#also human morgana made me want to die

[wikoymi]

akechi (and some jokers) which all have the same exact pose for some reason

[arcplaysgames]

lmao he's so much

I wonder what the Palace is designed after, all the glass panels and clean angles remind me of petri dishes almost, but also the petals of a flower. I'm gonna keep calling this thing a Lotus Tree, because it is and that's obviously the core conflict here, but the entire design is interesting.

lmao akechi i am dying to know what the fuck you want. i have to know. i MUST know by the end of this or the entire conceit will have failed. please god I need to know what the fuck Goro Akechi wants out of life given what it has given him.

anyway there's a fight and

JOKER FINALLY HAS A SHOWTIME

AND IT IS WITH AKECHI

"PRODIGAL SONS" AND "TWO SIDES SAME COIN" hahahhaha

i'm gonna lay on the floor and die

anyway, after that, Maruki is like "Okay, we need to talk things through but first, go spend a week in the world I made, lemme know what you think, feel free to fill out a comment card, I'll see you in seven days, peace and love 8)"

it'd be super fucked up and fun if by the time we meet Sumire again, she's back to thinking she's Kasumi and we have to fight her because she's on his side, that would be supremely messed up and i'm hyped for what's to come

i mean, for one, you were busy eye-fucking Reverie across a billiards table, and two, if you had like a single session with Maruki you would have known shit with him was fucked, so this is on you, don't think with your dick next time, Beige Boy

Hm hm hm what does Akechi want.

To be needed, certainly. But if I'm right and it was Reverie's desire to settle things with Akechi that brought him back, that does mean Akechi is needed by default.

But Akechi shoos Reverie off to go talk to his friends and Akechi goes off to investigate, because Akechi is the loneliest boy in the world and only one person wants him.

Hm hm hm hm HMM.

PICTURES: Reverie lying. Morgana as a human is mid at best.

lmao Reverie is going to go around to everyone and break their fucking hearts until they remember the truth

this is going to be excruciating

ALL CAUGHT UP WITH REVERIE IN NIGHTMARELAND

[escape-from-arcadia]

Random headcanon of the night: magical beings die in unique ways depending on what exactly they are/how they go out. The general principle is that all that comes from the earth must return to the earth.

Trolls can't die of old age. They turn to still and weak stone when severely injured or in daylight. They're already made of living stone + crystals, which have magical properties in them.

Goblins turn to sludge because I just like the goopy goobers.

Gnomes are turned into a little square of red fabric. (Gnome skeletons make me sad :()

Pixies lights go out, and what remains are actually physical dreams (like tiny amber pebbles) that can be given to trolls as a sedative.

Idk what Ngyarlathrops or whatever those are are made of, but their bits and pieces are good in soup. Not exactly a death description, but for some reason, I think they'd be a good soup. Don't ask.

Wizards have unique deaths depending what they're most deeply connected to.

Merlin turns to ash because 1. he's an old man, 2. his influence and notoriety has spread throughout the western world, and 3. ash trees represent wisdom, knowledge, etc. etc.

Morgana would've at one point would've faded into golden dust, but after dabbling a lot in shadow magic, her physical body would dissolve into shadow after she died.

Zoe would turn into a burst of lightning, whether or not she died "peacefully."

Douxie would either turn into a gentle blue flame that eventually flickers out, or he'd just explode, depending on how he died.

The Order gets neat deaths because technically they don't really "die" naturally. ROTT shows us what happens to them, but I'm going to ignore that and say other stuff instead.

The Order basically can go "dormant" for a period of time if very severely injured to recuperate. They all come from nature, so out of all the above, they absolutely must become a part of it when they go dormant.

Bellroc turns into a dormant volcano that occasionally grumbles (that's their snoring).

Skrael turns into a glacier that is very slowly moving (they'd usually sleepwalk)

Nari turns into a little willow tree because pretty and I said so.

Bonus headcanon because why not and I want to eventually draw all of these characters together: demigods like Carter of Love and War also die in ways related to their parents. Carter goes out in a red shockwave that temporarily makes everyone around him really angry (they skipped the first stage of grief, rip), Laura would turn into a small patch of clovers, Jaime turns into a flurry of snowflakes, and Aanya has a death kind of similar to Douxie that would range from gentle flame to fiery explosion depending on how she goes out.

That's all from me folks.

Edit: Looking on this retrospectively (I say only a few minutes after I've posted this), i think this would actually make Jim's death the saddest. Trolls are used to (for a lack of a better term) gathering the remains of previous trollhunters and honoring them in the Hero's Forge. But Jim is a human. Sure the trolls could make a statue of him, but Jim would have to be buried away from the trolls (or cremated, depending on what Jim wants). Idk I just think it's sad.

[aloeverawrites]

Merlin spoilers under the cut and tw for mentions of sexism and toxic relationships. Also this got long lol

I like merlin as a queer reading of hiding your magic/hiding your identity but there can be amazing feminist readings from it as well.

Uther and Gaius's dynamic kind of reminds me of that terrible guy who never listens to his wife and then offers a half-hearted apology after everything blows up in his face. Meanwhile Gaius just gives him the eyebrow tm but forgives him as he considers it his duty to stand by him no matter what. (If I have in the past yelled at my screen 'listen to your wife Uther' , well that's my business-)

He would have helped so many magic users by rightly letting Uther die but he never does because that's his friend.

It's the turning your back on oppressed people like you for a relationship and then calling you out on it.

And being known for always speaking your mind but actually always going along with what he wants and not challenging it too much.

And it's telling your ward to do the same thing, to serve no matter what and sacrifice themselves when need be. To see themselves as less important and to base their identity around another person. Continuing the toxic pattern.

It reminds me of how conservative women raise their daughters to believe that their meaning in life is marrying a man and serving him. to frame their identities around relationships that might be abusive.

I'm not saying that Arthur is the irredeemable husband in this scenario, he is better about magic and wouldn't want Merlin to actually see himself as less, showing how 's different from his father. Whereas Uther made decisions about Ygraine without consulting her, Arthur has made sexist statements but when he was challenged by Morgana and Gwen he respected the women's choice to fight for the village. He's been raised to accept these oppressive systems but when he's challenged on it he actually thinks about it. (And there's the symbolism of him improving greatly after conversations with Gwen.)

He's more like the husband who doesn't fully appreciate what his wife does for him or understand it.

And there's also the idea of heteronormativity saying that you have to keep secrets because men and women can't ever really understand each other. Don't tell him about your period, or your worries, don't act like a full human in front of him. Never be seen without your make-up.

That really reminds me of Gaius always imploring Merlin to keep things secret.

So yeah I think if Arthur had gotten to chance to really know about all of these things he would have appreciated them and been able to grow more as a person. The social and emotional segregation of men and women stops everyone from getting to know their friends and themselves better, it's stops growth. It sucks.

And then there's all the other metaphors as well, like the non-magical societies being ruled by Kings whereas the magic users have High Priestesses and Goddesses, and all of Merlins most powerful magic enemies being women.

There's the history of real life witch burnings and misogyny.

There's the nature as feminine and man-made things as masculine which is a common metaphor.

And there's the people having the option to learn magic and some being born into it, that shows how men's behaviour can get them labelled as "not real mean" and punished with misogyny if they interact too closely with "feminine" things. eg. doing drag. Whereas for women their gender identity is a part of them and not something you can opt out of. With this reading Gaius kind of reminds me of a trans man, in that he's doesn't use magic but his past of being close with it still gets him the side-eye, and cis men sometimes not seeing us as not real men because of our pasts.

There's so much to unpack and I should probably organise this rant at some point lol.

[dragonofeternal]

Alright, the blorbo meme list for P5

Okay so I reblogged this meme like a bajillion years ago and meant to reply then when you sent this but a;lsdkjf here we are I'm the worst about timely askbox replies.

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

GO~RO A~KE~CHI~

Is this surprising at all? No, not in the slightest. But I really love Akechi. Give me a boy who wants to commit patricide. Gimme a boy with complex relationship with the self he presents and the self he feels he is. Akechi's got the crunchy, angsty, faux-deep goodness that I love from Persona.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped):

Sumire. She's so good! I honestly really enjoyed her arc, what can I say, I love an identity crisis. I also really enjoy the way her bubbliness bounces off of Akechi's grouchiness and that she seems to understand his tough love (maybe he reminds her of her coach?) Also like, I dunno, I feel like I extra have to love her to make up for the people who bitch about the fact that she wasn't a FeMC option :T

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave):

Morgana is Protagonist's best friend, and I will die on this hill. He's one of the smartest phantom thieves, he's adorable, he's the one who made sure they didn't accidentally do a murder... I think it's a shame that people some people try to call him annoying or try to act like he's like a "kid" compared to the other PT. I've seen people try to be like "it was weird that his human self in the 3rd semester was older!!!" and it's like dude he's a peer, just because he's stuck being an adorable cat doesn't mean that he doesn't yearn to be a strapping badass!

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week):

If we're talking obscure in the sense of "actually exists in other games but doesn't get talked about as much," then me pointing exuberantly at the mention of Katsuya (and his sideburns!) on the TV at one point.

If we're talking obscure in the sense of just obscure for this game/literally who cares or knows/will absolutely never come up again... Then it's Grey Pigeon. Just. Grey Pigeon, you deserved better. Grey Pigeon, how dare you make me have so many feels about this minigame and your noble sacrifice? Now that's a real Glup Shitto lol

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave):

Uhhhhh probably Akechi again. People complain about the murder, or go "oooooh Royal fixed his character soooo much." Grow up. He was great in Vanilla and Royal just spells out all the shit that was there in the subtext and gave us more time with him. For every person who complains about the murder, I will give him an extra murder. As a treat.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason):

The problem is that me liking a character automatically enters them into the Horse Plinko Lottery. At any moment my gaze could fall upon them and go You. Come closer. But the Protagonist is so good for whump and torment. They were asking for me to want to watch him get the shit kicked out of him and having a bad time with that opening scene...

[pugs-cats-bb-8]

Vanilla-Okumura

Oh, yeah this arc. I like Morgana. I just get PTSD from Okumura's battle. I hated doing the song in Dancing.

"Stress is the enemy of beauty". 🤣🤣 I can see Sae pulling this out later on.

Unvoiced conversation.

Help Futaba get rid of her unease. I want to say its worded differently in Royal, but I don't remember.

Ohya's boss sucks.

Unvoiced conversation. Pretty big one too. You would think it would be voiced.

I like to throw Yusuke under the bus.

Unvoiced conversation.

Ann and Ryuji, the blond extrovert twins.

"Don't worry about it". As he asks for the guy's personal info. Honestly, how fucking charming/trustworthy is Ren? I'd be kinda suspicious if a dude asked me for the full name of my problem and told me not to worry. I'd think I was about to be caught up in a murder charge.

Unvoiced conversation. Again, another big one.

Unvoiced conversation. Big one.

I love Futaba scaring that fuck head.

Does anybody actually use Fate Reading?

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how they just bought her a swimsuit without knowing her taste or size.

Batting cages aren't open at night.

I never knew what that building was I thought it was an office building, not a movie theatre.

I worked at the Beef Bowl twice and never went back. I got my precision elsewhere.

Unvoiced conversation. Eternal Lockpick became Perma Pick.

Kawakami doesn't ask questions, she just makes a lock pick and other things for you. 🤣🤣

No wonder I forgot Akechi has a first name. He barely says his first name.

Trauma dump and rank up.

I love how there's two pronunciations of Medjed, depending on the person.

It's more flirty when it's not an auto rank-up.

Futaba's trying to drag poor Sojiro outside.🤣🤣

Me and my brother used to light the Smoke Bombs and run through the smoke. Probably not the best idea.

They're going to light the basket on fire. And kill Morgana.

You don't need a stat requirement to work at Crossroads? Kind-3, Precision-3

Lala's not voiced.

I would love it if he cross dressed. Morgana speaking the truth.

I swear in Royal there's four customers you can choose from. There is they added an Office Worker who gives you knowledge.

You only get 5,400 Yen (38.67 Dollars) for a Sunday😨😨. In Royal, it's 12,000 Yen (84.59)🤑🤑.

No mention of Sundays being the day to work.

Christ sakes, Ren 😋😋🥵🥵

I like how Makoto's top has kitty paws on the straps.

I love how Ann pulls one over on Ryuji.

I'd die if Ren look at me like that. Like I'd be a puddle.😍😍

I don't think Ren has any trouble stealing hearts.

Unvoiced conversation.

Yusuke and his lobsters🤣🤣

I like how in the anime, Ren asks if he has enough money for the train home.

Unvoiced conversation. 

like how they know they're in high school, but they still hit on them. 😠😠

Unvoiced conversation.

I can only imagine what Futaba hears.

Ryuji needs to stop putting his foot in his mouth.

Does Ren not like to type?

Unvoiced conversation.

No, not human Morgana 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️.

Don't you get Harisen Recover at R.6?

I never knew he grunted/thinking noises if you stayed on the map too long. Honestly, I thought it was some sort of intestinal distress. I also didn't know they moved it outside, to the city in Strikers. I heard it one night when I was alone. Scared the shit out of me. Took me three times of hearing it to figure out what it was. Look, I'm happy they're giving Xander lines, but can they give him more than simple sentences and sound bites? I ain't saying he has to read the phone book, unless that's a key story beat.😋😋😍😍 But I wouldn't mind more lines. Let's hope Tactica gives some new lines, or at least said in a new way.

The fountain pen was sold in Shinjuku? 

think they changed the descriptions for the 2nd tier Personas new moves.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

120,000 Yen=849.55 Dollars.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how Sojiro doesn't care that you take Morgana to school.

Unvoiced conversation.

So Kin-Ki lost his Psychic weakness.

I think they made Ren faster.

I love driving down every floor of Mementos.

Sneezing while frozen is an accomplishment.

High Counter used to be called Counterstrike.

Hole Gold🤨🤨

I confuse Neko Shogun and Nekomata for some reason.

I think when most of your team is statused. The AI should prioritize whoever can hit a weakness, or Ren. Because a dead leader is game over.

I didn't know in my first playthrough, that Harisen Recover worked on all teammates. I thought it was only you. Imagine my surprise the first time it activated for someone else.

He's going to backhand somebody one day.

I know it's the game keeping you from doing things. But damn, Morgana rules with an iron fist.

Slight different question. Macadamia nuts are expansive.

As much as I don't like Kawakami. I do hate that her romance response is delayed. When I romanced her to get the award. I thought I messed up and didn't hit a romance flag. (Like Takemi or Chihaya). I get why but, it still made me think I messed up.

Mishima used to text you after every completed Mementos Mission?🙃🙃

Softer "yes" after you help Kawakami. Royal's is a bit louder.

Dude, you pay so much more money for the Big Bang 🍔 challenge in the morning. I mean I'd heard that you pay more but not 700 and then 1,000 Yen more.

Ren's going to drop dead of a heart attack.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how if you lose at the crane game enough. Morgana won't let you play it anymore that day.

I hated going to the Maid Cafe. 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️

Was there always a conversation on the night of 9/6?

I thought when you're on probation that you can't leave the country. Or is that house arrest?

Unvoiced conversation.

They moved the picture to after they get to Hawaii.

Sexy pics are a no go.

When they question how long you're staying and why. It sounds like they don't want you there. Reminds me of when sales people bug me too much in a store. I'll walk right out. Although, you can't get back on the plane.

I'd rather room with Ryuji than Mishima.

These trips seem like they're PR for the school.

"The good-looking one". Okay Mishima.👌🏻

Unvoiced conversation.

Random Yusuke.

Unvoiced conversation.

I don't think Ren is a big photo guy.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love the lei loading scene.

Wouldn't it be funny if Ryuji's roommate's girlfriend was Ann's roommate?🤣🤣

They never thought of sharing.

I love how all those options apply to Akechi.

I don't think "I don't have a type" is in Royal.

Poor Mishima. The tap water thing is Mexico. Not the US.

Think Hawaii's boring. Try Hawaii without much voice acting.

"You'll get fat". Dude is cruisin' for a bruising.

Are Garlic Shrimp really foreign? They sell them at restaurants over here in the US. I can't imagine it's hard to make.

Unvoiced conversation.

I'm sure Mishima could get a girlfriend if he didn't seem like an incel. That and the fact that I think if a girl hugged him he'd cream his pants.

Unvoiced conversation.

"Secret lover coming after me with an axe".🤣🤣

As funny as that is they don't know that they met Haru, yet.

Also, are the localizers British? They just stuck the gift scene in there. Bye, potato 👋🏻👋🏻

Morgana should talk to him. I know Ren would listen.

"Here's your gift". 🎁 "Your principal's dead".🤨🙄 Nice greeting. Why would they care?

Morgana's at fault because he doesn't talk about his problems. Ryuji's at fault because he repeatedly calls Morgana useless and says Makoto and Futaba are better than him. He gets impatient when they stake out Mementos. Then he says "We don't care if you're useless". 🦶=👄

Unvoiced conversation.

That's because the principal sucked.

Cute Akechi face x4.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how Ren and Futaba are the only ones worried about Morgana.

Different question.

They added the Morgana lives here things in Royal. Claw marks on the table leg. Paw prints in the dust. I think there's one more, but I don't remember it.

Different sound for the holographic screens.

I love this scene in the anime. Ren's line is 😋😋😍😍 "It means to help the weak and dethrone the mighty".

Women can be evil too, Ryuji.

YouTube comments led me to believe Haru was the black mask.

Different question.

I've lost track of where Ren was in the Mementos scenes. Because he's allergic to colour. I mean sure he looks drop-dead gorgeous, but he also blends in.

Foot meet mouth.

So help me God, Ryuji. We were so close.

Ann so should've smacked him.

I think he jumps out of the way faster in Royal.

Unvoiced conversation.

Did they change Haru's dad's voice?

There's no turning back now. Jesus, does the game expect us to marry and have kids with whoever you date? Hasn't they ever heard of breaking up?

"You'll be awarded an extraordinary gift". Yeah, a trip to the hospital for bypass surgery or a trip to the morgue.

Different question.

No chest to the left when you enter.

Black Ooze in Okumura's? I mean it makes sense but...

Smarf man.

What a creep.

I wish you could choose who it kicks out when you get a new teammate.

There's a sound when you hit the safe room doors? Maybe my fan's just too loud.

Different layout.

How is there like nowhere to hide?

Munching on sweets? Oh! Are they talking about the real-life counterparts?

If Queen's Necklace is weak to Gun. Then what is Koh-I-Noor weak to?

We're burglars🤨🤨

He was alone where did the other two come from?

New cut scene.

Haru has 6 Ammo!? Why does it go down to 1 in Royal?

I like the way they did the eavesdropping sections.

Yusuke learns Counterstrike way later in Royal. Like 2 whole palaces later.

"We're not far".🤬🤬 It takes so long to get there.

Different layout.

The robot's bopping to the music.

Different layout.

Unvoiced conversation.

Lilim is weak to Gun, Wind and Bless?

I've never seen a Treasure Demon that knows healing moves or buffs/debuffs.

Different layout.

Different colours for the hydraulic presses.

Different sounds for them too.

Koh-I-Noor has no weakness?

No lasers. Different layout.

I always thought Ryuji's 2nd tier Persona had an "N" at the end.

The urge to use every Persona, just so I can hear his voice. 😋😋

Different sounds for breaking the arms.

I didn't know you could pause the timer by opening the menu.

Unvoiced conversation.

No lasers.

Unvoiced conversation.

I don't like the airlock puzzle. But at least you get a nice view. 😏😏

Scathath? I don't see her till Maruki in Royal.

Different switch noise.

Different layout.

Really wish they gave the option to leave directly after clearing a path to the treasure. They stopped doing that after Madarame.

Wait, you could get an invitation for the next day even if you went to the palace that day? In Royal, that doesn't work even if you use Kawakami. That's why you do Futaba as soon as it opens. So, you can get the aquarium date.

Mishima definitely creamed his pants.

Even Chihaya knows Mishima isn't your friend. 🤣🤣 I've never gotten that scene because I'm always battling Okumura. They straight up just leave him. 🤣🤣

Takemi used to sell Homunculus?

Unvoiced conversation.

Doesn't tell you how many items you can make.

3 categories instead of 2.

Elemental throwables were grouped together.

Couldn't make multiple at once.

Different question.

I don't like Life Will Change instrumental.

Taking the long way around.

No enemy there.

Oh yeah, we have to go the long way.

No dialogue after you hit the door.

So, a minute in Vanilla versus roughly 20 secs in Royal. Although, you do miss out on a chest. But it's nothing that game-breaking.

There's no way this dude would change. He's better off dead.

"I will crush you all". More like you'll use other people as cannon fodder. 🤬🤬

Why does the timer still run when the dialogue's going? I mean it's like seconds, but still.

I like how he backflips.

You have to do this without Haru's baton pass. 😨😨🤬🤬

Mix of robots makes it a bit harder.

Okay, he does add more if you don't beat all of them.

No targeting specific people.

Same number of waves.

I hate the Executive.

"I need sushi". 🤣🤣

The first time I used Izanagi-No-Okumi-Piacaro. The second I used Magatsu-Izanagi. Third and fourth I shot him.

He has a lot more health in Vanilla.

You could take him on at LV.40-42? In Royal, you should be at least 44-45 or higher.

"He'll be fine". 🤣🤣 If dead means fine, then sure. He'll be fine.

What made him change?

Unvoiced conversation.

Added a question to Iwai's R.1.

Unvoiced conversation.

You could get skill cards out of chests in Mementos?

Added a question to Shinya's R.1. 

I like Shinya.

Different question.

When Bullet Hail activates the camera angle changes slightly. Same for Treasure Demons, although there's a bit of pause when that happens. It pauses a bit with Disaster Shadows too.

Depending on how much money you have. Getting 100K Yen could potentially help you.

"Just make sure no one sees you". Sure Morgana, nobody's going to see me building bombs and lock picks in class.

"Please leave". 🤣🤣 Look I know Akechi reads more as a yandere in Vanilla, but holy shit. 🤣🤣

Even though Chihaya's older than you. Her romance is pretty cute.

Slightly different question.

I love all the Sonic references.

Morgana doesn't tell you if there's any targets left in the area. Nor does he tell you about where they are. You just have to keep going down and wait till he says something at the start.

Treasure Demons Null all elements they're not weak to. I've only seen that in Strikers, on Merciless. In Royal, they resist.

Also, Stone Of Scone is weak to curse, not fire.

Orlov is weak to curse and found in Sae's Palace.

Different question.

"You're always free". Damn, Futaba.🤣🤣 Poor man has to solve the whole of Tokyo's problems+save the world and you deliver that sick of a burn.

"It's not like there's any customers here". 🤣🤣

"You just had to get close to me". 🙄🙄 Dude, you're the one who wouldn't leave me alone! I've been trying to stay away from you!

"Please leave"x2

They moved Mishima-Dome Town back from 10-9 to 11-3. I've taken that meeting once. I wanted points on Shinya.

They turned 10-10 into a normal hangout. In Royal, you go to Nakano and meet Iwai.

Slightly different question.

"Oh please, give me a break". 🤣🤣 I love the way he says that.

[softausterity]

persona 5 royal dog rant

in persona 5 there's a little girl and her mom and they've got a dog if you walk past and listen to them you can hear them talk about what they're doing and the dog slowly gets older and at the end of the year it passes away.

(in depth p5r spoilers + VERY long post under the cut. this is, less clean than i wanted it but if i committed to it it would have taken a week and i don’t usually. type out my thoughts. i hope you uh. enjoy? reading it anyway. also don’t mind the random bolding/italics it just makes it easier for me to re-read and this is my blog so you deal with my shit) 

in persona 5 royal the dog is brought back to life by actualization. i am obsessed with this. because when does that dog die? for life to exist it must grow and shift and change but some of these changes will inherently cause harm to others. a little kid is never going to want that dog to die, so how long does that dog live?

if that dog lives until the kid is old enough to process with it, the dog will have been with them long enough that it would be as painful as losing a family member. there is no right time to kill that dog. there is no right time for anyone to die. not out of a belief that death is bad, but that as long as you form human connections, your death will always hurt others.

because it’s less about death and more about loss. if you had a dream of academics going to study overseas, but the loss of you would leave your family and friends lonely, who takes importance there? it's the ones feeling pain, because that person could easily be changed to not want to take the study trip. that makes things much easier for everyone, right? they aren't missing out on anything if they don’t remember wanting to take that trip in the first place, and their family and friends don't have to deal with losing them. that's better, isn't it? 

one of the things maruki says when trying to convince you on 2/2 is “if you just stay in my reality, you’ll never have to suffer the pain of loss, or the pain of people or things being stolen away from you.” he holds an ideology that puts people on the same level as objects. and this is clearly something the game is paying attention to. it shows up in all of the new endings, and akechi’s entire character over the course of third semester. let’s get into it.

ending number one, accepting the offer:

   “i want to stay forever.”

you wake up from a daydream, or maybe it’s more like you fell into one. everyone is chatting at leblanc. futaba is there, kasumi is there, akechi is there. he’s sitting in the middle of the room, right next to haru. everyone’s chatting, carefree. they’re talking about how happy they are, and how they want to stay friends with each other forever. sojiro tells you arrangements have been made to have you keep living at leblanc.

flash forward to graduation, everyone is there, everyone is happy. yusuke talks about switching to shujin. futaba and morgana talk about enrolling. akechi shows up, and offers to take a photo of you. a man in a hat that you can’t quite recognize says he’ll take it instead, so akechi can stay in the picture. “you’re all friends, aren’t you?”

what happens after that? we don't know. it ends with the idyllic little photos of paradise and everyone going "we're all gonna be friends forever and stay right here forever." what happens when they get older?

persona 5 royal made a deliberate decision to make it clear in the ending that it’s not just joker who’s leaving at the end of the game. everyone is going their separate ways, promising to stay friends and keep in touch, but they’ll be leaving. which hurts but it's necessary. it's good. they're following their own dreams, and they’re happy. 

here that can't happen because the rules of the world are based on avoiding pain at all costs. so what happens? how do they move on from there? are their dreams all shifted to remaining in the same spot? even though sumire's dream was to win on an international level? 

we see photos of the phantom thieves, most of them identifiably in areas you visit in game, very close to shujin, and none of them are like. not. they could all definitely be in areas within the game, which are all close enough to travel to within a day. and they’re all finding their happiness through things that were lost. futaba, haru, and makoto with their parent, yusuke with madarame, ryuji with the track team, ann with shiho, morgana with his dreams of being human, joker with akechi. ”kasumi’s” gymnastics outfit looks like kasumi’s, but it’s actually her own. (i don’t have anything smart to plug in about this here beyond sort of a, the truth of that situation cannot be changed it can only have a loose coat of paint slapped over to make it look like the problem is fixed, but the important part is to this paragraph is that it looks like kasumi’s and i didn’t want to lie about it just being hers) everyone’s staying right where they were, and refusing to move on from the past.

ending number two, missing the deadline:

    “i’ll bring you your happiness. pleasant dreams.”

joker wakes up, for a moment. how long has he been asleep? it’s hard to say. his phone battery is flat. five more minutes couldn’t hurt, could it?

so, like, what's happening to joker there. he doesn't eat or drink he just keeps willfully going back to sleep. dr. maruki has decided making the choice to do anything will cause pain for joker, so the best course of action is just for him to go to sleep. 

 whether literally or metaphorically, time is not moving here. it's the same repeating cycle where nothing happens. joker does not- cannot grow shift or change. this could be the same day over and over and over again, and it wouldn't make a difference. 

the dog does not simply “not die,” it is remarked that it is healthy again. it was a sick old dog but now it's fine. and it will stay fine. nothing will change. will people grow? growth, both personal and literal, will hurt. parents don’t want to see their kids grow up. kids don’t want to see their parents get old.

both of these endings are functionally the same. will of rebellion manifests through the metaverse, which joker accesses through his phone. no more rebellion, just keep going back to sleep. stay in this dream forever. there's nothing wrong with that, right? everyone's happy, aren't they? we'll always be together. right here. staying together in this one place. no more dreams of leaving, no more dreams of growing. it hurts to grow.

about akechi:

in maruki’s reality, akechi gets brought back to life because dr. maruki thought the way he died was so tragic. but akechi absolutely didn't want to be brought back. this doesn't matter. maruki has decided that ‘joker’s wish’ is to have akechi back, because he was so torn up when he died. and all the importance of that decision goes to joker.

when akechi walks in during the 2/2 conversation like “this whole thing is stupid, do you think holding my death over our heads is going to make a difference” maruki is like “that’s what you think, but i’m not asking you.” no matter how much akechi kicks and screams, it’s not his decision. he’s just a cat being taken out of a tree, clawing and scratching because it doesn’t know what’s best for it.

when i finished royal for the first time i spent a lot of time thinking about it. what was being said, with the addition of all the new content. the first thing i landed on was “maruki’s actually a good guy, the game just has to not promote “everything is perfect and problems don’t exist” as a good option because that’s not possible in real life, and it’s a game about going outside and making real change.” but after beating the game again i thought "that’s not it at all.”

i believe there's a point being made through the whole game about personal agency. it cannot cannot cannot exist in the maruki endings. in his ideal reality, being alive is something that’s fundamentally changed. akechi died and him being alive not through his own actions, and not for his own sake makes him fucking miserable. well, It Doesn't because he will Simply Forget because Everyone Is Happy And Everything Is Fine Look At How Happy Kasumi Yoshizawa is. but you know what i mean.

and it's not that akechi wants to be dead. at the end of the true ending he is likely alive, and if he is it's through his own will and talent. he's alive because he wanted to be, not because he accidentally made one (1) friend so he's obligated to take his role in maruki's fucked up little märchen utopia performance because he decided everyone's problems were his problems. 

if wakaba isshiki or president okumura wanted to stay dead that wouldn't matter. if someone wanted to commit suicide when they had loved ones they wouldn't be able to. it removes everyone's personal agency and puts their entire life in the hands of the people who want them. i think about that a lot. what if the dog passed away happily, maruki? that doesn't matter? because that girl would be sad?

nobody has personal agency because if someone else wants you to not do something, you won't do it, because that would make them sad. and them being sad would make maruki sad. and at the end of the day, this entire reality is for his own sake.

in the palace, akechi says “Call it what you like--you’re merely brainwashing people for your own satisfaction.” maruki cannot shoot down that claim. he responds with “i’m wholly aware some will interpret my acts that way... but if that self-satisfaction leads to the happiness of thousands of others, don’t you agree that outcome is for the best?” i think about this interaction way too much

1: maruki’s entire palace portrays someone who fundamentally views himself as more important than everyone else and thinks that people are just issues to be fixed. things that hurt that need to stop hurting. the way he thinks a problem should be solved “correctly” and the way he goes about solving his own problems are antithetical. let’s pull up the psychological exam.

Q1 - You see your good friend being led away by a group of scary people! You want to help your friend, but if you fight them alone and lose, you could easily get hurt. If you go look for a teacher, there would be no danger to you, but if you take too long, your friend would most likely get hurt. Which would you do in this situation?

A: Go after your friend

B: Go get help

Q2 - You have a personal dream that you really want to make come true. You’ve worked so hard to achieve it, but it’s just not coming to fruition. It’s causing you a lot of grief, but if you give up now, all your hard work is for nothing!  Which would you do in this situation?

A: Keep up the hard work

B: Do whatever it takes

C: Give up for a new dream

Q3 - You've gained the power to steal hearts! You can use this power for whatever you want without fear of getting caught! In this scenario, which sounds closest to what you would do?

A: Steal something valuable 

B: Never steal anything 

C: Steal my own heart to heal 

D: Steal evil hearts to fix society 

E: Steal the one I love's heart

the correct answers here (b, c, d) show maruki’s m/o, and you can see it’s exactly how he operates with dialogue snippets about one of yusuke’s friends giving up on painting, and stuff like that. but the other thing about this is that maruki would fail his own exam three for three. 

in the video tape with rumi, instead of waiting for the doctors to do their work, he “”fixes”” her with his persona, and ends up getting hurt because of it. 

“she’s... passed away.” (B: Go get help?)

in the video tape with shibusawa, when faced with major roadblocks in studying cognitive psience, he refuses to give up. he’s so hung up on the concept of the research lab, feels so strongly that the spot in odaiba belongs to him, it becomes his palace. 

“i don’t care how long it takes me... it’s going to happen.”  (C: Give up for a new dream?)

the last one is less clear, but it’s definitely not d. both on the level that he’s actively opposing the phantom thieves, and he mentions multiple times that he believes changing hearts one at a time isn’t good enough. i think the idea with the strongest argument is that maruki would have ‘stole something valuable’ by using the power to make progress towards finishing his research paper since he is. still incredibly hung up on that. he gets hung up on shit very easily, and is driven by spite and the fact he’s certain he’s correct.

“i've learned how to change the cognition of not just an individual, but all of humanity!”  (D: Steal evil hearts to fix society?)

there’s really a huge gap between the way he treats his own problems and the way he treats those of everyone else. he’s his exact definition of a “broken person who needs fixing” but he won’t address this. because his problem is that so many people are feeling pain, and that needs to be fixed, right now. and he’s got a solution for it, if he just keeps trying.

2: akechi drives in again and again how miserable the concept of being under someone’s control for their own sake like that would make him. he takes shots at maruki whenever he can, he describes the concept as embarrassing, and refuses to back down, even when told to his face it will cost his life. and it’s perfectly understandable.

he spent the entirety of the past few years thinking he was doing something, making a change in the world of his own will, but he was just being controlled by shido for his own personal gain. when this realization happens in the engine room, he gives his own life to know that shido will be taken down. of course he’d do it again. he views joker considering maruki’s reality once he finds out that akechi will die as pitying him, and a complete betrayal of his wishes

sumire reacts basically exactly the opposite, constantly sympathising with maruki, defending him, desperately trying to cling onto this “perfect reality.” maruki caught sumire at one of her deepest moments of weakness, after just losing her sister, in what’s meant to be a safe space with a medical professional, and manipulated her to use her as a test subject. 

since he’s only just gained his powers and is not a very good therapist, maruki ends up taking what sumire says about nobody wanting her at face value. he understands sumire’s wish as being “i wish kasumi was the one who lived instead of me.”  right in front of him, there’s a weak and sad girl, offering you her ideal solution. what else is he supposed to do? she’s in pain and he can fix that. so he does. 

sumire clings onto this immediately. she describes herself during her social link like this:  “i’ve always been really bad at making decisions on my own... i mean, kasumi always picked perfect things for me anyway.“ in that moment after kasumi’s death, the two things she wants most are a strong person to make all her decisions for her and tell her what to do, and to be anyone else other than sumire, fuck-up younger sister who killed the perfect kasumi yoshizawa. maruki indulges both these desires immediately and without a second thought.

but despite that being what she wanted, it wasn’t what was best for her. at all. in the same social link conversation, she describes “a desire to see, and be seen” and tells you about how she “never really knew making my own decisions could feel validating. so i didn’t really feel a need to choose anything for myself. after all, nobody expected me to.” the kid will be better off having learned to move on from the death of her dog. she’ll be a stronger person after that. maruki’s reality is one that does not want strong people. 

she works through her issues by facing herself in the metaverse and forming real connections with other people her age. both of these efforts maruki tries to stop at every opportunity to convince her that his reality is the best option, that her becoming kasumi is the only way towards strength and happiness. so much of the early palace as you go through it is designed to specifically make her feel uncomfortable and bad to try and get her to leave and not think about things too hard. he re-traumatizes her in front of her only friends by playing a video of what she perceives as her killing kasumi, and forcing her to fight them.

maruki refuses to accept that what he did for ‘Kasumi’ wasn’t not only the best option, but the only one, because she’s far too weak to actually work through her problems. if she could have just worked that out by assessing herself and making some friends her own age? he’s done immeasurably fucked up shit to her. and of course he hasn’t done that. he couldn’t have.

“how’s yoshizawa-san holding up? i’ve been concerned about a potential relapse, considering her... difficulties with accepting this reality.”

“sumire's one tough lady.”

“...you know, i would love for that to be the truth. but, people can’t maintain their strength forever.”

with the video tapes we can see in his head he’s already labelled her as “kasumi” and thinks all her problems were fixed by that. the problem looks fixed, so it is. that girl was caused pain by the dog passing away, so the solution is to bring back the dog. there’s no need for growth or strength if everyone just relies on maruki to fix their problems.

did this make sense? i don’t know! do i have a smooth lead up to a conclusion? absolutely not! but i don’t write stuff often and this is just for one specific tumblr user in my replies. i guess it’s just like.

TL;DR persona 5 is a game about time passing, and about making changes in the world with your own strength and personal agency. maruki’s reality is the exact opposite of that, which can be seen through the fact a dog dies of old age, and he brings back that dog because a little girl wanted it back in that moment, with no regard for what the dog wanted, that loss is practically necessary for time to move forward, or the growth that comes from learning to cope with loss. (also i get into maruki solves his problems in a way that’s antithetical to how he solves the problems of others and his reality is just to make himself feel better but i just get distracted easily)

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

The God of Magic just wants humanity to be happy and thriving;

Version 1, Good!Merlin

INTRO

(Version 2, Dark!Merlin)

~

“You’re late.”

From their place in the bushes, the gang can see a wide grin break out on the woman’s face as she raises an eyebrow:

“You’re always getting distracted by pretty flowers or interesting conversations, how was I supposed to know that you’d be on time for once?”

Her voice somehow sounds like an ocean in a storm, ear-splittingly loud as the sound cuts right through them to the core, but also a gentle stream, soft and clear and soul-cleansing. The gang struggle not to flinch in their confusion.

Merlin chuckles slightly, shaking his head as he softly replies:

“Ah, I see, you were expecting me to be late, so you told me to turn up half a candle-mark before you intended to get here.”

She raises an eyebrow and nods:

“In the hopes I wouldn’t have to stand around and wait too long,-”

She shudders slightly as her face falls, though she manages to look beautifully intimidating even with a slight scowl on her face:

“-you know how much I hate it up here, on dry land.”

Merlin nods. He looks around him passingly, and the gang tense as his eyes rove over their hiding place; their fear is quickly replaced with shock (and even more confusion) as it strikes them that they’ve never seen Merlin look so relaxed, so at ease. He finally looks back to the woman:

“Hmm. I may not agree with you on that, but I understand. I could have met you at Avalon, you know.”

The woman frowns even more, and the gang can see Merlin tilt his head in question, even more so when she replies:

“I... wanted this conversation to be private, away from the prying eyes and ears of Mother and our Siblings.”

Merlin’s shoulders tense, and Arthur can vaguely see the outline of his hands clenching tightly in his pockets as his cloak billows in a sudden wind. The knights, Gwen, and Morgana all look to each other in confusion, Merlin had never spoken of siblings before, in fact, they’re fairly certain he specifically told them that he’s an only child. This woman was so drastically different from Merlin in appearance, they couldn’t possibly be related by blood. Perhaps she means "siblings" in a similar sense to how the knights are brothers?

A tense silence passes between the two, but it’s quickly broken by Merlin letting out a deep, bone-weary sigh, his relaxed demeanour completely dissolved, and looking to the floor, mumbling:

“What’s this about, Ava?”

The woman, Ava, the gang now know, lets out a sigh of her own, tilting her head and waiting for Merlin to look at her again before speaking, her voice sounding more consistently soft the more she spoke, as if she needed practice to regulate her volume:

“I think you know, Em.-”

(”Em?? I guess that could be a shortened version of ‘Merlin’, but... not really.”)

“-Time is running out, existence is threadbare as it is, and only getting worse with each passing day. The world is splitting, cracking down the middle; magic is running thin-”

Everyone feels Arthur tense at the mention of magic, even more so at Merlin’s non-reaction to the word. Though everyone is already understandably on edge by the way the woman speaks as if the world is ending around them, and they hadn’t even noticed:

“-and we are starving. The fates of The Bane-”

Mordred manages to stop himself falling backwards, but his sudden shaky breath earns him a concerned glance from Gwaine, crouched besides him:

“-and The Darkness have been avoided, if you do not move forward now, then when? With every day you stall, you plan, you stand idly by and wait, we choke on the gaping emptiness of a world that is leaking.-”

Merlin holds up a shaking hand to stop her, his other running through his hair in frustration as he murmurs:

“I know, I know-”

The gang watches with tense, morbid curiosity as Ava cuts him off, her expression both annoyed and sympathetic:

“I don’t think you do, Em. You haven’t been home in years. Could you stand it? To be God of Magic with no Magic to be God over? No universe to hold dominion over?”

Merlin scoffs slightly and walks to the side in his frustration, and the gang can see the melancholy annoyance on his face, plain as day. It’s almost enough to make them forget that he visited Ealdor just last month. It’s definitely not enough to distract them from the fact that she had called Merlin a God. The God of Magic, of all things. What the fuck??:

“I don’t hold dominion over anything I just... am.”

Ava rolls her eyes:

“That’s not the point and you know it. Mother sent you to fix the problem, to stop the purge, to encourage the Once and Future King to bring magic back and start the Golden Age. He has been King for years, but you still act as a servant. You are a God, Em, assert yourself. You could fix the world with a click of your fingers, but you wait for the humans to do it for you.-”

Merlin interrupts her slightly impassioned speech with a deep huff and a shake of the head. From where he now stands, the gang have a healthy view of his side profile, and they can see the emotions warring on his face: frustration, grief, desperation:

“That isn’t... that’s not what I’m doing-”

She rolls her eyes again and the gang are vaguely aware of a distant crack of thunder as she gestures sharply with her hands:

“That is what you’re doing. You’ve become too attached to these... mortals.-”

She steps towards him, cradling his cheek in a soft, elegant hand as her face morphs to one of complete and utter sorrow:

“-You’re setting yourself up for heartbreak, Brother. Human lifespans, the lifespan of your precious Golden King, are but a blink of an eye compared to ours; they will all wither and die and fade from you, and you will be left with your grief forever.-”

Her other hand lifts to settle comfortingly on his shoulder, and the gang can see a single tear slip from Merlin’s lowered eyes:

“-Do what you came here to do, and come home, to Avalon, we miss you, Em, the family needs you back.”

Merlin stills for a few moments at her desperate plea, but then steps back, shrugging her hands off gently and wiping the tear from his face:

“No. I... I’m doing this properly. Mother understands my fondness for humanity, that’s why she sent me, and I’m going to do it properly.”

Ava huffs out a gentle laugh at his determined expression, shaking her head slightly in fond disbelief:

“How can you love them? These... humans, when they slaughter your creations, when they don’t even know what you are?”

Merlin smiles softly, his eyes gazing into the trees as he quietly responds, his voice full of enough adoration to take the gang's breath away, to temper the twinge of fear and betrayal that had been swelling in Arthur’s lungs:

"I love them because they don't know what I am. It's nice, to be human; to walk among them, being loved and hated and respected and touched as if I were not more than they could ever possibly comprehend. Humanity is... made of juxtapositions. Their existence is contradiction upon contradiction, weaved together and held with emotions so large I can scarcely understand how they're contained in such little bodies. I've been alive and watching them for millennia, lived side-by-side with them for almost three decades, and they still surprise me. To walk among them, to see them come to terms with this universe that We made for them, to see how desperately they crave knowledge, exploration, experience... it's beautiful. The way they love so fully, the way they find meaning and importance in every grain of sand, every ray of sun, every tuft of fur on every creature, it's humbling. It's astounding."

Ava has a soft smile on her face, looking as if she could listen to her Brother ramble about his love for humanity for decades. She shakes her head slightly, letting out a gentle sigh as she asks:

"Then why won't you save them? The Gods will starve without magic, but humanity will starve without the Gods."

Merlin pauses for a moment, his face scrunched in concentration as he tries to think of the right way to verbalize his thoughts. 

The gang stare on in unconcealed bafflement; the realisation that Merlin is some kind of God brings less fear or anger than they think it should. Maybe it’s the shock, or maybe it’s the reverent way he speaks about them. Either way, they stay still and silent in their hiding place, and eventually Merlin’s face settles back into a soft smile as he looks to his Sister:

"I wish to see them save themselves, not because We need them to, but because they want to. Because their desperation to explore this universe will one day outweigh their misguided hatred of magic.-"

He nods decisively, repeating in a confident voice:

"-I wish to see them save themselves."

Ava sighs once more, stepping toward Merlin and putting her hand back on his shoulder:

“Your wishes may soon become... irrelevant. We’re dying, Emrys,-”

Arthur struggles to hold in a gasp at that. Emrys. He knows that name. Apparently it’s the name of a God, and not just some secret sorcerer who took a fancy to Camelot and deemed himself it’s protector. Lancelot’s eyes widen, though he manages to hide his shock well; no one else is focused on anyone else’s reactions, all internally freaking out. 

Mordred is pale and breathing shallowly, being the only one in the group who had already known the full truth. Percival looks to be in shock, he grew up with the stories of Emrys, but to learn that Emrys was a God? That Merlin was said God? Not what he was expecting out of this little trip. Gwaine, Gwen, Morgana, and Elyan look worried, seeming to have pushed aside their shock in favour of being concerned over Merlin’s safety and sorrow. Leon stares upon the scene with scholarly-looking curiosity, hiding his apprehension and shock well. Arthur’s expression is... unreadable. Ironically, the only person capable of knowing what he was thinking just from looking at him was currently having an incredibly terrifying conversation with someone who is also presumably some kind of God(dess). 

“-time is running out. I know that you don’t want to, but... it might be best to tell them the truth. You adore your humans because of their ability to love, do you not think they love you enough to forgive you your deceptions?”

Merlin clenches his jaw, and it’s the anguish on his face, paired with his almost-whispered words, that breaks their hearts:

“I... no. Just because I love them does not mean they love me back. I’m just a servant, Ava, I’ll never be important enough to be forgiven, God or not; I’ve lied to them for over ten years.”

She sighs, letting a tear of her own fall as she quietly responds:

“Emrys, you undervalue your worth, they don’t-”

“No. I don’t. You’re right, I have one life-time with them, with... with Arthur, and then I’ll lose them, and I’ll spend the rest of eternity grieving. I refuse to taint the already short time I have with them by having to watch them grow to hate me. I refuse.”

Merlin frowns as Ava rolls her eyes fondly, a victorious smirk on her face:

“If you would let me finish. They don’t hate you now, despite learning what they have just learnt, and you have yet to tell them of all you’ve done for them. Their love for you will only grow, Brother.”

Merlin tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. The gang take in a collective gasp at the realisation that she knows. And has likely known the whole time.

“What are you talking about?”

Ava’s smirk just grows, and she looks to the bushes the gang is hiding in, seeming to make direct eye-contact with a panicking Arthur as she speaks, he voice echoing unnaturally through the clearing:

“You can come out now.”

At her words, Merlin’s head whips around to stare at where she was looking. He opens his mind, allows his magic to stretch around him, and his skull is immediately full to burst with echoes of Mordred’s earlier, and ongoing, warnings, as well as the overwhelming presence of The (former) Darkness, The Once and Future King, and the others. He takes a stumbled step back, hand covering his mouth and tears spilling from his eyes as he becomes more and more convinced of... well... his time being tainted.

The gang stand and shuffle out of the bushes slowly, eyes trained on the floor and hands clasped in front of them tightly. It’s Merlin’s quiet, cracking “No...” that has them look up, paling at the absolute heartbreak on his face.

Lancelot and Gwaine give him weak, though genuine smiles, holding their hands out placatingly, but they halt their movements forward when Merlin just copies them pace for pace, moving away from them.

No one notices Ava rolling her eyes, not until she steps behind Merlin and puts a halting hand on his shoulder, stopping him from moving further away.

Merlin whips his head around, and another loud clap of thunder sounds out, much closer than the other one, quickly followed by a sudden downpour of frigid rain. The gang look to the sky in confusion, and Mordred desperately tries to reach Merlin through the mental link, offering comfort and reassurance; Merlin doesn’t seem to notice, the rain falling harder and harder as he almost fall to his knees, speaking in a desperate voice to his sister:

“Why... why would you... you know what this means. Why... why would you do this?! Ava?”

She rolls her eyes again, seeming to glow effervescently under the rivers of rainwater running down her face and over her clothes. She forces Merlin to turn and look at the gang, holding her hands on his shoulders to stop him from backing away (or collapsing in his grief) :

“Look at them, Em. Do they look angry to you? You should have some faith in the humans you claim to love so much. Look at them.”

Everyone in the gang gives Merlin varying levels of strained smiles; though Merlin, in his panic, is unable to tell that the strain is from concern and guilt, thinking that it was instead from hatred. He falls to his knees, his eyes shut tight enough to give him a headache and his hands clamped over his mouth in an effort to hold the sobs in.

Gwen and Morgana are the first to rush forwards, not paying the slightest bit of attention to Merlin’s... sister or the knights as they collapse to the floor in front of their friend, not sure whether to keep their distance or try to comfort the distraught man... God.

It’s his next choked sob that urges them to move once again, and the girls pull Merlin into a hug, tears of their own gathering at his agony. He freezes at first, then tries to pull away as lightening streaks across the sky, the violent bursts in sync with his choked breaths. When Gwen strokes a soft hand through his knotted hair, and Morgana pulls him further into her lap, muttering “We’re not leaving you, Merls, not ever, we love you.”, he relaxes slightly.

The thunder and lightening cease, but the rain still pours as Arthur stares over the pile of crying bodies to the woman, whose eyes seem to be growing brighter and brighter in the deluge. She stares right back at him, and The King jumps slightly when her voice echoes through her head, despite her still face:

“My brother has lost enough, please do not shatter his heart.”

Arthur nods once, before following Lancelot’s lead to the others, the rest of the knights not far behind them as Ava disappears. Whether she walked away without noticing or simply faded into the rain, no one knows, but no one really cares either. Soon enough, everyone is gathered around Merlin, stroking his back softly and whispering comforting promises over the sound of the rain. When Leon is the only one to notice Mordred’s eyes flash golden as he summons a shield above them, he simply shrugs his shoulders and refocuses his attention on muttering reassurances in Merlin’s head.

His breathing slows after a while, as does the rain, though everyone panics slightly when they see Morgana frown as she strokes the hair away from his face, revealing flushed cheeks and closed eyes. Mordred’s eyes flash golden once more as he presses a hand to his forehead, though no one lets the shock distract them for too long, latching on to his relieved tone:

“He’s just asleep, that would’ve taken a lot out of him. We should get him back to Gaius.”

The knights all stand, stretching and cracking joints to try and rid themselves of the cold stiffness that had settled in their soaked bones. Morgana stays on the floor, clutching at Merlin in her lap desperately, like he could slip away at any moment. When Arthur leans down to pick him up, she shoots him a glare, her own eyes glowing as the wind picks up once more, whipping through the clearing in an obvious warning. Arthur takes in a gasp, but shakes the surprise from his mind as he settles a soft hand on his sister’s shoulder:

“I... look, we’ll talk about this later, and I promise you’re going to be safe,-”

He glances up to an equally defensive looking Mordred:

“-all three of you, but Mordred’s right, we need to get him home and warmed up.”

Morgana hesitates for only a second, but the concern (and love) in her brother’s eyes sway her, and she nods, ever-so-carefully pulling her arms from around Merlin and helping Arthur get the younger (or... much much older) man situated in his arms before standing up.

~

The trek back to the castle is a fairly short one now they don’t have to worry about being quiet, and the rain has almost completely stopped by the time they make it to the citadel gates. It’s late, so the only people they come across are the occasional guard. But The King resolutely ignoring them as he carries his unconscious manservant through the corridors, his closest friends and advisors around him either openly crying or blinking away tears... well... it’s something that very much screams “DO NOT DISTURB US DO NOT SPEAK OF THIS IMMEDIATELY FORGET EVERYTHING YOU HAVE JUST SEEN”.

Elyan runs ahead to wake Gaius and warn him, so by the time everyone gets to the Physician’s chambers the fire is roaring, a patient pallet has been moved in front of the hearth, and Gaius himself is bustling around, preparing various concoctions and tinctures and blankets.

Merlin’s still shivering form is laid on the pallet, and Morgana shamelessly uses her magic to pull the heat closer and dry out his clothes. Mordred sits protectively close to the servant, one hand subconsciously close to his sword, the other resting on Merlin’s shoulder. Gwen settles between him an Morgana, and the knights figure that with her complete non-reaction to the magic... she probably already knew, she was smart like that. Gaius finally makes his way to Merlin’s side, tipping a gross smelling potion down his throat and running a hand through his hair, frowning worriedly down at his ward. 

Not a single word had been said since they entered through the castle gates, and Arthur is the first to break the silence, sitting on Merlin’s other side, opposite Morgana, and settling an almost accusing expression on his sister:

“You knew, didn’t you?”

She looks up at him, somehow appearing powerful and intimidating despite being soaked through and shivering:

“I knew he was... powerful, I didn’t know he was a God.”

Gaius’ head whips around quickly, and Arthur is surprised at the questioning horror on his face:

“A God?? There must be some mistake, Merlin is powerful yes but he’s not-”

Mordred’s quiet voice interrupts him, though he doesn’t look away from the unconscious man as his fingers twitch over so slightly closer to the hilt of his sword:

“I knew. Though if I’d known he felt so... if I’d known how he felt, I would have spoken to him about it sooner, I apologise.”

Everyone looks at the group’s youngest member in shock, almost speechless, but Gwaine stutters slightly before clearing his throat and trying again:

“So... that was real, Merlin is a fucking God.”

Mordred nods absent-mindedly, eyes flashing golden as he presses his hand to Merlin’s forehead once again, frowning. Arthur’s brow creases in concern and he leans closer to Merlin:

“What is it? Is he ok??”

Before Mordred can reply, Leon speaks up, his voice tired, but strong:

“If he’s some... powerful God, then why is he hurt in the first place? Shouldn’t he be able to resist any sort of injury or sickness??”

Mordred shakes his head, finally looking away from Merlin to gaze at the group surrounding him. He looks doubtful at first, but when he sees the genuine concern on everyone’s faces, especially from Gaius and Arthur, he sighs and speaks softly:

“It’s difficult to describe. Merlin could access the full range of his power and do anything, if he wanted, but it’s draining and complicated when stuck in a human body. He himself is a God, yes, but this form is still vulnerable and mortal; he can get injured, and sick, he can die, or at least the body can. Merlin tends to repair this body when that happens, instead of moving on. He... likes it here.”

Everyone nods, understanding at least a little, though Gaius and Lancelot look the most shell-shocked. The room goes silent once again, and Percival, sat on the floor against the end of Merlin’s pallet with Elyan and Gwaine, is the first to speak, his voice shaking and sorrowful:

“He really thinks so low of himself. He’s a God... and he was terrified of the thought of us hating him, as if such a thing were even possible.”

Gwaine curses under his breath and Leon restarts his slow pacing around the room before he stops suddenly, turning to face the others with a look of anger on his face:

“Well of course he thinks it’s bloody possible. He’s right, we treat him like a fucking servant even though he’s one of our dearest friends, and half of us talk about the evils of sorcery on a near constant basis. He’s the God of Magic, of course he’d think we would hate him.”

Everyone is taken aback at Leon’s rage, though no one can deny that what he’s said is true. Leon is... quietly protective of everyone in the group, and it’s a time like this that reminds all of them that he had known Merlin just as long as Arthur had, and definitely held a certain brotherly affection for the younger (uh... yeah, whatever) man.

The older knight sags slightly, seemingly realising how exhausted he is, and pulls a chair up next to Arthur before collapsing in it, head in his hands. Arthur pats him on the back a few times before looking back to Merlin’s now thankfully not-shivering form, taking in a deep breath and nodding his head decisively:

“Well, we’ll just have to show him that it isn’t possible. I... we need to show him that he’s... important to us. Loved.”

Morgana just raises her eyebrow at The King, but doesn’t say anything as Gaius mutters a tearful “My poor boy.” under his breath. Elyan stands from his place on the floor, moving to perch on a bench behind his sister and setting a comforting hand on her shoulder as he softly speaks:

“He needs to know that we want him to stay here, with us.”

Percival shakes his head slightly, looking conflicted:

“Wouldn’t that be... cruel? That woman... Ava, was right. We’ll all grow old and die and he’s a God, he’ll live forever and he’ll grieve. Isn’t asking him to stay selfish?”

No one has an answer, and the room grows silent, everyone stewing in their own tense thoughts, trying to weigh the pros and cons, trying to measure exactly how selfish they were willing to be when it came to Merlin.

~

The sun rising over the horizon and peaking through the uncovered windows is what wakes everyone (bar Merlin) from their fitful sleeps. All of them had been plagued with odd dreams and nightmares through the night, so despite their exhaustion, they were grateful to be awake.

No one said anything though, waking one by one and pacing briefly around the room in an attempt to cure themselves of the aches gained from falling asleep in such awkward positions.

It’s still incredibly early in the morning, so thankfully none of them are needed for at least two more candle marks, but it’s Lancelot who breaks the silence first, clearing his throat and looking down at his best friend:

“It wouldn’t be selfish.”

Arthur looks up to him, noting the bags under everyone’s eyes and the tear tracks no one had bothered to wipe away:

“What are you talking about?”

The knight runs a hand through his hair, sniffling slightly and taking a deep breath before he stares around the room, making sure everyone was awake and paying attention as he spoke:

“For us to tell him we want him to stay, it wouldn’t be selfish. You heard him, he loves it here, he’s desperate to stay, he loves us. He still has at least thirty years worth of memories to make with us, and yeah, maybe that’s not a lot in the grand scheme of the immortal life of a God, but it’s more than the ten he’s already got. We can’t take that away from him. He... he wants to be here. Telling him to leave just to alleviate our own guilt... that would be selfish.”

Everyone looks a little doubtful, bar Mordred, and it’s him that Arthur turns to:

“Mordred? You knew... what he is, which we are still definitely going to have a conversation about by the way, what do you think?”

Mordred sighs, biting his lip for a moment before finally ripping his gaze from Merlin’s still unconscious, but now healthier looking body:

“He is more than any of us will ever be able to comprehend. You still see him as just Merlin, he is, but he’s also much more; he is Emrys, the saviour, the God, the Guiding Light. He is magic itself, woven into the fabric of the universe. He inhabits every space, and no space at the same time, he exists in every grain of sand, every drop of ocean, every speck of sky. To... to assume that he is not capable of deciding what he wants is an act of unforgivable hubris. If he stays, who are you to demand he leave and name yourselves selfish, when he has not deemed it so?”

Arthur pales slightly at Mordred’s words, as does everyone else. Gwaine seems to be taking it in his stride, and Lancelot seems less surprised than Arthur thinks he should (definitely something to question, but not right now), but before anyone can say anything, Merlin twitches, a low groan escaping his throat as his brows crease.

Everyone moves quickly, gathering around his bedside in a huddle. Morgana, Mordred, and Gwen are grateful to still be sat in their seats, and if they weren’t so busy worriedly leaning over Merlin they would be rolling their eyes at the way the others were pushing and shoving to be at the front. Gaius elbows his way to be stood by Merlin’s head, a cold compress in one hand and a grey looking potion in the other.

Morgana strokes a hand through Merlin’s hair and the frown on his face eases; he blinks his eyes open, swallowing before grimacing at the taste in his mouth and groaning again. Gwen leans over his head, smiling as she settles a hand on his warm cheek:

“Morning sleepyhead. How are you feeling?”

Merlin just groans again, rubbing his shaking hands harshly into his eyes as he says, his voice dry and painful-sounding:

“Ugh. Like Arthur’s aim got miraculously better.”

Arthur rolls his eyes and flushes slightly, but before he can defend himself Merlin bolts upright, taking in a deep, ragged breath, eyes wide. Mordred focuses a concentrated expression on the side of Merlin’s head, but Arthur ignores it as he reaches forward, settling a hand on the dark-haired man’s shoulder and muttering his name:

“Merlin?”

Merlin’s breathing only gets deeper as he whips his head around to stare at Arthur. The blonde tries to smile comfortingly at him, but Merlin barely seems to notice as he scrambles back on the bed, only stopping when he comes into contact with Leon behind him.

Mordred’s face morphs into a concerned frown at Merlin’s terror, and now his tears, so instead of waiting for the man to calm down enough to let them explain, he rushes forward, grabbing the back of Merlin’s head and forcing their foreheads together before he can pull away. He shuts his eyes tightly, muttering some sort of incantation under his breath. Merlin gasps loudly and Mordred groans, holding their heads together for a few moments before collapsing back into his seat, clamping his hands over his eyes as if trying to press a headache away. Merlin slumps back against the warm body behind him, and Leon just about manages to catch him in strong arms before he falls to the floor.

This had all happened in the space of a few moments, and when the two of them still, the others unfreeze. Arthur turns on Mordred:

“What did you do?? What was that?!”

Mordred groans again, looking up blearily, first at Merlin, who seems to be in a similar state to him, leant against Leon, and then to Arthur:

“He wasn’t calming down, so I shared my memories. From when we met at the edge of the forest yesterday, to just before he woke up. It’ll take him a little longer than me to sort through them.”

Arthur nods and Morgana looks impressed, and everyone looks to Merlin again, waiting for him to pull the hands from his eyes and talk to them, look at them, anything.

He finally seems to relax his muscles and Leon rubs his hands up and down his arms softly; despite the fact that he’d been warmed by the fire, the knight was still oddly worried about Merlin being too cold. He lets out a deep breath, lowering his shaking hands as he slowly raises his teary gaze, staring at Arthur:

“You... you want me to stay?”

Arthur ignores the tears dripping down his cheeks as nods desperately, forcing a soft smile on his face as he sniffles:

“Yes. Please. We don’t want you to go, we don’t hate you.”

Merlin launches himself at Arthur and the only thing stopping The King from falling back from Merlin’s surprising weight is Percival’s hand on his back. Arthur wraps his arms tightly around Merlin’s middles, turning his head to press a kiss to the other man’s temple as he tries to get his tears under control; he completely ignores the others in favour of muttering into Merlin’s hair:

“It’s alright, Merlin. You stay here, with us, as long as you want. We... I, love you. Stay, please.”

Merlin just sobs harder, gripping the back of Arthur’s tunic as he kneels on the bed, his response stuttering and barely understandable:

“But- but I’m-”

Arthur just hushes him, stroking a hand through his hair and giving everyone else in the room pointed looks. They all crowd around Merlin again, placing comforting hands on his back and shoulders and arms and hands. Mordred whispers his adoration in Merlin’s head, and Morgana presses a kiss to the nape of his neck, all in the hopes of convincing him that the memories he had were true.

His breathing finally calms, and Arthur shuffles to the side so he can sit down next to him, not daring to remove the arms from around his neck or push him away. Merlin pulls away himself when Arthur settles, but doesn’t move far, and there’s no space between them as he hastily wipes the tears from his face, staring at him lap, cheeks flushed. Arthur takes his hand slowly in his, but Merlin still doesn’t look up, so Morgana kneels in front of him, placing her hand on his knee softly and saying with a teasing smirk on her face:

“You know, if I’d known that my teacher was The God of Magic, I might’ve complained less at the studying you make me do.”

Merlin finally looks up at her, a weak smile on his face, and Morgana winks at him. It’s Gwaine who tries next, settling on Merlin’s other side and sighing loudly:

“Forget the God thing do you know how many pranks we could’ve pulled if you’d told me you had magic?? Can’t believe you’d take that opportunity from me, all of you.”

He gives Mordred and Morgana jokingly offended glares and they roll their eyes, though their attention is quickly drawn back to Merlin, whose hands are clenching tightly in his lap. The room goes dark all of a sudden, and a glance to the window would tell them that the clear morning was suddenly overcast, thunder rumbling in the distance as rain slammed against the glass. Arthur squeezes Merlin’s hand and quickly, though gently, shoves Morgana out of the way, kneeling in front of Merlin and lifting his chin with his free hand:

“It’s fine, Merlin. We’ve all got a ton of questions but everything’s going to be alright, I swear. In fact, I’m glad we found out, it was cruel of us to make you live in a kingdom where you aren’t accepted, but that changes now, I promise.”

Merlin stands suddenly and walks between them, taking a deep breath before turning suddenly a scowl on his face:

“It wasn’t her choice to make, it was mine, and she took it from me.-”

With every harsh the thunder grew closer and the glass in the window frame shook more violently:

“-I was going to tell you after you changed your mind about magic because it had to come from the heart. You can’t change the Kingdom just for my sake! I wanted to do it properly and she took that from me because she was bored!”

Everyone rushes to say something in an effort to calm him down, both for the safety of the windows and his happiness, but Arthur’s blunt-

“Why?”

-stops them in their tracks. Merlin looks to him sharply, though Arthur is grateful for the thunder quietening down as he replies:

“What do you mean why? Why what?”

Arthur huffs out a gentle laugh, shaking his head in disbelief:

“Why can’t I change the Kingdom for you? You’re important, you’ve touched so many lives in so many wonderous ways; that in itself tells me that magic isn’t evil, so why can’t I change the Kingdom for you?”

The thunder stops and the rain slows to a gentle patter as Merlin tilts his head, his scowl of anger morphing into a sad, confused frown as he responds in a small voice:

“But... I’m just a servant. You’re not doing it out of fear, so I’m still just... nobody important.”

Arthur just laughs again, walking towards Merlin and settling soft hands on his shoulders, grateful to feel the others close to his back:

“You have never once been just a servant, Merlin. Something tells me you’ve been saving my life, and this Kingdom, since the day we met, so even if it had no effect on anyone else whatsoever, I would still change the law. Because you are a good man, and you are important, and you deserve it. Compared to you, it is us, who are just human.-”

Merlin frowns again and Arthur rolls his eyes to stop him arguing:

“-Just... give me another hug, and accept it. You idiot.”

He can feel someone (probably Morgana) thump him on the back, but he doesn’t turn around, eagerly returning Merlin’s hug when the brunette wraps his arms around Arthur’s middle tightly. The King presses closer, uncaring of what his audience thinks of him for the first time in his life (probably because he has a feeling that they’ve known of his... affections, longer than even he has) and  mutters his question into Merlin’s ear:

“We... I love you, Merlin, more than anything. Will you stay with me?”

The King is vaguely aware of his First Knight whispering “I told you so, idiot.” behind him, but all he cares about is the sensation of the God, more ancient and powerful than anything he could ever comprehend, nodding into is neck.

THE END!!

I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope y’all like it!!

Link to the Dark!Merlin version (I warn you, it’s hella angsty) is at the top!! :)

[shuttershocky]

Now that you’ve finished P5R what are your thoughts on the new characters? I really love seeing your analysis/takes, they’re so good! I love your blog and I hope you have a wonderful day :D

Aww, thank you!

I've got thoughts about the three. Spoiler warning.

Akechi - Let's be honest, he's a new character entirely in Royal. I'm amazed at how much Royal did to salvage his arc in the original P5. I love the idea of a social link built not necessarily on friendship, but tense camaraderie as Joker and Akechi both know what it means to keep your enemies closer. Akechi Rank 8 is one of my favorite social links in the entire franchise. The whole part where he goes "I'm going to be honest: I hate you" while Sunset Bridge is playing was nothing short of brilliant.

Sumire - I think she's the weakest of the new characters. That isn't to say that she's bad by any means (the other two are just really REALLY good while she's just very good. And cute.), I just have the most nitpicks to make with her.

She's very cute, but most of her appearances within the timeframe of the original Persona 5 feel disconnected from the rest of the game. If Akechi and Maruki didn't appear in her cutscenes, you might even have thought she was completely imaginary or a ghost until the Hawaii event. I also found it kind of unfortunate that after you finish her social link, she goes back to tying up her hair and using contacts instead of wearing her hair down and with glasses. Not only was that a better look for her *cough* Megane superiority *cough*, but I wasn't sold on her tying her hair back up again to honor Kasumi when we JUST had a terrifying fridge horror cutscene showing what led to her wearing her hair like that in the first place. That, along with her actual heartfelt goodbye to Joker being tied to her Valentines and White Day dates (meaning all you get is a curt take care if you dont romance her), make her into what I feel is the weakest of Royal's new cast.

I'm also kind of mad that she offers to join up vs Shido but Morgana shoots her down; I'm not a fan of only getting to play her on the very last month in the game, especially when she comes with some fun gimmicks and an EXTREMELY cool showtime. Imo since Shido's arc doesn't have any new additions at all, it would have helped to have "Kasumi" join up in December despite her lack of any connection to Shido. More time with her would have made the January twist hit even harder, and also would have made it so that every new month gave one new party member since Crow rejoins with a new skillset in January.

All that being said, once "Kasumi's" plot got going, it was real good. It was a nice callback to Persona 1's manga, while giving us some really great fridge horror moments with Dr. Maruki. The cutscene of her dad crying next to her sister's corpse was actually pretty unnerving, I think it was her head being shown but her face being covered that gave me the heebie-jeebies, though my favorite is still the aforementioned cutscene with Maruki.

Finally, I've said it once, I've said it twice, but it bears saying for a third time:

She is adorable. I love that whenever there's an option to tease her or flirt after Rank 6, it has the same social point weight as just being a regular supportive friend, and she actually takes some (nervous) time to respond rather than instantly calling it off as a joke. This lets Royal build an actual romantic arc for her, as Joker doesn't have to worry about sacrificing precious social link points to make her blush. She also breaks the mold of all other possible romantic partners by actually being the one to make the first move and confess her feelings, while Joker is asked to respond to them.

This, along with the excellent pacing of their relationship throughout her social link ranks, goes a long way towards making her possible romance feel a lot more grounded and organic. I think even the most diehard Makoto fans (of which I am one) have to admit that her social link romance was rather stiff, having a whole fake dating scheme with Joker and yet not showing the slightest bit of interest in him romantically until Rank 9 where he can grab her heart with a single pickup line. Ann's situation is similar, having her romance start with a single hug option (which I feel like is a shame because Ann is the most romantic of the Thieves overall—just look at her lines to Joker both as a romance and as a platonic friend!) while Futaba and Haru's preexisting interest in Joker sort of just pops up as soon as Rank 9 hits.

In short, I have the most complaints about Sumire, but also she is very cute and I like her a lot. I wish we had more of her as a playable character, and with more interactions with the rest of the Thieves. Damn you, Morgana.

Dr. Maruki - HE'S SO FUCKING GOOD. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCKING. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK GOOD. Maruki and the Third Semester represented what I was looking for in the original P5: an arc that really took full advantage of the Metaverse's narrative potential. I love how cheesy and yet heartfelt and unflinchingly raw his story got, how much he made the Phantom Thieves' question their ideals and reexamine their relationships to Joker, how a messianic complex on someone fully, truly, selfless and good and kind was still madness all the same. His response to all of his trauma, pain, and the realization that life is often cruel and unfair was to attain infinite power and MAKE it fair, because he would rather die than know he had the power to prevent someone from feeling the same pain and yet failed to save them.

Maruki's got a bit of that Seigi no Mikata in him. Fighting him isn't a matter of good vs evil, but saving a friend who's so deep in their own trauma and survivor's guilt that they truly believe the entire world is their responsibility, and they themselves are no longer human, no longer someone with the right to live and be happy.

You literally see the moment he kills his sense of self as a person and decides to live for the sake of the world when the camera angle changes so his shadow looks like it's hanging from a noose.

Joker defeating him and forcing him to finally voice a selfish thought ("I gave up everything! Why?!") as they fought barehanded on top of the crumbling metaverse was as heartbreaking as it was satisfying. I don't care if it was cheesy, it was the good cheese.

Though really, the most lovely part of his arc was his own goodbye to Joker when he had a change of heart and became a taxi driver. As a friend put it, he went from someone who planned to lead all of humanity into paradise, to someone who takes people to where they want to go. I love you, Mr. Gentle Madman. I hope whoever Persona 6's final boss is, they manage to be even half as amazing as you.

[sunflowers-on-fire]

More leodia thoughts (Leona's inner conflict and whatnot)

Here’s one thing I don’t get though.. Or at least the current lore doesn’t really explain it (yet). Why exactly did Leona refuse to go with Diana? The thing is, she went and climbed Targon without a second thought, just to make sure Diana was safe. The character bio kinda glosses over that but we know from other lore info that very few people survive the climb, going up there is basically accepting you’ll probably never return. But Leona does it anyway, which says a lot about how much Diana means to her – she’s literally ready to die for her. And the thought of Diana is what keeps her going throughout the difficult journey. But after they both reach the peak and become aspects, Leona refuses to go with Diana and instead wants to return to the temple. I don’t know, it doesn’t really make sense to me. I guess we’re still missing some info, or maybe it’s some kind of a plothole? But yeah, it seems a little weird that Leona climbed Targon just to make sure Diana was safe, but after they become aspects she chooses the solari over Diana? I’m guessing she feels a lot of responsibility now that she’s the aspect of the sun so that’s probably why she wanted to go back, but still. For Diana it makes a lot more sense that she chose finding the lunari over Leona since she’s always felt out of place among the solari and once she became an aspect, she finally got her purpose. Leona on the other hand.. yeah, she did belong with the solari, but based on the short story, she wasn’t actually happy, more like under pressure to always be perfect. She literally says she’s never felt as happy as she did when she was with Diana. My best guess is that it mainly has to do with the duty she feels to her people as an aspect. Her whole life she’s been raised to serve the sun, so after she ascends, she feels even more pressure to be perfect and to do what everyone wants of her. She did actually want to go with Diana, but she feels enough pressure to choose what she thinks is her duty over her personal feelings, and it’s killing her inside but she feels like she has no choice. She probably also thinks that not returning to the solari would basically be betraying the aspect of the sun that chose her. That one voiceline from Coven Morgana that refers to Leona as being “torn between duty and love” also hints at this being the case, I assume. It’s technically an AU, gut anyway. (But here’s the thing.. I doubt the solari faith actually aligns with that the aspect of the sun wants. We don’t even know if the aspects actually care about humans who worship them). Thinking about this whole thing… if Leona cares about Diana more than about her own life (hence why she immediately went after her and climbed Targon despite how dangerous it is), but the duty she feels to the solari still stops her from going with Diana… Just imagine how painful her internal struggle must be. Anyway, I hope we get more insight into this eventually because I NEED to know more about why Leona made these choices.

[m-jelly]

(Letter requesssstttttt)

GUESS WHO'S BACK!!!! Hi Jelly!!! I missed sending requests to you (I send some on anon but anyway)...

Soooo, I know you have lots of requests so take your time and don't write if u don't feel like it, hon.

Buuut, I absolutely love the angst idea of reader thinking Levi is dating and kinda distances herself cuz she doesn't wanna hurt herself and Levi notices it bc he also loves her but doesn't know how to tell her.

So, with that said, and if u allow me to do this in a letter way for valentines (don't know if it's gone, valentines day here is in June so sry lol)...

Levi, my beloved Levi,

I know by far this isn't the best way to do this, but even after thousands of advices, I couldn't bring myself to tell you in person...

One officer of the scouts made me an offer that at first I almost declined, but I decided to take it. A higher position, a harder mission. But that's not the reason I said yes...

Since we are parting ways, perhaps forever, I must let my feelings shine to you, or else I won't ever stop thinking about you.

Please know I don't expect you to answer it with mercy or kindness, I just want to tell you that I love you.

I love you ardently, I love you so much it burns my skin whenever I even dare to think about you, I can't stop imagining ending this war so we could reunite and I could try to make you happy just the way you deserve. But we both know this is a fantasy. I could never reach out to you.

You are Humanity Strongest, yes, but you are so much more than that to me. You are the fond object of my affection and desire, you are the love of my life.

You have my whole heart in hands, yours to do whatever you wish.

But unfortunately, your heart belongs to someone else, and I could never allow myself to cause you any harm whatsoever.

My page is ending and so is my sweet fake story with you, I want that to die with me, with your permission.

In just a few days I probably will be dead, gone and with no chance to return, so I wanna leave with good conscience, knowing I told you all I ever wanted.

I don't want you to blame yourself, and as I said don't expect your answer, just know even though we weren't together you provided me the happiest days I've ever had. And I'm so thankful for that. I'm thankful I could live, of all the years that passed and to come, I got the privilege to be alive at the same time as you. That's all my poor heart could ever have.

With love,

Yours forever, Morgana.

Morgana,

Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone. Don’t run away from me, from us.

I had no idea you loved me. I love you, I’ve always loved you but I’m just like you. I did not know how to convey my feelings to you. I wanted to hold you, kiss you and tell you that I love you. I just didn’t know how to do it and I didn’t think you loved me just as much as I love you. I wasn’t aware you cared about me so much. I love you, I really do. So, please don’t go and stay with me. Let us explore us. Let us end this fucking war and have a teashop together. We’ll bake and make tea side by side, then hold each other at night. Just don’t go.

I’m nothing brat. I’m not the strongest because I fail. I’m not some amazing man who is a killing machine. I’m a broken man inside who loves you and wants you to be here with me. Why didn’t you tell me sooner before you ran off?

Your heart is mine and mine is yours, so give me the chance to hand it over. Do not run from me.

Someone else? There has never been someone else. It’s always been YOU. It’s always YOU.

You won’t die brat. I won’t let you die. I refuse to let you die.

It’s not over. Don’t sign off on your life just yet. I adore you brat. You are my reasons for living, eating, sleeping and breathing. You make me function and look forward to what life brings me. My life meant nothing before you. My life was hell before you. You are my everything. So, please don’t leave.

I’ve slipped this letter under your door and I know you’re in there packing and upset. I am right outside your door now. So, when you get to the end of reading this I’ll still be outside your door. I’ll be here all night if I have to. Let me in and let me kiss you. Let us talk about our love.

My darling brat, just open the damn door and let me in.

With love,

Levi x

[k-shitposts]

So I have been enjoying 4KOTA and wanna put my predications down below:

Lancelot is sin. I mean, come on guys, Fox motif and saw a vision of a bride that was mentioned by Arthur?

Tristan is gonna look different from his dad as an adult. Mainly cause Percival is the short one of the group and there can’t be two lmao.

I think Lancelot and Tristan aren’t gonna get along as much as Ban and Meliodas did - think actually rivalry.

Klaines kid is gonna be Morgana. Mainly cause we haven’t seen her yet so I don’t think she’ll be Arthur’s sister. Also Morgana was known as Morgana le fey which translates to Morgana the Fairy so….

Would be cool design wise to have a grown ass looking 15 year old who looks like Diane but super lazy as well so that’s why I want Klaines kid to be a girl.

Saw a couple of people talking about Nascien being a girl, glad I am not the only one on that train.

Considering how Nascien has some hints of a mysterious origin story in addition to a secret (if your a girl why hide it??) I think Nascien might be linked to Camelot or Arthur somehow.

Weird that Arthur waited 16 years for a bride. Makes me think that it was either prophesied or some reincarnation stuff was involved.

If so it’d be a cool parallel to Meliodas who didn’t resent anyone or become too self destructive when Elizabeth kept dying. Then Arthur experienced it once and was like “fuck this imma commit a genocide”.

Look all I am saying is that I don’t think it’d would’ve taken Arthur 16 years to kill off everyone who isn’t humankind. Unless Nakaba explains that plot hole.

Klaines kid is besties with Lancelot and is helping him - hence why he refered to them as his forest friends.

Galahad probs gonna be the last knight but like I said I don’t think he’ll be a SD7 kid. Think he could be a Druid or something else.

Unlike Anne, Lancelot doesn’t like reading hearts cause he knows the stress it causes people to feel like someone is seeing your true intentions.

The knights of the round table were all good people but due to the horrors of the Holy war and watching all their comrades die they have hatred towards demons and the SD7.

Story will go on and reveal that a majority of humans hatred towards demons has worsen since the holy war. Humans will as to some extent hate other species due to believing that giants/fairies/other were in their own realms and not helping vulnerable humans evacuate during the war.’

Reminder that in the story not all humans will know the true extent of the holy war from 1000 years ago and the recent. So some humans will believe that it’s the SD7 fault for opening the seal.

Even if they knew some of the story of how the seal broke (possessed Hendrickson), they will still blame the fact that they let a demon open the seal/ 7DS failed to notice.

Point is that not everyone sees the sins as heroes of the war due to the insane loss of life.

Anne’s mum, Ironsides and Percy gramps rebelled against Arthur but all three face consequences for doing so.

Ironsides lost his emotions as consequence? Or his capability to love.

When Arthur meets Percy it’s going to be in a busy setting and Percy won’t know it’s Arthur. They get along extremely well.

I think it’d be interesting to make Arthur really likeable and charismatic towards 4KOTA so they feel weird wanting to defeat him.

Nascien is going to face his feeling for Percy and promptly get his heart broken when he sees Percy and Anne fall for each other. (Personally don’t want this to be true but…)

Donny is gonna end up with someone in contrast to Howzier lmao.

Tristan character arc is realising he’s not the main character.

Donny, Tristian and Percy share one brain cell.

Despite being able to hold his drink well, Lancelot always loses to Nascien.

That’s it! If you want a part 2 or more (probs headcanons at that point), let me know. Really gonna be making some wild theories on some points I’ve made…

[servingliesarchived]

let me be unhinged for a second, because i’m doing a bit of a revamp here and this needs to be said  —  my merlin, as he is right now, would not vibe with show arthur and he would not vibe with show canon either, and i know i’ve said it before, but i gotta put it down bluntly and for myself so i can rewrite it how i want it. canon in arthuriana doesn’t really exist anyway, so i can really do what i want at this point.

my merlin started as rooted in this (hell) show a lifetime ago, but after years of him existing in my head and growing as a character, it’s just not it and i really don’t feel like making it work. there’s literally no reason for merlin to continue to stay in the place that would see him dead for as long as he did if no change was implemented during this time, if nothing happened, if there was no underground and people fighting for their freedom, HIS people were villainized. there’s no reason for merlin to be alienated from his own people actually, when he was supposedly born to lead and to be with them and to do something about it. he can stay as long as it takes and then leave when time is right  —  he isn’t obliged to stay and be treated in a certain way, and endure certain things just cause a prophecy said so.

if the prophecy was right anyway, why wasn’t arthur ever allowed to grow into it at all? merlin in so many texts is portrayed as arthur’s teacher so let him be that. i’m saying this while at the same time believing merlin didn’t owe anyone the truth if his life continued to be in danger (and he had no idea he couldn’t die at the time, so it was a real threat). BUT if they were supposed to be friends, give them a challenge, give them a conflict, literally something  —  like, my merlin would much rather support the arthur from ka:lots because he seeks change, and fights for it and learns something. but merlin there was also heavily involved, unlike he had ever been allowed in the show.

my merlin doesn’t really believe in magical supremacy, which would be a point of contention with certain parties involved, but it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t fight for the freedom of his people or thinks all wars can or should be avoided. merlin isn’t human and doesn’t have the same outlook on certain things, but he was raised among humans, the regular, non-magical people  —  of course he won’t hold the people who were never involved responsible, will make friends regardless of their status, and then at the end, he’ll give them a chance to do better if they need this push. he’d like to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but then, there’s only so much he can take. once the chance is wasted, merlin can and will be ruthless. he and arthur were never two sides of the same coin in that version of the story, is the thing, it was always him and morgana.

i understand his beginnings, because he was young, scared and inexperienced, and an impossible lot was shoved onto his shoulders with no actually good guidance and a constant threat. of course he lied. of course he made mistakes. but how do you expect anything to change if you use this secrecy, and alienation, and every point that could inspire change is wasted. wouldn’t the story have more impact if they were friends and the truth was out, and ended up fighting each other anyway? what’s more, sure, merlin lies, but why on earth should he protect the man who literally committed genocide on a whole group of people? i really hate the storylines where they portray revenge as something bad, i think some people should get decked for what they did, actually. 

let arthur find out what his father did. if it wasn’t for him, people of magic could still have lived peacefully side by side with others  —  there can always be a bad egg in any group, but everyone would be happier in general. merlin would’ve probably dined with them like an equal, since the families he was born into had royal and noble blood in them. he never regretted coming from a poor background, but he didn’t even get to really see wales where some of his family lived back then until later in life, or haven’t met the majority of them and that includes his own father his literal last day.

[lorkai]

🌺 Title: One More Life

🌺 Summary: There is no future without learning the mistakes of the past, but there is also no past without the hope of a better future. And to repair mistakes or to make things better, a child is dragged into a tragic history of coups d'état, deaths and re-concessions.

🌺 Words: 4096

🌺 Notes: Some may remember that I already posted this story here, but I decided to rewrite this chapter. Hope you like it.

🌺 Warnings: Mention of dismemberment, explicit death, gore. Please check the tags for more.

The closed clouds formed strange patterns over the faint sunlight that ended on the horizon, red and orange slowly disappearing, leaving behind a thin trail of snow. And despite the hours, the children ran over the lights of the lanterns that they carried in their small hands, without knowing what was close to happening. Their laughter would be remembered in young Morgana's mind for a long time. Everyone was happy, after all it was the Harvest Festival - affectionately nicknamed the Demon Race by the girl - it was the day when her Lord liked to send his little soldiers to face demons that he summoned to see how much they had evolved with their magic and spells, that always happened at the end of the night.

Morgana did not grow up in a good or happy place, but she had no choice but to follow what her Lord commanded. The organization he worked for was also not a good place if she remembered correctly, there were so many experiments going on, so much pain and cries of help echoing through those walls that would never come out of the young girl's head or anyone who heard them. It was terrifying.

And in the dark of the old empty hut, she sat. Chained at the ankles by a metal pillar. The dark did not frighten her any more than the task entrusted to her, hunting demons, killing them and bringing their hearts to her Lord. Morgana hated that time of year, hated the snow pulling her down and the cold so intense to freeze her bones, and on top of that she hated the magic that came out of her hands and the blood that spread through her fingers afterwards. She hated the throbbing of the organ in her hands and even more that sadistic smile on the face of the man who had taught her so much about magic. But she had no choice, not yet.

"Your folly is amazing, my dear." Said a well-known voice, making Morgana turn around. It took her eyes to get used to seeing something in the immense darkness that surrounded her, but when she finally found him she started to massage her temples in search of momentary relief. It was Toby, a small, transparent ghost who wore bloody rags of clothes that looked from the 1800s. He was, unfortunately, the girl's dead brother, now a ghost bound to accompany her.

"What would you have done?" She replied, showing her hands chained by heavy metal. She didn't want to have to deal with the ghost now.

"I sure as hell wouldn't be pretending to be a good girl, waiting for someone to give me an order. Morg, you must take the chance to escape. They plan to summon a strong demon this time... What was the name again? Diavovo? Dialovo?" Toby yelled, crossing his arms. He floated to the other end of the cell, tossing a thick, old black leather book from hand to hand. And contrary to his angry tone, the ghost seemed calm, stopping beside his sister to hand her the book. "Whatever! You know the Demon Race is the closest thing you have to an opportunity to escape."

"Patience, my dear. I can't rush the sand into the hourglass any more than it can." She said, mysterious. Her fingers traced the pattern of unfamiliar letters and she smiled, feeling the strong magic so familiar that emanated from that Grimoire. The book that belonged to each of her brothers was hers now and she asked that it be useful in her journey. "Can't run away now, brother. This isn't the time. Also, you know what B would say."

"I don't care what that traitor has to say to me! He wasn't there when you or our brothers begged for help, he isn't here now to save you." the ghost grunted grudgingly and crossed his arms over his chest, seeming to adopt a defensive posture. "I insist you use this to escape, there's a very useful spell here. Take a look."

Morgana looked. It was the old book that passed from sibling to sibling in her family, but she never read it and didn't even know her secrets. Its pages were old and fragile, yellowed, she analyzed the strange letters forming strange words – it was an unknown language that was written there, but little by little the words moved and began to form sentences that the girl knew and understood. Spells appeared over the pages and she let out a big sigh this time, one of relief. Toby moved closer to her. "There are some spells you won't understand, Lothos made sure the younger ones wouldn't understand. So I can translate what you don't understand." The ghostly fingers roamed the pages with great nostalgia as he read her the simplest spells, almost overjoyed that she couldn't read in the dark.

And she was looking at him even through the dim light from a lantern, but it pained her to nurture his hopes when she herself knew she might die at any moment. She wasn't going to run away from Cosmos, no, she was going to destroy them inside and save those who could be saved. The emotion she felt at the moment couldn't be explained, she was happy to have him around and hear his voice, but she didn't feel his touch, his heat. Anyway, that moment was almost enough to make her forget what was going to happen within the next few minutes. There was a noise that disconcerted her and made her close the book with a bang, she quickly stuffed it into the pocket of the dress she was wearing. And she waited.

She looked at the figure standing over the wooden door, the light shining over his head as he chuckled softly. Then she noticed that he was shaking the human head of a child much younger than she was, and his red eyes glowed with excitement, watching the blood trickle across the floor of the cell. "He deserved it, he was making so much noise when I whipped him. But I like to think of it as his good luck gift." He threw his head towards the girl, falling to her feet. The child's transparent eyes stared at her, hot blood running in abundance over her legs and onto the floor. A horrendous image. She tried to move away but the chains stopped her.

"Too bad. His voice was so beautiful when he screamed." He commented and removed a cork of keys from his pocket, walking very calmly towards his expressionless pupil. He seemed to root for her to cry, for her to scream so he could punish her, but that didn't happen. He released her from the chains slowly as the blood on his hands smeared her and made her shiver even more, he pulled back far enough so that she could get up and seemed to find the sounds of bones cracking amusing. "Project K is almost perfected, so no failures will be tolerated. Stay still."

Morgana pressed one hand against the other, bracing herself. He handed her a red pill and watched as she swallowed without question. The burning sensation that engulfed her body was almost unbearable, causing her to fall to her knees and bring her hand to her throat. And anger filled her as her lord laughed to the point of being in tears. The pill he handed her must have been an improved version of the drug they were creating, she felt like she was being ripped from the inside out and blood leaked from her mouth as her vision glowed. Everything about her body ached, Toby and His lord went out and into focus. His voices mingled in her head as she vomited more blood.

"There, there." Her lord pulled her to her feet, using a spell to stop the bleeding. He patted her head lovingly as he smiled and she leaned closer to the contact, albeit involuntarily. His gestures didn't match what he was saying at all, but it took her a few more moments to process that. "It's going to be alright honey so don't let us down. I know you can do it, now go." He gently guided her out of the hut and closed the door slowly. A barrier was erected as soon as the girl was thrown out, to protect him. And she heard him laugh. Maybe he imagined all the bodies he would have on his worktable in the morning. Perhaps he had imagined a morbid joke. She didn't want to know.

"Are you okay?" Toby questioned. "Do you feel pain anywhere?"

"I am fine, brother." She analyzed the landscape around them. Shady trees, whose roots were hidden by snow, rose so high that their leaves and branches almost completely obscured the dim moonlight. This was a perfect place for demons to come to hide waiting for a meal, a subtle black trail of sulfur could be discerned through the tree branches. The smell also did not hide that there were demons there. She looked up at her brother, stifling a moan of pain as she smiled so as not to worry him. "Where are we going?"

"Demons everywhere. Three of them are northwest, seventy meters and they're strong. But there are two weaker ones you can kill easily, ten meters away. This way." Toby pointed, starting to follow a narrow path between some crooked trees, destroyed by the force of some demon. He heard Morgana walking behind him and her teeth gnashed so hard that he felt sorry for her, he couldn't feel the cold or heat anymore due to his condition, but he remembered now that she wasn't so lucky. The fine clothes she wore couldn't protect her from the incessant cold, that was a punishment and even she knew it. She had failed in her last mission, so it made sense to let her suffer her own luck. He knew she wouldn't survive like this and they had little time for it. Unfortunately she couldn't use any fire-based spells either because the scent would alert the demons.

Toby stopped his sister with a wave of his hand, gesturing to the pockets of her dress. "I almost forgot, but there's a spell in the Grimoire you can use to keep yourself warm. Let me show you."

"You know the cold can't kill me, even if it hurts" She warned him, giving a half laugh that was followed by several sneezes. Toby frowned as if he didn't quite believe his sister, signaling to himself as if he was setting an example. "Right, but that won't happen, brother."

"Enough stubbornness and give me the Grimoire. We have to be quick." Morgana let out a huff of indignation as she pulled the book out of her pockets and opened it, after glancing from side to side to make sure no one else was there. She created a sphere of light and illuminated the pages while a short wave of wind caused by the ghost opened the right page. He whispered the spell to her once, twice. Then she chanted it aloud and felt something warm run through her body, strengthening her. "Back to the subject... Use the Grimoire." He muttered looking directly at the book in her hands, with puppy eyes.

Morgana was preparing to give him an answer not as kind and patient as the others, but she was silent. She hid behind a tree when she heard a thin scream very close by. It had started. Really started. Limb by limb and the sound of flesh being ripped off was heard through the forest loud and clear, she covered her mouth with her hand so that no sound escaped her and signaled for the ghost to see what was happening.

"Looks like we found them, yay." Toby muttered grudgingly, his fingers making hollow sounds against the trees he touched. The feeling of running or fighting was never higher than when he approached some supernatural being, not that the ghost had seen more than other ghosts and lost souls, but he knew a thing or two. Finally he went to his sister, almost exasperated. "If you insist on following your role, the audience awaits your show, little star. They say they want to see his heart."

"If you insist." The girl whispered something in a low tone with her hands clasped together as if to pray and from the center of her hands flaming chains ripped the skin until they huddled together, moving of their own accord. Morgana was smiling. And she moved faster than Toby's eyes could see, like furious lightning. Toby ran to accompany her, without worry. He had seen a lot of that happen over the years. And it came as no surprise to him when he saw Morgana manipulating the chains and lifting the demon's body by one, two, three, four meters from the ground, hearing him scream when his arms and legs were broken, twisted at odd angles. Bones exposed on his skin. Black blood trickled over the snow as he screamed profanities.

"I really didn't want to do this." A deep, husky voice came from the girl's lips as she laughed, enjoying the smell of burning flesh. The chains slowly burned the entire demon's body, to the point that she would have ripped his heart out of his chest before he died. "But the grains of sand can only fall into the hourglass when it is time for them to fall."

"You are the disgusting witch that everyone talks about!" The demon screamed, blood dripping from his mouth. He struggled against the chains, but the more he struggled and screamed, the more the chains tightened.

"The only one but I think you don't like me that much, too bad." Morgana made a single movement that threw the demon on the ground and she approached him, pulling a red blade from her pocket that she would use to kill him. The demon tried to fight the chains, struggling, forcing its wings to work to get him out of there. But the girl kicked him in the face and commanded the chains to hold him more tightly. Toby flinched when he heard the sound of more bones being broken. "You had to be a low level one, it smells like sulfur. Shame on you, someone of your level would never be able to kill me." And then she sank the blade into the demon's chest. More blood flowed as she stabbed again and again, feeling it tremble beneath her small body, laughing when she saw life abandon the weak entity.

Toby yelled after her that he was dead, but she only stopped stabbing him when he was reduced to an unrecognizable mass of flesh. The white dress she wore was black, filled with demonic blood. She looked down at her hands with something akin to curiosity, then she looked down at the body and for a moment she couldn't make out anything that had happened there. "Fuck, this shit is scary every time. Morg, you...?"

"I'm fine, silly." She returned the chains back into her hands as she grunted in pain, the next moment her palms were intact as if they had never been injured. She got up quickly, muttering aggressively that she would have to find another demon now that she couldn't take the one she'd just killed, so she stepped away from the dead body and looked around. The sun wasn't even close to rising yet and she had plenty of time, but she also knew that failing couldn't be an option. Not this time. She has seen what happened to those who failed and it was something much worse than what happened to that demon at her feet. There were so many limbs and guts out of a body while her lord was using poisons and having fun, she didn't even need an anatomy book to tell the difference between a lung and a tibia. She wouldn't be next - between failing here and being next, she could freeze to death.

"You went into a trance again." Toby sighed, if he was alive he would probably be shaking. "Are you wondering about your next target?" Morgana nodded.

"Far away. About forty meters. But they are powerful." Toby tried to concentrate to find out something else, but he didn't have much to feel. They were powerful entities without a doubt, if they were strong to face the girl or not he did not know and did not want to know, he wanted her to run away. But there was only a little he could force her to do. The ghost watched as she seemed to consider whether she was going after them or not, but stopped walking before she could state her thoughts. There was a dismembered body in front of them. The head was tied to a tree as if it were a sinister pinata, a wide smile from cheek to cheek still frozen on the face. Blood dripping still. It was recent. She gasped and tried to walk away, but she felt something hot and hard on her feet that made her stop. Something that the faint light of the moon illuminated very well, she stepped on top of the corpse's guts.

"All this for what, I wonder sometimes. So many dead children, so many tormented spirits. If the fate had been different they could have been happy away from this misery." Toby whispered so quietly that even a breeze made more noise. He tried to pull her away, despite being cruelly reminded that he couldn't touch her. He was just a lost voice over others inside his own sister's head, so he did what he could. He caught her eye and pointed to a safe place.

"Because they are all too cowardly to fight for what they want, so they train us and use us," Morgana shivered with rage when tears came to her eyes, her fist closed on the blade that was just used in the poor devil's murder. "We are weapons in a war that we do not even know when it will happen. But it will be all right because I will destroy Cosmos and free all who still live, even if I die trying, I will drag those motherfuckers to hell with me!"

"Oh, now you're talking like yourself, good little girl." She felt the speck of happiness in the ghost's voice, even with all the sarcasm he dripped from each syllable. "Morgana, the girl who wanted to save the witches. Sounds like a good title for a biography." Toby continued to tease.

"I won't save them, wizards, humans, they both always think they're above everyone else. I'm just going to free them and then go home. Or what's left of our house. They can handle their problems on their own." Morgana sighed, crouching for a moment in the mud to undo an exploding trap. She eyed the device curiously before standing up and following the ghost further into the forest. The trees gave way to a brighter place, a snowy field opened up for them. A frozen river was mere steps ahead, their reflection was reflected under the stars and moon. There, the girl almost looked livid. A confirmation that her dead brother really was by her side - not that she didn't know it, but she thought she was crazy after everything she'd been through there.

"What are you going to do?" Toby asked, floating around her. She shrugged with a cynical laugh.

"I have all the information to destroy them, but I need time and resources," She explained taking a big breath to try to warm up, but she failed and she shivered. "We will complete this ridiculous task and we will go back to the base."

"Or you can open a..." Toby tried to dissuade her like an annoying good brother, but he stopped in mid-sentence and turned with confusion hovering over his face. And for the first time he was serious. If he could go pale with fear, he would surely be now. Although he was tired of running around, protecting the girl, he knew that every year was the same thing. But as he said hours earlier, her lord had summoned stronger demons this year. And the ghost felt three of them behind them at that moment. The same ones he didn't know if his sister would be able to defeat.

He pointed out to Morgana that she should start walking slowly and quietly to get as far away from the hiding demons as possible. Stumbling and almost slipping, Toby pushed his human and hoped that no one would appear. To his displeasure, Morgana started sneezing and coughing up blood again, he felt her magic get out of control and he cursed himself for letting her drink that strange pill the old man had given her. A lot of things could go wrong, but he really hoped nothing would happen now. The bushes moved and branches broke, and when Toby looked around there were three demons staring at Morgana with a desire to take her soul. The young girl was on the verge of a breakdown and he knew that her magic would be as unstable as every other time that she drank that pill.

"Can i do this?" He heard his sister swear in pain. "Do it, brother."

 He looked at her before taking possession of her body as he had already done before. The cold she felt, he felt. The feelings and thoughts she had were his now. And with that, he moved his hands very quickly when he realized that the demons were approaching and surrounding them quickly. A great barrier separated them and prevented them from attacking it. It was weak and so he started running while he still had time, looking for a place he could use to keep his sister's body warm and safe until he thought of something.

"Bloody hell, what a shit situation, Morg!" Toby grunted, but now in a hoarse and dragged tone. He did not know how long he looked for shelter or how much time he spent running, but he knew that the presences were approaching again and this time much more aggressive. He heard the murmurs of disdain and sarcasm, and he feared for his sister's life. He saw the horns slowly came out of their heads, small and sharp, twisted to the sides and long black wings with emaciated feathers punctuating out of their backs.

'We are going to die!', Toby thought, no longer able to continue. 'This is all B's fault!'

"Look, Apoliom, Belial! Such a brilliant soul. Will you want to?" One of the demons commented to his friends in a tone of immense mockery, lifting the girl by her white hair and smiling when she struggled to get out of his grip. Unsuccessfully. Toby tried to use the chains, but the most that came out of the palms of Morgana's hands was smoke. And it made the demons laugh hysterically.

"If you're going to eat her soul, do it soon. We have to go back sooner or we are going to have problems." Apoliom murmured with great disinterest in the situation, but he wanted to know how someone so young had a soul as brilliant as those. "We're already full." Belial shrugged. "Hurry up!"

The demon's face seemed to melt like candle wax, revealing a hideous face of muscle, and his eyes went the blackest shade Toby had ever seen. He leaned forward, encouraged by the other two friends who had already satisfied their hunger, he opened his mouth ready to suck Morgana's soul, and if Toby still had one, his too.

But a very bright light suddenly blinded all the demons. It was hot. Intense. Angry and calm in the same proportion. There were screams of pain and curses thrown at random, but the light just kept expanding and expanding. And a flood of warm feelings went through the ghost's chest and he knew that this sensation reached Morgana somewhere in her tired mind, he felt that she fell into a deep sleep, warmed by that light. Her body finally fell, but not in the snow. In a pair of firm and gentle arms that lifted the small body. The demons were forgotten, expelled, although not even Toby was able to remain lucid for a long time, visibly affected by using possession for so long.

"The only survivor, we are going to take her with us, Barbatos."

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Merlin’s Unavailable (Please Leave a Message with his Apprentice)

So last August, @inhonoredglory​ mentioned that they had “wanted to see a future in which Douxie used up his powers to defeat Morgana after Merlin died and was the one laying in the tomb by the time present-day Jim and Co. find him to defeat Morgana at the end of Trollhunters.” This is more of an au that completely ignores the time travel aspects as well as the fact that Merlin needed two master wizards to make the amulet, and then extends the medieval events of Wizards out to about a year as opposed to just a week. Still, I hope you enjoy this.

AO3

FFN

“Great Gorgus,” Blinky said as they saw the corpse covered in cobwebs. “It’s him.”

“Is it... really?” Claire asked.

"Must be,” AAARRRGGHH!!! said.

“It’s gotta be him,” Toby said. “I mean, it’s Merlin’s tomb; who else would it be?”

Well, it was also now Draal’s tomb. However, this particular corpse seemed to almost be in a place of honor. The stone from Jim’s amulet glowed, and so Jim walked towards Merlin. As Jim got closer, he couldn’t help but notice just how young Merlin had been when he died. Jim had thought that Merlin would have been an old man, not a boy who could easily just have been an older classmate from school wearing a ren faire costume. Merlin’s head rested on a black pillow, and Jim almost thought that his hair was tied in a bun.

Jim frowned slightly. Merlin had been so young when he died; would Jim and his friends die even younger? They had already lost Draal; who else did they have to lose?

Jim wasn’t able to get lost in his fearful musings, because three points of blue light rose up from the amulet before descending onto Merlin’s eyes and mouth with smoky trails. Jim leaned in closer, trying to see why the amulet had worked that way.

And then Merlin woke up, gasping for air before coughing and choking on the spiderweb. Jim took a step back, unsure of what to do. He had had basic medical training for if a person was choking, but something about Merlin’s corpse felt very wrong.

The pillow revealed itself to be a cat, who stretched and yawned before patting Merlin’s back. The cat then put on a pair of silver glasses before patting Merlin’s back.

“Merlin?” Jim asked after Merlin stopped coughing. Merlin looked over at Jim, and his face went through a myriad of hopeful and then pained expressions before settling on a scowl.

“Sorry, no, Merlin’s not available right now, or ever again,” not-Merlin said as he crossed his arms over his chest. The cat put a paw on not-Merlin’s knee, giving him a sympathetic headbutt before turning to everyone else in the tomb.

“Forgive my familiar’s rudeness,” the cat said, “he’s grieving.”

“But, if you’re not Merlin, then why’re you in his tomb?” Toby asked.

“I could technically ask you the same,” not-Merlin grumbled before the cat gave him a withering look. “Yes, Archie. Sorry, Archie. Master Merlin was old, even for a wizard, so he had already began preparing for his death by making me help build him a tomb even though he figured that he wouldn’t need it for another decade or five. I bet he never made any of his other apprentices do anything so morbid... all because I started wearing a skull-shaped pendant.”

The scowl broke into a sad thing that was almost a smile.

“I thought Morgana was Merlin’s only apprentice,” Blinky said. With that, the scowl returned to Merlin’s apprentice’s face.

“She didn’t deserve to be his apprentice, not after she... after... after she...”

“Do you want me to tell them, Douxie?” Archie asked. Douxie shook his head.

“Morgana betrayed Merlin. Betrayed Camelot, and in one fight she lost her hand so Merlin took it, and I helped him to make the amulet. Ten months later, she killed Merlin. If I hadn’t been there, hiding while the battle took place... he turned to ash, and I couldn’t even gather that to bury.” Douxie turned his head away and blinked rapidly. “All I had left was his staff. Two months after Merlin died, Morgana planned on using the pieces of Killahead Bridge to spread darkness across the entire world. I don’t know, I think she said something about how it would bring balance? Or something? Thankfully, Archie and I were able to draw her away from the battle, so that we could use a spell that we had found in one of Merlin’s old spellbooks to trap her in a newborn Heartstone on the other side of the world. But, I think I messed it up, or something, because I was so tired that I couldn’t use my magic, so I Archie and I came back here. That was two days ago, for me. I thought I was dying... the amulet has... had some of my and Merlin’s magic stored in it, so I guess that brought me and Archie back to life.”

“Yes, we should’ve told that little secret to Deya, but hindsight’s always better,” Archie said. “But since we never told anyone, why are you five here?”

Everyone made an effort not to look directly at Claire. AAARRRGGHH!!! spoke up. “Gunmar take Staff of Avalon. We followed, tried to stop him. Friend die in process.”

“I’m sorry,” Douxie said before a look of alarm crossed his face. “Wait. Sod. Fuzzbuckets, did you say that he took Master Merlin’s staff? He’ll use it to release Morgana!”

“Yeah, we already knew that,” Claire said. “Did you and Merlin plan for the tomb to self destruct when it was removed? Please tell me you can use your magic to get us out because my shadow portals don’t work.”

Douxie cringed. “No; nearly all of it is being used to keep Morgana sealed. But, the amulet of daylight should still work, and we can use that to get out of here.”

“Uh, about that.” Jim pulled out the pieces of the amulet. “We had to destroy this to get here.”

“Please tell me you have all the pieces,” Douxie said. Jim nodded. “Okay, I can fix this. I hope. The rest of you, try to make sure the area doesn’t flood while I’m working.”

Douxie hummed while he worked before frowning and standing straight. “I thought you said you had all the pieces!”

“I did,” Jim said.

“Clearly you missed one, there’s supposed to be a small metal piece right here!”

Claire pulled out one of her hairclips. “Will this work?”

Douxie squinted at it. “Hopefully.”

The amulet fixed, Jim called out the incantation and parted the waters with his sword. “If you helped to make the amulet, why isn’t your name part of the incantation?”

Douxie kicked at the ground, looking away and absentmindedly petting Archie’s ears. “Because I was just his apprentice; there was no reason for history to remember me. Let’s go and see if we can find a way to keep Morgana from killing everyone.”

Author’s note: Now imagine everyone returning to the Lakes' house and the human parental figures + Strickler are all going "oh good my teenager and their friends are safe... why is there another one".

Also, given the way Morgana killed Merlin in this, it was too sudden for Merlin to ever be able to tell Douxie just how much he cared about his son 😈

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Watching (the Adventures of) Merlin season one on Netflix

Episode One: The Dragon's Call

. . . I feel like going to the capital of the kingdom indiscriminately slaughtering magic users wasn't the best idea.

Why? Well, that guy did just get executed.

And now his mom is mad. You tell that sorry excuse for a king, witch lady.

I don't like Uther, in case it was unclear.

Wait... if you could teleport why not just grab your son and ditch before he loses his head? Literally.

Oh, wow. Arthur is a dick.

Morgana. We have no choice but to stan tbh.

Dragon, you're really rubbing me the wrong way.

That's right Merlin! We need more than Because Destiny Says So!

Where did the spiderwebs come from? That sleeping spell gives me Sleeping Beauty vibes.

Ah, yes. The old drop-the- chandelier-on-the-villain trick. :(

If she went after Uther instead of Arthur I would have no complaints.

Manservant? You call that a reward for saving your son?

Episode Two: Valiant

Snake!Shield

Oh, he's gonna- Yup, dead. That's what happens when you deal with knights who cheat.

Where did that guy even get a magic shield in the first place?

Is there a thriving magic black market or something?

I love Guin.

. . . I feel like Sir Valiant didn't think this through. If bite marks are visible.

Ugh, you're the worst Uther.

It's only the second episode! Did you forget who saved your son already?

Stop being a jerk Arthur.

Lol. Merlin bringing a dog statue to life in order to practice for the Snake!Shield.

Bye Valiant!

Episode Three: The Mark of Nimueh

Whatcha up to with that egg, new witch lady?

You gonna poison the water of all of Camelot? Seems like a jerk move.

Dang that's a lot of dead bodies...

No, I like Guin's dad!

Yes! Cure him Merlin!

No! Stop arresting Guin, Uther!

You tell him, Morgana!

That plague monster that hatched from witch lady's egg is creepy.

Dead monster!

Arthur is kinda oblivious to Merlin's magic ngl.

Yay! Guin's free!

What do you know about witch lady Nimueh, Uther? Hmm? Why she want you dead? Besides the obvious reasons.

Episode Four: The Poisoned Chalice

Wow, Nimueh really doesn't like Merlin saving the day.

Wow, Nimueh really orchestrated an entire diplomatic incident in order to kill Merlin while also ensuring Camelot is destroyed by its neighbor. Impressive.

I really like Merlin and Guin's friendship.

Dang. Merlin really drank poison in order to save Arthur.

Merlin saved Arthur's life, Uther! Let him return the favor!

Oh, wow. Arthur really disobeyed his father in order to save Merlin's life.

I didn't know Merlin could cast spells while deathly delirious. And several miles away from him too.

Uther you b****! The antidote is right there! Let Arthur save his friend!

Putting your own son in a cell is such a jerk move.

At least Arthur and Guin manage to sneak the antidote to Merlin.

Quick aside: Internet spoilers say Uther needs to die for Arthur to complete his himbofication- I mean character development. So, if you could get on with that? Thanks!

Episode Five: Lancelot

Wow, that's a very CGI griffin.

Lancelot is so precious- Uh, I mean effective! Saving Merlin and all.

I know, Guin. I know.

Always thought it was a stupid rule to only let nobles be knights.

You're really going to commit magical forgery for someone you just met, Merlin?

I mean, Lancelot is earnest, hardworking, modest, kind despite his tragic backstory and it's his childhood dream to be a knight...

Yeah, I'd commit magical forgery too.

Lol, knocked you on your ass didn't he Arthur? (The second time at least)

I don't remember griffins being man-eaters!

Uther stop arresting people! Ugh, you're such a classist.

Let Lancelot help fight the griffin, Arthur! You need all the help you can get!

Well okay letting him go was nice of you.

Lancelot-Merlin tag team!

Wow. Lancelot really strode in with Camelot's singular braincell by figuring out Merlin has magic.

(The bar is low, okay.)

No, don't take away the braincell! Stay! The griffin was a team effort!

Okay, Lancelot's lawful good tendencies are a little annoying but, hey, nobody's perfect.

Episode Six: A Remedy to Cure All Ills

Edwin, no. Leave Morgana alone.

Oh, beetles! Curse beetles! That's not creepy at all.

Gaius how do you know Edwin?

What diabolical plot are you hatching Edwin? Oh, you're replacing Gaius in the royal court. That's kinda rude.

Merlin's so happy meeting another magic user that isn't trying to kill him (yet).

Le gasp! Uther's purge killed Edwin's parents? WhO cOuLd HaVe fOreSeEn tHis!?

But seriously. No wonder Edwin wants Uther dead.

I know Edwin blackmailed Gaius with exposing Merlin but he also wants to kill Uther!

That gives him a pass in my book.

Gaius no. Let Uther die.

Edwin stop trying to kill Gaius! You're going to-

Yup, here comes Merlin and-

Edwin's dead :(

Well he was trying to overthrow the kingdom. That's... bad... I guess.

Episode Seven: The Gates of Avalon

That title is misleading. It's more of a natural portal/magic lake type thing.

Arthur saves a father and daughter from bandits (Which they hired but shhh)

And they immediately try to put a love spell on Arthur

For human sacrifice purposes of course

Idk why the Sidhe want a human prince's soul -look at him, you don't know where he's been- but that's the price for readmission

I wonder how the dad killed one of his own kind? Was it an accident or...?

Exiling the daughter too makes me suspicious of Avalon's justice system

Evil laugh is a bit out of place for someone who is trying to restore his daughter's immortality

(They are so whiny about being mortal. Hey, we put up with it all the time!)

The fairy-like Sidhe moving in accelerated time so they just look like tiny orbs of light was an interesting touch. The blue faces and razor sharp teeth is not a good look for them, lol

They make Arthur ask to be married ('cause it takes a while for the love spell to go into full blown mind control or something)

Prompting Uther to threaten to kill both of them

(I feel like they didn't think this through)

Morgana admonishes Uther for being the worst

He replies that first love rarely lasts and that Arthur is inexperienced in such things. Plus that Arthur only met the girl yesterday

... I can't believe Uther is the voice of reason this episode

He doesn't get any points though. Due to the whole "threatening to execution his son's 'crush' " thing

The daughter is having second thoughts about using Arthur as a human sacrifice

Dear old dad puts those to rest and they try drowning Arthur in the lake that is/is the portal to, Avalon

Merlin's really leaning into the whole "Cool motive. Still murder.", thing huh?

Like, he did NOT hesitate to blow up both of them

Episode Eight: The Beginning of the End

Why do magic users keep going to Camelot!? The king is trying to KILL YOU!

Wow, this grown ass man is threatened by a literal child... I hate Uther so much

Morgana is the MVP of this episode. I love her

Protect that druid kid!

I feel like you're being paranoid Uther

You tell him Morgana!

Dragon, no. Stop prophesying death and destruction.

Wow, this grown ass dragon is threatened by a literal child...

Aaaand Morgana got caught sneaking the kid out of the city :(

Uther she is your adopted daughter! Stop putting people in cells!

Arthur is gonna sneak him out now?

While Morgana distracts the king?

Yes, excellent. What could possibly-

Merlin stop listening to that destiny dragon! Hearing his voice in your head is no basis for trust!

Cutting it close... Yay! They made it!

Mordred!? MORDRED!?

THAT little boy is Mordred!?

... Okay, I'm more inclined to believe the destiny dragon now

Still think letting him die would be a dick move

Episode Nine: Excalibur

What're you up to with that tomb Nimueh?

Oh! It's some kind of undead knight. Yes.

Throwing down the gauntlet. Pfft! Always thought that was a stupid idea.

Also: that Black Knight literally crashed your party!

Ugh, knights.

Nimueh if you can just teleport into the heart of Camelot while Uther is alone why don't you just stab him? Grab one of those pointy things he likes so much and stab him in the back. Easy peasy!

Stealing this joke but Don't do evil magic kids. It fries your brain cells.

Wait, the Black Knight is Uther's brother-in-law!?

Arthur's mother died in childbirth!?

Uther asked Nimueh to use her magic so he could have Arthur!?

Equivalent Exchange!?

Uther went on a genocidal rampage because he didn't bother with the instruction manual of ancient and powerful magic!?

Actually, that last one is not surprising at all.

I can't believe they're using the Wife in the Fridge trope. That appliance hasn't even been invented yet!

Ooh, Merlin's going to use his magic to destroy the Black Knight so Arthur doesn't have to fight him

As he's killed two knights already

Aaaaand, yup, he's still there. His cloak didn't even catch fire...

Arthur stop being a bastard. It doesn't suit you

Dragon forged sword! DRAGON FORGED SWORD!

Only Arthur can wield it. Yup, got it. How could this possibly go wrong?

Uther drugged Arthur and took his place in the fight... I have mixed feelings about this.

Wait, the dragon was very specific about only Arthur using that super special sword! Oh, snap.

Well at least the Black Knight is dead. Again.

Oh, dragon is not happy.

I know the dragon said "where no mortal soul could find it" but are you sure you wanna throw it into Avalon, Merlin?

Those people were gonna suck Arthur's soul out of his body

Episode Ten: The Moment of Truth

The way this episode title just lies to your face like that...

Oh, you're Merlin's mother! Thought we had an anime protagonists type thing going on

I... would like to say Uther is being unreasonable when he decides not to cross borders to get rid of some bandits. But I can totally see everyone hating him so that's a no go.

Lady, you were in a whole different kingdom. Why for the love of Merlin did you send him to Camelot!?

We're off to save the village! Morgana and Guin are coming too!

A wild Arthur appears!

Morgana better at swordplay than Arthur confirmed!

Merlin! I didn't know you had friends!

Granted he's a bit rough around the edges but

Okay. If it were literally anyone else besides Arthur. I'd say he was right about lords and knights being useless snobs.

Actually. He's right about lords and knights being useless snobs. Ah, that felt great.

Wow, the homosexual subtext is strong with this one.

The girls can tell Arthur came for Merlin.

But get your foot out of his face! I don't care how royal it is!

Look at Guin over here calling out Arthur for being a dick

And talking him into letting the women fight. She's on a roll

Aw, Merlin's friend died. :(

And he took credit for Merlin's tornado (so Arthur wouldn't find out about Merlin's magic)

Episode Eleven: The Labyrinth of Gedref

Lol, that unicorn could use a haircut.

No, Arthur. I said a haircut not an arrow to the chest!

Bad things? What kind of bad things Gaius?

Uther what's the point of having an expert in magical lore if you're not going to listen to him!

And all the crops are dead. Fantastic.

I know it's a magic thing but stating outright that the blight only targets edible plants is still really unsettling.

And the water's turned to sand. Great.

Who're you and how come Merlin is the only magic user that can't teleport?

What kind of tests mister Keeper of the Unicorns, sir?

Arthur I know you don't want to believe it's your fault... But it's totally your fault.

Uther no. People are starving.

You tell him Arthur.

Oh, the "theif" was a test!

Aaaaand he failed the second one. :(

Merlin's got a lot of faith in Arthur.

It's interesting how the Keeper can only direct the curse caused by the unicorn's death. Or rather the trials surrounding the curse, but can't break it himself.

Unicorns have some powerful magic.

The Labyrinth was barely on screen for five minutes! Surely something with Unicorn in the title would be more appropriate?

Arthur drinking a poisoned cup so Merlin could live?

That's some strong parallels right there.

The Keeper of the Unicorns is such a troll! Sleeping potion, hah!

The day is saved, Arthur lies to Uther's face about killing the Keeper and the unicorn resurrects itself.

Still needs a haircut though.

Episode Twelve: To Kill the King

Whatcha up to Guin's dad?

Oh that guy isn't suspicious at all.

You didn't think it was shady when he asked to meet in the middle of the night!?

Philosopher's Stone!?

Wow, the guards found him quickly.

What- No! Don't arrest Guin's dad!

Uther, he's a blacksmith! Stop being paranoid!

Will you stop executing people!? That inn keeper didn't know that guy was a dangerous sorcerer!

No, nononononono! He surrendered! Why did you do that!? Guin's father was important to Morgana!

That's why she gave him the key!

Dragon has his priorities straight.

Shut up, Merlin. You literally blew up a father and daughter for trying to kill one(1) person. (No really, you could see their hands flying off.)

Morgana deserves a little murder. As a treat.

Yes! Get him! Kill the bastard!

No! Why would you make GUIN say that!? Who are you and what have you done with Guin!?🔪🔪

UGH, he literally committed genocide!

The "that would make me as bad as he is" DOES NOT APPLY!

What- Oh, he still has the fairy's staff.

No. Stop it! Let Uther die!

Oh, God, Uther is such an abusive piece of GARBAGE!

Stop! Don't fall for it Morgana!

*sees dagger being pushed closer to Uther's "heart"* Yes! Yes! YES!

*Morgana saves him* NO!

NO!

NOOOOOO!

*inarticulate ranting in the background*

Episode Thirteen:

Okay, the cgi might be getting a little better 'cause the Questing Beast is freaky

Old religion? What is that? And how come it's conveniently absent from the previous episodes?

Dang, they really here just casually gaslighting Morgana like that 😡

Merlin you know Morgana has visions! You couldn't have been a little more careful? She warned you. Now look at Arthur, he's got the heroic death disease

Granted that thing does seem like a handful

Why do you only act like a father when it's a matter of life and death? Why can't you be a father literally any other time!?

"The old religion is the magic of the Earth itself."

Well that sounds fascinating, dragon. Are you going to elaborate? No? Later then?

Soooooo, is the old religion actually a religion or is it a magic? It's really unclear...

"You will be a better king than your father could ever hope to be." Guin, you're back!

I expected a place called the Isle of the Blessed to be less... creepy

Nimueh! Whatcha up to girl? Plotting the demise of a kingdom? Not today it seems

Oh there some Equivalent Exchange type nonsense going on is there?

Arthur you were supposed to be in a coma not listening to Guin!

Oh. Oh, no.

Merlin saying goodbye as he prepares to trade his life for his mother's is 😢😭

Wow, that dragon really knew Nimueh would give Merlin's mother the curse and didn't say anything. The little b*****!

No wonder Merlin's mad at him. Stop breathing fire at him! It's your own fault!

Gaius, no! Not the dead mentor trope!

"You stood by and watched as our friends died." Damn, Nimueh isn't pulling her punches.

Merlin vs Nimueh! Ready? Fight!

Anime protagonist power up! Dang, Nimueh's dead... I feel like that wasn't supposed to happen.

At least no one else is dying. Since Nimueh's death appeased the Equivalent Exchange laws of the old religion.