#also i forgot what color the crystals were supposed to be so they were purple until i changed them last minute

[ingradient]

[nothingtoseehd]

eah characters as cavetown songs

this was inspired by @/applewhiteapologist's eah characters as taylor swift songs, sooooooo yeah

some characters might not be here because: 1. it's hard to find songs for them (as of right now) 2. i forgot them/i'll do them if i have more time

apple white - devil town v2/green

-i chose devil town v2 because it seemed the most, uh, apple out of all the devil town versions? devil town v1 seems edgy-ish, and devil town v3 seems lower and calmer, i think???? maybe i just chose this because it has those light, floaty chords, i'm not sure, i'm not smart or anything -also i honestly felt like this was hard -i chose devil town because it could represent the future she pictured in her mind when raven didn't sign the book -i don't really know what to explain green, but like, ashlynn and apple in true hearts day??? that's the best way i could explain this song -lyric analysis time: --"i still get a little scared of something new, but I feel a little safer when i'm with you, falling doesn't feel so bad, when I know you've fallen this way too" ---apple is "a little scared of something new" because she's in for an unpredictable future without the storybook of legends ---for the falling part, it's like she's not so sad about being led astray when she's with her friends maybeeeeeee -lyrics for green because i can't explain it but it's just THERE: --"you looked so good in green i hope you’re well and you look so good with him and i’m proud of you still take care of my shirt warm and red i hope you think of me still as your friend i hope you love yourself your body and heart i hope you feel happy that’s all i want that's all i want"

raven queen - devil town v1 (dang it there's no purple text so have plain text)

-i just chose devil town v1 because i think it would work well with her guitar, i actually don't know how guitar works but i'm pretending to know how it works, don't tell anyone i don't know how they work -i think this song could represent her home life and whatnot because she's living with the evil queen -it's lyric analysis time!!: --"you said something dumb again, she's mad, at least that's what they say" (i just used orange so the lyrics wouldn't blend in as much) ---the something dumb thing could be like a 'nice deed' the evil queen doesn't like, and she's mad because of that --"we're all dead in devil town, that's fine, cause nothing's gonna scare us now" ---she's 'dead' after all the nagging and 'be eviL EMBRACE YOUR INNER EVIL' shit and it's now the normal, and it's not going to scare her since it's basically her life now -also slowed devil town can fit her too

madeline hatter - hug all ur friends/talk to me

-she's just so friendly?????? and supportive?????? and oh gosh i need a hug???????? -seriously though, they suit her because she feels so much like a huggy, supportive person and she's friends with everyone sooooooooooooo, hugs for everyone!! except you crystal!! and headmaster grimm!! not forgiving for the time you almost banished maddie!! -the lyrics because i can't explain these songs, it's just that maddie vibe, you know?: --"life’s too short to worry about things that we got wrong, so hug all your friends and let them know, you’re not letting go, i’m not letting go" (hug all ur friends) --"you don't have to be a prodigy to be unique you don't have to know what to say or what to think you don't have to be anybody you can never be that's alright, let it out, talk to me" (talk to me)

briar beauty - pigeon

-i had a very hard time with her but i think this kinda fits -it generates a sleepy vibe? (even though i didn't get this from the sleepyhead album *cough cough*) -okay, so the reason why i chose this for her is because of the chorus, which could kind of tie in with her destiny, with the 100 year coma -have the chorus for reference: --"didn’t give me time to say goodbye in the way that i wanted to, so honey, close your eyes and stay like you’re supposed to do, don’t know how i’m gonna live without, but i’ll stay strong for you"

ca cupid - sweet tooth/for you

-this is already self-explanatory if you listened to the song(s), buT IF YOU HAVEN'T YET, basically it's a song about an unhealthy crush and love and stuff -and you know who she has an unhealthy crush on???? that's right, it's blondie!! /hj (but seriously, in canon it's dexter but uH, i refuse to believe that, they're better off as friends) -lyric examples because like maddie, i can't really explain it but i know the vibe is THERE: --"a sweet tooth for you, i'm wide awake, the sugar went straight to my brain, feel like a kid, i double tap, my chest with my fist, i like you, say it back, say it back"

cerise hood - snail

-snail iS SUCH A GREAT SONG OMG -snail kinda represents her childhood and 'not wanting to be born like this' because of her parents technically breaking destiny (stupid storybook of legends) -lyrics from the song because i kinda don't really need to explain this song more: --"i was just born like this, wish that i could change it" --"i'm hanging out with the foxes and the hounds, and when i fit in i'll break back out"

daring charming - boys will be bugs/lemons (technically cavetown is just a feature but he's still there so yeah)

-it's just about the vibes -and also about the fact that the person in the songs have to uphold some sort of standard (the songs' standards were about masculinity) and i thought it could fit daring because he also has to uphold a standard (being the perfect charming prince) -also in lemons, daring's part is the one where cavetown sings it (if that wasn't obvious) -also ANOTHER LEMONS SIDE NOTE, i'd imagine rosabella singing brye's part, just because -lyrics time: --"don't mess with me, i'm a big boy now and i'm very scary i punch my walls, stay out at night, and i do karate don't message me 'cause i won't reply, i wanna make you cry ain't that how it's supposed to be? though it isn’t me boys will be bugs, right?" (boys will be bugs) --"so i'm gonna take it out on you too proud to show i'm hurting push it on you 'til you're burning" (lemons)

darling charming - 888/trying

-888 is a fun song, very groovy, has peppa pig plasters, 10/10 -main reason i chose 888, it kinda feels gay when you put it under a certain light?????????? -and snail could also fit with darling but i don't want to rob cerise -i was very stuck for a second song for darling because i felt obligated to give the charming siblings two songs because they're that top tier, but i think trying could be a good fit to some extent -could be like 'not great relationship with parents, struggle to fit with their standards ever since she found out she wanted to be a hero or something' -i still do think snail is a better fit for darling but i really really don't want to rob cerise because cerise is amazing -some lyrics: --"i'm workin' things out clouds lookin' strange papercut fingers dancing on the strings if i could see you right now i'd dance just for you when the nightlight goes out" (888) --"please let me know if you change your mind cause inside i'm falling And I need you to pull me out of this decline i realize how hard on you this must seem But trust me when i say it's far, far worse for me" (trying)

dexter charming - telescope/home

-telescope just feels like his vibe???? also because it kinda also have hopeless romantic-ness???? -also i headcanon him to be an astronomy nerd???? so that's fun???? that's my reasoning i guess???? (also, side-note i have just listened to astronomy by conan gray and it fits dexter) -ALSO HOME IS HERE BECAUSE DEXTER IS TRANS YOU CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND -also because it's also his vibe??????? -what time is it????? *clap clap* it's lyrics time!!: --"through the lens, it's dark, single-digit on the clock singing, "yessiree, i sure like-a you a lot" all i need is to get her she'll be happy if you let her" (telescope) --"turn off your porcelain face i can't really think right now and this place has too many colors, enough to drive all of us insane are you dead? sometimes i think i'm dead cause i can feel ghosts and ghouls wrapping my head but i don't wanna fall asleep just yet" (home)

okay the process of this post was just me staring at the lyrics and listening to cavetown a lot, sometimes during online classes but shhhh don't tell anyone (and finding more great songs)

is this post going to flop?? very very likely. do i care? eh, not sure, this was just me trying to put on my big brain hat.

also i realized while reading this post, that i never actually analyzed the majority of the songs' lyrics in this post?? so i'm very sorry

[alice-angel12x]

💔Gem!Deku x Gem!Reader

"You think this is the place?" Asked a rouge.

"Yep, that's what our sources tell us," Said another.

"You got the cages and rope ready," The leader asked.

"Yeah of course, but why did we bring this dead weight," A low Lackie asked kicking a tarp-covered cage.

"Because this dead weight is our bait. Those rocks have a soft spot for their own kind, especially the weaker and fragile ones," The leader said as he ripped the tarp away.

Revealing a bound Phosphophyllite gem with messy dark green hair and green eyes. His wrists and ankles were tied together, and a piece of cloth was wrapped around his mouth.

"You know the drill, right Deku," The leader smiled cruelly.

"MMhhm! NNmph!" Deku tried to scream.

The Trappers grabbed the helpless gem as they descended into the caves.

The Kessho people, or gem people many humans call them. Being made entirely of crystals of all kinds, they are highly sought after by humans. Because their entire body was made of pure and untainted crystals, many hunters seek these beauties. For things from jewelry to weapons, or just want a shiny servent, many reasons.

So the gems hide in many places of the world, from small islands to deep underground tunnels and caves. Anywhere out of human reach.

-------

Please. I don't want any part of this. Please let me go! I tried to cry out but I couldn't with the gag in the way. The memories of previous raids started resurfacing. They would use gems like me to lure others out of hiding, for what reason they help me varies. Some communities of gem had an elitist-like community, or even ones made up of one kind of gems. But when they got close they were ambushed and locked away in cages. They would after be turned into weapons and jewelry.

"Here, place him here," The leader Rato said.

They placed me down near a ledge and ripped away from my gag. Looking over I could see two gems walking by down below. I tried to stay as quiet and still as I could so they wouldn't notice me.

"Deku's too quiet," Rato growled.

He stomped on my hand shattering it. I could hold back the pain as I cried out, it echoed throughout the cave. Looking down at the gems below they quickly spotted me and ran away. Good at least they won't get caught.

-------------

Suddenly there was a rustle and a-

"SMASH!!" shouted a large gem.

The gem delivered a powerful punch knocking three of the rouges away. Deku stared in awe at the scene and the powerful gem with a brave smile on his face, but the wind was so strong that Deku was blown off the edge. Time seemed to slow as he watches the edge grow farther and farther away. Deku shut his eyes closed waiting for his painful end When an f/c blurr caught him.

"Are you alright?" Asked a kind voice.

Deku looked up to his hero to be meet E/c eyes with their hair the same color to match. His eyes sparkled as his hero's hair Glimmered beautifully in the moonlight. He looked down to see he was being held bridle style.

"Y-yes," Deku stuttered bashfully.

"Don't worry your safe now, as long as your under All Mights protection you have nothing to fear," The (gem type) smiled.

But Deku couldn't help but just stare at this new gem as an infatuation grew. His captures were long dealt with as the new group of gems escorted him back to their hidden home.

"u-um who are you?" Deku asked the mysterious G/t(gem type).

"Well my friends like to call me Y/n," they smiled as they untied Deku.

"I-I'm Deku," He said with a beet-red face.

"Pleasure to meet you Deku," Y/n greeted as they handed him over to other gems.

"Ochaco, Momo this is Deku. Please get him property clothed and make sure he feels welcomed," All Might a Yellow diamond smiled. (No not that one)

-------------

From that day on I have lived with these Gems for the past 300 years, and my feelings for Y/n only grew. They were so brave and confident, was also one of the greatest fighters in the village. One of the few gems trained under All Might. Sadly cause I only have a toughness scale of 3, so I wasn't suited for combat.

Though All Might noticed that I was very observant and good with notes, so he assigned me to the encyclopedia. My job is to take notes of the enemies we encounter and record events. Then there were some books about stuff I made up, humans would call them fantasies or stories. Though I didn't mind this being my job cause Y/n would come by and read my works. I couldn't help but feel lighter than air and embarrassed at the same time as they were reading my work.

Y/n would always come in after her patrol, come in and read, or more often just sit down and talk to me. Though most of the time it was just him listening to whatever good memories of the human world, or my memories of my original home.

I tried to keep my feeling to myself the best I could by just doodling in my private book, just for my eyes only, but I guess I wasn't secret enough.

"Wow dude, you really have a thing for Y/n," said a voice.

I gasped as I jumped back to see it was Denki, who quickly snatched my drawing book and speed through my embarrassing drawings.

"Wow, you've got it bad. All these drawings are of Y/n and you being lovey-dovey," He said out loud.

Attracting the attention of Iida the Topaz and Ochaco the pink diamond ( No not that one you SU fans). They quickly came over and looked through my book.

"Wow, looks like Touya has a love rival," Ochaco gasped.

Touya the padparadscha gem, was also one of the top fighters for the village and is always Y/n's patrol partner, who was also pinning after them too. There would be times he would just randomly jump into our conversation and steal their attention. But I couldn't hear what they were saying as I covered my ears in embarrassment.

"Oh no, Y/n forgot their other sword," Momo gasped.

"I'll take it to them!" I offered as I quickly grabbed the weapon and ran out of the library.

"Does he know  where Y/n and Touya are?" Momo asked.

"It even notes was Y/n patrols today," Denki said flipping through the pages not paying attention.

----------

Y/n and Touya stood guard at one of the cave entrances, as the warm sunlight funneled through. Y/n smiled as she felt the warm light on her powered covered surface.

"Hey Y/n, do you ever wonder what could be on the surface?" Touya asked.

"Ever since Deku came and told me stories of the surface, it only fueled my imagination," Y/n turned to her trusted partner.

"One day we'll be the ones on top, and I'll take you all over the surface. Just you and me," Touya said with confidence.

" That's an awfully big promise Touya," Y/n said as they sat next to him.

"I mean we can always just wait till the humans go extinct," Touya suggested.

"Haha, all right. I'll hold you to that promise," Y/n laughed as they gently held Touya's hand.

Deku watched from the side of a tunnel wall, as he sighed sadly and turned back into the tunnel. He wandered the cave tunnels as he hugged Y/n's sword close to him. As he turned the corner he bumped into something, something large.

------------

I felt lighter than air as I stared into Y/n's e/c eyes.

"AAAAHHHH!" Someone screamed.

"How did the enemy pass us?" Y/n gasped.

"No, maybe the other entrances were compromised," I suggested.

"You go check the next entrance over and see if anything is wrong, I'll go check up the tunnels," Y/n said as she ran down into the dark caves.

With a sigh, I ran to the next entrance that leads to the forests, which was supposed to be guarded by Katsuki and Shoto. Turning the corner he saw two humans picking up pieces of Shoto and Bakugou and stuffing them into potato sacks. Touya quickly drew his sword and cut down the intruders.

Touya to worried about his partner quickly stuffed the rest of Shoto and Bakugou into the bag, not caring he is mixing their pieces, and quickly ran to the village.

---------

"Looks like we caught a phosphophyllite, hold that rock tight Nomu," A light blue hair human smile.

The giant mutant humanoid figure Nomu nodded silently as it the poor gem in its giant hands. Deku's arms were broken off as he was restrained by Nomu's brute strength.

"What fine craftsmen ship, able to slice through rock," Said a tall human with dark back- purple hair.

"LET ME GO!" Deku screamed as he tried to break free from the Nomu.

"Nomu shut the pebble up before he alerts the others," The man growled.

"HEY!" Y/n shouted.

"Another one," The other human grumbled.

"Y/n," Deku smiled in relief.

"Let him go," Y/n said lowly.

"Nomu get it," Tomura pointed at the G/t.

Y/n ran towards the creature and sliced its head clean off, with the sharp edge of her arm. Deku stared with worried and sad eyes as he looked over their damaged form. The left section around her face was broken off, the elbow broke off their left arm, they were missing their right hand, and her right leg was horribly cracked, and it looked like it could fall apart at any moment.

Y/n moved swiftly and kicked the human hard in the face. Deku quickly got up as the two ran down the tunnel.

Deku looked back to see Y/n was having a bit of trouble keeping up with Deku.

"Y/n, are you okay?" Deku asked.

"Don't worry turn right and follow," Y/n said as she pushed forward.

As the two quickly turned the corner, the humans regained their composer and made chase after the two.  Y/n pushed a medium-sized boulder away from a tiny hole in the side of the cave wall. Deku hesitantly got in when suddenly Y/n started to close the opening.

"Y/n What are you doing?" Deku asked as the opening became too small for him to even squeeze out of.

"Hiding you, I'll come back for you. I have to lead them away from the village," Y/n explained as they backed away.

"No, Please don't do this. Don't leave me Y/n. I- I want to tell you something first,'' Deku said quickly.

Y/n smiled sadly as she turned to face Deku from the other side of the boulder. Deku could tell they were ready to throw their life away for everyone, for him.

"Y/n, I love-,"

Suddenly Y/n's head was sliced clean off by a thrown sword. Deku gasped in horror as he watched Y/n's body fall to the ground, he tried to reach out but he had no arm to hold out.

Deku wanted to scream and cry, but no sound came out of him. Y/n slowly turned their head towards Deku and mouthed.

'Please live for me, Deku," they mouthed as the humans quickly gathered her broken body.

They were in such a rush they left Y/n's head behind. Deku fell to his knees as he stared at his crush for so long. It felt like an eternity When All Might and Touya arrived, Their eyes widen with horror and sorrow as Touya fell to his knees and held Y/n's head. He put their foreheads together as he cried out in sorrow.

"NOO!" Touya cried.

All might soon notice Deku was trapped behind the boulder and quickly moved it aside with no effort.

"Let us go Young Deku, we need to evacuate the village before they bring more of them," All might said as he helped Deku to his feet.

-----------

(400 years later)

It has been a long time since Y/n's death, All Might changed in a way after his student's death. If he weren't needed, he would lock himself away, but for the most part, he was still the jolly smiling gem he was before. Touya, on the other hand, didn't take Y/n's death all that well, he did lose his love who was his partner for 800 years. He started to call himself Dabi and started to cover only parts of his face, giving him a patchwork look. It not only scared most humans but fellow gems too.

I was upgraded to a medic after Momo was taken about 200 years back, we some people over the years and gained new ones too. I helped piece gems back together, but my main goal is to bring Y/n back. The village moved up high into the mountain, so high it would be difficult for them to breathe, but Humans would risk their lives and come up anyways. Some came with Weapons and tools made of gems, and many times they were G/t so I slowly put Y/n back together piece by piece.

I Finished them for the most part, but there were still 3 large gaping holes in their torso. I tried to use other gem pieces that matched her Mohs scale. Yet it only worked sometimes, she would wake up for about three minutes. Yet when they do everyone who was watching my work quickly rushed in to tell them how much they missed them and update them on everything.

Even Tou- Dabi would come by. Y/n was weirded out at first but they got used to it quickly and I would never really get a chance to talk to them, but I will never forget the last time they woke up. As they said their goodnight to everyone, they turned to me as said.

"I'll miss you Deku, I can't wait to wake up to see you again," Y/n smiled as they fell back unconscious.

I'll bring you back Y/n so I can tell you how I feel.

[litwitlady]

Date Nights (5/5)

Read on Ao3.

Alex wakes up on Christmas morning at 4 am, unable to fall back asleep due to a mixture of nerves and excitement. Sliding out of bed slowly, he tucks the duvet around Michael and pulls on sweatpants as quietly as possible before heading into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee.

While the coffee maker works, he plugs in the Christmas tree and the garland over the mantle, admiring the twinkling lights and carefully chosen ornaments. For Christmas this year, they’d gathered with their friends and family early and exchanged ornaments. Liz’s gift had been a cowboy alien, glow in the dark and bearing no resemblance at all to Michael. Rosa’s had been a beautiful glass bulb she’d hand-painted with the cosmos. Kyle’s a simple wood-carved Merry Christmas. Rosa had gotten a hold of it and painted it with various iconography of the holidays - lights, Santa hats, and reindeer faces.

Max’s had been a collection of simple red Christmas bells, their jingle light and tinkling whenever either of them accidentally bumped into the tree. Isobel’s expensive and crystal - a star with swirls that reminded everyone of the console tech in Michael’s bunker. Maria had given them a giant, purple eggplant ornament as a joke, but they’d still hung it on the tree anyway. Smiling fondly every time their eyes landed on it. She’d followed the joke with a gorgeous, brightly-beaded patchwork that she said reminded her of how she felt when their love bled over into her sight - colorful, lacking definition, and like the calm that only comes after the storm.

Michael and Alex had chosen the rest themselves. A mixture of whimsy and classic Christmas. It was hodgepodge and lacked any real thematic structure, but it was also beautiful, filled with love, and theirs.

Back in the kitchen, Alex hops up on the corner of the counter and sips at his coffee. He had planned to let Michael sleep in for once, to cook him breakfast and spend the rest of the day either in bed or wrapped in a blanket on the couch. Keeping his gift for Michael a secret until sunset. But that’s not going to happen. He’s too keyed up. Too anxious to wait.

Pouring a second cup, he heads into the bedroom and sets the coffee on Michael’s nightstand. He finishes getting dressed so that it’s less likely Michael will be able to seduce him back into bed, and then gently shakes him awake. It’s not even 5 am yet so he’s not surprised when Michael mildly panics at being woken up while it’s still dark outside. ‘What’s wrong?’ He reaches out to palm at Alex, needing to make sure he’s okay.

‘Nothing’s wrong, but I need you to wake up.’

Michael’s eyes crack open and he blinks away the sleep before responding. ‘What? Why? We were going to sleep in.’ His voice is soft and groggy.

Alex grabs the coffee and hands it to him, hoping the warm drink will lure him into a sitting position. ‘I know, but I’m too excited to wait. I want to give you your Christmas present right now.’

It works. Michael sits up to sip his coffee and stare at Alex skeptically. ‘You’re making me nervous. You’ve got that look Isobel gets when she’s about to do something she loves but everyone else hates.’

‘Wow, Guerin. And to think I was going to scramble eggs while you showered.’

‘I’m much rather you join me. Eggs can wait.’ He slides his hand very suggestively up Alex’s thigh but gets his hand lightly slapped before he can do any real damage.

‘Nope. I’m not letting you get me naked. Not yet anyway. Now, go get ready.’

‘Okay. Now I’m definitely worried. When have you ever turned down sex? I can’t recall a single time.’ Alex swats his ass as he heads toward the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Michael pads into the kitchen where Alex hands him a bowl of scrambled eggs smothered with melted cheese and freshly chopped chives. ‘Eat fast.’ Alex’s own bowl is already half empty.

He only takes a couple of careful bites. Not because the eggs aren’t good - they’re great. It’s just that Alex is not the big gesture type, and Michael’s not great at receiving gifts of any kind, large or small.

‘Alex?’ He doesn’t know how to ask what he’s about to ask.

‘Hmm?’ He’s finished his breakfast. Sitting on the counter, phone in hand. Probably texting all their friends Merry Christmas.

Michael takes a steadying breath. ‘This isn’t...I mean, this gift isn’t...a proposal, right?’ The thing is he’s racked his brain two days trying to figure out what Alex has been so anxious about. Two days of his brain circling back to this conclusion every time. A proposal. Some giant gesture. Something so unlike Alex.

And to be honest, the idea of marrying Alex isn’t what makes him nervous. It’s the idea that Alex is only doing this because he thinks that’s what Michael wants him to do or needs him to do or some reason equally as unsatisfying. Because Alex’s meticulous, risk assessing brain cannot possibly think getting engaged so soon is a good idea.

The look on Alex’s face is hard to read. He’s tucked his phone back into his pocket and his lips have thinned like he’s trying to smile but forgot how. When he finally speaks his voice is low. Undeniably sad. ‘No, Michael. It’s not a proposal. Not really. But I guess you could say it’s not not a proposal.’

Alex slides gingerly off the counter, landing on his left foot and unable to meet Michael’s eye. That’s when he knows he’s messed up.

‘I didn’t mean anything by that. I just don’t want you to feel pressured to do something you aren’t ready for yet.’

‘You still doubt me. That’s fair.’ He rinses his bowl in the sink, keeping his back turned. ‘Well, it’s a good thing I hadn’t planned to propose then. Maybe we should just head to the Pony instead. Help Maria set up the charity lunch.’ There’s a tremble in his voice that Michael hates.

Alex starts to walk past him, but Michael grabs his elbow, spinning him back around. ‘Hey. Hey, hey, hey. I don’t doubt that you want this as much as I do. But I do think you’d ignore your own feelings to put mine first. I want us to be on the same page. That’s all.’

Tears burn at the corner of Alex’s eyes. Michael reaches his hand up to brush them away, but Alex takes several steps back, swiping at them with the back of his hands. ‘You’re right. I don’t make big gestures. They terrify me. This terrifies me - that I did this thing without your permission. So I’ve been a nervous wreck for weeks. Worried that you would say no or laugh or something else you would never do but that my brain wouldn’t shut up about. And now, I’m pretty sure I messed up. Let’s just forget about it and go help Maria.’

He leaves the kitchen, grabbing his coat off the dining room table. Michael doesn’t move until he hears the front door open and close. The door slams shut hard enough that the windows rattle over Alex’s keyboard, and Michael’s knuckles whiten as he grips the countertop.

This scene an all too familiar memory. Emotions high and Alex skittering away.

Taking a deep breath, he tells himself no. This is different. They are different.

Alex hasn’t run away. He’s just outside waiting, getting some fresh air and calming down. Clearing his head. Because that’s what they do now. They take breaks when needed, but there’s no running.

Michael stuffs his feet inside his boots and drops his hat on his head, coat in his hand. He finds Alex exactly where he expects to, huddled inside his Explorer and the engine already running. When he opens the passenger side door, Alex even manages a weak smile. ‘Sorry.’

‘No sorrys.’ He buckles his seatbelt and reaches across to squeeze Alex’s thigh. ‘We have plenty of time to help Maria. I want my gift.’

Alex nods but doesn’t move to leave. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel, biding his time. Michael settles back in his seat to wait.

‘Promise me something.’ His fingers stop their tapping.

‘Anything.’

He shifts toward Michael as best he can with his seatbelt fastened. ‘If you don’t like the gift for any reason whatsoever, you’ll tell me.’

There’s no running and there’s no lying. ‘I promise.’

The drive out to wherever they’re going is quiet. Christmas music plays faintly through the speakers, but neither of them says anything. Michael’s not a fan of the tension between them, but the lack of anger or sharp words proves -- at least to him -- that they’ve really accomplished something by working hard to get to this softer place.

He watches Alex out of the corner of his eye. Eyes fixed on the road ahead and mind whirling. Every so often he takes a measured breath, loudly exhaling. The most obvious sign that he’s been back in therapy for a couple of months now. Michael aches to climb into his lap and soothe away all his worries, all his fears. But until he knows what this gift is, he knows he can’t.

About half a mile from Foster’s Ranch, Alex pulls the car off the road, coming to a sudden stop at the chained gates of the old Ellison property. Michael watches him climb out of the car and walk a few feet onto the ranch, ignoring the half-dozen no trespassing signs.

Worried that he’s about to have a panic attack, Michael follows him. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and studying his face. Nothing seems wrong, his breathing even. ‘You alright?’

‘Yeah. What do you know about Ellison’s Ranch?’ His eyes dart back to the locked gate.

It’s a strange question, but maybe he needs a distraction. Michael’s happy to comply. ‘Uh, Old Man Ellison was a bigger dick than Foster. Died earlier this year. No family so the property was supposed to go for auction. About a hundred acres, give or take.’ He shrugs.

‘Hundred and one.’

‘What?’

Alex motions to the wide open expanse ahead of them. ‘One hundred and one acres exactly. Homestead property, used by the Ellison’s for horse breeding mostly.’

‘Okay.’ Michael’s not sure where he’s headed with any of this. ‘Ellison hated trespassers.’ He points back to the signs. ‘His ghost is likely to murder us if we stand here too long.’ He laughs at his own joke knowing how much Alex hates even the mention of ghosts.

But Alex just keeps staring straight into the distance. ‘We’re not trespassing.’

‘Signs beg to differ. We should just keep going, Alex. There’s nothing out here but dirt.’ He turns to head back to the Explorer, hoping Alex will do the same.

‘I bought this place at auction last month. Signed the final papers Wednesday morning. We’re not trespassing. It’s ours. Merry Christmas, Guerin.’

Michael stops dead in his tracks, spins slowly around. Alex’s hands are now in his pockets, shoulders tense. ‘What?’ He rejoins him, wrapping his fingers around Alex’s bicep. ‘You had this kind of money?’

‘No.’ He risks a quick glance at Michael and then back out toward the mountains. ‘It’s the money from my dad’s estate.’

‘Your dad left you his estate?’ That’s the wildest thing he’s said all morning.

Alex snorts. ‘Fuck, no. He didn’t leave me anything. Left almost everything to Clay, a bit to Greg. His weapons collection to Flint. Nothing to me.’

That checks out. Entirely expected. But rage boils just beneath the surface of Michael’s skin anyway. Alex is and always has been the best of them. And even if he is biased, that’s still the truth. ‘Then how?’

‘The auction notice was in the paper one morning when I was having breakfast with Greg. We talked about it. I mentioned how perfect the acreage was -- meant more for residential living than farming or ranching. Mentioned wanting something like this for me and you.’ He smiles, a real one this time. Full-bodied and bright. ‘A week later they wired me the money. Greg wanted nothing to do with dad’s legacy, and Clay wanted nothing to do with any of us, really.’

Michael gawks at him. Mouth agape and eyes wide. ‘It was enough?’

Alex nods. ‘For the property, yeah. Razing that old farmhouse and building a home of our own? That’s going to be up to us.’

‘A home of our own?’ He knows he sounds like an idiot. Repeating Alex’s simple words back at him. But that’s the best he’s got at the moment.

‘I thought maybe we could design a space that works for both of us. A space adaptable to my mobility needs, roomy enough to have friends stay whenever they want. A home meant for a family with a couple of kids.’ He pauses, lets that sink in. ‘A dog or two. Maybe some chickens and goats out back. Horses, even. Since there are already stables.’

Michael steps behind him, pressing his chest into Alex’s back and wrapping his arms firmly around his waist. ‘Keep going.’

‘A workshop for you. One that’s not buried in the ground. Where the sun shines on your face and the stars guide you at night. A soundproof studio for me so I don’t bother anyone trying to sleep. And anything else, Michael. Anything else you want.’ His voice falters the tiniest bit, low and strained with emotion. Another measured breath. ‘It’s too much. Right?’

Yes.

But the thing is, Michael can see everything Alex described. The house, the workshop, the studio. Even the goddamn horses. And all of that is nice. Perfect. The best dream imaginable. But what sells him is the mention of kids. Their kids. Their kids growing up here. Safe and loved. Chasing after chickens and crying over skint knees. Michael holding his little girl’s hand as she wobbles down the steps desperate to run after the dog while Alex follows with their son in his arms.

Suddenly, his mother’s words come to him, unbidden from where he’d locked them away. The words he’d kept for himself. Don’t be afraid to fight for your own happiness, my love. How easily she’d seen through him and known exactly what he needed to hear.

So, he fights.

‘Yes.’ He whispers the words directly into Alex’s ear. ‘But we’ve always been too much. Me and you. Why stop now?’

Michael kisses down Alex’s neck and holds him tighter while the sun climbs higher overhead, illuminating the desert morning stretching out around them. Cars pass behind them on the highway and somewhere in the distance, a rooster crows. He replays the scene in his head again -- their little girl tumbling down the stairs, Alex snuggling their son into giggles.

Alex has made him this promise, and now it’s his turn.

‘Hey, Alex.’

‘Hmm?’ Michael knows he��s lost in his own daydream. Perhaps the exact same one.

‘Marry me.’

[angrypixie-sarisa]

Of Death and a Baby

Piedras Rodantes Pt. 23

Sam xMexican!Witch!fem!readerx Dean (polyamorous)

Author’s note: There’s the use of indigenous language, Nahuatl, casually but magically as well. Nahuatl is the language used by the Aztecs. It doesn’t mean they were magical, but Día de muertos was celebrated long before the Spanish conquista. Because of the focus of death in this chapter I personally think that the connection between the tradition and language is quite beautiful and I wanted to use it in a way with respect. I personally am learning Nahuatl and felt the enthusiasm of incoporating it to the story. If someone finds it offensive or has notes about it I will gladly take them and even erase the chapter if necessary.

Warnings: kinda long, swearing.

(no gifs bc my wifi sucks)

“Okay, so, are you sure he had no aura? Like, not even a spark of red? Yellow? Heck, not even blue?” Diego was sitting criss cross in front of you. You shook your head as you finished drawing on your floor.

“Nothing, and when I say nothing, believe me, it was nothing. You remember that spooky book at school? The one with the weird gray lump?”

“Wha-the weird one?”

“It reminded me so much of that.”

“Word?”

“Word. Hence this.” You signaled towards the things drawn on your floor, all surrounded by the respected color, tarot cards, crystals and herbs. Diego sighed as he helped you light up all the candles. 

“You know, if they find out about this, they’ll get mad.” He said as he placed his hands on his knees, palms hugging them lazily. 

“¿Quién?” You asked as you did the same thing. He gave you a look as if you were supposed to know who he was talking about. 

“Sam and Dean?”

“Oh, pft, who cares if they get mad? Esto es justo y necesario. Además sus sentimientos no tienen nada que ver en si hago magia o no. Screw them.” he dedicated you a proud look, before clearing his throat. “Ready?” 

“On three?”

He nodded. “One.”

“Two.”

“Three. Nihuinti, nichoca, nicnotlamati, nicmati, nic-itoa, nic-elnamiqui: ¡Maca aic nimiqui, maca aic nipolihui! Incan ahmicohua, incan ontepetihua, in ma oncan niauh: ¡maca aic nimiqui, maca aic nipolihui! Estoy ebrio, lloro, me duelo, digo, me acuerdo: ¡ojalá no muera yo, ojalá nunca perezca! Donde no se muere, donde se encumbra, allá vaya yo- Ojalá.” You both chanted in unison. The circle started to illuminate with variety of colors, though the ones that repeated the most were red, purple, orange, green and blue. You kept chanting the same words over and over until in the center of it all, you got an answer. 

Slowly, you both opened your eyes and moved your hands from your knees as you looked at the center on the circle. 

You sighed. In temporal burnt letters it was written “Tetlapopolhuiliztli. Atlenkauitl.” Which meant sorry, no time or bussy.

“Well, there’s another way.” 

“I know, but it’s the longest way of invoking death.” 

“But it’ll be worth it. You’ll have your answers.” 

You sighed while passing a hand through your hair. 

“Es la muerte. Tiene sentido que esté ocupada.”

“Ni modo.” Your phone vibrated in your backpocket. You took it out and checked it only to find a text from Lisa. She managed to convince Dean to get on board with the gun lesson and the knife throwing. Verga. You forgot about it or rather you were utterly convinced that he wouldn’t give in that you decided to focus all your energy and thoughts to summoning Death. But well, she was busy and now you were stuck multitasking. 

“It’s not fair. I wanted to learn how to throw it.”

“I know champ. But for now your mom gets this privilege.” You caressed his hair slightly. Though Lisa didn’t feel it like a privilege. She would rather not have to know how to fire a gun and throw a knife, but her situation demanded it so here she was. 

“Okay, once you master the movement of your throwing hand and you don’t fear to hit your foot instead of the wood your standing on-” 

She looked at you with a mock on her eyes at your teasing. 

“Then you’ll move from throwing at the floor to throwing at a wall. For now, stick to the other method, the precautions and keep practising. Salt in the windows and doors, the whole shebang.” 

She nodded as she and Ben helped you get the set up you brought for her practicing. Next thing you were at the door, already saying your goodbyes and as you walked a block away your phone vibrated again. Since you wanted to summon her, you kept thinking everything could be a signal that death actually made some time to pay you a quick visit. But sending a text wasn’t her style and when you saw your screen it was Dean’s name that appear. It was a text, however, you didn’t get the chance to read as a call came to replace it. 

“Hey. I was just with Lisa and Ben, made sure the house’s properly safe and all. What’s-”

“Y/N, we need your help.” He sounded desperate, his voice was rushed and it sounded as if it came from different places, kind of like up and down, for some reason. 

“Wha-Why? With what?” Just after you asked your ears were filled with the sound of whales, very noisy and demanding whales with a tiny sob here and there. 

“Is that a baby?!” 

“Yeah! I told you we need you! Quick, I don’t know for how much longer we can handle this!” 

“Okay, but-”

“Perfect. See you here.” And then he hung up.

+++++

There was a knock on the other side of the door, a very loud knock. "No, no please don't…" Dean muttered as he heard the baby starting to cry again. Sam passed a frustrated hand over his face as he saw his brother open the door only to be met by another catastrophe. Your eyes were flames and he could swear you could kill anybody with that glare. 

"What. The. Hell? At least if you ask me to come over give me the fucking place where you're at! I had to open five different doors to come here! There's a Swedish family you owe an apology to!" You practically helped yourself in. Taking deep breaths to calm yourself as you walk through all the room. Your eyes landed on the whaling baby. "Hi. I'm sorry, did I scare you, darling?" You went to pick him up and to the brothers surprise the baby lifted his arms at you. "Yeah, come here buddy. Hi! Are these evil men not attending to your needs? They're pretty awful aren't they?" 

"Excuse me?" Dean glared at you and the baby as he settled his head on your chest, on top of your heart. You passed a soothing hand through his back and rocked him gently. 

"Sorry I woke you up. They were awful to me as well." You whispered to him.

"Oh, come on!" Dean, once again, complained.

"That's a lie." You heard Sam say at the table.

"Don't believe them. They would say anything to save their necks. A bet they don't even hold you. Tsk. Muy mal." With every word you felt him relax and you looked down to confirm that his eyes were droopy. 

"Hey, about your spanish." Started the older Winchester and measured his words as he was met up by a murderous gaze. 

"What about my Spanish?"

"I'm tired of wondering whatever you're saying all the time. Could you just cast that spell that Diego did for Tyler?" 

"Me too." 

You turned to look at Sam and you couldn't see anything other than mere curiosity. You rolled your eyes as you whispered the spell and a light orange smoke appeared at your feet before dispersing quickly, as though something scared it. 

"Did it-did it work?"

"Pues claro que funcionó. ¿Verdad que sí mi niño?" And as you spoke words started appearing as if they were watching a movie with subtitles. 

"Wow! That's awesome! Say something more." 

You thought for a while as if suddenly you didn't know any Spanish. Funny enough, the next words you spoke weren't Spanish. 

"Ma cochi, pitentzin. Maconexteca pitelontzin. Ma cochi cochi noxocoyotl. Maconexteca noxocoyotzin. Maconexteca pitelontzin. Ma cochi cochi pitelontzin. Maconexteca noxocoyotzin. Maconexteca pitelontzin. Ma cochi cochi pitentzin." But it worked, the spell translated the Nahuatl words, the song to them. But of course, the sound of it wasn't familiar to the brothers. 

The baby in your arms cooed lazily at the sound of the song. Instead of bothering to answer the brother's questions you kept singing to the babe until he fell asleep. Only then did you stop singing and placed him in the crib. 

"What was that?" Sam asked. He had stood up from his place on the table to lean nearby on a wall. 

"Nahuatl." You said nonchalantly. But of course that wasn't a satisfying answer. 

"I studied Nahuatl so it makes sense that I know how to speak the language." You looked at their dumbfounded faces and sighed. 

"Do you need a quick class of Mexico's history?" Seeming that there was no response you continued. "As in the United States, México was also populated by indigenous cultures. The dominant, and I'm not proud about this, culture was the Aztec/Mexica. They dominated great part of the country so it's the most spoken indigenous language, although there's still a small number of people that speak it. I personally fell in love with it and so wanted to learn it and did." You shrugged when no response came from them. "What can I say? I'm a woman of many surprises." 

“I see that.” Sam said, patting your head gently as he went to head outside. 

“Where are you going? I hope you didn’t just drag me around here to babysit.”

“I just have to cover something I missed. Brb.” He winked at you before disappearing behind the shut door. 

You sighed and passed a hand through your hair, then turned to look at Dean, who was resting in one of the beds. “Well at least you’re here to keep me company.” 

You sat beside him, looking at the wooden bars of the crib whilst biting your lip, deep in thought. He never used to pat your head, he only did it once before you told him to stop because you felt like a dog. 

You felt heavy fingers tapping at your back lazily. You turned around to face the tired look on his face. “What ‘cha thinking?” 

You released your lip and turned your attention back to the crib.

“Nothing.” It would’ve convinced him if it wasn’t for the fact  that your voice sounded low and dark, causing him to sat up. 

“That’s the worst lie you’ve ever told.” When you didn’t answer, he pressed. “Is it Sam?” 

At that he caught your attention, seeing as your head quickly spun around to face him with a puzzled look painted in it. 

“You feel it too?”

“Feel what?” He thought the distance between you and his brother was bothering you and he didn’t know why it was there in the first place. You two should be like newly weds or something, after all, you were reunited again. 

“Nothing, nothing.” You panicked and closed your mouth before you could say something else. 

“Y/N.” He warned. Well now he needed answers. He wanted to know what was happening. 

“Dean, you don’t wanna know, okay?”

“Except I do, you’ve just called me Dean.” 

Finally, you met him in the eye again. “What?”

“You only call me Dean when you’re serious.”

“That’s not true.”

“Mhm, sure.”

You laid back on your forearms, still looking forward. “Don’t know what you talkin’ ‘bout win- I mean, De-”

“See, I told you!” He slapped your thigh playfully as he chuckled, earning a few silent laughs from you. 

“Okay, alright, you’re right. I do call you Winchester frequently.” His hand wrapped above your knee and squeezed gently. He gave you some time in silence before he planned to press again. He didn’t want to give the impression that he wouldn’t ask again but also he didn’t want to annoy you with his insistence. 

“What is it? What about Sam?”

You groaned. “You never give up, do you?”

He shrugged as his thumb made tiny circles on your jean wrapped knee. 

You sighed. “Fine. Si te vas a poner en ese plan, pues ya que.” You huffed as you sat up again. 

He smiled softly. “ I love this spell.”

“Yeah, except now I can’t talk shit with you in the room anymore.” 

He bumped his shoulder with yours. “Don’t change the subject.”

“Wha- you were the one who did.”

“Y/N.”

“Ay, sí, ya sé.” You rolled your eyes, took a deep breath and let go. “Do you think Sam is… You know, our Sammy?” There was a pause as his hand stopped moving abruptly. You started playing with one of your beaded bracelets nervously as you waited for his answer. “What do you mean?”

You sighed before answer. “He’s not Sammy, Dean. He’s… Different and not in a good way.”

“What- How is he different?”

“Well he doesn't fight with you.”

“Oh, so you prefer it that we fight?”

“No, i don’t mean it like that. I mean it’s not natural. You guys fight and now he rises from the depths of hell and suddenly your brotherhood is just paradise?”

“How do you even know that we fight normally?”

“He told me before going back to hunting, before going to hell. Dean he’s not Sam. There’s something wrong with him, he-he has no aura. He’s way to poised and calm all the time. He patted my head.” You started listing all the things, carefully toning down your voice so you wouldn’t wake up the baby again. 

“Wow, what? Your basing all this on him patting your head?”

“It’s not just that, didn’t you hear what I said? He had literally no AURA. And him patting my head? I asked him not to once and he never did it again through the time we were together.”

“So he’s awkward, he’s remembering how it was having you around it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Well, how do you explain the aura then?” You crossed your arms. 

At that, he remained silent, clenching his jaw as he thought. “Maybe you’re still tired, from the djinn thing.”

You took a deep breath and clenched your fists. You knew he wouldn’t understand.

“Just forget I told you this.”

“No, Y/N, I-” But whatever he was about to say got muffled by the sound of something splattering, followed by baby cries. You both looked up to see skin and blood on the wall. 

You both hurried to aid him, you beating Dean to it as he answered a call from Sam. 

“Dean.” You called as you picked the baby covered in green goo. He hanged up the phone and took the baby from you. But neither of you knew what to do except for panicking and do a funny dance where you stood. 

“Shapeshifter.” 

“I know.”

“The baby, he’s…”

“I know.” 

“What do we do, Y/N?!” 

“Um, okay, well…” You stammered. “No need panicking.” But what could you do? Was there anything to do, really? All you could do was take care of him until you could figure out something better. “Um, we- we can’t have a dirty baby. Let’s clean him and for once stop him from crying.” 

The Winchester nodded rapidly. “Yeah, yeah that sounds like a plan.” He took the baby to the bathroom, living you staring at the mess left behind. 

“I guess I’ll deal with this.”

+++

You finally got everything clean except that the baby kept crying. You tried cooing at him and playing with him but nothing worked. It would’ve been easier if you had a baby toy but, the brothers didn’t buy any. 

“Y/N, come on. You were supposed to be the baby whisperer.”

“Oye! Just because I’m a woman it doesn’t mean I’m the baby whisperer.” 

Then, there were knocks on the door before a voice came through. “Manager. Everything okay in there?” You frowned as you both shared a look before glaring at the door. 

“Yeah, no, we’re fine. Thank you. Good night.”

“There’s been complaints. Mind opening the door, sir?”

“Ay, pinche wey, pues que le valga a la verga.” You whispered. The older Winchester pressed a hand on your mouth despite your complaints. “You cannot curse in front of a baby.” He scolded. 

You shrugged his hand away. “Oh, grow up, everybody does.”

“Sir?”

“Uh, it’s not a good time. J-Just got out of the shower.” 

The doorknob started moving impatiently. You shared a look with the hunter. In your eyes he found an ice cold blue that wasn’t supposed to be there. He saw you move to hide on one side of the door, leaving the baby to him as he placed the him in the crib, before mimicking your actions. 

The door opened up to reveal a police man with a knife. Manager, mis huevos. Dean heard your voice in his head, not affording to look at the translation.  The intruder just needed to advance a couple of steps before he grabbed his arm and you got the knife out his hand. 

Struggling, the man pushed you two away from him, making the stupidest thing and pushing you two in between the baby and him.

“Get the hell out of the way.”

“No that’s not gonna happen.”

“A child should be with his father.” 

“Prove he’s your son, then we’ll consider it.” You said. 

“I’m not just talking about me, I’m talking about our father.” 

You masked your confusion well enough but the hunter looked as if he took the bait. You mentally facepalmed.  And as the guy went to make his move you quickly dodged his kick before you kneeled and kicked his other leg. 

“Y/N, look out!” 

He grabbed you by your hair and pulled. But just as sudden as it was it stopped. Dean had jumped into action and wrestled with the man. 

“The knife!” 

You felt it beneath you and you grabbed it as you went and pressed it on the shapeshifter’s throat. He groaned, placing his hands around the hunter’s throat. 

“Try me, I’ll choke him before you could slice my throat.”

“You talk to much.” As you went to move your hand he slammed his head with yours, freeing himself from your threat. 

You placed a hand on your forehead and saw him towering over you. But before he could do anything else a gunshot was heard and his body met the floor with a thump. 

“Well, there goes our deposit.” You heard Dean say towards the door. You needn’t see it to know that it was Sam.

+++

You were driving to meet up with Samuel and the cousins. The boys had discussed about the events and Sam had suggested to go to Samuel. You weren't happy about it, your gut kept telling you that something was wrong. Still, there you were, sitting at the back of the car, keeping an eye on the sleeping baby. 

You looked out your window, not really knowing where to look at, but you certainly didn’t want to face forw, when something caught your eye. As if the world had slowed down, you perfectly saw a lost soul watching dumbfounded at the cars as if they didn't know how they got into the road. 

Your fingertips started tingling and you glanced down at them to find them colored a coal black tone. 

Verga. You glanced around shoving everything trying to find anything that could help you; there had to be something you could use to hide them. 

"Hey, what's up?" Dean asked watching you through the rear mirror. 

"Uh. Sammy…" you cleared your throat. "Sam, do you happen to have the other day's gloves?" 

"Uh, I think so. I think there somewhere back there." 

You sighed and mumbled a thank you. You were sure to move carefully, trying not to flash them your fingertips. 

Just as you thought you had no exit to your problem you saw crushed leather fingers beneath the baby's car chair.

"Ay Dios mío, gracias!" You quickly retrieved them, shoving your hands swiftly into the soft fabric from the inside. 

"So, what's with you and the gloves?" The older brother asked. 

"I- I well, you know, I tend to wear them when I get too overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed, 'bout what?"

"Er, um, pues, 'bout the energy of people or a place, sometimes certain hours of the day. It depends but the feeling's rare."

While it was a true statement, it had more to do with the fact that death started surrounding you and it would only intensify once the summoning was complete. But, the fingers usually happened if the spell for summoning death worked a little too well.

+++

It was night time when you arrived and the chills down your spine intensified. There was no way you were leaving the baby’s side now. 

You felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. Soon all of this mess would be over. 

You held the baby close to you, careful not to crush him, and the cousins gave you weird looks about it that you decided to take care of by giving them the finger. Every time you did, Dean shook his head. 

“Oh, relax he’s asleep. He can’t see me.” 

Gwen approached you with her eyes fixed on the baby. She went to caress his head softly as she said. “Well, aren’t you the best disguise a monster ever wore?”

You looked away from her, sure that if you stared at her for too long her head would explode. Instead you locked eyes with Dean and you both rolled eyes in unison at his cousin’s words.

However, she noticed. “I’m kidding, guys. Relax.” She said before going away. 

You lifted the baby softly so he could hear your words. “Cura, cura, cura. Sana todo lo que llevas. Que tus abuelos están contigo y sus espíritus te protegen.” It was an incantation to wash away the energy of the brother’s cousin, you didn’t want it sticking around where it didn’t belong. No one heard, but they did see you and questioned you. When asked what the hell you were doing, you shrugged. 

“Que te valga madre, ¿no?” 

When you fully lifted your gaze, the Sams were already heading towards you and the older brother had already stood besides you. 

“Hey, let me see the little guy.”

“That’s alright I got it.” You said firmly. 

Samuel smiled. “What do you think I’m gonna do?”

There it was, your ice cold eyes again. “I don’t know. What do you think you’re gonna do?”

“You don’t want an answer to that question.” Dean backed you up. 

“Well, I’m curious. Who exactly do you think we are?” Christian asked from his chair. 

“Hunters.” You both answered. But that didn’t matter because his response was only directed to the one on your right side. 

“Funny. Here i thought we were family.”

“Hey, let’s not get worked up.” Sam started. 

“Yeah, let’s not.” His cousin finished before directing his attention to something else. 

“Here, Y/N, it’s fine.” He neared you and looked at you. “Let me take him. It’s okay.”

“Heh, well you’ll have to rip him off of my arms.” You didn’t move. You stood your ground because stepping back would’ve ment intimidation and you weren’t intimidated you were furious. 

“Y/N.” Sam said quietly.

“No, don’t talk that bullshit to me. What do you want him for? Hm? Tell me, give me a good reason why you want me to hand him and I will.”

The room fell silent, more than it already was. You scoffed. “What you can’t think of a good one? He’s fine, he’s healthy, he isn’t injured. You want to take a look at him? Hear your words. Look. You can do that shit with your eyes, I don’t need to hand him over for that.”

Samuel, sighed, raising a hand to scratch the back of his neck. 

He’s nervous. The older brother heard your words in his head. His back shuddered, but when he turned to look at you he saw that your attention wasn’t directed at him. He didn’t even think you actually intended to talk to him. What did you said once? You tended to think loudly. 

“What are you gonna do with him?” The attention of the good ol’ Campbell shifted from you to his grandson. 

“Raise him.”

You scoffed. “Simón, wey. Esa ni tu te la crees.” 

“Raise him?”

“You got another suggestion?” 

“But-”

“It’s dangerous out there for him.”

“What about in here? What are we gonna study him? Poke at ‘im?”

“Your mind goes right to torture, Dean. Don’t assume that for everyone.” 

“What exactly you’re tryna say?” Great, now you got two angry people. Good luck fighting us.

“Sorry, I heard what you majored in. Down in the pit.” Christian retorted.

“Ay, pinche puñetas! Que te valga madre, pinche cabron de mierda!”

“Sorry, I don’t speak mexican.” 

You gritted your teeth. “And I don’t speak bozo, yet here we are.” 

“The hell is your problem, man?”

His cousin stood up and walked directly towards you. “You’re starting to become a pain in my ass.” 

“Take it easy. They’re my family.” Sam stepped in. 

Christian took a look at you. “I’m not scared of fighting a girl.”

“Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you.” 

Dean gulped and looked at your eyes, they were no longer icy blue, they were pure red, as fire and blood. As if you could burst something into flames by just looking at it. 

“We’re done bristling up here or what? Nobody’s doing anything to him, guys. When he’s old enough we throw it to him.” Samuel spoke. “He wants to volunteer to help out, that’s fine.” 

“Could be great.” Mark added. 

“How?” You asked lowly. 

“Think of the kind of hunter he’ll grow up to be.” 

“Hm. See I didn’t see it before but now I do. Thank you for that, you’ve opened my eyes.” You said sarcastically. 

“You have to be joking! I mean, come on. You can’t Angelina Jolie a shapeshifter.”

“Why can’t you give me an inch of trust, Dean?”

“Y/N, give him the baby.” Mark commanded. 

“Uy, sí, mamón. Lo que usted ordene. Se me olvidaba que le tengo que hacer caso a cualquier pendejo que abra la boca.” 

“Maybe because you two are back from the dead and I seem to be the only one who wants to know how.”

“You’re not the only who wants to know.” Sam said softly. That took you off guard, it sounded so genuine yet only in that moment he felt honest. 

“Well, there’s too much of mystery in this family for me to get comfy.”

“Then don’t. But don’t put it on us. All we’re trying to do is invite you in. You too, young lady. You think we are some merciless hunters but we’ve been nothing but open to you. Christian, you’ve always wanted a baby, haven’t you?”

“I mean, yeah.” 

“Try to take him away from me and see what happens.”

Samuel scoffed. “What you think you can do better?”

“At raising him? Yeah, I do.”

“But didn’t you tell Sam that you didn’t want kids?” Gwen stepped in. 

“Well I changed my mind, sue me. One thing is for certain, I have a better chance. You guys are always on the run, always hopping from one town to another. You don’t have a steady income. I do. And I have a savings account with money enough to start a college fund. If you can’t say the same thing, leave the baby the fuck alone.” Your phone kept buzzing like crazy. Just a little bit more, he’s almost here. 

Everyone fell silent again. This was new to Dean. He had never seen you liked this but he always knew that you had a good way of shutting people the hell up with solid facts. 

Just when Samuel opened his mouth to respond, distant barks were heard and panic overflowed the room. 

You looked at Sam, only to find nothing but confusion. Then you turned to Dean, but he only dedicated you a panic look as well. You felt paralyzed, your body tensed and for the first time in years, you didn’t know what to do. Well, you did, but it was easier for you to think tit than to move your body. You had to blame it on the spell, it was making you slow and frightful, like an old person that had their foot more on the afterlife than on the material world

“Safe room.” Samuel said. He placed a hand on your shoulder and guided you towards a door. “It’s downstairs. The baby’s gonna be safe there, go! We got it, go!”

+++

Loud clanks and footsteps echoed in the safe room where the four of you where at. 

“Come on, Bobby John, you’ve got to be quiet.” Dean cooed at him above of you. You still didn’t feel like handing him to someone else. 

“I’m gonna go check, you guys stay here.” Sam said, but as he looked through the window his image was mirrored and the shapeshifter yanked the door of it’s hinges. He took Sam by the collar, blocking his attack and threw him out of the room, knocking him out. He spotted you and began to walk towards your direction, getting rid of Dean in the process, making him blackout as well. . He then saw you and took your form. 

“Give me the baby.” 

“Took you long enough.” You whispered before handing them the babe. The shapeshifter gave you a thankful look as they carried the baby in his arms. They took a deep breath as they relaxed knowing that his keen was finally with them.  

“Thank you for calling us. And trusting us, Y/N. Thank you for taking care of him, we are in debt with you. It did making the tracking easier”

“There’s no need for that.” You sighed. “I’m only glad he’s safe. I was the only one who thought he was better with his kind.”

Your mirrored self gave you one last nod before walking away. Just as they were about to round the corner, they turned to you. 

“But you didn’t trust one of us before. What changed?” 

“Like I told him. All I needed was proof that he was the father. Now it doesn’t matter anymore. He has no one close to him left. I’m sorry for all the trouble, it wasn’t supposed to go like this.” 

They shrugged and as they walked away they said: “Make sure to make your injuries believable.” 

Yeah. You thought and sighed. That was going to hurt.

The rest of it went like you expected, lots of clean up and confusion. Dean asked about the shapeshifter alpha (which was the one tracking the baby) and his grandparent and Sam answered patiently. 

Now you where at the walk to the car, tending to your black eye, that you funnily gave yourself, while the brothers talked. 

“You know what’s funny.”

“What?”

“Back there, the fight in the motel. That guy said that they had to be with their father. So maybe, he was talking about the alpha.”

“Uh, I guess so.” Sam said nonchalantly. 

“So you heard that?” 

“I don’t know, it was kind of a hot moment? Why?” He looked at his brother and then at you, but whatever he was searching for he didn’t find it.

“Because if you did know the alpha was out there and you knew they were looking for the baby, then that means you took the baby as bait.”

Sam fell silent but looked at his brother as he waited for the question. “So did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Took the baby as bait?”

“Of course not, Dean. I honestly thought Samuel was the best shot we got.”

The older Winchester looked at you for backup and his brother mimicked his action. 

“Ah no, a mí ni me miren, yo tengo mis propios problemas ahorita.” You pointed at your black eye and thankfully that made them take their eyes off of you. And the rest of the ride was silent as a tomb.

+++

When you got back to your house, a tiny shadow was waiting for you, meowing. 

You sighed, relieved. “Schrödinger, hola gato guapo.”

“You have a message. It’s on the altar.” He walked you towards your coffee table, where you had mantled death’s altar. In the center, on top of the tarot death card, there was an envelope with a black wax seal, death’s seal. 

You sighed. “Always so fancy and proper, huesuda.” You opened the enveloped and unfolded the letter that was inside. It was a personal letter to basically tell you to be patient, she had a lot of work but as soon as she felt a space between her schedule she would gladly have a cup of coffee with you. 

“Great. I’ll have to make café de olla de aquí hasta que aparezca.” You clicked your tongue.

“At least she communicated with you.” Schrödinger said as he rubbed his body against your leg. You smiled and picked him up. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

+++

@anathewierdo

[veryberrybrenda]

A Vacation Away from Wayhaven

I decided to write a snippet about if Unit Bravo ever decided to take a vacation. This is my first time ever writing something like this, so I hope you guys enjoy. I might do a part 2 where they l hang out in town. I couldn’t resist the angst of the Love Triangle :D This takes place a month or two after Book 2 by @seraphinitegames

“I spy…something green.” Felix’s words were laced with boredom as he stared past Mason out at the car window from the middle seat.

“If it’s another palm tree, I’m going to throw you out of this car!,” Mason growled. His grey eyes glowered at the young vampire.

I silently smiled at the comfortable banter surrounding me in the back seat of the Agency’s SUV. It had taken quite a bit of convincing by the others for me to use the Agency’s black SUV in favor of my silver hatchback.

Most of the arguing had been done by Adam.

“Your safety cannot be guaranteed in a car such a state as yours. Your life is far too valuable to be taken by that car,” Adam said with a heavy tone while his green eyes stared at me with such intensity that made me forget the whole insult and the fact that the rest of the team was also in the room.

Our gaze was only broken when I saw the corner of my eye Felix, who had the smile the size of the Cheshire cat plastered on his face, and Nate who had a look of confusion on his usually calm face. Adam having realized too that there were others watching him, shifted his gaze over to the nearby window of the warehouse searching for non-existent intruders.

I thought a weekend getaway for the team to my family vacation house would be a good idea for all of us. We are all strung as tight as a rope from all the tension from our failure at recapturing Murphy. The source of most of the tension came from Adam and Nate who shifted uneasily whenever Murphy was mentioned. After the relocation of the Maa-alused, the team had been focused on trying to locate Murphy once more after he escaped from the abandoned warehouse, which has been proving more difficult than I thought.

That name no longer sent shudders through my core since it had been months since he had last plagued my nightmares. It also helped that Nate was always comforting me and listening to my recollection of my nightmares when I had trouble sleeping.

Nate isn’t the only one that made the nightmares disappear.

It was true that Adam did comfort me too in my nightly walks when Murphy filled my sleep. We often would spar in the training rooms to get me to tire, so that sleep would come easier. Although we would sometimes end up on the benches talking. Our conversation seemed to flow easier at night. I don’t know if it’s the tiredness of training, but Adam was more open. Smiles were more common and once… I might’ve imagined it, but I swear I saw a flash of dimples on Adam’s pale cheeks after recounting the tale of my rebellious youth. But every time we got close, Adam would push me away by suggesting I head back to sleep, or he would exit the room. I will never get used to that habit and my heart sinking every time it happened.  

I ran my fingers over the almost unnoticeable scar on my neck. It’s been an unconscious habit that I picked up after my near-death experience with Murphy. I try not to think about it that much since it will only slow me down in the investigation to bring that bastard to justice.

The vacation house hadn’t been visited by Mum and I for awhile now. Her job at the Agency had been keeping her busier these past couple of years and partly because I think the house reminds her too much of Dad. There are pictures of him all over the vacation house, which contrasts the amount in the family house, which was none.

“Do you visit this house often, Surina?” I looked up to see Nate’s warm brown eyes turned to face me from the passenger seat, which was the only seat that could contain his mile-long legs. He opted out of his usual neutral color clothing and brown jacket in favor for a cream cotton shirt that sleeves ended at his elbow. He also traded his jeans for tan Bermuda shorts. His whole outfit was simple and casual, yet very fitting considering our destination.

Emerald Coast.

It’s a tourist town known for its beautiful crystal-clear beaches. The water-- pristine. The sand -- so white that the light reflects off of it and makes for a beautiful scene and a popular settling for weddings.

The Emerald water is just as mesmerizing as Adam’s eyes.

I quickly shook the thought away as I turned my full attention towards Nate. “Not as often as I hoped, but I’m glad I get to share it with you guys,” I said with a bright smile while I ran my hands along the fabric my white romper. “There are so many secrets wonders hidden in the forest next to the house.”

“One I hope to explore with you.” Nate said in a sultry tone that had my body rank up a few degrees. It didn’t help that his eyes had gone dark with desire pulsating through them and he was staring at me with such a gaze that could melt the toughest of steel.

“Ahem.”

Both Nate and I broke our hypnotizing gaze from each other to look at Adam who was clearing his throat. He wore his usual attire of his green combat pants, but this time sporting his rare, blue tee-shirt that barely stretched over his hard muscles. His eyes were glued to the road with his aviator sunglasses reflecting the sun’s harsh rays.

Adam insisted that he drive because he was “better suited at reacting to unknown dangers on the road.” I agreed because I admit, vampires do have their benefits and also because it was a two-hour drive and driving too long makes my legs numb.

“I still don’t see how a vacation is any bit helpful in our mission,” Adam stated with a sneer.

“Well, spending time together will help build better trust in the team and so make us much more efficient in recapturing Murphy.” My voice confident as I gave a smirk.

That was the excuse I used on Mum and it had thankfully worked on her. She agreed that some down-time would be beneficial in seeing a new perspective on our case.

I gazed at the rearview mirror hoping to gauge at Adam’s reaction. My hopes fell short when I forgot he was wearing his sunglasses and I couldn’t view his eyes.

His icy green eyes that let me see the cracks in stoic mask.

However, I did see his body tense at my sudden attention towards him. What surprised me even more was his reply.

“I suppose I can’t argue with that logic,” Adam said with a teasing tone and gave a small smile that had my heart rate go up a few beats.

“My logic was the one who convinced you to go on this vacation,” I quipped.

“You like more than just her logic. Right Adam?” Felix flashed a wide smile as he leaned forward in his seat and brushed a black curl away from his amber eyes and into his purple cap while looking at both Adam and me with such a glee that only a toddler can possess.

Adam growled and his grip tighten on the steering wheel and I felt heat settle on my cheeks as I tucked a black strand of hair behind my ear. Nate placed a hand on his old friend’s shoulder in concern. The touch had the intended effect Nate wanted when Adam loosen his grip on the steering wheel.

Felix having been contented in the reaction from the leader and from me, lounged back in his seat with his hands behind his head.  The buttons on his rather colorful tropical shirt stretched to accommodate his movements. He also lifted his legs, which was covered by brown cargo shorts that matched his dark skin and crisscrossed them in his seat. His right knee was now touching Mason’s side, which caused a growl to escape from the quiet vampire. Felix’s colorful shirt contrasted Mason’s usual dark attire. Felix threw a toothy grin before lowering his legs back to the ground.

“Who knows,” Felix shrugged. “You might even come to enjoy more time with our lovely Surina, almighty leader,” Felix threw a meaningful look at Adam as he spoke those words with a genuine, and surprising serious tone that made me ark a brow at the true meaning behind those words.

Nate who was distracted from the conversation with the map in his lap turned his gaze towards Adam. “We’re almost there. Just turn at this exit and we should be there in about twenty minutes.”

A contented sigh escaped from Mason who had been staring out at the window. “Finally. I can’t take much more of Felix’s chatter.”

We all laughed at Mason’s comment. Adam gave more of a small chuckle that made me smile even wider. That sound was something I wish I could hear more often.

I gazed out at the window, happy that I was growing closer to the team that had threw my world upside down. My thoughts then shifted to Adam and Nate and a frown made its way to my lips.

The more time I spend with both of them, the more uncertain my feelings become around them.

Especially Adam.

No, this vacation is about relaxing. Not about some feelings I have for a guy that pushes me away every time there are cracks in his walls. But what about the guy that is so warm and open and makes me feel like I could take on the whole world.

I quickly push these thoughts aside as I see the familiar view of the colorful town getting closer in my vision.

[leanarg]

Practice Challenge II

((Hi again! So, these are 3 fics in one post! Including my first two rps with @ladyreggiewright​ (our very first one after ages not doing this so asdfghk) and with @wylan-caldwell​ I had so much fun doing both, so thank you, guys! <3 Thanks for reading too, hope you enjoy them as much as I stuggled writing them ;P  Google Docs link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ARTjqveFJ1njDc2LL0PU4C0ShN2jlO9JC1Imt9MDTh8/edit?usp=sharing ))

A CHANGE OF LUCK

“Alright, y’all ready?” Rita said with a loud voice vibrating with nervousness. “The speeches are over. In the next block, Prince Arin will be picking the names.” That was her fifth lap around the entertainment office floor and she just couldn’t stop repeating what Vandy Post had already announced before each round of commercials. I knew she was trying to act authoritative, but seeing her in this state was always amusing.

It wasn’t unusual that the building was bursting with energy this late at night. The pre-press team always stayed working on putting together the bulldog broadsheets content and adding the last details, then sent the whole thing before the deadline to the press team operating on the last floor, where they were all in charge of the printing process. I would dare to say there was activity in this place 24/7. But this particular night, we were focused on The Report. The streets looked almost empty from up here, everyone was at home in front of their TV waiting for the names of the lucky girls randomly picked by a drawing of names out of different crystal boxes. 35 provinces, 35 boxes, 35 names. 

My attention had been focused on Arin’s stern expression. His life was about to be decided by fate, or as many people want to call it, destiny. I wonder what was he thinking, standing there expressionless, willing to uphold his duty. 

Is he excited? Is he nervous? Is he wishing he could run away from that room and leave all this tradition behind?

My name was inside of one of the boxes, so I should had been even more anxious and edgy than Rita herself, but, after the PET Gala fiasco, where: I hadn’t gotten the clues I was so close to getting, I hadn’t finished the job I was supposed to be doing and my one month salary had been reduced to half; I was certain that whoever was in charge of my luck was not very fond of me. 

“They are back!” Rita shouted as soon as Arin’s face reappeared. Everyone in the room fell silent. I scoffed a laugh when I noticed them unconsciously leaning slightly towards the big tv, but I ended up doing the same after adjusting my glasses. One by one the basic information of the selected were being transcribed from the screen to our devices as Arin picked out their papers. 

<< “From Allens, Idalia Moretti, from Angeles, Emily Rose White,... from Honduragua, Callia Adair…” >>

My fingers were moving fast across my cellphone’s keyboard. These were the girls we would be hearing a lot about  from now on and I needed to know everything about them.

<< “From Labrador, Lea…” >>

I froze. My head felt dizzy trying to take in what I had just heard. For the shortest of seconds, everyone’s eyes were on me. I could hear Rita’s voice instructing them to get back to work and maybe someone else was now in charge of The Globe’s blog but at that moment I couldn’t care less about that.

It’s really happening... I made it to the selection!

Finally, I could stand up. I was feeling so much energy inside me that I wanted to run. Suddenly, the lift made a sound and my dad came quickly out of it and … wait, my mom is here? She was carrying my sleepy little brother, Dean. 

I could read the shock on my parents’ faces.“I’m in!!” I said a little too loud but since Mr. Grant was there no one dared to complain. My dad let out a short laugh before extending his arms for an embrace. “Congratulations, Rosie, I knew it would happen, didn’t I tell you V?” He said to my mom. “Grants always get what they want.” 

Ugh, I wish. But I wasn’t going to argue with him right now, so I just offered him a wink.

As soon as my father let go, my mom surrounded me with her free arm. “So how does it feel to be a lady, huh? We have to celebrate this!”

“Well, do ladies feel hungry this late? Cause I wasn’t feeling it a moment ago.” “Yes, let’s leave these guys to work in peace.” my dad said suddenly remembering where we were. After clearing his throat as if that simple gesture was a switch between the dad and the boss, he talked with Rita to make sure someone had replaced me updating the blog, then he congratulated everyone for their dedication and finally wished them good night. “I just hope you are paying me the full day,” I said to my dad as we all headed outside.

“I mean, are you working right now?” He raised an eyebrow, mockingly.

I sighed “I guess Grants can’t always get what they want after all.”  And I meant it in more than one way. 

The next week ran fast. My father and I agreed that I had to keep going to the office as usual, but it wasn’t easy to balance my work and my phone ringing every 5 minutes. More than once I had to ride home in the middle of the day because someone was waiting for me at home. 

First, a man with a very peculiar face came to do some kind of interrogation, which was understandable until we got to the most uncomfortable, personal ones. I almost spit my coffee laughing until I realized he had no intention to leave until he got every answer to each one of the questions on his list. 

Like him, I received a tailor and a doctor; but it wasn’t until the press started to ask for interviews when I realized my life had made a turn of 360 degrees. 

The thing I lamented the most about this odd schedule was that I couldn’t travel to the provinces to interview some of the selected as we had planned, but I did take advantage of every opportunity I had to do deep research about them. 

Some of the names or last names could be found on old newspaper editions, there were tragedies, accomplishments, unfortunate events… I smiled to myself, while I made annotations on my journal, fascinated by all the different interesting lives that were about to gather under the same roof. And I guess somehow that included mine.

The farewell party organized by Labrador’s Mayor seemed more like a political campaign than a real party. I might have fallen asleep during his speech if I hadn’t been texting Harris for the 40th time that week.

The last time I knew something about him was the night of the announcement when he sent me a simple “Congratulations, Lady Lea.” Then as the photographer, he had to go with Rea to the half-tour over the country to cover the selected interviews. 

“How dare you not be here when you are needed,... you lucky mooncalf.”

I looked up to see the crowd from my place on the big platform set in the middle of the Amberly park. It hadn’t been a very good idea, because there were grey clouds gathering over us and the sun was partially covered by them already. 

Someone forgot to check the weather section today.

But the trees surrounding us were decorated with purple and green metallic balloons -the colors of our province- and there were several signs with good wishes so I appreciated the effort. 

Everyone was here; The Globe employees that didn’t like me at all, my family on the first row, my college best friend, Liv had made space on her busy schedule  to come to the event, even my grandmother had sent his chauffeur with presents. That was her way to show support and I honestly didn’t have any complaints.  After the Mayor’s speech, the great boss Maxwell Loyd took the microphone to speak, I rolled my eyes, not caring about the people in front of me. He didn’t waste this opportunity to promote himself and flatter me. I mean, if he really had thought all that about me I would have had a promotion and a raise already, instead I just got ridiculous instructions and a handshake. 

When they both finally finished, the rain had started to pour, plus it was almost time for me to leave for the airport. I buttoned my coat before taking my place behind the microphone to start talking, but the eyes of the lady in charge of my schedule forced me to skip until the end of the speech I had prepared the night before. Every time I was going to make it sound deep and sentimental she made a sign for me to hurry.

“I appreciate your support… I will do my best… thank you for coming.”  

Were the only complete sentences I managed to say under such pressure. There was clapping and cheering afterwards, but there was after the previous boring speeches as well, so I didn’t get too excited about that. 

“Have a good time, my Lea.” My mother said after kissing my brow. I could smell her sweet perfume that I was going to miss. “I will, mom. Take care, I’m only leaving cause I know you are going to be in charge.” I side eyed the two men of the house. Then I kissed my little brother and messed his blond hair. “Bye bye little toad.” He just babbled something and waved his little hand. 

“So, Lady Grant. What do you expect from Prince Arin? Do you secretly plan to drink all the coffee from the Angele’s Palace? Rumor has it your father won’t let you marry until you turn 48 years old do you think Your Highness would wait for you that long?” “Wow, Mr. Grant you ask pretty basic questions, I have been asked the same ones all week.” He gave me a big tight hug and I ignored the wool of his coat feeling  itchy on my cheek. “I’m very proud of you Leana, and of course I’m not talking about this selection situation… I’m sorry about-” I stopped him not wanting to have our little disagreements as today’s last memory. And I also hoped I could change his mind by the time I returned home. “We can talk about that when I come back, dad.” He nodded. “I’m starting to feel bad for our dear Prince Arin.” I scoffed a laugh.

“Lady Grant, we are past the established hours already.” I heard a lady behind me. 

I turned to my friend Liv with an apologetic expression but she just smiled and waved. “I will text you… Bye! The rain started to fall harder but I had read the weather section on the paper this morning so I was properly dressed with boots and a coat over my white shirt and black pants. 

I walked towards a guard who was holding an opened umbrella to cover us with it. He opened the door of the car.  Then he offered to take my bag for me, but I had packed some of my old journals in there among my personal things. “Thank you… What’s your name?” “Finn Ray, my lady.” He answered confused. “I will keep this here with me, Finn.” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone before entering the car. I guessed he was new at guarding selected, because I noticed him turning to look at the woman in charge of the schedule. She nodded once at him and joined me inside the limousine. 

By the time we got to the airport I had learned that our chauffeur was called Alan Cobb, he had been working for the palace for 3 years on special occasions. He had three kids and his wife was expecting a baby girl. 

The strict lady was Miss Ramirez, she was happily single, obviously tardiness was her biggest pet peeve and she had worked there for 6 years already, but she enjoyed her job and had never thought of doing anything else, although I didn’t quite understand exactly which was her role in the royal offices of Labrador.

She left me at the boarding door after wishing me luck.

The flight to Angeles was long. I shared a plane with 3 others selected, that seemed pretty decent at first sight. 

We had a polite introduction conversation before we took off, but then everyone focused on her own thing; Jen Li, -the Yale law student from Waverly- took advantage of the 8 hours flight to sleep. Alana Hansen looked out from the window almost the whole time lost in her thoughts, and based on the green tone on Regina Wright’s face I guessed she was a risky company for the moment. 

I remembered I had read about her parents' unfortunate plane accident in an old newspaper, they used to be famous politicians and she was an apple that had fallen close to the tree. Hopefully not too close.

So, considering my options I prefer to write in my journals during the whole trip.

As soon as we arrived we were hurried to a room for makeovers. For me it felt more like a day in the salon, nothing drastic was made, just a few lights on my hair, perfect makeup and a stunning blue dress with matching elegant pump heels shoes. 

They did insisted on giving me contact lenses, since I had forgotten to pack mine, so after a long argument with the stylist, Mariel, I decided to wear the contacts and let him enjoy “his creation”. 

In the end, despite the little changes, when he showed me my reflection in the mirror, I had to recognize I was content with the  upgraded version of me.

                                       ESSENTIAL RESEARCH

The tour around the palace was quite short considering its size. I was almost sure that it was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside, but the curiosity to see my new room, made me settle with the basic information,

I took a glance down at the little map on my hand. Eloise Hall room 28, second floor. As I headed to the stairs, the decorations and fancy details surrounding me were impossible to ignore. With every step you could find paintings by famous old artists -my mother admired- hanging on the walls, expensive vases and beautiful furniture. 

Looking around I spotted one of the selected quickly scribbling some notes in a notebook. As I got closer I noticed she was my plane mate, Regina Wright. Her green tone had disappeared or maybe covered with makeup and she looked much more secure now that we were down here on earth soil. 

I laughed a little bit inside walking by her side “Hope whatever you are writing is worth a bump on your head.”  

“I hope so too” She said absentmindedly, not looking up from her notebook. After some seconds she took a short look at me, flipped through her notebook and quickly closed it before I could react and lean discreetly to read what she was working on. 

Okay, now I’m curious.

“Excuse me, hi. Leana is it?” She gave me a polite smile. 

“Yes, feeling better... Regina..? I asked faking ignorance. 

She looked at me as she didn’t know why I was asking her that but then just answered, “Splendid. But please, call me Reggie.”

We continue walking up the stairs towards the second floor, while we shook hands, 

“I'm Leana Grant but you can call me Lea or Lee” I said touching the arc of my glasses I had put back on as soon as I left the makeover room.

She nodded. “Alright, Lea. Journalist, correct?” She made her pen click as if she was going to start writing again. I frowned, puzzled. “You too?” 

She chuckled at the question as if I should already know who she was. And the truth was, I did. 

“No,” she finally said, opening her notebook again, adding something, then she continued. “So, what brings you here?”

I was sure Reggie had many qualities but subtlety wasn’t one of them. 

I pressed my lips together, thinking about my motives, which one of them should I tell her? I’m here as an inside informant for The Globe; or, I’m here to live and learn about this whole selection phenomenon… I didn’t even know which one was the right answer.  “... just figured I couldn't miss this whole thing, you know.” 

Half- truths are always safe.  

“Are you here for politics?” I added before she could even think about my answer. 

She looked pleasantly surprised by my question, clearing her throat. “Yes, that is one of the reasons.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “You did your research.” 

I guess it was my turn to feel recognized, but unlike her I didn’t want to be so obvious, so I shrugged. “Your name rang a bell.” 

She looked at me suspiciously, lifting her chin, a slight movement I didn’t quite understand. “Is that so? That's good, I suppose. Best to be prepared.”

“Maybe you are right, I guess you actually did your research. What do you have about me?” I asked directly now, pointing at her notebook casually.

She remained serious. “Oh, just the usual. Occupation, caste, age.  Name, obviously.  There's 35 of us after all. Would be a shame to get anyone mixed up.”

“Well, now most of us are threes and the twos are pretty well known.”

“Yes well, obviously. Was to be expected. It's still an appropriate mix.”

Her statement made me remember her parents somehow, obviously she had their school but I wonder how much she agreed with them. “That’s... a word to describe it, yes.” I answered incredulous, “So where are you staying?” I asked, as I noticed I have already found my room.

We discovered we were room neighbors which I decided was very convenient for me. I liked people who have answers to my questions. 

She was concerned about my acoustic guitar hobby and I assured her I hadn’t brought mine with me. “The music room will do.”  And she assured me her studying was going to be silent. 

The conversation continued but my curiosity was already unbearable, so I opened the door of my room to check it out. I didn’t want to be rude so I invited Reggie inside as we talked.

“What are you working on?” I stepped inside

She followed. “Political Science Major.”

I gave her a glance to let her know that was not the answer I was looking for. 

She blinked with realization. “Oh, I see I misunderstood. Well, actually I was just writing a paper on the pros and cons of capitalism and if our country should focus more on it like we did when we were still called the 'United States'” She air quoted the name.

I looked around my room considering her answer. Suddenly my eyes met with three maids standing in line in the middle of the room. When they saw us they made a courtesy and I nodded at them as a greeting, hoping we can have proper introductions later.

“Hmm the lesser of evils... but the United States not exactly an example to be followed.” I said to Reggie. 

“Exactly.” She said. I noticed her writing a mark in her notebook.  

“A-are you like grading me?” I dared to ask what I had suspected since the beginning, but I didn’t want to believe. It was shocking at first but after the third mark it became amusing.

“Who else do you have in there?” I asked curiously before running next to her to peek at her notebook.  She closed it again. When I looked at her she smiled at me awkwardly “No, of course not. Just remembered something.” Her notebook was behind her back, now out of my reach. She straightened her shoulders before adding, “Well, thank you kindly for your invitation, glad to have met you…”

I stayed there confused, Had I gotten it wrong? Or was I right and she didn’t want me to know? Anyway, I should have said nothing.  “Alright ... glad to meet you too, see you around.” I said worried that she might be uncomfortable now. 

She nodded as she headed to the door. One of the maids hurried to hold the door for her. 

I frowned concerned, I couldn’t just lose a source like her. “Wait for me tomorrow, I think we can walk to the dining room together.”

She turned to give me a frown, seemingly confused by my suggestion. “But I already know where it-” then she smiled. “I will.”

As soon as Reggie left I took out the journal from the pocket of my dress and tossed on the pretty desk by a large window where I peered at the view of the Angeles city.

                                                                                       FOR THE RECORD.

After introductions my maids brought me dinner up to my room. So while I was eating the best creamy mustard chicken I ever had, we had a little chat. 

Among other things we talked about I expressed my surprise when I didn’t see any Royals when we arrived. Liberty, Camila and confirmed the Schreaves didn’t plan to meet any selected tonight, we would have to wait until morning. Queen Anjeli and Princess Ayesha had to leave the palace to attend important matters and Wylan Caldwell in spite of not being a selected was currently living in the Palace. Back in Labrador, I managed between college, work and extra work to fill my schedule, my mother never liked me being out of the house so late at night or sometimes not being able to have a complete breakfast in the morning, I enjoyed being busy and drive my Vespa from one place to another, but it was hard for me to admit that one of the reasons I liked my life that way was that besides when I was concentrated writing notes on my iTypewriter; I was not good at being alone with my thoughts. That’s why when I was a child my mother bought me a ukulele to play when I was feeling anxious, which gave excellent results. Later when I entered college I took a short guitar course with the same purpose. 

Therefore, later that afternoon, when my maids went back to their chores, leaving me alone I decided to leave my room to check out the music room, as I promised Reggie I would do. 

It took me some minutes to find the right door downstairs but my memory had never failed me and it wasn’t going to start now. 

I opened the third door in the west hall and peeked inside. I felt relieved when I saw the big piano in the last corner and dared to walk inside. Besides the piano, there were several instruments resting on their stands spread around the room, most of them to play classical music, but luckily, an acoustic guitar was among them. I was going to pick it up to test it when I spotted shelves full of old vinyl records. 

I walked towards the vinyl record player, it had a beautiful vintage look, it’s big horn imitated the ancient gramophones used during the Victorian years, but I suspected to be a more recent model. 

I noticed someone had left a classic record on, I wonder which one of the Royals had been listening to it as I moved the tonearm onto the outer edge of the disk, the little diamond tip to touch the groove. 

I guess I still remember how to use one of this. 

I stretched my arm and pulled one of the discs from the upper shelf, the others came down with it and  << "KNEEE-KNEEE!!" >>

The blaring sound of violins vibrated around the room making me wince for the annoying sound filling my ears.

“Damn!” I covered my ears while trying to find a way to turn the bloody record player off before my head exploded. Overwhelmed by the sound I went on my knees and stretched my hand behind the furniture looking desperately for the plug, but before I could find any the music stopped. 

I stood up still touching my ears 

Have I gone deaf? 

“I take you didn’t mean to do that.” I heard someone say behind me. 

Okay, I haven’t 

I turned around to find a guy eyeing me warily, from the corner of my eye I noticed a laptop and a couple of heavy leather books that weren't on the table before. 

“I was considering turning it on but it made the decision for me,” I said without explaining. 

At that moment, a couple of guards came into the room alarmed. They scanned the room quickly before looking at us puzzled. 

Wylan followed my gaze and turned to them, slightly. “Just a mishap. We’re fine.” He acknowledged with a wave of his hand. I let out a sigh of relief as they left the room to return to their posts.

“First time using a record player?” He asked to continue teasing

I gave him a deadpan look. “Ha-ha I take that the last person who played it had some hearing problems.” Before I crouched to pick up the rest of the vinyl records still scattered on the carpeted floor, I noticed a smile tugging at his lips that didn’t last.

In a minute he was bending in front of me to help. “You picked some good ones.”

Suddenly we looked at each other for a second, I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at his for a second trying to figure any sign of sarcasm in them, and he just had the word “awkward” written all over his face. Obviously I was making him feel uncomfortable. 

I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so busy trying to read him. 

“I like classics- acoustic to be precise.” I finally said with a shrug. “Do you own any of these?”

“This John Mayer one is mine. I have some other ones too. They’re over there.” He gestured to the rack behind me, then stood up with the vinyls he helped pick up.

I raised my eyebrow and nodded approvingly. “You have some taste, I will give you that.” I looked up at him, waiting for him to offer his hand for me to help me stand, but apparently living in a castle was no guarantee of anything, so I just stood up slowly, brushing my dress. 

“Some were gifts I grew to love.” He acknowledged, holding the vinyls out for me. “I’d recommend keeping the volume down before you turn it on next time.”

I took the discs to put them back in its place on the shelves “Well, you should put a sign somewhere,” I joked, a bit annoyed by his recommendation. 

I adjusted my glasses and stayed standing there, admiring the vinyl records once more. My curious mind wondered about the Prince. “Which ones are Arin’s?”

“I’m not sure. He might not own any.” I caught him glancing at his things he had left on the table before back to me. “Might be a good question to ask him yourself.”

Or you’re just evading the question. But fortunately, one of the things my job had teached me was to have thick skin so I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily. 

“You really don’t know or you don’t want to tell me?” I asked with an amusing tone.

He let out a small sigh, relenting a bit. “He likes The Killers. There’s probably a vinyl or two of those in here if you really need a good conversation starter.”

I faked a grimace “ugh! that piece of information should’ve hurt…” I said mockingly before adding. “I guess some advice for tomorrow’s interview is completely out of the table.” 

“Depends on what advice you’re looking for,” he let out, surprising me. 

I started to walk around the room still looking at him, considering my answer. “I don’t know, you are his friend... knowing a little bit about his personality would help,” I said casually, as if I didn’t already have thousands of questions listed in my head. 

But somehow he knew I did. “I’ll answer one question you have. Just one.”

“So generous …” I said more to myself than to him. My hand went unconsciously inside the pocket on my dress and my fingers touched my journal inside of it, purely out of habit. Of course, I wasn’t going to take it out so I crossed my hands in front of me as I resumed my walking around the room. 

“Okay…” In my mind I was looking for a single question that could indirectly tell me things about Arins personality … and why not about Mr. Uncomfortable himself too. 

“How do you start getting along back in college, like how did you become friends?”

Suddenly he let out a laugh, startling me. I frowned at first, but then I decided it wasn’t so bad, it picked my curiousness further.

I looked at him genuinely amused and he begined, “We were both going for runs and without knowing, I drifted a little too close. I was listening to music and not paying attention. His bodyguard sort of…” He paused to bring his fist to his neck simulating a punch. “And took me down.” I could see he was amused, for real. 

I laughed picturing the scene on my mind, considering all his previous teasing and had to admit it was a little bit entertaining to do so. “Ouch! His bodyguard does look ... fierce.” I commented remembering the man’s complexion I had seen several times on TV.

I wait for him to continue before asking, “what happened next? What did Arin say?”

His smile was more like a ghost on his face now, not physically there but somehow still present. “He apologized. After that we found out we shared a couple classes together and I offered to help him study for exams.”

“That’s an epic story… I bet it left you marked for some days.” I made a grimace, touching my neck, imagining the pain.

“Swallowing hurt, to say the least,” he said, remembering. After a minute, he combed a hand through his hair. “ Did that satisfy your question?”

“Hmm yeah, it was good, for now” I answered scoffing a laugh. The truth was I didn’t expect to enjoy his story that much, but I just couldn’t settle with only one question, but it wasn’t convenient to push more questions on him now. 

Fortunately he didn’t refuse, he just rolled his eyes at me, amused. “Alright, well I have to get back to work. At least try to not deafen the entire palace again.”

“I can’t promise anything.” I let out, finally taking the acoustic guitar from its stand, while he turned to gather his things.

“Reassuring.” He gave me a side glance and started walking out the room, he offered a two fingered salute before disappearing behind the opened door. 

After a second, while looking down at the guitar already in place on my lap, I compelled,  “Wylan... thanks!”

“You're welcome.” 

I heard him say from the hallway just before I started strumming the guitar strings, hoping its sound was enough to help me survive the first night. 

[pearlplusau]

Chapter 4, The bright light Part 1

In the midst of the red, dark battlefield, multiple gems lay poofed or shards scattered as far as an eye could see. The war had yet concluded.

With the crystal gems gaining the upper hand, the leader of the rebellion, “Rose Quartz”, in the heat of battle, her shield rose, her sword gripped, her comrades fighting as one. As Pearl fends off an elite soldier all on her own in a distance, her spear shining as she fought with grace and elegance within the cacophony of battle. While Garnet charges and finishes the jaspers, Coral stood alongside Rose, with her lance fencing off surprised attacks from the sides, and whacks a topaz on her head. “Poof!” as yellow smoke dissipated and her gem on the ground.

Rose thought to herself with glee, “We’re almost there! We’ll finally be able to stay here after all this is over!” Victory seems to be closer and closer, but none of them will be leaving without consequences.

On Homeworld,

A red ruby ship approaches the landing site, as it descends, a tattered up Amethyst guard faceplants off the ship, “Ughhhhh!” She moaned, her long, puffy white hair in horrendous state and she was wearing a uniform that signifies her diamond in serving, Pink Diamond.

This Amethyst guard had never been to Homeworld before, but her orders were clear, “ONE OF YOU UPPER CRUST! Find the Diamonds! State the situation and request back up!” In a rush, her elite sisters decided to send 8XWJ, a soldier that’s not in the fighting shape anymore, and threw her into a small ruby ship and launched it manually from the control panel on Earth.

The amethyst regains her strength, and proceeds her mission.

She knew the urgency of this message, but she couldn’t stop from gawking as the scenes in Homeworld get more and more alien than what’s she’s used on Earth. Instead of forests and hills and rocks, it’s buildings, skyscrapers, and fellow new gems!

She’s never seen other types of gems other than herself and jaspers, so seeing so many gems who are clearly in higher positions intimidates her.

“You there!” A blue gem approaches her with the sound of heels “clonk, clonk, clonk” getting louder and angrier.

She begins to panic! She raced through her mind and forgot what to do. What was she supposed to do when greeting a higher level gem? Oh right! The diamond arm thing! She shaped her arms as the big gem stood right in front of her.

“State your purpose!” The blue gem ordered, but 8XWJ has no clue who or forgot what she has to say as she begins to get very nervous and sweats. “I…ahh…uhh…” 8XWJ stammered and fiddled her fingers, the blue gem narrowed her eyes, “Newcomer huh?” She smirked and continued, “How am I not surprised?” Her tone was filled with disgust and prejudice.

“I am Holy Blue Agate! I have been urgently assigned to receive a message from an Amethyst guard from Earth by a fellow Hessonite, now tell me…”

She reached to the back of her head, where her gem placement is, and conjured an electric whip full of static! She flings towards the purple gem, grips her hip, and sends a wave of electricity as 8XWJ screeched in pain and got yanked towards Holy.

“What…is…THE MESSAGE?!” she screams as she grabbed her by the uniform, and shook her as violent as she was allowed.

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!” 8XWJ shouted and plead, the whip dissipates and she fell on her knees, which was painful as her gem is located on the left.

She explained the situation on Earth as the soldiers were close to losing the battles, and she was told to inform the diamonds personally by another commander, but was cut short when she heard Holly laughing.

“You? Informing the Diamonds? Ha!” She mocked and continued, “Don’t even try, you won’t even make it to The Great Ballroom without another few centuries in this confusing labyrinth! I’ll deliver the message to the diamonds myself.” With that, she turned and walked back where she came.

The amethyst plead, “Wait! Wait a sec!” With her raspy voice, she requests permission to follow the Agate. The blue gem scoffed and said, “What makes you think I’ll let you?” She looked at AXWJ as if she’s gone corrupted, “An Amethyst guard with an Agate! What will the others say?”

Looks like AXWJ was stuck finding her way back to the ship, she turned and sighed, “Guess I’ll just find another way back then…” she considered tracing her steps when the agate changed her mind, “Fine, you can tatter along, but just so we’re clear, I will be the one speaking to the diamonds! Don’t make a pip while I’m talking!”

Before they proceed to the diamonds, AXWJ made another diamond symbol and request to speak freely, “What was the whip all about? It hurts so MUCH!”

Holy smirked, “That, was just a little fun I needed, and also the tip of the iceberg, step out of line or waste my time again, you’ll be wishing you were never made.” 8XWJ gulped and nodded.

In Blue Diamond’s chamber (pool),

A blue themed chamber, with pillars connected to each other and tubes beneath the pathway up to the pool, where the three massive diamonds are present. The water resembles the color of lime, with the beautiful White Diamond in front of the waterfall, and Blue and Yellow on her left and right. They stayed still and quiet, as they were finally done with their work and tried to relax for a bit, but Yellow had something in mind she wished to share.

It wasn’t long until relaxation was over, Yellow decided to drag work into everything once more, “An idea occurred to me the other day, as you both know, Pink’s colony is still a work in progress after all those centuries given, as not much resources are useful towards our expanding Empire anymore, so I propose…an Alternative.”

White opens her eyes as a sign of interest, and turned to her fellow sister, mouthed “Go on”. Blue however, was not pleased as their time together has been restricting since pink’s absence, she just wished they could all have some quality time together, but sometimes opportunities like this are extremely rare, so she understood why Yellow decided to bring up work into their bonding time.

Blue sighed, “What is it you have in mind Yellow?” As she was interested as well, but would still rather have a nice quiet pool time, so maybe it’ll be over soon.

“Pearl?” Yellow summoned her little servant and continued, “Bring me the blueprints marked EX-293.”

The yellow pearl shaped her arms and bowed, “Right away my Diamond!” and scurries off to the exit.

“A few days ago I was experimenting with the “Fallen” soldiers from battles, I pieced them together and see if it would reform as a fusion, and sure enough, it did, with very little resources, I produced hundreds of little monsters crawling around, in very little time might I add, so I propose…”

She paused as her pearl had retrieved the data she needed, it was a palm-sized green sphere, the poor pearl had to use all her strength to push the sphere into the water. As it finally drifted in the midst of the diamond, a hologram projected above the pool and showed the data of what she experimented.

“From what you see here are the results of the experiment aforementioned, the duration of each fusion depends on its size and quality, each of these has the capability of mass destruction to anyone in their path, so…” The image flickered to a blank state, but with a slight touch on the screen, millions of shards grouped into a massive form, its gem size was bigger than White Diamond herself!

“I call it, the Cluster.” She presumes as the image regained its form. “When it emerges, it will tear apart the Earth, forming as a massive Geo weapon, and with it, conquering the galaxy would be so much easier and effective with it on our side!” Yellow Diamond pictured the cluster on a rampage on their enemy territory, declaring victory and taking over the galaxies.

“But…it will tear apart the Earth?” Blue Diamond was concerned on that particular segment, “Was Pink in on this Yellow?” She hoped to receive comfort with Pinks agreement with the plan.

“This…is the alternative for when she… Fails, Blue.” Yellow was expecting comments from the leader, but she was quiet and tranquil, as if she knew their faith in their youngest diamond would be diminished somehow.

“You…”Blue was in disbelief! Pink losing her first colony just because she couldn’t handle the little “issues” she stated a few decades ago. She had to do something! She wanted to scream, she wanted to shout, she wanted to let her anger loose and end the conversation! But she knows nothing will change Yellow’s mind once she establishes a plan for it, but she still wants to try, for her dear Pink.

The faint lime colored water retreated into the “drain”, as Blue stood up, she spoke, “I…object this proposal, Yellow…”

Back to Holly,

The two gems were almost there, they just need to gain access into The Great Ballroom which was guarded by two topazes and an aquamarine.

“State your facets, cut and purpose.” The small floating gem requested while adjusting her wand/hairband.

“Holly Blue Agate, facet 2D cut-22, and this is…” Holly gestured to Amethyst, who was trying not to stare at the giant golden doorway shimmering, reflecting rays of light into her eyes, which cut her back to reality and stammered.

“Amethyst, facet 5 cut 8XWJ! I was sent here by the orders from the military force, Jasper 3LJ, to deliver important information to the Diamonds!” She stated with her best.

“How lovely! An Amethyst delivering vital information to the Diamonds? Ha! Don’t make me laugh!” She definitely looked like she was somehow offended and shamed. “Unfortunately, the Diamonds are not in the Great Ballroom, if you wish to see them right away, they are currently in My Diamonds pool chamber, please await here for their arrival, they would be free to hear your “vital” information in another few decades or so.”

“Wait what!?” Amethyst 8XWJ slipped a bit but remained calm, “I mean...the war is in progress as we speak! The commander request back up from the diamonds immediately! Can’t you just let us cut or something?”

“Oh, sure you can! I mean, where would we be with all this waiting and order? Just go to the diamond’s chamber pool and see if they’re willing to take the time for you.” The tiny floating gem replies with much sarcasm, but Amethyst took no notice.

“Great! Let’s go Holly!” The amethyst said but abruptly stopped, and gulped…

“Oh let’s go indeed! And it looks like you know exactly what will happen next!” Holly spoke with such cheer and enthusiasm it was scary…

To be continued…

(A/N: Sooo, as you finished reading you will realize I will be heading towards story interpretation of what might have happened from different perspectives. By reading these, you will see how scenes MIGHT lead to the title, the bright light.

Most of you might be thinking, “I'm here for Pink Pearl and HER au! Just because you include her as a small character in this story doesn’t make her your main focus!”

And to that I say, 

Yeah you’re right.

But prior to this story, the other story not really focusing on Pink Pearl, “Coral” is Part 2 of Bismuth, which is similar to this chapter, writing mainly the story of how it might have went, cuz honestly, im pretty curious how everything happened from the rebellion to the corruption even to the cluster.

So if theres any questions or confusion, feel free to ask them so you can get the clear picture. I won't reveal my next chapters tho, that would be a surprise for yall.

So this tells me you read the whole thing, which is pretty impressive, Part 2 of this chapter will be coming up in a week or two.

Happy reading and till next time!)

[rivaltierno]

Power Failure [Chapter 2]

A mishap during a fight with Katarou results in the team getting their powers swapped. Now, in an attempt to get their proper powers back, they have to get Katarou to cooperate with them, all while dealing with new abilities they don’t know how to use - and two teammates currently out of commission due to that. A retelling of Teen Titans Go! Issue #24 with Honorary Titans.

Written for Honorary Titan Fan Week 2020, Day 4: “With the Honoraries”

Word Count: 1,703

When Hot Spot first came to, he thought he was dying. He pushed his fingers onto his palm to feel the heat that was supposed to be there, but it wasn’t. He was cold. A cold that would have made him shiver if his body wasn’t so stiff. It was like something was constricting him, to a point where he had to stop everything else and just focus on breathing properly.

Once that was under control, he forced his arm up so he could look at himself, trying to ignore how stiff his body was. His skin was still a healthy shade, so at least he wasn't really dying. He then further ignored the aches in his body by pushing himself upwards. 

He wanted to see how his teammates were doing, if they were going through what he was. Instead what he saw was flames - and the person with no idea how to control them.

The only thing Jericho felt at that moment was panic. Not pain, for the fire didn’t burn jem, and not fear, since je was too disoriented to be afraid. Just unadulterated panic.

Je flung jems arms around in a futile attempt to de-power jemself. Instead, je accidentally sent off a fire blast, the recoil sending jem backwards.

Hot Spot managed to duck out of the way of the blast. That changed the aching in his body into pain, as if it was now trying to restrict him from moving too quickly. He continue to ignore that and looked behind him to make sure nothing was on fire where the blast had actually landed. A tree behind him had been a little singed, but that was it.

He hoped that meant Jericho wasn’t so panicked je couldn’t be reasoned into calming down.

“Listen to me Jericho, it’s going to be all right,” he started, slowly crawling towards his teammate. Between his own body fighting against him and the heat from the fire now actually affecting him, he didn’t make it very far. “Just, breathe for a minute and you’ll be able to power down.”

Jericho wanted to take his advice, but couldn’t convince jemself to. When je laid still, it just reminded jem that it felt like jems blood was literally boiling and that je just had to move to stop it. So instead je jerked upwards and tried to reach out to Hot Spot for help. But the sudden movement of jems arm was too much, and je accidentally sent off another fire blast.

Hot Spot couldn’t dodge this blast in time. However, before he knew what was going on, his new powers washed over him, protecting him with a thick layer of crystal.

This is what finally got Jericho to stop for a moment - evidentially guilt was a stronger feeling than panic. As je was looking over Hot Spot for any injuries, it finally clicked in jems mind that something must have happened to make everyone’s powers swap. Je, now consciously aware of the fact that je wasn’t going to burn to death, could pause for a moment and power down. Satisfied in seeing Hot Spot unharmed from jems attack, je hoped that just thinking about ‘turning off’ the fire would work.

And je could. It was like the fire just melted off of him, letting jems skin hit the colder air. Unfortunately it was only a temporary reprieve, as Jericho’s body temperature never dropped from a fever and je got a whole new host of symptoms from the powers. Heavy sweating, dizziness, and a sudden nauseous feeling had jem doubling over.

Hot Spot wasn’t too far behind jem. He couldn’t move but was still conscious, and quickly reasoned that Kole’s powers must work similarly to his. Her’s did, and he was free from the crystallization before he had even finished thinking about it.

He could move now, but didn’t want to. He was feeling like he did when he first woke up: cold, stiff, and having trouble breathing. He focused on that last problem first, forcing his breath steady again. At least now he knew why he felt like something was constricting his movement.

The two of them stayed like that for a little bit, just trying to adapt to the symptoms their new powers brought. But Jericho never cooled down and Hot Spot couldn't get himself to warm up.

Hot Spot didn’t like to wallow in his own misery - too dangerous - so instead he tried to lighten the mood. “Well, this sucks.”

Jericho looked up and gave him a weak smile. Je certainly agreed with that.

The conversation didn’t continue past that, however, as the rest of their team had finally found them.

“Good to see you two alive,” Jinx said, crouching down to help Jericho up. She then scrunched up her face. “You look terrible. Red is not your color.”

Jericho hadn’t even realized that whatever had swapped their powers had changed their uniforms, too, but looking down je realized she was right. The usual purple and gold of jems clothing had been replaced by red and even more black. Je then realized that Jinx’s uniform had taken over those missing colors.

Once je was back on jems feet, je used jems limited energy to starting signing. “How are you?”

Jinx shrugged. “My eyes hurt a little, but I have eye drops for that if it gets bad. For real though, you look awful. Sweating that much can’t be healthy.”

Herald, who was helping Hot Spot up to his feet, was subtler with their comments. “Clearly this is doing somethin’ to you. Can you walk?”

“Maybe,” Hot Spot answered, accepting Herald’s offer to lean on their shoulder. “Haven’t tried yet. You doing well?”

“Seems like it. Jinx’s powers haven’t done much to me.”

“We should head back to the tower before Katarou wakes up,” Jinx started. “I think I know how to reverse all this.”

“I think he’s going to be out for a while,” Kole answered, she and Gnarrk joining the group and completing the team. “He didn’t move once while we carried him over here.”

To prove it, Gnarrk shook the man he was carrying on his back, who didn’t react at all.

“So let’s get going then!” Kole seemed to be the only one actively enjoying her new abilities. “When we get there, Gnarrk and I can ‘keep an eye’ on Katarou.” She kicked the air a couple of times to prove it.

Jinx pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling too rushed to share in her enthusiasm. “Great, take us back.”

With that request, Herald, very reluctantly, unhooked his horn from his belt and offered it out to Kole.

This stopped her excitement. In the euphoria of having abilities that actually allowed her to move around during battles, she forgot what Herald’s primary powers actually were. She, also somewhat reluctantly, accepted the horn. “Right. Guess that’s me now.” She twirled it around to get a better look at it, randomly clicking on its keys. “So, I just think about where I want to go and blow in it?”

“You have to buzz your lips, not just blow air,” Herald corrected. They then launched into the simplified version of the technical rules they had been forced to memorize. “Blowin’ air won’t do anything because then you won’t get the necessary vibrations to make the horn work. Click one of the keys to stay within this dimension. And make sure to keep the portal smaller than yourself, it’s against regulations to make your portals too large when it’s just used for self-transportation.” Herald felt their face heat up as they explained it all; they hated how explaining how the horn worked made it sound so boring.

Kole was unfazed by the embarrassment in their voice. “Buzz and keep it small, got it.” Without any other preparation, she put the horn to her lips, pushed down the first key, and played. But instead of a fanfare summoning a portal before her eyes, a noise fizzled out of the horn with nothing to show for it.  She scoffed in frustration. “It didn't work!”  

Herald was going to offer some more advice, but Kole cut them off before they got the chance.

“I can figure this out, hold on.” She figured that, maybe, she wasn’t taking it seriously enough. She stomped down on the ground in a power stance, psychologically preparing herself for something awesome. She repeated the steps from before, and this time, they actually worked.

Unfortunately, the opening of the portal had a ripple effect - literally. Vibrations shook Kole’s body into a twitching motion and spots littered her vision. She stumbled backwards.

Gnarrk scrambled forward and caught her with one hand.

Just as quickly as the symptoms started, however, they faded away. Kole easily regained control of body and began rubbing her eyes. She stayed leaned into Gnarrk’s hold more out of convenience than need. “What was that?”

Herald gave her a sympathetic look. “Vibrations.” They went over to examine the portal, temporarily forgetting that they were taking Hot Spot along with them. “In good news, you got it right. Bit small, maybe.”

“So we’re going to have to crawl through it?” Jinx complained, almost whining. She was not thrilled about the prospect of dragging Jericho through a portal.

Jericho noted the annoyance in her voice and tried to straighten jemself out, to prove that je would be able to drag jems own body through it. But even that little movement was too much for jem in jems current state and je quickly leaned on her again.

Hot Spot had the same idea, but a completely different motivation. He knew that Herald would have no issue pulling him through the portal, but he didn’t like to rely on others unless it was absolutely necessary.

“I can crawl.” He dropped down to the ground and started making his way through the portal. His body was still stiff, so it was like dragging himself through mud, but at least he had become numb to the aching feeling. Numb was how he’d describe how he was feeling overall.

Herald quickly followed him to make sure he wasn’t straining himself too much.

[kryptsune]

The Missing Star {Red X Frisk} Fluff

🌼Just wanted to post this here. It’s admittedly not my best writing since I have been doing this while dying of sickness but I wanted to share anyway. I do really love these two and I think even more friendship non - romantic drabbles are just as good. So I hope you enjoy it! It is pretty short only 7 pages long or so. I will put a break so you are not bombarded by text. :3  

A soft warmth bathed her porcelain skin through the drawn curtains of her room alerting her to the day. That small sliver of golden light was enough to rouse her from her slumber. One where she felt perfectly safe. It was a more common occurrence ever since she had been taken in. It was strange. They sacrificed their freedom for her life. The scientists were working on a way to break the barrier without any more killing though the Royal Scientist was still convinced there was only one way. That was pretty typical for Alphys. The King made an Underworld decree that she was to be treated like one of them and that she was not going to be the final soul.

It wasn’t perfect but a lot of the monsters were still grateful for what she had tried to do. That did not stop a select few of them from going rogue. They could still kill her if they caught her off guard. It had been a while since the events of that day. She had been adopted by the King and officially crowned a princess. Not that she really enjoyed being given such a title. She just wanted to be herself. Either way, she lived a comfortable life with the two that had taken her in. It was far too dangerous for her to stay in the Capital her father had said. Who better to protect her then his two most trusted guards? That is what he had said anyway.

Frisk didn't think of them as her protectors or even her guards. They were, in fact, her friends, well, more like family. She sighed softly turning to the origin of the light that had awoken her. She sometimes forgot that it was not actually real by human standards. A delicate hand wound through her hair only to push it out of her face as she slowly moved to sit up. Another beautiful day. She made her way to the curtains and threw them open with a flourish. The light began to pour into the room illuminating the baby blue walls that the room had been painted.

A soft yawn and she rubbed at her eyes leaning against the pane of glass overlooking the balcony. It was gently snowing outside dusting the tops of the evergreens in a nice white powder. Snowdin had become her home and honestly, she couldn’t have hoped for better. Its landscape was just like a picturesque Christmas card. It brought a smile to her face every morning that she was fortunate enough to see it. It truly was home. What was even better were the monsters that she had as friends and family.

She stretched her stiff limbs walking sleepily over to her dresser laying out her clothes for the day. It was supposed to be a normal schedule today. That meant getting up quickly, having a spot of breakfast, and heading out to the woods for training. Her father had been against the idea but she wanted to be useful. Sure she was able to dodge and that had gotten her far but she also needed to be able to protect herself. She didn’t want to put her family in danger anymore just because she refused to fight back. You couldn’t stop her from smiling when she was officially dubbed as an honorary part of The Royal Guard.   

It was a cute sentiment but she wasn’t sure she really deserved it, not yet. It was just training. She felt like Boss had insisted on her training regardless of what Asgore had said and she was sure that Red felt the same way. He had told her once before that he never wanted to see her turn into a killer but not every battle could be won with diplomacy. Not around here. It didn’t sit well with her. She couldn’t say no to their enthusiasm especially Boss’ with being able to train her. The shiny winged golden badge was a sign of that. The red and cobalt hearts that were engraved into the piece glinted as she snapped the little trinket to the front of her sweater before heading downstairs.  

When she made it to the third step she noticed something was off. The Fontaine household ran like clockwork. Boss was always on a strict schedule as he was more the military type. So when that warm scent of butter, syrup, and fresh juices didn’t waft around her like it usually did. She had to question what was going on. It could have just been an off day but cooking was one of Papyrus’ joys in life. He even stayed home longer to perfect his craft. It was a nice change to see in him. She was overjoyed that he had something that made him so happy. He usually spent his time concocting new recipes and fine delicacies. It was really fun to watch as he sped about the kitchen.

She made her way to the island only to take a seat at one of the bar stools. The little purple crystals embedded in the stone glittered as she leaned forward. Boss was unusually quiet with his newspaper held over his face. He was dressed casually in a black button-up, a maroon vest, and a pair of black pants. Ok, casually was not the correct word but for Papyrus it was casual. A pair of black glasses sat on his nasal ridge being held up with a vibrant orange colored magic. He was either highly focused or he did not want to be bothered.

There were no pots or pans strewn about like there usually was. No bottles of spices spanning the entire counter with various baking supplies. Aww no pancakes this morning, oh well. She tilted her head deciding to break the silence, “Good morning Boss.” Her usually chipper and cheerful demeanor had always been positive energy for Papyrus. His brother was the opposite so having someone with that much energy was refreshing. At least he had told her as such one morning while she was watching him toss flapjacks into the air and catching them expertly in the pan underneath.

The skeleton lowered the paper he was holding only so that he could peer over the top of it, “Good morning Frisk.” He was then back to reading. Frisk raised an eyebrow at his actions. At first, Boss had a difficult time interacting with her casually but it had been so long since then. Why did he feel so distant now? She just watched him for a few minutes in complete silence before noticing that he was re-reading the same text over and over again. His eyes were not even focused, “I am going to make some breakfast.”

He just nodded his head and waved his hand nonchalantly, “Very well Frisk.” She walked past him only to glance at him out of the corner of her eye as she placed a piece of toast into the toaster. The look on his face could only be interpreted as one of nervous contemplation. His voice nearly caused her to jump when he actually spoke without her prompting him to do so, “We will be canceling your training for the next couple of days Frisk.” He still had his eye lights glued to that innocuous paper in front of him.

She just nodded leaning against the counter, “Pap… is… is something wrong? You never cancel training like this especially not so suddenly.” Did she do something wrong? Did he think she was a lost cause or something? Maybe. The springing noise of the toaster forced her eyes back to it before she moved to grab some butter out of the refrigerator. Papyrus still had said nothing so she just took a seat with her little breakfast. She didn’t like it when either of the two kept secrets from her.

Boss heaved a heavy sigh watching Frisk move about the kitchen. When she sat down with her breakfast, if one could ever consider such a poor meal to be breakfast, he folded the paper in half horizontally and set it on the counter, “Do you know what the date is today?” He watched her shake her head in response. It was a date which he would always keep track of even if it was not directly stated. His boney hip met with the edge of the sink as he used it to lean back crossing his arms in the process, “Today is the twenty- fourth of October.”

Was there significance to that date? She was unsure. There must have been some considering the way that Papyrus was acting right now. She took a nibble of her toast trying to figure out exactly what that date meant, “Is that a special date Pap?” The poor girl was at a loss as she did not know exactly what the date meant. This was the first time she was hearing of it, “I assume it’s important enough for you to cancel training you never do that Pap.”

Papyrus closed his eye sockets, “No. That date holds no significance, however, the following one does.” He cracked his left eye socket to scan the room before speaking in a low tone, “It is the date that my brother came to be. You humans sometimes refer to it as a birthday.” Even saying the word out loud was unsettling to him. If his brother found out he would not be happy. He wasn’t going to keep it from her, however, that would not be fair. There was a reason why Sans had never mentioned it before.

Frisk’s eyes widened painting her face with an excited glow. It was Red’s birthday tomorrow!? No one could stop the amount of joyful energy that was rising up in her right now. Sans had never mentioned it before but the look on Frisk’s face was priceless. Her eyes glittered and sparkled, “It…. it is?! That is why you canceled training right? I am sure you are going to bake a huge cake. Oh, stars I wish I knew sooner. I need to get to work… get some balloons… make sure everyone is here. I will need to call Grillby to-” Her joy was short lived as Papyrus gripped her shoulder causing her to pause, “Pap?”

He was staring down at her in warning but not angrily so, “Frisk I know that you desire to do all these things but do not. My brother does not like to be reminded of such a day. It is something we neither speak of or celebrate in his house. Do you understand?” The happy look on her face faltered and morphed into one of sadness as he loosened his grip, “I would very much enjoy celebrating as much as you do, however, I have been asked not to do so. It is Sans’ wish. Please respect that. No parties.”

She looked defeated. Why would Sans hate his birthday? Pap seemed to want to celebrate it like she did but his brother had literally told him not to. It was… sad. All she could do was nod gently trying to respect the wishes of the two. No one should hate their birthday. It was supposed to be a special day spent with the friends and family that cared about you the most. A time to celebrate your existence in this world.

Boss released his grip on her shoulder before heading over to the stove. He wasn’t going to painfully try to create an air of tension with falsely reading that paper anymore, “That said would you still like something expertly prepared for breakfast?” Always had to slip some kind of infallible adjective in there to make a point, “I The Great and Terrible Papyrus, head of the Royal Guard, and master chef will make your favorite pancakes!” Well, at least he was more back to his old self.

Frisk didn’t expect him to want to make anything but who could pass up a meal from Pap? Uh, no one. You would be a very very dim-witted thing to do. He made the best everything. There was only one problem. Her enthusiasm for the day dropped significantly. She was sure Red would be downstairs in a few minutes if he decided to take the stairs. Sometimes he liked to just teleport down all of a sudden. He just loved to see her jump when he did, “Of course Pap. I would love that.” She just watched as he moved about the kitchen getting everything ready as he usually did hours before now. Slow day. Sad day.

When Red finally made his appearance he did not seem different. In fact, he acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. He joked and talked to them both. A simple pun had Boss rolling his eyes but he still had that faint smile on his fanged jaw. She would end up acting all flustered as he made some sort of goofily fake pass at her like he usually did waggling this brow bones up and down. Eventually, it led to her playfully punching him in the shoulder. It felt perfectly normal. He did not even question why Boss had decided to cancel training since Sans was also a part of it. What better way to train than with the Head of the Royal Guard and the Judge of the Underworld, two of the most powerful monsters around, “Goin out for a bit. I’ll see ya both later tanight.”

Papyrus just nodded but Frisk was not one to just let him scamper off. He rarely did, “Be safe ok… wherever you are going.” It was almost like she was trying to get him to tell her where he was going but he wouldn’t say. All she did was earn that shark-toothed grin and an “Aww Sweetheart ya worried bout me? That’s cute.”  Normally she would try to refute it but yes of course she was. She felt his hand come down to ruffle the top of her head messing it up, “Don’t worry Doll ain't doin anythin dangerous.” Her soft sigh had him gently patting her shoulder as she watched him snag one of the three scarves from the coat rack on the wall and be on his way.

She couldn’t get it out of her mind as she helped Papyrus clean up. He wouldn’t tell her why Sans was acting the way he was or where he might be going so she just helped in silence. They both meant so much to her. She wanted to know what was wrong. Eventually, the kitchen was entirely spotless once again and Boss went to do some quiet reading in his “torture room.” It was not actually how it sounded. A ruse to intimate his foes. She knew she had been in it. It was probably best not to bother him so instead, she sat on the couch. Sure Sans didn’t want to celebrate his birthday publicly but she could still do something right? It was time to make a plan.

----------------------

The day passed by without a hitch. Everything was prepared and perfect all she had to do was wait for Red to come home and then she could unveil the surprise she had been working on all day. Eventually, even Papyrus had asked what she was doing but she had been far too focused to answer. This was an idea that she really hoped panned out as she set the little note she made for the younger brother on his bedside table. It was simple sure but it was the thought that counted. She even made a little something baked for him too.

She could feel the butterflies in her stomach as she waited upstairs. Sure he could teleport straight to his room but he did at least usually pass by her own room to check in on her before he did. His loft of a room wasn’t limited to being magically accessible anymore anyway. They had installed a stairwell that cut right through the main hallway up to the loft. Boss didn’t like that he was not able to make it up there and honestly neither did she. As she sat on the first step waiting for him to come back, which was far later than she was expecting, She heard the soft sound of the door downstairs falling closed. At least it was more fitting. It was almost the 25th anyway.  

Her head drooped occasionally as she fought off sleep only to hear footsteps coming her direction. She was rarely coherent when tired which was not the best recipe for surprise. Her mild slumber was interrupted by the gentle shaking of her shoulder, “Sweetheart what are ya doin up this late?” It took her a moment to collect herself from the drowsiness that suddenly had set in, “Oh I… I was waiting for you to come home.” He raised a brow bone at that, “Why?” A soft yawn escaped her, “Birthday surprise.” Whoops.

He froze eye sockets narrowing, “What are ya talkin about?” Frisk just shook her head still half asleep, “I know the 25th is your birthday so I…” She yawned again before continuing, “Wanted to do something.” Her eyes met his and she could tell he was holding back a lot of repressed emotion, “Ya shouln be talkin about it.” She just shook her head finally at least a little more awake, “But why? It’s something to be celebrated and-” His shout cut her off, “I SAID DROP IT. NOW!” The anger on his face had her looking up at him sadly. He was upset sure but that anger fell as soon as he had said those words. All she could do was let out an exhausted and melancholy, “I’m sorry.”

She moved past him and made her way to her room before closing the door leaving him in the hallway. Alone. He regretted it as soon as he saw the look on her face causing him to reach his hand out and nearly stutter, “Frisk…. Frisk wait I didn mean t-” The sound of the door closing cut him off. He rested his skeletal palm over his face sadly before heading up to his room. What an idiot.

He nearly swore as he made it to the last step only to realize the light was on. Did he forget to turn it off? Whatever. His shoes and jacket was removed before he flopped onto his bed staring up at the ceiling. That is until he noticed the little cupcake that was sitting on his bedside table. Sweetheart just does not know when to quit, does she? He picked it up and took a bite, clearly, she knew how to bake it was quite good. That or his brother had a hand in it. He would not be surprised about that. His fingers moved to swipe the little note she had left right next to the baked treat which read: “Happy birthday Red! I know Pap told me not to mention it but I wanted you to know how happy I am that you are in my life. It was hard at first but that is all in the past. You both mean so much to me and you have been there for me for so long. I wanted to give you something special. It took me a long time to figure it out but I hope you enjoy it. All you have to do is turn off the lights and they will appear. I know you have always wanted this and maybe someday we can see them together. ~ love Frisk”   

By Asgore did she have a way to easily melt your heart even if you wanted to be angry with her it was hard. She was just that kind of soul, pure and sweet. Almost just as sweet as the cupcake that he just ate. Turn off the lights huh? Alright easy enough. He snapped his fingers forcing the lights to go out only to not be met with the usual pitch black of the room. Instead, as he gazed up at the ceiling there were stars. Everywhere. They littered the entire ceiling with a soft cyan glow. It caused his eye sockets to widen. This was her surprise? She had painted an entire starry sky on his ceiling. Oh, now he felt even worse for snapping at her in the hallway.

He sighed draping his arm over his face before teleporting outside the door to her room before gently rapping his skeletal knuckles against the wood, “Frisk…Sweetheart can ya come out for a second. I’m sorry I snapped at ya. I didn mean ta.” After a few moments, she opened the door looking at him still saddened by what had happened in the hallway. In fact, he could just faintly see that hint of tear marks down her cheeks, “Kitten I didn mean ta make ya cry. Just don’t like talkin about it.” He scratched the back of his skull, “But uh. I… really liked your surprise an everythin. I was wonderin if ya could tell me about it... a little…” Master at apology and conversation he was not.

She didn’t expect to hear from him till morning considering his little snap at her and she had to be honest that it made her sad he had at all. All she had tried to do was give him something special for his birthday. When he came to her to apologize she smiled at him sadly. It wasn’t like she was upset at him but sadder that he felt that way about himself, “Sure I can.” She moved past him to head upstairs looking up at her handiwork. He soon followed sitting on the bed next to her.

Eventually, they both found themselves just laying on the bed as she pointed at different clusters of stars. She had made sure to make it as accurate as possible with the star maps he had in his room even adding in constellations. As she was pointing out another set he stopped her, “Ya really went ta all this trouble to make this for me?” She just turned her head to him dropping her hand, “Of course I did. When Pap told me your birthday was so soon I wanted to do something special. Life is something that’s celebrated. Sometimes we only have a year left. Sometimes decades but it’s that unknown that makes us want to celebrate it. I never thought I would make it past eighteen but I was proven wrong. I know you don’t like talking about it but I still wanted to do something.” She turned her face toward the ceiling again, “You mean a lot to me and I know how much you want to see the stars. If I had continued instead of staying you could be seeing them now. I guess I feel a little responsible.” Her smile was a little sad.

He shook his head as soon as she said it causing him to turn her face toward him gently, “Not in your life Kitten. We chose this. Don’t go puttin that on yourself.” His fingers released her face before looking back up as well, “Besides maybe birthdays... ain’t... that... bad. If I wasn here I woulda never met ya and tha stars are cool but they couldn ever replace you. There’s never been anythin better.” He had spoken from the heart just lazily tracing the little glowing stars all placed with care.

It had taken her so much thought to make this for him and to hear him say those things brought tears to her eyes. Ones that she quickly wiped away, “I am glad you like it Red.” She ended up pointing up at that ceiling for hours making up constellations of her own for the fun of it. Her eyelids started to fall soon enough as she whispered a faint, “Happy birthday Red.”

He responded with a soft, “Thanks Sweetheart” in return running his fingers through her hair. She tended to be a cuddler. Not that he at all minded. He tore his eyes away from the glitter of bioluminescent painted stars and looked at her instead. There was one star that shined the brightest in his eyes that was not on that ceiling. One that he would trade an entire galaxy just to have.

He just closed his eye sockets with a small smile until he too eventually fell asleep. It had been a very long day. Nothing, however, could change the fact that she had made him happy with just that simple idea. Maybe one day he would open up even more than he already had but for now, it was just the two of them lying beneath a blanket of twinkling stars.

~FIN~

[efortmanteau]

TMA Headcanons

I sort of spoiled myself in terms of headcanons for The Adventure Zone, so now I try to finish/get caught up on podcasts and form impressions entirely in my head before introducing visual ideas via fanart. And lately I've been focusing on The Magnus Archives SOOOO here we go:

My headcanons for The Magnus Archives. A few were originally written after listening through s2. I've added my s3 thoughts below characters or in a new section. I'm only 3 episodes in to s4 so no spoilers after the end of s3.

Jon (I only recently discovered that there's no H in his spelling, whoops) aka The Archivist - Obviously Jon doesn't really have fun ever, so the main word I think of is 'austere.' He's a pale white guy with dark hair and greyish or brownish eyes who basically always dresses formally--collared shirts, slacks, maybe even vests, usually neutral colors. He's thin, but not fit--just the type of guy who doesn't put on weight since he doesn't focus much on food. Rectangular face, maybe has facial hair… I haven't decided, but if he does, it's like a goatee/mustache scenario that's always well trimmed. In my mind, he's young to mid 30s, but could look older. When he's scared or disshevelled though, he looks a lot younger. I think he's also kind of short, maybe 5'8", so he keeps really good posture to make up for it. Ben Whishaw is almost right, but he'd have to be homelier. S3 updates: Not really any? Although apparently it's Jon without an H. I've confirmed that he looks older than he is since the spider picturebook episode (which I would love Don Hertzfeld to animate, perhaps with assistance from Jules Feiffer who is 90 gd years old… that episode is so vivid in my head). Also I forgot Jon has worm… scars? Pock-marks? Not sure how that works, but you probably don't see them much, given I can't imagine him in short sleeves or shorts, although maybe he has a few on his neck visible pretty frequently, above collars. I'm was pleased to learn he is canonically asexual, but not all that surprised. Something about the way he interacted with Georgie in her apartment had me wondering… maybe it reminds me of me and my ex (I'm the asexual one, my ex isn't, but we still get along).

Martin - I immediately imagined Marty (Terry Gross Waters-Waters SAT tutor in Gayle) when I learned more about soft, sweet lad Martin, so Matty Cardarople has always kind of been in my head. That is probably just a similar name situation, but it's kind of perfect. Since Martin said he wasn't the smallest of guys but still made it into a basement window, I imagine he's kind of tall and chubby, but doesn't seem tall, slouchy, not the most confident person. Sort of a Neville Longbottom situation (before the glow-up). I think somewhere between Matty and Nick Robinson is around the correct appearance: a little more clean shaven and formally dressed than Matty often is with shorter hair (but still flippy), but softer than Nick is. This guy wears sweaters a lot. I guess he's canonically 29 at the end of s1--I had imagined him in his mid 20s somewhere, but I guess he was pretending to be older since he claimed he had a master's degree. S3 updates: Martin is probably the one who was most easy for me to imagine. I never really thought of his fixation on Jon to be a crush, which I'm really intrigued by in terms of character development. I was parsing it more of Martin being a bit of a subservient character, that he was like that to everyone in the office, but we only saw it from Jon's POV as the primary narrator. If I do a re-listen, I'll be very interested to pick out some Martin/Jon moments now that I have a different context.

Sasha (or maybe Sascha) - I sort of had Sally Donovan from BBC's Sherlock in mind initially. I tried to stray away from that and looked up "half black actress." I picked out Zawe Ashton without even realizing that she had in fact played Sally (in one episode, so not her main actress) because of her hair and skin and the fact that her face is pleasant, but not the typical hyper-button baby doll face that some actresses have. Sasha has natural hair with light curls (sometimes straightened). I originally pictured a small afro, but I think in s2, they refer to her as having long hair, so I guess not? I'm also not clear if that was Not-Sasha imitating her, or just straight up not looking like real-Sasha at all. She's slim, pretty posh/minimalist in style--grey herringbone peacoat, umbrella, boots. I imagine she's half Russian heritage-wise, since is a common Russian diminutive for Aleksandra. I would put her in the 25-27 age range. S3 updates: I caught on to Not-Sasha (partially because I saw the name in the voice actor credits, whoops), but I think I also caught something in Lottie's flat affect that clued me in. I thought that the imposter was just good at disguise, not that people had been cursed to forget what real Sasha looked like, so Melanie's introduction and take on Sasha/Not-Sasha threw me off a bit. I don't remember if the "long hair" comment was for real- or Not-Sasha. But I don't have any headcanons about Not-Sasha… just that she looks nothing like the original.

Tim - In my head Tim is the tallest main character, maybe 6'2", and pretty fit. He's imposing at first glance, but since he's so congenial and laid back (at least in s1 before Jon totally pisses him off) everyone who knows him knows he's a nice, fun guy. He's black, with fairly dark complexion, short hair, clean shaven. He probably wears sweaters too, but like… the thinner kind. None of this bulky knit from grandma that Martin rocks. I first think of Alan from Russian Doll (Charlie Barnett), but darker, just black instead of more mixed. I'd say he's around Jon's age. S3 updates: RIP in pepperinos. I guess him being fit is not unreasonable since he is… canonically? (does Alex and Jonny joking about it make it canonical) an outdoorsy adventurer. I certainly missed his friendly nature, but my headcanons didn't really change. He just looked a lot more tired up until the end of s3.

Elias - He is older than the rest of them, I would guess in his 40s or 50s, but given that it's canon that he rose in the ranks kind of quickly, maybe he's not that old after all. I don't really have a good mental picture of him, maybe because I can't differentiate his voice from John's a lot of the time until I piece the context together. In my mind he has a beard and mustache though, kind of full, and maybe dirty blonde hair that's greying a bit. S3 updates: I wouldn't be surprised if he carried a cane that was actually a sword or a gun (I'm American, so having a gun seems very easy to me, so I'm not sure if that would be rare in England). Also, did I hear something about having a grey bun? Maybe I'm completely confusing it with something else, but I'm chuckling about man bun Elias.

Michael - Well, he isn't human… but he looks kind of like a really pale guy who is mishapen and thus wearing a lot of clothing at first glance? He probably wears a lot of clothes so you can't really make him out under the trench coat, scarf, hat, etc. (I might be confusing him with someone else). I think it's canon that his hands are large and maybe have too many bones. For some reason, Michael reminds me of tourmalinated quartz--black and white for the most part, striations cutting through the clearer crystal--sort of like a metaphor for how he kind of… dimension hops? Ends up where he isn't supposed to? I imagine striations of his appearance sort of blip in and out when you look at him based on the static he causes on recordings. S3 updates: I now know that he was an assistant to Gertrude. I guess my idea of his human form is basically the same color and demeanor, just not other-worldly in proportions and bone count. Probably the tall gangly type of white guy. ALSO I guess he's kind of Helen now…? I'll do a separate one for Helen.

---BREAK to add characters I didn't write about until the end of s3---

Basira - I assume she is a Muslim woman, based on her name. I imagine she wears a hijab. I picture her as Middle-Eastern, perhaps Iranian, but she could also be black (there are a fair amount of black Muslims in America, not sure if it's common in England). Other than the hijab, she's not very feminine in her styling. Being on the force probably means you want pretty functional, utilitarian garments. I don't remember if she talked in great detail about how she joined the police, whether it was straight from school, but in my mind she's late 30s.

Daisy - I think I recall she has a back tattoo? She's a murderer so she has a tough air about her, but she's also a subtle murderer, so nothing about her screams that she's dangerous… you just get that feeling, you know? I imagine a white lady, short blonde hair, blue eyes. Kind of like Brienne of Tarth, but more plain than ugly. She's maybe early to mid 40s. I'm not sure if her relationship with Basira is supposed to be romantic or not. I kind of prefer this weird closeness that doesn't always equate to trust given their specific experiences. Regardless, I imagine they are around the same age.

Melanie - Melanie is probably the youngest, early to mid 20s. Typical build and height, maybe a little chubby, but not unable to climb fences or anything (gotta hunt them ghosts). She has a short, asymmetrical bob, dark hair, but part is dyed a bright color of pink, purple, maybe green. I imagine she has a go-to windbreaker that has some neon colors.

Helen - I'm so sad that we had to lose Michael to gain Helen. I really love the Spiral and the characters we've met who are involved with them. Helen in my mind was a badass realtor, ready to close a deal, very driven… and that carried over into becoming SpiralHelen. She sort of outsmarted it with the locked door, didn't she? I can't imagine that's very common for humans/avatars to get the better of their entities. She seems really strong willed, so I'm excited to see where she goes as a human who is becoming an avatar. I think her personality translates into her being 40-something but like lowkey hot? She probably rocks a suit with a skirt in bold colors that men's wear usually doesn't offer (all over red suit, tailored to her, pumps, straight brown hair, nice makeup). I'm not sure how the Spiral would affect her… maybe her angles just get a little more pronounced? She's probably not yet to the point of disfiguration that Michael was anyway.

Georgie - She is like a terrier who will bark at a big dog because they don't know to be afraid of it (or… how to be afraid of it, in her case). She is short, 5'2" or less (I just remembered that a lot of the listeners probably use metric measurements, so sorry for that, but I'm not going to bother converting). I imagine she is cute--she dresses up for her dates to Hungarian restaurants (my favorite detail omg girl get it) and wants to look hot, but really she can't get away from cute. Brown curly hair, big brown eyes, button nose. But resting bitch face… gotta ward off those catcalls and get taken seriously somehow.

Jergen? I can’t spell, it’s Jurgen - Jowly white guy. Wispy caramelly colored hair that's going white. Probably pretty tall, which I'm sure what an annoyance in those tunnels.

Gertrude - At first glance, just some old white lady. But after you get to know her, you realize she can probably murder you and is nowhere near as frail as you think. Curly, wiry grey hair.

[amarantine-amirite]

Three Worlds, One Problem

Have you ever come across two or more things that seem completely unrelated, but aren't; and it all comes together once you have one more thing that relates them all? The best example I can think of that shows you what I'm getting at is if you have three puzzles pieces that are three different colors: blue, white, and green. They seem like pieces from entirely different puzzles, but they're part of the same puzzle. You don't see it until you have that fourth piece that links the three colors together.

In my lifetime, I've come across three things that seem totally unrelated, but actually are. The first thing is something that happened to me when I was 15 years old. At the time, I attended a school for gifted children that, for some reason, had an unusually high number of students pursue careers in the government, and the school would select a student in sophomore year at random to apply early to Duke as a government major (they weren't kidding; they sent you a pre-filled application and everything). The girl who they picked originally (Jane, her name was? Or maybe Judy?) died, and I agreed to take her place. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but I was just woefully bad at doing real, actual work. When I was at school, whatever I handed in would be extremely sloppy (if not incomplete) and it didn't matter one bit. They just checked it off as complete anyway.

Once I got to Duke, that wasn't the case anymore. They went over what you wrote with a fine-tooth comb. My first paper for history was about the Civil War, and what I turned in read like the plot of a stupid movie where The Beatles fought against radioactive Viet Cong sharks (no, really, I used the phrase "radioactive Viet Cong sharks" at least eighty times, if not more). I repeatedly never studied for tests, nor did I ever complete a paper before about 12 hours before it was due. I was always doing other things-be it watching YouTube, playing tennis with my roommate Ashlie (while I should've been studying for my history midterm) or writing dumb folk songs about people who wanted to ban bananas because they looked like penises (when I was supposed to be writing my history midterm) or anything else. Not only did I not get any work done, I forgot I even had work to do; to the point where I wound up on academic probation. In fact, I was teetering on getting suspended for my bad grades. I'd never been suspended before, but I'd been warned about it in the past. Never in any of my past experiences had I been warned of suspension as a consequence for half-assing it on my schoolwork, but I (at the time) didn't know that suspension was a legitimate consequence for bad grades in college. And I was very afraid.

Fortunately, I stayed. About 3/4 of the way through my first term, I pulled myself together and started doing my work for real. Gone were the badly written papers that my TA's mistook for B-movie proposals and my habit of missing midterms. Instead, I wrote eloquently, and I aced all my exams. I had legitimately changed. I had, inexplicably, changed. Why? The reasons everyone brings up ("Cassie fails to do work in class because she is defiant", "Cassie is bored in school", etc.) didn't hold water, nor did any of my explanations ("I was way out of my comfort zone", "I was woefully unprepared for university") make any sense. Whatever caused me to change my work habits for the better, it wasn't the warning of a suspension.

The second thing is the Sia song "Breathe Me". "Breathe Me" was written in 2004, and since then, it was used everywhere (I'm not joking, either. I remember being bombarded by it from movies, TV, and ads when I was in middle school). Not only was "Breathe Me" overused for a little bit, it was overused for a long time.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who thinks this, but I seem to remember that (and this was especially true during my first year at Duke) it always reminded me of "Revolution 9" by The Beatles. The association was so strong, it couldn't have been constructed from my own memories. It could have only come from having heard one particular rendition of "Breathe Me" that was really weird. When I say weird, I freaking mean it. The piano part was played on a sitar, and there was this weird whispering thing that kept saying "right" throughout the second stanza, and there was that outro. Oh, my God, that outro. That outro was so bizarre.

Honestly, maybe I didn't actually hear it in real life. Now that I mention it, I probably dreamt it. It seems too weird to be real. Sia's lawyers would have gone absolutely nuts had somebody made a version of "Breathe Me" that was that strange. The more I think about it, the more I suspect that I might have dreamt it, because I began to associate that weird version of "Breathe Me" very strongly with wind turbines, electrical lines, and other energy related outdoor structures. To me, that just screams dream.

The thing and final unrelated thing concerns a conference I had attended about the same week I turned 16. Since I wasn't invited to the conference, I tried to lay low as much as possible. Usually, this meant that I just hung around and talked with all these financial people. I pretended to know what they were talking about, but I kept changing the subject when I got the chance. If someone said that the bank of wherever was on thin ice, I'd change the subject to how ice crystals formed. Either that, or I'd hang around eating all the cucumber slices that they have.

That said, there was one place where I screwed up. I screwed up so much, it was glaringly obvious that I was neither invited to the conference nor as calm and collected as I appeared. About halfway through some old German guy's speech about the (dim) future of the Eurozone, I just completely lost it. I actually had a panic attack that was so extreme, the speaker told me to shut up. I remember the guy's exact words: "If you panic at the thought of the collapse of the Eurozone, just kill yourself. Your life won't get any easier from here on in. In fact, you shouldn't even be here. Fuck off, will you?" That, and that, was the thing that sent me from panic to flat-out rage. I walked right up to the guy and told him to reach up his ass and pull his head out. A chase (and a flip-out) soon ensued. My God, that was some flip-out. I pushed a photocopier out a window and onto a fire hydrant.

After things cooled down, it was all over. They found out I snuck into the conference, and they kicked me out. In a fit of defeat, I went to bed. I didn't fall asleep easily that night. In fact, I was so upset that I spent most of the night thinking of dropping out of Duke and just plain going home. I was so scarred by what I did, I probably won't be able to go to a financial conference again.

Now, all three of the things that I told you (my sudden improvement in my work habits, my association of Sia's "Breathe Me" with The Beatles's "Revolution 9", and my flip-out at the conference) are completely unrelated. They're just three things that happened around the same time that have no connection to each other, right?

Wrong. There is a connection. That connection is, of all things, an episode of the girl's cartoon Winx Club.

Typically, this wouldn't make any sense. How would a cartoon connect three seemingly unrelated events in my life? Well, between the death of my high school classmate Jo (finally, I remembered her name) and the end of my freshman year at Duke, I would watch Winx like there was no tomorrow. I loved (and I do mean loved-the past tense is for a reason) Winx Club, and my obsession with the show peaked around the same time at the conference. It was right when the German guy began speaking at our conference that I stumbled across a "lost" episode of Winx Club on YouTube. Without so much as a second thought (or for that matter, a first thought), I clicked on it and watched. The title of the episode was "The Kraken", and at the time; I figured that maybe the Winx would have to rescue somebody from a giant space octopus. Well, there was a giant octopus, but nobody was rescued. If anything, everybody was more or less doomed.

This sounds like a cliche, but it's not. I remember clicking on the video and it taking almost an hour to load. I also remember my laptop crashing. After turning it off and back on again, I went back to the video. This time, it played no problem. I was so excited that I got to see the episode. Looking back, there wasn't much of a tip off that things weren't normal. The opening sequence was normal, the video didn't get stuck a second time, none of it. Absolutely nothing was amiss. Unfortunately, the normalcy ended with the title card.

The episode started sort of normal, but there was this purple tint to everything that persisted throughout the entire episode. The very first scene showed the window to Bloom and Stella's room. You couldn't really see them that well, but you could see their silhouettes. They were talking about how they couldn't figure out what was bothering Flora so much. Bloom's guess was that it had something to do with Helia (Flora's boyfriend) actually being female this whole time, while Stella's guess is that it had something to do with how she put on a few pounds. Either way, they couldn't agree on something. They couldn't even agree to disagree. Yet, their disagreement wasn't what stuck me as odd. What struck me as odd was that there weren't any scenes where you saw their faces. Either you got a silhouette or a closeup of their lower legs. I was a bit weirded out, but I continued to watch the video.

What happened next was where things started to really head downhill. While Stella and Bloom were arguing, Tecna was busy taking apart the printer at the end of the hall. Musa kept saying, "Tecna, you're not allowed to take the printer apart", "Tecna, for the love of God, stop messing around with the printer", and "Knock it off, or I'm ratting you out". Tecna completely ignored this, and continued messing with the printer until she got it to pick up the Yankee game. Meanwhile, Bloom and Stella continued arguing until Bloom asked, "Why's Tecna watching the Yankee game on the printer?" Unsurprisingly, Bloom thought this was hilarious. Again, nobody's face was shown. All you literally saw was the display panel on the printer and, eventually, the Yankee game.

The scene faded to a silhouette of Flora crying. She talked about how she was fearing for her life, that she was actually a test subject for a government experiment. She'd escaped after the power went out during a fire drill, and she mentioned that she cut off the tracker attached to her wrist before the power came back on. She'd been hiding out at Alfea ever since. As I watched this scene, all I could think of was oh, come on, enough with the conspiracy theorist rant, make your point already, but I pricked up my ears when she mentioned something called "the Kraken". As she said the word "Kraken", a strange, staticky image of an octopus splashed across the screen. The whole thing gave off a really, really strange vibe. A really, really, really strange vibe.

The third scene was where things really went down the drain. We didn't see anybody's silhouette this time, but the quality of the video went downhill. The Winx girls were in Faragonda's office, and she wasn't pleased. She was swearing at them, calling them "disgusting bitches who belong in a sewer", and threatening to beat them. Now, this is incredibly dark for a kids cartoon (and it isn't even dark in the normal way Winx is sometimes dark. To be honest, it sounded like it came from some stupid Lifetime movie about a psycho teacher). What was even more unsettling was that the girls were all wearing black masks. Some wore half masks, while others wore full masks. The masks were crudely drawn, like they were those anonymity silhouette things you sometimes see on the news. Apparently, not only did Faragonda find out about what Tecna and company did to the printer, but she got off the phone with the government scientists who worked at the research facility from where Flora escaped. Musa had ratted both Flora and Tecna out. Later, Flora and Tecna were led outside; Flora to a black van, and Tecna to a blue car. This is the part of the episode in which the weird version of Sia's "Breathe Me" begins to play. The minute I heard "Breathe Me" play, I thought oh, jeez, not this shit again. Yet, this was different. Something caught me totally off guard the minute Tecna got in the blue car. An androgynous voice uttered the following words: Take this brother, may it serve you well.

After that, I couldn't not watch it. I had to see where this 100% messed up episode was headed. "Breathe Me" resumed, and the black van pulled up to the research facility. The two drivers of the van dragged Flora out and led her into the facility. The scene eventually cut to Bloom flying towards the facility, only to get caught in electrical lines while Tecna (who's boarding a helicopter at this point) says to the man escorting her, "You hear something?" just before the scene fades out to wind turbines. As the scene fades to wind turbines, the phrase "number 9, number 9, number 9" (and, of course, the random screaming of "Right!") repeated in the background.

What happens next is probably the reason why I will never listen to "Breathe Me" (or, for that matter, anything else by Sia) the same way again. There was a close up of Stella getting struck by the blades on one of the wind turbines. Now, I never liked Stella (she was bit of a doofus), but seeing her get killed by a wind turbine just made me feel ill. Worse, there was a lot of cutting back and forth between the helicopter flying off into the night and Flora in the research facility, getting subjected to some God-awful experiment where she was injected with something that made her turn into a werewolf and lash out against the scientists. This is where the bizarre outro to "Breathe Me" starts playing. One of the scientists was about to kill Flora, but his coworkers had to hold him back. She was uncontrollable, violent, wild even. I really don't want to delve into too much detail here, but in the end, she mauled the scientists to death.

The rest of the episode was just a mishmash of Flora destroying things and the helicopter with Tecna in it catching on fire and crashing into the ocean. The sound was a mishmash, too (Seriously! At one point, a half-human-half-lupine Flora said, "Satan, look at me. Please?"). That is, of course, until the very end. The screen cut to black, and it was completely silent, with the exception of a very low frequency hum. 

At this point, a Matrix -esque sequence of letters and numbers flicker on the screen while a roboticized Tecna looks right at the camera. I will never forget the menacing red glow of her eyes as she said the following: Yes, what happened to Flora was a tragedy, and what became of Magix and Alfea was nothing short of disastrous. But, I know where everyone lives. I know how you fake sympathy, crawl away from the truth, search out cognitive consistency, and kill off our faith in humanity. I know what you do. I can watch your every move, and I can control what happens. Your insignificant little blue planet means nothing to me. I made you do these things, and I can make everything stop. I'm the Kraken, goddammit! Again, the staticky image of the octopus appeared, but it didn't just flash over the screen. It actually played a video of the octopus splitting the Earth in half, then transforming into a black hole. After that, the episode was over.

I was in shock. I thought it was a never before seen episode of Winx, but it turned out to be the most demented thing I'd ever see. What I'd just seen had ruined me. I was so shocked that I melted down. Right there. At that conference. All that work I put into laying low at a financial conference was wasted by the simple act of watching an episode of Winx Club on my laptop that scared the ever loving shit out of me. This is gonna sound stupid, but I think it fundamentally changed me.

Seriously, that one episode of Winx Club is the reason that I kicked my schoolwork into high gear 3/4 of the way into term, the reason that I associate Sia's "Breathe Me" with The Beatles's "Revolution 9" , and why I flipped out at the conference. That was the thing that tied together three otherwise unrelated events.

Oops, my bad. There were actually four unrelated things happening. The fourth thing was Jo's death. Thinking back on the episode, I couldn't help but notice the name on the byline: Siobhan Lansig. Maybe it was someone with the same name, but I kept thinking to myself, isn't that Jo? I also couldn't help but notice the description of the video Let's get a few things straight here. I'm absolutely desperate to get the hell outta here! My teachers treat me like crap, I've been bullied so much you'd think it was a joke, and I got booted out of every club for my "behavioral disorder". Here's the reason why schizophrenics are "evil": YOU ACT LIKE WE ARE. PERIOD!!! I'm taking that early admission to Duke even though my study habits are even worse than those of Cassie Oakley. After that, I'm gonna take over the world. I understand that I don't have much time left, so this is what I'm leaving behind to all them mortals here on Earth. I know I'm gonna die, and I know that I'm gonna come back. Someday, I'll be back. Siobhan "Jo" Lansig (AKA the Kraken)

Not only did Jo dying allow me to get early admission to Duke's government program, she also wrote the messed up Winx episode that shocked me into better studying. The more I think about it, the more I think that Jo did this as a personal message for me. It wasn't so much as "Do well, make me proud" as it was "Get your shit together or you're gonna get it". Jo was never my friend; she was a madwoman. If this was the power she held when she was dead, I don't even want to think about the power she would wield if she were still alive.

[eastergrass]

Digit

I.

Marie was on the downstairs couch, a game of solitaire unfolding on the coffee table. She had made a pot of coffee midway through The Today Show. She drank it all and chased with a pinch of Antony’s weed. She sat crosslegged, slowly losing to herself in front of the muted television.

The house was remarkably unchanged, but Marie herself was a bit different from the last time she called it home. She was quieter. She had started watching a lot of television, and had begun losing energy she didn’t realize she had. She lost touch with the global tragedies she used to worry about. She didn’t read. She heard only other peoples’ music. She was 27, buzzing on her mom’s couch, waiting for her little brother to come home so she had someone to talk to. She also hadn’t won solitaire in three days.

She decided to clean a dewy-bottomed pineapple. It left a print on the counter from sweating on the granite. She found it was easy to be centered by these methodical tasks. Marie removed the crown. She lopped off the sweet-smelling bottom. The knife had a heavy, professional feel to it. Her parents always liked the finer things. The sticky juices spread out, seeping over, under, and into the teak board.

Time passed. She had expected someone to be home by sundown, but this didn’t seem like much of a possibility any longer. The heat of summer began to die off. She carried a grocery bag filled with the bits of pineapple skin and the spiky green dome out to the trash bins. A recent invasion of fruit flies was attributed to Marie’s laziness and she made sure to be extra clean. Also Thursday was trash day, so she needed it out tonight.

II.

There were tall pines, bare to the top. Like a Christmas tree, teetering. The bins were beside the garage in a latticed alcove. The arbor, her mother called it. The smell of suffocated trash snuck out the lid before she could even open it.

Removing the lid, she was hit: stagnant rainwater, forgotten produce. There was something less familiar, though. What caught her attention was the bag at the top of the trash pile. A plastic take-out bag covered with purple orchids, with scrawling gold type: Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

She was confused as to how someone ordered what seemed to be Thai or Vietnamese food without informing her. Antony didn’t have the money. Of course, Adrianne would have gotten her food, but then talked about the sodium content. The few leaves that had turned and fallen skittered in the driveway, clacking like dry dice.

A dismal curiosity got the better of her, and she bent into the putrid plastic maw. She tore open the sack, and a corner of a dishtowel stuck out. Marie lifted the bag out of the canister, into the darkening evening. It spun, dangling from the trussed handles. Fully removing its load, she began to discover the red. She reached some parchment paper at the center of the towels, with deep dark stains. She knew it was blood. You! the bag accused.

She heard the imperceptible hum of her mother’s mint-green hybrid pulling up the lengthy driveway. Marie tucked the bloodstained paper wads into the pockets of her sweatshirt, and turned to walk toward those crystal-clear headlights that cut the now fully-realized darkness.

Later on, her mother accosted her while she watched the 6:00 news. “Do you remember those anti-drug commercials, with the girl melting into the couch?” Adrianne perched one hand on her unmotherly hip, titled at a calculating angle. Marie stared at the television.

“You look like that.” She spun into the kitchen. A cork was drawn from bottle of Pinot Grig.

To be fair, she was correct. However, no mother should address her daughter in the way Adrianne had been for the past 27 years. She imagined her making snide remarks all her life, leaning over the edge of her crib and critiquing her large ears and thick hair. What a little gremlin, she’d cackle, tilting back her shock of black hair.

The hard-nosed news caster looked back at her from the flatscreen television set, a blurry cityscape green-screened behind his steely shoulders. “A true tragedy, we can only pray those responsible are brought swiftly to justice.” He looked off-screen, and began to say something else, when the program cut to commercials.

III.

It was a finger. Wrapped in parchment paper, wound up in Williams-Sonoma dishtowels. It was pale, yet bruised. The pale parts were the color of young ginger. The dark was a dirty purple. The finger nail seemed like it may fall off. She held it gently in the lamplight of her bedroom desk, smoke swirling out of the glass pipe she stole from Antony’s room. He hadn’t noticed, and that was a month ago. For the first time in her life Marie was afraid of her mother. Her bedroom, which Marie had not seen the inside of since she returned home, lay at the other

end of the unnecessarily large home. She was probably passed out, alone, in the bed she shared with Saul when he wasn’t away.

Marie ate a chunk of pineapple. It occurred to her that pineapple did, in fact, taste somewhat like a blend of pine needles and apples. She also considered the possibility that Antony was responsible for this. Her head nodded down, her eyelids flickered.

It lay on a meticulously folded edition of The Hartdon Bugle, occupying the spotlight of her bowed lamp. She thought it might at any minute remember where it was supposed to be, and limp off like Thing in The Addams Family, down some dusty black and white corridor and offstage. But it never moved, which is what bothered her most. Marie had always watched movies and television and wondered why nobody had contacted the police, who she assumed would arrive promptly and sort the whole thing before any damage was done. This didn’t make for good television, she knew.

She now wondered, rather abstractedly, who this finger might belong to. The coarse and bloody hairs, gritty with blood and struggle, lay somewhat flat and extremely disheveled. What would lead Adrianne to do this? Was someone else responsible, and if so, why did Marie assume her mother was?

The limp and mottled index finger – or was it a ring finger? – reminded Marie of something she once threatened to do. She had come home to live with her family after she left a man she had been with for five years. “I can do better,” is what she said.

She stayed up waiting for Antony, watching Law & Order re-runs. Each episode began with the discovery of the corpse. Somebody jogging through the park sees a foot sticking out from under a shrub. Some city workers dredge an urban mummy from a storm drain. A man playing fetch with his dog sees it running toward him with a severed leg.

Marie often found herself dissecting plot lines of T.V. shows. Back in Indiana, she was co-owner of a three-person company that built sets for community theater productions. She had always hoped she’d end up working for an NBC show or anything low-brow and high-paying. Many of the sets the company built were for plays in which people were murdered. She had long ago picked up the plot devices. “Let’s get this to the lab!” a tired detective barked down the alleyway.

IV.

A car pulled into the driveway. Self-consciously slow-moving and quiet, as if the vehicle itself were ashamed of being out so late. Antony snuck through a side door, which he closed with a click and a whisper. He must have heard the television, because he came right into the basement.

“Sis.”

“Antony. We need to talk.”

Marie and Antony stood next to the bins. They had disabled the security light, so when they went out to the arbor they didn’t attract any undue attention from their mother. Antony had laughed when she first told him the story, but stopped after he saw it himself. They passed a crooked joint between them, rolling clouds of smoke into the chilly air.

“It wasn’t her. She’s crazy, but …” he shook his head. “It wasn’t mom.”

Marie didn’t say anything, she just nodded. Antony crouched down around the trashcan, shining the flashlight on his phone throughout the gravel and on the siding of the garage. Perhaps looking for some blood-spray, or ransom note, or a wedding band that would solve the whole thing. He pinched the bridge of his nose in an overwrought expression of tiredness and anxiety.

Marie heaved a foggy sigh. “God damn it.”

That night, she wrapped the finger back up in its packaging, and put it in a gallon Ziploc bag, and placed it in the freezer of the mini-fridge upstairs that her mother never used. A hole burned in her gut. She went to bed without brushing her teeth. Her mouth tasted like stale pot smoke and a chunk of pineapple was wedged in her incisors.

V.

The next morning, Marie woke up to an empty house. Downstairs, a cooling pot of coffee waited. A note from her mother read:

Marie -

I made you coffee! Although, if you go for a run (which I pray you do) drink it afterward, in case of a BM. Could you put the bins at the curb? Get Up, Get Out, and GET SOMETHING.

wait until sundown to self-medicate.

– Mother

Friday turned out similar to Thursday. Marie sunk into the couch. Her left eye twitched, and she quickly knit her brow to correct this spasm. These eyebrows dominated her face. Her ex compared them to an actress’s in a way that raised questions. She heard the garbage truck doing its routine outside, and discreetly parted two of the venetian blinds to watch the arm dump the cans into the belly. She sank further into the couch, flexing her softening muscles inside the sweatsuit she wore the day before.

They had a nice dinner that night. The bulbs above the table hung from thick cords attached to the rafters at odd intervals: spreading like the legs of a giant spider. New houses can have ghosts as well as the old ones. They ate the leg of a lamb, smeared with an emerald blend of minced herbs. Marie ate pistachios out of a black bowl and threw the shells on her empty plate.

Antony, regardless of what he did in his free time, was actually a rather diligent student. Marie forgot exactly what they were celebrating, but all three of them were proud of his achievement. At one point Marie watched as her mother’s tight face softened in the lamplight, her elbows resting on the table, her birdlike hands clasped in an unlikely pose. For a moment, she thought she had imagined tears filling Adrianne’s eyes.

“It’s a nice, nice night. I don’t have to worry.” Adrianne went to bed shortly after letting that one slip.

VI.

Marie couldn’t find the moon. The wind blew cold from the far-off river, booming up through the pines. She looked up, and couldn’t distinguish the clouds from the sky. Depending on where she focused it could go either way.

She was sitting in what they called “Indian-style” when she was a kid. They probably didn’t call it that anymore. Across the sleeping yard, the snuffed security light was unable to betray her cautious movements. She was digging deep with a garden trowel. The earth would freeze up in about a month, so she had to do it now. The finger was in a Mason Jar, floating in a recipe for an all-purpose preservative she found online. She added a few sprigs of dill for a laugh.

Marie remembered burying a cat slightly deeper in the woods when she was seventeen. Adrianne and Saul had helped dig, as she stood by letting out the last of her tears. It was autumn then too, and she remembered the stillness of the pines and the golds and blushing reds of the oak leaves. Frowzy was about to have a bit of company, but just a bit.

She made sure she was right on the edge of the tree-line, at the foot of the sole paper birch, so she could remember the exact spot if she ever had to retrieve it. She caught the sloshing jar in the light of her cellphone one more time, the bobbing finger catching itself in the vortex of dill and brine. She set it gently into the soft, cold crater and began to fold it into the earth. When she was done, she built a cairn. The clouds separated themselves from the sky and exposed her to moonlight.

[etherealblasphemy]

Lonely Planet Blue

Virgil is a soft pillow baby™ and I will fight anyone who disagrees

TW: self-deprecating thoughts, mentioned/referenced/implied death, panic attacks, mentioned/implied war

   Vae hadn’t returned for two months. Every night, he snuck up to the bell tower and would peer out from the little window where, at one point in time, townspeople from below could catch a glimpse of the now absent bell. It had likely been melted down for ammunitions.

   It was a night like any other. Virgil sat, back pressed against one of the corners of the little tower, his eyelids beginning to flutter close. He shook himself awake, his hazy brown eyes refocusing on the barren wasteland dotted with ruins holding all too painful memories. Silently, he cursed his best and only friend as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes, feeling the bags underneath them that were becoming more prominent as the days went by.

   He liked the midnight sky. It calmed his anxiety that Vae was likely a dead man or a deserter. Tonight, the heavens dripped neon purple and raven black as the stars blinked at him, almost mocking him. His heart was in his throat as he stood unofficial sentry, wishing his friend would come home already so he could ask her where she’d gone and what adventures- because it wasn’t Vae if it wasn’t an adventure- she’d had.

   He hugged his knees close to him, zipping his hoodie up to try and keep himself warm in the chilly night. A breeze ripped through the little tower, sending Virgil’s hair flying every which way. He grumbled as he patted it down, desperate to tame it so if on the off chance Halo came upstairs after fitful sleep, she wouldn’t tease him for looking like a girl with his shoulder-length hair, the tips dyed lavender.

  As he finally got his hair under control, he glanced outside and nearly choked on his breath. Someone was standing in the distance, holding a glowing lantern. They were still as a statue, but Virgil didn’t care. He leapt off the ground, practically throwing himself down the rickety stairs as he raced to the bottom of the bell tower. He threw open the rotting wooden door as he reached ground level, stumbling over his feet as he ran down the cobblestone streets littered with pebbles and black snow.

   At ground level, it was much harder to see the figure in the distance, but through the narrow alley between to buildings that Virgil had seen collapse in on themselves with his own eyes as the families inside screamed for help, he could spy the willowy figure that stood nearly invisible against the dark horizon of the night.

   His heart pounded with exhilaration as he felt his lungs beginning to sting, his throat growing scratchy and dry. Vae was back, Vae was back, Vae was back... He felt a grin spread across his face. His best friend was home. Finally, he wouldn’t be alone.

   Slowing down, he bent over, panting heavily. He’d never done much exercise, despite running from himself his entire life. His eyes were brimming with tears of joy and exhaustion, blurring his vision as he looked to see his vision was so poor from the salty liquid in his eyes that he saw three figures instead of one.

   He began walking, too tired to run again, wiping the tears as he called Vae’s name. Upon looking up again at the horizon, Virgil made out the outlines of three people. Not one. Three.

   What? Did Vae come back with someone? he wondered as he approached the people, apprehension taking root in his gut. Millions of possibilities flew through his mind. They’re refugees. They killed Vae. It’s Marco, Kay, and Farhana back from their mission. Vae met merchants or soldiers or something or- his heart stopped. He could clearly see the people now.

   None of them were Vae.

   Thousands of emotions flooded through him, grief being the first after the searing feeling of hope being crushed and falling to the desolate, cold ground. Virgil sank to his knees, tears of despair spilling over his eyes this time around. His heart beat rapidly, ready to tear its way through his body and escape the cage of ribs inside him. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, this couldn’t be happening? Why couldn’t he get a happy ending for once in his miserable life? His breath came in shallow gasps and he mentally cursed. He was having a panic attack.

  His limbs trembled as another gust of wind blew, dust and other particles hitting his face harshly. He could feel his heart racing at the same pace of his thoughts, which was firmly convinced that Vae had met some terrible fate at the hands of terrible people. He let out a sob that resembled his best friend’s name, his head hitting the hard ground as he collapsed over his knees, pounding on the cruel earth that likely covered his friend in eternal sleep.

   He felt a hand on his shoulder and screamed, throwing his head back to see who it was and falling back painfully on his behind. He saw a stoic man staring him down, tiny lights flickering behind his grey eyes. He wore a double-breasted suit ensemble with a dark blue and black color scheme, tiny navy pinstripes running up and down his tight trousers which were crammed into brown dress boots. A bolo tie wrapped around his neck, transparent beads decorating the aiguillettes. He held a lantern burning brightly in the middle of the night, blinding Virgil as he tried to calm himself down. In the firelight, he made out the shadowy faces of the two strangers behind him.

   The first thing he noticed about the pretty-boy blonde was the flower crown he wore. Lilacs the color of a sunset, roses the color of a china doll’s dainty painted blush, and teal chrysanthemums decorated his head, slightly glowing with their respective pastel colors. His bright blue eyes observed Virgil curiously, his head slightly tilted and his lips pursed with worry. Besides the flower crown, the boy was dressed elegantly, as though he was trying to convince everyone he really was a prince of some sort. He wore a copper-colored ascot tie tucked neatly into a white mandarin collar shirt. He wore red breeches and a pair of dramatic, buckled, knee-length wedge boots the color of lavender flowers accented with gold chains, giving a bit more rounded appearance to the prince wanna-be. Over his clothing, he wore some sort of jacket trailing to his knees, splatters of gold giving the otherwise white fabric the look of an ombre. A red sash attached to a little bag was slung across his body. Virgil also spotted a dark blue necklace hiding underneath his shirt, the chain just barely visible in the night. Lighting up the air around him were soft butterfly wings glowing cotton candy pink, their tips white as icing.

   The one beside him also watched with concern. His baby blue eyes, similar in color to the boy with the flower crown, narrowed as he watched Virgil gasp for breath, scared out of his mind. This one was decked with a pair of antlers that looked like crystal dripping soft pastel colors that reminded Virgil so much of his lost friend. His wispy cinnamon and dark toffee hair fell into his eyes as he pushed it back away from his face, pulling out a silver hair clip from somewhere and forcing his hair to comply. For a moment, Virgil compared him to the likes of Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist before he remembered he was not supposed to be interested in little kids’ stuff like that. Instead of beginning another inner war, he focused of the eccentric clothing of the antlered man. He wore a bright blue waistcoat patterned with lace shaped like interlocking roses, tiny silver chains keeping it wrapped around him. Underneath, he wore a plain white shirt with small brown sleeve garters. He also wore beige breeches and black knee-length boots with bright yellow buckles. Virgil noticed a pair of black-rimmed circle glasses tucked into the breast pocket of his waistcoat.

   Virgil choked out another sob, tears running down his cheeks, ruining the black eye-shadow he always wore. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision the first time he put it on. Vae had been gone for three days back then, and he was trying to repel his loneliness by finally completing the dare Vae had given him when they were just teens, laughing beside a campfire, the thought of war and destruction far in the back of their minds. Vae had returned later that week, amused at Virgil’s new look, but now that she had truly disappeared, Virgil couldn’t keep from wearing the eye-shadow beneath his eyes, as if it were the only thing that he had left to remember her by.

   The antlered one moved suddenly, throwing his arms around him and squeezing tightly. Virgil shrieked, trying to push the man away from him with his gangly arms. Instead, the man hugged him tighter. He patted him on the back with gentle hands. Virgil froze, unsure what to do. Virgil felt himself begin to relax in the man’s grasp, though his pulse was still skyrocketing.

   “W-what are you doing?” he managed to force out of his mouth. “Who are you all?” Much quieter, he added, “Where’s Vae?” The others seemed to notice the first two inquiries. At long last, the hugger pulled away.

   He spoke in an unfamiliar language, melodic words bouncing off his tongue as he rambled phrases foreign to the scared boy. The man with steely gray eyes stepped forward, muttering to the antlered man, who glanced at Virgil and flushed.

   “I apologize,” the man with cold eyes said. “My companion forgot you do not speak our tongue. You speak a language known as English, correct?” Virgil nodded, dumbfounded. “My name is L.O.G.I.C., and these are my companions, Patton-” he gestured to the antlered man, “-and Roman,” he gestured to the prince, who waved briskly. “I know this is sudden, but you must come with us.”

   Virgil gaped at the three strangers. He pushed himself off the ground, unable to bare the feeling of being watched like a pathetic wimp. He mumbled incoherent words, still trying to process everything. “You’re… you guys are aliens?” he breathed, focusing on their more… supernatural body parts. L.O.G.I.C. blinked, apparently confused.

   “Well, not exactly. By alien, do you mean the undocumented immigrant kind or the beings from another planet kind?”

   “Of course the beings from another planet kind! I’d never use such a mean word to describe people who could easily be my friends!” Virgil cried defiantly. His eyes widened as his brain reminded him not to blurt anything, and his shrunk back, clutching the patch-covered sleeves of his hoodie.

   L.O.G.I.C reached out a hand, but drew back. “To be more specific, Patton is a shapeshifter known as a Drisine. Roman is a being who appears with one physical aspect of another creature, and can turn into that creature. He also happens to be an exiled prince, though from experience I suggest you don’t bring that up when speaking to him.”

   “W-what about you?” Virgil asked. He would be lying if he said his interest wasn’t piqued by now.

   L.O.G.I.C. smiled coldly, what Virgil assumed was the only mode his smile was set to. “I am an artificial intelligence unit set inside a capsule built to resemble that of my creator.” Virgil couldn’t process it. Mere moments ago, he had believed his best friend was coming home. And now these strangers who claimed to be beings from faraway planets had asked him to come with them. It was something straight out of a movie.

   “Why?” he asked suddenly, his eyes burning into the robot’s. “Why me?” His lifted his chin, mimicking the rebel teens in the propaganda movies he’d come to know by heart. “What makes me so important?” He bit his harshly, shoving his hands deep into the thralls of the hoodie’s pockets. He couldn’t seem weak. They wouldn’t want him then, no matter why they wanted him now.

   L.O.G.I.C.’s eyes narrowed and Virgil steeled himself, putting up the mask he always wore. After a long, worry-filled pause, L.O.G.I.C. finally responded. “According to my fellow companions, they heard a rather cryptic prophecy that they, along with two others who fit our descriptions, will defeat an age-old evil.” The robot added on in a lower tone, “We seem to be in the same boat. These two dragged me into their ship after breaking into a lab, and I’ve been travelling with them ever since.” Virgil almost chuckled at the sight of the two smaller men dragging this no-nonsense robot onto a stereotypical UFO ship.

   He shook his head, running his hand through his head. “What the hell…” he whispered, his eyes glancing across the landscape slowly brightening as time approached dawn. “Why… why me, though? Why not literally any other one of my friends holed up back in town?” he asked, jutting his thumb behind him to the ruins. “They’re the ones leading a rebellion. Me? All I can do is hide in the bell tower and wait for my friend to come home…” His voice cracked, small tears in his eyes. He blinked, looking down at the dirt as rubbed the tears away. Someone tackled him in a tight hug, making him gasp. “W-what?!” he stuttered, disliking the contact. He looked to see it was the one L.O.G.I.C. had called “Patton.”

   Patton said something, pulling away. “Patton says he hopes you feel happier soon,” the robot told him. Patton continued to talk in the strange tongue, his eyes shimmering in the fire of the robot’s lantern. Meanwhile, the robot continued to translate for the bewildered teen. “To sum up what he’s saying, most of which being what you humans call ‘fluff’, he’s asking you to come with us because it does not look like you enjoy the life you are currently living. You mentioned a person named Vae when you were approaching us, might I ask who this is?”

   Virgil snarled. “She’s my friend, dummy…” He ripped his body out of Patton’s grip, almost shoving the man away. “I’m waiting for her…” L.O.G.I.C. frowned. He mumbled something under his breath, though Virgil only caught the words “pesky emotions.” “So I can’t go with you,” he said, shaking his head and taking a step back. “I mean, I don’t even know you guys, and I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, and… and…” He couldn’t talk, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t feel. The world around his was spinning as he fell to his knees, gasping for breath.

   He could vaguely sense someone running to him, shaking his shoulders slightly and saying something. He couldn’t focus. He couldn’t breath. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. Someone else was holding his hands, running their thumbs over his knuckles. He focused on that feeling, just that feeling, the feeling of warm skin meeting his, the feeling that maybe, just maybe, somebody found him worthy. He hadn’t felt it since Vae disappeared.

   Someone was singing. He expanded his hazy focus from just the thumbs running across his knuckles to the voice that was so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. “Masae ioána tu an luüa, lavēhsea, agus tea tu rinda saänud ta. Waesa eayona rinda tä oppai-uoye-sinderūe, agus tu agus e taeyunge faero laehkona…” His breath slowed down, the words permeating his frantic mind like a sun ray bursting through a sky full of thunderclouds. His eyes wandered up to meet blue ones. He got lost in those sky blue eyes that glittered like crystals in the night. They were warm, seeming to smile, and reminded him of a clear summer day, nostalgic of a time when he and Vae were children and they hadn’t learned to be scared. He recalled running through a field of tall reeds, Vae on his tail, playing tag as they run through the small town they grew up in.

   The memory turned sour. Time jumped years, to when he was a young boy. He could clearly picture the face of his mother, smiling sweetly as she waved goodbye to her school-bound son. He came home that day to find his entire neighborhood gone, leaving just crumbled, charred ruins and trauma that wove falsehoods into his mind to make him forget the sight of his mother’s charred body, clinging to a small photograph of her son who no longer smiled.

   He choked out another sob, the tears burning his face with shame and despair and everything gone to shit. The voice grew stronger, the thumbs becoming hands that grasped his own, holding them in a gentle yet firm grip. Hands became arms that pulled him into a strong embrace, not as familiar one Patton had given him, yet still warm and calming. He looked into those eyes, searching for worth, for love, for anything to anchor him to reality.

   The person pulled him into his grasp, and he fell forward into their chest, his hands grasping silken fabric that had gone threadbare in some places. He buried his face into their warm body, staining their clothes with his tears. They smelled like smoke from campfires, like saltwater and seashells, like velvet in a thrift store.

   “Sasha tu haao meh,” they whispered, combing their soft fingers through his mousy hair. He listened to the sound of their heartbeat, his vision finally clearing as the tears began to dry. Virgil couldn’t bring himself to look at whoever it was who held him in their arms like he was their whole world. Instead, he snuggled closer to them, his ratty hoodie hardly protecting him from the bitter night.

   The person gently grasped his chin between their forefinger and thumb and coaxed him to look up. Virgil tired his best to keep his gaze averted, feeling the shame beginning to crawl up his spine, but the person moved into his eyesight.

   It was Roman.

   That alone was enough to send Virgil back into hysterical whimpering, but seeming to sense Virgil’s apprehension, Roman pulled him even closer, hugging him. “Sasha tu haao meh, lavehsea,” he repeated. Virgil’s gaze wavered, but Roman held it, staring into his eyes- and perhaps, his soul.

   Something turned on within Virgil, deep down in his heart where he stowed all precious things. He didn’t seem to be disgusted by Virgil’s weakness. He didn’t seem to think Virgil was only worth keeping around for standing guard. No. He seemed to… like Virgil. As though he meant something to the pretty boy with butterfly wings the color of cotton-candy.

   He sniffed, wiping the tears in his eyes away. He tried smiling. Roman smiled brightly at him, and Virgil realized what exactly his heart was screaming at him: Go with him. Go with them. Vae’s not coming back. They’re you’re new family, whether you like it or not. Go with him. Go.

   His eyes met the robot’s. “Forgive me for not offering any condolences. I have no desire to involve myself with complex emotions such as yours and Roman and Patton’s,” he stated, offering a hand to Virgil. He stared at it for a moment before taking it and standing up, wiping away more tears. Roman got up, too, as Patton slung a arm around his shoulder.

   “Rende hamun tu!” Patton said, causing Roman to snort and L.O.G.I.C. to crack a smile.

   “He said you’re his son now,” the robot translated. Virgil blanched, his face flushing shamefully. “You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to…” L.O.G.I.C. said softly, tilting his head to the side.

    To say he was conflicted would be an understatement. Heartstrings were being tugged at, old feelings of yearning to go on adventures being dug up and thrown about like confetti. Yet, he couldn’t leave. ...Could he? Could he leave Vae for dead, leave behind his home for the past two decades of his life, leave behind all he had left to remember of when the world was at one another’s throats, desperate to survive in a war-torn insanity? He felt his hands start shaking. He couldn’t leave. Vae was still out there. Until they found her body, she couldn’t be dead. But the little voice in his head told him different, told him to come to his senses and stop clinging like a child to all he held dear. He had nothing left here. Nobody left who loved him, no place that he could call home, no reason why he should stay.

   He made his decision.

   “Promise you won’t leave me behind,” he demanded, his fists clenching and shoulders tensing. L.O.G.I.C. seemed taken aback, but composed himself quickly.

    “Of course,” he told Virgil softly, slightly confused at the request. “We would never leave you behind…” He trailed off, probably realizing that Virgil hadn’t given up his name yet. He wasn’t ready, though.

   “Just... call me Anxiety. It’s an old nickname of mine,” he offered. L.O.G.I.C. blinked.

   “Very well, Anxiety. I am to assume you have chosen to come with us?” Virgil nodded, biting his lip. He was really doing this… “Come along, then, the Sanders Yersinia is just a little ways away.” The travelers turned away from him, beginning to head back the way they came.

   Virgil looked behind him. Looked at the town made of ruins and black snow and hate and fear and despair. Looked at the past that refused to leave him alone. He saw a glimpse of the base and the bell tower, where a tiny flicker of light continued to glow. He swallowed, turning around and joining his new companions. He was leaving this lonely planet, this heartbroken world, this desolate land, this disconsolate war. He wasn’t going to come back.

   God, he hoped he was making the right decision.

I searched up way too many fashion terms to write this. Oh well.

Thank you for you kind words (*i feel so much validation* :DDDDD)! I really appreciate each and every one of them.

So I think all that’s left to get this story actually started is Cal joining the crew. Then we get the gOoD sHiT :)

Here’s the translation for what Roman was saying:

“Masae ioána tu an luüa, lavēhsea, agus tea tu rinda saänud ta. Waesa eayona rinda tä oppai-uoye-sinderūe, agus tu agus e taeyunge faero laehkona...”:  I’ll sing you a sunset, darling, and gather you into my arms. Just let me look into your silver-lining-eyes, and you and I will dance across the sky.

“Sasha tu haao meh,” and “Sasha tu haao meh, lavehsea,”: You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay, darling.

TAG LIST WOOT WOOT: (if you wanna be added/removed, hit me up :3)

@asofterfan

@alix-the-skeleton

@v-blue-writer

@hufflepuffsscrewdriver

@sanderssidesstuff

[wubwubnparmaham]

Ahem. I'm gonna be an annoying bitch. I've got a few questions for you. Favorite color, food and member of One Direction and BTS. (I suppose you would say Larry in 1d) Favorite fan fiction of all time. (Mine's OMCBA and LE) Favorite subject at school. (I'd go with history. I've liked it since I was a young student.) And now. My favorite question The movie that you'll never forget. Thank you for reading this. P. S I haven't even finished Chapter Two

TUMBLR GOERS, SCROLL HECKA FAST FOR JUST ONE SECOND. ITS LONGISH. Oh okay. Welp, my favourite colours are the combo of purple and green. Favourite food is.....pass. Member of 1d is either harry or niall, i dont really know. Musically, harry. And personality, niall. But i dont really have one. Im not really following them in general, but out of everyone i still do, its harry and niall i go to. Bts is impossible to choose omg, but my bias is still undeniably yoongi/suga. No man has hit my heart quite like him in my life, but kwon jiyong and lee taeyong are right behind him, theyre just not bts. but i cant...downplay the other members of bts. theyre essential as well. I dont have a fav fanfiction cuz i cant remember the ones i read back in the day. But i had an author i liked reading and became friends with but i forgot her penname...something 98. Ss? ss98 looks and sounds right. She and i are into that dark shit. I cant remember the works tho 😬favourite subject is definitely a language, and that includes my own. So literature or a foreign language + history ofc. Anything anthro and culturey, i pale at mathematics. The movie that ill never forget oh wow. Theres a few. lets put the big massive shit out of the way, so aside from the lotr, star wars, and hp series, all series aside, and the labyrinth / dark crystal and neverending story aside..what first comes to mind is probably amelie. I really have the fattest crush on that film. I also really love the descent, which is odd cuz its just a horror film, but i also think it's a beautiful horror film? Lol. Idk i saw it when i was young and ive been watching it at least once a year since, i love it a lot. The soundtrack makes me smile, i know like all the lines, and i pull lines from it all the time in every day life, and disregarding the sequel which was trash (sequels generally are) i loved the fact that...well i wont spoil it. i just loved how hopeless the characters were. There were no easy ways out, and it was realistic. It was just really well made and underrated. Okay. Uh..also goodfellas. FANTASTIC movie, fuck. My friends and i used to play ....the equivalent of a drinking game but with a much different substance invoved to that movie based on a detail that came up a certain amount of times for films, and the night it was goodfellas, ill never forget. I also love heathers. Cuz slater was my god as a child. One of them. Boondock saints, one and two. Me and my sisters thing. Mom has a tattoo that relates to that. The grudge because that was my first horror film that i secretly watched and it stayed in my peabrain for so long. Im 22 btw, but that movie was 2004. Then Veer-Zaara for sure. Omg i fucking love veer zaara. It makes me feel all kinds of things, i sing those songs in my sleep. Beautiful fucking story. Kal ho naa ho, too. basically anything spun up by yash and aditya chopra is a-okay with me, ESPECIALLY if ill be seeing shah rukh khan in it, which is almost a given. Theres movies i cant forget for horrible reasons, the wall (pink floyd film) and requiem for a dream included, perhaps trainspotting too, but those are for personal reasons. Most unforgettable movies are good things. Im forgetting a lot. The muppet movie, young frankenstein, terminator, haunting in connecticut, the babadook (when you know what it IS from the book), rocky horror picture show, a clockwork orange, the crow, beetlejuice, edward scissorhands, crybaby, whats eating gilbert grape, grease, but im a cheerleader, v for vendetta, crouching tiger hidden dragon, silent hill, sound of music, titanic, footloose (the 80s one ofc), what dreams may come, big fish, a walk on the moon, the breakfast club, chocolat, the return of the pink panther, jay and silent bob strike back, school of rock, better off dead, shanghai noon, bill and teds excellent adventure, wizard of oz, fear and loathing in las vegas, underworld, interview with a vampire, i guess les miserables but broadway is better, elizabeth, a very long engagement, batteries not included, and final fantasy advent children are all moves that mean a LOT TO ME LOL. So much.

[jelanisaeed]

Round 3: VS Shadow Salazzle - Legends Part 3

Chapter 3! Probably the best change I've made lol. Not only will be seeing more of Paxton but Turquoise as well. And a little twist. I'll get into timelines later down the road but I'm taking some liberties with source material as you can tell. It's definitely set in the future from the Pokemon Adventures manga, but I'm implementing game-related topics that weren't touched upon. I hope they will be though! I'd love to see what the writers will do with it!

Now, this chapter was also inspired by the Calling All Lovers album by Tamar Braxton. Most notably, Never. That song is so beautiful and powerful.

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

…

Pokémon Adventures: Turquoise, Jasper, & Ammolite

Round 3: VS Shadow Salazzle – Legends Part 3

Location: Lake Verity Date: August 4th , 3000 Time: 8:00pm

Fire had never been Paxton's friend. Not just because his team comprised of bug and grass types. It went deeper than that. Flames destroyed everything in their path. What remained could never be salvaged. Much like his home. Destroyed in the blaze, many remembered. They forgot, however, that he sat inside his room when the flames ran rampant.

For as long as he remembered, Paxton loathed flames. And these flames were no different. Regardless of the beautiful pokémon it came from. Those purple flames killed all it touched. And left the air reeking of a foul aroma. Thank Arceus he stumbled away when he did.

He stood before the sultry beast and bit his lip. His pokémon weren't far. All they needed was one opening to tip the scales. Times like this made him wish for a battle notebook. Maybe he should start compiling one…

"A Shadow Pokémon."

Ah shit. That freak from Lake Verity stood behind him. Horrified with his mouth agape. No ugly bug in sight, though. Instead, a cute little penguin stood at his feet. A piplup if he remembered right. Lucky freak, Paxton snorted. Still, everything about him seemed different. Down to his outfit. Could have passed for a ranger if he had not traded the orange for blue. Or tied that dumb bandanna across his forehead. What a weirdo.

"Get outta here," Paxton grounded out. The lizard hissed as purple flames danced across its scales. "It's dangerous!"

The lizard spat a gout of purple flames. This time, though, Paxton was ready. He leaped aside and threw a few pebbles at it. Didn't do much but annoy it. An easy distraction for Kiri. She jumped out of the foliage and unleashed a spiraling barrage of leaves onto it.

"You're up, Mitsu!" His vespiquen flew down from above and raked her claws against it. It winced. Mitsu continued her onslaught. Only to fly back when it retaliated with a burst of purple flames. "Yeah, that's the way!"

Kiri went in to join the fight. Just when a fireball smashed into her back! She stumbled right into a tail slap from the lizard, leaving her sprawling against the grass.

"Kiri! The hell was—"

"—That pokémon is a salazzle." Weirdo interjected, walking over with a strange handheld in his grasp. "She called for help."

For help? The hell was this weirdo talking—

From the bushes, a pair of strange pokémon emerged. Like pre-evolved versions of that lizard—salazzle or whatever. Each with a pair devious grins as they spat more fireballs at Kiri's back. "Where did they come from?" Mitsu flew in for another strike when another lizard took the strike inside. And that salazzle headbutted Mitsu away. "How?"

"Salazzle attracts male salandits with her pheromones." Weirdo stated, glancing at his handheld. "They do anything for her."

That explains it. Still, there had to be a countermeasure for this. Maybe if he sent out another pokémon—Gama could divert their efforts!

"If we wanna defeat Salazzle, we'll hafta handle her cronies!" Snatching some cool luxury balls off his belt, Weirdo threw two pokémon into battle with a cry of "Shine on!" A shinx and starly appeared in a burst of light and smoke. The duo rushed the salandits, knocking them away from Kiri. "These pokémon aren't native to Sinnoh so they shouldn't be much more of them. Nor should they be that tough."

And he was right. They collapsed quickly and only three more came to replace them. Not like the houndour packs that loved ambushing trainers.

He's pretty smart, Paxton mused. Still a weirdo though.

"Now, we gotta keep it from dealin' damage! Reuno, Motha!" He summoned two more pokémon. This time, that ugly bug rushed into battle, Followed by…a floating head? Gross! What was with this guy and ugly pokémon? "Reuno, raise our defensives! Motha, knock her around!"

Pulses of light surged around their pokémon. And the fireballs looked smaller than before. Kiri withstood them long enough to knock out a salandit with a swing of her scythes. The starly and shinx followed suit and took out the last two without trouble. Even Mitsu managed to shrug off a gout of purple fire and slash the lizard!

Must be Light Screen. A wave of colorful energy slammed into the salazzle and it shrieked. An easy opening for Mitsu to score another Slash. And that had to be Psybeam.

They had a good momentum going. Hit and run tactics mainly. Even with the Light Screen, Salazzle proved dangerous. With vicious slashes with its tail, it kept them at bay. And breathed toxic flames when it felt necessary. Paxton knew the stat boost wouldn't matter for long. They needed to finish this fast.

"I'm outta ideas," Paxton confessed, stealing a glance at the weirdo. Even he looked concerned as sweat beaded his brow. "Got a plan?"

Weirdo bit his lip. "Kinda. We're outmatched so we can't muscle it down."

"You called it something. A Shadow Pokémon. What do you mean by that?"

Weirdo shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to tell. Shadow Pokémon have dark auras and closed hearts."

Paxton pursed his lips. He had heard about them before. Off in a distant region, there had a rise of them. Maybe a decade or two ago. Hard to believe someone would continue such monstrous practices.

"So, what do we do?"

"I could stun her…" Weirdo glanced at his piplup. It hadn't joined in the fight yet, but something told him it wanted to. Had to be the angered gleam in its eyes. "But I needa touch her."

…Forget that, this man lost his mind! How did he think that would happen? Their pokémon kept that lizard at bay, but that didn't save them from danger. Those purple flames scorched much of tall grass and drove off many of the wild pokémon. Powerful tail slashes severed trees and even stuck a few pokémon. Getting in close wouldn't be that simple.

"Let's say I agree with this dumbass plan of yours," he began slowly as his fingers danced at his belt. Push come to shove, he had Gama. "How would this work?"

"Same tactics," Weirdo stated and shared a nod with his piplup. "We just gotta douse her a bit."

Douse her—Salazzle hissed and pinned down that ugly bug. Would've taken her out had the floating head not blasted it with a strange pulse of heated energy. "Right, is that supposed to be easy?" Mitsu dove in but it knocked her down with another slash of its tail. "We're getting our asses handed to us."

His starly and shinx were the first knocked out. Burned by the purple flames at close range. Kiri fell soon after. Poor girl—the second battle she lost today.

"Not, but nothin' ever is." His piplup rushed into the battle with loud chirps. Salazzle swung its tail, but Piplup side-stepped and circled it. With each step, blue feathers fluttered through the air and Salazzle hissed. "Empola, keep the Feather Dance going!"

Paxton sighed. Well if that's the case. Bomie the budew jumped out of his heal ball and hopped in place.

"Bomie! Water Sport!"

A burst of water rained down and Salazzle's flames sizzled. Their pokémon took advantage and blasted it, but it still stood tall through it.

"Everyone, back up!" Weirdo barked and the pokémon back up. All except for his piplup with glowed in blue light. "Empola! Water Pledge!"

A wave of crystal blue cascaded onto Salazzle and it screamed! And Weirdo rushed into in. Just as the wave splashed off the lizard's skin, he went and pushed his hand on her forehead. It…don't look like much to him. But it made the lizard hack and hiss. Soon it stumbled away, gasping for air as the flames died around it.

"Run!" Gathering his piplup, Weirdo took off. And Paxton followed suit.

This is the weirdest day ever!

…

Finally, they made it a good distance away. Drenched in sticky sweat none the less. Still, Turquoise claimed this as a victory. Thank Master Doryu for the extensive training. Never thought it would pay off, but…

I needed it, he frowned and took a glance at his team. Only Empola stood battle-ready, but even she had her limits. The last attack draining her plenty. Gotta get to Sandgem Town soon.

"Hey, um…" Stranger spoke up for the first time since the night. Eyes low as he hugged his budew close. Until the soft night sky, Turquoise couldn't tell if tears accompanied the sadness the teen felt. "I gotta tell you something."

His vespiquen nodded, even shoved his shoulder. Stranger flinched but didn't make a retort. Turquoise expected as much. Rude or not, this trainer cared for his pokémon. And even valued their opinions. Not a sentiment many shared. Turquoise saw many trainers who berated their teammates and sent them into losing battles. All for poorly thought out dreams of grandeur. What a waste.

"I'm sorry…for calling you a weirdo and freak and stuff." Stranger started. Their eyes met and his emerald eyes shined through the darkness. "Thank you for helping me back there."

"Hehe, no problem." Turquoise grinned. "I'm sorry Motha attacked you like that."

"Yeah…well, I should introduce myself properly then. I'm Paxton Lotus of Floaroma Town."

Paxton Lotus…it suited him. From his short green coils to his emerald eyes. Even his outfit. A simple white t-shirt paired with dark green joggers and heavy brown gardening boots. Even his brown belt with its full array of heal balls and a green leaf buckle. A true trainer from the town of flowers.

And a cute guy.

"Nice to meetcha!" Turquoise blushed but hold out his hand. "I'm Turquoise Yukule of Twinleaf Town!" They shook hands, and the sensation flooded Turquoise with joy. A new friend! Finally! "Newest Pokédex Holder of Sinnoh."

"Wait, what?!"

Turquoise laughed and withdrew his pokédex. It started up, running through a burst of code he couldn't hope to understand. Before long, it faded into a smiling picture of him from his graduation. Back when he had his hair braided in cornrows.

"Porygon Pokédex Model 1," a computerized voice started up, "belonging to Turquoise Yukule of Twinleaf Town. If lost, please return to Professor Kapok of Ancient Island or Professor Rowan of Sandgem Town."

"Surprised, huh? All thanks to your package!"

Without it, Turquoise feared he would never leave. But now, he stood tall beyond the safety of home. Ready to take the world by storm.

…

Sooo, how'd y'all like it? I'm getting better with fight scenes, but not perfect yet. Still, I enjoyed writing this one.

In the previous version, it was a Shadow Absol, but then I was like...symbolism! Think of the symbolism! And thus came Shadow Salazzle and her pesky Salandits! Just wanna say Salazzle is one of my favorite pokemon introduced in Sun and Moon. I used her on my first Moon playthrough and chileeeee, perfect! I had to bring her back and it was so much fun to write!

I did my best to keep it very Pokemon Adventures. I recently reread the Gold, Silver and Crystal Chapter and was inspired by the scene where the Masked Man's Houndour called for a pack against Lt. Surge. I felt like I needed to keep my fights with that kind of veil rather than thinking about it in the style of the anime.

Initially, during the fight, I was gonna have Vespiquen and Salazzle have a rivalry, but think I realized I couldn't😢😭 If only Vespiquen knew Attack Order. Butttt, who's to say she won't be back?

And yup, Shadow Pokemon! They're gonna be very important to this series, don't you worry. And another one too! Once I finally get to it lol.

Oh! And I added a new pokemon to Turquoise's team! I feel like an Empath needs a psychic type, but I didn't wanna do ralts lol. Soooo, we got Solosis instead! Great because it fits him stats-wise and personality-wise.

Now, we're done with Turquoise and Paxton for now! Time to move onto the next Sinnoh Dex Holder! He's probably a new favorite of mine. I definitely didn't know what I was doing with him when I first made him, but now he's awesome.

As always, feel free to review or PM me with your opinions!