#and these bloody barricade boys have them all

[la-vie-est-pain]

cannot for the life of me find the post but kudos to the person who made that Drink With Me animatic. That hug was something I didn't know I needed.

[icycoldninja]

I'm not sure if requests are open so if not feel free to skip!

Can you do the dmc boys barely saving their s/o before death? Good ol angst/comfort for both parties

They're open for the time being. Enjoy.

Saving Reader from death headcannons (Sparda boys + V x Reader)

Warning: injury, blood, near death experiences

¤ Dante ¤

-He'd made a mistake, taking you out on a mission with him. He knew he shouldn't have, but you were so eager to go and gung ho about ripping up demons, he just couldn't bring himself to crush your spirits.

-Almost as soon as you two arrived on scene, the demons fell upon you like hungry wolves to a piece of meat, mauling you, clawing at you, chewing on you, and more.

-It was lucky Dante had the reflexes he did, otherwise you would have been nothing but a bloody corpse. He'd managed to shoot the demons, knock them back, and otherwise incapacitate them enough for him to reach you.

-You were hurt, badly, but still alive. Forgetting all about the mission, Dante scooped you into his arms and carried you off to the nearest hospital, where, thankfully, the doctors were able to treat you.

-Dante spent the remainder of your recovery sitting by your bed, holding your hand with all his strength, constantly apologizing for being so stupid.

-"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I was an idiot to put you in danger like that, I-I should've known better. From now on, you're staying home, where it's safe, OK? I...don't ever wanna have to see you like this again."

■ Vergil ■

-Vergil knew demons would stoop to low, low methods to get what they wanted, but he didn't think they'd go so far as to track down where you lived and attack you in your own home.

-He'd received a phone call from you while on his way back from a mission. Expecting a loving greeting, Vergil was met with panicked screaming from the other end; you, begging for him to come home quickly because the demons had found you.

-Vergil wasted no time in portaling over, and not a moment too soon, for he'd found you cornered in the kitchen, a demon's scythe just centimeters from your throat.

-Thankfully, Vergil worked quickly and cut the demon down where it stood, preventing you from meeting what would have surely been a horrific demise.

-He was so worried and afraid about your safety, he didn't even flinch when you collapsed into his arms, weeping and wailing about how terrified you were.

-"It's alright, my dove. You are safe. I'm home. There are no more demons, not anymore. Shhh."

□ Nero □

-Nero had invited you to come with him on a quick, innocent trip to the store for groceries, thinking it'd be a great opportunity to just hang out together.

-He had absolutely no clue that demons would choose to attack the supermarket of all places on that specific day.

-The demons came in from all sides, quickly flooding the store with their ranks. In under 5 minutes, the little menaces had toppled shelving, collapsed light fixtures, rammed people with shopping carts, flung frozen food at everyone, and barricaded the doors with fallen vending machines. While Nero worked to clear an exit, the demons snuck up from above and caused a large, industrial lamp to fall from the ceiling. You were half crushed by the metal monstrosity before you even knew it.

-Nero couldn't control himself and Triggered right then and there, devoting all his attention to pulling you out of under the large light fixture. Once he'd done so, he blew open the wall using something or other and raced you to the hospital, returning to deal with the demons shortly afterward.

-He then came back to the hospital to find you alive, but in pretty bad condition, most of the bones in your legs, but thankfully not your back, having been cracked, at the very least. Nero spent the next few months of your recovery stationed in a chair by the door, head in his hands, blaming himself for not being able to save you from injury.

-"God, I'm such an asshole. I'm sorry, baby, I screwed up big time. I'm such a freaking loser. I should have been faster, shoulda followed my instincts and yanked you outta there earlier. Why the fuck didn't I do that? I suck."

● V ●

-You and V were simply enjoying a pure and romantic moonlit walk together in the city.

-Then the demons showed up out of literally nowhere, taking the both of you by surprise as they surrounded you, claws brandished and fangs gnashing.

-V summoned his familiars to dispatch them, but it wasn't enough. Some slipped through his already thin defenses and struck you with their bloodstained weaponry, inflicting countless wounds upon your body.

-V managed to kill them all off before they could kill you, but still, you were badly hurt, and if he didn't get you medical help now, you could die from your wounds.

-He did his best to get you to the nearest hospital despite his crumbling body, nearly passing out on the doorstep in the process. The doctors said they could save you, and for that, V was glad, but at the same time, he felt angry at himself for not being able to do more for you.

-"Alas, Wanderer, if only this body wasn't as fragile as paper mache. I sorely wish I were stronger, for if I wasn't so weak, I might've been able to save you. Please, forgive me."

[adrift-in-thyme]

I worked on the fic as promised and…it got out of hand. So instead of a snippet I’ll just give you guys the whole thing XD Thank you all for providing that extra nudge I needed to finish it!

Though there’s nothing too descriptive here, there are brief mentions of blood, injury, and captivity. So be careful and take care of yourselves <3

————————————————————-

There is another fae in their group.

Hyrule has sensed it since he joined this little band of heroes. Fairy magic is soft, gentle, easy to miss when it is not in concentrated amounts. But there is a strength to it, an unbreakable force that little else possesses.

While the dark arts are vicious, like a javelin through the heart, fairy magic is soothing and unshatterable. Dependable and comforting.

There are many different magical signatures amongst the men and boys who share his name. Some torn apart and melded back together into something stronger. Others as mighty as a gale force wind, or as swift and discerning as a rabbit, as decisive and resilient as a barricade. Still others as fierce as a soaring hawk, as vicious and protective as the wolves that prowl the forest, as crafty and quick as the mischievous foxes that sometimes play around Hyrule’s feet.

Hyrule keeps his eye on them all as they travel, discovering who they are, watching their tells, learning the ways their faces portray their emotions even when they attempt to cloak them. And he wonders who amongst them is a brother in more ways than shared spirit. Who among them flits on a pair of silken wings.

He wonders until the day Time breaks.

Their journey is a long, arduous one, treacherous and laden with pitfalls. It’s only natural that it would take its toll. Still, Time holds out impressively. Even while he studies him with the other heroes, Hyrule never sees that mask of his slip, never sees a chink in the armor he wears.

At least, not for the first three months of traveling together.

But then, one day, there is an accident. A simple slip up born of exhaustion. During a battle with a group of black-blooded beasts in Twilight’s Hyrule, Warriors doesn’t see a monster lunging for him. Not until it’s too late.

And when he crumples into a limp, bloodied heap, Time’s mask shatters.

He doesn’t manage to piece it back together for the rest of the day. Not when he carries Warriors back to camp. Not when he lays the captain down on his bed mat and helps Hyrule tend to him. Not even when Warriors comes to, groggy and sore but very much alive and very much himself.

The captain teases him about being over protective. Time’s answering smile is a hollow one that doesn’t reach his eyes.

The injury had been a severe one, Hyrule won’t deny that — perhaps, more so than any of them have endured thus far. But Time seems to take it the hardest of any of them. And Hyrule can’t help wondering if maybe, just maybe there is something more behind his behavior.

Could it be that Time has been feeling the overwhelming nature of this quest the same as the rest of them, caving beneath its weight but unwilling to show it?

So, during dinner that night when Time sets aside his untouched food and slips silently away, Hyrule trails after him.

He goes a short way into the surrounding forest, footsteps soft, ears pricked for any sound of disturbance. Then, he stops, casts a quick glance around him…and disappears.

Hyrule peeks out from the cover of a nearby bush, eyes wide as he stares at the place where the old man had stood. For a long moment, he remains motionless, thoughts whirring, trying to decipher what has just happened.

Hero of Hyrule or not, people don’t simply dissipate like the morning mist. Though, with Time’s seemingly endless collection of masks, he supposes something of the sort is possible. Still…

Hyrule frowns.

There is something else here, hovering in the damp night air. A familiar magic that now drifts lazily over to him in delicate wisps.

Hyrule straightens. His brows dip further.

He knows what Time’s magic looks like, smells like, feels like. It is difficult to ignore, after all, tangled and tortured as it is. Such power is meant to flow freely. But Time’s has been grasped in hands that are not his own, grasped and mangled, suffocated, stretched to its breaking point and further, morphed into something completely unlike what it must have been at the start.

It is nauseating to behold at times. Right now, however, right now Hyrule can’t bring himself to look away. Because threaded in between the heartbreak and pain are gentle strands of the faintest blue fae magic.

The traveler steps forward. His eyes travel over the trail Time’s power has left behind, leading all the way up into the highest branches of a nearby oak. If he squints, he can make out a tiny dot among the lush leaves, shimmering emerald.

His lips part in a silent “oh.” He dares to take another step forward, then another and another, wings issuing from his back as he goes, body shrinking until it too can soar up to the haven of foliage.

Time doesn’t startle when he lands quietly on the branch. He remains sitting where he is, legs hanging over the edge into the open air, wings wafting gracefully back and forth. Hyrule stares at them, almost taken aback by their beauty.

He should have expected it, he supposes. Every fairy’s pride is their wings, after all. But Time’s unforgiving plates of armor, his dull gray tunic and obsidian trousers, the glowing marks of crimson and navy blue adorning his face – they provide such a severe air. Strength, dedication to duty, and unyielding courage are what they convey.

His wings, however, they speak of softer things, fragile things held close and treasured.

They are long, sweeping along the height of Time’s body in flowing curves like those of a butterfly. Their translucent surface is colored a deep emerald and adorned with veins of pale pink. They remind Hyrule of the vibrancy of the forest after a long, hard storm; of the look of leaves when the emerging sun caresses their dewy surfaces.

He walks closer, almost enraptured by this sight. Perhaps, he should turn away from something so vulnerable. That is likely the polite thing to do. But he has traveled far beyond politeness now, mesmerized as he is by this discovery.

And when Time says, “Hello, Hyrule,” there is nothing in his tone to communicate that this is an invasion of his privacy. On the contrary, he sounds calm, unbothered. He pats the spot beside him and slowly, Hyrule settles down upon it. Their wings nearly touch.

“So, it’s you,” he says, awkward and awestruck.

A small smile quirks the old man’s lips. His gaze remains trained on the heroes gathered far, far below them. Their laughter and chatter float up to them in bubbles of murmured joy.

“Yes, it’s me,” he says, mildly, as though this meeting is no shock. As though he has been expecting it for a long while.

Silence settles for a moment as Hyrule scrambles for what else to say.

“How?” Is all he can come up with.

Time chuckles. Hyrule is certain the sound is lighter than usual.

“I’m not sure.” He cocks his head, bangs falling aside so Hyrule can see his markings. “I have theories, of course, but I have no way to prove any of them. And those who might have been able to explain are long gone.”

His voice is good-natured enough but the words carry a weight that Hyrule can feel in his soul. He ducks his head.

“I’m sorry.”

Time shrugs. “Their fates were not your doing. There is no need for you to ache for them. Or for me.” He turns now, a smile brightening his face once more. “What about you, Hyrule? What is the nature of your transformation? Were you born with it?”

“Oh, it’s just a spell,” Hyrule replies, quickly. “Though, I’ve wondered if I was born with fae blood in me. I don’t think it would’ve worked otherwise.”

Time hums, thoughtfully. He is quiet for a moment, once more staring down at their comrades.

“I wondered why I felt the presence of one of my brethren amongst the group. But it wasn’t my place to pry. Besides, I assumed it was only a matter of time before I discovered who it was. Secrets don’t stay concealed for long in a group such as ours.” He grins. “It seems you found me first, however.”

Hyrule laughs. “It sure seems that way.”

“That isn’t why you followed me though, is it?” The old man’s gaze is sharp and discerning as he pins Hyrule with it. The traveler fights not to sink into himself beneath it.

“No.” His voice is a bit smaller than he wants it to be, embarrassment sneaking into it against his will. “It isn’t.”

Time nods and looks away again. Stance relaxed, expression guarded, he waits. Hyrule swallows, gathers his courage, and continues.

“I saw how upset you were about Wars.”

Time flinches almost imperceptibly. The walls that had gone relatively low rise again so far Hyrule is taken aback by it. Yet, he plows on anyway.

If anything, Time’s reaction validates his decision further.

“And…I saw how you tried to hide it, too. And I wanted to make sure you were okay. Because you don’t, old man, you don’t have to hide what you feel.” His gaze travels to those magnificent wings again, grander than his own, yet so similar. “Or what you are.”

“It’s dangerous,” Time murmurs. “You know that, traveler.”

Perhaps, he is talking solely about feelings and the open expression of them. But Hyrule sees a bottle anyway, brimming with desperate magic, translucent sides smeared with blood and tears, it’s top shut so tightly the air has grown thin.

“Not with us,” he says, firm despite the dizzying rush of fear the memories bring. “Not with me.”

He scoots closer. His shoulder bumps against Time’s, their wings brush. Time’s next exhale catches at the end.

To anyone else such proximity would be touching enough, a display of closeness between two brothers in arms and spirit. But Hyrule knows that to fae it means even more than that.

Wings are not only the pride of the fairy people. They are also their greatest power — and their very life. To allow someone else to touch your wings so freely is a show of trust as momentous as when Time had shown them his ocarina. Not the one embued with sacred magic and given to him by Lullaby. No, the one that is even more precious to him that even that one. The one Sariah had given him so very, very, (very, very, Hyrule adds for good measure) long ago.

The stiffness that had seeped into Time’s posture eases slightly. Hyrule feels a smile stretch across his face.

The two of them grow silent, allowing the symphony of night creatures to fill the space between them. Hyrule swings his legs, back and forth, back and forth, listening to the crickets and owls singing in time with the laughter of his brothers. Time still looks down upon them.

Watching over them, Hyrule realizes with a sudden burst of warmth.

Their leader can seem cold sometimes, distant. Little had he known the depths of his love for the heroes with whom he shared a spirit of courage.

There is much, he thinks in wonder, that he doesn’t know about the old man.

Beside him, Time sighs and exhaustion permeates it. “You all aren’t going to give up on me, are you?”

Hyrule sends him a grin. “Nope. We’re not gonna stop until we know all your secrets. All of them. And we’ll know because you’re comfortable enough with us enough to share them, because we’ve earned your trust enough to be gifted them.”

Emotion burns in Time’s eye when he turns to the traveler. His face is more vulnerable than Hyrule has ever seen it before — even when Warriors fell.

“My trust isn’t easy to earn.”

“And Hyrule isn’t easy to save.”

Time holds his gaze for a long moment. Then, he smiles. It is small, almost shy, but Hyrule knows it is a gift. The first of many, if he’s lucky.

“Well, then, I suppose you’re amply prepared for such a challenge.”

Hyrule leans in closer, pride welling within him when Time returns the gesture, and his grin grows.

Yeah. He thinks, watching with wide eyes as fairy dust floats around them. I am.

We all are.

[octuscle]

Merry Christmas! Or, er, Happy Holidays! Don’t wanna be presumptuous but I haven’t a clue what you celebrate, oh great wise Chronivac Support.

Aw why bother with niceties, you can probably tell I’m buttering you up. I’ll just get straight to it.

I live in the one campus dorm that’s right next to a frat house notorious for its wild, all-night parties. For most of my dorm mates, they love being so close to such a hotspot for booze and babes, but I—an eternally sober fruitcake— don’t really care for all that. Not to mention the loud music and flashing lights outside my window while I’m trying to sleep, god it drives me crazy.

Now, obviously I’m asking you to help me out, but I got a special request. Seeing as it’s the holly jolly time of year, I figured why not spice up my request. So, could you have one of their parties crashed by a real deal, mean Krampus? You know, Krampus, big, brutish, fuzzball that’s all about punishing naughty kids? You think you can have him punish those naughty frat boys and turn them into good little (or big, rather) musclebrats?

First of all, have a great holiday season too. I can't wish you a peaceful holiday season based on the information you've given me. I can understand you, but I don't really know how I can help you either. I'll send you a Krampus mask and a rod, maybe that will help with the next excess next door.

Bloody hell! It's Tuesday! In the middle of the week! Okay, maybe tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day, but that's no reason to make such a racket again. On the other hand… It's Krampus night. The evening of December 5th. There's no better occasion to put on the mask, grab the rod and really shake up the party in the house next door. You quickly put on a tracksuit and sneakers, put on the heavy mask, grab the rod and head next door.

The door is open. And step inside. Boozing and bawling frat boys are partying to loud music. And you see some of your roommates from your dorm. You shout "Krampus is here to punish the bad guys!" into the roar. And you start beating every jock who gets in your way with the rod. Nobody reacts at first. Then laughter. Then panic! Whoever your rod hits falls to the ground. You go into a sheer rush. Behind you, men lie on the ground with their limbs twitching, the drunken guys flee from you as best they can. But most of them just stumble over each other and make easy work of you. The big bell on your belt announces your arrival. You walk up the stairs with heavy steps. A few of the fugitives try to escape from the windows. A few barricade the doors. But no door can withstand your powerful step.

Apart from your own breathing and the music, nothing else can be heard. You pull the plug of the sound system out of the socket. Dead silence. The guys on the floor breathe peacefully and evenly. Another frat boy is hiding behind the sofa. One last strike with the rod. And your work on Krampus night is done.

Back in your dorm room, you take off your heavy mask. You're sweating in your heavy Krampus costume made of leather and sheepskins. The costume has been in your family for generations. Even your great-grandfather regularly took part in the Krampus runs in your home village in Salzburger Land.

Peace at last! "De verdammtn Gödln hom hodlt as kriagt, wos eana zugsteat!" you think to yourself as you finally take the costume off again and put it away in the wardrobe. And you fall into a deep and undisturbed sleep.

When your alarm clock rings at 07:00 the next morning, it's morning roll call in the fraternity house next door. The fraternity is known as the toughest training ground on campus. And home to the hottest guys. This morning they've been roaming the campus, stuffing candy and condoms into the good guys' polished boots. And now there are a few bare-chested push-ups in the snow. You love this sight.

You really couldn't ask for a better neighborhood.

Your pic found @hairysweatysmelly, the pic of the enhanced frat bros @nation-of-bros

[restlessmaknae]

bite me, not yourself [jake]

After the outbreak at school, students turn into zombies that can't remember anyone, and after you save Jake, this is supposed to be your fate as well. However, you seem to be able to control yourself around him, but wouldn't dare to risk it.

➳ Characters: high school student!Jake x female reader/you

➳ Genre: all of us are dead au, high school au, zombie apocalypse au

➳ Words: 1.9k

➳ Warning: mentions of blood, death, being bitten by zombies

➳ A/N: Jake and reader's storyline isn't the same as Suhyeok and Namra's storyline from AOUAD, but Suhyeok's line 'bite me, not yourself' is said in the story as well. Plus, there are some similarities, but you don't have to know the drama to understand this story.

➳ ENHYPEN taglist: @dat-town, @hyunjinswife, @stories-inbetween-the-stars, @sweetjaemss, @laaylaazyy, @effulgetfireflies, @chaeryeongs-wife, @americanokisses, @kuleo26, @hyu-won, @syrxiee2, @wccycc, @koishua, @squiishymeow, @sunooslover, @heyditseeey

➳ Check out: my ENHYPEN masterlist

You ran through the corridor, walls covered in smudges of blood, papers trampled upon the floor beside broken shards of glass, eerie sounds of teeth chattering and feet shuffling accompanying you as you didn’t look back.

You knew that if anyone came after you, they would risk their lives. You couldn’t let that happen, after all, you were the one they should have feared the most, you were the one they should have avoided.

You turned a corner, then another, looking for a place where you could hide, where you could lock yourself up and then… you didn’t really think about the aftermath, just that you had to get away from the others. From him.

You found an empty storage room, and closed it, turning the keys immediately. You looked around briefly, but there was no way anyone could have hid here as it was a tiny place, only two shelves opposite of each other filled with school supplies. Most of it seemed intact, but there was a bloody scissor on the floor, and you could only guess someone used it to attack a zombie. To attack someone like you…

You could hardly process the fact that you were a zombie now, there was just so much going on. Students turning into zombies or falling to their deaths, blood pooling the floors and terrifying screams filling the air, all of your senses were full of all these horrible, jarring experiences. You had tried so hard to stay away from zombies, fighting alongside your classmates and with everything you could find, barricading yourself off into classrooms, only moving from one place to another when a surge of zombies forced you to move. You had been so careful, and yet… You had willingly walked into your downfall.

You had been bitten in the corridor when you had tried to help out Jake who had been attacked by a zombie. You hadn’t even thought about anything, a tremor of fear had gone through your body at the sight of the boy being thrown to the ground. The sound of the boy’s pained winces, the way terror filled his warm, chocolate-brown eyes, and his angry grumbles filled the air had been enough for you to step in and try to tear the zombie off of him… You couldn’t have just watched him being in pain or worse, being bit… and yet, you had been bit instead of him.

Afterwards, when you had gone back to rejoice with your classmates, the boy had tried to justify that he would look after you because you had sacrificed yourself instead of him (for him), but he had been crazy to think that you would let him. Not when you had almost bit him as well, and it had been only a matter of luck that his voice had managed to bring you back to reality, to bring back your human self. Odd, you had thought that zombies didn’t recognise anyone after being bit, and yet, despite your hunger for blood, you still remembered him, his face, his voice, the way he made you feel.

That’s exactly why you had run away from them, hoping that none of them would come after you. Especially not him.

You didn’t want to think about what would happen next. You would most probably die, your memories fading into oblivion, and maybe it would be one of your classmates who would kill you when you would try to attack them. Even if you had managed to control your hunger that one time, it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t happen again, and you just couldn’t… you wouldn’t be able to live on if you had to attack them. If you even remembered who they were by that point. You didn’t even know what was scarier: the thought that you might kill them or that you might forget them.

You could hear footsteps approaching, and Jake’s voice reverberating from the walls. That fool… Zombies had excellent hearing, they would swarm the corridor like bees if they heard him shout your name like that.

Yet again, you didn’t think twice as you pushed yourself off the ground, unlocked the door and opened it, just in time for the boy to arrive in front. You grabbed him by his torn school uniform and dragged him inside, locking the door behind you before turning towards him.

Equal amounts of frustration and relief washed over you as you watched over him, no visible bite marks painting his skin. There was dried blood on his face, his hair was messy and parts of it stuck together as if glued by dirt and blood, and there were holes all over his pants and jacket, but he did look intact.

“What were you thinking, shouting my name like that? You could have been bit out there,” you reprimanded him sternly, your voice coming out strong and cold - so unlike you, so unlike the girl who had never dared to go against others or raise her voice.

“I couldn’t just let you leave like that. After all, you were bit because of me, and you said that you can control the zombie in you, and I trust you on it. I really do,” Jake justified, his voice soft as always, but there was an edge to it, a bitter one. As if he was hurt by the fact that you didn’t believe him.

You let out a long sigh, letting your shoulders drop with it, too. You ran a hand through your hair, thoughts crippling your brain like lighting on a stormy night. You could hear his heart beat due to your excellent hearing, fast and determined, and you tried to concentrate on it instead of the drops of sweat rolling down his cheek or his eyes twinkling in the late afternoon light sweeping through the burgundy-stained curtains.

“I… I wanted to bite you… I could feel it within me, I was about to do it, and then…” You gulped as the memory came back, even stronger than before. Jake looked at you, patient and gentle as ever, and you could cry out at the sight. How could he look at you like that when you had told him yet again that you had wanted to bite him? “Then, somehow this urge subsided as you called my name. It was as if I was brought back to reality, but I don’t know if I can do it again, if I can control it like that, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

Your words were less stern and more agitated than before. You took a step back, your back coming in contact with the shelf behind you, and you felt like sliding down to the ground, you could feel your knees buckling beneath you, but the zombie side of you was stronger. All of your senses seemed to heighten since being bitten, and even though you were hit by waves of weariness, you still stood strong and steady.

Then, the boy took a step closer to you, and you wanted to back away even more, but there was nowhere else you could go. You were already as close to that shelf as possible.

“You won’t,” Jake breathed out, his words firm yet soft. How, just how on Earth could he still sound like that when he had lost a friend, when he had watched his classmates die, when he had been running for his life, and when he was in front of someone who could hurt him anytime?

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’ve always been like that, you would never hurt anyone,” came the answer almost immediately, and the boy still didn’t back away. He took a step closer and another as if testing when you would stop him, giving you the chance to push him away. “You are bitten because of me, because you wanted to protect me. I won’t let you face this alone after that,” he added as he diminished the distance between you two, and he reached for your left arm.

You winced when he touched you - not because it particularly hurt, but because of the memories. Beside the fresh bite mark on your wrist, there was the imprint of the student’s teeth who had bitten you out in the corridor, who had sealed your fate. Maybe you had been stupid, after all, you were a girl, and these zombies were strong and resilient, and you shouldn’t have believed that you could ever go against a male zombie that had even caused Jake trouble. And yet… what wouldn’t you have given up for this boy?

“And if anything like that happens again, bite me, not yourself,” he whispered like a confession, a gift, a sacrifice…

So he had seen when you had bitten your own wrist instead of going for his neck as you had been craving for it. Up to this point, you still didn’t understand how your human self could resurface when you had felt this urge to bite him, especially him, because you had bitten others before, ones that had gotten in your way as you had run down the corridors, and you hadn’t felt the same way.

He gently rubbed the intact skin on your wrist as he reached for your face with his other hand, wiping the blood from your lips. Something in you crumbled at the way he willingly caressed you and touched you, risking his own life, risking his own safety beside a ticking time bomb like you, and you felt tears pricking your eyes.

“I’m so scared,” you admitted feebly and a gasp of suppressed air left your mouth, followed by a shaky sob. You were scared of everything: the whole situation, the uncertainties regarding getting out and not knowing how the city outside of the school might have looked (Were there zombies outside of the school? Was anyone out there trying to get to you, rescuing those who were still stuck at school? How many of you actually survived up until this point?), the way your body and brain changed as if it was fighting this zombie self within you, and you were scared of you and him, and whatever you had going on, and how it could possibly hurt you both.

“It’s okay. We’ll get out of here,” he shushed as he slid his hand from your face to your side and pulled you closer to him.

You sobbed into the crook of his neck, into his jacket, into his shirt, and he let you, and for the first time since the whole fiasco started, you had a tiny bit of hope planted in your heart. He was here, he was here with you after everything, and even though you had never confessed how you felt towards him, you hoped that he knew.

(And he hoped so too, because when he had asked to meet you in the empty music room, before the first zombies had broken in to interrupt you two, he had actually wanted to meet up to tell you that he liked you. But maybe now his actions spoke louder than that confession could have ever done so.)

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know what you think!

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for ENHYPEN or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Hope you have a lovely day/night! Take care! ❤️

[gatheredfates]

60. In Sync/Wordless Conversations

101 quick fluffy/soft/comfort prompts for brief fic snippets. I'm so sorry I intended for this to be fluffy but it IS my Thirteenth verse soooooooooo.

No matter what ruin comes of us. When I'm gone, promise me. Promise me when you sleep, when you dream of me, it'll be in colours of white.

There was a wreath of pearls in her hair. He noticed them like he noticed her, inoffensive and unobtrusive, daring to not make a spectacle as she lingered at the edges of the court, away from eyes like carrion birds overseeing a bloody affair. He watched the way she watched intently, encouraging smiles and polite handwaves as she ushered the other ladies to their entourages. She knew, as he knew, as they all knew, their place in the world.

A castle on the cliffs. A blasé ballroom. Piano keys struck as effortlessly as claws in skin, a tempo-count to the screams of the proletariat murdered beneath their barricades — a mercy granted to my chosen, their lord declared.

Here was the only place he saw white. The rest was a mash of purple-black stretching across the sky like a bruise, a pox of void that blotted the last few places of light. Infectious, it chased him from distant courts over shores and shelters; gorging, devouring, decimating until there was nothing left, and it hungered still.

The lord kept him because he was useful. He kept her because she was pretty.

He wondered if the pearls were plucked from maggots feasting on sticky oysters, an irony of value as desperate fisherman gnashed on the slime. Worthless as the gil that slipped between their bony fingers while snatched at chunks of bread. The lord knew how low they'd stoop — how little he'd have to offer before the pin-pricks of void in their pupils cannibalised them from the inside. A little waste for everything he wanted.

He laced them tenderly upon a crown of white-blonde hair. An offering. A dozen little souls chained in silk, so arrogant as to be loosely tied, priceless and worthless in the same breath.

'I can be frivolous,' it seemed to say. 'I can be apocalyptic.'

The boy didn't know his hunger then, mistaking it for foolishness. It was when his hand closed around her wrist and tugged her back from the crowd, when she jumped and tried to speak his name, when he silenced her with a finger to his lips. He knew he wanted her. He wanted her hands, her hair and her skin beneath his fingers. He wanted to know her, to love her. Devour her, pearlescent and magnificent in the white.

In the light.

He pulled her gently towards the door. Aryele turned her head, pale blue surveying the ballroom for just a moment, before her hand squeezed his. She looked to him, the expectation of her station abandoned for just a little while — the horrors of their pantomime discarded — and she grinned.

Lady turned memoriate. Pianist to murderer.

He grinned back, amber eyes crinkling in the corners.

No one noticed, no one cared, to watch them run. Only the lord residing over a dollhouse of doom, far too preoccupied with the dance — dead before he died. The first voidsent before the fall.

[idpreferyoudead]

There’s a lot of movies I haven’t seen yet this year because going to the cinema is bloody expensive and you can have a couple of months of nothing grabbing your interest and then suddenly 4 movies come out in the same week and somehow I’m meant to choose which movie I want to see the most? Well last month I didn’t pick Abigail and I’ll admit that was solely on the fact the film was by Radio Silence and the focus was on Melissa Barrera. I thought Ready Or Not was a great film but I hated what they did to the Scream franchise. I haven’t really seen Melissa in anything else but I just hate her character in Scream so much it’s hard to separate her right now. So with Abigail hitting streaming services, I finally gave it a viewing.

Now we all know what this movie is about thanks to the trailer: a little girl comes home from what is presumedly a ballet class, is kidnapped by a group of criminals and she turns out to be a vampire. That is basically the extent of the entire plot. Six completely random crims, where none of them look like the type capable of pulling off something of this magnitude even if it is just glorified babysitting, but it only takes Joey (Melissa Barrera) 30 seconds to prove she’s incompetent for the job when she believes everything Abigail tells her. The second hand embarrassment was real when Joey did this not once, but twice, then stands there saying how smart Abigail is for manipulating them. I feel like Joey would be really susceptible to TV advertising. The kind of person to believe something on wikipedia because nothing on wikipedia is ever wrong – and it is, you should look up the plot to Robert the Doll on there. It’s hilarious but oh so wrong! They all realise this little girl is a vampire and stand around discussing the ways to kill a vamp. Of course, Twilight is mentioned. Garlic, sunlight and holy water are the obvious answers, 2 of which are useless to them at 3:30am barricaded inside a large house but the dumb got dumber when Sammy (Kathryn Newton) runs out of the kitchen with a bag of garlic and she gets a quick lesson on what an onion looks like. I wish I could say the movie gets better, but for me, it didn’t.

Early on with teaser trailers, people were very quick to make comparisons to M3GAN – all because of a young girl and a dance routine – and that’s not much of a comparison. Honestly it’s kind of insulting to compare a Tiktok dance to ballet. Though for a kid that’s been around for a few centuries, I’ll guess ballet is a relatively new hobby for her but her ballet skills are better than whoever was in charge of giving Sammy tattoos. I don’t know what is going on in Hollywood right now where every ‘edgy’ character that exists in a movie must have some of the absolute shittest tattoos that ever existed. The kind of tattoos that look like they were done in your mates crack den with the tattoo gun he bought from Temu. Harry Styles is not the poster boy for how to look cool with tattoos, okay? Just employ someone from Ink Master, they could draw you up something real nice compared to the random black drawings that look like were done with a felt tip pen.

Plot wise I was mostly pretty bored to the point where I started wondering if I should count how many times the word FUCK was said in the movie, because that one word is definitely like 30% of the script. Total overkill, just like that time someone let Chris Rock near a Saw film. Even the way some of them were dying – just fully exploding bloody messes – was straight out of Ready Or Not and didn’t feel very imaginative.

I’m sure to have no fans with this but Melissa Barrera’s acting just doesn’t do it for me. This was just another character I couldn’t stand where she was gullible at every turn while also being holier than thou. Can we normalise not praising a movie just because some actor/actress you’re fangirling over is in it? Let’s raise the bar a little!

Any rating I give this movie is going to Alisha Weir. She pulled off playing a terrified and vulnerable little girl, a vampire child who likes to play with her food and she was definitely the smartest person in the room. Her ability to switch between meek child to ruthless killer and back again makes her someone to watch – I’ll be interested to see what she does in the future!

Lastly, I’m saddened that after hearing ‘Tiny Dancer’ a few times in the beginning, not once was Elton John played in the movie. What a missed opportunity.

[boldlyspeedydreamerreturns]

Another fic request!

This one took a little while, I finally got it done. I always considered Crimson x Alessio a joke ship. Give the raging homophobe a boyfriend haha. But this was a fun request to do. Hope you all enjoy a little hurt/comfort from the mob boys

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Another day, another gang war. That's life in the greed ring, at least for those in this particular lifestyle. Crimson was pinned behind a rusted out truck during a nasty shoot out. Alessio right beside him. Given the circumstances, nobody batted an eye at the mob boss tucked close into the side of his bodyguard. It was an easy way to keep him safe after all. The shots finally stopped as the enemy reloaded. This gave them a chance to move. Alessio took the lead, keeping Crimson on his right, out of the line of fire. They moved quickly, almost out of the yard when shots rang out again. Crimson was suddenly shoved behind a concrete barricade. He had closed his eyes to keep from getting too much debris in them, but felt Alessio covering him with his own larger body. The two were pressed tight against each other in the small space. Crimson’s head was so close to Alessio’s chest he could practically hear the shark demon’s racing heart beat.

“Al…” The mob boss began, but was quickly silenced by a hand coming up and covering his mouth.

“Hold on, boss. Something doesn't feel right.” The shark slowly peeked his head out from the barricade, only to be met with more fire. He quickly pulled back.

“Shit, they've got us pinned down.” He removed his hand from Crimson's mouth.

“Al, you're lucky this is a dire situation, otherwise you'd be dead for pulling that shit.” The imp glared at his bodyguard.

“Sorry boss. We need to figure out another way to get to the gate. It's the only way out of here.” The two looked around, trying to figure out another route. Crimson's eyes landed on a small opening on the other side of the barricade.

“There's a hole on the other side there. If we can move some of that rubble we should be able to get through.” The imp ducked under the shark’s arm and moved towards the hole. Alessio stayed behind him, keeping a distance in case he needed to turn around and fight.

Crimson moved the rubble out of the way, but he knew the opening would still be too small for Alessio to get through. He tried to think, they both needed to get out. Suddenly there was a large explosion from the other side of the barricade, making it all shake. Crimson nearly fell over from the shock of the explosion. Alessio caught him, keeping the imp upright. He stayed there for a moment, taking a breath before pulling himself away.

“We're almost out of time, Al. We need to move now, but the hole’s too small. I can get through, but you…”

“Go.”

“What?”

“Boss, go. You need to get back to the mansion. I'll find another way, but you need to go while you can.” Crimson looked at Alessio in shock for a moment, then he glared at the shark.

“Are you fucking stupid? No way in hell am I leaving without you.”

“You don't have a choice this time, boss.”

“The fuck do you mean I…” Before he could finish Alessio picked Crimson up by his sides and shoved him through the opening. The imp stood up on the other side.

“Get back to the mansion. You'll be safe there. I'll be fine.”

“Alessio don't you dare…” But it was too late. Alessio moved the rubble back in front of the opening so Crimson couldn't get back through. The imp cursed under his breath, but ran away.

It didn't take long for him to get back to his mansion where the rest of his men already were. The ones that didn't die anyways. The others noticed their boss was banged up and bloody, so one of them brought him a first aid kit. Crimson took it, but wouldn't let any of them touch him, patching himself up alone. Only Alessio had ever been allowed to touch him. Another shark stepped forward.

“Hey boss, where's Al? Wasn't he with you?” Crimson didn't respond right away, finishing the patch job before speaking.

“We were pinned down. There was a way out, but it was small. Al didn't fit, so he had me go through the opening and said he'd find another way. He should be back soon…” The last part didn't sound as confident as he wanted. The others shared worried glances.

It was another four hours. Crimson paced the room so much he could have put a hole in the floor. His mind was racing. He didn't know what else to do. He wanted to go back and look for Al, but it was too risky. Al would be fine right? He was always fine. He was Crimson's bodyguard for a reason. He was strong, and loyal, and brave, and…he would always come back, no matter what. The imp’s breathing got faster as he felt his legs becoming heavy, but he kept pacing, worried if he stopped moving, he'd lose his cool. But soon he heard the sound of the front door opening. He rushed over just in time to see Alessio barely managing to drag himself inside.

“Al!” He hurried over to the shark demon just as he collapsed. The others quickly joined Crimson, lifting Alessio and quickly bringing him in, putting him down on the couch.

“Don't just fucking stand there you clowns, someone call the doctor. You two, stop the bleeding as much as possible. We'll patch him up and keep him breathing until they get here. Hurry!” The other sharks hustled around the imp, doing everything in their power to keep Alessio alive. Crimson sat on the couch, putting Alessio’s head in his lap. He turned the shark's face to look at him.

“Don't you fucking dare close your eyes Al. The doc’ll be here soon. Just keep looking at me, alright. You're gonna be fine. You're fine. Just keep looking. You need to keep looking at me.” Alessio seemed to hear him. The shark kept looking Crimson in the eye. A barely noticeable smile came to his face as the imp stroked his head. The others moved in a flurry around them, but Crimson tuned them out, focusing completely on Alessio.

Soon enough the doctor arrived and Alessio was whisked away to one of the upstairs rooms. Specifically to Crimson's own bedroom.

“My bed is bigger, he'll have more space to work.” That was Crimson's reasoning, at least to his men.

The doctor kept everyone except his assistant out of the room while they worked, which didn't sit right with Crimson. Two more hours passed. He was pacing again. Right outside the door. He twitched and looked up at every painful sound he heard coming from the room. He'd told the rest of his goons to head home for the night, so nobody could see the panic and fear that crossed his face every time he heard Alessio scream or groan in pain. Finally, the doctor opened the door again, allowing Crimson inside. He stepped in to see Alessio under the covers. What parts of him that were sticking out were mostly covered in bandages. The doctor turned to Crimson.

“Thankfully nothing important was seriously damaged. He should make a full recovery in about two weeks, so long as he stays on bed rest.” Alessio groaned at the words, which almost made Crimson chuckle, but he kept it in.

“Thanks doc, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything else stupid for a while.” The doctor nodded. The two left, closing the door behind them. So now, Crimson and Alessio were alone.

Crimson walked over to the bed. His legs felt heavy again. He crawled up onto the large bed next to Alessio. The shark shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable, but couldn't.

“Boss…”

“You idiot.” Alessio looked over at Crimson. His eyes widening when he saw the tears spilling down the imp's cheeks.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? WE COULD’VE FOUND ANOTHER WAY!” All the worry and fear Crimson had been feeling couldn't be held in any longer. He laid down on Alessio's lap, sobbing. Alessio knew he was the one and only person who could ever see Crimson this way.

“I needed to get you out. I made sure you were safe…”

“AND YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF KILLED IN THE PROCESS! DON'T YOU GET IT! I COULD HAVE…I…I could have…” His sobbing made it difficult to speak anymore. He curled up against Alessio. The shark demon moved his arms to wrap around the imp, wincing a bit as he was still in a lot of pain.

“I could have lost you. I almost did. What the fuck would I do then, huh?” Alessio gently ran a hand through Crimson's tousled hair.

“You would have found a new bodyguard.”

“Fuck off, you know that's not what I mean.” They both stopped talking for a minute. Crimson's sobs had quieted to sniffling. Alessio continued to run his hand through Crimson's hair.

“I'm sorry, Crim. But…I'm still your bodyguard. And no matter what…else we have behind closed doors, it's still my job to protect you.” Crimson sat up and glared at Alessio.

“And just how the fuck are you supposed to protect me when you're six feet under? Look at you! You can't protect me like this, you can't even stand up! “ A pang of guilt rang in Alessio's chest when he looked into Crimson's eyes again. They were slightly swollen from crying so hard, and behind the anger was a mixture of sadness and relief.

“Just…please. Please don't do that again. I can't lose you too, Al. You're all I've got left.” Alessio leaned down, placing a quick, gentle kiss on Crimson's forehead.

“You're right, Crim. I'm no use to anyone like this, especially you. It was stupid. Forgive me?” Crimson sat there, trying not to think about the blush coming to his cheeks. He finally smiled. He rested against Alessio again, careful not to put his full weight on him. He reached up and gave a peck to Alessio's jaw.

“Alright, I'll forgive you this time. But like I said, don't ever do something that stupid again. I…I need you here with me.”

“I promise, Crim. I'll always be here for you.”

The two smiled at each other. Alessio leaned down again so he could properly kiss Crimson on the lips. The kiss was tender and warm, not something you'd expect from a mob boss and his bodyguard. When they parted, Crimson let out a weak yawn. The stress and emotion of the day finally catching up with him. Alessio chuckled lightly.

“Come on now, we both need our rest. I'll let Hank know in the morning he'll need to take over bodyguard duty for a little while.” Crimson nodded.

He got up and changed into his pajamas before crawling back into bed and curling up under the covers, tucked against Alessio's side. The shark wrapped a protective arm around the imp, allowing himself to lay down fully. Crimson turned off the light before returning to his place beside Alessio.

“Goodnight Alessio….I…I love you.” Alessio smiled, though Crimson couldn't see it.

“I love you too, Crim. Always. Goodnight.” With that, the two finally allowed themselves to drift off to sleep.

Crimson awoke at some point in the darkness from a nightmare, but calmed when he felt Alessio's strong protective arm around him and his soft snoring next to the imp's head. Crimson smiled to himself. In that moment, in the darkness, he felt truly safe. A rare feeling in his line of work, and while he'd never admit it, one he deeply loved, just like the shark that provided it.

[crownedclownprince]

Happy Birthday!

There is a parade marching down the center of Gotham City, with music loud enough to rattle windows an startle car alarms into screeching wakefulness.

The media clamor is vicious and immediate, with the GCPD racing to quarantine the event as fast as possible.

Every channel is overtaken by frantic news casters urging everyone to get inside and stay inside until it's safe.

But really, is there such a thing as "safety" in Gotham city?

The parade marches on through bullets and barricades, leaving bloody smears across asphalt and concrete. The music swells, the pulsating downbeat in rhythm with the boom and thump of confetti cannons that spray the streets with pretty little paper stars. The wind blows most of them away, sure, but a horrible amount ends up stuck in the puddles of gore that used to be policemen making a mockery of their deaths in a way only the Joker knows best.

Speaking of... where is he?

At the head of the parade are several Clowns dressed in their best holding back feral beasts on massive chains. Hyenas with brightly painted faces yip and yowl, lunging at the ends of their leashes with maws splattered red red red. White tigers lope ever onwards with heavy saddles on their backs, and smaller Clowns astride them throwing candy here and there. There are lions too, lips pulled back into unnaturally smiles full of flat human teeth, their eyes brightly glowing green to match their fluffy manes

There's a fellow dressed like Beethoven sitting at an American Fotoplayer on a float dragged by two tremendous Strong Men playing the silliest tune known to man.

A great many other Clowns follow behind, marching in a band, handing out balloons or candy or shirts to any unlucky passerby commemorating this momentous occasion. There are jugglers, tumblers, a moving trapeze and high wire act.

Several troupes of Chuckle Scouts march with them, handing out free boxes of cookies and proudly displaying sashes full of brightly colored badges.

There are onlookers, lined up along the parade route with guns to their backs and tears in their eyes. They take the gifts they're offered, they smile for the cameras, they laugh when performers take prat falls or slip on banana peels. This is a jovial jubilous occasion and people must witness it, or else.

At the tail of the parade is a cake at least a story or two high covered in exactly 85 candles and gratuitous amounts of icing. When the parade stops at the end of its route, the music shifts from manic madcap whimsy to an almost wholesome rendition of 'happy birthday'. The cake and the parade are surrounded by the surviving members of the GCPD pointing guns at everyone that isn't a civilian. The Clowns seem unbothered by this and sing along to the music, pulling wrapped gifts out of nowhere in particular and offering them to the towering confection the way worshipers leave sacrifices at an altar.

The top of the cake trembles and wiggles and writhes before exploding into icing, the Clowns clap and cheer as their God appears at the top of the cake with his famous grin across his face. He's wearing a crown, holding a scepter, and wearing a sash that reads 'BIRTHDAY BOY' in big cursive letters. One of the cops fires on the Joker without hesitation, he gets his head blown off with a confetti cannon. The Joker doesn't seem to notice this disturbance and takes a bow, drinking in the attention of his audience.

"Thank you! Thank you! Y'know it's not every day I turn 85, so I plan to make tonight the best birthday bash I've ever had." Says Joker, dabbing at a tearful eye with a brightly colored hankie. The Clowns applaud him again. "This parade was a great start, but I have so much more in store for all of Gotham, and that lowlife cape wearing deadbeat who missed this whole thing." He looks dead into the nearest camera, eyes angry and wild his smile strained and sharp.

"Anywhoozles! I better wrap this up, this cake isn't going to eat itself after all and I have a gift for a certain someone that needs to be delivered."

The Clowns turn on cue to face the audience and the GCPD, the each take their gifts in one hand and pull the ribbons off with the other. The boxes explode into smoke and confetti that completely obscures the parade in a cloud of purple and green laughing gas that brings anyone not wearing a mask to their knees.

And when the smoke clears, the parade is gone.

[some-lonely-loser]

Welcome To Ericson’s

Boarding School For

Troubled Youth

Chapter 1 - Welcome To An

Unfamiliar Place

In the unhelpful windy weather, you find no aid for your adventure, only the cold that sends shivers down your spine. The moon's glow is distorted by the chaotic tangle of neglected trees, their branches swaying in the wind. Moments like these were what made you wish you had someone to accompany you, yet you're relieved by the absence of approaching footsteps. All you hear is the rustle of branches colliding, as your weary feet drag along the ground and your eyes scan the monotonous scenery. Each tree merges into the next, and every blade of grass becomes an indiscernible blur.

Your neck strained, feeling rigid and mechanical as you lifted it, your eyebrows raising and your eyes sparkling with delight as you admired the brick wall secured by a white gate. Amongst the barricade, you spotted various pieces of furniture, clearly arranged by human hands. Just a few meters away from potential safety and companionship, you gathered whatever energy  you had within you left and trudged towards the structure. As of now, pain and exhaustion were irrelevant; all that mattered was reaching safety. Despite your weakening knees, you pressed on until they finally gave way, causing you to collapse.

Determinedly gazing up at the area ahead, your arms throbbing with pain, you forged ahead, inching closer to the gate. Exhausted and drained, you felt no surge of fight or flight instincts within you, only focused on seeking aid. Your eyes drifted to the moss-covered brick wall, catching a glimpse of a small figure darting elsewhere. Internally, you groaned at the thought of encountering more people. Despite wanting human contact after so long, you couldn't discern if they were friendly or hostile. Did it even matter anymore? Perhaps death wouldn't be so terrible; your body seemed to be surrendering regardless.

With a trembling hand, you reached out to touch the moss-covered brick wall, only inches from the gate, while voices on the other side bickered about a newcomer. The coolness of the wall offered aid to your red, bloodied palm as your grip on the machete in your other hand faltered, weakened beyond measure. Your body felt numb, devoid of sensation, and not in a comforting way. As the gate creaked open, the voices grew louder in argument. You patted and searched the ground around you, seeking your weapon in case of any danger.

The bickering quieted down as you watched through half-closed eyes, a silhouette approaching you, followed closely by another. As they drew nearer, you could tell that they were around your age. Relief washed over you at the prospect of encountering what could be friends or help, but you remained cautious, unwilling to let your guard down.

There were two of them, or at least only two visible to you. A boy with a dirty blonde mullet and a weathered letterman jacket crouched down, his expression unreadable, far from welcoming. Your gaze shifted to the girl beside him. She was shorter, dressed in a long-sleeved blue striped shirt with a dark orange vest over it, her attention solely fixed on him with a perturbed expression. "Marlon," she gritted through clenched teeth, "What if she's with-"

"Stop it, Brody. Quit with the paranoia," he warned in a firm yet hushed tone. Gesturing towards you with an open palm, he continued, "She's not a threat. Just look at her."

"Look at how pale she is, Marlon! What if she's bit? We agreed: no more mouths to feed. We have enough as it is..." Her voice trailed off, the last part quieter than before, if that were even possible.

"Do you see any blood or bites on her? No. She's fine." He stood up and walked toward the girl

"She's probably been out there long. Food and water aren't easy to come across. We'll get Ruby to check her for any bites and we'll go from that. You can't jump to conclusions like that. You're gonna freak everyone out." He reasoned, walking back towards you. And with a dismissive scoff, the girl retreated back into the gate.

"You think you can walk?" Your eyes met his that were a pale blue, and noticed the hand he had held out towards you. Your arm weakly extended out to grab his to which he pulled and hoisted you up on the mossy brick wall you were previously crouched by. His arm around your shoulders kept you from falling over but not completely, as there were moments where you almost did.

One step at a time, you and the boy crossed over the grass and eventually passed under the black gate that had seemed so distant just moments before. It screeched and squeaked as it closed behind you. With the boy's assistance, you were guided to a picnic table. The sounds of a gathering crowd reached your ears, their voices a mix of displeasure and curiosity, though some expressed concern and fascination. With Marlon's help, you lowered yourself onto the seat, utterly exhausted, and laid your head down.

You could hear him talking to who you assumed was a nurse of some sort about checking you for bites.

"Here, let me see," A girl with a deep southern accent said, walking towards you begrudgingly. She had a low tight red bun. Her warm and inviting presence emanated from her petite and nurturing figure.

She began inspecting your limbs, checking every inch of you for a bite with frantic movements. Her grip was firm, irritating the aching pain you already had surging throughout your body. Under normal circumstances, you might have pulled away, but in need of help, you remained still. With no energy left to resist, any attempt to move away would likely result in your falling over. "Nope. No bites." she judged. Turning over her hand to the backside and sticking it to your forehead. "Just exhausted." she remarked with sympathy before walking away, though not without mumbling "Poor girl."

Not long after, Marlon came back and was quick to ask what your name was. "Y/N. My name's Y/N." You mumbled with a raspy voice

"Well Y/N, nice to meet you, I'm Marlon. It's a good thing we found you when we did. You were in pretty bad condition. He said, gesturing to the lady from earlier.

"Yeah hun, you look starved. When's the last time you ate?" She asked caringly, with a hand on her hip.

You took a few seconds. Recently you were surviving off of whatever food you came across. And that hadn't been much. You hadn't had a proper meal in what felt like forever. You furrowed your eyebrows and mumbled, "I'm not.. I don't know."

"Well, that won't be a problem anymore hun." She grinned and patted your shoulder before walking off.

You looked around, figuring Marlon was off somewhere doing whatever. So you took it upon yourself to meet some new people.

You pulled yourself up from the picnic table. It was stiff and whatnot but it was definitely better than the floor. You were grateful they were giving you someplace to stay.. At Least for now.

There were tons of other picnic tables scattered around the place, you also spotted some people talking amongst others, you figured you would see what they were up to later. You looked around for a bit, taking in the scenery that was very much different and more entertaining to look at rather than the repetitive yet dull landscape that you were stuck gazing at for the past.. Who knows how long.

The brick pillars of the grand building were adorned with graffiti and overgrown weeds on its roof. As well as ivy and moss, creating a sense of age and history. It's boarded-up windows hinting at a forgotten past. Two sofas facing each other nearby. On the left, a cauldron bubbled with mysterious contents and was tended to by a short boy with tight black curls, hunched over as he stirred with a long wooden spoon.

You looked at the other people along him, Seven people, who looked like their ages varied, Gathered around picnic tables. To the left was a girl with short blonde hair, her long face exuding a casual air as she rested one leg on the seat, her arm slung over it. Her gaze, cold and inquisitive. With the way she was looking at you, You would've been long gone. Next to her sat a boy with what looked like a burn scar on the right side of his head, engrossed in scribbling something on a piece of paper, occasionally looking away to switch between a few colors. At the central table, two boys of different ages sat.

The elder, with dark brown hair swept to the side and broad shoulders, focused intently on carving a large wooden shiv. Beside him, a scrawny boy, inadvertently stared at you with a slightly agape mouth, trying to be as discreet as he could although it didn't work, because you were definitely creeped out. At the table furthest away from everyone else, sat in a backwards turned chair, a boy with a friendly face, dark brown dreadlocks, bushy but yet wellkept eyebrows and freckles scattered all around his face. He sat beside what looked like.. A chair leg?? with nails embedded in it.. He must've caught you staring for long because when your eyes trailed up, he was already looking at you, with curious brown eyes.

He wore a long light brown trench coat that contrasted with his eyes. You met his eyes again, he gave you a charming smile and you flashed him one back, not wanting to be rude.

"Hey Y/N, you fitting in well? Oh, and I'm sorry bout the staring. We haven't seen anyone like you in.. well.. forever" Marlon said, walking up from behind you with a slight chuckle when he saw you jump, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Oh that's fine, i don't care too much" You were hungry, and you didn't wanna be rude at all, but you had to ask. You hadn't had a full meal in a long time. "So.. when do you think the food will be ready?" You mumbled, looking off into the background.

"Oh, Uh" He looked behind him, looking at the boy near the cauldron. "Shouldn't be too long now, He's been cooking for a while" He stated, scratching his head. "You been out there long?" He question, shoving his hands back in his pockets

"Uh, nope. I had.. some people." You responded, looking at him. Which was a lie, you'd definitely been out here on your own for long. But, of course, you being you, didn't wanna embarrass yourself by saying that you had been barely scraping by these past couple of weeks.

"Nice. I take it you know how to defend yourself? Don't usually see people our age out in the wild. I can't imagine what it must've been like. " He stated inquisitively.

"Yep, I try. I wouldn't have survived this long if I didn't. You sound surprised though? It's definitely taken its toll on me." You said grinning

"Oh, no no no. Not at all. Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Just curious, y'know?" He asked reasonably

"Mhm.. I get it" You mumbled, joyfully.

"What is this place exactly.?" You asked

"Well, you can probably tell this used to be a school. Now it's.. whatever we want it to be" He responded, shrugging, and trailing not too far off.

"And.. Who runs this place?" You questioned, careful not to sound judgemental

"Well.. I do" He grinned, putting a palm to his chest. "Probably sounds strange. Kids run by a kid. But, we do alright for ourselves. We got good walls, good defense and a great location. Kids are safe here. I make sure of it" He stated

"So.. there really are no adults.. At all." You asked, raising an eyebrow

"Nope. None. Some left us to fend for ourselves and others died. There's less of us all around. I got us a system in place that works well enough, Let me make it formal. Welcome to Ericson's Boarding School For Troubled Youth. You definitely look like you fit that description" He chuckled, turning back to face you.

  Word Count:

2140 Words

     12,046 Characters

           9892 Characters (Excluding spaces)

Authors Note:

I felt like that was a good place to leave off. If you have any thoughts/Comments please don't hesitate to share💗 I haven’t posted on here in almost a year so i’m looking for new things to write.

[snickerdoodlles]

👀 So...wanna dish about why you hate Chan?

yesss, i love talking about these characters 😂❤ even ones like this fucking guy

so. hate is a bit of a strong word, i don't really think about Chan enough to feel that. but he's Korn-lite and he directly antagonizes or menaces Porsche, Kim, and Kinn, all of whom are my boys, so I don't like any of that, and he does all of the above in the most boring ways possible, so he doesn't have any redeeming interest as a character to me either (as compared to say, Ken).

Chan is very much an extension of Korn and has the personality of a block of wood to match. it's all he wants to be. he's so desperate to be Korn's only closest confidante and his strongest tool that he will do anything for him, up to willingly starting a gunfight he will die in just so Korn can kill a guy he's already had multiple opportunities to kill (and with less bloodshed no less!). going to borrow this meme off of @majestictortoise but 100% Chan in a nutshell:

ugh.

anyways, furthering my dislike of this guy--

anyone else really pissed off by the fact that Chan has his gun drawn as he looms menacingly over Porsche during the relationship reveal to the family? because i hate that. Khun and Kinn have an absolutely precious brothers bonding moment together, then Korn ruins it by pressuring Porsche to either reciprocate or reject Kinn in front of everyone (Porsche looks between Chan and Korn the entire time, and not with a happy expression). fuck both of them

then there's Chan and Kim's sideeye after Korn's "death." i love playing with the theory that Korn hinted at his coming plans to Kim, but i firmly believe that if he did, it was to screw with Kim's head and make him overanalyze and hesitate so that Kim didn't interfere and reveal secrets before Korn was ready (not because """Korn sees himself in Kim""" or any such nonsense). and. like, different interpretations, whatever, but i see a lot of stuff that takes Kim and Chan's shared look as a sign of...camaraderie????? which is not what i picked up in the slightest--to me, that look was very much Kim realizing "fuck, this is papa's game" and then checking Chan's reaction, only to realize Chan is hovering over his shoulder and glaring down at him in a very "think carefully about your next step boy" way. Kim shrinks in on himself after that look, and only gives Kinn a cryptic warning instead of asking him about literally anything. (fuck you Chan)

and, of course, Chan also escalates the gunfight. and like, i'm not going to kid myself--that gunfight was always going to be a shitshow, because gunfights are always shitshows. it was unavoidable because Gun was pushing for a fight and gunfights aren't the sort of thing that are contained.

but Chan escalated that confrontation into the messiest conflict it could be. no attempt at containment, no lobby backup or barricades, no heavy firepower, nothing. he was shown to be reasonably competent at his job and he's Korn's confidante. that escalation was deliberate. Korn wanted a bloody shitshow to oust Gun, Chan delivered, and everyone else paid for it, particularly Kinn.

fuck you Chan

[so-many-fandoms-here]

A little context for those who haven’t read the maze runner book: towards the end of the first book the gladers hide inside the homestead for the night so the grieves wouldn’t get them. They distributed the boys in the rooms and Newt, Alby, Minho and Thomas ended up together in one room. Alby leaves to go to the card room.

(English isn’t my first language so feel free to correct any mistake you notice)

• Characters: Thomas, Newt

• Genre: fluff, angst

• Warnings: mentions of death

All I Needed To Know

──────⊱⁜⊰──────

Thomas‘ Pov:

After two hours of laying awake between the other sleeping boys I just couldn’t stay there anymore. It suddenly felt like the room was shrinking and all the oxygen was already used. I needed to get out of there, at least for two minutes.

As quiet as possible I tried to stand up, careful not to wake anyone up I sneak to the door and stepped out of the room. Thankfully the hallway was empty, no glader or griever was there and all I could hear was the noises coming from outside the building.

How did the others manage to fall asleep in the first place? Sleep has never felt so far away like now. All I could think of was that our world is currently ending, and we didn’t had a single clue what to do about it.

Suddenly I heard one of the floorboards crack. I suppressed a scream, and grabbed the knife I’ve had in my pocket while I turned around.

„It‘s just me Tommy.“

I sighed at the sound of Newts voice and put down the knife. „You scared the living klunk outta me!“ I cursed him with a whisper.

„Sorry. I heard you leaving. Everything okay?“ He came a step closer, looking me right into my eyes.

„If everything is okay?“ I asked and had to laugh at this stupid question. „Did you miss that the freaking world is ending?“ I didn’t mean to make it sound so insulting, but Newt didn’t even seemed to noticed my harsh tone. Instead of answering he just placed his hands on my shoulders.

Newt had an aura around him that could calm me down in any situation, even in that moment. With his strong hands on my shoulders I felt a little more protected. I knew I could trust him.

„I‘m sorry“ I mumbled. „It’s just… I’m scared Newt.“ It felt good that I got that off my shoulders. „I act tough but even though I can’t remember much, I am pretty sure that I wasn’t ever as scared as I am now in my whole life.“

Newt started rubbing his thumbs over my shoulder muscles and I felt myself easing up a little bit. „I wish I could stay just as calm as you.“ I confessed and to my surprise Newt giggled quietly. Even then his laugh was able to make me feel better.

„I am not as calm as I pretend to be“, he says. „I am bloody terrified. Just like you. But if I let it show all the others would be even more scared. They need me to stay calm but believe me, I feel like I am about to klunk my pants.“ I had to giggle too at this statement.

Newts hands left my shoulders and traveled down to hold my upper arms. „I don’t know what is happening Tommy. In the past few days everything turned upside down but what I know is that I trust you. I know you will find a way. You always found one since you climbed out of the box.“

A warm feeling spread from my chest trough my body. Having Newts trust felt better than anything else I have ever felt before.

I thought Teresa confused me but as I stood there with Newt, the feelings I thought I might had for her were long forgotten. They were nothing compared to what I felt for him in this very moment. I knew Newt was my anchor from the first few words he said to me. He always had my back and made sure I was okay but has he always been this attractive too?

The grey light from the broken sky that sneaked trough the cracks of the wooden planks we used to barricade the windows with fell on him, highlighting the left side of his face. His toned jaw was clenched from sorrow. „I want to cry, I want to scream but I can’t. I don’t have the time for it nor can I allow myself to be so vulnerable.“

I felt the desire to hug him, to hold him close and never let him go ever again. So I did. With my heart beating loudly I pulled him into my arms and held him as close as possible. Newts hands were crossed behind my neck and I felt warm drops soaking into my shoulder. His tears hurt me more than every weapon or griever could ever, yet I was happy that he was finally able to cry. I couldn’t imagine how long he might had to lock his tears behind his eyelids, how long he might had to hide the despair he feels inside him. But I felt how the weight that burdened on his back slowly became a little bit easier and for one time I was glad to be there. Glad to be able to hold this boy in my arms so he can cry away the pain he locked inside for over two years.

After a few minutes Newt lifted his head from my shoulder and looked in my eyes again, his orbs sparkling from the tears. I didn’t dare to let go of his hips, almost as if he could‘ve disappeared right in front of my eyes if I did. „Bloody hell, Tommy“, he whispered, his voice shaky, as he leaned his forehead against mine.

Silence fell over us again and for another few moments we just stood there, his head resting against mine. „We should head back to bed“, he raises his voice again after a while, barely loud enough for me to hear. But I wasn’t ready to let go of him yet. Newt felt that I wasn’t moving my hands, but he didn’t try to walk away either. „Tommy please. My mind isn’t in a state where it can think rationally. I don’t want to do something I might regret tomorrow.“

With all the secrets around me, Newts brutal honesty was the best and most refreshing thing that could have happened to me. „What if there isn’t a tomorrow?“ I replied, knowing what this might lead to.

The taller boy wasn’t answering. At first he just remained still and it seemed like he was evaluating what I just said. The next second his lips crashed with such force onto mine that I stumbled. Strong hands found my face and rested on my cheeks, while my own hands stayed on his hips, trying to pull him even closer to me while I kissed him back.

Newts breath went heavy and I tasted the tears that rolled down his cheeks again. „Tommy.“ But I shut him up by catching his lips for another kiss.

My hands snuck up to his face, mirroring his pose and resting on his cheeks. „Let‘s talk about this when the world isn’t ending anymore.“ This had to be the craziest thing that ever left my lips.

Newt agreed with a nod, kissed me one last time and then turned around to walk back into the room we stayed for the night. I was right behind him, closing the door silently and stepping over Minho to get to my blanket again. Newt gifted me one last beautiful smile before he turned around and tugged himself in his own blanket again.

With every day I felt like my goals and what I was fighting for got more and more clear. But now after Newt kissed me I knew everything I needed to. I would get him out of here, no matter what. And I would make sure that he wouldn’t regret what just happened.

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Fire Emblem Binding Blade Playthrough

Fighter: Roy.

Game: Fire Emblem The Binding Blade, Game Boy Advance. First Released on March 29th 2002.

ENTRY WARNING: This post will contain spoilers for Fire Emblem 6, I do my best to avoid spoiling plot elements of Fire Emblem 7 but it is possible to infer things from the details I give since that game is a prequel to 6. I will also use read-more as most of the screenshots for this game are from the late-game so more spoilery than the usual pictures I use.

Fighter Bio.

In the continent of Elibe, Roy was born to the Marquess of Pherae, Eliwood in the Lycian League. Roy knew little of his Mother who died shortly after his birth, he was brought up alongside Wolt who is considered his ‘milk-brother’. At the age of Ten he travelled with his Father to meet Eliwood’s best friend Hector the marquess of Ostia, the most powerful state of the Lycian League where Roy met and became close friends with Hector’s daughter Lilina. Five years later Roy was studying in Ostia when he was summoned home following news that Eliwood had fallen ill. Lilina was visiting Pherea at the time but soon found she had to barricade herself and Eliwood in the castle following a siege by a large bandit mob. Roy returned home and with his small band of knights that had accompanied him fought off the bandits. Meeting with his Father he was asked to lead the forces of Pherea to join the armies of the rest of the Lycian League as Eliwood was too sick to fight and another country, Bern was preparing for war. Eliwood also asked Lilina to return to Ostia so she could take command there whilst her father Hector was rallying the Lycian League’s forces. On his journey to Araphen where the leaders of each part of the Lycian League planned to band together their armies, Roy is asked by a priest called Elen to save her Mistress who is being held hostage by some Bern forces. After saving the noblewoman she reveals herself to be Guinivere the Princess of Bern and younger sister of its King Zephiel. Guinivere sought to negotiate peace with the Lycian League to avoid a bloody war from breaking out and asked Roy to help her meet with the leaders in Araphen which he agreed to.

Roy arrived at Araphen however to find the armies of Lycia had been decimated and most of the leaders killed by an army of dragon riders. Hector met Roy and in his last moments warned him that Bern was in control of powerful dragons as well as entrusting him with the leadership of the remaining Lycian forces in his stead. Roy travelled next to Ostia which had been taken over by traitors who sought an alliance with Bern and had taken over Castle Ostia with Lilina held hostage. Roy lead the first ever successful siege of the castle in Ostia’s history and saved the forces trapped within as well as Lilina. Lilina in return joined with Roy and revealed to him Durandal, a sword once wielded by Eliwood and one of the eight Legendary weapons said to have defeated the Dragons during the war between humans and dragons known as the Scouring over a thousand years earlier. Following this battle Roy faces many more hardships and gradually gains more allies in his fight against Bern and its allies, discovering the other Legendary weapons as he goes as well as the Binding Blade, a sword said to be stronger than any of the Legendary weapons possessing mysterious powers based upon the wielder such as reacting to their desires, healing them and having fire elemental properties. Roy is the only one who has been deemed worthy to wield the blade since it was used in the Scouring a thousand years earlier. Roy also finds himself in command of the army of Etruria, a country that had almost fallen to a traitorous rebellion of those who sought to ally themselves with Bern until Roy’s forces managed to take them down.

Roy learnt from Guinivere how Zephiel’s childhood where his Father had attempted to murder him had led to him losing all faith in humanity and seeking to awaken the Dark Dragon sealed away in the Scouring as well as plunging the continent into a war that would allow Dragonkind to return and wipe humanity away to become the dominant species. With this new knowledge Roy invaded Bern Palace and attempted to reason with Zephiel but could not convince him to change course, leading to Roy having to defeat the King once and for all. Following his defeat, Zephiel’s greatsword Eckesachs reacted to the other Legendary weapons Roy had gathered and revealed to him the way to the Dragon Sanctuary, which contained the final remains of Bern’s army as well as the Dark Dragon Idunn. During his earlier travels Roy had found and helped protect a hidden village in the desert of Nabata called Arcadia. This hidden village was home to the few surviving descendants of the dragons that did not take part in the Scouring war and lived peacefully with humans. Fae, the only pure dragon remaining in Arcadia is a young manakete who eventually joins Eliwoods forces. She along with the rest of Roy’s forces meets Jahn, the only remaining natural dragon in Elibe at Dragon Sanctuary. Jahn informs the group of how the Dark Dragon Idunn was originally a Divine Dragon similar to Fae who was captured by the Dragons warring with humans during the Scouring. They were finding it hard to replenish their forces due to low birth rates in their species and came up with a plan, they turned Idunn into a Demon Dragon in order for her to produce War Dragons, Dragons created only for War that know nothing other than bloodshed. Even after this Idunn refused to do so and ultimately it took her heart being completely destroyed turning her into a mindless husk for the Dragons to finally begin their plan. It was too late by then however and when Hartmut the Champion who wielded the Binding Blade during the Scouring confronted Idunn and learnt of her history he took pity on her, through this the Binding Blade instead of killing her in their confrontation merely put her to sleep and sealed her away for a thousand years, until she was unsealed by King Zephiel.

Having heard all of this, Fae feared she could end up sharing the same fate as Idunn and become a monster too. Roy reassures Fae that he believes both she and Idunn can avoid that fate and realises he cannot kill Idunn but instead wishes to save her soul. With his will and the power of the Binding Blade he fights through Jahn’s War Dragons as well as Jahn himself before facing Idunn. Defeating her Roy manages to restore her soul with the power of the Binding Blade and helps her along with Fae to disappear to Arcadia where she can begin a new life with Fae’s help and friendship. Eventually Fae makes her laugh for the first time in thousands of years suggesting she is finally beginning to regain her true self. Following the war, Roy first attends the crowning of Guinivere as the new Queen of Bern before he returns home and eventually becomes the new Marquess of Pherae. Lilina also returns to Ostia and manages to unite all of Lycia becoming its Queen. Roy marries Lilina becoming the King Consort with the continent finding peace.

Despite his young age of 15 Roy is a capable leader who manages to build a large loyal army during his journey. His youth does make him often doubt himself and whether he should be in the position he is but his sense of duty and commitment to his allies and loved ones results in him not backing down. It is also this occasional lack of confidence that gives him the compassion and ability to hear his enemies out that helps him save possible allies as well as some of his enemies. He can be fairly cunning, managing to see through a couple of characters who are allies or enemies in their attempts to trick him. Roy is very loyal to his friends not caring about their social standing, he also is not particularly good at dealing with romantic feelings others have for him, for example not picking up on Lilina’s obvious fondness for him until after his journey has ended. Roy begins as a lord with the ability to use Rapiers exclusive to him, this means he has an advantage against cavalry and armoured units. In the early game this is fairly effective however later in the game many cavalry and armoured enemies have lances which are strong against swords in the weapons triangle which results in Roy having a disadvantage with him being unable to use any other weapon but swords. Roy also struggles as he is unable to promote until very late in the game, due to this he falls behind other units in his army being essentially a weaker Hero unit with low movement and only able to use swords, as well as maxing his stats fairly early since he cannot promote until a set point in the game, meaning he will not gain anything from defeating enemies and is really just stealing exp other units could use. Being a lord Roy is also required to seize thrones on the maps to achieve victory, which means he must go with the rest of the group across the map and therefore be escorted by stronger units. Following him gaining the Binding Blade Roy is able to promote into a Great Lord and becomes a lot stronger. The Binding Blade allows Roy to attack with fire and from two spaces away as well as being strong against dragons. Roy still in his promoted form isn’t as strong as other units who are able to wield the other Legendary weapons and therefore also are good against Dragons, but he is definitely more capable than he was earlier in the game. Roy also benefits from having high supports with other characters that give him some stat boosts that help make him stronger.

Friends: Roy has a loyal following who join his army during his fight against Bern, Wolt and Lilina are close friends from his childhood and he also is close with Cecilia who was his teacher in the past as well as Marcus who is an old knight in service of Pherae and Merlinus, a vassal of Eliwoods who serves as an advisor to Roy. Roy relies on both Merlinus and Marcus’s experience when approaching the situations he faces and trusts them both in their judgement. Roy takes care of Fae as he realises not letting her join his army will likely result in her being captured or worse by enemies and therefore he allows her to help fight, Roy also reassures Fae when she voices her fears of one day becoming an enemy of humanity. Roy helps Princess Guinivere and shares her belief in peace which makes him loyal to her and trust her despite being the Princess of Bern, the enemy nation he is fighting against. Also since I feel it is an important addition that Shadow Dragon did not have in the series and relates to relationships, I’d like to add this game is the first on my list that has the support system. With this system certain characters who spend a lot of time close to each other on the battlefield build up affinity and when able to can have support conversations where they build their bonds with each other. Roy is able to support with the joint most characters in the game alongside Lilina. There are various female characters who depending on how high a level of support Roy builds with him can marry him in the ending of the game with them being Lilina, Cecilia, Sue, Sophia, Shanna and Larum or alternately he can end the game not marrying any of them. It is generally accepted Lilina is the closest to a canon partner for Roy which is why in his bio I put the ending involving him marrying her.

Enemies/Rivals: Roy is willing to have compassion and try to understand his enemies, but he is also strong in his ideals and willing to fight against those who can be stopped no other way as well as those who hurt innocent people. When it comes to enemies Roy has there are not many who have directly wronged him, his Father is sick but alive and his Mother died of natural causes when he was young, some bandits attempt to attack Pherae early on but are stopped before they harm Eliwood or Lilina. Roy deals with many traitors to Lycia with one of the most notable being Leygance who takes control of Ostia castle and attempts to kill Lilina, however the main instigator of the war and therefore Roy’s main enemy is the country of Bern. The majority of Bern’s highest generals such as Murdock, Brunnya and Galle are all more loyal to their King and country rather than sadistic or evil, Roy still battles them however as he understands the alternative would lead to the destruction of Lycia and as he eventually learns all of humanity. Narcian is probably the worst of the high level generals of Bern but Roy although he definitely has to deal with Narcian’s traps and attacks doesn’t interact with him much. Zephiel is the closest Roy has to an arch-enemy in his quest, Roy learns of Zephiel’s past and attempts to reason with him, however when Zephiel will not accept this claiming all of humanity to be evil, Roy strongly rebukes him with his belief that ultimately mankind is good and calls Zephiel out on losing his faith in not just humanity but by extension himself, fighting and eventually killing the King. Roy’s final enemies are the dragons in the Dragon Sanctuary, the War Dragons are just mindless beasts created for war that Roy takes down, he tries to talk sense to Jahn the Fire Dragon telling him of Arcadia where dragons and humans live in peace. Jahn is surprised by this but ultimately rejects the idea that Dragons and Humans can ever live in peace which results in Roy having to slay him before taking on Idunn. Idunn despite being the ultimate Dark Dragon Roy realises is not his enemy, finding out she was once a Divine Dragon who was twisted until she was left heartless as simply a weapon for other dragons. Roy uses his compassion with the power of the Binding Blade to save Idunn rather than killing her and brings an end to the war.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: Elibe was the first location in the Fire Emblem series to be set on an entirely new unconnected world to the previous Fire Emblem games, due to this despite later crossovers Roy’s story did not intersect or connect with the other characters from the series who appear in Smash Bros. Roy has appeared in spinoff crossovers however appearing as an Einherjar in the land of Ylisse which are cards that form into spirits, these are not the actual characters however so this does not mean Roy himself experienced these events, however the real Chrom, Lucina and Robin met with and fought alongside the Einherjar version of Roy. This also meant that Roy appeared alongside the other Einherjar such as Marth and Ike who similarly weren’t the actual characters. Roy also appeared alongside Marth, Lucina, Robin and Ike as illusions in Fire Emblem Echoes Shadows of Valentia where they would fight alongside Alm and Celica the Lords of that game. Roy also appeared alongside Marth, Ike, Lucina, Robin, Chrom, Corrin and Byleth as an Emblem, spirits contained within special rings that lend their power to those who wear them. These Emblems are explicitly not the original characters but essentially echoes of them with their personalities and memories, this does bring together every Fire Emblem character who has appeared as a fighter in Smash Bros however. Finally there’s Fire Emblem Heroes which has versions of the vast majority of Fire Emblem characters from throughout the series including every Lord from the series. These all are recreations once again rather than the actual canon characters being similar to Einherjars and summoned by the Summoner and other characters.

Why this game?

It’s once again a very simple case of this is the only game with Roy in it. Given how this game is not freely available in English however I would definitely have gone for a remake version if it was available and if one does come out one day I will return to it to do another playthrough and possibly write a second post up based on that specifically.

My past with this game.

I went over the story in my entry for Marth but as I said there, Fire Emblem was a series that was first introduced to me through Super Smash Bros. When the first Fire Emblem game left Japan as I said before I believed that Eliwood was Roy with simply a different name and I did not play far enough into the game at the time to see Roy’s actual appearance towards the end of that game. Due to this for a long time I didn’t realise that Roy’s game was actually one that hadn’t left Japan until years later, however when I learnt this I became really interested in the game because I really liked the characters in Eliwood’s game (released here as simply Fire Emblem but in regards to the series referred to as ‘The Blazing Blade’ often) and learning that that game was actually a prequel to Roy’s game made me really interested in seeing what this future version of Elibe would be like. I believe around the time I learnt about this the concept of prequels was something new to me which I had mostly heard of due to the Star Wars prequels, so I was interested in seeing what happened to Hector, Lyn and Eliwood in Binding Blade. I did remember reading Roy's trophy entry in Melee however unlike Marths it didn't stand out particularly to me.

I would spoil myself later down the line on what did happen and I realised it wasn’t really nice with Lyn not being directly mentioned (and the implication she’d died between games), Hector dying and Eliwood spending the game too ill to fight. I think when I finally got my head around it all however, I found this all really interesting, I had heard that Binding Blade was considered essentially a copy of Marth’s games to the point I’d seen lots of pictures floating around online which point out all the similar characters like how Wolt the archer is essentially Gordin from Shadow Dragon, Marcus is the Jagen and many other similarities. I also remembered hearing a lot about how Roy was possibly the weakest Lord in the series. I did find it cool however in that they took what was in the original game some fairly minor characters with Hector and Eliwood, whose role in the game was just as the sick Father (which was honestly a rarity in a series where Father figures rarely live beyond the prologue) and made them into the main heroes of the next game, not to mention with this being the first game to come outside of Japan they became fairly fondly remembered by fans in the West (Eliwood probably the least out of the three but he’s my personal favourite Lord in the series). I waited a long time similarly to other games such as Mother 3 for an official release, but sadly to this day we still haven’t seen one, with the closest being that on the Switch online if you download the Japanese GBA Online you can play the game in Japanese.

Of course, due to this eventually I decided to try an alternative just to play the game for myself. Admittedly despite this however I did not get far into the game I think reaching Chapter 4 before I ended up playing other games. I think probably the thing that interested me the most with this game was something a bit ridiculous, but having scoured the Fire Emblem wikis as well as sites like Serenes Forest a lot and looking at all the units, classes and characters, honestly the most interesting thing for me in the game was Zephiel, specifically because his class is a King. Due to the whole basic description for someone really unfamiliar with videogames of saying Strategy RPGs are like Chess, I found it interesting in the whole series there was only ever one character whose class was just King with said class being like the third final promotion of a General. Add to that the unique sprites and animations for the King class which didn’t appear in the other GBA games and how I loved the sprites and animations for the Knight and General classes already before and I wanted to play through the game just to see it for myself (even if I’d seen it long before playing myself through youtube videos and things.) Beyond this, it’s hard to really say much more relating to my past with this game without simply talking about its prequel which I plan on going over in a later post, so that’s all I have to say really on this part.

My Smash Playthrough.

For this playthrough as stated earlier I had to use a translation hack in order to play. I only do this when I have no other choice in order to play the game and luckily in recent years a lot of other games I have been able to play officially which back when I started this were not available. I believe sadly as this game is definitely not one of the most fondly remembered ones in the series it will likely be a while before it gets an official release outside of Japan which is a shame, especially given Roy being part of the reason Fire Emblem was first introduced to the West. (It’s been said a few times before on various sites as trivia but Roy technically first appeared in Super Smash Bros Melee before his game released so in a sense that was his ‘original game’.) The version I played was using a pretty old translation by Dark Twilkitri in 2005 going by the notes I have. Given just how long ago now I found this game and how little I tend to take part in the scene I want to make it clear I would have no idea where to look if you wish to play the game yourself, you’ll have to look for yourselves into the matter if you wish to play it, the Fire Emblem Wiki does seem to have a fair bit of information from what I’ve seen so I’d suggest checking there first.

Now, onto the actual playthrough, I’m lucky sometimes that I’ve talked to friends over Discord often about my progress in the various games I played for my list so I’m able to check some of the stuff I said at the time to remind myself. Given this playthrough was in 2017 (which feels like a whole other age at this point) I was glad to be able to remind myself of some things I said back then, starting with how because there was an optional tutorial you could play through, the game just drops you in with little explanation of things. The tutorial is interesting in itself as it involves Roy battling against some friendly soldiers including Bors who is part of your group in the main game whilst being taught the basics by Cecilia. Honestly I wish this sort of thing was done more often with games, I do understand with the sequel as it was the first game released outside of Japan them having the tutorial be part of the story, but I think having tutorials be essentially an optional view into the characters during peaceful times can be a nice little thing to help build up the characters slightly, and helps it being optional in making future playthroughs feel less of a drag at the start. I also commented when playing through about how little damage your units seem to be able to do to the bosses of the first few chapters with me having to hope I’d get a hit with a 20% accuracy hammer just to take the boss down to lower health and gang up with my whole group on them. Again a lot of this is going off of my memory of something around 7 years ago so I can’t remember specifics, but I believe the hit rates in this game are considered somewhat infamously low.

I also realise looking back I went straight from playing Shadow Dragon to this game, that might be why I found it quite a jump in how that game took a lot of the more modern additions to the series compared to Binding Blade which at the time was a lot more simplified in its features compared to FE1-5 being a soft reboot of the series as well as the first handheld game. Similarly to my playthrough of Shadow Dragon and something I have carried on in future Fire Emblem games, when deciding on who to use for my team, I decided to base the team off of the Spotpass characters who appear in Fire Emblem Awakening to represent the game, trying to keep their equipment close to what they had there. For this playthrough I focused on Roy, Lilina, Wolt, Shanna the Pegasus Knight, Lugh the Mage, Raigh the Dark Mage, Celicia a Valkyrie, Sophia a Sorceror and Perceval a Paladin. Of them all Sophia was easily the most difficult character to train up and use on my team, she joins in what I remember being one of the most irritating chapters in the game with really low stats, the chapter requires being completed in a set number of turns with her still alive in order to progress to the gaiden chapter (side chapters which often have the Legendary weapons in them required to get the best ending) and I read this was the best place to level her up which required her getting the final hit on most enemies encountered. Add to that this map being a desert (Which hugely limits most units movement) fog of war which makes it impossible to see much of the map and where enemies are as well as many enemy wyvern riders who can move much faster and further than you and it was an absolute nightmare that I somehow managed to overcome.

My favourite chapter as you can likely guess based on what I said earlier about my interest in the game mostly revolving around Zephiel was the chapter where you storm Bern Castle taking on Zephiel’s forces before battling the King himself. There were some irritating parts such as various mages who will cast beserk on your army causing them to start attacking your other units, however with the right equipment you can overcome this. This chapter also involves Roy having the Binding Blade (called in the translation I used the Sealed Sword) which is his ultimate weapon, so it’s fun finally getting to have Roy use this sword on all the enemy troops and eventually use it in his final battle against Zephiel’s Eckesachs sword. The chapters following this that can only be played if you got all the Legendary weapons are still fun but this chapter was probably the highlight for me personally. Idunn (called Idoun in the translation I used) is often cited as one of the easiest (if not the easiest) final bosses in the series, I can’t honestly remember the battle with her, but given how difficult I’ve remembered others being that might be telling of how easy it was, I did still enjoy it from what I remember though. Honestly as a final boss I’ve grown to quite like Idunn as a concept being essentially a corrupted Divine Dragon in contrast to the other (at this point in the series) final boss Dragons being often Dark Dragons that went against the Light Dragon. Zephiel similar to Garnef in a way was definitely the main driving force of the story overall with Idunn being more a victim than anything which is why I like the final battle involves Roy not trying to kill her but save her from what was done to her.

One final notable thing in the game is there’s a point where you have two different paths you can take, one will result in you fighting in the icy land of Ilia, home to many of the Pegasus Knights in the Elibe games and the other will take place in Sacae, grasslands home to many tribes and in the prequel Lyn. I decided to go with the Ilia route, I’m not really sure why now but I know because I have the exclusive character from that path on my team, I don’t remember there being any real reason for my playthrough however that I picked that route over the Sacae one as I don’t think there’s any additional item or weapon I needed there. The music for the game is pretty nice, probably my favourite tracks are Beyond Distant Skies, Battle for whose sake, Shaman in the Dark and Far from Arcadia, there’s some pretty nice fan remixes as well as official remixes of some of these tracks in later games that are worth listening to. Probably my absolute favourite thing in these games are the battle sprites. It feels a bit hard to talk about them regarding this game specifically as by the time I played it I had already seen them in Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones which was the final GBA Fire Emblem and had even more new sprites leaving this game feeling lacking, however I still have to give credit to Binding Blade as it was the first game to introduce these sprites with all the awesome animations I love. I said before Zephiel’s sprites are unique to this game however and are a highlight along with Roy’s animations which definitely are best when he’s finally wielding the Binding Blade with the fire effects. Honestly probably the only regret I have when it comes to this game getting a remake is it’ll likely be in 3D and therefore lacking this great sprite-work.

Specific aspects about the game relating to Roy in Smash.

Similar to Marth, this was probably the easiest aspect of the game for me because it’s not possible to finish the game without Roy having the Binding Blade and it’s foolish to use anything else with him once he has it (I believe, there may be some well known tactic I’m unaware of like a Light Brand being somehow superior to it, still for me a casual player the Binding Blade was great to have Roy use). It’s irritating that the sword has a limited number of uses, but luckily because you get it so late in the game that likely won’t be an issue, still it is best to not waste it on particularly weak enemies. Roy’s class promotes into a Great Lord when he gets the Binding Blade, but the only difference really is the battle sprite he uses and in that case it’s not very easy to see the difference, his armour is mostly a bit better defined from what I can tell, the main difference being he has unique animations when using the Binding Blade which often involves it using fire elements in the attacks Roy uses.

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to the Fire Emblem Wiki and Serenes Forest for additional information such as Spotpass Teams in Awakening, for the translation used I would like to thank Dark Twilkitri for their work.

[dujour13]

11 for siavash >:)

Thanks Ella 💕 (good one, a chance to see a bard get a punch in the mouth 😁)

TW: language, blood, suicidal ideation

11. Blood at the corner of your mouth

Four of them, not a day over eighteen gauging by the lanky arms and cracking voices. One of them let out a wolf howl. From behind an overturned market stand they jeered and made obscene gestures.

“Hail Baphomet! Hang the Inquisition!”

“Piss off! This is our city now!”

“Hey! Crusaders! Suck this!”

One of them lobbed an empty bottle at Seelah. With an easy motion she dipped her head to one side and it spun past and exploded on the cobbles behind her. Her eyes went dark. “Enough. Cut the crap.”

“Go to the Abyss, asshole!”

“I am gonna throw you over my knee and spank some sense into you.” Seelah began pulling off a gauntlet with her teeth.

As Siavash joined her his eye caught the tail end of what he thought was a rag in the gutter, but that turned out to be a pale arm thrust out motionless, and then the upper part of a girl about the cultists’ age lying in a black pool, blood still dribbling from her slit throat.

“Oh gods,” he breathed. He was close enough to see one of the boys’ eyes rolling in rage as he tried to pry a board loose to use as a weapon. It was entirely possible they’d killed the girl themselves but he took a gamble. “She’s not dead. Help me get her out.”

The whites of the boy’s eyes stood out over the irises. His nostrils flared. “Get back!”

Siavash made a soothing motion, reached for his arm. The boy swung at him wildly. His fist struck him in the teeth with a surprisingly painful shock.

The copper taste of blood. Siavash spat, shrugged one shoulder and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Boy, he hadn’t taken a punch in a long time. His mouth felt numb but he managed, “She’s still bleeding. It’s not too late.”

The boy screamed an epithet and kicked the barricade. One of his companions pushed him out of the way and began to drag the girl out of Siavash’s range, but the boy tackled him and hovered over the girl’s body snarling like a wild animal. Arms spread, Seelah began herding the other three boys away like geese.

“You got a healer?”

“Yeah. Camellia!” Siavash called.

She wasn’t far behind him, already craning over his shoulder to look at the gash in the girl’s neck.

“Heal her, will you?” He kept his eyes on the boy.

“Hm. What a waste,” Camellia sniffed, presumably meaning the healing spell. She hiked her skirt and bent down gracefully, murmuring in Hallit.

He tried to catch the boy’s roving gaze. “She’ll be all right.”

“She wanted to die,” he said sullenly.

“She wanted to die?” It was an old diplomatic trick. Turn everything into a question. Get him talking.

“She was too scared…” the boy trailed off, scowling.

“Yeah. Me too.” Siavash sighed grimly. “Almost pissed myself when that giant bug showed up in the festival square.”

The boy’s lips twitched. “You oughtta run then, crusader. This city isn’t safe for pointy-eared foreigners. We’re making sure of that.”

“You’re right, the city isn’t safe. Even for cultists.”

The girl rolled to one side and coughed up a blood clot.

“We’re not…”

“You’re not cultists?” Of course they weren’t. Keep him talking.

“I mean, we’ll do what it takes. To survive.” The boy gave him a defiant scowl. “We know a ritual that’ll call up Baphomet himself and we already have the knives. We’re not scared.”

“What about this young lady?”

“I can look out for her. She’s safer with me than…” he stopped and looked away, shoulders hunched.

“I’m sure you can,” Siavash said softly. “Listen, we’re on our way to the Defender’s Heart. People are rallying there to defend the city. I guess you’re going to have to pick a side.”

The boy gave him a hostile glare from under his shaggy bangs. On his knee lolled the girl’s bloody head. She still hadn’t said a word. She coughed again, a weak, pathetic sound.

“I don't care.”

“Come with us?”

Lips quivering, the boy looked back at his friends and swore. “Inquisition’ll…”

“Well if you’re not telling them, I’m not,” Siavash said.

“All right. Get up, Uma, let’s go.”

As Siavash rose and dabbed at his mouth with his sleeve again, Lann shook his head. “Nobody tell them what’s all the rage with the underground kids.”

[nochi-quinn]

legend of vox machina season 2 episode 10: The Killbox OR message deleted

visible ruidis, moon stole whitestone

I want the chess set with the little dragon figures

"I hate the bloody Fey Realm" never meet your heroes

man vax trying to let gilmore down easy is gonna hurt so much more here

keyleth's little snort

I don't know if I've said this already but the colors this season are absolutely batshit, I know they said it's bc of the color scripts and they should do them more

"did he get…smaller?"

kima read the room

I'm still sad we didn't get the Ghost of Stonejaw

"history won't remember a blood smear on anyone's axe"

I enjoy "power activation as emotional expression" as a trope

(the example here being the knuckles activating and breaking the railing as he gets more pissed at grog)

toothpick barricades!

god the blade on that axe is fucked

grog tanking that hit even though he's Little

mala: he lost his strength, not his constitution me: I think his constitution is leaking out all over the ground

setting up that scanlan is incapable of saying no to kaylie

(and kaylie is incapable of doing literally anything scanlan asks)

pike smashing that guy's head in with her shield

"they're more than just friends" kevdak now thinks grog is in a gnome polycule

oh that shot of the barricade poking under grog's skin, very dislike

GOD ashley and travis in this scene, I wonder if this is what they were talking about seeing how brutal it was and wanting to redo it because jesus

WHERE

DOES YOUR

STRENGTH

COME

FROM

FRENZIED RAGE (I assume)

and then the soundtrack exploded

MAKE MY MONSTER GROW

grog crater

the parallels, I hate them

because when I think of backup I think of an engineer on a roof

"the thing is…I got more"

FUCK

SHIT

UUUUUUUP

and then the soundtrack EXPLODED

my partner pointed out this is referencing sam's attempt at metallica

this is more effective

it also makes me think somewhat of the rwby soundtrack, which is in no way a complaint

scanlan: fuck these six barbarians in particular

percy's fucking glasses

"that is badass"

the way everything went south when the song ended, ie when they all used up their bardic inspiration

grog crater 2 electric boogaloo

and now he doesn't have any bones

"we gotta work on your landings"

just casually toss aside the dead man's arm

so weird seeing him all bulked out again

this is grog's version of "do you know how smart I am in Spanish" - this is his native language, dealing with the herd

"I almost shat myself" "me too!"

bard duel BARD DUEL

vex: oh look I'm suddenly too drunk to talk

keyleth's little smile

MA'AM

leave this boy alone for ONE NIGHT

"I thought I was being cool ;-;"

her little pout

I really like kaylie's actress' singing voice

album drop when

(there were SO MANY songs this season, they HAVE to)

pike's >:| face

"we need to take out umbilical" "umbrasyl" fuck! him too."

percy: DID SOMEBODY SAY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

AT DAWN WE PLAN

oh no now we're getting overt Local Man Unknowingly Tries To Sleep With Own Daughter

"I disguised us all as COWS"

not the monogrammed briefs

"not opposed to being called 'daddy' if the mood suits" banned word

is the marquesian sun purple

"I'M DADDY?!"

(scanlan has been removed from chat by moderator)

[tnott]

𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝟓 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀��� 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄

“Winter” - Tori Amos

Boys get discovered as winter melts Flowers competing for the sun Years go by and I’m here still waiting Withering where some snowman was Mirror mirror, where’s the crystal palace But I only can see myself Skating around the truth, who I am But I know, Dad, the ice is getting thin

"Sense of It All” - Android Lust

Sometimes I feel it’s hard to go on Even to get out of bed Search through my head, focus my eyes Can’t take another step I don’t feel right, but say I’m fine If you should happen to ask I don’t know why my chest feels tight Breath coming in ragged gasps

"Story of Isaac” - Suzanne Vega

You who build these altars now, to sacrifice these children You must not do it anymore For a scheme is not a vision, and you never have been tempted By a demon or a god You who stand above them now, your hatchets blunt and bloody, You were not there before When I lay upon the mountain and my father’s hand was trembling With the beauty of the word

"Hole in the Heart” - Karine Polwart

I made everything come undone I made everything fall apart I quit running to the finishing line And I went back to the start I found a great big hole in the middle of my life Shaped just like my heart

"Remember the Tinman” - Tracy Chapman

If you can tear down the walls Throw your armor away Remove all roadblocks, barricades If you can forget there are bandits And dragons to slay Don’t forget that you defend an empty space

And remember the Tinman Found he had what he thought he lacked Remember the Tinman Go find your heart and take it back

Tagging: @bokketo​ (Hermione and/or Snape), @thcbriightcst​, @wsstandsfor​, @sixvisxpacem​ (muse/s of your choice), @luminescenc1e​ (Draco and/or Pansy and/or Snape), @prioriiincantatem​ (muse/s of your choice)