#Separate mental breakdown later in the chapter

[morimess]

I finally figured out what I want to do with the imposter wind waker for TBABS.

[corviiids]

sparknotes for chapter 9 of as you like it because a very kind commenter asked for a breakdown and if theres one thing im good at it's breaking down

(spoilers for the fic obviously)

tihs chapter gave me so much trouble. i sat on it for so long i literally hated it by the time i posted it but im starting to forgive it now. it was, as ive said, originally way longer, and the next part of the fic was supposed to be the second half of this one... but it was starting to get absurd and i realised that neither part would have the weight i needed them to have if they were lumped in together. (with some relief, honestly, because i kind of had wanted them to be separate initially but didn't think they'd be long enough. i dont know myself very well.) anyway, the next chapter should be a bit of a doozy now although hopefully not SO absurdly long.

this chapter picks up where the previous cliff hung off, which is to say, after the 'shadow' akechi reveals that he's actually just the real ass guy. akechi in the palace what will he do. the chapter doesn't immediately kick off with ren's reaction though and that is because ren is the most repressed man alive and does not know how he feels about it.

so, akechi disguised himself to enter his palace, which is significant for a few reasons:

1. he's disguised as himself

which i think is ironic in a fun way, but it's also just a very basic nod to the fact that akechi pivots between which of his personae is his default. this isn't necessarily super meaningful, but he does later refer to the black mask suit as

a costume, instead of an outfit. i mean, don't read into it too much, he's just talking, but i did think that probably points to how he feels about his appearance generally.

2. more importantly, his disguise involves taking off his mask.

so he's disguised, yes, and he's disguised as himself, yes, but that disguise is a literal unmasking, which is also kind of ironic. in presenting himself this way he has literally and figuratively made himself vulnerable. they're inside his heart, and the entire time he's in the palace, he is exposed... again both literally and figuratively because he also starts sharing more with ren than he ever has. look, i just think it's fun to have a character who has so many layers that he has to lie so hard that he becomes himself again.

i only want to point this out because (this is also part of larger meta about mona lol) akechi knew about the metaverse, but there is no way to intuit the method of stealing hearts without guidance. it's such a specific and involved process. thje most akechi could work out on his own was that if you killed a shadow, that person would have a mental breakdown. no way to guess that if you send a calling card and then go in within the next 24 hours and take a physical manifestation of a thing that you didn't know existed (process) would lead to that person ahving a change of heart (result). so even if akechi had a palace and knew about it, even if he wanted to do something about it, he would have assumed there was nothing he could do about it - i also have no idea what the process would be for sending yourself a calling card, even if he DID know about the process. so basically in this fic akechi found his palace and just assumed that was it. he was like, fucked up lol. anyway

this just straight up isn't true HAHA so i put in the silly little dichotomy of akechi gently taking ren's arm to protect him from slipping on the ice while telling him that he lied about caring about him. i think in this chapter as akechi begins to openly explain more and more of his thought process, this is probably the first truly clear glimpse you get of exactly what akechi's distortion is and how deep it runs.

the things akechi says with total conviction in this chapter are just... not true, not a fair or founded way to view the world (or the art of performance haha), but he says them with total conviction, and hopefully it should show off how unreliable he is as a source of exposition. one commenter asked about this moment of akc's eyes going yellow and if it was somehting that happened in canon - not really, i was just thinking about those little moments in the game after you send a calling card where the game cuts from the person to their shadow to do a little oneliner about their distortion.

akechi's IN his own palace, so i thought it would be fun to kind of make it a physical thing that can happen to him where he sort of merges with his shadow for a brief second in the moments when the distortion is strongest.

OKAY this is one of my favourite bits of the chapter HAHA the deep soda lore. i dont expect anyone to remember all the way back to chapter 3 but:

literally nobody asked about this but i love the phantom thieves!!! i dream of all the little silly moments of being a team that they must have that we don't get to see in gameplay, for obvious reasons of it wouldn't really work in a game, but i can imagine them in my brain. i can imagine their trickshot contests that get their asses kicked. i can imagine them chanting at each other to chug while joker and oracle compete to down an entire bottle of brand neutral mountain dew baja blast. i can dream.

soda lore is gay.

i dont honestly think it's inherently a bad thing necessarily but this part does kind of set up like... you can see akechi very early on in life forming this worldview that the truth isn't always what you want, you know? this was a 'lie' he and his mother both bought into, they both knew what the truth actually was, so it wasn't real dishonesty, but they just had this little fantasy. i just thought it would be fun for akechi to have a way to bond with his mother and feel closer to her, and that way is by buying into this white lie. idk

akechi's mother isn't really a character and i don't want to form her into too much of one because i think it's very much the point that, like... he made this point in an earlier chapter but having lost her at a pretty young age i think it's quite crucial that akechi doesn't really have a fully formed image of who his mother is outside of what she was to him as a child. so i actively don't want her to feel too real or defined. im not interested in making an oc out of her because i think it defeats the purpose. that said, this line exists to maybe gesture very vaguely at the notion that akechi's mother was a very bright person who similarly was stuck in circumstances that didn't serve to foster her real potential. just the image in my mind of a person who's clever enough to get across algebraic notation in chess by flipping through a book in a few minutes, but was never exposed to the opportunity to learn chess until this moment in someone else's house, and also the particular situation of learning this skill WHILE at someone's place as a call girl, i dunno . i hope im treating this with the grace it deserves but i wanted to build just this particular image in vivid colour while also keeping the reality quite blurry and vague, just to give the reader a sense of where akechi came from while still preserving his limited pov.

my thoughts on the phantom thieves' methods (and how they compare to maruki) are definitely too long and involved to put into a post about this fic chapter specifically, but maybe one day. i also wanna stress im not like... strictly anti-phantom thief or anti-heartstealing lol but i do have thoughts about the philsophy of it and the thieves' hypocrisy WHATEVER that's not for this post. i bring this up only to crow about finding a way to bring up the experience machine (ie maruki's reality) in this fic without it being royal compliant and have it be... hoepfully... sufficiently relevant to the plot. wa hoo! the experience machine came up for the first time back in chapter 4 and im just delighted that i finally got to close that loop. by the way, that experiment is also called the lotus eater machine after the lotus eaters in the odyssey! i dunno that it's actively my favourite thought experiment but it's definitely up there and i think about it a lot.

TITLE DROP

i think i spoke once about what 'as you like it' means. it's obviously the name of the shakespeare play from where 'all the world's a stage' comes, but it has a couple more layers to it as well - akechi's palace is a place where he performs to what he believes other people want or need to see from him - so his appearance is as you like it. and his accusation of the thieves' heartstealing methods is that they twist a person's internal reality to suit their vision - that's the meaning he's taking here, claiming that joker is turning akechi into an unfamiliar new thing, as [joker] like[s] it. you get it.

this running joke of ren really hating vents wasn't something i planned but im attached to it now. prayer circle for his knees

ive basically given up on making sense of samerecarm, which is par for the course for any rpg or video game really where reduction to 0hp/revival are mechanics. like, im inclined to think 0hp is more equivalent to unconsciousness, because... well... otherwise it's pretty cold that they left akechi dead in the engine room without even looking for a way around the wall. lol. but one of mona's revival lines is 'being dead isnt easy!' or something like that, so i kind of just give up and assume it's video game logic you'r enot meant to look at too hard lol. the way i reconcile it for my purposes is to say it's a sort of metaverse-exclusive state of being which is not quite dead but sort of in a limbo state wher eyou can be brought back with specific revival magic, which i refer to as being down. that's uhhh, that's different from the battle status of down... which you get after being hit with a crit/technical/weak skill... look, don't think about it. joker in crow's arms.

this is literally meaningless i just wanted to include a cameo of my very favourite persona q2 battle theme.

[riveriafalll]

Gonna hop on the open tag from @finickyfelix for

How does Pinterest see your OC?

rules: search the name of your oc followed by the word 1. fashion 2. pantone 3. food 4. mood , and use the first pin

I’ll be using Cassie Gilbert for this one, from my Vampire Diaries fic

Okay so I did two separate searches, one for Cassie, and one for Cassandra since that’s her full name

Cassie:

First up we have an outfit that probably isn’t too far from what Cassie would wear if it wasn’t 2009 the story is set in, she canonically wears beiges and browns, and she would definitely have DM’s if they sold any in Mystic Falls. The colour isn’t one I associate with her, but it’s not the worst. The drink is actually lavender chai tea, which is the closest we have to vervain tea here which I’ll take. And then we have someone having a mental breakdown in a mirror, which is a mood, and basically Cassie for the entire chapter she first meets Nik.

Cassandra:

Okay, that’s definitely not something she would wear, she needs practical clothes that she can run in (look, a lot of stuff tries to kill her, it’s become a habit). The colour actually fits her really well in my opinion- she doesn’t typically wear blue, but she has a very turquoise personality. The food? 100%, she is a teenager, she devours burritos. The mood? Is scarily good. I’m actually slightly shocked at how well this fits her, mostly in the later chapters when she turns her humanity off after being turned and Kol dies.

Gonna stick a tag up for @illarian-rambling (look at me go, finally tagging you first!) @rkmoon @brotrustmeicanwrite @caxycreations @mikathewriter and an open tag for anyone who wants in!

[moonriver0312]

(A Little Life, Part 5, Chapter 2, pg. 602 - Hanya Yanagihara)

Why Schumann?

After some digging on the internet, I have learnt that it is not a coincidence that Hanya chose Schumann's Fantasie in C for this moment, and I believe Jude was playing the first movement in this part. Fantasie in C was composed in 1836 as only a piece called Ruines, expressing his distress at being distant from his beloved Clara, and then it became the first movement of Fantasie. The first movement of the work contains a musical quote from Beethoven's song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte (To the distant beloved) as a secret love message:

Take, then, these songs, beloved, which I have sung for you

However, this musical quotation was not acknowledged by Schumann. The movement also was prefaced with a quote from Friedrich Schlegel:

Durch alle Töne tönet / Im bunten Erdentraum / Ein leiser Ton gezogen / Für den, der heimlich lauschet.

Resounding through all the notes / In the earth's colorful dream / There sounds a faint long-drawn note / For the one who listens in secret

During this period, Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck was in separation because Clara's father disapproved of their relationship. Those quotations truly reflected his yearning to Clara, his passionate love to her, and it is more beautiful to learn that they communicated mostly through music and journals because Clara did not communicate verbally well. In a letter sent to Clara in 1838, he wrote:

The first movement may well be the most passionate I have ever composed - a deep lament for you.

They got married in 1840 but their marriage was not through an easy path because Schumann was not mentally well.

(Clara and Robert Schumann around 1850. Corbis, via Getty Images)

In August of 1844, he suffered a severe mental and physical breakdown. He was in pains, he trembled, wept, could not sleep and even became so sick that he could not walk across the room by himself. By February of 1854, Schumann insisted to be committed, as he felt that he had lost control of his mind. On 27th February, he attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine River. He was rescued and taken to the hospital later and remained there until his death on 29th July, 1856. During his confinement, Clara was not allowed to visit him (they communicated thanks to Johannes Brahms, a very good friend of the family, especially Clara) and only able to meet him 2 days before his death.

In Clara's journal on 26th February, 1854 (1 days before his attempt suicide), she wrote:

He was so melancholy that I cannot possibly describe it. When I merely touched him, he said, "Ah Clara, I am not worthy of your love." He said that, he to whom I had always looked up with the greatest, deepest reverence.

The resemblance of Jude and Schumann's mental illness may be one of the reason that Hanya chose this piece for Jude to play after he and Willem got home after their big fight. Jude plays the song with the intention to ease his sadness and fear. In this moment, he feels that this might be the end of their relationship, he is afraid that Willem would leave him because now he finally sees how sick he is. The piece Fantasie symbolizes a yearning for love but in this moment, it is a calling for Willem to stay, to understand, to forgive his action, his sickness.

Sources:

Acreman, Thomas. (2017). The Love Story of Clara Schumann. Retrieved from http://www.classichistory.net/archives/clara-schumann

Wilson, Frances. (2019). A Love Letter in Music Schumann's Fantasie in C, Op. 17. Retrieved from https://interlude.hk/love-letter-music-schumanns-fantasie-c-op-17/

[snootlestheangel]

Welcome to the Brainrot

Navigating Snootles's COD Brainrot

Posted WIPs:

Silence is Golden But Consequences Are Red (under revision as of 9/3/24). SoapGhost slow-burn, AU where Simon Riley "died" and Price helped cover his faked death. Ghost is a well-known vigilante type, the 141 is ordered to hunt him down, Price has to let others in on his secret in order to uncover bigger problems.

>Audio recordings by chapter:

Of Earthly Things SoapGhost fic; Cryptid Hunter/Cryptid AU; The 141 is a team of researchers and professionals that help normal people deal with cryptids and creatures. Simon Riley is the new hire, and something about him doesn't seem to be quite human...

>Audio recordings by chapter:

His Wounded Cry SoapGhost fic; WolfShifter!Ghost AU; Ghost gets taken by a rogue scientific group and left to die while stuck in his wolf form; a friendly and familiar family takes him in while he recovers.

>Audio recordings by chapter:

Break For Your Heart SoapGhost fic; Prison Break AU; unhinged!Soap, Ghost was framed.

>Audio recordings by chapter:

Dead City COD x Left4Dead, established SoapGhost in the fic.

>Audio recordings by chapter:

To Love, To Let Go NikPrice fic where they adopt a young teen girl named Bailey Gray. They help her heal and she helps them learn how to be parents.

>Audio recordings by chapter

Guardian of Mercy and Men Price x F!OC; Bryn Campbell and John Price used to work together/knew each other, yet despite all their years apart, their feelings remain and they learn how to navigate them once she's assigned as a medic to their taskforce.

>Audio recordings by chapter

Unposted WIPs:

Oh Death, Who Art Thou? (Assassin!Ghost AU but they're not called Assassins, they're Reapers. Fantasy elements, Simon and Johnny are already married. Post here, here, and a post here)

Death Doesn't Want Me (zombie apocalypse AU in which Ghost is separated from the 141 and joins a group of civilians trying to make it out alive. Turns out to be part of the MacTavish family, one post here, first one here)

When It Works (GazAlex Undercover AU where it seems everything is going wrong except for how well they work together as a team, one post here )

Taste Test (cannibal!Soap and retired!Ghost au; after having a mental breakdown while on assignment, Ghost is deemed unreliable and discharged from the military. Now, he spends his days traveling, too restless and paranoid to stay in one place for too long. But after encountering a charming Scotsman, he finds a connection worthy to stay put. Just so long as he doesn't find out about Soap's little habit...)

To A Fault (Villain!Gaz AU, post-MW3 where Laswell faked Soap's death, and it's a couple of years later. Price was awol after killing Shepherd, Ghost vanished as he hunted down Konni group, Laswell was swallowed into hunting Makarov down (and helping Soap as a new contact once he recovers from the injury). Gaz continued on with his life completely alone, and upon finding out Soap was never dead, he cracks.)

Security (Ghost's journal type of fic, SoapGhost, here's the post about it)

Instinct (COD Shifter!AU; Raven!Soap, Wolf!Ghost, Otter!Gaz, Bear!Price and Nik)

List of OCs:

Bailey Gray: NikPrice's adopted daughter, featured in To Love, To Let Go. Find anything on her under the tags :bailey gray: or :cod oc bailey

Bryn Campbell: Nicknamed "Angel", medic, love interest for Price in Guardian of Mercy and Men.

Shadow OCs:

Initial dump; another dump

Ness; Woody; Truck; Flash

Art of Ness and with Ness

A Snootles ask game

The tag :certified snootles moment: is for everything personal; :my sweet odysseus: has my cat

Check out this art of Cryptid!Ghost for Of Earthly Things by @/mikorsthings

Anyways, that is all! Enjoy the brainrot!

[runawrites-blog]

Until The Break Of Dawn Ch. 5 (Josh Washington x Reader)

Summary: You all find out about Josh's prank and the situation escalates. (Female Reader) Warnings: Fighting. Mild violence (Mike slapping Josh). Mild Gun Mentions. Talk about Reader's past. Talk of Josh's mental health and him dissociating. Reader and the Characters not knowing how to really handle his breakdown. Mike being an Ass but apologising later on. Specific warnings will be posted in the notes of each chapter. No Y/N, Petnames (Honey) Author's Note: You can find the previous chapter here. When I say the other characters are overwhelmed with Josh's mental health and his breakdown, I don't mean that they treat him badly when they realise that he's dissociating but they simply don't really know how to properly help him, so Reader just resorts to trying to keep him calm. Crossposted on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49644949/chapters/125304784#workskin

Your day kept going from bad to worse.

Once you had arrived back at the lodge you had gotten separated from Chris and Ashley. A loud noise had prompted the two of them to investigate and the door had fallen shut behind them. Now you were wandering the dark lodge alone, calling out for your friends and trying to find another way to get to them. Despite having been at this lodge a lot throughout the last year it was still hard to find your way around it in the dark.

It was Ashley’s screams that alerted you to the fact that she was in the basement. Quickly, you followed the sound of her screaming, running down the stairs, and doing your best not to trip. But you stopped when Sam and Mike rounded the corner, almost screaming in surprise when they saw you sprinting down the stairs.

“Good to see you’re safe.” Sam said before looking you up and down. “What happened to you?”

“Long story. We need to find Ashley first.”

“It’s coming from behind this door.” Mike exclaimed and tried to open it but the door didn’t budge. “Something is blocking it. Help me push.”

You and Sam quickly joined him, pushing against the door and trying to move whatever was blocking it from the other side. Thankfully, the door soon budged and opened, sending you all tumbling into the room behind it. You nearly fell but Mike caught you by the arm.

The scene on the other side made your blood run cold. Ashley and Chris were strapped to chairs on either side of a table and a gun in his hands. Before you could even ask what had happened or move a muscle to help them, the door on the other side of the room opened and a man in a mask stepped out, his voice menacing as he began mocking you all.

Sam took refuge behind Mike as Ashley started screaming at Chris to do something. He took the gun and aimed at the man, firing two shots at him. But the bullets did nothing, only spurring the man’s mockery as he laughed at Chris for firing blanks at him. Then he took off his mask.

“Josh?”

You didn’t give him time to speak, nor did you give anyone the chance to react because you immediately ran over to him, embracing him tightly and breaking down in tears. Despite what him revealing himself as the killer meant you couldn’t help the relief and joy you felt as you realized he was alive. His arms hesitantly found their way around you as you sobbed brokenly, all the fear and grief you’d felt in the past few hours leaving you in the form of tears.

“I thought you were dead! I was looking for you for hours and-- but you’re alive!”

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

Chris’ words snapped you out of your relief and you withdrew from Josh immediately, staring at him in shock and confusion. The realization that he had tricked you into thinking he had disappeared and then died after what had happened to your father made your tears of relief quickly turn into anger.

“I thought you were dead!”

“It was a joke, Honey.” Josh defended himself, giving everyone a wide grin. “Don’t you all think this is fair after what you put Hannah and Beth through?”

“I didn’t do anything to them.” Sam hissed as she approached him. “And neither did your girlfriend or Chris. Even for everyone else’s involvement, this is way out of line.”

Josh shook his head, eyes narrowing at Sam. “You all did worse things to my sisters but they didn’t get to laugh it off. They’re dead!”

“None of us are laughing!” Mike snapped, rearing up at him and getting closer while Sam freed Chris and Ashley. “You put us all through--”

“I trusted you!” You interrupted Mike, glaring at Josh as pain seeped into your voice and you tried your best not to scream at him. “You know what happened to my father, about my guilt, about my grief and you decide the best way to prank me is to make me think my boyfriend disappeared in the woods? You made me think you were dead!”

Josh seemed genuinely taken aback by the terrible sadness in your voice. He took a step forward, gingerly reaching out for you but you ducked away, turning your head to hide your tears and calm down. Sam stared at Josh, desperation in her voice when she started speaking again.

“Josh, this is a cry for help. We can help you, okay? Let me help you!”

“This isn’t a cry for help.” Josh huffed at Sam’s words and shook his head. “You’re just mad that I pranked you. No one got hurt!”

“No one got hurt?” Mike snapped, squaring up at Josh. “You killed Jessica! She fell down into the damn mines because you put her there and now she’s dead!”

“I didn’t touch Jess.” Josh shook his head, taking a step back as Mike approached. “Mike, I swear, I didn’t hurt her. To be fair, I did cut off the power and-- and I put some small practical pranks along the way but-- but I didn’t hurt Jessica.“

“You pulled her out of the cabin, through the fucking window, and dragged her off to the mines. And you’re going to fucking pay for it!”

Before anyone else could react Mike slapped Josh in the face, knocking him out and sending him to the floor. Chris and Sam pulled him back while you got to your knees next to Josh to check on him. You stared at Mike in disbelief while Ashley took a few steps back from everyone, cradling her hands to her chest in fear before looking up at her friends in shock.

“Michael, what the fuck?”

“Mike, Jessica is alive!” You exclaimed, hand cradling Josh’s face as you looked back up at Mike. “And what happened to her was not Josh’s fault!”

“Your opinion is less than objective!” Mike snapped at you, shaking his head at you. “The second you saw him, you fell into his arms! He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her through the fucking window. And before I could even get to the porch, he was gone!”

“What?” Sam frowned at Mike’s words. “How would he have done that? He may have been an asshole and pranked us but he doesn’t have superhuman strength or speed to pull that off.”

“Exactly!” You agreed, nodding vehemently. “She’s alive.”

“Why are you even standing up for him? He tricked you and made you think that he was dead! Or are you so happy that at least one person you went on a nature trip with didn’t fucking die that you forget what he put you through?”

Everyone quieted down at that and you had to take a deep breath to not scream at Michael for what he had said. Instead of doing that you decided to focus on Josh, leaning down to check for any injuries he might have had sustained from the fall to the ground.

“Mike, over the line.” Sam said sternly before looking back at you. “How do you know Jessica’s alive?”

“Because I saw her.” You swallowed, taking a deep breath as you began to recount your experience in the minutes. “While I was looking for Josh I fell into the mines through a hole in the ground. There’s a system of old mine shafts stretching way further through the mountain than we thought. And I was looking for a way out when Jess called out to me. We walked together for some time but then these-- these monsters attacked us and we ran.”

“We saw some of those mine shafts on our way to the guest cabin but they didn’t lead anywhere.” Mike mused before looking at you. “Where is she now?”

“We got separated.” You whispered mournfully. “That creature came after us and while she went left, I lured it down a tunnel to the right. I managed to get out but-- but I don’t what happened to Jess.”

“You left her there?”

You’ve had enough of Mike’s accusations then and jumped up to approach him. “I had no other choice! That thing cut off the way and I ran!”

Sam looked at you with a deep frown. “What kind of creatures were down there?”

“Probably part of Josh’s prank.” Ashely whispered. “Who knows what he had planned for the rest of us.”

Sam shook her head quickly, looking back at Ashley. “No, it wasn’t. No one really knew how far these mine shafts stretched and a lot of access ways were blocked off or caved in. During the search for the twins everyone probably only managed to scratch the surface of how deep these tunnels go.”

“And those things were definitely not part of any prank.” You said fearfully as you remembered the creatures you encountered. “They were real. They looked like corpses, emaciated and horrifying, sharp claws and teeth.”

“A Wendigo?”

“What?” You turned to Sam in surprise. “Like the Native American legend?”

“Yes, like the legend.” Sam explained, looking relieved that one person in the room seemed to recognize what she was talking about. “While I was waiting for the water to warm up in the bath I found a book about mythology and-- and these creatures sound oddly familiar to Wendigos.”

“So there just happened to be a book on mythology lying around for you to find?” Mike scoffed and crossed his arms. “Sounds like part of Josh’s prank to me.”

“No, I left it there last year. Don’t you remember me bringing it with me the last time we were all here together?” You raised an eyebrow at Mike. “I must have forgotten it here and when we were up here searching for the twins I obviously didn’t have the time to go get it.”

“You were probably in on his prank!”

“I was not!” You hissed at him. “There are monsters in the mines, Em and Matt are still out there and Jess is in the mountain with these things! We need to all go and find them whether you believe me or not!”

Ashley shook her head in fear, once more cradling her hands to her chest. “No way we’re going down there.”

“What do we do with Josh?” Chris finally spoke up, looking at his friend. “We can’t just leave him here.”

“We tie him up in the barn.”

“Are you insane, Michael?” You screeched at that suggestion, getting in between your friend and Josh. “No way we’ll tie him up there!”

“You don’t get to decide that. Chris, help me get him.”

Shaking your head, you stood your ground and extended your arms to shield Josh. “I am not letting you tie him up in the barn. That’s way too dangerous with those monsters still out there.”

“There are no monsters out there.”

---

The wind howled around you as you followed Chris and Mike down one of the snowy paths to the barn while they dragged Josh along. They managed to get him to the barn and tie him up just in time for him to wake up. Josh seemed confused, almost dazed as he tried to wriggle out of his ties but Mike just pulled them tighter.

“You can’t tie him up in there!” You exclaimed, grabbing Mike’s arm to tear it away from the rope. “Michael, stop!”

“Just fuck off!” Mike snapped and shook you off, nearly sending you stumbling to the floor. “This fucking prank has gotten out of control. And I’m still not a hundred percent sure you weren’t in on it!”

“You’re wasting valuable time here.” You pleaded, shaking your head in desperation. “Mike, I’m telling you the truth! I wasn’t in on it!”

“You ran straight into Josh’s arms as soon as you saw him! Do you honestly think I’ll believe you that you weren’t working with him?”

“Chris, back me up here. You saw how I reacted to Josh’s faked death and you know I wasn’t in on it!”

Chris sighed almost mournfully. “I’m honestly having a hard time figuring out what to think. I mean, Mike lost his fingers and Ashely and I were put through hell. And you went straight for his arms, defended him and now you’re trying to keep us from keeping him in the barn.”

“Because there are monsters in the mines.”

“How do we know the monsters aren’t part of the prank? How do we know you’re not in on it and this isn’t all just the next act?”

“Chris, why are you turning against me now?”

Mike turned to you again, shoving at your shoulder as you once more attempted to get to the ropes. “Because you were standing up for him after everything he’s put us through!”

“Oh, you wanna touch my girlfriend now?” Josh slurred and you all turned to find him glaring at Mike. “The idea of anyone hurting Jessica makes you so mad but now you wanna hurt my girlfriend? You’re a piece of trash, you know that?”

“Josh, stop.” Chris groaned, shaking his head at him. “You’re not making yourself look any better, you know?”

“I don’t know what happened to Jessica! But this asshole won’t fucking believe me!”

You watched as Mike rounded Josh to tie his wrists a little tighter, making sure to not give him any more wriggle room. And Josh was positively losing it at this point, ranting on about not being the one who had hurt Jessica, about how this had all been a prank, about how they should leave you out of this because you really hadn’t known. You were concerned, knowing full well that Josh wasn’t in a good mental state and that tying him up or leaving him alone would only make things worse. Chris was overwhelmed and conflicted about who to trust or stand up for. And though Mike still seemed angry you could see worry seeping into his expression.

“Has either of you ever seen him get like this?” Mike mumbled, looking back at you and Chris. “This incoherent, I mean?”

“Never.” Chris mumbled, rubbing his wrist in an attempt to soothe himself. “He hasn’t been taking his meds; that’s for sure. But I thought he was doing fine.”

“I’ve never seen him get like this, either. He seemed completely fine today and the past few weeks, too.” You mused, watching Josh in worry. “For weeks now, I’ve been spending so much time by his side because the anniversary of his sisters’ disappearance was coming up. But he kept insisting that he was fine and he really seemed like it.”

Chris looked at you before he sighed deeply. “I’ve really failed him.”

“And you betrayed me for Ashely!” Josh threw in with an angry glare. “Do you think she’ll want you after this? She’ll never get with you, Chris! Betraying your childhood friend for some girl and then never even getting some pussy? Maybe she just isn’t into fucking cowards!”

“Shut up.”

“Josh, shut the fuck up.” Mike snapped, weaker now. “Just shut up.”

“You two need to shut up! He’s obviously not in the right state of mind and you are not helping.” You shook your head and approached Josh, putting a hand to his cheek in the hopes of the gesture grounding him like it had done in the past. “Josh, Sweetheart, are you still with us?”

Josh blinked at you but his eyes weren’t focusing on yours anymore, just roaming your face aimlessly. “Have you come to rescue me, Honey? I am a damsel in distress, tied up by these fucking assholes over there and I need you.”

“Joshua, please.” You begged quietly, inching closer to his face. “I know you haven’t been taking your meds and you’re not in a good mental state right now but I know that we can work through this. We need your help. You just have to work with us here.”

He whispered your name in an airy voice before leaning into your touch and closing his eyes. You swallowed and kept your hand steady, whispering calming words at him and assuring him that he was not alone. When he finally looked up again, he seemed a little more focused but he was still not meeting your eyes.

“Good job, Sweetheart. We need your help, Joshua.”

“Will the monsters in the mines come and get me?”

“No, of course not.” You whispered, stroking his cheek comfortingly. “We’re not going to let that happen, okay? But you gotta work with us. I need to know if there are any more traps set up around the mountain.”

“Mike.” Josh slurred, leaning over on his stool to look at the other man in worry. “What happened to you?”

Mike just sighed, seemingly having calmed down. “Why don’t you go back to the lodge, Chris? Let everyone know that we’re fine. I think two of us are enough people to watch Josh.”

“A sleepover? Can-- can we order a pizza?” Josh asked quietly, still not focusing on anyone in particular. “Aren’t we going back to the lodge?”

“Not yet, Josh.” You said softly. “We’ll just stay here for a while. Mike will keep you tied up but I’ll stay with you to make sure you’re fine.”

“What about the monsters and Jess?”

“We’ll figure something out.”

Chris left and you spent the next twenty minutes sitting around with Josh and Mike, trying to get your boyfriend to talk to you. Mike was watching your efforts, sitting down on a nearby stool while you knelt on the floor next to Josh, trying to calm him down and get him to tell you whether or not there were more traps hidden on the mountain. He had known Josh for years but he’d never seen him in such a state and he was glad you were there because even though you’d previously stated that you had never seen him like this either you seemed to know what you were doing. Josh looked scared and panicked but your presence was apparently grounding him at least a little bit.

To Mike, it was no surprise that Josh seemed calmer in your presence because you had been a constant to him during this difficult time. But you weren’t just kind and caring with Josh. You were like that with all your friends, even when you yourself were not doing well and Mike felt terrible for all the things he’d said to you, especially the comment regarding your father. When he called out your name you looked up.

“I’m sorry I went off at you like that.”

“It’s alright.” You mumbled, shaking your head dismissively. “You were scared and worried for Jess. I get that. I mean, I yelled at Chris and Ashley earlier because I thought they were trying to prank me with Josh’s faked death. We’re all just really on edge. It’s fine.”

“And I’m especially sorry for what I said about your father. That was way out of line and I apologize.”

“It’s alright. Let’s just maybe talk about something else.”

Mike eyed you for a few seconds before nodding. “Just so you know, what happened was not your fault. Going through that at such a young age must have been terrible and I can’t even imagine how much Josh disappearing scared you.”

“Josh has always been there for me, you know?” You explained, standing up and placing a hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Have I ever told you how I met him? I mean, we shared almost all of our courses, we did a few projects together and got along as well as two classmates would, but I really met and befriended him after my father’s disappearance.”

“How so?”

“I was at the guidance counselor after I had gotten back to school. And she was a downright asshole, telling me that I should be glad no one had found a body yet and that I needed to focus on school now. I was sobbing and crying when I left -- I was only twelve years old at the time. So when we were done I hid under the stairs to the recess area and cried my eyes out. That’s where Josh found me. He had been on his way to the counselor after pulling a prank with Chris. He spent an hour comforting me, talking to me and just holding my hand. Eventually, the counselor found us and sent us to detention because I hadn’t gone back to class and Josh had never shown up for his appointment with her.”

“That counselor is going to leave people needing another counselor. She sounds like a terrible person.”

“She really was.” You shrugged before giving Mike a small smile. “But the silver lining of having to deal with her is that I got to meet Josh. He invited me home that day after detention and we spent hours watching horror movies. The first movie we watched was SAW and that’s why he chose a promposal themed after that movie when he asked me out in Junior Year.”

“They never did find your father, did they?”

“I mean, he was pronounced dead eventually but we never got to bury him.” You explained quietly. “And lately, my mom and I have just not gotten along as well as we used to. We have been fighting a lot over the last year because I spent so much time helping Josh. She felt neglected and she let it out on me. So, I spent more and more time with Josh, both of us being there for each other. I love him so much. Seeing him this terrified is so painful and while I understand that what he did was horrible, I feel like we shouldn’t keep him tied up here.”

“I’m sorry but I think keeping him like this is for the best.” Mike sighed softly. “But I’m glad you and Josh managed to be there for each other. I know he shut most of us out, so I’m glad that at least a few people could be there for him.”

“He’s been pretty secretive for the past few months, though. I remember one night while I was sleeping over when I woke up to find him gone and after looking for him for twenty minutes I found him in the study. He quickly shoved what he was doing away, telling me not to worry about it, and went back to bed with me.” You looked up at Mike with an apologetic expression. “In hindsight, I should have worried about it.”

Mike shook his head. “I know I accused you of helping him but now I see that it wasn’t your fault.”

“I should have known what was going on. I spent so much time with him. I should have noticed something was off.”

Before Mike could answer you heard Josh call out your name and you looked down to find him watching you, eyes now much more focused. When you asked what was wrong, he seemed much clearer and more comprehensive in his answer.

“Are there actually monsters in the mines?”

“Yes.” You nodded, once more kneeling down next to him and reaching out to stroke his cheek. “But I promise that none of them will get to you.”

“Josh, dude, we’ll watch out for you.” Mike promised. “I mean, I don’t know if I believe your girlfriend about that whole monster story but if there really are monsters, I’ll make sure they don’t get to you.”

“You’ll fight them off?”

“I’ll fight the monsters off, I promise.”

You quickly stood back up at Mike’s gentle and friendly way of talking to Josh, seeing your chance to get everyone back into the safety of the lodge. “Mike, can’t we take him back to the lodge? We can tie him up in there if you guys insist on that but we’d be much safer if we’re all there together.”

Mike thought for a few seconds before he nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. I mean, we can keep an eye on him at the lodge, too. You wait here with Josh and I’ll ask everyone else, okay? I’ll give you my flashlight and you two wait it out here. Give me ten minutes.”

“Good idea.”

Mike clapped you on the arm once before leaving. You stayed back at the barn, crouching down next to Josh again as you waited for Mike to return. It wasn’t even five minutes later when you heard someone screaming and you quickly recognized that it was Emily, calling out for help and sounding absolutely terrified. Despite your better judgment you promised Josh you’d be right back and ran outside to help her, knowing full well what terrifying things were out there.

You made it halfway down the trail to the lodge when you ran into her. Emily breathed your name in relief and quickly ran up to you, ranting on and on about the creatures in the mines. After calming her down and telling her you believed her, she decided to go back to the lodge but you refused to go with her, explaining to her that Josh was alive and in the barn. Before either of you could make the decision to go get him a screeching noise sounded behind you and she grabbed your hand to pull you after her toward the lodge.

The two of you made it no more than five meters before one of the creatures jumped from the trees, landing on the ground in front of you, screeching and getting ready to attack. You separated, both falling backward into the snow and quickly trying to scramble back to your feet. When you got back up you saw that Emily had taken off in the direction of the lodge, looking back once so she could yell at you to follow her. But before you could do anything the creature cut off your way and in your fear, you sprinted into the forest, away from both the barn and the lodge.

You ran for what felt like hours but was most likely just a few minutes, eventually turning onto a path that led you back toward the barn. It was hard to keep going through your exhaustion, the cold, and your injuries from falling into the mine but you knew Josh needed your help. You only stopped when you collided with someone and upon looking up you saw that you had once more collided with Chris. But he wasn’t alone. Next to him stood a tall man, dressed in thick layers and with a scar adorning his face, a flamethrower strapped to his back.

“Is she with you?” The man asked, turning to Chris. “Where did she come from?”

“She was with my friend at the barn.” Chris explained before looking at you. “What happened? Where is Josh?”

“I heard Emily scream and ran to check on her. One of these creatures cut off our way and I ran away.” You looked at the man next to Chris. “Can you help us save Josh? He’s all alone in that barn!”

The man nodded and began moving again. “Come on. You can come with us and help. But you have to stay close by and be quiet.”

“Thank you.” You whispered, looking over your shoulder to find Chris following you. “Who is that man?”

“Long story.”

“We don’t have the time to explain.” The man said in a gruff voice, fixing Chris with a serious expression. “Keep moving or your friend is as good as dead.”

And as if to cement his claim a terrified screaming erupted from the direction of the barn. It was unmistakenly Josh’s voice and he was calling out to you, screaming your name and pleading for you to come back. You were running in his direction before either the man or Chris could stop you, but they quickly followed.

You just hoped you would be fast enough.

[hackerqueen]

Another Love

Chapter 2: Burning pile

Previous chapter <-

warnings: sex scene, mental breakdown

I shut the door behind me loud enough for him to hear me come. We hadn't seen each other for a week and a half, and my whole body felt the separation. I managed to hang my coat on the hanger when I heard his hoarse voice from behind me.

– You came late. – he announced in a not very pleased tone – Where were you?

I bit my lip as I turned to face the tall, tattooed boy with his arms folded across his chest. He looked at me curiously, probably imagining what I could do. I decided to do what I can do best. To lie.

– My visit at Hannah's has been extended. You know, bouquets and decorations and all that stuff. – I replied giving him the best smile

The man visibly relaxed and then came closer to me, he was within reach of my hands. Trying to control the chaos in my mind, I pressed my lips against his without hesitation and threw my hands around his neck. The kiss was aggressive, dirty and needy from the start. Because that's what I needed at that moment. Or at least that's what my fucked up brain told me.

His strong hands found their way to my hips, gripping tightly. Our kiss deepened and our tongues joined in some kind of dance. I gasped as I felt his hands slide down to my ass and squeeze it tightly.

– Christ MC, what happened to you? – he asked between kisses with a slight laugh

I pulled away from his mouth and looked into his brown, warm eyes.

– It's been a really long day. – I murmured and my hand slid to his chest. – Would you like to help me relax?

A killing smirk played across the boy's lips as he grabbed my thighs without warning and lifted me up.

– With pleasure.

The rest of the night was just snippets for me. I remember we landed on the bed after that, his hot hands quickly stripping off whatever clothes I was wearing. He touched me firmly, and the feeling of his skin on mine was refreshing. I got rid of his leather jacket, which I threw in the corner of the room. We were naked, but I felt like I was back in summer California for a moment. Sweat poured from our bodies and hot breaths mingled with each other. I will always remember the moment he hovered over me, his eyes staring deeply into mine. He entered me and my gaze was clouded with lust. He was indecisive, sensitive. As if he allowed to overshadow lust with emotions.

Just not that.

I pushed him hard and he landed on his back. I sat on his lap and was instantly immersed in him. My body was driven by some crazy, animal need to control the situation, which was missing in my life now. The man's head tilted back slightly, and our breaths turned into moans and grunts. I rode him fast, his dick hitting the spot where I really needed it. It wasn't long before we both climaxed. In a rush of pleasure, I threw my head back and grabbed my breasts and started squeezing my already hard nipples. I came screaming his name.

– Phil! – several seconds later I tried to calm my raging heartbeat and rapid breathing. Phil pulled me to him, hugging me and drawing unfamiliar patterns on my back

– You are amazing. And hot. – he confessed, still trying to control his trembling voice. – It's really madness that I have a woman like you in bed.

Yes. It's madness.

* * *

Phil fell asleep quickly. It wasn't a surprise, he always did that after sex. So he didn't see me lying awake until dawn wondering what the hell I was doing. He didn't hear me as I slipped into the bathroom, slid down the door, and pressed my hand over my mouth to muffle the silent sobs that tore from my heart. Tears flowed down and I hated myself even more because I didn't know why. I made violent decisions, and later paid for it with tears and self-harm. I didn't know how much time had passed, but I finally got up from the cold tiles and went to the mirror. I wiped my tears, forced a smile. Barely visible, but a smile. I was strong. And what I've been through will only make me stronger. As usual, I vowed to myself that this was the last time I allowed myself to be broken like this. This is only a one-time situation caused by a visit to the cemetery. After all, I moved on.

I went back to bed and Phil didn't notice I was gone.

* * *

I woke up to light kisses on my neck. I furrowed my brow and hit the reason for my awakening. I heard a soft groan and opened my eyes.

– Even in your sleep you have to be aggressive? – He laughed and I slapped him twice as hard

– Never wake me up at – I checked the time on the clock on the nightstand. – Nine o'clock?" Are you crazy getting up at this time on a weekend?

– No, you're the sleeping beauty. – he replied back and I rolled my eyes. – Jessy will be there soon. You made an appointment with her and you weren't at the apartment, so I texted her that you are at my place.

I clenched my jaw slightly, but ignored all the comments I wanted to make about it. I got out of bed and quickly started getting dressed.

– Damn, this is the view in the morning. – I heard Phil's comments as he spread out on his bed. – We could do this more often.

I turned around and gave him a questioning look as I pulled on my pants.

– I mean.. well, maybe it's time we decided what our relationship is? – he paused, looking at my reaction. – Maybe we should move in together?

I stood frozen, staring blankly into his face. Phil, a womanizer just proposed to me? In a weird, twisted way, but still. I swallowed and nervously laughed.

– You know I care a lot about you. – he said very seriously, and I felt my palms sweating. – Damn, MC, I don't know what you did to me. I've never acted like this with any girl. And you are a walking mystery. Why won't you let me in? Why are you afraid of falling in love?

– Love is scary! This feeling of falling terrifies me. The only way it ends is with hitting the ground. – I replied sourly and saw him open his mouth to protest and start convincing me of his point. I closed my eyes and rubbed a hand over my forehead. – Shit Phil, I have no idea. I need more time.

– I've been giving you time for almost two years! – He raised his voice and I flinched

The silence was broken by the ringing of my phone. Jessy saved me from this dramatic conversation by informing me that she was already at the block.

– Look, I don't have the head to talk about this right now. I have to go. – I said quietly and heard the boy curse under his breath. I sighed and walked out of the room and out of his apartment.

With a heavy heart, I got into Jessy's red Volvo. Girl greeted me with a meaningful smile that said only one thing.

– So you're with my brother?! – she asked, not hiding her enthusiasm, which I quickly extinguished

– Jessy, we're dating. It's a big difference. – The girl sighed but nodded – I don't want to rush.

I've already rushed once and let my heart give itself to a man far too soon.

Jessy stroked my shoulder, which brought me some comfort.

– I'm sorry, I understand. I know I wasn't there when you needed me, so I don't want to put pressure on you. – she said honestly, and I felt my heart melt. We have only recently started to renew our relationship.

– Thank you. – I whispered, and my friend gave me a warm and sweet smile. – So we're going to breakfast?

The red-haired girl nodded with satisfaction and headed towards the Rainbow Cafe. Rihanna's well-known hits were playing on the radio, which additionally improved my mood. I watched the passing views through the car window. The blissful, pleasant moment was interrupted by the moment when on one of the streets I saw a man who was dressed all in black and had a hood on his head. I couldn't see his face, but the sight made me jerk my face up from the window.

– Jessy! – I said louder which scared the girl – Jessy, stop the car!

– What? Why?

– It was him! Jessy it was him. – The words flowed out of me like a maniac. Like I was in a trance. – Stop that fucking car!

Jessy stopped abruptly, and I hastily ran out of the car towards the alley where I had previously spotted the figure. No no no.

– MC? Who are you talking about? – she asked in a scared voice. – You scare me.

I was breathing fast, trying to find a suitable explanation for my behavior. I turned to Jessy and shook my head calmly.

– Something confused me. Never mind. – I waved my hand, ignoring my performance from a minute ago. – We'd better go get some food because I'm starving.

Jessy looked at me strangely until we got back to her car. I fastened my seatbelt and unfazed, began changing the song on the radio.

And I sat there with a calm and cold face as the pile burned inside me, just like in a radio song.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

I just read the first SSDF chapter and I already love it!! I started browsing your TMNT 2012 tag (the horrors are way more intense than I remember) and wondered if Leonardo ever mentioned his brothers or father to his sons. It might be painful to remember them since they aren't here, but Leo loves them too much to never bring them up at some point.

I like to think Leo just mentioned them when the Rise boys were super young but now that they're older they don't remember as much. So when they finally meet their turtle Uncles they're kinda mystified for a sec before Rafa pulls them all in for a hug. Of course, this happens later down the line once everything with Shredder and Leo start to settle down.

Sorry for the large ask, I just really love this AU.

(I roll in large asks like catnip never apologize for them)

As for Leo...

He did talk about his old family to his kids, especially when they were very young but he kept things very very VERY vague for two reasons.

One he is very much aware that he is in an alternate universe raising alternate versions of him and his brothers, and he doesnt know he could unintentionally fuck up space time or something by revealing too much.

And Two it was too painful to think about. Because if he started getting more specific then he would be thinking about them again, which would bring back the loneliness and his own grief that he'll never be able to go home or see them again. Then that rapidly gets worse and worse until he's in a full on depressive episode (with some added suicidal ideation) and considering he had four very small children that were entirely dependant on him, he couldn't afford to get lost in his own head. He needed to stay present and aware. (Because bottling up the bad feelings and or ignoring them is totally a good way to deal with severe depression and anxiety. That wont have any unforseen consequences at all)

As for the reunion...there isnt gonna be any hugging for awhile. Considering that in the span of a single night:

The fam get yoinked to the 2012 dimension

They all get SEPARATED in the 2012 dimension

The events of Requiem happen

2012 Splinter BARELY survives

Leo finds out just how little time actually passed in his home

Leo has a massive mental breakdown

And then Leo impulsively runs off to go kill The Super Shredder

And its not like they get a break afterwards when the Super Shredder gets killed, because then they all have to go back to the Rise dimension and stop Leo's estranged daughters from starting a full blown Civil War in the Hidden City.

Then the reunion between Leo and his daughters

Its gonna be awhile for any actual hugging or introduction can happen.

Lmfao

[michellesmusing]

Chapter 4 - The Dream

It was Misha’s first day of school in Biarritz, France. Her father had sent her overseas as Misha had revealed that she wanted to learn French and Nicholae thought it would be good for her to see something else than San Francisco.

She was terribly anxious as she only knew some words in French. To be honest, she couldn’t understand every words said the teacher in the classroom, but it was ok, she’d get better with it.

She was almost on the verge of crying and had to call her father… She exploded, unable to hold back her tears, the 13 years old teenage girl sped out of the classroom in tears in front of all the other students that had no idea why Misha had burst out in tears.

“Mademoiselle Schiller, revenez dans la classe, tout de suite!”

Even though Misha wasn’t speaking French, she had understood that the teacher wanted her back in the class! The problem was writing and speaking the language that was harder for her. Misha didn’t listen to her teacher and ran to her bedroom that was located a few minutes from the school at the students dormitory.

As soon as she stepped inside her shared bedroom, Misha headed for the landline phone and dialed her father’s phone number. She didn’t care that it was the middle of the night in San Francisco, she had to hear her father’s voice and he needed to get in his Jet to reach for her and bring her back to California.

“Papa??” She called for him when he answered the phone.

“Misha? It’s late, are you ok?” She wasn’t! She was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She never thought that being separated from her father would be this hard.

“Papa, please bring me back home, I can’t!! I miss you too much!!!”

Nicholae sighed loudly as he heard Misha crying uncontrollably over the phone.

“Misha, please calm down… Take a deep breath!! Everything will be alright!!” 

Nicholae hadn’t only sent Misha overseas so she’d learn French, but things were getting pretty intense lately with his business and especially with Martha Walraven’s arrival in his life, it was only a good thing that Misha was away from all of this… 

“Nooo!! Nooo! Please!!! I’ll be a good girl and I will study very hard, every night if you bring me back home! I can learn French In California!” That’s true, she could’ve learned French in California, but Nicholae was persuaded that it was better for Misha to be far away from all of this. At least for a year…

Nicholae chuckled when Misha mentioned that she’d be a good girl.

“I have no doubt about it! You’ll be a good girl and study very hard in France!! Misha, Papa has to go back to bed, it’s the middle of the night here! I’ll call you back at a later time.”

Misha kept on blubbering over the phone as Nicholae ended the conversation and the teenage girl couldn’t take no for an answer. She dialed once again her father’s phone number, but this time Nicholae didn’t answer. He knew what Misha was trying to do here and she wasn’t going to win..

“NOOOOOO!!” She was furious, behaving intensely as her father wasn’t answering anymore. The blonde teenage girl stood up from her bed and was almost on the verge of throwing the wired phone against the wall, but she was taken by a surprise as a teenage boy stood under her door frame.

“Hello!” He shyly smiled at her and Misha wiped the tears from her blue eyes with the back of her hand, narrowing her eyes at the boy while putting down the phone on the nightstand. She recognized him as he was in the same class as her.

“What do you want?  Go away!!” Misha was also a shy teenage girl and didn’t have many friends, even at home in San Francisco. As if she didn’t know how to act with people of her age, because she wasn’t like them at all.

“I’m David, I’m just trying to be nice. I know how it feels to miss someone. I also miss my parents, but it’s ok. After a while, we’re getting used to it, you’ll see.” David was simply trying to cheer up Misha, knowing that she was sad.

Misha kept staring at David, he wasn’t tall either and had short dark blonde hair. He did seem to come from a rich family… The way he was behaving with her. He was all polite and nice… He sounded different from the other boys around her age.

“I’m Misha Schiller, nice to meet you David…” Misha finally extended her hand to David’s and shook it. David had been nice with her, he didn’t deserve to be yelled at, even if she was angry at her father.

“It’s my second year here, so I can help you if you want with the French lessons.” David once again smiled at Misha and the teenage girl smiled at him before bursting again in tears.

“I missed my father so much!!”  David couldn’t really do a lot concerning Misha who did seem to miss her father very much.

“I’m sorry, it’s never easy the first few days… Perhaps you want to come back to the classroom, it will be better for you than staying by yourself in your bedroom.”

He was a blessing, thought Misha. He was so nice with her and she felt less lonely in his presence.

“Thank you! You’re really kind!” Misha finally dried her tears and returned to the classroom with David.”

“Bon retour Mademoiselle Schiller!” The female teacher welcomed back Misha, and thanked David who once again did wonders by helping a student on her first day of school.

“Aujourd’hui, nous allons découvrir une chanteuse très populaire en France: Mylène Farmer. Le saviez-vous qu’elle est née au Québec?” 

The teacher spoke about a female French singer named Mylène Farmer and asked the students if they knew that she was born in Quebec. It didn’t seem to interest anyone at this point and Misha tried to keep herself focused on the teacher at the front of the classroom.

“Bon, parfait, je vous mets une de ses chansons qui a été longtemps au palmarès en 1992. Écoutez la chanson et par la suite, on va voir si vous avez compris les paroles.”

The teacher turned on her iPod and plugged it to a portable speaker and pressed play. The Mylene Farmer song “Que mon coeur lâche” began to fill up the classroom and Misha’s ears became captivated by the melody she had never heard before. Her blue eyes widened and the next thing she knew, Misha’s eyes closed by themselves and allowed to daydream about her forbidden love.. She could well imagine her father coming her way, entering the school’s building to announce to her that he was here to bring her back home…

The song came to its end around 4 minutes later and Misha was disappointed. She’d have listened to the French singer for the rest of the days, but to be honest, she didn’t understand all the words coming from the song. Did it matter? Not really, the song was simply beautiful and Misha had enjoyed it.

“Alors? Une première pour vous?” The teacher had a feeling that it was indeed a discovery for the Students… Misha’s first day of school was coming to an end when David joined Misha outside of the school.

“So? Feeling better?” Misha nodded her head and merely smiled at David.

“Yeah we could say this!” Misha strolled slowly next to David before turning around and glancing at him.

“Where are you from?” Asked Misha.

“I’m from Bangor, Maine.” Misha raised an eyebrow at David and laughed.

“Never heard of the place before, but I know where the state of Maine is!” David laughed, finding Misha funny.

“Alright my turn… Where are you from?” 

“Belgorod.” Misha quickly grasped the confusion on David’s pale face.

“Uh? Where is that?” Misha chuckled, wondering if she was telling David or not.

“Ok, I will tell you! It’s in Russia…” David became mesmerized by Misha’s revelation.

“Oh, wow! I wouldn’t have known. It’s cool!! Bangor sounds so cheap next to your birthplace haha!!” Both of them kept walking together, asking questions as they were trying to get to know each other.

“Thank you for everything, I really felt lonely today. When I told my father that I wanted to learn French, I thought he was going to find a French teacher that would’ve taught me French during weekdays, but instead, he sent me over here, telling me that it would be an unforgettable experience for me…”

David displayed a compassionate smile and reassured Misha that everything would be fine. Both of them returned to their bedrooms at the dormitory as the evening was approaching. All the students had to be inside the dormitory after 6:30 PM as this was the ultimate rule to be respected.

Misha had taken her shower and was getting ready for bed, when the phone in her bedroom rang. She jumped on the phone like a dog on a bone and took the call.

“Hello???” She knew who it was on the other end of the phone…

“Hello Misha! How was your first day?” The mere tone of her father’s voice coming through the phone was enough to send her again in tears.

“Please Papa! I don’t know what I did, but I want to come back, please!!!” Nicholae shut his eyes for a moment as Misha once again begged him to bring her home.

“Misha, you’ll have to get used to it! It’s only for 5 months, I will then come back for you for the summer vacations. It will go super fast and you will beg me to let you go back to France…” 

She wanted to believe her father, but she just wanted to be with him in San Francisco and not stuck in that school. She wasn’t motivated anymore to learn French, she even hated the language to be honest.

“Nooo! Please!!! Papa!! Please!!!” As Misha grew up to become a teenage girl, she became more clingy toward Nicholae. Afraid that her father would die. She was afraid when he was traveling with his jet, she was very anxious when he was going away for a few days for his business trips. To be far away from her father was a very stressful situation for Misha and she couldn’t handle it properly. Her only natural response was to cry and beg her father like a helpless child, hoping to return home…

Her call with her father abruptly cut off for no apparent  reason and even though Misha tried to call back her father, it wasn’t ringing at all. She was desperate and her first night in her bedroom far away from her father proved to be sleepless and filled with nightmares when her eyes found a moment of peace.

3 months later, Misha was beginning to live normally with the absence of her father. It wasn't easy but it didn’t seem like she had no other choice at this point. Her father was calling her 3 times a week, and sometimes she was also facetiming him with the teacher’s smartphone. It was better than nothing, thought Misha…

One day, she was in her classroom working on a project with David and Julia, and they were allowed to listen to music on their iPod with their earbuds. Just as her eyes stared at the window, Misha perceived a man walking on the grass field outside. A tall, dark haired man with ray ban aviator sunglasses covering his eyes and a dark brown leather jacket paired with a pair of dark pants… She gasped as her eyes instantly recognized the man coming toward the school’s entrance. “Lightning Crashes by Live" was the song playing at the moment her eyes encountered her father, it couldn’t get more perfect than this.

“PAPA!!” Like a bolt of lightning, Misha stood up away from her school desk and stormed out of the classroom so fast that the teacher and the other students didn’t understand what was going on with Misha.

“Mademoiselle Schiller, le cours n’est pas terminé!!!” The teacher sighed loudly, irritated by Misha’s behavior as she ordered the teenage girl to come back to her desk as the class wasn’t yet over. You think that Misha had even heard the teacher?? She still had the song playing on her iPod and her earbuds glued to her ears. She was already running through the school hall in the direction of the main entrance. The confusion set in as Nicholae passed through the entrance and that Misha didn’t even know how to deal with her feelings anymore. 

Oh, now feel it coming back again

Like a rolling thunder chasing the wind

Forces pulling from the center of the Earth again

I can feel it 

Strong emotions took hold of her and the teenage girl stood in the middle of the hall, her blue eyes set on her father, almost thinking that she was dreaming as she was standing a few feet from her father. No matter how far she had been away from him, her attraction for her father was stronger than before and even though she knew that it was wrong, that little girls weren’t supposed to be in love with their father, Misha just couldn’t help it.

“Papa??” Her father hadn’t really changed since the last time she had seen him, but as for Misha, she had grown up a tiny bit and had cut her hair into a short pixie hairstyle instead of the shoulder length haircut she had since she was 9 years old.

Nicholae flashed a large smile at his daughter, glad to see her. He thought that she even looked younger with that haircut, giving her this mischievous apperance. He chuckled heartily when she sprinted toward him and jumped in his arms.

“PAPA!!!!” Misha clung to Nicholae and loudly cried in his arms. Nicholae caressed the side of her head and hugged the top of her head. Misha took a long sniff of her father’s perfume coming from his neck… Nothing could get better as when her father was using “La Nuit De L’homme” by Yves Saint Laurent. The notes of Lavender and Musk emanating from his neck was so recomforting that Misha tried to capture this moment forever in her memory.

“I’m here baby girl! I’m here!! She reunited with her father, but Misha thought that Nicholae had come to her so she’d return with him in California, but alas her dream had been shattered into pieces as Nicholae returned home without her… It was just a little visit to see how his daughter was doing mentally and physically. The teachers had mentioned Nicholae that Misha was suffering from Separation Anxiety, none of them had guessed that it was more than this.. That’s why Nicholae had made this special trip to see Misha.

When Nicholae departed from the school, Misha became very emotionally unstable, running behind her father’s suv. She was crying and screaming, ordering him to come back. The SUV never stopped and Misha became breathless as she ran as fast as she could behind the vehicle that was speeding away from the school street.

************

Present time - 2021

This scene of her father leaving the school without her traumatized Misha to the point of sending her in tears in the middle of the night several weeks back in 2013… 

Even 8 years later, Misha still had this exact same scene as a recurring nightmare. As the dream ended on the same sour note, the young woman woke up sweating with “Lightning Crashes” echoing from afar in her mind. The lyrics from the song disappeared as soon as Misha sat up in her bed with a throbbing headache that reminded her that she was back to the real world…

“My god…Will it stop??” She still felt dizzy from the concussion. She kept herself still in the bed as she was in a sitting position. She softly moved her head toward the window covered by the curtains in her bedroom, and she could tell that it was probably late as the daylight had completely disappeared.

Something on her nightstand caught her attention, and she quickly recognized the item in question. It was her iPhone. Last night, Misha hadn’t brought the smartphone as her father had rushed her to the hospital.

She grabbed the smartphone in a hurry with her left arm and unlocked it, relieved as it was intact. Misha knew it was the right moment to delete Ivan from her Facebook, but it appeared that he had been faster than her as Ivan wasn’t even friends with her anymore on her Facebook.

Her short pale blonde hair was looking all messy and Misha couldn’t recall if she had taken a shower since her arrival at her father’s place. She tried to focus deeply, but she couldn’t.

It did sound like the TV in the living room was turned on, so Misha decided to get out of her bed and check to see if her dad was finally home. Alas, it was Just Sergei watching Football… She stopped in the middle of the living room and glanced at Sergei as if she was remembering something.

“Are you ok Miss Schiller?” Asked Sergei with his thick Russian accent.

“Yea, I guess we could say this!” Misha couldn’t really care about Antun, Sergei was more friendly and she liked to speak with him. She could say she was considering him like a friend as he had been working for her father since 1998… Way before her birth.

“I just had this dream… It was like the exact scenes of my first day of school in France, 8 years ago. Worst day of my life! I didn’t understand a word of what the teacher was saying and I was so anxious…” Sergei tapped the couch, inviting Misha to take place next to him. Of course Misha didn’t elaborate on why she was so anxious that day… Even though she considered Sergei like her confidant, she couldn’t reveal her secret.

“You were missing your father uh?” She gulped when Sergei pinpointed what made her so anxious during her stay in France. 

Misha crossed her legs on the couch while taking place to Sergei. When he mentioned the obvious, she glanced at him, not really sure what to answer to this.

“Of course I was. I was just 13 years old and knew nobody over there. I remember that right in the middle of the class, I stormed out of the classroom in tears and went to call Nicholae. But it was the middle of the night here and Papa wanted to return to bed, so he spoke with me for like 2 minutes, trying to reassure me and then he hung up. I was furious and tried to call him back, but he wouldn’t pick up… I was so mad that I took the phone in my hand and I was about to throw it against the wall, when all of sudden a boy named David entered my bedroom and smiled at me. He was an angel in disguise, without him I think I wouldn’t have made it through the entire year.”

Sergei chuckled at Misha’s story.

“Ohh, you were in love with him?” Asked Sergei. Misha couldn’t help bursting into laughter at the big man’s observation.

“No! David was gay and it was plastered all over his face and plus he was my age…He had been my savior, that’s all I’m saying… What about you Sergei, how come a chunky teddy bear like you doesn't have a girlfriend?” Misha had grown up with Sergei, so she knew him enough to tease him like this. Of course she had never been attracted to him, far from it… Sergei wasn’t her type, he was just her father’s right hand man and she knew she could trust him.

“Oh Women, complicated you know…” Yea, she knew this. 

“You’re right, we’re complicated and fucked up!” Sighed Misha as she leaned deeply in the leather couch, thoughtful and troubled at the same time.

“Have you ever loved someone so much it hurts?” Sergei retrieved the remote to turn down the volume from the TV screen as Misha questioned him about love.

“Hmm, probably, but it’s been a long time ago. You still love Ivan?” Misha snorted at Sergei when he brought up Ivan into the conversation.

“Nah, Ivan… Never loved him… We could say I used him for my own cause! He wanted to go to Las Vegas for a job, and I thought it would be a great idea to move there as well…” Sergei looked perplexed as Misha revealed that she never did love Ivan, which didn’t make sense, why had she moved with him then?

“Why!? Las Vegas is not a good place for a young woman like you! Nicholae wasn’t happy!!” Oh, she knew this, she didn’t need to be reminded that her father was pissed when she ran away with Ivan a year ago in Sin City. They didn’t stay for long in Las Vegas, and returned to California a few months later.

“I thought that by being with Ivan, that I would fall in love with him and be happy…” Sergei shook his head at Misha

“You can’t force love! Why did you want to be in love with him? I don’t understand!” As if Misha had to be told that love was a natural feeling… She already knew this.

Misha bit her lower lip before looking at Sergei straight in his dark brown eyes.

“If I tell you Sergei, you’ll have to keep this for yourself, you can’t tell this to anyone. I swear!”

The bald man chuckled nervously as Misha wanted to share a secret with him. To say that he was ill at ease was an understatement.

“Not even your father?” She narrowed her eyes at him when Sergei responded back

“NOO Idiot! You can’t tell any of what I’m about to tell you to my father!!!” as Misha was about to reveal her confession to Sergei, noises coming from the front entrance caught their attention. It was Nicholae coming back to his apartment and Misha shook her head in annoyance.

“I’ll tell you later…” She almost got herself caught like a damn novice, and Sergei was left in confusion, wondering what Misha so badly wanted to reveal to him. Her head was still intensely throbbing and she needed to take tylenols. As Nicholae spotted her from the main entrance, he greeted Misha and the young woman dryly responded back to him… As if she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. She strolled toward her bedroom and reached for her bathroom. She gulped down 2 pills to make that headache history, hoping it would go away.

“Looks like someone is in a bad mood here!!” Nicholae joked about Misha’s behavior and Sergei shrugged his shoulders.

“She’s not ok… She just woke up and had nightmares I think.” Sergei was somehow sounding nervous, not really at ease with the fact that Misha wanted to share with him a secret that he couldn’t tell her father.

“No worries Sergei, I’ll check on her!” Nicholae put down his dark trench coat on the leather couch and reached for Misha who was in her bathroom, standing in front of the sink.

“How are you doing?” He asked her as he leaned against the doorframe. Misha pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek before staring at her father.

“It could be better… Headache won’t go away and I’m still feeling dizzy.” Nicholae noticed her messy hair and it did seem like a shower would do her some good, perhaps a bath would be a better option since she felt light-headed. He had bought her a waterproof arm cover for her cast, so she’d be able to wash herself without the fear of getting her cast wet.

“Haven’t you eaten a bit?” She shook her head at her father’s question.

“Nope, I’m afraid to throw up again.” She sighed and Nicholae could tell she was tired of feeling that way.

“You will have to eat Misha and I got you something. You’ll be able to take your shower even with your cast.” He flashed her a smile and Misha couldn’t resist her father’s smile, it was so contagious though the young woman.

“Thank you!”

“How about you take a bath and I will order something to eat, alright?” Misha nodded and walked to her father who was still standing tall under the door frame separating her bedroom from the bathroom.

“Now, it’s a new life for you. You’ll take the time to heal from all of this and I will give you a job. I got something that could interest you…” Misha hadn’t asked her father what he had done today, she didn’t know if he had found Ivan and quite frankly, she couldn’t care at this point. The less she knew, the better it was…

She nodded at him and Nicholae walked out of her bedroom as Misha wanted to take her bath and changed into clean pajamas for the night… As Nicholae returned to Sergei and Antun, the young woman shut her bedroom door and shut her eyes for a moment. She would never get rid of this infatuation she had toward her father…

She could only imagine how Nicholae would react if he would get to know this. Perhaps, it was better to keep this for herself. Revealing that confession to Sergei was a bad idea, thought Misha… There was only one person in this whole world who knew about her unforbidden love for her father and it was David… Misha trusted him enough and knew David would never tell anyone about it...

She grabbed her iPhone and opened her playlist spotify only to listen to "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. trying to forget that it was a forbidden love.

[thegirlwhowrites642]

'Enchanted to meet you' or 'Unfair' for the WIP game (I kinda wanted to nominate all though 😂)

♥️😘

Wip game

Ah, thank you! I'm glad the titles sound interesting.

Enchanted to meet you has been tormenting me for like six months? Because the thing is... The idea was to write snippets that showed Harry and Ginny meeting for the first time in various universes. The problem is, the scenes became too long to work into the fluid structure of the one-shot I originally had in mind, but at the same time they are too short to be separate chapters. So I don't know how to publish all this stuff I've written, and it's really annoying because I think there's some pretty decent stuff in there. If it isn't clear, I'm very frustrated by this thing.

This snippet is from a muggle AU where Harry is a policeman and Ginny is a criminal (but for a noble reason). Harry has been after her for years:

"Now," he said, his low voice making things to Ginny that were very inappropriate at the moment, "Very slowly, bring down your hood," Ginny's hands trembled, she didn't know if out of fear or due to the thrill that Potter discovering her true identity caused her. Soon she heard a gasp and she knew what he had seen: red hair put together in a bun and a very obviously feminine neck. She smirked. "Tu--turn around," he ordered, and Ginny did. His green eyes were looking at her with poorly disguised shock. She had never realised how green they were. "You are a woman?" "Now, Potter, that's a bit sexist of you,"

Unfair is about Ron seeing Ginny have a mental breakdown after the break-up with Harry. First time I write from a pov that's not Harry's or Ginny's (I have written from Audrey's pov and I have a wip from Lily Luna's one but they are substantially OCs so it doesn't really count). It's terrifying btw. I'm too used to Harry and Ginny.

I really wanted to explore how Ron felt about the break-up seeing that it's a source of conflict with Harry more than once in DH.

I've got just the end written though.

Ron could admit, in the privacy of his mind, that he had thought a couple of times during the years, in his lowest moments, that maybe he would have been better off if he had never become friends with Harry Potter. In those circumstances, he had been selfish and petty and jealous. Now, while he held his crying sister, it occurred to him how becoming friends with Harry had affected way more people than just himself. And that maybe, Ginny too would've been better off if he had never brought Harry into their home. Sure, Ginny had been infatuated by the legend of the Boy Who Lived, but he knew now, years later, that what had made the difference had been his letters about his first year. He had never met anyone who admired courage mixed with a healthy dose of recklessness more than his sister. It had been there that the damage had been made. His sister broken heart was in good part his fault, and he had no idea of how to fix it. For the first time in nearly three years, he was overwhelmed by the urge to punch his best friend. "Ron?" she whispered against his chest, "You and Hermione, you'll go with him, right? You can't let him do it alone," He couldn't see her face, but he knew she was trying to not cry. "Yeah… we'll go with him," he assured her, coming to the sad conclusion that maybe he had nothing to do with it, that maybe in any world, in any version, Ginny would fall in love with Harry if she still managed to love him in this one. How unfair it was, he couldn't help but think, to be in love with someone who found it so easy to walk away.

[elnierah]

Companion Post - Chapter 1 Remaster: What Alterations Were Made and Why?

Apologies for the multiple posts, but I believed it would be wiser to separate all these subjects instead of condescending them all into one giant wall of text.

This one serves to breakdown and highlight exactly how I plan to approach Remasters in terms of alterations and additions to the plot. So if you've just read, or wish to, the new chapter 1, and are curious as to why some slight changes were made, this will explain exactly why.

I likely will not do this for other chapters, just because of how long these analysis posts take, but if you're ever curious of a change or addition, please do not hesitate to ask me!

I will format this post by scene: ( so those ~~~~ sections )

Scene one:

This scene, in terms of raw content, hasn't been altered much. There are a few additions though, mainly Yusuke's relationship with his mother and her art. This is a subject which is brought up later on, but I believe it belongs in the beginning far more to introduce both him and his ideals. Even if this story is derived from another, established IP, these tidbits are key to narrative and character progression.

Alteration: Madarame no longer sends Yusuke to 'rest' during the day, just tells him to go to his room to brush up on his art skills in preparation. Makes more sense for his character to pressure practice. Also a small line of 'allowing' Yusuke to forgo job hunting today which serves as subtle expositions as to Yusuke's usual routine.

Scene Two:

Scene starts with Yusuke waking up instead of amidst painting. Just a preference to segue into descriptions of their living conditions and his mental state.

New addition: this section elaborates on exactly why Yusuke does not vend nor exhibit his art, and why he clings to that one aspect. In the original text, it's not touched upon and could even cast a misinterpretation on him, one where his desire could be seen as childish or selfish - while in reality it's because it's the last shard of his willpower, autonomy as a person, not Madarame's sole puppet. 'Rebellious spirit' if we're using P5 terms.

Emphasised the fact Madarame only wishes Yusuke to vend/exhibit them to crush that aforementioned willpower, not because there's justification behind it. ( Aka, village is in a more dire state so not many would care for paintings, referenced further in scene four )

Addition: added an element of Yusuke finding Madarame's complete disregard of the letter's arrival suspicious, which in turn is what makes him drop the paintbrush instead and experience mental dissonant.

Alteration: Madarame gives him the 'wedding' attire the night prior instead of Yusuke already owning it.

Alteration: Yusuke's curse at himself is no longer in quotations, only narration. Just a preference of mine.

Elaborated on their landlord's neglect, that they justify allowing the home's disrepair because their payments are often late.

Scene Three:

Scene starts in the washroom, detailing the state of their home and their living conditions more. ( Example, reusing bath water, mold, etc ) This is also so Yusuke can have a 'shower' instead of just changing directly. Preference.

Emphasised Yusuke just wishes for a humble life, and that they used to have such in the past.

Alteration: Their scissor broke, so when Madarame brings up Yusuke cutting his hair, he can't. ( good ) It was strange of Madarame to immediately yell at him to leave after requesting that, so this was added to ensure more flow.

Alteration: Madarame gives him the bread in this chapter instead, as it makes more sense for him to do so now than after he believes Yusuke 'failed'. He's trying to ensure his success here, after all. ( He won't give him bread in chapter 2 as a result, so Rita's food is very much appreciated )

Yusuke's not as timid. ( overall )

Scene Four:

Elaborated on details regarding their village, how it manages to survive and added mentions of the charity harvests! ( Akira's and other benefactors [ as they are now dubbed ]

Seasons have been added! It's winter in the start.

Elaborated on how isolated the village is, and how nearby lands have been gentrified. ( Mentioned later, but should've been present at start )

Emphasised the fact that rumours regarding the Kurusu family are sparse whispers - not trusted much at all.

Scene Five:

The mansion is two miles away ( 30/40 minute walk ) from Yusuke's village. Its outside is also more detailed too. ( Example, gate, what the fountain looks like, breeds of flowers, etc )

The gatekeepers are given descriptive appearances. Uniforms too.

His Lordship! A term I've been itching to use for a while now but didn't wish to suddenly introduce as of Chapter 30. [ If you've noticed, Akira is referred to as a 'Lord' at the mansion, and a 'Majesty' at the manor ]

Biggest change: Zeriya makes an appearance, taking over the gatekeeper's guide duties. The fact he was absence in this section miffed me to no end, especially when you consider how involved he is regarding targets.

Yusuke is even more suspicious, with description of why and his mental processings.

The description of Akira's appearance has been altered slightly, both to reinforce his depressive and sickly state. Example: his eyes are vacant, his skin is ghostly pale and he harbours dark circles under his eyes. ( Aka, he's at his hunger limit ) [ His natural complexion is not as pale [ skin tone is P5's ], which Yusuke will notice later on. ]

Addition: Yusuke believed his portrait model was going to be an old dude. Most of the other benefactors are in their later years, after all, so this is the reason for the assumption.

Alteration: Yusuke senses Akira's behaviour is a performance, given he has 'experience' acting in accordance for his father.

Alteration: No one is presence beside the gatekeepers, Akira and Zeriya. This is to reflect the way the kingdom perceives Akira's need to feed and their preference to avert their eyes to it. ( Also for their own comfort )

Alteration: The 'trap' room is slightly different, with the bed now out of sight via a partition. Don't wanna send the wrong message to your 'guests', of course!

Addition: Akira brews them tea, Yusuke's drugged whilst his not ( uses different spoons so the liquid doesn't mix ). He also eats food closest to him, also not drugged. This is done because it can help lead their guest into a false sense of security, that the food is safe because their host is consuming it. A classic manipulation tactic.

Yusuke avoids the food because he feels ill, as if he's going to vomit from stress instead of sole suspicion. He does grab a piece of cake to circumvent upsetting Akira though instead of outright 'disrespecting' him.

Addition: Flower tea to obfuscate the natural scent of vampires, just in case their 'guest' has learnt of such.

Alteration: Muffins are gone, red fruit tarts are now in! For symbolism, perhaps. ;)

Alteration: Yusuke's stomach no longer growls immediately at the sight of the food, due to both stress and having eaten that bread.

Alteration: Akira ( lies ) about how they met someone who informed them of Yusuke's existence, and that rumours spurred them to search for this 'stubborn artist' instead.

Alteration/addition: Yusuke still assumes this aforementioned person is Madarame, but there is a lot more emphasis on his hurt, sense of betrayal.

Alteration: Yusuke is a lot more offended by the 'stubborn, egotistical artist' moniker, but he does find the affair rather odd.

Alteration: Yusuke's emotions are so amok by what Akira says that he correlates Akira's desire to convince a stubborn artist as the same as his father's. This leads to him accidentally insulting him.

Addition: Akira attempts multiple, other methods to have Yusuke consume the drug, such as suggesting celebratory drinks, before he grows fed up/gives up. [ Bro gave up way too quick in the old version ]

Emphasised Yusuke noticing Akira growing more and more restive.

Scene Six

Addition: Akira 'entertains' Yusuke for as long as he feasibly can. He grows ruder, more curt as a result of this instead. [ Akira's more frustrated/altered personality whilst starved seeps in far too soon in the old text. ] There is also a more natural segue into his question of 'would anyone miss you' too.

Alteration: Yusuke no longer thinks Akira's polite. He also says he needs to ask Madarame if he can stay instead of speculation.

Addition: Akira begins to toy with the food ( tart ) to spur Yusuke to eat, having sensed his hunger and the hours wane.

Alteration: Yusuke's excuse of 'rare stomach condition' is now what provokes Akira's decorum to shatter apart.

Important/biggest addition: Zeriya now comes to evaluate the proceedings, as an hour is the maximum they'll wait before reassessing the situation. His arrival is what spurs Akira to storm out, having reached both their time limit and his own. This change causes Zeriya to be the one to provide recompense instead, with the amount lowered to reflect his less generous personality. Why was this changed? Well... Whilst there was nothing inherently wrong with the original version of events, [ *Akira kicks Yusuke out himself after not succeeding to drug him, gives him money to ensure his lack of return quite forcibly and almost bites him due to a lack of control ] those events do not align well with Akira's profound aversion to interacting with humans/targets beyond what is absolutely necessary. He foists all responsibility onto Zeriya, both to handle difficult/unsusceptible targets and ensure they don't pester them. This change will give more credence to Zeriya's frustration later on and how Akira's mental health is a taut thread, ready to snap at any moment. It will also cause a chain effect, one I need chapter 2 to acknowledge.

The next important addition is: Zeriya plants a seedling of hope within Yusuke's mind, telling him to perhaps return tomorrow. This is a change I debated quite extensively, as I wish for Yusuke's return to still be spurred solely by his desperation, the utter terror Madarame instills in him with his threats of imposed prostitution, not by any level of reassurance. This wish of mine is however remedied and maintain by the fact Yusuke remains distrustful, that he does not ultimately desire the opportunity itself as it is not one built on his own terms and he finds the inhabitants of the mansion to be insufferable. To illustrate and strengthen this point, Yusuke's plan of defense against Madarame is more elaborate, with his actions being more premediated than before. But this one addition also spurs Madarame's reaction to his actions to be, well... more extreme.

As you can see, these ultimately small alterations have caused a chain reaction, one where everything had to shift if the personalities and inclinations of each character were to be maintained. ( For example, it would be very out-of-character for Zeriya to NOT at least attempt to convince a target's return if given the chance. ) Yusuke is also quite intelligent, so it also makes more sense for his attempt to circumvent punishment to be quite clarified ( with his downfall ultimately being his love for his father. ) That aforementioned element however also elicits Madarame's, somehow, even more abhorrent side ( he's always abhorrent, but alas ) which leads to a more extreme and distressing version of scene seven. In other words, these changes were all decided by deliberating on how each of these characters, in their truest essence, would react to one another's actions. Cause and effect, if I may.

I apologise if this all sounds gibberish. I am very, very bad at articulating my decisions and thought process, so if you're at all confused, please feel free to ask me! Moving on!

Scene Seven

Yusuke is far more salty at Akira for his outburst. [ As he should be ]

Amount of money lowered from 4k to 2k due to aforementioned reason. ( Zeriya is giving the money now )

Addition: Yusuke, amidst his mental deliberation, picks up some supplies from the newly added Winter's Harvest.

Alteration: Madarame's distorted desire to use Yusuke is a lot more pronounced overall, referencing and maintaining his/shadow's personality from P5.

Addition: Yusuke's emphasised heartbreak over the belief Madarame betrayed his promise ( regarding his art ) is now what gives him the strength to lie to his father.

Alteration: Yusuke's plan to protect himself is to pretend Akira never dismissed him, to maintain a pretence of employment, instead of saying they wish for the painting at a later date.

Alteration: Madarame still sees through Yusuke's facade, but because Yusuke's plan to provide the money over time ( to give credence to his employment ) can be perceived as stealing, Madarame reacts even harsher with physical abuse.

Addition: Yusuke's attire is ripped during this horrible treatment, symbolising the tearing of his heart.

Alteration/addition: Madarame uses Yusuke's mother against him to further the sting of his verbal abuses.

Emphasised the fact that Yusuke's return to the mansion is his last chance. ( Before Madarame forces him into prostitution... )

Addition: Mentions of the 'business card' and phone calls. ( now and later on )

I believe that covers most, if not a majority, of the changes made to Chapter 1! These alterations/additions were born not only from deliberating how the characters personalities would amalgamate, but also from my new philosophy when it comes to my creations/stories/writing. I've mentioned it across various comments, but the earliest chapters of YCTL were/are stuck betwixt my prior conflict of whether or not I wanted to simply remaster or do a complete rewrite, and that is reflected in their plot and occurrences. This project serves not only to elevate my writing style but also to give these chapters ( at least up to 6 ) the same treatment and standards I hold for my work as a whole. Aka - if I decided upon a complete rewrite from the start, this is very likely how the chapters would've came out ( if not slightly different. ).

In conclusion, and as mentioned before, if you have any questions regarding this or my work in general, then please feel free to reach out via Tumblr - Questions, DMs or Twitter! I would be more than delighted to answer any curiosities or concerns! I also find direct questions a little easier to answer than trying to figure out/articulate them on my own.

As always, thank you so much for your support! And I hope you'll all be able to continue to enjoy my shukita/kitashu fics! ヽ(˵ ͡~ ³ ͡°˵)ﾉ

[the-era-of-shadow]

The Day The Moon Died Act II - The Wave of Black

Case 01: The Eternal Highschool Lovers

Chapter 4: School's Out!

Written by Lunar Eclipse & Ash Rose

Cover Art by Ash Rose

CW/TW:

A Lot (Swearing, heavy fictional religious themes, kidnapping, mentions of child death, mild terrorism, themes of the loss of control over one's self, mentions of blood, depiction of a volatile mental breakdown)

Summary:

The Black Arms' rally had been a complete and total success, and the group began to grow immensely in the weeks following it. To tell the tale of its spread in full, follow these three separate, and yet connected tales - cases of the Black Arms' effect on PetalBloom, and see for yourself the damage that had been done.

Notes:

I hope you're fucking ready for this chapter because this is the longest single piece of writing we've ever made and A Lot Happens in it btw if you're not in the mental state to handle a potentially devastating cliffhanger please prepare yourself before reading, take care of you ❤

[Act 1]

[Moonlight Interlude I]

[Previous Chapter]

[Next Chapter]

-☆☆☆-

“Wait! I’m confused!” Garrick announced suddenly.

“Why so?” Widow inquired, wondering if there had been a detail that she had accidentally left out in her retelling so far.

“Uhm, I dunno if I missed it, but… What’s Mini Mayhem’s plan again?” Garrick clarified.

“Oh yes! Their plan! I did indeed not go in depth about it for now.” Widow admitted, feeling relieved that there had been indeed no accidental forgetfulness on her part - none that had gone unnoticed, at least. “You see, Garrick,” She then began to speak again, gently placing her hand on her dear young son’s head. “Since the members of Mini Mayhem enact their plan later in the story, I figured it’d become boring if I had to describe the plan out twice! So instead, I decided that I’d leave the planning part out for now, so that when I show the plan in action, it’s all brand new information!” She explained.

“Oooooh, okay! Sorry for interrupting you, Mama!” Garrick responded.

“No need to apologize, Gare-Bear. You’re just being curious, as any child your age ought to be.” Widow said to him reassuringly, using the opportunity she had with it already having her hand on his head to give Garrick a loving ruffling of their hair.

“So does that mean we’re gonna see the plan play out now?” Garrick asked.

“Well, actually… Your question had got me wondering if I had forgotten anything important going on around this time of the story, and I just realized that right around now - in the Schoolhouse, in fact, took place a moment that forever impacted the advancement of us Black Arms’ biology-” Widow started to respond, though she was interrupted part-way through.

“DID SOMEONE SAY ADVANCEMENT OF BLACK ARMS BIOLOGY??” A voice that had not been among Widow’s audience before, but still incredibly familiar all the same, hollered excitedly. It seemed that Widow’s words had a sort of summoning effect to them without her realizing.

“Well well well, aren’t you quite late to the party, Eclipse~?” Rouge said teasingly.

“Party? Are we already at Station Square?” Eclipse wondered, very genuinely seeming to be out of the loop.

“No, I think we’re still a ways away. I believe that Rouge has just used another one of those “turn of phrases”!” Widow answered.

“Oh, right. So what are you all up to?” Eclipse asked. “Must be something rather significant - if not because of the crowd accrued here, then certainly by the rush Yuki had to return here after dropping off some supplies to me!” They then added, beginning to speculate.

“Actually, it’s Leanni right now.” Leanni quickly budged in to correct.

“Oh, is it? My mistake!” Eclipse replied.

“Ah well, it all began as a conversation between Rouge, Shadow and I. Then one thing led to another and here we are, passing the time until we reach Station Square by me telling the story of the Black Arms’ founding!” Widow explained, summarizing quite a lot.

“Oh, that’s where that was coming from.” Eclipse remarked.

“Come again?” Rouge asked, once again entering the conversation.

“I had heard someone telling the story through the hivemind, but I had figured that it was just my memories of Master Death telling me such tales playing in my mind to keep away boredom.” Eclipse told without hesitation.

“Sounds reasonable enough!” Widow remarked. “So then you probably know that we’re at the part of the second rally, the one held in the refurbished Schoolhouse?”

“The rally where a recently assimilated member of the Black Arms who had just so happened to have been an animal caretaker in their day to day life was invited on stage alongside Lord Black Doom himself, having with them a baby Petal-Scaled Dragon that was demonstrated on stage to be introduced into the hivemind by Lord Doom that night, thus ushering in the assimilation of more of PetalBloom’s fauna, creating the ancestry that would lead to the modern non-bipedal Black Arms subspecies of the modern day, such as the descendants of Petal-Scaled Dragons themselves, the Black Hawks and Black Volts, while at the same time opening up the collective mind of the hive to the idea of assimilating more lifeforms into the Black Arms beyond the life present on PetalBloom itself, which would be later cemented during the Black Arms leaders’ trial held in the Twilight Cage and would go on to become a massive part of the evolution of the Black Arms into what we are today, up to and including its involvement in the discovery of our new home, the original Black Comet? Yes, I am aware that’s where we are! Why, aren’t I glad I came just in time to hear you talk about it loud and clear then!” Eclipse answered quite… extensively, to say the least.

“I feel like about a quarter of that would have been enough to get the point across, Wikipedia Article.” Harazuki heckled teasingly, as siblings do.

“Well maybe I am a “Wikipedia Article”! So what? Articles on Wikipedia are carefully curated by multiple experts on the topics of the articles - experts that have dedicated their lives to not just learning about their field, but to teaching others what they’ve learned! Just as I have!” Eclipse argued passionately.

“Pretty sure by the way you’ve explained it, that’d make you a Wikipedia article moderator, not an article in of itself, which is what I called you!” Harazuki said smugly, pointing out the error in Eclipse’s argument.

“Getting rather pedantic here, aren’t we? Well two can play at THAT game! I assume what you meant to say by calling me a “Wikipedia Article” is that my response to Madam Widow’s question was worded like an article on the history of Black Hawks and Black Volts. However, that would make it more accurate to say that I sounded like I was reading a Wikipedia article, not that I am one!” Eclipse retorted.

“Well you clearly knew what I meant!” Harazuki claimed.

“What if I didn’t? What then? You need to be exact when calling people nicknames!” Eclipse theorized.

“That’s just a hypothetical!!” Harazuki fumed.

“Is it?” Eclipse asked, grinning smugly.

“YES! OBVIOUSLY IT IS!!” Harazuki answered, becoming frustrated.

By now, the two of them were not just butting heads in the metaphorical sense, but also in the literal, physical sense as well. They had become so engrossed in proving “who’s right” that they seemingly had forgotten that there was anyone else around. That is, until someone decided to step in and break the two’s feud apart.

“ENOUGH!” Shadow commanded, stepping in between the two to hold them off from each other as her voice boomed with annoyance. “Both of you, knock it the fuck off, won’t you?? Can’t you see how long you two are having to make my mother wait to continue telling the story with this petty bickering??” They pointed out. 

Harazuki pouted and crossed her arms, while Eclipse covered their face with their hand and looked away from both Harazuki and Shadow. Either way, it was clear that the both of them realized Shadow was right, and felt deeply embarrassed for letting a moment of sibling rivalry get the better of them.

“Hara.” Shadow then began to speak again. “There was no need to tease Eclipse just for being passionate about the biology of the Black Arms.”

Harazuki silently nodded and sat back down.

“And Eclipse, even if it was unneeded, Hara’s comment towards you was something you could have - and should have - just brushed aside and ignored. There was no need to turn it into a whole big argument.” Shadow added.

“Right. With a reputation like mine, I can’t afford to be petty. I understand that now.” Eclipse admitted before also sitting down. “I’m sorry for that, Hara.” They added.

“Yeah, same here…” Harazuki sighed.

“Ah, wonderful. Especially from you, Shadow! You handled that just as a leader should!” Widow remarked.

“O-Oh, uhm… Th-thanks…!” Shadow sheepishly accepted the compliment, the pride and joy from it growing within her being able to be felt all throughout the hivemind.

“You know… I think I’ve finally moved on from the whole thing - but when Eclipse becomes all passionate like that, I think a part of my heart still flutters because of it…” Relic muttered in admittance only to Rouge.

“... Ya know what? I get it.” Rouge whispered back. 

The two girls quietly giggled to one another about their remarks, but then, suddenly, Rouge seemed to get the idea to try to catch Eclipse’s attention.

“Hey..! Clip..!” Rouge said as loudly as she possibly could while still maintaining a whispery tone.

“Hmm?” Eclipse hummed.

“How come you’re sticking around? Aren’t you still busy with Relic and I’s assimilation chambers?” Rouge inquired curiously.

“Oh, I’ll just be here for this one little part. Besides, the chambers are almost complete, anyways.” Eclipse explained.

“Are they really?” Relic asked, her excitement almost causing her to break her whisper.

“Well would ya look at that? We’re well on our way to becoming full on Black Arms~.” Rouge remarked.

“I know..! Aren’t you excited?” Relic exclaimed.

“Yeah, I guess I am...” Rouge admitted.

“The hivemind at work~.” Eclipse stated.

“... Yeah.” Rouge nervously agreed. “Say, where are the Dark Arms? Surely they would want to learn about this stuff too, right? Rhygenta at the very least.” She then asked, changing the subject.

“They’re off being busy with their own little project… That’s what they told me, anyway.” Eclipse answered.

“You mean you don’t know what they’re up to?” Relic voiced in concern.

“I'm afraid not. All I know is that they plan for it to be complete by the end of the night.” Eclipse explained.

"The end of the night? Like… during the Firework Show at Station Square?" Rouge questioned.

“That is what they said.” Eclipse simply responded with a shrug.

Suddenly, the three’s conversation was interrupted by the sound of Shadow clearing it’s throat, in an attempt to once again return all attention to Widow.

"Oh, right. Sorry hun, sorry Mrs. Widow." Rouge apologized.

“My bad, Shadow. Let my excitement for tomorrow get ahead of me!” Relic admitted.

"My apologies to the both of you, sincerely." Eclipse said.

“Oh, it’s alright! You gave me enough time to figure out where to continue from.” Widow revealed, which seemed to make Shadow feel a bit embarrassed. “Thank you for caring about me though, Shadow.” She added, which did seem to make them feel better.

-☆☆☆-

The once dense bunch of Black Arms that had filed into the Schoolhouse together about a few hours ago had now settled, being spread throughout the building in bunches by the hivemind's directions, orchestrated by the Black Arms leaders who were somewhere within the building itself. Each bunch had a job to do, an assignment given, for once everything is completed, the leaders promised that a second rally, one even greater than the first, would be able to commence.

And then there was Latté.

Completely alone, she paced one of the many hallways of the schoolhouse, far too haunted by her own thoughts to be able to follow the hivemind's directive. Completely alone, that is, until Latté noticed Vladmira making their way through the same hallway. At first the sight had stunned her. What was Vladmira doing out here? Weren't the Black Arms leaders busy with their own plans elsewhere within the schoolhouse? She had wondered to herself. It was then that anxiety had struck her, swinging at her swiftly with mighty power. The question of why Vladmira would be here was one that Latté envisioned an answer to quite quickly, regardless if it was correct or not. They must be here because they noticed I'm not doing anything, she figured. She felt bad for not being productive, truly, she did. She just was so terribly worried. 

"Worried? What do you have to worry about, Latté?" Vladmira asked her through the hivemind, spooking the young lady despite their gentle tone.

"O-oh, well, if I must confess… then it is Uni that I'm worried for." She answered, perhaps a bit more formally than she needed to. Even though she and Vladmira had been friends for a while before the founding of the Black Arms, Latté's formed a sort of habit of seeing them as "above" her, as a leader.

"That doesn't surprise me, nor do I blame you for that. It certainly must be quite troubling for you to have someone you hold so dearly refuse to stand by you at a time like this." Vladmira said to Latté, understanding the girl's woe, even if they themself have not experienced such a thing for themself.

"It definitely is… And it's not like she has abandoned me! I know she very clearly wants us to be reunited!" Latté explained further.

"That too, I have noticed. When we were retrieving Death last night, you saw her pursuing you, yeah?" Vladmira noted.

"How could I not? Even if I didn't see her, I could certainly hear her..!" Latté responded, throwing in a joke to hopefully lighten the mood for herself. Vladmira chuckled at the joke, which certainly did help in that. "If she's determined enough to have me to chase us down in the dead of night, there's no doubt she'll chase us down again. I would be pretty surprised if I didn't see her again today." She then continued.

"Oh, definitely. In fact, I feel like you could use that to your advantage." Vladmira suggested.

"In what way?" Latté asked.

"I… don't know quite yet. I tried to plan something out for you with Death earlier, but he just said that he thinks Uni is a lost cause and that you should focus on other things." Vladmira admitted.

-☆☆☆-

"Oh wow, Death really just… never changed, did he???" Harazuki remarked, interrupting the story.

"Heh, I've certainly heard that one before." Eclipse chimed in.

"And yet, here I am." Shadow quipped, just being unable to help herself from doing so in the moment, despite her frustrations earlier.

"Why am I not surprised to hear that…? Oh, it's because I knew him too well to expect anything else." Widow said, joining in on the criticism of Black Death to make a segue back into the story.

-☆☆☆-

"Oh wow, so helpful of him." Latté remarked sarcastically.

"I know, right? What would we ever do without him?" Vladmira replied just as sarcastically, shaking their head.

"Well, if Death isn't going to help you, then why don't I? I know Uni better than anyone else in all of PetalBloom - even herself. Besides, I bet if she sees that I'm just as determined to be with her as she is to be with me, then maybe she'll realize that us Black Arms aren't just heartless, mindless monsters that want to destroy everything!" Latté then suggested, being serious now.

"Exactly! Sure, we do like destroying things, a lot, it's very cathartic - but we still care about people! That's why we're doing this in the first place! We care about each other and all the people on PetalBloom that have been hurt by Madam Moonshine's puritanical bullshit, so we're gonna burn her order to the ground and build a chaotic utopia on its ashes!" Vladmira blurted out in a passionate ramble. "But anyway, you're on to something there, I think!" They added, getting back on topic.

"You really think so?" Latté asked.

"Definitely." Vladmira confirmed.

"Cool! Guess we can start making a plan after I'm done doing whatever it is you guys wanted me to do originally, right?" Latté then inquired.

"Oh uhm, well, we don't… have anything for you to do, actually." Vladmira answered awkwardly. "As I said, the plan to get you to go get Uni fell through because Death doesn't believe in anyone except for Doom and maybe himself every once a week, and it was pretty last second so uh. Your schedule is blank." They elaborated.

"So that's why I didn't hear anything! I just thought I was so lost in my worrying about Uni that I accidentally drowned the hivemind out! Well I'm glad that wasn't the case." Latté remarked, feeling relieved. "So we should start planning now, right?"

"Better now than late-" Vladmira began to respond, but was interrupted when something took Latté's attention away from them. "Hey, where are you going-?" They asked, but their question was quickly answered as they turned their head to where Latté had gone.

In a hallway connecting to the one Latté and Vladmira had been traveling down, there stood a lone young Bloomian, one that hadn't been in the schoolhouse before this moment according to the Black Arms' knowledge.

"Hey! What are you doing here??" Latté said to the Bloomian in a tone one would use to address a friend who you run into unexpectedly.

"Yeah, I thought you told us you weren't gonna be able to make it!" Vladmira added, sounding delighted to see the young Bloomian.

"I did - I thought that I wouldn't have the chance to sneak out with the Mini Mayhem meeting planned today! But the craziest thing happened!" The Bloomian explained, immensely piquing the interests of Latté and Vladmira.

"Crazy enough to get you here against the odds? Despite all the supposed distancing from us that your buddy Kuel had you all do last year?" Vladmira questioned.

"Most certainly! Latté, you're really gonna like this!" The Bloomian promised.

“... No way.” Latté uttered in disbelief, already having put two together in her mind.

“Yes way!!” The Bloomian exclaimed, feeling the hope and joy sparking within Latté’s ever widening eyes. 

“Now how in the hell did Uni “The Word of Madam Moonshine and Priestess Waning Are Never To Be Questioned” Bishop end up teaming up with Mini fuckin’ Mayhem of all groups???” Vladmira questioned the Bloomian curiously, just as taken aback as Latté.

“Honestly, from what I understood - it was entirely happenstance! While we were bunkering down in our HQ, Kuel overheard the sounds of you all heading to the Schoolhouse and decided to go and investigate - curiosity and all that - and he just so happened to notice Uni just about to go chasing in after you guys! They stopped her, and talked her into going in to retrieve you and Mocha as a team!” The Bloomian explained.

“Well doesn’t it suck for him that you’re playing double agent, then? Probably made a whole plan and everything… Only for it to all go so terribly wrong…~” Vladmira assumed, an evil grin appearing on their face as they spoke.

“That’s the thing! I want the plan to go as she had wanted! I want to get the chance to find Latté and Mocha - which I’m already halfway there on, go back to the others one by one telling them I found the two - while bringing them into the hivemind along the way - so that once we all get back to where Kuel and Uni will be, they will be too little to fight our influence, and Latté and Uni will be reunited in the hivemind! With bonus points for the restoration of Mini Mayhem’s affiliation with the Black Arms!” The Bloomian retorted excitedly, renewing Latté and Vladmira’s shock with just how exact and detailed their plan was.

“You… seem to have yourself under control then…” Vladmira remarked. “But there’s… A problem - just a little problem, really should only be a matter of a time constraint really.” They added, almost as if they had completely forgotten about whatever it was that they were referring to until this exact moment.

“What would that be, exactly?” The young Bloomian asked.

“Weeeeell… The other Black Arms leaders and I had planned it to be a surprise, but… At the end of tonight’s rally, we’re planning on taking everyone outside and reenacting the explosion of the original schoolhouse that Widow and Sen pulled off last year… And if you’re still in the process of going through your plan when that happens…” Vladmira revealed, causing Latté and the other Bloomian to look quite nervous.

“That… wouldn’t be very ideal…” Latté muttered. The Bloomian shook their head in agreement.

“But hey, there’s still time for both of us to adjust our plans. We could do ours later, you could make things quicker on your end-” Vladmira began to say, but Latté interrupted them part way through.

“Or… I could use that to my advantage! I mean, if I did, by whatever means, save Uni’s life, that too could make a big effort in showing that I still love her!” She theorized.

“I suppose it would, but don’t make that your main plan, alright? Us Black Arms have made it a bit of a personal rule that we don’t kill kids. To take away the life of a young soul just as Moonshine and her constituents stole ours would be to completely undermine our goal - our message.” Vladmira warned, their tone deeply serious.

“That would be most preferable, yes. But if something unfavorable must occur in pursuit of our mission, then it simply must happen.” Troubling words seeped into the hivemind suddenly, spoken by a very familiar voice.

“I’d prefer it if you’d at least try being an optimist every once in a while, my love.” Vladmira remarked, chastising the young man who had spoken such skeptical words.

“You imply that I’m being a pessimist.” Death surmised.

“Yes.” Vladmira affirmed. "Because you are."

"No, I’m not. I’m just being realistic.” Death argued before taking off further into the hallway, leaving Vladmira behind with Latté and the other Bloomian.

Latté and the Bloomian looked at one another in concern, which Vladmira clearly noticed.

“Don’t worry about him, you two. He doesn’t know Uni and Mini Mayhem the way you two do.” They told the two of them, trying to be as comforting as they possibly could be.

Despite Vladmira’s comforting words however, Latté still couldn’t help but to become haunted by her worries once again. The young Bloomian must have picked up on this, because they spoke just as the feelings started to return.

“I know it’s probably a tall ask, but could I by any chance be in charge of the explosions? Would probably lessen our chances of a tragedy occurring.” 

“Hmm. definitely sounds reasonable. I’ll have to…” Vladmira began to respond, but got distracted when they noticed that Death was lingering at the end of the hallway, as if waiting for something, or someone, even. Vladmira called out to him and asked about such things rather than completing their reply to the young Bloomian.

“Indeed I am. I’m waiting for you.” He answered rather vaguely.

“Me?” Vladmira questioned.

“Yep. The reason why I’m here is because Doom told me to go find you, actually.” Death explained only slightly.

“And the reason for that would be…?” Vladmira quiered.

“We’re having a leaders meeting back at the lounge in about five minutes.” Death finally revealed.

“Is that so? Then perhaps I can bring these two along to tell the others about their concerns with our finale for tonight?” Vladmira suggested, gesturing to Latté and the other Bloomian.

“Concerns? What would their concerns be?” Death asked as if he hadn’t just been lingering in the background of the conversation going on.

“Ugh. I’ll tell you while we make our way there since you didn’t care to listen while you lingered around.” Vladmira remarked as they made their way towards the lounge that Death spoke of.

“Hmph, of course you’d do that… Now those two have to come along, it’d seem.” Death groaned in response as he followed from behind. A giggle given by Vladmira basically confirmed his theory. “You’re lucky that you’ve captured my good side…” Death stated, his face nearly completely bright green.

“I could see Uni and I having an exchange like that, I won’t lie.” Latté speculated.

“What an absurd comparison. What Vladdie and I have is a relationship like none other in the entire universe. You certainly don’t understand it.” Death objected, rolling his eyes rather dramatically.

“I dunno… I see it.” Vladmira noted with a cheeky smile.

It didn’t take very long for the four of them to reach the “lounge” that Death had spoken of, which turned out to be the main teacher’s lounge, situated in the dead center of the schoolhouse. When they reached the lounge, they were met with Sendrir and Widow standing at the doorway like a pair of guards.

“You two do know that the whole thing of the lounge’s location being a secret is more so to encourage the usage of the hivemind for communication rather than for explicitly keeping anyone out, right?” Death implored of the two rather snidely.

“Of course we do. Are you aware of the fact that Doomie told us to stand out here to make sure you came back with Vladmira on time?” Widow replied, annoyed by Death’s assumption.

“Whether or not any of us are aware of all that, we are all aware that the meeting’s about to start, yeah?” Sendrir added light heartedly, stepping in to break the tension between Death and Widow. Her tone of voice sounded a lot more cheerful than it did the last time Latté saw her, which made her happy to see. 

“Of course I am, since I did my due diligence to force the info outta Death.” Vladmira remarked, causing Widow to chuckle. As Vladmira spoke, Sendrir seemed to notice Latté and the other young Bloomian standing just behind them.

“Hey! Looks like Death and Vald brought guests! Two of ‘em!” She announced to the others as she peeked her head into the room.

“It wasn’t my idea, make no mistake! Those two being here is all Vladmi-” Death insisted, though was cut off before he could finish speaking.

“Is that so? Quite marvelous! Now I will not be the only one who brought an extra!” Doom exclaimed, which clearly caught both Death and Vladmira off guard - though in different ways, it would seem.

“B-But when they told me they wanted to bring these two lovely brethren of ours along, I knew that it would be a great opportunity to hear what our followers want!” Death added to his previous statement, backtracking on his dissociation from the affair.

"What a kiss-ass..." Lattè whispered to the other Bloomian through the hivemind, and gritted teeth, somehow.

“Something like that, I suppose.” Vladmira replied, Latté managing to pick up on the fact that they were rolling their eyes as they spoke despite their irises blending into their sclera due to their coloration. It was an ability she picked up on from being close to Uni for so long, as Uni too had eyes like that.

Another thing Latté picked up on as she entered into the teacher’s lounge was an immense feeling of excitement coming from the Black Arms leaders. Whatever the reason - or reasons - may be, it made Latté happy to see, and even happier to feel for herself. Though she just couldn’t help but wonder where such excitement was coming from, so in search of what the culprit could be, she started to look around the room investigatively. In her search, she found multiple possible causes.

At the side of Ms. Lillian, Latté saw the youngest Black Arms Leader; Tsunami, who she had thought would end up stuck at home and rendered unable to attend, much like the young Bloomian by Latté’s side.

By the icebox, grabbing each other drinks, were Widow and Sendrir. Vague memories of the conversation between the two of them and Doom came back to Latté as she saw them.

At the table in the center of the lounge was Doom, and sitting next to him was who Latté assumed to be the guest that she had overheard him mentioning having brought along; an average height looking Bloomian man she assumed to be in his mid twenties age-wise. He dressed rather typically for an adult Bloomian, aside from a thick pair of gloves that grabbed Latté’s attention - or maybe it wasn’t the gloves themselves, but rather what stood on top of one of the gloves that actually caught her gaze. A rather young yet still majestic looking Petal-scaled Dragon standing politely on the guest’s finger, looking even from afar to most likely stack up pretty closely to Latté herself in height. 

-☆☆☆-

“Oh, it would have most likely done so! It was believed that ancient Petal-scaled Dragons could grow to be around fifteen feet as adults! Even baby Petal-scaled Dragons like the one in the care of Lord Doom’s guest were on average eight feet when standing up in such a way, according to my research. With Bloomians themselves being on average eight to nine feet tall themselves, and Latté being a still developing teenager during these events, there’s no doubt that she and the dragon would have been similar heights!” Eclipse suddenly interjected.

“Oh fuck I think I’m falling in love again.” Relic muttered, beginning to rather heavily blush.

“Eclipse, I think you’re gonna kill her if you keep being so filled with information.” Rouge remarked jokingly.

“Oh, sorry. Sometimes I just can’t help myself, you know?” Eclipse said earnestly.

“No no, no need to apologize, dear…!” Relic insisted despite the fact that she was trying to cool herself off in between writing down what Eclipse had said in her journal.

“Oh, I think I know how I can make things better~!” Rouge proclaimed just before giving Relic a kiss on the cheek.

“Well now I don’t feel b-bad for blushing, at least….!” Relic stammered out as she fell back onto the floor, her face completely bright green.

“Would you look at that, her blush is completely green! It’s as if she is already fully a Black Arms!” Eclipse pointed out.

“Well she better not be! The two of us still gotta get our assimilations done by you!” Rouge jested, poking Eclipse’s arm playfully.

“And the lack of need for such would completely throw off my schedule!” Eclipse added light heartedly. “Speaking of schedules, I’m sure that everyone’s would be affected if we continued to mess around here, so Rouge, you make sure Relic gets all she needs into her journal, and let Widow’s tale continue!” They added.

“Oh, uhm, you bringing up schedules and stuff reminded me of something I wanted to tell you, but we can talk about it later.” Shadow said to Eclipse.

“Are you sure…? I think I remember what you’re talking about Shadow… I think Eclipse would be very interested…” Relic managed to say while still being a blushy mess.

“No no, I can hear it later.” Eclipse insisted. Widow nodded in approval.

-☆☆☆-

Once everyone was seated at the table, Ms. Lillian began to pass out plates of cookies to each person seated.

“I hope you weren’t made to come up short with the treats because of our sudden arrival.” The young Bloomian seated next to Latté said to Lillian, sounding guilty.

“Oh no, don’t fret a single bit darling. I anticipated that something like this would occur. That’s why Sen and I made sure to make extra cookies just in case.” Lillian responded kindly.

“Wait, Sen helped make these cookies?” Latté inquired.

“She most certainly did!” Lillian answered.

“Even though it sucked, at least I gleaned some class action cooking and baking skills from being locked up in my old man’s restaurant all day everyday my whole life!” Sendrir added.

“Most certainly! These cookies are delightful - thank you, you two.” Doom said cheerfully.

“You’re very welcome dear.” Lillian replied.

“Consider it a thank you from me for this morning.” Sendrir added, much to Lillian’s confusion. “I’ll explain once the meeting starts.” She promised.

“I’m surprised you were able to make it, Tsunami!” Vladmira remarked. Latté nodded, admitting non-verbally that she had been thinking the same thing.

“Why do you think I told you two to leave her behind last night? Did you assume carelessness on my end? Well I assure you it was not.” Death proclaimed.

“So you did have a plan… Nice going, sweetheart.” Vladmira confirmed.

“Of course I did! I knew that our parents wouldn’t be surprised by me sneaking out in the middle of the night - I do it all the time. But Tsunami is a different story! If she were to have gone with us last night, our parents would have surely been suspicious of that.” Death responded confidently.

“So instead, we relied on them being okay with me going to school! I got ready for the day, they saw me going to the schoolhouse, then I talked with Death over the mind-link thingy so he could tell me where you all were! Yayayaya!” Tsunami added with pride. Latté could tell by how much Tsunami’s signature cheer tugged at the other leaders’ heart strings that they had missed the young girl very very much.

“I’m very proud of both of you.” Lillian said to Death and Tsunami, giving the both of them pats on the back for their masterful planning.

“Thank you grammy!” Tsunami replied. Death nodded.

“I do believe that settles things on pre-meeting matters… Let the meeting commence!” Doom announced. “With what matter shall we begin~?”

“May I begin, Doomie?” Widow immediately proposed. “Well, Sen and I, but I’m sure you know what it would be regardless.”

“Ah! Yes! Of course!!” Doom beamed approvingly.

“Alright, what’re you three keeping from the rest of us?” Vladmira asked playfully.

“Whatever it is, they seem rather excited about it..!” The young Bloomian remarked.

“Well, you see…” Widow began.

“Widow and I are girlfriends now!!!!” Sendrir continued excitedly as she hugged Widow tightly.

“I’m still dating Doomie by the way, just so we’re clear!” Widow added.

“We simply added Sendrir to our wonderful relationship…!” Doom concluded.

“Yay!! Everyone has love!! Yayayaya!” Tsunami cheered.

“Ah! What a wonderful way of breaking through yet another one of this world’s rigid expectations, sir!” Death exclaimed.

“Would it be rude of me to say that I honestly saw this coming…?” Vladmira implored.

“Of course not!” Sendrir replied happily.

The meeting was off to a wonderful start, at least in Latté’s eyes. Everyone was happy for Widow and Sendrir. But despite this, she couldn’t help but feel worried about Uni again. The Bloomian sat next to her gave her an understanding glance, and the two were just about to silently agree to volunteer to speak next. But before they got the chance, Ms. Lillian raised her hand to speak.

“What matters do you wish to bring to the table, Lillian?” Doom asked inquisitively.

“I have two, actually, if that’s alright.” Lillian admitted.

“I shall allow it.” Doom said.

“The first of my concerns is with my dear grandchildren, Death and Tsunami. I know very well that they cannot stay with us permanently, not for now. If they stay with us for too long, their parents are bound to become suspicious again.” Lillian explained.

“I know that feeling.” Sendrir confided.

“I suppose the question would be… How long is too long?” Death suggested. Tsunami nodded in agreement.

“That’s what I was wondering too. I have no doubt that this second rally of ours will run a decent ways into the night, and it would be a shame for two of the organizers to have to leave early.” Lillian stressed.

“Maybe you could tell their parents after the rally’s over that they had to stay late at school for an extracurricular event? That’s seemed to work for us Mini Mayhem members quite a few times in the past!” The young Bloomian beside Latté proposed.

“That might work. I’m just a bit concerned on account of their father. My daughter Shelby and I are rather close, as you probably inferred from my speech at the first rally. Her husband and I on the other hand… We tend to butt heads more often than not.” Lillian responded.

“I don’t know if this would help tonight but maybe we can try to get them to be a part of the Black Arms? Maybe then they wouldn’t mind Death and I staying out for rallies like this!” Tsunami suggested, her voice somewhat muffled by the many cookies she had shoved into her mouth.

“If we did manage that, I think the chances of them being lax on you two would be a lot higher than a “maybe”.” Lillian remarked.

“I’m not sure how possible that would be, though.” Death retorted.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?” Tsunami argued, still having some cookies in her mouth.

“We’ll see. But let’s get back on focus to the here and now.” Lillian said, taking a bite of one of the cookies on her plate. “And pace yourself with the cookies, Tsunami.” She added.

“Okay!” Tsunami replied, immediately shoving another handful of cookies into her mouth.

“Who’s to say our father will even be home when we get back? He has quite the habit of coming home quite late. The extracurricular excuse would most certainly work for our mother, and we would already be home by the time he would typically come home, so he’d be none the wiser.” Death pointed out.

“Well what if he does come home before you two do?” Lillian questioned.

“You get our mother pitted against him if he questions the extracurricular claim. Accuse him of demonizing you. Works for me.” Death answered.

“That settles it then.” Lillian concluded with a nod.

“And what of your other concern?” Doom asked Lillian as a reminder.

“Oh, yes. While I very much appreciate that my home is seen as a safe space by so many of the Black Arms, I fear that I’m running out of room for everyone to sleep! I would like it if we could funnel some funds together to buy some hammocks for the cabin.” Lillian requested.

“We most certainly can do that!” Doom replied. “Though, there is a curiosity I now have.” He added.

“Oh?” Lillian inquired.

“Widow, my dearest. With your prowess for creation, would you perhaps just so happen to know how to make hammocks yourself?” Doom asked his beloved girlfriend.

“Oh, I’m uh… afraid not.” Widow revealed. “But I’m definitely willing to learn!” 

“I suppose we will have to settle for buying hammocks for now like Lillian had originally planned, then!” Doom surmised.

“For now.” Widow added. “In the meantime, I’m willing to bring the mask shop back to raise funds for the hammocks!” 

“Ooh! Maybe Sen and Ms Lillian can bake more of these cookies and we can sell them around the schoolhouse, too!” Latté suggested.

“Ehhh… I don’t think I’m quite ready yet to be in the kitchen again for business purposes…” Sendrir admitted, clearly looking uncomfortable with the idea.

“Oh, that’s okay!” Latté replied assuringly.

“Thanks, kiddo.” Sen responded back.

“Can we go next?” The Bloomian beside Latté spoke up, not wanting the opportunity to pass them again.

“Please?” Latté added, making sure that the two of them didn’t come off as impolite.

“I do not see why not.” Doom answered approvingly.

“Thank you!” The Bloomian said.

“From what I know, Uni is heading to the schoolhouse as we speak, with the intent to track down Mocha and I. I believe that if I am able to in some way show her that I want to be reunited with her just as much as she wants to be reunited with me, she just might be able to see beyond the viewpoint she’s been made to look through all her life.” Latté testified.

“Is she coming alone?” Widow asked.

“No, she’s chosen to ally herself with Mini Mayhem for the time being.” The other Bloomian explained. “She’ll be arriving with at least Kuel by her side, though if my plan doesn’t have the chance to play out how I want, she could have more by her side by the time she finds Latté and Mocha.” They elaborated.

“And what is your plan, exactly?” Death questioned.

“And what’s Mini Mayhem’s plan? While we're on the topic.” Widow added.

“I’m glad you asked.” The Bloomian replied.

Even though it was now a few hours after the high noon of PetalBloom's central star, to Uni, it somewhat felt like no time had gone by at all. As once again she stood just a little bit aways from the entrance to the Schoolhouse with Kuel at her side.

"It's quite funny how much things can change in a single day." Kuel suddenly spoke. "Just this morning we were rivals, but now… We are allies."

"Don't let it get to your head - this is just so I can find Latté and Mocha. A means to an end, and nothing more." Uni replied bluntly.

"How kind." Kuel remarked sarcastically, to which Uni rolled her eyes.

"We don't have much time, let's go." Uni told him as she started to advance to the entrance.

"Right. The quicker we meet back up with the others, the quicker we rescue Latté and Mocha." Kuel agreed, following Uni.

"The classroom at the end of the first hallway, right?" Uni asked Kuel for clarification as she opened one of the doors to the Schoolhouse.

"Right on." Kuel responded, opening the other door that was on the left of the one Uni was opening.

As the two entered the building, its complete and utter emptiness caught the both of them off guard.

"... Where the hell is everyone?" Kuel blurted in shock.

"They must all be congregated farther into the building." Uni surmised, pushing down her feelings of uneasiness. "Must have figured someone would try to interrupt their little get together."

"They're hiding from us…!" Kuel assumed, slamming their fist into their hand.

"In a sense, probably. My guess is that they figured that the longer the distance any opposing party would have to travel, the more likely they are to either give up or become too tired to fight against them." Uni elaborated.

Despite her reasoning, the sheer lack of people in the hallways still unnerved Uni - and seeing that the same rang true for the classrooms didn't do her worries any good.

Uni decided it'd be better just to not give such details any mind, and instead kept her focus on Latté. Even though Kuel and her were to be meeting up with the other Mini Mayhem members before setting out for her and Mocha, she figured it wouldn't hurt to at least try to keep an eye out for any sign of where Latté may be from just the building itself. Very quickly, it seemed like everything else faded from Uni's view, her eyes glued onto a thin track leading to her girlfriend, as if she were almost able to sense out Latté's location. No, not almost. Definitely. Uni didn't know what it was that she was feeling at that moment, but it was Latté's, whatever it was. The emptiness of the hallways created a sort of vacuum effect, funneling this strange sense straight into Uni without interruption. A part of her questioned what this sense was, what it was that she was feeling, if it was a gift given to her by Madam Moonshine in this moment, chosen to bring Latté and Mocha salvation in that moment, or if it was something else, something perhaps a bit more… unfavorable? But another part of her wanted to completely abandon all reasoning that her mind could conjure up for her as to what was happening, or to try to prove it as a mere illusion, and to just simply follow what her gut feeling was telling her, what her heart was telling her, what this feeling was telling her-

"Uni!" Kuel called out to her, breaking the trance-like state that had taken Uni. "Where are you going, the classroom where we're supposed to be meeting at is right here!" He continued, pointing into the classroom that she was standing next to.

"Oh, uhm, right. Guess I got distracted." Uni sputtered, feeling embarrassed for what had happened. In fact, she'd probably start feeling downright paranoid about it if it weren't for the current mission going on.

Looking into the classroom, Uni was surprised to see only Katrien in there, with no sign of Kæ'Mirah or Rehkloos, and by looking over at Kuel, it was clear that he was surprised too - as well as a bit angered.

"Katrien." They spoke, calm for now, but still a bit harsh sounding.

"Oh, you're here." Katrien noted, turning to face Kuel and Uni as if nothing was amiss.

“Yes. But it seems that Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos aren’t.” Kuel pointed out. “Where are they?”

“Well, we split up to cover more ground in our search for a pathway to Latté and Mocha. Just as you had told us to.” Katrien explained casually.

“But we were all supposed to meet back up here. You remember that part too, don’t you?” Uni interjected, clearly having said exactly what Kuel was thinking, given by how he looked at her after she spoke.

“Seems that they are running late then.” Katrien answered.

Kuel and Uni looked to one another and silently agreed that this wasn’t going anywhere, and unilaterally decided to drop the subject.

“That teacher’s desk you seem to be eyeing there has scratch marks on it.” Uni said to Katrien, changing the subject with the first thing that came to her mind.

“Indeed. I noticed them all throughout the classrooms. Their presence indicates a… struggle of some kind. Marks left by fingernails dragging for dear life as their owners are taken… Somewhere.” Katrien replied, elaborating on what they correctly assumed to be Uni's train of thought.

“Do you think that…?” Uni began to say, but Katrien cut her off.

“That the teachers that arrived at school today were kidnapped?” He said.

“Yes, exactly that.” Uni confirmed.

“... Why would the Black Arms be doing that?” Kuel questioned.

“To find that out is the reason why we kept ourselves apart…” Katrien stated, which confused Kuel and Uni.

“I thought you said that Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos weren’t back yet because they were running late?” Kuel pointed out.

“I misspoke earlier. Apologies.” Katrien briefly explained, which seemed to be enough for Kuel to accept, but Uni wasn’t as convinced.

“Well, we might as well go find Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos.” Kuel suggested as he began to leave the classroom.

“You and Uni go ahead on that matter. I wish to keep looking for where the teachers may have gone…” Katrien told them.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to ya man!” Kuel replied, approving the adjustment to the plan.

Uni followed behind Kuel slowly, eyeing the classroom and Katrien with suspicion for as long as she was able to.

“Something on your mind?” Kuel asked her, seeming to notice Uni’s behavior.

“Don’t you think it’s suspicious how casual Katrien was about diverting from our plan?” Uni questioned.

“Suspicious?” Kuel echoed with concern. “Are you implying that he’s switched sides or something??” She added, almost sounding offended by the unsaid accusation, which ticked Uni off a bit, but she tried to not let it show.

“... Maybe.” Uni admitted. Uni’s attempt at hiding her anger must have come out sounding some variety of hurt, because Kuel immediately went for a softer approach afterwards.

“Look, I know that at a time like this, it’s easy to be paranoid. But I assure you, us Mini Mayhem members are loyal until the very end!” Kuel promised, clearly attempting to comfort Uni.

“Except when it comes to the Children of The River, right?” Uni remarked cheekily.

“R-Right!” Kuel agreed. Though he tried not to show it, Uni could tell that Kuel was at worst taken aback by and at best impressed by Uni’s momentary teasing of them. “We took an oath the day the original schoolhouse was destroyed that we would never align ourselves with them ever again!”

Such a declaration should have been comforting for Uni to hear, but she still felt unnerved, haunted by her suspicions. Without thinking, she asked Kuel if they could go look for Latté on their own instead of trying to track down Kæ’Mirah and Rehkloos.

“Not a chance. We need their scouting information to have better odds at finding Latté and Mocha." Kuel responded. “Or at the very least I do. If you really need your girlfriend that badly, then you can go do your own thing, I guess.” They added sarcastically.

“So much for sticking together, huh?” Uni remarked. “Pretty hypocritical of you to let me go like that when you were stressing earlier today that me going in on my own would be a death sentence.”

“True, true, but I just figured you’d be used to hypocrisy, being a member of Moonshine’s clergy and all.” Kuel replied. “You should know better than to speak of things you don’t know about.” Uni retorted nonchalantly.

“I’d argue I know some things about it…” Kuel scoffed. “By the way, and not to be rude, but are… you acting more like me on purpose?”

“I’m… acting like you?” Uni asked, completely confused, as she hadn’t noticed any significant change in her behavior. Sure, she was cracking a bit more jokes, teasing Kuel a bit too, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary, was it?

“Kinda.” Kuel responded simply.

“... Well it’s not on purpose if I am. Though I’d like to argue that I’m just… letting myself be a bit looser. Since we’re on better terms and all. Allies, right? That’s what you called it.” Uni argued, not at all helping her case. Honestly, she started to notice where Kuel was coming from. Just fifteen minutes ago, Uni insisted that Kuel and her were not allies, that teaming up with him was a means to an end. But now she’s saying the opposite? It was almost like there was an odd disconnect between her words and her mind. Like her words were a shield to hide what was going on in her mind. He noticed how I was diverting from their plans, my heart forever set on my sweet Latté. She’ll grow suspicious of it. They’ll cut me off from the plan, I have to prove it to him that I’ll play along.

… What? Suspicious of what? “Play along”?? 

“We need to go find Kæ’Mirah.” Uni ordered, needing a distraction from all this. Kuel nodded, seemingly unaware of the turmoil in Uni’s mind as he trusted her judgment - which felt like it was becoming cloudier and cloudier by the minute.

As she and Kuel ventured deeper into the schoolhouse, a sign of life within the building could finally start to be heard. It sounded just like the meeting at the Yasmin Cabin that Uni had run into last night, and also just like the rally at the Riverbed Plaza last week. Either way, it sounded like a huge grouping of people, and it sounded like it had something to do with the Black Arms. At least, that’s the vibe Uni got from it. 

Uni slowed her pace slightly to attempt to possibly make any sense of the noise - or even possibly sparse out Latté and/or Mocha among it. Kuel however kept moving at the same pace he always had, it was almost like they couldn’t hear what Uni was hearing. But why would that be the case? To Uni’s knowledge, it wasn’t like Kuel was hard of hearing in any way. So what would be the reason why she can hear the noise but they can’t-?

It’s not hearing, but sensing.

… Right! That sense she’s been feeling! That must be it!

That means Latté must be wherever the noise is coming from! Or Mocha too, maybe even both?

Uni still thought it a bit strange, what with it’s sudden appearance and strength, but she had no doubts about the fact that it would help lead her to Latté and Mocha.

For now, she settled her concerns about it by seeing it as a gift from the gods. An empowerment to her unwavering determination, even. Priestess Waning referred to her determination as a gift that morning, so that must be it!

Without any explanation to Kuel, Uni zoomed on ahead to where she felt the sounds were coming from, fueled by a newly found confidence provided to her by this gift of sense.

“Uni! Wait!” Kuel called out to her, trying his best to keep up.

Only a couple of seconds later, Uni, and then Kuel, reached the entrance of the schoolhouse’s cafeteria. It was there that they also found Kæ’Mirah, standing in front of the doors to the cafeteria, having a bite to eat.

“Uni! Kuel! Fancy running into you two here!” Kæ’Mirah remarked, clearly going for a momentary bit; pretending that she ran into the two of them rather than being a part of the plan. But neither Uni nor Kuel laughed.

“Joking around so you can hope to get away with being late on our plans? An interesting play - I’ll take the bait, only because we’re in a bit of a rush.” Kuel responded in a strict tone of voice. “It’s nice to see you, Kæ. Do you have any info on where Latté and Mocha are, by chance?” She then asked.

“Mocha yes, Latté no. I also have snacks if you want.” Kæ’Mirah answered.

Well, Uni was feeling hungry…

Uni went up to Kæ’Mirah and took one of the foil-wrapped snacks she was holding. Inside the wrapping seemed to be some sort of hand pie.

“Wait, where did you get those?” Kuel questioned Kæ’Mirah as she was handing the hand pie to Uni.

“The Cafeteria.” Kæ’Mirah replied simply, pointing to the cafeteria just past the doors behind her.

“And who in the cafeteria gave you them?” Kuel questioned her further.

“Mocha! She told me that her friend’s grandma made them!” Kæ’Mirah answered nonchalantly. The mention of Mocha in relation to the hand pie made Uni even happier to have it - as if it had been intended for her all along. As she bit into it, she felt a warmth much like when napping with Latté and Mocha during a cold afternoon surge through her body.

“H-Hey! Hold on, Uni!” Kuel exclaimed as they watched Uni eat the hand pie in record speed.

“Hmm?” Uni hummed, already having the final bite in her mouth.

“Uhm…” Kuel began to respond, seeming to hesitate greatly at first. “Didn’t you… Uh… For no particular reason… Say something about the Black Arms eating flesh? Back when you had that meltdown earlier?”

Uni took a moment to register his words, a feeling of dread spreading from deep within her, but then eventually fading. Not fading away, per say. Just fading. 

“Was that just… Something you had said in a moment of panic, or-?” Kuel continued, but Uni cut her off.

“Last night… While I was searching for Latté for the first time… The first place I checked was the home of Lillian Yasmin, as I had heard about quite a few Black Arms taking residence there. I didn’t find Latté there, but what I did find was… A terrible bloodbath, orchestrated by Widow and that mysterious lover of hers… They were torturing one of the guys from the church, and when they were finished with him, they chopped him up into pieces and tossed them into a pile to be… Eaten… It was horrifying and grotesque… And yet…” “I just couldn’t look away…!” 

“I just… I couldn’t… I just couldn’t… I..” 

Uni’s body began to shake, muttering that last sentence on repeat. Kuel held her, trying to calm her down, but after a few minutes, Kuel seemingly gave up on trying to gently coax Uni back to reality, and went back to their old reliable - smacking Uni upside the head to get her to snap out of her daze. But instead of being upset and confused like she was the last time he had done that, she simply thanked him, wiping her now bleeding nose with her arm.

“Hey now, Uni… Look on the bright side! At least that gives you a good bit of insight into their tactics! You know better than any of us what lengths they’re willing to go to!” Kæ’Mirah said optimistically. Almost… too optimistically. Uni started to feel her senses go off again, but instead of guiding her to Latté, she now started to feel a terrible aura around Kæ’Mirah, one that felt distinctly… Black Arms-like in nature.

But she didn’t want to believe that the members of Mini Mayhem could possibly be falling to the whims of those demonic monsters. Besides, Kuel promised to her that they’d never side with the Black Arms, no matter what.

As she had looked away from Kæ’Mirah, trying to block out her senses, she looked back at the arm she had used to wipe her nose, which was now barely even bloody, despite it having only been at most thirty or so seconds since the bleeding began. The blood on her sleeve was still fresh, and it had the slightest, strangest glow to it, as if bioluminescent.

It reminded her a lot of when Archæsis uncovered the wings that had sprouted from Latté’s back the day before. She remembered how the blood that flowed from where the wings had sprouted glowed just like that, though more brightly. It wasn’t something that Uni took note of originally, but now, it was the only thing she could think of as she stared at her arm.

It was pretty, the way the blood on her arm glowed. It almost seemed to glow brighter the more Uni stared at it, but that only made it more beautiful. It glowed like a full moon, it glowed like Latté’s gorgeous face. 

Oh how Uni yearned to see that face again, to be with Latté again. She’d do anything to have Latté back at this point. Absolutely anything.

“Kæ’Mirah, fetch Mocha and find Latté. Uni and I will go on to the rest of the schoolhouse.” Kuel’s voice cut through Uni’s internal monologue, shocking her with the thought of her having to wait even longer to reunite with Latté. 

No.

No!

She was sick and tired of people keeping her away from her beloved Latté, Kuel being the most guilty of this themself.

An indescribable anger filled Uni’s head, taking her over like a parasite. She refused to be stopped again. She will reunite with Latté! And she’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen! Even if that means-

… Even if that means…

No…!

She couldn’t…!

And why was her mind even telling her to hurt Kuel in the first place? To kill him, even?? “If she has to”, no! She shouldn’t have to!

What the fuck is wrong with me?? She thought, finally getting up from the floor and facing Kuel.

She immediately noticed how uncomfortable Kuel looked. Apologetic as well. Like she was also considering something unthinkable.

“... But that wasn’t the plan…” Uni croaked out, fighting against the anger trying to eat her from the inside.

“I know.” Kuel responded plainly, sounding like he wanted to elaborate upon his thoughts, but was too choked up on the words to do so. “But… It’s close enough. We split into groups, we reconvened, we’re gonna get Latté and Mocha.” They finally added.

“If… If Kæ’Mirah is going to go find Latté… Where are we going?” Uni asked Kuel.

“We’ve still yet to check in with Rehkloos.” Kuel answered, a sense of calm and even confidence returning to her voice. “I’m sure she’ll have the answers we need.” They continued, almost accusatory towards Rehkloos.

Just the utterance of Rehkloos’ name sent a shiver down Uni’s spine. One that was as powerful as it was unexplainable.

“You… You feel it too now, don’t you?” Uni asked, starting to figure that she and Kuel were finally on the same wavelength.

Kuel didn’t respond, seemingly brushing away Uni’s question as one would to a discomforting thought. He refused to look Uni in the eyes.

“... I’m sorry…” Uni muttered out from somewhere deep within her, not even knowing why she said it.

She was in too deep to understand the sorrow those words carried.

The journey to finding Rehkloos was a painfully long and silent one, the dread both Kuel and Uni felt keeping either of them from being able to speak.

When they finally did reach Rehkloos, she was sitting on the teacher’s desk of the last classroom down the hallway that was furthest from the entrance.

In this hallway, there was a door that led outside.

Before the two of them had entered the classroom, Uni had managed one little thing to say to Kuel. She had noticed that he looked deeply uncomfortable as they had entered the hallway, and had decided to ask them why.

This was the hallway that Kuel’s brother had left from just before the destruction of the first schoolhouse.

That was his answer.

“Hello Kuel, hello Uni!” Rehkloos greeted them. Casually, as if nothing was amiss.

That was the first thing that set Uni off. Immediately, she felt distrustful of Rehkloos. This distrustfulness led Uni to discovering the second thing of suspicion quite quickly. In one of Rehkloos’ pairs of hands, Uni noticed a box of matches. In fact, it was the exact same brand of matches that were given to her last night by the stranger Uni had run into while looking for Latté. Uni decided she wouldn’t bring it up just yet, but she made sure to keep that information in her head for later.

“Have you guys found Latté and Mocha yet?” Rehkloos asked, still playing innocent.

“Nope. I sent Kæ’Mirah out to do that.” Kuel answered her bluntly.

“Oh..? Why so? That wasn’t part of the plan - wasn’t Uni supposed to find them?” Rehkloos wondered. Though she was clearly trying to sound concerned, Uni could still hear the annoyance that laid within.

“Why not? Surely you wouldn’t be against diverting from the plan, since you clearly already have! You, Kæ’Mirah, and Katrien were supposed to meet back up at the time I specified so that we could convene as a whole! And yet, here Uni and I find you three, still separated!” Kuel responded with unfiltered fury in his voice.

“Didn’t Katrien already tell you why we separated again?” Rehkloos questioned, her annoyance towards how the situation was unfolding starting to reveal itself more.

“How’d you know that, Rehkloos?” Kuel inquired.

“I… I… It was just an assumption, okay?! I’ll tell you the reason then!” Rehkloos reacted, losing her cool. “We split back up because we didn’t want to give the Black Arms a chance to ambush us! We figured we could fight more of them off if need be if we were scattered around the schoolhouse, that way they’ll never be able to pin us all down!”

“... What kind of idiot do you take me for, Rehkloos?” Kuel bellowed.

“E.. Excuse me??” Rehkloos hissed.

“Have you ever read a single horror novel before?? Or even a little kids’ scary story?? Because if you have, you’d know that splitting up in a dangerous situation is the worst thing to do!! Do you know how many stories have the characters being picked off one by one until only the main female lead is left because they were all split up???” Kuel challenged her loudly, not hesitating to get up in her face as he did.

“Hey, by the way.” Uni spoke, mimicking the out-of-place calmness that Rehkloos had moments ago. “What’s with the matches?” She asked.

“Wh-what the matches are for? I-isn’t it obvious?? I wanted to be able to light any lanterns in the schoolhouse that weren’t already lit yet!” Rehkloos claimed, sounding almost offended by the question.

“... Is that so?” Kuel uttered, joining in on Uni’s blow to Rehkloos’ facade. “Then tell me why all the lanterns in the schoolhouse are already lit while that box you have there looks unopened?” 

“Ho-how’d you know what an unopened matchbox even looks like??” Rehkloos questioned, trying in vain to keep the mirage of innocence going.

“Because I’ve seen that brand before - some guy gave me a box of them last night while I was looking for Latté.” Uni answered. “You know what I also see?” 

“What?” Rehkloos replied.

“Your eyes. They look rather… glassy, don’t they?” Uni remarked with a knowing grin. 

There’s nowhere for her to hide now.

Rehkloos looked stunned, unsure of how to respond.

“Why… I do agree with that observation, Uni! Good work-!” Kuel added, being cut off by Rehkloos dragging him closer to her, making sure they got a good long look at those glassy eyes of hers. Kuel managed to break free of her grasp, but then instantly fell to the floor once out of her arms.

Uni rushed up to her, asking him profusely if they were okay.

“Head…. Hurt… Can’t… Think…” Kuel muttered weakly. 

At that moment, the words that Kuel had said earlier to Uni resonated with her. Mini Mayhem was split up, and now they’re gonna be ambushed if her and Kuel don’t try to do something to fight back.

So Uni did something.

She picked Kuel up and prepared to make Rehkloos have to fight for whatever her plans were to succeed.

“Last one to Latté and Mocha is a sore loser~.” Uni snidely remarked before taking off out into the hallway.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!!” Rehkloos cried, following her.

By now, Uni had finally begun to truly understand what was happening to her. This sense of hers, though most certainly of divine origin, was not a gift, but a curse, and it was certainly not from Moonshine.

Despite this knowledge, Uni still made use of it, though now on her terms, using the pathway to Latté that was laid in front of her as a path to make Rehkloos give chase along, relying on it to make detours that would catch Rehkloos off guard and create more distance between the two girls without taking Uni too far from where Latté was. At this point, there were only two things that Uni wanted - to be with Latté, and to make sure that Kuel would be safe. Uni figured it was too late for her, that she had no hopes of escaping the schoolhouse with her sanity and wavering loyalty to Moonshine intact, but maybe, just maybe, she could use the last bit of will she had left in her to keep Kuel from suffering the same fate as her. 

This was a plan that Rehkloos clearly was not a fan of. All throughout the chase, she whined on and on about how no one ever cares about her and what she wants.

“Not everything is about you and your happy little love life, you know!!” Rehkloos hollered to Uni at one point. “You might get to have your happily ever after with Latté, but have you even considered what’ll happen to me if my plan doesn’t come to fruition?! I’ll be a failure! A failure in the eyes of the Black Arms leaders!! In the eyes of everyone!! They’re all relying on me!! They need me to succeed!! They need me to WIN!!!” 

“What happened to no one ever loving you, hmm?” Uni asked her.

“They don’t love me YET! But they will!! They’ll honor my name for all of eternity once my plan is enacted!! Once all of you are under their command!!” Rehkloos manically responded.

“Oh for fucks sake…” Kuel groaned, finally awakening. “Rehkloos, you’re doing it again… You’re… You’re acting just like your mother…” 

That remark of Kuel’s seemed to be the final straw for the already furious and emotionally unstable Rekloos.

“How… HOW DARE YOU??!! You know more than anyone all the terrible things that woman has done to me, Kuel!! And you’re comparing me to her??” Rehkloos snapped, stopping her anger-fueled monologue to have a spout of maniacal laughter. “That’s it… That’s fucking it. Neither of you ungrateful assholes deserve to join the magnificent Black Arms! Neither of you deserve to get that closure!! To be able to be with your loved ones again!!” She continued as Uni quickened her pace, admittedly a bit scared of what Rehkloos could do in this state. “The only thing either of you deserve is to BURN!! Burn with the rest of this tortuous building and the ones who run it!!” Rehkloos’ voice echoed into the cafeteria, which is where Uni and Kuel eventually ended up.

Within the cafeteria, Uni saw no sign of the crowd that had once been inside of it. No sign, that is, except for the various staff of the schoolhouse tied up around the massive room. 

“You were… You were right…?!” Kuel exclaimed in shock, looking at the scene.

“Suppose so…” Uni replied, not knowing what else to say.

“Come on, we can maybe untie them all if we work together!” Kuel commanded, hopping out of Uni’s arms.

“Wait-!” Uni called after him in a panic. But before Uni could get a hold of Kuel again, Katrien appeared out of seemingly nowhere and pinned Kuel to one of the walls.

“Hm.. Seems that I only got one of you two, what a shame.” Katrien stated.

For a moment, Uni considered leaving the cafeteria to go find Latté. After all, that is what she was truly after in the first place, wasn’t it? She hadn’t even really wanted to team up with Mini Mayhem in the first place, and now that she has, where has that led her? Fighting for her own mind, possibly even about to lose her life?

Admittedly, she felt a bit betrayed. 

She remembered the oath that Kuel had told her about earlier, and began to wonder if it was all just a bunch of bullshit.

But then she looked back at where Katrien and Kuel were, and overheard the struggle the two were having at that very moment.

“Kat…! Please, let me go…!” Kuel begged, their voice very noticeably wavering.

“I’m sorry, Kuel, my dearest companion, but I cannot do that until I’m given the command to do so.” Katrien responded, clearly having some sympathy for Kuel, but not enough to let her go free.

“You do have the command!! My command!!” Kuel stressed.

“I’m afraid that your command no longer applies.” Katrien revealed, refusing to budge.

“No… No no no no no-! You have to listen to me!! You can’t let them take over your mind, Katrien!! Please!!” Kuel wailed in desperation.

“Please, do not cry for me… I will keep you from being harmed, even now…” Katrien replied, but his words gave no hope or comfort to Kuel, who began to sob uncontrollably in the absence of any actual words left to speak.

The scene playing out in front of Uni’s eyes reminded her very much of herself and Latté. She sympathized with Kuel's desperation to salvage the person that they once knew, to try to bring them back in some way. In Katrien, Uni saw Latté, and felt just as sorry for him as she did for Latté herself. Uni wanted to save the both of them, even if she now understood such a thing to be impossible. She wanted to make sure that Kuel would be able to live another day, whether it be free from the Black Arms or not. 

No, she didn’t want to ensure such things.

She had to, needed to!

And thus, she knew she would run no longer. She prepared to face Rehkloos directly, who she saw was now at the other side of the cafeteria.

That is, until she turned one more time to see Katrien taking off outside with Kuel.

Not knowing what Katrien planned to do with him, and not wanting to see Kuel be harmed, Uni chased after them, almost making it out the door before Kuel themself begged Uni to focus on Rehkloos instead. Reluctantly, Uni listened to her and turned back around to face off with Rehkloos again, but as she advanced towards the girl, she noticed that she had taken one of the matches out of her matchbox, and that beside where she stood was the start of a wick to some sort of explosive.

Adrenaline surged through Uni’s body, forcing her to move at speeds she had not known that she could go, all for the sake of reaching Rehkloos before she could light the match, before she could release the match, before the match could light the wick.

But Uni was just barely too late, the wick already starting to burn as she was face to face with Rehkloos.

“Awww, what a shame! Looks like you won’t get to have your sweet little Latté after all!” Rehkloos taunted her.

“And neither will you.” Uni remarked with a scowl.

“That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” Rehkloos confessed, which did make Uni feel bad, even if only a little bit.

Rehkloos, in the end, deserved just as much to live as Uni or anyone else. She was just a troubled child from a troubled home who got unhealthily attached to the wrong people.

But there they were, Uni and Rehkloos, staring down each other’s eyes, both of which were already without life even as their bodies still stood, about to be blown into bits just like the schoolhouse.

Just as Uni could hear the wick about to run out, she heard an all too familiar voice cry out.

“Rehkloos!! WAIT!!”

[llamaloydwp]

Here's To The Night - Chapter 1 Homecoming (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1413710447-here%27s-to-the-night-chapter-1-homecoming?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=LlamaLoyd&wp_originator=hg07Szi7OKWmrarVxVQCMo31LA8w9%2F2MGWv%2BPaN5ql89WRCtDjJOkZg3vM5ub8bKagjv4qcXPJB1%2BwuaRXFE1lzxXngYeSHlbd251qEINlxLkqLwKc%2BEXxM8Gny99VwQ After her mother's suspicious suicide, Samatha Scarlet has a mental breakdown that causes her to be expelled from Storybrooke High school. Her father, A Doctor at Storybrooke Hospital feels he has no choice but to separate Sam from her twin brother Will and send her off to boarding school. After Graduation, Sam returns home for her brother's graduation party where she meets a new face, Killian Jones. Killian moved from Ireland, with is father and his older brother after his mother's battle with cancer ended tragically. Killian befriends William Scarlet, and they connect over the loss of both of their mothers. Killian has heard of Will's twin sister, but he had never seen her...until the night of the party. Will introduces his sister to Killian, who can't help but be intimidated by Sam's unfriendly demeanor. Although intimidated, Killian can't seem to stop thinking of her so when Sam sneaks away from the party to her room to get stoned. Killian follows her. Though Sam is hesitant, she lets Killian into her room, and the two of them smoke and talk for hours, Sam learns that Killian is going back to Ireland fora the summer, and he's not sure if he is going to come back. Both Sam and Killian feel a deep connection with each other, and Sam proposes a no strings attached one night stand since they likely wouldn't see each other again. Years later, Sam is living with her brother Will, who tries to help her control her severe bipolar disorder worried that the same mental illness that took his mother would take his sister too. Killian returns to town as a detective with the Storybrooke police station. When someone gives an anonymous tip about a suicide, actually being a murder, Killian soon realizes the case he is now assigned to is Will and Sam's mother. Fate pushes Samantha and Killian back together, as the investigation grows, so do the feelings they felt for each other at the graduation party several years ago.

[the-tzarina-alexandra-paracosm]

Vote based on the design AND the backstory

Melanija

(The Land of Eternal Winter - 2019-2020)

Role: minor character

She joins the revolution even though she's just a teen, because she finds it all very exciting (and, deep down, she wants to be more grown up because it makes her feel like she's taken more seriously). She's very optimistic and cheerful, but in a very naive way, which does put her in danger. There are lessons she doesn't learn till the very end, but she is indeed hit with reality early on.

Vs

Szilvia

(Fireworks in the Fog - 2023)

Role: side character

She is a classical violinist and she is very passionate about her job. As a person, she is witty and even snarky, but otherwise quite friendly. She is also way too impulsive and tends to act before she fully thinks it through (such as her getting separated from her husband over what could've been a solvable issue - they do reconcile). She becomes friends with the main characters later on. Canonically a tumblr user, but not "out of the closet" about it.

Additional info

The Land of Eternal Winter - 2019-2020

Status: complete (draft 1: English, typed, draft 2 in the works)

Form: novel

Genre: mild steampunk, kinda post apoc but mostly drama (and court drama)

Anatoliy is a prince whose beloved father just died, so he assumes it was an assassination. He suspects the neighbouring king and has him killed, only to later realise he was innocent. He is almost completely overcome by guilt and despair, but ultimately fights to do whatever in his power to not only fix the consequences of his crime, but to also mitigate the effects of the much larger conspiracy at work that he found himself an unwitting pawn in. There are very many side characters, each with their own complex stories, which all tie into the idea that ones desire to change the world may be futile, or even become evil, but we must still strive to do good here on earth despite no rewards in sight. I'd say this is my 2nd "masterpiece" work in terms of writing

Vs

Fireworks in the Fog - 2023

Status: work in progress (Romanian + English, a few chapters already typed, outline done, scenes planned out etc)

Form: novel

Genre: contemporary, drama, romance

Mădălina and Laurențiu first meet when they both are in recovery from depression, and they both hope to fix each other even though they don't think it in those terms. Mădălina used to be the top of her class until college when she had a huge crash, burnout and more than one mental breakdown. Laurențiu was raised by extremely strict parents so he ran away when he was 18, never to contact his family again. At some point, both will have to deal with their pasts, and, most importantly, fix their outlook on life, so that they might be less death-minded and hopeless. The secondary characters deal with similar issues, and it's all very connected to the main narrative. They go through very low lows, but they all survive and heal at the end.

[kafkaesque-philocalist]

Every journey has a beginning: mine just happens to start with the STAAR test in 4th grade. The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Reading for 4th graders had a required writing portion alongside the usual math and reading tests; that year the topic had been about a time when we’d done something we weren’t supposed to. Normally you were supposed to have a rough draft before the final essay but the entire previous semester proved that I not only space out too much but that I’m a slow writer. Anything I wrote had to be precise and the best I could possibly do. The entire writing portion had to have been 2 hours, but I poured my heart and souls into each word. That year I scored one of the highest writing scores of my class.

Writing remained one of my favorite hobbies through the rest of elementary school, with simple poems and short stories born out of the beauty I saw around me. Unfortunately in sixth grade, my relationship with writing changed. For years unbeknownst to me I’d been struggling with ADHD to the point of having gaps in my memory of my childhood; my mother hadn’t gotten me tested because it hadn’t impacted my school work. Paired with hormonal changes and higher expectations during that year I began showing signs of depression and struggling with an unknown illness. I regularly got lunch detention for forgetting assignments or not being able to pay attention, only furthering my lack of self worth. 

That year began an era of writing that reflected how I felt. Even after sixth grade ended and I was finally diagnosed with adhd, I continued to lean on writing as a way to express myself in my highly mentally ill state.

It was during my math class sophomore year that I wrote the first chapter of a story I thought up. A girl named Sawyer has a breakdown after a friend of hers leaves, complete with at least 3 separate moments she cries, breaking lots of glass, breaking her finger, and trying to establish control over her life by dying her hair. I later wrote a couple other chapters that highlighted toxic family dynamics, being betrayed by those you trust and a suicide. As dark and angsty as it was it was freeing to have it out in the world and on a page instead of just in my head. That same year I’d go on to write poems detailing the monster that was losing my cousin to suicide and what it was like having to put down a pet right after school. Junior year I wrote a short story inspired by the songs Prom Queen by Beach Bunny and Prom Dress by M(squiggly). The sick feeling of waiting for a party to be over in the bathroom before walking home to breakdown alone, I lived that emotionally. 

 the pain I felt after moving to Arizona and realizing that I didn’t have friends now, the suffering of others around me, the suicides my sophomore year, I wrote all about it. Being so socially anxious, this was one of the few ways I could express myself in a healthy way until after my public education.

It was around senior year that my writing finally transformed again. From an oxygen tank to a breeze it became brighter, something that wasn’t totally tormented, but reflected the bittersweet nature of life. Things like Pink Lemonade and Older Sister were able to show more complex emotions such as love between family.

During quarantine- 2021 to be specific- I was given the opportunity to actually write a poetry book with a publisher. Months earlier I’d experienced a tragedy resulting in the development of PTSD and having to quit my job because of the stress. Every day for a month I’d write a poem that they’d compile into said book. I poured my heart and soul into it, titling it 19 in April for the groundbreaking age I became that year and my emotions growing up. Even though I haven’t made money off of it, writing it was the most cathartic expression of myself I’d done during COVID.

Writing has always been a means of escape and later reflection of my internal world. Through several of my mental illnesses it was my saving grace allowing me to accurately show others how I was doing. I’ve been able to explore the vast inner world of myself and watch the effects of aging and time have on the psyche. 

[jawritter]

Where The Green Grass Grows

Chapter 1

Summary: Life changes, nothing ever stays the same. With most change comes with some degree of pain, that’s how we grow.

Jensen thought he had his whole life planned out, written for him in the bright lights of Hollywood. One failed marriage later, and a lifetime of lessons learned, lead him home to a place he thought he’d left behind him when he was only a teenager.

He thought his life was over. He felt like he’d lost everything, but who knew one little trip to the local diner that had just opened up outside of town would turn his whole world upside down. All because he met you. Maybe a little slower pace of life isn’t such a bad idea after all…

Warnings:  Language, Angst, mention of past OC character death, mention of grief, dealing with a divorce. Drinking. I think that's about it for this chapter.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Reader

Word Count: 2550

Dividers by: @firefly-graphics​

A/N: This fic is unbeta’d and all mistakes are mine! Please do not copy my work! I hope you all enjoy this one! Feedback is golden! This series is complete on patreon.

My Masterlist   My Patreon   Series Masterlist

“Mr. Ackles! Good morning!” Alex, Jensen's longtime agent, said as he took his seat at the big oak desk in front of Jensen.  

“Alex,” Jensen said, giving the man a tight smile as he watched him shuffle through the pile of paperwork on his desk. Jensen had been in the entertainment industry since he was a young boy in one sense or another. He was no idiot, and he knew the reason he was called into his agents office for the first time in almost 15 years wasn’t a good thing, and he knew just what it was about. 

“I’m glad you could come in to see us on such short notice, Mr. Ackles. I’m sure you’re a busy man, and I’m not going to take up much of your time.”

Alex folded his hands in front of him, and Jensen couldn’t help but feel like the kid that had been sent to the principal's office for doing something stupid in class. The only difference was this time he wasn’t a kid, and this wasn’t a school. He was in his fucking forties, and this was his job. He hadn’t even done anything wrong! 

“I’m sure you already suspect the reason I called you here Jensen,” Alex said, dropping all formality that was there just a moment ago.  “Your recent divorce has affected you, and I don’t mean that in an offensive way!” Alex said as Jensen rolled his eyes. He knew that’s what this was all about. 

His divorce with Danneel had been a very public one. There were children involved, and of course a substantial amount of property. What divorce has ever gone smoothly or quietly in Hollywood? None that he’d ever seen, and they were overall civil for the public eye? So what was the problem?

“Cut the shit, Alex!” Jensen said, barely holding his temper in check. He could feel his blood pressure rising in his seat. Why did people have to be so damn judgemental? “What the fuck is this really all about?” 

Alex took a deep breath, and set back in defeat against his dark leather chair, and looked at Jensen almost as if he pitied him, and damn if that didn’t just suck worse than the wishy-washy shit. 

“Look, Jensen, since your divorce you haven’t been as on your game as you were. You’re showing up late to set. You have been drinking more, I can tell it by the color of your fucking skin man. You’re exhausted. No one expected you to jump back to work before the ink even dried on the divorce papers, and the company thinks it might be time to take a little break, get yourself back together, and figure shit out before you try and take on another roll.”

Alex fell quiet as Jensen set there with his hands buried in his hair, no longer looking at him. Alex did not want to do this to Jensen, he really didn’t. It was the guys that were higher up than he was. 

Sure they weren’t exactly wrong, he could see it in the actor’s eyes how tired he was, and how much strain he was under. He didn’t want another nervous breakdown under his belt like Charlie Sheen that had almost turned into an incurable disaster. Jensen had a stable following, and a break wasn’t going to hurt his career. If nothing else it may help it. 

“Go back to Texas for a while Jensen, get away from all this shit here in California, go have a damn beer out in the country for fucks sake. Focus on you! Gigs will still be here. You need to take care of yourself man.”

Jensen nodded slowly before finally looking up to meet Alex’s now concerned gaze. 

Jensen knew deep down he’d been slipping, but he didn’t think it was bad enough to warrant a forced vacation. If it really was that bad, he knew he needed to take a step back from the public eye until he could get his shit together before it did hurt his career. He’d seen much bigger actors than him fall because of shit they did while going through tough shit like this, and he didn’t work all his life to lose everything. 

“Okay… Fine… I’ll go home for a while,” Jensen said, huffing in defeat, rubbing his hand along the beard that was now covering his jawline as he focused on a random spot on the building just outside the window. Completely done with this conversation. 

Alex breathed a visible sigh of relief and flopped back into his chair. His eyes still on the man in front of him. He couldn’t imagine what was going on in Jensen’s head right now, but whatever it was, he knew he wasn’t in the sharing mood. 

“I’ll let the big guys upstairs know, take as long as you need,” Alex said, getting up from his desk and extending his hand for Jensen to shake. Jensen looked at it like it personally offended his mother, but shook it all the same. He didn’t want to piss people off to the point he’d need to find a new agency to represent him, but man, did he want to tell everyone in this building to go fuck themselves. 

It really didn’t sink in that he was going home until Jensen sat down at his computer at home with a glass of bourbon in his hand, looking at plane tickets back to Dallas. He hadn’t told his dad he was coming, and he knew his family would welcome him back with open arms, but it was his own mental struggle that kept him from hitting the pay now button on the screen.

Sure, Alex said that he could come back whenever he was ready, but the truth was he didn’t know when or if ever he’d be ready again. 

He felt like going back to Texas was admitting defeat. When he’d shown up in California all those years ago, he’d struggled his way into Hollywood. No one had given him an exactly warm welcome, and it didn’t come without some damn near misses and shit that almost sent him back before his time. 

Now, after all that. Several decade’s worths of struggling, and clawing his way to where he was today, he was going home. It left more than a little bitter taste in his mouth, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

The agency wasn’t going to get him another job until he took a break, and sure he needed one, but he didn’t want to take one. On the other hand, if he didn’t take one, then he’d surely destroy his career because he was in no shape to be in the public eye. 

There was no going back to Austin. He couldn’t live in the same town as her, that’s why he’d run off to California. If he was going back to Texas it was going to have to be Dallas. No matter how much he didn’t want to. 

It wasn’t that he was afraid someone would make fun of him, or the locals would talk about him. He was loaded, and successful. He wasn’t concerned about their opinions. It was his own pride he was struggling with, not theirs. He had lost his wife and children, now he was losing his career, and he just didn’t feel like this shitshow could get any worse. 

“Who says you can’t go home,” Jensen said with a dark chuckle as he booked his ticket, and stared at the departure time. 5:00 A.M. tomorrow. That only gave him a few hours to pack, but then again, he wasn’t sure he wanted to even take any of this shit with him.

“Order up!” you hear James call from the other side of the counter where the kitchen was separated from the bar by a large whole that took up most of the inner wall, much like a lot of older dinner kitchens did in the ’50s and ’60s. 

You throw the rag you’d been wiping the bar down with in the laundry hamper that was hidden safely under the counter from the view of the customers and grabbed the tray of burgers and fries, bringing them over to the young couple that was sitting at the very back of the restaurant. They were the only customers left in the place, and it was obviously their first date.

You could tell it in the way the girl nervously played with the hem of her dress, while the young man did all he could to hold a conversation with her. It was evident that in the light blush that covered her cheeks she had feelings for the boy, and judging by the way he was gushing over her, his feelings went pretty deep too. 

“Here you go guys, if you need anything else I’ll just be right over there,” you tell them with a smile. They thanked you, and you returned to your place behind the counter. You sighed deeply as you started to count down the register that was used earlier that day. Once this young couple was done, then it was time to get out of here. You were more than ready to get these shoes off your feet and sink neck-deep in a bath as hot as you could stand it in order to relieve some of the day's tension that was still evident in your back and legs from standing on your feet all day.

As you counted down the money in front of you, your eyes kept drifting over to the young couple sitting at the back table. You remember when Eric had taken you on your first date. It was at a restaurant much like this one. Then the night before you got married, he brought you back to the place where it all started. He was deployed to Iraq for another tour just three weeks after your wedding and returned in a flag-draped casket a year later.

It was one of the hardest paths you ever had to walk in your life. You were young, had little to no family, and Eric was your world, your whole life, and it seemed like so suddenly it was ripped violently away from you.

You swallowed hard and tried to remember to continue to count the money, crewing on your lower lip in concentration. 

It had been three years since Eric’s funeral, and you still hadn’t moved on. Sure, there had been prospects. You were still young, only 30, and you were single in a relatively small town outside of the greater city of Dallas. So it was no secret that you were not with anyone. You knew you should find someone and try to settle down again, but you just didn’t feel the same way Eric made you feel about anyone that had approached you so far. He was your first love. There was a whole there now, that you didn’t think would ever mend.

Seeing that young couple that looked so happy and so in love brought up a whole lot of feelings that you wished like hell you could bury because they still hurt. 

“Hey you, stop staring at the customers,” Jessica said, leaning against the counter with a smirk on her face. 

You give her your best bitch face and go back to putting the money bag in the safe under the counter. “I’m just making sure the customers don’t need anything.”

“Liar,” she said simply. “You know it’s been three years, Y/N.”

You looked up at her and sighed deeply as your eyes trained back to the young couple that were laughing together. 

“I know Jessica. I’ve thought about it. No one just… I don’t know, makes me feel the way Eric did.”

Jessica gave you a sympathetic look and threw her arm around your shoulder. She was working here with you when this place opened up right after you and Eric got married. She had been your friend ever since, and she was there with you through the grieving process, and she still kept a close eye on you all these years later.

“You know I’m only telling you this because I love you as a friend right?” she asked you, and you just stared at her. Afraid of what was about to come out of her mouth. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d tried to play matchmaker, and you didn’t know if you could go through that again.

“The reason you can’t find someone is because you're still holding on to him, Y/N. You have to let him go, let him rest!”

Your hand slipped up to the small silver locket that you kept around your neck. Eric had given it to you right before he left for your last deployment, and you never took it off. You knew she was right. You were still acting like you were a married woman. If you were ever going to move on, you were going to have to let him go.

“I know you’re right, but I don’t know how,” you tell her in earnest, as the young couple throws some money down on the table, and gathers up their coats to leave, waving at the two of you as they went. 

“I’ll tell you what, tonight after we finish up, we’re going to head down to the graveyard, and you're gonna tell him goodbye for real, and bury that locket, and let him go. Then I want you to move on!! You're so young, you deserve to be happy, Eric would want you to be happy.”

“I he would,” you tell her. Letting go of the breath you didn’t know you were holding, and wiping the stray tear away that fell down your face before you nod and agree to go.

It wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be, but after you got off work, Jessica got in her car and followed you to the graveyard. You did just like she said to do. You told him goodbye and took the Locket with a spoon you’d grabbed from the diner that they were going to throw away, and dug a small hole, burying the locket, and a part of your heart forever. 

When you got home to your small house and got in the shower to wash away the day, deciding to forgo the bath because it was so late, and you were exhausted, you felt a little more at peace than you had in years. Even though there would always be a part of you that missed Eric. You hoped this time that you could let him go enough to finally move on.

You wanted what that couple had tonight, you wanted a friend and a companion. Maybe now you could start to let yourself be happy again. At least the weight that you had been carrying for three years felt just a little lighter, and you closed your eyes that night in hopes that tomorrow was going to be the start of a better way of life for you.

You never know, maybe Mr. Right will just walk right in the diner tomorrow. Then again, would you ever be that lucky?

Forever Tags: 

@deandreamernp​

@forgetthisbull​

@miraclesoflove​

@deanwanddamons​​​ 

@rvgrsbrns​​ 

@chevyharvelle​​ 

@onethirstyunicorn​​ 

@i-love-superhero​​ 

@lyss-dw79​ 

@magssteenkamp​ 

@lemondropirwin​ 

@squirrelnotsam​ 

@hobby27​ 

@spnbaby-67​  

@mrsjenniferwinchester​ 

@defenderrosetyler​ 

@screechingartisancashbailiff​ 

@thecreatiivecorner​  

@vicmc624​ 

@busy-bee-angel-misska​ 

@justanotherwinchester​

@brilovesdeanwinchester​

@idksupernatural​

@lyarr24​ 

@amandamdiehl​ 

@miraclesoflove​ 

 @emoryhemsworth​ 

@dean-winchesters-gardian-angel​ 

@softsebastian 

@tatted-trina6​

@anaelsbrunette​ 

@hayleeharling​   

@flamencodiva​ 

@coldmuffinbanditshoe​ 

@dirty-pan-goblin​ 

@itmejado​ 

@supernatural3002​ 

@teresa-67​ 

@thoughts-and-funnies​ 

@hearteyes-j2​

@miss-nerd95​ 

@writers-whirlwind​

@peaches007​

@bobbie3939​

@lunarmoon8​

Jensen and Dean’s Babes

@pink-sparkly-witch​

@msmarvelouswinchester​

@akshi8278​

@love-jackles-37-blog​

@supernatural-bellawinchester​

@bobbie3939​

Series Tag List: 

@that-one-gay-girl​ 

@prettysourabbie​

@fanfictionismydeath​ 

@sexyvixen7​

@originalsoulcollector​

@thevelvetseries​