#I need to go monastery shopping I guess

[callisteios]

when i was at disneyland last month i saw some nuns, so i'd assume if they can go to a theme park they can use the internet?

not going to lie to you i thought nuns had to give up all worldly non religious connection so this is intriguing. thank you for this intel anon

[writingredrose]

a wish wrongly granted : chapter I

NINJAGO : morro x reader

warnings : none that I can think of

prologue / chapter I

a / n : I keep thinking how long I can actually make this story. Eh well, it is what it is. Y'all believe me when I say I re-watched and finished season 5 last week and now I'm doing this again bc I need to research lmao. Sorry it's a bit rusty, I was quite tired. Hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless.

Master? Where is Morro? I haven't seen his at all today?...

I'm afraid that he...is gone

Gone?!? Where?!? Master please, where is he? Where did Morro go??

Working in a tea shop wasn't as hard as some may think. After the events of Lloyd's possession, you agreed to take care of the tea house as the ninjas practically became something similar to Hollywood Stars. Of course you'd sometimes get help from either Misako or Wu, but you've told them many times that you're ok handling it alone.

After having a little help from Borg, he managed to give you the rights of the farm, making you the owner of the whole farm. Therefore you were there almost all day.

Although unfortunately, there was one thing you couldn't escape. And that was — “How many times do I have to tell you, NOT to give the costumers free stuff, we ain't a charity you know„ Ah yes, Ronin How happy you were he was with you.

As you were waving the latest customers goodbye, you turned to Ronan and gave him a dirty look. “Have you forgotten Ronin? I own the whole farm now, don't I? So I'm the one who decides what the customers get and don't. You don't own my shop anymore„ You ended your comeback with a warm smile, turning around on your heels to check the back to see which types of tea were almost out while waiting for other people. “Sure, I mean, what else can you do? You don't have any powers, do you?„ At that, you stopped your rumming. “So? What does power have to do with anything? I know Wu loved this shop, and since even tho I didn't have any powers and he still took me under his wing, it's the least I can do for him. And you too, since you betrayed us and stuff„ You smiled looking back at the bounty hunter. “But unfortunately I can't complain, you're voice's annoying but I enjoy your company„ “How faltering„ “I do mean it„ You lightly laughed as he rolled his eyes. “Whatever princess. — you scrunched your nose at the pet name —I'm going out for some business so I'll be out for a while„ “Alright then„ You waved the hunter goodbye as you watched him getting smaller and smaller until you couldn't see him anymore. You sighed and looked at your hands, you were all alone now it seems.

After a while of staying at the shop, you decided to call it a day and go home since you were really tired. As you were walking down the path to Ninjago City while the sun slowly went down, you got a call from none other than Lloyd. What could be possibly want at this hour tho? “Hello Lloyd! Everything ok?„ “Y/N we need your help! Can you maybe come to Wu's old monastery? We really need your opinion on this„ The Green Ninja couldn't hide his desperation and urgency in his voice, you guessed it's a bad thing. “Yes! I'm on my way! I'll get there as soon as possible!„ “Great! We're waiting for you„ And so, you started running, making your way to the monastery.

“I'm here! I'm here! *huf huf* Man..-Man I forgot how many stairs are here„ “Y/N!!! You're the only one we can count on Y/N!!„ You couldn't even catch your breath as Jay came to, rather panicked, to shake you. “Woah there Jay! Is everything ok? Did I miss something important from you guys?„ “Kind of yea„ As you looked at all of them, you noticed that none of the ninjas looked at you straight in the eyes. “What in the name of the first Spinjitzu Master is going on with you guys?„ They all looked at each other before Jay took a deep breath “So...we got... framed?„ “You-WHAT??? What do you mean you got framed? What happened?? Actually hold on, do people actually believe it?„ “Well, first of all, we don't know how, second of all, yes they do, since someone pretended to be us and did bad things. This is the worst!„ “Now I don't think it's THAT bad of a thing, hah..„ Nya tried getting the team's hopes up but even she didn't seem to be convinced by her own words. The team seemed more down than ever. You didn't know what to do, you figured that the boy had called you in hopes you can maybe try and help them. “Hey! Come on you guys! Ninja never quit right? I'm sure things will get better? Where's master Wu by the way? I'm sure he would've said something that can get your hopes up„ “That I am afraid we do not know, but I do have a recording from The Library of Domu where he was seen last„ As Zane continues speaking, he showed the rest of the team the said recording. From that recording, Zane concluded that things were way worse than they actually thought it was, and the ninja found themselves with a Djinn on their hands. A Djinn was somewhat similar to a Genie, but according to what Nya said, it didn't really seem like this guy was a cool happy one like in the fairy tales.

While you were listening to the team, you turned around to see Jay staying way behind the others, smiling and being weirdly excited by all this. “Er Jay? You know, I'm almost 100% sure you shouldn't smile about this situation you know?„ “Ah, sorry Y/N but I just can't contain my excitement, didn't you hear? This guy grants wishes! If I can get him to me, that means I'll be able to wish for Nya to love me!„ You frowned at Jay, clearly not happy when you realized where the boy was getting at. “Jay listen to me. This is not a good idea. You can't rush these things, you never know what can happen!„ Jay scoffed and looked at you. “Oh come on! It's not like you wouldn't do the same! If you were in my position and you would be hit with this wouldn't you wish for Morro to get back with you or maybe go back in time so that he never died?!„ You looked at him a bit dumbfounded, you couldn't help but think that maybe he was right. Maybe you would. Upon realizing what he said, the lighting user looked at his feet. “Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I was trying- “No you're right, I probably would, but still, it's dangerous Jay, you never know what may happen after you wish it, it's clear that he's probably gonna try and trick you, I don't know this guy yet, but he's definitely gonna try something like that„ You looked at him again, and he looked back. You knew that by the way he was looking, he understood what you meant. He slowly nodded and made his way back to the team. It has been decided by Lloyd, who was now in charge given the absence of master Wu, that the team will split and investigate as much as they can. Lloyd turned to you and said : “Y/N, given that fact that you're not a ninja, you can help us the most. I want you to observe things in the city as much as you can, even when you're at the shop, try and find out as much as you can, if anything suspicious happens, tell me as fast as you can„ You nodded at his words. “Got it, I'll do my best„ “If we want to clear out our names, we'll have to do the best we can. Let's all meet here again at 7, good luck, and take care you guys„

You walked on the streets of the city, trying to at least discreetly find out what the police were up to and what their next move was. As you were walking, your mind brought you back to Jay's words. It was no doubt, that if you were put in such a situation, you would not hesitate, and you'd wish to be reunited with Morro the second that Djinn appeared in your face. But either way, you meant what you said to him. Doing such a thing would be way too risky, because you simply never know what might happen, it wasn't a Genie, so Jay must keep that in mind, therefore he needs to be careful, and not wish for anything, as much as he wants too. Well, at least you prayed that he'd do so.

And while you were walking down the street, unbeknownst to you, someone was patiently waiting for you to be finally alone.

[blu3cl0v3rs]

Summary: The Ninja broke another vehicle. Pixal, Nya, and Morro are not amused.

Warnings: Jay briefly catches on fire, angry Serpent Mech trio

Prompt: Run | Fire | "So did anyone read the instructions?"

Extra: Set between Seasons 13 and 14, generic "Revived Morro Lives w/ the Ninja" AU, but Morro knows more mechanic-y stuff. Considering it was his idea to steal Samurai X's mech, it wouldn't be too out of character. By the way, I'm a filthy American who uses the Imperial system. I'm sorry. Also, Morro is not a part of the boys, as they are the crew of dumbasses (and their slightly smarter companion, Zane) and Morro is just a bit too smart for them. I'm also definitely pushing my non-binary Morro agenda here, but you are not allowed to blame me.

The Ninja weren't even 5 miles away from the Mountains of Impossible Height before a loud BOOM! was heard from their vehicle, even audible all the way up in the monastery.

It was just the boys in said vehicle, as Morro, Nya, and Pixal were working on some mechs Kai and Jay had broken three days ago.

Wu stuck his head into the workshop, where three exasperated groans emitted.

"I am assuming that the explosion was the Ninja?" Wu asked.

Nya growled, "Oh I wish it was, but noooo, it was the vehicle Pix and I spent last night fine tuning after Morro put it together last week."

"If I find out it's beyond repair, I'm hiding my skeleton in their room for a month," Morro aggressively twisted his wrench until the bolt was tightened. "Try it again, Pix!"

The nindroid hit the ignition, and the engine roared to life, causing the oil-smudged trio to cheer.

Then, of course, the Ninja ran in.

Morro threw some clean rags at their female counterparts, and they all cleaned any mechanical leakage off them before the three ripped the Ninja a new one.

"The truck!"

"It caught on fire!"

"Luckily, Zane put it out-"

"Why did it-"

Nya splashed their soot-covered faces with water, harshly cleaning off the debri before Morro dried them using the wind without remorse. By the end, the boys' hair stuck out at odd angles and was super frizzy. Kai freaked out over his "ruined hair".

"So," Nya silenced them all with a pointy glare, "did anyone read the instructions?"

The guilty glances, deafening silence, and the general "oh shit, we're screwed" look on their faces answered the question easily.

"Let me guess: you activated the boosters to make you drive faster, which overheated the engine and it caught fire. Then, the gas tank exploded, because you didn't notice the engine was on fire." Morro's eyes pierced into their souls, carefully picking them apart.

Zane nodded.

" 'Join the Ninja', he said," Morro grumbled, " 'it'll be fine', he said, 'they are smart, they wouldn't blow up an engine if you wrote it down in the instruction manual', he said."

The black and green haired person stomped over to the blue mech that Nya had fixed the circuitry on, and used a gust to place a piece of plating where it needs to go, then screwed and welded it on. The Ninja grimaced, and Pixal dragged them back to the vehicle to bring it back to the shop.

[temporarypenintraining]

EVEN. MORE. TEA SHOP AU STUFF. Season 10: -Aight here's where we actually start to diverge from canon. Kinda. I guess. I dunno. -Lloyd is NOT interested in working with Garmadon, even if he is the only person who could help them against the coming Oni horde ("Because hey, there WAS someone else who could've helped, but she's not here anymore. Who's fault is that, again?"). -The others convince him to very reluctantly work with Garmadon to try and get to the Realm Crystal and stuff, which of course doesn't work and they go for the Golden Armour instead, per the use. -There is a lot more bickering between Garm and Lloyd, but Garm is slowly starting to remember how they used to be and even feel sorry for, y'know, murdering the woman who raised his son. -Lloyd is two seconds away from going full Oni and pushing Garmadon off the boat at all times, ESPECIALLY after losing Cole. -Honestly the only reason I'm using Garmadon at all this season is because I need my Survivalshipping to happen. Please allow me this indulgence. -Lloyd is actually slightly tempted to join the Oni army for a minute there because he's not in a great place right now. -He's also very tempted to take the FSM's offer of leaving Ninjago and going to some mysterious "beyond" (which is probably just like, the VIP lounge of the Departed Realm or something), because, again, he's grieving and not in a great place right now mentally. -But alas, he decides that maybe staying in Ninjago might be okay, actually. He comes back to life and promptly leaves the Ninja team and Monastery to take over the tea shop. Season 11: -Now is when we throw canon partially out the window. -It's been a while since the Ninja team has seen any action, and they're lookin for a quest. Lloyd is of course absent from this because he's got a tea shop to run and he's pretty done with ninja-ing, emotionally. -Oh yeah I forgot to mention that Pixal does still become Samurai X, Nya is just sorta a samurai/ninja mix and doesn't use the SamX title. -Lloyd is just trying to run his tea shop but OF COURSE now there's fire snakes raining from the sky and according to that purple ninja kid, the Ninja have gotten themselves trapped in a pyramid. Because of course. He calls Wu to deal with it and goes back to his own business. -Next thing he knows, he gets a call telling him that Zane, being Zane, threw himself in front of a blast from an ancient powerful staff and now he's been disintegrated. Which is... just fantastic. -Literally less than a week later he gets ANOTHER call saying Zane is in fact NOT dead and uh, can we get some Traveller's Tea because we sent Pixal into a distant realm we know nothing about and Wu says she didn't take enough tea with her to get back. -So yeah Pixal goes after Zane in this AU. Anyway that's all I've really got for now but feel free to ask questions about whatever (please I need attention).

[oshawottarchive]

Fog and Bones - The Fall

Chapter Ten

Cole clutched his arm, trying to stop his bite wound from bleeding.

“We need to find you a bandage.” Jay commented, looking at his wound nervously.

Cole’s tail twitched, and he looked away self-consciously. “Y-yeah. I guess so.”

Jay smiled. “We’re gonna be okay, okay?”

“O-okay. . . .”

Jay looked around, thinking. “We’re gonna have to see if we can find some sort of vehicle to get to the monastery with.” He made a hmm noise. “But first we need to find some sort of shelter, since it’s starting to get dark.”

Cole perked up. “What about Mystake’s old tea shop? There wouldn’t be anyone there, right?”

“You’re right! It should be close by, too!” The two whipped around at the sound of a door opening.

*Crap.* Cole ran behind a bush, trying to hide himself. Dareth walked out of his karaoke club, followed by a young girl.

Jay glanced at them. “Oh, Dareth, Claire, hi.” He glanced back at where Cole was hiding. “Uh. . . How are you?”

Claire smiled. “Hey, Jay! How are you?” She followed his gaze, then looked back at him. “Um, you okay?”

“Of course! Haha, why wouldn’t I be?” He waved his hands frantically. “Uh, I should be going now, I’ll talk to you later.” He went and hid in the bushes.

He looked at Cole. “I think that went well.” Cole sighed. “Look, Jay. We can’t let anyone know about this, okay? One wrong move, and the whole city’ll find out.”

He looked confused. “How so?”

Cole shook his head, exasperated. “If one person finds out about me, there’s no way they won’t tell someone else. That could easily start a panic.”

“How do we even know if anyone actually knows what an Oni looks like? For all we know, everyone probably just immediately froze and didn’t even see anything.”

“Jay?” They both froze at Claire’s voice. “Who’re you talking too?” Cole clutched his wounded arm, tail tip buzzing with panic. “No one!” Jay scrambled to his feet. “Just me! Haha.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “/Sure/. Look, I know you’re hiding something, just tell me what it is. Dareth just left, I won’t cause you any trouble.”

“Says the person who stole Lloyd’s book which was /clearly/ hidden.” Cole hissed under his breath. “‘I won’t cause you any trouble’ my ass.”

Claire didn’t hear him. “Come on, Jay. I promise.” Jay hesitated, before saying, “I thought I saw an Oni over there.” He pointed off into a random direction, away from Cole. “Maybe we could take them prisoner, or something. . . .”

Claire smiled triumphantly. “Yes! On it!” She started running off in the direction Jay pointed too, and Jay ran back behind the bush. “Haha! She fell right for it!”

Cole glanced over, and noticed that Claire had slowed down. She clearly hadn’t fallen for it, and was only trying to convince Jay that she had.

*She’s gonna be causing us trouble, whether we like it or not. . . .*

Now that Claire was out of sight, Cole stood, stumbling slightly as he remembered how tall he was now. *Oni can shapeshift, right? Maybe I could fix this.* He stood stiff, eyes closed, willing himself to switch back into looking like a human, but nothing happened besides him feeling strained.

“What are you doing?” Jay asked. Cole sighed, opening his eyes again. “Nothing. Anyway, we should go get ourselves cleaned up.” He started in the direction of Mystake’s tea shop, keeping too the shadows, which wasn’t very hard with the sun almost all the way down.

Jay followed, glancing around nervously, although he made no effort of hiding himself whenever they passed someone.

Cole, of the other hand, retreated into the darkness of building corners every chance he got, not willing to be seen. Thanks to his dark Oni fur, hiding was easy despite his height.

Eventually, after what felt like a century, they reached Mystake’s. The two went inside, only to find it full of Oni smoke. . . .

[domi-scu]

Lake Sevan

Since our train plan didn't work out, the only plan was to figure things out in the morning. Thankfully none of that was on me as Josefa found a bus from the city centre that was surprisingly easy to find as I arrived first and got out of the taxi right next to the bus with the correct number. And when I say bus, I mean a minivan. I figured I’d ask about the price etc while waiting for him so I checked with the driver if he’s going to Sevan.

He nodded but lead me over to another van that was already moving and said it’s that one. Odd- we still had 15min before it was meant to leave so I asked if it’s the one leaving at 11 to which he explained that no, it’s leaving right now. Ummm, no sir, I’m still waiting for a friend! Apparently that was ok and the van would wait- good thing no one is too bothered about the correct schedule around here I guess?

To other passengers’ relief, Josafa arrived not 10 minutes later and we were on our way. I ended up sitting backwards facing a crowd of people (always fun), and him in the front. Both of us without seat belts- obviously. No one else from his band joined us because as it turns out, Ruben returned really late last night when everyone was already asleep and he got locked out. Eli felt bad so she stayed behind to keep him company whenever he eventually woke up after he spent half his night looking for a hostel.

The ’bus’ was certainly an experience. The poor thing struggled going up the first hill on the motorway- always a good sign when you’re travelling to a town with altitude of 2000m above sea level. The guy had a plan though because he was then using the momentum of going down a hill to get up the next one and lemme tell you... Going down 120km/h in a van where you’re not entirely sure if the breaks work is interesting. The views were great though and unlike in the taxis, I did not get any motion sickness and there was no need for the little plastic bag I packed with me ‘just in case’!

Sevan seemed to be just a tiny town with no much happening so we stopped at a shop to get some snacks and grabbed a taxi to the lake. The driver had a seat belt and I really enjoyed seeing how he made use of it. Firstly, he pulled it across himself and just held it there while we drove past the police. Secondly, lemme just explain that there are places where people can make U turns on motorways around here. A little unnerving when you’re not used to it but they don’t seem to get busy enough to be too concerning. But it was amusing to see the driver pull the seat belt across him again while making the U turn- certainly not because of the police this time because there was none so my only assumption is that it was perhaps for safety?? Not sure how since he didn’t actually put it on properly but A for effort I guess??

Our first steps lead to the monastery on the hill which had a great view of the massive, and I mean MASSIVE lake. I would have loved to see more parts of it because this place felt like the main ‘touristy’ spot so I’m sure other spots are even more beautiful. I was a much bigger fan of the creepier little room in the monastery rather than what seemed to be the ‘main’ one- go figure.. On the way down, I managed to grab some souvenirs for Alex and my parents- who knew finding a damn bell for my mum would be so much work! We topped it off with a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice which was great but so sour and we definitely got ripped off on the price but hey, how often do I get this kind of thing at home?

Josefa really wanted to go for a swim and while I wasn’t that keen (the water was cold), I at least rolled up my trousers and stood in the water sipping on my juice while he did his thing. While taking a little walk after, I realised this place definitely felt like a holiday destination with a few hotels around but it was also giving an odd ‘place by the lake where I used to go with my grandparents as a kid’ vibe. Like very low budget and… well… very post-soviet, no other way to explain it. It was also giving a really weird sort of nostalgia which was unexpected.

We walked all the way to some sort of parking lot (and I think bus stop?) and agreed it was a good time to get a taxi back to Sevan and start figuring out our way back to Yerevan. The first taxi we called refused to take us because it didn’t make him enough money but thankfully, the second one was fine. He dropped us off right next to a bus to Yerevan which was about to leave. Are we really that lucky? I’ll take it! Unlike the one in the morning, this one was pretty much empty and the drive felt much quicker, with the views just as good as they were on the way there.

We parted way after getting off as we both needed to get ready for another round of events tonight. I was gonna go back to the hotel but ended up having lunch in town instead. And man, how did they make the tomatoes taste so good? Seriously… Damn tomatoes on a pasta. I don’t think I’ve eaten a meal I didn’t like around here. To keep it going, I also stopped at a tiramisu place (with 12 kinds of tiramisu!) and got the pistachio one.

Tonight’s panel was just a street over from the Cascade which I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing yet so I stopped by it on the way there. And well, since I’m already here, I might as well take the stairs all the way up, right? It didn’t look all that bad. I started regretting my life choices around halfway up but I was already committed and despite the heat, I made it up. My legs certainly suffered a lot more on the way down- google says there is around 500 steps and this combined with the walk up a hill to the monastery earlier, it added up to 66 floors according to my watch. My poor poor calves.

I partially recovered during the panel which was not relevant to my current job but interesting nonetheless- I need to go through the materials that Simon shared as some will probably come in handy even to me at some point. It was really interesting to hear Stefan’s point of view. He recently left Russia and has now been organising festivals/ showcases in Croatia. I did appreciate the point he made about considering your morals when asking for funding as an artist (or just anyone working in music). He linked it to the fact that he never took anything from the Russian government because what they have done in Ukraine has been coming for a while and he did not want to be associated with them. Lot of respect, man.

We then headed back to the Cascade for an open air concert of Marine Manasian I did not see the stage in the first instance so I just sat at the bottom of Cascade thinking that someone will eventually show up. Until Angela (from Dailo) joined me a little later on- turns out she also didn’t know where exactly we were going. We tried walking into the building which was kind of… inside? of Cascade and took an escalator up. Excuse me- it would’ve been nice to know there was an escalator when I was walking up the damn thing in 35°C.

About halfway up I realised that Alex (guy working for the event) mentioned it’s gonna be at the bottom so we must be going the wrong way. We walked out and took the stairs down (my poor, poor legs…) just as the music started and it became much easier to find. Marine was brilliant and so much fun! It started raining towards the end of her set (along with some lightning) so one of the fans got on the stage with her to hold an umbrella over her laptop and the weather didn’t deter anyone from staying until the end.

Just as I was walking away, I noticed Ruzanna, Eli, Ruben and Angela in a restaurant around the corner so I joined them and ordered an iced tea. Good thing I did because we were gonna walk to the next venue but by the time I finished my drink, it started raining like crazy. And while the streets flooded so that they resembled a river and the lightning was loud and all over the place, I was loving every damn minute of it. It was still nice and warm enough that we could sit on the terrace (although further away from the edges to avoid an unwanted shower). It did take a good while to get a taxi after that as everyone in the city tried to get one and the traffic went standstill in places due to the flooding. When we finally got one, it sure felt like we were on the boat with how high the water was. The sight of the drains on the street turning into (smelly) fountains was also something to behold.

We watched the last gig of the day and with Ruben and Eli wanting to call it a night, I decided to take a short walk with them before heading back to the hotel. We walked through couple of streets that have lost power and the (kind of) surprising thing was how safe it still felt. To the point that one of the little stalls selling flowers left all their stuff out overnight because I assume people wouldn’t steal it? London could never.

[movie-s-alter-egos]

Chapter 1: Burning Legs.

Our run was definitely surprising. Wu was way faster than I could be and barely was out of breath himself. Good thing I brought my inhaler for emergencies, Jesus Christ. I didn't know I was that slow! At this point, I wasn't doubting that he was actually my teacher and not some random stranger picking me up off the street. "Can... Can we take a break here?" I huff and heave as he opens the door and I walk in quickly to sit on the lobby bench. "Yes. Take as much time as you need."

I gasp out in relief and sit on a chair by the entrance of the shop, taking in several gulps of water. I was sweating a lot, my shirt was soaked. Goddamn.

"For Wu." The older man spoke up by the shop's counter, an older lady on the other side with a straw hat like his and a gray sweater. "Of course, let me get the package." She answers with a high, grumpy voice. I take a few puffs of my inhaler and watch the two interact while I try to breathe normally. "What did you get?" I wheezed and Wu smiled at me with his hands together by his chest. "I ordered chamomile and mint. And a few extra special ones."

"Ooo, drugs?"

"No."

"Here you go, for Wu," The woman came back with a package the size of my torso in her arms, and my eyes widened in surprise and horror. I'm probably going to be carrying that, aren't I?? "What the f- just a few extra??"

---

And I was right. We were already back at the bottom of the stairs and I groaned out loudly in burning pain before almost falling on my butt, catching myself and huffing. "Okay I need a break again, I'm sorry-"

"Oh no worries, take your time." The package was taken from my hands and Wu starts walking up the stairs like it was the lightest thing, and I gawk at him as I sat on the ground. "H-holy fuck..." 

And I sat there for 10 minutes in shock and denial of what just happened, drinking from my water like I was hallucinating without it. 

"Y-" I scream out with a jolt when someone spoke next to me and I turn my gaze while leaning away from the source. It was Wu. I muttered an apology after sighing and he just gives me a smile before walking in the opposite direction of the stairs. "Uh... Where are you going?" Didn't we just get back? "I'm grabbing some students who need to be picked up." He can do that?

"Okay... You want me to come with?" Please say no, I'm exhausted! 

"No no, you can head back inside and take a needed nap or break." Wu notes while walking away and I exhale with high relief. "Okay.." I whisper and get up on my feet after a minute, climbing up the hundred stairs to get to the monastery. Can you guess how long that took? Forever! My legs hurt so bad! I leaned on the big front doors and tried to catch my breath before opening them with a light push and scooting to my room after closing the front with some struggle. I muttered curses as I entered my new room and landed forward to land on the bed with a puff and I try to relax face first.

Which really worked out, everything is feeling numb.... I'm going to get muscle cramps later, shit.

---

Wakey wakey...

I groan softly and kept my eyes closed when I felt my shoulder being shook. "Ngh... What, Parker?" It's my brother bugging me, isn't it? I hear a weirdly familiar chuckle and my shoulder is shaken again. "What?!" I whine and sit up with a grunt. God damn it, my legs are burning!! FUCK!

"It's time to wake up," someone pats my arm and I open my eyes, glancing at the hand on my limb and my gaze moving up to their face. "Uh..." Is this someone I know? Darker skin tone, black hair, brown eyes. "... AGH!" I jump up when my brain finally registers danger and I scoot away from the male. "What the hell are you doing in my room!!?" The male chuckles again with a soft smile like he didn't just invade my privacy. "Sensei told me to check on you. You haven't woken up in hours." Sensei? Wait, where am I?... Oh... Shit, I forgot. "Wu asked you to check on me?" I mumble and the stranger nods with a shrug. "Who are you?"

"The name's Cole, and you?"

"You look like a Cole." I mutter with some sass. He actually looks like Cole from Ninjago, no way. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" He grumbles in the same voice as that character and crosses his arms. Wow, coincidence! "Nothing, just get out, I'm okay," I say with attitude and swing my legs over the bed with a hiss. Seems like I'm going to suffer for the rest of the day. "What's wrong?" The male asks with what I think was genuine concern when I made that noise and I huff. "Just my legs, I exercised them too much for my liking. What time is it?"

"1 pm." I gawk for a second and huff. "No wonder I'm starving," I mumble and get up, walking out of my room and my legs on fire. The stranger follows me out and we head over to the dining area. And of course he's taller than me, the perks of being 5 foot 2.

"Ah, DaKota, Cole, good afternoon. Lunch is almost ready to be served," Wu calls from across the room by the kitchen and I make a noise of some type of annoyance. Jeez, he should have woken me earlier so I could make the food, I can cook and do other stuff. I don't want to be exercising all the damn time. "I will be making a schedule of who makes lunch and dinner for each mouth, just so we all have the responsibility and chance to share food culture and tastes." Now that I can agree. I wait for Cole to sit down first before I find a seat for myself. I don't want to get in anyone's way or piss them off. "What are we having for lunch today, Sensei?" I can't believe he's already calling this guy his sensei.

"Just some simple rice, vegetables and beef to have an easy start." Oh hell yeah! I have been missing that! I grin widely to myself when Wu announces the meal and Cole lets out a simple yay. Childish much?

I'm a hypocrite. 

"So, your name is Dakota, right?" Cole turns to face me across the table and I nod. "Yeah, and you're Cole. You remind me of someone though." I start and Wu glances at us. "Getting along already?"

"We haven't even started," I grumble and Cole laughs. "I think we are. Hey, how old are you, anyway?"

"Do you know it's rude to ask a females age?" I smirk and wave it off when he makes a face of guilt. "I'm just joking. I'm 19-"

Cole spits out a drink I didn't see him have before and he looks at me with shock. "Nineteen??! I thought you were 14 or something!"

"Jesus Christ, I'm not that short."

"Who's Jesus Christ?"

Now it's my time to freeze. "Y... You don't know Jesus Christ?" I ask with concern and Wu chuckles from his spot, giving us a bowl each of rice and beef. Damn, this is a first.

Word Count: 1273

[angry-princess-nightshade]

Voices Pt.1 [A Peculiar Discovery]

Welcome to the first part of Voices. This is my most worked on story and the one I am most passionate about. Please excuse any spelling mistakes that may or may not have slithered in there.

Minor warning for some foul language in there. Take care, and have a good one!

-Princess Nightshade

______________________________________________________________

Nya (POV)

I blast a wave of water from my palm straight into my brother's face. Successfully keeping his fire away, plus throwing him off his balance. That gave me just the advantage I needed to get him to the ground with one well-aimed kick.

With that, our spar was over. And so was training for the day. The guys and I go to our rooms to change before all going off to do our own thing. I heard from Lloyd that Zane and him were going grocery shopping for dinner tonight. I watched Kai and Jay play video games from the couch. Cole sat next to me, trying to focus on the pages of his book.

He wasn't really reading, just picking at his nails. Anyone who cares to know Cole will know that this is a sign he is either stressed, nervous, or annoyed.

Judging by the noise Kai and Jay are making, I'll guess it's the third option. After, maybe the eighth round of Fist to Face 2, things change.

"Ok, I've had enough." Cole places his book beside his lap, getting up from the couch. "If anyone needs me, I'm going to the woods."

With that, he pulls up his hood, quickly exiting the Monastery. Before anyone can even say bye. After a couple more rounds of watching Kai rage quit, I decide I've had enough too, and hurry off to my room.

The silence of my bedroom is deafening compared to the chaos of my brother and boyfriend. Quiet is usually something I crave. Between all our missions and living with five boys, I find that fairly reasonable.

But this quiet is different. Unsettling even. With its presence comes a bad feeling. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't know. Maybe my mind is just playing games with me.

But still. You can never be too cautious. 

______________________________________________________________

Cole (POV)

Oh, thank god. I really needed to get out of there. Jay and Kai are great and all. I don't know. Sometimes they're just a little too much for me, you know?

Anyway, it's nice to be out in the woods again. I've been meaning to check out this area for awhile now. I just never got around to it. What with being a ninja and everything. I'm not complaining however. I love being a ninja. I got to meet all these great people. And besides, it totally beats becoming a dancer.

I wandered deeper into the woods. This part has always looked fascinating to me, but I was never brave enough to go inside. I know, it sounds stupid. I fight hoards of Serpentine, Skeleton warriors, pirates, and I'm scared to wander too deep into the woods.

I realize that I'm a ninja. That I'm an Elemental Master. That I know Spinjitzu! But still, anything can happen. Even to the strongest people. Thoughts like that have always kept me away. But today, it's also what pushes me towards it. If I can do all of that, then what am I so afraid of?

The trees engulf my body, so close it feels suffocating. I’m pretty sure I spot a clearing through the branches. I push myself forward. The branches, although many of them, bend easily as I force myself through. I finally make it through and-

Holy shit.

I gaze up at the sight before me, wondering why on earth it’s here of all places. A huge building -no, not building, a church maybe- takes up the clearing. It’s so tall, it forces its way through the tallest of trees. Its stone walls are covered with a thick layer of moss and brambles. It has a wooden door, that I can see was once painted red, ever so slightly ajar. As if inviting me inside.

But who would construct a church in a place like this? Surly no one would come all the way out here to a place of worship. It all seems terribly inefficient. But then again, this place looks like it was deserted for years. It's very possible that all this dense wood was never here when this place was constructed.

It seems my feet carry me without my consent. My free will, stripped from my body. Before I'm even aware of it, I'm standing at the door. Halfway off its hinges. The paint on the door is barely visible, scratched to pieces. The wood looks like it would give me a splinter, even if I simply were to lightly graze my hand over it. I peek inside the building, which is trashed beyond belief. It looks like a college rager aftermath. Just that it reeks of the smell of mold.

Suddenly an eerie sound invades my ears. It's almost like a high pitch squeal of sorts. It's coming from inside the structure. It makes me dizzy. I want to stop hearing it.

Yet, why do I feel strangly addicted to this feeling?

Feeling disoriented, I force myself to walk into the door. Not taking any notice of how it shuts behind me.

______________________________________________________________

So how'd you all like it? I really hope you did. I had such an amazing time writing this. I can't wait to share with you the rest of the series. :) Sorry if Pt. 1 is a little short.

Your's Truly

-Princess Nightshade

[chaozsilhouette]

Turbulent Beginnings

This forms the opening act to Macaque’s story, showing just how different his and Wukong’s early lives were and why he took Wukong’s disappearance so hard.

The idea Macaque was born from the wind was inspired by @animemoonprincess. And yes, I am a shameless fan of Macaque originally having white fur. The angst is just too perfect.

Brace yourselves, this isn’t going to be pretty. I am essentially shoving our boy through an emotional meat grinder.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

On a remote island, a day’s travel from China’s eastern shore, a massive hurricane raged as it had since the beginning of this world. The surrounding storms fed into it as its winds carved stone. No life had dared blossom on its soil out of fear of a painful demise. The merciless storm drank deeply of the waters of the sea, draining all aspects of potential and life before casting it aside. Not even curious spirits were spared.

Various deities had wondered why such a storm existed or why the Jade Emperor allowed such a dangerous presence to continue unchecked. Most believed that since the hurricane was stationary and prove no threat to the established order of the world, it was not important.

One day the hurricane vanished. As though it had never existed. Or rather that it had been transformed into something else.

It was the night of a new moon and with the hurricane gone, the island experienced its first cloudless sky. The only one to witness the momentous occasion was a monkie with pure white fur and six ears. Minding his manners, the nameless monkie bowed to the four winds in greeting.

The newborn proceeded to spend his days searching the island for something. Some clue as to the reason behind his birth. He could hear strange voices and words he didn’t understand yet at the same time could. He knew he wasn’t the only creature alive, so why was he alone?

For food, he walked his way through a cave system towards the sea, where he enjoyed the fish that were drawn in through the whirlpools and the mussels that clung to the sharp rocks. He grew to savor the taste of life, even though there was a part of him that craved something different.

Almost forty years passed before he mustered the courage to leave everything he knew to seek out those voices. He gathered all the driftwood and rope that had drifted onshore over the decades, fashioned it into a makeshift raft, and sailed towards the closest source of voices.

His voyage was actually pretty boring once he cleared the whirlpools.

The only exciting part about it was when that strange fish tried to sink his raft. It was bigger than any fish he’d previously seen with a mouth to match. Didn’t mean it survived past the first blow. Taking a bite Macaque wasn’t sure if he liked this fish. The muscles were tough and the flesh was rough on his tongue. He didn’t particularly like the taste. But there was enough to feed him for a full day.

In the end, he chose to eat a third of the fish’s muscles along with its heart before tossing back into the water.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

Docking on dry land was an experience that would haunt him for years.

At first, he was filled with wonder at the sight of buildings and new creatures riding rafts far bigger than his.

When he stepped onto shore the whispers began.

The creatures, who he later learned were called humans, were pointing out his ears. They acknowledged his obvious intelligence. He heard them grip wooden instruments tightly. It was as if they expected him to do something.

No one made a move against him. No one approached him, but he could tell he wasn’t wanted. Everywhere he turned he saw eyes that cursed his every existence.

He didn’t stay in that village for long. In his mind, satisfying his curiosity wasn’t worth being stared at as though he was the source of all evil.

Demon.

That is what they called him. Was that what he was?

He didn’t know, but he didn’t like it.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

He aimlessly wandered the countryside for far too long.

The first act of kindness he received was from a couple who could not have children of their own. He stumbled upon them by accident, but instead of the normal fearful expressions he’d come to expect they greeted him with genuine smiles and an offer to join them for dinner.

They took him in and treated him like family. He became the son they always wanted. They taught him how to properly speak and how to walk comfortably on two limbs. They blessed him with a name.

They were kind and nurturing. In another world, they may have been called bodhisattvas. But sadly, due to them being ordinary mortals, his time with them only lasted four decades.

He buried them with love but grew resentful of his weak emotions.

He learned what it was like to have someone welcome him home after a long day. He learned to savor the taste of a mother’s home-cooked meal. He enjoyed having a father figure who was willing to teach him old military tactics. He experienced friendly competitions to see who could paint the most accurate portrait of a flower they saw earlier that day. It was everything he never knew he craved and then it was gone. Leaving him with an empty home and a broken heart.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

Nearly fifty years later he joined a band of traveling performers.

Their natural oddities allowed them to see who he really was and welcome him into their party. With their compassion, he was granted the opportunity to heal. He learned that despite the group’s large size, very few of them had any direct blood relations. What made them special was how they created their own family and turned what many called strange into something beautiful. Out of respect, he delved into the world of entertainment, found he had a natural talent for it.

When he took the stage people assumed he was in costume, but that didn’t matter. The applause of the audience was a gift he cherished. The sheer passion this family expressed through every second in life warmed his heart beyond words. They were just what he needed to bring him out of his depression.

Alas, it was not meant to stay.

One night their camp was ambushed by a group of demons. They were nothing special, hardly worth mentioning. But for him, back then, it was a fight he never imagined. He could easily handle human bandits, so could his family, but never had he traded blows with a small army of his fellow demons. With the rising of the sun, Macaque stared at the cruelly bright sky covered in blood. All around him bodies lay scattered, life essence soaking into the ground. Despite being tasked with fighting off nearly five dozen demonic opponents he managed to survive with barely a scratch, but he was alone. Again.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

He tried to change things by sticking to his fellow demons. At least they lived longer.

Somehow that ended up with him becoming the apprentice to a demon healer for almost a century. She was a cold-hearted bitch with a heart of gold. Meticulous in her work, masterful in deduction, and short-tempered with the foolish. She gave everything to her practice and expected the same from him. It was bitter work, but he found it fulfilling. The knowledge that he now possessed the ability to restore others to peak condition settled some unknown part of his soul.

Of course, they would have visitors who wished to take advantage of her skills or steal the medicine. Between the two of them, they protected their clinic, but they weren’t always together. While she may try to hide it, she wasn’t the strongest demon out there. Apparently, the entire reason she got into medicine was to uncover why she was so weak. Centuries of research turned up nothing, but it did make her incredibly skilled at using poisons with her knives to compensate.

One day after he returned from gathering ingredients, he pulled back the door to find the shop in disarray, five unknown bodies slowly dying of extensive blood poisoning, and his master bleeding out from her severed arms. She always said she had no intention of entering Naraka alone.

Guess she kept her word.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

The cycle repeated itself over centuries. He would experience a brief window of happiness only for it to be savagely stolen from him, leaving him to mourn and curse his weak heart.

The small glimmers of kindness humanity showed him only made him curse their race even harder when he couldn’t walk into a village without being harassed. The humans who had proven stronger were sadly a rare breed. He was rare to encounter one a century and often they perished at the hands of their kind rather than by demons.

There were times when the ignorance had gotten so bad he’d taken to traveling with a constant glamour, disguising himself as an average human. Whenever he was in the presence of other demons, he allowed his true form to manifest, however, he made it look like he only had a single pair of ears. Standing out was the easiest way to wind up in a complicated situation he had no interest in trying to defuse.

That’s not to say his time was wasted.

Quite the contrary, he had learned much during his travels. He could hardly be compared to the happy young monkie, who was ignorant of the dangers and hardships this world held. In a sad attempt to fill the void, Macaque sought out wisdom and strength. He located masters of both the mystic and martial arts. He may have had to lie about his age, he was becoming quite the accomplished liar, but the results were more than worth it. With every stop, he found himself growing more certain of his strength and his identity.

Eventually, he discovered a strange monastery hidden in a cave in the face of a mountain.

He had never seen anything like it during his travels. But what truly drew his attention was the feeling the temple exuded, every stone exuded a strange aurora. Something powerful dwelled within, powerful yet there was an undeniably human quality to it all.

Hiding beneath his usual glamor, Macaque approached the temple with the desire to discover exactly what was being taught. Before he knew what was happening, he was speaking to the immortal sage who was running the joint. Master Subhuti welcomed him to his home and offered some tea. The disguised monkie was bombarded by dozens of questions, all of which he attempted to answer as though he was a normal human.

The master welcomed him as his newest disciple and showed him his new home. Later he learned the master could see through his disguise and sensed his potential. Apparently, the old immortal believed that the monkie would do well to learn his disciplines and he was fascinated by the monkie’s natural talent.Said something about how with proper guidance only the Buddha would be able to peer past his façade.

The monkie even received a new name to celebrate his rebirth. From that day forward he was Liu’Er Mihou, or the Six-Eared Macaque. He liked it. While he cherished the name his first family gifted him, he felt this was a good sign. A tribute to show that he was a changed monkie.

Regardless, he refused to drop his glamor. He had seen too many demons be cast out and attacked for getting sloppy. The other students were not thrilled about the newcomer showing them up and he wasn’t willing to give them a true reason to despise him. He learned quickly, more so than any other human disciple, but that put him at odds with those who were still struggling after years of training.

Macaque distanced himself from the others. They weren’t that interesting anyway. He didn’t care that they talked about him behind his back or were fully aware he could hear them. He couldn’t risk getting close so soon. He was determined to break the cycle. He didn’t care about immortality. He didn’t care about obtaining power. All he wanted was to end the pain. So far things had been working out in his favor.

Then heshowed up…

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

That trice damned monkie with peach-colored fur and markings like a golden mask. He was so naïve about the world. He treated everything as though it was some exciting game. His upbeat energy made Macaque sick. Some twisted part of him wanted to snap his neck just to end it, but a small part was fascinated by it. The other monkie reminded him of a time he had almost forgotten.

The Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, didn’t bother hiding his true appearance. Truthfully, Macaque wasn’t sure he knew how or that he should. He didn’t seem to notice how other students would keep their distance or how they kept their conversations as brief as possible without crossing the threshold into being considered rude.

He was so earnest and happy, it was painful. The new monkie pestered everyone about everything, it was like dealing with a newborn, but it seemed Macaque was his favorite to bother. The worst part was how he stared at Macaque as though he could peer past his glamour. Although Macaque wasn’t sure if that was truly possible. The Master could, but he dedicated centuries to refine his skills. Wait. How old was this annoyance? Perhaps he could smell he wasn’t like the other disciples.

Either way, he knew it was just a matter of time until the truth got out. He just didn’t expect it to be when he was changing.

Each student was offered a meager room for privacy. They were all the same size and offered little to no space for any customization, but the walls were enchanted to cut out sound whenever the doors were closed.

Behind those flimsy walls was the only time Macaque allowed his glamor to drop. While he valued being cautious, even he couldn’t keep up the glamour indefinitely, much less when he was asleep.

It was in that small space of safety that he discovered he wasn’t alone.

He had just allowed himself to relax when a smiling face covered in peach fuzz was shoved into his own.

“I knew it! You’re like me.” Sun Wukong happily exclaimed, stars practically dancing in his eyes.

“Shut up.” Macaque clamped his hand over the other’s mouth. Checking to ensure no one else was present and the door was shut, he faced the intruder. “Have you told anyone?” He hissed, while berating himself for failing to check the ceiling. You always look up when scanning a room, he knew that.

“Nope. Why are you hiding? You’re beautiful.” The cheerful demon spoke as though they were old friends. His golden eyes took in every hair of his fellow monkie’s true appearance.

“I’m a demon. And there is nothing beautiful about me.” Macaque growled.

“Yes, there is.” Wukong insisted. “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you hiding? The Master let me in, I wager he knows about you, so why?”

Sighing, Macaque massaged the bridge of his nose. “I have been hurt enough times to know keeping a low profile is optimal in survival. It is better to keep one’s head down than risk getting called out.” From observation, he knew the newer student wouldn’t leave until he received answers, so the best option was to just give him what he wanted and pray he knew enough to leave.

“That’s no fun.” Wukong stuck his tongue out in distaste. “You shouldn’t have to hide who you are. We were born this way.” He jumped high into the air only to catch himself on his tail with a cheeky grin. “So, they’ll just have to deal with it.”

“Cute speech. But my answer is no. Now leave.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll fix that attitude right up.” Thankfully Wukong left, but not before sending a smile laced with mischief his way. “See you tomorrow.”

Macaque prayed to every deity that would be the end of it. But even he knew it was a futile attempt.

“Do you have a tribe?” Wukong asked, hanging by his tail from Macaque’s favorite tree.

A startled Macaque blinked at the random question. “A what?”

“A tribe. A family. A place to call home?” Wukong asked smoothly even if he wasn’t familiar with the term family until recently he knew it was important.

“Not anymore.” Glaring Macaque returned his focus to his meal.

“Aw.” Wukong knew that look. He had seen plenty of monkeys wear that arura after watching other tribe members die. “Then you should come with me!”

“What?”

“Yeah. You can join my tribe. There are dozens of us back home. Plenty of food and water, you’ll constantly be surrounded by others like us.”

“Other demons?”

“No.” Wukong smiled as though he told a funny joke. “Other monkeys.”

“There is no reason for me to join you.” Macaque stated, wishing he could finish his lunch in peace.

But Wukong wasn’t letting him go that easily. “And there’s no reason for you to refuse.” He stated, ignoring any and all social cues or common sense for respecting personal space.

It went on like that for years. Every day Macaque would awake to find gold eyes staring at him, waiting for his answer to change. Breaks were spent dodging the hyperactive monkie as he tried to eat alone. Training sessions soon found him sparring with the same partner.

The monkie was stubborn no doubt and Macaque feared his actions were slowly breaking down his walls. The pale furred monkie missed having a connection. He adored being able to talk to others, but whenever he opened up he only got hurt.

But maybe, maybe this time could be different…

Wukong was training to obtain immortality. He had already proven to be stronger and more clever than anyone he’d known. The simian showed that he wanted to know him better. He constantly tried to touch his fur, something he called grooming, which felt pretty nice.

Maybe…maybe this time he could truly have a home.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

A streak of light accompanied by a sharp whistle pierced the night sky. For a brief moment, it vanished before exploding in a beautiful display of color and light.

On the monastery’s rooftop, Wukong backflipped in joy at the sight, his golden eyes wide. “Happy New Year!” The monkie cried. In the village below, he could make out dozens of voices echoing the greeting.

It didn’t matter how many times he saw them, fireworks were a sight he always adored. “This has got to be mankind’s greatest invention!” The flowers of fire were simply too beautiful. So unique. Nothing on Flower Fruit Mountain compared to such beauty, it made him thankful he decided to leave.

From the corner of his eye, Wukong noticed that his companion was clutched his ears wincing with every detonation. “You okay, bud?”

“I’m fine. Just loud.” Macaque said. He was truly questioning his sanity by joining Wukong on the roof. Normally he barricaded himself in his room, but his friend was so thrilled about sharing their first New Year together he couldn’t say no.

“Oh.” Somehow the new set of fireworks didn’t look that attractive. “We can go inside if you want.” They were beautiful, but nothing was worth feeling helpless as his friend curled up in pain.

“I’ll be fine. I’m adjusting to the volume. No different than punches that break the sound barrier, right?” Macaque tried flashing a confident grin to varying success.

Wukong suspected that Macaque was lying, but learned enough to know further prying would just cause the other monkie to simply shut out the world. “I’m glad you’re coming with me.”

“You made a persuasive argument.” Anyone who could harass him for nearly five years straight proved their determination.

Wukong playfully stuck his tongue out. “Hehe…Seriously though, I’m happy you chose to be part of my tribe. No one should be alone.”

“Then why have I been for so long.”

“I doubt even Master knows. But you won’t be able to say that anymore.” Wukong wrapped his arms around his best friend. Pulling him close, Wukong faced the fireworks, unconsciously grooming Macaque as he savored every pop of color.

Beneath those gentle digits, Macaque steadied himself against the soothing heartbeat of the one he slowly learned to trust. As the display continued, the pale monkie learned to appreciate the human’s creations. Turns out they weren’t so bad so long as you have the right company.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

“I’m sorry. You’re what?!” Macaque’s response was perfectly justified. There was no way he just heard what he thought he heard.

Wukong flashed a blinding grin. “I’m heading to the Celestial realm. I’ve been given a position in Celestial Bureaucracy.” Not seeing any problems whatsoever.

“Why?” Just why? From everything he heard about those stuck-up deities, they would never hand over a position to anyone without requiring the completion of an impossible task, much less to a demon. Least of all a demon who has done nothing but terrorize others and unleash chaos whenever he went.

“Don’t know. But I got to go right now.” Wukong shrugged as he finished packing. The Gold Star of Venus was waiting just outside the waterfall.

“But what about Flower Fruit Mountain? What about your subjects? What am I supposed to do? How long are you going to be gone?” Macaque fired off a rapid stream of questions. Panic was beginning to take hold.

Wukong, however, was as calm and confident as ever. “Stop worrying so much. Look I’ll be back as soon as I can. Until then you’re in charge.” He finished as though it was obvious.

“Me!” A white tail nearly burst into twice its normal size in shock. “But I have no idea how to run a Court!”

“Neither do I. Not in the traditional sense at least. Look just keep an eye on things. Protect the monkeys from hunters and malicious demons. Sometimes one of the allied demon kings will ask for some help. It’s nothing you haven’t helped me with before. I’ll be back before you know it. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle things until I get back.”

Seeing his companion and good friend growing even more lost, Wukong closed the distance and took his face in both hands. “This is a good thing. If I can make this work, none of us will ever have to worry about being hunted or not having enough food ever again.”

In a snap, Macaque grabbed the king’s arms. “What if I don’t care about any of that? What if I just want you to stay?”

For the first time in their conversation, Wukong’s cocky attitude vanished replaced with a loving smile. Gently prying Macaque’s claws off his shirt, Wukong placed his cheek on a palm as he kissed the knuckles of another. “I can’t. This is too good an opportunity to pass up. This isn’t goodbye. I’ll keep in touch. The time will fly. We’ll make this work. Trust me.”

“Alright, Wukong. I trust you.” Macaque said, ignoring every fiber of his being that screamed this would end poorly.

“If things go wrong, remember I’m just a telepathic call away.” Summoning his cloud, Wukong back flipped onto it with his bag. “Monkey King, out!”

One sonic boom later and he was gone, along with a good chunk of the cave walls.

“Hpmh. That’s my idiot.”

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

How did this happen? How did this happen?!

One moment they were fighting for their lives against the army of the Celestial Realm and the next Macaque bore witness to Wukong being carted away in a diamond snare.

Now as he stared at the charred remains of what once was a growing village of monkeys, Macaque felt something within him change.

For almost two months he had burned in celestial fires. The sounds of the dead and dying rang out, making his namesake almost bleed. He choked on the ashes of the mortal monkeys. The air had a strangely sweet and bitter taste to it.

Macaque lost count of all the times he charged back into the fires to save as many heartbeats as he could. He wasn’t sure but he suspected he blacked out more than once. With every heartbeat that stilled before he could reach them, a part of him followed them into Yama’s realm.

Finally, the fires had died down. They didn’t have anything left to burn.

All around him he saw the pitiful leftovers of what was once a thriving community. He had treated the survivors the best he could, but he lost his medical equipment in the blaze. The only ones he didn’t have to worry about were the monkeys Wukong made immortal, but he did what he could to ease the pain.

But still, he wondered why…why were they staring at him as though they were confused?

Maybe he was overthinking everything. He just worked through 49 days without any sleep. Everything was stable for now. The best course of action was to wash off the ash and get some much-deserved rest.

There was nothing the Celestial Realm could do to Wukong that he couldn’t handle. Besides Macaque didn’t even know how to get there even if he was at full strength. Wukong couldn’t die so it was only a matter of time before someone tripped up allowing him to return home.

He just had to be patient.

Stepping into the clear river, Macaque’s jaw almost dropped as the water around him immediately turned gray. He didn’t realize he was that filthy.

He started scrubbing himself, ducking under the water to ensure he didn’t miss a spot. He had to move a few times due to the sheer amount of shoot and ash that clung to him. The entire cleaning process took a full hour before the water ran clear.

Stepping out, Macaque felt more refreshed than he ever remembered. Shaking to remove as much access water as possible, all the towels were soot so he had to make do, he paused by the waterside to see how much fur he lost. But what he saw met none of his expectations.

Instead of fur that invoked images of the moon, he was cloaked in the color of the darkest ink.

“What happened to me?”

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

Five hundred years.

Five hundred years he searched, for any trace of the legendary Five-Fingered Moutain Buddha used to trap Sun Wukong only to find nothing. Macaque scoured far and wide. Neither the winds nor the shadows could lead him towards his friend.

He picked fights with countless demons who claimed to witness the great Monkey King brought low. It barely took two punches before they broke down crying how it had been nothing but a lie, how they only repeated rumors.

He bargained for any information he could find, but all accounts claimed the mountain didn’t exist. Many refused to answer him on principle of not interfering with the Celestial Realm’s issues. Their last mistake. Others took Wukoong’s punishment as a sign to amass as much power as possible out of fear that they would be targeted next.

Macaque had witnessed the formation of more alliances and territory grabs in the past century than had been recorded in the last thousand years. Demons were becoming more power-hungry and suspicious, which meant even more trouble for the humans. Things were becoming so chaotic, Macaque had to wonder if it was planned.

But he couldn’t dwell on that.

He hadn’t visited Flower Fruit Moutain in years. His clones kept guard, but slowly he was losing the drive to keep replenishing them. The only reason he called that mountain home was because of Wukong. It wasn’t home without him.

But he had to keep looking. Had to keep trying. He would find his friend.

Somehow.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

He tricked himself into thinking this would be different. That he would no longer be alone. That finally he had found a family he could keep.

He was an idiot!

The truth was he was no different than anyone else. The world was Sun Wukong’s toy chest and Macaque was merely a shiny new trinket to bat around until he grew bored. Seeing him with that group, knowing that he chose them over their past, was too much.

He was sick of being left behind. He had been left alone so many times. What made him think he couldn’t be replaced?

He could have attacked, ripped their precious monk to pieces, he could have...should have...but he was tired.

Returning to Flower Fruit Mountain was a chore, but one he swore he would never complete again. The monkeys questioned his return, asking where their king was and if he’d return soon. Macaque ignored them all. He simply walked to the part of the manor he and Wukong had shared for years, where he had been waiting for his return.

Staring at all the knickknacks and souvenirs they had collected from their adventures, Macaque made up his mind. Grabbing a large sturdy bag, he swiftly packed his essentials. In another, he packed non-perishable goods and water containers.

Stepping out, a flash of something peach-colored caught his eye. Spinning around, hope burning a hole in his chest but his dreams once more were proved false. It was just the special peach tree Wukong had planted from the leftover pit he had saved from his time in the Celestial Realm. Apparently, it had reached maturity and was proudly bearing the first fruit Macaque had seen despite having been planted nearly half a millennia ago.

Macaque wasn’t sure why it was so special, Wukong just winked and said it was a surprise for when they could share a fresh one. Feeling something wet on his arm, Macaque looked down to see his hand stretched towards the tree and the memories he held. Feeling his cheeks, he realized he was crying, which was strange as he didn’t think he had any tears left.

Spurred by longing and spite, Macaque plucked six peaches from the tree and stuffed them into his bag. It wasn’t like Wukong was going to miss them. And he needed the food.

[themadlostgirl]

When It’s Cold

*Felix simps come get y’all juice!

The hyperfixation hit me hard and because I just have to add backstory and character development to every single request I get, this one shot request is another mini-fic. I do not know how long it is going to be but I am hoping to keep it under ten. I already have like 5 chapters written now. Also, Felix deserves some multi-chapter love dang it!*

Prompt: Reader and Felix are stuck in Storybrooke together. What will happen next? Spoilers: it’s feelings and fluff and a horny teenagers being stupid.

Requested by: anon

~~~

“I blame you.” Felix said.

“How is this my fault?” I retorted. Felix and I sat on the docks of Storybrooke overlooking the water.

“You’re the one that convinced me to come to Storybrooke with you. Now look what’s happened! Pan is dead and we have no way to get back to Neverland.”

“We’ll find a way back to Neverland.”

“And how do you figure that? There is no more shadow to ferry us, we have no magic bean, or any pixie dust to fly us back. We are stuck here!”

“Will you calm down?”

“You want me to be calm? How can you expect me to be calm after everything that has happened?”

“I don’t know but you panicking is not going to help us any. Storybrooke is the only town in this realm with magic. If there is a way to cross realms we will find it here so stop worrying so much and start brainstorming. Like you said, there is no more shadow so our reliable way of getting back is gone. Magic beans are scarce if any even still exist. So our only option is to find some method of transportation that can either fly us back or we become mermaids and swim through the realms. So we gotta sprout wings or gills. Ideas?”

“Well I can’t swim worth a damn so I guess we’ll need to find a way to fly.”

“No point staying here.” I got up, “We were fine camping in the woods but that’s not going to serve us well much longer. Winter is rolling in and neither of us have ever lived somewhere that wasn’t tropical and humid all the time so I don’t think we’ll survive long on our own out in the wilderness. We need to start looking into different housing options.”

“You sound like an adult.” Felix groaned.

“I hate it too but there’s not much else we can do unless we want to freeze to death. Come on,” I held a hand out to him, “The sooner we find someplace the sooner we can start dedicating our time to finding a way out of here.”

“I’m coming,” Felix stood up, ignoring my hand. We walked all around Storybrooke looking for someplace to hole up in. My main concern was having a place with heat which left a lot of the vacant houses out since their utilities were shut off. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that there were no fireplaces so starting a fire to keep warm was also out of the question.

It was getting late and our search had yielded nothing. I had a bad feeling that if we couldn’t find somewhere suitable through our own means we would have to resort to actually paying for housing somewhere. Which meant we would need money which also meant we would need to have jobs. Paying bills, having jobs, this was a nightmare!

We shuffled back to our camp and checked the traps we had laid for any game but only caught a small rabbit. Barely big enough for one person. Better than nothing at least.

As Felix roasted the rabbit over our fire I sighed, rubbing my arms to keep off the chill of the late autumn.

“You know what I’ve noticed these past couple days?” I said.

“Hm?” Felix hummed not bothering to look up.

“This is the first time in all the years we’ve known each other that we’ve ever really hung out.”

“Guess so.” Felix shrugged.

“Is that not strange to you? We’ve known each other for decades on Neverland. We hunted together, played together, fought together with the boys but this is the first time us two have ever been alone together. How do you not find that strange?”

“It’s not like I was close to everybody on the island.” He took the rabbit off the spit and cut it in two, “Besides, you were always off galavanting with Artie and Frank. What’s it matter if we ever hung out?”

“I guess it’s just making me wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

“Why you followed me here?” I answered as he handed me my half of our dinner. “You didn’t know that Pan had switched consciousness with that Henry kid until after we left Neverland. You could have stayed on Neverland with the other boys. You didn’t need to come with me when I asked you to. So why did you?”

“Let me ask you something,” Felix dodged around the question, “Why is it that you asked me to come with you in the first place? You had your friends on that ship already. Why take me along? Why is it that you’re roughing it in the woods with me when you have friends that are snug and cozy in that fairy monastery? Answer me that.”

“I--I--” The words were caught in my throat. Why had I asked Felix to come with me? I knew the answer lay deep in my gut but I couldn’t for the life of me bear to bring it to the surface. I bit into my rabbit with a small scowl.

Felix gave a small exhale before diving into his dinner as well. The conversation thoroughly ended. I curled up to go to sleep near the fire. Our only source of heat. I really did miss Neverland. I would deal with a million humid heat waves if it meant that I could be warm again.

Sometime during the night a gust of cold wind snapped me awake. I huddled in closer to myself trying to retain some warmth when I felt something being draped over me. I peeked an eye open and saw Felix lay down again and curled more into himself. I looked to see what he had done and realized he had draped his cloak over me. His only form of heat, thin as it was. I decided at that moment as I watched him violently shivering on the cold ground that I would gladly grow up a little and get a job if it meant we  would have somewhere warm to sleep tomorrow night.

The morning came and as casually as I could gave Feilx back his cloak. I made no mention of his generosity. I knew he wouldn’t appreciate you pointing out his selflessness for whatever reason. Too proud to accept my thanks.

We went back into town and I sent Felix off to find some cheap accommodations for us while I walked along main street and hopped into every store that I could looking for work. Unfortunately it looked like no one was hiring. Dejected and pissed after the tenth shop owner denied to even let me fill out one of their ridiculous applications I stole a handful of dollars from their tip jar. At the very least I could buy us a decent meal tonight.

We met up again outside of the diner. Felix had no luck finding a place to stay either. Everyone just shrugged him off. To my delight though he had the same idea as me and produced a wallet he had pickpocketed off the landlord he had spoken to. A couple of twenties tucked safely into the worn leather. We may not have anywhere warm to sleep tonight but at least we could get a hot meal.

We entered into the diner and immediately were met with stares. It was the same stare I got from everyone I asked a job from. I tried to shrug it off and sat down with Felix at the counter. We ordered two plates of the lasagna. The waitress was kind enough but everyone else at the counter moved away from us when it was evident that we were staying.

“Felix,” I whispered, “Is it just me or is everyone--”

“They don’t want us here,” he whispered back, “They’re not saying anything but they’re making it obvious enough. The reason no one will give us a job or let us live anywhere is all for the same reason. We were here for Pan and even though he’s gone they still don’t trust us. Just eat your food and we’ll go back to camp.”

“Do you think we have enough money to maybe spend just one night at the bed and breakfast?” I asked, hopeful.

Felix shook his head. “Even if we did I think we should be saving this for food since game is proving difficult to come by.”

“You’re right,” I stabbed into my lasagna. “It just gets so cold…”

We finished our meals quickly and left just as fast. At least I was more full than yesterday. We started on our way back to camp when I noticed a trail I hadn’t seen before.

“Where are you going? Camp is that way?”

“I know but I need to see something.” I told him as I started running down the other trail.

“Wait!” Felix ran after me. I kept huffing and puffing down the trail until it opened into a large field. In the distance was a huge house. A mansion by the looks of it.

“Whoa,” Felix said as he took in the sight of the mansion. “How did we miss this?”

“I don’t know. Let’s get a closer look.” We ran across the neatly trimmed lawn and hopped over the fence onto the mansion grounds. The lights were off inside. Whoever lived here was either gone or asleep. We checked the garage and found no car. Peeking in as many windows as we could it didn’t look like anyone was home.

“Should we?” I asked Felix. The temptation was too great. “Even if someone does live here it’s so big I doubt that they would even notice us staying here as well.”

“Let’s take a look.” Felix grinned. Strangely enough the front door was left unlocked. I tried the lights and was delighted when I realized that the electricity was working, there was running water too. Even better was that there was heat! Heat and dozens of bedrooms.

The place was so clean and orderly but yet there were no signs of it being lived in. No pictures on the walls. No food in the fridge. All the doors and windows were unlocked. There was a large kitchen, dining room, multiple rooms just for sitting in, a dozen bedrooms, and even a ballroom with a beautiful crystal chandelier. All the windows had the most spectacular views of the ocean or the mansion’s garden.

“This place is amazing!” I picked up a strange cylindrical paperweight with stars painted on top of it and tossed it in the air. “Felix, I don’t want to get our hopes up but I think we found a place for us to stay.”

“And you’re sure no one lives here?” Felix gazed around the room we were standing in.

“We searched all the rooms we came across and found no one. The place has been cleaned out of food or toiletries. Either whoever lives here desperately needs to go shopping or they just don’t exist.”

��You think we’re really that lucky?”

“I think we’re owed a bit of luck. Even if someone still does live here do you really want to spend the night shivering outside or spend a night wrapped up warm in a bed and run the risk of someone chasing us out in the morning?”

“You make a compelling argument.” Felix grinned, “Race you for the master bedroom!”

“Felix!” I chased after him as he went flying up the stairs. He got to the room first and flopped down on the large king-sized bed.

“I win! Go take one of the lesser bedrooms.”

“You only won cause you have those long lanky legs.” I flopped down beside him and sighed as I sunk into the soft mattress. “I don’t think I can move from here. It’s way too comfortable.”

“Too bad. My room.” He pushed me off.

“Hey!” I laughed as I stood back up. “Fine, you can have the master bedroom but only on the condition that you find us more money to buy food and toiletries. Got it?”

“Sounds good to me,” Felix stood too, eyeing the bathroom attached to the bedroom. “Soap or not I think I am going to indulge in a hot bath.”

“That does sound heavenly.” I haven’t had a hot bath in decades. “Have a goodnight, Felix. We go grocery shopping tomorrow.”

“Night,” Felix gave a wave as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

I left the room and wandered around the hall looking for a space of my own. I found a nice bedroom that felt just as grand as the master bedroom. I went into the bathroom and drew myself a piping hot bath. I nearly moaned when I sunk down into the water. Even if this lasts for only a night I’ll be happy. One night of warmth.

After my bath I wrapped myself in a large fluffy towel and went back into the bedroom. I really didn’t want to put my old dirty clothes on my clean body. I opened the dresser drawers hoping maybe the resident left behind some old clothes but they were all empty. I crept out of my room and checked the other guest rooms surrounding me but all their drawers were empty too. There was one place I hadn’t checked. If the owner did leave something behind it would probably be in the master bedroom. I glanced down at my towel with a grimace. It covers everything at least. I tentatively knocked on the door but was met with no answer. I cracked it open and sighed with relief when I saw no Felix in sight. He must still be in the bath.

I went to the dressers and, “Nothing? Really?!” I slammed the dresser shut again. How is it that there isn’t so much as a single shirt in this house?

“Why are you making so much noise?” Felix stepped out of the bathroom in a billow of steam. My throat went dry when I caught sight of him. Completely naked except for the towel hanging from his  hips and still dripping went. His blonde hair that usually hung in his face was brushed back opening his face up more. His torso had an array of scars I never knew he had before. That wet chest that was impressively chiseled…

I shot to my feet clutching to the towel covering me. “Sorry! I was just looking for some clean clothes.”

Felix gaze swept me up and down. He took a deep breath and grabbed something from inside the bathroom and tossed it to me. It was a fluffy white robe with a monogrammed M on the breast. “There.”

“Thanks.” I slid the robe on over my towel. “Anything else in there?”

“Nope. Just that one.” Felix turned away from me. His face looked red and I could only guess he was angry at me for barging in. “Now scurry back to your own room.”

“Right. Thanks.” I rushed back to my room, my heart hammering in my chest. That was certainly new. I never thought I would see that much of Felix. I mean why would I ever want to see his wet, practically naked, and not so shockingly buff body? No! Bad! Impure thoughts I should not be having about my...my…

Huh. What was Felix to me? On Neverland we were Lost Ones but that didn’t really fit here. I don’t know if I could exactly call us friends either. Roommates? Was that what we were now? We have been living together at our crappy camp all this time and now we’re staying in this mansion together. I guess that’s what we would call one another. Roommates.

I dropped my towel and pulled the clean robe tighter around me. My thumb traced over the M stitched on the breast. This house has no food, no toiletries, no clothes, not a single photo on any wall but yet there was a single monogrammed robe. Who was M? Who had lived here?

Those were questions for the morning. I sunk into bed and this time I did moan as I cuddled under the many thick blankets. Finally warm at last.

---

(Next)

[flowerofgoneril]

It is when he decides to find a gift for Hilda that Pelleas realizes he doesn't know anything at all about her.

He knows she's strong, he knows she's from a well-off family, and he knows she's pretty, but he didn't need to interact with her himself to know all that. He could have heard it all through rumors and come to the same conclusion with little difficulty.

It is that problem that vexes him so. Is a birthday present not a moment to show how much you cherish another? How much you appreciate them? And yet, all the best he can come up with are things any person on campus could have come up without even the slightest bit of thought?

For someone whose love language was gifting, he sure was at risk for showing himself as loveless indeed.

On the morning of, he waits outside the Golden Deer classroom, hoping to catch her before she's been given any other gift. It's okay if she doesn't like this one, he tries to convince himself, if all her better gifts from other people are given afterwards.

These self-reassurances do nothing to make him any less easily spooked when the girl in question does pop up. He almost drops his present, wrapped in pink wrapping paper, in his surprise but rights himself quickly, exhaling a sigh of relief.

“ G-Good morning, Hilda. I, erm, just wanted to say Happy Birthday. ” He holds out his gift to her, a box containing a hand-woven shawl of a cream color. He had tried to remember the various outfits he had seen her in, especially those she had attended balls in, and tried to create something that would at least match such dresses. To give a gift of jewelry, he knows, could give the wrong impression to the nobility, but something in his heart told him that she would rather a gift of style rather than any fine weapon he could possibly get his hands on.

Bandage- wrapped hands go back up to sweep the hair at the nape of his neck in sheepishness once she accepts it, eyes nervously pointed anywhere but her.

“ Don't feel obligated to wear what I got you if you don't like it. I won't take offense. ” Perhaps he would be sad, but he knows better than to get his hopes up in things he holds little confidence in to begin with. “ ...Well, I shouldn't take up too much of your time. I'm sure you've made plans today already. I'm just glad I got the chance to give you something at least... and I wish your day well, Hilda. ”

There is never a moment when Hilda isn't glad to be greeted by Pelleas. It's a friendship she never would have anticipated forming but it's certainly one that's found a very special place in her heart. Who would have guessed she'd become so endeared to so many magic boys? Certainly not Hilda herself!

Today, after their returns from their respective missions, she is doubly glad to see him. She even bypasses his offered gift to first pull him into a tight embrace. The bandages on his hands do not go unnoticed and she can only help that his trip had not been as hellish as her own. Hilda squeezes him just a bit tighter before pulling back and accepting the package.

"Oh Pelleas," she breathes, "it's gorgeous!" She wastes no time in trying it on even if it isn't the right accessory for her uniform. She does love it and she needs him to know that. It's not pink. That's surprising but it's actually nice. Everyone knows defaulting to pink is the quick and easy way to please her. But Pelleas clearly put real thought into shopping for her and that means quite a bit. It's something unique not just another set of the same pink hair clips sold by one of the merchants outside of the monastery. "I love it! Thank you so much!"

[pixieungerstories]

The Captive - 3

Of course he didn’t think she was a virgin! Humans usually get married before they finished growing.  Well, they used to anyway.  George wasn’t good at guessing humans ages.  They were small for a short time, then they were full sized for a longer time, then they were dead forever.

But this one, seemed like she was old enough to have married, had a couple of children and still had time to lose her family in some plague or another.  Humans were always dying like that.  Plagues, famines, it was more trouble than it was worth keeping them alive.  Most of the time.

He had honestly thought of them as handy snacks for the longest time.

Or pets.

Well, not exactly pets.

Then black powder had turned up and suddenly the world was a lot more complicated.

When the arrangement had first been put into place, George had an entire monastery of nuns to attend to him. 

That had been good times.

Until he realized the women didn’t want to be there.

Then, suddenly, it wasn’t any fun at all.

He might not ever have found out, except that he had met a woman who did want to be there.

His tail lashed in anger.  Centuries of women, being sent to him.  Then Silene came and taught him how to speak human language.  She had loved him.  And when she had died, he had been beside himself with grief.

Then her niece had come.  Or great niece or something.  The woman had come and they had lived together.  They had grown fond of each other.  Then she was old and he was taking care of her.  One day she was gone.  He had returned her body to her family, as requested.  He had left with a cousin of some sort.

Eventually, he had surrendered part of his hoard and purchased the land.  That was when things had become official with this particular family.  He always had a companion.  Some were better than others.  

His last treasure - what was her name? - had been more interested in running some sort of shop over his head than in actually keeping him company.  He didn’t approve but he had allowed it.  Now this last one…  He didn’t know what to make of her.  She was moody.  Some days she would come down here and read to him for hours.  Other days she would sulk or rage against him.  She was right though.  He should try to remember her name.

Ellen?  Helen?  Something.  Damn it.

Elly!

Maybe?

George sighed.  Whatever her name was, she kept accusing him of eating her cat.  That was ridiculous.  He wasn’t interested in anything smaller than a sheep.  She was at more risk from him than some stupid cat.  He didn’t like cats.  They tended to spit at him.

Maybe if her got her a new one, she would get over that?   How hard would it be to find a cat?  They used to be like vermin around here.   Maybe he should let her keep the boy as a pet.  It wouldn’t be the first time he had allowed that.  Usually he waited until he knew the woman first.

He needed a few things for his lair.  Humans were pathetic and fragile.  They had almost no night vision and certainly couldn’t see colour in the dark.  They were entirely too sensitive to cold.  He had a cast iron wood stove around here somewhere.  It would need to be cleaned, but he generally found that carefully heating it until it was glowing white generally did the trick.  It had worked on the wrought iron bedstead … sort of.  The spring base for the mattress had melted.

He carefully dismantled it and dragged it down his tunnel and away from the house.  No hot fires under the structure.  He had learned his lesson last time.  Ann hadn’t let him live that down.

He missed Ann.  The one who had come to replace her hadn’t been that friendly.  He had been hoping this one would be better. 

Elsie?

His treasure.  He had bought her with gold before she was even born.  Priceless.  His.

His…. Evvie?  Did it even start with an E?

She was right.  He was going to have to try harder.

When he got back to his lair, he could smell her.  She had been here recently.  She had been afraid.  Was something wrong, or was this the usual humans always stank of fear?

Not her, though.  Not Effie.  She was just angry all the time.  Or at least all the time she was with him.  He should really do something about that.

He slithered up the steps and tried the door knob.  He was pleasantly surprised to find it unlocked.   It was easy to follow her scent trail through the shop, past the pile of raw fleeces in the corner that smelled slightly of pasture and slightly like lunch.  The stairs up were wider than the ones to the basement.  There was a whole house up here!  He had never been to the second level before.  One guest room that smelled like dust.  One office was full of boxes that smelled like old books, and the last door to the corner room was her bedroom.

It also wasn’t locked.

He barely had the door open when she announced, “Na dean fochmoid fáinn!”

That made him pause.  “I would never!”

“George?  Why are you in my bedroom?”

“Why are you cursing in Celt?”

The woman sat up in bed and turned on a small electric light on a little table.  Humans liked little tables.  George was not overly fond of the fake light she was always using.  “I asked you first,” she challenged.

“That is true,” he conceded.  “You were in my lair when I was not near the stairs.  I was uncertain what you needed there.”

She sagged, “I forgot your dinner.  I was going to ask if you needed anything.”

George considered this.  She had come to offer him food, then got frightened and ran away.  Interesting.  “Why were you shouting in Celtic?”

“Gaelic,” she countered.  “I don’t speak much, but I found a book of… well… legends and that was something to keep evil spirits away.”

“Do you know what it means?” he asked patiently.

“Um… leave me alone or something?” she suggested tentatively.

George considered that, “Nearly.  It doesn’t work on me.  You should be careful about using words of power that you don’t understand.”

“Do you need me to find you something to eat?”

He considered this.  She was trying to change the subject.  “You are not happy here.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” she snarled.

George blinked.  “What do you need to be happy?”

If anything she frowned harder.  “What do you mean?”

George sighed and squeezed a bit more of himself into her room so he could curl around himself.  “We are both going to be here for the rest of our lives.  If I can help make you happier, then maybe…”  he trailed off.  She was watching him carefully, trying to puzzle out his expression.  Good luck with that, he thought, you are only good at reading monkey faces.  “You need to sleep more, don’t you?”

“Yeah.  I don’t know if I will get to though.  Ben will be here in a couple of hours.”

George just kept watching her.  “Think about what makes you happy and let me know.  Is there any part of that life you gave up that you could get back?”

She shook her head sadly, “I was almost a librarian.  I spent a lot of time and money attending university for that.  Now I sell fancy ass string.”

George crept forward and put his head on the bed next to her.  “Would you be happier selling books instead?”  Treasure just stared at him.  “I was surprised when you added the bakery.  But that has done well.  Would people who eat…. Fancy ass bread also buy books?”

She shook her head, “No one buys books anymore.”

Suddenly he understood and it made his eyes light up.  “You hoard books.”

“No!  I don’t!  I mean, I collect a few, but that isn’t the same as hoarding.”

He smirked not believing it for a second.  “Sell the wool, use the money to buy books, be happy.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.”

George awkwardly shook his head, being careful not to bump her.  “You are selling the wool to buy more wool to sell.  Sell the wool and buy books to sell.”

The treasure snorted, “My mom said that.  I’ll think about it.”  After a moment she added, “George?  I don’t like that you came into my room.”

He nodded, but made no move to leave.  He waited until she shifted uncomfortably and was about to speak before he replied, “You are not comfortable in my lair.  You are here to keep me company.  So, I came to your lair to join you.”

“Yeah, well, don’t.”

He shrugged, though his shoulders didn’t really work like that.  “I get lonely.  You were right. You are the only person I talk to.”

She swallowed, “We will have to figure something out.”

George grinned.  He stopped when she looked nervously at his teeth.  Then he backed out of the room.  There wasn’t enough space on the landing to turn around without bumping into something.  He figured it out, but it wasn’t graceful.

He was most of the way back to his lair when he realized he hadn’t asked her name.  He would just have to listen carefully through the floorboards and pick it up when someone else said it.

[dawnwave16]

Project Widow Soldier

When Marinette first joined her classmates at the age of 11 it was clear that she wasn't what they considered normal. Sure her clothes were fashionable, but there was just something about her that made them second guess themselves. As the days passed they put that unease out of their minds, after all, why should they be scared of someone who was so clumsy?

What they didn't know was they should have listened to those instincts. Marinette was not normal, not in the slightest. She had been genetically engineered by Hydra. Half her DNA came from the Winter Soldier, the other half came from the Black Widow. How they had access to Widow's DNA, Marinette didn't know. She had his colouring but her build was similar to that of the widow's. Not that she knew that. She had been 8 when she had first heard whispers of what Hydra wanted to do with her, the perfect weapon, they called her. One born in a lab from an unknown surrogate and taken straight to their version of the red room. She had been trained and had her skills honed since before she could walk. Languages were drilled into her skull until it became a reflex to speak in whatever language was spoken around her.

That was something they should have remembered when they spoke of the next step of her training, whipping out her class. Well trained she may be but she had her father's true nature. The nature the Winter Soldier possessed when he was still James Buchanan Barnes aka 'Bucky' of the Howling Commando's and Captain America's best friend. Her true nature was kind, caring and bubbly when she was allowed to be, and the mile-wide stubborn streak in her refused to let her trainers take that away from her. When she heard what they had planned for her, she made her own plans. Instead of just taking out her class, she took out the whole base, hacking their computers to delete any and all references of herself, then ran.

She hitched her way to an orphanage in France where she was soon adopted and finally given a name of her own. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It sounded so much better than Experiment Widow Soldier 1623. Despite having run away she kept up most of her training, firearms were done at night by breaking into gun shops and dismantling then reassembling them against a timer. Other weapons were done by training in a dojo every second night. Hand to hand was done the same way except that was practised by a man who would alternate between watching her and sparing with her. She was always extra careful when they sparred as she didn't want anyone to know her true strength. It was why she always acted so clumsy too, no-one ever thought that the clumsiest person in the room could kill you with their bare hands.

Whenever they had a gym class at school she would pretend to injure herself so that she wouldn't have to participate in them. The teachers and other students simply thought it was bad luck so they ignored it rather than make a fuss of it. She found the classes very easy but after getting herself put up a grade she hid her boredom and simply put in the minimum effort she needed to still get her stellar grades. That's not to say her new life was perfect. There were still those that tried to bully her, but she generally only acted upset to help Chloe feel like she was copying her mother properly. She also discovered that she didn't feel comfortable not having at least one weapon on her, yet normal clothes didn't sit properly when she had a weapon. So she started designing and, making her own clothes and to her surprise, she discovered that not only did she enjoy doing so but she was good at it! Soon she was making all her clothes, up to and including bra's when she started needing them.

Two years after she was adopted and started her normal school career, she met Ayla. Although she got along well with Ayla, she decided to wait a while before deciding if they would be true friends or not. When one of her classmates was turned to stone she thought about intervening but knew that if she did, she stood the chance of being recognised, so she went home only to find a box on her desk. After checking it for traps she opened it, met Tikki and found she could help without exposing her secret to the world. It was in Tikki she found, what she felt, her first true friend. She then met Chat Noir and had to admit, while he needed to work on his comedic timing, he was a decent partner, especially for someone who clearly had no prior training. It was only due to her upbringing that she remembered that she had to catch the butterfly before they started celebrating their win.

When she arrived at school the next day she saw a boy leaning over her seat, at first she thought he had put it there but upon hearing Chloe giggling she realised that it was Chloe that had put it there. Despite this, she knew she had to make a scene about the gum so she pretended to be angry and pretended not to know who he was when Ayla showed her his picture on her phone. It was then that the downside of her training kicked in, this boy, Adrian, was her partner! She groaned and mentally hit her head against a brick wall in frustration.

School continued in pretty much the same way as previous years until yet another new girl joined their class. As far as Marinette was concerned the new girl was lacking in every way. Her lies were easy to disprove, her fashion sense was abysmal and don't even get her started on the girl's hair! When Lila first started to spread her lies, Marinette didn't care. When she stole Adrian's book though Marinette got angry. Didn't she know what Adrian's father would do to him if Adrian lost it? So she followed them and took the book out of the trash, only for Tikki to identify it as a grimoire and insist it be taken to the guardian. Marinette knew Tikki was right but she also worried about what would happen to her Kitty if she didn't return it. So she scanned it into her tablet, made a copy for the guardian and returned the book to Mr Agreste herself, saying she had found it in the trash after seeing Lila throw it away. As she had filmed Lila when she followed them he simply thanked her and sent her away. He hadn't even asked why she followed them!

It made her very suspicious of Mr Agreste but she knew Adrian as Chat wasn't ready for that confrontation so she kept her silence. She took one of the copies to the guardian and started her training as the next guardian. School carried on and Lila came back with yet more stories, she even tried threatening Marinette but she just shrugged it off, she'd dealt with worse.

Three more years past in much the same way, Lila lied, Marinette got ignored and the class seemed to drop in intelligence every time Marinette checked. Tom and Sabine never fell for Lilas' lies no matter how much the girl tried so Marinette was content. Then came the day that Marinette finally slipped.

There had been a difficult Akuma in the early hours of the morning so Marinette was running late. In her haste, she forgot that that day was a “gym” day meaning she needed an injury lined up. It definitely didn't help that the news that the Avengers were in Paris and would be visiting her school had been circulating.

“They all love me and we all text each other regularly but when they here they will pretend they don't know me so that I'm not made a target.” Lila was saying as Marinette stumbled into the classroom, pretending to be out of breath. “I wish I could tell you when they'll be here but they want it to be a surprise.”

Marinette rolled her eyes then finally remembered that today was a gym day and groaned softly. She didn't even have a viable excuse to get out of it! 'Looks like I'll have to try fake not being good at whatever activity they come up with' she thought with a sigh.

As luck would have it the Avengers showed up just in time for her classes gym class. At first, she thought that this would be a good thing, the Avengers would talk to them about whatever and then they would go back to their normal classes. Except that's not what happened. Kim, being his typical self, made a bet with Alix that if anyone in their class would be able to pick up Thor's hammer it was him. This led to a lot of snickering at the innuendo but it also got the attention of Tony Stark aka Ironman so they all had to line up and try to lift it. None of them managed to and then it was her turn. She didn't think she'd be able to but knew she had to try anyway. To her surprise, she lifted it easily. She blanched then did the only thing she could think of, she dropped the hammer and bolted from the room. She didn't mean to run into Bucky but she did and when he caught her, he could feel the muscles she had kept hidden with slightly loose shirts. This wasn't good.

“Alright little lady, what has you in such a panic,” Bucky asked.

“I was able to lift that stupid hammer so I panicked. I catch enough flack from my class that I didn't want to see their reactions.” Her voice came out against her will. Even though his question had been friendly enough, his voice had the same commanding tone in it that some of her instructors had had. He seemed to recognise that her answer hadn't been willingly given and studied her, his eyes showing that he was drawing the right conclusions about her training.

“You were trained. I accidentally used 'That Voice' and you had no option but to reply. Am I right?” His voice was filled with dawning understanding, however, he still kept that commanding tone in it so she felt compelled to answer.

“I managed to get away 5 years ago. I didn't think it would still work on me.” She replied miserably.

“5 years ago? That's when the Hydra base in Belgium blew up if I remember the reports I've recently been able to read correctly. Shield had found it hidden in a mountain under a monastery and three days before they went to attack it, it went up in flames. Was that you? If so, why, that would have been against all your training.” Bucky was still holding her arm so she couldn't escape. In a way, it felt like she was being grounded against her maelstrom of emotions through that contact.

“Look, can we not talk about this here? The last thing we need is for someone to hear this and start rumours about me. More rumours anyway,” her voice was very quiet at this stage.

Bucky thought for a moment then he answered. “We're staying on the fourth floor, I trust you can get in unseen?” He cocked an eyebrow as he said this, so she just nodded.

“What time?”

“22H00”

“I'll be there, though I would recommend having something that can do an express DNA analysis or I doubt anyone will believe me. I'm guessing I'll be talking to everyone?” Her tone was resigned as she said this. Bucky just nodded. “Alright, I'll see everyone tonight then.”

It seemed her run of bad luck was still going strong when an Akuma attack happened just after she had finished her supper and fighting it lasted for so long she only had 5 minutes to get to the meeting. She had 3 minutes before her transformation timed out so she decided to throw caution into the wind.

“Chat, I have to be somewhere ASAP, can I leave the comforting to you?” Chat hadn't had to use his power so he nodded and she swung away quickly. Landing on the correct balcony with a minute to spare, she stepped through to the surprise of everyone in the room and dropped her transformation. Tikki had known she was going to tell them anyway so she just smiled at her as she accepted a macaroon.

The avengers, who had all tensed up ready to fight as she dropped in, relaxed slightly before Thor's laughter boomed around the room.

“So that's why you were able to lift Mjolnir earlier! Well met young wielder of creation!”

She blushed but nodded. “Mind if I sit down? I'm a little tired.”

“Pull up a chair,” Tony said. Then he continued “Why'd you tell metal arm here to have a DNA tester ready?”

In answer, she simply held out her arm and when nobody moved she sighed. “Look, it would make it a lot easier for everyone to understand if they could see that what I'm about to say if they could see I'm not lying and that I have nothing to hide, at least not from anyone in this room.”

That got a reaction out of them. Bruce got up and drew the blood sample needed and ran it, only to let a strangled sound out when the results came in. Marinette giggled.

“Are you serious?!? This can't be right!” he spluttered.

“They accurate. You can check me for any hidden vials etc that could have messed with the results if you want but I promise they are true.” Marinette couldn't help but be amused.

“What's wrong big man?” Tony asked.

“The DNA results say she's Bucky and Natasha's kid but that's not possible!” Bruce's voice was filled with denial.

“WHAT?” Everyone in the room except Bruce and Marinette shouted.

“Read them yourself!” Bruce thrust the result sheet toward them.

“It's true. Oh my god, how?”

Tony was about to make a joke about two people having sex when Natasha shook her head.

“Before you start, Tony, I've never had sex with Bucky let alone been pregnant so it won't be the way you thinking.” She turned to Marinette and simply said: “Explain, now!”

Marinette sighed then leaned back and started to explain about Hydra's project Widow Soldier and how she got away. Halfway through her explanation, Tony had Friday start pulling all the records that he could and shared them with the rest of the Avengers. Friday was a little more thorough then Marinette expected him to be and had pulled up files regarding what was going on at Marinette's school too. Most specifically about Lila Rossi. The team was not pleased when they saw the videos with Lila lying about them and quite a few others.

As the team started to discuss how they would deal with Lila's lies about them, Natasha and Bucky walked over to Marinette.

“So, you're our daughter huh?” Marinette nodded with her eyes lowered thinking that they must either be angry or disappointed.

“Did the serums in us affect you in any way?” Natasha asked.

“I'm stronger, faster and more flexible than most, which helps with being Ladybug but is a pain as a civilian as I always have to hide it, even from my adopted parents. I'm immune to poisons and need very little sleep. Oh, and my eyes are better and my hearing is a little more acute. If anyone found out I was going to blame it on having an active X-gene but I know I don't actually have one.”

“At least you had a backup plan for it kiddo,” Bucky said ruffling her hair. She swatted his hand away.

“Up for a sparing session so that we can see where you at in term of training?” Natasha asked.

“Sure, just know I don't want to go into the hero business full time. I was hoping to be like Edna Mode in the Incredibles, you know? Design super suits for everyone, yet still, be awesome in my own right.” Bucky and Natasha chuckled.

“If's that's what you want sure, but we still going to double-check your level of training,” Bucky replied.

“Fair enough.” She hopped up and stripped off her jacket as they started sparring.

What no-one knew was that a certain Salt-water Crocodile had smelt his favourite teen and had escaped from the room he was in. He had a bad habit of doing that, mainly so that he could destroy and crocodile skin items Chloe had, as well as her shoes. Marinette and Natasha had been sparing for 10 minutes when Fang managed to track Marinette's scent down and break into the Avengers' room, causing them all to freak and reach for their weapons. Marinette and Natasha stopped their spar and Marinette stood with her hands on her hips, looking uncannily like a blue-eyed version of her mother.

“Really Fang? Must you resort to scaring everyone whenever you even think I'm nearby?” She didn't get an answer except for a slight rumble from Fang's chest almost like a purr. She sighed then walked over to her jacket to get her phone and dialled a number.

“Hey Uncle J, you wouldn't happen to be missing something would you?” She asked into the phone when her call connected. When she got an answer all she replied was “Room 416,” before hanging up and sitting down. Fang was instantly half on her lap demanding cuddles.

The team was startled, to say the least, but even more so when Jagged Stone burst into the room. He ignored them his eyes locking onto Fang and Marinette. “Little M! No wonder he decided to go for a walk!” He looked around, “Oh, were you in the middle of a design meeting? I'll catch up later then! We still on for you coming on tour with me for a month when school finishes? Excellent! See you later then!” And with that, he was gone again.

“Don't ask,” was all she said with a shake of her head and a small laugh “You'll get used to it.”

Seeing how similar the man was to Tony the team accepted that easily enough. Marinette looked at the clock and saw it was 2 o'clock. She sighed then looked back at everyone.

“Look do what you want about Lila but I don't want to know the plan beforehand. If I look smug, or if I don't look surprised she'll twist your actions to be the result of me manipulating her. I've got to get home and get some sleep as I have school in the morning, while I don't need a lot of sleep I still need some.” Having said that she called for her transformation and left.

School was as boring as ever the next day when the door slammed open and Tony stood there.

“Sorry not sorry for barging in Ms Incompitence,” he said to Mlle Bustier, “But there is something I need to say to this class. After we left yesterday and saw that Akuma attack we tried to get more information on them. Imagine our surprise when we saw a video on a blog we'd never heard of, a video that contained an interview with a girl we had never met or even seen until we spoke to this class yesterday. We decided to do what little miss tabloid reporter here should have done and did some fact-checking. Yes, there are some facts in what she said but 95% of what she said was total BS. We even called some of the celebs that were spoken about to make sure!” With that, he slammed a wad of paper down on the desk in front of Lila. “These are copies of the lawsuits you will be facing Ms Liar, your mother has copies of them too.” He turned to Ayla and dumped another slightly smaller wad in front of her. “This is your set, same story.” Finally, he turned to Mlle Bustier, “You will be hearing from the education board shortly.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked out.

Marinette sat back in her seat watching as the class slowly processed what had just happened. When Adrian looked at her she shook her head showing she had nothing to do with it. Realising she probably wouldn't learn anything new until Ms Mendeleiev came to teach them, she closed her eyes and thought about her summer. A month travelling with Jagged, the rest spent with the Avengers, who knew what would happen? Either way, she looked forward to the future, knowing she had two sets of parents that supported her and a whole family to meet. Who knows maybe she could even find someone she would be willing to date?

by popular request part 2

[purplerose244]

Peacefully

Here for this year’s Ninjago Secret Santa! Man I love this event, thank you a lot @coco-jaguar for organizing it once again! ❤ Hi @davisisacommonname, I’m your secret santa! Here’s you gift, I hope you like it! 😊😊

Merry Christmas and happy festivitites!! 💕💕

Summary: It’s a day like others, just without the usual mayhem shaking the entire city. A time to think of less stressful possibilities.

“So, what did we learn today?”

“That dares are stupid?” As they got back inside the monastery, finally escaping the chilling winter air, Nya raised a gigantic eyebrow at the green ninja. At which the mighty leader seemed to shrink the littlest bit. “… that dares involving the master of lighting putting lights on the tree using spinjitzu, resorting in him entangling himself into the wires and making every single bulb explode by electrification, are stupid?”

“There you go.” The master of water sighed loudly. “I don’t even know why I’m surprised it happened.” Despite the nonchalance of this blondie, the brand-new lights that they had been forced to buy and how she was probably the only one irritated about it – especially since Kai had been laughing hysterically for ten minutes straight afterwards –, she smiled.

Lloyd mimicked her, probably sensing he was not in mortal danger anymore, taking off scarf and hat. His golden locks puffed up as soon as the headpiece was off.

“Does the fact that I lost against Cole count as enough punishment?”

“Mhm?”

“I bet with him it was going to be Kai the first to cause an incident, he was supposed to be the one to take the bet. Now I’m in debt of one week of chores.” Another eyebrow was raised, less furious, more judging. “What? I’m trying to catch up, apparently the guys used to bet on everything when they first formed the team, from who was going to be the green ninja, to who was going to be the first to find out the identity of Samurai X! Like, I’m that prophesied green savior, and I knew about your little escapades.” Nya couldn’t help the little smirk. Ironically, the green ninja did turn out to be the first to discover the truth. “I could’ve won two times already, I wanna keep up now.”

They stepped into the kitchen, hearing faraway sounds. The others were most likely elsewhere putting up less expendable decorations. Nya was already looking towards the stove, thinking of nothing other than hot chocolate. Knowing Lloyd, they were on the same page.

“Okay, that’s uselessly prideful and kind of adorable, but this better not turn into a gambling addiction little one.”

“Nya, my father was the king of the Underworld. Is there really a worse evil than that?”

She couldn’t argue back.

Lost in thoughts about something warm to melt her frozen bones, she almost jumped when the sudden scribble came to her ears, and one extremely peaceful whistling that they were all too accustomed to at this point. In the living room right next, sitting on the sofa with the television uncharacteristically switched off, was Cole. Eyes on a random notebook he had on his knees, a pencil in the air, wearing that ridiculous sweater Jay found at the mall with muscled arms drawn over the sleeves – such a miracle of an ugly sweater.

He looked extremely taken by his activity, munching the end of the pencil every once in a while. Seeing their official lifter so calm and captured by whatever mindless activity had forced him to sit down was curious. It did happen before, but lately it got rarer. It was always a nice view.

Nya looked at the green ninja, who pointed at the kitchen with his thumb, right where the mugs where. She nodded, and went to take place next to the master of earth.

Who jumped right away, giving her a look.

“What the…? You’re back already? I didn’t hear you get in.”

“Wow, you don’t say!” From the kitchen the blonde’s voice erupted. “It’s almost like we’re ninja or something, unbelievable!” It followed accurate noises made by mouth, and if they knew him – and after years they absolutely did – then the little brat was probably mimicking an explosion coming out of his head – he was hanging around Jay a little too much.

Nya giggled, while the master of earth rolled his eyes with a little grin.

“Nice to hear you’re all in a good mood after our little blackout. You got the lights?”

“All done. Sorry about the scare, but it looked like you were in your own world.” She tilted her head, looking around. The living room was getting more festive, but it missed at least half the holly. “Didn’t you guys finish while we were gone?”

“We were going to, then something came up and we can’t really continue until Zane comes back to the shop… Kai accidentally set the tree on fire while you two were gone.” Her loud facepalm spoke louder than any of them. “I think Wu is still giving him an earful as he did with Jay as we speak … and before you ask Lloyd, Jay made a mess before Kai. So I still won the bet.”

“Aww, for once that I actually need Hot Shot to cause a mess!” The green ninja came out of the kitchen, the kettle starting to heat up into the kitchen, pout clearly in sight. For being their brave leader and the strongest ninja of all, he was still kind of a kid – although in all honesty, weren’t they all? “Anyway, what got you so into it that you forgot how to hear?” He walked until he was behind the couch, leaning over the master of earth’s shoulder and smiling. “Hey, that’s pretty cool! I didn’t know you could draw!” His surprised tone came out sincerely, especially since it felt like forever since they had found each other in this weird family. Finding new details was always a shock.

Nya scooted closer as well, smiling at the familiar shading of the chicken drawn onto the paper, with the real one sleeping over a pillow in front of the tv.

“You still have a nice touch. I haven’t seen you do it ever since it was just the four of you in action, and this little evil brat was in some random snake prison.” Lloyd mouthed an ‘oohhh’ of understand as why he didn’t remember. “To be more specific, I’m pretty sure it was back when instead of listening to my research about the Serpentine, you guys have tried to poison me with perfume.” Good thing no villain knew about her little Achilles hill.

Cole snorted, pressing his eraser on the corner of the paper.

“You were telling complicated stuff to that airhead that is your brother, to the guy that was lookin at your in awe while trying his hardest to ask you out, and to a nindroid. A robot. You can’t really blame us.”

“What’s your excuse then?” The master of earth raised his piece.

“I’m pretty freaking good at this.” Nya snorted. Again, no arguments here. “You know… I’ve been thinking about those times. And it’s not like it was easier, but I guess we didn’t really know how much things could become complicated and return back then.” Cole looked over the drawing, shrugging. “But I’m in vein of taking something back from there, exactly because we don’t know when we could get called into action again. It’s little, but it’s still mine… I felt silly like that this morning.” He grinned of that introverted nature that, despite years, was still a part of him.

And it was okay. It was great even. Nya gave him a shoulder.

“Hey, it’s not silly, it’s good.”

“Yeah! All of us should do something other than fighting.” Lloyd chimed in, dropping next to Cole on the other side, smiling. “Like for example, even though it’s been a pretty shady part of my life, I kinda miss PE back at Darkley’s. Moving just for the sake of moving. We should play sometimes, not because of training, it could be fun… or Nya could annihilate us, whichever comes first.”

“I’m not that competit-” The master of water blinked twice, shaken by the quickest flashback of her life. “… no wait scratch that, I totally am.”

Cole snickered, tapping the notebook with his pencil.

“Besides having as a golden rule to never put the blacksmith brothers against each other-” It could be the time Ninjago actually managed to get completely destroyed for good. “I would be down for that, why not? No sparring or anything, just a friendly match of whatever. I didn’t even get to do that as a kid, dad would always say that I could risk putting muscles where a dancer didn’t need them…” He flexed one arm, the massive hill pulling up the drawing onto the sleeve. He grinned with satisfaction. “How about football? I’ve always wanted to try football!” Oh for whatever reason other than having the strength to tackle a mountain?

“Absolutely!” Lloyd nodded eagerly. “Let’s do it! Oh, and soccer too, Brad and I used to try that a lot when we were kids!” He seemed to absolutely glow and the perspective, and it was kinda sad that such a simple reality represented an actual opportunity for him.

Before Nya could get lost into more self-deprecating depressive thoughts, and the fact that not even one of them had a normal childhood except maybe for Jay – and considering the still not so clear Cliff Gordon erased reality affair that was still up to discussion –, there was a loud whistle coming from the kitchen. The green ninja immediately sprouted into action, sprinting towards the sound. As soon as Cole decided to put down his drawing, seeing as the chicken had woken up to go bother someone – bet on Kai –, the blondie came back with three steaming mugs, giving to them all.

The master of water held up hers – a blue one with a storm cloud on it saying ‘Too tide to talk’ –, smiling at the distinct bitter scent of black cocoa. They knew each other tastes way too well.

“Sounds good to me. I also fancy basketball, so I’m down for that.”

“Nice! Mm, but how about other hobbies? Nya?” Cole took his time to take a generous sip from his mug that was literally dripping because of the amount of marshmallow – covering slightly the orange surface with ‘I’m a grounded person, like my coffee’ written on it –, while the gray ninja frowned a little. “Anything you would like to regain? You never really stopped with engineering so I’m guessing that’s out of the way.”

“Yeah, but,” She hummed, tracing the warm cup with her fingers. “That wasn’t a hobby or something I liked to do, not at first at least. It was just like Samurai X, a way to show you guys I could do what you did, even better. It grew on me, but it’s kinda work too, I’m proud of it but nowhere near as passionate as Jay or Cyrus Borg could be.” It was all about her tendency of holding onto the things she excelled at after all, the one obstacle that had almost cost her the true potential of her element. Despite her steps forward, putting a difference between liking to be good at something and liking it was still a little complicated. Then again… “… maybe painting?”

Cole grinned in surprise, Lloyd raised his head from his cup showing an impressive chocolate mustache – along with that black mug saying ‘It’s morning so you green and bear it’… and yes those mugs were all Jay’s presents.

“Whoa, where did that come from?”

“Yeah no offence, but you never stroke me as the artistic type.”

“None taken, it’s not exactly something that I feel it belongs to me, but maybe that’s why I used to like it. Because it was so far I didn’t have to think too much about it.” Nya smiled, taking another sip. “Remember the second Steep of Wisdom Wu opened in the middle of Ninjago City? To attract more customers I decided to work on a mural, right on the side. I don’t even know why, I just bought paint, brushes and a suit and started.”

“Oohh, I remember the one!” Lloyd snapped his fingers, the marshmallow in his cocoa shaking in the movement. “It was the one with the big majestic Wu serving the customer, I thought he hired an artist for it! That was cool!”

“You’re not saying it just because you’re my little brother, right?”

“Oh no, if it was ugly I would make a manifest all about it exactly because I’m your little brother. Brotherly code, smack talk every time it’s possible.” And then he fist bumped with his earthly brother nearby, wearing that same stupid grin. “But seriously, you were good at it. We finally have some free time to our hands, maybe it could be a good time for a new work. We still need the mural of that Day of the Departed where Cole turned back human after all, since those monks decided they had ‘lost the harmony of the inspiration’.” No one had been happy with leaving that important adventure behind – too bad they were in a monastery, a place of peace.

Cole hummed mindlessly, munching a marshmallow.

“Tell you what, how about we buy drawing and painting materials together for Christmas shopping?” He chugged down his drink, releasing a very satisfied sigh before leaning his back softly over the couch. “It’s usually Zane or Pix, we could take over for once and no, don’t give me that look water lily, it’s not for buying an extra cake and yes, do give me that look greenie, if you come along we’re so escaping and get to the sweet shop.” And there it came, another fist bump.

She had signed up for this.

She had signed up for this the moment she had let herself being overtaken by a bunch of skeletons, a past hit on her pride that to this day made her want to take a bone and break it in halves every time she thought about it – sports were going to be massacres, she was kinda looking forwards to it.

“I’m bringing leashes for you two vampires with sweet teeth, but it’s not a bad idea. And I like the mall in this period, it could even bring some inspiration as to what to paint.”

“How did you decide the first time?”

“I just thought of a simple design to get more clients.” Nya finished her drink, giving her eyes to a very curious looking blonde, thinking that it had been so long. It had always been so long, every single time she reevoked a part of her life, even though she was still so young. It was that eventful. “I worked on that project all day… but after it melted under the sun, it got ruined because of the wind and a lightning decided to strike it right in the middle, I just splashed it with all the colors I had and spinjitzued the heck out of it.”

“… rage, the mark of an artist.” Lloyd snickered, then he froze, suddenly beaming at the two. “Hey, why don’t you two work on something together? Cole makes the drawing and you paint it, it could be like a Christmas gift or something!”

Nya popped her mouth opened. How did they never think of that? How did they never while they had been battling villain after villain after villain after- Oh, there was the answer.

She turned to the master of earth, who looked just as engaged with the idea, if not more.

“Heck yeah, let’s do it! I can sketch a few ideas!”

“I do have colors I never got to try last time…”

“And I know mom got a few old frames that didn’t get accepted by the museum, I’m sure we can find a good one for this.” Lloyd grinned, scratching his cheek. “It’s almost weird putting up a plan for something other than defeating evilness…”

“Maybe, doesn’t make it any less good.” Cole winked at the two of them, looking inspired. And it was so good to see her brothers so high-spirited, and being happy with them. “… aha, I got one!” The master of earth hurried to the notebook, scrabbling quickly while the green ninja leaned his chin over his shoulder to see better, and the master of water did the same with her elbow on the other side. There was no other noise besides the pencil moving, and the suddenly more vivid voice of the rest of their family not too far away.

Peace was an abstract concept, it was in her life at least. But at least this moment, this situation, this instant, for Nya this was hers. And she wanted to make the most of it.

“… is that Jay getting entangled into the Christmas lights while doing spinjitzu?”

“Yeah? Is that the ‘should I punch you now or later for stupidity’ frown?”

“Nah, it’s the ‘what shade of color better depict bad life decisions’ frown.”

[toothlessturtle21]

Tomato Soup

So I wrote this little thing that totally isn’t me projecting my issues with food onto a fictional character no way, so hopefully it’s not terrible because it’s not super proofread. TW: mentions of unspecified ED, hypoglycemia, noncon “repairs” done to Zane. Enjoy, I guess.

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

Zane loved to eat, until his father decided that the budget couldn't quite feed a family of two. ... Zane used to love to eat.

Zane's earliest memory of food being an issue to him was when he was barely even a year old. His father sat at the table, hunched over brass and copper coins, occasionally glancing at his son with a slightly worried expression. Zane was busy sorting their books, the task having kept him busy for the better part of the last two hours while his father said he had some "grown-up things" to worry about. Eventually, his father called out to him.

"Zane?" His father asked, voice strained. "What food do you have cataloged in our pantry?"

"Three cans of tomato soup, two sleeves of crackers, various spices, and one box of penne pasta. Speaking of which, I am getting rather peckish, I think I will go have some of the-"

Zane went to stand to go towards the cupboard to grab a sleeve crackers when his father stopped him.

"No!"

The android froze, recoiling a little in surprise as his father stood as well.

"Father, is everything alright?"

Julien smiled wearily, gently tugging on Zane's arm to move him back towards the workshop.

"Of course, Zane. Everything is just fine."

"Then why are we going back into the workshop? You only bring me back for repairs if something is wrong," Zane stated before a different train of thought hit him and he jerked away. "D- Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry if I was not efficient enough when I was organizing the books, I'll do better, I promise!"

"Stop fussing, you don't need to worry," His father consoled him, but Zane still dug his heels in enough to make his hesitation known. "You will be fine, I promise."

Zane was still stammering as he was pushed down onto the workbench and was powered off, world fading away as his mind still panicked.

...

Zane blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light. He shot up straight, the memories of what happened right before his repairs making him quickly check his vitals for information.

Energy: 78%

Hydraulic Fluid: 89%

Vision: 100%

Audio: 100%

Hunger: -

Zane blinked, and tried again to access his hunger. Nothing. He looked over at his father, who looked slightly guilty but overall relieved.

"Why can't I access my hunger level?" Zane tried to ask with a level voice, but it ended up coming out choked. Julien shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, Zane."

And so he didn't. If his father wasn't concerned, then why should he be?

He tried to eat a cracker afterwards just to test what he believed his father had done to him, and he held back tears as what used to be a salty treat felt like cardboard melting in his mouth. He closed the sleeve, and set it back on the counter, resuming his task of organizing the library, but this time the actions felt a little more hollow.

So he watched as his father ate his soup and crackers, and just had to sit there and pretend to smile as he remembered how he used to enjoy the flavors dancing upon his tongue.

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

Zane was relaxing on his own bunk in the Monastery reading a rather good book when Cole gently knocked at the door, Jay poking his head out from behind the taller's back. Sensei Wu had set out to find something or other, leaving the three behind to their own devices while he was gone.

"Uh, Zane? You doing ok?" Cole started, eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, uh," Jay stuttered, and Zane merely blinked as his friend tried to figure out his words. "Cole and I were talking, and we both realized that we couldn't remember you actually ever eating in front of us. Or at all."

"We're not mad or anything!" Cole was quick to butt in before Zane could speak, hoping to prevent any misunderstandings. "We just want to make sure you're not starving yourself or anything, because that would be really bad."

Zane stared in confusion, wracking his brain for anything to respond with.

"Why would me not eating be bad?"

"You could die!" Jay sputtered, and Zane felt some sort of sick feeling start to brew in his gut. "Please, just tell us if something's wrong, you can trust us, right?"

"I do trust you," Zane answered, for that he knew for certain. Cole and Jay looked like they were about to cry, and Cole reached out to gently tug Zane off his bunk. He was sandwiched in a hug between the two, Jay clinging to his front while Cole mirrored him from the back.

"Please, just eat something," Jay pleaded quietly, and Zane was incredibly unsure of how to respond besides a simple nod and a gentle hand rubbing at his friend's back to soothe him. Cole buried his head in Zane's shoulder, which wasn't hard since he was slightly taller than the blonde.

"I would prefer not to..." Zane began, but trailed off as Cole squeezed him tighter.

"I don't know what's going through your head right now Zane, and I don't need to know, but we're here for you. You don't need to change for anyone, yeah? Besides, you need the energy to train anyway."

Zane nodded along despite not knowing that they were talking about, but he could infer that whatever it was was a very serious issue. So he held his friends as they dragged him to the kitchen for him to choke down a granola bar, which seemed to calm them down enough where they stopped clinging onto him, but not enough where they wanted to leave him alone.

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

When Zane and his brothers sat pouring over their jar of coins to pay their rent, Zane felt a gross feeling return to his stomach. They had resorted to buying sandwiches from a shop a few blocks over because they never had enough money at one time to buy enough groceries to support them, so single servings seemed to be the most viable option.

Since discovering his android origins, Zane had discovered how to turn his taste back on, and had also figured out that eating did give him an energy boost, but never his hunger. So he ate mostly as an extra, something that was nice, but not necessary. So it was no surprise that when it came time to order dinner, Zane shook his head denied needing anything.

The ninja took his word for it, and weeks went by with Zane only eating by stealing scraps from the restaurant he worked at to keep his energy up as much as he could, but even he could feel his performance slipping as his body was forced to run on low amounts of power. More of his blood was staying in his core to run his heart, leaving him pale and shaky, and his eyelids felt perpetually heavy, like they were being held down by weights that kept increasing by the day.

The issue reached its apex, however, during a quick training session he had managed to sneak in with Lloyd between shifts. They were sparring, the android of course not using all of his skills on the child, but he could tell something was off. Zane was stumbling, his footing unsure and his blocks were sloppy. Before he knew it, he was on the floor, and Lloyd was shaking his shoulders out of fear before running out of the room to call Jay, the android's vision fading around the edges.

He tried to sit up, but doing so made his head spin and his gut curdle with nausea, so he curled up into a ball to ease the ache, eyes squeezed shut before he blacked out in the middle of the training room floor.

...

When he opened his eyes once more, Jay was worriedly peering down at him.

"You awake?"

Zane nodded slowly, and he felt something being nudged at the corner of his lips.

"Eat this."

Zane tried to look over the best he could, and to his morbid amusement, it was another one of the granola bars that Jay loved to force upon him.

"You just passed out from the robot equivalent of low blood sugar, you gotta eat something buddy. I'll grab you some fruit juice or something in a bit. It helps humans, so it's worth a shot on you."

Zane slowly sat up and backed against the wall for support, and methodically chewed the snack with measured bites, Jay texting something to someone quickly before putting his phone away to sit across from the Ice Ninja.

Once Zane was done eating, Jay decided to strike up the conversation that the two knew was coming.

"Zane, you gotta eat. I know the first time Cole and I thought something was up it was just because you didn't need to eat, but your body isn't used to this. You're hurting yourself."

"Just let me adjust to it, and I'll be fine."

"No, I'm not letting you do that. You're eating with the rest of us and that's final. Kai's dropping off a carton of apple juice in a bit, and we're getting food tonight. You're going to rest, because I'm not letting you pass out while training again. What if you had done that on a mission?"

Zane had no answer, and nodded his head meekly as a sign that he understood. Jay stood, and held out his hand, Zane accepting the invitation to stand, also very grateful that Jay didn't mention how he stumbled upon landing on his feet.

"Y'need to trust your body more, you're getting too caught up in your own head," Jay said softly as he sat Zane down on the couch, sitting down next to him with a slight bounce. "You're not a burden by needing to eat, buddy."

The android sighed, and rested his head on Jay's shoulder, his eyes still burning and his mind quickly following suit.

"Alright, you can use me as a pillow," The Lightning Ninja smirked, and wrapped an arm around Zane's waist. "I'm waking you up when Kai gets here, but then you can go back to bed, ok?"

Zane nodded sleepily before fully relaxing into his friend, exhaustion taking ahold of him with an iron grip as he fell asleep, Jay keeping him warm all the while.

[mcfanely]

Nightowls

With Chamille’s idea running none-stop through his head, Cole found himself more and more sold on the idea of donning a mask again, but for a completely different reason than being a ninja. Now, it all comes to whether Cole can make himself do something he hadn’t done seriously in years. 

Chapter 04 - I’m Thinking, 1886 words

As the night drew to a close, and the sun had already passed the horizon and was steadily rising into the sky, Cole still hadn't made his way back to the monastery. The night like always, had been hectic and fun. Chamille had grabbed onto the hood of his jacket a few times to try and drag him into the stage area, and Cole had successfully nearly choked himself by refusing to move anywhere that wasn't that little bit further away from the centre of the crowd. But he had been thinking. 

To say he was hung up on what Chamille had said was an overstatement, though he was giving the idea a bit of thought. That, just like when he was a Ninja running around in a mask all those many years back when their faces weren't on the front of newspapers and their names weren't attributed to being the saviours of the city multiple times over, having his identity under wraps had provided clear advantages. 

The main one, before he'd told his dad the truth, the secret identity had allowed him to keep up the lie that he was still attending Marty Oppenheimers' even when he'd run away, whilst actively being a ninja and helping people. It was nice because he could go from a Ninja that people could look up to, to a random guy on the street that no one batted an eyelid at. 

The fact that people knew who he was and what he did now? Cole didn't mind. He knew that he was good at what he did, he knew that now that people knew him, that they had a face to put the Elemental Master of Earth; he could stop feeling like he needed to keep that part of his life a secret and just live it up to the fullest. He was a Ninja, he was happy for people to know that. 

But the idea of wearing a mask, to put distance between himself as a person and something he was totally not thinking about doing, was a good idea. 

So much so that when it had passed six in the morning, Cole had successfully stayed awake for twenty-four hours, and he was still up and about a couple hours later. Why the single arts and crafts store in Ninjago City had later opening hours than every other store on the high street, he had no idea. Though it did give him time to up his coffee intake to a total of three cups from three different cafés, along with commandeering a public restroom to wash as much neon paint off his face and his clothes as he could in order to stop himself from looking like a walking advert for a traffic cone. All before the store opened.  

It came off his skin and out his hair easy enough, but his hoodie was definitely a lost cause. He'd have to have faith that a wash would fix it, but he didn't have high hopes. 

So with coffee in hand, and an extremely vibrant jacket tied around his waist, Cole was the first customer into the crafts store and he had some form of idea as to what he needed. Cardboard, a plastic mask base, some thicker and stronger elastic and an assortment of paints. Specifically, oranges, blacks and whites.

The more he looked around, the more that caught his eye and the more ideas he got about what he was going to do. So maybe he bought a few extra things, like some paint that apparently glowed in the dark? Or an assortment of his own neon paint since he had to make up for purposely spilling a load of it over Chamille somehow?

Cole left the store with a full bag slung over his shoulder and set off back to the monastery. Now all he had to do was come up with an excuse for why he was walking into the monastery nearing midday after he'd clearly been shopping, and why no one had seen him leave that morning - because he hadn't even been there. 

He had time, though. The trek up the stairs back to home was enough to think up a multitude of excuses, the only hindrance to his plan was the absolute mess that was his hoodie and jeans, decorated artfully with paint. 

The plan was to get to his room, change, then make an appearance. 

Only sometimes, as good as Cole was at strategic thinking and plans, there were always hiccups. That being on his way past the living room after sneaking past Kai massacring a training dummy in the courtyard, he hadn't taken into account that anyone would be sitting down and having a rest. The sound of the game console should have clued him in, but Cole had already stepped past the open doorway without much thought. 

"Cole, you're back!" came a loud voice, and internal cursing quickly followed. 

He situated himself with his head poking into the living room, his painted clothes carefully hidden behind the wall so they weren't on show. 

Sat on the couch, the light from the TV reflecting in their eyes and the music paused along with the game, was Lloyd and Jay. Jay beaming with a wide smile and a crooked eyebrow, he'd probably just beaten a particularly hard level. 

"Where were you?" Lloyd questioned after a moment, his tone far too measured and concerned for someone his age; and in the space of a second Cole realised that if they'd found out he wasn't there that morning, that they might have worried. 

He hadn't even thought of that. 

Cole let out a small breath and gave a smile, "Headed to the city pretty early on, walked there. I didn't mean to worry you guys or anything."

Jay interjected, "Worried, us? Nope, you just missed train-- oomf."

Lloyd's hand came to a stop over Jay's mouth, and the lightning ninja gained a glare that could strike fear into the lesser man, "When you didn't come out I tried your door, it was sorta open." He said, then winced a little, "I didn't go in or anything, but I could see you weren't in there."

The tone was careful and casual, and Cole almost felt bad that he was going to lie. Or at least, he wasn't going to be fully honest. Why lie if he didn't necessarily have to, anyway? "Sorry, kiddo. I should have told you what I was doing before I left."

Even though I've never even been here since last night. 

Cole held up his bag in one hand, as physical proof that he had been somewhere, and he had bought something, but that still didn't seem to sway the calculating expression on Lloyd's face. 

Though whatever tension there was, if any, was broken when Lloyd's face shifted into one of disgust and promptly pulled his hand away from a cackling Jay's mouth. 

"Ew, gross! You licked my hand?" He questioned, his voice moving up in pitch at the end. 

That just made Jay laugh harder. 

Cole took that moment as the excuse he needed to leave the situation. Only when he was half way to his room did Jay's head poke out the lounge. 

"You know you have paint in your hair?" He called, questioning. 

Cole's hand quickly went up to the back of his head, to be met with the coarse feeling of dried paint that was in fact there, and had been missed during his effort to clean it all off earlier that morning. He cringed, but shot Jay a slight smile, "Got pranked by some kids walking back. I thought they'd missed." Cole grinned, then shrugged. "I'll be in my room, showering."

"Dude, too much info!" 

"Wait until you realise what I do with my clothes when I shower." 

Then it was Lloyd's turn to give a holler of disgust. 

Cole laughed at their revulsion, and slipped into his room without much fanfare. 

Twenty minutes later, and a fresh change of clothes, he was sitting in the center of his room with a towel wrapped around his damp hair and his morning purchases neatly arranged on the floor in front of him. 

He knew what he wanted to do, he already had a rough design sketched out on a rogue piece of paper; his pencil was held between his teeth and he was staring at the paints. 

The dawning realisation of what he was planning to do finally hit home. It wasn't as if he'd told anyone about his idea, it was currently just himself and his thoughts, and Cole was already second guessing himself. 

"This is a stupid idea." He mumbled to himself, his voice quiet in the already present silence of his room. Usually he had music playing on his phone or something to the like, but now all he was doing was thinking. Thinking that what he was going to do- no, not what he was going to do, what he was debating on doing- and just realising how much he hadn't even taken into account. 

Cole didn't dance for anyone. Sure, maybe he'd do a general jig if there was a good song on the radio, but who didn't? Yet dancing, proper dancing, he hadn't done it for years; and not for anyone but himself. 

Why was he even contemplating going against the grain? Why now? What made that moment different, what made that time the right time to consider getting back into dancing? Was it the fact that he now saw these amazingly talented people every time he went to Nightowls? The way they just so easily stepped into the centre of attention, directly into everyone's line of sight and not get bothered by the many pairs of eyes staring back at them? That they could blank it all out in favour of just performing and doing what they loved? 

Cole let out a heavy breath, before he lifted the scrap piece of paper with the mask sketch up in front of him. He had a good idea what he wanted to do, a design that would be pretty ironic, a personal victory in a way. One that only he would be aware of, really. He had everything he needed. It was all out in front of him. 

Cole set the paper down, took hold of the towel in his hair and started rubbing the last of the dampness away. He stood, folding the towel over the chair at his desk before he left for training. 

He needed to stave off exhaustion first, he needed to get his blood pumping and muscles warmed. He needed to wake himself up as much as he could after such an extensively long day, then he'd think logically about what he was going to do when he wasn't feeling as tired. 

Maybe that night Cole had gone to sleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow, at the late time of seven in the afternoon. Maybe he even slept solidly through the night and woke up on time for the following days training, not a nightmare in sight. 

Maybe his mask was already under construction, pencil markings already sketched out on the mask base, the idea already blooming into fruition. 

Maybe he would dance.

-

From the beginning

Ch 03 > Ch 04 > Ch 05

AO3