodded. She faced him and in an instant, her heart skipped a beat. His unruly hair followed the wind and his eyes seemed to glow as he looked as her as well.

"Than..."

Elsa forgot what she was going to say. There they were, in a quiet place where she can finally tell him what she wanted to say when she got tongue-tied and fear had its icy grip on her guts.

Thankfully Jack just let it slide and focused more on his own words, "I think... there's someone who does want to go out with you."

Curiosity claimed her attention as she leaned to him and asked, "Really? Then why hasn't he asked me yet?"

"Because... maybe he was afraid" he answered.

Elsa raised a brow and crossed her arms on her chest, "Afraid of what?"

Jack shifted in his seat and looked up at the star-ridden sky that twinkled faintly, "He's afraid that you're way out of his league and if you ever had a relationship, he might not be someone her parents would like for you."

Now she was confused. Did this mystery guy tell Jack everything? Elsa sighed and leaned back to the bench, "How will he know that if he doesn't try? Sometimes you just have to take a chance."

"Fair enough" he replied, she could hear him smile at that.

'This is it,' she thought, 'Now's your chance!' "Jack?"

"Hm?"

Elsa fidgeted her hands and stared at her lap, and took a deep breath, "Jack, I..."

"'I'?"

"I... am tired; I think I should go home now." 'You're a coward Elsa'

However, Jack adjusted his position so that he was now facing her; determination shone in his eyes.

"Sunshine?"

"Yes?" she could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

"I... I like you!"

"Oh" was all she said before realization hit her, "Oh!" Warmth covered her whole face and extended down to her neck, she had achieved a face that resembled a cherry tomato.

"I- I um-"

'Answer him!' the voice in her mind chastised but she was so flustered, caught off-guard.

"I like you too Jack! I mean, I really, really like you!"

There, she said it. Now what?

Wait...

Now what?

The worst possible scenarios had opened up in her mind's eye. What if they started dating and when things went downhill? What if this was a mistake? What if her parents, especially her father, won't approve of it?

"Great! So... um... wanna grab a bite to eat or something?" he stuttered, clearly unaware of the turmoil in her head. It was time to make a decision again but this time; it was a make or break choice that will determine the outcome of where they would stand.

And she can't believe she was saying this but-

"I'm sorry... I can't" she whispered out. As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.

"Wait- why not?" he choked out.

"Because... you're my best friend," she said, "You're the most amazing person I've ever met and I want to be with you more than anything but we can't!"

"And why not?!" he demanded.

"Because it won't work! When we come to the conclusion that we don't fit each other as a couple, then what we have now will be gone! And I know we will have to move on at one point or another but I can't bear to see you with someone else, knowing that we had something between us that I may never let go of!"

Tremors shook her whole body as she voiced out all her fears; the things that sometimes kept her out that night apart from his growing affection for Rapunzel.

Jack suddenly let out a humorless laugh; it sounded so wrong. "I can't believe this, you're actually dumping me when we didn't get to start yet?"

"I'm saying the truth Jack" she bit back, "I don't want to put us in a situation that will destroy our friendship."

"What the hell happened to 'sometimes you just have to take a chance'? Elsa, I'm not saying that we're gonna have a perfect relationship and we will have problems here and there but don't talk about it ending like you already know!"

Elsa clenched her eyes shut and placed a hand to her temple, "I just... it's not. Relationships shouldn't be taken so lightly! Just because you have an infatuation for someone doesn't necessarily mean that you'll end up together!"

"Infatuation? You think all I had for you was a crush?" he bellowed, "You don't get tell how I feel about you Elsa, you don't know anything!"

Anger rose from the pit of her chest and the need to get away from this mess they made. She stood up and grabbed her clutch from the ground.

"Where are you going?"

"Away from you" she growled before she whipped around and said, "Frankly I think you just like me now because Rapunzel found someone and I'm just a rebound!"

"Elsa!"

"No, if that's the case then I'm glad that this never happened between us! I will not be someone's second choice!" she yelled. Who cares if someone heard or saw her in the playground shouting at Jack Frost?

Jack leaped to his feet, hands clenched and his blue eyes darkened with anger, "I'm not that kind of person, you know that"

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought I didn't know anything!" she snidely remarked and began to walk away. She wanted to get out of here, anger had turned her into someone she's not, a sarcastic, cold-hearted woman who just turned down and insulted someone precious in her life. Tears threatened to spill again but she steeled herself as she walked out of the playground and into the streets.

There were no cabs in sight and she found herself stranded in a deserted street. She would have called her chauffer but it was already late and she didn't want to bother him. It would be a long way to her house and she might as well start if she ever wanted to be home for breakfast. So, she started walking.

It didn't take more than five minutes before she heard footsteps behind her. Elsa gripped the clutch with her hands and turned around to smack the stranger on the head only to find Jack.

He was staring at her with a blank face and she can't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

His face scrunched up like he was in pain before he scratched his head with an irate hand, "Look, I'm not going to let you go home alone even if we... said some things."

She wanted to stay mad at him, she really does. But one look at him and her whole resolve crumbled. He was her weakness, and how that came to be, she would probably never know. After a few more seconds, she finally relented.

The atmosphere between them was heavy. There were no playful banters or casual talks. Just silence; each trapped in their own thoughts as they walked through the streets side by side.

They had just passed the coffee shop they frequented in when Jack spoke out in a soft voice, "You weren't my second choice you know." She didn't speak, afraid that the words that will escape would be vile and cutting so he continued, "Sure I like Rapunzel because she was pretty, good with guitar and paintings plus she's fun and sweet"

'Yeah, keep talking' she thought in a scathing tone.

"But you know why I realized that she's not the one I was looking for?"

"Because of her sudden transformation from being a blond to a brunette?" That was a low blow but he shook his head and answered, "Nah, she did that because I told her Eugene liked girls with their natural hair colour."

"Who's Eugene?"

"Oh, you guys know him as Flynn Ryder but back to the subject"

Elsa felt the corners of her mouth tugged upwards when she heard his lighthearted tone. They were already falling back to their routine even after a rather dramatic episode back at the playground.

"Right, why you decided you didn't want her anymore" she nodded, a slight teasing in her voice easily made him grin.

"It's because she wasn't you" he easily answered.

How can he say such things without getting so flustered? But that was the pros of being Jack Frost. He was confident in his abilities and he wasn't afraid of anything.

"What do you mean?"

"For a while, I thought that Rapunzel was the one but then, I started to think about you a lot and it took a lot of 'therapy sessions' with Hiccup and a push from Blon- I mean, Rapunzel to realize that you were the one I liked from the start."

"Jack," Elsa shook her head as they approach the large black wrought gates that indicated the entrance to the Freyis mansion. "Rapunzel and I are as different as the sun and moon."

"I know, and that's the best part. See, I first saw you as a sister but I sometimes catch myself thinking about you more and more these past few months. I thought that it was because I was always with you but I was beginning to ask myself why I AM always with you. I'm not trying to be cheesy or mushy or any of that disgusting stuff but I want you to be by my side more than just a friend, or a best friend. You can be bossy and frigid and can't tell a joke to save your skin but you're smart, playful when you want to be and believe when I say this, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met. You're responsible and mature, okay so you're a mother hen but you would put your own life on the line to protect Anna and everyone else you cared about. I like you Sunshine, more than you know. And believe me, you really know a lot."

"I know" she smiled, as she watched him say her low and high points, her heart never stopped beating in a furious pace. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him, catch him in his vulnerability but ultimately decided against it. They stood in front of the gate; all Elsa had to do was to push the intercom and ask someone to open the gates for her. 

They stood in awkward silence before Jack rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Well, uh, see you tomorrow I guess."

"Yes, don't forget that we have homework" she reminded him.

He rolled his eyes, "I was planning to forget about it." Elsa laughed a little but stopped when he advanced to her with his hands up. They were at head's breath and the tips of their noses were already touching when she felt him tug her bun and freed her side braid.

"You looked better with that hairstyle" he commented, which they both blushed.

"So, good night." She looked up to him fully with a sweet smile.

He faced her as well with his own grin, "'Night."

Seconds ticked by and when Elsa lifted her hand to press the intercom box, Jack lunged at her and trapped her in his arms, his lips covered hers.

And there they were, kissing in front if the gate with no care in the world. Her hands dug into his scalp as he pulled her closer. It may look... wild but it was as innocent as they both were. After a few more push of their lips, Jack pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Sorry," he breathed out

"Don't be" she answered in the same breathy voice.

"Oh don't worry, he will be" a third voice came and it caused them to jump a couple of feet away from each other. Elsa's father was standing behind the gates in his silk robes and a stern expression on his usually friendly face.

"Papa!" Elsa gasped as he opened the gates and pulled Elsa into their property with a death glare to the boy who 'tainted his innocent daughter' "Hello Jack, goodbye Jack" he tersely greeted before he closed the gates and guided Elsa inside.

The eldest Freyis daughter had to keep herself from laughing when a maid told them there was a strange silver-haired boy standing in front of the gate, apparently whispering to himself and grabbing his hair.

The news of their relationship had spread around by appalled students and school staff alike. 

As soon as they stepped into the building together, Rapunzel appeared right out of the blue and hugged them both with an excited squeak. Naturally, Anna had known the news first and she might even be the one who spread it on campus. Hiccup and Merida were walking in the halls when the freckled boy congratulated them and Merida was just staring at Elsa with her mouth opened. When Merida walked to Elsa, she thought she was going to hug her like Anna and Rapunzel did, but alas,

"Merida, where are we going?!" she asked as the redhead pulled her out of the campus by her wrist.

"Don't worry lass, I know a witch who can break the spell!"

"What spell?"

"The spell that the one that delinquent placed on you. I shall end this blasphemy before it's too late!"

Behind them, Jack was yelling at Merida to release his girlfriend and chased them while Anna and Rapunzel were clenching their sides as they laughed at the scene before them. 

Hiccup just shook his head and called out, "Hey, class starts at five minutes!"

Author's Corner: Hey hey guys. My first AU/Modern Jelsa fic and I'm excited for this one.

So, what d'ya think about this fic? Extra brownie points who can point out the Dream Works/ Disney characters. Please read and review! Constructive criticism is always welcome but flames and hate notes? No thanks. I dunno if I should make a sequel or/and Jack's point of view.

#jelsa #jelsa fanfiction

[silencedlittlebirdy]

Conquering a World: Part 5

“And how would you describe yourself?” Traaiillooonn asked me. Curse him. I tried to think of exactly what I would say when describing myself. I hated that I had to go last. Everyone but Ava had been pretty honest. At least, it seemed that way. Only time would really tell how honest they were. “Introverted,” I said to start, then thought for a second. “Obsessive, distractable, tempermental, creative, sarcastic, violent…um…” I looked to the ceiling to try and think of more adjectives. “Fearful, a little rebellious, unfocused, awkward, blunt—sometimes past the point of acceptability, I can get loud and I cry when I get mad. I hate working on group projects, not because of the project but because I have to deal with people. I chose a degree in Forestry and another in Botany because I didn’t think a career in writing or music would pan out for me. I don’t like people messing with my stuff, or my life. I hate abrupt change. I abhor small talk, it’s just a way to avoid real conversations and real topics. You betray me, then I will never trust you again. Not completely. I’m a pretty good judge of character. I’m stubborn and no one can dissuade me from my beliefs. I believe what I believe. Which extends to believing that it might be fun to rebel against the Pqncallaxis Dominion, but…since they’re our only source of supplies…it wouldn’t exactly be wise to do so. Tempting, but not a practical use of our time. Just like this is taking away from not only my lunch, but also my work.” Someone chortled, but hid it. Traaiillooonn looked a little frozen. “Blunt, you said?” Chad looked like he was choking back laughter. “I would never have imagined from what you said,” Traaiillooonn said as he looked down at his recording device. Snarky little beast. “Huh, so sarcasm isn’t just a human trait.” I smirked at the table, then crinkled my nose as I looked at my cold lunch. I wasn’t hungry. Not anymore. But if the snake was still there… “If we’re done here, I need to confer with you, Fay. That animal that died in the pool, it apparently doesn’t chew it’s food much. I found a couple intact leaves. Maybe we can learn what’s edible from the wildlife.” Patricia stood up. I nodded. “Works for me. Though, I’m not sure if the serpentine thing that was in my workstation is still there or not.” Andrew pumped a fist and jumped out of his chair. “I’m so there!” Patricia smiled and shook her head. “Let’s go then. Traaiillooonn, you are finished with us?” He hesitated (yes, we were sure he was a he—we asked). “I do need to gather all of your descriptions of each other, but given the way you all work together I suppose it would be more appealing for all of you to talk about your peers when they aren’t around to listen. Ava advised me that humans generally are able to put up with people they don’t like to work towards a greater good.” Ava shrugged. Mike Findlay laughed. “Oh, I can’t even remember how many workers I had that I couldn’t stand personality wise, but who did excellent work.” Traaiillooonn was vibrating, with a sort of humming-purring deal. I folded my arms. “Looonn, this is your dream job, isn’t it? Studying us. Being around us. Learning our ways.” He caught one of his antennai and played with it like I would play with my hair. “Mayhaps, Fay. Mayhaps.” I smiled, “Well, at least one of us is happy. Meet at the lab?” I directed the question to Patricia. She nodded. Andrew hurried over to me. “Snake?” “Possibly,” I responded, leading the way out the door and over to my yard. My lab was basically a tent with a couple tables, and a chemistry set, and a kerosene burner. It was sparse for now, there were more supplies coming with that shipment that was ordered two weeks ago. Andrew went in the tent first. “Sweeet!” I peeked in, then shuddered a bit and backed out. “Don’t die.” “It totally doesn’t see me as a predator. This is so cool!” He sounded thrilled. He came out with the serpentine thing, holding it behind the head and by the body, being careful to keep its clawed front feet aware from himself. I pasted on a reluctant smile. He laughed. “I’ll release it into the…are we calling that forest?” I nodded. “That’s where I’ll release it then. How’s your compass working here? Is there a magnetic north?” “Yeah, seems to be. Well, it seems to keep a direction anyway. I’m still testing it, doing my best to map it all out. I’m not accurate, by far, but it’s better than nothing.” I felt my compass in my pocket, making sure it was still there. I had one other, not nearly as accurate as this one, but it pointed north. Mostly. “Well, I better release this guy. I’ll let you get to work.” “Thanks, Andy.” “No problem.” He walked off with the serpent thing. I went into my tent and cleaned up some of the disorder. One of the fruits had been knocked to the ground, and was the equivalent of bruised. I picked it up and set it on the table, then licked the remaining juice off of my finger. Delicious. Then my eyes widened. Idiot. Imbecile. Stupid. I grabbed my benedryl and the other stuff that I would have to take if it turned out to be poisonous, and sat in a chair. Patricia came in with some samples. “Hey, I would have thought you would be hard at work.” “I tasted the juice of a fruit, and now I’m waiting to see if it kills me,” I told her. Her eyes widened. “Why did you do that?” “A moment of stupidity.” “Did it at least taste okay?” “Fantastic, it would make a great dessert. You know, providing it’s not poisonous.” I started cutting the fruit open to study it. “Shall I spread these samples out on the empty table?” “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be over in a second.” At least there was no tingling sensation on my tongue, that was a good sign. There were no signs of allergic reaction so far. “So, should I be concerned that you’re going to die?” “Possibly,” I replied. “I’ll go see Bea soon.” “What about now?” I shook my head. “I didn’t injest that much and there should be a biological response to any toxins before they kill me. Even then, what is there to lose?” “That’s a bleak outlook.” “Do you have a better one? We’re never getting home. I never even got to explore romantic relationships. I’ve been on two dates my entire life, and technically the one shouldn’t count.” I went over to examine her samples. She was quiet for a while. “Why didn’t you date more?” “Never met any guys, especially not ones that were interested in me. Too quiet for them. I was always too quiet. Or too loud. Too shy. Too fat. Not as pretty as my sister. Everybody loves my sister. Even my friends. Not that I’m bitter. I miss her. I miss my whole family. I’m talking crazy, I’m sorry.” “We’re stranded on some planet, far away from just about everything we know and love. I think you’re just a little more realistic than the rest of us. We’re all still hoping that we will go back to earth. Can’t really tell the kids otherwise. Not right now. Not with food so slim.” There was that too. I looked at the fruit. “I’m going to do something stupid.” “Please don’t,” She objected, but it was too late. I took a bite of the fruit. Dang it tasted good. She grabbed my wrist. “Spit it out, Fay. Now.” I swallowed. “Too late.” “Fay, this is nothing to mess with. Come on, we’re going to Beatrice and Dr. McNeal. Now.” She pulled me out of the tent and away. Everyone else was still chatting in the Findlay’s house. Even Andrew was back. They all freaked when Patricia told them what I had done. I let them berate me, and test me and push me onto a cot in the room dubbed the ‘medical ward’. I let them take blood samples and ask me a million questions about how I was feeling. They even made me sleep there overnight. Traaiillooonn was the first visitor in the morning. “Why would you eat something when you know not whether it will kill you?” “Why would they bring an uneven number of people? And why would they not pay attention to gender and age? Sure, they did the language check, but still. It’s foolish of them to think that we can do everything they need done.” “Can you not reproduce with any of the males?” “There are these things that humans live by, called morals, which say you don’t just reproduce with any male because some are married. Humans mate for life—or they intend to. But we will not just mate with any male that’s put in front of us. Not if we have any sense whatsoever.” “Humans are odd.” “Anything that is foreign to an individual can be perceived as odd or strange or disgusting. It’s all a matter of opinion and circumstance.” “You are what you call grumpy?” I sighed. “Yes. I’m sorry, Traaiillooonn.” “It is understandable.” I smiled. “But I think that the fruit I ate is safe to eat. It’s a start.” “And this excites you?” “We’re running out of food, yes this excites me. A little hubbub, but everything is fine and dandy and I’m ready to continue my tests.” I got my shoes on. “It’s early enough that I should be able to slip out before Patricia comes and forces me to stay for observation.” “And what makes you think I won’t stop you?” Chad asked from the doorway. I shrugged. “Someone has to make sure I survive the trip back to that fruit tree. I need to test it more.” “You’re insane,” He told me, but he was sort of laughing as he did. “Traaiillooonn, Chad is the specimen that you’ll want to talk to about reproduction. After all, he’s the eligible male.” Traaiillooonn’s antennae twitched and he made a sort of amused sound. Chad snorted. “And you’re not an eligible female?” I wrinkled my nose. “I’ll probably die. I’m likely to try something else after I get frustrated with how slowly the testing goes. Besides, I don’t really want to think about that right now. Because technically, you have three choices. Ava, me, or none of the above. You could wait for Juliet to be old enough, but I’m pretty sure your brother has dibs and if he doesn’t, Kevin does.” “I just wonder,” Traaiillooonn started, “why your gardens aren’t enough to sustain you all?” “We had a small garden and some cornstalks from the fields around our house. They were picked clean and while the green beans are still producing some and the cucumbers still have a couple that are growing, we won’t have anything more until the squashes ripen and we have to feed thirteen people. The Ledfords had a bigger one, but we only got one harvest from the one section before one of those weird giant creatures squashed all of the plants.” “And our garden was all herbs. The McNeals didn’t have a garden at all. We’re lucky we have what we have, but we need to supplement it soon. The chickens are helpful, but we’ll want to spend more time letting the flock grow rather than causing it to dwindle.” Chad handed me my backpack. I smiled at him, then stood and put it on. “Thus, we’re going to go find more native foods. Got your gun?” “Got my gun.” He gestured behind himself with his thumb. I nodded. “Then let’s go.” He gave a little mock bow and gestured for me to lead the way. “Milady.” I rolled my eyes and did a mock curtsy. I was on a mission now. I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me. Traaiillooonn calling after me stopped me. I glanced at Chad. “This might take a while. Can you get the wagon?” He nodded and headed that way. Traaiillooonn caught up to me. “Apologies. However, my research indicates that Ava is incompatible with Chad. And the Pqncall—” “Those that shall not be named,” I interrupted. “Yes. They are concerned with the rate of reproduction. If a step toward reproduction is not taken soon, they try to force it.” “Okay, here’s what you’re going to tell them. Not only do humans respond poorly to threats, they also ensure their own survival before they even consider something as serious as mating or the result of successful mating. Got it? There won’t be any reproducing going on until we have steady food supply, we know more about this planet and until it pleases us. Which means we also need the supplies we ordered. Got it?” Traaiillooonn clicked, and hurried off with his communication device. “What did he need?” “Not him. His bosses. I gave them a mouthful. Should take them a month to chew through. Hopefully it expedites the shipment. What is with the theme these past couple of days?” “What theme?” “Mating, romance, reproduction.” I shooed a chicken back into their pen. We couldn’t afford to lose any and the dogs were still inside with Ava. “Maybe fate is trying to tell you something.” “Then it needs to paint me a sign, because hints only make me grumpy.” “I noticed,” He chuckled. I gave him a little glare. “You were pretty…honest about yourself yesterday.” “I have to live with myself. I know me.” “You made yourself sound pretty…disagreeable. Why?” “I was just being honest.” “It’s not fully you, not in my experience.” “What, you don’t find me bluntly honest? Or creative? Or fearful?” “I don’t think I’ve seen you afraid, except maybe when we were getting chased by that thing and when you mentioned the serpent.” “Chad…” I shook my head. “I’m terrified. I used to be afraid of tornadoes. Now, I’m afraid that there’s going to be something here that’s worse than tornadoes. Worse than hurricanes. I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to discern what’s safe for us to eat. I’m afraid of everything in there, because I don’t know it. I’m terrified, but I decided that first day that I wasn’t going to be stopped by my fears. And so far I’ve stuck to it, but I can’t sleep. I haven’t really eaten, and I’m afraid of what’s going to happen in the next couple of days.” “Me too,” He whispered, looking at the ground. “Do you realize how much everyone has been looking to you?” “Me? That’s not a good idea. At all.” “You’re not afraid to say things as they are. You notice…everything. You stay quiet and absorb all the information then in five minutes you summarize everything in blunt terms and bring us all to reality. That first day, after you left the group, after you touched that creature, the only thing anyone could say was that you were the bravest person in this group. It took us all a couple a of days to reach your level of bravery.” “I’m not brave.” “Yeah, you are. The definition of courage, of bravery, is to be afraid but not be hindered by that fear. You’re the bravest person on this planet.” I stared at him. “Why are telling me this?” “Because you need to hear it.” He shrugged. I stared for a while longer, then pivoted and headed for our entry point. “Right. Well. Fruit won’t pick and test itself.” I heard him sigh behind me. But I wasn’t about to look back. I was afraid of what I’d see.

@riptidethepen 

@thisnewjoe I’m not currently cross-posting this anywhere. I’m not even sure where I would cross post it. Suggestions welcome.

Thoughts and suggestions for the story?

#conquering worlds is just a hobby #humans are weird #outer space

[kukuandkookie]

✩ Crystal Gem Rebel - You’ve befriended a local human and they’ve become curious about why you revolted against the Diamond Authority… Why did you decide to defend Earth, despite all the risks of rebellion?

“When I was back on Homeworld, I worked in the Gem Labs, our research sanction,” Labradorite began explaining. “My mentor was Purple Zircon, an emotionless, ruthless Gem with years of experience…” He paused, an almost sad look crossing his face. “She was unimpressed with me as soon as she laid eyes on me.” “Labradorite… I’m so sorry,” Steven offered apologetically. He sighed, shaking his head. “It's okay. It wouldn't even have been so bad…if she'd paid more attention to me.” He remembered him from many years ago, watching as she turned her back on him and walked away, causing his face to darken. “But instead, my life became focused—obsessed—with research, experimentation, and knowledge.” “That's how you were when you discovered us too,” Steven added. Labradorite nodded. “Sorry about that, by the way. I never meant to hurt you.” “It's alright. You weren't in your right mind back then.” He smiled. “I forgive you.” “You're a forgiving person, Steven.” He smiled back, before memories of his time on Homeworld saddened his gaze. “Steven… I was so lonely. I was dangling by a thin thread at that point, and somewhere along the way… I snapped.”

“Oh, Labradorite…” “Welo Ribbon Mackerel and Eye Agate were concerned for me, like the great friends that they were, but I couldn't see that they were trying to help me.” He shook his head. “I couldn't see anything. I thought I was all alone, and when they asked me if I was okay, I brushed them off with an insincere smile, treating their worry for me like it were some kind of joke. “And despite my tears, I kept pretending to be okay, despite the fact I was slowly falling apart.” He sighed, wiping his eyes. “I kept smiling despite my tears and my pain.” “You really wanted Purple Zircon to acknowledge you, huh…” Steven’s gaze was filled with pity, causing Labradorite to have to turn his head away in shame. The boy reached out and placed a comforting hand on his arm, causing the Gem to look down in surprise. He saw that Steven’s eyes were also filled with sympathy. “I… I can kind of understand how that feels. I really wanted the Crystal Gems to acknowledge me and treat me like an equal. But…” Here he paused, looking down. “At least they love and care about me. I'm sorry Purple Zircon never shared that warmth with you.” “It's alright. Even if she had, I might have not fully recognized it, considering how I didn't even treat my caring, loving friends the way I wanted to be treated.” “But if Zircon had paid attention to you, you might have turned out differently,” Steven insisted. Labradorite looked down at his donuts. “Maybe.” Sensing the other Gem’s pain, Steven’s voice softened. “So...umm… How come you left Homeworld, even with all the risks that come with revolting?” “I...obviously wasn't in my right mind,” he admitted. “When I found out about Earth, I became intrigued. But not just intrigued—I became obsessed.” “And that's when you abandoned Homeworld.” Labradorite nodded. “And I wanted to know more. A lot more. So much so that I chose to run away.” Steven’s eyes were wide. “What happened next?” he asked. “Well, my friend Welo Ribbon Mackerel tried to stop me and talk me out of it, but… I had long since stopped caring about rules by that point.” He paused. “Steven, I was…I had gone over the edge completely. I was insane and horrible and I chose to fight Welo instead of hear him out. I chose to run away from my home because I wanted more knowledge.” Tears sprang to his eyes, causing him to sniffle as he attempted to wipe them away with a weak smile. “I'm just terrible, aren't I?” “No, Labradorite, don't say that!” the boy cried. “You're not a bad Gem.” “Aren't I?” he said. “When I came to Earth and I discovered you and the Crystal Gems, I became fascinated. You’re so unique, after all; a half-human-half-Gem hybrid. My curiosity had been piqued and I couldn't resist getting my hands on you. So I…” He trailed off. “You kidnapped me and held me hostage,” Steven finished. Labradorite looked down in shame, his face feeling hot. “I'm sorry.” “It's okay. I forgive you for that. And I'm glad it allowed us to meet.” “I even fought the Crystal Gems when they tried to save you, just as I was about to operate on you,” Labradorite continued. “And I had fun. I even used you as a shield at one point.” “As you said, you weren't exactly in your right mind,” Steven offered reassuringly. He sighed. “I don't know if it really excuses my behaviour.” “But when you lost and got poofed by Pearl, you later regenerated and was better!” He nodded hesitantly. “I guess so. I mean, after I regenerated, I recovered my sanity and saw what I did wrong. I was so ashamed…” “But you made amends.” Steven smiled. “You fixed things.” “Heh. I guess you’re right.” Labradorite smiled back cheerfully. “And that's how we all became friends!” “You really did have a complicated life before Earth, huh?” “Yeah, I did. But…despite my mistakes, I don't regret the fact that I chose to rebel against Homeworld and come here. It allowed me to meet all of you and make new friends, as well as make amends with my old friends—well, most of them, anyway. Eye Agate has completely forgiven me, but Welo still has trouble accepting the fact I chose to leave and even became a Crystal Gem.” “Ooh…” Steven’s eyes sparkled as he cupped his face with his hands in interest. “That really is complicated! But hey, Labradorite…?” “Yes?” “I'm glad that you came to Earth and that we became friends!” “...Heh.” Labradorite smiled. “Yeah, me too.” He nudged the box of donuts toward Steven. “You want some more?” “Yes, please!” And as Steven munched on his food, Labradorite looked up into the blue sky and smiled to himself. I'm glad this is now my home.

#gemsona week #gemsona #writing prompt #fanfiction #literature #kuku88 #my writing #labradorite

[my-dear-hammy]

Basking in Firelight-Jamilton Sequel-Part Nineteen

Masterpost

Part Nineteen: Home Calls the Heart

AN

Did you all enjoy the fluuffff? 

—-

Warnings below

—-

The rain had finally let you up the middle if the night, and seeing as Jefferson and Hamilton were both already awake from their dreams, they packed and set out immediately. They had lost enough time as it was was, they couldn’t afford to lose anymore. They doubled back to the command post they had blown up a couple nights before. There was lots of activity. The remains of the governmentals were burying the dead and ransacking the rebel headquarters for any information. They wouldn’t find any, the rebels were absurdly good at taking any and all valuable information with them or destroying it.

It looked like the force was mostly just recovering from the extreme amount of losses with hardly any payoff, they could thank Hamilton and the squad for that. So Hamilton and Jefferson left nd followed the trail of the rebel army. Easy to track. That was a problem. It wouldn’t be long before the governmental army was on the move again and tracking the rebel position. As soon as they caught up to the main column, Hamilton would be sure to tell Washington to split of the troop into the state regiments and then into counties and march separately to wherever they were going so they would be harder to track. Hamilton glanced down at the tank tracks, maybe there was no point. They would just have to build an unbreakable defense or at least a good enough one that the government wouldn’t risk the casualties.

Now that he was thinking about it, why did they just bomb them? Wipe them all out in one go? How would they defend against that? They didn’t have any AA guns to defend against aircraft.

“Hey Jefferson,” Hamilton said suddenly, “I think I have something else in mind for our next target.”

“Oh? And what is it you want us to steal next then?”

“You know those experimental labs the government has set up down in Georgia?”

“Yeah.”

“I wanna steal a force field.”

“You’ve got yourself a partner, darling. No way am I leaving that place without a couple of extra toys myself.”

“Sounds good then?”

“I’ve always wanted to go there. Can we just steal everything in there and run for it?”

“Want to  make it our new headquarters?”

Jefferson thought for a moment, “Top notch security, countless destructive weapons, stealing a governmental facility to make our new base? Sounds like a grand plan. One problem though, how we even to get inside?”

“Some insane plan that will never work, I’m sure.”

“Well, I’m all for it.”

***

When Jefferson and Hamilton walked into camp, several things happened all at once. First was shouting, the next they were in the middle of all their friends as they were being hugged to death because apparently everyone was starting to think something terrible happened to them. And then to their astonishment, the entire rebel army was there, lifting them into the air and cheering about how they saved the revolution in one night.

When Jefferson’s and Hamilton’s feet finally touched the ground again, they finally resumed their business. Hamilton headed straight for General’s Washington’s tent and Jefferson went to find some real food for them both since Hamilton always forgot to eat. By the time Jefferson made it to Washington’s tent, Hamilton burst out the door in a rage, almost knocking the two bowls from Jefferson’s hands, he brushed by him and kept walking, going back to his own tent. Jefferson stared after him, then at Washington’s tent, then at the bowls in his hands.

He went after Hamilton, finding him throwing things in a pile on the raised cot that was his bed. “Someone’s not happy,” Jefferson remarked, standing in the doorway.

“He sent me home!” Hamiton practically yelled, “Home! I don’t have a home! This is my home!” Hamilton scooped up all his pens and shoved them in a bag. “And even if I did have another home, what would I do? Pace back and forth every day? Watching the news? Waiting for the Goveys to find me?”

Jefferson walked over to, took whatever item was in Hamilton’s hands and thrust the bowl of hot oatmeal into his grasp. “Eat,” Jefferson commanded. Hamilton shot his a glare, grabbing the spoon and stabbing it into the food like he was trying to murder it, scooped up its contents and jammed it in his mouth.

“Happy?” he asked.

“Not until you’ve finished it all.” Hamilton rolled his eyes and scarfed down the rest. “Fantastic,” Jefferson said, plopping himself down on Hamilton’s bed amidst all his stuff. “Now tell me what happened.”

“What are you? My therapist?”

“As of late? Yeah. Who else would make you tea in the middle of the night?”

Hamilton threw a wadded ball of clothing half-heartedly at Jefferson, who caught it out of the air and placed it with the rest of Hamilton’s stuff. “I went in to give him my report of events and find out details of the retreat. Then, of course, I started discussing with him the plan you and I were talking about.”

“With all the cool techy stuff?”

“Yeah, basically he said we had to stop taking off on suicide missions every other second just because we don’t care about our lives ever since we got kidnapped. I protested that wasn’t the case. Got into an argument-”

“-Naturally.”

“-and several words later, I’m stalking out of his tent on temporary leave.”

“I told you that mouth of your was going to get you into trouble one day, but did you listen? Nooo,” Jefferson said, scooping up Hamilton’s and his empty bowls and leaving the tent before Hamilton could throw something else at him. He deposited the bowls where they belonged and headed for Washington’s tent.

“Sir,” he said upon entry.

“General Jefferson,” Washington greeted, setting down a pen, “What can I do for you?”

“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain,” Jefferson joked, a grin spreading across his face. Washington just stared at him blankly. “Okay, not a fan of Doctor Strange then, that’s fine,” he mumbled to himself. “Sir, it’s come to my attention that you denied a certain plan concerning Hamilton and myself.”

“Ah yes,” Washington said, “What about it?”

“I think you should let us go through with it.”

“I’ll tell you exactly what I told General Hamilton,” Washington said, “I can’t afford to risk losing two of my best Generals on suicide missions just because you seem to not have a care in the world for your own life.”

“Sir, I think the lives of the entire army outweigh the two of us.”

“The army will be fine without you and Hamilton running off and trying to fight the entire war by yourselves.”

“Fine. But it doesn’t make sense to say you need Hamilton and then send him away.”

“If I let him go on that mission, he won’t back. If I send him away on temporary leave, he’ll still be there when I need him.”

“Sir-”

“That’s enough, Jefferson. There will be no mission. That’s final.”

“Yes, Sir.” Jefferson turned and made his way out the tent. The sky had darkened considerably and suddenly Jefferson was exhausted. So he did what anyone would do, he went to bed.

“So what are you going to do in your meantime?”  the person asked Jefferson.

“Follow up on my offer,” Jefferson stated plainly.

“What offer?”

“Would you like to see Monticello?”

The person smiled, “Do I have a choice?”

“Not really,” Jefferson smirked. “You’re freeloading as it is, so when I leave, you’ll have to find another place to stay.”

“Shit. I need to get a new place.”

A mansion flashed across Jefferson’s vision, Monticello, his mind whispered to him, Monticello. Home. Monticello. You want to go home. 

Where was home?

Monticello.

Memories or dreams flashed before him in pieces. Fireplaces, morning rides. Endless farmlands. A beautiful view of the valley. A library. Candles.

Monticello.

***

The next morning, Jefferson strode into Washington’s tent and announced, “Sir, I’m taking a temporary leave of absence.”

“What-”

“And if you don’t see fit to grant it to me, then I’ll be resigning my post. Have a good day, Sir.” Without waiting for a response, Jefferson walked out the door. Washington would send a response to Jefferson by leaving a letter in his tent when he came to a decision. Jefferson went to his own tent a started packing. A little while later, a courier came in and delivered a  note telling Jefferson’s leave of absence was granted. Jefferson grabbed his case, now filled with his stuff and made for Hamilton’s tent.

It was empty. Well not entirely. There was a case by the door, Hamilton’s bare desk in the corner, and his cot in the other corner, then there was Hamilton himself sitting on the cot, staring blankly at his hands. Jefferson tossed his case next to Hamilton’s and plopped himself down on the cot and leaned back on his hands.

“I talked to Washington,” Jefferson said.

“Oh?” Hamilton asked, not moving.

“Yeah, let’s just say that I’m going to be tagging along with you for a while. I resigned this morning.”

Hamilton looked at Jefferson, “You’re kidding.” Jefferson shook his head, telling Hamilton he wasn’t. “That was a stupid thing to do.”

“Okay, I threatened to resign and took a leave of absence.”

“Okay, that’s not as stupid but still pretty idiotic. What was that supposed to accomplish? Now neither of us will be here to keep the army together!”

“Relax, I left Madison in command with instructions. He’ll be fine. You should do the same with Burr.”

“Burr has a command in his own state, New Jersey.”

“Then Mulligan, he’s actually from New York, or better yet, put Lafayette in charge. He has killer instincts when it comes to leading men,” Jefferson suggested.

“I suppose I could do that,” Hamilton walked over to his desk and scribbled out a note and sent it off. “But where am I going to go? What am I going to do?”

Jefferson picked at his nails, “Come with me.”

“With you?” Hamilton scoffed, “And if I did that, where would we be going?”

“Monticello,” Jefferson inspected his nails a little more closely, not looking at Hamilton.

The name of the place hit Hamilton’s chest like a gong and rang through his head like a bell. Hamilton knew that place, it’s been in so many of his dreams, why he has never gone there, he didn’t know. Every time he thought about it, he’d get unexplainably depressed. But for some reason, he didn’t feel that way now. “Monticello?” he asked uncertainly, “Isn’t that a museum?" 

"It was, until the government started using it as an outpost, probably as a way to slander my name even though I never owned the place. It’s not like I’m the real founding father Thomas Jefferson. He died, what, around two hundred and thirty years ago?” Jefferson finally met Hamilton’s eyes. “What do ya say?”

“I’ve nowhere else to go, might as well,” Hamilton shrugged.

Jefferson grinned, “Ready to take back a historical landmark from the Goveys and claim it as our own?”

“Hell yeah.”

—-

Warnings: Rash decision making and ostentatious personalities that are known by the name Jefferson and Hamilton. 

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