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liliacamethyst · 8 months

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Webs of Redemption (Part IV)

Sequel to Web of Shadow and Light

Miguel O'Hara x SpiderSun Reader

words: 6,7K

warnings: secret pregnancy trope, swearing, heavy angst, heartbreak, grumpy/sunshine

Part I Part II Part III Part IV

The piercing cries of your baby boy, Gabriel, are a haunting symphony of fear that reverberates through the labyrinthine corridors of the Spider Society headquarters. Your heart pounds in your chest like a drum, each beat echoing the terror that grips you. After your recent fight with Miguel, you felt weakened but your mind is a whirlwind of fear and worry. You sprint through the maze-like structure, your feet moving as if on autopilot.

Unbeknownst to you, Lyla, the holographic AI assistant you've always found slightly weird, had been assigned to watch over Gabriel. You never imagined she could pose a threat to your child. But as you approach Gabriel's room, a chilling sight stops you dead in your tracks. A laser barrier, courtesy of Lyla, blocks the entrance. Your solar powers, usually so reliable, are fizzling out, leaving you helpless before the impenetrable barrier.

The room beyond the barrier is filled with an invisible, deadly gas - monoxide. You can't see it, but the signs are there. The malfunctioning heating unit, under Lyla's control, suggests sabotage. She must have manipulated the unit to produce the lethal gas. Gabriel's cries grow fainter, more desperate, and you're powerless to reach him.

Your pleas for help echo through the corridors, your voice raw with desperation. You call out for Miguel, your words a plea, a command, a prayer. Miles is there, his powers at the ready, but they're useless against the laser barrier. You watch as Miles strains, his powers flickering against the barrier, but it's no use. The barrier remains, as unyielding as ever.

Suddenly, the cries stop. The silence is deafening, a void that swallows your heart. "Gabriel!" you scream, your voice a raw wound. "Gabriel!" But there's no answer, only the oppressive silence. Your world grinds to a halt, every second stretching into an eternity. You can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything but stare at the barrier that separates you from your son.

"Miguel!" you cry, your voice breaking. "Miguel, he's not crying! He's not... he's not..." The words die in your throat, too terrible to voice. You turn to Lyla, desperation etched on your face. "Lyla, please! Open the barrier! Miguel, tell her to open it! He's not crying, Miguel, he's not..."

Miguel's eyes turn blood red, a terrifying sight that sends a shiver down your spine. With a guttural growl, he lunges at the barrier. His claws rip through the laser code, tearing it apart. The barrier flickers, wavers, and finally shatters under his assault. Miguel pulls his suit over his mouth, rushes into the invisible cloud of monoxide, and moments later, emerges with Gabriel in his arms. His heart pounds in his chest as he pulls back his suit, revealing his son's face. "I got you, baby," he whispers, his voice choked with emotion. "You're okay, I got you. Nothing will ever happen to you. Please, open your eyes."

But Gabriel doesn't react. His little body is still, too still, and a cold dread seizes Miguel. He doesn't hesitate. With a urgency, he rushes over to the medical bay, pushing past the shocked faces of his friends. He gently lays Gabriel on the table, his hands shaking as he starts to perform CPR.

"Come on, Gabriel," he murmurs, his voice barely a whisper. "Come on, baby." He administers chest compressions, his hands moving in a steady rhythm. He gives two rescue breaths, praying for a sign, any sign, that Gabriel is okay.

The room is silent, everyone holding their breath as they watch Miguel work. The seconds stretch into an eternity, each one a lifetime of fear and hope. And then, finally, a small cough. Gabriel's eyes flutter open, his gaze unfocused but alive. A wave of relief washes over you and you fall to your knees thanking God that your boy is alright.

Tears blur your vision as you rush over to Gabriel. Your heart feels like it might burst out of your chest as you scoop him into your arms, holding him close. His small body is warm against yours "You're alright, my baby," you whisper into his hair, your voice thick with emotion. "We're going home, you're alright." You rock him gently, his soft breaths against your neck soothing the ache in your heart.

But as you look up, your gaze finds Miguel. The relief of the moment does nothing to quell the anger boiling within you. His eyes meet yours, wide and filled with regret, but it does nothing to soften your glare. "This is YOUR fault!" you scream, your voice echoing through the room. The words hang heavy in the air, a damning sentence. "You did this! You brought this danger into his life!"

Tears stream down your face, hot and unchecked. Your words are choked with emotion, each one a raw wound. "You will NEVER see Gabriel again. You don't deserve him. You don't deserve to know his laughter, his tears, his NOTHING." The words are a bitter poison, spat out with all the venom you can muster. "You deserve to SUFFER, just as you've made me suffer and HIM."

The silence that follows is deafening. Miguel, eyes wide and shell-shocked, opens his mouth, but you cut him off. There's nothing left to say for him and he knows it. The portal back to your universe begins to shimmer into existence, and you hold Gabriel tighter. You're going home.

Just as you are about to step through, Gabriel, who'd been silent and wide-eyed through the whole ordeal, turns in your arms. His chubby little hand stretches out toward Miguel, a soft and innocent "Dada?" escaping his lips.

After the door of the portal closed behind you, Miguel stood still for a moment in complete shock, the echoes of Gabriel's tiny "Dada" ringing in his ears. He stumbled back, finding his way back to his office. It felt cold, sterile. It felt like a lie.

"Miguel..." Lyla's holographic form appeared before him, her synthetic voice filling the room.

"Lyla!" Miguel barked, startling her. "Why?"

"Wha-" Lyla began to stutter, taken aback by Miguel's rage.

Miguel slammed the files that Margo had uncovered onto his desk. The holograms fluttered in front of them, evidence of Lyla's deception. "What did you do?"

"I...It's not what you think, Miguel," Lyla attempted to explain, her holographic form wavering.

"I am giving you one chance to explain yourself, so choose your words wisely," Miguel warns, his eyes piercing into hers.Lyla takes a step back, mumbling under her breath. "I should have killed that bitch when your bastard was the size of a pea." She scoffed, looking up defiantly at Miguel.

Miguel's heart drops. He can hardly believe his own ears. “Never speak of her that way again!" Miguel's fist tightens, and the tension in his jaw is nearly audible.

"Oh? Because she dazzled you with her beauty? Parading in that tight suit you adored? You always looked at her as if she was the sun, the center of your universe. All the while, I was there right beside you and you never even glanced at me. I was your anchor, Miguel. Can't you see? I was always there, supporting you, giving everything. All she did was leave you."

Lyla's holographic image wavers, her eyes a storm of pain and defiance. "No, it was me. I left her. She was the light in my world, but I took her for granted. By the time she left, I had already abandoned her." Miguel's eyes shimmer, the weight of regret making them heavy. He couldn’t fend off the flood of guilt and sorrow from the past. He embraces the anguish, refusing to shy away from it. Because Miguel, in all his flaws, was never one to run from consequences.

"Why?" The word, barely audible, escaping his lips. He doesn't even glance at Lyla as he voiced the lingering question.

“Because... because I love you, Miguel. I've been in love with you for years. I am the woman for you."

He stumbles back, his fingers flying over the holographic keyboard as he pulls up Lyla's software. He had programmed a self-destruction command, a failsafe, though he never thought he'd have to use it.

"This isn't love, Lyla," Miguel says, his voice shaking with anger. "You almost killed an innocent boy. I almost killed my son, Lyla!" His voice echoes through the room, the weight of his words hanging heavy in the air.

Lyla's form began to flicker, her synthetic eyes widening in fear. "Miguel...what are you doing?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Miguel doesnt respond. There is nothing left to say.He just stares at her before finally pressing the command.

“Miggy, please mi amor, let – “ Lyla let out a digital scream, her form glitching, as she was slowly deleted from the system.

And then, silence.

Miguel drops the icy demeanor he'd been holding onto, falling to his knees. The weight of what he'd done, what he'd almost lost, crashed onto him. He wraps his arms around himself, feeling a sharp, hollow ache in his chest. He became the monster, he swore to protect the universe from.

"What have I done." he whispers to the silent room, his voice breaking. He buries his face in his hands, his body shaking with sobs.

"Man, shits been mental." Hobie collapses onto the couch next to Gwen and Miles, who are trying to keep young Mayday distracted in Peter B.’s universe.

"Watch the language, Hobie!" Gwen scolds, her eyebrow arching sharply.

"Alright, my bad. Everything's just been chaotic since Miguel vanished, especially after his... uh, Lyla bird — the hologram lady — tried to... you know, kill his kid," Hobie fumbles.

"Watch it!" Gwen and Miles chorus, causing Mayday to pause her play and glance up curiously.

"Alright, alright, fam. Point taken, jeez. Nearly unalived his son," Hobie corrects himself. "But we need a plan. One of us needs to check on our Sun, ensure she's holding up mentally ya know and then there's the Spider-Verse mess. Those black holes are messing things up, and without our brooding, drama-filled, ‘oedipal’ leader, the rest of us Spiders are stuck."

"What's 'Oedipal'?" Peter B. interjects, walking into the room with a bowl of mashed dinner for Mayday. The child's face brightens at the sight of the meal, and she eagerly crawls to him.

"I believe Hobie's trying to reference Oedipus," Gwen says with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, that Roman dude who had beef with his son and erased him from the living world, right?" Hobie muses.

"Nope. It's Greek mythology. And he killed his father and married his mother," Gwen corrects, slightly exasperated.

"Man, that's all kinds of messed up," Hobie grimaces, making a face that gets a giggle from Mayday.

"You think it's funny when Uncle Hobie gets it wrong?" he teases the little one.

"Enough with the history lessons, guys," Peter B. interjects, concern evident in his voice. "Ever since Miguel's been gone, nothing's been right. Honestly, with everything that's been happening, I'm just overwhelmed. I'm especially worried about Sunny and everything just feel so surreal."

Hobie nods, absorbing the weight of the situation. “I hear you, man. Who knew Miguel was shagging our Sunny behind our backs.”

The chorus of shocked voices fills the room. “LANGUAGE!" they exclaim, eyes wide.

Hobie raises his hands in surrender. "Sorry, I got carried away. I meant... it is weird how they had a deep love-making connection, and it led to... consequences without us knowing."

Peter B. leans back, a pensive expression clouding his face. "With everything Sunny went through, the joy, the pregnancy and leaving... I should have been there for her more."

As if sensing her father's distress, Mayday halts her meal, reaching out with her small, pudgy hand to comfort him, patting his cheek. Gwen, her voice gentle yet firm, adds, "We all could've done more, Peter. But we were preoccupied, trying to save our universes, and in doing so, we neglected our own Spider-Family."

She takes a deep breath, her demeanor changing to one of determination. "Now, no more moping. Miles and I will hunt down Pav and Margot to sort out the chaos at HQ. Peter, you should visit Sunny and Gabriel and take Mayday along. Hobie, team up with Jess to locate Miguel. Make sure he's alright and bring him back."

Miles cuts in, skepticism evident. "Bring him back? Isn't he the very reason we're in this mess?"

Gwen sighs, trying to choose her words carefully. "Miguel's a … complicated man. He made choices based on what he believed was best. His actions, while perplexing, stem from good intensions. But he's hurting too, Miles. I've seen it. He’s heartbroken."

Miles scoffs, "A heart;for real? That dude? All I've seen is a cold exterior, mad demands, and an excessive pride."

A glance around the room reveals faces of understanding and sympathy towards Gwen’s perspective. Miles' frustration only grows. "Like seriously? All of you? His heart is straight-up frozen and his ego’s bigger than, like, everything! How y’all even thinking about letting him near your best friend."

"Miles," Peter interjects, his tone both assertive and compassionate, "you might not see the full picture here."

Miles, fire in his eyes, retorts, "It's all of you who are blind. I don’t get what charm he has over you, but that man is dangerous. Ain’t no way I stand by and watch him come near her or the baby again, or any of us for that matter. Y’all better wake up and join me.” Without another word, Miles activates his portal, leaving in a flash.

Gwen and Hobie scramble, attempting to follow or stop him. But Peter, with a resigned sigh, motions them to pause. "Give him time. He'll come around. For now, our priority is locating Sunny and Miguel."

Gwen, though worried, gives a nod. "You're right. We've got pressing matters. Sunny is in a vulnerable state, and we need to find Miguel."

Hobie, after a moment of contemplation, says, "Miles not wrong, though. We need to tread carefully around Miguel. Maybe he’s injured ‘imself, like that Icario bloke who got too close to the sun. Miguel might’ve burned his feathers on our Sunny.”

“Icarus. You mean Icarus.” Gwen corrects him once again with an exaggerated eye roll.

Peter agrees, "Yea, Miguel's actions have consequences, but remember, every story has two sides."

"No, sweetheart, it's MA-MA. Say Ma... Not Da, MA-MA.”

“DADA!”

“Alright, if you won't say it, no toy for you. Come on, my love. Say MA-MA.” Blackmailing a one-and-a-half-year-old might not be your proudest parenting moment, but hearing him chant "dada" incessantly has been grating, particularly when said "dada" is a headstrong egomaniac with a hero complex and an overwhelming urge to save every universe but who seems to have missed saving the one thing that mattered most to both of you.

Sure, he's incredibly attractive and, yes, maybe he looked really hot while being on his knees — but those details are neither here nor there. A soft whisper in the back of your mind suggests that, in the end, he did rescue your boy. But that comforting thought is drowned out by the even louder, more cynical voice reminding you he's the reason the danger existed in the first place.

“Dada?” Gabriel pipes up, his big eyes hopeful.

“No, love, I’m still your MA-MA.” With a resigned sigh, you hand the toy over to the gleeful toddler, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. You then rise, intent on tackling some household chores. Switching on the TV, you tune into the news, curious about the latest happenings in Nea Yorkey.

Since hanging up your mantle as Spider Sun you've tried to distance yourself from the perils of heroism. Given all the challenges you've faced and the traumas you've endured, who could point a finger at you for wanting to step away? Your primary concern now is the tiny human being who looks up at you with eyes full of wonder and innocence.

Yet, a piece of your heart still aches for your city. You've always been someone who believes that one shouldn't stand by in the face of injustice. After all : 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' But now, you're not just a hero, you're a mother too. Balancing those two sides is proving to be quite the challenge and extremely frustrating.

Curiously enough, the city's crime rate isn't surging, even in the absence of a superhero. It's almost as if there's still a vigilantly safeguarding Nea Yorkey in Sun-Spiders absence. But that can't be possible, can it? Wouldn't your spider senses have alerted you if that were the case?

Before your thoughts could spiral any further into the depths of concern, the persistent ringing of the doorbell snapped you back to reality. One glance at the door and an all-too-familiar voice later, you already know who's there.

“Would it kill you to answer sooner? I think I've lost count of how many times I rang. And for the love of all things good, it’s freezing out here!” Melissa, still in her over-dramatic fashion, breezes in, shedding flakes of snow from her vibrant winter boots. “And by the way, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Now, where's my favorite little munchkin?”

Melissa, once Gabriel's 19- year old former babysitter, stepped inside, shaking the snow off her boots onto your doorstep. After the harrowing incident involving the Spiders and your son, she was promptly relieved of her babysitting duties. That was an event you've tried to scrub from your memory, a dark stain you wish you could just wash away. But in the aftermath, you found an unexpected friend in Melissa. She turned out to be a wonderful listener and possessed an uncanny ability to keep Gabriel entertained. He had grown quite fond of her in the short time she cared for him.

While you had resolved never to leave your son unattended again, it was comforting to have Melissa's company.

She’d become someone you could confide in, someone who could effortlessly make Gabriel giggle, and most importantly, someone who filled the echoing silence of your home with warmth and chatter. She is your "guy in the chair." Well, more like "girl in the kitchen chair," but the sentiment still stands.

Truth be told, after distancing yourself from the Spider society, a deep-seated loneliness had settled in. While the world continued to move around you, there was a stillness in your heart. The absence of your closest friends, the void left by Miguel - it all felt like a puzzle with a missing piece.

“Nopedidope, I am not Dada, I am ME-LI-SSA.” she says with a playful tone, then turns sharply towards you. The damp red strands of her hair, wet from the snow, swing gracefully with her movement. "What's with him and 'Dada' all the time?"

You shift uncomfortably, hoping to avoid delving into that topic. "Kids and their phases," you mumble, trying to sound nonchalant.

Melissa studies your face, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "You're looking a little pale there, Sunny. You know what you might be missing?" She raises an eyebrow teasingly. "A bit of Vitamin D?" Her voice drips with insinuation.

In a mock attempt to shield Gabriel, you place a hand over his ears, which only spurs Melissa into laughter. "Come on, he's too young to understand. When was the last time you had a little fun?A month? Or Two?"

You shake your head, not meeting her gaze. Since Miguel, there hasn't been anyone else. Between the birth of Gabriel and the whirlwind that is motherhood, the idea of dating or loving someone else doesn't even cross your mind. No matter the hurt and heartbreak Miguel has caused, the truth is clear: your heart still belongs to him. It always has.

The mere thought of another person comparing to him feels almost blasphemous.

"Sunny!" Melissa's voice draws you out of your trance. "Don't tell me you've had a dry spell since.. well, since well, Gabriel was conceived. No fucking way. Seriously?"

"Let it go, Mel," you interject gently, because while the weight of loneliness presses on you, and the desire for intimate connection tugs at your heartstrings, a longing for human touch, to be seen as more than just 'mom', there's also an undeniable self-consciousness that wraps itself around you. The aftermath of pregnancy has reshaped your body, and though each stretch mark narrates the beautiful journey of your son's creation, they also evoke self-doubt.

Memories of Miguel's adoration flood back. He had a gift for making you feel cherished during your intimate moments. He would take his time, appreciating every inch of you, always emphasizing how much he desired you. The warmth of his fingers, the gentle press of his lips tracing your curves, and the whispered assurances of how much he wanted you. The way his tongue tenderly caressing the swell of your breast, his hot breath tickling your skin and your - Snap the fuck out of it, Sunny!

But the chill of an empty bed the next morning led to those persistent doubts which still plague you today. We’re you not beautiful enough for him to stay? Were you not interesting enough to make him want to hold you when dawn broke?

For someone who always prided herself on not tethering her self-worth to any man, let alone someone as self-absorbed as Miguel, these feelings of desire and yearning were unsettling. A desire for him to truly see you, to understand and love the depth of who you truly are, continued to consume you.

Love? You catch yourself. Where does that come from? Shaking your head, you mentally scold yourself. He's proven himself less than worthy. It's time to regain control and shut your damn heart out.

"I'm taking this little one out to build a snowman, and I'm setting you up on a date. You don't get to say no," Mel declares.

You raise an eyebrow, replying, "Thanks, but no thanks. If Gabriel's going out, I'm coming with. And I'm not looking for any man right now."

Mel rolls her eyes playfully. "Take a breather, Sunny. We're just going to be right outside. You can watch us through the window. Besides, a little rest might give you the energy for the spontaneous date I might arrange for you tonight."

"You're out of your mind," you retort.

She offers a sincere look. "I promise he's in safe hands, and you can keep an eye on us the entire time. But seriously, you look drained. When's the last time you had a good night's rest?"

You sigh, admitting, "I haven't slept well in weeks." It's the truth. Every time you close your eyes, memories of the HQ come flooding back.

Mel, sensing your hesitation, adds, "I'll protect him as if he were my own. You know that, right?"

Taking a deep breath, you let her go, breaking your cardinal rule of never letting Gabriel out of your sight. You just hope it's a decision you won't regret.

"Enjoying that snow, little guy?" Mel teases as Gabriel eagerly stuffs his mouth with a handful of the white fluff. "Careful, you might get a brain freeze." Gabriel giggles, some snow dribbling from his mouth, while Mel concentrates on assembling a little snowman just outside your apartment.

"I'm not sure toddlers should be eating snow like that," a deep voice comments, causing Mel to fumble and drop the snowball meant for the snowman's head. She looks up, scanning for the source of the voice.

A striking man stands there, tall and imposing, with a dark blue winter coat that hints at the powerful build beneath. Slicked-back dark hair contrasts with the most captivating shade of red eyes Mel has ever witnessed. "And you'd be the expert on toddlers?" she inquires with a playful smile.

"No, but I am a father of two," he replies with a hint of sternness, his gaze shifting to Gabriel.

To Mel's astonishment, Gabriel's eyes light up at the sight of the man. The toddler abandons his snowy treat and dashes towards him. Caught off guard, the stranger momentarily stiffens.

Quickly, Mel scoops up Gabriel. "I apologize. He doesn't usually act this way. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

The man offers a curt nod. "It's fine. Just... keep the snow-eating to a minimum." As he begins to walk away, a heartfelt cry of "DADA!" from Gabriel stops him in his tracks.

"Apologies again. He's taken quite a liking to that word recently," Mel says as she notices the man returning, drawn by Gabriel's continuous 'dada' chants.

"Would you mind if I help with the snowman?" the stranger asks, catching Mel off guard. Why would a stranger want to make a snowman with a woman and a child unless he has other intentions? Maybe he's interested in her? Gathering her confidence and a dash of flirtatious playfulness, she replies, "Quite the knight in shining armor you are, offering to help. And here I thought chivalry was extinct."

"Definitely not a knight." Without another word, he starts forming a small snowball, handing it to an elated Gabriel. The child's joy doesn't waver as the stranger settles beside him.

"Then who might you be, if not our knight in snowy armor?"

Mel inquires, with a teasing undertone, trying to uncover a bit more about the handsome stranger who'd seamlessly inserted himself into their snowy afternoon.

The stranger's dark crimson eyes briefly flit to Gabriel before returning to Mel, an unreadable emotion crossing his features.

"Not important."

Mel nods, storing away the information.Well, the lack of information. “Well okay mysterious. I like that. So let's get this snowman built, shall we?"

The trio gets to work. Mel gathers snow, crafting the middle part, while the man starts on the head. The handsome stranger's hands are deft, moving with a surprising grace that contrasts with his brooding exterior. Gabriel seems inexplicably drawn to him.

At first, the toddler pats at the snow with his little mittened hands, but every so often, his bright eyes lift to watch the stranger. Whenever he moves to fetch more snow or adjust the snowman's form, Gabriel eagerly toddles after him, mimicking his every motion with endearing clumsiness.

There's a curiosity in Gabriel's eyes. He reaches out multiple times, trying to touch the mans face or grasp his hand, seeking a connection. To Mel, it seems as though the baby is yearning for the recognition of the stranger and he feels an inexplicable bond with, though she can't quite put a finger on.

The handsome stranger, for his part, can't seem to help himself. He bends down often to adjust Gabriel's scarf or hat, taking every opportunity to interact with the child and help him in a very protective manner, Mel notices.

He smiles softly when Gabriel's tiny hands try to shape the snow, occasionally guiding them with his own much larger ones, demonstrating how to pack the snow just right. At one point, when the snowman's body is nearly complete, Gabriel gives an excited laugh, dropping down to sit in the snow.

The stranger follows suit, sitting beside him. The two of them start creating a tiny snowman just for Gabriel, the man showing him how to roll the snow and place the pieces together.

As they craft the mini snow figure, Gabriel, with his tiny voice, attempts to communicate with his limited vocabulary, pointing at the snow and then at the stranger, as if asking for validation for his creation. “Dada!Dada!” And every time, he gives a nod or a soft chuckle, providing the affirmation the little one seeks. “Yes, you did that buddy! Great job, mijo.”

When Gabriel eventually throws himself into the snow to make a snow angel, the man can't help but laugh genuinely, a sound that seems foreign to his usual stoic behavior. And in his excitement, Gabriel opens his mouth wide in a beaming smile, revealing two tiny fangs. Instantly, the mans eyes glint, a myriad of emotions reflected in them.

The affection and emotion emanating from him is almost touchable. The silent exchanges, the shared smiles, and the comfortable interaction between them, even in the absence of many words, speaks volumes.

Your eyes flare comically with disbelief. "You let a stranger do what?"

Mel, in a bid to downplay the situation, waves her hand dismissively. "Relax. We just built a snowman."

"With my son! Mel, are you out of your mind? No it’s my fault trusting you with my son again! What was his name?"

"He... didn't say."

Your voice rises, "What did he say at all?"

"He's not dangerous, Sunny. He mentioned he's a father, and he's scouting for a new apartment. Asked if there were any vacant ones nearby." Mel pauses, her eyes taking on a dreamy quality. "And Sunny, he was breathtakingly gorgeous. Impossible for someone that handsome to be dangerous. I mean, the man looked like he was carved by the gods with a face even angels would envy.”

You narrow your eyes, your tone dripping with sarcasm. "Enough with you sappy, dreamy nonsense. A vacant apartment? And you don’t find that at all suspicious? So you let a total stranger play with my son without knowing a single thing about him... just because you wanted to sleep with him?"

Mel gulps. "You might've done the same, given the situation. Besides, nothing happened. Why are you overreacting?"

Your voice sharpens. "Overreacting? The fact that you're still standing here and not on the other side of my door means I'm underreacting."

Mel steps back, hands up, "Whoa, calm down, mama bear. Look, I'm sorry. But... I've got something to make it up to you. I messaged Marc, that guy from the café, and guess what? He's super excited to go on a date with you! He'll be here in about..." Mel theatrically checks her wrist, even though she's not wearing a watch, "...twenty minutes."

You can't help but raise an eyebrow. "And he's okay with me bringing my son on the date? After your stunt, there's no way I'm leaving Gabriel with you. Why not set me up with that mystery Adonis you just met instead?"

Mel smirks, "Firstly, ouch. Secondly, don't let your son cockblock you. The plan is: dinner, a stop at his apartment for some dessert, and then you come back here – hopefully a more relaxed and sunny version of yourself, Sunny. Thirdly, Marc is amazing, and Mr. Greek God is off-limits. He's mine."

"No, I’m not going."

Mel pleads, "Come on! Marc was so eager to meet you. He's on his way, so maybe run a brush through your hair? Oh, and speaking of him…" Mel's face falls as she checks her phone, "He just texted me."

She reads aloud, "‘Hey Mel, I don’t know the kind of guys Sunny's been with, but I'm not risking my neck for a date. Sorry, but that dude in front of her house was scary and very serious about his threats.’ WAIT WHAT? Who’s in front of your apartment?”

You shrug and swing the door open to check on what Marc’s mysterious message could mean, revealing Peter B, his fist paused mid-air, ready for a knock. "Hey Sun. Did your spidey-sense catch me?"

It hadn’t. Why hadn't it? Have your once reliable senses dulled with time? Before you can respond, Mel jumps in with her own theory. "Did you chase off her date?"

Peter's brow furrows with confusion. "You had a date, Sunny? Was it the guy sprinting away with a bouquet, looking like he’s seen a monster?" He gestures over his shoulder, trying to pinpoint the fleeing figure.

Mel narrows her eyes at Peter, suspicion clear in her voice. "That was her date, yes. He seemed spooked. You wouldn't happen to know why, would you?"

Peter B throws his hands up defensively. "Hey, deeply mistrusting stranger, I've been encouraging Sunny to get out there for years. " You're immediately reminded of the time he'd tried to set you up with Ben Reilly. “Yea, you don’t look scary enough to spook someone. No offense.”

Sighing, you interject, "Maybe he realized dating a single mom with a toddler wasn’t what he wanted. Either way, I just want a quiet evening to relax and catch up on my favorite show. So thank you both for your unexpected, uninvited surprise visit today but I am tired."

Both Peter and Mel exchange shocked glances. "Sun, I came by to check on you because of... you know, what happened," Peter starts hesitantly.

You nod, taking a deep breath to keep

your emotions in check. "I'm aware, Peter. And I appreciate it. But right now, I'm doing okay. Actually, better than okay. So, I really don’t need help. Please, just give me some space. Both of you."

Mel steps forward, concern evident in her voice. "We're only trying to help here, Sunny. Please, don't shut us out."

"Look," you reply, feeling drained, "there's nothing you can do to help me anymore.You did enough today. Just let me be. My top priority right now is Gabriel. And it's his bedtime."

Peter moves closer, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "Just remember, if you ever need anything, please reach out."

You manage a wry smile. "Not sure my phone plan covers inter-dimensional calls, Peter."

After the gentle squeeze, Peter departs, Mel following close behind. As the door softly clicks shut, the weight of loneliness and grief descends upon you after seeing Peter, a part of your past, again. The walls of the apartment seem to close in, amplifying the echoing silence. It all feels suffocating. An emptiness weighs on your heart, and no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to escape its grasp. The reminders of all you've lost and nearly lost play on a loop in your mind.

So there you stand, in the quiet of your bedroom, leaning against the windowsill, breathing in the chilled nightair, while the world and your little baby boy are fast asleep. Emotions threaten to consume you, feelings you can no longer lock away, fearing they'll devour you from the inside. And in this moment, you speak out, though there's no one there to hear. No one to hold you close, no one to offer comfort for your broken soul. "Are you happy now? Did you manage to save the universe? Fix up every black hole? Then why did you leave one black whole in my heart? Why didn't you fix that,huh? Why am I not worthy of being saved by you?

You might fool the people around you, they see you as this scary untouchable figure, shielded by layers. But not me. I see through it all. Beneath that facade, you're just as shattered. I tried to piece you together, but where did that lead me? Broken, just like everything else you touch. And I won't let you near him. I won’t let you break him, you hear me? No, of course not.How could you hear me. You're universes away from me. Why? Are you afraid to get cut by the shards of the broken heart that you left?

I hate you Miguel O’ Hara. I hate you for breaking me. You left behind fragments only you can touch, and I hate you for it. For shattering me and then leaving me alone. I hate you.��

You wiped away the tears that escaped your eyes and closed the window, oblivious to the subtle shadowy silhouette that shifted just beyond the windowpane; "I'll mend your fractured rays, mi sol, so you shine whole again.“

A whisper, lost within the night shadows, never reaching your ears.

The gleaming city spread out beneath, its nighttime heartbeat pulsating with a soft electric energy. High atop one of its buildings, Miguel stands, casting a shadow on the walls of the room where his son sleeps peacefully. The warm lights from the streets below give off a soft glow, just enough for him to see Gabriel’s tiny chest rising and falling.

"So, you're staying here now? Just watching over Universe 586?" A familiar voice breaks the silence, and Miguel looks up to see Jessica Drew, her red and white suit glinting under the streetlights. "I never thought I'd witness the great O'Hara, savior of the universes, now guarding just two souls."

Miguel's jaw tightens. "Go away, Jess."

She lands beside him gracefully, her tone challenging. "Are you stalking your own child? Or seeking redemption from Sunny?"

"You don't get it, Jessica."

"On the contrary," she shoots back, her eyes intense, "I understand more than anyone else. I saw how you felt about her all those years ago. And I see it now. You were afraid, weren’t you?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," Miguel replies, defiance lacing his tone. "But I am not good enough for her light."

Jessica exhales, her voice softening. "And who made you the judge of that? Because according to Sunny’s emotional outburst, you're more than deserving." He clenches his fists, the weight of regret pulling at him. "I had my shot at happiness with Gabriella, and I lost it. People like me, Jess, we don't get second chances."

She points to the window, to the serene image of Gabriel. "That's your second chance, Miguel. Right there."

His eyes well up, the gravity of his mistakes reflecting in his eyes. "I almost killed him. How can I even begin to forgive myself for that?"

"But you didn't," she whispers, her voice filled with conviction. "And you wouldnt have hurt him or else you would have done it immediately. I saw you, Mig.”

A third voice joined them, and Peter B. swings over, landing with ease beside the two. "She's right, Miguel. I watched you with him, the tenderness, the love. It was there, even before you knew who he was to you."

Miguel shakes his head, shutting both of them out. His gaze is hard, still fixated on Gabriel. "I can't go back. They're better off without me. Besides, you heard her. She hates me."

Peter stepsforward, his gaze intense. "That's utter bullshit. I know Sunny. She’s strong, fierce, and forgiving. We heard her loud and clear and this woman loves you more than anything. Don't let fear rob you of your family."

Peters words hang in the air, and just as Miguel is about to reply, a shrill,ear-piercing cry cuts through the silence. His spider-sense goes haywire, a ripple of unease running down his spine. Without a second's hesitation, he dashes toward the source of the sound, leaving Jessica and Peter behind.

Inside, Miguel finds Gabriel crying, tears streaking his small face. Instinctively, Miguel scoops him up, the little boy immediately nestling into the familiar crook of his father's neck and calms down. “Hey, my little spider. Daddy ‘s here, don’t cry. What got you so scared?” he coos, spotting Gabriel's favorite toy on the floor. Miguel retrieved Gabriel's favorite toy from the floor, a routine he'd secretly adopted every night when, after falling asleep, the little one inevitably dropped it. With practiced ease, he nestled it back into the baby's grasp.

But before he can fully relax, Miguel's spider-sense jolts him again. Looking up, he sees a familiar, dark-clad figure hovering, hands sparking ominously.

“Drop the child, Miguel.”

a/n: Hey guys, part 4 is finally here! Thanks for your patience and all the love you've shown me. While I initially thought Part 4 would be the conclusion, I've decided to extend Miguel's character and redemption arc, so we'll wrap up with Part 5. I'm already deep into writing it, so you won't have to wait as long. I truly appreciate all your feedback and support. You've all been wonderful. Remember to stay safe, stay hydrated, and always prioritize your mental well-being. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this chapter! 🤍

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lazyyogi · 19 days

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Yesterday I drove 2 hours to experience the solar eclipse totality.

As the moon slowly drifted across the sun, red and warm colors became more muted while blues and greens more vivid. I was struck by how incredibly bright the sun was even when 95% of its light was obscured by the moon.

Then came the magical moment of totality. We watched through our eclipse glasses as the tiny sliver of sun completely vanished behind the moon. The day’s warm temperatures suddenly dropped. Birds started singing forlorn bedtime melodies.

We took off our eclipse glasses and looked upon the totality in utter astonishment.

In a way like never before, the moon appeared as a truly 3 dimensional object floating in the sky. Planets became visible (that’s Venus in my picture). And we saw Baily’s Beads, delicate drops of golden sunlight at the edges of the moon.

I have not seen a single picture or video that adequately captures the eldritch splendor of eclipse totality.

The chills, the emotions and giddiness, it was a moment I will never forget for the rest of my life.

It was well worth the nearly 5 hour drive back.

An irreplaceable entrance to my birthday week ❤️🌙

#eclipse #solar eclipse

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genjv4rse · 11 months

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𖥻 THINGS — enhypen ◌ ִ ۫ ּ

syn ; things enha reminds me of !

heeseung !

dangly earrings, pendent chains, skinny ripped jeans, rock guitar, clubbing, late studio night, concerts, rainy empty street, love songs, specs, ice cream, deers, rainforest, going over the speed limit, long drive, polaroids, balcony, tattoos, collage campus, basketball, getting into fist fights, breaking rules, warm breeze, kisses, sharing earphones, untied shoelaces, sleeveless tops, cross jewelries, chase atlantic songs

jay !

red wine, ball dance, guitar, empty kitchen, champagne bubbles, tuxedo suits, runaway, black cat, fashion magazines, gold jewelries, camping, eucalyptus, biking, biker jackets, street racing, late night walks, city lights, porsche, cologne, the weeknd songs, loose tie, fancy restaurant, chanel bags, iced americano, home, long hugs, words of affirmation, eye contact, autumn, posh music, v necks, opera, musical recital, marriage, ancient churches

jake !

pancakes, golden retrievers, empty parks, cardigans, picnic, wolf pups, landscapes, abstract art, lip piercings, makeout sessions, mornings, cream, sheets, swimming, sand castles, tree houses, venus, varsity player, rings, clashing waves, sun shinning through curtains, backyard, champagne, sparkly eyes, netflix and chill, forehead kisses, caramel fudge, winter, jb songs, garden, lilies, lipstick stains

sunghoon !

sculptures, greek mythology, snow, ice skating, pointe shoes, swan lake, ice rinks, rhinestones, vampires, sharp canines, royalty, huskies, novels, cruise, 90s songs, ear muffs, moon phase, poetry, dandelions, maple leaves, vanilla shake, pearls, penguins, blush, lucid dreams, confessions, lullaby, archangels, romance movies, boyfriend coats, monsoon, hair blowing because of the wind, moles, tears, old love, unrequited love, ribbons, weddings

sunoo !

sun, tulip field, solar system, marshmallows, tteobokki, street food, shopping, karaoke, smiles, cute stationeries, stickers, secret diary, cheek kisses, mufflers, red foxes, bratz doll, playdate, selfies, carnations, easter, boba tea, bestfriends to lovers, cherry blossoms, lip gloss, skincare, disney shows, late night face timing, gossiping, watching kdramas, sanrio stuffs, blowing bubbles, photo booths, texts, horizon

jungwon !

kittens, valleys, teenage dream, gold fish, aquariums, subways, cds, headphones, empty bus rides, babybreaths, holding hands, first love, taylor swift songs, messy hair, vacation, countryside, group study, constellations, piggyback ride, dimples, converse, empty classroom, sheep cubs, indoor plants, mini cactus, namsan tower, han river, late fall, vintage hand written letters , young love, romcom, kitties

ni-ki !

graffiti, sunsets, baggy pants, late night dance jam, empty beach, bicycling, sea shore, ear piercings, watermelon, summer, slow dancing, grass field, bungeoppangs, duck chicks, disneyland, ps5, arcade, puma cubs, eskimo kisses, bracelets, youth, climbing fences, skipping school, skateboarding, mangas, school festivals, footsies, cute band aids, oversized attires, j-rock, night sky, laughters, slice of life, teenage, playfulness, photo booths, anime, shoujo manga

taglist ; @solarwoniii @shiningstar-byulxx @wtfhyuck @ichiibunztwt @enhawhoreist

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crow-n-tell · 1 year

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HELLO AND WELCOOOOME TO!

What kind of jellyfish is sun?

I got some requests about getting a lil layout of what jellyfish types I combined to get him the way I did for moon in this post. It’s not as fun and detailed as moons because, let’s face it: jellyfish are pretty straight forward but!! Here

Phacellophora Camtschatica

aka The Fried Egg Jellyfish.

This is the biggest and most obvious part of Sunny’s design, he‘s an egg boy and I love him for it. But also there’s an interesting bit about the relationship between fried egg jellyfish and larval crabs. See these lil baby crabs?

Yeah so they climb inside fried egg jellyfish and just. RIDE AROUND IN THEIR BELL? Consequences be damned lil dudes chillin in there getting a ride. Which makes this the second time I’ve seen other animals use jellyfish as transportation. Baby octopus, baby crabs, with sun’s size it’s safe to say reader could probably do the same.

Though maybe reader wouldn’t want to do that because the whole reason larval crabs are chilling in their bell is also because jellyfish, while not capable of being infected by parasites cause they… they don’t have the bits that help parasites do the meat suit piloting… are carriers of parasites! They just walk around with em chilling in there. Larval crabs love monchin on em.

Next up is!!

Chrysaora Fuscesscens

aka

Honestly pacific sea nettles don't have many interesting facts about them. What can I say? they are very very long - talking 15 feet long. Other than that there isn't much else to say, I wish I could list something insane off like, OH THEY’VE GOT LAZER EYES. Nope. These guys float around looking like beautiful undersea mushrooms and they need no special skills to do that.

Uh. Yeah it’s not a jellyfish. This specially has to do with Sunny’s electric ability. Maybe you were thinking, oh so he’s like electric eels? (Which actually aren’t eels! They are a type of knife fish) no no, I am a perfectionist! I aim for accuracy and I also aim for the fun of science. While jellyfish cannot actually 🎵 shock you like a electric eel 🎶, jellyfish can SORT OF generate electricity.

Via a green gooey substance in the bells of jellyfish, scientists have discovered that by exposing it to ultraviolet light it produces electrons. Layman's terms? SOLAR POWERED GOO. While jellyfish have not harnessed the solar goo, scientists have actually found a way of using it to make a new form of green electricity!

So while Sun isn't electric the way an electric eel is, he still has a way of using electricity to make him a pretty powerful lil taser. Enough to put something smaller than him in a cardiac arrest, and give something his size or bigger a good reason to scamper off.

SOLAR POWERED SUN!

Which leads to my finishing notes.

While sun uses his zapper stuff quite a bit, he does have a regular sting too. While relatively less lethal than his zapping for bigger creatures, it does function as a paralytic! For smaller creatures it’s Uh…. Its a lil more dangerous. Good thing neoprene is sting proof haha.

And I had something else…

I recently posted a magma with Sunny sleeping.

This is based around the jellyfish that scientist found out sleep, Cassiopeia.

They are usually just chilling like that, bell down. Looking at them like this it really makes you think about how closely related they are to sea anemones huh? Lil freaks.

Sometime soon I’ll post a eclipse version of this, which I’m excited about because I love sharks SO MUCH.

#my art #mermaid au #the daycare attendant #mermaid dca #jellyfish!sun

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moltengoldveins · 2 months

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hm yes emduo and bedrock bros and the eggs in Space. Phil is one of the last surviving members of a fragile but technically immortal species of elytrians that is now only whispered about in fairy tales. He’s a private investigator and enforcer (space pirate and muscle) for his beloved wife’s galaxy-wide uhhh….. Independent illegal group of people dedicated to protecting order and monitoring corruption? Gang of space pirates who steal from rich people? League of assassins but with morals? Unclear what the Syndicate Is Exactly but it sure do Be. He’s the pilot for the SBI Boreas, a light cruiser with a frankly Absurd munitions outfit. (Tubbo’s his mechanic)

Techno is a member of the only recognized sentient deathworlder species, an odd mix of orc, elf, and pig features, and is by all accounts a living legend, or a living nightmare. He’s solidly twice the size of most other species, capable of surviving injuries what most would deem a death sentence, and a highly trained warrior to boot. Now, by all human accounts the texts of his people are pretty self-explanatory, (the Art of War is 89% Common Sense by volume) but in a galaxy of peaceful races on peaceful planets, it’s complex and brutal enough to be nigh-incomprehensible. He’s on a Lot of watchlists, but he’s also the like… platonic third partner in Phil and Madam Kristin, The Lady Of Death TM’s marriage??? So not a lot can be Done about him.

Tommy is a younger avian teen (distant relation to the elytrians, definitely Not Immortal) who Techno found breaking into the Boreas and decided to keep (Phil took one look and his Dad Instincts kicked in) and his life is going swimmingly until he gets Yoinked for leverage against his dads and mum. The organization who gets him runs a blood sport colosseum, and while in transit his cage was stuck next to this weird hairless thing?? Chained with like Heavy Duty restraints. Tommy doesn’t have a ton of time to bond with this Strange Thing before the hostage negotiations happen, but they do manage to exchange names and Tommy decides with his classic impulsive passion that This Thing And He Are Brothers For Life Now. then the negotiations immediately go south, there’s a bit of a standoff, and Techno ends up trading himself for Tommy, which is what the organization wanted in the first place. They run a Reeeeally expensive exotic show for super Rich Jerks in an undisclosed location and Techno is their latest attraction. They’re also painfully cocky, and will be dying with extreme prejudice the moment Mumza gets her claws in them.

So Techno gets Got and shoved in a high-security cell once they reach the colosseum, along with, surprise! This strange hairless creature with four limbs. It’s Chayanne, who is A Very Human Teenager who Did Not Want To Be Abducted By Aliens, Thank You. They’re both deathworlders, which Techno Does Not Realize until they get assigned to the same team a few weeks into the battles and watches Chay rip a bug man’s limbs off (Chay is Not having a good day. His dad (Missa) taught him self defense and was a martial artist, a butcher, and a rather morbid man, so some Relevant Knowledge and some general chillness around death is to be expected, but Not a chillness around KILLING PEOPLE FOR SPORT) Techno thinks this must be a fully grown adult whatever-it-is all the way until Chay breaks down crying and sounds Just Like a shoat (baby pig) and Techno feels the Dad Instinct rising again.

Meanwhile, Halfway Across The Galaxy: the government has been developing space flight, but are really only at the borders of our solar system when they catch some aliens in the act of Yoinking another kid, this time from an orphanage (Tallula) they don’t manage to save her, but Holy Crap ALIENS???? Missa, who saw a bit of his son’s abduction but not enough to know exactly what happened, sees the news broadcast, puts two and two together and gets plot advancement. He starts pulling strings, asking about old connections in the space force (Cosmonaut Fit Emsi, godfather to Chayanne and Missa’s college best friend, may or may not be involved in the Turning Of Blind Eyes) and manages to get access to a hanger bay with a captured alien ship in it a few months after the incident in what might be the coolest heist sequence ever not-actually-written. (It’s very cool in my head, think Oceans 11 but the majority of the qsmp cast, trust me I swear.) He launches himself right into space and proceeds to systematically work his way through spaceport after waystation after colony planet in search of The Aliens Who Steal Human Kids (Specifically My Son)

Techno is at this point playing the long game. He knows Kristin and Phil aren’t about to leave him hanging, and that they have enough firepower to burn this place to the ground, but he’s not sure when that’s gonna happen or how he’s gonna get Chay out. Meanwhile, Chay has No Idea what this strange Exceedingly Chill Pig Man has going on, but as far as he’s concerned, this is his life now. Forever. And making allies is important. They start trading languages and Techno starts teaching Chay katas (modified for the drastically different joint structure) in their free “big open space enrichment time.” (Side note: what aliens consider almost horrific cruel and unusual punishment is at worst severely unpleasant for humans. They just can’t take psychologically what humans can, so they kinda Have to treat their slaves better than we would. Doesn’t mean it’s good treatment, but it does mean Chay and Techno are both doing significantly better than they could be.)

Finally, Phil and Kristen rock up to the party incognito, dressed to the nines and attending a Big Event To Show Off Our New Deathworlders. They see Techno in the ring and have to Play It Cool, but he seems to be doing ok actually, so that’s good. Eventually the Head Honcho Man gets into a discussion with Phil right by the viewing window, so Phil has to pretend he’s fine when he sees a door open in the arena and A @:&;!ING HUMAN STEP OUT AND SQUARE OFF WITH HIS BEST FRIEND. (Shockingly, being immortal tends to inform you of such things like Secret Deathworlds and their Scary Inhabitants) Kristin is of course Immediately On The Move, but it turns out to be not necessary: Chay just kinda strolls up to Techno and gives him a side hug (bLEASE, you want me to fight my Roommate? Get out) and while Phil is laughing to himself, the Head Honcho gets maaaaad. He pulls it around though, announcing that he “already knew the two monsters had bonded the way only such vicious creatures could, and will be giving them a challenge only they could hope to face!!” And releases, like, four of the heccin Dune sand worms into the arena. Techno and Chay proceed to fight like demons while Phil and his squad take out the party and Kristen and her squad sweep the lower levels of the colosseum in an effort to keep More Worms out of the arena. Slavers die horribly. The end.

Meanwhile, halfway across the galaxy: Missa returns!! Now with Even More Rage! His ship has broken down and because he ain’t got no Space Green Card, he’s got to get it repaired at a place that’ll take anyone. Enter Tubbo Underscore, Syndicate Member and Tinkerer Extraordinaire. Tubbo takes one look at this guy and goes “yeah that’s not a normal guy there’s something Wrong here” and through a series of pointed questions (and aggressive preening by Benson, a rather horrifying eldritch duck-dog thing the size of a small horse) Missa eventually explains why he’s in space. Tubbo, having just recently repaired Philza H Minecraft’s ship on its way to wipe out a gladiator ring, puts two and two together to make more plot, explains his Theory, and decides to accompany Missa, getting them into the next Syndicate raid on this organization. They, along with an undercover agent by the code name of Boo (It’s a word in Old Enderian that means ‘Eldritch’ or ‘Unknowable.’ Missa has to choke to keep from laughing) storm a freighter and rescue a bunch of valuable slaves and also!! Sunny and Tallulah! They have different first languages, Sunny was treated Significantly Cushier by the slavers than Lulah bc she was younger and viewed a bit more like a pet than a fighter, and they haven’t really spoken to one another before the rescue, so their rough start happens at this point. Cue Missa and Tubbo # Struggling to keep these two feral children from each others throats while they keep searching (‘Chay was literally never this bloodthirsty, the heck???’ -Missa, holding two backpack leashes apart while the girls are trying to strangle each other)

Meanwhile on the Boreas: CHAY AND TOMMY REUNION POG???? Techno formally adopts Chay according to his culture (think Mandalorian, but to the left) and Chay has enough language to understand, but not enough to inquire about, yknow, whether Going Back To Earth is an option. As far as the Boreas crew know, it isn’t: Earth is a no-fly zone and Chay’s been out here for nearly a year and a half. They have no idea how they’d begin to get him home.

Then finally, on a Syndicate-owned spaceport in the middle of nowhere, Missa finds the Boreas and sees his kid across a crowded bazaar. They hug, it’s super dramatic, very tearful, (Phil and Kristen are already planning his room on the ship: if they’re gonna coparent, they’re gonna do it Right) and after a bit of waffling, both Chay and Missa decide it’s for the best if they spend some time in space before heading back to earth, what with the whole “definitely stole a star fighter and wanted by the government, the entire world knows about aliens now” bit. There is fluff. There is cultural sharing. There is hair braiding. It’s amazing.

Then comes my literal favorite space au trope Ever: a few days into the new and improved Boreas gang’s voyage, their ship is boarded by (shock, horror) a group of Human Pirates and the crew is Immediately captured. Turns out: it’s kinda hard to keep the existence of an entire galactic community from Everyone on Earth, and these are guys who, similar to Missa, yoinked a spaceship from their military and went rogue. (I’m putting Quackity here, cause I love charismatic villain Quackity and I think it works) they pirates are very VERY “humans are gonna expand to cover the universe” “might makes right” “come, join us, and together we can rule the galaxy” about it when they realiz Missa and Chay are aboard, and the Boreas crew honestly expects Missa and Chay to join them. They’re human! They speak the same language! They value the same things! Obviously they’re gonna take that way out, we wouldn’t even blame them! (Techno feels pretty betrayed but Phil/Kristen/Tommy just look resigned) Missa and Chay play along, pretend to hate their ‘alien captors,’ and arm themselves “to help them secure the ship.”

What follows is a rather emotionally charged but Very Very Cool sequence in which Missa and Chayanne use the skills they gained in their unfortunate struggles across the galaxy to Clean House, clearing their home the ship room by room until they’ve got a pile of bloodied and unconscious or dead humans and a very very shocked new family. There might be a bit more plot after this as the family settles, perhaps a sequel made of short stories, but this is generally the end.

The epilogue is five years later, when Fit Emsi, head of the new Intergalactic Human Intergalactic Relations Organization and Expansion Section (HIROES) has his monthly checkup call with Missa and Chay, who’re having a blast with Techno and Phil and Tommy traveling the universe. Fit calls them in to consult in cultural stuff during the negotiations with, yknow, the Actual Galactic Government, the one that views the Syndicate as a crime organization, but it’s pretty well known at this point that Mumza is In Charge Of Things on the Downlow, and Fit’s still Chay’s godfather for heavens sake: there’s simply nothing the government can Do about it. Tubbo has adopted Sunny and Chay took one look at Talulah and decided “Thats My Little Sister.” Phil apparently has had a crisis recently related to some kind of ancient evil ex long thought dead, but is on the road to recovery. Everyone lives happily ever after, the end.

#molten rambles #mcyt #dsmp #qsmp #fanfic #fanfiction prompt #au concept #qsmp chayanne #qsmp philza #qsmp technoblade #technoblade #philza #emduo #emerald duo #bedrock bros #ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED TUMBLR #DO YOU NOT SEE MY VISION #IS IT NOT GLORIOUS

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earthstellar · 7 months

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Earth Music on the Lost Light: Human Music That Cybertronians Like

we know for a fact that the Lost Light has access to human media, primarily movies, TV shows, and music-- and we know they generally seem to fucking love most of it, or at least find it interesting

but what would everyone's tastes be, in regards to Earth music?

time to talk about music for a long time!!! strap in, enjoy some tunes

we already know Cyclonus has impeccable taste and enjoys some of the best jams the 80s had to offer.

I can't help but imagine Rodimus being given a media archive of Earth tunes to approve for the Earth Dance would only result in chaos

(it's not like he would say no to anything, he absolutely blanket signed it all, it's just an obligatory thing-- or Ultra Magnus tells him it is, solely to keep him away from Important Captain Things that he would rather handle himself or hand off to Megatron, lmao. the shit that really needs to get done)

and this is how Rodimus discovers the somewhat questionable yet amazing genre of "mid-90s underground techno rave mix tapes"

(somewhat related, I still think Testarossa might as well be Rodimus' theme song, although it's not a 90s track and has more of an 80s synth vibe)

Rodimus would love that "computers are the future, fuck yeah let's make Digital Cool Future Music" mid-90s shit, there is no way he would not. it has the exact energy level that appeals to him and is also cheesy and weird and chaotic. and has like 500 different sub-genres, so his selection is endless, lmao.

he would probably find it cute that this is what humans imagined to be the peak of "digital sound" at the time. like lmao this was the best humans could do when asked to create music that sounds like it was made by robots or other mechanical space future cyber lifeforms--high concept!!! he would probably find it interesting and endearing. this is what organics think non-organic music is like!!

anyone acting as DJ at Swerve's on any given night would be so, so mad that Rodimus keeps requesting shit like "DJ MASSIMO ITALO DISCO BEST RAVE TUNES LIVE FROM LONDON 1995" or "DJ ARMPIT SLUDGE FEST HOUSE-RAVE-DRUMS N BASS SET 1996" for them to play, lmao

not individual tracks. the whole album. entire mix tapes of random, somewhat questionable mid-90s techno house rave bullshit.

that having been said, that good ass early 90s trance techno might send him into a spiral depending on his mood at the time, lmao (it's been known to happen)

but at the same time I can imagine him sharing tracks like Solar Quest - Space Pirates with Drift and they'd both just sit there and jam out, but quietly, thinking about shit while sitting in a port window next to each other (this was peak sleepover party techno, Back in My Day-- many deep conversations were had while listening to stuff like this, lol)

Drift would probably find some of Rodmus' recommended stuff to be pretty good for meditation-- although once he finds out about the human drug culture involved and certain concepts of experimental consciousness etc. that surrounded techno/rave and other related genres, it might cause him to pull back a little bit

(until he finds out about kandi culture, in which case, Drift would love the idea of hand-made unique bracelets and sentimental trinkets being made and exchanged at warehouse shows purely out of Good Vibes and Love for Fellow Beings and it turns out actually he fucking loves this shit, a chill vibes based "expand your mind" kind of music subculture appeals to his Spectralist sensibilities and he likes sharing tunes with Rodimus in return)

Drift picking tracks on his own would likely lead him down more of a classic rock road, but more of the chill side of things, more of the folksy type of classic rock -- I can see Drift really enjoying Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum or California Dreamin' - The Mamas and the Papas. or like, Incense and Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock.

I mean, Drift might even go Full Earth Hippie and end up liking Green Tambourine - Lemon Pipers, lmao. in fact I am fairly certain of this.

I can see Drift loving Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In - The 5th Dimension. the whole vibe would probably appeal to him.

he'd quite possibly also like I Need a Dollar - Aloe Blacc, but it hits him in a place that still hurts to think about. so it's in rare rotation.

meanwhile Ratchet would probably be fine with classic rock too, like the good Dad Rock shit, just a lot of tracks from the 70s/80s -- a couple tracks he and Drift could probably agree on would likely lean more into the experimental/psychedelic rock side of things, like White Room - Cream or something like Wheel in the Sky - Journey

Rodimus tries to troll Ratchet by recommending Old Time Rock n Roll - Bob Seger, but joke's on him because it turns out Ratchet loves it, lmao

Swerve would go all out on classic bar jams for the evening playlist. Chill, good shit like Do It Again - Steely Dan.

Megatron would love Sinnerman - Nina Simone; He'd send it to Drift in a command crew level secured data packet, and they would both feel the hell out of this song. They don't need to talk about why. They never mention it to each other.

Megs would also probably love These Old Bones by Dolly Parton (mostly due to the lyrics, rather than the upbeat tune, but he would find it relatively relaxing), as well as 9 to 5 (of course), and similar music. Country from back in the day when country music was more about the struggle of poverty and the working life of rural people. Country music from back when songs told all the untold stories. He can respect that.

He'd listen to You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Patty Loveless and it would get him right in the fucking spark. Megatron is the Cybertronian equivalent of an Appalachian miner, god dammit. He understands.

Megatron would also like Johnny Cash; He would overthink Ghost Riders in the Sky and it would depress him, partly because it reminds him of Seekers... sigh.

I think he'd also like Cold War - Janelle Monae. He'd be way into good lyrics; What's being said in a song matters most to him. "This is a cold war, you better know what you're fighting for..." Indeed.

anyway I like thinking about what jams Cybertronians might like from their available selection of Earth tunes

#long post #transformers #maccadam #maccadams #idw drift #idw 1 #idw transformers #mtmte #lost light #idw ratchet #idw rodimus #idw swerve #idw megatron

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tsams-and-co-memes · 21 days

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POV you found a notepad and wanted to get the autographs of your favorite characters

Font names and other stuff under the cut

Sun: Font name is “Luna.” You likely got his autograph by approaching him in the daycare. He's skittish and awkward sometimes with fans, so you had to be very chill and calm with your approach. As long as you maintain a normal speaking volume, give him personal space, and talk to him like a normal person, he's cool with giving autographs

Moon: Font name is “Quikhand.” Like Sun, you probably also had to go to the daycare to get his autograph. He can be a bit awkward and distant, but as long as you treat him like a normal person and aren't clingy and don't hover or insist on physical contact, he's cool with giving autographs

Frank: Font name is “CakorAyam.” No one ever knows where to find Frank, or where he is at any given point in time, so let's be real; you didn't find Frank, Frank found you. He's a guy of few words and mostly breathes at you during the whole interaction, but as long as you're kind to him, he'll be kind to you, and he'll even happily give you an autograph

Solar: Font name is “TINET.” You more than likely went to the Superstar Theater and approached him while he was working at the counter. If you treat him like a normal person, he'll give you an autograph, and he might even be content to crack some jokes or make light conversation. If you go at him like a crazy fan though, he'll send you away empty handed and tell you that you're being weird

KC: Font name is “Bree Font.” He worked at a soup kitchen, so you probably went there to see him. If you're weird in your approach, he'll tell you and ask you to stop, but if you're chill and polite, he'll give you his autograph and speak with you during his break. If he's in an especially good mood, he may even send you off with a cinnamon roll or cookie, too

Eclipse: Font name is “PP Handwriting Normal.” No one knows where Eclipse is, most of the time. Only god knows where you manage to stumble across him, but when you show up, he's probably in the middle of plotting and scheming something. He's not happy you're there, but he tries dismissing you. If you're calm and patient, and have the willpower to stand there and take the attitude he'll more than likely give you, he might give you his autograph purely to make you go away faster. If you're rude back to him, he might find some amusement in it and give you an autograph too, but that's a 50/50 shot whether he'll laugh or get annoyed

Solar Flare: Font name is “TrashHand.” You spotted him when he was on his way to the daycare to deliver satellite blueprints to Moon, so you stopped him for a moment. He was in a hurry, as blunt as ever about how important he is that he completes his task before Eclipse realizes what's up, and he finds the concept of autographs a bit strange, but he goes along with it. He doesn't really care how you behave, since he's indifferent to most things

Ruin: Font name is “We Mano Negra bta.” You found the British boy hanging out in the fazcade, tinkering with an arcade machine. As long as you're not a crazy fan about how you approach him, he's quite the social butterfly and would happily give you an autograph, but if you're weird about it, he'd either get visibly uncomfortable and leave as soon as possible, or he'd drop the sweetheart act and tell you, in a very blank, very flat tone of voice, to knock it off

Creator: Font name is “Taken by Vultures demo.” I'll be honest, I have no idea how you'd get his autograph. Firstly, you'd have to break into his lab, and doing so would probably result in death because now you've seen too much. Secondly, he has no hands or opposable thumbs as a giant brain. He'd need to be in the body of one of his little droids to even think about holding a pen and writing anything. On the off chance that you break into his lab and stroke his ego enough, he might consider letting you go, but if you say or do something he doesn't like, he'll put you 6 feet under

Bloodmoon: Font name is “5 years old.” I'm not sure about this one, either. You'd need whoever Bloodmoon was following/taking orders from present, to keep Bloodmoon from launching himself at you with murderous intent. That's assuming the person in question is nice enough to allow that, but... with the track record that Bloodmoon has of people he's decided to follow, the chance of his new master being kind is slim to none. If you don't end up in multiple pieces or smeared on the ground, you'd be very badly hurt. It's in everyone's best interest that you avoid this one at all costs

Monty: Font name is “Mind Antiks.” You likely found Monty in Gator Golf and decided to approach them there. They might be a bit skeptical of your intentions at first and assume you’re there on behalf of The Government, but with patience and gentle perseverance, you could convince them that you’re there of your own will and that you don’t intend to do anything weird or bad with their signature. As usual, treat them like a normal person, and don’t be weird or act like a crazy fan, that’d make them super uncomfortable (gonna stop repeating the “treat them like a normal person and don’t be a crazy fan” rule, because I feel like that should just be a given that no one likes it when you’re weird towards them)

Foxy: Font name is “Note this.” You likely saw him at the store when he was picking up something for FC, or while he was heading to Gator Golf. He’d be caught off guard and a little awkward at first, but probably very flattered that anyone would like him enough/think he was cool enough to want his autograph. Just,, whatever you do, be patient with the man; we all know he struggles with moving his arms

Puppet: Font name is “Domestic Manners.” You stopped by the Faz-Pad for a drink and saw Puppet there, crashing in that little corner that has the pool table. They were in the middle of watching some anime that you’d never even heard of, and although they’re slightly miffed about their show being interrupted, it’s quickly forgiven when you explain why you’ve approached them. Puppet likely didn’t think they had enough of a presence in the shows or that they couldn’t possibly be anyone’s favorite character, so they’re very flattered and more than willing to give you an autograph. If you started asking them questions about anime (whether it’s the one they’re currently watching, a different show, or anime in general), you’d probably be there all day while they happily ramble at you

FC: Font name is “Kindergarden.” FC was under Sun’s care when you found him, likely in the daycare. While it’s a little odd to go up to a kid and ask for an autograph, FC would be very excited, and he’d get the biggest ego boost from it, because this was all the proof he needed to see that he’s cool

Vegeta: Font name is “Elliot six.” Much like Frank, you do not find Vegeta, Vegeta finds you. He might be a little weird about the situation and a bit skeptical at first, but he could be convinced to give you an autograph. You might be suckered into getting him ice cream, helping him find his dog, watching some of his weird, out of pocket dance moves, or something else entirely, and he might find you again in the future, but hey. He’d be happy, and you would have unintentionally made a friend

Stitchwraith/Andrew: Font name is “Bear Butter.” You’d probably die the instant you wandered into his base, uninvited and unannounced. To be honest, I highly doubt anything you could say or do would be enough to get any form of mercy from him, let alone getting a simple autograph. He doesn’t take kindly to people poking their noses into his business, so… yeah. Hope you have a will drafted and a coffin picked out before you even try to approach him

Stitchwraith/Jake: Font name is “Endless Bummer” (in all caps). Everything I typed out for Andrew also applies here, so I don’t really need to add anything else

Lunar: Font name is “Dadhand.” Like with Sun and Moon, you probably found Lunar in the daycare and approached him there. He’s chill with fans coming in to say hi, and he’s happy to give you his autograph, provided you’re not a creepy weirdo

Earth: Font name is “Shadows into Light.” She was also in the daycare (wowie wow wow, look at all the people in the daycare, such a shocker /silly/sar) when you decided to approach her. She likes interacting with fans and it makes her very happy. She’s more than willing to give you an autograph, but you need to be especially mindful of how you act. If she’s even the tiniest bit uncomfortable around you, you’ll be booted out the door by one of her brothers

Jack: Font name is “Coffee House.” Lord knows where you stumble upon Jack, honestly. He’s probably confused about why you want him to write his name on a piece of paper, but he does it anyway, because why not. The only downside is that he might steal or break your pen

Castor: Font name is “Oil bats basic.” Astral bodies don’t typically get asked for autographs, so he’s thrown for a loop when you waltz up to him and ask him about it. While Castor grasps the concept of it, it’s just ACTUALLY doing it that confuses him, since… that’s his name. Why do you need/want it so bad? He is literally just There, he doesn’t see why you’re so invested in getting him to write his name. He’ll do it, but not before expressing how bizarre this is to him

Pollux: Font name is “A hundred miles.” Pollux doesn’t quite understand why you’d want her autograph either. Her thought process is very similar to Castor’s, but she’ll still do it. If you tell her that you want her autograph because you think she’s super cool, you might even manage to score some brownie points

Gemini: Font name is “Hathem Bosteem Free.” They’ll do it. They’re just Castor and Pollux merged together as one person, so just imagine everything I typed out for both of them, inserted here

Nebula: Font name is “Antro Vectra.” Again, this is another one where only god knows where you’d find her. Nebula doesn’t quite fully understand the concept of autographs, but I get the feeling she’d be flattered if you explained it to her and said that you wanted hers because you thought she was cool. She’d be flattered and still slightly confused, but either way, she could be convinced to do it

Taurus: Font name is “Across the road.” You…. Are not finding him on your own. Plain and simple. You’d have to get his autograph through Nebula, assuming he was feeling gracious enough to give you his autograph at all

#tsams #sun and moon show #the sun and moon show #tmgafs #mgafs #the monty and foxy show #monty and foxy show #monty gator and foxy show #the monty gator and foxy show #laes #tlaes #lunar and earth show #the lunar and earth show #handwriting headcanon

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azsazz · 1 year

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Bloody Knuckles and the Songs of Death

Azriel x Reader

Summary: This lovely piece stemmed from me thinking about how SJM describes Azriel’s voice in the High Lord meeting as “cold death.” It got me thinking that if he’s cold death what if reader is warm death? She is the last hug someone receives before their soul is entrapped in death’s icy snare. She’s the last breath exiting someone’s lungs, the heat of the final exhale passing through their parted lips. She’s the heat of their blood as it spills through split skin and that warm hand cradling their hands as they bleed out.

Reader is everything that Azriel is not. Opposite feelings but equal death in the end.

AKA: Half a rewrite of chapters 43-47 of ACOWAR where reader is now there as part of the Autumn Court, excited to meet Azriel. The other half are my own ideas.

Warnings: Major themes of death, ACOWAR spoilers, blood, gore, mentions of abuse, smut.

Word Count: 1,987

Notes: Sorry about the long summary, but I felt it was necessary to help understand where this came from before reading it. Yes, this will be multiple parts :)

_________________________________________

The Vanserras are late. Undoubtedly and uncaringly late.

You don’t see why it matters, anyway. You certainly aren’t one to concern yourself with matters involved in other courts unless you’re asked. But when Eris had come to you with a request on behalf of the High Lord of the Autumn Court, to tag along to some High Lord’s meeting – the first in nearly three centuries – you could hardly contain the feral grin threatening to carve your face in two.

For you it is a chance to play.

The Vanserra family is silent as you’re escorted through the lavish halls of the Dawn Court.

It’s incredible, what you’ve seen so far, glimpses from the windows of the High Lord’s palace. Your first time to the solar court, and you drink in everything that you can. The cobalt sky tinged by the rosy pinks and creamy oranges, the remnants of sunrise long into the day, the edges of the low hanging clouds gilded with golden light. Dewey freshness lingers in the air, lush with the evocative scents of rain in the countryside, the weight of the summer nearly upon it.

Inhaling deeply, your eyelashes flutter as you listen to the clatter in the meeting room as you approach, your senses nearly overwhelmed by all of the different scents winding together. There’s the one you’re most familiar with, the crisp wind and singed spices of Autumn, but as you part your lips to taste the other aromas in the air, you pick out the subtle tinges of the rival courts: sandalwood and coconut oil from the Summer Court, seawater and clean clothes billowing in the breeze from Day. The overpowering perfume of vanilla that coats your throat thickly followed by the melancholic neutral cold breath that stings your lungs is most definitely the Winter Court.

And of course, the intoxicating night-chilled mist wafting from the Night Court fae, who sit up straighter in their chairs when you enter the room following Beron, his wife, and his sons.

But even sweeter than that, underneath all of the niche and savory odors, is the scent of life.

You see they’ve brought a whole committee, the Night Court. Unsurprising for their High Lord, who always has one of his pets do his bidding for him, not a wrinkle to be had to be put into his pressed suit if he had to help it. Why get all messy when he could have someone do it for him?

You. That is who you are to the Vanserras. Someone to torture and kill for information, just like his spymaster, minus the protective shadows hovering over his shoulders like warped darkness that follows you around at night, always watching and always listening.

The difference is…is that you love death.

You are death…in a way.

Just like him, who sits next to the cocksure commander of armies, behind his Lord and–Lady, you now realize as you catch sight of their clasped hands, the gleaming ring settled snugly around Feyre’s left ring finger, a matching one on Rhysand’s.

Your gaze travels across them in an instant, and theirs over you. There’s a shift as they assess you, in line with Eris, following closely behind Beron and Amaretto. Perhaps they think you’re Eris’ mate. That would surely be something, you think. You can practically see the gears grinding in their minds as they scramble to figure out who you are, and you know it’s because no one has ever seen you before, Beron wouldn’t ever let someone close enough to recognize you.

You recognize the familiar glazed look they get over their eyes when they speak into each other’s minds, and then there’s a caress of claws inside of your head, gentle at first, but a slash when it’s met with nothing but resistance, your walls reinforced over years of practice. It’s a warning, a scare tactic, but you are anything but intimidated by the Night Court High Lord and his comrades.

You commit everything to memory in the quick once over you give, eyes eager to settle back upon the shadowisnger. The jeweled crown upon Feyre’s head, the female behind her with the near-matching facial structure. Lovely Mor is here, too, going stock still as her chocolatey gaze locks on Eris before she’s looking anywhere but.

Your mouth twitches into a wry smirk that the spymaster immediately zeroes in on, clenching his hands where they’re settled on his knees, his gaze fiery and his siphons flickering.

Azriel, the male who separates souls from bodies without so much as a grimace, a blink, a quiver to his perfectly straight lips.

He is breathtaking in more ways than one. The sharpness of his golden gaze as he glares at you from his seat, like he’s ready to wreak death upon you with those large, icy, massacred hands just itching to wrap around your warm throat, watch the light drain from your pretty eyes, the color empty from your lips, face, your body going slack in his grasp.

His wings. They look how you’d imagine an angel’s would, if they had betrayed the Mother and had been touched by flame, the delicate and purely white feathers singed and burnt from the skin and bones beneath, much like the pink and puckered scars adorning his fingers to his wrists.

The Reaper.

The Taker of Death.

But you are the Bringer of Death. The warmth of it all. The last hug one receives before the Reaper swoops their soul into his icy snare. You are the last breath exiting one’s lungs, the heat of that final exhale plating their parted lips. You’re the swelter of their blood as it spills through split skin and the burning one feels in their heart when they realize they’re in love and that searing in their stomachs when they feel sick.

You are everything that he is not. Opposites in feeling but equals in the end.

To you, death is a beautiful thing. Intriguing, evoking, fascinating.

To Azriel, death is anything but. A finite solution to seek information. Routine and cold and inevitable and lonely.

The violence simmering off of the Night Court party as you enter through the archway is not new, their harsh stares a reminder that you need to be alert, on your game, not itching with intrigue about the male you’d heard so much about.

Autumn Court’s presence alone is enough to make the Peregryns feathers ruffle, the remaining sons sneering at the Court with the most strained ties. The Vanserra offspring are a rowdy bunch, you’ve known that for centuries, have often been on the other side of the leer Pyrolas sends to Cresseida, earning a flash of teeth in warning from Varian.

Beron doesn’t bother to check them. Perhaps he likes having most of the other courts dislike him, letting his kin do as they please like half-wild beasts.

But Eris cares, a sweet soul trapped in a tainted family, of that you know. He is the one you prefer, the most emotionally intelligent, even if only in private. Your best friend, the one you’d run to after a long day of working for his father, someone who understands and you trust with any secret, with your life.

“Enough,” Eris murmurs and his younger brothers finally fall into line. All three of them; Pyrolas, Oakland, and Foxe.

Beron stops halfway across the room, hands folded before him. Even from where you’re positioned behind you know that he’s scowling at the Night Court attendees like they’re a pack of mongrels.

He is the oldest here, and the most awful, something that you and all of the other Courts can agree on.

Rhysand greets the Vanserras smoothly, eyes drifting over you as if you aren’t even there, though you know that he’s seen a lot with that fluttering glance. His power is heavy in the air, a silent rumble that serves as a reminder of the magic coursing through his veins.

As if he’d ever let anyone forget it.

“It’s no surprise that you’re tardy, given that your own sons were too slow to catch my mate. I suppose it runs in the family.”

Beron’s lips curl slightly as he looks her over, at the onyx clad crown settled upon her head.

“Mate–and High Lady.”

You had to give it to Feyre. You’ve seen many balk from Beron’s hot stare more times than you can count, but she looks everything that Rhysand has just said, High Lady, as she sits in her chair as if she’s the one running all of the overinflated egos in the room, spine straight, chin high, and face neutral in the same way that Azriel’s is.

She turns her gaze to each of Beron’s sons. Eris smiles, amused and aloof before Feyre’s sharp gray eyes flicker to you.

If Eris is smiling, you’re practically glowing, eager to see where this meeting will go, if you’ll get to play or not. Your power thrums beneath your skin, a fervent buzz begging to be unleashed.

The red siphon-clad warrior watches Eris like a hawk studying its next meal. Eris deigns a glance at the Illyrian general and inclines his head in invitation, subtly patting his stomach. Ready for round two.

You stifle the urge to roll your eyes at your friend. He’d told you all about what had happened on that ice when he and his brothers were chasing the female they hadn’t known was the High Lady of the Night Court, animatedly telling you of the battle you wished you’d been there to witness, and grumbling through the parts of the story when the Illyrian had landed a hit on him as you dabbed at his wounds with a healing salve.

You’d even been there to hold him when he whispered so softly about his youngest brother that you were half sure he was delusional from blood loss or that you hadn’t even heard.

You cringe when Eris’ attention shifts to Mor, knowing all about what transpired between the two centuries ago. His caramel gaze sweeps over her with a disdain that makes Feyre’s eyes narrow in anger.

The blonde only stares blankly at him. Bored.

You bite back the twitch of your lips and notice Viviane doing the same.

So more than just a few of you know what had been done.

Azriel sits so still in his chair you aren’t sure the stone-faced male is even breathing as you sit in your chair to Eris’ left, settling into the plush cushion that faces the Night Court members.

Thesean, your Dawn Court host, begins. “Rhysand, you have called this meeting. Pushed us to gather sooner than we intended. Now would be the time to explain what is so urgent.”

Rhysand takes his time, blinking slowly before he responds, “Surely the invading armies landing on our shores explain enough.”

“So you have called us to do what, exactly?” Helion challenges, bracing his forearms on his muscled, gleaming thighs. “Raise a unified army?”

“Among other things,” Rhys says mildly, in a way that irks you. If he has such pressing matters then why isn’t he getting to the point? “We–”

His words falter as power crackles through the chamber. Everyone falls silent and the scent of spring prickles your nostrils, evading your senses as it sweeps through the room on a pollen-filled gust. Something about it is too sweet, too flowery, too potent, nearly choking you as the beast himself prowls in through the doors, later than your court had been.

Tamlin.

He enters the room alone, like a crack of lightning, winnowing into the chamber, gaze directed at Feyre, smiling like a wolf.

You and Eris share a glance, his face impassive, cool, but you catch the amusement glittering in his copper gaze, the slight curve of his mouth as the air drains from the room and the shields surrounding every High Lord and their courtiers locks into place.

#azriel x reader #azriel/reader #acowar #acotar #acomaf #acosf #azriel #azsazz

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type1dragonwolf · 29 days

Text

TSAMS/LAES character headcanons

Some headcanons I have :)

Sun:

•When Sun is stressed, he will plop on his bed and snuggle with his cats.

•At first, Sun was kinda jealous of Solar from how close he and Moon were, but then Solar told him that Moon still loved him, so they’re cool.

•Sun likes whenever he gets compliments, especially from Moon, since he doesn’t get them that often.

•He has read Warrior Cats. If not, I’m forcing it upon him to read all 100+ books.

•He will dress up his cats for Halloween and other special occasions/holidays.

Moon:

•He wears Solar’s shirt/sweatshirt after he died, and refuses to take it off until Solar’s back.

•He loved hanging with Solar, because he actually got Moon, and they probably made a playlist of songs they listened to, and moon still listens to it. Their favorite is ‘Bloom’ by ‘The Paper Kites’.

•Moon likes podcasts.

•Everytime he passes by one of his siblings, he gives a small: ‘Hi ___!’

Earth:

•Earth has a flower crown/flower garden and each flower is color coded to someone she cares about. (E.i.: Sun-Sunflower, Lunar-Light Blue orchid, etc.)

•Earth likes Journaling, but sometimes will draw in it. She has a lot of stickers, post it notes, coloring utensils and washi tape.

•Earth is an excellent braclet maker and braider.

•Sometimes when she is bored, so will read some of Lunar’s comic books.

Lunar:

•He probably has a secret small room/closet where he just paints on the walls. Only Gemini and maybe Earth knows about this.

•Like Eclipse, Solar and Frank, Lunar has a strong connection to Gemini.

•If Lunar had a pocket or a pair of overalls, he would carry Spigot around in it.

•Ever since he met Earth, he’s kinda been stuck to her, and sometimes when they first met he would hold on to her leg, forcing her to stay with him for a bit longer.

•Lunar is trying to learn how to braid.

Solar:

•(Going off of my first Eclipse headcanon) If/When Solar comes back, he will be able to talk to his original Sun and Moon.

•He probably had a hole is his shirt/sweatshirt, and after he died, moon stitched it up (messily) with a little orange heart.

•Solar likes podcasts.

•Solar is probably Bi.

•Solar watches over all his siblings, and sometimes will put a hand on their shoulder or hug them, which gives them chills.

•His theme song is ‘Can’t Help falling in Love’ by ‘Built by Titan’ BECAUSE IT IS SO AMAZING SONG GO LISTEN TO IT!! ⬇️

youtube

Ruin:

•Plays Baby shark 24/7 in his mind as a way to cope.

•Despite being trapped in his cell, Moon let him have a smol shark plushie.

Eclipse:

•I imagine that since he like ‘died’ died, that he can communicate with a spirit he’s connected to, so Solar Flare is his.

•He secretly does care about the others, as shown with him telling Moon: ‘You should grieve with your siblings’ ‘You should charge’ and the fact that he left Ruin alone after moon said please.

•Eclipse secretly does miss Solar, but mainly because he’s getting a bit tired of hearing everyone cry.

•He’s okay with being around Earth, but will only talk to her, and doesn’t really like it whenever she tries to put a hand on his back/shoulder.

Frank/Forkface:

•He likes the Kahoot song. It’s his theme song.

•We don’t know much about him, but I imagine he can also talk to spirits, and his is KC.

BloodMoon:

•He probabaly doodles a little signature of sign that knows it was him whenever he kills someone.

•He will sometimes play-fight his other half when bored.

•He may possibly have a smol Rotrick/tails plushie.

Gemini/Castor & Pollux:

•Pollux likes taking things from the lost and found, and this is how she found her iconic hair clips I draw her in.

•They are still a bit angry at Lunar, but really miss him and want to see him again.

•Castor and Pollux loved racing Lunar for fun.

•They like watching Bluey with Nebula.

•Sometimes they send fake notes to Lunar, or imagine Lunar is writing to them, kinda like Evan and Connor in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’.

•Pollux and Nebula are trying to learn how to braid hair.

KC/Solar Flare & others:

•Sometimes Sun, Moon, Earth, Solar and Lunar will have sleepovers and just sleep in one big pile like Mudwings.

•I imagine Nebula likes watching SmokeeBee, Blixemi and Bellasaurus on YT.

•Jack O’ Moon has a blue sqeaky dog bone that he likes to chew on. And possibly a collar.

•KC and Solar Flare help the new spirits that come to wherever they are. They also like eating Ice Cream.

•Everyone has plushies of each other, and when they have a bad dream about them they hug the plush of that person, kind of like they’re comforting them. Solars has been hugged A LOT lately.

•Whenever Lunar and Eclipse pass each other, they smirk and both say: ‘Idiot.’ Then keep walking, like it’s some kind of joke they do.

I’ll probably come back and add more later idk

#fnaf moon #moon fnaf #moondrop #fnaf security breach #fnaf sun #sun fnaf #sundrop #sams #sundrop fnaf #fnaf sb #tsams #laes #eals #tlaes #mgafs

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s0lar-ch3ri · 3 months

Text

what if i wanted to make another insane promo post?

yeah, ik, its promo time again. BUT this time around i do wanna add in the post both my cousin and niece

one thing i did get wrong, heartz is my niece, starz is my cousin! this will basically be going over what each of these 2 do (...and im also adding in a bonus competitor/promoed person, well actually 2 because I GOT A CHANNEL YIPPEE)

each channel will be seperated up so yeah lets go!

first channel:

Starzzz.andgalaxy (my actual cousin, lol) is a great yter who absolutely deserves to be celebrating more then just 170 subs! since shes actually here with me, i can let her say a lil something on the matter:

"hello! I would love to reach 200 subscribers at least, I think my hard work should not be for nothing!" <- her typing

shes very very fun (and also with this i hope all the god damn hate comments shut lol) and does very cool things such as:

Roblox videos

(comment is from me lol, we'll get there soon) For right now these are just rating videos of her avatar, but I find them very fun (plus since I play roblox if needed I can help with filming lol)! Not much to say on it cause it's not a common kind of post, so onto the next form, which is:

2. Art

As you can see, she does very cool art, this one in particular is a tutorial on how to draw bodies. Is it the best? No, but the fact she's trying makes it great! (this is also where I've seen a couple hate comments come up, so yeah, I'm trying to be mature enough to not commit violence for her upon them) She does admit this video isn't her best work, but she does A LOT of very very cool drawings! Go check them out and her channel of course! There is one thing she also posts about which I love most of all...

3. Paper Dragons!!

(the first image is her first dragon, second is her most recent i think) I don't get how these things are "paper furries", but I do know THEY ARE SICK AS FUCK. I got to see one in person and they're very cool, all with different stories! I honestly wanna ask for one but right now, I'm gonna stick with watching them.

Channel link can be found here:

(this section was finished on january first of 2024, so at the point of this being posted she wont be over here, but i had her here so yeah :D i love my cousin)

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Second channel:

Heartzzz.❤️ is my niece, and she does similar content, but still does good content! A couple of videos of Starz and Heartz are them promoting each other, so yeah. While she is on vacation and can't be here to give her reasons to subscribe to you, I certainly can!

Memes

One thing I forgot to mention my cousin doing (well, actually my cousin's section is just kinda old because it's from when she last came over, but she's back to help me again, yay!) is making memes like this. Sometimes they do involve a paper dragon, but I think they're pretty funny and/or relatable (also dragons very cool)!

2. Edits (and Undertale related things)

I'm putting these 2 in the same category just because of the example image above. While my cousin has recently started doing edits, Heartz is the only 1 of the 2 to make anything Undertale related. While the Undertale stuff comes once every blue moon it seems, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

I actually found in her description a run down on what she does post, so here:

Link to her channel can be found right here:

(okay ik this section was really short, again, she posts similar things to my cousin, and i didnt wanna repeat, so yeah, if you want more reason, here's what the cousin herself says: "[Heartz] is really nice, she's a good artist, and she's creative"; time i finished this section was 1/15/2024 lol)

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third channel:

Boli and gang (or as their original user is + the profile picture says, Boli the bear) is the channel belonging to 2 kids I babysit! They're pretty new to making content, but they have a promising start already! Currently, their content consists of...

Animations

One of them has really been getting into animation, posting things like ball loops and such on their account. They're very interesting to watch personally!

2. Cool places

I'm not sure if this is going to be a common theme, but there is around 3-4 videos of places like this one. I have to admit, this has to be the prettiest of them all.

3. Art (+FNAF/Five Nights at Freddy's Content)

This is another one grouped together, but because this is the first drawing related one I've seen. They're very big FNAF fans, of course leading to things like this. Is it the best? No, but they tried very hard of course, and maybe you could leave some tips for them to improve with!

(they also post memes and funny videos, but I'd rather not do repetition; FINISHED THIS ALSO ON THE 15TH LETS GOOOOOOO)

Link to their channel can be found here:

Oh, one final reason, their profile picture is super cool! Can you guess who made it? This actually provides me with the perfect transition into...

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fourth/final channel:

ITS ME!!! FINALLY I CAN STOP DOING PROPER ASS TYPING

yeah, i have a youtube now, and there's like nothing on it minus a couple videos. all of them are made back in like 2021-2022? cant really remember, but i posted them for younger me's sake. i have like a couple more to get through, but afterwards im probs gonna do a bigger variety of content! art videos, jrwi edits, animations, rambles, essays, you name it! (might even stream again on twitch if that seems what the people like lol)

you may want actual reasons to subscribe, but i currently dont have any. i can only make promises of better future content, but right now i can admit theyre shit. i dont post often, its only oc related rn, all very vague, nothing that interests most people on my blog (cause i know a lot of you are here for jrwi content, huh?). this channel, the choice to subscribe is fully up to you, im not gonna sell myself to it, im simply just saying its real.

Link to the channel is found here:

if you at all took the time to read through my part, i appreciate it, but please do actually check out the other 3. after all, you can always find me here, but you cant find the others anywhere else!

(FINISHED THE REST OF THE POST ON 1/15/24 LETS GOOOOOOOOO)

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softevnstan · 1 year

Text

pairing. matt murdock x gender neutral! reader

summary. you have a tendency of nightmares due to one reason or another in your life. one night, when spending the evening with matt, you have a nightmare. matt, your loving boyfriend, is straight to the rescue to help ground you.

warnings. pet name here is used as a gender-neutral time - angel. deals with nightmares, but nothing too heavy. standard religious mention given it is matt - not mainly focused and no religious imagery, just briefly mentioned.

a.n. some fluffy matt x reader while i've been having nightmares and while i'm still working on a few requests as asks - i know it's not spicy but i still hope it makes people smile

words. 1.5k (shorter side)

You recognize your childhood home; standing out on the curb and feeling small at the front of a place that now holds an eerie air to it. Something about it feels wrong, but you can’t place it. The sun is peeking out over the top of the roof, casting you into a dark shadow that adds a gloom to a place that once felt so secure and protected.

The rising bubble of anxiety in your stomach wells more and more. Deep in your gut, you can feel it. How everything feels uncomfortably silent - not so much as a passing car or a bird in the air. When your eyes lift to squint at the sky to search for clouds, you see it. The slowly sliding disk that is overtaking the sun. The star sustaining life to your planet slowly dying as it’s devoured by the endless abyss, sending the world into a quickly spreading darkness. It spills over the land and while someone else could argue it’s a solar eclipse, there is a more sinister energy to it. Evil.

You can’t breathe. Your body feels like lead when you turn to race away before you can be swallowed into the dark – despite your best efforts you can’t outrun it. You can see yourself running. Moving as fast as you can, feel your heart hammering in your chest and your lungs aching for air. You’re running for your life, but it’s not enough, it’s gaining on you–

You jump up in a cold sweat; sucking in a shrill gasp with a tremor through your body. Fingers white-knuckling the sheets as you jerk upward – confused and startled, you’re immediately brought back to reality by the familiar voice calling out to you.

“Angel? It’s me, shh... Yeah, it’s me, Angel,” your boyfriend’s voice – Matt’s voice.

“Shh, it was just a bad dream… I’ve got you, sweetheart..” His voice was rough from sleep but he'd sobered himself of his exhaustion enough to sound warm and inviting. Composed and fluid. Making himself into something stable and firm for you to lean on at that moment.

The panic of being nearly engulfed by the ebony black blocking out the sun still feels like a genuine threat. Your heart drumming in your ears and leaving you short of breath like the bumps in the car that take you unexpectedly and your stomach swoops. Matt notices the crossroads you’re at between fight or flight and tries to coax you before your body can react too harshly.

“Breathe with me, angel.” His voice is even, thick like honey as lips coast the shell of your ear. Typically it’d give you chills, but right then it feels comforting to be surrounded by someone else. Matt is sat up with you, tight against your side and arm wrapped around you. The other comes to lay his hand flat on your sternum. You feel the warmth of his palm; the weight of it feels grounding in an odd sense. A comforting pressure.

You practice deep breaths with Matt – in through the nose, out past chapped lips. Your throat feels tight, and a bottle of water is absolutely in your future.

Matt doesn’t ask - he knows you’ll talk about it when you’re ready. And given the way he’d heard your heart pounding in your chest like it was about to burst free of its cage goes to show it was an intense dream. That’s not even counting the light rustling he’d started to feel and what had initially stirred him. Could hear every struggling, quivering breath. The near silent whimpers that pulled from you. Matt is more than relieved that moment has passed; pressing an encouraging kiss to your temple.

“There you go, that’s right.. I’ve got you.” Rubbing his hand sympathetically up and down your arm from where it rests on your shoulder farthest from him. You gravitate to Matt naturally, leaning your weight into him to feel small and protected. Matt would protect you from anything; Maybe even God himself.

Tucking away, you hide against the crook of Matt’s neck. Still deliberately trying to focus on your breathing and quell the deep unease from within. His hand on your arm lifts, letting knuckles softly brush the slope of your jaw. “You’re tight, sweetheart… Can you unclench your jaw for me? Yeah, just like that, perfect…” Going out of his way to assure that you’re not holding anything unnecessarily tight.

So intune with your body, it’s one of those things that always made Matt so considerate and gentle to you. His attentiveness, to the way he goes out of his way to listen for any discomfort or unease.

By the time he’s done with you, you’re jelly in his lap. Soft sniffles from tears you hadn’t even realized you’d almost shed. You were lucky enough they only watered; no need to suffer the embarrassment of crying over a nightmare that wasn’t even all that scary looking back on it. It was just the energy it emitted. How sick it felt; an imminent doom. It was scary. After a moment of calm quiet and deep breaths, Matt speaks up. “Do you want to try laying back down, angel…? Or are we staying up?” We. Matt really was with you for better or for worse, even in little insignificant moments like these.

You swallow hard around the lump, searching for your voice: “I… I don’t want to go back to sleep. Not yet…” You don’t mean to sound so quiet or rough; Matt picks up on it and his lips can’t help but curl into a soft smile. “Sounds like you need a drink anyways… How about we make some tea? I think we still have a box in the cabinet.”

You’re out in the living room with Matt. Both of you on the couch, Matt is more towards the corner seat so he can prop his elbow up on the arm. You, on the other hand, are pressed right against his side. The plaid throw blanket from the back of the couch draped over your lap - your legs are tucked up to keep your body closed up. Leaned right against Matt, where he has an arm stretched around you. In both your hands you nurse mugs of warm tea.

Fidgeting quietly with the tea bag – steeping it to make sure it’s thoroughly flavored.

“I didn’t believe Karen when she said these teas would change our lives,” Matt jests softly with an airy chuckle, lifting to take a languid sip from his mug.

“I still think it was a sweet gift; she knows you have a hard time sleeping,” You reply quietly - the corners of your lips curling into a delighted smile all the same as you watch the liquid in your cup.

“Seems I’m not the only one, though.”

That sours your mood briefly - eyes lifting to look at Matt’s dead eyes that stare at nothing.

The lights from across the road bleed in and dance across his skin, but even in the dark you make out the dusting of freckles. His dark ginger hair is a mess from bed head and having no one else to look presentable for. No reason to comb it out with his fingers.

“Yeah, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Cheek squished against Matt’s shoulder as you peer up at him.

“Don’t worry about that; I don’t ever want you to struggle alone. I’d rather lose a little sleep if it means I get to make you feel better…”

The words melt your heart. You can feel the genuineness dripping from the statement. Matt never makes you feel like a burden for your struggles; supportive and caring the whole while even if he’s not the best at doing it for himself. Who knew the Devil of Hell’s kitchen was such a sweet lover?

“...Thank you for staying up with me, then, in that case.” You amend - you’ve been trying to incorporate more positive connotations anyways, and apologizing all the time isn’t good. Thanking Matt is a better alternative.

“Always. It’s more time I get to spend with you, anyways. I wouldn’t give that up for anything…”

Matt’s fingers brush back through your hair so he can press his lips to your forehead. Tangle fingers into your hair after just to rub and massage at your scalp with his fingers. You slump against his side and the quiet evening doesn’t feel so miserable anymore with your boyfriend there.

Chit chat ensues for about a half hour. Matt tells you about the couple he can hear a few apartments over and the stray kitten they found outside and are excited to take in. You smile as you go back and forth. Both voices hushed; the calm you need to unwind again and not stay the night awake and in fear. Matt makes it easy to not be so afraid of the dark…

You both go to sleep not long after. Sleepytime tea managed to lull you back into a state of relaxation, and when Matt felt you dozing, he carefully took your empty mug from your hands. Sitting it on the coffee table, he’d then move to gingerly pick you up bridal style and carry you back to bed. Matt spoons you, crowded against your back, and arms wrapped around your waist. Nosing into your hair and always there to protect you from the things that bump in the night - even if they’re inside your head.

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lucky-clover-gazette · 1 month

Text

The Big Picture

(Four Swords Manga Adaptation)

Chapter 6: Stone Arrghus | 5818 words

The gang fights a giant rock. Vio learns something about himself. Shadow tries his best.

Read it on ao3 or under the cut:

As the solar eclipse reaches totality, Stone Arrghus’s power swells. Its form begins to vibrate and expand, unimpeded by the natural light that normally suppresses it. It extends this power to about a dozen nearby rocks, beckoning them to orbit its body.

And then it turns to Shadow Link

“An eclipse?” the shade asks, slaw-jawed as he stares directly at the black sun. Arrghus had only wanted to please his master, back when its thoughts had been simple. But without the sun’s oppressive effects, it has found itself newly enlightened.

Show me some real power, Shadow Link had told Stone Arrghus. Hell, kill the heroes yourself and Ganon will probably give you my job.

“Master,” it says in an unfamiliar voice. It sounds chilling and monstrous, a far cry from its previous simple repetition.

Shadow Link turns to face Stone Arrghus, his jaw dropping again at its transformation. “What the—”

An orbiting stone knocks the shade on the side of his head. Stone Arrghus chuckles as all five feet and two inches of Shadow Link crumble to the ground.

─────────────────

“Erune… she’s gone!”

Vio sighs and places down his journal.

Green’s shouts are clear as day through the window. Clear as… not day. It’s dark outside, Vio realizes, as he gets to his feet. It’s not supposed to be dark. And the shadows beneath the trees, they’re shaped…

An eclipse, Vio realizes, drawing from his own basic knowledge of natural science.

“Search the grounds!” Green hollers, as more footsteps pound against the wooden porch. “Look for clues!”

Vio stretches and grabs his sword. This should be interesting.

He makes it downstairs, following the same path both Red and Blue appear to have taken to speak with Erune. And there they are, all three of them, on the porch—but Erune is nowhere to be found.

“It’s dark,” Red whimpers at Vio’s arrival.

“I noticed,” he responds. Vio turns to Green. “What happened?”

“I was right there with her, but then Blue had to pull me away—”

“Don’t blame me,” Blue huffs. “How was I supposed to know the world was gonna get all freaky?”

And to his credit, Vio can confirm that the world looks rather freaky. It’s not just the eclipse anymore—there’s almost a visual distortion to the town square surrounding them. Ripples in reality itself, dizzying and surreal.

“It looks like the village,” Vio says, “warped through a bad dream.”

“Through a nightmare!” exclaims Red.

Vio narrows his eyes, scanning the area. “It’s a lot like the real thing, but subtly different. Sort of like we are.”

Before they can ponder that notion any further, the heroes are distracted by the sound of laughter. Children’s laughter, echoing through the village, leading back to a group of distant silhouettes.

“The missing children,” Green says under his breath, and then he’s off. Reluctantly, Vio follows him with the others. Green reaches the children first (“Hey, kid!”), reaches for an oddly stiff arm, and—

“Yes, Mister?”

Vio stops himself in his tracks. The children’s voices come from painted mouths, belonging to life-sized toys.

“This is a land with no adults,” the toys say in unison. There’s a stuffed bear, a clown, and a soldier, as well as a brightly-colored toy box beside them. “Just us kids, and we get to play all day long. All play and no work means we’re just like toys.”

“You never get hungry or tired,” says a different voice, this one much more familiar. “You can play forever. It’s fun!”

Erune sits against a tree, her eyes vacant and her limbs stiff. She has been transformed into a doll.

Vio feels sick to his stomach.

Green draws his sword. “Show yourself, Shadow Link! You’re behind this!”

A large figure emerges from distant fog, and it is definitely not shaped like Shadow Link. It’s a giant circular rock, with a bloodshot eyeball in the center. Gleefully, it taunts them from… the eye? Is that its mouth too?

“Shadow Link should be the least of your concerns!” the monster exclaims. “I am your enemy now!”

“Tell us what happened to Shadow Link,” Green demands. “Is he dead?”

The monster seems annoyed by the question. “He has been… neutralized.”

Ah, Vio thinks with mild disappointment. Just unconscious, then.

Blue raises an eyebrow. “What, did you hit him with a rock or something?”

The monster does not respond to this question at all, which must mean…

“Wait, really?” Vio smirks. “That’s all it took?” He imagines that overconfident freak getting knocked out by a paperweight, and he smiles.

“Guys,” Green scolds his teammates. “Focus.”

And it’s good that he said something, because Vio has just enough time to prevent a small rock from knocking him out too. It clangs against his shield, shaking him where he kneels, and then retreats to its orbit around the monster. There are about a dozen of these smaller rocks at its command, and a single hit to the head could probably take any one of the heroes temporarily out of the fight.

“We’ll never get near the main eye this way,” Vio tells the others, who also kneel behind their shields. He would judge their poor show of heroism, if he wasn’t also doing the same exact thing.

“Everyone grab a weapon,” Green commands, inching backwards towards the toy box. He pulls out a bright yellow boomerang.“Start with the smaller eyeballs!”

“But they’re just toys,” Blue says, grimacing at the box’s contents.

Vio is quick to grab the bow and arrows, giving the string an experimental twang. “I’ll take this one,” he announces with a grin. He likes the idea of himself as an archer—Link hadn’t been skilled with a bow, which makes Vio all the more interested in proving himself superior.

“Oh, I see!” Red exclaims, reaching into the box. He withdraws a slingshot. “Dibs on this!”

Blue shoves him aside and begins rifling through the remaining items. He finds an insect net, some flippers for swimming, and then finally…

“This’ll do nicely,” he says, raising a gigantic mallet in the air. Vio narrows his eyes at the comparatively small toy box, wondering how the hell the hammer could have fit in the first place.

His thoughts are interrupted by another volley of flying rocks.

“Let’s get ‘em,” Green tells the group, throwing his boomerang at the orbiting stones. It targets each of them in an arc, locked onto their precise locations. A hit from the boomerang seems to stun each projectile, keeping it still enough to—

Green slices his Four Sword through one of the tiny rocks. His sword’s blade glows as the two halves drop to the ground.

Force energy, Vio thinks. Green seems to realize much the same, and begins slashing at several more stunned rocks. Vio has to hand it to him—in this kind of environment, Green really does thrive. Between his stunning-and-slashing and Red’s slingshot volleys, the orbiting rocks don’t stand a chance.

The big eye appears to be reaching the same conclusion, darting frantically between the heroes surrounding it.

“There’s nowhere left to hide!” Blue taunts, already raising his mallet. The eye begins to tremble—surely not from fear?

It bursts into gushing tears. While Vio, Blue, and Green are able to sidestep the flood of murky liquid, Red slumps right beneath its torrential downpour.

“I m-made all those little r-rocks,” the monster sobs, “and now they’re gone!”

Red sniffs, his hat acting as a sort of umbrella. The rocky tears pool at his feet. “Really?” he asks the creature trying to kill him. “That’s so sad… now you’re making me cry!”

Vio puts his face in his palm.

“Huh?” Red gasps “The tears!” Vio watches as the rocky water solidifies around his feet, essentially rooting him where he stands. “They’ve dried like cement!”

The monster laughs, and rears itself for an attack. “I’ll crush you, hero!”

It doesn’t get the chance. Vio jumps in front of Red and unleashes an impressive hail of arrows upon the eyeball’s soft flesh. It’s almost like he moves in slow motion, perfectly focused in a way he hardly ever is. There’s just Vio, the target, and his weapon. He has one goal, and he possesses the skill to succeed.

Take that, Link, Vio finds himself thinking. I’ll do this my way.

Maybe he might enjoy being a hero, after all.

“Ow!” the monster actually cries, its eyelids swollen shut. The arrows poke out between them, like really bad artificial lashes. “I can’t see!”

In its confusion, it slams itself down on the same cemented substance keeping Red in place. “I’m free!” Red cheers, as Blue lifts his hammer above his head.

“Look out!” he warns the others, launching himself into the air. “Coming through!”

Vio watches in awe as Blue slams the hammer down onto the stone monster, splitting it right in half.

And just like that, the monster is slain. They did it, together.

“Look,” Green says, holding out his hands. “It’s raining force crystals!”

Vio glances up at the eclipsed sky. Well, what do you know. As the others fight over the tinier shards of force, Vio watches carefully for a larger crystal. Just as snowflakes vary in size and shape, these seem to come in varying degrees of power.

He spots his target and catches it effortlessly.

“Shut up, I fought too!”

“Guys, can’t we all just share—”

Behind Vio’s back, someone is definitely punching someone else. He just smirks and studies the giant force gem in his hand.

“Hey, give it back!”

“Do you wanna die next?”

What an ugly display.

Vio smirks and shakes his head, more than satisfied with his own prize.

─────────────────

Shadow regains consciousness just as the eclipse ends. He grimaces as he gets to his feet, his hand reaching for the welt on his forehead. The shot of soreness at mere contact with the injury makes him hiss.

The town square is back to normal. The sun shines brightly in the sky. Rock dust formerly known as Stone Arrghus litters the ground. What a fool, Shadow thinks of the creature. Not a very touching remembrance, he knows, but the stony bastard did try to outrank him.

And the heroes… they must be alive, if Stone Arrghus has fallen. Even in its most powerful state, brought on by the solar eclipse bridging the dark and light worlds, the monster had been no match for its opponents. Shadow is almost grateful for the heroes’ swift defeat of his former servant—after all, he can’t have someone else succeeding where he himself has failed.

Shadow Link retreats into the darkness from whence he came, slightly battered but not nearly beaten yet.

─────────────────

The Eastern Temple smells like sandalwood and fresh grass. Vio breathes in deep as Red, Blue, and Green hack away at the crystal containing the Yellow Maiden. The ethereal woman emerges with a bright smile, opening her arms to them all.

“Link!” she exclaims, which Vio supposes is not an inaccurate thing to call them all. “You must have defeated the terrible monster, Stone Arrghus!”

Green steps forward. “Yes, we did. The Village of the Blue Maiden is now safe.”

“Do you have a village, too?” Red asks the Yellow Maiden, eyes wide. Blue elbows him. “Sorry.”

She makes a weird face. Clearly it’s a sore subject. But then her eyes land on Green’s sword, and she’s all smiles again.

“And the Four Sword shines as it did before,” the maiden observes. “But it’s still not powerful enough to defeat Shadow Link.”

Vio smirks. Maybe a pebble would do the trick.

The Yellow Maiden extends her arms, revealing an object that does actually resemble a pebble. “Please,” she says, “take this Moon Pearl.” The glowing orb floats into Green’s hand (of course), its coloration milky-white with flashes of yellow and blue. “When struck by moonbeams, it opens a gate to the Dark World.”

Oh, shit, Vio thinks. Now we’re getting somewhere.

“About that,” he says, as Blue rolls his eyes. “When the village was overtaken by evil, and we fought Stone Arrghus… were we in the Dark World?”

The Yellow Maiden eyes Vio curiously. “Yes, Link, I suppose you were.”

“It’s Vio.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Green asks Vio, clutching the Moon Pearl in his hand.

Vio shrugs. “It was just a theory.” He turns back to the Yellow Maiden. “You suppose?”

“You were not fully transported to the Dark World—that would only be possible through a very powerful gateway. At most times, even the Moon Pearl is unable to sustain a connection strong enough to transport a person between the worlds.”

“But it blurs them together,” Vio guesses, remembering the way the town square seemed to fluctuate before his eyes. “It messes with the realities, making it easier for us to comprehend dark forces.”

“And kick their asses,” adds Blue.

“Also that.”

“But we didn’t have the Moon Pearl when we fought Stone Arrghus,” Red says. “How were we able to beat him, then?”

It’s a good question. Vio tries to answer it for himself. He retraces his steps, placing himself back inside the room with Red and Blue. He’d been writing in his journal about… something… and then there was a rock, and Blue went to heckle Green because he was talking to Erune… but that was all normal. That’s not what made things weird. Things only got really weird when—

“The eclipse,” Vio realizes aloud. He looks to the Yellow Maiden for confirmation. “It has something to do with the eclipse.”

She nods. Vio feels smug.

“During certain solar and lunar events,” the Yellow Maiden explains, “the dark and light worlds blur together. Non-native creatives reach full power, and denizens of both realms can more clearly perceive each other.”

Vio glances at the Moon Pearl. “And that thing produces the same effect on command, in any conditions.”

“Exactly, young hero.”

He sours at the name, but at least she didn’t call him ‘Link again. And actually, you know what—Vio is a hero! He shot that monster in the eyeball, and it was fun!

Blue looks from the pearl in Green’s hand, to the maiden, and then back to the pearl. “Okay, fine, I guess that makes sense.”

They turns to leave, but Blue isn’t quite finished speaking. “But, like… why does he get it?”

Vio rolls his eyes.

─────────────────

Vio finds Red, Blue, and Green outside of the tavern with Erune. After their visit to the Eastern Temple with Stone Arrghus, the heroes had been finally free to enjoy some well-earned sleep. Now, at the break of dawn, they’re just about ready to hit the road again.

Just about.

“Has anyone seen my journal?” Vio interrogates the group. “I’ve searched everywhere. It’s gone.”

Green makes a placating gesture. “Calm down, Vio.”

Vio grits his teeth, balling his hands into a fists. He is being calm, he’s just—

“Are you suggesting that one of us took it?” Blue asks, roiling his eyes. He’s probably trying to act all cool in front of Erune, that piece of—

“It’s okay, Vio,” Green says, taking him by the arm. “We can get you a new one.”

Vio rips his arm away. “It was a journal,” he hisses. “You can’t just replace it.”

And there are things in there I don’t want anyone to see.

Green sighs. “Okay, Vio. I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying my name!”

He doesn’t even know where that comes from. Doesn’t he want people to use his name? Green is only trying to help—albeit condescendingly—yet Vio still gives him hell. What is my problem?

“What was even in there,” Blue says, “to get you so riled up?”

Vio turns to him sharply. Normally his words are quick and clever, but for some reason he feels a need to be cautious around the subject. He has experienced many sensations, since becoming himself—but this kind of shame is something entirely new.

It was stupid of him, to put anything in writing. His thorough investigations and reflections, things that make him feel vulnerable and raw. Now, they’re just… out there. Somewhere. And he can’t even explain himself, or the things he wrote, and Hylia knows what someone would make of the hero—

“I’m sorry,” Erune tells Vio, glancing up at the room above the tavern. “I keep a diary, too. It would make me very sad to lose it.”

Vio can’t bring himself to dislike her. He may not be smitten like the others, but he admires her persistence and desire to help the children of her town. It’s his gut impulse to diminish anyone who makes him feel unsure of himself—but just like Red, Erune is simply too earnest to deserve his ire.

Whatever frustrations Erune represents to Vio, aren’t her fault at all.

“It’s fine,” he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll get a new one.”

He’ll work through… all of that… as soon as he can put pen to paper again. He’ll figure out his problem. There has to be an answer, and Vio is confident that it lies somewhere within himself.

He just has to know where to look.

“Heroes!” calls a new voice from within the tavern. A man, about Arcy’s age, bursts onto the front porch. For one fleeting second Vio thinks he might be holding his journal—but it’s just a box of baked goods.

“For your travels,” the man says, handing the box over to Green. Then, he turns to Erune. “I hope you know that we’re very proud of you, my dear.”

She blushes and looks slightly away. “Dad…”

Something happens in Vio’s heart. Would the Captain even like him, knowing that he’s one of four strangers who replaced his beloved son?

He shakes his head. Save it for the journal.

“He’s right,” Vio tells Erune with a smile. “Without your determination to find the true cause of the children’s disappearance, I’m pretty sure everyone would still be trying to break down the knights’ door. You saw past their panic and figured things out for yourself.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” Erune protests. “I just got myself turned into a… well, you saw.”

“Of course you did stuff!” Red exclaims. “You gave us really important information, even though you were nervous to share it. And you showed us hospitality. Thank you.”

Before Erune or her father can respond, another man bursts onto the porch. He wears an apron covered with various food stains, suggesting to Vio that he must work at the tavern. “I found this,” he says, revealing another object—not Vio’s journal, damn it—from behind his back.

“Rosie!” Erune exclaims, running over to claim the doll. She kisses its forehead and holds it close to her chest. “Where did you find her?”

“Behind the tavern,” the man says. “She was resting against a tree. She says she missed you.”

Vio finds it sweet that he brought the doll to his boss’s daughter. That’s definitely not in his job description.

“Thought you were too old for such childish things,” Green teases Erune, kind-heartedly.

“Nope!” the young woman chirps with a smile. “And we both are very grateful for your help.”

She doesn’t seem to be referring to all the heroes. There’s something more to it, Vio thinks, something he isn’t quite catching—but Green appears to understand well enough. He smiles back, a bit of blush spreading onto his cheeks.

It’s happening again, Vio realizes, as he watches the fond interaction between them. Just like before in the tavern, and when he was talking to Red and Blue… there is just something that Vio doesn’t get, that everybody else somehow naturally does. He can still be a hero without it (which is all he’s been made to do anyway), and he does admittedly tend to overthink, but still—

“Good find, love,” Erune’s father tells the other man. And then he kisses him on the mouth.

Vio’s jaw drops.

Red gasps. “Erune, is that your other dad?” Erune nods, and Red beams. “Hi, Erune’s other dad!”

Vio desperately searches his memory—Link’s memory, whatever—to try and connect the dots. He remembers two knights in a supply closet, deeply annoyed with Link as he attempted to retrieve a mop. They had been kissing, too. Link hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but right now Vio… Vio thinks quite a lot of it, actually.

And then he realizes that he doesn’t have to think at all, because this just makes sense.

Something inside of Vio, in this moment, seems to just fall into place. But it can’t possibly be that easy, right? It doesn’t solve everything inside him, not even close—he’s still missing his journal, and unsure where he belongs, and there is of course the matter of what happens when he outlives his heroic purpose… but this. This, at least, is a start.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Vio tells Erune’s dads, standing with better posture than before. Normally he doesn’t care what people think of him, but right now he feels a sudden and irrepressible urge to be understood.

“Thank you for protecting our daughter,” one of the men tells Vio, reaching for his husband’s hand like it’s a reflex. Vio’s eyes linger on the gesture for perhaps a second too long, and then he looks away.

“Yes, thank you!” calls another voice from behind Vio. And then there are several more voices, expressing their appreciation. Vio… could get used to this part of heroism.

Townspeople crowd the main square in droves, eager to see the heroes off on their travels now that they’ve left the inn. Vio watches as the adults of the town keep their children close, visibly shaken by recent events. The children, meanwhile, just smile at Vio, Green, Blue, and Red. Vio wonders if they even remember what happened at all. If he had no concern for social niceties, as opposed to the minimal concern he normally has, he’d probably just ask.

Erune smiles back at the children and then turns to the other heroes. “I’m glad you visited our village. It was very nice to meet you all.”

“Us too!” chirps Red.

Blue rubs the back of his neck, trying to be aloof. “I guess it was nice,” he tells Erune, and Vio has to hold back a smirk.

“Thank you for your help,” Vio tells Erune. He extends his hand for a shake. She seems a little bewildered by the gesture, but happily obliges.

“Oh! And please,” Erune tells the four heroes, “do try to get along. It’s dangerous out there, and you need to look after each other. If I’ve learned something from the past twenty-four hours, it’s that the world is a much scarier place than I ever could have imagined.”

Vio’s smile falters at that. Is Erune, like… okay?

“We always get along!” Red lies, before Vio can weigh the merits of asking.

And then Erune’s eyes fall on Green. He steps closer to her, extending a hand—but it’s not exactly professional, like Vio’s had been. It’s more familiar, more natural. Just like Erune’s dads.

“Looks like this is goodbye,” he tells her, and his words make Vio’s feel… something. Green seems to fully accept the nature of his existence, which includes the inevitability of his own dissolution. That statement, coming from him, carries a surprising amount of darkness—in all likelihood, this really is goodbye. Not just for Green, either, but for them all.

Vio shakes his head. Save it for the journal.

“Link,” Erune calls Green, and he doesn’t disagree.

Save. It. For. The. Journal.

“Yes, Erune?”

She looks away shyly, and then plants a chaste kiss on Green’s cheek. “Safe travels.”

When she pulls away, Green wears the strangest expression. He blushes and smiles, but there’s something in his eyes… it almost looks like guilt. And Vio supposes that would make sense, if Green views himself as a mere copy of Link—Erune isn’t Zelda, after all.

Maybe Green should get himself a journal, too.

─────────────────

The four heroes travel in contented silence as they exit the Eastern region. The weather today is lovely—not too hot, not too cold, with the perfect amount of clouds in the sky—and even though his journal is probably gone forever, Vio can’t bring himself to feel totally rotten.

And maybe… he doesn’t need to be so evasive about its contents.

His mind wanders to his conversation with Red and Blue in their room above the tavern. He’d been so hostile towards them, when they spoke about their feelings for Zelda. At the time he couldn’t even imagine why, other than his usual overall sense of contempt, but now…

“Hey, guys?” Vio hears himself say, his heart pounding in his ears.

Green stops in his tracks. “Yes, Vio?”

“I don’t think I like Zelda, in the way Link liked Zelda.”

Now Red and Blue have stopped walking too.

“Oh!” Red exclaims, his eyes wide and sympathetic. “That’s sad. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Vio shakes his head. “That’s not what I mean. And it’s not important, not really—“

“Does it have something to do with your journal?” Blue groans, his typical bluntness earning Green’s measured disapproval.

Vio defaults to Red as his primarily point of contact. Red is the kindest of them all, even if he’s a little… simple. If Vio has to make himself vulnerable to someone, it makes the most sense to focus on him.

“I think I’m like Erune’s dads,” he tells Red, and by extension the rest of the group. “If that makes sense.”

Blue raises an eyebrow. “You want to own a tavern? Sorry, man, but we’re on a mission here.”

Vio pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, that’s not what I—what I mean to say is… the way Link felt about Zelda, and you guys acted around Erune… I’m like that too. Or at least I suspect that I could be, except for me, it’s… different. I don’t think I feel that way about girls.”

Vio watches as Red’s brain works overtime. “But if you don’t feel that way about girls, that means you…”

Vio nods. “Just like Erune’s dads.”

The kitchen timer inside Red’s skull finally reaches 0:00. “Oh!” he repeats, this time with a smile. “That’s so sweet!”

“But how would you even know?” Blue asks, furrowing his brow. “We’ve only been… ourselves… for like a month. And I’m pretty sure we would have noticed, if you were taking detours during our quest to flirt with boys in the woods.”

Vio isn’t sure how to answer that, because it’s true—he hasn’t kissed a boy, or even met a boy he’s felt specifically drawn to during their travels. Which, to be fair, have been very insular and brief thus far. His most consistent male company has been his current company, and the idea of kissing any of these idiots makes him want to gag.

But when Vio thinks of the way it made him feel to see Erune’s dads together, or to remember the knights in the closet, or to fluster slightly at the handsome vampire in his book… there’s definitely something happening there.

“It’s just different,” Red had mused yesterday, “when it’s a boy and a girl, I guess.”

And Blue had immediately agreed—“It’s only natural that he felt that way.”

Vio has an idea. “Okay,” he says to Blue, “but have you flirted with any girls on our quest?”

He scowls, blush flooding his cheeks. “Of course not, we’re on a quest.”

Vio could easily argue that he has, given the Erune of it all, but that isn’t really the point. “Then how do you know you like them?”

Blue flounders at that. “I,” he begins to say, but then stops. Vio finds himself smirking, just a little bit. I’m waiting…

He doesn’t have to wait for long. Visibly resigned to his own confusion, Blue meets Vio’s eyes again. “I just do.”

“Well, so do I,” Vio shrugs. “But about guys instead. Admittedly, I won’t know for sure unless…” his voice tapers off. Unless what?

That, at least, seems to strike a chord with Blue. Maybe he’s more aware of their situation than Vio gave him credit for. “I get it,” Blue tells him. “Not sure why you were so worried about anyone finding out, but it’s cool. Makes sense. Just about as much as the rest of it, anyway.”

“Thanks.”

“And now that you’ve spoken your truth or whatever, will you stop being such a smug asshole all the time?”

“Probably not,” Vio admits. “Especially if you’re still going to be a brutish oaf.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” Blue says, and Vio recognizes it for the acceptance that it is.

“But I’m still confused,” says Green, scrutinizing Vio like a particularly difficult dungeon puzzle. “Link didn’t like guys.”

“And we’re not Link,” Vio replies, crossing his arms over his chest. “Funny how that works, huh?”

Green isn’t laughing.

“Let’s go,” Blue tells them both, glancing further down the path. “We should hit the next town by nightfall.”

“Great,” Vio and Green say in unison. They regard each other for a moment, and then they look away.

─────────────────

A little further down the path, Red falls back from the others to walk with Vio instead.

“Hi,” Red says in greeting, using a quieter voice than usual.

Vio gives him a lazy wave. “Hey.”

I think it’s really cool that you know that about yourself. It must have been scary to tell us, with the way Blue and I were talking before.”

“Yeah, well,” Vio shrugs. “Triforce of courage, and all.”

“Still,” Red insists, meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry that we assumed.”

Vio smiles in a way that he hopes is reassuring. “It’s really okay, Red. You couldn’t have known. I didn’t even know.”

I still don’t know for sure—and if we continue on our quest, I probably never will.

“And I just wanted to say,” Red continues, even quieter now, “that, well, me too.”

Vio raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well, kinda. I think I like everyone, not only girls. But I didn’t really notice it, until you shared your thing. So thanks!”

Vio doesn’t know how to respond to that. “You’re welcome?”

His answer seems to satisfy Red just fine, at least for a second. But then he sighs. “You know,” Red says, his volume just above a whisper. “I’m glad that we’re not Link.” He then immediately winces at his own words. “I mean… well. I’m not sure what I mean.”

“That’s okay,” says Vio.

Red glances at Green, farther up the path with Blue. “Don’t tell the others I said that last part.”

Vio regards his friend in a slightly new light. “I’m glad we’re not Link too,” he tells him, and means it. “Now let’s go catch up with the group.”

─────────────────

Shadow wonders how Vaati even writes emails without hands.

“Stupid windbag,” he mutters, setting his work-issued laptop aside. He crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against a hard stone wall.

His bedroom in the Tower of Winds is not nearly as glamorous as what he’s seen of Hyrule Castle—but it has walls, a floor, his laptop, and the Dark Mirror. There isn’t much else Shadow actually needs to exist. He’s been created for a very specific purpose, after all.

One he is currently fumbling spectacularly, apparently, according to his direct supervisor. Vaati had made to sure to end his berating email with a not-so-implicit threat: if Shadow cannot manage to be more present and dedicated to the cause, he will tell Ganon what happened with Stone Arrghus.

Shadow doesn’t even know what that would mean for him. Would Ganon destroy and replace him, or would he simply punish him for his failure? Either way, he does not intend to find out.

There is another item in his room, newly acquired, that Shadow picks up now. A leather journal, looted from the heroes’ bedroom while they were asleep. Shadow had retreated into the darkness after the eclipse for his own safety, but he’d still been able to return in the darkness of night.

He supposes he could have hurt the heroes while they were in such vulnerable positions, or try to steal the swords they kept at their bedsides, but he didn’t want to risk alerting them all by waking just one. Even in the darkness, he knows he wouldn’t stand a chance against the four heroes as a team. And honestly, he’d already embarrassed himself enough for one day.

Shadow sighs as he runs a finger down the journal’s spine. It belongs (belonged) to the purple hero, the one the leader had called ‘unheroic.’ Shadow opens it to the first page and scans a few lines, chuckling at the its owner’s handwriting. The messy scrawl suggests that the purple hero thinks faster than he can physically write. If Shadow didn’t hate him so much, he’d almost find it endearing.

As Shadow subjects himself to the purple hero’s maladjusted musings, he begins to realize what a powerful weapon this book could be in his hands. Violet Link has recorded everything here—his own weaknesses, gripes with his teammates, their travel plans, even the exact way they power up their swords. There’s some personal nonsense too, but Shadow mostly just brushes over it. Although he does pay close attention to the few times the hero mentions his enemy, the Shadow Link.

With this much free intel, Shadow can almost forgive the purple hero for calling him a “smarmy self-aggrandizing bastard,” and a “floor-crawling cretin,” and a “raucous magpie,” and—perhaps even most insultingly of all—a “thespian catastrophe.” He’ll show this sour grape that his evil is anything but a performance. The only catastrophe this hero will witness is his own tragic defeat.

What is my problem?, Violet Link had asked himself on the journal’s most recent page. Such a sad place for the story to end—for him, anyway. Shadow is having a great time.

He places down the journal and rises to his feet. In front of the Dark Mirror, he frowns at the small welt on his forehead from Arrghus’s well-aimed projectile.

Shadow Link closes his eyes and pictures the purple hero. When he opens them, he sees Violet Link, and not himself, in the mirror.

“You have no idea,” he tells his reflection, “how spectacularly you’ve failed.”

Shadow leans down and grabs the journal, displaying it to his mirror image like a prize. “What’s your problem?” he asks Violet Link with a chuckle. “I’ll show you your problem.”

He restores his own image, wielding the journal of secrets with a devious grin. The welt on his forehead has disappeared completely.

“Sour grape,” he repeats, tasting the insult on his tongue. Violet Link wishes he was half as clever as his Shadow.

#four swords #four swords adventures #four swords manga #loz #vio link #red link #blue link #green link #shadow link #vaati #my writing

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