#WAH I’m SCREAMING dude what a conclusion!

[thefanciestborrower]

Haha lol Ice Emperor goes Brrrr part 10

Wind snapped at his face like blades, cutting in its chill, yet familiar in the ways it swept between his metal plating. At his back, Boreal’s wingbeats hit the air like drums, rattling the sky with the force of each downstroke. Below, trees blurred into indistinguishable stripes that raced Boreal’s shadow as they soared.

It was an hour, maybe two, that Lloyd spoke up. “I thought you sent the palace guards.”

Julien, who had thus far been doing little but staring blankly at the white landscape, blinked back to himself before answering. “I did.”

“And we’re flying out, too?” A hand against the inner lining of his stomach. Minuscule compared to him as it lightly brushed along the ripples, and folds, and scars. “Not that I want to turn around, but…?”

When he considered it, it was acid on his tongue. Burning and tearing as it dripped from his teeth in tar-like strings. As he made into words what had only been impulse and thought. As form took from shadow. And, in the end, he swallowed the fire and let only the steam rise from between his lips. “Something came up. It will be faster to resolve it now.”

While the warmth of implications drowned in his throat, he steered Boreal off the face of a cliff, keeping the cloud-muffled sun to his back and letting their combined shadow fall across the frozen fields below. A herald to his arrival in shades of blues and blacks, even as storm swept up behind him in a swirling mass that howled like the ghosts of those grieving. Flecks of ice gathered on his shoulders.

When the sun fell too low to travel, the group set down, and a simple wave was all he needed to raise a dome of ice. Vex, for all his muttered complaints, slept quickly that night as Julien listened to the woods. The hum of… something. A presence, almost.

Come daybreak, they were back in the air again.

It was early dawn when Vex spoke again. Lloyd was still inside, though the puff of his breathing against Julien’s nerves soothed his fears of hypothermia.

“M’lord, are you entirely sure you know where these… ninja are?”

Boreal passed low over trees, the thick rumble rolling from his chest shaking the snow from most. The powder that fell bloomed into the air in plumes, dusting what it touched in a fine white.

“I am sure.” He wasn’t. He wasn’t, but the snow stretched below in wide swaths broken only by sparse forest. He wasn’t, but Boreal hummed whispers of knowledge. Of something so quiet and subtle that it ran undetected through the air. A taste in the wind.

A taste that only grew stronger as his familiar dipped, brushing the snow with a wingtip, and skimming along a ridge with ice so fine, it barely glimmered. Such that there was not a point to gather light, nor a facet to reflect it. There, atop the claws of the world, the song of metal rang and danced to smile in their face and beckon them down. The sound of battle rose in a cry for blood, and the thump of ice samurai boots. In the smell of blood and the corroding metal. In the crumbling snow and reddening ice.

A beat of Boreal’s wings, and Julien’s eyes caught on the black-blue-red of dyed clothing. Backs pressed against each other, thin, blurry figures darted in a practiced pattern. Like a lotus unfolding, each struck individually, fanning out in ever-widening circles. Their movements spiraled in graceful loops, like a dance, pushing back the armored forces trying to press in on them with blades of ice.

His forces.

Boreal landed like a cataclysm, his claws coming down with a sound like cracking rock. Vex was nearly thrown from his back simply from the force of the jolt, and Lloyd woke with a startled movement inside.

The Emperor slid from his dragon’s neck, ice crackling in his footsteps as he raised his voice to be heard over the clashing of swords, and cracking of steel. “Enough!”

His army stilled as if they’d been struck, hundreds of wide, enchanted blue eyes turning to look at him. “What is the meaning of this?” The question spilled from his chest without any command from him, echoing against his teeth.

The army fell to one knee, a general appearing from the ranks with his hands folded at his back. He dipped into a deep bow at the waist, voice carrying a rasp as—

“Zane?”

His attention drifted lazily to the ninja despite the rattle in his chest as his systems stalled. A shudder as his breath came in a puff of blue frost that seeped past his mouthguard and crystalized against his face. The ice keeping his hand bound to his staff flaked even as black bled into it. Even as a thickness rose in his throat like tar. Even as Vex’s protests fell into the blank buzz that had taken place of his thoughts.

When his voice rose to the backs of his teeth—when the ice cleared to let a breath pass—when his eyes blinked in and out of functionality—when he managed to speak, it was little more than a whisper. As if they may fade away if he spoke too loudly. “I… I could be called that.”

The last piece moved on Zane’s mental chessboard, trapping the memories of The Falcon. Whispering the names of what he once may have known. Pushing the guilt, and loss, and grief  into his eyes as silence reigned between them. As his mind remained quiet, and blank, and empty.

“Zane!” They were coming toward him. Running. Weapons in hand, yet they only smiled at him even as Vex shouted. Even as he slipped out of their way with a step, the ninja turned just as quickly, gesturing, and talking, and cheering.

And yet, as he turned to face Vex, his voice, no more than a whisper, carried to his advisor.

“Did you know?”

Silence fell on the mountain. Boreal flaked away one shard of ice at a time, head lowered and rumbling quietly in the back of his throat. Something that Zane thought may be a sound of mourning.

“My—my lord. You must understand—”

“Did. You. Know?”

“No, my lord. I didn’t.” And the Emperor smiled at him. A soft, sad sort of smile as the words of the formling he’d imprisoned hissed a symphony.

“But you still lied to me.” Lloyd was active again. He was moving, and shouting, and pushing at the synthetic walls. Zane did not hear him. “Why did you lie to me, Vex?” The ninjas’ presence behind him was like a rock wall. As if he could back up and be pinned between them and Vex. As if he could not simply fly away.

Then again, as Boreal’s eyes shattered upon hitting the ground, Zane supposed he couldn’t.

“Zane…” From behind. Quiet, pleading, he would say if he considered it. A raised hand was enough to silence them.

“Why did you lie to me?”

“I—I recall no such thing, m’lord! I have been your loyal advisor for decades—”

A tilt of his head. Just slightly. He did not blink. “I was not the original emperor, Vex. Grimfax usurped no throne, for the throne was never mine to begin with, was it?”

His advisor’s face turned hard. A dark scowl twisting into something like a snarl as white teeth flashed at him in the light. “You seem to have made up your mind.”

“I have.” He could not have been the emperor before Grimfax. He lived with his fellow ninja… brothers. He could not have been usurped by formlings, for he had no throne to usurp. “What else was a falsity?” A step forward. “Who else have you misled?” His space encroached on Vex’s.

“You never really loved me, did you?”

Vex’s eyebrows raised. Two black streaks that grew clouded in Zane’s wavering vision. “No—no, my lord—I promise—”

The knot in his throat unraveled into something hot. Like lava had been poured down his throat and into his core. Like everything he’d never said tied him at the wrists and forced his mouth open. “Your promises mean nothing!” It was a roar more than a shout. Such that it rattled his plating and he loomed over Vex. Such that he found a hand ripping Vex’s helmet off in a single movement before he could even think about it. “What do your words mean to me when you have fed me nothing but lies? Did you—” a crackle in his voice. Like his modulator failed. “—did you lie about the formlings, too?” A breath. Inhaled sharply through his teeth as he raised a hand to unclip his mouthguard. To tear it from his face in a crackle of shattered ice.

His voice gave rise to the thought even as it spilled something warm and wet down his eyes. “What… what have I done? What—what have you asked of me?”

Hurt. Hurt and grief and emptiness settled in his frame. Weighed down his metal even as Vex’s face shifted from something unreadable to… to angry. To rage and anguish.

Lloyd’s voice. Echoing in the depths of the dungeons. The barest sound before he changed his mind.

“It was you who ordered the attack on the ninja, wasn’t it?”

Vex’s back straightened, and acid rode his voice as he pressed himself into Zane’s space. “You question my motives? After all these years? My Emperor—”

“I. Am not. YOUR EMPEROR!”

Like a wave, ice rose behind him, arching up in nothing but solid black ice. It cut out the sun, swallowing the sky and parting Vex and Zane from the world. An unbreakable dome, it surrounded them in cold darkness.

“And you will die for what you have done.”

He was across the makeshift arena in a heartbeat, ice coalescing into a blade-sharp shuriken in the same instant he pushed off.

Vex’s blood steamed as it hit the air.

It was barely a scratch, really, dripping crimson lazily into the snow and melting spots in the ground. “Tell me the truth, Vex. Tell me what happened. Tell me or let your spirit rest in ice forever.” Zane touched down at the adjacent point from Vex, his steps ghosting against the snow. Vex’s snarl dripped of malice as he looked up at Zane.

“They banished me!” Vex’s shout rattled the air in the dome, but Zane’s scowl bared his own ice-tipped teeth. “The formlings left me for dead in the ice for not having a form. They mocked me! Whispered about me!” He lashed out, and Zane danced out of the way, one of his shurikens shattering against the opposite wall where it missed. “I did what I had to do!”

When Vex lunged again, Zane caught him around the neck, claws made of black ice digging into his ex-advisor’s neck as he pushed Vex’s face into the blood-dappled snow. “And what—” a push against his stomach. Lloyd’s voice, yet muffled by Zane’s own shouting—“did you do?”

Vex’s spittle poked more holes in the snow when he tried to spit at Zane. “I convinced you that you were the emperor. That you ruled this realm. That Grimfax stole your throne from you.” The slightest slice of flesh. Warm red ran down Zane’s fingers. “When the formlings took ill to your encroaching onto their territory, I commissioned one of them to try to assassinate you. The little eagle woman—do you remember her? She screamed for hours after you impaled her. The formling healing factor is impressive.” His ice spire had pierced flesh and bone. At the time, he hadn’t realized he could do that. “And when the formlings organized to figure out what to do about you, I made plans. Sketched up scores of them for your guards to find.” Etchings carved onto beast hide. Plans. He suspected spies at the time. The castle diagrams were too… perfect.

“And you fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Every formling frozen solid or imprisoned.”

The warm, wet dripped down Zane’s faceplate, splattering against Vex’s armor. His ex-advisor’s face softened. His smile was sad.

“I really was just doing what was best for you, you know. With your powers, they would have come after you a—” His hand clenched, cutting off Vex’s breath. As he clawed at Zane’s hands—ripping his gloves and tearing his sleeves—Zane peeled him off the floor, snow falling in clumps.

When Vex hit the ice wall the first time, it cracked.

A second, and the structure creaked.

When he was thrown—bloody, broken, and trailing red—his body shattered the dome, sending Vex’s limp body into the snowdrift Boreal had originally landed in.

When he moved, it was the gait of a predator. A low stance laced with blood and trailing a carpet of red. His eyes fixed on the still figure of his former advisor.

It was only when hands—cloying. Clinging. Familiar—snagged onto his clothing and dug into his shoulders that he heard it.

Shouting. Yelling. Begging.

Lloyd’s voice in his ear. Over, and over, and over. “Don’t do it,” he screamed, voice raw and hoarse from something Zane didn’t remember. “Don’t do it, don’t do itdontdoitdont—”

His hesitation was just enough for the hands around his shoulders to drag him back, his dorsal column hitting something warm and firm, and steady, even as arms wrapped around his shoulders and a head buried itself into his neck. As people dressed in odd colors gathered around him and pressed their hands—foreheads—faces into his sides. As the liquid in his eyes spilled over properly and he buried his own head into a security he didn’t remember.

======================================== The close of arc 1 Fun facts: >Total word-count: 12882 words. >Total page-count: 36 pages >Each part was made the day it was posted save for part 4. >My favorite scene is the one with Kataru in it (read; bear boy)

[la-mariposita-de-palestina]

Rewatching Holy Musical B@man :)

When I first watched it I thought it was “nice.” lets see how i feel on time #2 :)

DYLAN SAUNDERS MARRY ME

The narration of bodily damage. Yes.

LAURENNNNN

DYLANS VOICE. JAHGVL.GJNVDF

I love this scene so much

Rat tat tat!

Dude, did Batman kill god? Is that how God died? Is this part of the Starkid Super Theory?

The Batman/Bruce Wayne joke is the best

Batman exposing America and exacting his revenge, what a guy

The Joker *dies* everyone.. *unfazed*

Gotham giving unconditional Bat love

CAPTAIN MARVEL

ohmygod Batman is like “no I don’t have the energy to be around my crush right now I’m brooding”

Brians bouncing, uh i mean flying, is adorable.

*lies to impress my crush* 

I wonders why theres so much crime in Gotham.*everybody and their grandmother has a gun* what a mystery.

Drama angsty angy boi Batman

Le gasp

“nay- the life that has chosen meeeeee”

*waddles across stage*

Why’d i pause it like this.

mamaandpapaaaa nomamaandppapapapaaa

The bats dance just for him

THEY JUST WANT A BUDDY

“The Fortress---of Solitude”

...I’d freak if I saw Dylan Saunders too

I just realized i never really appreciated Rogues are we for the MASTERPIECE it is.

Jaime you queen

Poor two face, its not his fault he has the stupidest theme ever.. actually it is.

Jeff Blim is a king.

He’s so excitedd.

“yea“ HE’S A SOFT ANGY BOI.

“tiny little guy“

HE IS DAZZZLING

Starkid likes staring friendships with speaking in unison.

He is a very articulate little one.

They’re bonding!!! yay.

Le gasp.

Wholesome

YOU GO ROBIN!

This musical was just an excuse for Starkid to write a bunch of puns.

I love this song.

*beats someone to death* *softly sings* OOooooohh

Is he actually making the Wah Wah sounds? cuz thats impressive

DANCE MY BOYS DANCE

OI THATS MY PRECIOUS BOI UR TALKING ABOUT!

whispers longingly “Krypto-”

DA PUNZ

I love Candy.

Where is all the candy coming from?!!?! is there an interdimensional portal in his pockets?!

That was a highly questionable decision. (Kwan Lee)

“I’m such a boob“ imma use that from now on.

*breaks everything around him* *pushed a box*

The poor water supply, it’s just chilling.

I love that he’s called Green Lantern Fanboy.

Superman just wants to get a phone call. Just once.

Every time they same America I gag. Yay.

The social commentary is catchyyy

“Most of us are Mexican“ LOL

CANDY YOU DESERVE A MAN WHO WILL TREAT YOU RIGHT! WHO WILL APPRECIATE YOUR CANDY PUNS!

The plane.

*squints really hard at the screen* Starkid-

I want to know what this person was cast as. “The invisible force that is Superman’s flying” yes I’m sure that’s exactly what is was.

I appreciate the subtitles clarifying that his screaming is in fact meant to mimic a bat and not a toddler having a tantrum.

Jussssst. Kisssssss.

Brian is a beautiful elegant man, I love his arm movements.

They...they shared...they shared a..shared a-a cigarette.................

Sweet Tooth is such a good villain?! Like?! How?! Didn’t I notice this?!

we need a combat specialist to dissect this fight scene it was so raw and emotional and the movements were so complex..........

Ah yes. water shots, the most...hardcore drink..ever

Construction man has my heart. Well Dylan does but-

“peeeeeople“ “belieeeeeeeeve” “gooood”

“who” CAPTAIN MARVEL

I mean...is he wrong?

Dude I never heard the word totties till I watched Starkid and now I’m never calling my boobs boobs. They’re totties now.

Fanboying over your crush, his house and his pet.

“pretentious douchebags“ yea, yea they are.

YAY CAPTAIN MARVEL SAVED THE DAY!!!

Wait can Starkid make a bunch of Super Friends musicals?! Why didn’t they continue this it’ve been so fun.

Robin saying the true desires of his heart. You go, be a modern dancer buddy!

“Lauren offstage“ I love that they needed to specify it was our lord and savior Lauren Lopez not some random offstage voice.

DYLAN SHUTTUP I’M HAVING HEART PALPITATIONS.

Did they just buy one of every color underwear available on the face of the earth? Good for them.

Conclusion: I love this a lot more than I remember when I first saw it. I’m am very happy now :DDDD