#empty freindships

[darkhorse-javert]

Hazy Summer, Shadowed Days

@flashfictionfridayofficial- Canon complient musings from and about Andrew Foyle post war

Hastings June 1945

He slipped down the stairs in the bright summer moonlight, keeping his feet light. Shouldn't wake Dad, not his problem I'm awake at a god-forsaken hour of the night. He pulls his dressinggown closer around himself, skin cold with nightchill even in the warm air of the summer, pads across the hall and curls into the armchair by the unlit fire, seeking comfort in the familiarity of the moment. But the empty grate stared back at him, hollow, bare a shadow of it's normal self. Bit like me really. 26 years old, and what have I got from it? Five long years flying with the RAF, but my eyes are crocked, so that's out for a job, could never stand being a groundbased teacher even if they'd have me, Debden proved that.

Two-thirds of an Oxford degree in English, could finish that I suppose, I've got the papers, but I'm not the merry young lad who bounced into the Quads all those years ago, can't see myself going back there, with all those who are young enough, even if they had enough places.

Scraps and litter of poetry, all based around war-life and flying, but they wouldn't sell- we all want, need to move on from that, I don't want to be one of those Glory Days Warhorses that were a joke in stories. Who would buy them anyway? I'm sure there were better poets than my efforts who were already published

Might have to go in for an office job- as I said to Sam - but when I flinch at a phone, that's going to be a joke and a half for anyone I'm working with. And what skills have I got to offer them that another man hasn't.

Sam- the thought was a slap across the face, his glib words to her of weeks ago 'I'm going to work on you Sam', ah Hell, what have I got to offer her, such a smart, diligent girl as she is, she's found a job of sorts, as well as helping Dad. If I made a go of it, kept up the freindship and we got to something more I'd be sponging off her even as a friend. And if we got married, what a dream that was, would her empoyer even keep her on? Unlikely.

No, Sam was doing far better off on her own, not with me dragging her down like a stone, an old figure in a young skin, scraping around for what I can get, nothing to get it with. Can't even fish well.

"Andrew?"

He turns, Dad a soft dark figure in the doorway,

"Sorry, couldn't sleep."

"Mmm", Dad walks softly across, and perches on the end of the sofa nearest to Andrew.

"I wrote a poem, just before I came home," Andrew, looking back at the empty fireplace finds the words flying desperatly from his tongue 'talked about 'Summer Haze', and 'Uncertain Days' -sounds truely poetic doesn't it? But it's more like trying to walk on thick sand, everything slipping about under your feet, tumbling you down... What have I got Dad? Except wrecked eyes, and a degree I can't face finishing. And yet I'm not really really broken, thank God, and I'm grateful for that."

He hears his father swallow, then finds an arm slipping around his shoulders, tugging him insistantly close.

"Give yourself a chance, Andrew, ask around. Give yourself time."

But- but his mind says what if my time has gone, and I'm a lost fossil before I'm even thirty. And I don't want to have to go cap-in-hand to the RAF or SSAFA, leaning on others, Grammer School and Scholarship boy that I was. I should be able to do something.

[slimycrocs]

I wanna sleep and love

I wonder what my greatest sin is, maybe it's loving too much, maybe it's caring, maybe it's assuming people were as pure hearted as me and wanted a piece of me for who I was instead of sucking the soul out of me and leaving behind an empty shell. Maybe it's loving my brother more than my own parents, idolising him to the point where every other adult in my life is a mere insignificance floating somewhere, not of any importance. Maybe my greatest sin is dieting since I was 11 years old. Maybe it's my shaky hands and the way I can't live without loving too much, or being too into a hobby, caring too much, thinking too much, paying too much attention. Since I was a child I could only dream for somebody to sweep me away from this nightmare, what if it's a nightmare because I make it out to be one ? Always always imagined somebody admiring me, finding me pretty, maybe even loving me, not getting afraid when they realise how my brain works sometimes. I've been obsessed with the idea of somebody loving me, yes in that way, wiping my tears away, kissing my bloody knuckles and shaking hands, holding my body while I don't even feel real anymore, wiping my tears away and just fucking saying the magic words I've always wanted my parents to utter. We love you, you're gonna be okay, we believe in you, we promise. I hate it when my father tries to convince me that him and my mother love me more than my friends too, freindship runs way thicker than blood in my experience, they would do anything for me and I'd do the same for them. I never felt like I quite fit in, always cracking jokes though. I love you are just fucking words, you have to feel it, when it comes from the right people you know it because you can feel it, because it makes you tear up the way I tear up when my brother holds me. Thank you for being my everything, my mother, my father and my brother. Thank you for being my best friend and treating me with nothing but understanding, patience and love. I know that soon my mind will go quiet from the bad things and I'll only be able to think about the good things, a natural lobotomy maybe.

[looonnamoon]

hey!! i keep spamming u with requests ik but i rlly like ur writing and it helps me cope,honestly! if that's okay for u i can keep requesting! could you do (again platonic and again dabi bc he's my comfort character) dabi, shigaraki,toga(and if it's not too long twice) with a teen reader who is depressed and how do they help her get better? i think my seasonal depression is coming back😁 have a nice day!!!!!

Hiiiiii

Omg sorry for taking a bit long, I'm having a bit of writers block so my mind can't really come up with much right now but I had a bit of juice left to come up with this!

So I'm going to just do Dabi for now if that okay :)

[Also, sorry for I being kinda short]

Hope your doing okay and I hope you get better soon!!!

Enjoy, sweets!

[Unedited]

Dabi

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

- you and Dabi have been freinds for a couple years now, he met you in a park one late evening and you two just talked

- even though you knew that he was a villain, he seemed...different then what the media says of him

- he's relaxed, comforting, and even comedic at some points

- you two would meet at the same park every evening after the first meeting, and you two became close freinds

- he didn't pressure you to join the league, didn't even care if you wanted to or not, which you said no (thankfully for him)

- after a bit of talking and getting to know you better, the two of you have opened up a bit more to eachother and know eachothers signs of discomfort yk?

- so, one day, you two met up per usual and everything seemed fine. It was supposed to be fine, you expected.

"What's wrong, y/n?"

- you thought you covered it up well enough.

"Nothing." You responded, still looking forward.

- you can't let him know about this. It seems stupid enough.

"Its not nothing, y/n. Tell me." He spoke again, more sternly than before.

- you still looked forward, revising the freindship as a whole, also taking in his persistence on the situation.

- you also remembered the times he would help you whenever you would vent to him a fair bit, you reciprocating when he did as well.

- so, with a deep breath, you admitted your growing (unknown) depression, telling him of how you feel everyday

- how it's getting harder and harder each day to get out of bed, feeling so empty inside, not wanting to do anything and even when you did, your mind would spur out thoughts of insult and bringing down and so on.

- he listened to you rant about your mind and it's current place, putting all of his attention on every word that spewed out of your mouth, hearing the familiar tremble rising in your dry throat, blurry memories of him spreading the same thoughts around his empty room when he was younger.

- after you quieted down, the crickets and dried leaves crackling though the night air was all you two heard as you stood there on the main park path.

- you breathed unevenly, the natural air becoming white noise as your tears let out quietly, now feeling an arm wrap around you and bring you closer to its warmth

- you two still stood there, now somewhat awkwardly hugging eachother while your breathing calmed down

- he didn't say anything throughout the small conversation, but you knew through this hug he was saying,

I'm here and I care for you.

[jedimaesteryoda]

What was in Prince Nymor’s Letter to Aegon I?

Background

Aegon the Conqueror managed to forge the Seven Kingdoms into one with his dragons, but there was one exception: Dorne. The First Dornish War marked the only war where a kingdom managed to avoid subjugation by the Iron Throne. 

The Dornish avoided open battle as well as holing in fortresses. Rhaenys found all the castles in Dorne empty as she flew on Meraxes as the Dornish forces melted away. 

Meria: I will not fight you, nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that. Rhaenys: I shall, but we will come again, Princess, and next time we shall come with fire and blood. Meria: Your words, Ours are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady, but you will not bend us, break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril.

Princess Meria waited for her in Sunspear just to tell her off. Aegon placed his men to control castles, and declared victory only for the Dornish forces to return. Meria threw Lord Rosby from a window herself. 

Also, apparently the Dornish didn’t play nice. Entire garrisons were put to the sword. Knights were tortured, and Lord Wyl cut off the hands of captured prisoners-of-war, including Aegon’s Hand, Orys Baratheon. These actions violated the codes of chivalry, and had Aegon and his bannermen howling for vengeance, which led to a bloody cycle of retaliation and reappraisals. 

Aegon’s retaliation was swift as he and his sisters took to their dragons and burned Dornish castles. The Dornish responded by burning half the rainwood and sacking half a dozen towns and villages. The Targaryens then responded by burning more Dornish castles in dragonflame. The Dornish response to that was Lord Fowler capturing Nightfall and taking its occupants hostage and razing the nearby villages and towns. The Targaryens, then predictably, responded with their dragons again, but this time, miraculously, the Dornish managed to take down a dragon. A scorpion bolt in a one in a million shot, hit Meraxes in the eye, killing the dragon and ostensibly, the rider, Rhaenys. 

The death of Aegon’s favorite sister-wife was of course a huge personal blow, and it marked the start of the next two years of the war appropriately named the Dragon’s Wroth, the nadir of the war. Aegon and Visenya's initial response was to burn every castle in Dorne, except Sunspear. Some castles were even burned more than once with Hellholt, the site of Meraxes’s death, being burned three times. Aegon and Visneya also placed bounties on the heads of Dornish lords to which the Dornish responded by placing bounties on their heads as well as those of their allies. Half a dozen Dornish lords were assassinated while Aegon and Visneya survived several assassination attempts, and Lord Fell was murdered in a brothel. 

Finally, Meria Martell died, and was succeeded by her son, Nymor. Nymor took a different approach compared to his mother, and sent his daughter and heir, Deria, to King’s Landing with Meraxes’s skull and a letter. While Aegon’s queen and advisors pushed for Aegon to harm Deria, Aegon refused and heard out Deria. 

Dorne wanted peace, according to Deria—but the peace of two kingdoms no longer at war, not the peace between a vassal and a lord. Many urged His Grace against this, and the phrase "no peace without submission" was often heard in the halls of the Aegonfort. It was claimed that the king would look weak should he agree to such a demand and that the lords of the Reach and stormlands who had suffered so much for his cause would be angered.

Swayed by such considerations, it is said, King Aegon was determined to refuse the offer until Princess Deria placed in his hands a private letter from her father, Prince Nymor. Aegon read it upon the Iron Throne, and men say that when he rose, his hand was bleeding, so hard had he clenched it. He burned the letter and departed immediately on Balerion's back for Dragonstone. When he returned the next morning, he agreed to the peace and signed a treaty to that effect.

Aegon read Nymor’s letter, burned it, and left for Dragonstone on Balerion that day, only to return the following morning and to his court’s surprise, agree to Nymor’s terms of ending the First Dornish War with the Iron Throne recognizing Dorne’s independence. 

No one knows the contents of that letter, but there are theories as to what was in that letter that led Aegon to forgo his aim to conquer Dorne and agree to Nymor’s peace. Let’s look at the possibilities offered.

1. Did he threaten to take all the wealth of Dorne to hire the Faceless Men to kill Aegon's young son and heir, Aenys? 

The problem with this one is Aegon "flew to Sunspear on Balerion on the tenth anniversary of the peace accords to celebrate ‘a feast of freindship’ with Deria Martell” with Aenys accompanying him. I doubt Aegon would willingly celebrate such a treaty with Princess Deria, and do so, by bringing along the son they threatened to kill if he didn’t sign. That would just make things awkward.  

Also, the whole point of hiring an assassin, especially a Faceless Man, is to get someone killed without you being implicated. If you say that “if person A dies, it's definitely because of me,” that would be a clear invitation to retaliation from the victim’s family and allies. 

The man whom this threat was made to burned every castle in Dorne in retaliation for Rhaenys’s death. It doesn’t take much speculation to imagine how he would have responded to the death of his son borne by that same woman. A threat like that likely wouldn’t have intimidated Aegon into signing the treaty, but more likely angered him and provoked threats of retaliation.

One must also note that by the time of the meeting (13 AC) Maegor had just been born the year before (12 AC). Even with Aenys dead, Aegon would still have had a son to continue the Targaryen line, and it wouldn’t have been a permanent end to the Targaryen threat. 

2.  Did Nymor reveal that Rhaenys lived still, broken and mutilated, and that he would end her suffering if Aegon ended hostilities? 

It doesn’t take a genius to see the problems with this one. For Aegon, the idea of Rhaenys having been left broken after being tortured and mutilated for two years undoubtedly would have enraged him in such a manner that would have befit his sobriquet “the Dragon”, and had him threatening swift and brutal retaliation. He would have demanded Rhaenys back, no matter what condition she was in. I also seriously doubt Aegon would take Rhaenys’s son, Aenys, to celebrate the peace with Deria that was signed on the condition of killing his tortured mother. 

Nymor would also have demonstrated himself to be an idiot by needlessly endangering his daughter, Deria. By sending her, he would have handed Aegon a potentially valuable hostage on a silver platter that Aegon could use to counter any threats against Rhaenys. It also undermined the message of goodwill by bringing the skull of Meraxes.

There is also the question of if they had Rhaenys alive this whole time, why the hell didn’t they use her before, the moment they had captured her? The Dornish would have to be complete fools to not see how valuable a hostage Aegon’s favorite sister-wife could be. They at the very least could have used her to negotiate a ceasefire, and given themselves some respite.

3. Was the letter ensorceled?

Short answer: no. I don’t think we’ve seen magic capable of influencing someone’s consciousness with the most being tales of love potions.

4. Some claim it was a simple plea, from one father to another, heartfelt words that touched King Aegon’s heart.

This seems a little too romantic. I mean even if the words did touch Aegon’s heart, there were still political realities to consider, and I don’t see how relating as a father would move Aegon enough to forget about Rhaenys, the woman who first made him a father to begin with. 

5. Others insist it was a list of all those lords and noble knights who lost their lives during the war.

I admit while showing a king the human costs of his war isn’t unappealing to me, one must note that “the Reach, the stormlands and the marches had suffered grievously during the fighting, and would never forgive and forget.” The relatives of those same lords and knights who died in the Dornish War largely wanted the war to continue to avenge their relatives, and would potentially have seen a Dornish peace without submission seemingly make those deaths in vain. 

It also wouldn’t be the first time Aegon suffered a personal loss in his conquest. He lost his distant cousin and one of his family’s closest friends, Daemon Velaryon, in the first Targaryen assault on the Vale. Yet, he continued his conquest regardless. 

What actually was in the letter?

Think back to Robert’s Rebellion with Dornish anger over the horrific deaths of Elia and her children as well as the death of Lewyn at the Battle of the Trident. Jon Arryn managed to avoid rebellion by the Dornish by returning Lewyn’s bones to Dorne, and negotiating with Prince Doran. 

Returning the remains of a fallen relative is an act of respect. It is mentioned that Rhaenys’s bones were never returned. Neither were the bones Elia and her children, but that was because they were given the Targaryen custom of cremation.

I think Rhaenys’s body was likely given the same treatment. What Nymor may have mentioned in the letter is that he was returning Rhaenys’s ashes from her funeral pyre to Dragonstone. That is why Aegon left for Dragonstone that day on Balerion, he wanted to meet up with the ship carrying her urn. 

That leaves the question of why Aegon burned the letter. The reason is probably the same as why Aegon had no close friends except Orys: he was a very private person, and this was a very personal matter to him. 

Throughout the war, both sides did a lot of awful stuff with the Targaryens burning everything in Dorne in dragonflame, and the Dornish responding by engaging in torture, mutilation and assassination (which the Targaryens did first). All those actions did was escalate the war, and result in more brutal retaliation from the Targaryens with each side upping the violence, brutality and destruction. However, by performing this one honorable gesture, Nymor managed to succeed where his mother failed in ending Aegon’s attempts to subdue Dorne. 

[the-fiction-witch]

Lab Rat

MOVIE THE MAZE RUNNER DEATH CURE

COUPLE NEWT X READER

RATING SMUTTY

I sat on a little blue empty ammo box with the boys, as we talked about this and that watching the water as the boys debated this and that. I suddenly heard a cough behind me making me turn to see her stood on the stone steps in her little blue jeans and grey tank top her hair in a long braid her arms crossed against her chest "Newt?" she asks

"Ohh y/n" I smiled at her 

she glared at me tapping her watch 

"Ohh sorry, got to go," I told them getting up and heading over to her she turned and walked across right arms camp heading into her usual tent, instantly she went to her table to get working on her usual things, I smiled and went over and wrapped my arms around her waist giving her neck a little kiss and nuzzling into her shoulder and neck as I held her "hi"

"Hi newt" she laughed gently elbowing me "go on, sit your dumb butt down" she giggled

I smiled and went sitting in the bed as I usually did and she came over checking over my arm, I had met y/n when we first came to the right arms camp, she was sweet and kind to me and we formed a close freindship quickly, not so long ago she discovered about my arm she promised not to say anything so long as I let her... Experiment on me. Testing various things in attempts to cure it but

"It's getting worse" she muttered

"I know" I nodded "I guess it didn't work last week"

"Well I have another idea," she says as she began working poking my skin and sometimes drawing blood, cleaning everything, wrapping it all up with various things "there, we'll see how that goes" she says going to get cleaned up

"Thank you. Y/n"

"Don't thank me yet newt I don't know if it works" she laughed

"No. But, for trying anyways. Thank you"

"Your welcome newt" she smiled "go on get back to the boys"

"You haven't told anyone? Have you?"

"Of course I haven't, why? Have you?"

"Not a word"

"What do you say then when they ask where you go with me?"

"I told them, that I keep watch when you shower"

"Ohh bet there really jealous"

"They kinda are" I laughed "what do you tell people?"

"People don't ask. I don't say," she shrugs "go on newt. Before they come looking for you" she says

"Awww but don't I get my usual payment?" I argued "for being your lab rat?"

"Fine" she rolled her eyes coming back over to sit on the bed with me she grabbed my shirt and janked me across the bed till our lips met, I instantly melted into her heavenly kisses, I kissed back immediately resting my hands on her wrists until her grip on my shirt relaxed into her having her hands gently on my chest, I moved my hands away and wrapped them around her waist sitting my hands in the small of her back my thumb gently rubbing on her shirt, she tasted like antibacterial soap, lavender and leaves, smelt like it too, her skin was so soft against me, her lips like sugar and just as addictively heavenly, our lips moved slowly and gently against each other my heart already racing in my chest as the kisses got deeper and still remained as slow her hands began stroking up and down my chest and shoulders as we kissed still slowly and gently perhaps if I wasn't paying as much attention to her hands I wouldn't even have noticed so I began to gently move my own hands up and down her back as we kissed for what felt like hours but I couldn't bare to pull away from her our kisses turning to something more as she opened her mouth I opened my own kissing each other much more hormonally kissing like this a good while before starting to tenderly toy with each other's tounges I never liked when she toyed with me I just wanted to keep going, swilling around and around over and over rubbing on her soft shirt one hand slipping a little higher up to feel the elastic and the hooks of her bra below her shirt my lower hand that still rested in the small of her back tugged gently on the shirt pulling it down enough to expose the clasps to the air and to my awaiting grip and without much of a try I snapped the clap band and the hooks detached from each other which instantly made her stop and pull back but I rested my head on hers getting my breath back feeling how hard I had become "it's not Tuesday newt" she warns

"So?" I shrug giving her hand a kiss and pushing it down to my leg but he moved away doing her bra back up

"Later lab rat" she laughed going back to her work

"Awww y/n! Come on please" I whined giving her a cuddle pressing myself against her and kissing as much of her as I could she sighed and turned around to face me

"No newt. We test on Fridays and you get some kisses if you've been a good little lab rat, Tuesday you get attention and not before"

"Please, I need you" I whined "don't you need me too love?'

"Later-" she began but I kissed her as passionately and lustfully as I could her arms quickly wrapped around my neck so I wrapped my own around her hips lifting her to sit on her table gently grabbing her butt which made her wrap her legs around me too till I pulled back

"Please y/n, can't you feel how bad I want you" I whispered giving her another kiss

"Fine," she sighed jumping off the table undoing her Jeans as she walked towards her bed "but pull out this time newt" she wants

I quickly got my own jeans off too and ran into bed laying on top of her "I will. I promise love" I smiled kissing her beautiful lips again

[legendrarry]

WIP Ask Game

So, as the talking elevator proved to be a topic of interest, I decided to just make a post and answer it all at once. 😅

Thank you @bogglebeans @mxmaneater and @erebeus-roxy for asking about it! This was actually the first drarry fic I started writing after I joined the fandom, but I never quite finished it....😅 Basically it's a story where Harry is an Auror and Draco is a healer, and they have built up this weird freindship by having breakfast every Tuesday. All of Harry's friends are sure that they are dating but Harry is in denial. Then one day, Draco doesn’t show up for their breakfast and Harry loses it.

The elevator part is rather small and scratchy, but long story short the Ministry elevator has been charmed to talk and it flirts with Harry every chance it gets. 😂 here's a little snippet of the elevator part.

"Level 34-b as usual, Auror Potter?" The overly flirtatious drawl snapped Harry out of his thoughts, and with a grimace, he nodded at the metallic mouth that hung at the top of the elevator door. 

"It's an honour to have you go down on me as always, Auror," the sugary voice continued with its over the top innuendos, making Harry cringe. He hated this part of his day.

Thankfully, the sodding compartment was blissfully empty aside for himself this morning, so at least he didn’t have to deal with the vicious giggles and badly covered laughter that always followed after the harassment. All he needed to do was ignore the voice and everything will be fine.

The shrill "have a good day, Auror! Come back anytime!" kept ringing inside his head even after he stepped out of the compartment, and with a heavy sigh, Harry continued to walk towards his office.

He had been wary when Kingsley had brought up the idea of charming the elevators of the ministry to speak, saying things about 'modernization' and 'personalization' to make the place more professional.

Because, if the talking mirror in the bathroom at Grimmauld Place was anything to go by as, then Harry wasn’t keen on having another harassing voice to tell him how uncouth his hair looked every chance it got. Really, he should've incendio-ed the bloody thing the second it opened its snappy mouth, but days of patients had turned into months and now, well, Harry was a sentimental fool who got attached too easily.

The elevator of the ministry proved to be another problem altogether though. 

Instead of getting lectures and insults about his poor clothing — and sometimes, life — choices, Harry was met with a voice that all but fell onto its knees (if elevators had any knees, of course) the second it was met with the sight of him; swooning and giggling like a schoolgirl who had just met their crush. It didn’t help that the voice was of a forty year old woman that talked on a pitch way too high for Harry's liking, and boy, did it like to talk. 

So now Harry's mornings consisted of getting harassed by his mirror before scampering to the ministry, only to get hitted on by a 40 year old elevator. As if he didn’t get that enough already, being the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to live twice.  

The only thing that made this constant berating bearable was the weird little breakfast thing he had started to have every Tuesday morning, at a small cafe two blocks away, in the company of a certain blond. A certain blond that always came to the cafe on Tuesdays, at 9.30am sharp for the last six months in his fancy healer robes. Always. On the dot. Every single week.

They even had their own little table beside the window that no one dared to sit on.

Except for today, that is.

Yeah, that's it!! Sorry if this doesn’t make much sense, I really should get back on writing this one 😂😂

[let-me-vibe]

it don't make you feel like your out of place? you dont sit an listen to everyone's inside jokes and fond conversations and feel like you're in a room full of strangers that you are never going to bond with, you dont look for every opportunity to l find an empty room because the atmosphere is so full of freindship and you cant help but feel physically sick with irritation?

Hey stop that I was already craving affection lol

|| I just left a cult, it's like that everywhere. By the way, people actually eat octopus?

| Yeah, it's good actually. I can take you to takoyaki if you want? Tastes terrible, feels great.

|| I'm not going anywhere with you.

[miscellanasaurus]

BNHA 222

 I haven't bothered with tumblr in ages even though I had plan to start reviewing My Hero Acadamia since its become one of my little obsessions so this review might be a little late

This chapter starts of with a single solitary hand reaching for tenko`s face the obvious implication being that it`s his father due to it lining up with his face, something that could easily be overlooked but it has a rather tragic resonance, this is possibly Tomura`s only remaining memory of his father, it also explains why he wears it over his face, personally this panel gives of so much while doing so little and it`s why I love Horikoshi.

He goes on to say how he can`t remember much from before all for one,  and that when he wears “Everyone” his anger flows out. And yet before he was only a empty shell (Something Spinner seem`s to relate too, Probably alluding to the fact that this traumatic event left him with some sort of PTSD ,though i`m no expert so don`t quote me, and that wearing the hand is his `comfort blanket` in a way. from the repressed memories as well as symptoms of ptsd in young children can cause Anxiety when Separated from a parent/adult and as Tomura states “When i wear everyone i feel sick to my stomach yet my heart becomes calm”  

We then follow through on Shigaraki`s flashback from chapter 88 and the follow up here we see the doctor carting in the very hands Tomura wears and his reaction is heartbreaking. 

Here Horikoshi pulls another fast one on us and reveals that Tomura`s backstory is more then just killing his father but his entire family though the symbolic placement of his fathers hands might mean the rest have a deeper meaning to them as well.

 Something I appreciate is the panel  at the end of Shigaraki`s flashback mirrors the panel at the end of All Might Vs All for One (chapter 94)  and is honestly another good job at conveying so much with so little.

We then cut back to the present where Shigaraki admit that he`s been feelign something akin to depression , though again this fits in with my PTSD theory

I love everyone`s expression on this page its honestly hilarious though spinners is supposed to be the one we notice due to the larger role i believe he`l receive in this arc.

Tomura then admits that changing sociaty, ruling the underworld, none of it matters to him, everything that breath`s pisses him off so he may as well destroy it. this is character development in itself as though his motive`s haven't changed much from the USJ arc the fact he outright admits this to a group that chose to join believing that he wanted to change the face of society speaks volumes about there ....Freindship? something that is later confirmed when shigaraki tells Toga that the wishes`s off his comrades are a separate matter

However the doctor seem`s to be the biggest one as he simply decides to help tomura saying that it`s a pipedream but villains are the ones who bring pipe dreams to life

Guess he really hates that hedgehog.

The Doctor then tells Shigaraki he has some research prepared for them but wont hand it over until they have Gigantomachia accept them stating that he wont be so naive as to except them as he did, which shows the doctor understands that agreeing to work with them due to a having a grand plan is ridiculous showing perhaps he see`s all for one in tomura after all from what we know so far he wanted to rule the world simply because he could.They also seem to share a similier mentality saying that if shigaraki wants it he has to “Grab it with his own hands”

Here it seem`s apparent that Dabi is talking about Hawks so hopefully we get that meet-up but something about what the docter said regarding dabi`s “Taste and aesthetic sense” seem`s off to me. though the previous seen with tomura could just show how unstable he clearly is, leaving a highly dangerous super weapon to someone due to there “Taste`s”. Then we get this nightmare fuel.

Honestly this things horrifying to look at from the dials connected to it`s brain to its sneaker`s of all damn things!!!! a rather disturbing thought is that John-Chan could likely be a child seeing as Chan is a suffix used to refere to children, and is wearing small child-like shoes not including the fact it has been hinted that the doctor turned his grandchild into a nomu,however it is this “John-Chan” who has been teleporting the LoV  and honestly this raises more questions. though those ones will wait until later.

It`s within these two panels that we`ll move back into the Detrenat plotline as we see a singular panel of Giran`s scarf whether he`s alive or not is uncertain but we do see the Eight Precepts old base as well as the “CEO” so perhaps we`ll see a resurface of “Trigger” or the quirk erasing bullets as thats the only thing i can think off as to why they`d be there. 

[hasbrobear]

A robotic survivor

Creaking of Metal was heard as penny walked through the empty streets of Vale. She was the last on remnant. Everyone either passed away or died. The Grimm has disappeared and Salem wasn’t present. Now it was just her with scraps and pieces of metal clinging to her body. She then looked and pressed a button for something to play while she walked towards her destination.

Small Penny born from Metal and ice.

She looked up at the CCT tower as it was nothing more than just pieces of metal pointed at the air.

Maker of friends and other things nice.

She walked past beacon as it was crumbling down and destroyed.

Poor penny, destroyed by someone kind.

She was now on an island that was once full of trees and forest. But it was nothing more than land full of tree stumps.

Reborn in a shell, at another time

You lived in a sky home, and nowhere now.

She crawled over a broken Paladin and went around a pile of old rusty Atleasian Knights. The once new robots now reduced to scrap.

Kind Penny freed from her mechanical binds

To roam the world of the bad and the nice.

Penny noticed a small array of statues of friends she made before they passed away with their weapons stabbed or placed on their graves, never to move.

Lost penny, longed for friendship and fun.

She saw a small house that was somehow stable and walked inside.

Compassionate, Will, Freindship, Wisdom or Love.

She saw a doggy bowl on the ground and dusty pictures of friends and their families.

strong penny, risking circuits and bolts

She then entered a specific room and saw items scattered and picked up a picture frame. She put it down on the table revealing Ruby Rose with her girlfriend Penny.

came back to her friends, and back to her rose.

She licked up Crescent rose and stoked the gun a little and then got the cape. She laid on the bed wrapping the cape around her like a blanket and holding the gun close to her, hugging it.

Safe Penny, no more will you go.

She smiled and kissed the weapon before closing her eyes.

once you were gone, and now your back home....

[grasslandgirl]

10 + eldonado bc I'm just curious to see where u go w it

hey rachel maybe i love you!!

10: [i love you] not said to me

[inspo, 9:27-10:11 and inspo, 1:09-1:54]

---

Peter’s heart hurt. Before now, he didn’t know that hearts could hurt, not like this. They were a muscle, yes, and people got heart burn and heart attacks and other medical problems that likely caused their hearts to hurt. But all the stuff in the movies and in songs, about a broken heart hurting so bad you can feel it? Peter always thought it was just some dramatic bullshit. Which was a lot, coming from him.

But now he was forced to- begrudgingly- admit, that they were right. A broken heart did hurt. Like something was shoved into his heart, or like there was an empty chasm in his chest. It hurt like nothing he had felt before. Peter bit his lip and turned and walked away.

What he had seen and overheard echoed in his head, repeating over and over until it was all he could see, all he could hear, leaning against the wall in a silent hallway. 

It was Sam, standing in his room, his back to the door. This, at least, hadn’t been surprising- shouldn’t have been- given that it was Sam’s house. Gabi had been sitting opposite him, on Sam’s bed, her eyes locked onto Sam. This hadn’t been overly surprising either, Gabi and Sam were close friends and she wandered into the Ecklund house unannounced about as often as Peter did. 

Peter had paused in the doorway and opened his mouth to speak, hoping that he wasn’t interrupting anything important by barging into his friends’ conversation. But before he could say or do anything, Sam cut him off. 

“Ok, I’ve been sitting on this for a while,” Peter knew he shouldn’t be hovering, silently listening in on a private conversation. But he also had the instincts of a nosy documentarian, and his interest in what Sam was saying to Gabi was stronger than his moral impulse. “And I know I should have said something earlier, but I didn’t want anything to change,” Sam continued. “But I can’t keep pretending I don’t feel the way I do, so I’m just going to out and say it.” The alarm bells were ringing in Peter’s head at this point, but he was in too deep to back out now. 

“I love you,” Sam said to Gabi, and Peter’s world all but shattered.

Back in sophomore year, if you had asked Peter, he would have sworn that Sam liked Gabi as more than a friend. But things had changed since then, they had both grown up, Sam had come out as bisexual, and something in their friendship had shifted. 

From the outside, it probably hadn’t looked much different. They still bickered and teased and spend all odd hours of the day together, just as they always did. But now, Sam would lean his head against Peter’s shoulder while they sat on the couch watching a movie. His hand would linger, a second longer than it used to, when he handed Peter his phone. Peter could feel Sam’s eyes on him, soft and familiar, even from across the classroom. He hadn’t said anything, hadn’t wanted to jinx it, but it had felt like they were building up to something. 

Something bigger than them, something more than just freindship, something Peter had been longing for for years now. And for a moment, Peter had finally let himself hope. 

Just to have it all crashing down.

Because he was wrong. And of course he was, why would someone like Sam- funny and smart and kind- choose Peter? Why would he have feelings for Peter when Peter knew he had loved Gabi for years now. Peter had been saying it, thinking it, believing it for ages. And when he finally let himself slip, let himself believe that maybe he was wrong, maybe Sam didn’t love Gabi, maybe he had a shot- it all came crashing down around him.

Peter slumped further against the wall. He thought it was the one outside of Sam’s sister Kara’s room, and he hoped that she wasn’t inside- though it would be just his luck at this point for her to come out and discover him, midway through a breakdown. Peter just wanted to slip out the back door and disappear home, where he could wallow in heartbreak in peace.

The one good thing about him showing up at Sam’s unannounced, at least- he didn’t have to face Sam before running away like a coward. Sam didn’t ever have to know that he was here at all.

“I love you,” Sam said, trying his best to maintain eye contact with Gabi, “And it’s fine if you don’t feel the same way, Pete, but I can’t not say anything anylonger. I love you, Peter.” 

Gabi’s face twisted into an expression Sam knew meant she was trying her absolute hardest not to laugh- and was failing. 

“Gabs!” He groaned, collapsing face-first onto the bed beside her. He felt more than heard her dissolve into giggles. “You’re supposed to be taking this seriously.” He mumbled into his pillow before turning on his side to face her. “How am I supposed to tell Peter this if I can’t even tell it to you? And you laughing at me every time I try isn’t going to help!”

“I’m sorry,” Gabi did her best to sober up, schooling her expressions into a look of soft compassion. “I know you’re struggling with this, and I’m sorry I keep laughing.” She broke out into a grin, “But I can’t help it that I find you confessing your heart to me-as-Peter intolerably hilarious.”

“You’re the worst best friend,” Sam grumbled, shoving her shoulder.

“You love me!”

“Shut up!”

Peter was ignoring him. Which meant that he was pissed about something, because Peter had two modes when he was angry- sullen distance, and exploding in your face. The thing was, Sam had no idea why Peter was pissed at him in the first place. 

It had been three days since Peter had last texted him or talked to him normally, which mean Sam had suffered through three days of ignored memes and awkward classes. And he was sick of it. 

If Peter was going to be pissed at him, Sam wanted to know why. Also, Peter ignoring him was really fucking up Sam’s plans to confess at their next movie night the following weekend, so.

“Peter! Peter Maldonado!” Sam yelled, banging on the front door of his house, “Either come let me in or I swear to god I’ll go dig your spare key out of the backyard!” Which was true. The Maldonados had kept their spare key in the same place in the backyard since they had moved here, and Sam had known where it was since the fifth grade. 

The front door suddenly yanked open, and there was Peter, in all his sullen, pissed off glory. How on earth, Sam wondered, does he manage to look beautiful while he’s pissed at me?

“What do you want, Sam?” Peter asked, determinedly looking past Sam, over his shoulder to firmly avoid eye contact.

“I want to know why you’re pissed at me,” Sam responded, crossing his arms. He had long since discovered that bluntness worked best with Peter in general, but especially when he was angry. 

Peter’s eyes darted to Sam’s. His frown tightened, and he ground out a tight, “I’m just dealing with something.”

“Dude,” Sam said, “you’ve got to talk to me when you’re pissed, cause I don’t know what I did to make you mad, ok? So if you’re expecting me to apologize or something, that’s gonna be difficult given that I don’t know what you’re worked up about.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, you didn’t do anything.” Peter said, somehow managing to look angrier than he had before. 

“What do you mean I didn’t do anything? If I didn’t do anything, then why are you pissed at me?”

“I don’t have to tell you.”

“Pete! What the fuck? Quit being an asshole and just talk to me! Why are you so angry?”

“Because you’re in love with Gabi!” Peter shouted, and the moment froze.

All the anger in Peter’s face sloughed off like rainwater, leaving him looking sad and vulnerable. Sam stood for a second in shock, before he whispered, “Why the fuck do you think I’m in love with Gabi?”

“I overheard you telling her-” Peter started to speak, until Sam cut him off.

“Pete, I’m in love with you.”

Silence fell over them like a blanket, and for the first time, it struck Sam that they were having this argument, this conversation on Peter’s front porch. And that he had just told his best friend he loved him for the first time in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. 

Sam waited, but for the first few seconds Peter didn’t say anything. “Pete,” Sam said quickly, starting on damage control for their friendship and his pride, “I-”

“I love you too, Sam.” Peter said, so softly Sam would have missed it, if not for the hopeful expression on Peter’s face. One so full of love and happiness that Sam would have had to be blind to miss it. 

“Yeah?” Sam breathed, not quite wanting to believe it.

“Yeah,” Peter nodded, grinning and shining like the sun. 

And then Sam kissed him.

And maybe it was on Peter’s front porch, maybe it was a standard Wednesday afternoon, maybe the kiss was awkward and sloppy at first, but Sam couldn’t bring himself to care, because he was kissing Peter Maldonado. And Peter was kissing him back. 

ahhhhh!! thats it omggg rachel i can’t believe this ended up being a whopping 1,500 words.... some drabble!!

send me a way I said I love you and a pairing for a drabble!

[therearemonstersinthedark]

Book 2 Luciferous

Chapter 11: No One’s Here to Sleep

A Guardians of the Galaxy Fanwork

Pairings: Peter Quill / Gamora (one-sided), Peter Quill & Nebula (freindship)

Genre: Adventure, general

Word Count: 5.5k

Rating: T to be safe, mild gore and cussing in some chapters

Links: Fanfiction.net || Ao3

Summary: Peter’s dreams are back, and Mantis begins some lessons of her own.

Author’s Notes: Title is from ‘No One’s Here to Sleep’ by Bastille

No One's Here to Sleep

.

"So you and your father are an element? I have never heard of such a thing as a living creature being an element."

"Elementals, Drax, we're Elementals, apparently, which just means we can control the elements or something like that. I'd never heard of it either."

The rest of the Guardians, minus Rocket, were eating dinner with Peter as he shared the information he had learned with them. Even Nebula, who had joined him on his walk back, had decided to stay to hear his news, though she made a rather obvious point about staying far away from her sister.

"And Cosmo has his powers drawn from one of these... 'Givers?'" Nebula asked from her seat next to Drax.

"Yeah. Ego said drinking from the head on Knowhere should have killed him but, it's not completely unheard of for this to happen. He was just lucky I guess."

Nebula pursed her lips in disapproval at the mention of luck. "This does explain a few things," she murmured.

"How is your progress with your own powers going?" Gamora asked from where she sat two seats to his left, in the corner diagonally across from her sister.

"Oh!" Peter shoved his chair out so he could stand up and step away from the table. "Check this out!"

Peter was still pretty tired from the day's work, so he only managed to form a crystal about the size of a baseball, but it was satisfyingly round and toeing the line of being called truly transparent. "It's usually a bit bigger," he confessed, slumping back into his chair and placing the crystal on the table with a thunk. "But it's a big improvement from this morning and it's getting easier to summon and control the Light."

Drax reached forward to grab it, chewing loudly as he rolled it around in his hand.

"And how is this orb supposed to help us defeat Ronan and Thanos?"

"Well, it's not, but eventually I'll be able to make bigger things. When I fought my father last time I made these massive rock-bodies, like gigantic fighting robots," Peter waved his arms up dramatically to emphasize how very gigantic these bodies were. "It was pretty cool."

"On the subject of fighting," Gamora said, her arms crossed neatly on the table in front of herself as she stared at Mantis, sitting across from her. "Do you know how to defend yourself at all, Mantis?"

Mantis blinked her huge eyes in surprise at this question. "I have never needed to defend myself. Ego is very powerful, and I am always with him."

"No one has ever tried to hurt you?" Gamora asked.

"Well, I have met... unhappy people, but with my abilities, I can sooth them back into a happier state if they come too near. I rarely speak to others, though, so it does not happen often."

"Peter," Gamora turned her eyes on him now. "How did she manage in combat in your timeline?"

"Uh, I guess we looked out for her if it got too physical, but she's tough, and she was learning." He shrugged, not sure if this was the answer Gamora was looking for. Mantis was, compared to the other Guardians, pretty frail in terms of physical strength and fighting ability, but it had never been a big issue in their travels. They hadn't actually had many big fights after Ego's planet, though. Mostly it was some contracts that led to a couple firefights, and Rocket's shenanigans leading to their usual violent endings. Someone was always there to keep an eye on her, and she walked off any bruises or injuries she incurred with admirable grace.

"If you are planning to take her with us, she will need to know how to defend herself, at least." Gamora narrowed her eyes at him like he was an idiot. "You can't take someone with no real experience into battle against my father. She'll be dead in an instant."

"Why don't you guys teach her?" he asked. "I'll probably be too busy with my own lessons to do anything about it, but you and Drax would give her occasional lessons in my timeline."

"I would love to 'take lessons' with you and Drax!" Mantis piped up eagerly. "I have never had lessons before. This is so exciting!"

There was scoff from Nebula's corner of the table, and Peter glanced over to see her glaring into her food like it had personally slighted her.

"It's getting late," Gamora said, glancing meaningfully at the light fading rapidly through the glass panes. "We can start in the morning. There are no lights here, and I don't want you injuring yourself in the dark."

There was a clink of utensils as Nebula set hers down and shoved her chair out. "I'm done," she said flatly when she noticed Peter staring at her with his brows raised in question, her good mood from earlier in the day seemed to have vanished.

"Are you going exploring again tonight?" Peter asked.

Nebula shot her sister a darting look before answering, as though considering whether or not she wanted to give away her plans where Gamora could overhear them. "Yes," she told Peter. "I'll be in the canyon beyond the river if you need me."

"Okay," he said, as she made her way to the open doorway. "Thanks. Let me know if you run into Rocket?"

Nebula didn't look back, but she waved a hand in acknowledgment of his request as she left.

When Peter turned back to the table, Gamora was staring after her sister with her lips pinched in the corners.

-x-

Mantis was apparently eager to get to work, Peter thought to himself, as the pounding on his door came much earlier the next morning. Lifting his head from the pillow with a groan, Peter opened his eyes and could barely make out the features of his room under the starlight glinting through the panes of his window.

"Mantis?" he asked, suddenly wondering if it might be one of the other Guardians instead, but couldn't think of any reason the others would be pounding on his door at who-knows-when in the morning.

The knocking came again, more insistently this time.

"Hello?" Peter kicked off his sheets and groped around for his boots. "Who is it?"

More knocking, this time the door shook in its frame under the abuse.

"It's open," Peter called, giving up on his boots and crossing to the door. "What do you want?"

He flung the door open wide, but there was no one there.

"What the?" he mumbled, glancing up and down the hallway. "That's not funny! Come on. Go wake up someone who your life doesn't depend on their beauty rest!"

Something made a noise from outside.

"Rocket?" Peter asked, suddenly hopeful. Maybe Rocket wanted to speak to him without the other Guardians nearby. Peter stepped out into the hallway and immediately his foot slipped out from underneath him. He had to grab the door frame to keep from going down. "Ugh, what?" he grumbled, lifting up his foot to stare down at where he had left a track through a thick layer of dust that coated the marble floor. Peter swiped at his sock cautiously, but it appeared to just be normal, unremarkable, dirt. A little plume of dust rolled off of his foot and settled back to the floor. As he watched it settle, he noticed that, other than where his foot had just landed, the rest of the dust lay sleek and undisturbed. There were no other tracks in the hallway. So... maybe not Rocket.

Curiosity peaked, Peter stepped out into the hallway, careful of his footing this time, and made his way across to Drax's door. The layer of dust muffled the sounds of his steps, making him feel like a ghost himself.

"Drax?" he hissed, rapping on the door with his knuckles. Unnerved by the silence -not even the sound of Drax's snoring leaked through the walls- Peter shoved the door open. Inside, the room was empty and a thin film of dust coated everything in here as well. The dust sat the thickest in a clump on the bed, but Peter could find no clue as to what could have caused this or where Drax had gone, so he stepped back into the hallway and slid the door shut. He pushed Gamora's door open next, but her room was in the same state, and just as unhelpful.

Peter licked his lips and tapped his fingers against his pants, pausing when he realized something else here was out of place. Peter held his unbandaged hands up, marveling at the perfect, unbroken skin in the dim ghost light of the hallway, and it dawned on him like someone had raised a curtain after he had already guessed what was behind it. He'd known, but not really known, until just now.

Peter was dreaming again. This may be the most real one yet, or at least the most aware he had been without waking up. They were getting stronger.

Peter cast his gaze up and down the empty hall, not sure what he was supposed to be doing here. Was this a test of some sort? Peter closed his eyes and reached out towards the Light. He didn't know if he could reach it in a dream, or whatever this was. If nothing else, it could provide him with a way to light up the hallway. Ego would probably be disgusted at the notion of using his powers in such a way, but as far as Peter was concerned, his father's annoyance was just more incentive to do it. But when Peter felt the familiar sensation of the power drawing to him the world around him began to shudder. Peter's eyes flew open to see the walls dancing and rippling unnaturally. A wild, unreasonable panic seized his mind and Peter quickly severed the connection he had built, pulling away from the Light as if it had burned him.

The world around him settled back into place, and the panic receded, leaving his skin prickling despite the pleasant temperature. So that... was not a great idea...

There was another noise from outside. A grating sound, kind of like a cat scratching at a door, but louder, and it echoed unnaturally through the building around him. Feeling pretty confident that this was a dream and he was safe, Peter shook off the chills and moved towards the front doors to investigate. When he pulled the massive copper door open, he had expected to find the usual scene of galaxies, but was met instead with a bursts of hot air and a bright burning sky. Peter held one hand up to shield his face and peered through narrowed eyes into the wind. The world around him was lifeless and barren- even more so that when he had fallen asleep. All of the plants had died, most of them seemed to have blown away, leaving behind clumps of shriveled up sticks and vines scattered across an endless landscape of dry cracked dirt and sand that blew about and danced in the harsh wind.

"Ego?!" Peter called. His voice was snatched up by the whistling wind and blown away.

The scratching noise came again, this time echoing through the empty world around him like something was trying to dig in through a ceiling that didn't exist. Something moved in the corner of his eyes, and Peter squinted against the acrid wind until he saw it again. In the distance, beyond the softly rolling remains of the garden, something was sending the dirt flinging upward where the wind caught it and carried it off.

Peter tugged his jacket tight against his neck and waded into the wind. The sandy ground and bits of brittle leaves crunched under his socked feet, and the closer he drew to the flinging dirt, the louder the scrabbling noise became, but still the sound echoed from all around, rather than from his destination. As he surmounted a small roll in the desert, he was able to get a look at what was causing the strange phenomena. A series of rectangular holes had been dug into the dry dirt. Eight in total, all lined up neatly, like graves. As Peter watched, another clump of dirt was flung out of the nearest one and he approached with a sense of trepidation to peer over the edge. Inside, some four or five feet down, Rocket's striped tail bobbed as he dug furiously at the dirt with his bare hands, pausing to grab the loose dirt he had churned up and flinging it out from the hole. The scratching noise was louder than ever, and Peter had to shout to hear his own voice over it.

"Rocket?!"

Rocket paused in his digging again and straightened up to peer at Peter looming above him. The scratching in the sky above which had not stopped when Rocket had been throwing the dirt, stopped now. Slowly, his lips split into a wicked grin. "This one's for you," he promised darkly.

"What?" Peter took an unconscious step back.

"I told you to dig," Rocket said. "I was very clear. And that's a very difficult thing to do from here. If you can't dig fast enough on your own, I'll have to help."

"Rocket," Peter said slowly. "Where are the others?"

Rocket paused to look behind himself like he could see the other graves despite being underground. "We're all dust in the end," Rocket said. When Rocket turned back his eyes had changed, but instead of the red and blue Peter had seen on the Starburst, his eyes were flooded with stars and swirling galaxies. "One way or another. All but me. But if you help me dig, it doesn't have to be so bad. If we dig together, it will take much longer."

"What does that mean, Rocket?" Peter asked, ignoring how his skin shivered under that gaze. "None of that made any sense- why would it take longer to dig together?"

"Isn't that what you want, Peter? To delay the inevitable? I want that to, but I can't help you until you dig me up."

"What I want is to wake up," Peter said, crossing his arms and hunching miserably against the wind which hadn't relented in its assault. "I want these dreams to stop."

"Then keep digging." Rocket gave one last tooth flashing grin that was only a step to the left of a sneer and his body began to fall apart like dust in the whipping wind, sweeping away and swirling into nothing. The scraping noise started up again, rattling Peter's bones and filling his skull until he screwed his eyes shut against it.

-x-

Peter did not immediately awaken this time, but fell instead into a black and dreamless void so that by the time he stirred to wakefulness the next morning, the worst of the shudders and disgust had faded. The memory of what had occurred was still fresh enough, but the feelings had grown stale and he did not leap from bed with a shout or awaken in a pool of his own sweat. Instead, he lay on his back, his fingers laced together across his stomach as he stared mutely at the ceiling until Mantis came to alert them breakfast was ready.

"You are very quiet today," Drax told him between bites of his second plate. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm fine," Peter lied, taking a bigger bite of his own food as if to prove it. "I just didn't sleep well."

"More dreams?" Nebula had deigned to grace them with her presence again. She had appeared after everyone else had sat down to grab her own plate and sit down in a chair that Peter was pretty sure Drax had intentionally saved her away from her sister, and while a part of Peter wanted sorely to say something, to tease her for her continued refusal to be a part of life, he was a little afraid she would actually leave if he did, and having all of them here and whole and alive was making him feel better. All but Rocket, that is.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Hey, did you happen to see Rocket last night?"

"I saw him from a distance, but we didn't speak. It seems he is still trying to find a way off of this planet."

"Ego's ship-?"

"-is rubble by now."

Peter didn't feel even the slightest tinge of annoyance or regret at learning of the destruction of his father's property.

Mantis was clearly excited for her lessons. She could hardly sit still through breakfast and was clearing away everyone's dishes almost before they had finished cleaning them off. Drax nearly upturned the table, lunging over it to snatch the last bite from his plate as she pulled it away after he had turned away to say something to Groot and she had thought he was done. She was so upset by her mistake it took Drax taking her hand and placing it across his chest to assure her that he was not angry.

When everything had calmed back down the group moved out into the court beside the cliff where they had first stepped from the horseshoe shuttle. The fountain was out of the way enough that it still left plenty of open space to practice in, and even provided a place to sit for Groot who happily perched on the edge, toying with the false metal fish as they span in their endless cycle.

"Do you have any weapons here?" Gamora asked as she finished inspecting their footing. "A sword, or staff, or anything like that?"

"Oh!" Mantis exclaimed. "I will be right back!"

She vanished into the main cathedral that loomed over the court, returning a few minutes later, face flushed and panting, but held the item she had retrieved up for Gamora to inspect with a proud smile. It was a long staff, almost the height of Mantis herself, a brilliant gold with sparkling emerald carvings that didn't quite resemble dragons, but made Peter think of them nonetheless. "Often, when Ego and I would visit planets, the locals would offer Ego great gifts- things like clothing, or food, or decorative trinkets and weapons," Mantis explained. "Ego has no need of such things, so he either refuses, or disposes of the items later. When Ego and I visited the planet of Kleinert, he saw how much I loved this item, and allowed me to keep it."

She said this with such pride, like a child telling the story of how their parent had purchased them the exact pony they had wanted for Christmas. The sheer joy and gratitude sparkling in her eyes over something that had cost Ego nothing, and he probably didn't even remember doing, made Peter want to reach out and give her a hug.

Gamora took the staff and balanced it carefully in her hands, testing its weight and giving it a few experimental swings before handing it back. "It is actually very well made for such an ornamental piece," she said, loud enough for the others to hear. "Kleinert is known for its metalwork, and prides its self on combining beauty with durability and function. My father had considered commissioning me a piece from their smiths, once."

From behind Peter, Nebula gave a snort.

"This will do," Gamora finished and Mantis positively beamed under the assassin's cool approval.

"First, lets show you the basic stretches and stances."

Peter got comfortable on the steps and let his anxieties melt away as he watched Gamora guide Mantis through the familiar routines she had shown to him once. He was wincing in sympathy as Mantis struggled to find her balance in a stance that he had almost pulled a hamstring learning when he heard the scuffling of his father's shoes approaching from behind him.

"Are you ready to go?" Ego asked in that tone that clearly said 'I'm not really asking.'

"Yeah." Peter stood and stretched, dusting imaginary dirt off of his pants before turning to follow his father down the familiar pathway to their own practice grounds. "Aren't you going to ask what Mantis is doing?" Peter asked as the walked.

"No," he answered with disinterest. "She's yours now, you may do with her as you wish."

Peter's nose wrinkled and his brows drew together into an ugly glare at his father. "She's not a thing." Peter just couldn't understand why Mantis could feel anything but hate for the monster walking beside him.

Ego didn't answer him, and they continued on in silence.

Again Peter was lead to the center of the courtyard. "We're going to begin expanding on your usefulness today," Ego informed him. He snapped his fingers and a bubble of light rose from the ground between them, bursting outward and forming into a wide basin, about a body length across and nearly coming up to his hip. After that, he reached one hand out to hold it over the basin, in his hand swirled a smaller ball of Light. Slowly he tipped his hand over, and water began to spill from the orb, splashing into the basin below. Peter watched the orb carefully, but no matter how much water poured through, the amount of Light never changed. After a couple of inches had gathered in the bottom of the bowl Ego closed his hand and the light vanished, the last drips of water fell into the pool below where the ripples slowly settled into a pristine and unblemished surface.

"How do you-?" Peter began to ask, but Ego cut him off.

"You can take a break when you have filled the bowl to the top," he said, clasping his hands behind his back and stepping back to stare at Peter expectantly.

"But how do I make water?" Peter asked.

"The same way you made rock," Ego snorted. "I suggest you get started, or you'll be here all night."

Peter's lips pulled into a deep frown. He was running out of patience for these cryptic games. With an angry flick of his wrists, Peter held his own hands out over the bowl and began to gather Light. It came easier than ever, and he had a respectably heavy ball of light knitted together in a matter of minutes. He tried to focus on the thought of water, the feel of it, and the light seemed to change in his hands. Instead of growing heavier or denser, like it had when he was forming crystal, it changed in its behavior. Before, it had felt like it was made of strings of lightning, moving in darting, unpredictable ways. Now it was beginning to grow more sluggish and uniform, swirling in a slower fashion and trying to leak out the bottom. Peter tried to hold it together as long as he could, but before the light had cooled from the orb in his hands he lost control and it slipped from his hold. Instead of the explosions of yesterday morning, it burst like an overfilled water-balloon, chunks of still dimly-glowing liquid plopped into the bowl where they sizzled and bubbled into the existing water.

"You should tip it earlier," Ego told him, ever-helpful only after the fact. "And you cannot hold the water between your hands after it is formed, try to change only one section at a time."

Peter tried again, deciding to stick with smaller balls of light for the time being to avoid more big messy bursts of liquid light.

Trying to control the Light in sections was a much bigger challenge than Peter had anticipated. Edges would slough off when they became too heavy, unbalancing the energy still in his control, or the section he was working on would be reabsorbed by the Light if he lost focus for even a moment. Eventually, he tried Ego's trick of tipping his hands and letting the formed bits trickle out, aided by gravity. This way he could put most of mind to the task of making sure the water formed from the center and guiding it out through the same hole. This trick made the process less messy, but it was agonizingly slow. Each ball of Light only produced so much water before it had all been transformed and drained away and Peter had to start back over at the beginning.

The water level in the bowl had only raised a palm's worth by the time Peter had to pause and catch his breath, leaning with one hand against the smooth lip of the basin.

"How am I supposed to fill this?" Peter panted, his head hanging low. "This is going to take forever."

"Keep digging," Ego's voice answered.

"I am digging," Peter snapped, turning his glare from the tips of his boots to the celestial across from him. "This is me digging."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ego said, raising a brow. "Now, if you are feeling comfortable enough with controlling the Light in parts, why don't you try refilling the Light you posses as you drain it away."

Peter huffed out a mouthful of air and straightened himself back up to try again. As he stared into the Light, obediently swirled into existence between his hands, Ego's voice again broke into the silence.

"You're not digging deep enough."

The tiny orb in Peter's hands wavered, but he held it together.

"You're wasting your time with this, keep digging."

The bundle of light he had gathered flickered out with a tiny 'pop' as Peter looked up to shoot Ego an annoyed look.

"What are you doing?" Ego asked. "Focus."

"Gladly," Peter grumbled, not amused by this new game.

Things fell back into silence after that. Hours of practice had left Peter fairly exhausted, and he was beginning to run out of steam. The Light was growing just a bit more difficult to summon every time. He was considering whether he should drag out just a little more before he began trying to summon and modify the Light at the same time, or if he should just give it a go with the Light he already had, when Ego's voice cut into his concentration again.

"You're taking the long way," his voice rumbled with frustration.

Peter huffed his annoyance but didn't want to spare the energy to look up or answer, so he dug deeper and pulled another thread of light into existence.

"You have to keep digging if you ever want to save your friends."

"That's it!" Peter screamed, throwing the ball of light down in a fit of rage where it burst violently against the water's surface below and sent up a spray of water and mist.

Ego's eyebrows shot up at Peter's outburst. "Peter-"

"I'm here aren't I?" Peter shouted over him. "I'm learning to use this stupid Light and doing everything you've asked, so why are you doing this?"

Ego drew himself up to his full height and had the audacity to look shocked and offended. "I don't know what you're-"

"Don't lie to me!" Peter stepped around the basin and pointed one finger accusingly at the celestial before him. "Those dreams were bad enough, but now you're threatening my friends!"

Ego's lip peeled back into an ugly sneer, but his voice remained calm under Peter's storm of accusations. "I have not threatened your companions. I have no need to."

"Yes you did. Just now!"

"No, Peter," Ego's eyes narrowed. "I didn't"

"I heard you!"

"I haven't said anything."

"But you-" Peter's burst of rage was cooling under Ego's confused denial, and a strange spark in his father's eyes.

"What did you hear, exactly?"

"Keep digging," Peter repeated, watching Ego's face carefully. "Keep digging or... or I'll never save my friends."

"And you heard this in my voice?" The dark shadow of suspicion in Ego's eyes was replaced with a spark of understanding and something angrier that was making Peter's skin itch. "Just now? You're sure?"

"Yes?" Peter asked, suddenly not so sure of anything.

Ego ran his tongue over his teeth and made a face like he was tasting something sour.

"What is it?" Peter asked. "What's going on?"

"Celestials aren't the only thing that walk on other planes," Ego muttered darkly. He raised his hand up and placed his thumb against Peter's forehead much like he had the first time they had met.

The immediate result was less spectacular this time, perhaps because Peter knew what to expect, or perhaps because Peter already had some access to the Light so this was less overwhelming, he really didn't know. A strange tingle rushed through his body, and the late-morning forest around him transformed into a landscape of stars over the seafoam court. As Peter stared at the stars in amazement, he recognized the colorful galaxies of his nightmares.

"Finally," Ego's voice rang out from behind Peter, entirely disconnected from the body of his father which still stood in front of him, his mouth unmoving. Peter turned around to find a second Ego standing across the court. His eyes were bright with triumph and lips split into a toothy grin that revealed pointed teeth. "Found you."

"What the f-?"

A hand came down on Peter's shoulder and he risked a glance to find the Ego he'd come with had stepped up to stand beside him. His eyes were narrowed dangerously at his twin.

"Eternity," the first Ego, which Peter was pretty sure was the real one, growled over Peter's shoulder. "What is your business with my son?"

End

[bunnis-babes]

I wanted to make a longer post about 2018 because I saw other people doing it and I’m determined to write this shit down so I can see if I’ve gotten better at life when I’m like 30. Wow, what a “sentence.”

So 2018 started out really good for me, like really great. I rung 2017 in with my then best friend after talking to her for about 3 hours before. My grades were good and I was happy at the time. I had amazing friends and I felt like life was good, but that was only the first few months.

Around March was when I realized things weren’t okay with me personally. I had stopped eating correctly, sporadically eating small amounts or not eating at all. I realized that I was getting more tired often and was a bit underweight and was a lot weaker. I tried my best to fix it, and I did as best as I could without help from others. At the same time my best friend suddenly went through a bad depression and I was just being my sarcastic self and she suddenly got offended and angry. This was the first of many.

Through the year, up until a certain incedent, she kept getting angry at me. Some fights were my fault, some were hers, others were both of our faults. No matter what though, I was always the first one to apologize because she had somehow convinced me that she was older therefore she is more mature and right. This kinda fucked me up and because of her I have severe trust issues and fear confrontation. My depression was at its worst when we had our freindship ending fight.

The entier summer I moped around feeling sad and empty, I had no reason to do anything for the longest time until my awesome best friend @home-of-the-trash made me realize how fucking shitty and abusive our relationship was. Then I had to deal with the fact that I was going to have to see her around the school hallways when I go back, which wasn’t ideal.

So I went back to school, avoided her for a week, and hung out with my two awesome friends who still live near me. Eventually she gave me a half assed sorry and I just didn’t give enough of a shit to fight her again. I made friends, but I was extremely stressed out due to the amount of things that had been dumped onto me that year. I stressed about grades, relationships, family, self expectations, etc.

Then finals came a swinging around the corner and I got even more busy and more stressed and I just wanted to cry. But I didn’t, I refused to feel the emotions that would leave me vaunerable. It was the day before finals when I realized how emotionally closed off I was to everyone.

One of my friends noticed that I had been kinda distant and looked like absolute shit and I just told them that I was fine and they had nothing to worry about. Multiple people tried to help me out and get me to open up, but I pushed them away. I went home and was like, “Wow, I really don’t trust anyone with anything at all.”

I spent the first half of break ruining my sleep schedule and the second half playing on my PS4 and talking to my best friend. I rung in the New year with her too, but this time I knew she was actually someone who I know will stick by me because she has for more than half my life span and I really love her for that.

I also opened up this account here which really made me realize how much I loved to write. I helped me to be a bit more confident in my skills and was just a nice place to be with so many awesome followers. Thank you all so much, I love you too much.

2018 May have been shit for me, and maybe for you too, but I hope 2019 brings new hope for all of us.

💙River💙

[imapersonwhohasnothingbettertodo]

So yall obviously like the bakugi x reader thing....

I GUESS IM DOING PIKACHU NEXT!

kaminari x reader (also in this world, krisima and bakugo are together :3)

You stood outside of class 1-A as you waited for mr. Aziwa to call you in. You were propubly more excited then you ever were in the history of life. Every single possible situation was zooming through your mind.

"and now we have a new student or whatever. Dont immediately embaress me." You zoomed into the class instantly. You eyes widened at the sight of so many people. You smiled. In a really peppy voice, you say, "Hi! Im (y/n)! Im happy to meet u all, only thing is if you do not ship klance, i recommend you sleep with one eye open. Also perverts deserve to die, and the dominant sex is obviously females."

You sat down in the only empty seat, which was next to a certain blonde haired boy, and put your legs up on the desk. "you may continue with the boring lectures"

The rest of the class was uneventful, except for the constant pasturing of blonde haired boy sitting next to you. You completely ignored him until he mentioned what his quirk was. "so your basically pikachu?" you asked. "you like Pokemon TOO!" and the reat of the time was spent debateing over which type of Pokemon was the best, you found out his name was kaminari. In lunch you decided to sit with mina, you two were best friends since dipers, and you really didnt want to sit alone or with kaminari on your first day. You wanted to make it look like you already had friends. To you, freindship was like a game of chess. Make the right moves. "why are you sitting with these idiots?" you asked. Mina couldnt even reply before a certain ash blonde turned around abrupty. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT, YOU FUCKING EXTRA?"

"thanks for the compliment! Did u mean extra smart or extra fabulous?" at that last comment you wipped your hair, hands on your hips, in the most dramaric pose of your life. Everyone burst out laughing, except the porcupine. He was getting angrier by the minute. "Calm down bakugo" you suddenly saw a hand apper through his hair, and he was pushed down. The person who aparently calmed down the wild 'bakugo' had spiky red hair. bakugo placed his head on the red head sholder, and suddenly you smiled. "these people are GAY! Now i see why you hang out with them! NOW INTRODUCE ME TO THE OTHERS." you screamed, perhaps a bit too loud, but you didnt care. You already made FRIENDS! CHECKMATE BISH! then you suddenly noticed kaminari. "HI KAMINARI!" you screamed, once again a little too loud, but you didnt care much. He turned around suddenly to see a (h/c) girl waving to him like a mad man... Woman. "oh hi (y/n)" he replied, still a little startled by your sudden swing in emotion. The guy with red hair suddenly elbowed kaminari. "how come you didnt tell me you knew her? Its not manly." he then turned to you and said "hi im krishima!" "im (y/n) and its fine, i was talking to him in class, i dont know how you stand him thou, he thinks electric type is better then dragon type. Personaly. I hate him. " the tone of your voice changed to more like a laid back yet firey like remark, while leaning back in your seat, only to leave everyone confused by your behavior. Bakugo was the first to speak up "what the actual fuck?" he said, head still kirishimas shoulder. Mina however, was not fased in anyway. She was used to this. "she does that a lot" she said, taking a sip of her water. "I DO!" you screamed again, not so loud this time. "now i know your all confused, u get used to it. Anywhozzles, back to topic at hand. " you statrted pointing at people and stating the nicknames you gave each one. "pikachu, tomato and firecraker. Did i do it?" you asked with the energy of a 4 year old. "yes (y/n)" mina said almost laughing. This is gonna be fun.

You spent the next few months hanging out with all of them, but you and kaminari became closer friends then you and mina. In fact you kinda started to devolp a crush on him. The only one who knew was mina.

"dont worry i wont tell him"

"NO! i need you to work your detective skills and figure out if he likes me or not. Im pretty sure he does but i need confermation."

"man you are original arent you?"

"as original as a chocobo with pink and green feathers."

3 day later, you were walking to the female changing room and felt 2 arms wrapping around you. "EEEEK MY OTP IS CANNON!" mina screamed. You suddenly turned around, death staring mina. "shut the fuck up. People can hear you, and i have knifes."

"Who cares?! Anyway, guess who i was just talking to?"

"you were talking to kaminari right?"

"YES and"

"he likes me doesnt he?"

"ABSOLUTELY!"

"I had a feeling, anyway now i have to plan how im gonna tell him."

"YOU SHOULD TELL HIM TODAY!"

Right then every single head in the changing room spun toward you, and before you knew it, you were surrounded by girls poking at you to try and figure out who liked who. You anger peeked to a level it never reached before, and you glared toward mina, hoping she would get the message. "GUYS STOP IT! ILL TELL YOU WHO SHE LIKES BUT YOU GUYS HAVE TO BACK UP" mina screamed, as all the girl stopped in there tracks. Did she just promise to reveal my secret, to eveyone?... Everyone. In this entire. Room?!?! Oh she was dead. Uraraka popped out of the crowd. "so who does (y/n) like?" she asked. "kaminari, now leave her alone." Suddenlythe entire room turned into a burst of squeals that almost left you blind. You ran out if the room, extremly lucky that u already changed into you costume.

(guessing it would loom kinda like this)

Once you were out side, you still heard the squeals coming fomr the inside, but at least it was a bit better. "whats going on over there" you turned around to see kaminari standing there in his costume. A light blush fluahed across your cheeks. "i have no idea, probubly a lot of ear bleeding." you replied, turninh around to stare at the changing room. "i mean, it may have something to do with mina. She was wispering something to them and suddenlh they started giggling, and it only got worse from there" you both laughed at thay comment. "what do you think it was about?" he asked. "well, i think she ships us. I mean, i do to, but she didnt evn make a fandom! Thats like stoping halfwa-" "wait what?"

"what do u mean?"

"you like me?"

YES! you mentally high fived yourself for finding a way to get him to say it first. Ok now play it safe (y/n). Calm down.

"yeah"

Suddenly you noticed the squeals stopped at has were surrounde by groups of girls chanting "KISS KISS KISS KISS"

You suddenly became tomato red, which has never EVER happened before.

"why dont we give the people what they want?" kaminari wispered in your ear. You swirked and yanked him by the collar, you lips slamed into his. After a few second you pulled back.

"I love you pikachu"

[nofeelingsandallthefeelings]

october 31, 2020

so its.a full moon tomorrow & we are having a halloween party. briney, sarah and i in midtown and wherever we go. briney and i’s freindship is okay but not amazing, i think we spent too much time together, its okay, i talked a lot of things out with her. i wont think about it too much, but i was dissapointed when she didnt rejoice with me when i got an interview.shes going through a lot and i will be there as good as i can and i will keep to myself not take it personal and continue to move forward. we all move forward in life, and if we dont life will move us forward, 

ride the wave,

you know im not well behaved

you can see it in the fire of my eyes

i wish i would be saved 

we can only be moving forward in our lives, 

ride the wave, 

the current is moving towards me

it wont let me be

complacent,careless, calm

drink this tea of empty promises and should have beens, its good for you

inviigorate you like a balm, reminding you of place you used to be

velvet black, like an abyss in your soul 

ride the wave, dont look back 

[thefleshmustgrow]

im feeling pretty fukin empty rn tbqh i proobly ruined my freindship with my best freind and now i just dont know what to do

[therearemonstersinthedark]

Book 2: Luciferous

Chapter 12: The Last of the Real ones

A Guardians of the Galaxy Fanwork

Pairings: Peter Quill / Gamora (one-sided), Peter Quill & Nebula (freindship)

Genre: Adventure, general

Word Count: 4.5k

Rating: T to be safe, mild gore and cussing in some chapters

Links: Fanfiction.net || Ao3

Summary: Peter finally gets some answers about the dreams he’s been having.

Author’s Notes: Title is from ‘Last of the Real Ones’ by Fall Out Boy

Chapter 12: The Last of the Real Ones

.

"Eternity?" Peter echoed, glancing between the scowling Ego with a hand on Peter's shoulder and the one standing across the court with his hands shoved into his pockets and a wide grin plastered across his face.

"That is what most mortal beings know me as, yes," the grinning Ego answered. "I have been calling for you a very long time, Peter. It is such a relief to finally meet face to face."

"Why do you look like Ego?" Peter asked, thoroughly disturbed by being suddenly surrounded by two of his least favorite person in the universe. "And in my dreams, that was you, wasn't it, taking the forms of my friends? If your so keen to finally meet face to face, why don't you show me your real one?"

The grinning Ego, Eternity, tilted his head in amusement, but the grin did not falter. "You are not able to comprehend my true form. You'll get there, in time, perhaps, but for now, I need a way to translate my form into something you can understand, so I have been pulling images from your own mind to use. It is easier to choose those who you share a strong emotional connection to, those who weigh heavily on your mind.

"Love is the simplest to work with, but hate will do just as well in a pinch. If this form disturbs you, I can choose another. Perhaps someone you love, instead" Eternity's body rippled and Gamora took its place, dressed in the more comfortable clothes and long leather jacket of his own Gamora, from before Thanos had rewritten time, but still grinning that same smug grin.

Peter shuddered in disgust as Gamora's chocolate eyes stared at him with a twisted expression of hunger and amusement.

"Eternity," Ego cut in. His voice was low and dangerous. "You are not welcome here."

"Oh, Ego," Eternity turned his head, Gamora's head, to regard Ego with a look of pity. "My loneliest child." Gamora's form rippled. "There are so very few things in this life you ever learned to love."

The hand on Peter's shoulder tightened into a crushing grip, but Peter barely felt it over the fresh wave of revoltion as Eternity's shifting form resolved this time into cascading blond curls and bright blue eyes. "M-mo-?"

"GET OUT OF THAT FORM!" Ego roared.

Meredith Quill's lips quirked into a smile and the musical trill of her laughter filled the air that was suddenly much harder to breath than Peter remembered it being. "Very well." Her golden curls darkened, the tips fading back to red. As suddenly as Meredith had appeared she was gone and Gamora once more stood in her place. "I didn't come here to upset you, so this form will just have to do for both of you."

"Do for what?" Ego snarled as Peter found himself speechless and struggling to piece together what was going on. "Peter belongs to the mortal realm right now."

"Exactly," Eternity answered. "As such, he is mine, and that's just where I would like him to stay. In fact, it's where I would like nearly all living souls to remain, but I will need his help to achieve this goal."

"What?" Peter asked, still grasping around in his mind, but failing to pull out more than one word at a time.

Eternity's eyes locked with Peter's and it struck him how very much this didn't look like Gamora now that he had a chance for his brain to catch up. He wore her body, but the mannerisms, the eyes, they were all so wrong. "We are on the eve of a disaster the likes of which the galaxies have never seen before. A catastrophic event so great it could shift the balance of power in every other realm beyond. I have been calling you, Peter, because it's time for you to accept your destiny."

"Destiny?" Peter repeated. "What destiny?

"The destiny I have chosen for you."

"Yeah, um, no thanks," he said, taking a step back. "So far, all of my destinies have really sucked."

"I think if you give me some time to explain, you will find we want the same thing in the end."

"And what is that?" Peter asked.

"I want Thanos dead," Eternity grinned, waving Gamora's arms out like he was bestowing some great honor. "I want to help you kill him."

"You are more than capable of removing a Titan from existence," Ego accused. "Why not do it yourself?"

"There are rules in place about this sort of thing. There must be, or the mortal plain would have been torn apart eons ago under the unbridled wrath or apathy of the Timeless and the Ancients. We cannot play such a direct hand in the going-on's on this side of the veil, but we can find agents; mortals and immortals who walk in this plain, to exact our will.

"My youngest sister already has such an agent, and she is drawing too near her goal. I have wasted a great deal of time waiting for you to grow strong enough to reach me."

"Wait, are you saying Thanos is an agent of your sister?" Peter asked. "I thought he was working for himself, bringing balance to the Universe or whatever..."

"It's likely he believes this is so, but I could not tell you for sure. My sister has always loved her games and whispering into the ears of her champions. I doubt he is even aware of her influence. The creatures of this plain are so caught up in convictions and beliefs, they will die upon these swords before they allow themselves to fail if they truly believe in what they are doing. We are running out of time, however, so for you, Peter, I must be much more direct and hope your love for your mortal friends will be enough to sway you to my side."

"Why Peter?" Ego growled. "He can barely control the Light. Why not myself or another?"

Eternity shook his head and tsk'd, Gamora's locks bouncing in the unnatural light. "It could never be you, Ego. I had thought, once, perhaps you could do, but you simply lack the heart. You have played your part. You created my champion, and brought him to the Light so that I could reach him, but you have long since outlived your purpose. It is only through my sister and her champion's meddling that you are here now. You were meant to be called back into the Light as all Celestials are when their work here is complete.

"I created the Celestials myself," he continued. "And I sent them across the empty void of existence to bring a new form of life to bear. The Celestials were created with a purpose, and when their job was complete, they all fell back into oblivion. You were my youngest son, Ego, with a unique purpose unlike any other before you; to create my champion." Eternity paused to catch Peter's eyes. "Something neither mortal, nor immortal, bound to the Light. This was always your destiny, Peter. This is why I drove Ego to wander the cosmos in search of a viable child." He turned back to Ego. "Though it took you long enough to find your way to Earth, so caught up in your plans that you often ignored my whispers in favor of your own selfish desires."

The hand on Peter's shoulder was trembling and digging into his already bruised flesh, and when he risked a glance to his side, he was taken aback by the blind fury in Ego's eyes.

"You left me here," he growled so low Eternity tipped his head as though he couldn't hear what had been said, then, louder, he snarled; "YOU LEFT ME HERE WITH NOTHING!"

The hand on Peter's shoulder let him go, shoving him roughly aside so Ego could step forward to face Eternity alone. The sky around them trembled and a strange energy hummed through the air. "GET AWAY! You are not welcome here. Leave, and keep away from my son!"

"In his own way, Peter is my final creation, and my son as well. You have no claim to him I cannot match." The chocolate of Gamora's eyes sparkled with endless stars as Eternity's eyes fell once more on Peter. "I will be back."

Ego snarled again and a beat later Gamora's body vanished. The night sky above them crumbled away.

"Who-?" Peter began as he blinked his eyes against the bright light. "What was that?"

Ego moved his arm in a jerking wave and the basin they had been standing beside exploded, the shards skittering across the stone and bouncing off of Peter's boots before fading out of existence.

"That," Ego forced out between his teeth, his voice was tight with barely suppressed fury. "Was Eternity."

"I gathered that..." Peter said cautiously, not sure now was the time be poking at the volatile god. "But I don't know what an Eternity is..."

Ego turned to regard Peter with those burning eyes and Peter briefly wondered if he had pushed him too far after all. After an agonizing pause, however, the fury began to cool into a simmering rage and Ego released him from his stare to raise another large screen from the court. "It seems there is more to tell you of your origins as an immortal.

"Do you know what existed before time and space?" Ego asked.

"...The Infinity Stones...?" Peter tried with a small shrug, holding his palms out to show he wasn't trying to be sarcastic here.

Ego let out a long breath through his nose, but raised his hand again and the screen became the deepest black Peter had ever seen. "The Nothing came first. At least, that is how the story must be told to those who rely on the passage of time. Then, came the Light." One edge of the screen became a brilliant white, the light leaking across the canvas until it was a perfect gradient from one end to the other. "The Nothing and the Light were fundamentally incompatible, and where they met they warred, leading to a great cataclysmic event that gave birth to this realm." In the center of the image of light and dark, a globe began to form, shining back the light and casting shadow to give it a three dimensional effect on the flat canvas.

"The mortal realm exists as a bridge between the two incompatible realms. Seeing the potential this new form of existence presented, the four entities of Eternity, Infinity, Death, and Entropy, before they were known as such, took a great interest in it. For a long while, they argued and squabbled over what should be done with it. This new plane of existence offered limitless potential, and they all wanted to have their say. Their fighting nearly destroyed it, and eventually, an agreement was found. They would all share the new universe, each controlling and benefiting from a specific aspect."

Ego waved his hand again, and four symbols that Peter didn't recognize appeared on the image, one on each side, one on the top, and a fourth on the bottom. They were written in a language Peter didn't know. "Eternity and his sister, Infinity, took charge of creation. Infinity." The symbol on the top of the image shuddered. "Holds all the souls that will be, or could be, depending on who you ask, all the limitless potential of the future. Eternity." The symbol in the Light shuddered now. "Is all the life that exists now. He watches over and draws his strength from every living soul. He sent the Celestials to create the first truly mortal life for this reason." In the grey space around the globe, little dots like stars winked into existence. Something about this detail made it seem almost familiar, but Peter couldn't recall where he would have seen it before.

"Entropy and Death took on the side of destruction, completing the necessary cycle of this new universe." The symbol on the bottom shuddered next. "Entropy is the god of destruction. He ensures that things wear and break down over time, brings about great catastrophic cosmic events, and prevents the universe from falling into stagnation. And Death." The final symbol, the one buried in the darkness finally moved. "I suppose you could guess what role she chose. As Infinity holds the souls that don't yet exist, Death took on the souls after they had passed through the mortal realm."

"Hang on, like, and afterlife?" Peter interrupted.

Ego pursed his lips and rolled his shoulders into a shrug. "I don't know," he said in a way that sounded an awful lot like 'I don't care.' "Some sort of energy which was borrowed from beyond the veil is returned when a mortal dies. Whether or not some form of consciousness follows is beyond me."

Peter fell quiet after that, staring at the image before him. The feeling of familiarity would not leave him, but he had no memory of ever seeing this in any books or on any holo screen before. He'd never even heard of these supposed universal entities before just now.

"I've seen that before." Nebula's voice broke through his thoughts, and he turned in surprise to find his friends coming down the pathway that lead to the court. Most of the Guardians paused at the edge of the court, as though not sure if they were welcome to come further. It had been Ego's only rule, after all, that he not be interrupted when Peter was learning to use the Light. Nebula did not stop, however, and broke away from the others, moving confidently over the courtyard to stand at Peter's side, Ignoring the look of annoyance on his father's face.

Ego quirked a brow at her as she came to a stop, but instead of rebuking her, his curiosity seemed to get the better of him and he asked, "Where?"

"In a book in my father's library," Nebula said, studying the image through narrowed eyes before turning to Peter. "Do you remember the book I told you about? The one with the section on Celestials?"

"Oh, yeah." Peter blinked. "It was some sort of encyclopedia of Titan powers or something, right?"

"Close enough," she conceded, turning back to the image above. "This image was on the cover of the section titled 'Celestials and Other Cosmic Origins,' but it's missing some pieces." She raised one hand to point at the symbol on the far left. "There should be a second symbol here." She moved her finger to point at each of the symbols in turn. "And underneath the others as well. And some smaller orbs along the center here."

Ego's annoyance was interrupted by a flicker of surprise. "Yes." He waved his hand again and just as Nebula had said, four new symbols, smaller than the original four, took form between the respective edges and the circle in the center. "The Celestials, The Titans, and the Ancient Ones were the first beings of the new universe. Each of the Entities sent their agents to explore the unknown."

"What are those orbs?" Peter asked, pointing at the smaller circles that had appeared among the false stars.

"Pocket dimensions. Planes of existence that are neither within the mortal realm nor without, but are able to support some form of existence within themselves."

"So the Titans had some connection to this Entity of... Death?" Nebula asked. She was pointing at the symbol on the far right and squinting as though she wasn't sure she had read it correctly.

"Death is the realm she chose to lord over, and the name given to her by the mortal realm," Ego answered. "She is merely an eternal entity as all the others are. There are more cosmic beings that prowl beyond the veil, and some do enact their influence upon this plane of existence, but these are the four who first took control of its workings. The Titans were immortals from the realm beyond the veil that migrated to the mortal realm to expand their species. In the time when the Entities were still warring over the new universe, Death, as she is named here, gave them the means to cross over in exchange for some measure of loyalty. Eventually, the war ended, and she had no more use for them, so she severed her ties and they were released from their deal.

"But they retained the ability they had been bestowed with, and while the gift was rare in the later generations, it seems Thanos inherited the ability to cross between the veils and step outside of time."

"So he can just... change things... whenever he wants?" Peter asked, feeling a wave of hopelessness rise up within him at this confirmation of his fears.

"I don't know enough about Titans to say for sure," Ego said, "but I doubt traveling between the veils and outside of time itself can be achieved lightly. I would assume it would be quite some time before he finds the means to do so again. Time its self can also be a bit... volatile and unpredictable. Changing it, on a scale this large, can make it unstable and has the potential to create some rather unpleasant side effects."

"How do you know all of this?" Peter asked. Clearly, Ego had met Eternity before. He had recognized him right away, and didn't seem too happy to see him.

"Most of it I've gathered through my travels," Ego answered easily. His fury seemed to be cooling as he spoke. "Many civilizations mistook my appearance and powers and called me by the various names they have been known by. Most often, I was mistaken for some variation of Eternity or the God of Creation. Sometimes, Mantis would be mistaken for some form of Infinity at my side." A small smile quirked at the corners of his mouth. "Once she was mistaken as the Goddess of Death. The natives sacrificed a beast to her, and she was useless for cycles."

Peter turned to find Mantis, not sure if Ego was telling the truth. His friends had inched forward into the seafoam court without him realizing, emboldened by Ego's apparent acceptance of Nebula. When Mantis noticed his staring she ducked her head, biting her bottom lip hard enough to leave a small mark before she squeaked out an explanation. "I did not speak their language, and they did not have translators, so I did not realize what was going on. They kept saying 'Hela' and then they brought me a great beast, it was shiny and soft and... and I thought Hela must be its name. And it was so sweet, so I pet it and they..." Her lip slipped between her teeth again and her dark eyes shimmered with horror and unshed tears.

"They slaughtered it for a feast," Ego said like this was something he had grown tired of repeating to her. "It was only a beast, and it would have died regardless."

Mantis just curled in on herself.

"And the rest of it?" Nebula pressed the conversation on, either taking mercy on the obviously distraught Mantis, or growing impatient with their dawdling. Probably a little of both.

The wrinkles on Ego's forehead deepened as he glanced at Nebula as though he'd forgotten she was there. "The rest I learned from Eternity and the remains of the Celestials after I had been dragged back into the Light." Ego glanced up at the sky briefly and when he looked back down he caught Peter's eye. "I believe we have wandered off-track. Take a break for now. Go play with your friends. I have some matters to attend to."

"Um," Peter felt something like a kid who had gotten out of a homework assignment because the teacher had grown distracted and forgotten about it. "Okay. What about when the Nova Corps call?" He really didn't feel like getting everyone blown up because Ego was in no mood to answer the phone.

Ego looked annoyed again for a moment, but offered, "I'll return when they send the hail. Until then, do as you wish."

-x-

The Guardians decided to return to the main court. Here, Mantis could continue her training and Peter would be close to the main building when the Nova Corps sent their hail.

"So why did you guys come down to the court?" Peter asked from where he was sitting on the golden steps between Drax and Nebula while they watched Gamora show mantis how to perform basic strikes.

"There was a tremor, and the insect woman claimed your father was furious, so we came to see what had happened." Drax was lounging back on the steps, propped up on one elbow while he picked at a bar he had saved from breakfast. "I assumed your annoying personality had set him off, and we thought perhaps you would need to be saved before he strangled you or buried you in the dirt."

"What did happen?" Off to his other side, Nebula was resting her chin in her hands while she watched the two women below with obvious disinterest.

"Those dreams I told you about? Turns out they were sent by one of those cosmic entities called Eternity. He was taking on the forms of people I knew in my dreams, and I guess that included Ego, but it was him the whole time, him and those weird..." While Peter spoke, his thoughts drifted back to his dream on the Starburst where Yondu had appeared among the stars. "THAT'S IT!" he exclaimed so loudly Nebula flinched and Mantis and Gamora paused in what they were doing to shoot him a worried glance and warning glare, respectively.

"What's it?" Drax asked.

"The picture -with the light and the dark, and the stars in between them- I'd seen it before, too, but not in any book or anything like that. I couldn't figure out where until just now. It was one of my dreams! After the battle on Traxxon III, before I woke up on the Nova Corps ship, I was wandering through space and then everything... changed... and I wound up on this pathway made of stars, standing between this gigantic ball of light and a dark void. I remember the light seemed to be singing to me, it was like, it was calling out. Eternity appeared behind me, he looked like Yondu that time, and told me I had to come back. He said, I didn't belong there." Peter's brows furrowed as he tried to recall the details of this dream. "But why would I dream about that?"

"Are you sure it was a dream?"

Peter turned to give Nebula a confused look and she continued.

"Think about it," she urged him, patiently. "Ego said that mortal souls are absorbed into this, nothing, when they die."

"Yeah?" Peter asked, not sure where she was going, but feeling a terrible weight crawling into his chest at the strange expression on her face he had never seen before.

"And when a Celestial dies, they are reabsorbed into this Light? And you are both."

"So then-" Peter swallowed thickly around the tightness in his throat as he stared into her dark eyes. "So then on the Starburst I was..."

"You were dying, Peter."

End