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lady-maria-the-wolf225 · 4 years

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Mikey x Fem! reader ch: 2 & 3 (combined)

(Y/N) had no idea who that stranger was. Despite the dangers ahead, she doesn't care much about that. She couldn't stop thinking about those hands however. She has never seen anyone with three fingers in her whole life. Other than that, she wants answers. With a boost of confidence, instead of going home, staying out late should be a breeze. In her opinion to be exact. It was the next morning, and she grabbed some extra food and soda to help her stay up all night as much as possible. School is the same as yesterday. Thankfully she wasn't given any homework today either. She met up with her friends at an after school club and hopes she doesn't forget what she has to do afterwards. After the club has ended, it's time for her to find the mystery stranger.

(Y/N)'s P.O.V

I was walking around trying to find the figure. It was very quiet as usual. There was no sign of anything....nothing. Just myself. I sighed thinking to myself if I would just give up, but I chose not to. I kept on walking far and wide into the streets. That is until I found it. The figure.....it was standing before me. But why? Whatever it may be, I do feel a bit uneasy. Without saying a word, the figure runs off quickly. I decided to follow it. I ran to its direction as fast as I could. When It got to a corner of a random street, it stopped. I hid in a corner of a wall that way it won't see me. I waited for the figure to make its move. That's when it jumped into a sewer. "A sewer? B-but why would- *sigh*. Who am I kidding?" I walked towards the sewer area. I know I couldn't get in that way because the lid itself is too heavy to lift. I looked around to see if there may be a second entrance to it. And I did. There was a rectangular hole that seemed big enough for me to squeeze in. I took off my backpack, and managed to enter. I grabbed my bag, and started to walk into the sewer line. It was really dark so I had to take out my phone to turn on the flashlight. I kept on walking until I fell into a slide like area. I was sliding downward screaming but laughing at the same time. It was kinda fun, it almost felt like one of those water slides you go on in a local water park. I landed on my ass which kinda hurt. "Ouch!" I rubbed it, and got up immediately. There are so many sewer pipes, I couldn't figure out where the figure may be, so I decided to go straight. It was a long path to get through. Just as I felt like I may be close, I heard footsteps. No. more than just footsteps. A skateboard too? I started to panic a bit but managed to find a sewer pipe large enough for my tiny body to fit. I hid in there, and waited for whoever was coming straight ahead. What I saw, made me wonder. There was.....four creatures running passed me. "Hey guys! Wait up!" said the fourth mysterious figure trying to get its skateboard running. What's weird, is that it has rockets on it. Plus, I can't even see the person at all. Just a silhouette. "Come on Mikey! We got some foot clan butt to kick!" another one said in the distance "okay okay! Calm down Raph! It's not the end of the world you know!" it rode away with the others and the sound soon went to silence. I slowly got out, and decided to keep walking "that was.....Fucking weird." I said to myself trying to figure out who those people were. I walked a couple more steps until I found this strange looking door. Well technically it's not a door per say. I noticed it was slightly opened. I looked back for a quick moment to see if no one else was around. The coast is clear thank god. I slowly opened the strange yet mysterious entrance, and revealed some kind of lair. It's weird that a lair is located in a sewer. I also noticed The height of the entrance from here all the way to the ground does seem a little high. So basically I had to jump down like as if i'm in an action movie. I took a deep breath and counted to three. "one.....two.....Three!" I jumped and managed to land on my backpack since it's on my back obviously. I got up and stared at the place. "Woah!...." I walked around, and it had crazy technology, bedrooms, exercise weights, and a ramp for I'm guessing skateboard tricks like the ones you see at a local park. I looked around and noticed there was a sleeping rat in one of the rooms. A huge rat to be exact. I almost made a single sound after it scared me. But thankfully my words were stuck down to my throat. I sighed in relief that it didn't wake up at all. Guess it's a heavy sleeper. I walked around some more, and the bedrooms have doors. The same exact shape as the one where I entered the place. I entered one of them and noticed a small TV with a PS2 and DVD player sitting there. The room was kind of a mess too. It was littered with pizza boxes and candy wrappers. Gross. In the corner of the room, there was a mini fridge with a pack of Orange Crush Soda hidden in the back of it. After taking a look at that, I checked at the condition of the TV and PS2. surprisingly, they were in good shape. Even the DVD player is too. The TV is an early 2000s model. Old, but still good. I turned both of them on, and they work. "Oh. neat" I smiled a bit and I made the decision to play with it. I slowly and quietly closed the strange door, and took out one of my old games I always played in my childhood. "I haven't played Sonic Unleashed in a while. Might as well go ahead and play for a bit." I turned down the volume as low as possible so I didn't wake up the strange rat, and started playing. An hour in a half passed, and I started to get tired. Although I did eat a few of my snacks and since I ran out of drinks I ended up drinking some of the orange crush soda from the back of the mini fridge, I kept on yawning. Since I'm too lazy to head home, I might as well just spend the night here. I paused the game, and ended up falling asleep on the nice bed. It's kinda nice here. Quiet, no interruptions, a nice spot to play some games and have some time for myself. I just hope nothing goes wrong at all.

end of P.O.V The Mysterious heroes who are actually turtles have returned home to the sewers and one of them spoke. "Sensei! We're back!" the rat was meditating and no longer sleeping. "Where have you four been?" The turtle with the blue bandana named Leonardo spoke "we had another foot clan attack. We managed to stop them on time." The rat sighed. "Did anyone see you? Anyone at all?" they all shook their heads. "No Sensei. We got away as quickly as we could." The rat nodded and responded. "Good. you may all rest now my sons. We have a big day tomorrow." they all looked at each other. "What day is it?" Leonardo asked. "Training day." they all groaned and the rat chuckles. "Now go. I must concentrate." they all went to their rightful rooms and the youngest of the four named Michelangelo stretched his arms and fiddled with his orange bandana. "I'm gonna go on ahead and play me some video games!" as he got to his room, he noticed the TV was on along with the game system. "Huh? Hey wait a second! I don't remember playing this game at all!" He removes the game disc from the system, and yells out to one of his brothers. "Raph! Were you messing with my game system again!? And where did you get this game!? Did you rent it or something!?" The red bandana turtle named Raphael comes into the room. "What? No! What are you talking about? Lemme see that!" he takes the game disc from him and takes a look at it. "You serious? Do I look like the kind of guy who likes playing as a blue furry that runs like the flash?" Mikey stares at him in an irritating way as his own brother tosses the game disc across the room. He looks down and notices the empty cans of soda on the floor and looks back up at Raph. Raph himself was now getting angry. "You hid a stack of orange crush soda from me without even telling me!?" Mikey starts to get angry too. "Yes I did! And don't lie to me! I know YOU found them, and did this for a good laugh!" Mikey and Raph argue back and forth until they stopped when they notice movement in Mikey's bed. "What was that?...." Raph pushes him out of the way, and takes out one of his weapons. "Stand back." He grabs the sheets, and snatches them out of the way and sees (Y/N) sleeping. They both stood back as Raph dropped his weapon in complete shock. "How- what-.....where-?....oh god there's a g- a gi-..." he couldn't speak and they both looked at each other and ran out of the room in a panic. "Donnie! Leo!" they both yelled as the other two were busy doing their thing. "What? What happened?" Donatello said as he adjusted his glasses and purple bandana. "There's a g-girl in my room! And a- and uh R-Raph almost killed her on my own bed! And-" Donnie stopped Mikey. "woah woah woah! Slow down! You're saying there's a girl in your room?" Mikey nodded frantically. Leo shows up eventually and spoke to them. "what are they talking about?" Donnie responds to him with a sigh. "it appears they saw a human girl in Mikey's bed." Leo looks at them and takes a deep breathe "show me. Now!" they take them to the bed, and see (Y/N) still asleep. They all looked at her and Donnie started analyzing her. "Okay. according to my analysis, she is 18 years of age, 5'0 feet tall, 125 pounds, (H/C), (E/C), and somehow it shows me her uhh.....cup size. They're quite an impressive size for a young adult if you ask me. Wish it didn't scan them though." the other three's eyes lit up when they heard that word "cup size huh? What is that?" Mikey asked. Donnie whispers to them what cup sizes are, and they widened their eyes in surprise. Mikey blushes bright red. "Aaaaand I am now questioning my own innocence, thank you very much." Raph smirks giving his younger brother a noogie "all right Mikey! Our own little bro's first lesson in becoming a man! Woo!" Mikey playfully pushes him off shaking his head smiling. "tch. whatever bruh." Donnie finishes analyzing, and looks at Leo. "what shall we do?" Leo looks at the girl and sighs "well uhhh-" Mikey interrupts him jumping up and down excitedly "Can we keep her? I promise to take good care of her! please?" Raph and Donnie facepalms, and Leo looks at Mikey with a long pause, then proceeds to speak. "We'll might as well let her stay for the night. But we're taking her back home tomorrow!" Mikey squeals excitedly "Yes!" Leo then talks again "and one more thing! If Master Splinter finds out, we gotta tell the truth. But first when she wakes up, we gotta know how she got here. First thing in the morning before our training day starts. Got it?" Mikey nods. "Oh yeah! Totally. Yeah...." Leo nods. "Good. come on guys. We gotta go to bed. Sensei wants tomorrow to be on point. That goes for you too Mikey!" Mikey nods with a smile on his face "aye aye captain boss bro!" Raph looks at Mikey who is staring at (Y/N) "she's really pretty man." Raph nods "yeah. Never seen a girl like her before. Hopefully when she wakes up, we can have a nice chat with her." Mikey nods. "What about April? She's pretty too." Raph chuckles shaking his head "nah. She's too bland. Maybe this one may be a keeper." he winks with a daring smile. Mikey chuckles and Raph pats him on the back. "Well it's getting late. Night Mikey. See ya in the morning." Mikey looks at his brother as Raph leaves the room. "Night bro." Mikey decides to sleep on the floor and hopes this girl may be the one for him. Despite that, in his heart, he can feel it beating like a steady drum right now which means it's love at first sight for him. TO BE CONTINUED!....chapter 4 and 5 are next soon! :)

#michelangelo #tmnt bayverse #fanfic #romance

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jasontoddiefor · 4 years

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Summary: More of that Anakin gets stuck in the past and ends up dating Dooku bc my discord enables all my crack treated seriously ideas. Read on AO3.

Qui-Gon supposed that despite their circumstances, he was actually having fun. He had been sent all over the galaxy since his knighting and had hardly spent a minute at the Temple or with his old Master. Going on a mission with him again was refreshing and felt a little bit like coming home, even if Dooku looked about three seconds away from committing a felony.

“Hello, Master,” Qui-Gon greeted easily still, leaning against the entrance of his ship. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“I have missed you as well, Padawan,” Dooku replied and immediately marched past Qui-Gon towards the cockpit of the ship.

Qui-Gon only raised a brow as he watched his Master’s back disappear, then he turned to the second Jedi walking up the ramp of his ship. Master Nu smiled warmly at Qui-Gon and, once she had reached him, gave him a quick hug.

“I apologize for his fool manners,” Jocasta said. “The last three weeks have been unpleasant.”

Qui-Gon snorted. “You don’t have to pretend. I know how he can get.”

Dooku was an excellent teacher once he understood that my way or the highway would always result in Qui-Gon picking the highway. They had had their difficulties, Dooku’s approach towards the Force not meshing well with Qui-Gon’s. His general strictness had also not been much to Qui-Gon’s liking. It was good then that Qui-Gon could run off to Anakin to complain about his Master which usually resulted in getting a joined lesson. It had become a bit of a joke between him and his crèchemates that Qui-Gon had two Masters. Some had been jealous of course, Anakin Skywalker didn’t have his own Padawan and he was a skilled Knight, one of the Order’s best combatants, but most had taken it with good fun.

“I think I owe you an apology for not coming here faster, I had to drop Tahl off somewhere else first.”

Jocasta shook her head. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s Anakin for running off with our ship.”

Qui-Gon hadn’t quite wanted to believe it when the report came in. Anakin was protective of the Order, more so than any other Knight it seemed at times. His past was also shrouded in mystery with nobody knowing him before he had shown up at the Temple some odd sixteen years ago. His circle of friend consisted mostly of Dooku’s circle of friends, though Qui-Gon was fairly sure that if they were forced to pick between Anakin and his ever grumpy Master, the decision would be an easy one. Anakin never gave the name of his Master, though he sometimes did quote him, a ridiculously pronounced High Coruscanti accent dropping from his lips. Despite all these secrets, however, Qui-Gon had never been given a reason to doubt Anakin. He was a good man, a good teacher, and a terrifyingly competent Shadow.

Not that Qui-Gon was supposed to know that, but Padawans usually knew what their Masters got up to and Dooku had taken plenty of unofficial missions with Anakin and Jocasta.

“What happened?” Qui-Gon asked once they got seated in the common area of the ship. Dooku was still at the ship’s helm, guiding them Force-knew where.

“We don’t know,” Jocasta replied. “One moment we were exploring the old temple, the next Anakin was on the ground and after…” She put her hands around her cup of tea. “He just took off with the ship. Dooku thinks Anakin had a vision but that look in his eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Anakin that angry. I just hope we arrive quick enough before he does anything he regrets.”

After a while, Dooku came out of the cockpit again and told them where they were heading next. His Master cut himself short where usually he could speak quite extensively. It was impossible to ignore how on edge he was. It was no surprise, Qui-Gon could feel himself get nervous as well. The three Jedi had been exploring a Sith Temple. If Anakin had come into contact with anything there, it could have warped his mind, tricked him. There was a reason most Shadows didn’t retire out of their own free will.

“He didn’t disable the tracker of the ship in his hurry,” Dooku said. “I have traced him and set course for one of the lesser-known spaceports on the planet.”

Anakin had a strange preference for smaller ports if he was in a hurry. It didn’t fit with his usual approach towards anything – namely always spring the trap – but to those that knew it, it made him at least somewhat predictable.

“He was here,” Dooku muttered once they were within reach of the port.

They were in the middle of nowhere on some backend Outer Rim planet where the Republic was more myth than reality. Anakin took a lot of missions on the Outer Rim, being invested in the area. It was probably because he was from somewhere around this area. Anakin’s Basic was accented. Not as much as it used to be, as Qui-Gon remembered it from his early childhood, but it was still there.

They landed their ship in the ugliest hanger Qui-Gon had ever seen, it being accompanied by an eerie silence. He got the feeling that he was missing something. There should be staff checking them, asking why they were heading here. Instead, they could just land their ship.

“Careful,” Jocasta muttered.

She too was scanning their surrounding for something unusual. Her hand on his shoulder was calming and Qui-Gon wished he could claim he wasn’t glad for it. He was a Knight, not a child anymore, but the Force felt off, like it was grieving and celebrating at the same time and Qui-Gon didn’t know what to make of it.

Once their ship had landed, they prepared themselves for everything, or so they thought.

When the ramp opened up, they were greeted by an almost empty hander shrouded in darkness. Once it lit up however-

Bodies.

All kinds of species, adults, dead on the ground and obviously cut down by a lightsaber. Qui-Gon thought he was going to be sick.

“Do you think Anakin-“ Qui-Gon began to speak, but didn’t dare continue.

“Come,” Dooku ordered and simply passed the bodies with a determination Qui-Gon wasn’t sure he should admire. As they crossed the empty hanger, Qui-Gon took in more of their surroundings. Besides the dead, he also saw medical equipment, cages and collars-

“Slave traders,” Qui-Gon muttered.

It didn’t make the carnage any better, but it still eased his mind a bit. Anakin hadn’t just gone on a mindless murder spree, turned mad from the Sith Temple. These people weren’t innocents, but they still hadn’t deserved such an ending.

At the very end of the empty hanger stood the ship Anakin had run away in. Dooku typed in the passcode to the ship and pretty much jumped inside as soon as the ship’s ramp allowed it. Qui-Gon hoped that Anakin was alright. He had always had a strong reaction to slavers – but again who could claim they didn’t? – but what they had found here at the docks had been a massacre. Anakin had shown no mercy as he’d slaughtered his way through the traders and that didn’t bode well.

Qui-Gon and Jocasta quickly followed Dooku, their lightsabers not ignited, but ready to jump into battle any second. This was decidedly not where Qui-Gon had imagined they’d end up.

They stepped past the common area which had been used only recently, a pot of cooked food still sitting on the counter, warm still. Jocasta signaled at Qui-Gon to be quiet as they continued on towards the cockpit of the ship.

Dooku, apparently not entirely lost to worry and all the other flickers of emotions Qui-Gon wasn’t privy to, glanced back at the two of them, then signaled that he was going to open the door.

Three. Two. One-

The moment Dooku opened the door, a strong Force push hit them that would have knocked them over had they not been prepared for it.

Qui-Gon caught a glance of golden hair and a gloved arm – it was Anakin alright. He was huddled in the far right corner of the room, wrapped in more blankets than Qui-Gon could count. He was staring at the three of them with wide-eyes, recognition only settling in just that moment.

“Shit,” Anakin cursed into the silence. “You are here.”

Before Qui-Gon or Jocasta could say a thing, Dooku had to say something. Typically for his Master, Dooku immediately began to retort with the sharpness of a blade.

“Yes, we are here after you ditched us in a Force-forsaken Sith temple! Do you have any idea-“

“Don’t shout at me,” Anakin retorted, interrupting Dooku. “You’ll wake her.”

“Wake who?” Qui-Gon asked and sidestepped Jocasta so he could get a better look at Anakin and the bundle of blankets that turned out to be less blanket and more person.

“That’s a child,” Qui-Gon blurted out before he could stop himself.

He felt like a Padawan again at this moment, caught in-between three Masters with no idea what was actually going on.

“Yeah,” Anakin replied and gently ran his fingers through the girl’s brown hair.

She had to be young and was fairly small as well. However, her face was very thin, she looked starved.

“Is that who you left for?” Jocasta asked.

“Yes. I saw what they were doing to her and- I can’t believe I forgot it. I thought that if I just focused on the Jedi, I could fix everything but they- They hurt her. They hurt her and I was nearly too late again.”

“Who is she?” Dooku spoke up again.

Qui-Gon glanced at his Master. He didn’t look so angry anymore, more concerned, and wary.

“What, you haven’t guessed yet?” Anakin sighed. He was so tired, the exhaustion was written all over his face. It reminded Qui-Gon of the times Anakin had knocked at their quarters in the middle of the night, haunted by nightmares he couldn’t speak about. Sometimes Qui-Gon had woken as well and the three of them had just sat on the sofa, a cup of tea in their hands, talking about nothing in particular. Other times Qui-Gon had only noticed that Anakin had come over to their place because the breakfast table was laid in the morning and Anakin already sitting at it, usually wearing one of his Master’s robes.

Qui-Gon didn’t know if Anakin had ever talked to a mind healer about his nightmares. It hadn’t been his place then, a child under Anakin’s care, but somebody should make sure that after all of this, Anakin talked to somebody.

“Her name is Shmi,” Anakin said and once more traced her cheek’s with his flesh hand. “Shmi Skywalker. She would have been my mother someday.”

Qui-Gon froze, thinking he had misheard, but all around them, the Force rang with truth, which he supposed only made things worse. He turned to look at his Master but Dooku didn’t look surprised at all, if anything, he was resigned-

He knew.

#star wars #count dooku #qui gon jinn #Anakin Skywalker #jocasta nu #fanfic #regrets ive had a few

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cutelittleexo · 4 years

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"How would you feel?"

Luna-4. A Past, Present, and Future. Ch. 1 - Hope For the Future

Luna-4 got snapped out of her daydream by her stained glass ghost, Shard, seems she didn't realize her guardian was in a daze. "I'm sorry Shard. I was thinking. Could you repeat that please?" Luna asked, hands cupping her still hot tea as she continues to walk along the riverside of the last city, just under the shadow of the ruined tower. "You've been doing that a lot lately. But okay, I'll say it again." Shard rolled her eye a bit before speaking "I asked. How would you feel If you were offered to go back to your life before you were a guardian?" Shard spoke softly and clearly, knowing Luna-4 often loses focus If someone speaks to quick, Luna shot her ghost a unamused look "This question again? I've already told you the answer, I don't know. My dreams are different than other Exo, sure I still dream of the black tower and the fight to get there, but not as much as the others." She sips her tea, still piping hot. Shard darted around her purple Daito cloak and sat in the little crevice where her hood stacked up in a small layer "Do you think It has to do with gui-" "Drop It shard, I came out here to unwind, not to have another existential crisis." Luna-4 spoke in a unusually stern stone, Shard sighed and shimmied out of her hood "Okay. I'll stop...how's the tea today?" Shard asked as If Luna hasn't even scolded her, Luna took a mouth full this time and took in the flavour before gulping it down "Bitter, but a sweet aftertaste. Devrim's fourth favourite tea." She smiled, remembering the time when she asked for sniping lessons from him, only to end up doing his work in that trostland plaza for the day, he got to drink tea and chat up Marc and Hawthorne for once, needless to say she did learn a lot using his custom No Land Beyond. "It's growing on me a bit and I should thank him, think he's still at the fa-...what are you looking at Shard?" Luna-4 asked with a tilted head, seeing her ghost float up a bit "Did the Traveler always glow like that?" Luna-4 turned to see what she was talking about.

Then suddenly feeling a burst of Light.

Comms suddenly went off as civilians and Guardians began to chime in on different channels. The Vanguard channel got some Hunter's on as well much to her surprise. The white noise that was people talking and doing every day responsibilities went quiet before piping up again, different and more rapid this time. Another feeling of Light, like when she was resurrected. It didn't take long before Guardians and Civilians ran past her, some even leaving their spicy ramen sadly behind. A Golden Age song played out in the distance.

"Some hope for the future

Some wait for the call

To say that the days ahead

Will be the best of all."

Luna-4 quickly gulped down all her tea that was meant to be enjoyed slow and tossed it in a nearby trash bin before beginning to walk up the street, her ghost following behind.

"We will build bridges

Up to the sky

Heavenly lights surrounding

You and I."

"Hey, what's the rush?" Luna bumped into one of her fire team members coming out of a underground walkway, a warlock she tells herself she'll befriend, his name being Alexi "Traveler, glowing." She says quickly before running ahead after regaining her footing, leaving him in the dust.

"From out of the darkness

Our future will come

If we leave the past behind

We'll fly beyond the sun."

Luna-4 kept her pace up, running past civilians that stared in awe and up some stairs and continuing on, jumping across ramps and going through the nearby damn.

"We'll be together

Sharing the load

Watching in wonder as our lives unfold."

Now running up stairs and giving a hard left turn before seeing the Traveler again, glowing, much closer now, she passed through a small crowd and made another jump across a gap. Another burst of Light, the area around her seemed a bit foggy. She spotted some of her friends, her lover, and a few acquaintances, sitting around and looking up at the Traveler, some climbing the nearby Vanguard neon sign and radio tower, some over on top of the green house and balconies nearby it. She saw a big ole titan with rusted battleworn armor, Tank, at the greenhouse. A Human Hive-Afflicted Warlock leaning on a aluminum vent, XV, often seen using Dreadfang in crucible. Another Warlock near him, sitting on the ground and leaning on his Monte Carlo, Callum, Gambit wildcard. Another Titan which was on top of the vanguard billboard to get a better view, Reynault. An Exo hunter sat along the edge of the building they were on, Mori, a skillful bladedancer. Luna-4 passed another close friend, an Awoken Titan named Ivara, they've been on strike ops with each other a lot. Sowl, a Guardian she helped get reacquainted in the city a long while ago, been a while since they talked to each other, usually draws a grey teddy bear who likes cookies. A warlock on one of the balconies near the green house, Hawk, usually head bangs. She spotted her ex, a New Monarchy devotee Titan, Felra, who kept her name from her previous life among the Awoken of the Reef. Luna-4 walked up beside her lover and casually held his hand which he responded with a tight squeeze, a Warlock named Volcan, he helped Luna-4 a lot during The Red War, falling in love with each other during said war. They've stuck together since.

All of these Guardians and their Ghosts, they had all gathered to see what the Traveler was doing. An offical message came onto the Vanguard comm channel, ordering evacuation, along with sirens off in the distance, but civilians and guardians still looked on, ignoring the potential danger. "What do you think is happening? I feel so...warm." Shard spoke "Like when I was born. And when I found you..." She looked Luna-4, who was now holding Volcan's arm in worry. Shard didn't talk again, and instead rested on Luna-4's shoulder and watched with the two of them. Another burst of light, making thing's seem blurry. Everyone continued to watch, seeing the Traveler put itself back together. It hasn't done something in 3 years. The comms are active with chatter, Eris Morn speaks, The Guardians Ghost, Commander Zavala. Everyone braces for something.

There was a heavy burst of Light once more. Before the Traveler lit up the entire city and gave a heavy flash of white Light.

"Hope for the future

It's coming soon enough

How much can we achieve?

Hope for the future

It will belong to us

If we believe

If we believe."

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prongsisabadger · 3 years

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The Wolf Pack Chapter 9

During our stay in Dorin, I made sure to keep up with my language and culture studies. It was important to me since it had been my main motivation to join the Jedi order. So during storms, I would sit in my quarters with one of the few holocrons Master Plo had brought and study. I decided to focus on expanding my previous repertoire of Tatooine languages, adding both huttese and jawaese to the list. Once I had the basics of those down, I would get started on Ryl. The aim behind it was to be able to communicate with life forms even when in the outer rim, where the influence of the Republic was not as strong. That way, whenever Master Plo and I had to take a mission there, we would at least be able to fend for ourselves.

It was a lot of work, and a great mental effort, but it was worth the time invested. I was sure I would make good use of my knowledge in the future, and in many ways it helped me expand my mind and the way I thought of life and the galaxy.

Master Plo, even in Dorin, still had business to attend to as a member of the Jedi Council, so He would take this time to catch up to his duties and take part in any meetings where his presence was required. There was something big brewing, and one didn't have to be in the council to feel it. I could feel it in him. Whenever we had our meals together and he got lost in thought; whenever we were outside training and he would pause to feel for the Force; whenever we were turning in for the night and he took one last look at the sky.

There was something brewing, and I didn't know if we were all ready for it.

Eventually, there came a time when Master Plo could not stay away from Coruscant anymore. His duties in the Council were much too important to be dealt with at a distance. It was three years later that we finally left Dorin. All the friends we had made, all the lessons I had learned, all the progress I'd made I would be taking back with me to the Temple. I felt like a completely different person than the one who left Coruscant so long ago. A treat was rising, and a very important vote was going to take place in the Senate. The council had asked all its members to be present for the occasion.

I felt a little nervous to go back after all that time, but the joy of finally seeing my friends after so long outweighed everything. Even if I had held semi-regular calls with both Ahsoka and Nahdar over the years, this was very different somehow. Master Plo had noticed my attachment to my friends get stronger with the distance between us, and had warned me of the risks they brough along.

"Having friends is not a sin, Kriari, just make sure you are prepared to let them go when the time comes."

And I did, I meditated on it every night before sleep. It was a little depressing, but very necessary, I would not allow myself to drift into the dark side, even if it killed me. The life of a Jedi was dangerous, and eventually, we would all be returning to the Force. It was a part of life that I simply had to accept. We all die, sooner or later. I just prayed I didn't have to be there when they left. I prayed for an easy, quick, peaceful death full of acceptance and nothing more. That was the best I could hope for.

When we landed, Ahsoka was waiting for us, and as soon as I made my way down the ramp, she rushed to hug me. There were some tears and laughter and a little bit of teasing, but mostly there was joy and a renewed sense of peace.

"Thank the Force you are back, I was getting really bored in here." Said Ahsoka as soon as we let eachother go.

"I bet you were, didn't find a new partner to sneak around with?" I asked as we started following Master Plo inside.

"Nah, the Temple is full of goody two shoes, and since that time you put that kid in his place, everyone has been too scared to talk to me. Even after you left." She chuckled.

"It was a little lonely, but Master Jocasta makes really good company."

"She does know a lot, and unlike what people will have you think, she knows most of the Temple's gossip as well." I whispered.

Ahsoka had grown a lot in the three years I'd been gone, now at fourteen, she was only a few inches shorter than me, and already looked like someone's Padawan, even if her Trials had yet to take place. They would soon enough, but there was visible frustration within her that told those who could see it, she was ready for the next step.

Thankfully, Ahsoka had asked the Masters not to be given a new room mate, so that we could share when I came back. The Masters agreed if only because there was no immediate need for it. So when we entered our quarters, a sense of nostalgia and relief flooded me. I was home.

I put my things down on the bed and just stood there, taking everything in.

"So, tell me about Dorin. I'm dying to know more about it. Have you brought pictures?"

We spent the next two hours talking about my training with the Kel Dor, about the planet, the culture, but mostly about my training. But our time was cut short by someone knocking on the door. It was Master Plo, the Council wanted to check on my progress.

"You know, Master? You've had her for the last three years, you could at least let me have her longer than two hours." Teased Ahsoka.

"My apologies, little 'Soka. But the Jedi Council is waiting for us. I'll return your friend as soon as I'm able."

The meeting with the Council went smoothly. They asked questions and I answered them the best I could. More often than not, they asked Master Plo for an objective point of view, and for the most part they seemed satisfied. But then, they asked about my calls with Nahdar and Ahsoka. They didn't seem as enthusiastic then, and questions were raised about my attachment to my friends.

"I assure you masters, I meditate about it every night and my studies of other cultures have broadened not only my view of life, but also my view of death. I know I will have to let my friends and master go when the time comes. We all die, it's a part of life."

My answer seemed to placate them a little, but the level of concern some of the members of the council had was a little worrying. Master Ki-Adi-Mundo, for example, had suggested to make me cut ties with my friends forcibly. Thankfully, Master Plo had interjected. It was normal and expected, and as long as I dealt with them in a healthy way, there was no harm done. The entire exchange opened my eyes to the fact that not all Jedi were like my master, and I was incredibly lucky to have someone as understanding as him for a mentor.

I spent the rest of the day thinking about that meeting. There was a reason Jedi were not allowed attachments, I understood that, but it was a very grey area. Different people dealt with grief and anger in different ways but there must have been a common tendency for Jedi to turn to the dark side for the Council to take such extreme measures. It made me wonder what would have happened if instead of teaching to repress emotions, they had chosen to learn how to deal with them in a healthy manner. These thoughts I kept to myself, there was no point in making them question my place in the order over such small matters. So I kept quiet. I kept Quiet for a very long time.

#TWP #star wars the clone wars #fanfiction #the clone wars #clone wars fan fiction #commander wolffe #plo koon #padawan!oc #obi-wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #captain rex

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mst3kproject · 4 years

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Light Blast

What’s this? A death ray movie in which we actually see stuff get death rayed? Aw, man, that might disqualify it for MST3K right there! Fortunately for us, however, Light Blast was directed by Enzo Castellari, who brought us Escape 2000, and it stars Erik Estrada. Estrada was never on MST3K but he was on pretty much all the 70’s cop shows they kept referencing, including Mannix and Police Woman, and Mike and the bots would never have let him forget it.

So what do we want out of a death ray movie? I dunno, some faces melting like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark would be cool, and Light Blast apparently read my mind on that count because we get the first melting face action before the ten minute mark! A couple of young people go to have sex in a boxcar (this scene includes a real classy upskirt shot, just three minutes in) while the bad guy tests his death ray, and in the fine tradition of kids just trying to bone at the beginning of movies, they get zapped. Meanwhile, somewhere else, Erik Estrada in a speedo takes down a couple of bank robbers by hiding a gun inside a roast turkey.

This is gonna be a weird movie, isn’t it?

Sadly, Light Blast never again rises to that height of absurdity. Evil Professor Yuri Svoboda has a death ray, and has decided to hold the city of San Francisco hostage for the princely sum of:

Was that even a lot of money in 1985? According to dollartimes the conversion rate is about 2.5, so that would be $12.5 million today... still seems a little low for a major city. Anyway.

To show he means business, Svoboda death rays the announcer’s box at a demolition derby. Thence ensues a series of extremely uninspired car chases and a scene in which Estrada is repeatedly kicked in the avocados by a woman dressed as a nurse (I liked that bit). Eventually he puts the pieces of the puzzle together, and never even bothers to tell us what the finished picture looks like before running off to what looks like it’ll be the final Power Plant Confrontation. No such luck. Svoboda escapes again, and Estrada has to chase him down to the final final confrontation.

There are two things here Castellari seems to really like. One is digital clocks, which are frequently the focus of the death ray for some reason. The other is men staggering around on fire, filmed in the type of loving slow motion that turns this agonizing death into a moment of over-dramatic hilarity. Remember in the Making Of Documentary for Return of the King, when Peter Jackson acknowledges that Denethor falling off the top of Minas Tirith while on fire is ridiculous? Enzo Castellari is definitely not that self-aware.

He is also fond of car chases. There are three or four of them in Light Blast and they’re competent, I guess. They’re definitely better than the budget version you sometimes see in really cheap movies, in which the camera turns to watch one vehicle pass by, then repeats the shot with another. There was probably a storyboard and so forth. But they’re still pretty monotonous and mostly just look like people driving around with no sense of a destination or a narrative. Instead, the movie tries to add interest by giving them ‘gimmicks’.

In one of the chases, Estrada doesn’t want the villain to know he’s being followed, so rather than using his own vehicle, he just hops into random people’s cars and makes them do the following. In one he shows his badge and tells the driver he’s a cop. In another he tells the woman driving that he’s playing a practical joke on a friend from college. Astonishingly, he never gets slapped or shot.

In another, he steals a race car in order to chase down Svoboda, who is fleeing to a boat from which he plans to death ray the entire city or something. This chase includes two separate shots in which Estrada jumps the race car over some obstacle in his way, again filmed in slow motion. In neither was there any sort of ramp to get the car off the ground. It’s like that scene in Speed where the fucking bus somehow jumps over a gap in the highway except they did it twice and slowly to give the audience time to think about how stupid it is. Then Estrada jumps the car again onto Svoboda’s boat, which has already left the dock, and somehow manages to stop on a dime rather than falling into the water.

I recognize that movies are not bound by the laws of physics, but those that get away with breaking them do so by walking a fine line. Things have to look possible. People running away from explosions looks like it should work, and very few of us have ever been in a position to find out what it’s actually like first-hand (partly because those of us who have probably didn’t live to tell about it). The car jumps? Nah.

Wikipedia includes a couple of reviews of this film that have been translated, not very well, from Italian. They’re kind of hard to understand but they do seem to fixate on the preponderance of car chases. They also reference another staple of 80’s action movies, which is excessive police brutality. Estrada shoots a whole bunch of people, breaks into a power plant and a funeral home, steals cars, causes a dozen accidents and untold property damage, and bullies his girlfriend into risking her job in order to get him the information he needs. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.

Other clichés drift by. The villain gives a pretty classic monologue all about how he Showed Those Fools At The Academy and how his death ray will make him supreme ruler of the world and he’ll bring about a new age of peace. There’s a bit where Estrada and his partner, the Tall Guy (these characters do have names, I just don’t care) sit down at the kitchen table and put together what they’ve learned… but instead of some exposition to tell us, the audience, what that is, we get a Ryan And Shane Look For Forrest Fenn’s Treasure montage but without the irony. We can just barely hear fragments of voices through this, as the characters talk about it… enough to tease us with what they know and we don’t.

I dunno, it’s possible the audience is supposed to have already figured this stuff out and I just wasn’t paying attention. I was pretty bored during most of this movie.

During the montage, the bad guys sneak up outside Estrada’s house (which is on a boat? I think?) and open fire, basically shooting everybody but Estrada himself, who escapes completely unharmed. His personality-deficient girlfriend isn’t so lucky… but she was only in this movie so it would have a part for Estrada’s real-life girlfriend Peggy Rowe. This bit is right up there with The Phantom Creeps as a perfect example of why Women In Fridges is screenwriting for hacks. Estrada is already determined to get these guys. He already cares about the people they’ve killed in the past and the ones they plan to kill in the future! He is already frustrated by his failures to catch them! ‘Making it personal’ is completely unnecessary! Did the writers really think her death would add anything, or were they just trying to fill up their Action Movie Cliché Bingo card?

In the villain’s evil monologue, Svoboda reveals that apparently Estrada killed his wife? I guess she was the mortician? This doesn’t help, because I don’t think Svoboda actually knows that Estrada’s girlfriend is dead and even if he does, she wasn’t his target. His henchmen were after Estrada and Tall Guy.

Then there’s the ending, which is in no way a ‘climax’ and barely even counts as an ‘end’. Remember I said Estrada jumps his racecar onto Svoboda’s boat? This knocks the death ray over and it melts Svoboda himself. Estrada watches this, then basically just shrugs and walks the fuck away. So… that was it? No confrontation? No fight? Just a failure to properly secure the superweapon?

Isn’t the rest of the boat gonna melt now, too? In previous uses the death ray seemed to melt things over a fairly wide area. Isn’t anyone worried about that? No, we’re just rolling the credits? Okay, fine. At least the movie’s over.

Is there anything nice I can say about Light Blast? Well… I guess it passes the Bechdel Test. There’s a bit, completely irrelevant to the plot, where two women who work at the police station discuss perfume. It’s as if one of the writers had read about the Bechdel Test and shoved that in there just to pass it, without bothering to think about what the point of the ‘test’ is.

For all I’ve bitched about it, Light Blast isn’t a full on disaster. It’s merely a mediocre 80’s action movie. What makes it so damn disappointing is the wackiness of that early scene with Estrada in his underwear and the gun in the turkey. That bit has the same effect as naming your movie Hercules Against the Moon Men – it gives the audience the impression that you have a sense of humour, and then the rest of the film can be nothing but the slow downward spiral of realizing that you were, in fact, serious. Even then, it still could have been fun if the writers and director had kept up that kind of cheese throughout but no… Light Blast couldn’t even be bad enough to be good.

If any of you MSTies reading this are aspiring film-makers, let this be the lesson for you: the introduction of your main character sets the tone. Do that wrong, or in a way that doesn’t match the rest of your movie, and you’re sunk. And if you only have one interesting or funny idea, for love of Apearlo put that at the end of the movie, not the beginning!

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #light blast #women in fridges #80s

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cami-chats · 3 years

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The New Assistant

Fandom: Marvel, Jurassic World

Pairing: Claire Dearing/Tony Stark

Warnings: Mentions of kidnapping and attempted murder in keeping with Iron Man 1

Written for @periwinklepromise. Also on AO3

"This is Claire," Pepper said.

"What did you do, clone yourself?" Tony asked, looking at Claire. From the straightened and perfectly cut red hair, down to her low heels and pristine dress suit, she looked very similar to Pepper. Not to mention the no-nonsense look on her face. "Seriously Pep, she could be your sister. Wait, is she your sister? Please say yes; it would make me very happy."

Instead of asking why it would make him happy-- because Pepper was a spoilsport-- she said, "She's your new assistant. She has excellent management skills, and god knows she'll need it do deal with you." Pepper turned to Claire and handed her a tablet with a window already pulled up. "This is Tony's schedule for the day. I'll be in my office looking over paperwork, so I'll be available if you need me."

Claire dipped her head in acknowledgement, taking the tablet from her. Her eyes flitted over the screen as Pepper walked away, and a moment later, she looked up at Tony with a polite smile. "You have a meeting with Mr. Kenjiro Fujikawa in thirty minutes. Where would you like to be briefed for your meeting?"

So she wasn't fucking around. Tony's assistants before Pepper had always thought they were being serious, but there had been no getting around the fact that he was their boss, and as a personal assistant, they were supposed to do things the way he wanted. He should've known to expect more from a person that Pepper had hand-picked, but everyone made mistakes-- even Pepper. "Here's fine," he said, because they were already in his office, and there was no point in picking a fight with Claire now, when he did need to prepare for that meeting. He'd had a lot of assistants that didn't even know he had to prepare for big meetings, and it had always been a pain in the ass.

By the time Claire's first day of work was done, Tony was suitably impressed. He hadn't gone out of his way to make things difficult, but he also wasn't a kid anymore. It was more important for him to get his shit done than it was to see if she could handle him on his worst day; it's not like he'd been at his worst in quite a while, so hopefully she would never be put to the test. Claire had been able to keep up, and she was able to adjust to the way Tony wanted things.

"So," Pepper said, first thing when Tony answered his phone, "what do you think?"

"I'm keeping her."

Pepper's voice was expectedly smug as she replied, "Good to hear. Does that mean I don't have to check in on you tomorrow to make sure your entire schedule hasn't collapsed?"

"Don't go crazy, now," Tony said. "There's always the chance for things to collapse around here."

"Still, I think I'll take my chances. This is what you get for promoting me."

"Yes, and I'm sure I'll constantly regret it."

"Claire really is good at what she does," Pepper said.

"And what exactly is it that she does? I took a peek at her resume, and there was nothing about being an assistant on there."

"If you read her resume, surely you could figure it out."

"I skimmed it," Tony said. Mostly, he'd been looking to see who else she'd been an assistant for, and he'd found no one. He hadn't looked further than that.

"She used to do administrative work," Pepper said, since she knew that Tony was more likely to pester her for an answer than he was to go back to her resume and look for himself.

"Then what's she doing here?"

"The last charity she helped turned out to be less than kosher. She wants a break."

"Ah." Tony could understand that. He'd taken some time off from the company when he felt like everything he'd done had been a colossal failure. Granted it hadn't been what SI needed at the time, but he understood needing a break all the same. That being said, he hoped she stayed longer than just a 'break'. Good assistants were hard to come by. "I'm still not convinced you didn't clone her so you could be in two places at once."

"If I could clone myself, one of me would be resting at all times," Pepper said, which was a good point, but Tony couldn't relate. If he had two of himself, he'd be able to get so much more work done.

"Mister Stark, there’s a flight you have to be on in half an hour."

"It's my plane, isn't it? Can't it just leave whenever I show up?"

"Would you like to personally explain to flight control why your schedule is more important than the hundred other planes in the area?" Claire asked, reaching for her phone.

Tony knew that she wasn't bluffing. He'd thought she was bluffing the first half dozen times they'd done this, but he'd finally learned his lesson. "No, no, that's fine," he said, hurriedly saving the document that was up and tossing tools back in the closest box-- DUM-E would fix it if it was the wrong one. "Look at me, I'm closing everything down. I'm practically out the door."

Claire put her phone back in her pocket. "Your bag is already packed and on the plane," she said, pulling her tablet up and tapping at it. "Would you like to continue expanding your modern art collection?"

"The Pollock, right?"

"Yes."

"What do you think?"

"It's overpriced, and you already have some of his work. I think your collection would be perfectly fine without it."

Tony was tempted to say that he wanted it anyways. "Eh, pass on it, then."

"When you get back, you have a presentation you need to work on, and you're supposed to do a walkthrough of the R&D labs in Manhattan."

"Ugh, can't we do one miserable job at a time?"

"You like the walkthroughs," Claire said, her voice devoid of any frustration, but he knew her well enough by now to see the spark in her eyes.

"I meant the presentation, but sure, we can talk about the walkthroughs," Tony said with a shrug. He walked to the door, and Claire followed. "There's nothing good about New York. The weather's horrible; I think it's effected all of their brains. Seriously, you should see some of the designs they've come up with lately."

"I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a good design and a bad one," she reminded him.

"I think you'd be able to tell the difference anyways," he muttered.

Claire didn't let him take a seperate car the way he wanted to, and he understood why when she continued briefing him on the upcoming weapon's demonstration and what he'd be doing when he got back.

When they stopped, she gave a friendly wave to Jim and told Tony, "Try to come back on time. I have a feeling we'll both be annoyed if I have to rework it if you miss your flight."

Funnily enough, it was one of the things Tony thought about when he woke up in the cave. Not the first time. The first time, he was in pain and trying to figure out where the hell he was and what the fuck had happened. The second or third day though, before he knew what he was going to do, he thought about Claire saying that, and he laughed.

Yinsen looked at him and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Something my assistant said before I left," he said, shaking his head.

When he got back to the States, Pepper and Claire were both waiting as he walked down the ramp. Pepper, he had expected. He was surprised to see Claire, though. He'd thought that she would've moved on to a different job, since being his assistant had been a temporary position for her.

He exchanged a few words with Pepper that amounted to 'I care about you and that scared me out of my wits'. Then he turned to Claire. Her eyes were similarly red-rimmed, as Pepper's had been, and she'd pulled her hair back instead of straightening it like she usually did.

"So, is my schedule in complete disarray?" he asked.

"You have no idea. I did um, clear any personal appearances for the next six months."

"I'm not that injured."

"There's a lot to catch up on after you're back to work. Personal appearances are not a priority."

Tony would be lying if he said he wasn't excited to get out of personal appearances-- they were easily his least favorite part of what he did for the company.

"I agree," Pepper said, coming back with Happy by her side. "The most important thing right now is to make sure you're okay. Happy's going to take us to the hospital."

"No."

"What?" Claire said, frowning at him-- and she wasn't the only one.

"Tony, you have to go to the hospital. Jim passed along your medical report from the military doctors, and he made it clear that you need another visit."

"Medical files are confidential, so you're both guessing that I need another visit," Tony said, even though he knew that Rhodey had looked at the details. He didn't want anyone poking around the arc reactor in his chest, and that included doctors.

Claire's frown deepened, like she knew he was hiding something.

Pepper and Happy started in on him about how he had to go to the hospital, and if he tried to refuse, they were going to drag him there. Tony knew that it was an empty threat, but he also knew that they would do their level best to force him. If it got bad enough, they'd probably hire someone to come to his house, which he was even less a fan of.

Claire being exactly who she was, put it in Tony's schedule, along with a visit to a therapist. It was someone who usually only worked with actors and musicians, but it meant that they were trustworthy to not spill any secrets.

Tony negotiated yes to the doctor, and no to the therapist. Claire nodded, and then scheduled a different therapist for two weeks later. When Tony got upset with her, she glared at him. Claire had never glared at him before, and then she said, "What part of 'kidnapped' has gone over your head? It's a little thing we like to call 'trauma'. Even if you go once and he says you're fine, you need to go."

"If I agree to go to that appointment, will you go with me to the benefit tomorrow?"

"Deal."

"Deal," Tony echoed with a grin. Pepper had said she'd go to the benefit on his behalf, but since she'd gotten her own invitation, he didn't think that would work. She wouldn't be there on his behalf; she'd just be there.

Claire dealt with the discovery of the armor pretty well-- a lot better than Pepper did, when she ended up finding out-- which surprised Tony. He'd thought that she'd freak out. What surprised Tony more was when she hauled off and punched Stane in the face. The man was in a massive metal suit, and Claire punched him. It didn't solve the situation and Tony still had to go repulsor to repulsor with him so that he was incapacitated when Shield got there to arrest him, but it was beautiful to behold.

"I can't believe you punched him," Tony said, trying to ignore all the feelings that wanted to send him into hiding. He'd known Stane his entire life, and... god, he didn't know what he was going to do. Claire had talked about investigations and lost inventory, and Tony was just trying to hold himself together.

"It didn't do much good," Claire said. She shifted the ice pack on her knuckles to a more comfortable position.

"Still, it was nice to see." Tony loved Pepper, but she didn't really do violence. Claire, on the other hand, hadn't hesitated. Tony had one hundred percent not expecting it. Claire had squared up like she was always ready for an eventuality like this. "You know, we never had that drink."

"I considered the attack on terrorists that night to be a good replacement for talking over drinks," she said, slanting a smile at him.

"You've got a weird idea about dates."

"Is that what you getting me a drink was supposed to be? A date?"

"Well technically, you going to the benefit with me was a date. The drink was to make it better."

"And since we left the drinks behind so you could give the armor a test drive, I think it counts as a continuation of the date," Claire said.

"You realize I have to quit now, right?" Claire said.

"What? No, absolutely not."

She rolled her eyes at him, but the fact that she was spending a lazy morning after in his bed took off the sting. "I am not going to be in a relationship with my boss."

"Aw, c'mon, you went on a date with your boss, and we both know that this isn't a matter of sexual favors and preferential treatment. What does it matter if you keep working for me?"

"I'm either going to date you or be your assistant. I'm not doing both."

"But you're so good at being my assistant," Tony whined.

Claire snorted. "In between your Iron Man duties and the company, you need two assistants. I'm not qualified to be two people. Besides, I found a charity I'm willing to work with, and I have an interview next week."

"When were you going to tell me that you were quitting?" Tony asked, failing to not sound offended.

"Last night. You distracted me."

"I think you have to give two weeks notice for this sort of thing." Having never been employed by someone other than his own company, he wasn't sure, but he'd heard about it enough times that he thought it was true.

"I told both Pepper and Human Resources, and they are looking for a new assistant fo you as we speak. Well, HR is. Pepper's probably busy with her own work, since it's not her job to find you an assistant."

Tony frowned. "She found you."

"We're friends, and I told her when I quit my last job. She didn't act as a head hunter and seek me out."

"Huh." He hadn't known about that, and he felt like he should have. "You're friends?"

"From college." She pushed herself up and stretched her arms.

Tony tugged her back down, grinning at the exasperated look she gave him. "Since I'm still your boss, I can say that our work day hasn't started yet."

"My day always starts before yours, otherwise you-" she tapped his chest pointedly "-wouldn't be anywhere on time."

"Fine, I won't get up until noon. That gives you until eleven or something, right? Right. So we can stay in bed until then, and-"

"You are ridiculous," Claire said, then she kissed him. "And I'm getting up, work or no work."

"I can't believe I signed up for this," Tony groaned.

#tony stark #claire dearing #marvel #jurassic world #fanfic #my writing

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risingsouls · 3 years

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Recruited: Chapter 3

[I finally finished this. I knew because it had combat in it, it would take me a bit longer, but surprisingly, that part wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. And was pretty fun to write. :3

Anyway, long one here but we’re makin’ progress!]

Nabooru

Only Nabooru’s innate sense of direction and memory from Zarbon’s tour helped her find her way back to her room once she came to after the procedure, and the numbers that once seemed foreign on the pad next to her door felt as innate as if she learned them alongside her basic arithmetic in her youth back home. A sign the chip worked, if nothing else. Small and windowless, her room was as inviting as a prison cell and only half a foot remained between her fingertips and each wall when she spread them out. The bed in the corner at least looked long enough, but was less than half as wide as that she slumbered in back home, and a press of her palm on the thin mattress made her miss the plush pillows and blankets that cradled her along with the feather-filled mattress all the more. A counter spanned along the wall across the foot of the bed adjacent to the door and she rested her bag there where she would unpack it at a later, more wakeful time.

Had she not sat on the edge of her bed and considered whether she had the energy to strip down before falling asleep, she noted the set of mirrored double doors across from her. Curiosity defeated her drowsiness and, with the press of the button, she opened it up. Inside, she found spare changes of her uniform in the same colors and styles as well as a few sets of a drab gray fabric. Unfolding them revealed them to be sleepwear of sorts with shorts in the same style and fabric as her armor and a sleeveless top that, when she swapped her armor out for the new outfit, found the top to be looser and more comfortable for sleep than the skin-tight battle suit. The top was a little on the short side, a quarter of her toned midriff on display, but, even if she did care, she didn’t have the capacity to consider taking it up with Zarbon or anyone else.

The sleep Nabooru managed could only be attributed to the residual drugs left in her system as her nerves over not understanding how to tell time woke her several times. After the third, she fought the remnants of exhaustion and remained awake, changing back into her uniform and heading to the classroom where she would begin her lessons. Sunshine or something like it eventually glimmered through the window, but she could only guess how long she waited there in the empty space, fiddling with the device fitted to the side of her head in the meantime.

A signal sounded what she guessed was the first meal and, after another half hour, perhaps, the whir of the door pulled her from a confusing rabbit hole of commands she had sifted through on the scouter. A short, squatty alien with yellow-splotched orange skin and at least a half dozen tentacled arms dangling around him like a frilled collar shuffled into the room, casting her little more than a haughty, disapproving glance through watery and bulging eyes. He introduced himself as Plumme and steamrolled straight into the first lesson. Despite his demeanor, Plumme proved more patient than she expected. Still, by the time the signal for the second meal sounded through the complex, her head was pounding from hours of cramming nonstop and new information about the technology she would become familiar with, how the business worked, the history of the Cold Empire and the PTO, and the limitless depths of space.

Once dismissed until the same time the next morning, she trudged to the mess hall, using both her memory and the map function in her scouter for practice in using it outside of lessons. With a full afternoon of training--a far more exciting prospect than her morning regimen--she would need her strength. She ignored the expected stares and not-so-discrete comments about her looks or newbie status in favor of focusing on the array of strange foods and scents laid out along the line and piling them onto her tray as others in front of her did. She skirted around the tables and soldiers to commandeer an empty one. With limited time, she didn’t fuss with what she shoved into her mouth, only sliding something to the side if it threatened to lurch back up before it could make it to her belly.

Out of both excitement for the prospect of training her combat skills over bombarding her mind and concern over the consequences of being late, she followed the example of other soldiers in disposing of her scraps and tray and hurried back to the classroom where she was instructed to meet her trainer. From there, they would take her to a training area of their choice. Plumme suggested it would be one of the multiple training rooms with infinite virtual simulations for any combat situation one could dream up. Convenient, artificial, and efficient, as everything seemed to be there.

When she turned the last corner, she couldn't help but snort at the irony of who she found leaned against the wall outside of the classroom. The fluorescent lights overhead reflected off his bald dome, and his folded arms over his broad chest and frown that followed the growth of his mustache denoted less than excitement for the task set to him. She supposed she would have a hard time heeding Zarbon's warning to stay away from him and his cohorts--Saiyans, he called them--if he was to instruct her for the next month.

Turning his head, his sour expression melted away, a smirk replacing it in a split second. "I was beginning to think you chickened out," he said as she halted by his side. "Would have been unfortunate considering we don't get many lookers like you around here."

Nabooru's eyelids lowered, and she considered putting him through the wall. Not five seconds into their first meeting and he already had the gall to flirt with her. "I noticed. I haven't seen one person around here that isn't a total eyesore." Recognition dawned slow over his features, and Nabooru adopted his smirk in light of it. Before he could retort, she cut him off. "So you're the one training me, huh? Where are the other two who were with you?"

"Sure am. I'd be more upset about another nanny gig if they had shoved anyone else on me. Looks aside, your power level is something else for a new recruit, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in seeing what you're made of. Frieza said your people are similar to Saiyans, too. Now I get a front row seat to see just how well that holds up." He turned and signaled for her to follow with a crook of two large fingers. "You mean Vegeta and Raditz? Off on some job or other s'far as I know. I'm sure they'll be missing me when they realize how much slack they have to pick up. And jealous when they find out I get to spend half a day with you instead of having to look at their ugly mugs."

Nabooru bit her tongue to stifle a sassy retort, deciding it best to stay on his good side for the time being. He seemed easy-going enough, but she wanted to get the most out of her training, not give him reason to sabotage it. "Guess you're getting a nice little vacation then until I get to beat the tar out of you in a spar," she said, grinning in the face of the sneer he shot her. So much for not poking the molduga. "What do you have planned for me, er...what should I call you?"

"Master Nappa has a nice ring to it." They halted in front of a pair of doors. Nappa and the guard on duty exchanged a nod. The guard opened up the doors to a ramp sloping down to a desolate, red-soiled surface. Craggy cliffs and spires of rock jutted into the teal skyline. "Or just master is great, too."

"I'm not calling you master," Nabooru quipped, following him down the ramp. Rust-colored dust stained her once pristine boots upon reaching the planet's surface, but she welcomed it along with the first hint of a proper breeze on her skin and passingly fresh air in her lungs. "Let's compromise the other way and go with Nappa. That or I'll think of something you won't like."

Nappa rubbed a hand along his square jaw. "You drive a hard bargain, lady. But fine. I'm still going to refer to myself as your master though, and you as my pupil." His feet left the ground to hover above it. "You can at least fly, right?"

She followed his lead in answer. "My name is Nabooru. Not lady."

“Not a bad name, I guess. A little weird...”

He took to the sky and Nabooru followed suit, using the silence between them to observe the planet she now called home, even if only temporarily. It sounded like she would move around quite a bit. Outside of the complex, the further they flew, the more sure she became that it was completely barren and devoid of other life. The remnants of what could have been buildings and civilization suggested it may not have always been that way. Optimism had her wanting to believe Frieza and his men had found the planet already abandoned, but the bits of knowledge she had scraped together from Zarbon and her morning lessons suggested the planet was purposefully and violently cleared to harbor this base.

“Here’s a good spot.”

Nabooru nearly collided with his massive back in her sightseeing, narrowly avoiding the embarrassment by floating to his side instead. “Is there something I’m supposed to see here?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow, arms folded. It looked much the same as the rest of the planet. “Plumme mentioned a training room. Why aren’t we using that?”

“You ask too many questions,” he muttered gruffly, facing her and mirroring her cross-armed posture. “We’re training with ki, we need the room, and I’m not here to half-ass your training. How’s that for a reason?”

“Touchy.”

The Saiyan grumbled more, and her lips twitched in another smile when she just made out a threat to make her suffer through this training. Though she wanted a good challenge, she decided to wait and see what he might throw at her without egging him on for more. She wanted to give him a fair chance to put her to the test of his own accord.

“From what I understand, you’ve got the basics of ki under your belt, right?” Nabooru nodded. “Good then this will be fun.”

Nabooru raised an eyebrow as Nappa scanned their surroundings, searching for she could only guess what in this barren wasteland. His roving eyes eventually halted, and she followed his gaze to a stalagmite twice her height jutting out of a field of smaller ones surrounding it. "Perfect.”

Her brows lowered, lips turned down in a baffled grimace, observing the stalagmite and the field of smaller ones surrounding it. Were they going to spar over it? She faced a bloody demise if he knocked her into it hard enough. She shuddered at the image of her mangled body pierced on the formations. "What does a bunch of rocks have to do with ki training?”

"Are you questioning my teaching methods?" She started to reply with a snarky affirmative, but the Saiyan cut her off. "You’re going to use your ki to keep yourself levitated over that rock there." He tilted his head toward the largest of the formations. “And no, not by flying before you try that on me. You’re going to concentrate your energy into your finger and use it to keep yourself from being impaled and without destroying the rock. You’ll do that for an hour. You cheat, boost yourself too high, or fall, we start the hour over.”

She hoped for a challenge, and Nappa had delivered. Controlling her ki in such a way, keeping it at a low enough level while also strong enough to keep herself aloft would take skill and focus. Controlling her ki for a long period which would benefit her ability to maintain it in a fight. While it wouldn’t utilize the maximum reaches of her ki power wise, she could see the benefit of learning to use it in more concentrated ways. With this exercise likely serving as a warm up, she both dreaded and looked forward to what else he had in store for her.

Boots lifted from the ground and she drifted up to the stalagmite. With at least an hour of this ahead of her, she wanted to waste no time. She doubted failing to measure up to whatever standards Frieza had in mind for her would bode well for her. She needed every minute she could glean to improve herself. Learn how to utilize her ki to the very finest uses and in the ways best for her new station.

Gripping the tip of the stalagmite, she hoisted herself up onto it, legs extended to the sky and one arm holding her up. The stone that made up her pedestal was sturdier than she imagined, her touch doing little to disturb its integrity. Bolstered, she shifted up onto her fingertip and adjusted her body's balance accordingly. She had to approach the next phase with the utmost care. Too little energy would fail to lift her, and too much would destroy the pillar entirely. Neither conducive outcomes toward her training as both would waste time. Thus, she fed the barest amount of ki into her fingertip, orange light flickering at the tip of her glove. Again and again she repeated this process, adding minimal increments of energy until it lifted her finger from the point. Not until an inch of orange-yellow light glowed between leather and rock did she pause, memorizing how it felt and what it would take to maintain the pose. Ensuring it was only that point that held her aloft. Keeping an eye on the stalagmite itself for signs of breakage.

"This high enough?" She asked Nappa at last, lifting her head to find the Saiyan lounging on a boulder, arms folded and observing her with the hint of a smirk. Sweat already beaded on her forehead, embarrassing after only a few minutes. If she made it through the hour, she would be drenched before they did anything active.

"Sure is. You got that faster than I thought you would." He tapped his scouter. "I was pretty sure we'd have to find at least one more rock to use. Guess you're a whole lot more patient than Vegeta when he was a kid. Hell, probably now, too."

She dropped her head again, not wanting to waste any energy on holding it up. "So this is a regular exercise for your training camp, huh? Here I thought I was special."

"Heh, yep. Vegeta and Raditz went through this as brats. Vegeta obliterated the first three rocks we tried with, probably on purpose. Raditz got caught in the crossfire and would have to start over with him." He chuckled, the memory obviously a fond one. "Finally got 'em to do it right, but it only lasted a week. You'll get to start each session this way for a month."

"So you're saying I could throw a temper tantrum and get out of doing this?"

"Not a chance."

She blew out a puff of air. "Worth a try."

Silent minutes ticked by, the sound of the breeze between the canyon walls and Nappa shifting in his seat once in while all that interrupted them. She had begun to feel the strain the constant flow of energy took on her, and it began to overtake her attention to remaining aloft. She glanced to Nappa. "So are you their father?" she asked, hoping the conversation would take her mind off of the settling fatigue.

He snorted. "Hell no. You really think either of them could be my kid?" She rolled her eyes and he continued. "Nah, I was just the only adult Saiyan left so I got stuck with caring for the two squirts."

"Wait." She lifted her head again and righted the flutter of her energy before her surprise got her impaled. "You three are the last of your race? What happened to the rest of them?"

Nappa grunted and frowned, eyes closing beneath a furrowed brow. "Planet was destroyed by a meteor years ago. S'far as we know, we were the only survivors. The prince, his retainer, and a bushy haired runt that just got lucky. Though, I guess we all did."

Her stomach churned. She knew what it was like for her people to be on the brink of potential destruction. These three lived through the worst case scenario of it. The actualization of the doomsday scenes her mind had conjured for her race in dream and waking alike for the last several years.

"How did you survive?" Though only two days into her career, she did understand that people couldn't breathe in space. Not to mention the survival of a planet's destruction would be slim so she thought.

"Like I said. Luck, really." Nabooru lifted her head enough to see the tinge of what she assumed was pain or regret flash over his otherwise neutral expression. "The three of us were off planet at the time. The king and Frieza had made some kind of agreement. For whatever reason, his power I'm guessing, Frieza wanted Vegeta close by. Maybe for grooming to be one of his generals one day, who really knows. That meant he got me, too, as the prince's caretaker. The king's request so I could keep an eye on him. He was just a brat back then, you know. Raditz was off on a mission. We found him floating where the planet used to be. His pod's autopilot took him back there."

Nabooru breathed out a sigh and watched a drop of sweat drip from the tip of her nose and into the stalagmite trap below. She bit her tongue on her sympathy, knowing had their roles been reversed, she wouldn't want to hear some stranger's apologies or endure their coddling. Once more, she felt an innate pull to Nappa and his cohorts with little information on them, the need to form bonds with someone in this new, daunting environment rearing its head as it had in their first, brief encounter. She couldn't afford those relationships, flimsy attachments that could disappear in the blink of an eye and be used against her.

Besides, they had each other. The last three of their kind. She was the one perfectly alone there.

"What are your people like, huh? Frieza said you guys reminded him of us."

The question felt like a twisted dagger in her heart. She hadn't realized she felt homesick until that moment, her new schedule keeping her busy and her mind occupied. She felt a hitch upward in her ki and she quelled it quickly before it could send her skyward or damage the stalagmite. She shook her head to erase the visions of the desert, the temple, her friends, mother, and lover. She had to stay strong. For them. A whiny baby begging to go home would be met with a cold shoulder at best.

"We're warriors. The greatest on the planet without contest. Even more so now that we can use ki. All women save for the one male born each century." She heard a curiously pleased rumble from the Saiyan and she snapped, "Don't get any stupid ideas. And don't think too much into the plausibility of that. The legends point to one of our goddess but no one really knows how it happens. Hyrule doesn't have much in the way of technology or all this scientific advancement. So if there's a more concrete reason, we wouldn't know of it."

"Heh, sounds like that male is pretty lucky, then." Nabooru shot him a glare, causing him to chuckle. "Alright, keep your shorts on. So what lucky happenstance put you guys and your planet on Frieza's radar? With no technology and warriors with no knowledge of ki, that leaves little left for him to take interest."

Had she not been afraid the motion would throw her off balance, she would have shrugged. “Resources are what the scouts concluded, I think. I guess with so much of the planet untouched, they found plenty they could use.” She bent her legs at the knees for a few seconds before straightening them out again. “They found out about our troubles with the other races on the planet, and Frieza made us a deal: his soldiers teach us how to use ki so we could overthrow the current monarchy in power and free ourselves, and in exchange, they rule the planet in his stead and he gets me to add to his ranks.”

Nappa pondered her explanation, tapping his fingers on his bicep. “There are worse deals, I guess. I don’t suppose you know how that turned out?”

“No. We had undergone about a month of training before Frieza showed up and said he wanted me.”

“Lucky you,” Nappa said with a snort, and Nabooru didn’t disagree with the evident sarcasm. Before either could continue, Nappa’s scouter beeped thrice, and he tapped the button on the side. “Well, congratulations. You completed your warm up.”

Nabooru sighed in relief and eased herself back down, grasping the top of the stalagmite again and righting her orientation. She floated back down to land in front of Nappa, a slight drain on her reserves of energy evident with just that simple task. A kink to work out if she wanted to last and become a true force to be reckoned with.

"Now what? Are you going to spar with me?"

The Saiyan snorted again and reached into this armor, bringing out a glass vial. Small, green spheres floated in a paler shaded liquid. "Maybe another day. For now, you'll be fighting these Saibamen. Should be around your power level. Unlike me, these are expendable."

"So you're scared?" Nabooru taunted with a grin as Nappa squatted down and pressed the spheres into the ground and sprinkled the liquid over them. Curiosity stifled the rest of her taunts. "Are those plants? You're making me fight plants?"

“Heh, something like that.” Not a moment later did the dampened ground crack where he placed the seeds. What resembled bulbous cabbages plowed through the ground. Three-clawed hands raked along the ground and pulled out short, gangly bodies. They let out a cacophony of ear-splitting shrieks, and Nabooru clapped her hands over her ears.

"What are those things?" she shouted. She let her hands fall back to her sides when the creatures closed their mouths, devious little grins on their faces.

Nappa dropped the vial back into his armor. "These are called Saibamen. They’ll be your opponents. I want to see how well and how much you already incorporate ki into your own brand of combat." He grinned at her. "And what better way than with multiple enemies."

Her initial impression was that they didn't look like much. Scrawny and fragile things easily disposed of. However, she remembered that he said they had a power level close to her own, and though she still didn't quite understand what sort of statistics composed a power level, she knew better than to take them too lightly. Nappa's warm up exercise hadn't been a walk through a field of flowers, after all.

With a nod, she drifted out into a wider space, creating distance between herself and her new opponents as well as her spectating instructor. She bent her knees and shifted into a comfortable fighting stance, her weight balanced and both arms raised. "Ready when you are."

"You heard her. Go have some fun, ya runts!"

They needed no convincing. The six Saibamen shot straight for with another chorus of those shrieks, their speed notable but nothing she couldn't handle. Instinct kicked in as she dodged and blocked their flurry of kicks and punches while bearing the brunt of those she couldn't contend with, the pain of them registering for no more than a moment as she focused on taking down her opponents. The first order of business being moving from defense to offense before they wore her down and overpowered her with their numbers.

She caught one of them by the wrist and slammed it into the one nearest one, sending two skittering off several meters from her and the rest of the mob. The bite of claws dug into the meat of her thigh and another landed a kick to her opposite side before she could block the next punch aimed her her face with a raised forearm. Orange-yellow energy built in her free palm and she shot a sphere of it at the one who had drawn blood. She swung a powerful kick at the one in front of her, catching it and another up in the sweeping arc and sending them flying away from her.

Though only one remained in her immediate vicinity, she knew she had very precious few seconds before the other piled back in. Orange energy enveloped her and she shot backward, eyes flitting to each enemy and noting their location, how quickly they would recuperate to continue their onslaught. The first two had recovered and fired toward her, one with its own yellow ki blasts forming in its hands. The others were already regaining their feet.

She thought back to the desert, to the first time she did some real damage with her newfound abilities. The feeling of the energy it took to blow the top half clean off one of the larger plateaus dotting the desert landscape flowing from the vat of it within her to the palm of her hands. A similar attack could deal with the two speeding toward her. If not completely, it would weaken them enough to give her an opening to finish them off.

Her orange-yellow ki built in her hands at her sides and pushed them both out in front of her, firing the blast toward the advancing Saibamen. The light swallowed the fired blasts from one and the plant creatures followed suit, their shrieks of pain short lived as they disintegrated into nothing. A third had hastily tried to hop into the fray and gotten caught in the blast, leaving only the right half of its body to fall to the dusty ground. A gruesome sight that made her insides squirm, but she didn't have time to stare or consider how many more she would mutilate in such a way in this new position. How many wouldn't be just training fodder like these creatures.

The remaining Saibamen reminded her of the miniscule window in punishing fashion. A fist caught her side and knocked her off balance and sideways, her armor only seeming to absorb some of the blow. A second waited to boot her straight into the air. Before she could right herself the third zipped upward to bash his joined hands into her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her and sending her careening to the ground. Her back slammed the surface, spittle and blood emitting from her lips on impact and a spiderweb of cracks cascading outward from her body.

Another beep of her scouter told her what she already knew. Ignoring the pain in sore muscle and bone, Nabooru rolled to her feet as one of the monsters slammed a fist into the ground where her head had been, the indentation left deep. She threw her elbow back into another that tried to sucker punch her in the spine and used the moment of surprise in the first to fire another wave of ki at it. Another shriek and it was reduced to dust, leaving two alive and her patience running ever thinner.

She flipped around to face the one behind her, only just recovering from her elbow connecting hard with its face. He was chattering angrily in its nonsensical language and brushing the last bit of bluish ooze from its face. Nabooru fired forward again. Energy surged to her right fist as she aimed a heavy punch for its gut. She saw the confusion on its face when her punch landed and tore through green flesh, bone, muscles, and organs like paper and through to the other side. Once more she had to suppress her own surprise and the lunch she ate when she considered what she did and yanked her arm free of the creature to engage the final opponent.

It was just a beast. Just like the monsters in Hyrule.

She flicked the cyan blood from her glove and faced the final Saibaman, the fear on its face palpable and it's desire to flee written in its eyes. To prevent the chance, she closed the gap between them, gathering energy as she did. Once at point blank range, she released it. Awful as it felt to some degree, she preferred this tactic. Complete obliteration that felt less personal. Less messy. Less to look at in the aftermath and feel guilt over.

When the dust settled, she heard the applause of large hands and Nappa's boisterous laughter. "You really give new meaning to the term bombshell! You did better than I expected, honestly." He folded his arms with a smirk. "There's still work to be done, but I'm glad I have a better base to work with than I was expecting. You handle yourself like a true warrior out there. Nappa's pupil, the next up and comer in the Frieza Force. Has a real nice ring to it."

"It's only what I trained my whole life for," she replied, though the proud smile was more than apparent on her lips. She hoped it made her look less worn out than she felt. "So what's next?"

"Heh, raring to go, are ya?" Nappa pulled the vial out of his armor again. "Alright. I like it. We're going to do the same thing, but this time, I want you to stay airborne as much as possible. Think you can handle that?"

In truth, the Gerudo wasn't certain. Her experience with fighting while flying were minimal. Not to mention the ever-growing exhaustion. But she refused to tell him that. She would rise to the challenge.

“Plant another round, Nappa. I’m ready.”

#fic: recruited #:: nabooru ☀#// vegeta ♅#| nappa ♅#i worry i didn't make her struggle enough but #whatever :'D #next chapter she'll really get put through the ringer promise

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ngame989 · 5 years

Text

“Soul” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 9

Writing: @ngame989

Art: @toxicpsychox

Editing: @ubercelloczar, @toxicpsychox, @seddm

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: It's that time of the year for another Soulrise, and Tom throws Marco the birthday bash of a lifetime to celebrate, but Marco realizes that underneath all the joy and celebration Tom has a storm of emotions brewing inside. When Star gets dragged into some mysterious mission on the surface, it's up to Marco to realize just what's been bothering his demon friend.

Comic Page

Masterpost

And we're back with another chapter! Things are ramping up a bit, and we have plans for probably the next dozen chapters in the works already with a few special events in the mix. Thanks for sticking around, and stay tuned for more. Hope you enjoy!

“A little to the left.” Tom hovered above the door and moved a massive cloud of dark blue balloons slightly over in the wrong direction, glancing up at her to check. “My left, honey.” He nodded and shifted them back. A little more, a little more, and… “There. Nice work, Tommypoo,” Wrathmelior affectionately growled in her native tongue while reaching down to rustle her smiling son’s hair. When Tom suggested throwing a party for a friend she hadn’t met yet, the same boy who had been the subject of quite a few mother-son heart-to-hearts in years past, some old concerns had bubbled up in the back of her mind. But she couldn’t bear saying no for long, and it wasn’t long until she was more than happy to volunteer the Lucitor lake house for the occasion.

Tom’s enigmatic friend Janna popped her head out the front door with a sly grin that would put many of the devils Wrathmelior personally knew to shame. “Yo Tommypoo, can I get a hand at the snack table?”

All three of his eyes popped open and cast intense glares back and forth between Janna and Wrathmelior. “You even taught her that?” he groaned incredulously at the latter.

Wrathmelior smiled apologetically. “Sorry, sweetie. She’s quite persuasive.” Janna had been spending enough time in the Underworld that Wrathmelior had given her a few crash courses in conversational demonic, enough to get by on her own when she tagged along with whatever Tom was doing in the kingdom. Though she was still difficult to figure out, they got along swimmingly. So many humans seemed either too scared or concerningly excited about the lava, wings, and horns they might encounter down below, and Janna’s cool enthusiasm was refreshingly welcome.

“Guilty as charged.” Janna pointed finger guns at Tom as he walked through the door and they disappeared into the house.

Wrathmelior went into the more appropriately sized entrance into the kitchen, where by the time she arrived Tom and Janna were putting out plates and napkins. Her husband was there as well and had apparently been receiving a cooking lesson from Star for some time now, judging by the lecture she was giving him. “-can’t do this too early or the chips will get totally mushy and gross. Crunchy chips, molten cheese, crisp pico - all required elements for any Marco-approved nachos.” Star instructed before bending down to grab a tray full of chips out of the oven, setting it down on the counter next to the other supplies. “If you pour juuuuuust right, the cheese will get all in between the chips so you get a little with every bite.” Dave solemnly followed her work as the jumbo bowl was filled with a quantity of triangle chips, yellow goop, and vegetables that gave even the full-sized demon pause. “Voilà! Star’s Super Spectacular Nachos!” Everyone grabbed a sample chip, and just as she said, a little bit of everything seemed to work its way through the dish.

“Mmmmph,” Dave grunted. “These are good. Star, can you teach the castle staff how to make this marvelous thing?”

“Honestly, I’m not that good at it, Marco and I have just been cooking a ton lately. Campus food is both really expensive and really crummy.” Star stuck her tongue out in disgust. While the others, Wrathmelior included, tried and failed to stop eating, Star wandered through the living room and looked around at all the decorations and party games that had been set up, her grin only growing wider as she did.

Tom leaned against the stairs with his hands in the pockets of his teal shorts, smirked as he coolly observed the room. “We are preeeeetty good party planners, aren’t we?”

“Aww yeah we are!” Star skipped over and bumped shoulders with Tom. “But honestly this was mostly you. Marco’s gonna love it.”

“You think?” Tom’s cocky demeanor fell away to the earnestness underneath. “Ah, it was nothing. I mean, sure, we’ve got a private beachfront property, the most state of the art ping-pong tables in the world, a live Love Sentence cover band… I mean, who wouldn’t do this for their friend’s 17th birthday?”

Janna slurped the stretchy cheese off her last chip before chiming in from the kitchen. “You’ve been spending, like, every waking moment on it, dude. Feels like we haven’t even hung out in weeks, buuuut it is pretty cool. Remind me to call you when I’m in the mood to throw a grave rave.” He flashed a casual toothy smirk, but there was an extra glint in his eyes that caught Wrathmelior’s attention. Janna sauntered into the living room to join the others. “So what’s the special occasion, Tom?”

Whatever that look had meant, it was quickly replaced with sheer confusion. “Uh, Marco’s birthday? Did you get bit by a Hippocampotamus or something? Those things are nasty.”

The Earth girl rolled her eyes. “I mean why all the fuss? This is basically the one human teenage birthday that isn’t extra special.”

“Whatever. Just wanted to throw an ultra awesome party for one of my best friends because he’s a super cool guy.” He quickly averted his gaze, eyes drifting around the room until they stopped on the elegant family grandfather clock. “Probably about that time, ready for me to send you back?” he asked, glancing sideways at Star.

“Oooooone sec.” Star ruffled her hands through her hair, brushed sand out of her light blue blouse, and stuffed her sunhat and sunglasses into her purse. “Sand would blow my cover.” Pillars of fire erupted in the wide open area of the living room as Tom’s eyes glowed, and the familiar carriage he’d built himself once upon a time quickly spawned from the ground. “See you in a few!” Star climbed into the seat; one sizzling rush of air later and she was gone. The irony of Star using the vehicle Tom had delicately crafted once upon a time in the service of wooing her to pick up her human boyfriend wasn’t lost on Wrathmelior, but there was no point to harboring any negativity if Tom was happy with it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Wrathmelior saw a smug Janna sneaking up behind Tom. He lightly shrieked when she slapped him on the back. “Good job, Lucitor. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go set up the traditional Diaz prank. I’m pulling out all the stops this year.” When she opened her jacket, his eyes widened at the various weapons, gadgets, skulls, and animals hiding within. One of them stuck its furry head out. “I became the alpha possum just a few weeks ago. Scooter here can smell red hoodies through walls, isn’t that right?” She scratched the creature’s head before closing the olive jacket back up. “So, you want in?”

“Nah,” he scoffed, waving his hands dismissively. “You go ahead, do your thing. Wouldn’t want to get in the way of the master.”

“You flatter me. Suit yourself, see ya,” Janna shrugged and slinked off elsewhere in the cabin, leaving just the Lucitor family behind. Tom milled about the cabin making minute adjustments to the decorations and furniture, seemingly to kill time more than anything. What had him so worked up? There was no time for Wrathmelior to ponder this question, though, as a loud swoosh from the outside signalled the arrival of the carriage before she could even collect her thoughts.

Tom perked up and bolted out the door while Wrathmelior took the larger exit out the side. Just as the carriage doors opened, Tom snapped his fingers and summoned a black cloth, blinding the boy within whom she presumed to be Marco. “What the heck, man?” Marco curiously started the famous sword-hand dance, but Tom floated over and past him to peek into the chassis.

“Wait, where’s Star?”

“Moon needed her for a little bit, she said she’d be ready pretty soon but said I should go ahead. Can you get this thing off me?”

“Right, right, sorry,” he stuttered while fumbling with the knot until it came undone. “Anyway, welcome to the Lucitor family lake house!”

“Surprise!” The Lucitors spoke in unison, although Wrathmelior knew she wouldn’t be understood. “Happy birthday!”

His eyes widened in wonder at the massive quantity of balloons and the big sign that greeted him. “Wooooah, you guys, you didn’t have to!”

Tom put his arm around Marco’s shoulder and began walking him towards the door. “Don’t worry about it. Oh, Marco, meet my mom and dad, Queen and King Lucitor of the Underworld.”

“My pleasure, young man,” Dave warmly stated as he stepped forward to shake Marco’s hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Wrathmelior growled out with Dave translating.

Marco waved up at her, possessing the same unflinching assuredness that she’d noticed in Janna. “Tom’s told me a lot about you, thanks for having me. Just one question. Is there-”

“Ping-pong?” They said in unison, both their faces breaking into wide smiles before they’d even finished the word.

“If the brand-new Dropshot 720 DX model with real-time trajectory tracking and RGB paddles counts, sure.”

Marco excitedly grabbed Tom by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth. “With optional holographic crowd simulator?”

“Duh. Marco, please, I’m not an amateur.”

“What are we waiting for? The ping ain’t gonna pong itself.”

“We’ve got snacks and music and all sorts of other things, too. Ha, now I feel kinda silly, putting all this together and being the only one here when you show up. I totally understand if you want to go with Star instead, I’d never try to get in the way of, you know, the whole thing you two have.”

The human boy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in response. “Tom, you’re one of my best friends and you’re throwing me a ping-pong birthday party. If you think I don’t want to kick your butt until we’ve broken every last ping-pong ball in the kingdom, you’ve got another thing coming, buddy.” Both glanced down when his stomach loudly rumbled. “...but maybe, um, we start with the snacks.”

Wrathmelior cooed at the exchange as Tom wrapped an arm around Marco’s shoulder and led him into the house. So much had changed in the past few years, both above and below ground. Even if her own home and kingdom had been affected to the same degree as those of the surface-dwellers though, none of it would compare in Wrathmelior’s eyes to what she’d seen out of her son. With the ample time she’d had to reflect since the state of the world settled down, she might even say that he’d been the more mature one between them. The last time she’d played doting demon mom over her son’s relationships had gone… regrettably, to say the least, and it had hurt like heaven when he broke the news of what had happened. Could anyone blame her for wanting things to work out with the girl he’d spent years chasing? Most shocking of all was that he hadn’t even talked to her about it beforehand. Before she could even realize it, he’d grown into a capable young Prince of the Underworld solving his problems all on his own.

“Surprise, Diaz!” The moment of solemn reflection was interrupted by Janna’s voice from inside the house followed by a series of crashes and girlish shrieks. “Go, Scooter, go!” As the chaos unfolded, she could hear Tom simultaneously laughing to the point of breathlessness and blasting fire to defend Marco.

While she still couldn’t help but worry that something seemed off with Tom today - a feeling compounded by how little experience she had not being the first one to know what might be going wrong in his life - it was surprisingly easy to push aside. With the friendships he had, she felt at ease knowing he could handle it.

***

“Lava snakes up above you, Tom!” Marco launched up into the sky with a flurry of sword strikes to stun the enemies while Tom floated over to cover. Tom’s mage dropped icicles from the ceiling to pin the first of the bosses to the ground for Marco to execute. “Thanks.”

Meanwhile, Janna’s character dropped a smokebomb and used the cover to sneak up and eliminate the ranged attackers with his shotgun. “These stupid alien crabs won’t stop spawning,” she growled.

“It’s fine, keep on them. Obsidian lizard to your right, Marco!”

One of Tom’s gifts to Marco had been Threat of Wet 2, the hit sequel to the original action game Threat of Wet. He initially hadn’t been sure if it would be his sort of game but it only took a few minutes of endless heart-pumping mob-slaughtering multiplayer action to be hooked. Even if he was having fun, he wasn’t great at it, judging by the amount of nervous sweat he had to wipe off his brow in a rare free moment between dodging deadly lasers and spikeballs. He used an uppercut to alley-oop the lizard into Tom’s laser blast before dashing and slashing through it for the kill.

“Little help?!?” Janna shouted, tossing a stun grenade at the ravenous pack of creepy jesters clawing at her and rolling under a fallen pillar to regroup with the team. The horde got distracted and chased after one of their mini fighter drones, giving the group a moment of respite.

“Last ones, I think,” Marco said with a grimace. “Not sure what the best move is here, they’ll obliterate me.”

Janna snapped a finger and pointed at Tom. “You think we can pull off Tamalebolge here?” Marco had no clue what she was talking about, but Tom’s mouth slowly widened into an eager grin as he apparently understood what she was trying to say. They nodded with conviction and turned back to the game.

“Set the smokescreens, I’ll get in position. Marco, just follow me.” He went along with it and hunkered his swordsman down between two clouds of smoke blocking their vision while Janna laid out more in a straight line with gaps in between. Janna maneuvered her character towards the spooky clowns and shot a single pellet at them to get their attention. Once they began charging over, Tom started unloading every spell he had while moving backwards in and out of smoke patches.

The clowns kept moving forward, but seemed to be stuttering in a way that prevented them from ever successfully landing a hit. In a moment of confusion while Marco tried to process it, he got bodyslammed into the ground and instantly killed. “You’re dead… that was embarrassing,” the game’s message on his corner of the massive screen in Tom’s media room taunted. What the heck were they up to, and why was it working?

“Almost… almost… no!” Tom’s thumb slipped on the controller and Marco could literally see the fire in his eyes at the mistake. At the last second Janna rolled under the legs of their enemies and stunned them just as they were about to slam, finishing them off and displaying a message to proceed to the next level. Their characters sauntered over to the exit and halted for a moment while Tom and Janna proudly hi-fived in celebration… and in the half-second they’d looked away, a thin blip of flame from a single floating wraith pierced through both, killing them instantly. “OH, COME ON!” Yep, this game certainly was unforgiving.

Janna busted out laughing and patted Tom on the shoulder. “Dude, take it easy, that was sick. You were right, this was pretty fun.”

“Told you.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but what the heck is Tamalebolge?”

“There’s this place called Tamalebolge on the outskirts of the Underworld, we stopped there for lunch one day after Mom sent me to give a big box of eyeballs to the mayor there. Dunno why a town needed 10000 preserved eyeballs, but whatever.”

On the other side of the couch, Janna scoffed resentfully. “Lucky town.”

“Anyway, they had this tamale that was a bunch of layers that got spicier as you bit in, and it hurts because each time you hit one layer you let your guard down for the next so you get that burning feeling a bunch of times in a row. In one of our trips to the Librarinth we got cornered by some Decimatals and had the idea to put up a bunch of walls of fire, since they could-”

“Could never adapt to the fire because it wasn’t steady,” Marco finished with a hint of awe as the pieces clicked into place. “Dang, that’s really smart.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Janna exclaimed in a monotone, not even looking up from her phone. “Alright, Marco, what did Star say she was doing exactly? She hasn’t even asked for any pictures yet.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Well, Moon said she needed to borrow Star for a bit, but that was a few hours ago so…” Suddenly the weirdness of Janna’s last statement - well, compared to the baseline he expected from her - struck him. “Wait, pictures?”

“Yeah, dude,” she coolly responded, leaning over Tom and showing him an album with… how many pictures of him was that exactly? 500? 1000? He looked away before any more could load to just stare in complete indignant shock at his friend. “Anytime we hang out without her, Star asks me to, like, take pictures of you and send them to her. You haven’t noticed by now? Damn, I’m just that good.” She smirked and twirled her phone around, blowing on it like a smoking gun before holstering it in her pocket.

Tom folded his arms and leaned forward to stare Janna down. “Really? Star asks you to do this?”

“Yes. Well, I started it first. And sent a new shot every few minutes for weeks. And now she’s so used to it that me not doing it makes her think we all got eaten by weresharks, so whenever I stop she always asks what’s wrong. So yeah, basically she asks for them.”

From Marco’s position reclined into one end of the sofa, Tom had to twist himself around to shoot Marco an incredulous look and nudge his attention towards Janna as if to beam “Are you really gonna just let that slide?“ directly into his brain. “Whatever, I’m used to it. The most surprising thing is that you actually, y’know, send them to Star."

Janna finally devoted her undivided attention on Marco for a few seconds, assessing him with her cold and enigmatic expression before sighing. “I already had them and Star’s madly in love with you for some reason so why not? What, Diaz, I’m not allowed to do nice things for my friends now?” Leave it to Janna to make being kind of normal and thoughtful still creepy and weird.

“You know what, I’m just gonna message her,” Marco said, walking out of the room to clear his head and pulling out his phone to check in on Star. She could certainly handle herself, especially with Moon there, but he was still curious what could be making her miss a lot of the celebration that she herself had helped set up. After he’d sent the first, he hastily added on a second asking if she needed him for anything. OK, so maybe a little worried. It surprisingly only took a second before his phone dinged with a response.

“Mina’s back. Long story, not what you think, we’re fine here 👍. Kinda crazy tho. 😵 Will tell you later. 😈 acting a bit strange, stay and try to see why? 🤔 Also have fun, it’s your party!!!!🎊🥳🎉🎈 Hopefully will be done soon, would never miss 👻rise with you 💕💞💏 Love you 😘🥰😻”

Mina? Every bone in his body wanted to leap into action, but Star knew her better than probably anyone; if she said there wasn’t a problem, he’d trust that. The fact that something was up with Tom, on the other hand, demanded attention. Was there something strange going on? It hadn’t occurred to him, but now that the idea had been planted in his head, Tom wasn’t the first person he’d have expected to go through all this trouble. He was a great and thoughtful guy, sure, but weeks of detail-oriented planning seemed... a bit out of place for him. Like Star said, though, he should still just enjoy the day and there’d be plenty of time to try and sleuth out whatever Star thought was going on.

“Hey, man,” Tom said as he poked his head around the corner. “We’re going surfing, wanna come with?”

“Sure Tom, just one tiny problem: the water here is lava-”

Tom only smiled wider in response. “Come on, you’ll see.” The two headed outside where Wrathmelior and Dave were sunba- uh, stalactitebathing, he supposed? Marco wasn’t sure what the point was underground but, hey, maybe it was a demon thing. Janna, too, had already made her way outside and stripped down to an outfit more suitable for a lava beach. She appeared to be rubbing some sort of neon red goop all over herself, which stupefied him so much that he barely noticed she was wearing a pair of hot pink shorts. What kind of bizarro world had he entered?

When she finally noticed him, he quickly averted his gaze to avoid any suspicion. “Yo, Diaz, liking the view?” Too late. She put a cap on the bottle of goo and nodded in the direction of the lake. What was she up to? As Marco warily followed, he saw Tom swimming around in the lava unfettered. All of a sudden, Janna started running with intent towards the lake.

“JANNA, NO!” Marco surged forward to try and stop her but she had a headstart and was surprisingly fast on her feet. When she kicked off the sand to hurl herself into the lava, Marco’s eyes instinctively squeezed shut and let out a whimper despite knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that she had to have some sort of plan.

When Marco opened his eyes, Janna was completely unharmed and lazily treading lava. She ducked under to sneak up on the lazily backstroking Tom, rising up to grab him by the horns and dunk him. He flailed for a minute before bobbing back up and taking a big gulp of air.

“Janna, what the here?!? Not cool...” he paddled to shore and shook the excess molten rock from his ears before standing with Marco, careful to keep his distance since he still had some residual slag on him. “Can you believe that?”

There was no other way Marco saw fit to respond to that than look of pure incredulity. “Yes? Always? So, anyway, how is she not dead right now?”

“Full cocktail of fire and heat resistance. Mostly Earth sunscreen with some demon incantations courtesy of my parents. Seeps in and affects your hair and innards and even any tight clothing for perfect safety. There’s enough for you too, if you want.”

As if today couldn’t get any crazier, disbelief morphed into fight or flight instinct as he tried to keep himself calm. “...so I’m just supposed to rub something Janna is giving me all over my body… and- and then jump into lava? Are you insane? What if it makes my tongue sentient, turns my legs into pudding, o-o-or worse? Oh my gosh, i-it’s gonna kill me-” Well, so much for calm, the sole bit of his mind hanging on to rationality offered.

“Woah, man, easy. Deep breaths. Just offering.” Tom gently patted his back until his breath steadied. He sighed and looked away. “For the record, Janna is a pretty good friend, you know. I’ve actually liked doing all the princely political crap when she’s here, and- and she does help. A lot, actually. I get that she likes messing with you, and honestly dude, it is pretty funny sometimes. If you don’t want to risk it, I totally respect that, but…” Marco followed his gaze out towards the lake where Janna was trying to befriend a wandering hellbat. “She really does care, in her own way.” There was an emotional conviction there that impacted Marco on a level he wasn’t prepared for, and even after a lifetime of wariness around Janna he found himself trusting more in Tom’s vote of confidence in the here and now… plus lava surfing did sound pretty awesome. Was this what Star had meant about his behavior today? He made a mental note before turning his focus back to the present dilemma. In all his time as an interdimensional adventurer he’d piloted dragoncycles, trained in combat with the sharpest swords he’d ever seen, and flipped a horse made of pure magic while floating on the back of one of his best friends. Why not go for this?

“Alright, let’s do this,” Marco said, marching over to the towel that had been laid out on the sand and cautiously picking up the bottle at arm’s length as though it was a radiation hazard, which he couldn’t even be sure it wasn’t.

The bottle floated up out of his hands on a puff of smoke guided by Tom’s magic. “Heads up, though, the souls of the damned mixed in there can bleach pretty badly, so maybe don’t wear anything you care about. Janna ruined my perfectly good ‘cold as ice’ shirt testing it,” Tom pouted. Marco stripped off his hoodie and goblin dog t-shirt, finding them far too valuable to damage.

I didn’t care about these swim trunks that much anyway, he internally grumbled while he snatched the bottle from Tom and gingerly applied it to his skin. After giving the first gentle dab on his arm a minute to verify he didn’t turn into a pig-goat, he reluctantly spread it around the rest of his body. He was surprised to find that it soaked in even easier than regular sunscreen despite its incredibly visible color. The even more daunting step was trusting it to protect his skin from literal lava. Tom held up a small flame in his hand. Marco instinctively recoiled but allowed Tom to bring it closer as a test, and sure enough even once it came in direct contact with his skin he felt nothing beyond a weird air current and a gentle warmth with no damage left behind. The only step left was taking the plunge. Now or never, Diaz, he chanted as he walked towards the edge of the sand.

“Aww, does Marco need floaties?” Janna goaded, having moved back into wading level to witness Marco’s entry. One toe went forward, very delicately. Almost, almooooooost… and it was in! It probably took about 10 minutes for Marco to fully immerse himself in the boiling liquid, mostly by choice, although its viscosity made the prospect of freely swimming around seem tiring regardless of magical protection.

Tom’s parents had approached the shore during that time and applauded Marco’s efforts. Wrathmelior made some deep rumbling sounds that caused Tom and Janna to both snicker. Tom noticed Marco’s frown and waved reassuringly. “She just said you’re moving slower than the lava itself, but don’t worry dude, you’re only the second human who’s even tried this. You’re doing great!” Tom motioned towards his parents before taking a running leap into the lake and paddling over to Marco, patting his back and inviting Marco to hop on. “Remember that move we practiced? The Screeching Bat?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Think we can use it here?” he asked, pointing to the beginnings of a massive wave forming in the distance.

Despite all his reservations about every step thus far, one thing he knew he could always trust was his and Tom’s teamwork. They’d had each others’ backs even when their friendship should have been shattered to pieces by guilt and heartache, and it had only improved from there. Deep breath, Diaz. “Let’s do this,” he confidently declared, climbing onto Tom’s lower back and bracing his legs under Tom’s arms while he assumed his usual four-limbed propulsion flight position. “Wait, where’s Janna?”

As the rippling sea started to form a recognizable wave, the pair saw a creature emerge to ride the peak with Janna on its back. “I’m QUEEEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD!” she screamed as the three-headed sea-turtle-esque animal carried her along.

Wrathmelior waved her giant camera in the air and made another comment that instantly left Tom with face a few shades redder than normal as he turned away. Being new to the whole “dipping skin in lava” experience, Marco’s focus was too scattered to trust his own judgment on whether or not Tom’s reaction was just a trick of the heat. He didn’t have time to dwell on it further before Tom jostled under him. “Whatever. C’mon, Marco, let’s just do this thing. Keep steady and don’t push down too hard, the heat doesn’t bother me but it’s still not fun having my face skid on molten rock at highway speeds.” Marco nodded and Tom lifted them off of the surface before flying over to the waves, picking up speed as they went.

They lost track of time as they did loop-de-loops and pushed their moves to the limits, swimming over and under and through the most insane ocean waves Marco had ever seen. At one point, as Janna rode closer to the ground, Tom followed the curve of a wave until he was upside-down under the crest of the wave as it crashed down behind them. Marco let go of Tom’s neck and felt his heart pounding as he straightened out, letting his body dip down in their signature trick that earned this flight pattern its name. Come to think of it, this was the first time they’d even made use of any of the awesome combat patterns they’d spent weeks naming and practicing in the last year, but they’d had enough fun goofing off in the sky that it was its own reward. When the largest wave yet approached, Tom veered straight for it and carved a hole in it with a fire blast at the last second. Marco tucked himself closely onto Tom’s back as they blasted through, and he was so high on adrenaline that he couldn’t help but sit straight up and holler in victory right afterwards.

As it approached an hour since they’d set out onto the lake, they all headed back at Tom’s suggestion that the potion’s effect wouldn’t last. They were greeted with another assortment of snacks and drinks from Tom’s parents, giving their swim trunks some time to… whatever the lava equivalent of “dry” was... in the comfort of the living room. Janna grabbed a glowing green glass bottle and took a huge swig. Marco’s wary gaze on its contents must have lasted a bit long because Janna took notice. “Chill, this is just Underworld cow’s milk. Tastes the same as ours.” If anything, that freaked him out more, but he’d had enough of these moments throughout the day that he could just put up with it at this point. As Tom approached with some sort of large bug shells on a plate - thank heavens the Underworld imported Earth snacks now - Janna silently looked him up and down a few times. “So, Lucitor, I didn’t know you had those moves. If I knew you could float upside-down so easily…” she trailed off with implications Marco didn’t feel like trying to unpack. Tom could only babble incoherently in response until he sprinted off deeper into the house. “Ooooor not,” Janna grumbled before sinking into the couch and taking a swig.

“Is everything OK with Tom?” Marco hesitantly asked.

“Beats me. Lately we’re just on mission after mission with no time to stop and catch our breath or even get a bite to eat in-between. Can’t believe one lousy year has already made him such a workaholic. Even Star only got like this when she thought, like, the entire kingdom would collapse or something.” She grabbed her phone as it buzzed, frowning at the screen. Suddenly, she took a photo of Marco and tapped her screen a bunch of times, standing up as she shoved it back in the back pocket of her shorts.

“What was that?”

“That was Star, she apparently needs me to bring a few of my more… let’s just say noxious potion blends, in case of some kind of emergency. But first she wanted to make sure the lava surfing didn’t damage your abs.” She faked a gag response and rolled her eyes. “And she also said, and I quote, ‘Tell Marco he doesn’t need to come because he should reeeeeally take care of the thing, and that I’m suuuuuper sorry for skipping out on you, and that we’re aaaaaalmooooost done here, and then we can cuddle up for the Soulrise.’ Normally I’d pry about ‘the thing’ but I’m too nauseous right now. Also, an ‘I love you’ filled with hearts until the character limit, so that settles it: me reading that is the next five years of birthday presents, minimum, for both of you. You’re welcome.” She punctuated with a snap of her fingers and a rumble grew louder until a chasm opened up in the ground and Tom’s carriage rolled up the side.

“Since when could you-”

Janna winked and hopped in the carriage door as it vanished in a column of flame, leaving only Marco behind. He had hundreds of questions and concerns about Star’s situation, but between her continued insistence on staying behind and what Janna had just said, his certainty was growing that something fishy was afoot with Tom. Where might his friend go if something was troubling him? This could take an hour, no, all day to crack the case, but Marco was ready to sleuth harder than ever to solve this mystery.

One guess and thirty seconds later, Marco found Tom sitting on the couch in another one of the lounge spaces in the lake house, manipulating two paddles to play ping-pong against each other. Leaning against the wall, Marco observed as the simulated crowd went wild in stark opposition to Tom’s joyless expression that alternated between the match and his own lap, never once noticing his friend to his side. After a few more minutes of this, the announcer enthusiastically cheered for the victor of the round.

When the system rebooted, Marco made his move. “Playing without me?”

Tom glanced up from the table. “Wuh? Oh, hey.”

“Wanna play?”

“Well, obviously I would, but, um, I just… gotta…”

“What’s wrong, Tom?”

“Wrong? Me? Nothing’s wrong, Marco! Why would anything be wrong?” A puff of smoke shot out of his nostrils and clearly forced grin on the last word.

“C’mon, man. We both know something’s up. You’ve been acting all strange today.”

He threw his hands up with a defeated scowl creasing his eyes and face. “OK, fine, you got me. I stubbed my toe on the beach earlier and it really stings-”

“Tom.” Neither budged as they stared each other down. So it’s gonna be like that, huh? If he cloaked himself in bravado, then Marco just needed to find a way to open up that shell and draw the inner turmoil out. “You, me, first one to 6. If I win, you talk.”

Tom crossed his arms suspiciously. “Dude, you’ve literally never beaten me.”

“Yeah, well, then it should be easy for you. Whaddya say?”

“What do I get when I win?”

Marco gestured at the table humility. “I will officially give up any hopes of ever beating you and you’ll forever be known as King Pong.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll play. You’re going down.”

“Game on.”

"Let's see, ‘enter nickname’... Tom the Bomb? Seriously, man? I-"

Marco was interrupted by the fake stadium’s booming audio as the commentators began. "Welcome everyone to the championship bout where we will determine who is the true king of the ping."

“Hey, that’s my joke,” Marco whined pointlessly, drowned out by a second female announcing voice that continued without pause.

“On the away team, we have the human, the underdog to win it all this year, Marco Diaaaaaaaz! He’s got wicked topspin sure to send heads spinning and he’s hungry for the title. Never count out the man in red! Now on the home team, you know him, you love him, it’s the man with a plan to slice and dice you to pieces, it’s Prince of the Underworld Tom Lucitoooooooooor!”

Marco pointed incredulously at… well, everything happening around them. “Seriously, dude, are you sure this is even a computer?” Tom shrugged nonchalantly in response.

“We have a lot we could say up here about this long-awaited grudge match, isn’t that right, Janet?”

“That we could, Derek, but I’m sure all the lovely AI fans here don’t want all this AI blabber. They want some good old-fashioned ping-pong. Now let’s watch while Tom readies up the serve…” Tom deeply inhaled and exhaled a few times, then got into position on his end of the table. He crouched over slightly with the ball in one hand and paddle in the other, then tossed it up into the air and smashed it with the paddle. Marco jumped backwards to avoid the searing speed of the projectile that was aimed at him with a disdain reminiscent of the first time they’d ever played the game. If he’s gonna amp up his game with demon powers, I’ll just need to be better.

“Wow, what a scorcher right down the diagonal! I sure wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that, it’d fry my processor to a crisp!” Marco didn’t find a chance to start a volley on the second point, nor did his possession of the serve change the outcome in the slightest. When Tom got the ball back, he didn’t even use his paddle as his powers drove the ball directly sideways after the initial impact in Marco’s court. Marco called a timeout and turned away from the table in thought, stumped for solutions. This game was his idea, after all... The AI announcers irritated Marco with their constant humiliation of his skills, but one sarcastic jab struck an unexpected chord: “If he wants to beat Tom, maybe he shouldn’t be playing ping-pong.” He’d gotten nowhere trying to break through with blunt questioning and was doing a worse job trying to get past his confidence at the sport. But if there was a deep insecurity underneath that facade of confidence, maybe he needed to work on building that up instead.

Turning back to the table, he placed his paddle flat on the table for a moment. “Look, Tom, I get it. I can’t beat you at this game. I-I just didn’t want my best friend acting so bummed at a party he threw, OK? If winning here would cheer you up a bit, it’s match point. I won’t stop you. And- and maybe I’m not even the one to deal with this, since I know you usually talk to your mom about this sort of thing, but-”

“Marco, I-” He paused, started again, stopped, and stuttered his way through another half-dozen attempts at a sentence before falling silent and gazing at the floor. “Look, I’m not upset, everything’s fine,” he angrily said through gritted teeth. Tom grabbed the paddle and gracelessly swatted at the ball. Marco flinched and shut his eyes, ready to hear the announcers celebrate the clean sweep… but nothing. “Huh?” he wondered aloud before seeing a ball way off to his left. Had Tom just flubbed the serve? Tom tried once more, much less methodical in his swing. Marco swatted it back over the net and in Tom’s haste to return he spiked it directly onto his own court.

“...and in a shocking turn of events, it’s now 5-1, Lucitor! Now is Marco’s chance to turn it around!”

The three eyes in front of him glowed at the edges in anger, but the expression within wasn’t one Marco feared was directed at him. Marco centered himself and performed a straightforward serve to the edge of Tom’s court, and Tom managed to return it for the first genuine volley of the match, but a steep drop shot gave Marco his second point of the match. Tom grunted in frustration as Marco set up for the next serve, and he immediately lashed out with demon telekinesis but put too much power into it and sent the ball flying with an animalistic growl that betrayed more pain than fury, as if he was squaring off against himself and not Marco.

Tom flopped four serves in a row, leaving the game tied at 5-5. “Whatever it is, Tom, we can talk about it. You’re worrying me a bit, dude.” Tom didn’t even bother to return Marco’s next serve, putting the game at match point, win by 2.

“Just off my game. I told you, nothing’s wrong, there’s not anything I need to talk about right now,” his voice trembled. “I can do this.” Marco raised an eyebrow in a challenge to Tom, then served the ball in the exact opposite direction of the table. Bluff called. Tom hesitated a split second before sending his paddle soaring through the air around Marco’s head to make contact with the ball and fruitlessly swat it to the ground, giving Marco the point as the crowd went wild with cheers and boos at the performance. But Tom ignored all of that to toss himself onto the couch and buried his head in his hands, and Marco immediately dropped next to him.

“Dude, just talk to me,” Marco offered sympathetically.

“I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this.”

“With what?”

With his face buried in a pillow, Marco didn’t catch anything more than “a-a” in response.

“What was that?”

“Janna,” he forced out as though the word caused physical grief.

He had been a bit weird around her specifically, but somehow Marco hadn’t come into this conversation quite expecting it. “Um, OK. Well, I get that… she gets on my nerves too, and since you’re spending so much time with her I totally get- oh.”

Tom sighed.

“Ooooooooh.” It was all Marco could say as his mind raced to process the new developments.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t think you-”

“Neither did I, but here we are.” Marco placed an arm around Tom’s shoulders to try and comfort him, and Tom merely returned a lopsided smile, opting to sit in silence while Marco wracked his brain for an idea of how best to respond. “When I…” Tom hesitantly spoke up but immediately faltered, taking a moment to regroup mentally. “My whole thing with Star went for, like, two years, and looking back I kind of feel like I was an idiot every second of it. Every time I got caught up in that dumb crush it just messed things up more. Like, remember that big monster party she threw? I was too hung up on dancing to even worry about what my friends needed.”

“Look, Tom, we all did lots of dumb stuff back then-”

The half-demon sunk into the couch, shrugging Marco’s arm off of him and staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah, sure, but at least you and Star were only completely clueless about how much you guys love each other, and even that was at least a little bit my bad too! A year after Star and I broke up the first time, she came back to Mewni as this confident and charismatic person, and I didn’t even know how to do anything besides flounder around doing nothing when she wasn’t around. Ever since I put all that stuff behind me, it’s- things have been going great!” Tom paused for a second after his voice cracked sharply. “Janna’s clever, she’s actually really thoughtful sometimes, she’s the funniest person I know, and she helped me realize I actually kind of like doing all the stuff that a prince is probably supposed to be doing. And here I am, the buffoon with a crush yet again.”

Marco had a few differences of opinion on the details, to put it lightly, but the sentiment struck a chord. “It’s- it’s never easy. I mean, there was a part of me that felt like I couldn’t even be regular friends with Star anymore for a while ‘cause it just kinda sucked to keep getting reminded of those feelings.”

“Really? Never would have thought.”

“Yeah, well, me too. But that did get better after, well, the booth…”

“So I just have to find a photo goblin and kiss her then, got it.”

“Not my point, Tom,” he retorted with a light punch in the arm, both of them smirking; it was still a sensitive topic, but this seemed to be helping Tom shake off the worst of his anxieties at the very least. “You’re being too hard on yourself, man. Literal hours after we met, you tried to kill me for dancing with a girl you weren’t even dating, then you saved me from a rampaging monster who then proceeded to get turned into a baby.”

“Has that ever stopped being kinda messed up?” Tom quickly interjected.

“Not really, no. But even if all that stuff you said is true, which it isn’t, anyone would still be lucky to have a friend like you. If you think you’re not a good enough friend for Janna or whatever, you’re wrong, and if you think you might screw something up, maybe you will but that doesn’t mean you should just give up those feelings. Take that from me.”

With a giant huff of air, Tom ran a hand through his hair, body language still displaying loads of tension even if he was being more open about his problems. “I’m not- I don’t want to just walk away entirely, but… When I went on that trip by myself right before Earth and Mewni merged, when I was just chilling on a hill in some dimension out there looking up at a thousand stars disappearing behind the horizon, I finally realized that what I wanted most was to find someone I could share that sort of moment with, even if it’s not romantic. Someone I could just sit next to without saying a word and still feel like we were doing something special.”

“Yeah…” Even though Marco had a great respect for his friend, it never ceased to amaze him how potently reflective and sensitive he could be, especially for someone who’d once been every human’s worst stereotype of a rage-filled demon monster. The words made him think of Star, who he could spend every single day with doing absolutely nothing and never get bored. Who was always there to lift him out of his lowest times, celebrate his best, and everything in between. Who would always be his very best friend, so long as they both shall live. Tom deserved every bit of happiness that Marco had discovered came with that kind of relationship, and if he could find it with Janna then Marco would be behind him all the way. “These things can take time, it did for me and Star.”

“No offense dude, but did it? You were best friends, like, seventeen hours tops after you met, and I bet even when things were at their worst you knew it, too. I like Janna, a lot, but I don’t know if that’s the sort of thing we have in the first place. And if I’m not sure of that, then I might be risking a friendship for something I’m not even sure would be good for me.” All three of Tom’s eyes sparkled their plea as he finally turned to fully face Marco, who returned the favor. “What do I do?”

“...really, Tom, I’m not sure.” Jackie, and Kelly, and the Curse… he’d had a lot of doubt in what he wanted most, for sure, but Tom was right about one thing: even if he hadn’t realized it, that unshakeable certainty in Star’s friendship somewhere in the core of his being had gotten him through whatever life threw at him. Without that, he shuddered at the thought of what might have been. “If you think saying something is a bad idea right now, then don’t. Just promise me one thing, OK?”

“Mhmm?”

“If and when you do feel confident that saying something to her is what you want to do, don’t wait, OK? If she really is your best friend, don’t hide it from her. That’ll only hurt you both, and that is 100% Marco Diaz first hand advice.”

Tom pulled Marco into a tight hug, clapping him on the back a few times for emphasis. “Thanks.”

When they broke apart, Marco kept a hand extended to Tom’s shoulder. “You can always join me and Star for sunset-watching, too, if you want. They might not be the same as one thousand at once, but Earthni’s are pretty amazing.”

“Might take you up on that. Feeling a lot better already, to be honest. Don’t feel like I need to avoid being around Janna anymore.”

“I’m glad.” Marco felt his phone buzz and check

“Awwww, isn’t that heartwarming, folks? It just warms my neural net. With that healthy of an approach to love, I don’t think there’s a wrong play Tom could make here. He’s got a good spin on the ball to angle that shot exactly where he needs it to go. What do you think, Janet?”

“Right you are, Derek, this is a truly remarkable sight seeing these two guys talk about their feelings. Usually we see young players put all their focus into fast smashes without buckling down on the fundamentals and getting a good, clean drive. If he can just find someone to lob, I think he’ll be alright. What do you say, all you people watching out there?”

“JANTOM! STARCO! JANTOM! STARCO!” The crowd chanted in unison, some even holding up signs. Were those doodles of their faces?

Notice of the loud noise startled the boys. Had they been watching the whole time? “What the-” they both exclaimed in utter shock as they jumped up and struck defensive poses.

One spectator ran up to the edge of the holographic projection with a pair of fake horns. “I LOVE YOU TOM PLEASE MARRY MEeeeeeeeeeuuuuu...” Marco yelped as the control console exploded from one of Tom’s fire blasts, causing the shrieking voice to trail off into a deep robotic crackle. Both breathed heavily as their eyes, wide with fear, flickered all around the ping pong setup in search of any other hidden dangers. When his heart had stopped racing enough for him to feel any external sensations again, Marco felt a vibration in his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“Oh, hey, Star’s ready for the Soulrise, which is in… forty minutes? Holy crap.”

“Sorry you spent so much of today dealing with my stuff.”

“Hey, anytime. I’ve always got your back.”

“C’mon, at least let me feel bad about this.” The pair each put an arm around the other’s shoulders and grinned at the warmth of friendship. Well, and the warmth of the flaming wreckage in front of them.

“I’ll get the carriage for them, but first, um, can you help me with one more thing?”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That we should throw this thing into the lava ocean?”

“You read my mind.”

***

How long had it been since she’d last seen a Soulrise? Despite her lifespan as a demon, she had never understood the fuss. Last year Relicor had discovered that the merging of dimensions had shifted the surface geography enough to make the Soulrise visible from their lake house, and it was only the sheer convenience that kept her here. As the winged skeletons danced above the lake, Wrathmelior could certainly admit it was a charming display, but was it really that different than anything else one could find in the Underworld if they only looked around them? Still, it was nice to spend an evening on the sands of their own private beach with her husband and a pretty display of spirits. But where was Tom?

“Hey, Lady and Lord Lucitor, thanks for everything today.” She looked down at the sound of Marco’s voice and saw him escorting a half-asleep Star with mud caked onto her skirt.

“Why yes, Roy, I- zzzzzz - would like all fifty flavors of goblin dog, thankszzzzz,” Star mumbled as she drifted in and out of sleep. Her eyes slowly blinked open and stared at the boy’s face. “Oh hi, Mr. Pillowzzzzzz…” She was visibly drooling into Marco’s hoodie as she clutched his torso tightly.

Dave stood up and went around Wrathmelior’s legs to see what was going on. “What happened to her?”

“Had a really long day dealing with an old enemy, I think. Didn’t get too many details before she fell asleep on me. Can you send us home, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“No, you’re adorablezzzz… wait, home?” Blonde hair whipped around her face as she jolted awake with a mortified expression. “Ugh, Marco, nooooo, it’s your birthday and I said I’d be heeeere and I can totally stay…” She trailed off into a massive yawn and firmly pinched her cheeks. “...awake.” She hung her head shamefully, turning away from him but leaving his arm hooked around her waist that was keeping her upright.

Marco smiled and spun her around to face him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You should rest, don’t force yourself to do this.”

“Nighty tightyzzzzzz...” Star hooked her arms around his neck and drifted off to a deeper sleep.

“I can summon the carriage, but I’m afraid I don’t know where you live,” Wrathmelior grumbled with her husband translating. Now that she had a glimpse, she could understand a bit better what Tom had meant when he said those two had something special.

“Oh, right, duh. Um, the Monster Temple then? We can stay there tonight.” He put an arm behind Star’s knees and lifted her up, using her unconscious grip on his neck for leverage.

Wrathmelior nodded and began to tap into her well of demon magic to yank Tom’s carriage from its usual den deep in their home when Dave spoke up, catching her attention. “Did you want to say goodbye to Tom, too? I don’t know where he ran off to.”

Something above her caught Marco’s eye, causing him to beam at the sight. “Nah, it’s fine, I’ll just call him tomorrow.” Wrathmelior craned her head to look behind her; Tom and Janna were sitting together on the roof, not saying a word. Even from a bit of a distance, it was plain to see that Janna was completely enraptured by the whirling vortex of shrieking ghouls while Tom was spending just as much time taking in her reaction as he was the event itself. If neither had noticed the commotion on the ground now, nothing in all the dimensions would do the trick.

“It’s just a Soulrise,” Wrath muttered, communicating through Dave.

After entering the carriage, Marco cast one long look at his friends. “Yeah, but they’ve earned this one.”

#starco #jantom #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #tgg svtfoe #wonder if we'll see how star's day went? ;)#fanfic

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prettywordsyouleft · 5 years

Text

Through His Eyes - Part 8

Summary: Losing your sight after your accident was traumatic, and Jaebum’s guilt of knowing it should have been him instead creates an intricate bond between you both, as you overcome adversity and try to find your way in life again.

Genre: angst / romance

Characters: Im Jaebum x female reader

A/N: This story is emotional and raw compared to some of the content on my blog. It is in no way an attempt to glamourise or undervalue the lives of those who suffer from something similar. This story is purely fictional.

Through His Eyes will be posted every Tuesday at 10am NZST.

Index: Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 [M] | 13 - FINAL

“I’m home,” you called out after successfully unlocking the door to your apartment within the first three attempts and stepped inside. You turned and bowed to your new minder, Suzie, and fare-welled her before closing the door.

“You’re home much earlier than I anticipated.”

You sighed heavily, stepping into your slippers and following the ramp up into the living area. You were now used to calculating your steps in the back of your mind as you did other tasks, and placed your bag down on the table before heading to the refrigerator. Feeling in the door for a bottle of water, you pulled one out and took it over to a chair at the table. “Don’t ask.”

“You seem unhappy, was your day bad?” You heard another chair pull out and your mother sat down, reaching for your hand gently. You frustrations eased with her touch, and you forgot all about your initial barrier of continuing the conversation.

“I have to do a group project.”

“On what?”

“We’re reading a classic novel called Jane Eyre at the moment and instead of doing an essay on it, which I would have much preferred, our lecturer has assigned us into groups of four to come up with a presentation on a topic within the novel. And of course, none of my partners are happy they got stuck with me.”

“I’m sure they aren’t that put-”

You placed your bottle down with more force than needed and shifted your head towards her direction. “They must think blind people are deaf as well, because they didn’t seem to realise I was nearby when they started to complain about having a disadvantage!”

“Oh.” Your Mum shifted uncomfortably in her seat, no doubt feeling angry hearing of another incident of you being singled out. You felt sorry for her having a daughter that faced so many woes within her education, when in the past you had never caused her any need to be concerned about your academics.

“And to top it off, others were very happy to not have me in their team. Do they think I can’t do the project because I’m blind?!”

“You work even harder than the average student to make sure you don’t fall behind. I’m sure when they realise that, they’ll be more accommodating towards you.”

You shook your head. “It shouldn’t be that I have to prove to them that I’m good enough though. They have no idea who I am, and how many offers I used to get from artists and galleries for my work in the past.”

“But that isn’t who you are now, Y/N,” she reminded gently, and you snapped your head towards her again, anger rising within your chest. She seemed to sense it and reached for your hand once more, which you shook off immediately. “It’s hard I-”

“IT’S ALWAYS HARD, ISN’T IT?!”

Getting up in a rush, you stumbled towards your bedroom and then slammed the door shut, panting heavily with your outburst. Soon the tears came and you sank to the ground, wrapping your arms around you for comfort. Ignoring the knocking and the calls on the other side of the door, you felt ashamed for taking your mood out on her. You hated that even when you were hurting the most, you still felt guilty towards how much she did for you every day and the sacrifices she had taken to help you.

“But for one day, I wish she would just allow me to complain without giving me the known answer,” you mumbled aloud before burying your head into your arms.

Two days went by and your mood had darkened further with the lack of faith from your fellow partners with the presentation. Since it was the weekend, your mother went to help your Aunt run her vegetable store, which you welcomed greatly.

You didn’t intend to move from bed for the entire day.

Around mid-morning, your stomach had other ideas however, so you relinquished to the hunger and went out to make some breakfast. Once fed, you stood within the middle of the living room, wrestling with your options. Bed had been your original safety zone, but now that you were up, it was tempting to go on your computer and waste your day listening to Youtube videos, catching up with online friends in the blind community, and peruse some trivial websites. After grabbing a bottle of water, you headed back into your room and opened the curtains, wincing at the same time as rejoicing in the bright light invading the room. It was an odd experience, you hated the intensity of the light at times, yet it made you feel as close to normal in your greyscale world as you could be.

“Let’s check my emails first,” you said to yourself as you set about the computer, mimicking the sounds the accessibility settings did as you navigated your way around the device. You opened your emails one after the other, listening through the message the robotic voice delivered and then discarded or replied to them as necessary. You were onto the last email when you froze, listening to the message as a cold sweat rushed over you.

“Y/N is invited to the opening of Lee Jaemin’s debut art exhibition, by the title of Expressive. The event-”

The computer started making incomprehensible sounds as you banged on the keyboard to make it stop talking, your breathing becoming erratic. You held your hands to your heaving chest as the sentence repeated over and over in your head, your body shaking at the idea of the girl opening her own exhibition. She had been your biggest competition throughout the years and had always come second to you in major events. Now with you out of the competition, not only had she been able to take your places within the local art scene, but was also offered what you had been working towards earlier this year.

For the first time since the accident, you hated Im Jaebum. For those first few moments, as you digested the information, you cursed your love of GOT7, of kpop, of even knowing the seven men existed. As your body shook all over with anger, you wanted nothing more than to return to the day you had won the exclusive pass and decline the opportunity.

You wanted your career back.

Yet, just as fast as it came, your mind travelled to that fateful moment, your once seeing eyes widening as you noticed the faulty beam first. Your instant reaction to save him, and the weight of the beam hitting you before it all went black. As the tears fell rapidly, your thoughts stopped on every gesture Jaebum had done for you since your world had turned upside down. The anger subdued for a bit, as you coped with the intense grief and guilt you suffered from wishing the beam onto him briefly instead. You rocked back and forth in the chair, unable to cope with the rapid directions your emotions were taking you, hoping your thoughts would ease off.

Instead, your needs narrowed onto one thing and you eventually stood up, heading out of your room as you roughly wiped the tears aside, as if the removal of them would assist in your blind search through the apartment for what you required. Feeling yourself around the walls, you found the storage closet and began using your hands and other senses to locate what you knew your mother hadn’t thrown out like you had insisted her to. It didn’t take long, your fingers falling upon the well-known texture of canvas, shifting along to find four others beside it. You yanked them all out from their hiding spot, tapping around on the ground for any of your tools. You found a bag and pulled that out as well, stopping when you banged into something as you moved the bag. You took that out too and then dragged your discoveries out around you, dropping in between it all and taking a steady breath.

You felt irrationally calm in that moment, and not because you were finally surrounded by what your life had consisted of. The need to feel each object in a slow, methodical examination outweighed anything else, letting your fingers run over every inch of each item. You became familiar all over again with how your tools felt, brushes and sculpting tools all being recognised by your hands. You soon realised the item next to the bag was the prized vase you had made earlier in the year, the ribbons awarded to it still attached. Your attention soon turned to the canvases, the bumps and textures making you think of all the Braille lessons so far, except the words were spoken in an art form, with no distinct answer as to what each piece was. For an immeasurable time, you attempted to guess what was which piece you had created. Every time you thought you had an answer, the next bump of paint would throw you off, frustrating you further. By the fifth canvas inspection, you were rigid, unable to understand anything you were touching.

The pent up emotions built until you could no longer suppress them and you got up, throwing the canvas down with a heavy thud. The sound it made seemed to provoke some kind of release in you and so you bent down, fumbling to find something else to throw, becoming fully invested in destroying everything you had just spent intricate effort in deciphering. The more noise, the more vigorous your actions became until the sound of the shattering clay hit you as if you were shattering your own heart. You crouched down in exhaustion from your emotions, crying consistently until you heard the keypad signal go off.

You didn’t have any energy to move to greet your mother, or to do anything about cleaning your mess either. You waited for her scolding to begin but the rushed feet towards you sounded too heavy to be her. You were confused and for a moment, you guarded yourself, not knowing what to expect.

“What…” You heard Jaebum utter and this was enough to make your legs give out, a cry leaving your lips as you landed on the shards of clay. “Y/N what are you doing?!”

“How did you know the passcode?” you asked tiredly, not giving him any help in lifting you away from the destruction scene. All the same, he attempted to pick you up again, your body trying to fight but had no energy left to leave any effect. He placed you down on the couch and you glared at what you hoped to be his direction. “Im Jaebum!”

“Your mother called me,” he explained, his hands ceasing in their examination of injuries. He shifted back, concerned at how you had spoken. “She told me you were having a hard time and so I said I would come and see you today in between my schedules. I was outside banging and pressing the doorbell, but you didn’t hear me at all. So I used the code I’ve seen you put in.”

You didn’t answer, unable to decide if you were angry with him for interrupting or thankful for his presence.

“Why were you doing that?” he questioned softly, his hands slowly returning to your legs. “Y/N, you’re bleeding.”

“I don’t care.” You looked away from him and tried to push his hands away. He grabbed your hand instead, his gentle nature having an effect on easing your frustrations. Even so, you attempted to hold onto the agitated emotion for as long as you could. “You should just go.”

“I’m not leaving you like this, you should see this place!”

“I wish I could!” you blurted out, and his grip on your hand eased off. You got up shakily from where he had put you and walked back down to where you had been. He grabbed you before you stepped on anything and you pointed to it desperately. “This is me, this is my world. Do you see how shattered this all is now? That is me!”

“Is it really?”

You nodded fervently. “You told me to express how I feel so I am! I’m sick of becoming something new. I am not an English Lit major, but an Art and Design student! I created all of this myself! Now… now I can’t even paint a single line across a piece of paper! Whilst people who I had worked hard to impress for years are now giving Lee Jaemin all the opportunities I was aiming for, I’m here in sweatpants and a tee with no hope of looking good to anyone, let alone impress them that I am someone to invest in. I’m here unable to do anything I want to because, because-”

“Because of me,” Jaebum concluded from behind you, lowering his head to your shoulder and his body began to shake with his own emotions. You moved around in his arms and hugged him tightly, both crying until you could no longer.

For some time you didn’t speak, not having any words to share with each other. And then you felt Jaebum move away from your side, his hands reaching for something on the ground. “This is beautiful.”

“What is?”

“This sunrise over a building top,” he mentioned and your mind went towards the artwork you had created after watching their You Are music video. “It’s captured beautifully.”

“It was inspired by you.” “It was?” You nodded and felt Jaebum move back to your side again, his hand reaching for yours and passing you the canvas. You felt the weight within your hand and sighed.

“I painted it after the You Are MV.”

“Ahh.” He was silent again, but moved back to the mess upon the floor. From his examination, three of the canvases were salvageable, whilst two remained helpless on the floor with the ceramic vase.

“I guess there is a lot of mess to clean up,” you said sadly, lowering your head and holding onto the sunrise canvas more preciously than you had all day.

“But we can clean it up and heal from it together,” he replied firmly, referring to more than the physical mess you had made.

You smiled, nodding your head. “I like the sound of that.”

_________________

[Part 9]

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oneofyatosfollowers · 5 years

Text

One Of A Kind Chapter 2

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20191861/chapters/47843311

FF: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13360973/1/One-of-a-Kind

Yato's alarm went off the next morning, slowly pulling him out of a deep sleep. The noise was less urgent then the warning from last night's dust storm, but bounced around his skull none the less. He heaved himself off the mattress with a groan, his limbs and eye lids heavy. As he woke up, so did his systems, the screens blinking to life along side his vision. The first message saying his charge was low and would need to be replenished soon, while the other gave him the usual schedule of clean-up.

Getting up to a low battery was like waking up sore with a hangover. No wonder he turned in early. Yato groaned and stubbled towards the door. Pawing at the wall to get his oxygen-mask and ascot off the hook. He put both on, looking down to see he slept in his boots again. He debated putting on another pair but decided to wear these ones out completely.

The brown-tinted sunlight blared down strong this morning. Yato unzipped the top of his brown wearalls, tying the sleeves around his waist. Along the underside of his forearm, flat green panels were where the soft skin should be. Embedded there was a flexible solar panel, the easiest way to charge his battery. Yato laid back down on the top of semi-trailer, belly down with his arms at his side, and let the sun light soak into his systems. Due to smog-covered sun, this way of charging took half the day. But it was necessary, where as eating and drinking was not. It also lasted much longer than any food had previously done.

Yato opened his eyes at the sound of the battery being full. He stood and zipped back up his uniform. Nodding to Nora who had crawled her way up, he climbed back down the ladder and grabbed his cooler after locking his compactor to his back. When he stepped on Nora as he made his way down the ramp, he quickly got on his knees to apologize. The cockroach buzzed at him in irritation before making her way up his leg and on his shoulder. Yato nodded at her, then set off to work, his compactor still clasped on his back.

The hours ticked on as usual. The cubes of trash forming a large square base as Yato's cooler filled with the treasures he found. He made his way to the next pile, tossing aside a fire extinguisher- having already learned his lesson- and found an old refrigerator. This was tricky, he would have to remove everything then bring the large object to the dump to have it compresses by a much larger machine.

When the door wouldn't open, he pointed his right finger at it, signaling the laser to shoot. He started at the top and slowly made his way to the bottom, allowing the door to split down the middle and fall apart. What was behind the door had him pause.

"Nora...What is?" Yato's voice was nothing but a whisper. He gazed at the anomaly that shown a bright green. Stark against the dark brown waist land. 'Prunus Serrulata- Japanese Cherry Blossom' his main frame supplied. After a moment he thought on how to best take it back with him. The instructions on how to properly relocate a plant showed up, he read them while Nora jumped down to take a closer look. After some shifting through the trash, the plant was carefully placed in a short glass bottle, then put safely in the cooler. Reading the rest of the information his drive provided, Yato decided it would be best to return the plant to his house.

The trip back went by quick. Yato tried to search his own memories, from before his Father modified him to be a Wall-E. He couldn't remember plants, not even in his earliest memories. He remembered the fake leaves kept on the main table. But the plastic look-alikes where dull and rough in comparison to what Yato carried. He rubbed the leaves and had his scanner check again and again, his data coming back assuring him of the object was in fact a living organism. An extinct one at that.

Once Yato placed the plant safely on it's own shelf, he made his way back out the door. Another bright color caught his eye. Yato had just opened the door to his home when the red dot appeared. Nothing flickered into his view to give him any help to the second oddity of the day. It was a big red dot. A light the size of his palm. He slowly picked up his foot, eyes going wide for a moment before he slammed it on the door. His head whipped to the side as the dot darted out of the way just in time. After a pause it took off down the path, stopping a couple meters.

At this, Yato moved much slower. Placing the cooler down, he sneaked down the ramp, keeping his hand in front of him. When he was close, he moved slower, eyes fixated, and reached for it. When he did, the light shook. Circling Yato in a sort of dance, who danced with it in order to keep his gaze focused.

Suddenly, Yato was running. Taking off after the light that rocketed across the land. It's been a while since he's ran, but he wasn't wiped of such an instinctive human ability. It took a second for his tech system to kick into high activity mode. After a few meters, Yato was bounding over trash heaps and vaulting over fences. It helped he knew every inch of this city down to the last newspaper.

When it stopped again he was over what was once the ocean, now solid pollution. Yato let out a puff of satisfaction, its been a while since his lungs and heart had to work so hard. He looked around to see where the dot brought him, only to notice more of them coming down in a line. The red came down the city and the dunes and Yato realized he was surrounded. Good thing his mainframe was still buzzing because Yato turned tail and ran to the nearest, largest pile of trash.

He threw his body behind it, his systems blaring in his skull, pounding against his heart and breaths. The ground began to shake and the wind picked up. Yato dug his hands into the trash heap to hang on as the whole world seemed to shake. He faintly recognized the sounds of a space ship engine, but was too busy hanging on for dear life to get excited.

After a while, it quieted down, not nearly as silent as before but Yato was already starting to forget what that was like. Machines and engines began to hiss as the orbital maneuvering engines whined and slowed down. The atmosphere immediately cooled again, but the air smelled burnt.

Yato peeked around the corner, hand ready on his compactor in case he had to start swinging. A new, rounded tower stood tall, silhouetted against the sunlight. The bottom of the ship hissed open and a white cloud fell out of it like a water fall. Blue light streamed out of it, scanning the surrounding area. Yato crept out of his hiding spot when the light disappeared. He subconsiously fixed his hair, tried to rub any dirt off his face, then patted down his uniform.

Yato slowly made his way closer, stopping again when a large tube came down from a crane. It was placed not two inches off the ground. More mechanic arms came from the ship, one opening the locks along the side, the other typing in a code on the keypads at the top. Yato decided these machines weren't sentient and made his way behind a closer-much smaller-pile.

Whatever the machine typed in had the entire pod glowing a bright blue. The front was a glass case, one that had the shadowed shillohette of a person. At this, Yato nearly leaped out of his skin. His human half was almost thrilled to tears. It had been so, so long since he'd seen anything that even resembled a human. Just when he was starting to think this planet had been long since left behind. On the other hand, his mainframe panicked. The other Wall-Es were all dead, and he wasn't nearly done with the work he was supposed to do. What's worse is that he was sitting doing nothing in the presence of someone who was defiantly above him, instead of doing said job.

Yato's thoughts were silenced as the glass door of the pod slid open and the creature- who he assumed was a human- sat up and slid out. It stood in a white skin-tight suit with little glowing buttons along the hip and light up blue lines that stretched thoughout. Tyed to the tail bone was what looked like a small hand gun, long and futuristic without any sort of handle. The human reached up at the helmet it wore and clicked the buttons. The helmet seemed to disappear into thin air and long brown hair fell out. Yato gasped in awe at this, the hair flowing beautifully as the human looked around at it's surroundings.

The human waved at the pod, allowing it to shut before walking a few steps to the left. One hand on the side of their head- the white parts of the helmet that covered where the ears should be, still visible- and allowed the other side to scan the ground, just as the ship had done. After a second, something on the human buzzed, and it walked a few more paces before scanning again. It continued this process even as the ship began to fold back into itself. Yato ducked as the engines turned on, eyes not leaving the new guest.

The Earth rumbled and heat waves pushed past Yato with great force. But his eyes were able to keep open, even under such conditions, so he braced himself and watched over the human. The ship took off, the charred ground where it once stood the only evidence of it being there. That and the new two-legged organism walking around.

By now, the human had turned so Yato could get a good look at- oh. It was a human. Not just any human. A female. Yato figured he should had guessed, what with the nicely kept long hair she had, but then he reminded himself of the few men that kept their long hair in ponytails. But, her face look soft too. The skin was smooth and unshaven, her cheeks rounded along with her jaw. She had a delicate swan neck, delicate collar bones, and yep. Defiantly female.

Yato finally remembered how to close his mouth and his systems flashed a quick reminder he would need to breathe soon. So he did, watching the girl as she continued scanning. Maybe she was a cyborg like him? His systems hadn't picked up another signal, but it hadn't mentioned the ship either. Maybe they were both too advanced?

The human stopped, and so did Yato. She turned to watch the ship leave the atmosphere, now just a ball of light. She didn't show any emotion. Yato hoped she wasn't sad. As much as he was happy to finally have company, he knew what it felt like to be left behind. Yato took a breath, ready to go introduce himself and tell her it wasn't so bad here. Until she suddenly let out a yell.

Yato fell back behind the pile, freaked, before he realized the cry was one of joy.

"Oh my..." Yato's voice was caught in his throat when the woman's boots opened up two motors on the bottom and she took off in the air. She spun around, letting out a type of feminine laughter similar to the last sound Yato heard from another person. Yato 'Ooo'd and 'aw'ed as the girl flew around, kicking up dust, and dancing on telephone wires like gravity had no hold on her.

Yato worried about her flying off, somewhere he couldn't find or reach. But she stayed within sight, breaking the sound barrier now and again. After her laughter died down, she skidded into a landing right back where she started. Her hair was barely disheveled and her suit didn't have a speck of dirt on it.

As she caught her breath, Yato made his way toward her. He thought about how best to indroduce himself, how best to explain the mess and the lack of superiors, and maybe how best to invite her over for dinner. Once he was a meter away from her back side, he took in a breath through his mask.

"Hello-AH!" Yato threw his body to the side, his back hitting the dirt hard. Past him, the ground ruptured and exploded, dust billowing up. Yato still felt the heat of the blast long his chest, her calm focused face playing on repeat in his head. Yato realized he made a grave error: he hadn't even considered this person could be an enemy.

When the smoke cleared Yato sat in the fetal position with his compactor held out in front. Even the heavy iron and steel squares that blocked his head would be no match for whatever just fired at him from close range.

The girl made a string of noises. Firm and controlled, at normal volume.

Yato peaked around his compactor to see she still had the gun pointed at him. From this close he could see her eyes were brown.

She made the sounds again. Yato realized she was trying to speak to him in a language he- or his systems- didn't understand. There was so much to say, but he addressed the first issue.

"Don't shoot me. I'm not dangerous." Yato mimicked her tone, if not a little more passive.

He watched her eyes flicker to the down slightly to the right and knew she was reading something. She pressed her lips together, looking between him and her info, unsure.

"You-" she took a breath. "You speak the old dialect?"

Yato figured the question was rhetorical, noting that she still pointed the gun at him. He pointed his gaze at the gun then returned it to her with a hard, pleading, expression.

The young woman looked at him just as hard before pointing her gun to the floor. Yato noticed it encased her hand, stopping just above the wrist.

"You are not human." She spoke again while looking off to the right again, her voice choppy and unsure.

Yato shook his head, slowly putting down his compactor but not letting go. Yato may be a Wall-E, but there had been more than a fair share of fights. He swung this thing around day in and day out, his enhanced bone structure able to carry it like a baseball bat. He could also tell that she was new, or at least never pointed that at a sentient being before. Yato was confident he could defend himself.

"No. Are you?" He held his gaze. And his breath. Wanting desperately to know the answer. Her eyes finally left his and widened at something just below his chin.

"You're a Wall-E." she spoke in awe, and continued to look him up and down. "But I thought they were-" she shut her mouth and look at him again when he spoke.

"What? You don't have Wall-Es?" Yato forced a joking smile, but the words came out more nervous than he indended. The young woman let the gun fall to her side.

"No." she informed him, almost sad.

Yato immediately felt bad for upsetting her, even if he didn't know what he did.

"That-That's okay! What about you? Are you human or a hybrid, like me?"

"That's classified." she looked stern again, but a forced practiced stern.

"Well that's rude," Yato huffed.

"Sorry. That classified, Yato."

Yato perked up at the unfamiliar sound of his name. His smile returned when she put her gun away and he scrabbled to his feet. His name sparking the energy he had during her arrival.

"What's your name?" he asked excitedly, stepping close to her.

She stepped back with a funny look, "S-Sorry, but that's classified too."

Yato suddenly remember a joke his father often told.

"Nice to meetcha 'That's Classified Too'! Welcome to Earth!" Yato did a bow and flayed out an arm to gesture to the garbage land that surrounded them.

"There's lots of things here I think you'll like! And I'll be happy to show you!" Yato took walked towards her again, frowning when she backpedaled.

"Th-That's okay! I'm on a mission, so I'll have to pass." Her boots clicked on again. "It was- uh- nice meeting you!" she waved a bit awkwardly and took off again, this time toward the city, out of sight.

Yato stood and stared after her. His heart felt odd in his chest. Like it was telling him to follow her and never let her out of his sight. A high pitched chirp brought his attention away from the sky, to the ground behind him.

"Nora! Did you hear that! She said it was nice to meet me! And those boots! Did you see she could fly? Oh, wasn't she amazing Nora?"

Nora shook her body at the volume he shouted, instead crawling up his legs to his shoulder. She squeaked again.

"If you wanted to go home you should have went on without me. You're just using me as a ride 'cause you're lazy."

Nora hissed at him as Yato put the compactor back in it's holder. The smile still planted on his face. His cheeks were hurting, not being used to the activity, and he knew the future was going to be much more fun.

After Yato brought Nora back home, he tidied the pace up as best he could. Then he washed his hair and clothes with a leaf blower. And finally, soaking both in fancy-looking cologne he found. It was the middle of the night when Yato found her in the city. She had ended up in an old mattress store asleep in her pod, but this time with a blanket.

Quietly sitting in the parking lot outside, his gaze was zoomed in as far as it could go. His night-vision gave him high definition as he scanned the length of her body. He concluded some things. One, she was human, or at least a lot less cyborg-y than he was if she required sleep. Two, her knowledge about this world was basic at best. Other than her shock at his existence, she seemed to have an idea of what things were. It was like she had only seen things in pictures or read about them in books. Three, she was not here for a long time.

Next to this pretty human, the space ship also set aside a small crate. And if this person needed sleep, it was safe to assume she needed substance as well. Something that the crate most likely provided. If that were the case, the amount of food that thing could hold- even dried- was three months tops. Yato had hooked up the city's security system to his TV and his mainframe, it alerted him of any movement. He watched her take a meal out before finding a place to sleep.

Yato saw her sigh and roll over, pink lips parted, her breath fogging the invisible helmet. The Wall-E sighed longingly as she drooled, it's only been a couple hours but he couldn't remember life without her. Yato wouldn't let her leave. He couldn't. There was no way Yato could go back to that loneliness.

#noragami #noragami yato #yato #hiyori #Hiyori Iki #iki hiyori #yukine #noragami fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #wall-e #wall e #one of a kind

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writeanapocalae · 5 years

Text

Nano 2019 Day 26 writing

The building was not much of a home at all, shaped similarly to an office building, lots of windows and nothing to make it look like there was hint of hospitality. The walls were off white and smooth and the first floor was much slimmer than the upper floors, expensive cars able to be housed under the girth of the structure.

Anson drove by the building a few times, circling the block. He knew that there were guards, that Woo-Jin would be just as protected as Sobong was on a normal day, one in which he wasn’t convinced there was someone after his head. He didn’t see anyone though. The windows were darkened, tinted, but with a good eye some light could be seen through them. Anson could see none.

There were cameras, just because there was no way that there wouldn’t be any. He did pull off at one point of his rounds and changed the license plates from the Colorado plates he traveled with to the usual California ones from home. His car was purposefully unexciting, it was hard to notice a silver Toyota Camry among the millions of other identical cars out there. Even so, one of them circling a specific building over and over again wouldn’t go unnoticed.

The largest problem that he could see was the fact that there were no neighbors. There weren’t even any tall trees near the building. That meant he wouldn’t be able to camp out on one of the nearby roofs, take his time to line up the shot, fire, and get out of there before his hiding place was found. The surrounding area was completely flat and there was nowhere to hide. That had to be purposeful.

From the photographs he’d seen of the building, both those from the side and from aerial views, he knew that there were three entrances. There was a front door which led to the cars that were visible from the road, a ramp that went down under the bottom floor, which must have led to employee and toy car parking, and a helipad. The helipad was automatically out and the front door would be too obvious but he could get in through the parking garage.

There was most likely an elevator in there that would take him to a higher floor but that would be too slow. He would be spotted immediately by the cameras and the guards would be on him before he had a chance to do anything. He would need a disguise.

He slumped in his seat. He was wearing a black suit but it wasn’t the same kind of black suit that guards tended to wear. He thought himself clever for wearing a funeral jacket, some sort of symbolism, same as the white scarf around his throat. His best bet would be to pretend to be someone else, not a guard, but someone important that Woo-Jin might have an appointment with.

He pulled out his phone and sighed. His only contact with the Hyo’s was Rim and he did not want to deal with them at the moment. They wouldn’t be amicable to getting Anson what he needed. If he could get the phone transferred to another member of the family that would be better but he doubted that Rim would be willing to do that either. Not without some sour notes.

Without a choice Anson hit the call button and brought the phone to his ear, comfortable in the AC of his car. The phone rang for a while, possibly too long, before Rim picked up. Their breathing was labored, the harsh breaths coming through the phone pinched as they tried to hide it.

“Problem already?” Rim asked.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Anson retorted. “You sound like you just tried to go up the stairs without a handler.”

“Ha,” Rim stated, “That assassin we’ve been plagued by finally showed himself, that’s all. We’re in the process of flushing him out.”

Anson fought the urge to correct them. An assassin would not have been acting the way their interloper was. “Any casualties?”

“A few of the guards have been shot but nothing fatal,” Rim sounded almost calm. “You should be here, I’m sure no one would notice if the wrong hit man got dealt away with.”

Anson rolled his eye. If he had been there, he would teach this kid a lesson. It was irritating, at the very least, just how ready Rim was to get themself traumatized for life.

“Can you hand the phone over to an adult, please?” Anson groaned instead.

Gunfire, in the distance, but still audible over the phone. He could hear shouting as well, but it was authoritative, most likely coming from one of the guards. It brought a smile to quirk the edge of Anson’s lip. Rim must have been very put out to be missing on the action.

“Sorry, Daddy can’t talk right now. One, he’s too busy to learn your archaic language and two he’s not into this sort of entertainment. He’s on his way to his safe house. Don’t worry though, your money is on its way to you. It will be waiting for you when the job’s done.”

Anson ran a finger over the edge of his mask, where it rubbed against his forehead. “Spanish isn’t archaic. And I don’t need him. Can you get me to Richard?”

He could hear the awkwardness in Rim’s throat as they tried to come up with a way to diffuse the inaccuracy of their teasing. It made Anson almost laugh. There was a gunshot, different from the others, a revolver instead of a service pistol. There was the cry of surprise as someone got shot followed by a lot more yelling, the guards panicking over another near fatality.

“Your boyfriend is also on his way out of here.”

Anson grit his teeth. He didn’t want Rim to know about Richard’s attempts that night, didn’t want anyone to. Nothing had happened, he wasn’t interested in mixing business with pleasure and he was especially not interested in forming a romantic relationship with someone so much younger than him or a client. He wanted to tell Rim off, but there was no time. Whoever this killer was, he was doing a good job if he was going up against so many guards and taking them out.

“Just give me his number!” Anson ordered. “It’s for the job.”

“Fine. Fine,” Rim sighed and then there was louder gunfire, Rim joining the others in firing at their intruder. “You should really be here though. You’re services don’t mean anything to my family if we’re all dead.”

“I’m a hit man, not a body guard,” Anson reminded, “You should have enough of those to deal with this.”

Rim gave him the number and, without checking on if he actually got it, hung up. That was fine, they had a lot more pressing matters to attend to. Anson could feel a slight tremor of adrenaline just from hearing all of that action. He wasn’t one for gun fights, that wasn’t what being an assassin was about, but there was till a bit of a thrill in it. There was a reminder of who he once was, on the battlefield, where he’d gotten most of his training for this. He would be good there. He was curious, as well, as to who the intruder was.

#my writing #nano 2019 #anton #rim

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carrietrekkie · 5 years

Text

Crossroads

Part I - I never wanted to do that.

Hello!

This one starts with a difficult decision and a little less Chris in it(Sorry for that, but he has his big moment in the next one.) Its three parts long, here is the first. Belongs to my Pike x Cathrin(OC) Story.

Warnings: Blood, violence, death,…

Tags: @bold-brave-courageous @allthetrek

Leave me a little fb, if you don´t mind.

Tyler’s eyes had something of a teacher who didn´t know what to do with his student. Like me, he stupidly had no choice.

The whole thing had started as kind of flight lesson, but then we had received a weak emergency call and since the shuttle was already on the move, Pike had decided that we could take a look at it. We all counted on a false alarm, but were instantly better informed when our shuttle exited Warp. The small cargo ship in front of us drove impulsively in the room, didn´t respond to our calls and the scans indicated that his crew, apart from a few, irregular signs of life, was no longer available. Tyler had dropped the shuttle in the hangar and continued to direct me into my first field mission. “Okay, I don´t like it, but I cannot look around in it all by myself.” He pulled out a gear belt, put it over me and closed it in front. “Too tight?” “I don´t know?” I watched him, a mixture of excitement and naked fear dancing tango in my stomach. “What should happen with it?” “Communicator.” He held out the box to me, I put it away. “Tricorder.” I reached for the device. He sighed, then slipped something into my belt, dropped slightly to his knees, and fastened a strap around my thigh. “Phaser.” He turned and picked up one of the weapons from the wall.

“Great.” I joined his sigh. “Must that be?” “It’s regulation. You will not need it.” “Your word in God’s ear canal.” I grinned at him, then I looked at the black weapon in my hand. “It’s set for stun.” Ash just put his own gun away, then leaned in to me. “So you change the attitude, well as I said, we don´t need that.” “But good to know.” Then I grabbed the phaser and looked at it. “And now?” He activated the opener for the ramp on the small spaceship, lifted his phaser lightly and we watched as it lowered and dulled on the ground. Slowly we left the ship and entered the freighter. Tyler threw a small ball in the air, which immediately began to collect data. “I’m not a pro, but it’s pretty quiet here.” I turned briefly around my axis, it was dark and cold. “Which would made our theory that the com system just has failed, for the ton.” Ash nodded towards the exit. “Let’s start on the bridge.” “What’s that thing?” I looked at our companion. “An observation drone. It tracks our movements and can help us if we lose our bearings. ” “That would be my part then.” I smiled at him, he returned it, then we moved on. Also out here it was very quiet. The lights flashed and some sparks flew through the area. “What happened here?” “It looks like an overvoltage has damaged the wires.” Ash glanced at one of the displays, which, too, flickered only lightly. He typed something in. “But the computer doesn´t give anything.” “So in the old-fashioned way.” “I allow myself to claim that we both understand two completely different things about that.” “That could be quite possible.” I glanced back over my shoulder. “How big is such a cargo ship?” “That depends on the class.” Tyler pointed to the left. “There are some that are just big enough for a few containers, some so huge that they can transport all the equipment needed to rebuild a colony.”

“Wow, like a ship of the galaxy class?” I took a quick look into the corridor that went off to the right, this was empty too. “What’s a galaxy class ship?” Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Well, the Enterprise.” I looked at him. “Um no.” Now he came up to me. “The Enterprise belongs to the Constitution class.” “Oh.” I pulled my eyebrows together. “Are you alright?” “Yes.” I didn´t take my smile off myself. “Yeah, all right, that just happened to me somehow like that.” I kept pointing, then I started walking and he followed me. “Do you have that more often?”

“This was the first time since Talos.” I thought for a moment. “And the first time it relates to anything other than the people I met here.” “What do you make of it?” “I don´t know.” I squinted at him. “Above all, I don´t know if I should tell you.” He laughed briefly. “It was enough for me Prescot missed a hell of a trip, I don´t want to know what Leland comes up with.” “Captain Leland is a lot less bad.” Tyler shook his head for a moment. “You know how that sounded?” “Yes, but it was already out of my mouth.”

We turned a corner and both stopped dead in our tracks. In front of us, a trail of blood spread, which quickly ended in a pool of blood. “Oh, bad.” I glanced at him. “Okay, you need the phaser.” “I was afraid you would say that.” I did, however, comply with his order. Slowly we moved on.

“Carefully.” Tyler made me understand that I should stay behind him, then we started. As we passed the bloodstain, I lit it with the Phaser’s faint lamp. "Is that pink?” Again my brain threw a rag and I answered myself. “Klingons have pink blood.” “How do you know that?” I raised an eyebrow, he did it to me. “Yes, right, sorry. However, that does not make our situation any better. ” “I thought there was peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation?” I had to see that I got on with my research. “That’s the way it is, but not everyone sees it and there are always black sheep´s. Even in the Federation. ” “Ohh, that I know.”

“Stop.” He stretched out his arm and I ran into it, then saw what alarmed him. A few feet away, a body lay on the ground. “I hate to say it, could be your responsibility.” “My responsibility?” “Medicine and so on? I’m not up to it.” “Mmh.” I followed him to the body, then dropped the phaser. “I don´t think I’m comfortable with it.” Slowly, I went to my knees and pulled the tricorder anyway. Tyler had been so far-sighted as to give me a medical one. “And I don´t think this thing is familiar with it either.” I tried to get out of the confusing data that the device showed me. “Okay, he seems to be dead.”

Tyler didn´t say anything, instead he stood behind me, his weapon at the ready and alerted to the tips of his hair. “Do you see why?” “I cannot see any big injuries.” I knelt down and leaned over the dead man. “Or something that looks like the hit of a weapon.” “But?” He looked over my shoulder. “He looks sick. He has bled from the body orifices I can see. "I refrained from pulling up his eyelids, but I was sure they would be bloodshot. "His skin looks swollen and sore.” I raised the phaser and lit it up. “Apparently he has also bleed out of his digestive system.” Now I lit Tyler. “I suppose Klingons have such organs?” His answer was another slate look. “Hey, I’ve never seen a real Klingon, so apart from you and I think that doesn´t count.” He started walking up and down a few steps. “Maybe 50 percent.”

“Do you know what a hemorrhagic fever is?” Now he looked at me questioningly. “It is a virus form on Earth, maybe something exists on other planets, unfortunately I don´t know that.” I got up again. “It’s a cruel way to die, the organs liquefy, you bleed from all orifices in the body, and if you don´t burn till high fever, you’ll suffocate your own blood or bleed inside.” “Get out!” “I didn´t touch him.” I stared at Tyler as he came to me wide-eyed, grabbing my arm and starting to pull me away. “Ash, what’s up?” “This is not a good sign.” He pointed to the corpse. “It’s contagious and far more dangerous than what you’ve just told me.” When I finally adjusted to his pace, he let go of me. “He was certainly not alone.” “If you wanted to scare me.”

Then something crashed into Ash with unimaginable force, knocking him off his feet, flinging him against the nearest wall, before twisting with a gruesome growl.

“Oh, great God.”

I backed away as my brain caught what was building up in front of me. So that was a Klingon, alive and apparently angry. “Ash!” I looked around frantically, then my eyes fell on the phaser in my hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler wobbly on his legs, shaking his head, then running and leaping with all his might against the attacker in front of me.

The Klingon swung a kind of sword. Tyler bent down and the blade missed him very sharply, but she caught me by the arm. I shouted for a moment, rolling over and falling to the ground. The phaser slipped out of my hand and down the hall a few yards away. A scream made me drive around and I could just see the Klingon twisted Tylers arm and slammed him against the door frame, dazed, he fell to the ground and remained lying. “Ash!”

Panic crept up in me as the Klingon now turned back to me. Growling, he came slowly closer. I felt like a prey he had chosen to play with. I pushed away and crawled toward the phaser on the ground more than I ran, but something caught my boot and pulled me back just as my fingers tips reached the gun’s handle. Helplessly I had to watch as it slipped away and the Klingon dragged me back. I reached out with my free leg and kicked him as hard as I could against his nose. He hissed and released me. Blood spurted from it, but I paid no attention to it, came to my feet, stumbled to my gun, tore it up and squeezed. Horrified, I watched him stumble for a moment, shaking himself as if the stun beam were an annoying insect, then he relented.

“Cathrin!” Tyler came slowly to himself, so I slowed down and was lucky that the beefy Klingon had not expected that and took a moment to realize that I ran past him to Tyler. “Ash, come on, we have to get out of here!” I grabbed him under hia arm and was surprised to find that despite his slender figure, he was surprisingly heavy. Behind us our attacker roared, drew another weapon and rushed towards us. “Shoot ‘em.” Ash could hardly speak in pain, but somehow managed to shove his phaser into my hand. I raised the gun and squeezed again. Again no effect. Ash rolled his eyes and began to slide out of my arms again. “Shit.”

I hesitated a moment, then turned the phaser fully open and pointed it forward again. But then I couldn´t do it. I couldn´t shoot. Tyler tore me down with him again, again he had to fight for his consciousness, but I with very different things. When the Klingon screamed again, he stood directly in front of us, his sword raised and his gaze fixed on Tyler. But before he could deliver the fatal blow, something inside me burned and I pulled the trigger. The strong beam hit him right on the head and I could see right away that this time it didn´t missed his effect. A terrible grunt slipped from his throat as he folded over me and fell to my feet.

I gasped and slipped back a bit, but before I could bang through, a pained sound from Tyler’s direction stopped me. “Ash!” I slipped over to him. He was bleeding from a cut on his cheek, his lip was slightly torn and he held his arm. “Can you get up?” “Yeah, just get out of here.” He scrambled to his feet and this time I somehow managed to get him on his feet. “This way.” “Okay.” I put his good arm over my shoulders and hoped he would have the strength to get through to the shuttle. Surprised by myself, we found the way back to the hangar faster than expected. I dragged him into the shuttle, slid down to the floor, and closed the ramp with a quick handshake. Nobody would get through that for now. Completely exhausted, I slapped myself on the floor, my muscles burned, my heart beat so hard it was almost blowing, and every breath burned like crazy. The fabric of my uniform was sticking to me and my hands were shaking.

“Ahhh.” Tyler rolled away when the attempt to get up failed. “Wait.” I pulled myself together, grabbed the first aid kit and crawled to him. I pulled out a tricorder, then crossed his arm. “He dislocated your shoulder.” “What you don´t say.” He squinted hard. “Do you have painkillers in there?” “If we don´t fix that, you might lose your arm.” I started looking for a hypospray. “Muscle Relaxation.”

Annoyed, I dumped the case and searched for an ampoule of the drug. “Ah.” I put it in the spray and pressed it to Tyler’s neck. “Do you want to tell me what this is going to be?” “I don´t think so.” I smiled weakly at him. “Sit up.” With a groan, he responded to the request. I loaded an ampoule of the strongest painkiller I found into the spray, then I inject it. “It should be better now.” “Okay and what’s that for?” “You´ll notice.” I grabbed his arm, knelt in front of him and looked at him. “Sorry.” “What?”

I pressed his upper body against the wall and then his arm back until I heard it crack loudly. It even hurt me. That he was screaming so much didn´t really make it any better. “Are you crazy !?” He glared at me evilly. “It would have been even worse if I had warned you.” I let go of his arm and dropped back onto my feet. “I’m sorry, but now it should be better immediately.” He took a breath, apparently he wanted to scold another round, but just when he opened his mouth, he apparently decided otherwise.

“I’m right.” I raised my eyebrows. “You are.” Carefully, he began to move his injured arm. “What was that?” I got up from the floor and looked out the window of the shuttle. “I guess, pirates, looters. Will you help me? ” “Sure.” I went back and helped him get up. “Slowly.” “Whoa, what did you give me?” He held his head. “Not that it doesn´t feel good.” “A relaxant and painkiller.” I brought him forward and just wanted to put him in the pilot’s seat as he waved off.

“No, this place.” He swung himself into the co-pilot’s. “If I lose consciousness, you have to fly the ship.” “Sure.” I grinned at him. “Any other wishes?” “You’re fine.” Now he grinned. “Can you still pull yourself together a little bit?” I started to ran up the shuttle’s systems. “I have no idea what I have to do.” Somehow I managed to get the engines started. “Oh, look at that.” Tyler sank back into the seat. “Something stuck. Now this switch. ” “Okay.” I followed his finger, then accelerated and left this inhospitable place. “How did I set a course?” I looked to the right, but instead of answering, Tyler’s head rolled backwards. “Ash!” I yelled at him, which made him start up again. “Don´t leave me alone now.” “Trying to connect Discovery, maybe they could pick us up.” “Yeah, that sounds good.” I looked out the window. “Could they shoot us?” “I think that’s unlikely.”

Tyler’s breathing was heavy, he fought the medications and the stuff that his own body was spilling out, but he wouldn´t be able to last forever. “What these Klingons had, also attacks the logical thinking. They only act, react. ” “Yeah well, save your energy, it’ll take a while before we get home.” I tried to remember Kelya’s flying lesson and carried out the necessary orders to reach Discovery.

“Shuttle three to Discovery, come in, please.” I listened to the silence that followed. “Shuttle three, here Discovery, we’ll hear you.” Pike’s voice came from the Con, shortly thereafter the screen came on and we saw the bridge. “Everything OK?” “Um, no, not really.” I smiled quickly. “We were attacked when we entered the damaged ship.” “Who attacked you?” “Klingon.” I was aware that my voice sounded a bit shrill. “And they were huge and incredibly bad. Well, actually it was only one. ” “Cathrin.” Ash muttered softly. “Oh, right. Tyler is injured and busy not totally losing consciousness. ”

“Where are you?” Pike signaled to Owo and I could see her fingers flying over the console. “I don´t know.” My eyes darted over the displays of the shuttle. “How…” “Quiet, we’ll help you through.” Pike turned to Burnham. “Can we find them?” “As long as they keep the frequency open, that should not be a problem.” “See,” he turned back to us. “All good.” I smiled crooked, then something else caught my attention. “There are a lot of colorful lights here all at once.” I squinted. “I think the cargo ship explodes!” “Start the impulse engines!” Pikes voice let me twitch briefly. “Left from you. Fingers on the control and slowly push forward. ” It took me a second to find the control panel, then I put my fingers on it and executed Pike’s instructions.

“Good.” He tried to smile encouragingly, well, as far as I could see, then I felt the blast of the collapsing freighter hit our hull and before I knew it, Tyler and I flung it out of the seats and threw ourselves through the small spaceship. Tyler slapped the floor, lay there and I rolled to my back. “Cathrin! Do you hear us? "That was Michael’s voice. "Ash, get in touch!” “Detmer set course, max Warp.” I opened my eyes, rolling over and cursing softly. “I clearly spend too much time on the ground of those things.” I scrambled up from them and looked ahead. The shuttle had turned and I could see the still smoldering remains of the freighter. “Shuttle three please respond!”

“Yeah, here Zimmer, we’re still alive, just shaken up a bit.” I went to Tyler and turned him carefully on the back. “Right now you are really to be envied.” Then it flashed again. A blue beam covered the ship and I felt something pull us backwards. “Discovery here, we have you.” “Understood.” I slumped against the wall next to Tyler, then closed my eyes briefly and didn´t open them until I felt the shuttle touched down and opened from the outside.

Masterlist

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