#a student sent me this chapter from a book that talks about a murder trial in france in 1457

[medieval-canadian]

was NO ONE going to tell me that in the premodern era ANIMALS were regularly put on trial for shit like murder (among other things) and often convicted?????????????????????????????????????

[a-student-out-of-time]

Rambling about V3 Again

Today I saw a really interesting quote from author Brandon Sanderson and it honestly got me thinking. He talked about what he considers the single worst thing you can do with critique in writing, and that’s if a critic “tries to make your story into one they would write, rather a better version of one you want to write.”

That got me thinking about V3.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that V3 is a very polarizing game, and I’ve seen many people talk about how they would’ve preferred to see the story play out, from character arcs to deaths to story conclusions. And while I do honestly enjoy seeing alternative perspectives and takes and AU’s, I feel like a lot about the game, what it’s trying to say and be, is skewed by those ideals.

I’m not saying that the critiques about the game are invalid, because there are a fair share of flaws with the game. What I am saying is that we end up talking so much about what we wish V3 could’ve been that what V3 was trying to be often ends up lost in that, and I want to talk about it.

It wasn’t until I really saw this quote that I was able to articulate all my likes and dislikes about the game and the reactions to it into a cohesive whole, which is what I’d like to do here.

So let’s ask this: what was V3 really trying to be?

Let’s start from the game’s theme: the relationship between truth and lies. This is best exemplified by the fact that you have the option to lie during trials, that you can use deception to find the truth. That’s a very different take from the previous games, where hope was associated with finding and confronting the truth.

Kokichi is another example, as he’s a self-admitted liar who claims to lead a criminal organization and it’s hard to tell exactly what he’s thinking or saying. Yet Kokichi actually helps bring the group to several truths: he helps find the culprit in trials, he reveals Maki’s identity as the Ultimate Assassin, tells the truth about Gonta murdering Miu and it’s thanks to his actions that the group later discovers the reality of their situation.

Throughout their journey, the group is confronted by numerous truths they don’t want to acknowledge, even refusing to do so and attacking people who continue to push them through. And with every revelation, there’s always those lingering details that don’t really make a lot of sense.

Let’s look at the game’s main narrative. At the start of the game, Kaede remembers she was kidnapped in broad daylight, thrown into a van, and brought to some abandoned school with a bunch of other people. She doesn’t act like a particularly nice person and is dressed differently, at least until the Monokubs arrive and give everyone their new clothes and memories. From that point, the narrative shifts considerably.

Kaede is suddenly an outgoing, optimistic leader and Shuichi is a sullen, withdrawn detective who serves as her deuteragonist for Chapter 1. She’s resolved to escape the Killing Game and tries to rally the group together. However, when her methods don’t prove successful and they start drifting away from her, she considers saving them by any means necessary and goes so far as to attempt murder against the mastermind. When that happens, she’s found guilty and executed, leaving Shuichi to take up her role as protagonist.

As you go through the game, using devices called flashback lights that apparently reawaken lost memories, you learn more and more about the reason that the group was brought here: the Gofer Project. When meteors began raining down on earth, all seemed lost until they established this project to send a group of survivors into space to colonize a new planet. A group of Ultimates.

They had established early on that Ultimates have even greater rights in this world: they’re the only ones allowed to vote and hold office. As the meteors came down and the news of this project got out, some people formed a cult that believed it was divine judgement and that mankind should be destroyed. That’s when they began the Ultimate Hunt, pursuing the candidates for the Gofer Project across the world. The Ultimates, with no other way out, decided to erase their memories of talent and live their last days as normal people.

To protect them, the people in charge spread a false story that the Ultimates had died, even holding a fake funeral for them and sent them into space secretly. However, while everyone was in cold sleep, one member of the cult- Kokichi- had sneaked aboard and piloted the ship back to the ruined and now inhospitable earth. They have no way back and no way to survive outside, and thanks to Kokichi’s claims to be the mastermind, they’ve been killing each for nothing. The group ultimately loses hope.

However, they’re resolved to continue on in their fight against the mastermind when they find a flashback light that reveals they weren’t just any ultimates: they were the next generation of ultimates from Hope’s Peak Academy. It wasn’t really the meteorites that got everyone, it was an alien virus that pushed mankind to the brink of extinction. That the cult that rose in the wake of this was Ultimate Despair.

That seems like a definitive way to link this game with its predecessors...until you really begin to stop and pick it apart. If this was about saving mankind, why did nobody have their memories right away? Why would you only bring 16 people? Why students who don’t make them suited to colonization? Why people like a death row inmate, a serial killer, a self-proclaimed liar and criminal, and an assassin?

Furthermore, going through many Fte’s highlights how much of the characters’ backstories seem very out there. Gonta wasn’t raised by wolves but a race of dinosaur people living in the woods, Kirumi is so hyper-competent that she became prime minister during the meteor crisis, Korekiyo’s killed almost 100 women and yet has never been caught, Maki can attend high school despite Japanese orphanages being too underfunded for kids to usually attend, Tenko’s neo-aikido breaks all the rules of traditional aikido and she's impulsive, has low pain tolerance, and disregards fair rules, none of which are very befitting of a martial artist.

And to conclude, even I thought that the reveal of their connection to Hope’s Peak felt very fanficy and out there, especially when the game had made no references or implications of it beforehand. But the reason for all of this is simple and effective:

None of this is real. It’s all staged.

Chapter 6 reveals that everything from their identities to the outside world they thought they knew was all just a fabrication. In truth, Tsumugi shows herself as the mastermind and that they’re actually in the 53rd season of an in-universe show called Danganronpa. Something alluded to even in the beginning of the game with the Team Danganronpa logo. This moment was very make or break for a lot of people, but let’s treat it fairly.

According to Tsumugi, the outside world has become a peaceful, boring place and Danganronpa is the only source of real entertainment the people have. A place where people literally come to have their identities replaced with those of Ultimates and then made to kill each other. This, as it turns out, was an outgrowth of the actual series we’d played before. A game that’s gone over 53 times.

This revelation is devastating for the characters. The lives and memories they’d known were all fabrications, which Tsumugi claims to have intentionally written. The Flashback lights were designed to implant fake memories to manipulate them, which is why that Hope’s Peak connection was set up after everyone gave up following the reveal of the outside world. A truth that could lead the world to despair, a lie that could lead the world to hope.

She even goes so far as to show everyone’s audition tapes, claiming that Kaede, Kaito, and Shuichi himself were willing to participate in the killings out of sheer misanthropy, popularity, and morbid excitement 

Kiibo is also revealed to be the audience’s means of interacting with the game, able to carry out their wishes and can even be hijacked and used as a way to fight against the characters’ decisions.

In the end, Tsumugi claims that the ongoing battle of hope vs despair needs to continue in perpetuity and that the survivors need to sacrifice someone, since only two people can survive Danganronpa. Shuichi, however, convinces Maki and Himiko not to vote for anyone and actually convinces the in-universe audience to give up on the series. Kiibo then blows the set to hell and allows Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko the chance to escape and see the world outside and what sort of influence they could have.

Now, let’s this break this down piece by piece here, because I feel like this part of the game is often conflated. Often I’ve seen people say that Chapter 6 is a giant middle finger to fans of the series, that nothing about the series really mattered, or that the flaws of the game can simply be attributed to bad writing on the creator’s part.

I honestly used to be in that camp myself, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I feel those statements don’t hold up to scrutiny. We often conflate writing and narrative decisions we don’t like with bad writing. However, if the creator deliberately wants the narrative to move in that direction and has made intentional foreshadowing, references, and motivations that match it, we can’t simply equate that with it being “badly written.”

It’s not bad simply because we would’ve preferred they do something different. There’s a lot of very acclaimed books out there that I’ll admit I don’t care for because of their narrative decisions, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re badly-written.

Furthermore, if something intentionally doesn’t make sense in-story, that is not bad writing. That is purposeful on the part of the creator, not a plot hole. The Gofer Project is not supposed to be a logical narrative, it’s meant to serve V3′s role: deconstruction of the nature of the series. It does this in many different ways:

Sequelization: 53 is a ridiculous amount of entries in a franchise and as I’m sure we’re all aware, as the number of entries goes up, the writing quality tends to go down. The Gofer Project story was purposefully meant to be nonsensical because it’s a story in an in-universe franchise that jumped the shark long ago.

A lot of people found it confusing or ridiculous that Shuichi and Kaede would have a romantic connection despite knowing each other barely a few days. That’s also the point; quick romances are a convenient narrative device to establish a means for character growth, followed by fridging her, a bad narrative trope designed to propel Shuichi toward development. Tsumugi even said as much during Chapter 6.

Similarly, Maki’s role in the story and her feelings for Kaito were reminiscent of that as well, with him helping her come out of her shell. 

When you go back, you can see Danganronpa is loaded with references to other series. Tsumugi is an obsessive otaku and went so far as to fill the entire story with deliberate references and callbacks to things she enjoys.

The Monokubs are deliberate references to executive decisions to add more marketable and merchandisable characters as the series drags on.

The fact that there are (supposedly) people willing to sign up for a killing game deconstructs the idea that some in the fandom may have had. That is, actually being in a killing game would not be fun or exciting, but horrific and traumatizing. Most of us wouldn’t be badass detectives or heroes, we’d be scared out of our minds, afraid, and want to find a way out.

Furthermore, Shuichi being repeatedly told that he’s just a fictional character and that his role is to be the protagonist, to go through hardships and come out stronger for the audience’s entertainment pisses him off so much that he wants no part of it. 

The climax is ultimately a deconstruction of what the series is famous for: the battle of hope vs. despair. In-universe, this has been reduced down to a simple narrative where the audience wants the same thing again and again: to see hope win in the end. Because hope keeps winning, the audience keeps wanting more. It’s become so formulaic that the audience doesn’t want to break out of its shell and just wants to see it over and over.

The final PTA against Kiibo is not meant to be an insult to the audience, but a representation of fighting against toxicity and entitlement in the fanbase, especially the ones that don’t want change. It’s not saying “you’re stupid for liking this series,” it’s saying “don’t be like these people.”

And how does the game? An unsatisfying ending that’s so bad that it drives the audience to give up on the show, finally allowing the killing to stop. Tsumugi decides she can’t live in a world without her favorite show and decides to die.

And that brings me to what I think is the ultimate thing that people conflate about the ending: that it’s all fiction, so nothing about it matters. That the entire franchise was fake, so it’s not worth your time.

That’s exactly the opposite of what V3 is trying to say.

First, Tsumugi is a completely unreliable narrator. The kind of person who let fiction consume her entire life, yet she believes it can’t change reality. She’s a liar and a hypocrite, and there’s no way of knowing if anything she says about the outside world is even true. It could be like she says or it might not be.

The fact that they have technology that can remove memories and add fake ones adds an entire dimension of ambiguity to everything she says, especially when you consider how the beginning of the game does not match up with what she says. We have no idea what the kids were really like before the killing game, so why should we believe anything she says?

And how can we be certain of her claims that she just wrote everything as planned? Kokichi and Kaito managed to put together a plan that completely threw her and Monokuma for a loop

Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko ultimately choosing to take the words of Kaede, Kaito, and Tenko to heart, even if they were part of a fictional narrative, is proof that they still had an influence on the trio. They choose to take something meaningful from their experiences regardless of the reality of their situation. And that’s something we all do.

The media we consume has an influence over who we are as people, and it’s part of why so many of us have such strong attachments to works we love. They were often influential in help shape who we are as people now, for good and for ill, and it’s important to take that into account.

V3′s message is that yes, that is important, and that you should read and enjoy stories and fiction, just as long as you don’t let it consume your life. They can influence you and even the world at large, and so it’s our responsibility as writers, artists, and creators to use that influence positively, to use the medium as a way to change the world for the better. That the only way for stale franchises that we’re tired of seeing over and over is to demand change, even if that means walking out on them. That the only way for things to change is for us to take action and demand change.

And by the end, we may not see immediate results, but we can at least work hard at trying to bring them about. V3 ends with Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko facing an uncertain future in a world they really know nothing about, but hopeful that their actions can and will change the world for the better. Real life doesn’t have solid, satisfying conclusions and it always doesn’t play out like a story, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on ever finding something satisfying or hopeful out there.

This, by no means, is me saying that V3 is a flawless story. I can point to numerous critiques that I still think hold water. However, Sanderson’s point is that we shouldn’t criticize a work based on what we wish it was rather than how it is and what it was trying to do.

I know there’s a lot about the story that bothers people, I know there’s a lot that wasn’t polished and a lot that feels uncomfortable and hard to swallow. Like Shuichi, coming out feeling confused, lost, unsure of what to do, but choosing to see merit and things to take to heart even in a story that turned out to be full of lies and uncomfortable truths.

If you didn’t enjoy V3, I wouldn’t force you to enjoy it. If you did love it, then you should love it. These are all just my thoughts on a story that, as time goes on, honestly feels more and more relevant to me.

[minervahopebeyond]

Blood Daffodils.

Chapter 21: Encounter.

“This is a bad idea.” He stated as he walked through the hallways towards the Great hall with the rest of the order. “Last year, when the Death Eaters infiltrated the school, they didn’t announce themselves to everyone. Am I the only one who thinks that maybe a less obvious approach would be wise??” He asked turning around, desperately looking for someone who agreed. Most of them ignored him, only one man spoke.

“I think this a flawed plan too.” Kingsley said with a casual tone.

“You aren’t a Gryffindor, are you?” Draco asked raising an eyebrow.

“Ravenclaw.” The man responded with ease.

“That explains it. Hey! Gryffindors: could someone explain to me why are we announcing ourselves before attacking?”

He heard Molly Weasley said something along the lines of ‘this is not the moment or the place for chatting’ and Draco could not imagine a better moment to talk them out of this plan, so yes, it was the moment and the place for chatting. It was Sirius who put an arm around him and answered.

“My my, little cousin, isn’t it obvious? It’s more dramatic this way.”

“Oh good,” He said rolling his eyes. “Let’s get Potter killed but look good in the process.” As soon as he finished the sentence, he coughed and the yellow petals fell from his mouth.

“Don’t worry, kid. He is going to be fine.” Mr. Potter said and Draco couldn’t stop the blush that appeared in his cheeks. It wasn’t necessary to make it obvious to the entire order that Draco cared for the git, was it? He didn’t know how many of them figured out that the Hanahaki was because of Harry, he didn’t want to know how many of them thought that it was pitiful or hilarious.

He was glad that he took every bloody potion to achieve to walk properly alone, that and the adrenaline of seeing Potter again was keeping him moving.

In front of the doors, waiting for them, he saw two thirds of the Golden Trio.

“Ferret!” Weasley whispered rather loudly and ran to meet him, Draco raised his wand and the redhead stopped in his place.

“I’m too bloody pissed off. The only reason why I haven’t casted a severing charm on you is because I don’t have the strength-“

“We know that you are angry, Draco. We’re just happy to see you-“ Granger started to explain and the blond boy snorted.

“Oh, you are happy now, aren’t you?” He said and coughed a few times.

It was Sirius who shut them up and gestured for them to listen.

He saw Weasley hugging his family. If Draco hadn’t been so pissed off he would have been happy for him. Maybe he was, he just wasn’t going to admit it right now.

The voice of his godfather echoed in the Great hall. Draco’s heart ached because, even if Severus had done terrible things, even if he was a bad person, he still cared for him. He loved him and missed him. Thinking that now he could find himself fighting against him made Draco fear the battle field, not because Severus could hurt him, he doubted that, but because he could hesitate in front of him, he could hesitate to stop him and that was a problem.

Then, everybody gasped and the students voices filled the silence. That had to be Harry, it just had to be. The daffodils twirled inside of him, anticipating seeing him, hearing him.

“It seems-“ Potter’s voice stated, determined. “-despite your exhaustive defensive strategies-“

“Now!” Mr. Potter commanded and Draco couldn’t help but to think that this had to be the most epic moment in the history of the school, it would be written in books, now he kind of understood what Sirius meant.

The doors opened and they walked into the Great hall, gaining everyone’s stares and surprised faces.

“-,you still have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster. I’m afraid it’s quite extensive.”

The sass. Draco had never been more in love with him in his entire life. He was just seeing the back of Harry in Gryffindor robes and still, it was the most beautiful thing he ever saw. The flowers were so exited that they slammed themselves against his lungs and, again, petals fell from his mouth.

“How dare you stand where he stood?! Tell them how it happened that night! Tell them how you look at him in the eyes, a man who trusted you, and killed him.”

And Severus drew his wand against Potter but he was being pushed aside by McGonagall so fast that it was impressive. She dueled him away, yelling at him ‘Coward’ before the cheering erupted in the Great hall.

That was when Harry turned around and saw him.

“Draco...”

Every single fiber in his body responded to his name, it was like an Imperious curse was trying to take over him, it was like the Daffodils were tickling him to death, trying for him to get closer.

“A month with out a single Patronus-” He started to hiss, his lungs burning. Draco raised his wand and pointed to him, ready to cast a stinging hex on him. Something that burn, that hurt.

“I’m sorry! We came back to the house and you weren’t there-“ And Draco turned to shot a deadly look at both James and Sirius. “-we didn’t know if it was safe to send you one! We were being followed, I swear to you I meant to come back sooner, I’ve just-“

But Potter’s rant was interrupted by the disgusting Dark Lord’s message. People were screaming in pain, it was so awful that even the flowers were scared. Scared because they were asking to hand in Harry, scared that he only got to see him for a few seconds before it all went to shit.

“You have one hour...” The whispering ended and Millicent Bulstrode was already yelling.

“What are you waiting for? Someone grab him!”

And, oh what a precious and romantic moment: Ginevra stood in front of Potter, protecting him.

‘Well, we knew that she was going to wait for Potter. She is his redhead princess after all.’The toxic voice in his head whispered. It was like it tried to make the daffodils sad and heartbroken so they would end up killing Draco a month early.

The flowers started to hurt him, he ended up coughing wildly before he could control himself. He cover his mouth with his hand, trying to keep more petals from falling, trying to keep the little dignity he had.

“Ferret, no. It doesn’t mean-“ Weasley tried to explain but Draco moved away from him.

“Alright, listen up!” He yelled before casting a Sonorus to make sure that everyone heard him. Potter had his green gorgeous eyes on him and it made Draco feel braver than ever, even if he wanted to strangled him, even if Ginevra was holding his hand in front of everyone. Whatever. He moved towards the center of the hall and continued talking. “As you see: we are here to win this. You all have three choices. One: you can run off and hide in your common rooms, step aside and don’t interfere.”

“Ferret, that’s what they are supposed to do!” Weasley started but Draco ignored him.

“Two! You fight against us and help him.” He choked on the petals just at the thought of another student actually trying to take Potter to the Dark Lord. “Or three: you fight with us, for whatever reasons you may have. Now, this part goes to the Slytherins and anyone who’s family is in a dubious place with this... Choose your side wisely. Your father, your mother, your grandparents: they don’t define you. And when everything is over you will be facing your own choices, your own decisions, the ones you made under the influences of others. Ask yourselves if you want to even fight, if you have the guts to be out there and if you don’t: stay the fuck out of our way.”

He could hear Sirius voice, muttering ‘I’m so proud of him, Jamie’...Draco took a deep breath before saying the most important thing.

“If we win, your involvement in the battle will be crucial. So, again, choose your side wisely. Be cunning, be ambitious, be resourceful and choose something that it’s not going to ruin your entire lives. Most of us know what it is to be sons and daughters of someone who fought for the wrong side, we have been called names since before we could even walk-“ It was Vince who interrupted him.

“Why should we listen to a blood traitor like you?” He spat out and he saw Harry already starting to walk towards him but Draco raised his hand, gesturing him to stop.

“Because, Vince darling, when this is all over, I’m not going to have a trial but you just might.” He directed his voice to the rest of them. “Those who are with us step forward, those who are not fighting go to your common rooms at once, and those who are against us... I don’t care what you do, attempt to take Potter away and I will murder you.”

He stole a glance of Harry and saw that his face was scarlet red. The she-weasel was frowning as he looked at him, something close to surprise flashed through her eyes. Draco couldn’t guess what was so surprising about him defending Potter, she was there at the ministry on fifth year. He rolled his eyes and turned to the students.

As soon as he saw him, he felt relief, finally. Theodore was the first to come forward, bless him. He confirmed everything that Draco knew about him. It sent a shiver down his spine, seeing him again. He had spent all these months so bloody worried and here he was, safe, and leaving everything behind because he knew that it was the right thing to do, because he was brilliant, cunning and brilliant.

“Draco, it’s good to see you.” He said with a trembling voice and a smile that made his hazel eyes shine, he could see the tears appearing in them but he coudn’t be sure if they were from happiness or sadness. Draco couldn’t help but to run towards him and hug him.

“You bloody prat! I’m so happy that you are alive!”

“Not for much longer but whatever.” He said returning the hug. “Let’s kill the noseless bastard.” He sounded so fearless, he sounded so much like Theo before taking that stupid Mark.

“Couldn’t agree more, darling.” And as soon as he heard her high pitch voice he abandoned Theo’s arms to pull her into a bone crushing hug. Pansy was already crying like an idiot

And suddenly, they found themselves enveloped in another pair of arms that he recognized as Blaise’s

“I’ve missed you, Dragon.”

And Draco moved his hand to wipe his tears before pushing them all away.

“Oh I miss you all too but how about we get a move on!”

The majority of the students had already left and the ones who remained weren’t making any attempt to take Harry so the flowers relaxed a little. He turned around to look at the Golden Trio.

“Potter, what do you need?” He asked, waiting for orders.

Those green eyes just kept looking at him. Harry walked towards him, he looked nervous as hell, and to be honest, Draco didn’t think that the chosen one could get nervous once the final battle was here.

“To talk to you.” And, out of the corner of his eye, Draco could see Sirius jumping in his place and shaking Mr. Potter in excitement.

“Save any explanations you have for after all of this. I’m still furious.”

“I know and this can’t wait.”

The flowers twirled inside of him. Sirius and Mr. Potter’s words echoing in his head, but he didn’t want it to be like this, never like this. He felt someone push him forward to meet the green-eyed boy, when he looked over his shoulder Theo had a sour smile on his face. Draco frowned as he looked at Harry again.

“Save it, Potter. There is a war going on in case you haven’t-“

“I know, just let me-“

“-noticed. We should be preparing the wards, looking for the chamber-“

“For fuck’s sake, Draco-“

“-and getting those stupid fangs. Speaking of that, where is the sword? You took it-“

“I LOVE YOU” And Potter shouted it so loud that it seemed to ring in his ears. Maybe he imagined it, maybe he had started to imagine things. He blamed Sirius and James for giving him this hallucinations.

Harry took more steps forward and grabbed his hand.

“Are you cured?” He asked with hope in his voice, with desperation, and something shattered in Draco’s heart. His lungs started to burn more than ever and all the potions he took were in vain because he was coughing Daffodils again, almost a sea of yellow petals seemed to be getting out of his mouth and the suffocation started not much after that.

His body felt so cold. His eyes were filled with tears from the pain. When he looked up, he saw Her standing a few meters away from him, waving. Her transparent dress seemed to shine with the right light, her long silky black hair fell around her all the way up to her knees. Death took a step foward, Draco coughed even harder.

“KID!” He heard Mr. Potter yelled but he just kept on coughing.

‘IT’S A LIE! HE IS LYING, HE DOESN’T WANT US! SHE CAME TO TAKE US BECAUSE HE DOESN’T WANT US! LIES. HE LIES. IT HURTS. IT HURTS SO MUCH!’

Someone told Potter and of course he was trying to save him. Of fucking course. It wasn’t truthful, it wasn’t honest, it wasn’t real. Why couldn’t he have waited until June? Now Draco was leaving a month earlier, with no goodbyes. Alone.

“Draco” He heard Theo’s chocked voice.

He wanted to say goodbye now but he couldn’t, words weren’t coming out. He just coughed. Again and again and again. Petal after petal. Daffodil after Daffodil. When would it end? When? Because if the amount of Daffodils were proportional to his love for Potter they could be here watching Draco cough forever.

Pain.

Suffocation.

He looked up again. Weasley’s and Granger’s faces were all messed up, confusion written all over their expressions. Beside them, Death kept looking at Draco.

’Fuck, just take me already. End this suffering.’

He heard Death laugh, soft and beautifully.

“Oh, child. You are just not listening to him”. She says but only to him, nobody else seemed to hear Her.

Potter was still frozen beside him. Tears coursing down his cheeks. Maybe he felt guilty for not loving Draco back. Not like he wanted.

“Harry! Do something!!” He heard Granger yell with desperation.

He felt Potter’s smell fill his nostrils and it made everything worse, he could also feel him hugging him, so warm. Draco tried to free him self from the hug but he couldn’t, he just kept coughing as he moved restlessly in Harry’s arms.

“Listen to me, please listen-“ Potter kept whispering in his ear, his voice cracking and trembling with every word. “- I’m in love with you. Do you hear me? I’ve been in love with you since you first set a foot on the Headquarters and hid under the table when Snape got there. Remember that? I was so nervous to have you near and so mad that I didn’t understood what it was, okay? You fought beautifully at the Ministry, I won’t ever forget how you looked.” But Draco couldn’t stop coughing, not even for a second, the flowers just kept on falling from his mouth, he was forcing them out. “Maybe I’ve liked you since forever, I don’t know. I always felt drawn to you in some way or another... But I realized it last year on your birthday, I saw you dancing with Nott, wishing that you would smile at me like that and I knew. It has always meant something for me, okay? Every time I’ve kissed you it has always meant the world and I just kept trying to make you fall in love with me but it was useless because you already were, I was just too blind to see it.And Draco, It felt like falling. I fell in love with you and it felt like the grounds disappeared under me and I fell. Loving you feels just like ‘Love of my life’. Please believe me, please, please, please-“ And he took Draco’s face in his hands and started to kiss him between the coughs.

It felt like coming home. Kissing him felt like home and the flowers started to settle inside of him. The coughs became smaller and Harry used that moment to separate their mouths.

“I’m in love with you, I want a future with you, I’ll take veritaserum for you to believe me. And fuck this war, you are more important.” He said vehemently and kissed Draco again.

‘ Loving you feels just like ‘Love of my life’.

The daffodils roared in triumph, twirled inside of him, he could feel how loved they felt, for the first time ever. They kept repeating:

‘HE LOVES US, HE LOVES US, HE LOVES US, HE LOVES US, HE LOVES US, HE LOVES US, HE LOVES US-‘

And he felt it. As they kissed with so much love... It wasn’t comparable to anything he ever felt. Neither of them were holding back, not anymore.

‘It felt like falling’

He felt it in his heart, like fire that spread from it towards his lungs. Burning everything, burning everything in its path, purifying it.

It was strange because he still felt something there, and he wanted to cough so badly that he had to push Harry away and put his hands on the floor to balance himself.

“Do you still not believe me? Are you kiddin-“

But Draco raised his eyes and shook his head in the middle of the coughing fit, trying to get him to understand that he did believe him, he just needed to get something out. Confusion and pain appeared in in his face and he moved to hug Draco from behind whispering lovely things, about how he loved the smell of the Daffodils, how precious it was that Draco loved him this way, how special he felt, how beautiful Draco was and how kind he was.

Everyone was watching them, in Draco’s head everything took so much time, every single coughing fit did, but If he thought about it, Potter had just said he loved him for the first time like five minutes ago and the proceed to rant everything in lightning speed, trying to make Draco believe him.

He coughed a few more times and felt the daffodil touching his uvula, making him gag. He couldn’t force it out any more, something was still in his throat and it was attached to the fucking flower.

He opened his mouth and put his fingers inside of it, trying to reach the bloody thing, gagging again in the process.

“Ferret, what the fuck are you-“

But Weasley was cut short by Draco pulling the Daffodil out of his mouth. He could feel the stem sliding off his throat as he did, sliding off his tongue, tasting even worse than the flowers. The leaves were as long as the stem, pointy on the end, tickling him as he took them out, he wondered if that was what it tickled in his lungs more than the petals.

“Oh my god-“ Granger said as Draco pulled out the last part of the plant, the ones that they were so worried about: the roots.

And there it was, his whole disease, all the Hanahaki contained in a single flower. He took a deep breath, as deep as he could, as deep as he wished for the last two years and it was wonderful.

“Oh thank Salazar...” He whispered and laid his weight in Potter’s arms behind him before turning around and kissing him senseless. “I love you too. So fucking much.” He said between kissed, so honest. For the first time ever he could say it. He could love him without trying to hide it.

He could hear Sirius and James cheering, Pansy yelling ‘fucking finally’, he was pretty sure that Blaise and Ron were crying and Granger was clapping in excitement.

“This is all very moving but could we prepare ourselves already?” He heard Mad-eye Moody exclaim with annoyance and Draco pushed Harry apart from the kiss, and the green-eyed let out a groan.

“You would think that with me being the ‘chosen one’ I could kiss the love of my life in peace, but no.”

And for the first time in a really long time Draco didn’t feel the flowers move or tickle, not even in the least. It was marvelous as it was lonely. The only thing that reacted to Harry’s words was his heart, beating like crazy as he said ‘love of my life’.

He took a quick glance to where Death was only to find that there was no one there. She left, just like the flowers.

“They are really gone, you said that and nothing moved or tickled, they are gone for good.”

Harry helped him get up and planted a chaste kiss on his lips.

“Good. Now we can focus on other things.” He said smiling.

“Like the battle, you mean.” He said with a half amused smile and Potter sighed in exasperation.

“Yes, like this stupid battle. Are you good to fight?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

“Never better. Scared, Potter?” He replied with a smirk.

“You wish.”

And everyone started to get to their places.

[wetalkinboutbooks]

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Summary: Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:  

 → Geena:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: We genuinely love this book series so much that our brains recircuit talking about it... all we can do is say if you’re looking for good fantasy with amazing characters and plot... this is it!

Check out the spoiler full review below~

The Good:

→ The Worldbuilding 

Kae: Worldbuilding baybeeeeee. I LOVE IT. Reading this series was such an eye opener for me. It was so far from the usual European magic and broomsticks, that I NEEDED MORE. So I kept reading lol. The worldbuilding in this series is fantastic. There are Efrits, Jinn, magic, and more. This world is set in a Romanish Empire/Pakistani fusion of cultures. You have the Scholars are the lowest caste of people, the Tribes which is basically just a step up from ScholarS, but they are free. Then we have the Plebeians and the Martials. All of these cultures are so well written and developed that you have no trouble differentiating what culture certain characters might belong to just based on their name. Ex: Afyah, Ilyaas = Tribes; Darin, Laia, Izzy= Scholars; Markus=Pleb; Helene, Elias = Martials. All very easy to distinguish, I think. 

We also have some magical beings who are more or less immortal. The Jinn and Efrits, the Nightbringer, Shaeva, the Augurs. They’re all linked to a literal higher power. 

We also have The Waiting Place, which is basically purgatory. But it’s where the dead go to be escorted to the next life. 

Geena: I deserve no rights because I've always loved the whole roman empire history shit, it was always the most interesting shit to learn about so when I read the synopsis like roman inspired… written by a SA woman… i LOST MY SHIT!!! AND LIKE KAE DESCRIBED Sabaa does an amazing job of weaving in magical elements too, and ugh….. Her mind… BUT ALSO WHAT I LOVED IS, something a lot of fantasy authors do is fall into a hole of introducing race politics (aka RACISM) based on skin colour, but Sabaa was like… Wait Ik how to format this

Tired: Fantasy world skin-colour based racism

Wired: Fantasy world-class system based beef 

Sabaa tackles the issue of class systems and so on, and she did it all from scratch and I fucking loved it, it was gratifying to see an author who put so much effort into her worldbuilding. Also… this is v dumb… but the whole detail with sending messages using drums….. I was here for it 

→ Laia and Elias 

Kae: They’re wonderful and need a hug

Geena: Sabaa made an executive decision to write two whole cinnamon rolls and she did! COMPLEX cinnamon rolls that we love from the bottoms of our hearts. We start off with Laia’s perspective as she waits for her brother in her room, but shit hits the fan real quick and the Martial empire’s elite soldiers storm their small home searching for her brother. We learn that her brother, Darin, has got his hands on top secret info and if he doesn’t turn it over they’ll murder everyone. Darin and Laia try to make a run for it but are apprehended by a Mask (Essentially an elite soldier) and they’re forced to watch their grandparents die, Darin tells Laia to run and get out of there and our girl… our girl listens but she has mad ragrets. We follow Laia as she stumbles to the Resistance, an underground Scholar organization that has mad beef with the Martial empire. There she’s tasked with acting as a slave to hands down, the WORST person in the empire, Keris Veturia. All of this in the hopes that the Resistance will help save her brother who’s been imprisoned in the most brutal prison in the empire. 

What I love about Laia is that she’s not perfect, she’s not an amazing fighter and strategist off the bat… she’s an 18/19 year old girl from an oppressed group that has no idea what’s going on and her only skill set is that of a healer. BUT!!! Throughout the book we get to watch Laia make mistakes and learn from them, all of which makes her stronger and smarter. She’s so determined 🥺 even when Keris is carving her initials into Laia’s chest, even when she’s brought to the brink of death, Laia sticks with her goal to find Darin no matter the cost. Anyways.. We stan…. THOUGH TO BE HONEST, when I had started reading it, her first few chapters were frustrating to read because I was like “why would you do that1!!!” but then I set the book down at one moment and thought about how I’d act in the same situation and I was like….. I would’ve fucked up and been killed like 10 pages ago so Laia is doing really well LMAO… and since then I’ve been ready to fight for Laia whenever I see people shit on her.  

Kae: BOOM! So Geena summed up Laia’s character/situation perfectly. WE STAN LAIA OF SERRA. Now, we’re gonna talk about our brooding, handsome boy, Elias aka Ilyaas. Elias, is WILDLY the son of Keris. Keris had a lil boo thang back in the day and got preggers. She did everything she could to terminate the pregnancy, but nothing worked. So she was forced to give birth to him. She fucked off to the desert tribes for a while and learned how to deliver a baby, so she could deliver her own. When the time came, Keris gave birth to Elias. She cared for him for about five minutes before she was like “Yeah, I’m not with the shits. Fuck this kid.” And she left Elias in the desert near the tribes so he could be raised with them. Years later, Elias was chosen by the Martials to attend Blackcliff. Blackcliffe is a school where the Martials train to become the most elite soldiers in this world. Elias trains and trains and is ultimately the top of his class. At a certain age, the students are given silver mask that will eventually completely fuse to their face. Elias hates his mask. He takes it off every night, so it still hasn’t fused to his face like the rest of his class. Elias also hates Blackcliffe and was planning on being a deserter. He had a bag packed and was fully prepared to leave. He was sad to leave his best friend and confidant, Helene, but he was RET TA GO. That is, until he was selected to compete in the Trials that would change his world forever. These trials are to select who is to rule the Empire. He gets this news, when Laia, Keris’s slave is sent to retrieve him. When he meets Laia, he is instantly smitten. He forgets himself, is smiling, shooting the breeze, asking her names, etc. Then realizes, he could get her in trouble just for being nice to her. So they move along. 

Elias is a very sweet boy who just got caught up in a lot of shit with the trails. Every day he spends at Blackcliffe is another day he hates himself. The kid (well he’s like 20), is just straight up MISERABLE. These trials are to rest his mind, power, and strength and all the usual. The last two winners in the end will be the ruler and the Blood Shrike, aka advisor. This is almost a good thing, because Elias is competing with Helene and if they both win, they can both rule. Things are going pretty well for them. They’re winning, it’s looking good. But then, Elias has to go against Helene and they both have to lead a small armada against one another. It’s either kill or be killed. In the end, he has to go against Helene . In the end, he and Helene reluctantly battle it TF OUT. Elias wins because Helene had to forfeit because she was wearing some magical armor that couldn’t be penetrated. Elias feels HORRIBLE. His friends are dead. He ALMOST killed his best friend. He feels ashamed and like a monster. If he hadn’t hated himself before (which he totally die), he SURELY hates himself now. Laia is then sent to his chambers/rooms as his prize. He’s meant to sleep with her, but he hates himself too much and he doesn’t want to take advantage of her. So they just talk and end up sharing a little smoochy smooch. But uh, ya boy is lowkey SPRUNG cause Laia is cute and she got them CHILD BIRTHING HIPS.

Geena: Kae got that *Chef’s kiss* Elias/Ilyaas summary I s2g. I loved Elias because he was honest to god such a refreshing character to read. Like he seems like the typical YA boy → Tall, dark, handsome, and brooding. BUT!!! He’s so different and in the best way possible. FIRST OFF!!! He actually has such a fulfilling childhood (no sad backstory other than learning his mom is an actual piece of shit rip…. More like sad present story). Secondly, he recognizes that what he’s doing is wrong and the way the Martials terrorize Scholar’s is garbage and he wants no part of it. THIRD, he doesn’t like to push his own trauma on those around him? IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN IT WELL, but like he’s such an upstanding guy that treats people well no matter what? Also… he’s lowkey a dumbass… like Kae mentioned when he first met Laia his brain hit a reset and he was essentially like “Me name potato.” We love a hot dumb jock that chugs that respecting women juice. 

Kae: OMG HE’S A TALL, THINNER ALTAIR MINUS DICK JOKES. HE’S NASIR AND ALTAIR IN ONE.  ASDFGHJKL 

Geena: YEEEEAASSSSS (check out that review here). ALSO MY final thots on Laia and Elias that as a duo they’re amazing! Laia gives Elias advice when they’re stuck in his room together 🤪 and he finally chooses that he’ll do what HE wants and not what the empire wants. Elias, in turn, vows to help find and save Darin…. I love them sm they bring the best out of each other 😭 

→ Izzy ft. Helene’s One Singular Good Person Moment

Kae: IZZY! Izzy is the epitome is sugar, spice, and everything nice. Well, minus the spice because she’s really just a sweet little sugar plum. Izzy is also Keris’ slave. She’s around the same age as Laia if not a year or two younger. She’s very quiet and tries to keep to herself. But she finds herself secretly being friends with Laia and helping her when things are the absolute worst. When Keris carved her initials into Laia’s chest, Laia got really sick. Our girl had a crazy fever and Izzy was there to help her through it. Well, she got Elias and he got some herbs and shit, BUT IZZY HELPED. Though Izzy has been a slave her entire life, she has always wanted to be free of Blackcliffe and all of its horrors. So she works with Laia, sneaking out, and sometimes stealing, to make sure that can happen for the both of them. I should also mention that Keris took Izzy’s eye as a child. So Izzy is a small, skinny, fragile, one eyed sweetie. But all of her hardship doesn’t stop her from being such a genuinely good person. 

Geena: Izzy is such a sweet character who tries her best to not be friends with Laia, but people GRAVITATE to Laia (good and bad rip) so she didn’t hold out very long. My favourite scene with them was when they sneak out to participate in some yearly festival that is ~~illegal~~ such a sweet moment I lowkey died.  Moving on to Helene though, the poster child of brainwashed, patriotic, eating-propaganda-for-breakfast, and the second best Mask after Elias. Helene is also shown to have feelings for Elias so when Laia shows up she’s not pleased at all! And Elias himself is confused about his feelings and rip when he was like “Let me try to kiss Helene and see if I like her too” LIKE BOY…. DON’T PLAY HER LIKE THAT PLS…. BUT he doesn’t bc Laia is ATTACKED thus interrupting their moment and Helene is annoyed like “OFC IT’D BE THAT BINCH!!!” like Helene the poor girl was attacked by another walking bag of shit o my god… BUT!!! Near the end of the book when Elias and Laia are escaping Helene is the first one to catch them, but she lets them go! A turning point for her character maybe? Though I know for a fact she didn’t care about Laia, but was doing it bc she still cared for Elias and didn’t want to see him slaughtered no matter how much she’s a ride-or-die for the Martials. 

The Bad :  

→ The Scholar Resistance 

Kae: Is that what they were called? Because they HIGHKEY played tf out of Laia. Alright. The Resistance. They’re mean and I HATE THEM. The Resistance is a rebel movement by a few Scholars who are fighting for the freedom and equality or their people. Laia’s parents were like, the biggest, most badass leaders who have ever lead them. But after they died, things kind of fell apart for The Resistance. Laia, stumbles into their hideout after she runs away from home, after her brother was kidnapped and her grandparents were killed. She begs for them to help her and they’re basically like “Mmmm. No. But you look familiar tho… Who ya momma nem?” and she’s like “lol yeah actually my parents used to run this shit so help me.” And they help her… Kind of… They basically send her ona  dummy mission. A SUICIDE MISSION to be the Commandant’s slave (Keris), to gather information about the Martials and their next plan. In return, they were to help free Darin. Laia was to gather info, then meet with Keenan (a boy in the Resistance) to give over said info every week. Well, they also chose not to tell Laia that she was basically on this mission for nothing. They had no real way to get Darin out of the prison he was being held at. They were really just sending her to die because they KNEW Keris was ruthless and that none of her slaves lasted more than a few months before they were killed or killed themselves. Long story short, FUCK The Resistance. They’re bitches and we HATE THEM. 

Geena: Kae’s right… the Resistance is a bunch of wrinkly ass losers that can kiss our asses. When it was revealed that the Resistance didn’t know SHIT about Darin and were just fucking with Laia…. I was ready to to go down to this place and fight them mySELF. Laia risked EVERYTHING to get them information, she survived for god knows how long under Keris and when she couldn’t come up with something substantial they’d be like “Oh well you’re fucking useless” as if she’s not the daughter of the Lioness aka the most fierce Resistance leader that they ever had. Also, Keenan (....) comes through in the end and offers her a way to break her slave cuffs and escape, but Laia decides that Izzy deserves that more than she does and that Laia would find her own way out… But also imagine the betrayal that Laia felt, the people that were supposed to keep her safe and help her were just screwing her over the whole time. But… despite everything that happens Laia is still her sweet self? Just like Ilyaas… both manage to maintain their humanity no matter the shit thrown at them. 

The Ugly:  

→ Keris’ tiny little mean ass 

Kae: Geena said that shit, baybeeee! Ugh, her MIIIIND. Alright. Now. Let’s talk about “The Bitch of Blackcliffe”. This woman. Evil, vile woman, is basically a 5’3, blonde hair demon. She has absolutely no patience. If you sneeze in the same room as her she’ll probs slit your throat and make a disgusted, disappointed face at you while doing it. She will tolerate NOTHING. You will not speak to her unless spoken to. I mean, this is a woman who wanted to look like so much of a badass that she thought being pregnant and delivering her own baby in a cave alone would make her look weak. I think that was actually pretty tough of her though because whew… I couldn’t do it.

Geena: She got back to her neanderthal roots

Kae: LMAOOO GIRL IM DEAD.But like,  in her youth, Keris went to Blackcliffe. As we heard from her father at some point, Keris was miserable there. She was taunted, picked on, and beat up (mind you she was the only girl at that school so that’s fucked up). She had absolutely no friends and had to fend for herself. So, to make up for it, Keris became ruthless. She became a heartless woman because people made her that way. I hate to be that person, but like, I get it? I can see why someone would become so coldhearted. She did not have a good life. Her mother died when she was young, her father wasn’t there, and she had no friends. I’m not surprised at all that she turned out to be such a horrible person as an adult. No, I’m not giving he an excuse. She had the option to be a good person and she didn’t choose that. But, yeah. That’s my take on her evil ass.  WHEW. OKAY DO YA THANG. 

Geena: TRUE, Kae’s right, Keris had that sad :( childhood :( but at the same time, it’s like… you didn’t have to continue being a dick like people were to you but here we are. Also, she’s genuinely such a terrible person and orchestrates the genocide of the Scholars and is a BITCH about everything. What I realize now is that…. She’s essentially Elias’s foil? Like neither had a solid father figure, both had a tough time growing up (with Elias missing his tribal home and being forced to murder, and Keris being bullied), but Elias does his best to break out of that cycle but Keris is like… *slurps up the shitty Martial mudwater*... she is the bootlicker supreme who finds joy at having her son beheaded (Helene is Bootlicker Lite because at least she let Elias live whereas Keris tried her best to get him killed) BUT JOKES ON THAT BITCH BC ELIAS LIVES!!!!  Elias would send Keris a crude drawing of himself like “I lived bitch!” 

Anyways, she’s an extremely well-written villain else we wouldn’t hate her so much lmao…

Conclusion 

Kae: In conclusion, we fuck with it. I loved this series so much, I read the first three books in one week and was heartbroken to find out that the fourth book wasn’t out yet. YA GIRL IS ATTACHED TO THESE CHARACTERS, OKAY!???? An Ember in the Ashes is a wonderful, extremely well written book. I think Sabaa is a literal genuis. This book made me fall in love with reading all over again. I think the characters are so individually different, it’s amazing. They are well distinguished and independent of each other. They are strong and sweet and funny and evil. Just all around AMAZING as well as the folklore, stories, and cultures that are presented to the audience. 

Geena: yyyeeeaaaass the care that Sabaa Tahir put into this book, ranging from how each character is written to the intricate worldbuilding got a bitch tearing up, BECAUSE ONE DAY I WISH TO WRITE THIS WELL!! An Ember in the Ashes draws you in from the first page, and I litcherally say this for every book we’ve reviewed but there’s NEVER a dull moment (I need a new phrase lmao) you are constantly stressed reading this book (in a good way) and there’s like 2 more books after… and the last book in the series on the way. BLEASE READ Ember, because Kae and I have spent our whole time talking SCREECHING about this book. THINKING ABOUT IT, WITHOUT EMBER WE WOULDN’T HAVE THIS BLOG LMAOOO  

Kae: OKAY BUT LIKE. LITERALLY. WE STARTED TALKING AND BECAME REAL GOOD FRIENDS BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK. LIKE, WITHOUT EMBER, THIS WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED. SO THANKS, SABAA. 

Geena: WE LOVE YOU, SABAA!!

Kae: And I guess that concludes today’s book rant/review! I hope you all enjoy our ramblings and more! 

[hufflly-puffs]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 35: Veritaserum

“Then Dumbledore’s face, which was still blurred and misted, came closer. ‘Harry, you can’t help him now. It’s over. Let go.’ ‘He wanted me to bring him back,’ Harry muttered – it seemed important to explain this. ‘He wanted me to bring him back to his parents …’” – I think with everything that happened that night, this image of Harry, unable to let go of Cedric, is the saddest to me. Because Harry made Cedric a promise, because it is the last wish Cedric ever had, because his parents should have a chance to say goodbye to their son. And with the incredible guilt Harry feels for Cedric’s death he needs to keep his promise. But also, the moment Harry lets go of Cedric everything that has happened will become real: Cedric is really dead, Voldemort really returned. This is no longer a dream.

“‘The Dark Lord didn’t manage to kill you, Potter, and he so wanted to,’ whispered Moody. ‘Imagine how he will reward me, when he finds I have done it for him. I gave you to him – the thing he needed above all to regenerate – and then I killed you for him. I will be honoured beyond all other Death Eaters. I will be his dearest, his closest supporter … closer than a son …’” – I don’t think Voldemort would have liked it if anybody else would have killed Harry for him, he wants to do it himself. Also, Barty Crouch has some massive daddy issues. Isn’t it ironic that because his father was too busy judging Death Eaters his son became one, seeing Voldemort as his ersatz father? Though I wonder what exactly “closer than a son” would mean. But that’s the second mistake in Crouch’s thinking, because Voldemort doesn’t want a family. Yes, he referred to the Death Eaters as his real family, but he never treats them as such. He wants their obedience, not their love. Voldemort isn’t looking for a son, he could have never gave Crouch what he needed the most.

“‘The Dark Lord and I,’ said Moody, and he looked completely insane now, towering over Harry, leering down at him, ‘have much in common. Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers … very disappointing indeed. Both of us suffered the indignity, Harry, of being named after those fathers. And both of us had the pleasure … the very great pleasure … of killing our fathers, to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!’” – It is really just a bunch of daddy issues, nothing more. And I’m tired of messed up childhoods as the reason why someone becomes a monster, because guess what? A lot of people had shitty childhoods. And yes, that leaves an impact, obviously. But not everyone becomes a murderer because of it. You can’t justify harming others by the harm that has been done to you.

“At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore’s face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could ever have imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore’s face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he was giving off burning heat.” – Actual BAMF Albus Dumbledore. Don’t mess with him.

“Professor McGonagall went straight to Harry. ‘Come along, Potter,’ she whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. ‘Come along … hospital wing …’” – I have a lot of love for Minerva McGonagall, because of her genuine care for her students. If she had known about Dumbledore’s plan for Harry, about playing him like chess piece to win the ultimate game, she would have been appalled.

“‘He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand,’ said Dumbledore curtly. ‘Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why.’” – Nothing much to add, but something you will learn at some point in your life: you need to understand in order to heal.

“Dumbledore forced the man’s mouth open, and poured three drops inside it.” – I briefly talked before about the consent issues surrounding Veritaserum. Snape told Harry there are Ministry guidelines about the use of it, and yet threatened Harry with it. Here we see Dumbledore forcing the potion in to an unconscious man. And yes, it is an emergency situation and lives are possibly at risk, I get it. But still. And later of course Fudge orders a Dementor to take away Crouch’s soul, without any kind of trial. Earlier in the book we learned that during the first Wizarding War many Death Eaters (and suspected Death Eaters like Sirius) were sent to Azkaban without a trial as well. And all of it justified by the war and state of emergency they were in.

When Barty Crouch tells his story, so much of it comes down to Winky. It was because Bertha Jorkins had heard Winky talking to Crouch that she figured out he must still be alive (and that, in the end, is how Voldemort found out). And then it was Winky who persuaded Crouch Sen. to let his son see the Quidditch World Cup, where of course Barty Jun. escaped. So much could only happen because of Winky and her affection and care for her master’s son. And it is another example of how overlooking House-Elves can be a cruel mistake.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 6: The Masked Grave’s Ritual

Deadly Life

Kaede still didn’t want to believe it. She thought she was finally regaining some control of their situation. That things were going to get better. How could this have happened?

Maki was no stranger to bloodshed so who could have possibly killed her? (Was she killed trying to defend herself or did this happen because she attacked someone else? Would Maki really do that?)

The fact this was Kiyo’s lab was a smaller area of concern. Unlike Angie’s lab, his didn’t have any locks so anyone could have done this if they weren’t complying with the student council’s nighttime curfew.

While Kirumi told her and Maki that Kiyo wasn’t Kaede didn’t think this was his doing. Something about how the artifacts were being treated didn’t line up. He was too protective of them before. (Not unless that was an act. Make you think he cared about others damaging them so him abusing them is unlikely.)

His surprise at seeing Maki’s body looked genuine enough when Kaito brought him for questioning. At least Kaito was suspecting him less now than when he first rushed down to see if this was connected to Maki wanting to pay him a visit last night. Not that it was saying much, Kaito’s still quite clearly a wreck.

Ryoma was trying to help ease Kaito’s nerves but he was also too shaken to be of much help. No one objected when the two excused themselves to see if there was anything else around that could be connected. She figured too many felt ashamed of how they treated her and Ryoma before to complain.

“For the sake of our investigation does anyone have any complaints if I go over Maki’s body? Unless Gonta would rather try, as he might be more used to corpses than I am. Not human ones of course.” Kirumi calmly asked. Kaede couldn’t help but notice Kiyo kept glancing at her like he had an objection, but he must have thought better of it as he resumed looking into what else in his lab might be involved here instead.

“Gonta can’t! Gonta not… Not smart enough to be useful like Kirumi. Kirumi smart so she do good. Besides, it not proper for gentlemen to touch a lady without her permission.” Gonta was trying to hide a light blush that came with his explanation, an odd contrast to the tear tracks that still stained his face.

“It is a bit late to ask her about that sort of thing I’m afraid. Particularly if we think we should check her for injuries that may be unrelated to the fall. I doubt anything else could be the cause of death, however. You can see where the banister underneath her broke off from even from where we’re standing.”

Kaede had to crane her head up to see what Kiyo was talking about but he was right, on the highest level there was a break in the rails. With little prompting Tenko made her way up the stairs as quickly as she could to see if there were signs of a struggle or any other clues as Angie followed, hopping all the way. (I’m impressed they have the stamina for that, since that’s on the fifth floor. Why is this so damn tall?!)

While the two were up there, Kirumi informed everyone that she kept finding some sort of ashes on Maki’s body she couldn’t explain. Kaede thought better of bringing up the candles she sent Ryoma and Maki to collect, as she didn’t want Angie to be made aware of her attempt at sabotage, and as neither he nor Angie were here no comment was made about it possibly being the Necronomicon.

This might get messy if it needs to come up in the trial though. Was Maki’s death an accident her killer tried to undo? I don’t know if someone other than Angie and I knew how this motive worked.

Nothing else seemed out of place though, no weapons or injuries on her that didn’t make any sense. Except for that weird stone mask that was laid over Maki’s face, modern looking in all but its medium.

“Why would someone want to drag poor Sun Witch ♪ Esper Ito into this anyway?!" Tsumugi bemoaned, looking torn between whether or not to pick up the mask before Kirumi waved her off to spare her the dilemma. After a depressed sigh, she got a curious expression as she looked around the lad. "Actually why is her mask even in here? It can’t really be culturally relevant right? Beyond like normal festival masks I mean.” (Leave it to Tsumugi to know what the heck that thing was or where it was from. It really is out of place.)

“You aren’t wrong about what it is, but what it represents is a fair bit different." Kiyo began, despite Tsumugi's brief attempts to assure him that he didn't have to. But there was no retracting an excuse for him to lecture. "This is the mask most associated with the serial killer Kirakira Seigi or “Sparkling Justice” who supposedly came from Spain. Naturally given the title and style of their trademark mask I am inclined to doubt that theory, as it’s too distinctly Japanese to think they would consider Spain to be their only point of origin, but they do make for an interesting modern connection to both cultures as a result. Being a serial killer who exclusively kills others of their ilk in poetic gruesome recreations of the targeted serial killer’s preferred methods also taps into various other figures and notions regarding popular concepts of “Justice” and “Karma”.” (Right, that thing again. He talked at me about it before too. It has no right to look this cute with what he says.)

For all her early objections the lesson stirred Tsumugi's geeky interest enough that she was simply bubbling with questions, as if they weren't still talking in the middle of a murder scene. “Is a stone mask really their trademark? What do you mean “they”, is there more than one person who uses this name? Do you think it’s related to that other Kira-”

“No. For all of those things." Kiyo sternly cut her off, but he obviously enjoyed having peaked her interest as he lead her off to a side of the room to continue without bothering anyone's work. "First off, the person known as Sparkling Justice is elusive so their gender is a point of debate, though I do lean in favor of that person being male myself, so I tried being as neutral as I could. Second, typically the mask they use is of the common cheap plastic affairs so I can’t really explain why this is was made to be so much more permanent and without any of its common colors either I’m afraid." And with his more basic deductions done his tone soured. "Third, I just told you they were thought to be Spanish so any similarities this has to a certain older manga are likely coincidence.”

Kaede tried to give Tsumugi a sympathetic smile at seeing her flinch at Kiyo’s surprisingly harsh response before asking a question of her own. “So do you think this mask was used to accuse Maki of something? Or mock her because of her talent? I mean an assassin and a serial killer would be kinda different right?”

“The irony is highly possible if the Kirakira connection to this design is known, and they are distinct enough that all of Kirakira ’s confirmed kills did what they did out of passion rather than a paycheck.”

“Should we be concerned by how our biggest suspect knows so much about niche serial killers?” Kokichi piped up from the second floor, staring down at them with his chin resting on his folded arms. Something felt off about him though. He was smiling like a cat toying with a mouse but there was a new cruelty to it.

“If you want to be that’s your own prerogative I’m sure. I merely felt it best to be aware given how often I travel and get considered to be either highly suspicious or a person of interest in dangerous situations.” Kiyo called back up to him, looking annoyed by how loud Kokichi was to make sure he was heard.

Kaede felt a tugging at her skirt before she looked down to find Monodam looking up at her at a loss. But much like his siblings, he’s also had a slight change in appearance. While he still hardly had any shoulders to speak of unlike the others he had somehow managed to attach Monokid’s shoulder pads to his chassis. (What? If he hates others being afraid of him why is he wearing the clothing of his victim like a trophy?!)

“Why-Did-This-Happen-Again-Miss-Kaede? Did-We-Do-Something-Wrong?” He retracted his arm as he turned to look at Maki, visibly depressed over what he was seeing. “Did-Miss-Maki-Deserve-This?”

“No. I’m not sure your motive even had anything to do with this. I mean all we found are some ashes, and that could have been anything. But don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

“Kaede, stop being buddy-buddy with a member of the beer-stain bears! Unless you think the ashes matter for something?” Kokichi paused for a moment to look up and theatrically held his hands to his mouth before calling up to the highest floor. “HEY ANGIE YOU STILL GOT THAT WEIRDO BOOK ON YOU?!”

Angie’s head poked over the broken railing looking for Kokichi before she replied, both ignoring Kiyo's seething down below. “Nooope, It went missing sometime yesterday! Why?”

“Any reason why someone might have wanted to burn it beyond it being obviously evil and stupid?”

“Oh? Did someone find an effigy of Maki with ashes on it?”

“Depends, does her fucking corpse count as an “effigy”? ‘Cause this is one duuusty cun-”

And that last bit of vulgarity proved to be Kiyo's last straw. “Can you both please stop yelling?! You’ll find the room carries sound very well on its own.”

“Hey we’re being helpful Kiyo, stop complaining!" Kokichi yelled back down, making everything worse as per the usual. "This isn’t even a real library, Jeez.”

Kiyo's eye actually twitched as he struggled to restrain himself. “Allow me to rephrase then: If you don’t settle down I will come up there and tear out your tongues. ”

“Kaaeeeeeeeeeeeede Kiyo’s threatening meeeeeeeee~” (Oh for the love of-! Isn’t Kirumi your mom?!)

With a hand to her face, Kaede muttered some curses as she shook her head before trying to settle Kokichi's latest mess. “I’m sorry Kiyo, just bear with it for now. Trust me I know how bad loud noises can be. Or maybe you can check out one of the other rooms? Like if the book went missing maybe Angie’s lab has something.”

“Oh yes, because leaving these relics unattended with Kokichi and Angie around is a simply  marvelous idea.” He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“They are far from unattended." Kirumi was quick to assure him to help de-escalate the situation. "I will do my best to keep them from causing harm to any of your other pieces Kiyo. Feel free to help Ryoma and Kaito if you think it may be of more benefit to us.”

The look she gave him a look that was hard to tell if it was understanding or pity as Kirumi returned the mask to its proper place in the glass case. Kiyo looked reluctant, almost angry, to follow her suggestion but he hardly had any reason not to do so with how much stress seeing his room so crowded caused him.

With Kiyo out of the way, Angie continued to confirm it was probably the Necronomicon that was burned, though she didn’t think a body would count as an effigy in this case. That would explain why Maki was still obviously dead at any rate. Unless the ritual never had a chance at succeeding.

Kaede also felt a bit more at ease going around the room now, and quickly found another distressing detail. The golden katana was gone. The sheath wasn’t, which was why she didn’t notice at first, but the blade was nowhere to be found. When she asked Kirumi confirmed she didn’t see anything that looked like it had been hit by a rusty sword, which only made its absence all the more suspicious.

Seeing nothing else of note Kaede left to see if anyone else had made any progress. Aside from Monophanie’s efforts at repainting parts of the floor with her own puke, which she only just caught before she was going to step in the mess. (EWWWWWW, as if this floor wasn’t bad enough already!?)

Trying to be a bit more pragmatic she phrased things a bit differently. “Are you alright Monophanie? Can’t you just leave this to the others? Who would have the Monokuma file in this case anyway?”

“No! No, nothing's alright! This floor is gross, the body is gross, we can’t stop daddy’s game even if we try, and we still can’t agree on anything! It’s all just making me sick. In more ways than one. Monosuke’s the only one who really likes daddy’s game so he’d have it, but why bother? Nothing here is changing!”

It was odd to see one of her captors driven to such a manic state, even Monotaro’s scarf seemed to be acting in accordance to Monophanie’s frustrations. Things being as they were she was probably also assuming that like the two times prior either she or one of her brothers was going to die soon too.

She wasn’t really paying attention to Kaede though, so she just left the bear to her own devices. With a real horrifying situation on her hands going to Angie’s lab didn’t seem nearly as stressful as before, but she didn’t even have the chance as she saw the three boys were heading back already.

“Did you guys find anything?”

“You mean aside from the wax museum thing she had going on? Not much, Kiyo saw some gold leaf might be missing from her art supplies and Angie’s probably a bit loopier than we already thought.”

“Now now Ryoma, making mementos to honor those that are gone is a common response to grief, and I find her attention to detail to be rather touching. Obviously, they lack the particular beauty that comes with bearing the human soul but she matched their likenesses to an otherwise astounding degree yes?”

“You mean she made things that look like they crawled right out of the uncanny valley of robotics man!” Kaito argued, which given Ryoma's sigh wasn't the first time he made his discomfort over the figures known.

As Kiyo shook his head with a shrug he paused as a thought came to mind. “... I do hope you won’t use such a phrase within earshot of Kibo, that could be considered most rude.” (Actually where is Kibo anyway? Or Tsumugi? Did they go to find Monosuke for the file since it’s late? There’s a better question to be asking here though. We’ll see both of them soon enough I’m sure.)

“Why would gold leaf be missing?" Kaede asked to help address the more relevant evidence. "It’s not like money matters in here or anything. Do you think it could be related to the anthropology lab’s katana? I couldn’t find the blade and it’s the only gold thing here.”

“Huh? You sure Kaede? Kiyo, you didn’t say anything about that!” Kaito said.

“Didn’t I? Must have slipped my mind, my apologies. Besides, it struck me as a more personal issue, given how Kirumi hadn’t mentioned finding rust in any of her injuries. The blade hasn’t been taken care of well at all, so I can’t see how something that rusted could be used here, and had someone recently held the handle or sheath we’d find gold on their hands from where the leaf coating tends to peel off.”

“So Angie’s missing supply could just be someone trying to replace the older gold leaf that came off when they messed with the sword without permission?” Ryoma suggested. (Or a sign someone was setting something up.)

“I could believe that, the sword has been missing since at least last night and I suspect it was taken when I spoke with Kaede yesterday. As its uses as a weapon are limited I didn’t feel a need to worry anyone, given how Maki’s lab allows for equally easy access to a wider array of much more effective tools to use”

“Seriously man? You still shoulda said something so we could help you find it!” Kaito said though Kiyo seemed to just brush him off.

As Ryoma and Kaito continued to ask about the missing antique, Kaede saw Tsumugi and Kibo come out of one of the classrooms Maki and Ryoma took candles from before. It wasn’t clear how long they tried investigating in there, but without the candles Kaede assumed they’d be pitch black so she was confused.

“Hey, aren’t those rooms a bit too dark to be checking? Or are the candles back now? Kirumi did say something about finding ashes on Maki’s body so I’m not sure where else a fire could be from.” Kaede asked them, trying to hide her involvement in the candles being moved to avoid concerning Angie later.

“Not to worry, my new flashlight function was more than sufficient enough to be most thorough in our investigations!" Kibo happily informed her. "Kirumi had said she saw Maki remove a set of candles from this area before, and they are indeed still missing. Aside from that, we didn’t see anything unusual though, so this is unlikely to matter.”

“Even if it is kinda pink for a flashlight…” Tsumugi softly muttered behind him, looking kinda embarrassed for how improvised this "function" was.

“Would you have rathered I used a different color? I should have a more traditional yellow too.”

Before she could get dragged into a debate over Kibo's abilities Kaede quickly tried to excuse herself. “I don’t think that’s the issue, but that’s still good to hear! Now if we could just get the Mono-”

And speak of the devil, there he was. Monosuke’s pacifier was still absent, but he at least had the file in hand that should narrow down when Maki was attacked last night. Or it was a file at any rate. The pad in his paws did look a bit different, like some yellow stripes were doodled on the black half of it last minute.

“No need to get your panties in a twist toots, the Monosuke file’s right here! Just had to get some kinks for it worked out. Nice to see even without using a motive you bastards are still more than bloodthirsty enough on your own to keep this game going! Even when we got some brats insisting on playing house.”

Monophanie was near enough to still overhear him and was none too pleased about his snipe from the look of things. As if to complete the set Monodam came out from Kiyo’s lab too, trying to see what the noise was about which just led to the three bears bickering again. Seeing Monodam wearing Monokid’s shoulder pads did seem to intimidate Monosuke some, though if she noticed Monophanie didn’t care.

As it quickly proved to be just another petty power struggle, and one that didn’t concern the case at hand, Kaede and the others returned to Kiyo’s lab so everyone would have access to the file’s contents.

At the very least it did confirm the fall was what killed her, so the missing katana could be unrelated. She was also killed at midnight which with the council’s curfew further narrowed down their list of suspects.

Being shoved through the railing could also make this look like her killer acted in self-defense. But Maki doesn’t like swords and if she had it then it’d still be here. There’d be no reason for anyone to have hid it, it’s not like we can test blood or anything. Unless they just didn’t want us to know there was a fight?

“See? Atua was right after all! Had Maki heeded His warning like the rest of us she wouldn’t have died-”

Angie barely had time to blink before Kaito’s fist was only inches away from her face, as Gonta stopped him mid-swing. Kaito’s face was more distressed than angry though. Like he couldn’t believe he just tried to hit a girl, but he also wasn’t regretting the attempt if it was enough to make her stop talking like that.

“Bull-fucking-shit! You can’t go blaming the victim for this! It’s not like the killer was following your rules either. Cut the crap with your “divine protection” shit already, you know we’re all in danger right now!”

Despite his words she didn’t seem phased at all. Only a bit of surprise and disappointment showed on her softly smiling face. Kaede could swear she caught a flicker of fear in her eyes, but only for a moment.

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Atua said the next victim would die after nighttime again and here we are.”

Ryoma’s eyes were dark and cold but there was no doubt he was nearly as angry about her accusations as Kaito was. Angry enough something about him made him seem larger than he actually was. Tenko was responding badly to it at any rate, but she was posed to try striking at him if he acted against Angie first.

“That doesn’t prove anything. Murders happening when the least people would be out is just common sense on the killer’s part, to limit witnesses, and your rule only made it easier for this to be the case. Don’t go trying to make this sound like this was somehow Maki’s fault. Not without some proof for it.”

That gave her some idea as Angie put a finger to her chin in thought, before turning to Kiyo with a broad grin. “Hey-hey~ that’s an idea! Kiyo said something about wanting to perform a seance before right? Sooo why don’t we just try asking Maki herself?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were under the impression no one was ever actually killed in this game yes?” Kiyo pointed out, looking suspicious at her suggestion.

“Exactly! So either we can reach Maki, so she is dead and we can just ask her about what happened, or we can’t reach her because she isn’t dead and you and the others will have proof that Atua was right!”

“Or we can’t reach her because Kiyo’s seances are also full of-” Kokichi wisely shut his mouth at seeing the glare Kiyo started sending his way, but Angie’s grin just got larger at the prospect of Kiyo failing too. (Am I seriously watching some sort of occult pissing contest right now? Do we really have time for this?)

“I assure you if all the steps are followed it will work. And we do have all the supplies needed for the Caged Child seance already, we merely need to pick a darkened room to have it performed in first-”

“Why not use a seance you’ve done before huh? Experience would make it easier to work right?”

Kaede was pretty sure Kiyo was pouting as he gave Angie a look. Even his zipper seemed to be frowning. “Well, where’s the fun in that? And besides, I don’t have the supplies for any other seance that would be this… Non-invasive, I suppose you could say. Unless whoever we pick as the medium wouldn’t mind risking some… “Physical changes” while Maki speaks through them.”

“... What sort of changes are we talking about?” Tsumugi looked really nervous over the notion before getting lost in her head again with a finger to her lips. When she came back it was soon replaced with an aura of excitement as a different question occurred to her. “Are you telling me the way Maya and Pearl would change when Mia possessed them wasn’t just a silly excuse to give them her big boobs?!”

“I would say it’d be best for a girl to act as the host to minimize any such risks, but it’s not out of the question no. Though given Maki’s build I’m fairly certain it would have the… Opposite effect on you. However things like the changing of one’s eyes or hair color are typically the more common reactions.” (“Minimize” the risk? Does this happen to guys too? How the fuck is that even supposed to work?! WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?)

“Awww, never mind then. I’m not really sure a plain girl like me would work anyway. Even if red eyes and black hair are the best combination, if I don’t have my blue hair anymore I’ll be even harder to notice...”

“Unless she would have a personal reason to take issue with you I doubt Maki would mind. Any other volunteers? In addition to the host and myself, we need three other people to perform it correctly.”

“What exactly would everyone else be doing?” Tenko asked, looking a bit nervous and guilty as she twiddled her fingers. “‘Cause even if Maki and I kinda look alike I don’t think I’m up for something like being a host either. L-like just in case she’s kinda mad when she comes back.” (Makes sense that if Angie was onboard for this plan the rest of the student council would be too. So I should probably offer to help.)

“Even if she was in a volatile state the medium would be under the iron cage and the dog statue so there no danger of her lashing out at anyone aside from potentially the host herself. Unintended suicides may be something of a... “side effect” in a worst case scenario, but I don’t think Maki was that sort of person. Everyone else would merely be there for the summoning ritual itself, like placing those two objects.” (SIDE EFFECT ?! KIYO STOP BEING SO CALM ABOUT HORRIFYING THINGS. Ugh, I don’t want to do this...)

“Wow~ Kiyo you’re really bad at convincing people aren’t you? But I’ll help you guys out, it sounds fun.”

“Would you rather I lie about the dangers that may be present Kokichi? This was Angie’s idea, not mine.”

As if the terrified look on her face wasn’t answer enough Tenko gave him her most honest of replies. “ YES. TENKO WOULD HAVE GREATLY PREFERRED THAT THANKS. This was creepy enough already...”

“... Ah.” He obviously wasn’t expecting an answer that blunt. “So should I start doing that now then?”

“I’m sure it’s fine. As long as the spirit we get is Maki everything should be okay. She wouldn’t hurt us. Would the medium have to do anything other than just sit there? I could do that I think, but not help.” (Even if Tenko could lift those things by herself I’m not sure I could manage anything else this spooky.)

Kiyo really brightened up at Kaede’s unexpected suggestion, which was nice to see at least. “Yes, I do believe you’d work quite well. Being one of those she was closer to should also make the process go more smoothly. Not to worry, some forms of possession do come with memory loss surrounding the act so if the situation’s setting proves distressing for you it would only be but a... momentary discomfort.”

It almost looked settled, before a solemn but determined looking Kirumi chose to interject.

“No, I think I’d be better suited to this Kaede. Kaito’s still in a rather delicate state and I’m not sure you being involved with this too would help put him more at ease at all. I’d be happy to act as the medium.”

Kiyo was conflicted for a moment as he considered her offer, but even though his eyes indicate he’s still smiling under his mask Kaede couldn’t shake the feeling there’s something crueler about them now.

Maybe he’s disappointed I won’t be a part of this now despite knowing how much I hate this stuff? I mean I am on better terms with him than… basically everyone else, so he might just miss having a friend. Ugh, now I feel kinda bad. This wouldn’t be a problem if Himiko was still here, she’d be up for this.

“On second thought this may be for the best, thank you Kirumi.”

“Are you sure Kiyo? I could try to help with something else if you need me to.”

“No, I think this’ll be just fine. Unless you were exaggerating before about how you thought Kagome, Kagome was “terrifying”, given the Caged Child does have an associated song which it is similar to-”

“Hahaha no, we’re good! You all have fun with that, call me if Maki needs me or something!” (NOOOPE. NOT A CHANCE IN HELL. At least he remembered this now instead of later. Thank you sooo much Kirumi.)

Kaede did her best to ignore the sound of his chuckling and the feeling of Kirumi’s confused stare as she beelined her way out the door to find Kaito and Ryoma. Because she was definitely not running away. She was just trying to help investigate whatever else she could. Absolutely anywhere else.

Besides, finding Ryoma was a good idea anyway. He should know where the candles that belonged in those rooms were which would probably be helpful to have back now. Even if he doesn’t know where Maki left the candles she took, if they split them evenly Ryoma should have at least one for each room.

She found Kaito and Ryoma at the end of the hall, past the three empty classrooms Kiyo wanted to use, into the area that looked more mechanical. Kaito probably took off the second Angie said “seance” as he was clearly having some sort of panic attack again, while Ryoma was comforting him where he could.

At least that’s all she thought Ryoma was helping with before Kaito turned to look at her.

“K-Kaito, are you okay?! You’re bleeding!”

“I know, nothing to worry about. Just bit my tongue wrong earlier, it’s nothing I promise.” Kaito assured her, but Ryoma obviously didn’t buy it which made it hard for her to believe his words. But if he doesn’t want to talk about it there’s probably nothing she could say to convince him otherwise right now.

“Are they seriously going to waste their time on that ghost stuff Kaede?”

“That’s the plan, but I don’t want to call it a waste. I mean I can understand if Angie and Kiyo think it’s the only way they can really help investigate right now. It’s not like we have a whole lot of evidence yet, or any ideas where else to look for some. Speaking of, they probably need those candles back now.”

“Humpf. Likely right about that. Maki and I just put those things in our rooms so I’ll get them. If her’s is locked they’ll still be enough to put one in each room for now anyway. I’ll be right back.” Despite his attempt at an aloof attitude Ryoma was gone in the blink of an eye. It was still a shock to see how fast he could be when he took something seriously, especially up close unlike when he avoided Tenko before.

And this is him being “rusty”, not in his prime or anything! The world of tennis must be super impressive. Maybe I should try asking him more about it some time. He’s mostly just hung out with Kaito, Maki, and Kiyo as far as I know so branching out a bit more might be nice for him. Especially with Maki gone now.

“What are you two talking about?” Kaito asked, but not with suspicion despite their situation. That didn’t make Kaede any less nervous as she decided to answer him honestly, since Angie wasn’t in earshot.

“When I joined the council I was able to look at the motive the bears gave us. It couldn’t be used if Angie couldn’t burn it, so to be on the safe side I asked Maki and Ryoma to hide any sources of fire we could. Since they were the closest to her the candles were the first things to go. Just to buy us a bit more time.”

“Hmm, good thinking then. Ya coulda tried telling me earlier though, I wasn’t going to talk to her.”

“I know, I just didn’t want to risk being overheard or overloading you or anything. Are you really alright? I mean your health wasn’t the best before and now Maki’s…”

“I told you, I don’t need you worrying over me! I’m fine. Guys are tough ya’ know, just focus on yourself.” Kaito tried offering her a cheesy large grin and a thumbs up as if to prove his words, but she knew better. She could see he was pushing himself, but returned his grin with a weak smile and nodded back anyway.

He’s too stubborn to accept anything else from me right now. He’ll just need some more time. Then when he’s ready I can only hope he’ll seek me or Ryoma out. I’m not ready to try fighting with him about this.

Kaede helped Kaito take refuge in the computer lab when she saw Angie, Kirumi, and Kiyo come out of his lab, heading towards the three classrooms. Given what they were saying it sounded like they were just checking to see which of the three should be used for their ritual, to see if any of them “felt” right.

When Kaito insisted he’d be fine there alone Kaede went back to wait for Ryoma and the candles, but she couldn’t tell who went into each room. But Ryoma was true to his word as it was only a matter of minutes before he got back with five candles in hand. Not six. So one room would be short a candle.

She tried asking him about the missing one but he only said he couldn’t find it in Maki’s room. He assumed she may had it with her when she died and then someone else took it, as with the warehouse locked there wouldn’t be that many other sources of fire to burn whatever made the ashes on her body.

Angie’s timing couldn’t be better as she walked out of the middle room at that moment, so Kaede was able to give her the fifth candle to return it to that. Luckily she was too grateful to them for “finding” it to ask how they managed it in the first place, but Kaede couldn’t help but notice her hands had some gold flecks on them that wasn’t there before. At least she thought it was gold, with how they caught the light.

Rather than comment on it, given how messy making art could be and how she just may have missed them before in the lab’s lighting, Kaede took her two candles and headed towards the one on her left as she faced them while Ryoma took the remaining two to the side room farthest right.

She had no idea what a mistake that would turn out to be.

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[heartfeltheart]

Alchemy: Tiny Steps

Chapters: 30/45 Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist/Harry Potter Rating: T Relationships: Edward/Winry, Lan Fan/Ling, and May/Alphonse. Primary Characters: Edward Elric, Severus Snape Additional Tags: Crossover, Teacher!Edward, BrOtp Edward/Severus. Sassy beyond measure. Pro!Snape Series: Part 2 of 9. Summary: Part two of the Alchemy Series.  Politics. Either you love it, hate it or you live it. For Alchemy Teacher Edward Elric, he lives it, hates it and loves it when he gets the upper hand. Here is to another year of hell… D/C: I do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist. Discord: La Red(Mesh Mash of… stuff.): https://discord.gg/KYjmVAb Alchemy Series: https://discord.gg/DejEYNJ

Munch.

Crunch.

Slurp.

Burp.

Chomp.

Gulp.

"Do you have any more dried meat?"

Amelia Bones reached into her sleeve and pulled what her guest assumed to be dried meat wrapped in cloth. She placed the parcel on the heavily worn table for the requester to reach over to grab it. The sound of chains rattling rang throughout the room, it only solidifies where the Minister is currently located. "Would you like more tea?"

"If you don't mind, Minister?" Sirius Black held out a metal cup, he couldn't even reach half way of the table as the chains prevent him from going any further. "Haven't tried this kind before, what kind is it?"

Amelia flicked her wand and a kettle raised from her side of the table and levitated over to Sirius. It tipped just enough to refill the cup with tea. "East Frisian Tea? Or was it Ostfriesen?"

"It's strong…different." Sirius muttered into his cup of tea before drinking it all down. "More?"

Amelia flicked her wand once more and the kettle floated again.

"So, what brings you here to this shit hell, Bones? Last time I saw you, you knocked out the guy who was supposedly took care of my case with a single punch."

"They didn't give you a trial, the entire case was off."

"You believe me then?"

Amelia pulled out a photo from her person and slammed it on the table. It was a magical photo that showed Peter's Pettigrew's severed finger. "There's hardly to no evidence left of any of your other supposed victims except for this? It looks like someone had tried to cut it off but decided that was taking too long and decided to rip it off instead. I've had talked to several individuals and seen the results of that spell done multiple times in my career. Never once this had ever happened in this manner."

"…Why are you doing this Amelia?"

"If it wasn't for you, my niece would have been dead."

-.-

"Wotcher, this is place is depressing."

-.-

"Mr. Elric is still recovering due to his stupidity. How is everyone?"

Everyone in the classroom couldn't help but sweat drop at how easily Professor Elric talked about Mr. Elric, he didn't eve show any care. However, knowing the other instructor of the Alchemy Course, it quickly became a normal occurrence.

"I am having trouble figuring out the homework. Could you give us an example?"

Alphonse closed his planner when he saw the entire class nodded their heads and had pulled out their journals for a further explanation. He pulled out several foreign coins from his pocket and dropped them on the desk. "Let's talk money…"

-.-

"Bored…"

"Bored…"

"Bored…"

"Bored."

"Could you shut up!" Severus snapped, slamming his book on the night table that was set next to Edward's cot. A small part of him enjoyed seeing the Elric jump up in freight and quickly hid underneath the thin sheets. Maybe now he could read in peace now. "Rest, means silence…. Silence…"

"I am bored…." Came out a muffled response from underneath the sheets. "Could you bring me my book? The one I am still working on?"

"…I thought it was finished?"

Edward peaked his head out, but did not looked over at Severus. "Alphonse finally finished with his portion and… well… I needed to rewrite every time I mentioned Truth. Draco was right on questioning its existence and how I keep mentioning that troll all the time."

"…Fine."

"Thank you."

"I'll have Poppy look over you while I am gone."

"Ugh…"

-.-

In Gringotts, Kavex, the goblin that is taking care of Edward Elric's vault, is busy looking through documents that could possibly pertained to not only to Mr. Elric but also his younger brother, the other Mr. Elric. When he first talked to Mr. Elric, he never once mentioned of his connection to Von Hoheinheim. After doing some researching, it came out that the man had several vaults here and they were not to be open until both Elric Brothers blood is recorded into the bank.

"Interesting… very interesting…"

-.-

"That is how you all do your homework." Alphonse wrote down the last element that contained in an Amestrian ten cenz coin. He had explained to his class the composition of cenz currency, the level of work is a higher one than the students are used. Mainly due to the fact they had no way of looking for the information within the school. Back in Amestris, if one wanted to locate the information then you go to the library. The library here is lacking and Alphonse is working with the librarian to add in books to help the students that are taking Alchemy. "In a more advanced version. For a very simple way of doing this…"

Alphonse flipped the chalk board to reveal different examples of what the students could do for their homework. Examples were a simple apple pie recipe, a Draught of Peace potion, Dreamless Sleep potion, and composition of a wand. "Other examples I believe all of you have the right resources to do your homework. We have talked to Professor Snape, the potions that are assigned as homework is to not to be used for this class. Any more questions?"

Seeing that no one raised their hands or had a look of complete confusion, Alphonse decided it was now time to start today's lesson. He reached underneath the desk and pulled out two boxes, placing them on top of said desk. In one box contained white lab coats, the other one contained safety goggles and rubber gloves. "Solids, gasses and liquids. If everyone come up and retrieve your safety materials. We are going to go through safety procedures and continue our way through."

-.-

"Do you believe what he said, Minister Bones?" Moody gruffly said, keeping an eye out around the boat that was supposed to returned them back to shore from the Magical Prison.

Bones let out a heavy sigh, only allowing herself a moment for her façade to fall. Only for a moment. "Black's wand was never once examined to see if he even casted that curse. Not given a proper trial, even the worse of worse criminals were given a trial."

"Sounds like a cover up." Tonks didn't bother to hide her disgust. She was young when her cousin was supposedly convicted of the murder of his friends. It didn't even make sense. Sirius wasn't that type of person that would do such. Everyone completely destroyed his character, it destroyed her when one of the few favorite relatives was sent off to prison like many others she still hates.

"Moody, who was the assumed Secret Keeper of the Potter's home?"

"Sirius Black. Dumbledore had insisted on himself being the Keeper, but it went to Black."

Tonks shook her head. "That's not what I remember…"

Bones and Moody turned their attention to Tonks, who's hair had turned into a mousy brown and shifted into a cherry red. "What?"

"I once overheard Sirius talking to mum one night. He didn't trust himself to be the Secret Keeper and that he along with Professor Dumbledore are the most obvious two to be their Secret Keeper." Tonks fidgeted in her spot on the boat, trying to recount that memory that happened oh so many years ago. She remembered how her cousin needed to talk to someone about the huge responsibility. He was honored but knew the dangers of him taking on the task. Remus was out of the question for him, James and Dumbledore, just for the fear of joining the Werewolves that were aligned with You-Know-Who. Friends, they were for thinking such. Then the mention of the last bunch of their friends came up was when Sirius ran out, yelling out he needed to talk to Lily and James. That was the last time she saw him. "I think he had planned to switch with someone the last minute. Mum tried to get someone to listen, but she was cut off at ever attempt. We still believe he didn't do this…"

"You don't think Pettigrew…?"

Bones did not say anything as the boat came to a stop and there stood someone waiting for them at the docks. Years of training to allow herself to remain calm and completely composed, she kept her gaze just off to the left of the person's face. The Minister of British Ministry of Magic and former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, knew she needed to keep her thoughts to herself. There is much she needs to keep to herself and isn't willing to act ignorant for what she thinks or believes what the other is capable of doing.

Bones even saw Moody grab hold of Tonks, saying that they needed to scan the area and got off the boat. Tonks looked like she wanted to stay but was forced to go, she gave a short wave at the newcomer before tripping over her cloak but managed to not fall. With a short apology, the young Auror ran off.

The newcomer turned his sights towards the Minister, his shabby clothing looked like it seen better days and not suitable for the weather. Bones took out her wand and muttered a spell that caused the clothing to repair itself just enough that it won't look like it won't fly away by a small breeze.

"I heard you are reopening Sirius's case…"

[longislandweekly-blog]

Star Trek actor shares childhood experiences in The Terror: Infamy 

George Takei (center) as Yamato-San, Miki Ishikawa as Amy Yoshida, Hira Ambrosino as Fumiko Yoshida, Lee Shorten as Walt Yoshida in The Terror: Infamy (Photo by Ed Araquel/AMC)

George Takei is calling 2019 his “Summer of Internment.” As someone who was imprisoned as a child with his family in U.S.-run internment camps during World War II, his lifelong passion about educating people about this shameful chapter in American history has fresh legs, due, in part, to a pair of projects he is currently involved with. The first is The Terror: Infamy, the latest installment of the AMC horror drama anthology that is set in the same kind of camp Takei and his family were interred in. The second is They Called Us Enemy, a graphic novel that recounts Takei’s childhood experience in those American concentration camps. Interestingly enough, the Los Angeles native’s involvement with this 10-episode series came about via one of the many lectures he’s made over the past four decades about the internment of Japanese-American citizens.

“I guess it was about 20 years ago that I spoke at Occidental College, here in Los Angeles. In that class was a guy named Max Borenstein, who is now one of the executive producers at AMC. When they were brainstorming for a concept for the second edition of The Terror, he said he was a student at Occidental [back then and] he heard a speech about the internment of Japanese-Americans from George Takei. It was a horrific experience and he pitched it at the network,” the actor explained.

“That grew into this project The Terror: Infamy. Alex Woo was assigned to be the show runner for the show and he called one day to say he had an interesting project that he wanted to come over and talk to me about. When I asked him what it was about, he said it was about the internment of Japanese-Americans. I said of course—that’s my mission in life. So he came over and sat in my living room and described the project and I said this was very important.”

While this series is steeped in Japanese supernatural folklore, much of the first-hand details are shaped with Takei’s help, who supplements his role as Yamato-san, the oldest internee, as a show consultant. His advice has ranged from some of the more true-life incidents that happened at these camps including a mandatory loyalty questionnaire issued by the United States government, and the details of the living quarters to the degree of wear-and-tear that was found on the plates the imprisoned were forced to eat off of.

“Writers might define metaphor and other symbolic objects. I thought it might inspire them. When we got into filming, I was there to say this was authentic and true or that needs to be tweaked a little bit,” he explained. “The very sturdy ceramic plates that they had in the mess hall were straight from Bed, Bath & Beyond and were brand new. My memory is that of dining off of used-up, often-dropped, washed roughly, chipped-up and sometimes cracked crockery. So I was there to make these little details authentic.”

The oldest of three children, Takei was born on April 20, 1937, in Los Angeles, CA, to Japanese-American parents Fumiko Emily (née Nakamura; born in Sacramento, CA) and Takekuma Norman Takei (born in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture). In 1942, the Takei family was forced to live in the converted horse stables of Santa Anita Park. They were later transferred to the Rohwer War Relocation Center for internment in Rohwer, AR, before being sent back west to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California.

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Takei’s graphic memoir

George Takei (Photo source: United Talent)

As a child, Takei was “…going on an adventure of discovery in the swamps of Arkansas—bayous, tadpoles that turn into frogs—it was a magical experience for me.” At the same time, he was unaware of the harrowing experience his parents were going through, thanks to FDR’s Executive Order 9066, which authorized the secretary of war to incarcerate Japanese Americans in U.S. concentration camps. The order was signed on Feb. 19, 1942 (referred to by Japanese-Americans as the “Day of Remembrance”) following the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Approximately 112,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were evicted from the West Coast of the United States and held in confinement sites across the country. While blissfully unaware of what was going on during this four-year stretch of his childhood, the willingness of Takei’s father to discuss what happened and his teenage son’s delving into American history sparked plenty of arguments and stoked the future actor’s passion about this topic.

“I had African-American friends and was involved in the Civil Rights movement inspired by speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I also read civics books and the noble ideals of democracy—All men are created equal; equal justice under the law; this is a nation ruled by law. In our case, there were no charges and no trial. The central pillar of our justice system—due process—simply disappeared,” he said. “There was outrage upon an outrage. The very fact that the American government stripped us of everything. We lost our business. Our bank account was frozen and therefore we couldn’t pay the mortgage, so the home was lost. We were stripped naked. And then they imprisoned us with no charges. We were innocent people who had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor and we were imprisoned.”

George Takei as Yamato-San in The Terror: Infamy (Photo by Ed Araquel/AMC)

His righteous indignation over these events also found him starring in the 2015 Broadway musical Allegiance, a self-described passion project based on Takei’s personal internment camp experience. Nearly five years later, he sees the same degree of xenophobia and denigration of the other rearing its ugly head again, which is why he feels The Terror: Infamy and his graphic novel, They Call Us Enemy, are so relevant today.

“I’m always shocked when I’m talking with people that I consider well informed about my childhood imprisonment and they are shocked. I’m shocked that they’re shocked and don’t know about this critical chapter of American history,” he said. “That’s why these current projects of mine are so important. We are living through a time like that right now. In my case, I was a child and we were intact as a family. The same sweeping statement that Trump has been making about the Latinos—they’re drug dealers, rapists and murderers—it’s not unlike the stereotyping of Japanese-Americans that was going on during the Second World War. We’re currently living through The Terror: The Infamy. The third season should be about the Trump Administration.”

The Terror: Infamy airs on AMC. Check local listings for times.

Season two of George Takei’s AMC series shines a light on American concentration camps. The Star Trek actor chats with Long Island Weekly's Dave Gil de Rubio about The Terror: Infamy and his childhood in an American internment camp for Japanese-American families. Star Trek actor shares childhood experiences in The Terror: Infamy George Takei is calling 2019 his “Summer of Internment.” As someone who was imprisoned as a child with his family in U.S.-run internment camps during World War II, his lifelong passion about educating people about this shameful chapter in American history has fresh legs, due, in part, to a pair of projects he is currently involved with.

[problemnumber13-blog]

#Messiah @LouisFarrakhan warns “The Divine Destruction of America: Can She Avert It? America is the greatest nation on earth and the greatest nation in the last 6,000 years. But America and her people, which includes you, face divine destruction. The question is: Can she avert it? In the Holy Qur'an, the 7th Surah, or chapter, in the 34th verse, it reads: “And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while, nor can they precede it.” If every nation has a term, does America have a term? If so, what is the term? A term is a time or period to which something lasts. It is a period of time to which limits have been set; conditions or stipulations limiting what is proposed to be granted or done. If every nation has a time to which some limits have been set, what time is it for America and what limits have been set for her? In the book of Revelations, the 13th chapter, the 18th verse, it reads: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count [or calculate] the number of the beast: for it is a number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” Some translations say it is the number of a man, 666. The word calculate is trying to teach us that we must ascertain the beast and the man by mathematical methods. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is a principal helper in this calculation. Most of us, as Black people in America, have not understood the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, nor have we understood his value to us to get through what's about to come down on America. Either Elijah Muhammad is a man from God or he is not. If he is not, then you can dismiss me and what I have to say. But I don't think you can dismiss me; and if you cannot dismiss the student, then you certainly cannot dismiss the teacher. If White folk created or made a world that is unjust—lies, murder and stealing are at the root of this world—then this world can have no permanence in God's universe of truth. So there would come a time when this world would be judged and destroyed. The Bible and Holy Qur'an say this world was doomed for destruction from its inception. Both the Bible and the Holy Qur'an speak of judgment and the hour and the day—the Day of Judgment and the Hour of Doom. In the hour you have 60 minutes. In the minute you have 60 seconds. So the man whose hour has come is the man of six. The scriptures say no man knoweth the hour but the Father. That means the hour of total destruction. This book (Bible) takes you right up through the judgment. This book (Qur'an) takes you right up through the judgment, but for the guidance of the Hereafter, where there is no term limit set, there must be an everlasting gospel that will be preached on the other side of the destruction of this world. So a new book is coming. Allah says in the Holy Qur'an that He is the Master of the Day of Judgment. Why should there even be a judgment? When you get a judgment it means a judge has rendered a decision. Judgment (according to the dictionary) is the ability to judge; to make a decision or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively and wisely, especially in matters affecting action, good sense, discretion; misfortune regarded as afflicted by divine sentence is also a judgment; also the last judgment, the final trial of all mankind, both the living and the dead, at the end of the world. When we're talking about judgment, in this case we're talking about God forming a decision that comes down against America and against this world. God has sent down His decision. His intention is the total destruction of America. The question is, is America good and by what standard? If America has exceeded the limits, then somebody has to make God's decision known. Publish the decision. There is no appeal, but there is a way to get out from it. It's very narrow, it's very limited, but you can avoid it. What is your position, Black man, in this judgment? Whether you know it or not, you are the reason why God is judging America. Even as it was in ancient Egypt, it was Pharaoh's mistreatment of the Children of Israel that caused God's appearance and His judgment. It was the Hebrews in Babylon, their presence and their mistreatment that caused God's judgment of Babylon. It is your mistreatment at the hands of White people that has caused God to send down His judgment on America. The Book of Revelation talks about a mystery Babylon. There was an ancient Babylon that we know about, but John the Revelator was talking about a mystery Babylon. According to the English interpretation, the word mystery means unknown, uncertain, obscure, concealed, a secret, something locked up, something that has not been or cannot be explained. In theology, it is a supposed truth or fact of great religious importance which is beyond human comprehension. In order to understand the mysterious one, we have to know something about the known in Babylon. In ancient times Babylon, under the kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, was a great city of idol worship and evil. She was the queen of evil, rich and well fortified. Mystery Babylon refers to a future city or a future people. No city or people answers the description of a mystery Babylon better than the cities and the people of America. How is God going to destroy America? What instrument is He going to use? Whenever God gets ready to destroy any people He sends that people a warner, and the warner is always raised from among the oppressed. That's God's pattern. If America is going down, and she is, who are the oppressed? It's either the Native American or you (Blacks). You have suffered worse than the Native American because the Native American can still speak some of his language, he knows something of his history. But you have been totally destroyed. And that's why God is angry with America. You may forgive her but I don't know that God ever will. She is going to have to do something real big to get out from under what's coming. I intend to make this known very clearly to America. Look at the warner that comes to Babylon. He tells his people to come out of her (Babylon) that they be not partakers of her sins and of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven. He's saying don't integrate with her. Come out of her way of thinking. Come out of her name. Come out of her false worship and come into a righteous code of conduct that will allow you and me to escape what God has purposed for her. Now the question is have you heard the warner? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said America is a preserved area. No foreign nation will destroy America lest they get the credit. God will do it Himself. He said America is number one on God's list to be destroyed. He talked about the four beasts: America, England, Germany and Italy. These are four White nations that have acted with great wickedness against the darker people of the world. He says the more you fight against Elijah, the more God makes perfect through me. Elijah Muhammad said, we will make the truth so plain that a fool will find it hard to err. He said that he wants every no good disbeliever off the face of the earth. He said after this, America will never rise to be an independent nation again. She won't have the power that she had last year, meaning that every year from then her power would be diminished. He said America is gone, her money is gone. There is no more silver, no more gold, after a while she may ask for copper. Right now the money has no value. This (dollar) used to be a silver certificate that said pay the bearer on demand one dollar in silver. You can't get silver for it anymore; you can't get gold for it; it is the wealth of the country (gross national product) that is holding up the dollar. Elijah Muhammad said soon you will see money piled and burning in the streets. There will be another medium of exchange not coming from this country. He said America will continue to fight. He mentioned Vietnam and other areas of Asia. But the last fight, he said, will be in East Germany, and there she (America) will be destroyed. You think East Germany and West Germany have united. They broke the wall down, but they are not united. East Germany has been 40 years under the communists and West Germany has been under American and Western democracy. These are like apples and oranges, and it is very difficult to produce the integration. When the power of the Soviet Union was broken, many of you that were in the armed forces in Europe were called back to America. You don't have jobs, but soon they are going to ask you to go back to Europe. The Messenger said that you would go away in the thousands and you will return in the tens. And when you return, there will be no such thing as an American government. He said that all of America's possessions will be taken one by one, and all of her fortifications will be destroyed. Her great armies poured into Asia and Europe will not return. He said France will emerge, that France won't be with England and America. He said that England is going to trick America into war. He said White America will be destroyed mercilessly, that not even her own (White) brother or sister will show mercy on her. He said, it's not 40 years away, it's not 40 months away. He said preparation is being made to take her right now. The war is building and the four great judgments that God is going to use are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes. If you look at the weather, you already know that something is going on. When it rains, it's unusual rain that comes down in torrents. It is interfering with the foundation of the houses, tearing up the streets and the roads, upsetting the railroad tracks. The final thing is the destruction. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us of a giant Mother Plane that is made like the universe, spheres within spheres. White people call them unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, saw a wheel that looked like a cloud by day, but a pillar of fire by night. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said that that wheel was built on the island of Nippon, which is now called Japan, by some of the original scientists. It took 15 billion dollars in gold at that time to build it. It is made of the toughest steel. America does not yet know the composition of the steel used to make an instrument like it. It is a circular plane, and the Bible says that it never makes turns. Because of its circular nature it can stop and travel in all directions at speeds of thousands of miles per hour. He said there are 1,500 small wheels in this Mother Wheel, which is a half mile by-a-half-mile. This Mother Wheel is like a small human built planet. Each one of these small planes carry three bombs. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said these planes were used to set up mountains on the earth. The Qur'an says it like this: We have raised mountains on the earth lest it convulse with you. How do you raise a mountain, and what is the purpose of a mountain? Have you ever tried to balance a tire? You use weights to keep the tire balanced. That's how the earth is balanced, with mountain ranges. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we have a type of bomb that, when it strikes the earth a drill on it is timed to go into the earth and explode at the height that you wish the mountain to be. If you wish to take the mountain up a mile, you time the drill to go a mile in and then explode. The bombs these planes have are timed to go one mile down and bring up a mountain one mile high, but it will destroy everything within a 50 square mile radius. The White man writes in his above top secret memos about the UFOs. He sees them around his military installations like they are spying. That Mother Wheel is a dreadful looking thing. White folks are making movies now to make these planes look like fiction, but it is based on something real. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that the Mother Plane is so powerful, that with sound reverberating in the atmosphere, just with a sound, she can crumble buildings. And the final act of destruction will be that Allah will make a wall out of the atmosphere over and around North America. You will see it, but you won't be able to penetrate it. He said Allah (God) will cut a shortage in gravity and a fire will start from 13-layers up and burn down, burning the atmosphere. When it gets to the earth, it will burn everything. It will burn for 310 years and take 690 years to cool off. The Book of Revelation says, And the Kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her, shall lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. This fire is for us. It's prepared from men and stones. Stones represent the hard-hearted people of this wicked world and for men who refuse to change and come to God. You are in the valley of decision. What are you going to do? Are you going to clean up your lives? I'm not asking you if you want to join me. You can if you want to. But if you are in the church, you better make the church right because Judgment is going to begin at the so-called house of God. Wherever you are, you are going to have to clean it up. Whatever we are doing that we know is wrong, we must straighten it out. But if you don't it's on you. I hope and pray that I have made the message clear. Thank you fore reading these few words. As Salaam Alaikum. Will you PLEASE help DoomAlert save MORE lives?  Please send donations to PayPal: http://paypal.me/doomalert Or go to http://www.paypal.com and send donations to email doomalert@gmail.com 

[problemnumber13-blog]

The #Messiah @LouisFarrakhan warns “The Divine Destruction of America: Can She Avert It? America is the greatest nation on earth and the greatest nation in the last 6,000 years. But America and her people, which includes you, face divine destruction. The question is: Can she avert it? In the Holy Qur'an, the 7th Surah, or chapter, in the 34th verse, it reads: “And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while, nor can they precede it.” If every nation has a term, does America have a term? If so, what is the term? A term is a time or period to which something lasts. It is a period of time to which limits have been set; conditions or stipulations limiting what is proposed to be granted or done. If every nation has a time to which some limits have been set, what time is it for America and what limits have been set for her? In the book of Revelations, the 13th chapter, the 18th verse, it reads: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count [or calculate] the number of the beast: for it is a number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” Some translations say it is the number of a man, 666. The word calculate is trying to teach us that we must ascertain the beast and the man by mathematical methods. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is a principal helper in this calculation. Most of us, as Black people in America, have not understood the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, nor have we understood his value to us to get through what's about to come down on America. Either Elijah Muhammad is a man from God or he is not. If he is not, then you can dismiss me and what I have to say. But I don't think you can dismiss me; and if you cannot dismiss the student, then you certainly cannot dismiss the teacher. If White folk created or made a world that is unjust—lies, murder and stealing are at the root of this world—then this world can have no permanence in God's universe of truth. So there would come a time when this world would be judged and destroyed. The Bible and Holy Qur'an say this world was doomed for destruction from its inception. Both the Bible and the Holy Qur'an speak of judgment and the hour and the day—the Day of Judgment and the Hour of Doom. In the hour you have 60 minutes. In the minute you have 60 seconds. So the man whose hour has come is the man of six. The scriptures say no man knoweth the hour but the Father. That means the hour of total destruction. This book (Bible) takes you right up through the judgment. This book (Qur'an) takes you right up through the judgment, but for the guidance of the Hereafter, where there is no term limit set, there must be an everlasting gospel that will be preached on the other side of the destruction of this world. So a new book is coming. Allah says in the Holy Qur'an that He is the Master of the Day of Judgment. Why should there even be a judgment? When you get a judgment it means a judge has rendered a decision. Judgment (according to the dictionary) is the ability to judge; to make a decision or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively and wisely, especially in matters affecting action, good sense, discretion; misfortune regarded as afflicted by divine sentence is also a judgment; also the last judgment, the final trial of all mankind, both the living and the dead, at the end of the world. When we're talking about judgment, in this case we're talking about God forming a decision that comes down against America and against this world. God has sent down His decision. His intention is the total destruction of America. The question is, is America good and by what standard? If America has exceeded the limits, then somebody has to make God's decision known. Publish the decision. There is no appeal, but there is a way to get out from it. It's very narrow, it's very limited, but you can avoid it. What is your position, Black man, in this judgment? Whether you know it or not, you are the reason why God is judging America. Even as it was in ancient Egypt, it was Pharaoh's mistreatment of the Children of Israel that caused God's appearance and His judgment. It was the Hebrews in Babylon, their presence and their mistreatment that caused God's judgment of Babylon. It is your mistreatment at the hands of White people that has caused God to send down His judgment on America. The Book of Revelation talks about a mystery Babylon. There was an ancient Babylon that we know about, but John the Revelator was talking about a mystery Babylon. According to the English interpretation, the word mystery means unknown, uncertain, obscure, concealed, a secret, something locked up, something that has not been or cannot be explained. In theology, it is a supposed truth or fact of great religious importance which is beyond human comprehension. In order to understand the mysterious one, we have to know something about the known in Babylon. In ancient times Babylon, under the kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, was a great city of idol worship and evil. She was the queen of evil, rich and well fortified. Mystery Babylon refers to a future city or a future people. No city or people answers the description of a mystery Babylon better than the cities and the people of America. How is God going to destroy America? What instrument is He going to use? Whenever God gets ready to destroy any people He sends that people a warner, and the warner is always raised from among the oppressed. That's God's pattern. If America is going down, and she is, who are the oppressed? It's either the Native American or you (Blacks). You have suffered worse than the Native American because the Native American can still speak some of his language, he knows something of his history. But you have been totally destroyed. And that's why God is angry with America. You may forgive her but I don't know that God ever will. She is going to have to do something real big to get out from under what's coming. I intend to make this known very clearly to America. Look at the warner that comes to Babylon. He tells his people to come out of her (Babylon) that they be not partakers of her sins and of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven. He's saying don't integrate with her. Come out of her way of thinking. Come out of her name. Come out of her false worship and come into a righteous code of conduct that will allow you and me to escape what God has purposed for her. Now the question is have you heard the warner? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said America is a preserved area. No foreign nation will destroy America lest they get the credit. God will do it Himself. He said America is number one on God's list to be destroyed. He talked about the four beasts: America, England, Germany and Italy. These are four White nations that have acted with great wickedness against the darker people of the world. He says the more you fight against Elijah, the more God makes perfect through me. Elijah Muhammad said, we will make the truth so plain that a fool will find it hard to err. He said that he wants every no good disbeliever off the face of the earth. He said after this, America will never rise to be an independent nation again. She won't have the power that she had last year, meaning that every year from then her power would be diminished. He said America is gone, her money is gone. There is no more silver, no more gold, after a while she may ask for copper. Right now the money has no value. This (dollar) used to be a silver certificate that said pay the bearer on demand one dollar in silver. You can't get silver for it anymore; you can't get gold for it; it is the wealth of the country (gross national product) that is holding up the dollar. Elijah Muhammad said soon you will see money piled and burning in the streets. There will be another medium of exchange not coming from this country. He said America will continue to fight. He mentioned Vietnam and other areas of Asia. But the last fight, he said, will be in East Germany, and there she (America) will be destroyed. You think East Germany and West Germany have united. They broke the wall down, but they are not united. East Germany has been 40 years under the communists and West Germany has been under American and Western democracy. These are like apples and oranges, and it is very difficult to produce the integration. When the power of the Soviet Union was broken, many of you that were in the armed forces in Europe were called back to America. You don't have jobs, but soon they are going to ask you to go back to Europe. The Messenger said that you would go away in the thousands and you will return in the tens. And when you return, there will be no such thing as an American government. He said that all of America's possessions will be taken one by one, and all of her fortifications will be destroyed. Her great armies poured into Asia and Europe will not return. He said France will emerge, that France won't be with England and America. He said that England is going to trick America into war. He said White America will be destroyed mercilessly, that not even her own (White) brother or sister will show mercy on her. He said, it's not 40 years away, it's not 40 months away. He said preparation is being made to take her right now. The war is building and the four great judgments that God is going to use are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes. If you look at the weather, you already know that something is going on. When it rains, it's unusual rain that comes down in torrents. It is interfering with the foundation of the houses, tearing up the streets and the roads, upsetting the railroad tracks. The final thing is the destruction. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us of a giant Mother Plane that is made like the universe, spheres within spheres. White people call them unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, saw a wheel that looked like a cloud by day, but a pillar of fire by night. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said that that wheel was built on the island of Nippon, which is now called Japan, by some of the original scientists. It took 15 billion dollars in gold at that time to build it. It is made of the toughest steel. America does not yet know the composition of the steel used to make an instrument like it. It is a circular plane, and the Bible says that it never makes turns. Because of its circular nature it can stop and travel in all directions at speeds of thousands of miles per hour. He said there are 1,500 small wheels in this Mother Wheel, which is a half mile by-a-half-mile. This Mother Wheel is like a small human built planet. Each one of these small planes carry three bombs. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said these planes were used to set up mountains on the earth. The Qur'an says it like this: We have raised mountains on the earth lest it convulse with you. How do you raise a mountain, and what is the purpose of a mountain? Have you ever tried to balance a tire? You use weights to keep the tire balanced. That's how the earth is balanced, with mountain ranges. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we have a type of bomb that, when it strikes the earth a drill on it is timed to go into the earth and explode at the height that you wish the mountain to be. If you wish to take the mountain up a mile, you time the drill to go a mile in and then explode. The bombs these planes have are timed to go one mile down and bring up a mountain one mile high, but it will destroy everything within a 50 square mile radius. The White man writes in his above top secret memos about the UFOs. He sees them around his military installations like they are spying. That Mother Wheel is a dreadful looking thing. White folks are making movies now to make these planes look like fiction, but it is based on something real. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that the Mother Plane is so powerful, that with sound reverberating in the atmosphere, just with a sound, she can crumble buildings. And the final act of destruction will be that Allah will make a wall out of the atmosphere over and around North America. You will see it, but you won't be able to penetrate it. He said Allah (God) will cut a shortage in gravity and a fire will start from 13-layers up and burn down, burning the atmosphere. When it gets to the earth, it will burn everything. It will burn for 310 years and take 690 years to cool off. The Book of Revelation says, And the Kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her, shall lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. This fire is for us. It's prepared from men and stones. Stones represent the hard-hearted people of this wicked world and for men who refuse to change and come to God. You are in the valley of decision. What are you going to do? Are you going to clean up your lives? I'm not asking you if you want to join me. You can if you want to. But if you are in the church, you better make the church right because Judgment is going to begin at the so-called house of God. Wherever you are, you are going to have to clean it up. Whatever we are doing that we know is wrong, we must straighten it out. But if you don't it's on you. I hope and pray that I have made the message clear. Thank you fore reading these few words. As Salaam Alaikum. Will you PLEASE help DoomAlert save MORE lives?  Please send donations to PayPal: http://paypal.me/doomalert Or go to http://www.paypal.com and send donations to email doomalert@gmail.com 

[problemnumber13-blog]

#July4 The #Messiah @LouisFarrakhan warns “The Divine Destruction of America: Can She Avert It? America is the greatest nation on earth and the greatest nation in the last 6,000 years. But America and her people, which includes you, face divine destruction. The question is: Can she avert it? In the Holy Qur'an, the 7th Surah, or chapter, in the 34th verse, it reads: “And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while, nor can they precede it.” If every nation has a term, does America have a term? If so, what is the term? A term is a time or period to which something lasts. It is a period of time to which limits have been set; conditions or stipulations limiting what is proposed to be granted or done. If every nation has a time to which some limits have been set, what time is it for America and what limits have been set for her? In the book of Revelations, the 13th chapter, the 18th verse, it reads: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count [or calculate] the number of the beast: for it is a number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” Some translations say it is the number of a man, 666. The word calculate is trying to teach us that we must ascertain the beast and the man by mathematical methods. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is a principal helper in this calculation. Most of us, as Black people in America, have not understood the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, nor have we understood his value to us to get through what's about to come down on America. Either Elijah Muhammad is a man from God or he is not. If he is not, then you can dismiss me and what I have to say. But I don't think you can dismiss me; and if you cannot dismiss the student, then you certainly cannot dismiss the teacher. If White folk created or made a world that is unjust—lies, murder and stealing are at the root of this world—then this world can have no permanence in God's universe of truth. So there would come a time when this world would be judged and destroyed. The Bible and Holy Qur'an say this world was doomed for destruction from its inception. Both the Bible and the Holy Qur'an speak of judgment and the hour and the day—the Day of Judgment and the Hour of Doom. In the hour you have 60 minutes. In the minute you have 60 seconds. So the man whose hour has come is the man of six. The scriptures say no man knoweth the hour but the Father. That means the hour of total destruction. This book (Bible) takes you right up through the judgment. This book (Qur'an) takes you right up through the judgment, but for the guidance of the Hereafter, where there is no term limit set, there must be an everlasting gospel that will be preached on the other side of the destruction of this world. So a new book is coming. Allah says in the Holy Qur'an that He is the Master of the Day of Judgment. Why should there even be a judgment? When you get a judgment it means a judge has rendered a decision. Judgment (according to the dictionary) is the ability to judge; to make a decision or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively and wisely, especially in matters affecting action, good sense, discretion; misfortune regarded as afflicted by divine sentence is also a judgment; also the last judgment, the final trial of all mankind, both the living and the dead, at the end of the world. When we're talking about judgment, in this case we're talking about God forming a decision that comes down against America and against this world. God has sent down His decision. His intention is the total destruction of America. The question is, is America good and by what standard? If America has exceeded the limits, then somebody has to make God's decision known. Publish the decision. There is no appeal, but there is a way to get out from it. It's very narrow, it's very limited, but you can avoid it. What is your position, Black man, in this judgment? Whether you know it or not, you are the reason why God is judging America. Even as it was in ancient Egypt, it was Pharaoh's mistreatment of the Children of Israel that caused God's appearance and His judgment. It was the Hebrews in Babylon, their presence and their mistreatment that caused God's judgment of Babylon. It is your mistreatment at the hands of White people that has caused God to send down His judgment on America. The Book of Revelation talks about a mystery Babylon. There was an ancient Babylon that we know about, but John the Revelator was talking about a mystery Babylon. According to the English interpretation, the word mystery means unknown, uncertain, obscure, concealed, a secret, something locked up, something that has not been or cannot be explained. In theology, it is a supposed truth or fact of great religious importance which is beyond human comprehension. In order to understand the mysterious one, we have to know something about the known in Babylon. In ancient times Babylon, under the kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, was a great city of idol worship and evil. She was the queen of evil, rich and well fortified. Mystery Babylon refers to a future city or a future people. No city or people answers the description of a mystery Babylon better than the cities and the people of America. How is God going to destroy America? What instrument is He going to use? Whenever God gets ready to destroy any people He sends that people a warner, and the warner is always raised from among the oppressed. That's God's pattern. If America is going down, and she is, who are the oppressed? It's either the Native American or you (Blacks). You have suffered worse than the Native American because the Native American can still speak some of his language, he knows something of his history. But you have been totally destroyed. And that's why God is angry with America. You may forgive her but I don't know that God ever will. She is going to have to do something real big to get out from under what's coming. I intend to make this known very clearly to America. Look at the warner that comes to Babylon. He tells his people to come out of her (Babylon) that they be not partakers of her sins and of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven. He's saying don't integrate with her. Come out of her way of thinking. Come out of her name. Come out of her false worship and come into a righteous code of conduct that will allow you and me to escape what God has purposed for her. Now the question is have you heard the warner? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said America is a preserved area. No foreign nation will destroy America lest they get the credit. God will do it Himself. He said America is number one on God's list to be destroyed. He talked about the four beasts: America, England, Germany and Italy. These are four White nations that have acted with great wickedness against the darker people of the world. He says the more you fight against Elijah, the more God makes perfect through me. Elijah Muhammad said, we will make the truth so plain that a fool will find it hard to err. He said that he wants every no good disbeliever off the face of the earth. He said after this, America will never rise to be an independent nation again. She won't have the power that she had last year, meaning that every year from then her power would be diminished. He said America is gone, her money is gone. There is no more silver, no more gold, after a while she may ask for copper. Right now the money has no value. This (dollar) used to be a silver certificate that said pay the bearer on demand one dollar in silver. You can't get silver for it anymore; you can't get gold for it; it is the wealth of the country (gross national product) that is holding up the dollar. Elijah Muhammad said soon you will see money piled and burning in the streets. There will be another medium of exchange not coming from this country. He said America will continue to fight. He mentioned Vietnam and other areas of Asia. But the last fight, he said, will be in East Germany, and there she (America) will be destroyed. You think East Germany and West Germany have united. They broke the wall down, but they are not united. East Germany has been 40 years under the communists and West Germany has been under American and Western democracy. These are like apples and oranges, and it is very difficult to produce the integration. When the power of the Soviet Union was broken, many of you that were in the armed forces in Europe were called back to America. You don't have jobs, but soon they are going to ask you to go back to Europe. The Messenger said that you would go away in the thousands and you will return in the tens. And when you return, there will be no such thing as an American government. He said that all of America's possessions will be taken one by one, and all of her fortifications will be destroyed. Her great armies poured into Asia and Europe will not return. He said France will emerge, that France won't be with England and America. He said that England is going to trick America into war. He said White America will be destroyed mercilessly, that not even her own (White) brother or sister will show mercy on her. He said, it's not 40 years away, it's not 40 months away. He said preparation is being made to take her right now. The war is building and the four great judgments that God is going to use are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes. If you look at the weather, you already know that something is going on. When it rains, it's unusual rain that comes down in torrents. It is interfering with the foundation of the houses, tearing up the streets and the roads, upsetting the railroad tracks. The final thing is the destruction. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us of a giant Mother Plane that is made like the universe, spheres within spheres. White people call them unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, saw a wheel that looked like a cloud by day, but a pillar of fire by night. The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said that that wheel was built on the island of Nippon, which is now called Japan, by some of the original scientists. It took 15 billion dollars in gold at that time to build it. It is made of the toughest steel. America does not yet know the composition of the steel used to make an instrument like it. It is a circular plane, and the Bible says that it never makes turns. Because of its circular nature it can stop and travel in all directions at speeds of thousands of miles per hour. He said there are 1,500 small wheels in this Mother Wheel, which is a half mile by-a-half-mile. This Mother Wheel is like a small human built planet. Each one of these small planes carry three bombs. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said these planes were used to set up mountains on the earth. The Qur'an says it like this: We have raised mountains on the earth lest it convulse with you. How do you raise a mountain, and what is the purpose of a mountain? Have you ever tried to balance a tire? You use weights to keep the tire balanced. That's how the earth is balanced, with mountain ranges. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we have a type of bomb that, when it strikes the earth a drill on it is timed to go into the earth and explode at the height that you wish the mountain to be. If you wish to take the mountain up a mile, you time the drill to go a mile in and then explode. The bombs these planes have are timed to go one mile down and bring up a mountain one mile high, but it will destroy everything within a 50 square mile radius. The White man writes in his above top secret memos about the UFOs. He sees them around his military installations like they are spying. That Mother Wheel is a dreadful looking thing. White folks are making movies now to make these planes look like fiction, but it is based on something real. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that the Mother Plane is so powerful, that with sound reverberating in the atmosphere, just with a sound, she can crumble buildings. And the final act of destruction will be that Allah will make a wall out of the atmosphere over and around North America. You will see it, but you won't be able to penetrate it. He said Allah (God) will cut a shortage in gravity and a fire will start from 13-layers up and burn down, burning the atmosphere. When it gets to the earth, it will burn everything. It will burn for 310 years and take 690 years to cool off. The Book of Revelation says, And the Kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her, shall lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. This fire is for us. It's prepared from men and stones. Stones represent the hard-hearted people of this wicked world and for men who refuse to change and come to God. You are in the valley of decision. What are you going to do? Are you going to clean up your lives? I'm not asking you if you want to join me. You can if you want to. But if you are in the church, you better make the church right because Judgment is going to begin at the so-called house of God. Wherever you are, you are going to have to clean it up. Whatever we are doing that we know is wrong, we must straighten it out. But if you don't it's on you. I hope and pray that I have made the message clear. Thank you fore reading these few words. As Salaam Alaikum. Will you PLEASE help DoomAlert save MORE lives?  Please send donations to PayPal: http://paypal.me/doomalert Or go to http://www.paypal.com and send donations to email doomalert@gmail.com