#Nightmare!vidar

[invidiatechdemo]

a faulty assessment, derived from hindsight

full uncrop under cut.

[meatcute]

sketch commission of vidar for @invidiatechdemo!! thank you so much, this character is so cute :)

want your own? click here for more info + how to reach out!

[wishingstarinajar]

A doodle of @stankychee's Vidar and my Pica Plumey Remi in between other drawings.

Vidar's antler crown is a fine perch for little bird skeletons to sit on and dangle from, and his lover's magpie-like companion is no exception.

Plumey Bitties | Pica Plumeys are a concept by NanoBanana

[monokerus]

Jag höll på att fundera på att stänga av sändningen då det såg ut som att Gunilla skulle till final så tack fan för annat

Asså ibland får vi ju guldkorn som typ Rolandz, men SNÄLLA SLUTA RÖSTA VIDARE SKIT asså vi behöver inte mer Gunilla eller Ranelid eller dansande humrar det är nightmare fuel

[nashdoesstuff]

CONCLUSION OF THE DREAM TOURNAMENT'S FIRST ROUND

alas, the results are in the votes have been counted...

ROUND 1 RESULTS

Shattered!Dream outlasted Shattered!Monarch with 73.9% to 26.1%. 238 users voted. Shattered was happy with his win and struted confidently as he left the wounded Monarch on the floor of the arena.

OSD!Dream beat Leviathan!Dream to shore, though it was a close last-hour match, with OSD winning by only 2.2%. 407 users voted. They parted with Dream's new nickname for Leviathan "Levy." OSD!Nightmare is still arguing with the host about his young brother being in this tournament.

Molten!Dream beat Silence in a battle, Molt's voting at 68.3% and the latter's 31.7%. Silence's followers were not happy with this loss. 334 users voted.

Onerios, before the loss was declared, stomped away to whine to Vidar about being beat by a "lesser positive being." He lost to Swad by 19%. 215 users voted.

Empireverse!Dream swept past Negative!Dream, leaving the flag of the Sun Empire in his trail. EV!Dream gained 71.6% of the votes, whilst Negative!Dream gained 28.4%. 96 users voted.

Modernverse!Dream gained the audiences love by showcasing his photography of the tournament. He beat Malltale!Dream, 72.4% to 27.6%. 127 users voted.

Some of the audience loved BwB!Dream's attitude, however much of it was drawn to Dawn for his upbeat attitude. Modern!Dream joined in about halfway through the "fight." Dawn defeated BwB!Dream 62.6% to 37.4%. 278 users voted.

OG Dream defeated RESET!Dream with mercy. They parted with Dream wishing the glitchier version of himself luck. Dream won 76.3% to 23.7%. 97 users voted.

And just like that, the tournament advances begin!

Shattered!Dream [@galacii] v. OSD!Dream [@calcium-cat]

Molten!Dream [@orbital-inclination] v. Swad [@song-song-a]

Empireverse!Dream [@lunnar-chan] v. Modernverse!Dream [@ask-modern-verse]

Dawn [@sunlit-witch] v. OG!Dream [@jokublog]

ROUND 2 VOTING BEGINS AT 5PM EST!

[starlitmothart]

Pokemon Team Gijinkas (Updated 01/18/2024)

Highly electrocutable Kanto team

Bering the Kingler

Nepenthes the Victreebel

Pacifica the Tentacruel

Char the Charizard (to be redrawn soon)

Shard the Cloyster

Hornet the Beedrill

All Star Johto team

Glitchy the Porygon-Z

Zuzu the Crobat

Gyareth the Gyarados

Quilly the Typhlosion (Best girl!)

Death the Xatu

Glacier the Weavile

Highly flammable Hoenn team

Exuvia the Shedinja (Deoxys's worst nightmare)

Emily the Aggron

Tensan (the original Mr. Wiggles) the Dustox

Aqua the Swampert

Shimmer the extremely needy Gardevoir

Musa the Tropius

Kinda bland Sinnoh team

Cerim the Gallade

Altair the Staraptor

Yggy (Yggdrasil but the game won’t let me put that) the Torterra

Lullus the Mismagius

Ritz the Luxray

Graham the Pachirisu (bestest best boy)

Relatively well balanced Unova team

Statilia (the BEST Mr. Wiggles) the Leavanny

Hex the Gothitelle

Shadow the Bisharp

Mizu the Samurott

Cyclone the Sigilyph

Adelheid the Hydreigon

The Kalos team that started my very short competitive career

Shimmer the Gardevoir… who is still very needy.

Muerta the Gengar

Chester the Chesnaught (to be redesigned soon)

Carla the Hawlucha (scourge of the Mega Lucario)

Aurelius the Aegislash

Noivy the Noivern (my precious baby)

The first Alola team

Elzaphan the Toucannon

Pandora the Salazzle

Bee the Ribombee

Vidar the Decidueye

Hanzo the Samurott

Precious the Mimikyu

The second Alola team that isn't completely an Ensemble Stars reference (because it also references Yume100 lol)

Orchid the Lurantis (not Tormari)

Ienzo the Zoroark (not Nagisa)

Rico the Primarina (not Wataru)

Gladius the Gallade (finally gets a good design, my favorite Gallade, not Tsukasa or Sieg)

Magnus the Magmortar (not Foia)

Helio the Heliolisk (not Sora)

The mostly themeless Galar team

Britney the Toxtricity

James the Inteleon

Dorian the Runerigus

Bacon Bit the Sizzlipede

Drayla the Dragapult

Titania the Hatterene (plus GMax mecha lolololol)

The found family Paldea team

Anita the Spidops

Bella the Tinkaton

Manolo the Skeledirge

Struthiona the Espathra

Olivita the Smoliv

Canus the Ceruledge

TO BE DRAWN/ASSEMBLED

Kitakami (once again highly flammable)

Statilia

Quilly

Shimmer

Kohana

Lillia

Atalanta

Unova (Blueberry)

Quilly

Statilia

Crysta

Drakon

Hanzo

Aeolus

Hisui

Hinoken

Rikuu

Sachiko

Kiko

Tsurara

Itoyo

[hibiscus-ships]

Gaelio's Vidar has been built! The stickers in this kit were a nightmare to deal with, but Vidar itself is a lovely suit. I love its épée weapon <3

I also bought a Slowpoke kit when i purchased Vidar, so he can be here too. He has a friend :3 🌺

Tag list: @bloodlett1ng @nicorobinactually @tekkai @little-miss-selfships @gideongrovel @goldenworldsabound

[scalacaelumxx]

I have like 100 wips for khdr fics and I can’t for the life of me pick one. If anyone wants to help out and shoot a suggestion from this list or add something new please do! I do have wips for a couple of them.

Fic Ideas:

1. Character analysis fic on Hoder and Baldr and how he grew up always hiding behind her/dependent on her

2. Classroom shenanigans with Vali and Vidar doing sign language before the rest of their classmates have picked up on it

3. Little Eraqus interacting with his grandpa and hearing stories (grandfather being Brain, hopefully?)

4. Xehanort first getting there and his opinion on his new classmates

5. Eraqus trying to spy on one of the upperclassmen’s classes

6. Bragi and Eraqus hanging out outside of class and just, talking

7. Post dark road Eraqus talking to pre BBS Eraqus

8. What each of the lowerclassmen have nightmares of (just like, typically, before the mass murder)

9. Celebrating some kind of festival

10. Hermod trying to help Vor study

11. Vidar and Hoder sparring against each other

12. Xehanort lamenting about how the fish are different between the Destiny Islands and Scala

13. Silent Hill AU/traveling there

14. Xehanort getting lost because Scala’s layout is confusing

15. Some of the Lowerclassmen getting stuck in a cable car when they tried to travel to one of the abandoned islands

[masterfuldoodler]

Keepers Master-post

Sub-tags:

keepers comic keepers meme keepers q&a

Story sub-tags:

scifi hospital boarding school ageless war

Writing and Comics

Dying moments - comic

Rhyin thinks back on his mother's death

Graveside chat - comic

Rhyin and his father visit his uncle's grave. His father has unhealthy responses to grief

Master plan - writing

Vinni plots out a way to make her friend lighten up and hang out more

Heartbeats - writing

Rhyin wakes up from (experimental) surgery and isn't doing well, but (like an idiot) keeps it to himself. P. S. he's really not doing well.

Only a Nightmare - writing

Rhyin's reoccurring nightmare

Dear Those Far Away - comic

Vinni goes on an apprenticeship and finds herself feeling lonely. So she writes letters!

Do I Know You? - comic

introspection on Haru's mental state when things start going down for him

Homesick - comic

Felix is able to reunite with his family! And Skylar gets unexpectedly angsty about it. The two get to have a bonding moment yay

Wake me Up - comic

Ian gets taken away for another 'treatment' Jules is sure will be the death of him. He summons a friend to help him out

Meeting Vidar - comic

Grace and Vokku get caught sneaking around and get rescued from a disturbing creature of sorts

Homesick? - comic

Benji struggles to catch Vokku, and Vokku is feeling lonely and doubting leaving home.

Crash Course intro - writing

Edmund and Rhyin crashing a spaceship as a character bonding moment

Forget me Not? - comic

Val and Rhyin hang out and talk about Rhyin's friends

Welcome Home I guess - comic

Mitz finds herself back on her home planet walking through the streets she grew up in. And things have really changed while she's been gone

Who am I - comic

Valerie finds out about her past and grapples with the implications

Tell Me Why I Feel This Way - comic

When the dreamrealm and the real world start colliding dreams start coming true, which isn't exciting when you're plagued by nightmares and visions about the world's imminent ruin. Luckily Rhyin has a friend willing to fight through to reach him

End of All - comic

Tehvlar has finally finished his project; recreating his body into chaos. That's when Rhyin comes back from the dead, and he has things to say.

Three's a Crowd - comic (scene concept)

Betty and Skylar set out to tag and investigate a ghost in an abandoned building nearby places people go missing from...

Deleted Scene (the cannibal in the swamp) - comic

Ketsler, Felix, and Skylar go investigating and find an unlikely character in the swamp

Deleted Scene (curiosity killed the cat) - comic/writing

Rhyin finds himself thrown into the future and goes looking for answers but instead stumbles into trouble

Animation

Are You Bored Yet? - animatic

What if you almost fell in love, but the world fell apart first. And when you found each other again you'd changed, and she was almost another person. What if you fell in love all over again?

History Has It's Eyes On You - animatic

I've had this idea for several years now, finally worked up the guts to try doing it. It kinda wraps up and touches on a lot of the aspects of the wizard side of the Keepers plot

To be updated as things are posted and the story changes or morphs.

[torment-deviser]

Been thinking about Vidar and Saphira. And how their relationship develops.

Like, the interesting thing is that if it wasn't for an accidental meeting in semi ridiculous circumstances, it would not have happened.

Basically, when they first really meet. Is basically after the whole fiasco with kiki and saving the children from meteor. Vidar is kinda running on fumes. Between lack of sleep and stress, making phantom pains more frequent on his missing leg. And actual pain from being unable to remove his prosthetic (part of it being bc this dumbass is afraid of being vulnerable). So ofc he suffers from nightmares during the time in the belrose place.

And so he decides to go take a dip in the lake to relax a bit after intelligible nightmares wake him up and keep him wired up.

Which does work.

Until he breaks into the surface of the lake to find a scary woman with her scary dragonite hanging between him and his stuff (and prosthetic).

And due to his past, he has enough strength assesment to know he's over his head.

Cue an akward and tense conversation of him tryna convince her that this stranger is an ally. It ends with him akwardly asking if she can pass him his leg.

During the whole steelix encounter, they banter with each other. Vidar doesn't judge her for killing some of the mooks to save her sister (it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, but knows, he'd be a hypocrite if he did)

Those interactions are the first ones that have an impact on him bc Saphira doesn't care whether Vidar is more vulnerable or not. She doesn't treat him differently. She just cares about him being strong enough to protect her sisters and be reliable.

Which he is.

Later on, the similar situations they've had in regards to their role as the oldest sibling. Makes Vidar able to empathize and understand where Saphira is coming from more geniunely.

The next big interaction they have is during the wait for the raid on labradorra. Where the anniversary of his family's death happens and they have a deep conco abt their families, (I plan on elaborating more abt this at another time.)

(This one makes saphiras words towards him be more of a stab in the gut after the gym battle)

(They eventually visit the topic during the postgame tho)

During the postgame he starts to realize his feelings

But It isn't until after the Ho Oh anomaly during the postgame that the confession happens.

[goldensunset]

Hi! I really enjoyed your meta on Xehanort being the one to kill Baldr. What do you think of how Dark Road handled Xehanort's development and how it led into the future? The Wonderland was really surprisingly good in that favour, to me.

long story short dark road made me insane and i seriously hope we get to see xehanort in the future in some way shape or form. xehanort14, as some of us have been calling him. it just feels Hurtful to write the most despicable villain ever for like twenty years and then only after he’s finally dead do we get a real backstory on him that makes us all feel for him hardcore and appreciate him as a character. and i think dark road’s very existence even after kh3 is just proof that nomura is way too attached to xehanort to let him go like that. and nomura’s own comments seem to strongly imply the same. just because his saga is over does not necessarily guarantee we’ll never see him again…

oh wait by future you mean in-universe. like how that all shaped him lol. WELL. it’s all been said before by both me and others but i think xehanort’s main takeaway from the events of dark road wasn’t even anything specifically related to whether darkness is acceptable or not. he already felt an affinity for darkness even before getting to scala.

nah the lesson he learned from that whole entire nightmare is that Sometimes People Have To Make Hard Choices. sometimes ya gotta stand up and do the repulsive thing, the uncomfortable thing, the thing that makes you seem like the bad guy in order to serve a greater goal.

vidar couldn’t bring himself to kill baldr and he didn’t even personally know the guy. that idea was too awful for him. if vidar hadn’t been so merciful maybe baldr could’ve been stopped earlier and the remaining classmates could’ve survived. we see eraqus get angry at vidar about this while xehanort was calmer about it but i think internally xehanort was feeling it too. vidar was too weak to do what needed to be done. so then xehanort went and killed baldr even though he didn’t want to.

flash forward a lifetime later and xehanort is manipulating/possessing/killing anyone he needs to because he’s trying to make the world a better place right? those who are trying to stop him simply don’t understand. they’re too weak and sentimental.

dark road was such a masterpiece of writing fr fr it’s not at all what i think any of us honestly expected of a xehanort backstory

[kicktwine]

regarding the desert godlings AU, would you ever consider doing a version for the dark road kids? id love to see your creativity or imagination used for someone like baldr or vor or vidar with the incredible work youve done with the ux kids!

Not with this au specifically! If I were to make the KHDR kids an au it would be a universe that came to me in a flash of horrible inspiration, like a nightmare, or perhaps a brick to the head. You know, like all my other aus :]

[c-e-d-dreamer]

feel like cassian would be REAL feral around nesta if hes gone mad like hands shaking bc hes trying to resist being all over her and the works

Hello, Anon! Thank you for joining my brainstorming session on what Cassian being driven to madness by a rejected bond looks like...

I definitely love the idea of Cassian going full feral. Like boxing Nesta in up against the wall. Very Tamlin on Calanmai vibes.

Other suggestions that have been made to me is him being super paranoid. Like nightmares and hallucinations about Lady Death coming for him.

My bestie also suggested he has an imaginary pet wolf named Vidar which could be fun. Very Tom Hanks and Wilson in Castaway.

But yeah! Keep the brainstorming coming! I crowd sourced my Demon Nesta series so why not this!

[stankychee]

Some DreamtaleAU shenanigans and reference sheet of the bros. Vidar likes to spend time in the Rusty wilds and eventually befriends a silver-tongued ranger named Rook. Rook and the Rusty Wilds belong to @wishingstarinajar  edit: XD Vidar (left) and Reverie (right) are the guardians of the tree of Omens. Editedit: Dreamtale was created by Jokublog.

[wishingstarinajar]

"You say our love is draining and you can't go on You'll be the one complaining when I am gone" Oh Oneiros, you're such a possessive jerk towards @stankychee‘s Vidar. This song from Hamilton fits you so well! Now stop trying to corrupt the poor fool with your light.

[btsinwonderland]

A Drop of Poison - Ch. 20: Escape

A Loki fanfiction!

Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

Full Chapter List

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

“So you are Miss Eves?”

You looked into the cold blue eye of the Minister of Magic. Odin, you thought with dread. He had a metallic gold eyepatch over his right eye and though he was missing an eye, the one he had gazed right through you.

“Y-yes, sir,” you said, trying to sound firm, but your voice came out meekly.

You were in the middle of Headmistress Frigga’s office, with Odin standing in front of her desk. She was behind it, with a grave expression; her mouth was a thin line. Professor Sif was in the room with a tense look on her face, and Heimdall stood in the corner by Frigga.

Odin took a step towards you. His heavy boots thudded on the carpeted floor. “It is interesting to me that your name has been floating around so often around my son.”

Your eyes rose to meet his. He looked suspicious. “I-I don’t know what you mean, sir,” you said.

“Loki does not do anything beyond a design, my dear,” he said. “The boy is an extraordinary liar and has a special ability to gain followers with his silver tongue.” His eye narrowed at you.

You scoffed. “He was giving me detention, that’s all.”

“So you do not know that he is after the Tesseract?”

Your breath caught in your throat, and you glanced at Heimdall. He stared at you before looking away. The anxiety in your chest catapulted into your abdomen. You immediately realized that Odin knew about your visions, and all lies would be futile.

“I saw a vision, yes,” you said. “I saw a vision that he died.” Your heart lurched at your own words.

Headmistress Frigga sat down and put her head in her hands.

Odin glanced back at his wife briefly before setting a stern gaze on you. “So you admit you had key information and chose not to reveal it?”

“There was nothing to tell! I did not know what I was seeing. It could have been a nightmare,” you said angrily. Then you turned to Heimdall, “isn’t that right professor? When I came to you with my concerns, you told me I was having nightmares.” You didn’t care if he got in trouble. The man had already sold you and cut you out.

Heimdall looked at you with an infuriatingly patient gaze and then turned to Odin. “Minister, Freya does not have control over her divination abilities. She has been dreaming of the Tesseract for a long time, as you already know. But she never knew what it was,” he said.

Your blood boiled in your veins. Did Heimdall talk about you to Odin behind your back all these years? “How could you,” you said to him. “I trusted you!”

“Silence!” Odin said. “Do not blame him for doing his due diligence. All matters regarding the Tesseract come through me. Regardless,” he said. “ Loki will be found and charged for colluding with Vidar and for treason against the Ministry.”

“No! You can’t do that, you don’t know if he’s done anything!” you said. Tears stung your eyes.

Odin looked at you levelly. “If your visions are true, girl, then Loki will commit the gravest crime of all,” he said, then lowered his voice so you could barely hear, “and it will destroy everything.”

“Just because he’s down there doesn’t mean he did anything! You can’t arrest him without any proof! You-”

“Get her out of here!” Odin barked.

A man in black pinstripe robes, another ministry auror you assumed, grabbed you by the arm and led you out of the office. Odin called out behind you. “It will be best for you to remain in your common room Miss Eves, to be safe.”

Professor Odinson was outside the hall and looked at the man holding you. He walked up to you both and stopped him. “I can take her from here. Professor Bjorn needs to see her, anyway.”

The man nodded, and you left with Professor Odinson.

“What did father say?” he asked you once you were well away from the ministry personnel.

You explained everything in annoying detail. Annoying because you trusted Heimdall all these years, and he was filling in the ministry about all your secrets. And now, Loki was number one on the ministry’s most wanted list.

“He’s not bad, I know he’s not,” you said. “Professor Odinson, you know that.”

He threw you a smile. “Call me Thor, Freya. He is lucky to have you.” An understanding went through the both of you and you felt a little calmer.

“I’m happy that you’ve healed so quickly, Thor,” you said. You smirked a little. “Valkyrie was incredibly worried.”

You saw from the corner of your eye that he stiffened slightly. “Um, yes, she was...she was very kind to me.”

His face had gone pink, and you nearly laughed but spared him. “Did Professor Bjorn actually need to see me?”

Thor nodded as you both approached the Hufflepuff common room. When you turned the corner, a heavy sense of dread came over you. It was a terrible feeling, as if you would never be happy again. You nearly screamed when you arrived at the common room entrance.

Dementors floated on both sides of the entrance. Their heads shifted in your direction as you and Thor stopped. Dark black robes covered their floating bodies and faces as the fabric rippled through. There was no wind. It was an ageless and emotionless void that was their presence, where no light or movement would ever be felt.

Professor Bjorn appeared from the other side with a pained expression on his face. He gave the dementors a wide berth and stopped in front of you.

Thor glared at the dementors. “My father would never allow this!” he said. “Those things belong in Azkaban! Not in Hogwarts!” Then he looked at you. “Freya, I must leave you now to speak with the Minister and Headmistress,” he said, then turned to leave and paused. “Be careful, for not all dementors can tell the difference between the guilty and innocent.” With that, he briskly left.

“Freya, let’s go, they ain’t allowed in the rooms,” professor Bjorn said.

You glanced at the dementor on the left side of the door as you walked closer. Every moment of sadness and pain you had ever felt bubbled to the surface. You felt like crying, but were too deep in your despair to shed a single tear. The world felt meaningless and hopeless; there was no point to anything.

Bjorn yanked you inside the common room just as a dementor hovered inches from your face. The door shut abruptly and though your head was swimming with visions of painful memories; you felt lighter from the distance.

“Thank you, professor,” you said, rubbing your head.

Bjorn led you to a quiet room, past all the students in the common area. Many of them stopped him to ask questions like why were there dementors in Hogwarts and was Loki Laufeyson going to come after them like his father did.

“The Ministry says the dementor’s will keep you lot safe! I say that’s horseshit! Stay away from them. No more questions, stay in your rooms and don’t come out until the Headmistress says so!” Bjorn said.

Mo ran up to you when he saw you come in and gave you a hug. “Are you alright?” he said.

You heaved a breath of relief that he was alright and nodded. “Y-yes, I’m okay,” you said and told him to wait for you while Professor Bjorn urged you to come with him.

When you were alone with Bjorn, he sat you down and fished into his pocket. There was a rough-looking piece of aluminum foil he unwrapped to reveal a piece of chocolate. “Eat this,” he said.

You looked at him questioningly, but took it. As you bit into it, the chocolate made you feel better and the world that weighed you down moments ago lightened. “Thank you.”

Professor Bjorn ran a hand over his beard and looked very grim. “Freya, I found out who ordered them blood slugs,” he said.

You put the chocolate down and stood up. “Who? If we know who it is, then we can tell the Ministry and they’ll stop suspecting Professor Laufeyson!” Finally, you thought. Some genuine hope.

Professor Bjorn held a pained expression that worried you. “I spoke to the folk I know who deal in the magical animal trade...One of them says it was a man that looked a lot like the Minister’s eldest son. But he ain’t saying nothing ‘cause he fears the Farbauti loyalists. The man’s got children to protect...”

You could no longer listen to a word he was saying. A buzzing in your ears had developed as you blinked and your senses numbed. It could not be. “He - you're saying that Loki orchestrated the blood slug attack at the Halloween ball? That he - that he’s the reason I almost died from the serperus attack? His brother almost died!”

Professor Bjorn did not seem to know what to say. “We dunno nothin’. There could be more to this than we see. But...please don’t tell the Ministry. I wanted to tell you so you know, but I can’t put that man and his family in danger for tellin’ me this. Please, Freya.”

You shook your head and gave him a dry smile. “We don’t need to say anything, Professor Bjorn. They already suspect Loki, it’s not as if this will change anything.” Stones weighed down your body, and you felt as if you could barely move. You stared past Bjorn. “Though you should be careful now, sir. With the ministry poking around, you must hide the serperus you saved.”

He nodded and said goodbye to you, and then you were alone in the study.

You ran through the information in your head, trying to understand why. This whole time, you knew he was up to something. But you thought that maybe, just maybe, he had a reason. You had to hold on to that. He was going to have to explain himself once and for all. No more games or wordplay. No more tricks.

You looked out the window and saw rain clouds settling in, casting the entire field in a grey colour. A dementor swooped past the window and you jumped back with a hand to your chest. How the hell were you going to escape and save Loki?

Chewing your lip, you went back to your room and searched under your bed. The invisibility cloak was there, though you were not sure if the dementors could sense you through it. Their magic seemed to rely on emotions rather than sight. But it was worth the risk. All you needed was to sneak out and get past them, then you could run into the forest.

You thought about the book Spells for the Common House Cat, and the vision it showed you about where the Tesseract was. Perhaps it was a haunted story, but it was the only lead you had to go on. You pictured the Tesseract in the cavern, just beyond the weeping willow with black leaves.

Peeling through your clothing chest, you changed into tights, a thick black sweater and a mustard coloured scarf.

“Going somewhere without me?” said a voice and hands grasped your shoulders.

You nearly jumped out of your skin and tripped on the edge of your trunk, landing on your knees. “What the fuck?” You looked up and saw Valkyrie laughing at your clumsiness, holding a hand to her mouth.

Pushing yourself up, you brushed your tights and glared at her. “How the hell did you get in here?”

Valkyrie put her hands on her hips. “I’ve told you before, my sweet innocent Hufflepuff, I got my ways. Better question, were you gonna head out to save your boyfriend without me?”

“He’s not my -” you said, then paused. Truly, what was he to you? The word boyfriend certainly did not fit, but neither did my-mysterious-professor-who-I-am-completely-in-love-with-who-might-also-be-a-criminal.

You sighed and sat on the edge of your bed. “I’m going. I don’t want you to come,” you said as firmly as possible.

Valkyrie jumped onto the bed beside you and snorted. “How cute. You really think you’re going to convince me out of it! Now, let's skip the part where we go back and forth and you lose this argument, yeah?”

A smile edged to your lips. She was the most stubborn person you had ever met. And you loved her more than anything. “Fine,” you said. “How do we get out of here?”

Taking the invisibility cloak, both you and Valkyrie snuck to the common area of your common room. Students laid on the couches, reading or discussing what was happening at Hogwarts. Some other students stood at the window and gazed outside nearly catatonically. You wondered if the dementors had been too close to them and cringed at the thought of having to experience that feeling again.

You both tapped Mo on the shoulder, who twitched, which earned him a scowl from the girl sitting beside him. Valkyrie leaned into his ear and whispered, “go to the bookshelf.”

She led you to the end of the common area, where the large bookshelf was. On the side, there was a little corner in the wall that was wide enough for one person to stand in. The corner was blocked by a stone pillar that stood in front of it. You had only ever seen it in passing and barely even noticed it anymore. Valkyrie and you squeezed into the corner and she parted the cloak to reveal her wand in hand. She tapped the seventh brick from the bottom twice and then the one to the left of it and then another one up.

The bricks opened up to reveal a small passageway, just tall enough to crouch.

“Oh my god, this is how you’ve been sneaking into the common room! How did you know?” you said, crawling in behind her. Mo snuck in behind you when he checked nobody was looking.

The bricks shuffled back in place as if the three of you had never been in the common room.

“Remember Simon Parini when we were in fourth year? He was a seventh year student at the time, well he may have gotten drunk one evening after we won the quidditch cup and told me, but he made me promise the next day not to tell anyone that there were little connectors between the rooms. They’re meant for flooding or frog infestations only or something,” she said with a laugh. “He found out completely by accident when he was a third year. Some students bullied him and made him stand in the corner for hours all alone, and he figured it out.”

“I could have saved so much damn time if you told us,” Mo said.

The three of you crawled through the tunnel for several minutes before a small bit of light peaked through a door. You emerged from behind a painting of an apple tree in a hallway that was way too close to the Headmistress’s office for your comfort.

“We need to move,” you said to them. You took off the invisibility cloak to readjust it around Mo so the three of you could fit.

Midway through covering your head, you saw angry eyes from the painting. It was originally just a painting of a lonely apple tree, but this time there was a man standing there, glaring at you.

“Students out of their common room!” Professor Rattowl bellowed. “You will be punished for this!” He disappeared from the painting and your heart jumped into your throat.

“Run!” Valkyrie said, throwing the cloak over your head and pushing ahead.

It was clumsy and difficult to be so close and try to run at the same time without tripping over each other’s feet. You felt as though you were in a strange animal costume, where one of you was the head, another the torso and another the rear. As you nearly fell several times, you managed to cross the hall and head down the stairs.

“There’s an exit just past these stairs!” Mo said, his elbow accidentally digging into your side.

The feeling hit you when you reached the bottom of the stairs. Dread creeped up in your stomach and all three of you stopped in your tracks.

Three dementors floated at the entrance to the large arched wooden door that led right where you wanted to go, outside. Their veiled heads paused for a moment, and all three of them stopped moving.

Your heart thudded in your chest as the three of you stood there, arms linked and trying not to breathe. Surely, they could hear your collective heartbeats fluttering faster than a hummingbird. A long ache of despair scraped across your chest and you felt as though you could not breathe.

One dementor turned its head towards you and floated closer. Valkyrie squeezed your arm, but you felt nothing but sadness as you stared back at the creature that fed on the vacuum of pain you held inside.

Suddenly, a bluish light coursed through the room and a pair of torso-less legs ran through the dementor. It reared its head back, and the dementors followed the legs through the hallway. The feeling of dread lingered, but it was not as heavy as it was before.

You took off the invisibility cloak and dragged a breath in. Crazy Collin floated towards you and smiled.

“Crazy Collin! You saved us!” Mo said, shocked.

“Collin, how did you know?” you said, walking up to him.

He shrugged. “I saw you in the hall there, goin’ inside that cloak. Then I followed the sound of yer feet. I know you’re trying to stop that monster, that ‘orrible thing that killed that poor girl,” he said, his usually youthful eyes became pensive. “It killed me too, ya know. It ripped me in half fifty years ago!”

It hit you then. You thought about the vision that Leah Mai showed you from fifty years ago when you had been sucked into the book.

A group of professors carried someone on a stretcher down the stairs. That someone had a white sheet over their body and face. As they descended the steps, a hand slipped out from beneath the white sheet and you saw dark blood drip on the floor in little beads.

Odin’s haunted voice echoed in your mind from that memory, when he had spoken with the former Headmaster Oppin.

“The Dark One has risen, and his shadow lingers here. Doesn’t the Michaels boy prove that?”

You found your voice again and looked up at Collin. “Michaels...Are you Collin Michaels?”

Collin nodded sadly. “Now, go! My legs won’t hold ‘em for long!”

Valkyrie tugged at your arm, pulling you to the door. “Come on Freya.”

You looked back at Collin. “Thank you,” you said and smiled.

The door opened to an awfully chilly breeze and the three of you huddled underneath the cloak once more and made your way to the Forbidden Forest. Behind the clouds, the sun was obscured, and rain drizzled over you. Above, the clouds had darkened and everything looked dark grey and uninviting. Just at the edge of the treeline, the three of you stopped, staring into the shadow of the trees.

“Are you guys ready?” Valkyrie said.

“For Pom,” Mo said.

You smiled, tears in your eyes. “For Pom.”

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Happy Loki Wednesday! A very long chapter this week to add in some juicy details and there's some callbacks if you remember from previous chapters ;)

Thank you as always, for being on this fun journey! Your comments make my day :D