#anyways the cruel prince series is still the best

[sexysilverstrider]

while the cruel prince series is still my favourite fantasy book the twisted series has a special place in my heart because of how cartoony the characters are

[bellaxgiornata]

All These Years [Part 14: "Day Late Friend"]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

[You can find the full series summary and masterlist of installments for All These Years here.]

Warnings/tags: 18+ for this series; contains emotional hurt with no comfort until the final installments, angst, pining, friends to lovers, slowburn, and eventually smut

Word Count: 5.6k

a/n: I feel like it goes without saying that this one will probably hurt. There's like a tiny bit of comfort in here, but I think everything else vastly outweighs that. Feedback is always appreciated!

Tag list: @acharliecoxedfan @theetherealbloom @rotscinema @magnumstyles @roseallisonparker @ofmusesandsecrets @readerhead @paracosmic-murdock @v4leoftears @why-always-me-gosh-please @redbircl @keepingitlokiii @yarrystyleeza @mattkinsella @ms-murdockswift @margoo0 @1988-fiend @lockleywife @strangeobsessed @justalittlebitbored @am-3-thyst @buckybarnes-1917 @thora-jane @lionalsowrites @cloudroomblog @prince-tassel @danzer8705 @yourlocalbentspine @harperdoodle @hollandorks

Sitting on the countertop in your kitchen, you were hunched over your phone scrolling through this morning's current news articles. You were exhausted and your entire body ached from having spent last night at Karen’s place sleeping on her couch because your apartment was entirely empty now. 

Most of the furniture you’d had at your apartment had been donated because you did not want to deal with the hassle of moving all of it across the country. It’s not like you couldn’t afford new things with the massive pay increase you were getting with your new position, even if your new LA apartment’s rent was a bit more expensive than your Hell’s Kitchen apartment had been. Though you’d had movers pack up a handful of your items the other day, along with whatever you had packed in boxes that you hadn’t kept in the luggage bag you were going to check with you on the plane when you left. Your things that were being transported across the country via moving truck were supposed to be at your new place by this afternoon. 

Because today was the day. You had a very long flight to LA soon that you were about to catch–a little over a six hour flight to be exact. You’d ordered a car to take you to the airport just a few minutes ago and now all you were doing was waiting, trying to kill time while you ignored the sinking feeling in your gut. You were going to miss New York and the friends you had here–including Matt, even if you were still incredibly pissed at him. But you'd promised yourself repeatedly that you would make this move no matter what because you needed it.

Last night you’d spent the evening at Karen’s, though Foggy had come over for a bit while you’d been there. But you’d made it clear that you wanted neither of them to invite Matt, still not wanting to see him after what had happened at Josie’s. Foggy had tried to convince you otherwise a few times, urging you to tell Matt it was your last night here because he said Matt had been needing to talk with you. Foggy was practically begging you to give Matt a chance to say goodbye, but you just couldn’t do it. After hearing him just days ago talking about the idea of marrying Erica, and then being so cruel to you in return when you’d pointed out how little he’d thought it all out– especially after everything he’d put you through knowing you’d always been in love with him–you felt he didn’t deserve your time. Why put yourself through more heartache for his sake? You weren’t planning to see him ever again anyway. You figured it was time to look out for yourself.

The whole evening you figured Foggy was shooting Matt texts on and off with the way he’d been on his phone. You’d done your best to ignore it, though part of you felt bad for not offering Matt a chance to see you one last time. He’d probably wanted to apologize for his behavior at Josie’s the other night, but what did it matter? You always caved when it came to Matt; you knew you'd ultimately accept whatever apology he gave you. You loved him–sometimes without a care to yourself and your own feelings. 

And that had to change.

With a sigh you opened another news article, your eyes briefly flicking up towards the time on your phone. It felt like time was dragging on this morning. Your ride to the airport was still another fifteen minutes away and you internally cringed. Admittedly you were getting anxious sitting here with nothing to do but wait and sit in your thoughts. 

A series of frantic knocks came from your apartment door, the noise breaking through the silence in your apartment and drawing your attention from your phone. You frowned, turning and looking at your door all the way across the apartment from where you sat in the kitchen. Who would be stopping by your place right now? Unless it was your overly friendly neighbor next door, the elderly Mrs. Meyers. You’d already told her goodbye three times yesterday, but maybe she’d somehow forgotten again. 

Sliding off the counter, you slipped your phone into your jean pocket and made your way over. But the moment you heard Matt’s voice desperately calling your name from the other side of it, you immediately froze on the spot.

What the hell was Matt doing here?

A mix of emotions immediately flooded you–anger, sadness, heartache, guilt. But worst of all of them was that stupid little sliver of hope. You flinched when you heard him call your name through your door again.

"Please," he begged. "I know you're in there. Just let me talk to you. Please. Give me five minutes. Just–just five minutes, please ."

This wasn't exactly the way you wanted to leave New York. That familiar ache was in your chest again and the feel of it hurt . Arms crossing over your chest, you nervously hugged yourself tight as if that would somehow help keep that ache from spreading through the rest of you.

"Matt, I don't want–"

" Please ," he pleaded.

His voice had sounded so small and weak from behind the door, the sound of it causing your eyes to close. Your hands gripped the fabric of your shirt as you fought the urge to cry. Something you'd become all too familiar with when it came to Matt. 

"There's something you need to know," Matt tried again, his voice filled with emotion. "And I don't–don't want to say it to your door."

With a shuddering exhale, you opened your eyes and tried to brace yourself for whatever was about to happen. Crossing the rest of the way to the door, you gradually unlocked it before pulling it open. Matt stepped back instantly, as if he’d been pressed up against it waiting for you. You were surprised to see his glasses were hanging from the collar of his dark green tee-shirt. Matt always wore them around you lately, so it had been jarring to be immediately greeted with the open vulnerability on his face and in his eyes. 

"You have five minutes," you told him, stepping aside and waving him in. 

And really he did, because your car would be here in probably ten minutes.

Matt made his way inside, a pained look on his face as he stepped past you. You grit your teeth together as you shut the door behind him, turning and squaring your shoulders as you faced him. You didn’t know what to expect, but you had a strong feeling whatever it was he needed to tell you was going to leave you in tears.

Matt said your name again, that vulnerable look on his face. "I am so unbelievably sorry about the other night," he began in a rush, emotion heavy in his voice as he spoke. "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that, it was wrong. I was out of line. You had every reason to yell at me like that. I deserved it–I deserve worse . I had–had no idea how much you were hurting and how awful what I’d said really was. It was insensitive and stupid of me and I–"

He abruptly cut off, his brows drawing together in what looked like confusion. Your own face slowly contorted into a look of confusion itself at the words in his apology. How could he not know how much you'd been hurting? He knew you loved him, of course him saying those things had been hurtful, especially considering what he’d told you right before about Erica.

Matt's head snapped to the side and your eyes narrowed as you watched him, his curious movements interrupting your thoughts. You watched as his head darted around a few times, his eyes beginning to water as you saw them scanning your completely empty apartment. 

"No," he whispered, his watery gaze returning to you. "No, don't tell me your things are gone already? You've already packed?"

"I'm moving, Matt," you stated flatly, trying to ignore the way that look on his face was affecting you. "Of course my things are gone."

"When?" he pressed. "Saturday? Sunday?"

You swallowed hard, a lump forming in your throat at the blatant look of panic quickly crossing his features. Why did he look so scared?

"In ten minutes," you answered, tone softening. "I have a car coming to bring me to the airport soon. My flight is at eleven."

Surprise briefly flickered across his face, his dark brows rising up onto his forehead as his lips parted. But then you watched as his face completely crumpled in on itself, tears streaming out of his eyes almost instantly. You stood there in stunned silence, unsure what to make of his reaction. You knew he would be upset about you leaving, but the only time you’d seen Matt cry like this before was when Elektra had broken his heart.

“I’m sorry,” he said, taking a step closer to you. “I thought I had more time. I’m sorry.”

With the sight of Matt standing there and crying before you, you couldn’t fight the tears that had begun to slowly burn in your own eyes. You wiped a hand at them, trying to erase them before they could fall. 

“Foggy said he told you I was leaving,” you pointed out. “You knew I was leaving, Matt. That I had taken a new position and was moving.”

He nodded solemnly, sniffling hard. “He did, but he never told me the day. Just told me I had to see you this morning. And now I–”

You watched in utter confusion as Matt’s sentence broke off right in the middle, his hands coming up as he rubbed the heels of them against his eyes. What sort of a goodbye apology was this? 

“I was wrong all this time,” Matt began, his hands still rubbing at his eyes as if that would make the tears stop. “It’s all my fault. I have spent the past few days going back and trying to make sense of it all– everything . For years. Just–just all of it. Every moment.”

Your brows drew further together on your forehead as you stared back at him. What the hell was he talking about? Why had he come barging over to your apartment spouting nonsense? Why was he so emotional?

“I thought it was Foggy,” he said firmly, his hands lowering from his face. His sightless eyes locked on you as he continued. “I always thought it was Foggy .”

“What?” you asked him. “What’re you talking about, Matt? You thought what was Foggy?”

“The friend you were in love with,” he replied earnestly. “The one you’d told me about a few times at Columbia. The one I knew you were hurting over, that you hadn’t ever gotten over in years . Who you’d cried about that night in the alley when I’d found you drunk and hurting. I always thought it was Foggy .” He winced, shaking his head as he whispered, “I never thought that it was–that it even could be me .”

His words hit you hard and you stood there in absolute shock–Matt thought you’d loved Foggy all of this time? Your mouth fell open as you gaped at him, your brain only wondering one thing.

“ How ?” you asked in confusion. “With what you can do, how did you think I was in love with Foggy?”

Tears were still falling down his cheeks as he took another step towards you, one hand reaching up to wipe them away as his eyes never left you. You still stood frozen on the spot, your arms even further tightening around your chest in response to everything he was telling you. Because what did that mean ? Why had he come here to tell you this? Why now?

“I–I misread so much,” he told you. “When I first ran into you in the library, I picked up on your physical attraction to me–all the telltale signs. And when you gave me your number and agreed to meet up, I thought it meant you liked me. But then that night you came over and Foggy was there–you both hit it off. I tried to give it some time, hoping I was wrong somehow, but it felt like your body was reacting to him . Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me.” Matt shot you a sad, watery smile. “I was still very new to understanding women and relationships, I’ll be honest. I was fresh out of a Catholic orphanage when I went to Columbia. Besides picking up on signs of obvious physical attraction, I’ll admit, I was clueless. And I–I clearly read you very wrong the whole time.”

“But–” you began, pausing to piece together everything yourself. “But Matt, how did you not know? I tried to flirt with you that night when I first came over to your apartment with Foggy and Karen for dinner. It was a terrible attempt but I thought it was pretty fucking obvious. I mean, for fuck’s sake, you heard me at Clinton Church for weeks crying over you. You , Matt, not Foggy. How did it never suddenly click ? How did you never realize you’d gotten it wrong?”

“Because Elektra had often put it into my head that you were always staring at Foggy like you were in love with him,” Matt answered vehemently. “And it’s not like I can see otherwise. I trusted her–and I realized far too late that I shouldn’t have, but I did. Her words about you being in love with him only further proved in my mind that it was true.” His tongue darted out nervously to wet his lips before he continued on in an emotional rush. “And that night you came over more than a year ago, I wasn’t sure if you were flirting with me or not. Something had seemed off with you that day. There was a–a part of me that hoped you were, but I couldn’t be sure. I tried to reach out to you, but you’d distanced yourself from me for weeks after. I figured I’d misunderstood the situation. And…by the time everything happened with Midland Circle, I’d thought you’d already admitted to me that night you found out about my secret that you loved Foggy all this time.” He shrugged weakly, his face further falling. “After that night, I never bothered to question it again.”

Your heart was hammering in your chest so hard you swore you could feel it. Each and every sharp and thundering pound of it. So Matt hadn’t known you’d loved him all this time. Which meant he’d found out when you’d yelled at him the other night at Josie’s. Eyes immediately going wide, you sucked in a breath.

“Holy shit, so you didn’t–” you paused, taking a mortified step back from him, “–you didn’t know? And I–I blurted it out the other night?”

The sad, watery smile was still on Matt’s face as he nodded slowly in response. Something like a strangled cry fell out of you as you spun on your heel, burying your face in your hands. Embarrassment burned through your entire being. Shrinking in on yourself, you wished the floor would just swallow you whole. 

“Why’re you coming here to tell me this?” you cried out, that sharp pain in your chest slamming right into you. “Fuck, this is so incredibly embarrassing , Matt. I thought you knew !”

“Sweetheart,” Matt said softly. 

You stiffened at the term of endearment. He’d called you that once before, that night you’d found out about his big secret. The sound of his footsteps grew nearer but you kept your face buried in your hands.

“I came here to tell you that I have wanted you for years,” he whispered, his voice sounding like it was coming from just behind you. “The first time I stumbled across you it wasn’t at the library–I stumbled on you almost two months before that. On campus. Someone had dropped all their books and papers on the sidewalk and you’d stopped to help them. And I–I don’t know what it was about you, but I couldn’t get your voice and your scent and your kind words out of my head.”

Matt’s hand landed on your shoulder, the touch incredibly light and barely there. It felt like he wasn’t sure he could touch you. As he continued on, your heart only further beat wildly against your ribcage at his words.

“I spent weeks trying to run into you again,” Matt confessed. “Trying to just find you again–any trace of you at all. I couldn’t let you go. That day I met you in the library felt like sheer luck. I had been so stunned myself that you’d appeared to me finally that I’d accidentally ran into you.”

Your hands slowly lowered from your face, your head gradually turning over your shoulder to look at Matt just behind you. That sad smile crossed his lips again when he realized you were looking at him, tears still glistening in his eyes.

“What’s that mean, Matt?” you whispered.

“It means I’ve always wanted you,” he replied just as softly. “You’re the only one I’ve always wanted.”

Goosebumps rose along your arms at his admission. How long had you desperately hoped for him to say those words to you? How many times had you pictured this moment in your head? Wondered what it would feel like for him to want you back? 

“What about Elektra?” you whispered. “And Erica? You were just telling me you wanted to marry her, Matt. How the hell do you say that and then come here and tell me this?”

“I fell hard for Elektra in college,” Matt admitted. “I thought maybe I loved her. She was the only one who knew about that other side of me. What I could do. I thought she–she got me. Understood me. But my feelings for you had never gone away, and I thought maybe I could try to make them disappear with her. But it turned out she didn’t understand me at all, and clearly she saw how much you meant to me because she fed me lies about you loving Foggy.”

“What about the second time you were with her?” you asked, cringing at the question.

Matt immediately shook his head, his sightless eyes still focused along your face. His hand gripped your shoulder a little firmer.

“I was never with her when she came back,” he assured you. “ Never .”

“And Erica?” you pressed.

Your back was still turned towards him as he spoke, but you saw the frown settle onto his face. It felt like your heart was in your throat as you waited for him to explain.

“You had been with Adam for awhile,” he began, hurt clear in his tone. “So I thought maybe you’d finally gotten over Foggy, because you seemed happy with him. And as much as it broke my heart seeing you with Adam, I was truly happy for you. He was a nice guy. He treated you well. And as much as I wished it could’ve been me in his place, I was glad that you weren’t hurting anymore–or at least, I thought you weren’t.” He sighed, his eyes dropping down to the floor as he released your shoulder, his hand running across his forehead instead. “But I knew I’d never have you and I was lonely. That’s when Marci introduced me to Erica and we–we got along. Eventually I developed feelings for her–nothing that even remotely compared to how I feel about you, but I figured I’d never find that again. And things were…admittedly convenient ,” he said with a shameful grimace. “She was often working so she had no clue about me being out most nights as Daredevil. Which meant for once, Daredevil wasn’t an issue in my love life.”

“But Matt–”

“Look, I know it was stupid to think I could continue in a relationship like that, but I was hopeful,” he confessed. “I was lonely and I was hopeful that I’d have time to make things work with a long engagement. And as much as I–I wanted you , I was positive I’d never have you. And what I had with Erica seemed like it–it wouldn’t be so bad as an alternative. So I’d been thinking about proposing and that was why I was hoping to talk to you and Fog.” He shrugged a shoulder lightly, a deep frown on his face. “I was hoping both of you would help me look at things realistically, because you’re both my best friends. You know me.”

Your eyes narrowed at Matt as you finally turned partially towards him. “Then why did you get angry at me when I told you how ridiculous it all sounded?” you asked. 

“Because I could feel your anger,” he whispered. “And I didn’t understand it. I got defensive because it–it hurt hearing you say those things to me. Because I have–have loved you for so long and you were the one I wanted and couldn’t have. But I shouldn't have said those things to you in anger and I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I was hurt and I was stupid and I reacted without thinking.” His lips pressed together, the tears that had been glistening in his eyes quickly spilling forth. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you so much over the years.”

You were struck speechless, still stuck on the part where he’d admitted to loving you. Matt was in love with you?

“I ended things with her, too,” he continued, the tears still falling. “The first chance I got after that night. Because I want you.”

Almost as if in slow motion you watched as Matt’s hand reached up, very carefully reaching out to gently cradle your cheek in the palm of his hand. You could feel your entire body trembling at the affectionate touch–it was so far from friendly. It reminded you of the night you’d been with him after graduation when he’d touched you so similarly. You understood now what had almost happened that night, and the fact that nothing had only added to the heartache. Because you were quickly realizing that you both had come close to admitting the truth so many times before only to end up here–with years wasted and hearts hurting.

“I want you,” he breathed out, his thumb lightly stroking your cheek. His eyes were slowly scanning your face, as if somehow committing you to memory in his own way as his lips pulled into that sad smile again. "I've only ever wanted you, sweetheart."

A sob fell out of you as you turned fully towards him, your arms immediately wrapping around his waist and drawing yourself into him without a thought. Matt was quick to encircle his own arms around your shoulders, holding you tightly to the front of himself as you felt him burying his face into your hair. Your fingers clawed at his back through the thin fabric of his tee-shirt, desperately holding onto him as you cried. From the pocket of your jeans, you heard your phone alert you to a notification you'd received. No doubt it was the car you’d ordered finally arriving, ready to bring you to the airport. That thought only had you clinging tighter to Matt as you sobbed against his chest.

“Why did you wait so long?” you cried out, face buried into his chest. “Why now, Matt? Why did you have to tell me all of this when I'm leaving?”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, voice breaking on the apology. “I’m so sorry.”

Your eyes snapped shut tight, tears soaking the front of his shirt. Your nails were digging into Matt’s back, clawing at him with how hopelessly you tried to hang on to him. 

“I–I want to ask you to stay,” he whispered, his face still buried into your hair where his tears were dampening the strands. “I want to beg you to. Tell you I would do anything to keep you here–because I would. Happily. Ten times over. But I know I have no right to ask that of you, sweetheart.”

"You're right," you breathed out, your body molding itself to the front of him. "You don't."

You hated that you'd found out Matt had loved you all of this time at this exact moment instead of weeks ago–months or even years ago when things could have gone differently. Because you had already accepted that job and you'd already gotten that apartment. You'd repeatedly told yourself you were leaving and doing this for yourself no matter what. And Matt coming here telling you all of this right now, as much as it made you want him even more because you now knew your feelings were returned, didn't change the fact that he had just ended a relationship with a woman he had considered proposing to only days ago. That he'd let you go on believing he was dead for months not that long ago–and that hadn't stopped hurting even if you'd forgiven him for it. And it certainly didn't change the fact that you had cried over him for years.

You'd needed a change. You needed time away. You needed space to figure things out for yourself without the constant heartache.

"Matt, I–" your eyes tightened further closed, tears still coming as your fingers desperately gripped his back, "–I have to do this. I have to move to LA. For me.” Your face remained pressed to his firm chest as you spoke, pausing just long enough to breathe in that familiar clean scent of him. You hoped you’d never truly forget it. “You just ended things with Erica days ago,” you continued quietly. “This–this isn't how I would want to start things with you. It's not right."

You heard him inhale a shuddering breath, his mouth beside your ear as he did. His hands slid down to wrap firmly around your back, his palms pressing you securely to himself. You could feel his own fingers digging into you through your shirt, his own desperate need to keep you close only making your tears fall faster. In that moment, you knew he’d been hurting just as much as you always had been. Somehow you could feel it in the tears of his that fell, mingling with yours along your skin, and the sharp, ragged breaths he was clearly trying to control. 

"I know," he whispered, voice strained. “You deserve better.”

Reluctantly you slowly pulled away from him, your heart twisting in your chest at the absolute broken state of Matt before you. With a loud sniffle, you pulled your phone from your pocket and saw that you did have a notification for the car you’d called. You responded to it, pressing your trembling lips firmly together as you tried to compose yourself. You needed to leave or you’d miss your flight.

“The car is here to take me to the airport,” you whispered, slipping your phone back into your pocket before glancing up at Matt. “I–I have to go, Matty.”

Matt nodded, his hands roughly wiping at his eyes. “Can I walk you out?” he asked. “Please?”

Swallowing hard, you nodded. “Yeah,” you whispered. “I just need to grab my bag.”

Walking past Matt, you made your way towards your kitchen to the lone piece of luggage that was sitting right where you’d left it. You slid the handle of it out before turning and shuffling your way across the room and back over to Matt. He was clearly trying to take the moment to compose himself, but he didn’t seem very successful with the way his tears were still falling. When you neared him, he timidly held out a hand towards you and you paused, staring at it as your heart unsteadily beat in your chest. A second later you hesitantly reached out, slipping your hand into his. Matt’s face momentarily lit up as he tried to smile at you, his large hand reassuringly squeezing yours.

You sent him a small smile in return before you guided the pair of you out of your apartment, leaving it for the last time. The sound of the door closing behind you both was louder and harsher than usual as you led Matt down the hall and towards the elevators. Neither of you said anything as you waited for it to reach your floor, and neither of you said anything as you both stepped inside. Though as the elevator doors slid closed, Matt’s fingers entwined with yours, as if he was finding any way he could to hold onto you just a bit tighter for just a bit longer. Somehow that hurt, too.

Gradually the elevator lowered until it reached the lobby and you stepped out, your stomach roiling with nerves at the final goodbye that you could feel fast approaching. In silence you led him over towards the car that was waiting for you, politely greeting the driver who took your bag from you and stowed it in the trunk of the car. As they were getting back into the driver’s side, you finally turned and focused on Matt, your hand still enjoined with his.

The sight of him alone had your heart breaking–he still looked just as broken as that day you’d found him crying over Elektra. Except now it was because of you . Instantly the tears began streaming down your face and briefly you wondered how the hell you had a single tear left to shed after all of this time. Matt tried his best to smile at you, his other hand reaching up to wipe away your tears as they continued to fall. 

“Please don’t cry, sweetheart,” Matt said gently, the calloused pad of his thumb still wiping away the wetness on your cheeks. 

“I’m sorry,” you choked out. “I’m sorry for leaving you, Matty. For hurting you.”

Matt shook his head, that sad smile still lingering along his lips. “Don’t apologize,” he whispered. “If this is what you need, if it’ll make you happy, then I–I support you. Even if it hurts. All I want is to know you’re happy.” His thumb slid down, lightly brushing beside the corner of your lips as his sad eyes focused there. “But I’m–I’m sorry my timing with telling you how I felt was so terrible. I should have told you on graduation night like I planned to. Maybe we wouldn’t be here now.”

“You couldn’t have known,” you whispered. 

Matt grimaced briefly, the corner of his mouth turning downward. “Your driver sounds irritated. I should probably uh, let you go,” he said, the last word coming out a little choked.

Stepping towards Matt, you once again wrapped your arms around his waist and buried your face against the damp spot your tears had created on his tee-shirt. His own arms immediately held you to him again, his face now burying into the side of your neck. The pair of you stayed like that for a long moment, neither of you clearly wanting to let go. Your eyes closed and you relaxed into him, breathing in the scent of him. If you pushed aside what was happening right now, you could feel whatever it was you’d always felt when you hugged Matt washing over you. That warm, comforting feeling you’d told Foggy about before. The feeling you always experienced when you hugged Matt. You knew what it was now.

He felt like home.

Fresh tears welled in your eyes as Matt slowly pulled away from you, your arms once again coming to wrap tight around your chest as if that alone would keep you from shattering to pieces on the sidewalk. 

“I don’t want to say goodbye,” you admitted weakly.

He reached a hand out, tucking some hair behind your ear as his watery gaze focused along your chin.

“Then don’t,” he replied softly. “I’ll see you again another time, sweetheart.”

His fingers lingered along your cheek, once again lightly wiping away the tears that were falling. Your heart clenched in your chest when you finally found the nerve to speak.

“I’ll miss you, Matty,” you confessed. 

“I’ll miss you, too,” he whispered, his hand falling from your face.

You stood there for a few seconds longer, trying to commit the memory of Matt to your mind. You didn’t want to forget him. Truthfully you didn’t want to leave him. Though eventually you finally turned and opened the car door, slipping into the backseat. You pulled the door shut after yourself, confirming with the driver that you were heading to the airport as you put your seatbelt on. Your attention shifted back to Matt out of the window to where he was standing on the sidewalk. His glasses were back on his face as he began unfolding the cane he’d had folded up in his back pocket. 

When the car finally pulled out into traffic, your eyes remained on Matt through the back window. His face was turned towards you as the car drove away, and you swore you saw his lips moving as if he’d said something, though you couldn’t make out what. You tried to remind yourself internally why you were doing this as the sight of Matt standing on the edge of the sidewalk slowly became harder and harder to see. But when he finally was entirely out of your view, you felt something sharp hit you right in the chest. Raising a hand up, you absently rubbed at the spot just over your heart, eyes still focused out of the back window as tears filled them yet again.

[END NOTES]

End notes again, because I feel like y'all need them. Again.

Matt finally confessed!! He explained quite a bit to Reader but inevitably, she left to LA. I mean, she'd already accepted the job and had no place to stay in Hell's Kitchen for starters, but also, she did really need to take a step away from Matt and try to live her life. And it certainly wouldn't be fair to Reader to try to jump into a relationship with Matt literally days after he'd been having a discussion about possibly proposing to someone else. So Reader is leaving anyway. And there was NO KISS because honestly, I feel like kissing in that moment would just hurt both of them even more. So you're still going to be waiting on that. But I will say the beginnings of comfort will probably start after the next installment for those of you literally hanging by a thread reading this. But there will be a happy ending to this fic so things will slowly begin to turn around soon!

But now for real, I need to focus on my other fics this week. Preferably things that are less angsty like FFTD.

[sophiewith7es]

some of my six of crows modern headcanons xx

nina and inej are taylor swift and phoebe bridgers best friends

inej is vegan and i will not be explaining myself

matthias’ snapchat username is matthiashelvqr but jesper’s is animal_loverjes123 because he made it when he was nine

wylan is scared of planes but not helicopters

jesper is scared of helicopters but not planes

nina and inej listened to midnights together when it was first released

jesper got matthias into star wars

jesper loves the prequels and clone wars, matthias prefers the original trilogy and rogue one

both nina and jespers first bi panic was watching pirates of the caribbean

kaz has a secret fear of escalators so he always takes the stairs even though it actively causes him more pain

kaz and wylan watch criminal minds together in silence, but they both say the line about tracy lambert together

matthias falls asleep to animal documentaries narrated by david attenborough

inej jesper and nina are big greys anatomy fans

wylan’s first crush was teenage simba

matthias plays rugby

they have a book club (audiobook for wylan)

they read the acotar series and all had vastly different opinions

nina was an avid zoella watcher

kaz doesnt pay for any streaming services but has all of them anyway, jesper also doesn’t pay but uses everyone elses

matthias pays for the netflix account though

him and nina share one profile and everyone else has their own profile

nina cried when they took new girl off netflix

kaz says he prefers dc over marvel just to cause conflict

jesper read percy jackson growing up and still has the same battered copies he read as a kid in his room no matter where he lives

nina was a harry potter reading child and also still has her original copies of the books

HARRY POTTER REWATCH MOVIE NIGHTS!!!!

wylan is a secret marauders stan

nina jesper inej and wylan are all marauders era fans but wylan is soooo much worse

wesper = wolfstar

jesper’s favourite movie is the breakfast club

kaz says his favourite movie is fight club but it’s actually fantastic mr fox

kaz follows six people on instagram: inej and all the members of one direction

he does that to piss the others off

jesper went viral on tik tok one time

matthias loves oasis (both the band and the drink)

nina fought for eras tour tickets and managed to get them all tickets

kaz is going as reputation (his usual attire) jesper as lover, wylan as evermore, inej as speak now (she got the speak now dress), matthias as debut (they got him a cowboy hat) and nina as red.

matthias secretly cried over the how to train your dragon ending

matthias and inej read a lot of classics and share their collection, they both annotate the books as well and enjoy seeing what the other has written

kaz has a do not disturb sign on his bedroom door like in a hotel and puts it on the door handle even when he’s not in there

kaz is weirdly good with technology

jesper collects mugs

kaz and inej steal pint glasses from pubs

when inej and nina listened nothing new on red(tv) they lost their minds

kaz loves boygenius

matthias and wylan love modern family, wylan’s favourite character is gloria and matthias’ is jay

jesper loves formula 1 and its the only sport he’ll watch

nina and matthias play animal crossing together

kaz terrors jesper on terraria

when they play minecraft functionally, inej is the builder, jesper is the farmer, matthias and wylan mine, kaz has netherite armour in like half an hour and nina collects flowers and tames animals

when they play minecraft disfunctionally they just blow shit up

kaz plays the guitar

inej DEVOURED the cruel prince series

zoya and genya are nina’s foster/adoptive sisters

wylan is scared of clowns and is like that one episode of new girl when nick has to go into the haunted house

whenever jesper does something stupid or doesnt do something or whatever he says ‘#yolo’ and moves on and it drives kaz insane

jesper has muggies of everyone

inej takes 0.5 pictures of everyone when theyre sleeping without them knowing

matthias loves the hunger games series

kaz regularly predicts major global events

wylan loves breaking bad

[the-grimsqueaker]

Ok flaming hot take here: Sorsha was not a bad mother.

I've spent an unhealthy amount of time browsing the tags, reading basically every Kit adjacent fanfic currently available (AND I LOVE THEM DON'T MISTAKE ME), and rewatching the series (on a loop. Gonna boost the view numbers singlehandedly if I have to because I need season 2 and 3 to keep living) and in each and every fan iteration of her character people portray her as emotionally abusive and cold.

In the series we're introduced to her at her choice to marry off her lesbian daughter to a prince of the neighbouring kingdom. I would argue that King Hastur was the driving force behind that arrangement, when we see Graydons flashback of his dad screeching about having an heir with ties to Tir Asleen. Sorsha doesn't want to put Kit through that, as we see her confiding in Boorman. I would argue that if King Hastur had a daughter she would probably have pushed Airk to get married instead but as he had a son and heirs are the point of arranged unions, Kit drew the short straw for her kingdom.

Every attempt she has made towards keeping our young heroes safe (hiding Elora, not telling Jade who she really was) were all acts made out of a genuine place of love. Doesn't mean they were right, particularly in Jades case, and obviously best intentions and all that they still caused harm in the end, but it wasn't manipulative or cruel in intent.

When Sorsha is injured in episode 1 Kit is at her mothers side helping her, they have a real conversation about things when she's recovering and Sorsha treats her with respect.

When Kit sees wyrm-Sorsha she is filled with confusion which is why she isn't receptive to her reaching out initially, but she leans into her mother's embrace after a few moments because she's glad to see her even though part of her knows it's not real.

Anyway it's 1am and I had some thoughts and feelings and basically in the long list of fictional mothers Sorsha is one of the better ones in my opinion. Show me anyone with a truly positive relationship with their mother, this one at least feels realistic.

[whump-me]

Conquest, Chapter 27: Everything You Ever Wanted

Chapter 27 of Conquest, a novel-length fantasy whump story about a timid royal clerk captured by the disgraced prince who needs their help to rule their newly conquered country. This series is best read in order. Masterpost here.

Contains: fantasy setting, nonbinary whumpee, male whumper, broken whumpee, royal whumper, reluctant whumper, multiple whumpers, threats of mutilation

---

Kezul

Kezul had no need to spend time in the throne room, not now that his meetings with Mir were over and done with. He had no court to impress, no petitioners coming in to ask his favor. No one in Danelor would dare approach the palace, not least because it would mean traversing the ruins of the capital. There were no diplomatic visits, nor would there be. Kezul dreaded the time when Faraille would inevitably send someone to inquire about the status of the treaty between them, because he didn’t know what his father or his wolves would do. He had a feeling he knew what kind of message his father would want to send to Faraille.

And it would likely be worse than that. His father would make him do it.

But maybe Faraille had heard about the changes in Danelor. Kezul wouldn’t have been surprised—the burning of the Poets’ Academy was not a minor bit of news. Anyway, whatever the reason, Faraille had sent no one.

Kezul hoped they never would.

In short, Kezul had no reason to sit on his throne. But he did anyway, because he didn’t know what else to do with himself in the palace that no longer felt like his. As had been the case at his father’s feast, there was no place for him here. He was superfluous, and made to feel so at every opportunity. Everywhere except in the empty throne room, atop the cracked throne.

At least the throne room was his and his alone. At least there, he could pretend this place was still his and not his father’s. Even if the crack his father had left in the wood made that pretense more and more unsustainable.

But it wasn’t his, not really. As his father proved when, late in the morning on the day after Kezul had shoved Mir into the pit full of bodies, he walked in without bothering to knock.

Kezul had expected him. Still, when the door opened and revealed his father’s stern face, he jerked like a child caught doing something he shouldn’t have. He shrank under the man’s gaze, as he always did. The throne under him felt like a cruel joke. He was not the ruler of anything.

But Kezul had known he would come. If not now, then soon. It was why he had prepared for this. It was why he had positioned Mir at his feet, kneeling in a parody of a Wolf showing respect. Mir, dead-eyed, had obeyed without resistance. That had been early in the morning, after Kezul had fetched them from the stable. Hours later, Mir hadn’t moved. Nor had they said a word.

Kezul wondered if this was how victory was supposed to feel.

His father looked from him to Mir. Mir must have noticed the door opening, but they didn’t look up. Kezul knew that if he looked into their eyes, they would be as dead as they had been this morning. As dead as they had been since Kezul had pulled them, unresisting, from the rotten muck. They had taken Mir back to the stable, had doused them with water and scrubbed them until they bled, until the last of the stink finally left their flesh. All the while, Mir had shown no reaction. They had responded mechanically to orders, which was the only reason Kezul had known they were aware of him at all.

His father made a surprised noise in the back of his throat. “I believe this is the first time I’ve ever been in the same room with your prisoner without him trembling at the sight of me.”

“You said it yourself,” said Kezul. “When a prisoner knows they’re defeated, they have no room for fear left in them.”

“Is that right?” Kezul’s father leaned down toward Mir. “Has my son finally made you understand your situation?”

Mir didn’t respond.

“Test him,” his father said. His eyes held Kezul’s in an unsubtle challenge. This was, Kezul knew, a test for him as much as for Mir.

Kezul knew what his father wanted. He had known what his father would ask him ever since his father had given him the wolf-hilt knife.

Kezul leaned down and held out the knife to Mir. He felt a flicker of unease—the last time Mir had held a knife in Kezul’s presence, Mir had wounded him. The cut was shallow, but it still stung.

Mir took the knife. Kezul tensed. He felt his father’s eyes on him, and knew his father had caught his reaction. What his father made of it, he didn’t know. Did his father know about his leg injury? About his nighttime visit to the stable? Kezul wouldn’t have put it past him.

But he said nothing. His gaze traveled from Kezul to Mir as he, like Mir, waited.

Mir held up the knife. They spread their other hand out flat in front of them on the floor, fingers splayed. Kezul leaned down, craning his neck to peer into Mir’s face. He knew Mir had to look afraid; he couldn’t imagine any other reaction. He didn’t understand why Mir wasn’t shaking. But when he looked into Mir’s eyes, there wasn’t the slightest hint of fear there. There seemed to be nothing there at all.

Mir raised the knife.

But the knife didn’t come down.

“Kezul.” His father’s voice was like a crack of thunder. “What are you doing?”

Kezul’s fingers were wrapped around Mir’s wrist, hard enough to bruise. Holding Mir’s hand in place. Stopping the knife from coming down.

Mir didn’t react. Not to look at Kezul with gratitude or frustration. Not with a single noise of pain, even though Kezul was gripping hard enough to hurt. Mir was frozen in place, seemingly satisfied to have their action interrupted, and yet Kezul knew that if he let go, the knife would come down after all.

Kezul forced his eyes away from Mir to look up at his father. “I want to make use of this prisoner later,” he said. “I’ve told you I enjoy the music they play. And as I’ve mentioned before, you didn’t see fit to leave me any other prisoners.” Why had he added that hint of criticism without meaning to? He knew the stakes if he upset his father now. He knew who would suffer. His hand tightened further around Mir’s wrist.

But his father said nothing, so Kezul swallowed and continued.

“How good a musician do you think they’ll be if they chop off one of their own fingers just to prove something to you? It’s not worth it. You can see they were willing to do it. They weren’t afraid. They still aren’t.”

Kezul shook Mir’s arm in his father’s direction, as if in demonstration. Mir still didn’t make a noise of pain.

“Isn’t that enough?” Kezul pressed.

His father stood and regarded the two of them for a long, tense moment. “Very well,” he finally said. “Keep your musician. Not that I’ve heard him play a single note of music since I set foot in your palace.” He gave the word your a mocking twist, holding Kezul’s gaze as he spoke.

Kezul lowered his gaze differently, like a good Wolf pup. But like a good citizen of Danelor, he didn’t let anything show on his face.

Kezul let go of Mir’s hand, tensing in preparation to grab it again. But Mir only placed the knife in Kezul’s outstretched hand. His wrist had red finger marks around it that would soon turn to purple bruises.

Kezul took the knife and tucked it away. But his father’s eyes were still on him. His father cleared his throat. “I don’t believe that belongs to you.”

There was a dangerous thrumming in his voice. The hint of a growl. A wolf about to lunge.

Kezul held the knife out to his father. For one brief instant, he thought perhaps his father was about to ask him to chop off one of his own fingers instead. For that instant, he wasn’t sure whether he would be able to refuse. He could see it all too clearly in his mind—his hand coming down automatically, with no hesitation, no time for fear.

Was that what his father was to him?

“We have other matters that need your attention, anyway,” said his father as he tucked the knife away. “Matters more important than one prisoner. A situation is developing in your country.” He gave the word your the same ironic twist as before. “And as the one who sits on Danelor’s throne, it falls to you to decide how to handle it.”

Kezul knew, from the gleam in his father’s eyes and the slight curve to his lips, that he had been wrong before. His order to Mir hadn’t been a test for Kezul after all. This was Kezul’s test.

Or maybe it wouldn’t have been, if Kezul had allowed Mir to obey. Maybe he had brought this on himself, whatever it was, when he had wrapped his hand around Mir’s wrist.

“What is it?” was all he said. His voice, like his face, revealed nothing.

He had been wrong before, in those early days with Mir. Hiding one’s feelings was useful after all, even if everyone knew what was lurking under the neutral mask. There was a certain dignity to it. There was a message—You can have me, but you cannot have what is inside me. Mir had sent him that message over and over, in those early days, and he hadn’t fully understood for what it was. He had understood only enough for it to send him into a rage.

Now he understood why a person would want to send that message. And yet even though Mir’s face was as blank as it had been in those days—more so, even—there was no message behind it anymore. Not for Mir. Kezul finally had what he had strived to obtain in those early days—he had what was inside Mir. He had their utter defeat.

He didn’t want it. But he had it.

“There are rumors,” said his father, “that some of the noble houses are mounting a rebellion after the burning of the Poets’ Academy. Renn-Staer. Teri-Qen. Farin-Lir.” None of those were the ones Kezul had worked with, back before his father’s arrival. “The noble houses have weight in this country,” his father continued, “full as it is of weak people looking for someone to follow.”

Kezul ignored his father’s pointed look. He pressed his lips shut on what he wanted to say—I told you this would happen. If you had left alone, if you would let me do it my way, Mir’s way…

His father, who had apparently been waiting for those arguments, gave him a satisfied nod, with just a hint of surprise in his eyes. Kezul had passed the first part of the test, it seemed. “There are apparently some arguments,” his father continued. “Edel-Nys wants to continue that association with you, despite what happened with the academy, because they still believe it’s the best way to feed the people and keep Danelor functional. They fear that if a rebellion comes, it will tear the country apart, and destroy what little progress has been made. Apparently still have faith that their lapdog on the throne will ultimately bend to their will.”

“And you want to know what I would do in response to this threatened rebellion?” If Kezul truly had a choice, he would have never burned the academy in the first place. He would have gone back in time and made sure his father could never come here. That was what he would have chosen. But that wasn’t an option, so he said the only thing he could. “Kill the ones rumored to be starting the rebellion. Even if it’s nothing more than a rumor, it will have reached other people as well as us. And not just the ringleaders—anyone remotely involved. Do it quickly and publicly. A show of force.”

He didn’t look at Mir. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if Mir would have shown a reaction. There wasn’t enough left inside Mir to react anymore.

The surprise left his father’s eyes. What replaced it was the look Kezul had seen in his father’s eyes more than any other—disappointment. “A good start,” he said, not sounding as though he meant it. “But what else?”

“What do you mean, what else?” Kezul asked, impatience covering for fear. If his father didn’t like his answer, would he suffer for it, or would Mir? Would his father decided Mir’s finger had to come off after all?

And why does it matter? It didn’t look as though Mir would care one way or the other. And if Kezul truly didn’t want them hurt, it was too late for that. Any order his father gave would be superfluous next to what Kezul himself had done.

“Put an end to the rebellion before it can start,” Kezul continued. “Cut it off at the root, before a full-fledged rebellion can rip through Danelor.”

“You fear what a rebellion would do to Danelor, do you? Your friends among the noble houses share those concerns. Perhaps you’d like to ask their opinion before you make your decision?” His father’s voice was mocking.

“Then you think I should do nothing?” Kezul asked. “You think I should let the rebellion grow?” What happened to Kezul being weak, not having the stomach for battle? What did his father want from him?

“Of course not.” His father looked at him with naked disgust, as if he were a turd on the floor. As if, instead of sitting on the throne, he were prostrated beside Mir, one more worthless prisoner. “Maybe I’ve given you too many chances. I wanted you to prove yourself. I wanted you to have in you. You are, after all, my blood. But maybe you were only ever capable of being mediocre at best.” He shook his head. “At least it’s better than being an utter failure, as you were in battle.”

His father turned to leave. “I’ll decide what I want done with you,” his father said. “And with Danelor. I’ll return tomorrow morning, and tell you what comes next for you.”

He would be sent back to Kyollen Naskor, most likely. Either that, or killed on the palace steps. Kezul found he didn’t much care which. In that moment, he felt as empty as Mir looked.

Mir—what would happen to them?

“Wait,” he called.

His father paused, fingers resting on the doorknob. He didn’t turn around.

If his father didn’t want him to root out everyone associated with the rebellion and kill them… but he didn’t want him to let the rebellion come to fruition, either… what did he want? Kezul had thought he had it right. A show of force. Wasn’t that what his father had tried to tell him was so important? And Gyoras before him?

But when it came to politics, whether of trade or of war, nothing was ever as simple as it seemed. And there was never only one answer. Mir had taught him that. Mir had blown the dust from his eyes, letting him see a world full of far more depth and richness than he had imagined. If Mir were explaining this to him… if Mir were telling him what Kezul’s father had intended, with that signature note of disbelief and disgust that entered their voice whenever they discussed Kezul’s father and his actions… what would they have said?

“All the noble houses,” said Kezul. “Kill them all. Even the ones on our side.”

But why? a buried part of his mind asked, the part that had grown to love Mir’s version of diplomacy. What would be the point? They can help us.

But Kezul’s father didn’t want their help. And what was that he had said about weak people looking for someone to lead them? In his mind, the noble houses were a liability, because they could split the people’s loyalty. Or maybe loyalty was the wrong word for it—his father’s method of rule wasn’t likely to earn much loyalty, even without any competition. Their respect, then—or whatever false version of respect led people to bow and scrape and fawn at his father’s feet. Their fear. He could call it whatever he wanted—he didn’t want anyone else to have it but him and those who shared his blood.

And there had been a second message hidden under his father’s words. He had thought Kezul was weak, looking for someone to follow. Someone like the members of the noble houses he had allied with. If they were dead, that couldn’t happen. And if Kezul were the one to order their deaths, well, that would prove something, too.

His father turned around. His eyes gleamed—with anticipation, with challenge. “But I thought you needed them to keep the country prosperous.”

Kezul knew this for the test if it was, and he responded in kind. “You said the people look to them for someone to follow. We can’t give them anyone to look to but us. That’s the highest priority.”

“Higher than keeping its people fat and happy?”

“They need to know they’re defeated,” said Kezul. Whatever the cost, he added in his mind.

His father smiled.

“Implement the plan,” his father said. “And then… then, I think we can leave this place in someone else’s care for a few weeks while you come home to be elevated to your full birthright.” His face twisted in a sneer, but this time, Kezul somehow knew the sneer wasn’t meant for him. “Or we can just leave this useless place to rot. It has served its purpose.”

Maybe it was just the light shining through the window at exactly the right angle. But Kezul saw the light of madness in his father’s eyes all over again.

Then it disappeared, and all he saw in his father’s eyes was respect. Real respect, like what he had seen from Gyoras and the rest of his Fangs the day his father had arrived. That day, it had made him feel embarrassingly warm inside. It felt like everything he had ever wanted.

But his father was the one he had really wanted that respect from, more than he had ever wanted it from his Fangs or anyone else. And yet, squirming under his father’s gaze, he didn’t feel that glow.

“I will leave the planning to you,” his father said. “You are more than capable.” With that, Vorhullin the Unmaker turned and left.

Without meaning to, Kezul looked down at Mir. Mir showed no reaction.

---

Tagged: @suspicious-whumping-egg @halloiambored @whump-in-the-closet @whump-cravings @sunshiline-writes @annablogsposts @whither-wander-whump @seaweed-is-cool @bloodinkandashes @sonder35 @cakeinthevoid @looptheloup

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[the1northlanderprincess]

A Curse for True Love

A note: Apologies for the sudden onslaught of Evajacks posts. This is what happens when you discover a series so late in the game.

After waiting for it for 2 1/2 weeks, I finally got to read A Curse for True Love. I have to spill all the feels I am feeling over this series, because they are many.

While not as good as BONA, there is still some really good material. This love story is one of the best that you can get from books that resemble fairytales. There is something so profound about it, and deep. I mean, you have the fact that you get both Evangeline and Jacks being victims of curses and danger. It was a true fight for true love. It reminded of some of my favorite fictional couples.

For the cursed angle, it was giving Captain Swan (but done better...yeah, I said it), as well as Snowing. With Jacks pushing Evangeline away to keep her safe from him, it was very similar to Dimitri pushing Rose away in Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice, which I love. Let me add, Jacks watching Evangeline and longing from afar was reminiscent of Peter watching Mary Jane after being rescued in SM2, and the ending scene of the CW BatB pilot. I need more literature like that.

I just love the simplicity of this series. It's so straightforward; nothing convoluted like you see in certain romantasies. And I believe I saw a booktuber (at least I think it was this series) say that the stakes are more realistic and higher**, which I have to agree with. You have the FMC trying to find a second love she can be happy with, seemingly finds it, then becomes enamored with the MMC. She knows that he is unable to be with her, but is determined to find a way to be with him. With the MMC, he's wanted love, thought he found it, but she backstabbed him. Now he's bitter, and does nefarious things. However, he slowly falls for the FMC unexpectedly, but doesn't want to hurt her, thus pushing her away. It all changes when she is killed, and he goes back in time to fix it because of how much he loves her. But it all goes wrong when the FMC's false love takes her memories. Fast forward to MMC trying to thwart the husband, or any way FMC may be endangered, trying to protect her so she can live. However, he is going to make sure he doesn't try to interact with her too much, and makes plans to disappear from her life forever. It hurts him immensely, but, like before, feels he has to. She regains her memories, discovers his plans, and she has a race against time before he destroys the thing that allows him to love. There is lots of begging, confessions, pushing/pulling, and the like. She makes a move and BAM! Curse lifted. Only, after all of that, the false love kidnaps her and MMC has to still fight to be with her. Totally no big deal, right? LOL.

What I liked about the curse breaking is that they both had to believe in their love. At first I was confused as to why the cuff hurt him when Jacks tried to kiss Evangeline, but it's because that his second heart isn't in close proximity, so, he wasn't in his right mind. He probably didn't think she loved him the way he loved her. Subconsciously he likely did, yet it wasn't until she said those words and risked her life to physically show him.

Anyway, my whole point is this: Evajacks has now topped Feysand within my top 3 book OTPs in terms of overcoming odds and development. Seriously, the guy was going to destroy his ability to feel because he couldn't bear losing her again...at his hand. That is real sacrifice. What Rhysand did pales in comparison.

Anyway, here's my top 10 book couples.

Top 10 Book OTPs:

Romitri***-Vampire Academy

Haven and Stolas-Kingdom of Runes

Evajacks-Once Upon a Broken

Feysand-A Court of Thorns and Roses

Chaolaena (so fight me)-Throne of Glass

Warnette (gosh, this was hard to place so low)-Shatter Me

Kane and Arwen-A Dawn of Onyx

Jurdan-The Cruel Prince

Mac and Jericho-Fever series

Sera and Ash (would have been higher if not for Fire in the Flesh)-Flesh and Fire

**Edit: Okay, I lied; it was a different book. But, the belief still stands. Also, unlike the booktuber, I don't see this as a guilty-pleasure series

***Romitri is the first book couple I fell in love with. They have to be number one, no matter how I feel about the others.

[fandxmslxt69]

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Book recs:

I just finished Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns & Rose's series. I also have The Witcher on my To Read list. I LOVE fantasy. Definitely getting on the fantasy romance train lately, but Lord of the Rings is still one of my all-time favorite books. I do enjoy mysteries too.

What are your recs? My birthday is next week. I intend to make eyes at my dad so he gets me more books.

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS !!!!!!!!

oooooh i hear so much abt SJM's books!!!!!

I spent the past week eyeing my parents to get me books and NO ONE HAS PICKED UP ON THE CUE. still waiting.

OKAY SO LET US SEE!!! Fantasy is SUCH a vibe and its hard to find the good ones BUT:

Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. It's the second trilogy to her fantasy world, but trust me you don't need the first series; there's just some characters from the past who make a new appearance as side characters or leads! The story follows dear silly Evangeline as she navigates the world of heartbreak :( In her world, the Fates (magical beings that are known to be cruel, evil, and harsh and give very very heavy Tarot card energy!!!) have come back and are residing in their own magical kingdom of trouble and deception (TRUST ME AS CLICHE AS THIS BOOK SOUNDS ITS LITERALLY SO FREAKING GOOD.). Evangeline ends up praying to one of these Fates - Jacks, the Prince of Hearts - to help her save her lover from what she thinks is a curse. Of course Evangeline doesn't care for the consequences of asking a Fate for a favour, but Jacks is literally the biggest shithead ever (affectionate) so he puts that poor girl through SO MUCH FREAKING TROUBLE and Evangeline finds herself travelling to the magical land of fairytales to try and win over the heart of a prince. FAIRYTALE ENERGY EXCEPT ITS KIND OF TWISTED FAIRYTALES!!! AND ITS NOT LIKE YOUR USUAL FAIRYTALES NO NO THIS IS ITS WHOLE OWN LORE !!! BEAUTIFUL AESTHETIC AND THE PLOT IS LITRALLY THE BEST OF VIBES EVER !!!!!!!!!!!! Trust if you enjoyed SJM's work, you WILL enjoy Stephanie Garber; it's a given. (This IS fantasy romance btw, just not as heavy as some other ones!! The romance is def a smaller subplot and is very...will they won't they with some love triangles in the way)

We Hunt The Flame by Hafsa Faizal. This one is also one you'd enjoy if you enjoyed SJM's work!!! It follows the story of a girl named Zafira who hunts in this big cursed forest to try and save her village from famine. She's known as The Hunter, wanted by the sultan for multiple acts of treason, and one of the most feared "entities" of the area; anyone who goes into those wicked forests is insane and probably dangerous (SHE"S JUST A SILLY GIRL.) The kingdom is ruled by a horrible, corrupt sultan and the land has been drained of all it's magic and left as nothing but a dark, twisted land. On the flip side of the coin, you have the sultan's son, Nasir, who is overflowing with trauma, daddy issues, and OOZES dark mysterious morally questionable man !!!!!! He's the kingdom assassin and does all his father's bidding. Nasir's father hears word that the Hunter had been assigned a mission to go find the tombs of the old Witches (who had given the land its powers, and then taken them away to be buried with) from this dark evil island of sorts. He naturally orders Nasir to go find this Hunter, let him lead him to this tomb, and then kill the Hunter (naturally everyone thinks this Hunter is a big scary dude when it is nothing but a like 5'5 girl with fury that rivals that of the gods). Anyway, when Nasir and Zafira get there and realise what this is, things start....going downhill (uphill for ME) FOUND FAMILY AND ENEMIES TO LOVERS AND FANTASY LORE AND AND AND AND WOW WOWO WOW IM SO BAD AT SUMMARIZING THEM WITHOUT GIVING AWAY ALL THE PLOT BUT TRUST ME TRUST ME. Zafira & Nasir get the PERFECT enemies to lovers!!!! SO MUCH FOUND FAMILY (there's other people who ended up coming to this island to find this tomb and they all just get together in a team of misfits). PLOT TWISTS AND WOWO WOWOW WOW SO MUCH ARABIAN LORE !!!YEah. Trust me trust me. If you've read like, Six of Crows, you'd like this.

okay i swear there would usually be more but these are the ones I truly think you should give a shot too, i SWEAR TO GOD they are. SO. SO SO GOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You might also enjoy Fourth Wing, it's become very popular alongside SJM's books, but I hear the second book has gotten sooo bad and honestly, I personally only enjoyed the first book because it was very character based, full vibes/worldbuilding, very little plot. So if you're looking for plot heavy fantasy, I wouldn't go with Fourth Wing.

if you're also into historical fantasy with some sci-fi elements, or retellings, then def check out Chloe Gong...her Secret Shanghai series (Two duologies and 2 novellas) is SO SO GOOD!!! Shakespeare retellings, spies and betrayals and gangs and fake dating and enemies to lovers and lots of political and historical elements (the books take place in a big time of unease in Shanghai where foreign politics and goverments are trying to take over. The first duology is Romeo & Juliette retelling with the gov being the two rivalling gangs and a horrifying disease that is running wild through the land. The gangs eventually get taken down as Nationalists, Communists and Japanese forces start taking over Shanghai. The SECOND duology is centered around the power struggle between the Communist and Nationalists, with the Japanese invasion that is inevitable. The main leads are split into 2 couples; 1 works with the Nationalists (fake dating, undercover spies), the other works with the Communists (partners to lovers "I would ruin our mission to save you" energy). The second duology is very very traumatising. These series are fantasy but ALSO mystery based. I personally liked the second duology better (Foul Lady Fortune & Foul Heart Huntsman)

For full full mystery vibes, The Inheritance Games IS your jam. OH MY GOD I will never shut up about this series and this post is ALREADY too long so I won't go into details BUT basically. Avery Grambs gets told she just inherited something like 47 million dollars or whatever from some random old man from Texas whom she has NEVER EVEN heard of. Billion maybe. she got a LOT LOT of money okay. The only thing she has to do to secure that money? Live in Hawthorne House (his manor) for 1 year with his 4 grandchildren. No biggie right? Except said grandchildren happen to be some of the SMARTEST TRICKIEST and most TROUBLED KIDS to ever exist in the world. Grayson, Jameson, Xander & Nash. Nash is a cowboy who ditched the rich life and would die to protect Avery. Xander is just glad he has someone to have fun with because she enables all his crazy ideas. Jameson loves getting under her skin and is low key in love with her. Grayson wants to get her OUT of their lives because he refuses to believe his grandfather would give this RANDOM GIRL on the street their whole inheritance; the house the business the family name all that money!! Not when Grayson was promised all of it. Anyway, Avery becomes the world's richest teenager in less than 24 hours. But, the longer Avery stays in this house and living this lifestyle, the more she realises how much the late Hawthorne was hiding. Tobias Hawthorne (the dead grandpa) was infamously known for his puzzles and mysteries and games...it's how he raised his grandkids and why they are they are they are. Except...things are getting a LITTLE TOO REAL. SO SO SO SO SO GOOD THE MYSTERY I SLITERALLY CHEF"S KISS. i've only read the first 3 books but trust me. oh my god lirerally insane. you THINK you know whats happening but you don't.

NAYWAY.

I HOPE YOU GIVE MY BABIES A SHOT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!! TRUST TRUST i have never disappointed anyone with my recs please....

[cassandrajoybellbittner]

Taken - Blue Moon Series - Chapter 16b

*Warning Adult Content*

Prince Gale Dartanyanoff

Life was a constant battle. You trusted no one and never made yourself vulnerable.

From a young age, Gale had lived his life in the shadows.

While he slept in his crib, not even old enough to walk yet, his mother had tried to kill him.

King Elijah had been the one to find her strangling their newborn on the nursery floor.

No one could figure out why she had this mental breakdown but since it was never safe to leave the two alone together.

Every chance she got she would try and take his life.

The King was force to make a decision.

Either lock his mate up, far from Gale or send his child away.

He chose the latter and it set Gale on a destructive course that no one could have predicted.

His father couldn't have known that sending his son to his relatives would hurt the child so much in so many ways.

His relatives weren't the well behaved, proper household that Gale's came off to be.

Even though they were part of the royal family they were wild, almost savage-like in their behavior and they raised Gale just so, with no mercy.

Their saying was the world was cruel and you had to survive in it.

So for the next fifty years and on, he survived.

The savage and wild nature of his vampire was what he relied on.

Blood and shelter was all he needed.

Vampires were lone creatures, that was what he was taught under the guardianship of his aunt and uncle.

You needed no one, you fend for yourself and only had to rely on your instincts.

In those times there were many territorial wars and he was forced out at the tender age of twelve to experience his first.

With nothing but his claws and fangs, he was thrown to the cruel world of blood and death.

Once he just barely reached adulthood, around fifty years for a vampire, no one dared to cross him.

He fed from whoever he wanted and never showed restraint, there were times where he couldn't stop and he killed many to sate his insatiable hunger.

When in battle there were none who could match his speed and ferocity.

And he never hesitated to gut an enemy.

Then one day his father visited, like he usually did once every year, not that Gale cared to see him though.

In truth he was rarely ever in that house to greet the king on the rare days he came anyway.

But this time Gale was there when Elijah showed to take his son back from his sister.

Elijah had heard some nasty rumors about Gale.

To him it was really rumors of his sister's neglect, he'd know she was wild than the rest of his family.

The fact that she married a Drake, who were known to be the most ill-mannered, violently savage clan in the country.

They were known for their bloodthirsty ways and rough teaching methods.

Knowing all this, he still thought it was the best way to keep his son safe from his wife.

If she had found out where he was she would have sent someone out to find him and assassinate him.

But Elijah could no longer keep his son away.

He was his first born, his heir.

Because of his mate, he missed out on so much with his son.

He missed his first steps, his first words, he missed the chance to raise him.

He had been so excited for Gale's birth.

Both he and his wife.

They had so many plans for him, so many things they wanted to teach him.

But from what the many doctors of all fey kind had said was that Gale and his wife Raina were incompatible.

There was something about Gale that her instincts were telling her that she had to get rid of him and to save him Elijah was forced to send his son away.

There wasn't a day that went by that he missed Gale.

Wondered what he was doing, how he was getting along.

If he was in good health. Was he eating right?

It was time to bring him home no matter what his mate said.

But what he got on his sons return was far from what he would have expected. It saddened and angered him all at once.

He regretted leaving his son in his sister's hands.

Gale was like a rabid animal, biting and clawing at everything he saw.

His son fought him the whole ride to the castle.

It took five of his best men to hold him down when they arrived home and even then he took down so many of them before he exhausted himself.

Gale's eyes which were once a beautiful brown as a baby were now a constant black.

Black eyes were never a good sign, it usually meant they were ravenous and out of control.

It was considered dangerous to approach any vampire in this state and even vampires themselves are wary of it.

"You've brought a beast into our home," was what his wife had told him later that day in their room and she was right.

He was just like a beast.

A feral animal cornered.

"Yes, he is a beast."

He looked his wife right in the eyes.

"And it's our fault."

Elijah had one weakness, family.

Seeing his own flesh and blood, a prince of the Dartanyanoff's acting like an animal hurt him more than he would ever let on.

To keep others safe they had manacled Gale in his room.

The king refused to have his son chained in the dungeon.

Gale had been through enough to be forced to stay in such terrible quarters.

With that Elijah had his son's life investigated thoroughly since he wasn't much of a talker.

What he received almost had him marching to his sister's house that day.

How could she do this.

He had told them to look after his son, take care of him.

He had even said that Gale had a rough start to life and he wished for them to treat him well in his absence.

He trusted them with this child's life.

But instead, he gets a report of the complete opposite.

His second had asked witnesses of what they had seen as Gale grew up and it tore him apart.

He had grown up alone, fending for himself like some stray.

Fighting to survive.

And he had left him to this fate.

He had heard of someone going by the name of Reaper.

A vicious warrior that took down all those in his path on the battle field.

He was a force of nature that many avoided at all costs.

Elijah had cleaned up after him on occasion throughout the years.

He left a trail of drained bodies sometimes and he was there to cover it up so they weren't discovered by the humans. Elijah didn't think much of it.

He just assumed that it was a young one that had yet to be taught control but he would have never guessed it would be his own son.

It was time to start from scratch.

From then on Gale as resistant as he could be Gale was a force to be part of society.

He had extensive lessons in manners and vampire etiquette.

Trying to get his hunger in check was the hardest part.

The king worked with him for hours on end to get his insatiability and violent tendencies under control till finally, he wasn't attacking people thinking they were out to get him.

The one person Gale stayed away from was the glaring woman who he found out was his mother.

He had a long memory and that woman was always there in his dreams hurting him.

The most vivid memory was of her angry contorted face kneeling over him and it being hard to breathe.

Not many could remember back as far as infancy but there was no way for him to forget it.

He discovered he had a brother named Nicholas soon after that his mother seemed to dote on.

Surprisingly his brother had attached himself to Gale and never left. He didn't know what it was like to have a family.

He never experienced the bonds that the people that called him their family had together.

Many times he would be passing by and see his father, Raina and Nicholas all smiling and laughing together.

He frowned in confusion as it seemed they trusted one another.

Their guards were down around each other.

He had a hard time understanding but over time Nicholas and his father helped him.

He found himself laughing on rare occasions with them.

As the years past, he learned to enjoy life and protect those you care about or you were bound to lose something precious.

Life wasn't about yourself.

It was about having those you trusted and cared for around.

To experience the happy and sad times with.

[godofcreatitivity]

Chapter 16:Let's see what you're made of

One Piece the Movie

(the following is a nonprofit fan based parody any characters from one piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., any characters from super Mario are owned by Nintendo, any characters from troll hunters, are owned by DreamWorks and universal

Disclaimer

Some of the characters found in this story and / or universe do not belong to me, but are intellectual property of their respective owners. Any original characters in this story are my intellectual property.

Story nonprofit created fan and fan without compromising the original work.)

Not the ideas for this chapter were inspired by none other than the Great DogmanSP Who is a deviantART creator of super brothers the Mario comic fan series which I believe is one of the best iterations out there and I truly believe you should go out and give it a look 

Chapter 16:Let's see what you're made of

Toad almost instantly stopped running and quickly turned around to get a full view of what had just occurred in front of them.

His jaw slowly started to drop to the floor as he then took a few steps forward, letting go of Peach’s hand, staring directly at where Luffy was standing.

He couldn’t believe it, no he wouldn’t believe it, there was no way that his new friend could meet his end, not like this.

Peach put both her hands over her mouth and watched in total shock, she had never seen anyone die before, especially in such a brutal and cruel way.

Just the sight of seeing someone she barely knew a few hours be crushed like a bug made him want to vomit right there on the spot.

Now without him here to assist who else other than her would help rid the mushroom kingdom of the koopa threat.

Though she could try to go for the power ups, she would need to be able to get to them before 

And speaking of which.

Trython and the other Koopa Troop (who had used this distraction to gather and wake up their fellow koopa in order to continue their “capture the princess” mission) had been just staring and watching what had just happened from where that had unleashed the chain chomp and stood there wide eyed before beginning to celebrating the win they were just given.

Hey even the Koopas who had just woken up from being knocked out were cheering at their sudden victory.

Well all except Bryce the sledge hammer bro, who was taking his loss against Luffy a little personally.

With the crazy strong straw hatted boy out of the way, there was no one (other then the princess herself) that was strong enough to stop them from taking over the kingdom and getting it ready for the troll empire, killing all of those little mushroom freaks, or kidnapping the prince and bringing her to their Koopa king.

They knew this backup plan was full proof from the start and now that the hard part was over, they could just sit back and…..wait a minute.

What's wrong with Chompy?

Everyone who had seen what had just happened were looking right at the chain chomp and noticing something was off with it.

 Its eyes were completely wide and its body was starting to shake violently as it made this scared yelping sound as if it didn't know what was going on either.

All the Koopas stopped cheering once they noticed that the chain chomp wasn’t moving at all, but instead it was acting a little weird, well weird to their standards anyway.

Even Peach and Toad, who were still trying to process what had just happened to Luffy, were just staring at it with both shocked (because you know they still think Luffy died) and confused expressions.

 Peach took a step closer to the Chain chomp to try and get a closer look at what was wrong with it,”What the…..”?

Little did she know, peach was about to witness something that was going to absolutely blow her and everyone else’s minds completely.

 (RUMBLE)

Suddenly out of nowhere the chain chomp starts shaking even more violently than before, causing debris to start falling off the nearby damaged buildings and it to yelp even louder than before too.

Everyone was wondering what the hell was going on with this change chain chomp and why is it was acting so weird and what it did to Luffy.

Seeing this, Peach and Toad both turn around to take a step back away from it, not wanting to get hit by any of the falling debris.

But as the were stepping back,she caught something in the corner of her eye, causing her to spin back around to look and make sure that it was exactly what she was thinking.

And it was exactly what she was thnk…..

The chain chomp was slowly being lifted off the ground  and into the air as if it was being pulled up by strings.

Except it wasn’t quite that at all…..

(Well it was but….you know what you’ll get it soon)

Peach saw that something or someone was underneath the chain chomp was slowly pushing and lifting it up in the air.

 Both Peach, Toad, and all of the Koopas squinted their eyes to see who exactly that was, and it wasn’t until the chain chomp was fully hoisted up into the air that they were all able a full view of the assailant.

And believe it or not, once they saw who it was, not only did all of their eyes go so wide that they might as well have had no pupils, but their jaws hit the floor fast and hard too.

IT WAS LUFFY!!!

Seeing that Luffy was alive and well, Toad's face goes from surprise to happy real quick as he then starts cheering and celebrating that his new friend was alright,”LUFFY YOUR ALRIGHT”!!!

Peach ,though not as crazy happy to see that he was alive as toad, was at least relieved to see that he wasn’t killed, mainly so that he could continue to fight.

And not only that but now she saw that he was pretty strong for someone as scrawny as him too.

So it was sort of a win-win thing.

Well at least for them it was….

For the Koopas….we’ll…..not so much.

They were completely freaking out ( though it was mostly Trython)  about what they were seeing and just how it was possible.

Bryce walked up to Trython and said,”Okay so now not only could this kid stretch himself but was good at fighting and now we're super strong”!, he said, angrily pointing out the obvious,trying is best to make sure they had everything down to a p,”How the hell are we supposed to get on with the plan if we got this kid here foiling everything we do”?!

Trython however didn’t answer the question, he was too shocked about what was happening to be able to focus or talk about anything else.

And even if he wasn’t, at this point there wasn’t really much he could say in that moment that could possibly make things better.

He wanted to see if he could make another plan of attack against them, but that kid would probably shrug that off and beat them down again.

And if they tried to sneak around him and get to the princess it's not like kidnapping her would be a walk in the park either, they would just get their asses handed to them.

There was only one option left for them at this point.

They had to get the hell out of there (or mainly he had to get the hell out of there) and go bring back some reinforcements, or else that kid would beat them to death.

As the Koopas stood in place watching with fear, Luffy loudly gritted his teeth and shouted as he single-handedly hoisted the chain chomp up into the air with all of his might.

(We’ll actually barely any of his might really )

“ALRIGHT TEETHY NOW YA MADE………ME………MAD”!!!, Luffy shouted as he practically threw/tossed the chain chomp up into the air.

Everyone else who was watching eyes popped out of their heads seeing this.

A few seconds later the chain chomp crashed ,mouth first, onto the stone statue in the center of the town

In the process of this happening, a loud cracking sound could be heard from where it landed, almost seeming as though the chain chomp had crushed it with its teeth .

Though unfortunately for the chain chomp, that wasn’t the case, as once it had let go of the statue and fallen to the ground, everyone who had gotten a good look at the chain chomp saw exactly what happened to it.

All of its teeth were completely cracked and broken, the statue had broken its teeth!

The chain chomp yelped and teared up in pain as it rolled over onto its side, passing out from the shock.

It all kinda goes to show that though the chain chomp’s teeth might be strong, the stone statue is much stronger than they could ever be.

After successfully defeating the chain chomp, Luffy quickly glanced over and spotted all of the koopas standing right where they were earlier when they had released the chain and gritted his teeth angrily as he glared at them.

Seeing that he had spotted them from where he was standing made them all  flinch and take a step back, well all of them but Bryce, who had instead gripped his sledgehammer tightly as he then took a step forward.

Though he could always just beat them up again, Luffy wasn't really trying to let them think up another plan to continue destroying the Kingdom, and he didn’t want them there any longer either.

He needed to come up with an idea that would get them out quickly and without causing anymore destruction than there already was.

But he had so many tricks up his sleeve that he could use on the Koopas, that he wasn’t really sure which ones he should use to get the job done.

Well………..that was until he suddenly saw the still unconscious chain chomps chain lying around under some debris a few feet away from him

Luffy, seeing this, grew an almost evil grin on his face ,knowing now what he was going to do next, as he grabbed hold of the bottom of the giant chain.

And In the process of running while pulling on the chain, he started dragging the chain chomp from where it laid, unconscious.

Though due to its massive size, the process of moving it was slow and difficult.

But luckily, due to Luffy’s immense strength and capability, it became easier for him to pull it out of its current position.

And the farther he went and the harder he tugged and pulled, the less difficult it was to move the chain chomp with its chain.

But it wasn’t fast enough for Luffy’s liking, so he took a deep breath with one  and started tugging and pulling at it even harder than he was before, which helped it succeed in easily moving it from where it was.

He then turned around and started running in the direction of where the Koopas were standing while tightly holding the chain in his hands, he took a deep breath, placed the chains in one of his hands, and with one final pull, he yanked the chain chomp up from off the ground and into the there for everyone (even all the other toads who were hiding out as well) to see. 

Causing their eyes to practically pop out of their skulls in shock……

Once he had done that Luffy once again placed both hands on the chain and  started twirling and spinning around in a swirling circle, pulling the chain chomp (who was now semi-conscious due to the spinning) along with it,”NOW GUM GUM…….”!!!

And due to the size of the giant chain chomp, the constant spinning started creating large hurling winds that blew away anything that wasn’t heavy enough to stay on the ground.

Peach and Toad had to quickly run over to one of the fruit carts (that was thankfully screwed down to the concrete) and practically barricaded themselves underneath it to avoid being blown away by the winds.

Thankfully for the Koopas the he was still far enough away from them that the winds didn't really hit them that hard if at all.

But that was likely to change soon, because he was coming in hot right at them with the giant ball, and the more stronger winds.

One of the Paratroopas pointed right at him and shouted,”Wait……oh no, HE’S COMING RIGHT FOR US”!!!

Seeing this, some of the Koopa troopa started to back away slowly, while others stood frozen in place, unable to move.

“HE’S SO FAST”,“HOW IS HE SO STRONG”,A couple of the Koopas were yelling as he got closer and the winds got stronger.

One of the hammer bros turned to Trython and shot him with a desperate look,”COMMANDER, WHAT DO WE DO?

Unfortunately for them though, Trython wasn’t really in the right condition to give them an answer.

Considering that he was amongst the few who were too frozen in fear to even move a single muscle, much less say anything in response to his troops.

All he could do in those moments was stare frighteningly at the same straw hatted assailant that was commright for them, unable to even turn to look at his subordinates. 

exactly something that they needed right at that moment.

And Bryce, seeing this, decided to take matters into his own hands and try to fix this situation.

He quickly grabs his sledge hammer and starts running past Trython and the other Koopa Troop and right towards Luffy.

While running, he starts screaming in madness and shouting,”YOU THINK OUR KING IS GOING TO LET YOU GET AWAY WITH GETTING IN HIS PLANS?! DON’T COUNT ON IT!”, as he winds his hammer back. 

And once he had gotten close enough to Luffy, he then jumps up into the air and lunges forward, preparing to throw another swing,”THIS TIME I’M GOING TO MAKE SURE I BASH…… YOUR…… BRAINS….. OU-”!!!

Unfortunately for him however, he wouldn’t get the chance to make good on this threat, because Luffy with one last powerful pull of all his might, he swing the unconscious chain chomp forward and it collides right into the sledge bro, Luffy gritted his teeth as he then shouted out,”WRECKING…………..BALL”!!!!!!!!!!!!

The force and impact of the ball-like creature was so powerful that it almost instantly knocked the giant Koopa out once he came into contact with it.

That wasn’t all either, because once Luffy had hit the sledge bro with the chain chomp, he loosened his grip on the chain before letting it go, practically throwing it off into the distance.

But not just anywhere, Luffy made sure to time the throw just right and aim right at where the rest of the Koopas are. 

The Chain Chomp flew across the toad town like a gigantic bullet going for its target, which in this situation, would be the Koopas, who (in reaction to seeing this) started screaming and running in the almost exact opposite direction.

Not that doing that would do them any good, they weren't nearly fast enough to outrun the flying chain chomp ball.

And that becomes proven when the the chain chomp comes zooming in, and with its broken teeth filled jaw hanging open, it basically swooped in and scooped up all of the Koopa Troop one by one, (and the ones that didn’t get caught in its mouth like the Paratroopas, got caught and hit by the it’s face like flies on a window) all except for Trython, who thankfully for him was able to duck in a different direction out of the way of the incoming flying chain chomp.

Once it had successfully all of the Koopas (save for Trython) it had then started to fly off into the distance for a few seconds until everyone suddenly heard a loud (CRASH) sound and saw a bunch of mushroom trees flying up in the air and falling back to the ground.

Everyone, including Trython, stared off at where the chain chomp landed, jaws dropped, trying to process what Luffy had just done.

Trython shook fearfully as he slowly picked himself up off the ground as stared out towards the area where his comrades were thrown, causing him to stumble and almost trip.

He expected a lot of things that could possibly happen that day, like the princess agreeing to come with them to see their king, them massecuring all of the mushroom toads if she didn’t, or maybe even doing both just for the shits and giggles of it, screw it maybe even fight someone who that fixes toilets for a living, the possibilities were almost endless.

But this was not of those endless possibilities he expected…….not in the slightest.

And there was only one thought that really just clouded his head,”What….the…..fuck…..JUST HAPPENED”!!!

 all of that planning…….

All of the preparations…….. 

All of the meetings……. 

It-it  all went to shit, just like that

All because the mushroom kingdom…… got some new muscle to protect them.

Powerful muscle at that…..

Where the hell did he come from and how the hell did he get so strong.

He beat all of them again for the second time even, less time than before

He slowly turn his head and look towards the Monstrous straw-hat creature to  look and see that once he had thrown the chain chomp and quickly checked to make sure he had got them all, he let out a loud sigh of relief as he then fell and fell on his back,”hehehehehehehe, Looks like I got em all”!, he said as he chuckled in his victory.

That last action alone  sent a chill down Trython’s  spine causing him to shiver and Shake as he tried to slowly back away and leave unnoticed.

But in the mix of doing that  his foot accidentally Kicked away a small pebble, causing the noise that dough would be too low for a normal person to hear, it was enough to catch Luffy's attention .

Luffy had set up from where he was lying down and quickly scanned the area till he spotted  Trython.

Luffy's face almost instantly went from a goofy smile to an angry gritted sharp teeth look just as instantly hopped up from the spot,”Eyepatch you coming back to fight me again huh”?!, He shouted as he   then got into another fighting  pose and shouted,”Well come on at me just know I’ll send you flying”!

Trython’s face went pale seeing that his new enemy still had room for more beatings to give them.

This had almost made him want to  run away and scream like a coward.

 hell actually he was going to do that just so that he wouldn't get beaten down again.

 But just as he was about to take off running he stopped and thought about how it might look if he would have run so cowardly away from the enemy and how much shame he would bring upon the Koopa kingdom if he  were to show that there was cowardice within their ranks.

 If anyone found out at best he would or  might get demoted and then none of the soldiers or kingdoms  would ever let him live it down.

 At worst he'd be killed and fed to the trolls as an appetizer or torture or thrown in lava honestly the possibilities of punishments were endless there Kingdom.

One thing he was definitely sure of was that the punishment would be Swift and painful either way.

 But he knew for a fact that there would be no way that he'd be able to take on this monster, at least not without stronger soldiers even stronger than the Koopas themself.

And if he stays he will only just continue to be beaten senseless by that stretchy beast  and this time with no one to back him up .

So fighting him was definitely a no-go but he wasn't going to leave without giving him one last morning.

Trython  quickly took a deep breath in order to calm himself down stood up tall and turn towards Luffy and pointed right at him, and in a daring declaration he said,” I don't know who you are or where you came from, but know this straw-hatted Warrior, this will not be the last time you hear of the Koopa Kingdom! And if we aren’t able to beat you, then our king surely will”,As he says this he points his finger at himself,”And when he does he'll carve you open and burn you to a crisp from the inside out”!He then slowly slides one of his fingers downward over top of his  stomach, signaling and basically showing what will happen to him.

Luffy simply snarled in response before shouting,” Yeah, well if you want a piece of me tell himThat one I'm done with Bular, I’M COMIN AFTER HIM NEXT”, he declared as he balled his fist. 

Trython Slowly grew a wicked and evil ring as he readied himself to turn away but not before saying,” Well then on the half of the Great three kings, we shall wait for your arrival”.

And just like that he turned around and ran off out of the city and back into the mushroom Forest, signaling the official end of the battle in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Luffy simply stood Up straight  and started watching as the eye patch turtle went out of view into the forest.

Only  the Silence of the wind remained as Luffy picked up his hat from his back and placed it on his head.

All who were left standing there was Luffy, Princess Peach, and Toad.

Speaking of whom…….

Peach after what she had seen and heard, mostly stood there in worry.

(In her head) “Great three kin- wait! No it can’t ”

If she had heard what she thinks she heard and is thinking, then they might be in a lot more trouble than she originally assumed. 

But before she could think of it further Toad, after what he had just witnessed, instead of being worried and fearful like his princess, instead he was too busy excitedly jumping up and down cheering, quickly snapping her out of her thoughts.

How could he not celebrate, Luffy had done the one thing none of them had the kind of courage to do.

He beat down the Koopas and saved the Mushroom Kingdom!!!!

She watched as Toad started running towards Luffy as fast as he could,”LUFFY”!!!!, he called out, celebrating loudly as he made his way towards the pirate.

Luffy, still looking out at the direction where Trython just left, heard the call of his name, causing him to turn around and see none other than Toad coming right for him, laughing and cheeri ng his head off.

Seeing that toad as safe and unharmed, Luffy smiled brightly as he then stood tall and proud,”Hey Toad, glad to see you alright”.

Toad stopped running about a foot away from Luffy and was practically shaking with excitement as he then started pacing back and forth while either looking up at his nelly inspiring hero or looking down at the ground,”You did it, you actually did it! You actually beat those assholes and sent them running from us! And Keyword, I repeat”, he then suddenly jumps up into the air, (but obviously not too high) slightly startling Luffy,”YOU SENT THEM RUNNING FROM US! For once it's not the other way around, Ha Ha! Finally we showed those cold blooded d-bags not to mess with the MUSHROOM KINGDOM, especially not when Luffy’s around, Ha Ha! Just wow, you're awesome”!

Luffy's smile grows larger as he giggles in response to all of Toad’s praise,”hehe, Yup”.

After that reply, the two of them started having themselves a good old celebratory laugh, making a worried princess a tiny bit at ease watching, almost making her want to go over and congratulate him as well.

Almost…………  

Instead she spun around and cleared her throat,”Ahem, MY TOADS, THE KOOPA THREAT HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED AND IT IS NOw SAFE TO COME OUT”!, before she then started calling out to all of the Toads that were hiding away.

A few moments after she had called out to them,  Peach started to spot a few of the Toads slowly coming into view from where her castle was.

And it wasn't just her castle either……

Some  were poking their heads out from underneath food carts, others were peeking through some of their curtains of their houses and buildings, and even a few of them were poking their heads out of some of the pipes around the kingdom.

And once they were given the all clear and made sure to check for themselve, slowly but surely the masses of toads started to unveil themselves from their hiding spots and made their way towards their princess, all while looking around and taking quick glances, just to be safe. 

Luffy, once he had finally noticed the growing crowds of the mushroom toads starting to show themselves again, stopped laughing and looked on in awe as they all slowly walked towards them.

Toad however, like the princess, didn't really have much of a reaction to seeing them again, considering that he’d seen them all of the time.

Though there was a particular toad that stood out that caught his attention……

That toad as Bernie!!!!

 Who was trying his best to push through the crowds as fast as he could until he suddenly ran out of the crowd and made a b-line right for Toad.

Toad’s face had lit up, seeing that his friend was safe and alright, as he then ran towards his best friend before practically tackled him to the ground, giving him a tight bear hug.

 Though slightly caught off guard at first, Bernie quickly responded with a tight hug of his own,”Glad to see they didn’t hurt you too bad”, He said in relief as he then let go of Toad taking a step back.

Toad chuckled,”Yeah no thanks to you getting Luffy to come back”, he said, lightly punching his shoulder,”How the hell did you know if he could put up a fight against them”?!, he asked curiously 

“Oh well……….., he said before pausing and looking off into anything other than Toad’s,”If I’m gonna be honest, i as kind of planning on using him as a distraction and or bait so that it take their attention off you ad the prince while they may or may not have possibly killed’, he said, lowering his tone as the explanation went on.

 Toad's eyes went wide in shock as he heard the explanation,’ wait what?.

“But hey! Turns out he has superpowers and is super strong too”!He said quickly trying to change the subject before then realizing something,”Which is also kind of weird if you think about itDid you know we could do all that stuff? Why didn't you tell me I would  have definitely vouched for him if I knew he could do all of that”, he asked Toad.

“To be honest, I didn't know either and I was just as surprised as you  were when it happened . But if you want to know more about it, then you’ll have to ask him yourself”, he suggested before turning his head to Luffy, who had been standing there watching the two talk.

Bernie then stepped past Toad and toward Luffy and shot him a thankful  though almost curious look as he began questioning him,”Y-you really went out of your way to fight for us? even when we didn't even know who you were or bother to help you that much”?, which as a result, started getting the attention of all the other toads around them.

This caused them to all turn towards Luffy, in order to await his answer.

Even the princess, who had been standing a few meters away from them trying her best to calm the obviously frightened toads, heard enough of the questions being asked to become quite curious herself, as though she didn't turn to look at them she still listened carefully from the distance. 

Even though there were a bunch of little eyes staring Intensely at him, Luffy  however didn't seem to mind the attention much at all in fact he even giggled a tiny bit and smiled gleefully  as he simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Toad helped me out when I came here even when he didn't have to. So of course I was going to have his back against those guys,that's what friends are for. And why would I need to have much of a reason to help other people out when they're in trouble? It's just my way of doin things' ', Luffy casually explained, surprising all of the Toads, and even the princess, around him.

This young man didn't do it for any recognition, special gain, or even a reward that the kingdom might give him….

 He did it simply because he believed it was the right thing to do and simply because he wanted to do it no two ways about it.

This very explanation alone surprised and shocked the toes around him.

 The only other person they knew to be this kind, generous and genuinely caring for their well-being was their princess (and maybe a few other I like kingdom  leaders),Who she herself was also surprised by his response.

 He was one of the first human beings that she had ever met, and it turned out that he was genuinely kind and caring of other people's well-being and would be willing to endanger himself and even risk death simply to protect them.

And what was even more surprising was  how he was so casual about it, as if it were just something in his daily life.

No she did not trust him very much ( if at all really) she definitely did  grow a tiny bit of respect for him and his determination to protect people.

And best believe she wasn't the only one either.

“A way of which I find most admirable”, a familiar voice addresses the straw hat captain.

Everyone including the princess, Luffy and Toad  turn to see who it was that said that.

 And they saw that it was none other than The Royal Adviser: Toadsworth.

For the sake of his health and old age, he had been ordered by the princess to stay and hideout in the castle until she had successfully dealt with the situation.

The old mushroom fellow used his Cane to slowly walk towards the young pirate with the help and support of another fellow toad.

“Boy, when you first step into our Kingdom, I had you for and honest to God rude, filthy, disrespectful, common, little foolish scoundrel”, he started off obviously indicating that he didn't think much of Luffy,” I see now however that I was more than a fool for thinking that of such a kind and honorable soul such as yourself’,He said sadly before slowly picking his head up to stare  with an almost puppy dog like expression,” And so why Toadsworth the Third, on behalf of the Mushroom Kingdom and the princess herself, I- I am truly sorry for my Behavior towards you, young Straw hat Luffy”.

And just like that, Toadsworth had successfully apologized for his (And the princess though let's be honest she's not ready for that character development just yet) earlier conduct.

All of the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom had stood there in silence after witnessing what their royal advisor had just done in front of all of them apologizing which was something he hadn't usually done and was a rare commodity for situations that he knew was his fault or his doing.

 This was something not even the princess who had been raised by him would have ever expected him to do, and without even truly knowing anything about this strange boy to begin with.

Though not everyone had the same shocked and surprised expression on their face, all but one in fact.

Luffy Simply smiled brightly in response to the apology as he took a few steps forward and  gently padded the old Mushroom on the head.

Toadsworth rows a brow and picks his head up the stairs, the young straw hat in utter confusion.

“Don't worry about it old guy, I just wanted to help you guys out”, Luffy said in response before once again starting to giggle loudly.

That last act, though confused toadsworth at first, then soon made him smile and start chuckling loudly himself.

Which was also something else that surprised most, if not all, of the people of the mushroom kingdom, who before rarely, if ever, saw him so much as crack a smile or even chuckle.

Not even the princess herself ever made him so much as crack a smile this easily before.

And it wasn’t as if he couldn’t or wasn’t able to, he just didn’t find much of a necessary reason to.

Yet here he was, having a good old laugh with a complete and honestly idiotic stranger who just so happened to be strong enough to help stop some of the Koopa soldiers.

This was a sight that definitely surprised the young princess…..

Amd Toad, who had been watching the two interact, felt a small celebratory urge brewing up inside him as he then suddenly appeared in between Luffy and Toadsworth and shout,”LET'S HEAR FOR THE SAVIOR OF THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM, MONKEY D LUFFY”!!!!!!

After he said that, all of the massive amounts of other Toads around them began to clap and cheer loudly for the straw hatted man before them.

Some of them even walked up to Luffy, grabbed him and picked him up and hoisted him up and down into the air.

And this was happening while they were chanting,”LUFFY, LUFFY, LUFFY”, over and over again while Luffy himself only continued to giggle and laugh at what was going on.

Luffy, you were their hero!!!!!!

Though not everyone in the kingdom was having the same exact happy and cheerful opinion as everyone else in the kingdom about him.

And surprise surprise, it was the princess herself.

Though it wasn’t out of jealousy or anything petty and dramatic like that, those kinds of things weren’t really her style at all.

The main reason why she wasn't celebrating him was because she was too busy focusing on all the damage and debris that was around them.

 if there was a before or after image for the Mushroom Kingdom there would definitely be a noticeable significant change.

 Some of the buildings were caved in others had fully collapsed altogether well some had only half the building remaining.

 Numerous food carts and other stores were destroyed, the streets and concrete littered with enormous craters and cracks.

The only thing that remained untouched in the entire kingdom was her castle which lay at the  tallest mountain in the mushroom land. 

And there was one thing she was a hundred percent sure of: all of this damage wasn't only done by the Koopas, but by the same Straw Hat individual that stood before her.

Now maybe it was something wrong with her  because she  herself couldn't possibly  see any of the needless destruction he himself calls as admirable and the slightest bit.

 And yes though she is grateful that her kingdom is saved she also wanted it in one piece as well not in piles of rubble.

And the worst part was that he didn't even consider the possibility that any of his senseless ideas That he was so prone to using during the battle would happen to have any negative,Or quite possibly dangerous, effects on the people keyword her people around them 

Now because of his senseless fighting and Reckless ability, her kingdom would have to spend weeks, not maybe even months trying to rebuild their kingdom and figure out how to sort out all the damages and get things running again.

Just another taks she can add to her list of things to do at the worst of times during an actually very serious worldly crisis.

The very fact that he can giggle and stand so proudly at what he had just intentionally accomplished was beyond her.

 Earlier he was actually  having the audacity to ask her if he could come along on her very important Journey.

 How could she ever trust him with such an important task and role, when he was such an idiotic and honest to God sociopathic Man Child.

Just based on what she had seen from him so far he was Reckless, loud, obnoxious, idiotic if she hadn't said it before, childish, A complete lack of self-control, no awareness, oh did she already say idiotic.

For one of the first of many humans that she had heard/read about and was hoping no praying that she would be able to meet one day he was already starting off with a horrifyingly bad impression.

How could her people so blindly thank him after he caused all this destruction to their Kingdom especially when he was so well like himself.

Though the princess didn't despise him,  if she didn't trust him before she certainly doesn't trust him now, especially not the lives of her citizens.

 No wonder his friends were in dangerIt's not possibly dead, if they were around him most of the time imagine what would happen to her kingdom if they kept him around.

 Hell imagine what the other kingdoms would think of her if she brought this incredibly strong idiotic man with her-

 Suddenly a light bulb went off in her head.

Wait a minute……….

She suddenly started glancing around at all the debris and destruction he had created while fighting before taking a quick glance over at him.

What if……..what if she did actually bring him along to help her……

Ok well maybe she wouldn’t need him there to help her as much as she would just need him as some extra muscle, cause the journey to each kingdom is as long as it is dangerous.

Not that she wasn’t more than capable of taking care or defending herself, but as strong of a princess she is, at the end of the day she is still just that, a princess, and one with quite a few enemies too. 

And as a princess with enemies, she would need to be protected on this journey, and though she loved all of the Toads and trusted them like family, they weren’t really one for bravery, or combat, or anything related to physicality  so bringing any of them along was definitely a no go.

She may not have been much of a fan of him but come on, she saw how he was able to almost effortlessly use a goddamn giant chain chomp as a ragdoll with nothing but his bare hands and was gonna just send him on his way earlier.

If that wasn’t a practical sign and or miracle from whatever god was out there then she didn’t was, and she would be entirely fucking stupid to let someone as useful as that go to waste.

Though she wasn’t too crazy about it, she knew that trusting this straw hat to come along and aid her on this journey was definitely the right card to play.

Now the only real problem was how she was going to convince him to come along with her on this journey.

Not that he’d probably want to anyway, considering early that very day, she had refused to help him find his lost friends or even have him come with her beforehand.

So she doubted that he would be all that jumpy about helping here, even if he had a somewhat empty headed personality. 

And even though he decided to come back and help them, he only did that because of his own morals and personal relations with one of her subjects.

Otherwise he doesn't have any real reason to go out of his way to assist her, ……..well not unless she gave him one that is. 

And she knew just how to do so………

Peach turns away from him and quickly starts wiping off dust from her pink dress, then she straightens and fixes up her hair to make it look nice. 

She then starts to stand up tall and stern, takes a deep breath before exhaling, and turns around to face Luffy, who was still being lifted up into the air.

The princess begins to slowly (well actually like she does in the movie) and elegantly walk towards him.

Which catches the attention of all the mushroom toads (including our Toad and Toadsworth) which causes them to stop cheering and give her their full undivided attention.

Which also causes them to forget to catch Luffy, and a few seconds later he falling to the ground before landing face first right on the pavement right in front of the princess.

 His fall caused her to jump back into a short of shelf defense pose because of how much he startled her by how quickly it happened, (and some of the toads too) not knowing it as him as she stood there, wide eyed.

Once she did realize that it was him and not someone else she slowly started walking towards him to see if he was all right but before she could he suddenly sprung up from the ground and gasped loudly, startling her once again,”(GASP) Oh, hey princess”, he says as he picks himself up off the ground and places his hat back is head.

 Princess Peach Tried her best to just shake off that weird moment and continue with the conversation,”Ok, (Ahem) Mr strawhat Luffy, I princess  Peach toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom what like to thank  and commend you On defending our home against the Koopa threat With your fairly impressive skills”,She complimented.

 Luffy simply smiled brightly in response,” Yeah thanks, you know you're pretty strong too”,He said back to her as he patted her a tiny bit too roughly on the shoulder, Making her wince a tiny bit on the inside as she slightly rubbed on her shoulder.

He obviously knew absolutely nothing about how to talk to royalty, that was for sure.

”You know if me and you were to work together I think  that together we would make a pretty good team”, he confidently suggested.

He pretty much took the words right out of her mouth, so she knew very well just  which ones should be coming out next,”Hahaha…… yes…… thank you…… and speaking of teaming up,” Closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again,”After much thinking and much consideration, it has been decided that since you were so willing to go out of your way to protect my kingdom. I in return will help aid you in the search for your lost friends, if……… on ……..your…….. end …….you……… help……. aid me…….. and……… my……… kingdom in the upcoming battle against our mortal enemy,The King of The Trolls: Bular The Butcher and his army of allies’, she formally (but excruciatingly) offered.

This sudden and surprising offer that their princess just made caused all of the toads, even Toadsworth himself (but except Toad, who was actually pretty happy that his friend was offered such an important role), to gasp in shock and surprise.

Peach was surprised herself that she was actually even thinking about going through with this incredibly risky and strange plan, but she tried her best to remind herself that she had no other option but to go through with this. 

So her and all of the toads turn towards the straw-hatted boy to see what his answer was, preparing themselves to see if he would refuse out of anger or not.

But to their surprise he didn’t refuse, instead his face lit up and smiled brightly as he then suddenly grabbed Peach by both of her arms and pulled her up close to him, almost to the point where their noses touched.

“DO YOU REALLY MEAN?! YOU’LL HELP ME FIND MY FRIENDS”?!, he loudly asked, shaking her back and forth excitedly by the arms.

Peach, whose face was bright red from being so close to his, quickly and nervously nodded her head in response as she was being shaken.

And at that note, Luffy let go of her arms and began hugging her tightly,”HA HA THANK YOU PRINCESS, YOU THE BEST, HA HA“!, and started laughing in victory knowing that she was going to help him.

All of the other Toads began to clap and celebrate the new alliance that their princess had just formed with their strong alli.

And the sight of the two people he most admired getting along and hugging it out made Toads heart flutter and skip a beat. 

Although the site wasn't fully how he thought it was at least not for everyone…..

 Luffy may have been enjoying the hug he was giving her but the Princess felt as if she was Being squished and was having a hard time breathing.

(In her head)” I guess personal space isn't something they know about where he's from”,She uncomfortably indoors the tight hug.

 She wanted to punch him in the face and shut him off, but she didn't want to set a violent example in front of her subjects, especially if a person involved in a violent example just helped save their Kingdom.

 So out of the necessary kindness of her heart she gently patted him on the back not really giving him a hug back but not exactly looking as if she was rejecting it either.

And unfortunately for her not a lot of the Toads noticed  how uncomfortable she was, only that now the new straw had a stranger who would be staying to help them so they were a little more focused on that than her.

 The only person who was able to notice this was toadsworth who knew when the princess was feeling uncomfortable or not. 

And though he wanted to help her out he figured since she was the one who made the offer to him she's going to have to be the one to deal with the aftermath of it.

Though after a few moments  dealing with it Peach was just about done with the hug  and poked Luffy  in his back,”Um…..Straw hat, can you let me go so that I could be able to breathe”.

After hearing that Luffy happily obliged,”Oh yeah sure”, quickly letting her go and taking a step back, giving the princess some air, but she could tell that he was still jumpy with excitement.

Once she finally had some space and time to catch her breath, she fixed herself up ,again, she quickly took a step away from him, just so that she wouldn’t get caught  in another bear hug before calmly saying,”Yes, me and my subjects are willing to do our best to help aid you in find you (quietly under her breath), probably dead finds. But only under the condition that you give me your aid on my journey to one of the allied kingdoms”.

She saw that Luffy was about to say something, she rose a hand to stop him,”And before you say anything, yes on the we can ask around to see if anyone had seen you friends”, she then lowered down and held out her hand for a mutual interest kind of hand shake, preferring that over another hug,”Do we have a deal”.

Luffy stared  at her hand for a few seconds before suddenly growing a wide and determined grin across his face as he took her hand and shook it a little harder than she expected, startling her a tiny bit,” Yup”!,Luffy said, now with a huge goofy smile growing across his face.

And with that The alliance between the Mushroom Kingdom and the straw hat Pirates has officially been formed.

The crowds of mushroom toads went wild and erupted in cheers and claps of celebration sitting at the newly formed  alliance.

   Toad and Bernie both clapped and  whistled for Luffy,”YEAH YOU GO LUFFY”, Toad shouted out towards the two.

The princess let go of movie's hand and wiped it off on her dress before turning to look around at the mushroom crowd that surrounded her, Bring that  there was damage to their beautiful kingdom she knew that they were going to have to get started on WE building and fixing up all the damages,”ALRIGHT MY TOADS, IT FILLS ME WITH GREAT JOY TO SEE THAT YOU ARE ALL SAFE AFTER THE ATTACK FROM THE KOOPA EMPIRE, AND NOW THAT HAVE SUCCESSFULLY FOUGHT OFF THE ENEMY FOR THE TIME BEING, WE MUST NOW WORK TO REBUILD AND REINFORCE OUR KINGDOM FOR THE UPCOMING BATTLE THAT AWAIT US! AS OF RIGHT NO YOU FIRST PRIORITY IS TO FOCUS ON FIXING UP ALL OF THE DAMAGE AND HELPING OUT ANY TOADS THAT WERE HURT IN THE ATTACK! THE ROYAL COUNCIL AND MYSELF WILL HANDLE SOME LAST MINUTE AFFAIRS IN ORDER TO PREPARE FOR MY DEPARTURE TOMORROW, THAT WILL BE ALL”!, she then nods her head towards her subjects, signaling for them to go and get started, before turning to look back at Luffy.

The Toads happily obliged, bowing their heads back towards their princess before they sall started quickly walking off in different directions.

Well all except Toad, who was about to make his way towards Luffy when he suddenly felt something grab his arm.

Ther turn to see that it was his friend Bernie,”Where are you going Toad, the hospitals over, come on so we can go get you patched up”, he said, pointing towards one of the hospital buildings in the Kingdom.

“But I want to go with Luf”, Toad was about to plead when Bernie suddenly held up a hand to stop him from continuing that sentence.

“Toad please don’t start arguing with me on this one, you’ve got injuries everywhere and you were just a hostage not thirty minutes ago. You need treatment and you are not going anywhere else until you get it”, and when Toad was about to speak up and say something else, Bernie hit him with his stare, which was a secret weapon that he had to use on some customers who liked to get out of line with him,”And I dare you to argue with me on this. You can see your friend once you're all patched”.

And with that Toad quickly shut his mouth and pouted, which made Bernie smile, as he was pulled by the arm  towards the hospital, but not before shooting one last glance towards Luffy, who was standing behind the princess.

Peach then grew a slice grin as she turned towards Luffy and said,"Okay, now that this situation has been handled, let's see what you're made of”, she then turned away from him and started walking towards the castle, but not before Looking towards Toads and signaling him to join them,”Come along Toadsworth, we’ll need you for this as well”.

Toadsworth, hearing this, nods and starts walking up next to her.

Luffy, not confused about what the princess was doing, runs after her until he is up to her right side, "Soooo are we gonna go now?" Luffy asked.

Without turning to look at him Peach clarifies"No not yet, if you remember I said we were going to see what you're made of.", as she continues to walk towards the castle 

“Well I'm made’a  rubber obviously”, he Jokinggoofily as he grabbed one of his cheeks and stretched it out.

While Toadsworth thought it was funny enough to start chuckling, Peach was more than unimpressed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

With his new friend going out of view as they walked further apart from each other, Toad lowered his head in sadness as he walked with Bernie towards their hospital.

(In Peach’s Castle) 

Luffy continued following Peach and Toadworth’s throughout the halls of her castle, this time getting a better chance Actually admiring inside of it, without being chased at least.

This however did cause him to get a little more distracted from everything that was inside of it more than he needed to be.

 There would be times where he stopped to look at  one of the paintings on the wall for a little too long or wander off to different rooms of the castle.

He’d been gone for such long periods of time that the princess and toadsworth quite a few times had to go off looking for him.

Much to say the princess's tolerance of him wasn't exactly getting stronger every time she found out he walked off, and there was actually starting to get worse when she found him every time.

Toadsworth, though fond of the young straw hat, wouldn't have been so annoyed with him if he hadn't been asking him different types of random questions every few minutes.

“Hey what's this painting on the wall mean”?

“Why’s everything here so pink”?

“Ya guys got more food in here”?

“Aren't we going to go find my friends”?

“Is there a good place here to take a nap”?

 Over and over again the questions came And went out of his mouth as if he was just breathing out useless questions at that.

To make things worse Toadsworth had to show  the utmost  form of hospitality to visitors so he had no other choice but to answer these questions.

 Was almost as if he was babysitting a man sized child at that. 

 The same couldn't be said for the princess. Whenever he tried to ask her any question she would simply either ignore him or tell him  that she would answer them later which was basically another way of saying “ I don't care enough to answer them”.

The agreement was that she would work with him not to  befriend him or even really conversate with him at all unless it was for something important.

However it wasn't really one to take the hint that she wasn't interested in any conversation if anything he was pretty blunt During the fact that he continuously tried getting her attention.

He continuously wandered off around the castle, which in return made them continuously have to look  around in order to find him.

And guess what it irritated her even further, Almost to the point where Toadsworth had to step in and make sure that she kept her composure so that she wouldn't tear him limb from limb, for that wasn't how a princess should behave.

But oh she was starting to wish that it was.

Unfortunately for her  but fortunately for Luffy, she didn't know of a certain Navigator that knew all too well how to get him back in line whenever he started to act out of line, otherwise he wasn't really getting the point.

Thankfully after about 20 minutes of chasing him around and dealing with his wandering, the princess and Toadsworth were finally able to get Luffy to come with them.

Though while on their way to the back entrance of the castle toadsworth couldn't help but wonder one thing. 

What was the princess doing making that kind of deal with an almost complete stranger at a time like this in a life or death situation like this.

She as basically putting the safety of not just their kingdom and their people, but the other kingdom’s safety in the hands

He had to know why.

He then turned towards Peach,”Your highness if I may “, he politely asked for her attention.

Peach turned towards him and nodded.

Before he said anything though he turned to look to see if Lucy could hear them thankfully however he was still a little distracted with the pains on the wall and was a little ways behind them so he wouldn't be able to hear.

 though just in case told worth lean towards the princess and whispered,” What in the world are you thinking putting the  safety of our kingdom in the hands of this young man”.

Peach, knowing what was about to come next, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them up and looking at him,” Toadsworth look I know how you feel and I completely understand  why you feel this way, believe me I'm not any happier about this decision then you are either. But you can't sit here and tell me that I should have just let this Trump card for our kingdom just walk out of  our hands’,  she quietly explained to him while pointing towards Luffy. 

Of course my lady I completely understand but  you can accept me to accept the fact that we're giving such a high responsibility to an obviously “specially needed person”, Toadsworth quietly argued. 

Peach quickly tilted her head to the side,” I know he's not exactly the most competent person here (If at all really)  but it would be fairly useful to have someone strong like him on our side especially to show off the rest of the royals at the meeting”.

Toadsworth then pointed towards Luffy,” Your highness he has the  education of an 8-year-old”.

“That may be true but he's well adapted to his own fighting style that could presume to be helpful to us. For God's sake he was easily able to overpower Koopa troopa when have you ever seen anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom be capable of that”, she pointed out.

Toadsworth then pointed out into the distance,” fighting off a handful of Koopas is one thing but fighting off the Troll Army is something entirely different and much too difficult a responsibility to leave in the hands of this young boy  that we have. Now I'm not saying that I do not understand your judgment, if anything I think your judgment is brilliant but perhaps we could think of a better way to use his vitality rather than simply throwing him out to the wolv-”.

Peach suddenly held her hand up to stop him from continuing,’ First off Toadsworth I'm not simply throwing him out there to help fight the upcoming battle. Do you think I trust him that much? He's far too much of a liability and irresponsible to allow out in the battlefield. All I'm simply doing is bringing him along as extra muscle in case we run into any obstacles and  in case the other kingdoms  think we're too weak to work with we can use him as a way of bargaining with them Purpose is nothing more and nothing less than that”.

A wave of relief fielded toadsworth's heart,  what was he thinking he knew his princess knew better than to make that kind of drastic decision at least not without thinking it through.

He blew a sigh of relief but then realized one thing that suddenly came to mind,”What about the missing friends that he was raving on about? Surely you aren’t intending on going back on your word to find them because if you are  then I strongly advise against that intent. You gave him your word and believe me you are not to go against it,  that is not the way I raised you”.

Peach looked  appalled that her own father figure would think that she would be capable of something so heartless,”What the no of course I'm not going to do that, I'm going to do the best that I can to help him find his friends believe me I don't want him in this Kingdom any longer than he needs to be.Anything I'm hoping that we find his friends so that we can make that happen”,She would never do anything like that even if it was to someone that she didn't like, it be far too cruel to do to anyone. 

But she also knew that she had to prepare herself and him to quite possibly Realize that his friends may be lost in that they may not ever find them.

And if that time came she had to make sure to handle it correctly so that it doesn’t cause any issues for them later.

She stared down at Toadsworth with a determined look in her eye,” Don't worry I'll be sure to handle that  correctly when the time is right, I promise”.

Toads were scared at her for a few moments not sure whether or not his princess was being truthful or not but he really had no way of telling and did not wish to doubt her either.

So he simply closed his eyes and nodded to her,”All right princess I trust you”, he said as he started turning to continue forward.

That last thing he did sort of brought Peach’s mood down a tiny bit, Causing her to frown and look down at the ground.

 It saddened her that her own father figure didn't really trust the decision she had to make at that moment not knowing if he understood just how much pressure she was under to make sure that the  Kingdom remained safe.

The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him but she knew that she had no other options but to go along with this plan and this plan was the only way that could save their Kingdom.

So she quickly snapped herself out of it and began to look forward and continue towards their destination.

 Luckily for them they had just about made it to the back entrance of  the castle, Giving Peach a tiny bit of relief knowing that they won't have to keep  wondering if he's going to wander throughout the castle or not.

Luffy, who was about to do just that, stopped himself when he saw the giant doors that led to the back entrance of the castle.

 Caught his attention as he began to instead follow the two towards the two open doors rather than away from them 

Once she was in front of them Peach pushed open both the doors leading to what looked like a back porch of some sort.

Luffy began to follow Peach and Toadsworth as they walked outside to see, to Luff’s surprise, a huge waterfall that poured and descended from behind the castle.

 Luffy did remember seeing a pawn on the outside of the castle entrance,  guess that's where the water was coming from. 

Once they stepped outside the three continued until they were on top of the balcony that hung outside of the castle.

.A moment or two have gone by before the castle section suddenly broke off from the castle and began to floatTowards the waterfall.

Luffy about the cover himself up from his weakness to water When suddenly the waterfall began to split into and break away from itself creating an opening for them to float right through.

A result of this gave way to a beautiful sight of a Huge heart-shaped leg sitting at the back of the castle that Luffy couldn't help but be mesmerized by. 

 The castle section continued to move towards the center of the lake as Luffy looked down upon it. 

And judging by its more than familiar smell, he could tell it was sea water.

Even though one of his main weaknesses were right below him, he remained calm and excited for what the princess had in store for him.

He knew what water would do to him, so he was more than careful on how to handle himself around it.

"If you can finish this next part successfully, you’re coming with me, understand"?, Peach said as she stepped forward next to him.

Luffy, confused with the order, turned to her,"Finish what?" He asked.

Peach used her eyes to motion his attention back towards the lake, which he happily obliged to.

Though once he did, his eyes went wide

A giant block begins to emerge from the water and stands in front of them.

(forgot to add toadsworth in the image so just pretend he’s there)

 The trio watched as the box then began to split into pieces, separating blocks and other objects, and in turn, it became a training ground with floating blocks, robot flowers, spikes, bullets, and firewalls. Finally, a flagpole with light pink cloth on top appeared next to Luffy in the balcony where he floats in the middle of a lake. So basically, the block opens, the Training Course appears, and is filled with what looks to be many replicas of objects that might have appeared in a game or two.

Luffy was amazed.

Toadsworth cleared his throat as he stepped forward,”Mr straw hat Luffy, may I present to you, our kingdom’s royal training course! It is used for the sole purpose of keeping all of the residents active and in shape in case of an emergency! But for today, it will be used to see how you are against obstacle courses”, he explained.

“Wow”, Luffy said in amazement.

"And if you can finish this obstacle course  efficiently and without getting knocked off and falling into the water, you're coming with me. Now watch and learn" she said, before running off.

Jumping over a small gap and spikes, the princess jumped onto a couple of blocks of floating mid-air before performing a perfect mid-air backflip. She then jumped over a couple of mechanized Piranha Plants, running towards several Fire bars. She managed to slip under them and avoid another mechanized Piranha Plant. Flying through the air, the princess landed so she could run and perform a perfect flying kick to a weird cut-out of some sort of spiky red headed turtle monster (Luffy didn’t really get a good look at it and he honestly didn’t care enough to get one), destroying it. Once she landed, the block turned red and fell rapidly. As she ran, missiles were pointing in her direction and fired. Seeing this, Peach narrowed her eyes in determination and smirked. Hoping off the last black, she jumped off the missiles one by one until she jumped out to grab the flag pole. Spinning around a couple of times, she let go and used her dress as a parachute to land on the ground safely. Dusting her gloves off, she panted slowly as she looked at the shocked face of an amazed Luffy.

"Wow, That was amazing, and even in a dress you can do all that too"?Luffy praised.

Although Toadsworth didn’t say anything, he did show her a look of pride, causing her to quickly and briefly smile at him, that was all the praise she needed from him.

She then to Luffy and motion him to the course,”Alright your turn Straw hat, but don’t worry, if its too much for you, ill give you a power up just to give you a bit of a boost”, she offered.

Luffy shot her with a confused look.

What the hell was she talking about?

Power ups, where they like this world's devil fruits?

If that's the case then Luffy can't accept any of them, otherwise he'll die.

Peach notice the confused look on his face and decided to show him what she was talking about 

She then points above them, revealing a floating yellow box with one white question mark on each side, and jumps up and hits it which produces a small red mushroom in her hand.

(Warning ahead: I’m going to add a rule or two to this next explanation just because it plays into the story later so don’t trip out if its not what you know from the games)

"This is one of the many power-ups of our world, the super mushroom. It allows any person who uses it to grow to a bigger size, thus making them heavier and harder to launch, while also increasing their run and fall speed. There are other powerups like this one that give us different kinds of special abilities and powers alike. You can find different and random ones from question mark boxes just like this one. But be warned, once you get hit you automatically lose the power, and never use more than one, it’s power can be unstable", Peach carefully explained, before holding out the mushroom to Luffy.

Unfortunately for her, Luffy wasn’t really listening much to her explanation (if at all really), all he heard coming out of her mouth was,”Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah”.

The only thing he really did here from it was that it was meant to make him stronger, and if you knew Luffy, you’d know that strength wasn’t really much of a problem for him.

So he did what any reasonable person person in his shoes would’ve done, he put hand up and gentilly pushed the mushroom in Peach’s hand away from him,"Na I’m good, I’m pretty strong myself”, Luffy brags as he then jumps up and breaks a brick floating above him with a punch,”So I won’t need one”.

Peach rose a brow to this…..

Looks like someone was quite overconfident in their skills and ability weren’t they.

“Oh well, so I see you think that you can go through this course without using a single power up”, she asked curiously.

Luffy responded by simply nodding his head.

“Well then if that's the case then you'll have no problem Crossing this entire obstacle course without getting hit or so much as messing up once”,Be slightly smugly challenge I wanted to see just how good he thinks he is,” And you can't use any power-ups and you only have one try to do so of you fail the test”.

Toadsworth nodded his head in agreement,” Oh yes I do believe that's very fai- wait what”?, She asked soon realized what the princess was suggesting.

 Luffy turned to Peach,”Only one shot”, he asked.

Peach nodded her head,” Yes only one,And I don't think there's any point in me giving you a rundown of the course,that's not a problem for you is it right”,She answered in confirmation.

Luffy simply shook his shoulders and punched his fist into one hand as he grew a determined grin on his face,"All right bet, I got  this No problemo”, He happily obliged as he started walking towards the  start of the course.

Toadsworth stepped up in between the two,”Now hold on to a moment your highness, you know that isn't fair on him”, he objected.

Peach then looked at him with a  pretentious shocked expression,”Well now how is that not fair, I got it on my first try and since he's so confident I picked success why not up the stakes a tiny bit”.

“But my princess, he wasn't raised here like you were, that's an unfair advantage”, he brought up, Trying to get her to see how much of a bad idea this was,”And the boy is obviously not in his right mind, there's no possible way he could be focused enough to be able to finish this course”.

Peach turns to him with a serious look on her face.”Toadsworth this is not up for discussion, we are in a time crunch here and if we do not prepare him for the journey ahead we will surely struggle and fail. If he cannot measure up to my expectations and he will not be allow the company that is the condition”, She said sternly before turning to look back at Luffy.

Toadsworth wasn't  willing to drop this though stepping forward to plead with her,”My princess if you would jus-”.

Suddenly he felt Someone his shoulder, he turned to see that it was Luffy,”Hey it's alright, Old guy I got this”, Luffy said confidently with a smile. 

Toadsworth was about to say something else but once he saw the determined look on the young straw hats face  and the serious look of his princess’s face, he just couldn't bring it in himself to say anything more.

So he quietly lowered his head and took a step back letting everything proceed as it was.

Though the site was saddening for her Peach knew what she had to do and knew that this had to be done no matter what.

 So she turned to face Luffy and said,"And now, you can jump".

And with that Luffy turned around, got into a running stance, and took a deep breath before running off. As he jumps over the same gaps and spikes Using his stretching  limbs unlike Peach did before him, he jumps over one of the mechanized piranha plants before grabbing the next one by its neck and tearing it out of the pipe and using it as sort of a hammer to beat down the third one so that it would get stuck in the pipe. He then landed on the ground and  opened the mechanized plant's mouth  and threw it at one of the fire bars, basically using it to trap it in place as he went underneath it just as Peach had done. He then jumped down and proceeded to Punch and break through some of the brick wall standing before him before jumping up and Spotting the cut out of the strange red-headed Turtle creature cut out from earlier.  Luffy ,seeing this, starts twists his arm around as he stretches it behind him,”NOW GUM GUM…….”!!! (which causes massively increasing the velocity of the punch as twisting the arm stretches the arm even further without having to draw it back any longer which also saves the amount of time the kick-back takes.) and hits close range right through the turtle monster cut-out,”RIFLE”!!!!!!!!!!!! shattering it to pieces. He then landed on and started running on the same yellow blocks that turned red. He then grew a determined grin on his face as he saw the  air-filled missiles fire at him. He stretched his arms out to grab each of the missiles as he jumped on each of the missiles before smacking face first on the flag pole as he slowly slid down to the ground. After a couple seconds of lying there he hopped up and stood in  a victory  stance as Luffy was met with a shocked Princess Peach and a pleased Toadsworth.

Luffy shot them with a goofy smile,”So how was that”?, He asked innocently as he then started to walk up towards them. 

A moment  or two of Silence  passed by before toadsworth suddenly started clapping,” Well done Master Straw Hat Luffy splendid show jolly good splendid show”, he loudly applauded.

Plotting from the old mushroom made Luffy smile  goofully as he then stepped forward and patted him on the head.

It was clear that the old mushroom was more than proud of the young lad for being able to pass  through the  training course  as quickly and as easily as he did.

The princess however Didn't actually have that same  prideful feeling for the Young pirate as her advisor did.

 If anything she was a little more shocked that he was able to complete it at all at least in one go.

 She just stood there simply staring at the course and him wide-eyed in shock at what she had just witnessed with her own two  blue eyes. 

(In her mind)”He did it….”, She blankly thought,”He actually did it”.

The sentence repeated in her head like a broken track record only repeating itself constantly.

Don't get her wrong she was more than pleased that the fact that he was able to clear it's showing that he can handle any obstacles in his way, she just didn't think he would get the hang of it so fast.

To be honest she wasn't just going to let him only try once before giving up on him,........Well okay maybe after about 5 or 6 times she would have given up on him maybe seven or eight if she was really feeling patient and believing.

Hell, due to just meeting him, she had a feeling that if she really was forced to, she would have had to wait all night before you had possibly gotten most of the training course down.

 But to see him complete it so quickly and so effortlessly was a bit of a surprise, even for her.

She staring at him for a few more moments until something snapped her back to reality and she realized that the both of them were watching her waiting for her next answer 

“So princess how'd I do”,Luffy asked hopefully.

Peach sword of struggle to answer that question right off the bat.

 Well that was until toadsworth shot her a cocky that said “Well princess aren't you going to answer” look, Snapping her out of her hesitation,  but not before she shot him back with a “I know what I'm doing towards worth” look 

"Well um……... now that it's confirmed that you can handle yourself with obstacles, we have to prepare for the long journey ahead of us if……we're going to find your friends, Straw hat",  she said in her best  congratulatory tone she could use.

With that final  bit of confirmation,  Luffy almost instantly started  hollowing as he began hopping up and down  around the training course and dodging most of the attacks and obstacles  flawlessly in Victory.

 With it now being confirmed that the princess would be helping him, Could finally focus on looking for Zoro and Vanellope wherever they may be

Peach and toadsworth watched him from the balcony as he went jumping around the entire obstacle course as if it were some sort of playground to him.

The site made towels worth starting to chuckle a tiny bit,”Now that is a young manThat is full of life and energy. And that is exactly what we'll need if we wish to save our kingdom”, He said admiringly as he slowly turned to the princess with a warming smile.

Peach herself shot him back with a warm smile at home but it quickly faded us she then stared not at Luffy but out into the distance which he happened to be in front of.

It wasn't that she wasn't happy about helping the young pirate with his troubles as much as how this would affect her mission of gaining the alliance later on down the line .

Though her plan is to use Luffy as a means of maybe showing off some of the strength Mushroom Kingdom might have if they happen to find his friends before she can make that happen, who knows  what he might  decide to do once they've crossed that bridge. 

It definitely was something that had her worried but she knew that it was something she would have to Worry about when the time came right to.

She snapped herself out of her trance and stepped forward to call out to Luffy,”All right Straw Hat come on we have a mission to plan for”!

 Luffy , hearing her call out to him,  turned back to them preparing to jump on over back on the Balcony, when he suddenly stopped to turn back to look at the  sun setting in the distance in his mind thinking,” Zoro, Vanellope don't you worry I'm on my way to come find you guys,  stay safe till then”.

“Straw hat”!Peach called out to him yet again.

Luffy clothes the size before turning back and began jumping off towards them,  in order to prepare for what comes next.

 But unbeknownst to Luffy, it's going to be a far harder Journey than he ever would have expected 

(End of chapter) 

Hello everyone yes I know it has been quite some times since the last chapter but as I remind you I also do have a life of my own and I have to get a lot of things done in real life as much as I don't want to and to be honest I kind of like taking my time in these chapters just so I can make sure I put the right amount of love and decency into each one if I just rush the production of making each one by week by week it'll only really make it look bad in the last thing I want is to put out bad work for everyone to read the best thing I can do right now is take my time and make sure everything's all good so that each chapter is worthwhile some chapters I might be able to get out faster than the others otherwise this is kind of going to be the new Norm at least until I get more people to help me work on this but just as a reminder I mainly doing this for fun and because I believe I can make a good story but that doesn't mean I don't think this is important and believe me this journey is far from over so keep tuned for the next  chapter

 and don't worry it's already in its early phases of production it might be a while though so prepare for the wait 

[gold-wolf-soldier13]

I’m gonna preface this by saying I don’t like ACOTAR, I own the first two books and I honestly hate them, it does not spark joy for me but I simply can’t leave it alone because like R/WBY my brain has decided to fixate on all the ways it could have been good, and I honestly believe ACOTAR could have been great.

Now idk if I’m the first one to say this (I highly doubt it ik I’m v late to the series) but A Court of Thorns and Roses by far had the best and most believable romance in the series (not the controversial part) but it’s never really hit for me personally and I think I’ve figured out how to put the “why” into words.

ACOTAR is (supposedly) a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but it’s honestly not ever worked as one for me personally cause, and I’m gonna be comparing this mostly to the Disney version most everyone knows, the witch that curses the Beast at the beginning doesn’t/isn’t supposed to stick around but Amarantha does- she’s literally the main villain, there would be no story without her.

In the Disney version the witch tests the selfish Prince and when he fails she cursed him for it, Amarantha doesn’t do that- she curses Tamlin because essentially she didn’t like that he wouldn’t sleep with her.

And that changes everything about Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship cause the curse is supposed to be something that teaches the Beast a lesson- ie. beauty is only skin deep, not everything is what it seems, stop being a dick- but Tamlin doesn’t need to learn a lesson, that’s not why he was cursed, which changes how he and Feyre interact. Yeah he’s still gotta make her fall in love with him but it’s not really a self-reflection issue like the Disney version, it’s a fucked up game Amarantha’s making him play that his hearts not really in.

The scene where the Beast lets Belle go so she can rescue her father is the character growth moment for him, it shows how much influence Belle’s presence has had on him and when he sees how cruel he’s been by forcing her to stay with him. It’s the Beast learning to love someone more than himself, that love and compassion and care are always worth the effort even when it hurts.

And Tamlin doesn’t get that moment because he never needed it- he already knows what the Beast is supposed to learn.

Belle leaves because her town is going to throw the only family she has, her father whom she’d traded her freedom for, into an asylum cause no one will help him save Belle from the Beast. Feyre doesn’t get that because it’s Tamlin sending her away for her safety and besides there’s no way she would have gone back to save her family anyways Feyre is an inherently selfish character but that’s not what I’m trying to say rn.

Feyre comes back to save her love just like Belle does but it’s not an affirmation of belief for Tamlin like it is for the Beast, it’s almost exactly what Amarantha wants- another way to torment Tamlin and make sure he’s even more compliant than he was before once she has Feyre.

Feyre breaking the curse isn’t really a triumph of her love for Tamlin or a “reward” for his growth- it’s quite literally a tragedy for him since he has to watch her die after being tortured for months when he tried to save her from this exact situation.

I feel like I’m starting to repeat myself now so there it is ig- why Amarantha doesn’t work as a villain for me and how ACOTAR fails me as a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Feyre is a good “Belle” but Tamlin was never the “Beast”, he was always just her Prince.

[three--rings]

Word of Honor: Watch It Already

Yeah it’s time to do a rec post for real.  Because seriously, y’all, join me.

NOTE: All gifs in this post were made by @jingyans​, who very graciously allowed me to use them.  Please do not repost and go see her blog for all the gorgeousness!

What is it?

Word of Honor/ Shan He Ling/ 山河令 is a Chinese drama series with 36 episodes currently in the process of airing.  It is based on a danmei/BL webnovel by Priest called 天涯客/ Tian Ye Ke/ Faraway Wanderers.  (Which I have not yet read, so everything in this post will be based solely on the show as aired up to ep 11.)

It’s set in Fantasy Ancient China, much like previous popular series The Untamed and is part of the same general genre. 

What’s it about?

Okay.  So Zhou Zishu was the leader of the Window of Heaven/Tian Chuang, an organization of spies and assassins who worked for a prince.

He saw basically everyone he cared about/his entire sect killed for the organization, and he decides he wants out, but there’s no leaving alive.  He essentially manages to find a loophole by using a cruel fantasy method to basically slow poison himself, guaranteeing his death in three years.  But he’s free. 

Cut to six months later, when he’s living his best life being completely drunk in a gutter, disguised with a fake tan, terrible beard and general squalor.  He draws the attention of a mysterious gentleman, our love interest Wen Kexing.

Wen Kexing completely fixates on Zhou Zishu (or Zhou Xu, as he introduces himself), declaring him incredibly beautiful, despite his rough state, and starts a bit of light stalking.

These two have a lot of humorous bantering around, before eventually stumbling into the plot in the form of a young teen boy who is the only surviving member of his brutally murdered clan.  They are tasked with taking him to someone trustworthy and thus the two equally mysterious warriors now have an adopted son together. 

That’s the basic set-up, and the show is pretty much evenly split between really adorable flirting, wacky hijinks, and operatic political drama plot.  All of these typically involve fight scene choreography.  Though, to be fair, I’ve seen less than a third of the show at this point, though I have something of a feel for what is coming from people watching it without English subs.

So...about that romance?

Look, there’s no beating around the bush here, I really can’t imagine being into this show if you’re not into the idea of a prominent romance between two male characters.  The novel, being danmei, is blatantly a queer romance, but this is China, which means censorship. 

**And I’m only saying this because this is tumblr, and no one cares what we think here, but, look, it’s a freaking miracle this show passed censorship because it is NOT subtle at all in its gayness.  The plot...really doesn’t make sense without a romantic aspect, and it’s really hard to miss.  It’s so blatant, that it’s hard to watch without remarking on it, which means a lot of people are afraid of the show being pulled or edited by the government before it’s done airing.  There’s precedence for that happening.  Seemingly even the makers are concerned, hence them releasing 9 episodes a week, up from the original 4.  So please, if you do watch it, don’t go yelling in the comments or on twitter or wherever about how it’s showing up the Chinese government’s censorship or whatever because that’s putting people’s careers in real danger, not to mention harming the show.**

ANYWAY.  The romance involves a HUGE amount of flirting, mostly initially from WKX to ZZS, but fairly soon they start throwing around the word “zhiji” aka “soulmate” to describe what they mean to each other.  If this seems very blatantly romantic, it IS, but it can also describe a platonic connection, which is how they manage to get away with this.  Still, it’s swoon-worthy honestly.  The mood for me is a very good period romance, because I’m wildly flailing about their sleeves touching or hands brushing over here, so if that’s your jam, please join us.

I’m going to get into slightly more spoilers under a cut, because I think it’s very fun to watch the show without knowing ANYTHING about it, but if you need further convincing/specifics please follow me.

The show also seems to involve a lot of alternating fluff and angst, which, let’s be honest here, is kinda what we like right?  It seems like they don’t want to keep us in pain for more than an episode or so without some resolution, but then new pain happens again.  These two break up and get back together a lot, is what I’m saying. 

Why should I watch it?

Like most good danmei, the show balances deep romance with interesting and exciting plot, but the characters are the real stand-outs here.  Both male leads are older than your average drama protagonists, somewhere close to 30.  And they are both essentially villains.  Not just characters with dark pasts, but really the bad guys of other people’s stories.  The novel is actually a sequel to a totally different romance, and at least ZZS was an antagonist in that story. 

(Above: Evil is a good look on Wen Kexing.)

But here we have two very morally dubious characters: one who has given up that life and one who is still actively causing harm, and the story is about how they connect and change as a result.  (Again, I’m drawing slightly on what others have said of where the story is going and also just making assumptions.) 

If you have a moral problem with loving and shipping dark characters, this isn’t the show for you, no matter how cute it may appear.  This isn’t a “pure” couple, no matter how little on-screen sexuality we will get.  But if you love exploring morality and complicated characters who don’t always make the right choices, like I do, this is Your Thing.

Thankfully, the scriptwriter has come out and said there will be a happy ending for the main couple, at least.  So there’s that to hold on to as we face the angst and pain that is inevitably coming.  (From the novel I hear, yes, there’s some serious suffering in store.) A lot of us thought the show looked light and fun and now...we’re gonna be in pain.  So consider this fair warning as well. 

There’s also a cast of very easy to like side characters, in particular the “kids” A-Xiang (WKX’s servant) and Cheng Ling, the boy they rescue.  There’s also a colorful cast of villains that have huge amounts of style if nothing else. 

Downsides?

So the show was made on a VERY limited budget.  Overall I think they did a fantastic job.  But the seams DO show from time to time.  There’s not a lot of CGI (which is a good thing imo) but sometimes there are very obvious places they didn’t have the resources they needed, like crowd scenes made of the same 4 actors cut and pasted again and again, lol.  However, I think they did a great job on the costumes for the most part, and the sets look nice. 

There’s also been some criticism for the makeup which ZZS wears in eps 2-5, his disguise.  He’s meant according to the novel to look totally different and ugly.  But in reality he has a tan, some small scars, a painted on beard, and is dirty and disheveled.  Making his skin darker and calling that “ugly” is an unfortunate trope. I think the criticism is valid to an extent, but I hope it won’t destroy anyone’s enjoyment of the show. The makeup is gone forever midway through ep 6. 

Where can I watch it?

I’m going to assume most people reading this will be looking for a version subbed in English.  That is available on Youtube on the Youku official channel.  As of this typing, they have released 11 episodes with subs.  There are no fansubs otherwise available.  The Chinese language release is somewhere around ep 20-something? That is available through the Youku website. I believe their release schedule has the last episode coming out around March 23, but we’ll be weeks behind for the English version.  (Pardon the lack of a direct link to YT, but just search Word of Honor and you’ll find it.  If I have links tumblr will disappear my post.)

So please, come join us in this hell.  It’s been a while since a ship hit me so incredibly quickly and a lot of people have the same feeling, it seems.  Give it a few episodes, and see if you’re not WILDLY in love by episode six.  (Before that I was in like.  After episode six I wrote emergency fanfic.) (Episode six pictured below.)

[insphoeration]

Fate dressed in silk

heres my prince!yunho fic series thing that was never meant to be a series all edited and in one place

word count: 11k

fluff, angst, bad writing etc.

Growing up as a young lady came with its setbacks, a strict set of rules you had to follow even in your sleep

Your queen and Prince Yunho have been betrothed almost since birth and have known each other just as long, you often envied her, not because she she was to be queen but because she was going to be married to someone she knew, unlike yourself and her other ladies, who were to be married to the highest bidder.

Your queen often gushed about how sweet Yunho was and as soon as you got to the castle, you knew right away exactly what she meant. Yunho glowed with a youthful energy and a smile that could fix any problem. Princesses, dutchess' and servants alike fawned over him and you could see why.

Being a Lady had it’s pro’s and con’s. You had a high enough status to do as you pleased (to a certain extent of course), but there wasn’t nearly as much responsibility as the future queen held. The tiring side was that your life was meant to serve the queen, when she picked up and moved from your kingdom to Yunho’s, so did you and three other girls. It wasn’t terrible of course because you were all good friends, but you had to find husbands soon and you couldn’t even bear to think of your life after marriage.

Yunho was passing by when he saw you by the side of the lake, you were sitting down scrunching something up in your hands and then, whatever it was flew into the lake. “That can’t be good for the fish.” Yunho commented, a teasing smile on his face that wasn’t all that different to his regular smile. You stood up, startled and embarrassed.

“Your highness.” You bowed, Yunho’s smile faltered for only a moment. Even though he knew they wouldn’t, Yunho still asked people to call him by name, he never did like titles.

“Yikes, remind me never to ask you to play ball with me, if that’s the best you can throw.” He teased, his eyes flashing to the ball floating in the water. You chuckled.

“I shall have you know, your highness, I am a great catch, it’s only because that was paper that it didn’t get very far.” If anyone else heard you talk back to the prince they would be appalled and you would be headless within the week.

“A letter?” He asked, the familiar red wax catching his eye.

“More like a commandment.” You said, resisting the urge to throw yourself to the floor.

“A commandment? I thought only kings could give those, tell me who it was I will have it sent back immediately!” He said jokingly, “or..what's left of it anyway.” The ball of paper was now soaked through and coming apart in the water.

“It’s not from any king but rather fate?” You sighed, Yunho looked puzzled by your answer. “It was from my parents, reminding me to put on my best face to woo the highest lords so I may- I don’t know, be owned for the rest of my life by some stranger.” You sighed, turning around and finally falling to the floor at the thought of your bleak future. “So you see, a letter guiding my life, directing my future, however cruel.” Yunho hummed in response, walking over and taking a seat beside you.

“You know,” he whispered. “If anyone saw you talking to your king casually, you’re done for.” He joked, although looking around feverishly.

“So be it, if my future only tells of me bound to a stranger I do not love for the rest of my life.” You said waving a hand around, “Maybe no future is better than one with ties.”

“Don’t say things like that!” He scolded. “Life is beautiful, you’re beautiful.”

Your eyes shot open but he was already up and walking away, picking up his pace when the back of his neck warmed.

After that, Yunho found it hard to look at you, without blushing. It seemed simple enough, all he had to do was stop looking at you, only he couldn’t. During breakfast his eyes would wander to you chatting with his fiancee, during gatherings and events, his eyes would linger on your frame for longer than appropriate. If it weren’t for the heat on his cheeks he probably wouldn’t ever look away. Your queen noticed it first, Yunho would be talking to her but his eyes shifted over to you, and when you looked up you only kept eye contact for a second before the both of you looked away, red as apples.

“Something on your mind brother?” Mingi called, kicking the ball towards the elder. Yunho had several things on his mind, ranging from the tension between his and the northern kingdom to seeing you pick flowers with the children from the orphanage. One of those was more prominent in his mind than the other when it really shouldn’t have been.

“No.” He lied. “Something on yours?” He kicked the ball back with a smile.

“Actually there is someone.” He said holding the ball underneath his foot, Yunho raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “One of Her Majesty's ladies, Y/N, she’s very pretty.” Yunho frowned, expecting him to say something about his future wife, not to confess an interest in you.

“Is she? I hadn’t noticed.” He lied, his eyes falling to the floor. Mingi chuckled at his brother.

“Hey you two!” Jihyo called, approaching the boys with you and three other ladies in tow. As soon as he saw you the warmth returned to Yunho’s heart and he smiled again. The four of you bowed in front of the royals. “What were you talking about so seriously?”

“Beautiful women, your majesty.” Mingi answered, picking up the ball from the floor and tucking it under his arm.

“So, me?” She joked as the three of them approached each other.

“Who else is there?” Mingi flirted, Yunho’s eyes flickered up to find your own, an action not unnoticed. Your queen turned to you.

“Girls I’m okay here, I’ll find you if I need something.” She said dismissing the four of you. You bowed again before you turned and dispersed. The other ladies instantly whispered and giggled amongst themselves.

“Prince Mingi is so handsome and so charming.”

“It seems he’s quite taken with her majesty.”

“She’s so lucky to be in favour of both princes.” You stopped in your tracks before telling them you would see them later, they bid you farewell and went right back to gossiping. You strolled around the outside of the palace, soaking in the sun and it’s warmth. Around the side of the castle in the middle of the gardens, targets and bows were set up.

You ran your hand along the arrows, it wasn’t where the knights trained so it was peculiar that they were placed there. You hummed to yourself, picking up a bow. As a lady of a certain stature you were never allowed to do things like archery growing up, you were raised for politeness not play.

“Air on the side of caution Yunho.” Jihyo scolded. “You may be a prince, free to do as he pleases but, Y/N has a reputation that has to stay spotless in the case of potential suitors.”

“I would never do something so careless as to ruin someone's life for my own gain.” Yunho glared at his friend. “And what of the two of you? What happens if word gets out about your secret meetups?” He spat, the two looked caught off guard by both Yunho’s words and his tone. “The three of us work so well because we are friends before anything but beyond us the world is all politics. It’s fine for you to run around together once our union is solid but before then our alliance is fragile.”

“Spoken like a true future king.” Mingi said proudly, clasping a hand on his brother's shoulder.

“Yes, it does seem as though he’s put a lot of thought into the possibility of us breaking our engagement.” She said, raising an eyebrow. “Which means you’ve given thought to a future with a non-royal?” Yunho scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his brother's hand off his shoulder like what they were saying was completely ridiculous. “Y/N won’t be a mistress.” She called after him. “She deserves better than that!” He stalked away furiously without a second glance.

You always thought archery was cool and it looked easy enough so you pulled back the string of the bow and released. Obviously with no training, your arrow flew too far to the left and hit a bush. That would have been embarrassing enough but of course a yelp came from the other side of the bush and Yunho rounded the corner, holding your arrow, the shirt on his bicep slightly torn and bleeding.

“Oh my god.” You gasped. “Your highness I am so sorry.” You bowed.

“First contempt and now an attempt on the prince’s life? You’re not from the northern kingdom are you?” He joked. You avoided his eyes, bowing and apologising again. “Well you can’t be an assassin, your aim is too awful.” He joked, approaching you. You lifted your head to apologise again and when you did he was right in front of you. The tip of the arrow glistened with a small drop of his blood.

“Your highness, you’re bleeding.” You mumbled turning his arm over to take a better look at his wound, a rip in his shirt exposed the clean line caused by the arrow.

“It’s only a scratch.” He whispered, his skin burning from your touch. You could swear you felt his breath fan your cheek and when you looked up you understood why, it was because he was close enough that his breath could reach your cheek. By accident your finger brushed along his wound and he winced in pain, snapping you out of your trance, and the prince as well. He cleared his throat as if it would have the same effect on his mind. “May I?” He asked, taking the bow from your hand slowly.

You stood back as he took his stance in front of the target, his position was strong and confident, very much like the prince himself. He pulled the string of the bow back and released, the arrow hit the centre of the target easily.

“Quite impressive, your majesty.” You complimented him.

“Not if you’ve been practising since you were six.” He laughed, turning back to you. “Would you like to try again?” He asked, offering you the bow. You looked at it hesitantly, “I’ll keep a safe distance I promise.” You took the bow in your hands and watched as he stepped back further than where you were standing. He grinned. “You’re right, that's far too close.” He shook his head taking another few paces back, making you laugh. You pouted, bringing the bow up, trying to mimic his stance.

“Your feet need to be further apart, no not that far, as far as your shoulders, yeah that’s good, now lift your arm, no your other arm, not that much- uh- just-” He walked up to you placing his hands on your shoulders, moving them into position, then his hands moved to your arms raising your hands so the aim was right. “Now pull back your hand with all of your strength until your hand is touching the corner of your mouth, that’s it, a little more-” He sighed, coming up behind you again, placing his hands on yours.

His large frame towered over yours and your cheeks heated at his touch, he pulled the string back until it was at the corner of your mouth and suddenly you became conscious of the softness of your lips. “Like this.” He whispered in your ear, releasing the bow once more to hit the target exactly. It was exhilarating to have your arrow hit the mark but without Yunho’s help you probably would have injured someone else. You turned around to tell him this but it seemed that he was even closer than before.

One of his hands rested on your waist, while the other came up to wipe the smudge of lipstick on the corner of your mouth, then to cup your cheek. You were dizzy, he was so close you could barely think straight but you knew enough to know as good as his hand felt on you it was all wrong. You brought your hand up to graze his wound, hoping it would snap you both out of making a terrible mistake.

“Your majesty, you’re hurt.”

He shook his head.

“Only a scratch.” He whispered, against your lips.

👑

Yunho’s thoughts were filled with you, it both delighted him and pissed off. When he was having a hard day, all he had to do was look for you, your smile that could melt the entirety of the northern kingdom, but that smile haunted him when he was in meetings. No matter how important the situation, a thief in the village, the rising tension with the northern kingdom, you seemed to take president. And with you taking up most of his attention, he completely forgot about his family coming to visit.

“I just don’t understand why we have to greet them so formally, they’re family.” Yunho grumbled, fussing with the sleeve of his shirt. The guys have known him since he was a baby, they’ve seen him covered in dirt and sweat and yet his mother insisted on this ridiculous display.

“It’s because you’re royals.” You giggled, walking up beside him. Once you saw his messy collar you couldn’t stop yourself from reaching up and fixing it for him, but froze once you realised what you were doing. “Sorry.” You mumbled, stepping away from him. He reached out to grab you to prevent you from moving too far back, but he just missed.

“Why are you sorry?” He asked, although it came out as a whisper. He thought you were past this but apparently, you weren’t.

“Your friends should be here soon, I’ll see you at the main gate.” You said, looking at the ground, Yunho opened his mouth to say something but you had already turned on your heel and rushed away.

You peered out of the corner you were hidden in and watched Yunho shake his head while he headed towards the main gate.

“What do you think you’re doing?” A cool voice asked. You jumped in surprise and turned to see Yunho’s mother standing behind you with her hands on her hips.

“Your Majesty.” You greeted, bowing immediately.

“I asked you a question.” She said. You straightened out, confused. “Stupid girl.” She muttered. “What do you think you’re doing with my son?” She snapped.

Your eyes widened and your jaw dropped. You never expected this type of hostility from the queen, Yunho’s mother was never anything but nice to you.

“I-I” You began to stutter, unsure of the right words or even the right placement of your hands. Where was one supposed to put their hands when being accosted by the queen?

“Yunho is engaged to be married to your friend. Your queen. You know, the girl you wait on hand and foot? Because you are a servant and nothing but.” She spat, as if speaking to you was leaving a bad taste in her mouth. You opened your mouth to tell her you weren’t a servant, you were a lady with a title and a sizable dowry but she took a step forward and the words died on your tongue. “You are nothing.” She whispered coldly, “and it is in your best interest to remember as much.”

You didn’t realise you stopped breathing until she walked away. Knees weak, you sucked in a shaky breath. Has she always been this awful? Had all those times she and Yunho's father been nice to you, was all of that a lie?

And as awful as she was, she was right, on some level. You may not have been nothing but you were nothing to Yunho. You were far from a maid but you might as well have been to him and other royals, they were above you and that was that. At night you liked to dream about being with Yunho in his heart and in his arms but during the day he was on the throne and you were cast to the side.

👑

Seeing his friends was definitely worth the stuffy clothes, Yunho didn’t know how long it had been since they last saw each other, he only knew that it was too long. He greeted Seonghwa and Hongjoong with a grin and hug and put stiff Yeosang into a headlock, Jongho and San also got hugs. Wooyoung walked right by Yunho to your queen, bowing and placing a kiss on her hand. Mingi drop kicked him right then and there.

“Relax Mingi, I was only greeting my queen.” He said, flirtatiously, brushing the dirt from his coat. Mingi’s face scrunched up in disgust as he stood in front of her majesty protecting her from his greasy friend.

The boys took to the gardens immediately. When they were little, the gardens were like a maze, they could spend hours running around, but now that they towered over the bushes, they spent their time practising archery and swordsmanship.

The servants brought them some tea and snacks while they fooled around, or rather San and Wooyoung were sparring with large branches, Yeosang and Seonghwa were competing to see who could do better in archery in such a civilised way it made Yunho roll his eyes. Jongho was tossing around an apple by the fountain with Mingi trying to distract him, Hongjoong sat with Yunho by the tea, catching up with and occasionally heckling his friends.

“Seonghwa, is that really the best you can do?” Hongjoong teased as Seonghwa got a near perfect bulls-eye. Seonghwa chuckled and shook his head.

“My apologies prince, for not everyone has the time to shoot arrows all day.” Seonghwa called back, the two were cousins but Seonghwa did not have royal blood and so he was only a Noble but Hongjoong treated him more like a brother so he lived at the palace like a royal.

“My queen!” Wooyoung called, jumping down from the ledge of the fountain where he and San were attacking each other with overgrown branches. “What a sight you are, after looking at these brutes for so long, I feel as if I am a blind man seeing the sun for the first-AH.” Mingi jumped up, grabbed the stick from San and hit Wooyoung in the back.

“Oops.” Mingi shrugged, tossing the stick to the ground.

And as you and your queen approached it was like all Yunho could see was you. He stood up and grinned at you, making you blush and look to the ground causing his smile to grow even wider.

“Noona, we’re hanging out guys only!” Jongho said in a nasally voice. she giggled.

“Maybe if we were still young, but we’re of age now, which is actually why I’m here.” She said,

“Come to talk to your betrothed?” Hongjoong chuckled, they were all friends, not extremely close but they knew each other long enough to joke comfortably. She only took your hand and pulled you forward, instantly Yunho stood up, the urge to be at your side overtaking him. His heart was pounding too quickly to be considered healthy, but in the best possible way.

“Actually, I came to introduce Y/N to Seonghwa.” She smiled.

“What?” Yunho gulped. “Why?” He snapped, the pounding feeling moving to his throat, like it was blocking it and preventing him from breathing.

“Lady Y/N must find a husband soon, and I think Seonghwa is a perfect candidate.” She looked at her friend sharply. “Wouldn’t you agree? He’s handsome, kind, well spoken and he has both land and title.”

“It’s an honour to meet you, Lady Y/N.” Seonghwa smiled, coming up to you. He was indeed attractive but not the same way Yunho was, Seonghwa was intimidatingly handsome whereas Yunho was cute and warm, easy to talk to as well as look at.

“The honour is all mine.” You said politely, bowing in front of him. Life was cruel, why couldn’t Seonghwa be the unattainable prince and Yunho the person Jihyo would set you up with.

Yunho’s jaw clenched so hard that his teeth grinned against each other. He glared at his friend with all the hate in the world, almost matching his distaste to that of the northern kingdom. And if that wasn’t enough to make Yunho nearly explode, Jihyo clapped her hands together gleefully.

“You guys should go for a walk, and get to know each other!” She chirped. Seonghwa held his arm out to you, you glanced at it hesitantly, wanting to look at Yunho.

Yunho prayed that you look at him, so you can see his eyes pleading with you to say no, but instead you looked at your queen who grinned at you, nodding. Yunho’s heart shattered the second you reached your hand out and took his arm. As the two of you walked away all the energy drained from his body.

“Why?” Yunho demanded through clenched teeth.

“Come back to reality Yunho, Y/N needs to be focusing on her future, not an engaged prince.” Jihyo sighed. She knew you were interested in Yunho as it was painfully obvious but she thought Yunho was being a little selfish by making you think there was a possibility for the two of you.

“If that’s the case, then perhaps I should introduce Mingi to one of the eastern princesses, Tsuyu is quite lovely.” He hissed, walking right up to her. She glared back at him.

“How dare you.” She sneered. “That is not the same.”

“Isn’t it?” Yunho spat, opened her mouth to say something but Yunho was already walking away.

👑

Seonghwa turned out to be a lovely person, much less intimidating than he looked, there was only one problem, he wasn’t Yunho. You didn’t know what it was, Seonghwa was perfect, perfect for you, a perfect man, just perfect. But perhaps you were just a masochist because you couldn’t cut the thread that connected your heart to Yunho.

“Lady, Y/N?” Hongjoong greeted, you bowed to him.

“Prince Hongjoong.” He shook his head.

“Please, just Hongjoong.” He smiled, you smiled back, your mind distracted from Yunho for only a moment. “How was your date with Seonghwa?” He asked and your smile faltered, that it was a date wasn’t it?

“It was good, Seonghwa is quite the gentleman.” You smiled politely. Hongjoong nodded knowingly.

“If you don’t mind,” you shift your weight from one foot to the other, suddenly uncomfortable with the new subject.

“Of course.” Hongjoong stepped aside, letting you scurry away. You went straight to the kitchen seeking the comfort that only cake could fill. And apparently Yunho had the same idea because he walked into the kitchen shortly after you started digging into the cake with only a fork. He froze when he saw you, a million things running through his mind, as well as yours, the both of you stayed silent, not knowing what to say.

“Forgive me your majesty.” You begged, turning around to leave.

“I don’t know what to do.” Yunho blurted,making you stop, your hand hovering above the door handle.

“About what?” You asked, your voice just above a whisper.

“You.” He confessed. Your breath hitched in your throat and if you hadn’t abandoned the cake idea, you would have choked on it. “I know that I shouldn’t be here, so close to you, it’s dangerous for me, for your reputation. And now that Jihyo has introduced you and Seonghwa, I really shouldn’t be here.”

“It is your castle, my prince, for it is I who shouldn’t be here.” You said, making the mistake of turning to look at him. He was as handsome as the last time you saw him and the time before that, and in that moment there was nothing more you wanted than a life filled with his beautiful smile.

“Please, tell me what I should do, because the logical part of me is screaming at myself to turn around and run, to put as much distance between us as possible.” He whispered. “But I can’t.” He looked drained, like he could fall to his knees at any moment. “In fact, the only thing I’ve been wanting to do is kiss you.”

You let out a sharp breath you didn’t even realise you were holding.

“So, what should I do?”

“I-I don’t know.” You say honestly. “I’ve come to terms with my feelings for you although I have yet to figure out what to do about them.”

“You feel for me?” Yunho breathed, stepping closer to you. You stepped back, his eyes were so concerned, you don’t know what it was but it clicked, and you knew what you had to do.

“Don’t you see? That doesn’t matter.” You felt tears start to form, as if your body is telling you to stop, telling you not to destroy whatever you have with the only man you’ve ever loved. “Neither of our feelings matter, you’re a royal, next in line for the throne no less. You need a queen, not a- well me.”

“So what then? You’ll just marry Seonghwa? You don’t love him-”

“I could.” You say with a small smile. “He’s a good man, and very handsome.” You continued to talk as if tears weren’t rolling down your cheeks.

“What happened to choosing no life rather than a life of meaningless ties?” He asked, referring to that day by the lake, the one when he first fell for you.

“I was dreaming, and so are you if you think you can choose me over Jihyo- over the throne.” Your voice cracked as you choked out the words.

“Y/N-” He tried stepping towards you again, but you put your hand up, backing away once more.

“Don’t. Please.” You whispered, shaking your head. As he turned around, a single tear fell from his eye, and as he left, tears spilled from yours, you crouched to the ground, hugging your knees in hope of finding some form of comfort. Heels clicked in the hallway beside you, getting louder and louder until the owner of the shoes was beside you. You didn’t have enough energy to look up, even though you didn’t need to.

“You did the right thing.” She said coldly, “this is the best thing for everyone.” Yunho’s mother turned and walked the same way she came.

👑

Yunho was different after that, he isolated himself, he pulled away from people. When someone tried to have a conversation with him, he either waved them off or gave them short responses that were barely words. During meals he would stare at his food silently, often letting it go untouched. The servants talked about how he stopped strolling down to the nearby village, instead locking himself inside his room. Jihyo was worried for her friend, and Mingi his brother, when the other boys left, Yunho stayed in his room, not even seeing them off. They promised to come back soon, leaving reluctantly with their own kingdoms to run.

“You must have done a number on him.” Seonghwa chuckled. You shoved his arm playfully but with nothing to say. You continued to walk along the path, Seonghwa looked up and sighed at the gloomy sky. “Even the sky seems sadder these days.” He muttered. You looked up, feeling droplets fall onto your face, and as fast as your tears came, so did the rain. Seonghwa grabbed your wrist and tried to drag you to the castle but you stayed with your feet planted firmly on the ground. The rain fell harder around you, creating a dull ringing in your ears. “What are you doing? You’ll get sick!” Seonghwa called over the sound of the sky screaming.

“So what?” You yelled back. “I deserve it! I deserve the plague after what I’ve done, God knows even that would hurt less!” You sobbed. Seonghwa pulled you into his arms and you melted into his touch, no longer having the energy or drive to stand. Gently he lifted you into his arms.

The storm flooded the main road, making it impossible for the band of handsome young princes to leave, Wooyoung only shrugged before jumping back onto Mingi’s bed.

“San, I believe Yeosang is in the library, will you let him know that you guys will be staying a little longer.” Yunho’s mother asked gently.

“Somebody should let Seonghwa know as well.” Hongjoong said looking around for his tall friend.

“Where is Seonghwa anyways?” Jongho asked, looking around the room as well.

“I believe Mr. Park is a little tied up right now.” Yunho’s mother said, everyone looked at her questioningly. “I ran into him in the main corridor, it seems Miss Y/N got caught in the rain, Seonghwa was taking her to the infirmary.”

“Y/N is in the infirmary? Is she okay?!” Jihyo yelled. Yunho’s mother sighed, turning to face her.

“I don’t know but you will be sure not to tell Yun-” She stopped when she noticed Mingi missing from Jihyo’s side. Suddenly, the sound of a door slamming open echoed through the hall, then footsteps approaching urgently. If you blinked you would have missed Yunho sprinting by the open door.

Yunho burst into the room as the doctor examined you, “What happened?” He demanded, stomping up to Seonghwa, taking his shirt in his fists.

“We got caught in the rain, she fainted.” Seonghwa said calmly. The doctor cleared his throat, getting the attention of both boys.

“You wouldn’t have been in the rain long enough for it to affect her, she must have been very distressed.” The doctor said, “But she has a fever now so we’ll take care of that.” Yunho sat in the chair beside the bed. He picked up your hand, holding it in both of his. He bit the inside of his cheek, doing his best not to cry. Seonghwa took a seat on the other side of you.

“She loves you.” He said, looking at you. Yunho looked up at his friend. “You should do something, even if you have to let her go, she doesn’t deserve the heartache.”

Yunho was angry but he also knew his friend was right, he had to choose between you and the throne and as much as he wanted to choose you- “It wouldn’t be fair to her.” He said, turning back to you. “She deserves a long, happy life that she won’t get at the palace. It wouldn’t be fair to ask her to stay.” Yunho squeezed your hand in his, your skin was so hot it almost burned him. “Take care of her Seonghwa.” He said. “Take her far away and treat her right, give her everything she wants, don’t let a day pass without making her smile.” His smile was contrasted by the shake in his voice and the tears pouring from his eyes.

Seonghwa stared at him. He wasn’t expecting Yunho to give up that quickly, if anything at all, and while it wasn’t the right choice it surely was the most logical. “You’re ready to be king.” He said. Yunho stood up after placing your hand down.

“Do right by her.” He said. You first. Seonghwa thought. Jihyo and the rest of the guys were rushing in as Yunho was leaving.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jihyo asked.

“Letting her go.” Yunho whispered, continuing to walk.

“Yunho!” She called, trying to get him to stop, when he didn’t she just shook her head, turned around and continued to the infirmary. Yunho’s friends looked at each other and nodded, splitting up so half of them would follow Yunho and the other half would check on you.

Jihyo almost cried as soon as she saw you. She sat in the spot Yunho was previously occupying. “What happened?” She asked, taking your hand in hers.

“She fainted in the rain. The healer thinks it’s because she’s been having a hard time.” Seonghwa explained.

👑

“Yunho!” Hongjoong called, rushing after him. “Yunho!” He grabbed onto Yunho’s arm, pulling the prince to face him.

“This is the only way!” Yunho cried, letting his tears fall.

That night, while everyone was asleep, he snuck off to where the sick were treated. You were sleeping soundly, alone. He scoffed, if he could, he wouldn’t leave your side, so Seonghwa shouldn’t either. You deserve someone who would keep you company while you were sick, at the very least. He stepped forward and sat in the same spot he was earlier. For a while he just looked at you, every now and then your eyebrows would crease and your face would scrunch but as soon as it was there, it was gone. Yunho wondered if you were slaying dragons in your dreams.

By the time the road was cleared, so did your fever. At first, you were mad at the prince for never coming to visit you but little did you know, he was constantly watching over you, coming into the hospital wing at night to make sure you were okay. When the road was clear, the princes started getting ready to leave, Yunho was right to assume you’d go with Seonghwa, but that didn’t stop his heart from shattering as he watched you get in the carriage, and the carriage rode off.

It would be one year before you saw each other again. Yunho would rise to power by himself, he was warned that if he didn’t have an heir, there would be no one to continue his legacy, but he didn’t want an heir. By his side was Mingi, who had no thirst for the throne, besides him and his brother decided most things together anyway.

After their father died, Yunho was encouraged to marry and take the throne. But without his father, the line of succession meant he was already king. After he refused to take a bride, Jihyo’s engagement was passed to Mingi, who were both overjoyed by the news.

“Jongho and Yeosang are tired from their journey, San and Wooyoung should be here the day after tomorrow-”

“You think Woo will stop hitting on you after we’re married?” Mingi asked, taking his fiancee’s hand in his.

“Probably not.” Yunho laughed, ruffling his brother's hair, before taking his own spot at the table. Jihyo giggled as Yunho started eating his breakfast.

“Seonghwa and Hongjoong should be here in the afternoon.” Yunho tensed up at the mention of Seonghwa, knowing you would probably be with him.

“Will they be travelling alone, your highness?” One of the servants asked. Yunho’s eyes flickered up to Jihyo, who pursed her lips.

“They are both bringing someone and they’re all travelling together.” She mumbled.

“Is Seonghwa bringing his wife?” Mingi blurted dumbly. Yunho’s blood went cold.

“I didn’t know Seonghwa got married.” He stuttered. Mingi grinned at his brother.

“Not officially but Y/N’s letters made it seem like they were quite taken with each other.” Mingi yelped when Jihyo pinched his arm under the table.

“Is that so?” Yunho choked.

“She’s-” The sound of wood scraping on stone echoed through the room as Yunho stood up. “If you’ll excuse me.” He said, excusing himself.

“Yunho wait-” Jihyo called, but Yunho was gone

The carriage came in the afternoon. Yunho couldn’t bring himself to greet you, he felt guilty but he wasn’t sure if he could trust himself around you. With puffy eyes, he watched from one of the towers as his friends exited the carriage, Seonghwa held his hand out helping you step down, behind you was another girl, probably Hongjoong’s plus one but he didn’t care about her, not with you right there. You grinned at the familiar surroundings before you spotted Jihyo, the two of you ran towards each other screeching. You cradled each other in your arms, rocking back and forth. Yunho’s heart swelled seeing you smile. This trip was going to be very hard for him.

“We can go right to my room and lock ourselves in.” Jihyo offered. “You won’t even have to see him until the wedding.” You smiled at your friend, she was always looking out for you.

“Nope, no hiding for Y/N, right?” Hongjoong grinned slinging an arm over your shoulder. You rolled your eyes but nodded at him all the same.

“He’s right, I’m not going to show him how much power he has over me.” You said confidently. Jihyo’s smile faltered.

“Even after all this time?” All she wanted was for her friend to be happy.

“I feel like going for a ride? Whose in?” Mingi asked clapping his hands together. They all cheered in agreement but you were too tired so you stayed back.

Once the group left, Yunho thought it was safe to leave his room, what he did not anticipate however, was you staying behind. He ran into you at the lake, or rather he stumbled upon you. Luckily you were sitting facing the water, so you had no idea he was there. You looked as gorgeous as you did the first time you met, and just as concerned. Yunho took one step forward then stopped himself, it wouldn’t be right to approach you, you belonged to Seonghwa. Instead, he walked to the gardens, where the two of you shared your first and only kiss.

He and Mingi no longer practised archery in the gardens, he could never focus for long enough. Actually, the only thing he could think of when someone even said gardens was your lips against his, the feeling of having you in his arms, even if only for a moment.

It was hard to avoid you, and it was silly too. You walked around the palace with Jihyo so confidently, every time he saw you or heard you he ran in the other direction, this was silly because it was his own kingdom for goodness sake. He’s tried to think of what he would say to you in case he was unable to escape one day and yet, nothing normal came to mind.

Yunho spent more and more time in the village, even the forest was dangerous when you liked to ride so much. He never imagined that you would come back to the orphanage for the kids. He spent quite a bit of time there himself, the kids always cheered him up, and were part of the reason he never felt the need to have his own, because they all felt like his. Yunho’s royal advisers begged him to stop throwing money at the orphanage but then he would picture Hyun Jeong’s sad face and would double it.

“Where is everyone?” Yunho asked the little boy in front of him, kicking him the ball.

“Someone special is here, everyone wants to see her.” The little boy kicked the ball back. Yunho raised an eyebrow.

“Someone more special than the king? Who? Bring them here so I can fight for my honour!” Yunho puffed his chest out with a goofy grin but the kid just narrowed his eyebrows at him.

“Or we can just ask them to play?” He suggested. Yunho pursed his lips together before responding,

“Yeah that's definitely a better idea.” He laughed as he let himself be pulled inside by the smaller boy. The boy dragged him through the halls all the way to a classroom where the rest of the children were gathered around you. He stood, frozen in place as you painted with the children.

“Y-Yunho.” You spoke softly. You looked tired and he looked pale.

“I- um- I-” He stuttered, the little boy rolled his eyes at Yunho, approaching you.

“Lady Y/N, would it be okay if we all played soccer together?” He asked. “Just because everyone here really wants to spend time with you and aside from this big stuttering oaf, there’s no one else to play with…” Yunho turned beet red.

“You know what? I love soccer.” You grinned, and the rest of the kids cheered. “If you all wanted to play, why didn’t you say something?” You chuckled.

“Lady Y/N, can we play boys against girls?” One of the children asked.

“I don’t see why not.” You laughed. “Well, as long as his royal highness is ready to lose!” You said, the kids erupted into cheers

You and Yunho stepped forward, each of your teams behind you. Yunho smirked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”

You smirked back, “I don’t think it’s me you have to worry about.” Before he knew what hit him, you kicked the ball from under his foot.

“Cheater!” He called, running after you.

Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was because you weren’t inside the palace, but things felt normal. It was like it wasn’t you and Yunho but two friends having a good time. Only, every time you smiled at your friend, he needed a second to catch his breath which he covered up nicely by saying he was out of shape. But he was in good enough shape to snake his arm around you and lift you away from the ball just enough for him to kick it away from you.

You gaped at him as his team scored. “Who's the cheater now?” You laughed, to which he responded by sticking his tongue out at you.

The two of you stayed until dinner, by request of the kids. You were amazed at how much this place changed in one year. You volunteered at the preschool in Hongjoong’s kingdom but tried not to get too attached after leaving these kids broke your heart. Yunho watched as you laughed with the kids like they were your own. He could feel his heart in his chest and knew it was bad news.

“You’re staring.” The little boy said, kicking him under the table.

“I am not.” Yunho frowned. He totally was.

“You’re right, you’re also drooling.” The kid teased. You looked over right as Yunho attacked the boy with tickles. You sighed, trying to fight the warm feeling in your chest.

The walk back was quiet, not awkward, just quiet. It was just you and Yunho, and two of his guards following about ten feet behind the two of you.

“I’m sorry about your father.” You said, breaking the silence but cringing when you realised what you said.

“That's okay.” Yunho shrugged. “It sucks but we were able to say goodbye.”

“He was a great man.” Yunho nodded.

“What about you, has Seonghwa been good to you?” He asked through his teeth. You looked away smiling, causing him to clench his fist.

“Him and Hongjoong have been great, I’ve learned so much from them, and for the first time in a long time I feel like I’ve lived my life, ya know?” You looked so happy that even though he wasn’t the cause, he didn’t mind all that much. “My parents weren’t happy that I left court but once they heard who I was with-”

“I’m glad.” Yunho tried to smile. “I’m glad you’re doing well.” Yunho walked you to your room in a tense silence. He excused himself at your door, not wanting to see you and Seonghwa in the same room, in fact, picturing it gave him a headache.

👑

After a few minutes, you left your room and headed towards the apothecary. You were more than surprised to find Yunho down there as well, jumping nearly ten feet when you saw him rummaging through the cabinets.

“What are you doing down here?” You asked through ragged breaths, holding your chest.

“I could ask you the same thing!” He whispered, pointing at you with a hand holding a bag of herbs.

“I asked you first!” You retorted, forgetting he was a king. You don’t know if you could ever get used to that.

“I have a headache.” He sighed. You hummed in response, telling him to sit down. You looked through the familiar herbs for one in specific. You boiled some water and used it to make tea. You handed one cup to Yunho who was sitting on one of the beds, and you sat on the one beside it. “What is it?” He asked, bringing the cup to his nose to smell.

“Thorn Aniseed.” You said, blowing on the tea in your cup. “It’s supposed to help with headaches and sleep problems.”

“How do you know that?” He asked, taking a sip from the cup without thinking. People all over the palace would faint at the thought of the king drinking something without having it checked for poison first.

“I’ve been having some trouble sleeping lately.” You shrugged. “I’ve tried everything there is.” Yunho squinted at you, that’s when he noticed the bags under your eyes. How did he not notice earlier? Your face is too pretty it's distracting.

“How long is lately?” He asked. You shrugged again.

“A year I guess?”

“A year?!” He yelled, shocked. You shushed him right away. “You’ve been having problems sleeping for a year? Why?” He asked, his heart breaking for you.

“At first, we thought it was because I wasn’t comfortable in the castle, but Hongjoong let me try every room I swear.” You smiled fondly at the thought of your friend pushing you to try sleeping in every room, even his own. “But because that didn’t help, we thought it was a medical thing but I’ve tried every herb and potion ever made and yet-”

“You still can’t sleep?” Yunho asked, you nodded, taking a sip of your drink.

After a few moments you yawned loudly and Yunho chuckled at your cute, sleepy state.

“C’mon, I’ll take you back to your room.” He offered his hand to you, but you could only sway, too tired to lift your hand. As you started to fall to your left, Yunho caught you, putting his arm around you. “Okay, I suppose we can stay for a bit.” He yawned, feeling your body relax against his. And for the first time in nearly a year, despite Yunho being as active as he is in his sleep, you slept soundly.

You woke up almost as soon as Yunho left in the morning, it’s like whatever sleeping curse you were under was broken by the sound of the door closing. You looked at the two mugs beside your bed and smiled at the familiar sight. A year ago, you had woken up in the middle of the night to Yunho snoring, beside your bed, and with him were two mugs sitting on the same table. You wanted to think it was just the apothecary that made you sleep so well, since it was the last time you properly slept but after sleeping there instead of your room for the past week, and last night being the best night of sleep you’ve had in a while, you knew that wasn’t the case.

Yunho walked back to his chambers with his heart beating out of his chest. He was so screwed. He still loved you. He knew it last night and he really knew it this morning when the two of you woke up in the same bed. He swore he would only close his eyes for a moment but when he opened them, the two of you were tangled together. He felt nauseous, because if someone caught you, your reputation would be ruined, and even more because you belonged to one of his best friends.

Now Yunho wasn’t avoiding just you, he was avoiding everyone. None of the guys had seen him all day and you were actively seeking him out, needing to talk to him. You didn’t have much hope that things would be different this time around but you knew, if you didn’t tell him that you could never live with yourself.

👑

“Big celebration?” A count from the north kingdom asked, looking around. Yunho was giving him a tour of the palace, to keep a good face with the northern kingdom.

“My brother is getting married in a few days.” Yunho said, as they walked down the hall together. The count hummed to himself, looking around again. Yunho had to stop himself from gagging by merely being in this awful man’s presence. They were being followed by a few of his own court advisers as well as some other important people from the northern kingdom, whom Yunho had not even bothered to pay attention to. “You’ll be meeting him and his fiancee at dinner tonight.”

Walking down the corridor, the group ran into you, Seonghwa and the same strange woman you came with. Yunho felt bad for never officially meeting her but she was always with you and Seonghwa and that’s exactly who he wanted to avoid. Yunho turned slightly, ready to run the other way, momentarily forgetting about his guests when the count raised an eyebrow at him. He cleared his throat, dropping his head with full intention of completely ignoring his friends. The smile Seonghwa gave him made his stomach churn with guilt.

“Yunho!” He grinned, finally being able to corner Yunho without him running away. The three of you approached Yunho who wouldn’t lift his eyes from the ground. “You’re a very difficult man to get a hold of.” He joked.

“Yes, well I’ve been busy, you know, being a king and such.” Yunho muttered. The count looked at the three of you expectantly. Seonghwa smiled politely, extending his hand.

“Park Seonghwa. Nice to meet you. This is my wife and my good friend Lady Y/N.” He smiled. Yunho’s head snapped up. Seonghwa placed his hand on the small of the girl's back, presenting her to the count and others. You giggled at Yunho’s shocked face.

“Wife?” He choked out, his heart filled with joy. The three of you chuckled, nodding at him. Yunho lunged at the girl, picking her up and spinning her around. “It’s so nice to meet you!” He cheered. She and Seonghwa laughed at him, and you wanted to enjoy the moment as well but you squirmed under the uncomfortable gaze of the count. He stepped forward and took your hand, bringing it up to his lips, staring into your eyes the whole time. The stubble on his face itched your hand, almost making you coil in disgust.

“Will you be joining us for dinner, Lady Y/N?” He asked as you took back your hand, trying to be subtle about wiping it off.

“I was under the impression tonight was a private, political dinner.” You said nervously, trying to talk your way out of it.

“Nonsense. I was told the young prince and his Fiancee would be there.” He grinned. You stuttered in response, trying to think of something that would excuse you from being in the same vicinity of this creepy old man for longer than necessary. “I look forward to seeing you there, you will sit with me so we can get more well acquainted won’t you?”

“Unfortunately, Y/N is my guest for tonight so she will be sitting with me.” Yunho said, finally stepping in. He towered in front of you and you clutched the back of his shirt, breathing out a sigh of relief.

“I see.” The count said, glaring at Yunho. “Well it was lovely to meet you, Lady Y/N. I look forward to seeing you at dinner.” He angled his body in a way that would both haunt your dreams and allow him to look at you from behind Yunho. He looked you down and before he could look you back up, Yunho shot his arm out in front of his face.

“Jinyoung will finish your tour.” At the end of his arm was JInyoung, one of the nobles, who nodded at him and led the crowd away. You meant to rest your forehead on his back, but he turned around so your forehead hit his chest. “Are you okay?” He asked, lifting your head to see any signs of distress. You nodded at him, even though you weren’t completely sure yourself. Hae Soo put her arm around you, asking you the same thing, she pulled you close saying she would take you back to your room.

“Nobody mention this to Jihyo, okay? If she found out she would have him beheaded and he looked kind of important.” You chuckled.

“If something happens, come find me right away.” Yunho frowned. You bit your bottom lip, nodding again, letting Seonghwa’s wife lead you away.

Yunho turned to Seonghwa and crushed him in a hug. Seonghwa laughed as much as he could with Yunho squeezing him so tight. “Your wife is amazing.” He beamed at his friend. Seonghwa chuckled, clapping his friend on the back, “let’s go grab a drink and I’ll tell you how Y/N has been.”

The boys were lounging in the gardens, laughing over some wine despite it being 4 in the afternoon.

“Nice to see the two of you have made up!” Hongjoong hollered. Seonghwa and Yunho chuckled, joining them.

“I think Yunho thought Y/N was my wife.” Seonghwa teased, while Yeosang poured them drinks.

“He definitely did!” Mingi laughed.

“Well she left with you! What did you expect me to think?” Yunho sighed.

“She may have left with me but she’s closer to Hongjoong now.” Seonghwa said. “The two of them are thick as thieves.”

“Y/N is quite impressive to have charmed two princes.” San said, taking a sip of his drink.

“Actually she’s only charmed one prince turned king.” Hongjoong winked at Yunho.

“Speaking of which, we heard about last night.” Jongho said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. For a split second, Yunho felt some of the residual guilt from this morning but now that he knew the truth about Seonghwa, he kicked himself for being so oblivious.

“Aish! It wasn’t like that!” Yunho said, throwing the wine cork at the youngest.

“I never said anything!” Jongho retorted, knowing exactly what he did.

“Y/N told me and Hongjoong, and we have to say,” Seonghwa hesitated, not wanting to offend a king, and even more not wanting to offend his friend.

“She spent a lot of time trying to get over you, so if you go there again you need to be absolutely sure of what you’re doing and what you’re going to do.” Hongjoong stated, standing up for you. He may have only been a price but he was wise enough to lead eight nations.

“What are you going to do?” Mingi asked. It seemed like none of the other boys were surprised about his feelings for you, which means Mingi probably told them about the year he spent pining for you.

👑

Thankfully, Jihyo didn’t press when you said you didn’t want to talk about it. But she had to ask, “Is it Yunho?” You shook your head so hard you would have neck pains in the morning.

“No he’s- no.” You stated. She looked at you uneasily.

“I’m just worried Y/N-”

“I know and I love you for that but I’m fine.” You told her, taking her hand in yours. You couldn’t blame her for worrying, Yunho cared for you last time as well and everything still went to shit. Jihyo never really mentioned his private life in her letters, just that he took the throne without a bride. He didn’t seem lonely, or maybe he was and no one noticed. But countless people tried setting him up and he would turn every single one of them down. He didn’t want anyone else by his side. Would it be simpler now that he was a king instead of a prince? Could things be different? But most importantly, did you love Yunho enough to risk getting your heart broken again?

Yunho went to the feast with good spirits, he didn’t like that the sleazy count was going to be in the same room as you but he would have to deal with that for the sake of not starting a war with the northern kingdom. Above that, he didn’t like that he couldn’t talk to you privately after he found out you and Seonghwa weren’t actually together. He spent ten minutes in the mirror, adjusting his tie, trying to figure out what he would say to you. If it were up to him, he would marry you on the spot but according to Hongjoong and Seonghwa, you’ve grown and Yunho doesn’t want to hold you back.

He smiled when he pictured you working in the stables, spending time with the animals, or hanging out in the kitchen, learning to cook from the chef. He pictured you during the time you tried to make something for Hongjoong for his birthday but failed miserably and ended up with cake ingredients all over you. He wished he was there to see it, but even more he wished he was there to support you. He sighed, straightening his outfit once more, once the count was gone he would pull you aside and talk to you like an adult, an adult who really hoped you liked him back.

The dining area was decorated extravagantly, to woo those who came from the northern kingdom. You took deep breaths remembering Yunho claiming you were his guest, that meant you didn’t have to sit with the count right? You let Jihyo go in first, saying you were going to take a moment. She eyed you suspiciously at first before someone walked up beside you. Yunho held his arm out,

“So sorry for being late m’lady.” You couldn’t help yourself from smiling back at his smile. You placed your hand on his arm, immediately relaxing on contact, Yunho wouldn’t let anything happen to you, right?

Yunho walked in with a grin on his face, knowing he had the most beautiful woman in the world on his arm. He pulled your chair out for you, not caring if that was a servant's job, and sat down to your right. Although he was supposed to be seducing the ambassadors from the northern kingdom, he couldn’t peel his attention away from you. Every time you said something, he would smile and every time you laughed, he would smile even wider. It didn’t help that there was copious amounts of wine at dinner on top of the wine he drank with the boys earlier.

The count eyed the blush on Yunho’s cheek, knowing that it was more likely you than the wine that was causing it. He put down the cup he was about to take a sip of, not able to hold himself back.

“Congratulations your highnesses,” He said, raising a cup to Jihyo and Mingi. “His royal highness told me about your upcoming nuptials.”

“Thank you.” Jihyo smiled brightly, despite the count's tone putting her off.

“Although,” he placed his cup back down and faced you and Yunho. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think it was the two of you getting married.” The comment made you shy but not having the same effect as it would have coming from anyone else. “Tell me, are you two…?”

“Uh, no,” Yunho said, clearing his throat. “We’re, um, close friends.” He hissed almost as if warning the count to back off.

“No I didn’t think so.” The count laughed. “Silly me, I forgot court ladies mean nothing to someone like the king, although I didn’t think you’d bring one of your mistresses to a dinner where you’re supposed to be impressing us.” The nobles from the northern kingdom chuckled amongst themselves, while Yunho’s people went dead silent, Hongjoong even choking on his drink.

“Excuse me?” You sneered. Mingi placed his hand on Jihyo’s to keep her from bending her fork in half.

“That’s right! You’re not even a lady of the court anymore, you’ve left the court isn’t that right? You’re nothing more than a common whore.”

“Count!” Yunho said, through gritted teeth, clenching his fists. “That is no way to speak to a lady.” He warned.

“My apologies.” The count smirked.

The rest of dinner was tense and quiet. The count had moved on like nothing happened but the only thing stopping Yunho from jumping across the table and beating him to death was your hand in his under the table. Everyone had looked at you for confirmation at some point but all you did was shake your head, one douche was not worth raising tensions with the northern kingdom even more. Eventually, holding your hand wasn’t enough to calm him and he intertwined your fingers with his. All he wanted to do was kick the count to the curb and hold you in his arms.

“Your majesty,” the count called, gaining his and everyone else's attention at the table. “I would like to thank you, for our stay here has truly been lovely.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” Yunho nodded with a fake smile. “Soon I’ll send our ambassadors to the north, and through your hospitality maybe we can see the good faith between our kingdoms.”

“Yes, of course! Anytime, in fact we would love to have Lady Y/N join us in the north.” He grinned at you.

“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible as lady Y/N is not part of the political side of court.” Yunho was back to talking through gritted teeth, in fact, if he tightened his jaw anymore there might have been a risk of dislocation.

“I know.” The count said simply. “I didn’t mean she would be coming for political reasons. Although she would definitely be considered when making a peace treaty, that is, depending on how peaceful she is” The count’s eyes roamed the parts of your body he could see, imagining the parts he could not.

“Viscount! I hope you do not mean-” Jihyo was shocked when the count merely raised his hand to shush her, a queen.

“You want peace. I want the girl. It’s a simple trade, besides what’s another whor-”

Yunho slammed his fist against the table. “That’s enough!” He yelled, demanding silence among the room. “Guards, take him to the dungeons, I want him executed tomorrow. The rest of you can get out.” He said, like it was nothing. Guards came forward, lifting the count out of his chair. He looked around shocked.

“You can’t do this, you idiot, you’ll start a war!” He roared. Yunho scoffed, shocked that the count thought he could get away with his behaviour. The rest of the guards came to escort the remaining nobles out.

“I trust that the rest of you misogynistic assholes can pass along what happened? Or should I have you wait until tomorrow and send you back with the count’s head to make sure your king really understands?” The guys looked at him in shock, never thinking these words would come close to coming out of Yunho’s mouth. “On second thought, take them all to the dungeons, I’ll figure out what to do with them later.” He snapped, before walking out. The guards dragged the men out of the room leaving only you and your friends.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that.” Mingi said, rubbing the goosebumps on his arm. You stood up, tossing your napkin on the table, turning to find Yunho.

You intended to check his room first but you heard crashes coming from the king’s chambers, you kept forgetting he wasn’t merely a prince anymore. You pushed the door open gently, Yunho was leaned over a chair breathing heavily, nearly everything in the room was tossed around, trunks were overturned, pictures were ripped and the mirror was nearly shattered completely.

“Yunho…” You said softly. “What have you done?” He looked up, his expression changing into something you were not familiar with. He was in front of you in a few long strides, and his lips were on yours even quicker. He was strong, his kiss was strong, filled with so many emotions. After a few seconds he relaxed, letting himself enjoy the feeling of your lips against his, and you in his arms. “You idiot.” You said breathlessly. He nuzzled his forehead against yours.

“You’re right, I’ve been such an idiot. The stupidest thing I’ve ever done was not fight for you. I won’t make that mistake anymore.” He whispered, kissing your lips again. You wanted to say what you had to but you didn’t have the resolve to push him away.

“That’s not what I meant but I’m not going to argue.” You giggled, making him smile. He kissed you again, it was like he couldn’t get enough of you. “You’re going to start a war-”

“Be mine?” He breathed. “I’m in love with you and I want you by my side- no, I need you by my side for the rest of my life. Stay here. Stay with me and be my queen? For I would start a thousand wars for you. What do you say?” He asked hopefully.

“I want to say yes, I wanted to say yes a year ago but the count is right, since I left court I’m nothing but a commoner now.” You sighed, staring to drop your hands from Yunho’s neck.

“Fuck that guy.” He said, pulling you closer, tighter in his arms. “What the king says goes, and I am never letting you go.”

“I can’t offer you land or riches,” you say, unable to hide your smile.

“The only thing I need from you is to forgive me for being so stupid last year. And a lot of kisses.” He said, making you giggle.

“Are you really going to have the count executed?” You asked. He hummed to himself, thinking for a moment.

“Light torture?” He offered.

“Yunho!” You smacked his shoulder.

“The fate of the count will be decided by the queen.” He grinned, swooping down and catching your lips in his once more.

THE END

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC’s Half Demon and They Look Awfully Familiar Lessons 18-20

Series Masterlist

T-the season finale… *sniffle* it’s been a wild ride y’all… I’ve never actually written and stuck through with something for so long, so this is a real achievement for me! I really hope you guys have enjoyed this completely weird fluffy/angsty/mildly crackhead adventure! Please enjoy the last part!

All is well, the family is back together, everyone’s fine, the school year is almost over-

Wait, the school year is almost over?

Upon realizing that, everyone settled into a state of mild panic.

MC couldn’t just leave, they were part of the family! An integral part! They were the only thing keeping everyone from murdering each other during family game night!

As for Lucifer’s personal feelings on the matter, things were… tough.

When the exchange program was announced, Lucifer expected it to end like most of Diavolo’s ideas: annoying to clean up, it certainly couldn’t have ended worse than when he and the Crown Prince ended up getting cursed to hold hands for 25 hours straight. What Lucifer didn’t expect was for a child he didn’t even know he had to end up as the human exchange student and for his entire life to be thrown out of whack. That child of his was busy finishing up their final paper of the year.

“Hey, father,” MC looked up from their paper with a cheeky smile. “Do you think that the next exchange student will be as fun as me?”

“I sincerely hope not.” Lucifer sighed, continuing to sift through his paperwork on his desk. “Your kind of ‘excitement’ has completely worn me out.”

“Aw,” MC giggled, then went back to work. “So you don’t want me to stay here then?”

Lucifer stiffened and looked up from his paperwork. “Don’t put words in my mouth, MC.”

“So you do want me to stay. Interesting~” MC said as they began to sweep the eraser shavings off their paper. “Well, if you want me to stay so badly, you could have just asked.”

“P-pardon?” Lucifer blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “You want to stay?”

“Since you’d be so sad without me, I guess I just have to don’t I?” MC stood suddenly and slapped their finished essay on Lucifer’s desk. “The sacrifices I make for this family, I swear!”

We stand with you, MC, sacrifice your sanity for your weird-ass familia.

Anyway, Lucifer was thrilled that MC wanted to stay with him in the Devildom, the problem was… MC’s other parent may not have been too keen to just give up their baby.

You know, the demon child they raised all by themselves, with no help from Lucifer because he didn’t know MC existed…

Someone get MC’s ren on the phone! Stat!

“Alright dear little brothers of mine, listen closely because I’m not repeating this.” Lucifer looked over the living room couches at the other six rulers of hell. Belphie was sprawled out on one of the couches and was drooling all over Beel’s lap, Satan was making a point to look as disinterested as possible and kept sneaking glances at the book he was holding, and Mammon was wrestling Levi dangerously close to where Asmo was filing his nails.

Sighing in defeat, Lucifer continued. If any of his brothers misbehaved he couldn’t say he didn’t warn them. “MC‘s parent will be coming to visit.”

Everyone’s attention snapped to Lucifer. Wonderful.

“They’ll be staying for a few days and will decide if it’s in MC’s best interest to primarily stay in the Devildom from now on.”

Asmodeus slowly raised a hand. “Luciiiiiiferrrr!”

“Asmo, is your question overly personal in nature?”

The Avatar of lust brought a manicured nail to his cheek and daintily tapped it. “Mmm… I don’t think so.”

“Ask.”

“How long were you and MC’s parent dating for? Won’t it be awkward to be around your ex?”

Lucifer dragged a gloved hand down his face. “It was a one night thing.”

“Really?” Asmo knitted his eyebrows in confusion. “It wasn’t a long drawn out forbidden romance? You must have had some Olympic swimmers down there!”

“Okay!” Lucifer clapped his hands. “Add that to the list of things Asmo is not allowed to say.”

“We have to take something off the list then…” Beel said through handfuls of chips. “The list’s full.”

“Fine,” Lucifer grumbled. “He can say [CENSORED] again.”

“Yippee! [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED]”

The group collectively groaned as Asmo continued to spout his profane nonsense.

“What did I just walk in on..?” MC stood in the doorway to the living room, still in their PJs.

“Oh, MC, your parent’s coming over to stay for a few days.” Lucifer quickly explained.

MC’s face morphed from confusion to horror. “What does that have to do with [CENSORED]?!”

This house is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE-

Anyway, after the initial confusion/horror, MC got really excited and rushed off to get ready. Meanwhile, the boys solemnly swore that they would be on their best behaviour!

Everyone needed to convince MC’s parent that everything in the Devildom was perfectly safe and that their little hellspawn was in good responsible hands.

Mammon tried to come up with a plan in case MC wasn’t allowed to stay with them, and let’s just say it involved kidnapping. But like- a chill kind of kidnapping where MC would be totally fine.

This idea was immediately shot down in favour of Beel’s plan B.

Beel would just… eat MC’s parent. No biggie, right?

Lucifer shot that one down the moment he heard it.

The only accepted plan for if MC wasn’t allowed to stay was just letting them go. They’d visit the Devildom. A lot. Many visits would be necessary.

So, the hour of MC’s ren’s arrival had come, and the student council assembled to greet them.

Greet the human. The completely non magical human. Greet them and then let them see the Devildom…

Was this exchange program really that good of an idea..?

MC frantically attempted to do some last minute fixes to their hair as they sat themselves down in their seat in the Assembly Hall. Ugh… stupid hair…

“Why are you so nervous?” Satan asked. “Is our visitor a neat freak basket case?”

“No!” MC huffed. “They’re not! I’m just making myself presentable so they don’t think I’ve gone completely feral down here.”

“Well, feral no, crazy, yes. Have you seen yourself lately?” Belphie snickered.

“SHUT UP BELPHIE.”

“Would you all be quiet?” Lucifer snapped. “You’re all acting like children.”

“I am a child.” MC snapped back. “What’s Belphie’s excuse?”

Belphie’s retort was cut off by the portal opening and a figure leisurely floating to the ground. They had an open parasol in their right hand that seemed to be aiding their gentle descent, and a large container full of what smelled like cookies tucked into their left side. The moment their toes touched the floor, the human gracefully closed their parasol and gave the assembled demons a sparkling smile and a polite bow.

“Thank you for allowing me the honour to visit,” the human’s voice was as soft and sweet as Cotton candy. “It’s a pleasure to officially meet the princes of hell themselves.”

:D yay!

After floating down from the sky like Mary Poppins, MC lost all sense of propriety and ran over to tackle their ren into a hug. It was that kind of thing where you really miss someone but you don’t realize exactly how much until you get to see them again.

Lucifer was, of course, the picture of elegance and “this isn’t awkward at all”-ness.

MC’s parent didn’t even seem to be all that concerned with the fact that their baby daddy was, y'know, LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR. THE MOST POMPOUS FUCKWAD IN THE DEVILDOM.

Please don’t tell him I said that, he’s still mad about the Go Fund Me…

MC was absolutely ecstatic to finally show their parent how much they’ve grown in terms of their demonic powers and all the friends they had made, but MC’s ren was more concerned with how much they had grown in terms of their height.

“You’re just so tall now,” MC’s ren giggled as they fixed their child’s hair. “You’ll get things off of shelves for me, won’t you?”

“Yeah yeah,” MC said, rolling their eyes good naturedly. “Like you can’t reach anything in your kitchen.”

“Okay,” Mammon, Satan, Levi, Belphie, and Beel were lagging behind Lucifer, MC, their parent, and Diavolo. “Change of plans, we ain’t eatin’ ‘em, we’re keepin’ ‘em.”

“We were never going to eat them in the first place, idiot.” Satan sneered. “And what’s with the change of tune? You were ready to wage war on the human world fifteen minutes ago.”

“…cookies happened.” Mammon mumbled. He had only gotten one of the human’s totally amazing offerings before Beel proceeded to eat everything. The cookie was perfect… so delicious…

“I say we keep the human.” Beel put a hand on his stomach. “I want more human world cookies.”

“They’re so cute too…” Asmo cooed. “A solid 10/10, and that’s such a rare ranking coming from the only 20/10 in existence!”

“Asmo, your vanity never ceases to make me want to roll over and-” Belphie’s insult was interrupted by him passing out and letting out a cartoonishly loud snore. It was a good thing Beel was able to quickly catch and throw Belphie over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

“Asmo has a point, they’re just so totally moe! Kawaii to the highest degree! That parasol, the homemade cookies, it’s just like something from a slice of life anime!” Levi squee-ed.

“So it’s settled, we treat ‘em nice, then we get ‘em to stay.” Mammon nodded to the rest of his brothers, who for the first time in the Demon King knows how long, his little brothers nodded back in full seriousness. They were actually doing a Mammon plan! Holy shit!

So, the brothers liked MC’s ren, what about Diavolo and Barbatos?

Well, MC’s ren had heard all about Barbatos’ amazing cooking from MC and Barb’s totally outstanding reputation, so the two got along swimmingly.

Dia. Loved. That. Human. They’re cute???? They’re sweet???? They brought COOKIES???! They don’t seem to be afraid of him at all????? Please be the exchange student next year :D

Oh yeah… he made a rule that said they couldn’t summon someone with kids… it would be cruel to rip a parent away from their child…

But apparently not a child away from their parent cough cough

Other than the uncle squad, MC’s ren got to meet the Purgatory Hall gang too!

MC was being just the most adorable tour guide, but that didn’t stop Lucifer from having a miniature heart attack any time a demon even looked at MC’s parent the wrong way. If MC’s ren got attacked or felt threatened in any way shape or form, he could say bye bye to his time with the one person in the HOL that didn’t live to make him pop a forehead vein. The human seemed outwardly unconcerned with any Devildom oddness and was amicably chatting with Diavolo while MC pulled them from place to place.

“And that’s Hell’s Kitchen, they have good sandwiches, and that’s Madame Scream’s, they have really good macarons.” MC helpfully pointed out the places as they passed them.

A much to familiar trio of voices called out from down the street. Father dammit, why were they here..?

“Hello Lucifer, what are you all up too?” Ugh… Simeon…

“From the sight of the rest of your brothers skulking about, it appears like they’re acting as bodyguards.” Solomon…

“MC? Who’s that?”

Oh good grief… that nasally little voice… the chihuahua was near… Now… Lucifer was a respectable demon… respectable demons don’t tease children in front of the parent of their child…

“Hello chihuahua.”

DAMN IT HE COULDN’T HELP HIMSELF!

“I’m not a chihuahua you demon!” Luke yapped.

MC’s parent daintily tilted their head and looked over at MC. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Right, Luke, this is my ren, ren, this is a chihuahua.” MC grinned cheekily as they gestured between the two. Lucifer suppressed a laugh which resulted in a very ugly snort. It was a good thing the sound was drowned out by Luke’s exclamations of betrayal.

The chorus of “how could you?!”s and “I thought you were over that awful nickname!”s was put to an abrupt halt when the visiting human elegantly offered a handshake to the fuming angel.

“MC spoke very highly of you,” they chirped. “It’s very nice to meet you, Luke.”

Luke blinked a few times, then quickly straightened his posture, adjusted his hat, then shook MC’s ren’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“That’s Simeon.” MC jerked a thumb in Simeon’s direction. “And that’s Solomon.”

“Luke got a whole introduction and we get that? Come on MC, I thought we were friends.” Solomon fake pouted at MC after giving a polite nod to MC’s parent.

“We stopped being friends after one of the potions you had me test out turned me into a-” as quick as lighting, Mammon had shoved his hand into MC’s face.

“A-ah, MC’s rememberin’ stuff wrong, nothin’ potion related happened to ‘em. Right, Solomon???!”

Taking the hint from Mammon, Solomon smiled and nodded. “Nope, nothing related to turning MC into a frog for a few hours.”

“Hm, well I’m quite happy that absolutely nothing frog transformation related happened.” MC’s parent said.

“Yeah, must’ve hit their head on somethin- YEEEOW!” MC had bitten down on Mammon’s hand and slapped it away from them.

“I did not hit my head on anything!”

“Yeah,” Beel nodded. “Nothing’s hit them since the Fangol ball.”

“The what ball?” MC’s ren asked.

“The Fangol ball that hit MC a few months back and broke their glasses.” Five of the brothers slapped their hands to their foreheads.

“Oh my…”

“Eh,” MC patted their ren on the arm. “That’s nothing compared to the giant snake at the retreat.”

“Oh! Do you mind letting me tell that story, MC?”

Lucifer was frantically signalling for Diavolo to stop talking but the crown prince was already beginning his retelling of the events. Luke would chime in with an anecdote from an even worse misadventure the two had gone out on every once and a while. This… this wasn’t going well at all…

MC’s ren was… weirdly chill about the whole thing…

“Oh, it’s so nice that you’re having fun, sweetheart. That reminds me of when I was young and your aunt Clytemnestra and I would go out and have adventures.” “Really? You went on weird adventures too?” “…what kind of adventures could possibly compare to being chased by a giant snake in an underground labyrinth..?”

The side characters ended up needing to abscond for various reasons and all that was left was the brothers, MC, and MC’s parent.

They made it to the HOL without issue, which is when Lucifer remembered that he did not put all the cursed objects out of reach… shit.

“Asmo… Asmo!” “What is it?” “Take MC’s ren out of the house in half an hour, keep them occupied in the living room!” “What? Why?” “I need more time to human-proof the house! Distract them, but no funny business!” “Dear brother, for the first time in a very long time funny business is the second thing on my mind! Wait… no, it’s the third… what have I become..?”

Asmo and Satan, super graciously by the way, led MC and their ren to the living room to distract- I mean entertain them for a bit!

Lucifer and the rest of the gang got to work moving certain things around and closing certain doors- shit where was Cerberus?! Did Lucifer forget to walk him that morning?!

So much to dooooooo…

So maybe bringing a human into Majolish and letting them roam around unsupervised wasn’t the best idea Satan and Asmo had, but it sure as heck was an idea. MC looked through shelves of hairpins and bracelets while their ren disappeared around a corner to look at scarves.

“We’re doing such a great job babysitting!” Asmo clapped his hands. “If MC had just been a normal human I bet they’d last the entire year under our care.”

“Hm, you might be right.” Satan smiled and nodded. “Humans are surprisingly entertaining.”

“Yes… speaking of, where exactly is the human?”

The sudden sound of metal slamming against flesh and the delayed sound of something incredibly heavy hitting the floor jolted Asmo and Satan from their conversation.

“Honestly, some people have no fucking manners!”

It was such a different voice than what Satan and Asmo were used to that the only thing that tipped them off to it being MC’s ren was the fact that MC began to giggle. MC’s ren stepped back into view carrying a metal staff that quickly transformed back to their parasol.

Asmo and Satan rushed over to check if their defenceless little human guest was okay, only to find some lesser demon passed out on the floor with an incredibly nasty bump on the side of their head.

“I’ve heard that humans are apparently quite delicious to demons but I didn’t expect someone to actually try and eat me.”

“I-um…” Satan sputtered, looking from Asmo to MC’s parent. “We’re uh…”

“You alright, ren?” MC called from over by the bracelet shelves.

“Yes, I’m alright.” MC’s ren gave the fourth and fifth born a calming smile. “No harm done, well, except to that poor bastard. I do hope I haven’t killed him… that would be such a nasty thing for the poor sales associates to find.”

Okay so maybe the defenceless human wasn’t so defenceless. That was a good thing… right?

“So where exactly did you manage to get your hands on such a weapon..?” “Ah, I come from a family of witches. This was a college graduation present.”

…doit doit seems legit.

The four made it back home just in time, Lucifer and the others had finished human proofing the house.

Yay!

The house tour went by smoothly, everything was all well and good until Beel and Belphie asked MC’s ren to make more cookies.

Oh god dammit the human said they would.

“Oh Beel, you shouldn’t eat the cookie dough raw… the eggs and raw flour will make you sick!” “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. Besides, it’s best not to interrupt Beel while he’s eating.” “Yeah it might end like the custard incident.” “Custard… incident?” “MC and Mammon ate my custard and I ended up breaking the wall that connected to MC’s room.” “Hunger tantrums, am I right?”

After that it was Mammon and Levi’s turn to babysit. It went about as well as you’d think.

Levi explained some anime plot in an attempt to make it seem like the Devildom was totally safe and that MC and their ren could stay forever no problem, while Mammon desperately suppressed the urge to swipe the cool parasol.

Finally, it was time for the verdict. Would MC be allowed to stay in the Devildom..? Or would they go back to the human world..?

“Lucifer?”

The demon in question looked up from his paperwork and tried to nod in the most casual way possible. MC’d ren was standing in the doorway, Lucifer must have missed their knock. “Yes? Do you need something?”

MC’s ren smiled and nodded. “It’s about MC’s living situation going forward.”

Lucifer stiffened and got up from his desk. “Y-yes… what about it?”

“MC has expressed that they want to stay here full time with frequent visits to the human world.” The softness that their voice had earlier in the day was completely absent as the human stepped forward into the study and closed the door behind them. “I want to know what you think about that.”

“Well,” Lucifer cleared his throat and tried to shake off the stupid sense of nervousness that had wrapped itself around him. A weak little human’s decision should not make him so anxious! “I would like for MC to stay here as well, I think it would be best for them.”

The human raised an eyebrow and twirled their parasol in their hand. “Really now? In your year with them you truly believe you know what’s best for them?”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. I do.”

MC’s ren went quiet for a few seconds before replying. “I see.”

“And that means..?”

“I knew this day would come, but I didn’t think it’d be so soon.” MC’s ren sighed, and for the first time all day, they actually let their exhaustion show. “I raised MC knowing that one day they’d end up in the Devildom. They’ve told me over and over again how much they like it down here…” the human took a deep breath and slowly shook their head. “If this is what they want… then I give my permission for them to stay with you.”

A wave of relief swept over Lucifer as he finally took a breath. “Thank you.”

“Mm… I’m going to have to use my favour though.”

The relief completely vanished as the Avatar of Pride’s blood ran cold. Memories flooded back from the one night the pair had spent together, the human had offered a cursed record to him that he had spent decades trying to find, in exchange, Lucifer let them have one favour. A favour from a demon was like a single pact order, Lucifer had to do literally anything this human wanted.

“Protect MC, even if it costs you your life.” The human’s words were careful and measured as Lucifer felt the order sink in. “You’ll do that for them, right Lucifer?”

Lucifer nodded as life flooded back into his limbs. “I would have done it without the order.”

So, the brother’s plan to make MC’s ren stay forever failed because they were going back to the human world with MC for summer vacation. Listen, it was needed, MC needed to see the sun lest they shrivel like a sad houseplant.

At least Lucifer technically had primary custody of his little heathen! Victory!

MC said their goodbyes to the friends they had made over the year as they prepared to leave for the next two months, it was filled with so many bone-crushing hugs that MC was surprised that their spine didn’t snap.

MC and Luke had lagged behind the much larger group as they made their way to the assembly hall. MC’s ren was dazzling the miniature crowd with stories of just how adorable MC was as a little kid. The half demon rolled their eyes and silently mourned the loss of any cool points they had gained over the year. Their little companion was oddly quiet, MC lightly nudged him and smiled.

“Aren’t you happy to be going home? You’ve been griping about being stuck down here the entire year. Don’t tell me you’re getting sappy, Luke.”

Luke puffed his cheek out and crossed his arms. “Of course I’m happy to be leaving, the Celestial Realm is the best place ever, the Devildom is completely terrible in every way.”

MC smirked and rolled their eyes again. Just let the little guy go on his rant…

“But… I am going to miss you…” Luke mumbled, MC’s eyebrows shot upwards as they turned their head to look at him. “Th-thanks for being my friend down here… MC. You’re… you’re really nice.”

To their absolute horror, MC felt a lump form in their throat. Oh dear Grandfather… the chihuahua was what broke them?! They quickly looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, then quickly pulled Luke into a hug. The hug was over as fast as it began, but it seemed that Luke didn’t particularly care and was more shocked at the sudden bout of affection.

“If anyone, and I mean anyone asks, I didn’t hug you.” MC murmured, quickly swiping at their eyes.

Luke nodded, a small smile spread across his face. “Got it!”

So the side characters left… *sniffle* everything’s okay… the DDDs work in any of the realms… they could still talk.

Soon, it was time for the final sets of goodbyes…

“Come on, Bean, we’re going to the human world!” MC tried to take the cat from Satan, who didn’t move a muscle.

“If you think you’re taking the cat from here, you’re delusional.” Satan’s smile didn’t leave his face, but the force behind his words was almost enough to make MC back off. Almost…

“My caaaaaat!” MC whined, they ended up getting lightly pushed away by Satan.

“Remember, the summer’s a good time to catch up on anime!” Levi advised. “There’s 24 hours in a day, and an average anime episode is 22 minutes long, you have loads of time!”

“I’ll keep up with my anime only if you promise to listen to the Death Note musical, Levi.” MC giggled and patted Levi on the shoulder.

“Remember MC, take care of your cuticles and your skin.” Asmo took MC’s hand and checked their fingernails. “They were an absolute mess before you got here, so I expect you to keep up your routines this summer!”

“Yeeeeeeeeeeees siiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrr.”

“Bye MC,” Beel handed MC a half opened cup of custard. “I almost ate it, but I didn’t. Make sure you don’t skip any meals this summer.

MC jumped up and gave Beel a quick hug. “Thanks Beel! I’ll be sure to enjoy the custard!”

“Bye, MC. See you next year.” Belphie stood awkwardly stiff, not exactly sure what to do. MC pursed their lips, then quickly wrapped him up in a hug.

“Bye Belphie, I hope all your pillow forts are structurally unsound.”

The avatar of sloth snickered and rested his head on MC’s. “I hope you get really comfortable and are fully ready to go to sleep, then realize you have to pee.”

MC gasped in fake offence and swatted Belphie on the arm.

Mammon put both his hands on MC’s shoulders, his face unusually serious. “Do ya remember what the great Mammon took painstakin’ effort to teach ya?”

“Payday loans are scams, witches are scary, bowline knots are the easiest to undo, don’t wear reflective sunglasses to a poker game aaaaaaaand…” MC grinned mischievously. “Any plan thought up by the Great Mammon should be subject to intense revision.”

“That’s ri- hey!” Mammon laughed and shoved MC towards Lucifer.

MC looked up at Lucifer, the pride demon looked down at them fondly. He reached out and gently ruffled their hair. “I’ll see you next year, MC.”

“Y-yeah…”

Lucifer crouched down slightly to get to their level and gave MC a smile. “I’m very proud of you, you’ve been an immense help this year. Thank you for everything.”

“Thanks for not being a stereotypical supervillain dad, father.” MC smiled softly and fixed their glasses. “Loveyoubye!”

MC turned and rushed to their ren’s side as Lucifer let out a soft chuckle.

“I love you too, MC.”

As Barbatos readied the portal to send the pair to the human world, MC couldn’t wipe the grin off their face. Geez, if this year was a metric mess of fun and insanity… what was the next year going to be like? The half demon’s grin morphed into a bit of a smirk. No way in hell their next year in the Devildom was going to be as insane as their first year.

MC almost giggled as they gave their family one last wave. That wasn’t the time to think about the future, besides, MC knew that it would take two insane chaotic humans to be summoned into the Devildom to even come close to the chaos MC managed to create, both on purpose and by accident.

And what were the odds of that happening?

——————

Authors Note: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ITS DONE SEASON ONE IS DONE!

I wasn’t able to fit the Anti Lucifer League stuff into this one, I’ll put it in a separate fic later!

I NOW NEED TO WORK ON GETTING THROUGH SEASON 2 IN THE ACTUAL GAME. To get mildly serious for a second, thanks to everyone who has stuck around to listen to me spout my fic-y nonsense, you all are nerds (affectionate) and I love you.

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

Merlin has been gone for two years, Arthur has a meeting with the Lord Emrys to help with the changing laws:

And he has never bitterly regretted sending Merlin away more

Part 2(final part)

Angst,

SO

I'm gonna say... about 6 months before Uther dies, Merlin's magic is revealed to Arthur.

He really does NOT react well.

Arthur doesn't let Merlin get a word of explanation in, before he hits him on the head so hard he's unconscious before he even hits the floor.

When Merlin wakes up, what he can only assume is MUCH later, he's wearing cold iron shackles, he's been blindfolded, and gagged.

He just listens at first, still dazed and certainly concussed.

After about twenty minutes he's more aware, and realises... he's outside, in a forest, and he's on his own.

~

It’s been two years since Arthur abandoned Merlin in the woods beyond Camelot’s border.

He’s been King now for about a year and a half.

He went back three days later and tracked Merlin for a few hours, before coming to the conclusion that he'd gotten away safely, and heading back to Camelot.

He always tried to justify it to himself as protecting Merlin from Uther, ignoring the fact that Merlin had managed just fine on his own for years.

But really that was just an excuse. All he saw in the moment was a liar and a traitor. Really he should've had Merlin executed so... he's still a good person. He did the right thing.

He hadn't told anyone else the truth (perhaps because he knows they would hate him for it). Instead he told them that he and Merlin had argued, and before Arthur could get to the bottom of why his manservant was so irate, he stormed off in the middle of the night, and told him he wasn't coming back.

He stuck to that story the whole two years, though he's fairly certain they at least suspect he's lying. Gaius definitely does.

I imagine Gaius, only a few days after Merlin's disappearance, taking Arthur aside one night, and demanding to know if Merlin was dead. If Arthur had killed him:

"No! No of course not. He... we had a fight. It's like I said. He left in the night and told me not to follow him, that he wasn't coming back. I plan to respect his wishes."

Gaius releases the bruising grip he'd had on Arthur’s arm and takes a step back, his expression unreadable as he stares at the Prince.

"I...why would think I killed him?"

"Despite the fact that he most certainly could've defended himself against you, I always found it troubling how willing he was to let you execute him, should that be what you wanted."

Arthur has no reply to that, what would he even say? Would Merlin really have willingly walked to a pyre? If Arthur had only asked?

Gaius goes to walk away at that, but just before he shuts the door behind him, he pauses, and without looking back, says:

"If I find out you have killed my son, Sire, for who he is, there will... there is a large group of people who would see that justice is served. Myself included."

Everyone notices the change in the relationship between Gaius and Arthur since Merlin had left.

Arthur, with the knowledge that Gaius knows. Knows the truth and had guessed what he'd done. He couldn't face that.

They barely spoke to each other, Arthur avoided the physician wherever possible and words of encouragement and kindness were no longer aimed his way from the gentle old man.

His relationships with the others deteriorated as well.

They either thought he was telling the truth, and resented him for both being cruel to Merlin, and letting him go so easily.

(After years of Arthur treating Merlin terribly, no one is really surprised that Merlin had decided he'd had enough and left.)

OR they thought he was lying, hiding something, and resented him for not telling them the truth, and potentially doing something unforgivable to Merlin.

All but Gwaine are still polite to him, showing him the due respect of a Prince, and then a King, but not of a friend.

After a series of hijinks, Arthur comes to the terrifying realisation that magic isn't all bad.

Really I think, he's known all along. But admitting that magic wasn't pure evil made what he did to Merlin even more unforgivable.

He begins making moves to legalise it. It's slow and difficult, and he meets resistance at every turn.

BUT he also has the surprising support of Gaius, and his knights, and Gwen, and Morgana.

Still, none of them treat him like a friend, not the way they used to, but they're helping him along the way. He hadn't realised how many people close to him opposed the ban, until he started dismantling it.

Hope rises in him, over the months, as he realises that once he's legalised magic, he can find Merlin, and bring him back. The first place he'll check is Ealdor.

He's... scared of that. Scared that he won't be able to find him, but more scared that he will. That Merlin will hate him. That Merlin won't care that he's repealing the ban and won't want to come back.

Arthur doesn't think he could bare that.

Mostly because he knows that it would be entirely his own fault.

After the ban is finally lifted, there are huge celebrations. If the King is seen to be searching the crowds, as if for a familiar face, no one mentions it.

A few days later, a group of Druids come for an audience with the King, and are met by Arthur in the courtyard.

After quick introductions, and pleasantries, the leader begins to speak:

"Once and Future King, I first want to extend my gratitude for this warm welcome, and promise that you have the Druid's full support in lifting the ban. We hope for a peaceful future, full of cooperation and compassion."

Arthur nods and smiles slightly at that, but before he can reply in anyway, the Druid speaks again:

"Our leader, the leader of all Druids and all magic of the world, would like to convene with you, and discuss the specifics of any future agreements between our two worlds."

Arthur is surprised at that, but hides it well. Leader of... all magic? Sounds... powerful:

"Of course, I readily accept. They may bring themselves forth, I will make time for a meeting whenever they so choose."

"Your majesty, My Lord Emrys already awaits you in the throne room-"

(The Druid smiles at Arthur's barely concealed shock at his words, both at the idea that someone had snuck into his castle undetected, and at the mention of Emrys. One of the the few conversations he'd had with Gaius had been an in-depth explanation of who Emrys was, and his and Arthur's destiny (the physician had failed, of course, to mention Emrys' true identity.)) 

The Druid continues gently:

"-He's not one for public appearances."

"I.... of course. Will you and your group be attending? Or would you like to be shown to your rooms immediately?"

"This is a matter to be discussed privately, between the two of you, My Lord. Myself and my group have a camp just beyond the city walls that we will return to. Thank you for the offer of hospitality, we appreciate the kindness greatly."

With that, the Druid gives another short bow before turning and leaving through the castle gates, his group following closely behind him.

Arthur takes a deep breath, briefly glancing at Sir Leon, who stands at his side, and instructing him to inform the council that any remaining meetings for the day had been cancelled.

Leon gives a stiff nod and stalks off. He had been the best at hiding his disdain for his former best friend, but it still shone through occasionally, and Arthur's heart clenches as he thinks that he really can blame no one but himself for the deterioration of everything in his personal life.

With another deep breath, he re-enters the castle, and heads towards the throne room, trying to psyche himself up for meeting the supposed Leader of All Magic, who had managed to sneak his way into the heart of the castle, without anyone noticing or raising the alarm.

He pauses briefly outside the doors, and instructs the guards to not let Anyone in, without the King's express permission.

They nod, and with that, Arthur opens the doors and enters, shutting them quietly, before turning around to be faced with a near empty throne room.

He furrows his brow as his eyes settle on a single man, his back to Arthur where he stands gazing out a window, onto the courtyard below.

Arthur can't see his face, he can't see much of him to be honest, he's shrouded in a floor length blue cloak, hood up and covering his head.

The King stares only for a moment before raising himself to his full height, clearing his throat, and speaking:

"Lord Emrys? It's my honour to welcome you to Camelot. Thank you for coming."

The man turns his head slightly at that, though not enough for Arthur to see any more of his face.

"Your honour?-"

He huffs a small laugh at that, though it sounds dry and sarcastic, as opposed to genuinely humoured.

"- we shall see about that."

His voice comes out strangely, obviously magically altered, and Arthur has to stop himself from gulping at the many voices echoing around the otherwise empty room.

They sound sort of... familiar? But he pushes that feeling down and takes yet another deep breath:

"Of course. I've been told a great deal about you. That you have always been an ally to Camelot, and have protected both me personally, and the Kingdom, from the shadows, never asking for credit or requesting recognition. I thank you for that, my gratitude knows no bounds. You had no reason to protect a kingdom that previously would have seen you burn, though I swear to you, that is not how things work now."

Emrys let's out a chuckle at that, this one somehow even less humoured than the last

He gives a small nod, before saying, almost to himself, though Arthur hears anyway:

"Yes, we shall see."

His voice is no longer disguised, and Arthur once again pushes down the feeling of recognition blooming in his chest. He's sure he knows that voice.

("It sounds like.... no. It isn't. Stop hearing things that aren't there. You're just setting yourself up for heartbreak." runs through his head.)

Arthur is unsure how to continue the conversation from there, but before he has to force some sort of response out, Emrys finally turns, and lowers his hood.

Arthur takes a step back and gasps, his eyes wide.

Merlin's hard eyes stare back at him, his expression completely blank. He looks very different, but is still recognisable as Arthur's former manservant.

"...Merlin?" Escapes Arthur's mouth, so quietly he can barely hear it himself

At this, Emrys let's out a deep sigh, sounding almost resigned, as he cocks an eyebrow and replies:

"No one's called me that in two and a half years. You know, I used to hate the idea of people calling me Emrys instead of Merlin. Now, I find that I feel the exact opposite.-"

He tilts his head slightly, looking briefly puzzled as he maintains eye contact and mumbles:

“-Or perhaps it’s just you.”

At this Arthur gulps, and really looks at Merlin... or Emrys.

He's bulked out a little, no longer skinny and sickly looking, he fills his clothes (good quality, blues and silvers and blacks, intricate patterns and fitting well) in a way he never had before. His hair has grown out long and curls around his ears. His beard has grown in a little.

(Think, the living and the dead) :

His hands, which now have druid markings tattooed all over (they're also just about visible above his collar, though they don't go very far up his neck) , are clasped tightly in front of him, his fingers adorned with a couple of rings.

Nothing he wears looks especially expensive, Merlin had never been one to dress up, but they are good quality, and screamed "Druid" and "powerful".

"You're Emrys? Why did you never say??"

Merli-... Emrys tenses his jaw at that, his face showing slight anger as opposed to the boredom it displayed before, but before he can answer, the gang bursts in all at once.

Arthur can hear the guards yelling over the top of the door banging against the wall, and the footsteps of eight people rushing into the room.

"I tried to stop them sire but they wouldn't- Merlin??" From Leon has Arthur letting out a frustrated growl.

The King sweeps his eyes over the rest of the group as they all stare in surprise at Merlin.

Gaius is the only one who doesn't look surprised, he is instead smiling, and steps forward to offer Merlin a hug, which he accepts with no resistance as a small smile graces his face.

Merlin speaks quietly, but everyone can hear him:

"It's good to see you Gaius. I've missed you. When this is all sorted I've got so many things to tell you, to show you."

Gaius pulls back and grins even wider,

"All in time, dear boy. You're looking very well. I'm glad you've finally revealed yourself as the Lord Emrys."

Merlin blushes slightly at that and looks down:

"I haven't gone by the name Merlin in almost three years Gaius, Camelot has been the only place to not know me."

Merlin steps back, and glances quickly at the others, before settling his gaze on Arthur, who is looking a little like an animal caught in a trap. Merlin's eyes harden once again, and he schools his face back into disinterest and boredom:

"As I was about to say before, My King, I didn't get a chance to explain myself to you before I awoke, shackled and blinded and cold, with a rather nasty head wound, in the middle of a forest. And quite frankly, after that, I wasn't prepared to stumble my way back to Camelot and try for a second time. Though perhaps I should be grateful you simply knocked me out and dumped me, as opposed to burning me?"

Arthur looks to be in physical pain, but doesn't look away from Merlin, not even as the others gasp and mutter and stare and glare at him.

"Shackled? You.... I knew you were lying you monster. How could you?!" From Morgana is the first thing loud enough to be heard.

It's Gwaine who speaks next, but Arthur still doesn't look away from Merlin:

"You bastard. What the fuck is wrong with you?!" He goes to draw his sword and step towards the King, but Elyan holds him back:

"No, Gwaine. It isn't our place. This is Merlin's fight, and he knows we all stand with him."

At that, Merlin finally looks away, an ever so slight smile escapes as Elyan nods to him, and becomes the first of the group to move to stand behind Merlin, facing the king. The others follow shortly after.

They stand in a group just behind him, the fury rolling off them in waves.

Morgana steps forward and takes one of Merlin's hands in her own. Staring Arthur down, she speaks, her eyes flash gold as a sharp wind whips through the throne room. No windows or doors have been left open:

"Would you have done the same to me, brother-mine? Would you have beaten me and shackled me and left me in a forest to rot?"

Arthur steps back in complete shock, the group behind her and Merlin are also shocked, but take it in their stride.

Merlin squeezes her hand in a silent "I'm sorry, I'm with you, I'll teach you, you're safe."

Arthur doesn't really have the words at this point. He's speechless and in shock and almost crying.

He had always known that his first meeting with Merlin would be difficult, but he wasn't expecting everyone who had ever been important to him to be there as well, stood opposite him, hating him.

The wind dies down as Gwen places a hand on the other woman's shoulder from behind. Merlin looks towards Morgana first, and offers a comforting smile to her teary face, before looking behind him to the others.

"As much as I appreciate the support, and as much as I love, and have missed you all, I think me and the King need to have a private meeting on the matter. Personal problems aside, I need to see to the continued safety of my people."

It’s quiet, reserved Percival, who speaks up:

"Like hell are we leaving you with him now we know what he did." The others nod at this, but Merlin replies gently:

"I'll be fine, I'm perfectly capable of defending myself. Go, I'll find you later."

At this, he turns once more to Morgana:

"There is a group of Druids camped just beyond the city walls, go to them, take Gaius. They will help you until this is all resolved, and then I can teach you myself." he says with a smile, and at her nod, he glances at Gaius, who steps forward and leads Morgana out the room, closely followed by a hesitating gaggle of knights.

Gwen is the only one who remains, as she takes Merlin’s hand briefly in Morgana’s place, and snarls at Arthur:

"Monster."

-before following the others out of the room, and shutting the door behind her, leaving the throne room once again empty of people, bar the Forever King and the Immortal One.

Merlin speaks first, looking back to Arthur, unwavering and determined:

"How do I know this is all real? The change in laws?"

"I... what? What do you mean real? Of course it's real. Merlin please, can we just-"

Merlin turns away as he interrupts him, and walks back towards the window, to look upon the courtyard, where countless innocents had been slaughtered:

"Pretending to change the laws so you can lure my people to your city, before starting another purge, sounds like exactly something Uther's son would do. I will not put my people in danger by encouraging them to come here, before I can be sure they are truly safe from the Pendragon line."

Arthur's heart breaks even more. He really had damaged the relationship between himself and Merlin more than he ever could've imagined. Merlin had seemed to make it his life goal to assure Arthur that he wasn't his father, that he could follow his own path and create his own legacy. Before Arthur had ruined everything.

"I would never. The law is changed. Sorcer- your people, are safe. Merlin will you please-"

Merlin turns and interrupts again, looking Arthur directly in the eyes, obviously not prepared to let the conversation turn personal.

"Promises made to beings of magic are... powerful. There is magic in words, swear to me that my people are safe from persecution, and I will believe it."

"I...yes. I swear it. People with magic will no longer be unfairly persecuted in this kingdom as long as I am king, I swear it, in the name of Camelot."

Merlin’s eyes flash gold, and Arthur feels as though the words he's just spoken have been branded onto his soul. In a way, they have.

Merlin looks once more out of the window, and replies quietly, but darkly:

"I will hold you to that, Arthur Pendragon."

~

THE END!

This two-parter has been finished!!

As per usual, I only write drafts, so if someone wants to write this up all proper, then go for it, credit and tag me✌

[my-beautiful-wylan]

Ketterdam University Pt 1

A Nikolai Lantsov fanfic

This is going to be the first in a series of modern au stories about the grishaverse characters! I'm also going to be running the official "Ketterdam University" school blog soon!

Nikolai Lantsov, typical rich boy and the most sought after guy in London strode into Ketterdam University for the first time since last may. It was the beginning of his Junior semester and he couldn’t be more thrilled to be back. Last summer was so boring that it was almost cruel. He had been stuck behind a desk all year, writing reports and answering phone calls for his family’s successful business. His parents owned the wealthiest company in the world, and because of that, Nikolai had grown up never wanting for anything. He was so spoiled that some people referred to him as a prince.

Of course, it was only ever as a compliment, since Nikolai Lantsov certainly didn’t make enemies. Sure, he wasn’t best friends with everyone, but he didn’t have time for that. He had to pick and choose which people he spent his precious time with, and this year, time was a luxury he could only dream of having.

Nikolai was in his third year at the most prestigious university in the world. Despite the fact that he hated working for his father’s business, the legacy he would be left with was important to him. Therefore, when it had come the time to make a decision on his career, he had settled on business and communications. What he planned to do with it, however, wasn’t what his family would think. He wanted to change the way the company was run once it was handed to him. No one would say the Lantsov business was boring ever again. He was going to bring the company overseas and expand it to the far reaches of the world. But before any of that, he was going to get rid of their terrible logo and aesthetic. Seriously! What’s appealing about a crown?

“Oh my gosh it’s Nikolai Lantsov!” A giggly voice interrupted his planning. Nikolai looked to the other side of the school grounds, where three girls were pointing at him and grinning like a bunch of lovesick fools. A rush of adrenaline ran through him at their attention. If there was one thing Nikolai loved, it was being the center of attention. The lucky people he had chosen as his friends told him it was called having an ego, but Nikolai knew it was just self confidence. After all, weren’t all people supposed to love themselves? He was only following this simple command. And anyways, it was common knowledge that he was the most gorgeous student in the school, so he might as well embrace it.

“He looks hotter than he did last year!” One of the other girls commented, and Nikolai smirked. Deciding to excite them, he waved, winking when he caught the eye of the first girl who had spoken.

“Hey ladies!” He catcalled. “Welcome back!” That was obviously the icing on the cake, because the girl he had winked at collapsed into her friend's waiting arms. He laughed to himself. It was no wonder so many girls had their eyes on him, but even though his parents insisted that he should find a suitable bride sooner than later, he had no intention of doing it. They would have to be quite the woman, and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to put himself out there again. He had been in love during his freshman year at the university, but he and Alina Starkov were never going to work out. They were best friends now, but there were times when he wondered what things would have been like if she had said yes.

But there was no use dwelling on the past… not when the future was waiting for him. He had so many expectations for this year, but right now, all he wanted to do was find his friends and spend his first day partying with them. They had barely seen each other over the summer due to their separate living situations. Thank goodness for things like FaceTime, because they had to have talked on the phone almost every night. But it still wasn’t the same as seeing them in person.

A newfound determination to see his friends burning inside of him, Nikolai broke into a jog as he made his way across campus. Nikolai was an athlete, and that was another reason he was glad to be back. He was the captain of the track team and a key player in the football team. When he wasn’t studying or partying with his friends he was working out so that he could uphold his reputation as the star athlete. The only rival to his physical prowess was Tolya Yul-Bataar. Tolya and him had been friends since they were little, and they had been on the same basketball team in high school. But where Nikolai obviously excelled in track, Tolya was the star of the show in football. Maybe this year I’ll show him who’s king of the field. Snickering to himself, Nikolai added “best Tolya in football” to his mental list of things to do this year.

“Watch where you’re going, idiot!” The angry tone of voice caused Nikolai to stop in his tracks. No one got angry at him… ever. Annoyed, maybe, but it was a well known fact that all of Ketterdam University loved him. He glanced at whoever was upset, and he was astonished to see a bigger girl with a red v-neck shirt and semi fancy black skirt glaring at him. Next to her was a much smaller suli girl with piercing eyes who was rolling her eyes at the other girl. The bigger girl turned to her friend, who spoke before Nikolai could say anything.

“It’s fine, Nina. he’s obviously in a hurry.” She locked eyes with Nikolai and gave him a warm smile. “I’m sorry about her. She doesn’t know when to stop.”

“I hate you.” The bigger girl glowered, but Nikolai knew sarcasm more than anyone, and he knew that the two of them didn't mean what they were saying.

“If you hate me then don’t expect free waffles from the cafe anymore.” The two girls began to chatter about something related to whatever cafe the smaller girl had mentioned, and Nikolai knew it was his cue to leave. They weren’t fawning over him, and he had promised to meet his friends outside of the dorm building in five minutes. He was already on the path to being late, and he refused to give them a reason to make fun of him.

With this newfound determination set in his head, Nikolai practically sprinted to the dorm building. A smile broke out on his face when he saw all of his friends gathered there. Alina Starkov was sitting down on the grass, her head resting on her boyfriend’s lap. Malyen Oretsev was smiling at his girlfriend as he ran his hands through her white hair. Tolya and Tamar, Nikolai’s two oldest friends, were currently in the middle of an arm wrestling match that was being observed by David Kostyk. Genya Safin and Zoya Nazyalensky, both of whom had worked for his family business over the summer, were in the middle of an animated conversation about who knew what.

When no one noticed that he was there, Nikolai made the decision to let his presence be known. He cleared his throat, his signature smirk written on his face. “Now that I’m here, the party can really begin.”

Mal was the first to respond, and Nikolai shook his head at the exasperation on his friend’s face. “You’re late. The party started hours ago.”

“I’m never late, Mal… everyone else is simply early.”

“Are you quoting the princess diaries again?” A look of amusement crossed Zoya’s face as she walked over to him. “You’re such a dork.”

“I have many names, but I wasn’t aware that dork was one of them.”

Zoya rolled her eyes, but there was a warmth in her eyes that Nikolai realized he had missed seeing. They had seen each other a few times over the summer, along with Genya, but without the rest of their friend group, it hadn’t been the same. All of them had been through quite a bit of trauma a few years ago, and the bond they had made during that time was unbreakable. Being separated for a long time, even if it was over summer break, was still hard. Nikolai truly hadn’t realized how much he had missed them until now, seeing all of their smiling faces.

“Believe me, your majesty.” Zoya mocked him with a fake bow, her blue eyes full of that familiar spark. “There are plenty more names I have for you.”

“Do they include sweetheart or handsome? Because if that’s the case, I would love for you to write me a list.”

“Darling, you would detest every single one of them.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that.” Nikolai’s hazel eyes were sparkling, and he could feel the familiar spark of adrenaline run through him. “Darling wasn’t so bad.”

“Wasn’t it?” Zoya’s brow flew into the air, but before she could say another word, Tamar broke the silence.

“You two flirt way too much for your own good.” She commented, and Nikolai and Zoya exchanged a look. Zoya was different from the rest of them. She was cool and harsh around the edges, but when she was around her friends she was a completely new person. She thrived off of Nikolai’s sarcasm, and he had to admit that a part of him thrived off of hers. She was either a terrible or a great influence on him. He wasn’t sure he’d ever find out which one it was.

“Come on,” Nikolai’s eyes twinkled again. “You know you love it.”

“We actually hate it, but whatever you say boss.” Tolya’s comment earned a sharp glare from Alina, who instantly stepped away from her boyfriend to face him.

“You can’t say stuff like that! It gets to his head!”

“I do have a big head!”

Alina turned to face Nikolai, unable to keep the grin off of her face. “I know. And how many times is that head of yours going to get you in trouble this year?”

“Me? In trouble?” Nikolai winked at his best friend. “Come on… we all know I’m a perfect angel.”

Alina scoffed, shaking her head sarcastically. “That’s impossible.”

“You know, when people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

Nikolai laughed, his loud voice echoing throughout the school grounds. “Not at all.”

[themadauthorshatter]

... I just love OTPs, I can't help it.

OTP HEADCANONS: 2020 Edition

These will include the series of Red Queen, Dorothy Must Die, SGE, The Folk of The Air, and Nightmare Before Christmas(I'll throw in the Skellington kids, too, because I love them💙)

MAJOR TW FOR ALL THE EVENTS THAT OCCURED IN 2020, AND THAT INCLUDES QUARANTINE.

RED QUEEN:

At the news of a Pandemic, Mare and Cal are equally confused and scared, but at least they're not on the battlefield.

They hold up in Paradise Valley until the quarantine is lifted.

It starts off fine with them doing puzzles, hiking, and doing some exercises to pass the time. Then 3 weeks pass and both are bored; Mare's bored enough to drink coffee onto of the fridge and Cal's sitting in a chair upside down because fuck court etiquette, he's so bored.

Cal contemplates luring wolves with dinner scraps again.

They had a mini argument that meant nothing because Cal's hair got long and he wanted Mare to cut it, she but only offered to shave his stubble, not cut his hair.

They both get a lot of sleep, and have a lot of nightmares, which they comfort each other from.

They also really enjoy the silence.

Cal gets into poetry and Mare paints. Both are surprised at how good the other is at their new hobbies.

They talk. A lot. It begins awkwardly and ends with the two in each other's arms.

Cal becomes more of a punner, and Mare loves and hates it.

There's tall of getting a dog, but there's one problem: Paradise Valley doesn't have any shelters, and they'll be arrested or forced ro turn back hime, regardless of rank.

Mare grows taller... by 2 inches. She almost killed Cal for how much he laughed.

When they're allowed to go out, Mare often forgets to bring her mask.

Cal's good at remembering their masks.

Mare REFUSES to leave when she hears about the murder hornets.

Cal gets repellent to calm her down.

They also recover some Old Era TV Shows.

ENDLESS quotes from The Office, Friends, and many more shows.

Cal visits Maven's grave more. Mare comes with every now and then, but usually lets him go alone.

They don't usually argue, but those arguments never last.

They tried a bit of ability training, and greed that they should be careful when Mare summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky and Cal almost set fire to everything around them.

They read a lot, too, but Cal reads more than Mare because she falls asleep, usually on him.

DOROTHY MUST DIE:

Nox had no clue what a Pandemic was, or what the big deal was about going outside and not being near people, until Amy explained it.

First day of online school crashed and burned because Nox had NO IDEA what he was doing, which led to Amy 'accompanying' him in classes.

Amy puts her college plans on hold for a little while.

Nox is more emotional and neither of them know how to handle it.

They have more nightmares, since there's nothing to keep their minds busy, but Amy is more reserved about it. Nox prefers to write about what he dreams, anyway.

Nox stays up, from all the nightmares, but Amy sits with him to keep him company.

When Amy heard about the murder hornets, Nox held up a fly swatter and opened all the windows.

Amy does fine, but Nox dies from boredom, when they're done with school. And I don't mean he just sits and groans, he lies face down on the couch as Amy tries to get him up.

They spend A LOT of time in Nox's apartment, and it's literally spotless because Nox is THAT bored.

They binge a lot of TV shows, and Nox falls in love with shows like Peaky Blinders.

They tried watching Game of Thrones. It didn't go well; negative past experiences.

Nox figured out the plot twist to The Umbrella Academy WAY before Amy did.

They watched Heathers and Amy asked Nox what he'd do if she was dealing with trash friends and guys who don't take 'no' for an answer. The look on his face when he asked who it was reminded Amy of who he was before meeting her.

Nox finds YouTube and discovers the guy that makes knives out of anything and makes it his mission to copy each and every video, come Hell or high water.

Amy walked in on him doing this and genuinely wondered if he was okay, and asked if she could help him.

They also binged musicals. Nox isn't a huge music person, but he still loves them; Kansas has its own magic that he finds intriguing.

Amy once found Nox crouching ontop of the fridge while drinking a mug of coffee.

Madison stopped by and dropped off some rhinestones, lash glue, and a tool to apply the stones. Amy spent a lot of time putting the stones on her face while Nox watched, with Madison and Dustin also watching via Facetime, sitting backwards in a chair and wondering what her plan was, even making very Julien Solomita-esque comments, mixed with very 'I used to be a fighter and a spy' comments that made Amy, Madison, and Dustin laugh. Some if those comments:

"I know Glamora told you to lighten up, but I don't she'd expect this."

"If those were real diamonds, you wouldn't need any armor or a weapon. Just headbutt them, and you're good."

"Don't be upset, but it's the beginning of summer, so I don't think winter's coming any time soon."

"Whichever chandelier you made out with, I will find them, damn it."

After a little while, Amy asked if Nox wanted a rhinestone face. He agreed, but only as long as she took out all the red stones. He could handle pink, but no red.

It took them an hour to get the stones off.

Their hair gets long and they agree to cut each other's hair. Nox cuts her hair chin length and Amy tries to be as style his hair. They don't look the best, but they at least look good.

They absolutely watch Unus Annus, and start quoting that.

When they get the news they can go out wearing a mask, Nox got confused and got 3 different masks: a masquerade mask, a normal face mask, and a gas mask, which he wears all the time to annoy Amy.

They do stay in shape as much as possible, but there is evidence that they could have been more active, with their muscles shrinking and both having lost a little weight.

Nox NEVER drops his guard, and quarantine didn't help.

They tried dying their hair, but it didn't work as well as they'd hoped.

SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL:

Tedros worries about Agatha and everyone else, but Agatha keeps him in check.

Crime drops big time, so that's a plus for Tedros and Agatha.

They have more time to breathe, with everyone being inside and avoiding each other.

Tedros hates the quiet at first, but Agatha helps him adjust.

They spend a lot of time wandering the castle and answering whatever call there is, if any.

The SGE is out for a little while, so they don't hear too much from there.

Tedros, without normal king business to distract him, has more nightmares and starts losing sleep because he doesn't want to dream about what's happened to him and his friends.

Agatha has nightmares, too, but she's better at hiding it.

They do talk about it and agree to be more open with what's going on in their heads.

They also agree that they'll help each other through these times.

Tedros helps Agatha with swordplay and Agatha both gets him into reading more and tries to help him with his magic.

Whenever there's something they need outside, Agatha gets it because she's not that afraid of getting sick; she grew up eating frog and lizard soup.

Tedros worries about her, but doesn't really stop her because she's taller, and having fun trying to stop Agatha once she's committed to doing something.

Tedros finds a new hobby: origami.

Agatha doesn't join in, per se, she more watches because she's never seen Tedros be so patient with something.

They play around with each other's hair, as it grows longer. Agatha ties Tedros's hair back and Tedros braids her hair.

They write to Sophie or anyone else, like people who have some sort of report of a crime or complaint duch as infertile soil, so their penmanship improves.

Tedros grows a bit of a stubble and, after some prickly kiss attacks, Agatha threatens to shave it off herself, if he doesn't. It's all in good fun, but she sort of did mean it because his face and cheeks were really scratchy.

Tedros REFUSES to let Agatha go out alone, even when she's masked up.

When they go out, Tedros always carries a sword.

Picnics in the woods.

Star gazing at night.

Agatha starts wearing pants, as an experiment, and her "dresser"/dress designer is APPALLED.

There are times they argue, but they stay together and communicate because relationship goals.

THE CRUEL PRINCE:

At the news of a Pandemic/plague, Cardan ordered all the human servants to get as healthy as they could so they'd be able to go outside. He would accompany them, but they could not let Jude go out.

She's not happy, when she finds out

Cardan asks if she can avoid going to the human world, so she doesn't get sick.

She goes anyway and returns unscathed.

Cardan considers glamoring the human servants to keeep Jude healthy, but Jude almost pincushions him for it.

Anxious? Worried? Psh! Don't be silly. Cardan becomes somethimg if a paranoid maniac because he's scared of Jude getting sick and dying because he's Fae and she's Mortal, so she's more susceptible to illnesses and he doesn't know wnoufh about mortals to get her healthy agaun were she to get sick, but there's nothing wroung with him, really.

Whenever they're not ruling, Jude practices her swordplay while Cardan reads, major plus being that he reads full series to not worry about Jude so much.

Jude helps Cardan with sword fighting, using wooden practice swords not metal, and Cardan helps her try to get into reading, reading to her as she rests her head on his chest when she doesn't want to read read.

Cardan discovers manga and graphic novels and is too confused for Jude NOT to laugh; "He's in armor made if IRON. How is he able to fly!?" "I've seen a lot people different people, and none of them have made this face." "... So is Spiderman THIS one or THIS one?"

Sword practice usually ends with Cardan on the ground exhausted while Jude simply stands and chuckles for him to get up.

Cardan doesn't get beat smd scarred, he gets poked and minorly bruised, which he was not ready for because of how he was treated by Balekin.

One day, while Cardan was reading some Sherlock Holmes, Jude slipped hoop bracelets on and tied ribbons to his tail, at least as many as she could before she got caught; she only realized as such when his tail started flicking out of her reach and curling around her wrist, and saw Cardan grinning at her.

They do visit Taryn and Vivi still, but Cardan only wears a mask to remind Jude, who does not forget ever.

Cardan thinks about his 'friendship' Nicasia, Locke, and Valerian and semi-realizes that Valerian and Locke may have been using him while Nicasia was at least a little genuine.

They talk about Locke and equally wish that they had helped Taryn in killing Locke. If not, then they wish that they at least watched. They agreed that if time travel was real, Jude could help Trayn kill Locke and Cardan could watch, as long as he helped dispose of the body.

They laughed at that a couple minutes later.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS(Featuring the Skellington kids(I'd say Skull Kids, but I feel like Skull Kid(s) was taken)):

Jack knows what a Pandemic is; he lived through one while he was alive.

Sally knew it would happen because she knows one happens about every two hundred years/whenever a year ends in 20.

The triplets know what a plague is, but have never seen one actually happen.

When they explored the human world at night and noticed there were absolutely no humans in sight, Luna reminded her brothers that the humans were told to stay inside to prevent any spreading.

Jacob takes the opportunity to MAKE SURE people actually stay inside.

Pro: he got Instagram famous. Con: Jack and Sally were not happy at all with how reckless he was.

Let's say, for the sake of the story, Halloween had to be cancelled worldwide because regulation and a need for things to get better.

Upon hearing the news of Halloween getting cancelled, Jack was very salty about it; "Why cancel Halloween, if the 4th of July was still allowed to be celebrated?"

All of Halloween Town was very upset; the living are so fragile, it ruins the fun of scaring them.

The Mayor was in deep, DEEP distress, but Jack made it up to him, and the rest of the town, by saying next year's Halloween would be ine no one would ever forget, and it's not because he's 'borrowing' a holiday again, it's because they'll all have a year of scaring shenanigans built up inside them all that will make up for what was missed.

Everyone rejoiced and Jack, once he got back inside his house with his wife and children, sighed and mentally kicked himself for saying no one would forget next year's Halloween; there was one Halloween in particular he sure as hell isn't forgetting any time soon.

Daemon's carving more intricate pumpkins and plans on giving the humans mini-scares so they keep quarantining, hiding a 'surprise' for any entitled Karens he finds.

Luna is the most obedient of the triplets by staying in Halloween Town and instead studying what she calls a 'counter-plague' so there's no need for a Pandemic; she refuses to call it a vaccine because that would imply sje wants to help the humans that shot down and could have killed her dad. She still has a bone to pick.

Jack doesn't spiral out like in the movie, he has Sally to help and the triplets to keep his mind busy.

While Jacob and Daemon keep the humans from leaving their houses, Luna researches the current events and learns of murder hornets that are large, sting like all hell, and cause death to anyone unfortunate enough to get stung.

Jack gets very intrigued and they collect as many as they can and keep them in a jar, but take one out to study it.

They were not impressed; murder hornets? Jack has seen worse.

Since there wasn't a Halloween, Jack decided to walk through the streets, seeing as how Daemon and Jacob already did a lot of the scaring for him(thise little shits). He had to admit, it was nice to walk in the night and only hear the animal sounds and not screams.

Luna did not find a 'counter-plague,' even with Sally's help, but she did discover some poisons she could use against her brothers. Sally made her promise not to do so.

On the Halloween night where nothing happened, Jack took his family out to a picnic/star gazing session. Genuinely one of his favorite Halloweens to date.

HENRY STICKMIM COLLECTION:

Henry and Ellie knew it was going to happen and were more than surprised to also see Charles planning ahead by making a list for what they needed, even admitting he'd been following the news and rumors and stocking up on ADD medicine so he wouldn't have to go out to get them.

The other soldiers weren't worried until they were told to go home and take a break for a little bit.

Triple Threat wasn't really effected until day 24.

On day 1, they just hung out and were relatively calm, working online, doing workouts to stay fit, and just being as normal as possible.

On day 24, all three are more than a little bored. Henry's bored enough to andwer calls from telemarketers and prank them, Ellie's contemplating bleaching her hair with peroxide, and Charles is playing with fidget toys he's bough and collected over the years, though he's doing it more because he's a little stressed than bored.

Henry and Ellie are surprised to this this, but Charles admits he used to bite his nails a lot, but stopped after a LONG while.

Speaking of names, Ellie paints hers and the boys', though while Henry paints his in clear coat, Charles paints one hand black and the other in red, mint, and glittery pink on one nail because try stopping him.

It makes Ellie laugh and pisses off Henry so much.

Ellie gets calls from her family saying they want her to come home, or closer to home, because they're worried and she instead blocks their numbers.

They watch a lot of horror movies as a reason to stay inside.

When they get bored of American horror and try Japanese, Asian, and more western horror movies.

Instant regret.

They watched the movie Audition and Henry looked at a very unimpressed Charles, who said the antagonist was being sloppy, and hid all the kitchen knives, saws, and sharp and blunt objects, including tools(must've remembered Human Piece).

He stopped after a week of Charles being himself and literally shaking at Hannibal Lecter as they watched the Silence of The Lambs series.

All three open up more about their lives. It's ugly, there's yelling, conflicting life philosophies, and even some insults thrown. Henry admits that gotten screwed over by the law enough times while fending for himself to have as little faith in it as possible, Ellie admits she ran away from home and would rather die than go back because of how tight of a leash they kept her on, and Charles admits that while he has thought about quitting on the government and turning to a life of crime, he never did because that would have been to easy of a choice. Training for the military was and still is hard as hell, which Henry and Ellie can tell because Charles can physically do more than them(if they ran a mile, Henry and Ellie would be exhausted and Charles wouldn't even be out of breath), but he's never given up on it because he knew his parents would skin him, if they were still alive.

There were tears at the end, and the team all needing to be alone for a little bit, but they were back together and agreed to be a little more open with each other, since they were a team now.