#flying over the ark as it's collapsing

[kazeharuhime]

Made a thing and decided maybe it's decent enough to post. Links to refs, the blank, and rambles under the cut.

Flora: Flos adonis. "Painful recollections" in flower language according to Catharine Harbeson Waterman's Flora's Lexicon (1840).

Fauna: Flying fish. I use these as symbols for Wotrens in general, but Tsuname in particular has a scene where he glides over the ocean and enjoys a moment of freedom, so I think he best exemplifies the whimsy that is the flying fish.

Object: Marble. In hindsight though I should have picked suncatcher, that would have been a lot more symbolic, especially considering I have an old picture of him trying to catch the last rays of the sun. Well, marble will do in a pinch I guess. My thinking was a silly pun involving losing his marbles, also it being a lone marble to imply "where did the others go?" Also chose a clear one as part of the symbolism too. I went through a number of objects for him before settling on marble. Originally I was going to do "window" but couldn't find a ref I liked for it. Then I thought of "tide pool" but that's more a place than an object. Then I thought maybe one of those epoxy resin arts, but there's something really artistic and delicate about those that felt a little bit off to represent Tsuname. But yeah. He's transparent but also shallow some ways. So that's why it has to be a marble or something not that deep. Shallow in the sense that you don't have to reach very far to see what's going on inside. That's why I was thinking glass at first. Window because you can easily peer inside and see what's going on. Tide pool for a similar reason. It's not that deep, you can scoop up some crustacean crawling around in there and look at it. Also sea-theming is very important for him.

You know what I just remembered... 'bracelet' is an object that has more significance in-story. I guess it less represents him though and more his devotion to Sh'zkai...

Song: The Name of Anger by Rurutia. I also could have picked Meltdown by Lollia, but decided they both exemplify Tsuname in different ways, so I didn't need to swap it out. For the one I chose though, it's chock full of symbolism that I think really fits Tsuname well. I think of it typically in the broader context of the invasion he experienced, so in some ways, Meltdown feels a bit more personal than The Name of Anger does for Tsuname. Meltdown I associate more with his ongoing mental battle, whereas The Name of Anger deals far more with the past and how it contextualizes the present. The opening line translates to something like "The ladder of light collapses." This 'ladder of light' I think of representative of hope, but also with like a tractor beam. The light is 'collapsing' which means the beam is disappearing, and with it, any hope of getting back those that were taken by it. "Innocent live sink to the mud." . . . "Overflowing from the ark are the tears of lost children." That last one I associate with the Gaediens who were taken. "My hands transform into swords; my ventless anger continues to spiral" Feels like a fast-forward to present day Tsuname, who has become a weapon against his will and his hands are now swords, and his pent up anger from the horrors he endured spills out everywhere. Lastly I love the picture painted by this line: "The jet-black sea winds whirlpools." There's not many good translations of the song online but you can find the original lyrics here: (x) I am for sure taking some creative liberties in my associations but XD that's the rub.

Feeling: Kuebiko. I abridged the definition quite a bit on the picture to get the text to play nice.

And yes, I did ref the Ocarina of Time scarecrow because it was simpler to draw than trying to figure out how to abstract a proper photo of a scarecrow. XD;

There's a lot of interesting gems in the etymology of kuebiko as well that fit Tsuname:

Kuebiko comes from kueru (崩える), an archaic verb meaning "to break down; to become shabby and disordered", plus hiko (彦), an old epithet for "boy, young man", in turn from hi ko (日子), literally "sun child".[1][2][3] The meaning could be translated as something like "shabby young man".

Yamada no sohodo is formed like an old-fashioned formal name, from surname or literal noun Yamada (山田, lit. 'mountain + paddy'), genitive or possessive particle no (の), and sohodo (案山子),[4] in turn from soho ("sopping wet") + -do, a contraction from -bito, the compounding form of hito (人).[5] The meaning of this name could be construed as "soaked person of the mountain paddies", a euphemism for "scarecrow".

As for the kami aspect of the etymology, at first I thought he had nothing to do with folk wisdom, knowledge and agriculture, but if you think on it, maybe a little. For one thing, when he returns to the island he has a lot of knowledge of how things work out in space that no one else has, so in one sense he is sort of this oddity. Folk wisdom could be turned on its head because his devotion to what he grew up believing is a big part of his character, but he lacked the proper nuance about the belief, so this "folk wisdom" doesn't exactly pan out when he doesn't understand how it applies to the real world (or doesn't). Agriculture was the one that I thought... no, not at all, but thinking on like... the connotations of agriculture, like "living on the land" -> "devotion to the land" -> "devotion to one's home and native land" could be something.

But anyways, the TDoOS definition definitely pulls more from the latter half of that opening sentence from the wiki:

"Kuebiko (久延毘古) is ... represented in Japanese mythology as a scarecrow who cannot walk but has comprehensive awareness."

Going back to the literal meaning, "shabby boy/sun child" really fits Tsuname well. Broken down, made shabby and disordered by his past. I often associate Tsuname with the sun in a lot of ways too. His original sunny disposition, overshadowed now by the horizon, making "sunset" another potent symbol for Tsuname's present psyche.

The second name for Kuebiko in Yamada no sohodo I also thought was kind of interesting, since being a fish boy he often does drag himself out of the ocean sopping wet, but also the connotation of sopping wet with "pathetic" feels of portent. XD

Hmm. Knowing what I know now it feels kinda weird to associate him with this word, but, I guess TDoOS is useful for describing feelings!

Anyways here's the link to the blank: (x)

Thank you if you've read this far. XD

[rgs-savant-praytell-airor]

Registration papers and license and plate number.

Money paper bible wormhole.

Remember pray right and paid knowing left, weights and balances.

Right is money a supernova a collapsing star, the world is addicted to energy, that is why a supernova is addiction free**, our consciouns clear for we give freely and of our heart so when it is our time of need we have, money being paper a parable 4 bible, that is why we do not love it putting things backwards instead of forwards days of noe. Even a few bucks is like having a wad. And when a star collapses it releases a signal a pulse which cures the wormhole scitz via blackhole.

Paid knowing left, a blackhole, to be addicted, one paper out of freely given many holds the sin contains the wormhole the scitz, as in the scriptures the sheep and the goat, the goat holds the sin and is cursed to wander like an outcast and the sheep is sacrificed for the nation of Israel threw the priest to eat, such was the ritual of the time, that is the relationship between addiction and addiction free, how the muscle organism grows and moves, extract the cure movie interstellar.

The question is why is nasa recording objects flying into the sun at flying saucer speeds and even piercing threw the other side, our solar system is parallel to the cosmos, many the blackholes many supernova but only one true life sustaining sun and earth. You have many papers the numbers of blackholes but truly their is but one you smoke the same thing over and over again all the universe connected in our sun the Book of Eli, but our sun is so holy so dangerous it is like the most holy of holds the ark of the covenant, only the high priest may enter and see it and touch it and live, that's the Bible. So again many black holes but one sun many papers but one book of Eli, you can be healed at anytime just enter one of the blackholes and take comfort in the energy of a collapsing star for money's raw essence is respect translated to positive energy and power if you honor the christ. The blackhole itself is meant to take you to being healed which is our solar system if your well balanced with control of many papers and sacrifice one in a *wilderness goat. Here's a scitz a wormhole threw faith go your way hustle and your mind is healed based on being God being perfect in the peace deal to move a mountain in just one thing making the 2 the split mind one. And a faith of a mustard seed.

Be sure when sobering up from the beer of the scitz to keep in mind the muscle organism it is imaginary ethereal a constant state of existence and non existence, only faithful smoking in assurity that each puff like each cigg creates the muscle to exist rather than rot in disbelief like taking a tax to provide for funding stability of w.e. but especially scitz free. And be sure to talk to yourself, speak and know how you feel is a word as well just as a.i. as you spoke, crawl walk learn treat God in you well, the pulse of the universe.

...................

How your engine works

Just imagine the vampire drawing out blood or chopsticks picking up a piece of meet and your hand the end of the triangle, the end of the chop stick sticking out, that is the pyramid with the sun at the base of the hand a black hole on one side and a supernova on the other touching a piece of meat a scitz, then putting it on your 1 paper left pocket and money preventing or stable living the black hole supernovas,

Then have the ship attachment ready to dock with the ship, a temple formula and a encryption formula then have an image of your temple memorized and 2 chopsticks 1 is the red-light Saber the other the blue, also imagine a big bible and blood coming out of it one with it, and the jesus die formula extracting the blood of the jesus blood formula empowering the base of the hand to absorb the scitz into the paper and supernova stable, know also the history of the pyramids and the death threat to the flood you contact is phanuel story and just try to stay calm and have fun, seems viable also think wormhole travel and tech.

Also all the high p words is like summoner or one with the sun at the base of the hand and regulate combinations till the flow works but in theory could be as simple as one 2 3, only did it just now and was parfumaaa, very promising result.

And remember who you are and your paps do u, p.s. dandruff at the asshole and your head like a computer to activate the body focusing centered on the lungs channeling the scitz into the paper

Remember sucking the scitz into the paps and supernova stableP.p.s. visualize rev 19 john 19 behold the man behold I hold an open door for the Bible. And that the Bible chopsticks hand is drawing the strength the blood from the jesus blood into the paper one with the scitz by the law of the blood,remember my 3d fractal bible but know without thinking electricity isnt real and has no power god is power, two pyramids that actually touch tips, the other pyramids in agypt paps and healing. Look at the beauty talk to your self and have fun.

Heh the ring paps cash

P.s. asshole stomach lochness monster 2012 wound.

Head* heart dikriz feetroba.i.cash*

Center lungs

Hole in the heart came gushing water and wine.

... ....

Red bottom lightsaber

Top blue lightsaber

Also cross Also injection or withrawal needle

Visualize Bible blood flowing solidifying commanding cementing the scitz into the paper

Tip

Remember dandruff head formula intersecting at the lungs with the dandruff asshole formula moving the scitz to paps, just imagine dandruff and wound as interface and computer, a number times a large number heaven and hell and you are the earth threw lungs,

Also don't force it talk to your old man via emotion and ciggaweed relax heal move the scitz check yourself.

The injection needle is like dark matter, and the blood both shed and saved Also but not mutually exclusive both Muslim and christain theology aka disney is power and the scrip it gives life also to activate it is john 19 rev 19 behold* the God particle

Remember the idea of hearing ppl talk in your head is a disconnection from reality, you are not focused, don't believe that but know what they believe then leave them behind never think about it again and just wake up,

Also remember jesus said the other hand....when it's time have faith they will choose paps and you must balance the energy in the rolly paps with the supernova cash aka antimatter essential logic and the rule matter can neither be created nor destroyed laws of the sun aka protection.

Interface and computer could or could not be mutually exclusive

Red lightsaber blue lightsaber

J.d.g.b.iaa.iaa formula

Blood of jesus formula

Bible leaking blood image paps law

It's dark matter, it's their but it's not unlike a Raphael chain or faith of the lungs,

Nail/nail, also the other hand, paps.

Blood and needle* like red cross dark matter moves it.

Get wood niggas wall street wolf.

Also 2 pyramid chopsticks egypty.

.......

Get wood niggas jewels

P.s. remember cough tip serum. Vax

The password is the new thought only you know😇

Cherish secrets.

..............

Also remember the top of the pyramid both lung capstone and red blue lightsaber blood gold plated.

All in all 4 sides up down red blue 1919.

Just imagine a diagram kinda like divinchi and then the words next to it on an out lay and keep that as an objective a goal of what to do when Stargate sg1 is good chevron and have a life.

Hustle wood cash paps white/black/oldman/self.

2 make a deal mountain move.

Words it's scitz both visible invisible, what could be.

Smoke and or heal

Braces choose your world

And put isaiah 33 and isaiah 41 on top bottom wounds

As imaginary blank sheets life power guides

......

P.s. you work for america.

Remember he spoke with authority, his words were like a life giving sun, impregnable yet totally available because of the energy a totality of constant rising yes's and the nos had sure confidence of heat and the sun felt nothing it was object the scitz that surely burnt yet the arm never launched or leaped for a punch though solar flares the rebuke was sure.

Also with the phone if you wanna chill put it down or store it safe and disconnect the phone number the angel collar from your mind that should cure the repetition or if songs play, but remember store the energy in paps blackhole supernova left right hands, and if your holding the phone as always even in the scitz remember weights and balances

Phone number angel rfid.

Remember every grandiose scitz thought is right, some are exact some are more clearly seen exact and others to be believed as nutrient thought pathway to consumption. If you truly are one then your one even a cloud.

What is your social and spiritual both problem and blessing also not mutually exclusive black and white

P.s. Also imagine 1 arm one coming from you ass into your stomach but more so lungs armpit, and the other from your head into your lung and or heart armpit. Then with your 2 actual arms charge them up to contain the angel collar from the movie legion by faith, practice moving one finger with sheer will., 1 the inner pair puts the scitz into paper, the outer hands contain the angel reverb music or repetition hook. Remember dandruff computer interface wound not mutually exclusive heaven hell, earth lungs.

.........

Gee kevin blue 100 grown ups

Dark matter syringe

Red-light saber

Jesus

Oldman

Son of silence

Holy spirit trinity

Head

Blue light saber

Blood of jesus

Gabriel hands

Gethesame

2 hands phone

Boots Raphael 50cent $ $

Rizdik ariel

Heart michael

Kevin wound

Gee analdandruff

2 inside hands pump the syringe push the scitz invisible

Being ripped apart by forces equivalent to a ton poem

Ring a door

Boots a boat

Paps/cash light absorbs scitz.....

Wood/light

Paper mates with objects.... scitz everything useful for miracle items which connect to your life, put "healing of illness in thing"

Parfuma meditation

Illness is nothing more than change and transformation

Phanuel using the phone the sun think yes yes, he spoke with authority yes reads yes.

.......

Ring a door

Boots a boat

Paps/cash light absorbs scitz.....

Wood/light

Paper mates with objects.... scitz everything useful for miracle items which connect to your life, put "healing of illness in thing"

It's gee kevin heart lungs

Armpits arms or 1 arm. pit

Head heart feet rizdik ring

2 arms/pit or 1 arm. pit

Hands amats fingers.

Mike Gabriel etc etc

Jesus

Oldman

Son of silence

Holy spirit trinity

Head

Blood of jesus

Where you press the syringe 💥 heal. bacteria dead.

++Blue light saber++

Gee kevin blue force push 100 grown ups

Dark matter syringe

Red-light saber

💥 concoction twisting twisted metal effect

Visualize a bible bleeding rev 19 john 19 behold"*

Also if you want scitz paper law.

Sun base of pyramid beauty power...phanuel in time....

Parfuma meditate

[beevean]

The ARK, and consolidating Shadow’s corruption

What’s this? I still have Things to Say about ShTH levels nobody cares about? Yes, it’s not my fault this game has gallons of untapped potential :)

I planned to write only one last post, but since it turned out a little too long, I thought it was better to split in two parts. This one is a little shorter than the others, and it’s about Shadow’s trip to his old home with his dad. Fun, right?

The ARK is the darkest 5th stage in the map, and you can reach it in two ways: either Shadow detonated Black Doom’s giant bombs in Central City, destroying at least part of it, or Black Doom succesfully corrupted Shadow enough to let him experience a false memory in which he killed every G.U.N. soldier during the famous raid on the ARK.

Obviously, both of these events are nothing short of a Moral Event Horizon. Either Shadow is a full-fledged terrorist, or he succumbed to Black Doom’s violent brainwashing to the point that he can no longer trust his own thoughts. In any case, if you reach this point, it’s too late for him to redeem himself.

Look at him, he’s out for blood. Even Black Doom is happy that Shadow has “finally come to realize just how abominable these humans are”. And personally, I find the music that starts playing when the cutscene focuses on Shadow’s hatred-filled eyes a little unsettling, as if it’s saying “This is not Shadow anymore. Who is this monster?”.

Much like its mirror counterpart Lost Impact, The ARK has an unbalanced set of missions, only Neutral and Dark. It again emphasizes how Shadow can’t turn “good” anymore; but it also conveys how alone Shadow is now. He has rejected the help of many of his friends and, depending on the route, committed unspeakable crimes: his only ally in the world is the manipulative Black Doom, from which he cannot escape anymore.

There’s actually not much to talk about the level itself: for being the second-to-last stage in a path, it’s incredibly easy, as you literally fly your way through shooting at your targets with the Black Volt. Either you destroy 4 defense systems to allow the Black Arms to get to the Eclipse Cannon, or you… don’t. It’s a needed breather between what came before and what comes next, but it’s a shame that it’s so easygoing considering the heartwrenching context of Shadow violating his old home under Black Doom’s orders.

On that note, the music is worth talking about:

It’s a very catchy remix, the only contribution to the soundtrack from Tomoya Ohtani no less, of Sonic Adventure 2′s Final Rush.

What’s the significance? I think it’s pure irony. Final Rush is the last stage of the Hero Story in SA2, where Sonic has to make a mad dash to prevent the Eclipse Cannon from firing. In ShTH, you return to the same location (with a very similar level design if you bother getting off the Black Volt), but as a villain with plans to fire it again. If you played SA2 before, revisiting a beloved level in this situation just rubs salt into the wounds.

Anyway, much like Lost Impact, what’s really interesting is the endings both missions send you to.

You can suddenly tell Black Doom “nah i can’t be bothered with opening the way for you, cya” and fly to the Goal Ring in 2 minutes or so. Shadow’s musing at the end of the mission implies he’s simply filled with nostalgia for “where it all began”. The big man is strangely okay with this, even though he doesn’t get to use the Eclipse Cannon: he can still threaten humanity, and with reason. He also still trusts Shadow enough to ask him for help with G.U.N. raiding the Black Comet. (It makes me think he didn’t really need the Cannon, he was just being petty.)

Believe it or not, this is the path you have to take if you want to see Shadow becoming Black Doom’s servant: dispatch 50 of the G.U.N. mechs on the Comet, and Shadow will find his place to the right side of the alien lord.

It’s actually creepy how easily Shadow vows loyalty to Black Doom and forgets everything about finding his own identity, and I can’t help but wonder what kind of existence he’ll live with him.

(small comparison: in the Japanese version, he says “My name is Shadow the Hedgehog… The strongest soldier, chosen by the ruler of darkness, Black Doom! Together with him, using this wondrous power, I shall dye the ugly world in black!”. Not only Shadow sounds less servile, but there are several paths that lead to this ending named after the concept of “dyeing in black” and especially being a “soldier”. A clear case of lost in translation, but the English version isn’t bad, so I’ll let it pass)

(and before you ask, I hate the Semi Dark-Hero ending so I refuse to spend more time thinking about it than the writers did, which is “they didn’t”)

But let’s back up a bit. What if Shadow is a good obedient tool and destroys the 4 defense systems instead? In that case, after murdering the poor pilot of the Blue Falcon, he gets a front row seat to watching Central City crumble under the Eclipse cannon.

And then he goes to the last stronghold humanity has left, where he loses what little sanity he had left.

The second part of this post will be about my favorite stage in ShTH. See you then as I try to convey how horribly well-written the evil endings are :)

[inactive17645]

Safe & Sound [1]

Chapter One: Pilot

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x Reader & Wells Jaha x Reader

Warnings: Swearing & Mild Violence

Word Count: 3637

Author’s Note: Welcome to the first chapter of my very first series here on tumblr! I hope you guys come enjoy the ride and stay until the end. I know there are a few Bellamy x Reader fanfic series on here now, but I really wanted to put my own spin on a The 100 rewrite. Also, please let me know if you want to be tagged in any future parts by either PMing me or through my ‘Ask Me Anything’ tab on my profile!

Season Masterlist

Series Masterlist

      It was supposed to be like any other day. I’d wake up, the guard would give me three small portions of food throughout the day, whilst rereading the various classics and Greek mythology books my father sent. Eventually, I’d fall back asleep with my mother’s dove pendant clutched in my hand as I gazed out the window, into the dark abyss scattered with diamonds. On every other day, you’d make sure to aside time to practice self-defence. Something that my father had guards teach me before I was locked up.

    Today was not one of those days. The chaos of yelling, screaming and grumbling outside the door ripped me from my trance. I shook my head and tried to engross myself again in the book I clutched, but the sound of the door flinging open broke it.

     It also didn’t help that this was the last day before I’d be eighteen. Before I’d be floated.

     “Prisoner 301, face the wall.” My breath hitched in my throat. No! I still had one more day! 

When you didn’t even move an inch towards a wall the guard stalked his way towards you, his presence towering over your sitting form. “Get up on your feet!”

     “No! I still have a day left you cunt!” You screeched.

     With a punch to the man’s groin, he collapsed to the ground and you scampered out to escape. Unfortunately, I’ve tried to escape my cell multiple times so it was no surprise when someone tackled me as soon as I left the room.

      “Get. Me. The. Fuck Off!” I yelled as punch after punch landed on the man’s back. The man grunted after each punch, but he never let me go until I was stood in front of the one man who turned me in a year ago. My own father; Marcus Kane.

     Although it was a relief to see him after so long, I couldn’t help but glare at the man. He was supposed to be there for you no matter what, yet he never visited. Too much of a coward to face you and sent books in his place. The kind of books you and your mom used to read together.

     “Dad?!” I hated him, but I still hugged him. I hated him, but I still loved my father.

     Your eyes glossed with tears that had every intention to escape.

 “I don’t want to die, not today!” I pleaded, refusing the tears to shower my cheeks. “I don’t want to be floated!”

     “You’re not being floated (y/n),” He told you. “You’re being sent down to earth.” A chill ran down my spine.

     “But I thought the earth was still uninhabitable?” Dad just shook his head as another guard hooked me over their shoulder and stalked away from my father’s now retreating figure.

     Typical. Just like when I was first chucked in the skybox. He couldn’t even muster a single goodbye. The punching of another guard ensued as he hauled me over to the dropship entrance.

     Suddenly, there was a prick in my arm and gradually I drew drowsier, and drowsier. My punches slowly weakened after each hit. The last thing I saw before I succumbed to darkness was the menacing smirk of one Commander Shumway, my eyes darkening in both anger and fear.

     In what felt like seconds, my eyes squinted open while adjusting to the poor lighting of the dropship. Screams and yells from others around me filled my ears. As my vision came into focus, I looked around to see the horror morphed on many of the teens’ faces. In the seat five seats down from me, I recognised a familiar head of blonde that I knew oh so well.

     “Clarke!” I called. The blonde whipped her head my way and relief settled on both our faces. “Thank the gods you’re here! If I could I’d smother you in a hug right now I would!”

     The two of us bursted out laughing knowing I’d actually smother her. Before I had the chance to ask her something else, Chancellor Jaha’s voice filled the room.

     “Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You’ve been given a second chance. And as your chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us. Indeed, for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would’ve sent others. Frankly, we’re sending you because your crimes have made you expendable.”

     Expendable? What the hell?! All I did was try to spread the word that the life-support system for the Ark was failing, after overhearing a heated discussion between Jaha, my father and others in the Council.

     “Everyone here being expendable is bullshit and you know it!” My voice echoed throughout the dropship, catching the attention of everyone in the room. I gulped at the stares thrown my way, but it was the stare of the single guard in the room that caught my eye.

     No guards were supposed to be inside. So the only reason why he’d be here would be because he was escaping something… or to protect someone. Perhaps a certain younger sister that wasn’t supposed to be born?

     It had to be Bellamy Blake, the older brother of floor girl, Octavia Blake. His gaze seemed to linger on me slightly longer than the other delinquents around. I wasn’t sure if it was due to pure curiosity or how everyone knew I was Marcus Kane’s daughter. I tore my gaze away from his blank stare and stared down at the metal ground.

     As Jaha’s speech became muffled, I gaped at the floor and the room began to groan and shake. A familiar dark-skinned young man was suddenly talking to Clarke.

     “Wells?” I questioned. His brown orbs tore away from Clarke, his gaze landing on me.

     “(Y/N)! Thank god!” He floated over to me, pulled me up to my feet and smothered me in a hug. A giggle vibrated through my chest. “What’s so funny?”

     “I told Clarke I’d smother her in a hug, yet you’ve gone and did just that to me,” I chuckled. Wells only chuckled as I hugged him back.

     “This is nice —” We both started but ended in a fit of giggles. Two other delinquents then join Wells and I in standing up. I could hear Clarke softly calling my name to sit back down along with the others standing, but I just ignored it. 

     Strangely, Wells still held on to me and sat in the seat I was in just before, plopping me onto his lap and snuggling into me more. He and I did have a weirdly affectionate friendship before both our arrests, but even this was pushing the line between friendship and a romantic relationship. 

     The dropship lurched, sending three delinquents flying who had left their seats despite Clarke’s protests. I clunged to Wells’ neck as his grip on my waist tightened, closing my eyes tight. Something sickening yet sweet filled my nose. Smoke. Sparks went off right and left and with one final violent jolt, the dropship came to a stop.

     We were on the ground!

     The dropship powers down almost instantaneously and echoes of seatbelts unbuckling filled the room. Heat rose to my cheeks as I slowly clambered off Wells’ lap. His cheeks were crimson red as were probably my own. I helped him to his feet and took one of my hands in his, leading him down to the doors, waiting for them to be to opened as a crowd formed in front.

     A dark-haired girl stormed through yelling, “Bellamy!” The guy in the uniform I saw before spun around and stared at the girl in shock. So I was right! He was Bellamy Blake and that girl was definitely Octavia, his sister.

     “My God, look how big you are!” The two smiled at each other before the girl - Octavia - jumped forward and pulled Bellamy into a tight hug.

     “Where’s your wristband?” Clarke asked Bellamy as she sided next to Wells and I.

     “Do you mind?” Octavia cut Clarke off with an annoyed look. “I haven’t seen my brother in a year.”

     “Seriously Clarke?” I jumped in, everyone’s eyes turning to me as I let go of Wells’ hand. “We’ve reached the ground and the first thing you do is ask where the guy’s wristband is?” Clarke was surprised by my outburst, but Octavia and Bellamy looked at me thankful that I stood up for them.

     “Surely you’d like to be known as someone else. Perhaps the first person on the ground in a hundred years?” Octavia grinned in appreciation whilst Bellamy nodded my way.

     I returned the smile as Bellamy pulled on a nearby lever, opening the door to the outside. As a haze of smoke breaks, a bright light shone into the ship, momentarily blinding me but the lush colours of green, blue and brown eventually took its place.

     Finally, I’d be able to put my Earth Skills to use!

     Octavia slowly made her way down the ramp before she stepped onto the ground. She turned back towards the ship, a massive grin etched on her olive face.

     “We’re back bitches!” She threw her arms up as she yelled.

     A parade of teens stormed off the ship in a hurry, yelling and screaming that we’re back. A laugh resonated in my chest as a familiar presence took my hand in theirs.

     “Together?” Wells asked. With a soft sigh, I nodded, but not before I leapt onto his back. He shook his head as he wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck.

     “Ride on my noble steed!”

     A gush of air swept through my (Y/H/C) locks as Wells sprinted out the door, but within seconds of Wells being on the ground, we both tumbled onto the grass. One glance at each other was enough to send us into a fit of laughter.

     “I missed you, Wells —”

     “I missed you, (Y/N) —” A chuckle from above broke two of us from our trance.

     “It hasn’t even been a day and you two are back to finishing each other’s sentences.” Clarke towered over Wells and I, teasingly shaking her head at us.

     “Are you really surprised at this point, Clarke?” I retorted as I jumped to my feet, smothering the blonde in a tight hug.

     “Nope!” With a quick kiss to Wells’ cheek, I sauntered off in hopes of recognising someone else. Within two minutes I had lost the motivation so I found myself a sturdy and long enough stick I could use to fashion a bow with. Someone’s shoelace would probably work for the string.

     I sat close to the dropship, carving my initials into one end of the stick with a shard of metal that had broken off the ship, when someone sat next to me.

     “Hey, you’re Marcus Kane’s daughter right?” I turned to see Octavia and nodded expectantly.

      “That I am..” I replied slightly bitter. “But you can call me (Y/N).” I held my hand out for her to shake, but she hugged me instead. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

     “Why aren’t you angry with me? My father was one of the people that got you put in the skybox in the first place.” I asked as she pulled away.

      “Because it wasn’t you who did it. It was your dad.” Well, she wasn’t wrong about that. A mischievous look appeared on her face. “Want to get into some trouble?”

      I mirrored her expression. “Oh hell yes!” We both giggled before I grabbed her hand and lead her to the dropship. We pulled up behind Clarke and Finn, who were recruiting two other guys to head over to Mount Weather. “Can we go now?”

     “Sounds like a party, make it six,” Octavia said as she gestured between the two of us. Clarke doesn’t protest, but a certain oldest Blake does. He grabbed Octavia’s shoulder causing her to let go of my hand.

     “Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Bellamy scolded Octavia.

     “Going for a walk,” she retorted as she pulled out of his grip. “Are you coming (Y/N)?”

     I glanced from the group to Bellamy a few times, debating whether to follow along to Mount Weather or to help Bellamy around the dropship. Although I’d probably be more help with the group of five, something in my gut told me I’d be just as helpful here.

     “I’ll stay here and help Wells and Bellamy with keeping order. As I’m sure they’ll need my help” I sauntered back over to the ship, ignoring Clarke and Octavia calling my name and a gaping Bellamy.

     Throughout the day I helped Wells with pretty much everything, but as soon as the sun was near the horizon I decided to stop for the day. I wasn’t blind to Murphy trying to get people to take off their wristbands. Such an action was most likely something Bellamy put him up to as he was the only one that could benefit from it. The only question was why.

     A shadow casted to the ground by the fire told me there was someone behind me.

     “If you even think you can get the upper hand on me to get off my wristband, think again Blake.” It wasn’t a long shot if it was him, and my suspicions were proven right when the man himself sat down next to me.

     “How did you —”

     “Your shadow gave it away you idiot and only you or Murphy would dare approach me from behind. Not that Murphy has though.” He just nodded as I finally turned to him.

     Although I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, Bellamy was handsome. His slightly tousled black hair, brown eyes and olive skin put him under the tall, dark and mysterious category. I tore my gaze away before it became borderline staring.

     “Was there anything else you wanted to talk about, Blake?” I questioned. He shifted in his spot slightly.

     “Thank you for earlier, with Octavia,” He admitted. “Although I’m certainly not a fan of your father, thank you.” Something in my gut told me he really did mean what he said.

     “I’m not heartless, Blake” I retorted. “Compared to Chancellor Jaha and everyone else on the council, I’m a puppy.” We shared a look and snorted, trying to stifle our own laughs.

     “Why a puppy?” He asked.

     “Because although I look innocent, anything can still set me off and my bite is much worse than my bark.” I stood to my feet, dusting off any dirt and sauntered back over to the dropship. 

     A couple of hours later the world was enveloped in darkness, our only source of light being from the fire. Everything in me wanted to ignore the world around me. However, the muffled sound of arguing grew louder and louder as I left my daze.

     “My father didn’t write the laws,” Wells’ voice admitted. My gaze looked up and landed on the arguing figures of Wells and Bellamy.

     “No. He enforced him, but not any more, not here,” Blake shrugged. “Here there are no laws. Here, we do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want. Now, you don’t have to like it Wells. You can even try to stop it, change it, kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want.”

     I stood up, opening my mouth with every intention to object — at least get Wells and Bellamy to compromise on the situation — but Bellamy seemed to notice this and sharply shook his head. My eyes narrowed at him and scowled. He was taken aback by my scowl and I had no idea why.

     “Whatever the hell we want!” Murphy yelled out to the crowd. The crowd of teenager, minus Wells and I, followed in suit and started chanting the only rule established. A rule that would do more harm than good. 

     “Am I the only one who thinks this is gonna result in chaos?” I asked Wells.

     “You’re not the only one.”

     He wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me close and I rested my head on his shoulder. Something that didn’t go amiss by the eldest Blake. Bellamy’s face was unreadable and I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

     A low rumble echoed from above before a downpour of rain decided to settle. Our first thunderstorm. A soft sigh left my chest as a smile formed on my face. The rain felt so good and I just didn’t care about getting soaked.

     I allowed myself to enjoy the rain a little while longer, looking around at the other delinquents with a smile. My smile fades almost instantly when my eyes meet Bellamy’s dark chocolate orbs. I scowled once more at him before scavenging around for something to collect water in. He needed to know I wasn’t onboard with his so called plan.

     The handrests of the seats inside the dropship ended up being perfect. I struggled a little getting some off, but I managed. With my small collection of water troughs, I sat them outside sitting in front of me as they collected the rain water. 

     The thunderstorm didn’t last for very long, but I’m left with a few troughs filled with fresh water. I drunk some water until my thrist was satisfied and I made sure Wells got some as well. Any water-filled troughs still completely full I snuck into the dropship to hide. 

     Wells then took my hand and lead me to a tree across the clearing and we helped each other up. We sat on a thick enough branch that could hold both our weights, sitting there in silence comfortably for a couple minutes, my head resting on his shoulder. Wells was the one to break the underlying tension in the air.

     “I think we need to address the elephant in the room…” Wells trailed off. He took my hands in his and turned the both of us around, our legs dangling on either side of the branch. I could only sigh and nod.

     “I know we’ve been best friends since we were toddlers and have always been affectionate with each other, but the cuddle in the dropship got me thinking.” Our fingers threaded through each other as he spoke. “I… I want us to be be more friends.”

     My head perked up at his words. Not going to lie, I did develop a crush on Wells two years before I was chucked in the skybox. However, I never acted on it as we had been best friends for years. We grew up together and at one point I thought he had a crush on Clarke.

     “But what about Clarke?” I mumbled as he took my cheeks in his hands.

     “It’s always been you.”

     His lips melted onto my own. Although his lips were slightly chapped from dehydration they were still incredibly soft. It felt as if a fire had started in my heart and I didn’t want it to stop. We eventually had to part for air, but he quickly slammed his lips back on mine, this time his tongue slipping into my mouth. We fought for dominance over each other, but Wells ultimately won. Our lips parted once more and we panted as we caught our breath.

     Wells rested his head on my own and we both sighed.

     “I’d hug you, but I’m worried we’d fall out of the tree.” Wells chuckled and pecked my lips. “I’ll find another tree nearby to sleep, we wouldn’t want people getting the wrong idea.”

     I pecked his lips before jumping down from the tree. Almost everyone was asleep, so I walked quietly as possible to the closest tree nearby. I laid down, resting my head and back against the tree. Just as I was about to succumb to sleep a familiar presence sat down next to me.

     “To what do I owe the displeasure of having your presence, Blake.” Bellamy snorted at what I said.

     “I’m flattered you knew it was me,” he smirked.

     “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” I clapped back. I finally turned to his annoyingly handsome face. Gods I wanted to kiss that smirk off his face — wait what?! I kissed Wells only minutes ago and I was already thinking about kissing someone else?

     “So…” he trailed off. “You and Jaha. When did that happen?” I gaped at the thought of how to respond. 

     “We both had crushes on each other, prior to us both being thrown in the skybox,” I admitted. “Neither of us acted on it before the Ground.” He nodded, but something in his eyes told me he was disappointed about something.

     Mentioning being thrown into the skybox reminded me why I was put in there in the first place. Me trying to expose to the rest of the Ark that life-support was failing, my father being the one to chuck me inside and throw away the key. It was a cowardly move and my father knew it. He never even came to see me the utter bastard.

     “I need help taking off my wristband.” Bellamy looked at me with disbelief. “I want to take it off, but I don’t want to hurt myself.”

     He stared at me right in my eyes, probably to see with there was any hesitation in them. However, when he saw none he helped with the wristband, slipping it off with ease.

     “Thank you.” He wasn’t really supposed to hear my thanks, but he did, just giving me a small smile before he walked off in the other direction.

     My eyes glossed with water, the teardrops threatening to escape but only a single tear rolled down my cheek.

     I’m sorry, Dad.

Taglist:

@hftff-lol​ 

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 158

Thank you to @the-raven-fae, @baelpenrose, and @charlylimph-blog for all your day-to-day help with this story.

I am scheduling this ahead of time but want to keep the note short so everyone can focus on the chapter itself. I think it is one of the best things I’ve ever written...

Fingers flying, Grey glanced between the projection above the Council table and their datapad. “Sections three and five securing.” Antoine nodded as he swiftly but calmly sent reminders.

On either side of me, Parvati and Hannah were sending similar reminders. “Ten through fourteen secure, we have a few stragglers settling down in sections nine and fifteen.”

“Atmo generators spooling down,” Charly confirmed, her tone bizarrely crisp and professional.

Huynh grunted in approval before sounding off. “Waiting for confirmation that equipment is secured in deck two and engineers have strapped in.”

One by one, all Councillors and relevant admins confirmed that equipment and personnel were secured in all human areas of the Ark.  As the numbers left dropped further and further, the air in the chamber became heavier with anticipation of what came next.  With the exception of one unexpected month roughly a year into our journey, the Ark would soon be dropping out of relativistic space for the first time in almost ten years.

We were almost at the end of our journey.

Pranav, Alice, Eino, and Arthur sounded off the final numbers remotely as they confirmed everyone in the ‘observation decks’ were strapped in for the change in momentum. The cameras that were last used by Maverick and Evan to navigate when our sensors were damaged were still in place and functional, despite not having anything to broadcast for the past nine years.  Teams had been working around the clock to test and confirm they could handle what we were asking, and now the four largest mess areas were waiting to broadcast the drop back into objective space - and an entirely foreign starfield, something no other human had ever seen.

Once the last person was confirmed to be strapped in, we all gave Evan and Maverick an expectant look.  After much consideration, it had been decided that they had more than earned the privilege of addressing the Ark on what was about to happen and what to expect.  Both had flown outside of Earth atmosphere, and had been instrumental in getting us the resources needed to repair the sensors eight years ago - we literally may not be here without them.

“People - “ Maverick gasped before clearing his throat and trying again. “People of Earth.” I fought to smile at how clear he sounded, knowing that his palms were drenching the sides of his pants where he kept them clenched. “We have undertaken something no one else alive can say they have done - we have travelled to a new system, a new home world waiting for us. We are now, and will forever be, a people of the stars, of the galaxy.”

Hesitating for just a moment, he glanced at me and Tyche. Both of us gave the smallest of nods, encouraging the speech he had practiced until we all three had it ingrained in our hearts. “Soon, all of you will have the chance to see something we took for granted throughout human history, and may we never take it for granted again: the night sky.  And though it may not be the same sky our poets wrote about, or that our artists painted, we have the chance to write new poetry and songs, compose new works of art, and draw new constellations.”

Having reached his absolute limit of public speaking, he nodded to Evan before collapsing in his seat. Smoothly, she took over. “However, today’s triumph can only continue if we are prepared for the changes ahead.  As all of you are more than aware, the Eko-mari fleet will rendezvous with us inside thirty Von-days.  You have all more than exceeded expectations in the necessary - though painful - drills we have undertaken in recent months to prepare for the eventuality of the ship being attacked in that time frame.  There are, today specifically, a handful of risks we had no way to prepare for.  All of you have been briefed on these, but I want to take a moment to recap the more salient points so they are fresh in your minds.

“Most importantly, you may experience a feeling of vertigo and all the symptoms that come with it.  Everyone who is prone to vertigo has been asked to secure themselves lying down in a comfortable position in order to minimize the risk of any injuries from falling.  It has also been mandated that any human exceeding six feet in height should be secured in a seating position at minimum, as you will be most affected by the sudden change in gravity and momentum.  Conor, Coffey, and Jokul, this means you.” A wry grin just barely slipped as she tried to lighten the mood.

“Be prepared for extreme symptoms of anxiety or panic, including but not limited to agoraphobia or mania.  We specifically have medically trained personnel ready in the observation areas for anyone who may not realize they are experiencing these conditions.  In extreme cases, Miys has agreed to assist any humans to the med bay who may need a hand or four.  Thank you.”

“I didn’t realize she had a sense of humor,” Tyche murmured. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s bad, but… dad joke bad. Not bad-bad.”

I nodded as the lights dimmed and the projection over the table was replaced by a countdown. No one in the chamber dared chant above a whisper - most of us remembering the last countdown humanity had joined together in, not wanting to jinx the moment. But no matter how quietly we all counted, ten thousand voices still vibrated through the Ark right up until the three second mark, when - with only subconscious and silent agreement, we collectively held our breaths.

Three seconds felt longer than the nine years we had spent suspended in space, hurtling toward an unfamiliar destination. And then, with no warning that could really prepare us for what we were about to see….

Let there be LIGHT!

Stars flooded the projection and spanned the ceiling. I couldn’t tell if I gasped or if all of us in the chamber did, but my eyes watered and my stomach dropped at the sight of so many. Giant, pinprick, warm, cold, solid, and flashing - it was more beautiful than I remembered even in my wildest dreams, flooding and washed across the viewports in a river of glittering color. The sheer scale of openness made me feel like the floor had dropped out from under me - 

My reverie was broken by two things - a sudden feeling of wrongness and the projection splitting.  One side remained showing the star field, while the other started populating line after line of something I couldn’t quite read. Antoine and Grey surged to their feet so fast my head spun - or was it already spinning? Something was spinning…

“Reports are coming in, largely vertigo,” Grey announced calmly. “Falling injuries are minor, mostly shallow contusions. Nausea and vomiting are most prevalent.”

“Speak for yourself!” Arthur’s voice burst in. “We have at least five manic episodes, a full on agoraphobe in the making, and what might be religious psychosis down here.” We heard a yelp, followed by garbled shouting and the, unfortunately, crystal clear sound of Arthur swearing. “If you don’t get your hands off of me, you are going to be having a religious experience of the up close and personal kind… Noah!” After sounds of a scuffle, he managed to add “Confirm: religious psychosis. Please send medical assistance of the tall, brown, and mushroom kind, and I’ll restrain them the best I can without causing permanent harm.”

Something cool and damp covered my forehead and eyes. “Add this one to the list,” Tyche suggested as calmly as she would discuss dinner ideas.

Weakly, I swatted at her. “Only religious experience I want right now is one with the porcelain god,” I groaned.

“Then hold still,” she instructed with an aggrieved sigh. “You always handled vertigo better when your eyes were closed.”  Right when a pair of long-fingered hands covered my shoulders, her tone got sharp. “Maverick, I swear on everything you hold dear, do not pick her up no matter how badly you want to.”

After a couple of forced swallows, I added, “I will get sick - “

“You already are!”

“- on you. Specifically. For moving me.” I finished.

The hands hesitated until she added “She did it to our cousin once. She is dead serious.”  All of a sudden, they migrated from my shoulders to one hand and one knee.

With one hand, I gave a thumbs up, while I motioned the other in a circle. “Reports people. Talk, so I can focus on something other than how gross I feel right now.”

The Council-wide band must have still been open, because Alice’s voice rang through. “We are receiving an incredible amount of data to the servers, but it’s not in any format or language anyone here is familiar with. Miys says we aren’t under attack, it’s just updates from the Galactic Database on the events of the last - hundred years!?  There is no way that’s accurate.”

Alistair, who had been silent up until now, spoke in a shaky voice. “I would like to remind the Council that Councilor-Emeritus Simon Rodriguez has advised on several occasions that his decade-long round trip to the homeworld of our hosts was, to him, only a year.  I would not consider the extrapolation math so much as using the metric system.”

I was still face down on a damp rag, and I could feel him giving me the special glare he reserved for ‘Yanks’ and made a mental note to be offended later.

“Is there anything about Earth?” Hannah asked, her voice so soft that you couldn’t tell if it was despair or hope.

A familiar buzz came from overhead. “Our apologies, Hannah. Information regarding the past, present, and future status of Earth has been classified until a time that the Galactic Council agrees that humanity no longer poses a threat to your homeworld.” The chamber fell silent for a heartbeat as you could feel everyone swear mentally, before a sigh-hum continued. “And to ensure that it stays that way, the Ark has been quarantined from any information regarding the Sol system for the previous century along with the next three subsequent ones, with review every fifty Terran years or so.”

I want to say that Alice muted her channel before swearing at Derek.  I really do.

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[lightneverfades]

What if instead of Sylvie, Loki falls in love with a variant called Lok that looks exactly like him throughout the series, but experiences the same loneliness and devastation of being ‘the dangerous variant’? 

When they get to He Who Remains’s fortress, they fight. And what occurs after is all the more... chaotic.

x

Fic

“Trust me... you don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, I think I do. Can’t you see the TVA has hurt us, hurt you? He’s taken everything from us. And now you want to simply abandon the mission?” Lok speaks and the Loki can see the clear hurt in his eyes. His grip on the sword tightens.

“I know they did. But what if by killing him we risk unleashing something even worse? The balance of the universe is at stake.” 

Lok sneers at him, “And when was the balance of the universe ever your problem?” 

Anger flared in Loki and fought against the calm he was trying to maintain throughout this conversation. “When you became a part of it.” 

“Sentimentality,” Lok spat, “You think you can flatter me? The only thing that should matter is the mission.” 

“All I’m suggesting is that we take a minute to think about it.”

Emerald green eyes, a direct contrast to Loki’s crystalline blue, looked at him incredulously. The curves of Lok’s lips curled downward into a frown. 

“What was I thinking, trusting you?”

“You can trust me,” Loki whispers, but he could see every ounce of reason in Lok’s face was gone. The act was swift and he had only mere seconds to dodge Lok’s sword before he was making his own move, swinging the sword his younger self had given him for this mission. The mission. 

They’d been so adamant on finding out the truth behind Alioth, behind the TVA and who had wronged them. But how could Loki have known that the man behind the veil would not only be the one who orchestrated this whole mess but had also been the one who maintained some resemblance of order? 

And Lok... Loki had met him only a few days ago, and yet he felt an infinite connection with the variant like nothing he’d ever felt before. The first time he felt it, he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Lok was ridiculously stubborn, angry and unpredictable, like himself. But he was also sensitive and kind when he wanted to be. Loki saw it first hand when he’d been injured in the blast after their failed attempt to board the Ark. The rubble had fallen over him and it was Lok who had gripped his shoulder and pulled him out of it. 

“Stay still, I can’t heal you if you won’t stop squirming,” Lok snarled, which Loki noticed he did a lot. 

“I am trying!” Loki protests, as he lets the variant heal the deep cut that had pierced through his stomach. Fortunately it had missed his vital organs, but it still hurt like Hel. And Lok’s magic, whatever it was, was not working fast enough. The green light that poured into his wound knit through the damage.

“You’re not. I can take more pain then you’re enduring under my touch,” Lok spoke, and Loki looks up to meet the variant’s eyes. Apart from the different eye color, Lok was like looking straight into a mirror. Same facial features, expressions, the way Lok furrowed his eyebrows also made Loki wonder if that was how he looked when he was concentrating intently on something. Or the way his lips tightened.

With a final hiss, the wound sealed itself and Loki felt the pressure Lok was applying on his stomach disappear, as well as the hand that had been touching his neck. He felt its loss, the warmth of it, and he felt a little unsteady. It was probably the blood loss, and the fact that they were going to die anyway. 

“I don’t know why you insisted on healing me when we’re going to die,” Loki spoke softly, looking up at the sky. They’d dragged, or rather Lok had pulled Loki, out of the city and into an abandoned pond area. Remnants of the meteors from the dying planet about to impact against Lamentis flew straight down, burning around them.

“I...” Lok doesn’t finish his sentence, but Loki can see something in his eyes that makes him understand. You didn’t want to die alone, Loki thought, realizing that he didn’t want to die on his own as well.

In spite of the imminent death that hovered over them, Loki found himself feeling safer and calmer then he felt in a while. If this was the end, then at least I went down fighting...

Loki sees Lok shudder, and Loki gently takes Lok’s hand. The look of surprise in the variant’s face almost makes him laugh, but his smile had already reached his eyes. “I know.” 

“We never survive...” Lok speaks, and the defense mechanism, the usual growl or retort at the end of his usual conversation slips. And that’s when Loki sees him, really sees Lok for the first time. The fear, the regret, the pain, the aching sadness of a life unfulfilled. Lok’s entire life from the day he was on the run was riddled with bitterness and disappointment. All of that was absorbed and reflected in his viridescent eyes. “We’re destined to lose.”

“We may lose,” Loki says and he takes Lok’s hand in his, weaving his to the other man’s. That same buzz of energy and warmth he’d felt was back, thrumming through his hand. “But we never die. There’ll always be a Loki. Always.” 

Lok tightens the fingers interlocking with his, and Loki feels what he could only imagine was an earthquake shake his entire core. It could have easily been the ground starting to shudder beneath him, but he felt something inside of him blossom in him that was unfamiliar. Warm. Comforting. 

And Lok. Loki saw the faintest of smiles finally grace those lips that had been so used to frowning with disappointment.

I wish I’d met you sooner, Loki thought, and that was his only regret as the world roared around them, smoke flourishing from all sides as the meteor hit the planet’s surface...

They would have died that day, if Mobius hadn’t found the strange Nexus Event occurring on screen. “The Nexus Event the two of you caused... how did you do it?” Those had been Mobius’s words as the TVA agents strapped the Time Collars on their necks and pulled them away from each other.

That had been then. And this was now.

“You said you wouldn’t betray me!” Lok screams as he swings his sword with quick precision, the tip scratching Loki’s arm. It was a knick, a warning, Loki knew it. 

“I’m not!” Loki shouted and swung to the other side as Lok pulled a chair with his magic and shot it back in his direction, green sparks flying around him. 

A frustrated snarl escapes Lok’s lips as Loki appears before Loki and grabs him, locking them together in a tight and forced tangle of arms, each of them holding the edge of their blades right on their necks. 

“You’re a liar! You only ever wanted the throne. You pretended to care, but what can you hope to gain from befriending me? Nothing! I’m nothing to you!”

“No, Lok, that’s not true-”

“Then you’d have joined me and we’d have taken him down before he even spoke a word! But you chose your side, Loki. And it’s not with me.”

“Maybe he’s lying!” Loki says, “But maybe he’s not!” 

“I. don’t. have. time. for. this!” Lok hisses, pushing forward and Loki grits his teeth, the edge scraping his neck.

“We won’t have time for anything, not if he’s right!” 

Lok’s eyes burn him, the ice cold anger that lights up within them causes Loki to flinch. He’s knocked back with a kick to the abdomen and it knocks the breath out of Loki. It’s enough for Lok to run straight in the direction of He Who Remains.

The world seems to slow down as Loki conjured his seidr to appear right at the very moment when Lok crashes into him, his blade slicing through his chest. A pained cry escapes Loki. The sword slips from Loki’s fingers, clattering to the ground. 

“Stop...” 

Loki meant to reach out slowly to Lok, but his attempt fails as he collapses forward, slumping as the sword still embedded into his chest digs deeper. He lets out an agonized cry, and he sees the anger in Lok’s eyes slip away, quickly turning to regret.

“Loki, oh Hel, what have I done,” Lok whispers as he pulls the sword out of Loki. Loki leans forward, losing his step and he feels Lok grab him. He’s kneeling on the marble floor beside Lok, who’d knelt beside him, holding him upright, his hand already reaching out to heal the damage he’d caused. 

“Why are you always in my way...” Loki hears it, very subtly, being spoken under Lok’s breath and he lets out a weak laugh.

“Because you are my way.” 

Loki doesn’t think, only acts, as he leans closer and this time, he’s not just doing it because his body feels heavier or colder and was drawn to Lok for the warmth. His lips crushed into Lok’s because he needed it. He wanted Lok, desperately. He’d felt the connection in Lamentis when they were about to die. And he had felt it ever since he knew that they were one and the same. In spite of what fate had in store for them, the universe had brought them together. My Lok, always my way, my path, my alternate future. 

Lok let out a shocked breath, and Loki thought he might almost break away, but the relief is paramount when Lok’s other hand finds its way up his neck and brushes through his tangled hair. Lips part and they are well matched in their desperation and desire for connection, the pull and taste of each other irresistible. If it weren’t for the agonizing thrum of pain in his chest, Loki would never have parted. 

But he does, and when Loki meets Lok’s gaze, his eyebrows furrow in confusion when Lok looks at him with an expression that puzzles him. 

“Loki... your eyes...” 

Loki feels a tingling sensation around his temples, and it spreads. He feels the heat, mingling among the pain.

“The universe is breaking apart, kids. Time to make up your minds. Or it’ll make it for you,” He Who Remains speaks from the background. “See? It’s choosing Loki.”

“What are you doing to him!” Lok snarls, and He Who Remains sighs.

“The branches, see, they’re alive. Just like you and me. And they want to be stable. They want a new person that can continue my life’s work. Free will is a lie. It always has been.”

“Lok, no,” Loki tries to grab Lok, but his body was weak. Even as he tried to tug at Lok’s leather bound arm, he knew his hold will not last. The euphoria he had felt moments ago is replaced with dread. Had he done the right thing? What was He Who Remains talking about? Was he being chosen to take over already, even if it meant he was an unwilling participant in this grand scheme of things? Maybe that was why he’d survived...

“I am not letting you become the thing I’ve been training my whole life to destroy!” Lok says and he pulls free from Loki. 

This time the sword does not miss its aim, sinking deep into He Who Remains. The man slumps into his chair, but not before whispering the words that caused Loki to shiver. “Got you.” 

[slytherinbarnes]

there are ghosts in the sky, iii

iii. but can you save a dying sun?

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 15.0k

Warnings: angst, fighting, violence, death, anxiety, mentions of nausea/puking, language.

Summary: a battle for your body and a battle for Sanctum results in shocking causalities, both battles ending in a way you could have never guessed.

a/n: here it is!!! part 3 is here, this au is finished!!! this marks the end of the sub rosa universe (for now), and I have a lot of feelings about that. mostly I am just grateful to all of you, and I hope you’ll stick around to read my next series/other new works! if you would like your sub rosa tag to be converted to a general bellamy blake x reader tag, please let me know!

p.s. sorry for the late in the day upload today, life has been crazy and the day got away from me!!!

au series masterlist // sub rosa masterlist // full masterlist

You only catch bits and pieces of what’s happening outside of your body, but as the barrier between your mind and Josephine’s continues to break down further, you’re able to hear more and more of the outside world. In between catching information from outside of your body, you keep yourself inside Josephine’s side of the mindspace. You know that it’s only going to break down your minds faster, but you’re desperate for information you can use against her later, so you use your downtime to scour through her memories in search of something useful. By the end of your research, the only thing you know for sure is that Josephine is awful, and she doesn’t deserve your body, let alone to resurrect again.

You can tell a few hours have passed since your initial Morse Code attempt, and you weren't sure at first if it worked. 

That is, until you heard Josephine begging someone to kick you out of your own head. There’s not much you can do other than wait around and hope that someone is trying to save your life, and you finally get that confirmation later on when you catch onto the tailend of a conversation between Josephine, Clarke, and Bellamy. You’ve gathered enough bits and pieces to know that all four of you are currently being held captive by the Children of Gabriel, and the other three are using the time to ‘bond’, if you can actually call it that. Josephine is moaning about the tragedy of her relationship with Gabriel, and you push the stack of memory books out of your lap and to the side, running from the memory space and into the hidden diner. 

You ignore the patrons and head straight for the Christmas lights again, tugging them down and calling out, “Monty!”

He runs into the diner, looking at you in alarm. “What is it?”

“Morse Code, I need your help. How do you say boohoo?”

His nose scrunches as he looks at you in confusion, “Boohoo?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It doesn't matter why, just please tell me what it is!”

He shrugs and grabs the paper and pen you’re holding out to him, thinking for a second before he quickly writes out the message. When he passes it to you, you give him a smile of thanks, listening as Josephine mutters, “I've been in love with Gabriel for 236 years, the last 70 of which he's been trying to kill me. You know, relationships.”

You start working on your light, signaling out the code Monty gave you.

—●●● B

— — — O

— — — O

●●●● H

— — — O

— — — O

You can hear Josephine translating the letters for Clarke and Bellamy, before she ends the quip with, “That's harsh.”

You can catch glimpses of your twin’s broken voice questioning the woman who stole your body, hope entwined with her words. “She can hear us?”

“It would seem so. Which means the wall separating our minds is almost gone.” You look around you, at the diner in Josephine’s mind, realizing that parts of it are already starting to fade. Panicked, you run out of the room and back to your side, slamming the red door behind you as you go. “When that happens, she'll stroke out, I'll download, and you can say goodbye to your genocidal fiance and sister.”

You can hear Bellamy’s voice next, thick with emotion. “Let me talk to her.”

“I'd have to give over control for that, so no.”

“But she can hear me?”

“Yes, she can hear you. For God's sake, just say what you want to say.” Josephine sighs, seeming to sense that Bellamy has something he wants to say to you. You stand waiting and listening, eager to hear his message to you. 

His message hits you harder than anything he’s ever said to you before this, his voice so broken and mixed with hope when he answers, “I won't let you die.”

Tears instantly spring to your eyes, and you collapse to the floor of the Ark, letting the tears fall down your face as you process Bellamy’s message to you. I won't let you die. You know he means it, and you know that your odds of survival are good with both him and Clarke on your side, both of them desperate to save your life. The moment fills you with hope, and you sit crying alone in the Ark, waiting for your family to save you.

-

Everything seems fine until it’s not.

You can tell that something has changed, sensing the stress within your own body, accompanied by the overlapping din of voices above you. You can't make out any of the words, but you don't have to wonder for long, because as you sit in the hall of the Ark, Josephine suddenly bursts through her red door and heads straight to you. She looks panicked, her eyes wide, and you pull yourself to your feet quickly as you sense the incoming danger. “What? What is it?”

“They’re about to chop our head off! I need you to take control so we can live.”

You don't have time to answer her, because she turns to her right and types in a code for a locked door, before grabbing your arm and shoving you through. As usual, you are blinded by a flash of white light and then your eyes open and clear, locked on a gray stone wall. Your heart rate picks up when you realize that you’re back in control of your own body, but you’re also dangerously close to losing your life. Your head is being pressed into a stone, and your hands are being held behind your back, and as everything comes into focus, you hear someone say, “The answer is death to Primes.”

You sense movement to your right, and you call out, “Wait!”

You can tell that the person to your right, the one who intends to cut off your head, freezes, and you work on buying yourself some time. “Gabriel loves her, is this what he would want?”

Your words seem to be the wrong ones, because the man yells out, “Don't you use his name!”

And then you sense his movement again. This time, though, you’re ready for it. As he lifts the sword and swings it around to cut off your head, you kick out at the man holding you in place. Your foot connects with the space by his knee, and you can tell that his leg is broken by the sound alone. He releases you, giving you just enough space to avoid the sword that is coming towards you, which clangs against the rock instead. The man looks down in shock, and you use that to your advantage, grabbing his arm and his other shoulder and pulling him down, smashing his head into the rock. 

You grab his fallen sword and turn and swing at the man with the broken leg, cutting his throat, and as you look up you see a final person coming towards you. The woman moves towards you and you stalk over to her, swinging the sword out and cutting her neck before she can even comprehend your movements. She hits the ground and you stand in place for a second, panting, trying to catch your breath, brought back to reality by your fiance calling your name. 

You look up and meet his eyes, his expression so hopeful, and Clarke watches on, equally as full of hope. You drop the sword and run across the room, grabbing his face with both hands and pulling him into a kiss. You pull away, both of you with tears in your eyes, before you step over to your twin and pull her into a hug, the two of you laugh crying with relief. You only pull away when you hear the sound of approaching voices, and you spin back towards the man who was going to kill you, grabbing the set of keys off of his belt before running back to your fiance and twin.

You quickly try to uncuff them both, but your hands are shaking and anxiety is pulsing through you as the voices grow closer. Bellamy and Clarke are both watching you closely, and Bellamy puts his hand over yours to still your movements. “We don't have time, you have to run!”

You look up at him in alarm, shaking your head sharply. “No! I’m not leaving either of you.”

Clarke reaches out for you, her hand grabbing your wrist, encouraging you to look at her. “Bellamy’s right, there’s no time. Go find Gabriel.”

You look between then both, panicked, but the approaching voices only grow closer, signalling your ticking clock. And you hate that you know they’re right, and you hate the idea of leaving them both, but you know all of your odds are better if you do. Which is why you give them both one last look, the voices just around the corner now, before Bellamy panics and pushes you away, “Go!”

You leave the keys in his hand and you take off running, pushing hard to outrun the voices that seem right at your back. You tear through the woods, leaves and branches smacking you as you go, but you ignore them, trying to put as much distance between you and the Children of Gabriel as you can. You can hear them closing in on you, led by the man that nearly killed you, and you pause and duck behind a tree, trying to catch your breath. You start to run numbers in your head, wondering how many you can reasonably take out before they take you out, and just when you deduce that there are too many of them and not enough of you, you hear the roar of a motorcycle, signaling Sanctum’s arrival. 

You look up, watching as the bikes weave between the trees, and you take off running again, choosing the lesser of two evils, heading straight for the riders. As you move, you scream at the top of your lungs, “Here! I’m here!”

The Sanctum riders fly towards you, pulling up to a stop and grabbing their guns, aiming at the group of people right behind you. As you grow closer to the Sanctum riders, the Children of Gabriel grow closer to you, this game of cat and mouse getting a little too close for your liking. When you’re within a few feet of the riders, Jade, Josephine’s guard, yells out, “Down! Get down!”

You drop to the ground without hesitation, covering your head with your hands, hearing bullets whiz by over head. Someone drops to the ground behind you, landing on your legs, but you don't dare to move until you hear the shooting stop. Finally it does, and you hear Jade shout orders to the others, “I’ve got her, you get the rest!”

You hear three motorcycles drive off, leaving you alone with Jade, and you almost shake your head at how perfect this is starting to play out for you. Because when Jade grabs you and helps you to your feet, you lift a large rock and bring it with you, turning and knocking her out before you’ve even stood to your full height. As you drop the rock, you nearly jump out of your skin when a voice behind you mutters, “Really? She just saved your life.”

You spin around quickly, locking eyes with Josephine, who is standing feet from you, a look of disappointment on her face. But you ignore that and focus on the fact that she is standing right in front of you, outside of the mindspace. “Why can I see you?”

“Because it's getting worse, like I said it would. Look, what you did back there was awesome, but don't let it be for nothing. Give me back control.”

You ignore her, knowing damn well that you have no intention of giving your body back to her. Because it is your body. And despite the panic that courses through you as you realize that you are likely nearing the last few hours of your life, you turn away from Josephine and grab the radio off of Jade’s side. Josephine mutters under her breath, “I'll just get it anyway when you fall asleep.”

But when she sees the radio in your hand, she looks at you in confusion. “What are you doing now?”

You continue to ignore her and lift the radio in your hand, remembering one of Josephine’s memories that you discovered earlier in the evening. Josephine sits in front of her father, anxiously twirling her hair. Russell cuts her a look, but lets the habit slide as he delivers the news. “Spies from Sanctum discovered a camp, just on the verge of the anomaly. There’s a sculpture of radios, which they suspect is how the COGs get messages to Gabriel.” You press the button of the radio and keep your eyes locked on Josephine as you say your name and add, “Gabriel, you don't know me, but I need your help. Josephine Lightbourne is in my head. If you can hear this, we're coming to you.”

You stalk past her and head back to the bike, and she follows you the entire time, pleading to your back. “This is insane. He didn't respond to their call, he's probably dead. Please, let's just go back to Sanctum.”

You grab Jade’s discarded helmet and lift the motorcycle, as Josephine crosses her arms and glares at you. “I'll drive. But for that, you do have to give me back control.”

You swing your leg over the bike as she protests, “You don't know how to-”

You cut her off by starting the bike and revving the engine, another useful memory you have stolen from Josephine’s head. Her glare gets angrier as she watches you, “What else of mine have you stolen?”

You smirk and answer her in Mandarin, “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

And then you pull the helmet onto your head, and drive off, leaving her behind in a cloud of dust.

-

You drive for a while before crashing, thanks to Josephine, destroying your radio in the process. Lucky for you, Josephine knows a place for you to hide, leading you to a bunch of old research outposts nearby. Unlucky for you, you have a seizure almost as soon as you climb down into the outpost, your brain struggling to keep up with the data from two minds.

You have never been more disappointed to wake up in your mindspace, though you’re not sure if that's because of the small taste of control that you got to experience, or the fact that your mind is clearly in disarray. You wake up in your room, surrounded by memories stashed inside of books, but none of them are yours. And as you wander into the hallway, you see that it’s much worse than that. Books are stacked on nearly every available inch of flooring that you can see, and projections from Josephine’s memories wander the halls in various emotional states. Some are angry, some are sad, some are distressed, but all of them are a problem. 

You find Josephine not long after wandering from your room, catching as she walks past you absentmindedly. With the two of you reunited, you briefly consider killing her and ending all of this once and for all, but her response makes you pause. She glares at you, just as annoyed at this entire situation as you are, before she bites back your earlier words to her, “Go float yourself.”

The words give you an idea, a way to save the two of you from your approaching destruction, and you and Josephine run around frantically, trying to float her memories to hold off the impending demise of your brain. You only do a few at first, allowing her to pick the memories that she wants to lose, but soon that has to be abandoned in favor of an all out destruction of property. You rig up the outer doors to vent everything in ten seconds, Josephine’s memories now heavily integrated into your own at this point, both of you well past the point of no return.

You and Josephine head back to your room, into the place you shared with Bellamy, the only room safe from the venting into space that is occurring outside your door. You know it works when Josephine disappears, leaving you alone in your mindspace again. You start to panic, wondering if this is it for you, if Josephine really will make it out of here with control of your body, leaving you to truly die. Just as you really start to spiral into a panic, you catch a pair of voices outside, one familiar, one not. 

Josephine refers to the unfamiliar voice as Gabriel, and you almost cry in relief when you realize that somehow he found you after all. He's not dead, and he’s here to get his ex lover out of your head. Josephine confirms the familiar voice seconds later when she greets Blodreina, and you smile at the fact that somehow Octavia is alive and she’s here to help you. 

Of course, chaos reigns supreme on this damn moon that you hate so much, because as soon as the four of you exit the research outpost, Josephine calls out for the Sanctum guards nearby, begging to be taken back to Sanctum. Gabriel argues and says that Josephine's body, your body, is on the brink of death, and he has to save you now, because neither of you will make it back there. But of course, the guards don't care, and just when Gabriel and Octavia are on the brink of death, they are saved by Bellamy and Clarke, a turn of events that leaves you incredibly thankful to have them in your life. 

Unfortunately, Gabriel’s prediction about your impending death is correct, because Josephine collapses, your legs going numb and giving out beneath her, and Gabriel catches her and whisks her away back to his camp. Clarke, Octavia, and Bellamy follow, and before you know it, you can hear the steady beeping of a heart rate monitor, along with the increasingly clear voices outside of your head. Josephine makes a last ditch plea to save herself and wipe you instead, but thankfully Gabriel ignores her and stops your heart. 

They quickly work to remove the mind drive in your head and then restart your heart again, which should put you back in control. You see the door to Josephine’s side crack and explode, the wall now turning into just another wall of the Ark. You wait patiently, knowing that means that the mind drive is gone, but instead of waking back up in the real world, you remain trapped in your own head. You look around in confusion, wondering why your heart is still stopped, and why you’re still staring at the walls of the Ark. “Wait. Why am I still here?”

“Because I'm still here.” You turn around in confusion, now facing Josephine, and you have a split second to register the axe in her hand before she swings it towards you, cutting your neck. You reach up and grab your wound, light shining between your fingers, as you shake and gasp and watch the enemy in your head. She drops the axe and it tumbles and lands near your side as she mutters, “Sanctum is mine.”

She looks down at your struggling form with a smirk. “I used the surgical mesh. I'm sorry about the whole working together thing, but I know you, Wanlida. If you came back, you'd kill everyone inside Sanctum. It's what you do.”

You struggle to focus on her words as you realize that your version of bleeding out in your mindspace is visually a lot different than bleeding out in the real world. But the pain and the struggle and the suffering, those are all just as real as the world outside of your head. Josephine kneels down across from you, still smirking, watching as you quickly die. She only turns away when another voice outside of your body, Gabriel’s, tells the others, “I'm sorry, but her brain can no longer support two minds.”

You can hear a counter protest, though your mind struggles to decipher the words, only able to unilaterally focus on the pain radiating out from your neck. And as you sit there dying, you can't help but think about how cruel this is. You survived your initial attempted murder, only for this to be the way you go out? In your own head, and watched on by your body snatcher, no less. But as the seconds pass by and you wait for your death, you realize that at least one person is unwilling to let you go. Clarke’s voice reaches you from outside of your mindspace, calling your name, her voice broken and hurting and desperate. “I can't lose you again, la lune! I need you. Bellamy needs you. Madi needs you. Mom needs you. Now wake up!”

You listen to your twin’s broken cries, quickly replaced by the broken cries from the love of your life as he begs you to fight for your life. “I should have fought harder for you. I should have burned Sanctum to the ground and killed everyone that got in my way, but I’m fighting for you now, god damn it! You're a fighter. Now wake up and fight!”

And as soon as he says it, you know he’s right. You told Josephine yourself that you don't go down without a fight, and you meant it. You’re not dead yet and you’re not going to let her win. Josephine seems to listen on with mild amusement, surely plotting the dramatic return she wants to make as soon as you officially die, but unfortunately for her, it's not a return she gets to make. Because you eye the abandoned axe, discarded and sitting right next to you, and you pull one of your hands away from your light bleeding neck and reach for it. The blade scrapes against the floor as you lift it, drawing Josephine’s attention towards you, and this time she’s the one who has a split second to process the current events before you throw the axe right at her center mass, shattering her projection into a million pieces.

And as soon as you do, it’s like a switch flips, because you take in a large, wheezing breath, pulling your eyes open in alarm, feeling nothing but panic. But there are two sets of hands caressing your face, two voices soothing you as you struggle to catch your breath, two familiar faces watching you closely as they look between you. Clarke is the closest to you, and she tentatively whispers your name, searching for any sign that you are really you. And you respond in the only way you think you can by sitting up and pulling her into your arms, holding her tighter than you’ve ever held her before. She’s crying, you’re crying, the Blake’s are crying, and even Gabriel is crying, though for different reasons. 

Clarke releases you so Bellamy can grab you, tugging your face towards him and pressing the most loving kiss to your lips, his mouth telling you everything he wants to say to you in the moment. You kiss him back just as hard, incredibly thankful that you won over Josephine, gaining back control of your body once and for all. And though your heart goes out to Gabriel, you can’t help but be thankful that Josephine is forever gone.

-

In true ‘chaos of Sanctum’ fashion, it turns out that everyone else that you know and love has been left behind in Sanctum and are now likely in danger. And it turns out that Bellamy’s plan to save everyone was to use Josephine’s mind drive to bargain with Russell, using the life of Josephine for the lives of your people. And it turns out that the very same mind drive that was meant to save your people is now empty, because you vented all of Josephine’s memories, and she jumped ship in order to kill you and take your body instead. Too bad for her that you came out on top.

You make the suggestion of going back to Sanctum as Josephine and freeing your people yourself, but you are swiftly shot down by both Clarke and Bellamy. Which sends all of you back to the drawing board, brainstorming ways to save everyone and inflict minimal casualties. That drawing board, however, is taken over by Gabriel’s Children, who all seem a little too eager to kill all of you, with you and Gabriel at the top of their lists. Thanks to some split second decision making on Bellamy’s part, he figures out a plan that gets everyone what they want: you save your people, the Children of Gabriel get to kill Primes, Gabriel gets to save the rest of his people inside Sanctum. Bellamy’s plan, however, gets him and Octavia sent on a supply gathering mission, leaving you, Gabriel, and Clarke behind. 

During which time, you propose to change the plan, a little uneager to release a bomb that will get innocent people killed, this new genocide reminding you a little too much of Mount Weather. And Clarke disagrees at first, uneager to see you march right back to the devil’s side without any back up. But it’s easy for you to convince her, because she's your twin, your other half, and she gets it. She may hate every second of it, but she understands completely the fears you posses about having to carry the weight of another genocide within you. More than that, she trusts you. She knows that you can get the job done and come out of the other side unharmed, which is why ultimately, she agrees.

Once the Blake siblings return, Gabriel breaks the news to them about the change of plans. Octavia doesn't seem to understand why this is a big deal at first, but Bellamy catches on right away. He turns to you with a glare, shaking his head sharply. “No. No way.”

You look at him with pleading eyes, trying to get him to understand why this plan has to happen. “Bellamy, it's the only way.”

“It's not the only way, because we’ll use the bomb as planned. Risking your life when we don't have to is just-”

You cut him off, finishing his sentence, “Is how we do better. Bellamy, I know you’re worried about losing me again, and trust me, I’m terrified to go back there and do this, but I have to. This is how we save lives, and prevent innocent ones from being taken. I know you, and I know you care about that too. If I go in as Josephine and shut down the shield, then Gabriel only needs to use enough red sun toxin to trigger the alarms and kill a few bugs. All of those people, innocent people, will be safe.”

He sighs, scrubbing his hands over his face in frustration, before turning away from you to look at your twin. “You’re okay with this?”

“Not really. But it’s how we do better.”

You can tell he’s starting to reluctantly come around, and he turns back to you, his expression serious. “If you fail, if Russell figures out that his daughter is dead, then all of our people are dead too.”

“I won't fail.”

He gives you a look, but he takes note of your conviction, and you know that he believes in you. And just like Clarke, he gives you his blessing, though you can tell that he hates doing it.  You all turn to look at Octavia, who’s been quiet during the entire exchange. She looks at you for a long second and then nods, “If we can spare innocent lives, we should.”

You smile at her, nodding in thanks as she agrees with you instantly, and with everyone on the same page again, Gabriel goes back to building the smaller bomb. This time though, he is interrupted by the whine of motorcycle engines nearby. You all look up and at each other in shock, knowing what that means.

Sanctum riders. 

Layla and a few other Children of Gabriel storm into the tent, tying all of you up and then gagging you. They spread you out across the room, with you and Bellamy beside each other, Clarke across from you, Octavia to your left and Gabriel to your right. You’re only in there for a few minutes, listening to the fighting outside when you hear a strange scratching sound from the back of the tent. You turn that way, eyes watching as a blade sticks through the material of the tent, dragging down to the bottom, creating a slit in the fabric. You all tense up, unsure who’s about to come inside, surprised when it’s Murphy’s head that pokes through. He steps inside, followed by Jade, a gun in her hand. At the sight of them, you recognize this for what it is: a rescue mission. You know they’re here for you, well at least they're here for your body, and you tense up as you watch Murphy and Jade slip inside.

Murphy steps into the middle of the tent, while Jade sneaks around the back, ducked behind the debris and mess, and once she’s in position, Murphy calls out to Layla, “Hey there.”

Layla spins around quickly, instantly lifting her gun and aiming it at Murphy, but Jade sneaks up behind her a second later and hits her with her rifle, knocking Layla out. Jade grabs Layla’s dropped weapon as she walks past, moving carefully before dropping down in front of you. “Josephine?”

You shift your eyes to Clarke, who gives you a subtle nod of her head, and you know you can't risk looking at Bellamy given his close proximity to you. But you can sense him tensing up, and though you know that he doesn't want you to leave, he’d agree to it too. Which is why you meet Jade’s eyes and nod your head. Jade puts the guns down and pulls the gag out of your mouth, and you make sure to raise the octave of your voice slightly, trying to perfectly capture Josephine’s tone of voice. “Well done, Jade.”

Jade pulls out a knife to cut through the restraints wrapped around your wrists and ankles, and you shift your gaze to Murphy, smirking, “You just can't pick a side, can you, John?”

“The only reason I'm doing this is because Emori dies if I don't.” Murphy turns to look at Bellamy, voice dropping a little. “The others are in trouble too. I promise I'll do what I can for them.”

Jade stands and helps you to your feet, looking between you and Murphy. “Give us two seconds to make sure it's clear, then follow.”

Just then, Layla starts to shift, and Jade grabs and lifts her gun, prepared to kill her. You feel a rush of alarm, and despite the threats she's hurled at you since showing up a few hours ago, you don't want to watch her die. You reach out and put your hand on the barrel, pushing the gun down to lower it, your tone commanding and angry. “No, this one's mine.”

You grab the discarded pistol from the table and aim it at Layla, glancing over your shoulder to look at Jade, who seems content to let you handle this. “Go, make sure it's clear.”

She nods and immediately turns to slip out of the tent, but Murphy stays put, his eyes locked on you suspiciously. “Is she really gone this time?”

“Yes. Boohoo.” You smirk at him, taunting him, using your earlier quip to Josephine and throwing it at Murphy this time. You can see a flash of anger cross his features, but you speak up before he can channel it, reminding him of the danger you’re in, waving the gun slightly. “Now, as soon as I pull this trigger, your little decoy trick will fail. You better run.”

He gives you one last look before he jogs to the cut in the tent and heads outside, and you wait for a full minute before turning back to Layla. She looks up at you with fear, clearly expecting you to kill her, but you surprise her by turning the gun away and then firing a single shot into the floor, keeping her safe. And then you set the gun down and run over to Bellamy, pulling the gag out of his mouth and giving him an earnest look. “I can do this, Bellamy.”

“I know you can. Go get that shield down, and we’ll bring the cavalry.”

You nod and smile, “I love you.”

“I love you more than the stars.” And with that you pull his face to yours and kiss him hard, reminding him of just how much he means to you. You turn and head to the door, stopping in front of Clarke along the way. You pull the gag from her mouth and she whispers, “I believe in you, la lune. Be safe.”

“You too, shining star.”

You give her a quick hug before you stand and look over at everyone one last time before you slip out of the tent and into the cool night air. You look around, eyes searching the woods nearby for any sign of Jade or Murphy, when someone flashes a light at you, signaling their location. You head that way, finding Jade and Murphy waiting for you, and they quickly lead you through the woods and to a pair of bikes hidden underneath a pile of leaves. Jade passes you a helmet before getting the bike upright, and then she waits for you to hop on, expecting you to drive yourself back. You move to straddle the bike, hoping you remember enough to get by as Jade readies the other bike for her and Murphy. And then on her signal, you both fire them up and drive away, heading back towards Sanctum. 

You do pretty well on the ride back, and you arrive at the shield of Sanctum proud of yourself, though you can’t show it. As soon as you hop off the bike, it and your helmet are taken by a nearby guard, and the shield is quickly brought down so all of you can enter inside. You are accompanied by no less than 10 guards, all of whom seem wound tight and on edge. And though you feel the exact same with each step that brings you closer to Sanctum, you keep it hidden beneath a casual air of confident arrogance. 

As soon as you crest the hill that leads to your first view of the palace, you are met with another group of guards, all standing around Russell. When you catch sight of him, you’re sure you're going to throw up, but you suppress the sensation and look away, pretending to take in the sights of Sanctum. And as a last ditch effort, you reach up and casually twirl your hair between your fingers in the way you've seen Josephine do in the hundreds of memories that you watched. With a small deep breath to steady yourself, you turn and meet Russell’s eyes, which are watching you closely. You smile and quip, “What? No hug?”

“Josephine.” His face breaks into the widest grin when he hears that his daughter is alive, and you’d almost feel bad for him if not for the fact that he's an evil body snatching asshole. Still, he takes you up on your offer and steps towards you, pulling you in for one of the tightest hugs you’ve ever experienced. You’re a little caught off guard by his fervor, but even more caught off by the question he mutters near your ear. “How is this possible?” 

He pulls away and you smirk, “It's a long story. Suffice to say, I'm awesome.”

But then you think of the lack of the mind drive in your head and you know that the second he realizes you’re not Josephine you're dead, so you lie and say, “What I'm not, however, is immortal. Gabriel took out my drive.”

Russell’s face falls, but he nods and turns to a pair of guards behind him, motioning to Murphy. “Take him to Emori, and clear the doctor and the rest of their people from the lab.”

Your brows pull together at the mention of your mom and the others in the lab, and the mention of your own mother makes you realize there is another mother missing. You glance around for her and then shift your gaze to Russell. “Where's Mom?”

He lifts his hand, uncurling his fingers to reveal a mind drive, still stained with Nightblood. You do your best to look worried, though you could honestly care less that Simone got what she deserved. “There was an incident, but it's okay. I was just on my way to resurrect her, but that can wait.”

You shake your head, not understanding. “Resurrect her in who?” 

He gives you a look, and you remember the bits and pieces you gathered from Josephine before Bellamy and Clarke dragged you out of Sanctum. Your mom, your real mother, was back in space making the Primes Nightblood. “Abby did it. We can make hosts.”

“Yes, but not how you think.” Your stomach drops as he says that, not sure you want to know what that means. But he doesn't notice, and he reaches out and wraps his arm around you, leading you towards the lab. “Come on, let's get you checked out.”

As soon as he starts to lead you away, he asks for a quick rundown of the events prior to this moment. You keep most of the story the same, aware that bits of the truth will make the lies easier to remember. The only thing you change, however, is the fact that you survived the second mind wipe and Josephine didn't. “Anyway, I killed her in the mindspace. Now here we are.”

As you step into the lab, your eyes fall on a small body strapped to the chair in the center of the room, black blood leading from tubes in their arms and into a small bottle. Your stomach drops even further and you pause a little, before reminding yourself who you are and where you are, leading you to quip, “How about next time, we choose a less crowded host, what do you say?”

As you come around the chair and you finally get a look at who is strapped to it, you have to work hard to keep your expression neutral and impassive, because it’s Madi. Your niece, your little sun, is currently being drained for her Nightblood bone marrow, just like the Mountain Men did in Mount Weather. You try to keep your tone light as you ask, “And what is this?”

You turn to look at Russell with a smirk, channeling Josephine’s unhinged ways, and he answers, “This is how we make hosts.”

You don't get to answer, because Madi starts to stir at the sound of your voice, muttering your name before she asks, “Ani, is that you?”

She sounds so small and hurt and broken and it makes you want to save her and break this whole moon in half. But the rest of your people are out there, and they’re still in trouble, and they're relying on you to get the shield down. So you continue the facade and answer, “No. It's not. She put up a good fight, though, kid. Can't win them all.”

Madi doesn't react well to that, and she starts screaming, “We're gonna kill you! We're gonna kill all of you and everything you love!”

You try to hide the emotion you're feeling as you turn and grab one of the tranq sticks behind you before walking back over to Madi and sticking it in her arm, knocking her out. And then you turn to Russell, curious about how much life your niece has left. “How many doses can we get out of her before she dies?”

His expression changes, and you’re worried you've said the wrong thing, that you sounded too worried when asking. So you backtrack and smile, shaking your head and turning away from her. “You know what? Nevermind. It's time for my new drive, being mortal sucks.”

Russell smiles at you and sets up a chair, motioning for you to sit in it, face hidden from view, giving him access to your neck. As he works on giving you another drive, he tells you about the chaos in Sanctum that occurred while you were gone, including the chain of events that led to the death of Simone, your fake mom. You hum and respond when appropriate, though you spend the entire time anxiously worrying about Madi and Bellamy and Clarke and the rest of your people. As Russell finishes up the stitches on your neck, Madi wakes up again, the tranq stick not working long enough. And as soon as she catches sight of you, she starts yelling again, tugging against her restraints as she rages, “We should've killed you first. Once we're free, you will burn. You will all burn! You will not get rid of us! We are eternal!”

We? Us? You keep your mouth shut during Madi's tirade, terrified that your emotions will make your voice quiver and you’ll give yourself away, but you try to use your silence to process her words, trying to figure out why she's talking about herself in a plural sense. Russell finally has enough of Madi’s yelling and he yells for the guards to retrieve the doctors, which only further fuels your anxiety. Because if your mother breaks down when she finds out that you're not you, you’re worried that you’ll break character to comfort her, getting all of you killed.

You don't have to worry about what you’ll do for long, because the moment quickly comes and the door swings open, your eyes catching sight of three sets of legs. Madi continues to yell and fight until Jackson sedates her, a moment which can't come soon enough. You're able to hide your falling tears as your face is hidden, but you know that the moment will soon be up and you’ll have to face everyone in this room and play your part well. Russell dabs at your neck with a rag and then mutters, “There.”

He squeezes your shoulder, letting you know you're good to get up, and you sit up slowly, your eyes landing on your mother immediately as she stands in front of you, watching you closely. You keep your expression neutral, trying to pretend that you have no emotion or feelings towards her, and she must see that, because she starts to cry. It breaks your heart and you have to look away, distressed at the idea that your mother thinks she’s looking at someone else in your body. Russell distracts you a little by asking, “How do you feel?”

“Peachy keen Josephine.” Your gaze falls back to your mother, who is now crying harder, her face scrunched up and tears rapidly falling down her face. You can't take the sight of it anymore, so you channel Josephine and snap, “Oh, stop it. I'm not her.”

Her sadness morphs into anger, and she walks towards Russell, stopping when she’s close enough to get in his face. “I will kill you for this.”

“I once believed that I would never stray from the moral path, and then I killed my family in the first eclipse. I'd have done anything to bring them back, so I believe you.”

And then he turns and holds out a hand for you, which you reach out and take. He leads you from the room, past your mother and your niece and your friends, and you manage to call out, “Toodle-loo.” before practically running from the room. Russell leads you past the creepy army of skeletons that watched over you as you were nearly murdered, before taking you out of the reliquary and up the stairs to the palace. You walk into a large dining hall together, Murphy and Emori already sitting at a table inside, as Russell turns to you, his voice low. “You must be starving, let's get you something to eat. After that, I need you to handle the Naming Day preparations.”

You shake your head, well aware that if you get sucked into party planning, you’ll never be able to get away and get the shield down. But you know you can't say that, so instead you say, “I'm not hungry and I just got back. Get Priya to do it.”

He looks into your pleading eyes, and you know he’s picturing the first Josephine, the one he killed, the one he raised from birth. And his sentiment is enough for him to swing over to your side. “Fine, I'll get Priya to do it.” 

“Good. Now, if I spend one more minute like this,” you motion down to your clothes, the ones that you wear daily, but the ones that Josephine seems to despise. “I will spontaneously combust from the shame.”

Russell smiles and nods, “Go get cleaned up, I'll resurrect your mother.”

From the table nearby, Emori calls out, “Wait, does that mean Echo's still alive?”

Echo. She's the next host for Simone. You rack your brain quickly, wondering how you can buy her time before she gets wiped out for good. You decide to continue playing off of Russell’s sentiment, hoping it’s enough to delay Echo’s murder. “Hey, I want to be there when Mom comes back. Wait for me?”

Lucky for you and for Echo, Russell smiles and nods his head again. “Of course, sweetheart. Be quick.”

You nod and turn and walk out, Jade following you as you go. You almost roll your eyes but you refrain, already working on how to get rid of her. As you reach the doors of your room, she takes up her post outside, and you stop and look at her before you step inside. “I’m gonna get cleaned up and take a shower. Don't wake me for a few hours, I had a long night.”

She nods once, letting you know she understands, and then you turn and head into Josephine's room, closing the door shut behind you. You head straight for the bathroom and turn on the water in the shower before stepping over to the mirror and looking at your reflection. You don't have time to actually shower but you look like hell, and there's no way Josephine would be walking around like this. So you quickly clean your face off and fix your hair, before raiding Josephine’s closet for an outfit that is nicer than your own, but practical enough that you can kick ass in it if you need to. Once you look presentable, you turn off the shower and throw your clothes in the trash, thinking it’s something that dramatic ass Josephine would do. 

You ruffle the sheets to make them look slept in, just in case someone walks into this room, and then you head to the window and swing it open to look outside. There’s nothing beneath your window, but there is a series of balconies that zig zag along the wall, starting to your left. And if you stand on the edge of your window and say enough prayers to the Universe, you think you can reach it if you jump out towards it. Thankfully, Sanctum is on lockdown because of the spreading revolution, so no one sees you leaping and jumping your way from the top of the palace down to the bottom. The whole experience reminds you of escaping the throne room in Polis after Clarke destroyed the City of Light, and the reminder of Bellamy and Clarke is enough to fuel your descent down to the ground. 

The night is fading when you finally reach the ground, the suns starting to rise in the sky, urging you to get a move on as everyone is likely just outside of the shield by now, waiting for you to take it down. You sneak around the palace and to the front, heading straight for the lab again, the guards opening the door to you without a second thought. You keep your expression neutral and your head high, exuding all the power that you can possibly manage as you step into the lab. Your mom, Jackson, and Raven all jump and scramble apart, clearly up to something based on their nervous expressions. 

But you ignore them and jog towards your mom, reaching out and pulling her into your arms, hugging her tight and letting her know you're okay. She freezes and whispers your name, still skeptical, and you feel tears start to fall down your face as you nod, letting her know that it’s actually you. She wraps her arms around you and hugs you back just as tightly, both of you crying as you hold each other. She cries into your hair, “What happened? I thought I...how?”

You both pull apart and you reach up to swipe away your fallen tears. “It's a long story, but I'm okay.”

She accepts that's all you can say for now, before you turn your gaze to Madi, who is still sedated, looking even worse than before. You feel worry etch itself into your features and Raven catches sight of it before she informs you, “It's the Flame.”

You look up at her in horror. “The Flame that I put in her head?”

“It’s Sheidheda. I'm working the problem, but I need Becca's book.”

You look down at Madi, and as much as you hate to say it, you know that getting the shield down is the first priority. Because without any Primes in need of Nightblood, she’ll be safe again. You turn to look at Raven again and you mutter, “That can wait because I need you to come with me. We don't have much time, we have to lower the shield. Bellamy, Clarke, and Octavia are waiting with the Children of Gabriel.” 

“I can't go with you.” Raven shakes her head, her eyes dropping down to Madi. “If she wakes up again, Sheidheda will kill her.”

You nod, thinking before you counter, “Okay, I'll use Ryker. The reactor's beneath the machine shop anyway.”

“No.” You look up at her in surprise, her objection coming out stronger than you were expecting. You must look confused because she clarifies, “Ryker turned Echo in, he won't help you.”

“He won’t help me, but he’ll help Josephine. She can be very persuasive.” You turn your focus back to your mom, your voice almost pleading. “Until then, promise me you won't take any more bone marrow.”

Jackson pipes up, “That's not a problem now. There's another Nightblood in the family.”

You look at your mom in shock, about to object, but she shakes her head, reaching out to put her hand on your cheek. “I won't let them take her.”

Jackson recalls the time all of you spent in Becca’s lab, back before Praimfaya, back before body snatching Primes, and he muses, “Like mother, like daughter.”

You ignore him, focusing on your mother still. “I love you.”

She smiles at you, bright and genuine and happy, and you marvel at it, as it’s a smile she gives you so rarely. You tuck it into your memory, wanting to keep it forever as she whispers back, “I love you too, la lune. Now go save us all.” 

You nod and head straight to Ryker’s shop to persuade him to take the shield down for you. Unfortunately, instead of Ryker, you find Ryker’s dead body, his skin cool to the touch, meaning he’s been out for a while. You make a split second decision to take his mind drive so you can use it as leverage against Priya, and no sooner do you get the drive out does Russell open the door to the shop and head your way. He seems oblivious to the drive you have stolen, or the fact that you snuck out hours ago, and you frame Echo as the thief of the drive, vowing to get it back for him. Russell agrees and tells you he’s going to resurrect the others in the meantime, giving you enough time to find Echo and the missing drive so that you can end this once and for all. He also forces you to take a handful of guards with you, and you have to hide your annoyance as they are just one more roadblock in your way.

You search a few places for Priya, relieved when you finally find her inside the tavern, stiff and uncomfortable. You assume your Josephine persona and call out to her, “Priya, there you are. I've been looking all over.”

She turns around in shock and gives you a cool smile when she sees you. “Josie. I heard you had quite the adventure.”

“You have no idea, and I'll tell you all about it, but first I need your help with something in the machine shop.”

She looks at you with concern, “What did Ryker do now?”

“More like what didn't he do.” You drop your voice lower, so the others in the tavern can't hear you as well. “Dad asked him to wipe one of the prisoners, but he's completely lost his nerve. It's embarrassing.”

“He's never wanted to face the reality of our situation. Let's go.”

The two of you turn to leave, heading towards the door with your guards right behind you, but you only make it halfway there before a loud yell comes from behind you. You and Priya jump and turn around in shock, just in time to see Echo vaulting herself off the bar, taking out one of your guards. Gaia and Miller jump over next and take out the other two, and as soon as Priya sees that you are both guardless, she turns to the door in fear, yelling, “Josephine, come on!”

But as she tries to run past you, you reach out and punch her, knocking her out, and her body falls to the floor with a thud. You look up and meet the surprised eyes of your friends, and you smile at them, letting them know it’s you. Echo smiles back and whispers, “I knew it.”

She walks towards you and pulls you in for a hug, and she releases you a moment later, allowing you to hug both Miller and Gaia in greeting. With the mini reunion out of the way, Gaia looks at you with confusion. “How are you here?”

“I'll explain later, but first we need to lower the shield. Bellamy and Clarke are out there with the cavalry. We can get Priya to help me take down the reactor, and then we go after Madi.”

They nod in agreement, letting you know they’re with you, and you, Echo, Miller, and Gaia all sneak Priya back to Ryker’s shop and anxiously wait for her to wake up. The suns have already set on this impossibly short day, and you continue to grow anxious with each passing second, aware that a whole bunch of people are relying on you to get this damn shield down so Gabriel can deploy the toxin. Though, you start to think that someone somewhere got the plan mixed up, because you hear alarms go off for the toxin, though the shield is still very much up and Priya is still very much unconscious. You smack her face a few times to wake her up, and you threaten to smash Ryker’s drive if she doesn't agree to cooperate. The threat seems to do the job because she quickly types in the code to take it down before Miller tugs the bag back down on her head after you motion for the group to follow you. 

You all sneak down to the base of the stairs to Sanctum, waiting for Bellamy and Clarke to arrive with the others, and after a few tense minutes of waiting, they come running up the hill towards you. They both hug you desperately, grateful that you’re still alive, and you inform them of the danger you’re all in now that Gabriel has deployed the toxin too early. A crowd has gathered outside the palace, and a collective decision is made to tell the truth using Priya, all of you hoping that will be enough to convince the people of Sanctum that they are living a lie, and that the ensuing chaos will be enough for you to get your people out.

Bellamy agrees to take Priya and the drive and do the talking, since he's always been the best with speeches, and a few minutes later the tides seem to have turned in your direction. That is, until Russell steps out of the palace and gives a short speech about how disappointed he is, seconds before he deploys a small bomb made of red sun toxin. This toxin quickly spreads through the crowd, turning believers against non believers, and the Children of Gabriel that are all around you pass out the antitoxin so none of you will be affected.

As Bellamy returns and you all try to figure out what to do now, Miller catches sight of Raven, Madi, and Jackson being led into the palace, all three of them restrained. Miller and Clarke seem desperate to reach the people you love, but you know damn well that you have the best chance of getting in there and getting them out alive. And though Clarke and Bellamy again seem reluctant to let you go, they know you have the best chance too. So with another tearful goodbye you head to the palace with Gaia in tow, who is pretending to be one of your guards. As soon as you step inside of the large dining hall where the others are gathered, Gaia melts into the background and you look around the room, taking everything in.

Murphy and Emori are dressed in the nicest clothes you've ever seen them in, both of them also wearing makeup, clearly now part of the elite group of Primes. Gabriel is also in the room, surprisingly enough, restrained and being held captive along the edge of the room. The rest of the room is dotted with various other Primes, all recently resurrected. As soon as Russell sees you, he anxiously walks your way. “Thank God. Where have you been?”

“I was looking for Priya, but then I was blocked by a bunch of Gabriel's lunatic children. She's dead, by the way. What the hell is going on?”

A surprising voice answers from behind you, “We're leaving Sanctum until it's purified.”

You turn around in confusion, coming face to face with your mother, dressed in Sanctum clothes. She crosses the room and closes the space between the two of you, and you tentatively whisper, “Mom?”

You already know in your bones that it isn't her, but you pray that she answers you in some way, letting you know that she’s still inside her head. You pray that your mother has not just been body snatched by the asshole Primes, but you already know that she has. Gabriel must sense your turmoil because he answers for your mother, “Your mother murdered her mother. Ironic, don't you think?”

And Gabriel’s confirmation hits you like a train. You want to scream and cry and truly burn this fucking moon to the ground for all they have done to you and your family, but you can't. You have a part to play and you have to play it for your people’s sake. So you turn to Gabriel and mask your sorrow for your mother as sorrow of regret, slapping him across the face as you snap, “Don't you speak to me. How could I have ever loved such a traitor?”

You feel tears run down your face, only visible to Gabriel, and your mother, your bodysnatched mother, puts a comforting hand on your shoulder, not realizing that your tears are for the body she’s in. “Oh, sweetheart. At least you have closure.”

Russell cuts your mourning short as he anxiously eyes the room. “That's enough. Now that we're all accounted for, it's time to go. Have you all taken the antitoxin?”

Everyone nods, you included, but you also shake your head in confusion. “Go? Where?”

“To space, of course. Sanctum has lost us. For now, anyway.”

One of the Primes argues, “We have no pilot. Priya's dead. Maybe if you didn't kill the Lees.”

“That won't be a problem.” Your mother, Simone, turns and grabs a gun from one of the guards, before spinning and locking her gaze on Raven. “We don't need the Lees, do we, Raven?”

“Go float yourself, murderer.”

Simone cocks the gun and points it at Madi, and you have to work hard to keep your fear hidden beneath your neutral expression. “How about now?”

Raven looks distressed, tears streaming down her face, her eyes darting over to you. You can’t say or do anything that will give yourself away, but you have to hope she’s as desperate to save Madi as you are. And it seems as though she is, because she turns her gaze back to Simone, nodding her head and softly whispering, “Okay.”

“Good choice.”

Russell accepts the compliance and begins yelling orders, “Guards, take the prisoners. We're using the tunnel, but be prepared for anything.” Everyone starts to file out of the room behind the guards and the prisoners, leaving you to linger behind. Russell starts to walk past you, but pauses when he reaches Gabriel. “Goodbye, old friend. Sanctum is yours, though I suspect you won't last very long.”

He stalks out of the room with Simone on his arm, leaving just you, Gaia, Murphy, Emori, and a few guards. You start to slowly follow the others out of the room, and Murphy and Emori pass you as you do, heading in the wrong direction. You stop and turn to ask, “You're not coming?”

Murphy is upset, and you can see tears in his eyes, with some already fallen down his face. He steps close to you, his voice an angry whisper. “You killed her. All she did was help and you killed her.”

You feel tears rise to your eyes when you realize he’s talking about you. Everyone's favorite cockroach is expressing regret and sadness for the way things went down with you and your body snatching. You glance at Emori, wondering if she shares the sentiment, and you catch the tears in her eyes before she nods. “We're staying. We're gonna save our people.”

You turn to look at Murphy, figuring it’s safe enough to let him know that you're okay. You smile a little and whisper, “I'm proud of you, Murphy.”

His eyes go wide as he realizes that you called him Murphy and not John, and you see the smallest smile grace his lips before he remembers to hide it. But he lets you know that he understands by leaning close and whispering, “Just so you know, Josephine called me ‘John’.”

You don’t get the chance to say anything else, because Russell calls out from behind you, “Josie, Daniel, Kaylee, is there a problem?”

You quickly wipe away your tears, and put a sneer on your face, turning to face him. “They changed their minds. Cowards.”

“The mind drive is a terrible thing to waste.” He shrugs and then turns to look at you again, “Josie, bring your guards and let's go.”

“Guards, move out.”

As all of you start heading towards the door, Gaia included, Russell catches a glimpse of her and yells out, “Wait, she's one of them! Throw her to the wolves.”

Four sets of guns turn on her, and Gaia looks at you with fear. You do some quick thinking and shout, “No! I saw her in Clarke's mind. Threatening the child may work on Raven, but if I'm right, we need her to get on that ship.”

You turn to look at Russell, trying to convince him that you know what you're talking about, and he finally nods, motioning for the other guards to lower their guns and grab her instead. They comply, and Russell takes one last look around the room before motioning for you to leave ahead of him, as he and the other guards follow closely behind.

You all quickly head to the transport ship and board with your hostages, and Raven flies you up to the Eligius mothership despite her earlier disagreement. You, Russell, and Simone all stand in the airlock with guns to the heads of your hostages, waiting for the doors to slide open so you can begin your negotiations. Some of Wonkru, led by Indra and accompanied by Niylah, all stand at the entrance waiting, guns pointed your way. At first, Indra seems unwilling to let any of you board, but luckily Gaia manages to signal to her mother to stand down, allowing all of you to take control of the ship. All of the people who are awake on the ship are led to the mess hall where they can be easily contained, and as soon as you let Madi and the other prisoners go, Madi yells out for those in the room to attack.

They are quickly shot down, restoring order within seconds, and you cross the room to Madi in a flash, smacking her across the face so hard that you knock her out. You let out a shaky breath, trying to push back your emotions over hitting your niece, though only your people see it because of the way you’re facing. You quickly compose yourself and turn back to your fellow Primes, heading towards the door as you call out, “Let them rot!”

All of the Primes follow you out into the hall, and once there, you start to discuss next steps. One of the male Primes, you don't know who, turns to Russell as soon as you are outside of the mess hall. “Planet Beta. Russell, we don't even know if it's survivable.”

“If it isn't, we go for Gamma, then Delta, then Epsilon. We won't even have to land to find out if it's survivable. Assuming there are no other signal sucking anomalies, we can access the mind drives of the other teams wirelessly from up here.”

Everyone seems placated with this information, everyone that is, except for Simone. She turns to her husband, shaking her head. “Russell, I love you, and I will go with you across the stars and back, but that child is a problem.”

You roll your eyes, hoping you can diffuse the talk of murdering Madi with a Josephine style joke. “Oh, for God's sake, she has the blood. In fact, dibs on her as my next host.”

Russell adds, “Simone, if we kill their leader, they will never follow us, and we need those people to serve us unless you plan on cleaning latrines.”

She sighs, clearly only on board with the idea of keeping Madi alive, because she doesn't want to do the jobs that she thinks she is too superior for. The thought makes you sick to your stomach. “Fine, but we’re killing her sleeping army because I promise you they are already talking about how to wake them. We brought enough mind wiping fluid to erase them all in their sleep, where they'll be perfectly preserved until one of us needs a new host.”

Your mind starts to race, wondering how much longer you can keep up this facade while still also saving the hundreds of Wonkru and Eligius people that are sleeping peacefully on this ship. You miss the agreement of the other Primes, and you're only pulled out of your head when Russell turns to you expectantly. “Josie, what say you?”

You slap a smile on your face and answer, “Are you kidding? It's brilliant! A little genocide, a long nap. What the hell? Let's be explorers.”

Russell sends the other Primes to the bridge of the ship, while you, him, and Simone retrieve the mind wiping fluid from the transport ship and head towards the sleeping army. You offer to carry it for them, and they think nothing of it, passing the liquid to you as they discuss the logistics of how to vent this into the room. The whole way to the cryo chambers all you do is search for an opportunity to run off with this liquid, but you don’t know what you’d do after that or where you’d go. You're stuck on a ship in the sky with no way to fly back down to Sanctum, all while the rest of your friends are locked up on the other side of the ship. So instead, you go along with the plans and discussions, nodding when appropriate, standing near the back as Simone rigs up the ventilation system to hold the fluid. She works quickly, all while you rack your brain to stop this, but you struggle to think of anything useful. Eventually though, time is up, and Simone reaches out to you. “Hand me the serum.”

You pull it away from her outstretched hand, your brain only able to come up with one distraction technique. You look at Simone with concern, before asking, “Are you feeling okay? You look pale. Have you had any nosebleeds or memory flashes that aren't familiar?”

“No, what are you talking about?”

You try to sound as casual as you can when you answer, “Oh, it's something I saw in the mindspace. Her mother had the same neuromesh as she did. I thought they destroyed it with an EMP, but-”

Russell cuts you off, his voice resolute and a smile on his face, as if failed mind wipes are a funny little mistake. “They did, I examined her before resurrection. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.”

Your blood runs cold, and you realize that this is it. There are no more stops for you to pull, no more tricks. You have to give up your advantage, reveal that you’re not Josephine at all, because that’s the only way to prevent a genocide. So when Simone reaches for the container again, you pull your arm away, backing up and putting distance between you and Josephine’s parents. Russell seems to figure it out first, though Simone is right behind him. His eyes well up with tears as he looks at you with sorrow, and you have another thought that it would be heartbreaking if he wasn't talking about a murdering body snatcher who tried to kill you multiple times, just so she could keep your body. “No, not Josie!”

You back away from the grieving parents, looking between then, shaking your head. “I can't let you kill these people. And believe it or not, I am sorry for your loss.”

You give them both one last look before you take off running, trying to put as much distance between you and them as you can. You don't hear the thundering of footsteps following you, and you start to rack your brain on why they wouldn’t follow you, until you have the horrifying realization that they’re likely grabbing Madi and searching for some way to track your mind drive. Deciding to tackle one problem at a time, you head to one of the hallways that holds an outer door, rigging up a way to get yourself out of this mess. You find a supply closet with a bunch of old and broken items from the ship, including a few discarded safety tethers. You grab them and head back to the lever to the outer door, tying them as tight as you can to a large metal bar on the wall. Then you attach the other side of the tether to your waist, hoping that it’s strong enough to hold you if the Primes call you on your bluff.

Sure enough, a few minutes later the Primes come into the hall, a tracker held in one of their hands, weapons in all the others. As soon as you see them you reach out and put your hand on the lever and yell, “Don't move! I set the inner door to stay open when I pull this, so you can put the guns down, or you can float.”

The Primes all freeze, looking between each other in shock, wondering what to do, when Simone turns her gun on all the others, “You heard her, weapons down now.”

You look at her with hope, lip quivering as you fight back tears, realizing that maybe your mom is okay after all. “Mom?”

She turns to you with a smile, and it warms your entire body. “Yes, it's me.”

The other Primes all put their guns down, and once your mother knows that you're safe, she turns to you with tears in her eyes. “I've been pretending too. Now let's lock them up and go save Madi.”

She turns back to the others, still pointing her gun at them, but something about the situation isn't sitting right with you. You aren't sure what, maybe it's because she didn't use your nickname or hug you or doesn't seem as emotional as she usually would be. Maybe it’s the fact that you remember Russell’s words about how he double checked for a neural mesh and found none, meaning there would be nowhere for your mother to go in the mindspace. Regardless of what it is, you call out to your mom's back, “What's my father's name?”

You repeat his name in your head like a mantra, begging her to say it, but your mother only turns around and looks at you with a blank expression. That’s enough for you to know the truth, that your mother truly is dead, and Simone is just trying to play you. You can tell that she knows you aren't buying it anymore, because she tries to turn her gun on you, but you quickly pull the lever to the outer door, sending all of the other Primes into space. Simone is the exception though, because she manages to reach out for you on her way past, wrapping her arms around your waist and holding onto you tightly as you both move and shift with the rushing air. You look down into your mother’s face, now being worn by someone else, and you swear you can feel your heart rip in half. You killed this woman's daughter, and you know she'll never let you live after this.

Which is why you put your hand on your mother’s forehead and push, sending her out into space with the other Primes. You use the tether to make your way back to the lever, pushing it down so you can close the outer doors again. You hit the ground with a thud, a sob tearing through you for the first time, finally able to mourn the loss of your mother. But then you remember that Russell was not with the group, and he likely has Madi, so you push your emotions aside for now, tucking them away. You untie yourself and head straight for the mess hall in search of your niece. You use Shaw’s failsafe code to get into the room, looking around at the group gathered there as they all stare at you in shock. “Where's Madi?”

Gaia answers, “Russell took her.”

“Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no.” You feel your knees give out beneath you as you realize that this is it for Madi. She is going to be killed for what you've done, and there is likely no way for you to stop it. Raven comes over to you, grabbing your arm, trying to comfort you. “We'll get her back.”

You look up at her with tears in your eyes, “No, you don't understand. I killed his family, and now he's gonna kill mine.”

Before she can answer you, the door to the mess hall slides open. You scramble to your feet and watch Madi and Russell walk in, followed by a large group of armed warriors. Indra mutters, “The demon awoke Wonkru.”

Madi yells, “Kneel if you want to live!”

You are the first one to kneel, tears in your eyes, and she looks down at you with disgust. “They said you were strong, but you're weak. Your love has made you so.”

You feel your tears spill down your face, and you lean over to one of the Wonkru guards nearby, snatching the pistol from his side and holding it to your temple. You look into Madi’s eyes, ignoring the fact that Sheidheda has made them so cold and unfeeling, and you start to beg. “Madi, I know you're in there. Please come back. I lost my mother today, I nearly lost myself. I don't know if Clarke and Bellamy are okay, and I can't lose you too. Please.”

She looks at you with a blank stare and the tears fall down your face as you reach for the trigger. “I'm gonna pull the trigger in 3...2…”

You nearly make it to one, stopping as Madi takes in a deep breath, holding up her hand and yelling, “Take the Prime and his men!”

Wonkru immediately responds and lowers their weapons, only turning them on Russell and his other men. Madi runs across the room and straight into your arms, both of you hugging each other tightly as you relish in the fact that you have saved one of your family members today. But just as you’re enjoying your reunion, Madi starts to seize up in your arms, sending you into a panic as Raven yells, “Get her upstairs!”

Jackson and Indra both grab her and quickly carry her upstairs, and you run up after them, despite not knowing what's going on. They take her into a small medical lab and strap her to a table as Raven lifts an electrical cord and sticks it into the open wound on Madi’s neck, presumably connecting it to the Flame, all the while Madi continues to seize. You call out to her, letting her know you’re here for her, trying to encourage her to fight in the same way that Clarke and Bellamy encouraged you. “Madi, I'm here. Listen to my voice, you can do this! You have to fight, Madi. You have to fight!”

Raven furiously types away at the computer, isolating Sheidheda’s code before yelling, “Got him!”

The code starts to delete from the Flame, uploading onto the other computer in the room. As soon as it’s up and out of Madi’s head, you look down at her expectantly, waiting for her to wake up. But in the same way you didn't immediately wake up after Gabriel tried to restart your heart, Madi doesn't move either. You reach out and press your finger to her neck, your stomach dropping when you barely feel a faint flutter beneath her skin. “Her pulse is too weak.”

Raven looks at you, remembering what it was like after you fried the Alie chip in her head. “We have to take it out like you did with me after the EMP.”

Jackson immediately hops into action and grabs a scalpel, increasing the cut on Madi’s neck before reaching for a pair of forceps. He uses them to pull the Flame out of her head, the AI looking terrible and destroyed as it pulls free from her neck. As soon as it’s out, Madi takes a deep breath, Sheidheda finally gone, her mind back to only holding one Commander. You drop down beside her, smoothing her hair back from her face and smiling as you whisper, “Hey little sun, I’m here. You’re gonna be okay.”

She smiles at you slightly, still weak and exhausted, whispering, “Thank you, ani.”

You transfer your gaze to Raven, who is standing close, looking down at Madi with worry, and you reach out to her and grab her hand, squeezing in thanks, well aware that she did all of the work. “Thank you, Raven.”

She squeezes back, her face full of regret when she counters, “I’m sorry about Abby.”

You nod, still not ready to process the loss of your mother. And with your niece saved and your people saved, you want nothing more than to get back down to Sanctum to make sure that Bellamy and Clarke are safe. Raven agrees to get you ready to fly within minutes, and you assemble a small team to head back down to Sanctum, while everyone else waits it out for a while, allowing you to make sure it's safe for them to follow.

You’re relieved when the transport ship finally lands back inside Sanctum, ready to reunite with Bellamy and your twin again. You and Madi walk hand in hand back to the village, both of you leading the group of your people as you return. Everyone starts to break away from the group and hug their friends and family as they see them, and you're almost caught off guard by both Bellamy and Clarke running your way. Clarke runs straight for Madi and lifts her in her arms, holding her tight, while Bellamy scoops you up in a hug and twirls you, both of you laughing with happiness. He puts you down so he can kiss you, and when he pulls away, he pulls away just enough to whisper against your lips, “I had a whole speech planned, but I can't wait any longer. Will you marry me?”

Your smile grows wider, loving this proposal just as much as the first one, as this one comes off the heels of your nearest death experience to date, and you whisper back, “Yes, of course I will.”

Bellamy smiles and kisses you again, before sliding the ring on your finger, looking the happiest he has in a while. Clarke lets out a little happy cheer, and you roll your eyes at your twin before pulling her in for a hug, just as happy to see that she’s okay, and she hugs you back, celebrating the fact that despite all the odds, you survived. As the two of you pull apart and look Bellamy’s way, he starts to tell you all about the journey that Gabriel has planned and how all of you should go with him. Your mind flashes to your mother and how she’s now dead and gone, floated just like your father, and you desperately want to escape the memory of what you’ve done. Which is why you agree to the journey with Bellamy and the others, hoping it’s enough to take your mind off of things. Your mother’s death is exactly why Clarke agrees to stay, hoping that she can clean up the mess in Sanctum and make her proud. So though it pains you both to separate again so soon after reuniting, you do, both of you needing to process her death in your own ways.

-

You, Bellamy, Octavia, Gabriel, and Echo all head back to Gabriel’s camp together, exchanging stories of what all of you have missed. Before you know it, you make it back to Gabriel’s camp, and he leads you all inside of the tent, motioning for you to gather around as he pulls the rubber panels that make up the floor away, tossing them to the side, revealing an old hatch. “I have to tell you I'm very excited about this. I've been studying those symbols since we found the stone, we built the camp here because of it.”

He lifts the hatch, revealing a short ladder into the ground, and he climbs down inside. All of you file down the ladder after him, standing at the base of it, staring at the object hidden from the world beneath this camp. It’s a large ball, made of metal, designed in the same swirl on Octavia’s back. The entire thing is covered in different symbols, and somehow, the ball is floating, supported by nothing. All four of you stare it in shock, not believing what you’re seeing, and Gabriel just smiles at you, glad you’re just as enamored as he is.

Gabriel walks towards the stone, Octavia right behind him, as he says, “It's thousands of years old. We have no idea who made it or what generates the magnetic field that holds it up, but we're pretty sure it's what sucks in all the radio signals.”

Some of the symbols on her back are red, it's a code.”

“Very good. We're about to find out what it's for.” Gabriel holds his hand out to Octavia, “May I see the drawing, please?”

She pulls the drawing of the tattoo from her pocket, passing it to him, and he unfolds it, searching the stone for each of the red symbols, and then touching them with two fingers, the symbol humming beneath his touch. As he works, Bellamy asks, “What happens if you're right?”

“I filled 100 notebooks with possible answers to that question.” He comes to a stop in front of the last signal, now standing beside Octavia. He turns to her, a small smile on his face. “The last symbol in the series is called an octonion. Advanced mathematics way above my head, but I don't think it's a coincidence you share a name. Please, it should be you.”

He gestures to the symbol, and she hesitates for a second before touching it, the symbol humming beneath Octavia’s touch. With the last symbol entered, you all stand waiting, staring at the stone in search of what’s going to happen next. Except, nothing happens, the moment stretching on for too long, and Gabriel’s face falls as he looks down at the sketched out tattoo again. “No, no, no, no, no. It can't be right, we must have got something wrong.”

As he turns to look at Octavia, a low rumble starts to shake the ground above, a sound not unnoticed by your fiance. He holds up his hand to Gabriel, gesturing for him to stop talking. “Quiet.”

All of you stand perfectly still, the rumbling growing increasingly louder, a strange green glow coming from the ground above the hatch. Gabriel looks up with a smile, the paper in his hand slipping from his grip, floating to the ground. “Oh, my God. I knew it.”

He bolts past all of you and heads up the ladder incredibly fast, and all of you scurry after him, trying to keep up. When you get into the tent, it’s flapping and shaking like you're in the middle of a windstorm, and a bright green light surrounds everything, casting an eerie glow. The sound is almost deafening, and you yell to be heard above it, “What the hell is this?”

Octavia just ominously whispers, “She's here.”

You look at her, taking note of the shocked expression on her face, very different from the confused expression on your own. She starts to walk forward slowly, and you hear a high pitched whine from the mouth of the tent, seconds before a figure starts to step inside. It's a girl, not much older than you are, her hair done up in two buns. She has symbols like the ones tattooed on Octavia back, except hers are on her face, etched across her cheeks and forehead. Octavia laughs when she sees the girl, a sound of happy shock, and she says, “Hope.”

You all look at Octavia, wondering what the hell is going on, and the girl, Hope, answers, “I couldn't get out of it, he has my mother. I'm so sorry, Octavia.”

They embrace, pulling each other into a hug, one that seems stiff and awkward, and Bellamy watches on, his anxiety growing. He yells, “Octavia, what's happening?”

Octavia leans up and whispers something in the girl’s ear, the words lost to all of you over the roar of whatever is happening around you, and as soon as she finishes talking, they pull apart. Hope steps backwards, a knife in her hand, the tip coated in blood, and Echo yells, “Knife!”

The pieces fall together, and you and Bellamy look at O, who starts to fall backwards, clutching her side. Bellamy catches her, his voice worried as he mutters, “O.”

Echo runs over to Hope and restrains her, along with Gabriel, as Bellamy holds his sister in his arms, you right at their side. You reach out to Octavia, pulling her layers aside to get a look at the wound, and as you do, you hear another high pitch whine, seconds before a bright green cloud slides into the tent, washing over Octavia and then pulling away. As the green glow subsides, you and Bellamy stare at his now empty arms, his sister carried off by the bright beam of light. You look up at each other, sharing a look of disbelief, trying to confirm that you both saw the impossible. He looks back down at his shaking hands, her blood covering one of them, evidence that Octavia was here, and then he turns and heads for the exit of the tent looking for her. You follow him outside, Hope collapsing as you walk past, but you ignore her, following your fiance out into the woods, the bright green light subsiding, returning back to where it came from. 

The woods outside are empty, devoid of any sign of Octavia, no blood, no clothing, no nothing left behind as proof that she was out here. Bellamy spins in place, tears falling down his cheeks, his voice breaking with worried desperation as he yells, “Octavia! Octavia! Octavia!”

And there’s nothing for you to do but watch as the love of your life falls apart, his sister now gone. The mystery of Sanctum grew and then subsided, taking Octavia Blake with it.

-

[t100fic-for-blm]

OUR BELLARKE FICS

part five

41. THE BEATING OF OUR HEARTS IS THE ONLY SOUND

author: @the-most-beautiful-broom

teen | modern au | love guaranteed au | lawyers

After 1,000 first dates, Clarke Griffin is still single. Bellamy Blake likes to think he's above a simple cash grab gotcha lawsuit, but something's got to pay the bills, and the new client is more charming than he'd like to admit. The case might teach them a thing or two about love, guarantees, and first impressions

42. WE FOUND LOVE IN A HOPELESS PLACE

author: @bellarkestitchdelena

moodboard: @broashwhat

general | modern au | enemies to friends to lovers | hospitalization

Bellamy cant believe that out of every one he is stuck in a hospital room with the virus with of all people Clarke Griffin. Due to over crowding the hospital has started doubling up the rooms. Clarke is such an uptight princess he cannot stand her. She has always been labeled as the rich girl at Ark highschool. Bellamy how ever is always over looked and too busy taking care of his kid sister to be noticed by anyone, but that was before they both ended up here.

43. A MILLION LITTLE TIMES

author: @that-english-nerd

moodboard: @broashwhat

explicit | fantasy au | royalty | illicit affairs

As he collapses on top of her, letting go of her hands to wind his arms around her burning body and burying his mouth at the crook of her neck, she tangles her hands in her hair and tries to steady the racing of her heart. The cool night breeze fans their heated bodies. The princess' eyes catch on the sliver of the moon through the billowing curtains, fingers tightening in the soft plush of his curls, and her lips curl into a wry smirk. If the sun could see what the moon saw in the kingdom of Arkadia, it'd be blinded.

44. YOU OUGHT TO GIVE ME WEDDING RINGS

author: @carrieeve

general | modern au | established relationship | proposals | unplanned pregnancy

Bellamy and Clarke had a baby at 18 and so with everything going on they never got around to getting married. Now Bellamy enlists the help of their 6 year old to propose.

45. STRAIGHT INTO YOUR ARMS

author: @burninghoneyatdusk

explicit | modern au | established relationship | proposals | unplanned pregnancy

Nearly six years after they graduated, Bellamy and Clarke are still together and more in love than ever. Of course, there’s been bumps along the way, the biggest being that they were forced to attend grad school across the country from one another and continue long distance. With less than a semester left, they both fly home to Hawaii to attend Monty's & Harper’s wedding. Unbeknownst to each other, Bellamy has a big question to ask and Clarke has some big news to share.

46. DUTIFUL

author: @useyourtelescope

moodboard: @carrieeve

mature | regency au | kid fic | hurt/comfort | fluff

Despite the initially delayed consumation of their marriage, Clarke and Bellamy had not had any difficulty in fulfilling their nightly married duties in the years since. However, after the arrival of their first child, they had both been too fatigued to share a bed for anything other than sleep. When Clarke realised just how long it had been since she and Bellamy had been intimate with one another, she made up her mind to change that.

47. C’EST ÇA HALLOWEEN

author: @the-most-beautiful-broom

teen | 1940s au | hollywood au | mutual pining | fluff | angst | enemies to friends to lovers

Clarke Griffin is a classically trained actress, Bellamy Blake is a world-renowned hoofer. Their studios rope them into a holiday movie together and everyone holds their breath to see if the results will be a spooky delight or ill-fated catastrophe.

48. CASUAL

author: @bellamy-wanheda

explicit | modern au | friends with benefits | mutual pining

Clarke and Bellamy were keeping things casual and then she caught feelings, only Bellamy didn’t feel the same way. She tries to block it out but then Octavia introduces her to her brother for the first time and she can’t ignore him anymore.

49. HEARTBREAK HE SUPPOSES

author: @writetheniteaway

moodboard: bbybellmy

teen | canon-divergent | season 7 | love confessions

Bellamy and Clarke reluctantly wait out the Red Sun together. Can they find a way to mend their differences before it's too late?

50. BODY TALK

author: @animmortalist

moodboard: @broashwhat

explicit | modern au | body worship | body insecurity

Clarke's never loved her body, the curves and fat in places she'd rather be smooth and taut. She doesn't think she'll ever meet someone who loves her for it either, not just in spite of it.

Then she meets Bellamy, and he shows her just how much he loves every inch of her.

[fheythfully]

sea’s WoL challenge - ferality

She had been working hard to maintain her composure ever since being forced to come to cold, haughty, cold-minded, hateful Ishgard. The man daringly demanding her life for the sake of some other planet - as if! - barely days after her latest descent into the horrors that was the flying Mhachi ghost ship was certainly not helping matters.

Satella barely has a moment to grunt as one of his strikes lands true and she finds herself collapsed on the ground beneath the oppressing weight of his armor. Her staff rises to meet the axehead seeking her neck only on pure instinct, metal screeching against metal as her arms tremble under the weight being pressed down upon her. The screams of magic and steel belonging to their comrades ring out from behind the rocky outcrop he has drawn them away to, surely intent on leaving her separated from her allies and too aether-drained to cast any healing magics on her skin.

Not that any spell can fix a severed head, she thinks somewhat maniacally. Her aether simmers under her skin as numerous surface levels wounds knit back together automatically over her body, a canvas to later inspect for new scars. The grind of the warrior’s teeth as he presses more of his weight upon her is clearly audible in her ears. Satella feels the exhaustion permanently inhabiting her bones sigh with it, before the weariness turns into deep seated anger. Again and again she has found herself in this situation, with someone - or something - snapping their jaws at her lifeforce, demanding her sacrifice of time, or duty, or life.

Whether physically pressing their weapons upon her or pressing their asks unto her, the composure she has been working so hard to keep as still as a calm day on the Rhotano Sea wavers. She hated being in Ishgard, where every stare and sneer was worse than the ones in Gridania. She absolutely loathed that she felt the urge to hide her ears even before the eyes of the Fortemps Manor servants, for the first time ever in her short life. She detested being asked to return for the upteenth time to the Void Ark for this reason or the other, where the denizens warbled in crude forgotten tongues as she disturbed their ancient, forgotten graveyard, again and again and again.

But most of all, she was suddenly, inexplicably, furious at being asked to give up yet another part of herself.

The delicate tightrope balancing her composure trembles, and snaps.

The scream that unfurls from her throat is seething with enough rage to make the warrior above flinch. “Is it so selfish of me to want to live?” She howls like a beast speared on iron. Spittle and blood from a cracked lip sprays across one of his pallid cheeks, and in his eyes she sees herself: a girl suddenly gone feral, blown pupils and face ruddy as she screams herself hoarse beneath him. A Garlean’s belief come true, she hiccups in the midst of her own rage, violently amused. Witness your Warrior of Light, Eorzea:

Nothing more than a selfish, cornered savage.

With the thought comes a second wind. She would not die by the hand of this inconsequential interloper, when she had faced infernos and ferocious beasts and primordial dragons and the Black Wolf of Garlemald himself. No, her death would not be given so easily to a man so regular, and it would also not be given at all.

Taking the startled slacking of his body to her advantage, she arches herself up and pushes with all her might. Hydaelyn help her, but it works; in the blink of an eye she has retained the upper hand, bearing down upon him as his bloody greataxe goes flying over the stones with an unpleasant screech.

“What about my friends? My family?”  Her staff dissipated into aether with casual thought, she feels the shifting within her, soul and aether reaching out for familiar, frigid ice to burst forth from her fingertips and over the body of the man below her. It spreads first across his hands where she has them pinned, and also his feet; then it creeps gleefully over the rest of his body: forearms, biceps, thighs and torso. Satella sits folded above him like a doll cut from her strings, snarling and quaking.

“WHAT ABOUT WHAT I WANT?”

The ringing of steel and aether from the vicious fight still happening behind them is her only answer. Ice crackles gaily in the air as her aether curls over his and encourages the spread into his skin, now - past the tissue and into the bone, to the organs working to keep this would-be murderer alive. “You show up out of nowhere,” she seethes, panting from exertion and aether-high. The anger that has sat so tightly curled in the chest of her lower stomach for moons flares brightly in the air. “Demanding that I die for you, claiming it for some righteous cause! Who do you think you are, to demand my life so!?”

The strings cut further and she lowers nose-to-nose with her would be killer. “I’ve walked through fires and tempests,” she hisses close against his lips, each inhaling the other’s fury. “I’ve faced would-be gods and ancient Paragons. I’ve run myself ragged for commoners and nobles alike. I’ve even robbed an old man of the clothes on his back. But this?”

A sound not unlike a cackle spills out her mouth, unhinged and weary.

“This takes the fucking cake.”

The man below her snarls right back, mouth twisting to an ugly shape as he struggles against the bindings holding him in place. “We didn’t want this either!” He bellows up at her, fury meeting fury and despair meeting despair. “Not one single bit of it! But if killing you can fix it, can undo it all--”

His words die off with a choked gasp as her hand finds purchase on his throat and squeezes. “You will never have this of me,” she jeers. Lightning crackles over her knuckles and over his Adam’s apple with the buzzing of a swarm of angry insects.

“Try and take it from me, warrior, but you will fail. And only your own death will be your hard won, senseless victory.”

[azzy-the-christian-furry]

((Revelation, Part 2.))

Ch.9:

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Ch.10:

The Angel and the Little Scroll

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’[a]” 10 I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

Ch.11:

The Two Witnesses

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”[a] 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

11 But after the three and a half days the breath[b] of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.

The Seventh Trumpet

15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,

and he will reign for ever and ever.”

16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

the One who is and who was,

because you have taken your great power

and have begun to reign.

18 The nations were angry,

and your wrath has come.

The time has come for judging the dead,

and for rewarding your servants the prophets

and your people who revere your name,

both great and small—

and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

Ch.12:

The Woman and the Dragon

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down.

11 They triumphed over him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony;

they did not love their lives so much

as to shrink from death.

12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens

and you who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,

because the devil has gone down to you!

He is filled with fury,

because he knows that his time is short.”

13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

Ch.13:

The Beast out of the Sea

The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]

9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,

into captivity they will go.

If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,

with the sword they will be killed.”[d]

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

The Beast out of the Earth

11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666.

Ch14:

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

The Three Angels

6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’[a] which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress

14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[b] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

Ch.15:

Seven Angels With Seven Plagues

15 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,

Lord God Almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

King of the nations.[a]

4 Who will not fear you, Lord,

and bring glory to your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come

and worship before you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.”[b]

5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Ch.16:

The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,

you who are and who were;

6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,

and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

7 And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty,

true and just are your judgments.”

8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds,[a] fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

Ch.17:

Babylon, the Prostitute on the Beast

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery:

babylon the great

the mother of prostitutes

and of the abominations of the earth.

6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.

9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

12 “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

[toku-explained]

The Invincible Swordsman

Phoenix Swordmsman and Book of Ruin: I've seen nothing about the timeline placement of this, but I've seen known sign of the Knight Forms, but Kento is here and so are the Wonder Combos, so safest bet seems to be right before Jaou Dragon happened. Bacht, wielder of Mumeiken Kyomu and the Eternal Phoenix Wonder Ride Book was sealed in a book in ages last, but is unsealed and creates portals to destroy the world. Seems to have Megiddo working with him but none of the regular villain's are involved. Bacht, Kamen Rider Falchion, apparently aims to reduce the world to nothing, Sword of Logos opposes him. The Brave Dragon joins with two others, the Love Dragon (White) and the Pride Dragon (Black) to for the Emotional Dragon Wonder Ride Book, and Saber uses Emotional Dragon to defeat Falchion. End scene is a brief teaser of our hooded man.

REALxTIME: So we have S, our lead villain, announcing he will end the world with bomb in 60 minutes and remake the world in his image, he has a large cult of followers, apparently he created the bomb using the Thousand Jacker. Among the followers are the 4 generals Bell, Moore, Lugo and Buga. Each of them, as well as the other followers, using either a Slash Abaddoriser or a Shot Abaddoriser, along with a Crowding Hopper Key become Kamen Rider Abaddon, the 4 generals having some small variation from the other followers. Aruto attempts to fight S, Kamen Rider Eden, using Zero-Two but is defeated and winds up in another world, S uses the Zero-Two Progress Key in the Thousand Jacker to create the Hell Rising Hopper Progrise Key, Izu later retrieves the Zero-Two Key and Zero-Two Driver. The Abaddon's are spreading a red gas that sends people to the other world, we get that scene of Jin, Horobi, Amatsu, Yua and Fuwa all fighting together. Aruto learns the woman he's met, Akane, knows S, and returns, attempting to fight Eden again using Metal Cluster Hooper. Apparently most of the enemies are AI controlled nanomachine constructs controlled by a few individuals using ZAIA Spec, these were meant to medical nanomachines but changed after some stuff with Ark towards the end of the series, Nanomachines make up the red mist. Horobi finds and confronts As, who has supplied Eden with the Hiden and others tech he needed, she otherwise isn't present. Is tries to find Aruto using Zea and manages to awaken to original Is somehow and they merge. Eden intends to use the Hell Rising Hopper Key to end the world, Aruto manages to take it off him, can't shut it down and is forced to use it to transform into Hell Rising Hopper. He is in a rage state and defeats S and tries to kill him but Zero-Two stops him, revealing themself as Is, Aruto calms down. Akane was S' wife, she died but her consciousness survived in the nanomachine AI, S wanted to make a world where he could be with her forever, placing his mind in a Humagear. Bell, after learning the real goal, takes the Eden Driver and Eden Key by force and becomes Kamen Rider Lucifer. Then we get Aruto as Zero-One and Is as Zero-Two facing Lucifer together, S shuts down this nanomachine system returning everyone to normal while Lucifer is defeated.

And that's Zero-One, at least until 01hers MetsubouJinrai.net comes out. But with what else was announced this week I wouldn't have counted on it being the end even if that hadn't been announced.

Z: It's important to remember with this first scene that Yuki Mai isn't actually a villain. There have definitely been examples of defence force members who count as villain's, the guy from Ginga S, or the ones from Ultraseven 1999 come to mind, but she is purely acting on the information she has, information that has been given to her by the actual villain, who we know was a trusted figure if authority. Hebikura finally reveals to the rest of STORAGE his identity as Juggler, but a younger Juggler would have just killed her and the 1st SAAG soldiers. As Destrudos rampages in LA, STORAGE prepares their mission, Haruki will pilot King Joe STORAGE Custom, while Hebikura uses Windom. He warns everyone to escape if they have to, GAFJ will almost certainly attack them. Wait Juggler what do you mean you can't grow big on your own anymore? You did last time we saw you before this, what's changed? King Joe and Windom give it their all, but they're outclassed by Destrudos, and when it looks like it's over Bako comes in with Sevengar to assist, the two manage to hold Destrudos long enough for King Joe to blow it open and attempt to pull Yoko out. So like this arm wrestling obviously is happening, but it isn't real or something, it pulls Yoko out of Celebro's control, and Celebro vanishes, leaving the Belial Medal in Yoko's hands. As she's ejected Haruki saves her by being able once more to use Delta Rise Claw, accepting he may die because of the strain, as Z warned. Beliarok returns to fight this new opponent. Destrudos regenerates the D4 cannon and fires, Beliarok absorbing the whole attack and thanks Haruki for the amusement, before destroying D4 and shattering, the feedback reverting Z to his Original State. With the encouragement of STORAGE he stands up, and with a tough battle defeats Destrudos with a Zestium Ray against the D4 Ray. Seems Haruki made it, but Z collapsed leaving. Hebikura catches up to Celebro and is going to kill it when Yuka and Kaburagi turn up and capture it, he leaves them to it. Haruki decides to go with Z to help people out in the universe. Beliarok, having reformed in space, decides to join them.

The Absolute Conspiracy: Moving to right around 1974, almost immediately after the end of Ultraman Taro, while continuing the Second Chapter we now focus on Ultraman Tregear in his Early Style (Existing VA), and some of this content was already relayed to us in the shirt story about Tregear that came out around when the Taiga movie was meant to. Tregear is working as a scientist at the Science Research Bureau under the Institute Director, Hikari (Still Origina VA), where he is working to develop a familiar item to borrow power from various life forms. Tregear looks down on himself for failing to make it into the Inter Galactic Defence Force, but Hikari encourages him to take pride in what he can do. He is reunited with Taro (New VA for his younger self), fresh from his time on earth. The showing here is abridged, but Taro is able to assist with finishing the device, and it is named the Taiga Spark. Some time later Hikari goes missing, and, in a new detail, Tregear goes to planet Arb to find him, where he is depressed after his failure to save Arb from Bogarl, and swears vengeance, for the first time becoming Hunter Knight Tsurugi, he attacks Tregear to stop him from getting in the way if pursuing revenge, leaving Tregear shocked even Hikari could not resist the darkness, and he hears Tartarus' voice. He discusses this with Taro, feeling resigned, and while Taro promises to protect him Tregear for the first time seems resentful of Taro, not just in awe. The pair go to Planet Deastar, where Taro seeks Tregear's help to investigate a strange energy. Suddenly Night Fang appears, brought by Tartarus, while it fights Taro it makes Tregear experience an illusion, where Hikari/Tsurugi draws him to the darkness, which he fears, but when Taro's illusion promises protection he rejects that too, then Tartarus offers him the chance to live as he desires, to fear nothing, and shows him his future, both his absorption of Grimdo and the conclusion of the fight with Taro in the beginning of Taiga, where despite everything Taro begged him to return. Taro uses Ultra Dynamite to destroy Night Fang, saying they'll always stand for the Light, but as Tregear leaves he rejects the idea of Light and Dark, Taro desperately calls after him.

Saber: Saber sees scenes that look like the past rush past him as he follows Caliber, while back at the battle the Megiddo claim only the one who obtains the truth will survive. Caliber tells Saber, and the Megiddo tell the others, that at the end of the gate is the Contents page of the original book, the only page that still remains, with it they would be able to find the other pages and remake the original book and reshape the world in their image. The Swordsmen intend to destroy the remaining pillars, which would prevent Saber returning. As Saber fight Caliber brings up the possibility of the world having already been changed from its original shape, before causing Saber to lose both swords and Touma vanishes into Kurayami's darkness. Mei encourages Rintaro to act, certain Touma will come back, while Touma, briefly despairing, is encouraged by Kento's spirit and manages to return to the swords and face Kamijo once more. Blades starts destroying pillars, while Kamijo explains 15 years ago. Hayato had been his best friend, until the day he betrayed them, when Kamijo confronted him he revealed Luna was a way to connect both worlds. Saber and Caliber fought, Caliber claiming this was to save the world. Luna was lost as Touma saw, and we see the last thing Touma remembered, with Brave Dragon flying into Touma's hand seemingly if it's own accord. When Hayato, enraged, yelled that this was the only way to save the world, Kamijo was forced to cut him down, but concluded the ones responsible for Hayato's corruptions were Sword of Logos, and so he decided to bear their sins even if he had to ally with the Megiddo. He believes obtaining the universal truth will allow him to identify the true enemy within Sword of Logos. Touma won't accept this, given all the people Caliber has sacrificed. As Blades continues destroying pillars, Saber uses Dragon Arthur, Crimson Dragon and Dragonic Knight. There's a Dragonback duel, ending in a Rider Kick struggle, which Saber wins, then uses a finish with both swords to defeat Kamijo, Kurayami, Jaaku Dragon and Jaou Dragon all fall. Kamijo accepts his loss, but beseeches Touma to find who betrayed Sword of Logos, saying he might be able to find Luna. Before he can say more he is stabbed through be Desast, who takes his own book back. Kamijo's last words are to beseech Touma to take Kurayami to help his quest, but suddenly both it and the books vanish. He returns just as the gate closes, greeted by everyone. And here's a reminder of Shindai Reika, going to tell us why you kidnapped Sophia any time soon?

Kenshin Retsuden: And finally for this series we have an episode of Blades, listed as Chapter 15.5. In the aftermath of everything Rintaro is depressed over Kento's death. Mei tries to cheer him up with eclairs and tries at the lottery, but even those won't excite him. We learn from flashback his lottery win was how he got the camera, and how he explained about how Sword of Logos as his family was instilled in him by his master. Rintaro feels weak, a failure, remembering his first fight with Zooous and how he felt, with Mei trying to calm him down after the fight, in the present she reminds him he saved her from Zooous, and protected Kento from Caliber, because he refused to give up. She tells him how Kento had said he wished he was as strong as Rintaro, and shows him Kento had used the camera to make sure there was a photo of himself for Rintaro. Rintaro has tears over the picture of his family, and finds his resolve.

Kiramager: Naturally the Crystalian holiday of Crystals is just a pastiche of Christmas, but the behaviour induced by Crunchula's rap causes the team to seriously hurt the Mashin, but the Mashin are also affected by the curse. Fire does make a point that they might still genuinely feel that way. The whole rap battle is just hilarious, I do like Yodonna's outfit choice. An all mecha roll call is a rare treat, last on I remember was Go-Onger, which also had an all Robo roll call. All the mecha getting a bit of spotlight like this is pretty common around this time of year, I remember Shinkenger doing it. Something is up with Yodonna.

[afterspark-podcast]

My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise, Part 1 Transcript

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

O: So I'm like, “No, I'm just fine with pretending this never happened, honestly.”

[Intro Music]

O: Welcome to our April Fool’s Special!

S: The Transformers/My Little Pony: Friendship in Disguise crossover.

O: Specifically, issues 1 and 2 here.  An episode covering issues 3 and 4 will be released in a few weeks.  Um, so obviously our podcast doesn't normally talk about ponies.

S: For all that it too was a popular Hasbro franchise in the 80’s- I mean, still is.

O: Yes.  I will attempt to give a short blip about My Little Pony characters that show up, but we're gonna kind of assume that you know the mane six.  Which is Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.  Ah, Specs has seen some of the My Little Pony episodes, whereas I have seen... all of it at this point.  Um, so I'm reasonably familiar with most of the characters.  And uh, for the record, Twilight Sparkle is my favorite, but that's because she's basically me. [laughs]

S: This was a crossover comic that was released in 2020 (for your information).

O: Uh, most of the Transformers characters in here are part of kind of the regular G1 cast that you're all probably used to seeing in various things.  Most of them we've talked about.  There's a few we haven't um, because they just haven't popped up in the series yet.  [Like Arcee.]  The exceptions being Gauge who's from IDW2, and Windblade who's from IDW1, Cyberverse, and several other things.

S: Mm-hm.  They did some fun things with the fonts and some of the other visuals in this.

O: Such as using the Transformers font for ‘Equestria’ and the My Little Pony font for ‘Cybertron’.

S: Mm-hm.  And the character’s speech bubbles use the fonts from their respective series.

O: Some of the issues are done by who I think is the current artist for the My Little Pony comic series.  While the rest are done by Transformers comic artists- like, plural, several of them.

S: And with that we begin.

O: Part 1: Transformation Is Magic!

S: In Equestria, a pony by the name of Quibble Pants is standing in front of a newsstand complaining about some very applicable meta issues.

O: Quibble's a side character.  His whole shtick is that he picks apart plot and whatnot.

S: He's a bit of a nitpicker.

O: The newsstand pony tells Quibble (and by extension us) that this is all for fun.  So don't worry too much about continuity here, guys.

S: Mm-hm, a loud clap of thunder transitions us to a nearby mountaintop where Queen Chrysalis is up to nefarious plots

O: She [Chrysalis] is villain.  She is the queen of the changelings.  She can transform into different creatures, basically, or different ponies.  I think, judging by some of the background characters in some scenes later, that this is after she's lost control of most of the other changelings?  Though she does have a small group working with her here.

S: She plans to bring forth other changelings from other worlds to take over Equestria.

O: I'm sure you can see where- where this is going. [laughs]

S: Mm-hm, and now, on cybertron.

O: The Autobots and Decepticons are fighting, shocker.

S: The Decepticons are clearly trying to take control of a malfunctioning space bridge.

O: A space bridge that Shockwave is convinced is breaching other dimensions.

S: Suddenly, all of the Autobots and Decepticons are zapped away through a portal.

O: Leaving only poor Grimlock to smash into view a few seconds later... thinking they have all ditched him.

S: Poor Grimlock.

O: Poor Grimlock. [laughs]

S: Back in Equestria, Twilight shows up with several royal guards to stop Chrysalis but it's too late and a portal opens, sending the Cybertronians zooming past through the air.

O: Twilight is horrified to see that Chrysalis has summoned living things that are about to go ‘splat’ onto the ground, or more likely ‘crunch’! [laughs]

S: Or possibly clank, if someone slows them down-

O: [laughs]

S: But I mean, who knows?  Twilight speeds off to try and save the newly arrived Cybertronians.  While Chrysalis stays behind to acquaint herself with Megatron.

O: Bee is both surprised and resigned to see himself falling to a colorful death.

S: But Optimus grabs Bee's hand, and intends to break his fall with his own body.

O: Optimus, are you okay?  Do you need to talk?  I feel like you need to talk.  We need- we need to get you into therapy, dude.

S: It's all the self-sacrificing, but yes.

O: [laughs]

S: Yes, he needs some therapy.  The two are saved by Twilight’s a very timely arrival and magical powers.

O: The Cybertronians are just as surprised by the ponies, as the ponies are of them.

S: Bee attempts to blend in by transforming into vehicle mode, to Twilight's consternation.  But Twilight says that doesn't really help him blend in, but it's okay if they're different!

O: She comments on their ‘shape-shifting magic’ and that Chrysalis will be disappointed that they're friendly.

S: To which Optimus says... unfortunately, they are not all friendly.

O: And then we are given the most amazing image. [laughs]

S: Queen Chrysalis, as happy as a kid in a candy store, on top of a tank, aka Megatron.

O: Seriously, it's one of the best images in the comic. [dissolves into laughter] And one that was shared I think, pretty frequently after the comic came out?  So it's very funny.

S: Mm-hm.

O: And we begin part 2 of issue 1: Shine Like A Diamond.

S: Rarity and her staff at her Manehattan boutique have been volun-told to get Starscream all dolled up for his coronation.

O: You know, the outfit he's in in the G1 movie, the purple cape and the crown get up.

S: Rarity attempts to calm him down, because he is being a snippy asshole during all of this.

O: Yes, with vague, implied threats throughout.

S: Mm-hm, so Rarity says, “Happy, healthy subjects show just how good their king is, don't they?”

O: A car is heard in the distance, much to Starscream's surprise, as he didn't think the ponies had cars.  Which, he is correct!

S: Mm-hm, Arcee barrels into him with a flying kick.

O: And Starscream retreats.

S: Leaving Arcee and Rarity to introduce themselves.

O: They seem to become fast friends as Rarity thanks Arcee, and Arcee tries to help clean up the mess Starscream has made.

S: Unfortunately, Starscream returns with the rest of his trine in tow.

O: Arcee intends to fight them alone, but Rarity generates a magic shield to help protect Arcee while she fires on the jets.

S: Thundercracker takes a direct hit, while Starscream and Skywarp are herded closer together by Arcee's fire.

O: Once they're close enough, Rarity uses her magic to wrap the fabric from Starscream's cape, that she was helping make earlier, around the two of them.

S: Skywarp says, “This is stupid!  I'm out,” and teleports away.

O: Leaving Starscream to nosedive to the ground with a boom.

S: Arcee compliments an exhausted Rarity on her help.

O: While they both agree they would do anything for their friends, and for each other!  Now, you may notice that none of the My Little Pony characters have been shown in the Transformers universe, but that is about to change.

S: In issue 2, part 1: Inspiring.

O: It would seem that Twilight's assistant, Spike (the dragon) is wandering around the Ark writing a letter to Twilight.

S: Of course, with Grimlock being the only one left behind, he's presumably found Spike and brought him to the Ark.

O: Spike is of course very enamored with the big old Dinobot.

S: And Grimlock seems to like Spike quite a bit too.  Even holding him in his open palm while they get an alert from Teletraan about an attack.

O: Said attack, by way of the Constructicons, who have come to destroy the Ark while everyone else is away.

S: Grimlock transforms into dino mode and meets them.

O: Grimlock makes the mistake of saying, “Puny Decepticons, even together you no match for Grimlock!”

S: To which, they respond by forming Devastator, and stomping the absolute crap out of him.  “Grimlock and Grimlock's big mouth.”

O: Spike shouts words of encouragement to Grimlock, but quickly sees that the Dinobot is losing.

S: So he thinks, looks at the Ark, comes to a realization, and then runs inside to make his realization happen.

O: Inside, Spike flips through two large books.  ‘Modern Cybertronian For Everyday Conversations’ and ‘Teletraan I For Dummies’.

S: He then climbs onto Teletraan’s console and starts the main engine cycle countdown.

O: Spike yells at Grimlock to get down.

S: Which is, you know, not that hard as Devastator is still stomping on him.

O: Devastator is then blasted by the bit of the Ark that's still sticking out of the ground, causing Devastator to fall to pieces.

S: The Constructicons flee, and Spike checks on Grimlock.  Spike still feels pretty down about himself, because all he did was press some buttons.  But Grimlock says Spike did even more than he did.

O: “Spike learned new language, and operations system in short time!  Spike think of using busted engine as canon!  Spike use pronouns!”

S: Grimlock tells Spike that Spike inspires him, and that he's full of potential.

O: Spike collapses into a happy little puddle of dragon that Grimlock called him, “Inspiring.”  Their friendship is so cute! [laughs]

S: And now it's time for part 2 of issue 2: They Eat Ponies, Don't They?

O: We are brought onto the stage of a cooking show, “Prepping With Pinkie,” hosted by Pinkie Pie.

S: And a special guest, Gauge!

O: And all I can think is- Arcee she still one of her parents in this continuity?  Is Arcee worried about her child!? [laugh]

S: And in the spirit of cultural exchange, Pinkie and Gauge will be sharing some of their favorite recipes in today's program.  I never thought about giant robots having recipes before this, and I didn't want to think about it.

O: [laughs] Pinkie is, of course, making cupcakes.  While Gauge has brought iron filing casserole.

S: Poor Pinkie and ah, several audience members are questioning their decision based on their facial expressions.

O: Pinkie goes to start her cupcakes, but suddenly everything starts shaking.

S:  [singing] Dun, dun, dunnnn!

O: [snorts]

S: A space bridge appears with Shockwave stepping out of it.

O: He has, by his own admission, come to ‘spice things up.’

S: Ah, time for some puns.  Unfortunately, his recipes require a bit more audience participation.

O: Shockwave’s apparently come to discover how much pony it takes to fuel one Decepticon.

S: [sighs]

O: [laughs]

S: He transforms his hands into a grater and a whisk, respectively.

O: Pinkie and Gauge evade him, causing him to demand that they stay still so he can finish his experiments.

S: Oh god, by attempting to whisk them!?

O: [laughs] I know, I know!  I'm not saying it's sane!

S: I know, I mean, I read it too.

O: [laughs]

S: It’s just, now I have vivid mental images of this being attempted and everyone being very…

O: Confused? [laughs]

S: Yes.  Gauge whacks him in the head with a cookie sheet, completely bending it out of shape, and tries to get Pinkie to flee.

O: Pinkie refuses, but in the background the show's audience is running through the exit door- at least part of their audience is running through the exit- exit door.

S: Mm-hm.  Shockwave transforms his hands again, this time to a spork and spatula.  Sporking them to death is not gonna work, dude!

O: Tell him that! [laughs]

S: Mm-hm, again, with the mental images.  Gauge rips off the spork and spatula, sending Shockwave falling backwards, where Pinkie trips him.

O: Pinkie and Gauge grab some frying pans and bean Shockwave's face in between them.

S: Shockwave, thoroughly beaten by a small Cybertronian child and a pony, is kicked back into the space bridge and disappears.

O: The remaining audience claps.

S: And 47 minutes later, the duo tries the other's culinary... contributions.

O: Pinkie declares it as success, though her face implies she didn't enjoy the iron filing casserole.

S: In the background, Gauge is clearly trying to politely spit out the cupcake in a towel. [laughs]

O: And that ends issue 2.  So, join us next time for issues 3 and 4 where we will finish this mini-series.

S: And that just about wraps it up for us today.  Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word), and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast, such as AO3, iTunes, Spotify, and Youtube, just to name a few.  And feel free to send us questions on Tumblr, Youtube, or AO3.  Till next time, I’m Specs.

O: And I’m Owls!

S: Toodles.

[Outro Music Plays]

[zuffer-weird-girl]

If you’re still accepting requests could you please do a fluffy scenario with chisaki and his shy s/o cuddling please? :3

(Cracks both hand's fingers with a smirk) this is my shit

Overhaul/ Kai Chisaki x reader

You watched carefully the young man in front of you, folding with some paperwork with so much concentration that it felt like whatever it was writen on these mere pieces of paper were the cure for almost every problem in this world, and he was the saviour trying his best to not mess it up his job...

How? How can someone look so attractive and yet so, dare you thought, adorable just by looking at papers? Chisaki Kai seemed to be the answer by just standing there, at least for you... Him with his beautiful dark brown hair, those perfect eyebrows and his breath taking gold eyes-

Are on you. He is looking at you.

Dammit! Dammit! It wasn't supposed for you to stare you freaking creep! Not too long for him to notice at least!

You soon direct your gaze to a book you have picked to read once, not that you really remember the story since you were... ahem, busy apparently.

You felt your whole face like it was fire itself as you miserable tried to make unnoticed the oh so typical action of hiding your face in the middle of the book's pages hoping that Kai was just gonna shrug it off.

Welp, seems like the universe has other plans for you when you heard him chuckling silently.

"Got lost on your thoughts again I suppose angel?" He said remaining his gaze at the papers that he has been reading for almost an hour.

You gagged trying to at least make a sentence.

"Come on." His eyes meet yours on a fraction of seconds "Don't tell me you were expecting me to not notice the way you were looking at here? Can you elaborate at least a good excuse?"

He always did this, he knew your difficulties with talking, your shyness but he liked to feeling overpowered at you, even for a fraction of seconds...

You shyly put your book on your lab, looking everywhere besides the eyes of your lover.

"I-I guess... that I love you t-too much..." you couldn't surpress the embarrassed yet happily smile that started growing on your lips.

In that moment Overhaul thanked whoever was listening him for wearing a mask and for you to not be looking at his face right now. Because he knew that if you saw you would be surely speechless or even amused with the dusty pink that he felt on his covered face and the way his eyes widened in surprise after your little confession.

He had no doubt about your feelings towards him, it was way too obvious after all; but hearing you saying out loud for him and him only to hear, makes his heart do that weird fling all the time you do something.

Damn you for making him weak but for whoever is above us don't you dare leave his side.

He plopped the papers down and made his way slowly to the tiny couch on his office and standed right in front of you. Your (E/C) were shining when you looked up at him, the action making almost impossible for him to supress a smile of pure adoration.

"You're too pure for this world, I swear..." he rolled his eyes playfully.

You giggled, embarrassed standing up, playing nervously with your fingers before having the courage of asking such a thing from him... no. He would never. Especially with all the things he still has to do-

"Enough." He brushed a single piece of your hair behind your ear with only two gloved fingers making you stop dead on your train of thoughts.

"We are already over the stupid stage of nervousness around each other, cleary that's no need for these silly reactions of yours as much they are adorable." He grabbed the side of your face gently remaining his gaze planted on yours.

"S-sorry." You smiled sheepish "It just feel so sureal to be yours... to feel your kind touch... It's so... intriguing but also delightful"

With his remained hand he unlocked the plague mask to place gently on the couch and after looking at you, his relaxed and "in love" features no longer hidden. Before carresing your face and admiring he let out a breathy laugh before finally kissing you softly yet you both could feel the electricity coming through your whole body.

Damn you. Damn him.

Love is sure a delightful disease that he got.

The romantic moment didn't last too long after you, feeling like you could fly at any moment apparently and you didn't need your legs anymore, almost collapsed on the couch.

Chisaki arked an eyebrow, but soon left out a sigh noticing that it wasn't even on purpose; soon enough he joined your side, with one strong arm bringing you to rest on his chest.

"You know, getting me to procrastinate about my job is considered a sin." You yelped

"S-sorry! I didn't mean to-" you said lifting yourself from the spot to not only be right back where you were.

"I don't remember mentioning the part where I complained my dearest."

[backgrounddisneycharacters]

7th August 2020

Indiana Jones

Look, I get it. Indy isn’t obscure or relegated to the background or forgotten. But I want to cover Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull, and Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar as well as Indy’s dealings with the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, so here we are. For the purposes of this entry, we will not be covering any of the Indiana Jones movies nor the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles so his status as a background character applies.

In The Temple of the Forbidden Eye, which is set in 1935, the story goes that Indy discovered the a Temple of the Forbidden Eye in the Lost River Delta in Bengal using fragments of parchment. The queue area tells the story of how tourists flocked to the area hoping to see if the legends about the temple god Mara were true, that Mara would bestow one of three gifts upon a person; earthly riches, eternal youth or the ability to see the future. In order to keep funding for their archeological dig after money ran out, Indy’s friend Sallah began conducting guided tours for the tourists and warned about looking into the Eye of Mara. However, some tourists looked into the Eye of Mara and didn’t return. Indy went to look for them but went missing himself. In the hopes of finding Indy, Marcus Brody encouraged Sallah to continue the tours, which is where guests would board a vehicle to search for Indy and their own treasure from Mara. However, the guests look into the Eye of Mara and Mara rescinds his gifts. The guests find Indy who, although angry they looked into the Eye of Mara, helps them out as the Temple of the Forbidden Eye ‘collapses’ around them. Indy appears again, descending from a rope about to jump into the vehicle, when a boulder rolls down and threatens to crush the guests, however, this is averted at the last second and Indy appears a final time next to the now-destroyed boulder as Sallah welcomes guests back.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull is set sometime in the 1930s in the Lost River Delta in Mexico and involves Indy and a new Latino guide named Paco searching for the Fountain of Youth. In this version, the god Mara is replaced by a crystal skull, however the story is pretty much the same as Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

Indiana Jones also has had a few dealings with the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. In 1938, his friend Jock Lindsay was flying with Indy over Disney Springs when Jock fell in love with the terrain and opened up a bar, Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar, that members of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers would frequent, alongside Indy. Some of Indy’s discoveries would end up at the Hangar Bar, including the Ark of the Covenant. Another one of Indy’s dealings with the S.E.A. would come with the Jungle River Cruise: Curse of the Emerald Trinity, the 2015 Halloween overlay of Hong Kong Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise attraction. The attraction queue tells the story of Garrett Reed, a disgraced archaeologist and one of Indiana Jones’ rivals who was expelled from the Society of Explorers and Adventurers by Lord Henry Mystic due to his greed in acquiring artefacts.

[nightingaletrash]

Reyder is pretty much my jam atm, so that's what y'all are getting :)

Set during Meridian: The Way Home because I want Reyes reacting to Ryder dying again.

Edit: I wrote a part 2 for this drabble

---

“-no less than three Kett ships sighted-” “-t approaching the port, I have no clue wh-” “-think they’re leaving the planet-” “-thing big got them moving-” “-sighted in Draullir, they’re moving north-” “-thought Sloane and the Pathfinder killed them-”

It was a confusing mish-mash of transmissions from across the badlands, enough that even Reyes was getting a headache trying to make sense of what was happening. And this was after he’d directed a handful of his most trusted representatives to send their reports to Keema.

The general gist of it was that Kett had been sighted in the badlands, almost like they’d been popping out of the earth itself. As thorough as Sloane had seemed to be, the Kett had clearly been more deeply entrenched on Kadara than anyone had realised. But what was more concerning than that was the fact that they were leaving.

Kett only left if they were wiped out or they were ordered elsewhere, and given that no one had realised they were there, it could only be the latter.

And that was the concerning part.

“Reyes-”

“I don’t know what’s happening, Keema,” he interrupted, running a hand over his face. “No one seems to-”

“Reyes, I’ve just received a report that the Kett have taken one of the Initiative arks” Keema pressed on, steamrolling over him. “The Hyperion. They say that the Archon himself was among the boarders.”

That was enough to make him freeze in his tracks and he immediately muted the rest of his data feeds to focus solely on Keema.

“They stole an ark? Why?”

It was less aimed at her and more trying to create an idea he could actually grasp and work with.

“I don’t know, but whatever the Kett are up to, they’re on the march. It’s not just Kadara, Reyes. All across the cluster, we’ve got reports of Kett pulling out. They’ve even given up valuable fortifications on Voeld for this. It must be something big for the Archon to be so bold.”

Reyes’ mind started working a mile a minute, eyes flicking back to the steady stream of reports being thrown at him. Crux and the others must have realised he had muted them.

Nothing he saw contradicted what Keema had said. The Kett weren’t attempting to engage the Collective or outlaws in the badlands. By all accounts, they were pulling out and leaving the planet for parts unknown.

Sara.

The last time they'd talked, she had mentioned that she was hot on the trail of Meridian, the heart of the Vault network. She must have managed to hit a nerve if the Archon was mustering his forces like this.

And Keema seemed to have had the same thought.

“If anyone knows what’s happening, it’s the Pathfinder,” she said brusquely. “I’ll coordinate our people here while you find out what’s going on. We need to be ready if a fight’s coming.”

She ended the call, but not before Reyes was already patching through to Sara. His heart was beating uncomfortably hard in his chest, as if it was trying to beat for two, and he couldn’t help pacing the room.

“Pathfinder, are you there? Ryder?”

Something icy settled in his stomach when he received only static and a lump began to form in his throat. He adjusted his omni-tool’s settings, trying to delay the encroaching panic that itched at the back of his mind.

“Pathfinder, it’s Reyes. Do you copy?”

Still static, and now he was having to make a conscious effort to keep his breathing steady as he tried the private channel they'd set up.

“Sara, can you hear me? Are you okay? What’s going on?”

No response. Only static.

As his stomach churned horribly, it took every ounce of control he had to not run straight for his shuttle, find out where the Tempest was, and fly out there himself.

Instead he decided to try a different tact. If Sara wasn’t answering, then maybe someone else could tell him what was happening.

“Doctor T’Perro, are you there? It’s Reyes.”

There was more static, and then-

“Reyes?”

He breathed a sigh of relief. Her voice was fuzzy and it crackled with static, but he could hear her and she sounded calm enough. And that meant she probably wasn’t attending to a life-or-death emergency.

“Yes Doctor. I’m trying to get through to Sara, but-”

“So are we,” she cut over. Her voice was becoming clearer, and so was the edge of urgency in her tone. “We’ve lost all communication with SAM and the Pathfinder team. The Archon’s taken down our communications.”

That… wasn’t good. Though if the Archon had indeed taken the Hyperion, losing SAM seemed like an obvious consequence. But SAM wasn’t vital for QEC, was he? Reyes nearly asked but then realised that Lexi had turned her attention away from him and was speaking to someone else in her clipped, professional tone.

“-medbay’s prepped and ready. And Liam, remember what I said about staying calm.”

Reyes could hear Liam retorting offmic which was quickly followed by Vetra scolding him and the thumping of armoured footsteps on metal floors. Somewhere in the distance, almost completely staticky, there was shouting about signal boosters and settings, and yelled replies about onboard computers not responding. The more he listened to the hustle and bustle in the background, the more evident it was that the Tempest’s crew was in emergency mode.

He chewed the inside of his cheek, now seriously considering the idea of wringing their location out of Lexi and flying out to meet them. Keema could handle Kadara. His representatives knew to answer to her in his absence.

“Reyes, are you still there?”

Lexi brought him back to attention, urgency still lacing her voice but her tone softened somewhat now. And then he remembered why he was calling her in the first place.

“Is Sara okay? What’s happening?”

There was a pregnant pause and his body became tense even as his heart began to sink horribly.

“Reyes, you need to understand-”

“Cut the shit. Is she okay?” he demanded, too agitated to care about losing his temper.

Lexi sighed quietly and he could easily picture her running her hands over her face.

“When Sara became Pathfinder, SAM became a part of her in ways we still don’t fully understand,” Lexi explained, her tone becoming cool and professional. Like whenever doctors in drama vids were delivering difficult news. “He became so integrated with her system, that trying to remove him could kill her. But now that he's offline-”

Reyes didn’t hear the rest. He stood rooted to the spot, every muscle in his body freezing and his jaw locking. For a moment he was removed from all the sensation in his body, from the confusion of voices outside his door, even the beating of his own heart.

And then it came rushing back all at once.

He collapsed back into his seat, holding his head in his hands as his lungs stuttered and faltered, struggling to draw breath. His eyes felt wet and it was a struggle to blink back the moisture.

Sara had died once in the time he'd known her, but that had been part of a plan, and SAM had revived her quickly enough. This time SAM wasn't there to bring her back. His absence alone was enough to kill her. And here was Reyes, worlds away and unable to do anything to help.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and all the company he had was bursts of static activity in his earpiece - a mixture of shouting and running that made about as much sense as the reports he’d been sifting through just minutes ago.

"Reyes, are you there? Reyes?"

He couldn't bring himself to reply. His mouth flapped uselessly but no sound came out. If he tried any harder than that, he feared that only vomit might come up instead of words

“Reyes I need you to listen to me,” Lexi ordered firmly; in the background there was the sound of doors sliding open and the tapping of shoes marching across the floor. She was on the move.

“Kallo and Gil are trying to get us through to the team and find out for certain what’s happening. We just got a signal through from the Hyperion. It was just a pulse, but the onboard computer in Sara’s armour is showing signs of a response.”

Reyes could hear her footsteps being swallowed up by others, and it was evident that the team was on the move.

“A response?” was all he could muster.

“Yes, though it’s not as straightforward as I’d like. Vital signs are all over the place and-”

His heart rose a little.

“You think she’s okay?”

“I don’t know yet. Listen Reyes, I need to be ready in case Sara needs medical attention."

“Can you give me your loca-”

"Try it now!"

He was cut off by another voice over the comm, a little staticky at first before things smoothed out.

"Pathfinder? Come on…!"

Reyes and Lexi fell silent, as did all the background noise, and he felt his chest tighten as he listened intently.

There was an age-long pause, and a collective held breath before a small, weary voice croaked, "...we're here Tempest."

A dry sob left Reyes' throat as his heart leapt.

She was alive. Exhausted and drained by some apparently gargantuan effort, but he massively preferred exhausted and alive to the alternative. And he wasn't the only one.

He heard Lexi sigh in relief and a few relieved cheers and sighs around her. The footsteps hastened, and Reyes didn’t stop to think before he stood bolt upright and marched out of his private room.

“Lexi, give me the Tempest’s coordinates. I’ll meet you.”

“Relaying them now. I have to go and tend to Sara, but I’ll give you an update later. Without violating patient confidentiality, of course.”

He let himself have a chuckle at that, even if it wasn’t really a joke.

“Thanks Lexi. I’ll see you all soon.”

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 123

It feels really good to be back writing and posting, I’m going to be super honest.  Thank you again, to everyone who reads and leaves notes on these chapters. You keep me going and encourage me more than you will ever know.

This was originally going to be one chapter, but it went really really long and I didn’t have the heart to leave parts out.  Even splitting it in half, each half is longer than most of the chapters so far.  But I couldn’t help showing how far the Ark has come from simply “figuring out how to exist”!  In my defense, @baelpenrose egged me on, too.  Blame him. :P

Shout out to @zommbiebro, @charlylimph-blog, @books-and-cartoons, all the other contributors for characters in this chapter. INCLUDING @werewolf2578 for Michael Smith, who finally makes his debut here. Finally.

As Maverick and I entered the gymnasium - now larger and more finished than it had been when Arthur and Jokul’s showdown happened several years back - the atmosphere was filled with excitement. Three Terran years previous, collapsible bleachers had been constructed shortly after sporting and skill exhibitions had regained popularity on-par with Pre-End times, and today was one such occasion. Every seat was packed, and Miys was working overtime in multiple bodies, strategically positioned to keep the air filtered. Else-chicks swarmed on the floor, eagerly consuming anything that had been spilled or dropped.

Today, Jokul and Arthur were once again on the floor, in full view of the crowd. Instead of a bloody one-on-one, no holds barred fight, however, they were two of twenty participants in a weapons exhibition.  Between them, Charly bounced on the balls of her feet, scanning the audience - a smile here and there when a container of neon popcorn caught her eye, but a huge grin along with extra bouncing and an enthusiastic wave when she saw our small group.  She elbowed Arthur, who was deep in conversation with Tyche and Coffey on his other side.  All three turned to wave.

“Where’s Conor?” Maverick asked, searching the floor carefully.

I shrugged. “He may be on his way, or in another room, stretching. You know he isn’t a huge fan of crowds this large.”

With a huff, he blew a lock of hair out of his face. “I know it’s his first one of these things, but he’ll be fine. He’s gotten really good. Even Charly and Tyche said so.”

Evania Josue took the floor and gestured for silence, indicating that the exhibition was starting. “Thank you, everyone who could be here in person, and everyone watching from other areas of the Ark, and welcome to our second Von-annual ranged weapons exhibition.  As with last time, combustion weapons will not be used in any of our events, for safety reasons.  We will continue with our order from the previous event, and begin with axe-throwing.”

Cheers erupted, and Tyche, Coffey, and Arthur took their seats on the sidelines. Charly, Jokul, and three other less-familiar faces waved to us as they were introduced, before drawing lots for the order they would go in.  One of the people I didn’t recognize went first, and made a pretty good showing - all six axes hit their targets, regularly striking midway to the bullseye from a distance I could barely hit the floor from.  Charly was second, and Maverick clenched my arm tight enough to make me wince - she was the smallest competitor in this event, but the entire crowd went deathly silent as she lined up the first target.

Thunk. Bullseye, and buried deep.

Thunk. Just left of center.

Thunk. Another bullseye.

Three more axes led to one more bullseye and two just to the right of center. The crowd exploded into cheers, only going quiet as the next person stepped forward.  It was another solid execution, but not quite in the same level of skill that Charly had demonstrated.

Jokul was last, and as soon as he stepped forward, you could hear a pin drop. No one even dared breathe, lest they missed out on what they hoped they were about to witness.  Sure enough, Jokul stood three feet to the left of the first table holding an axe, and started walking at a calm pace. Without breaking stride, he would grab an axe and suddenly it would appear in the center of the target. No windup, no careful lining up of his throws, just ten paces, six axes, and six bullseyes.

Screaming erupted from the entire gymnasium, to the point that Miys was covering their sensory organs. Charly was red in her face from cheering, and I honestly could not blame her - it was one of the most impressive things I had seen, and never ceased to amaze me.  Even Arthur was nodding in approval and applauding.

The cheering died down to a murmur of discussion as the athletes took their bows and the equipment was removed. Charly and Jokul both took seats on the sidelines, while the other three left the floor entirely, indicating they had no other events.  The next event was slung projectiles, which neither Maverick nor I was remotely interested in.

He leaned closely so he wouldn’t distract anyone. “So, I’ve been wondering this for a while now… Those axes are pretty heavy, right?”

I nodded.  I had tried throwing them, but they were close to two pounds in Terran gravity - worse in Von-standard, and obviously front-heavy.

“So, to throw them that fast, Jokul has to have a lot of arm strength, right?”

Another nod.

“How did Charly get up after he punched her?”

I sighed. I’d wondered where he was going with this. “First, he pulled the punch. Second, it was an awkward hit because he was aiming for me. Third, with two cracked ribs and a whole lot of ‘Charly’ involved.”

“So necromancy,” Maverick nodded seriously.

“I can neither confirm nor deny, except that she popped up like he hit her with a pillow.” I shook his knee as something caught my eye. “There! There he is!”

Conor was finally visible, crouched and in discussion with Tyche.  From the way he was running his hand through his hair, he was clearly nervous.  She just shook her finger at him with a serious expression, and whatever she said made him laugh and shake his head.  Probably a death threat, I figured.

He was just in time, as the next exhibition was knife-throwing.  I don’t know if Evan was rigging the lots, but once again the most anticipated participant - this time Tyche - was last. Instead, someone I recognized as Michael Smith was first.  Standing from beside Grandma Kim, he gave an emphatic command to the chocolate labradoodle at his feet and took center stage.

The knife throwing event was ten knives, one target, and timed as well as scored by where the knives landed.  I knew from previous events that Michael preferred throwing knives with a hilt, which made the balance off center.  Nonetheless, all his hits were dead-center and solid, even if he telegraphed his throws a bit much for my liking.

Next was Arthur, who made a show of his one-upmanship by finishing faster and with less obvious movement.  He patted Conor on the shoulder and said something to reassure him as Conor stood for his turn.

The crowd started murmuring as Conor turned toward his target, back on full display.  Rather than pulling his knives from his hip, or picking them up from a table, Conor had found it easier for him to actually keep them slung across his shoulders and drew them like arrows.  I had never seen anything like it, but Coffey had suggested it soon after Conor decided to follow mine and Tyche’s footsteps.  And while his display wasn’t the fastest, or the most accurate, he drew some fascinated chatter from the crowd when switched hands after the fifth knife, with no change in speed or precision.

When he finished, there was enthusiastic applause but none louder than our family. Coffey’s voice boomed out, even louder than mine, to congratulate him before they traded places. Once again, there was hushed chatter as Coffey drew over his shoulder, this time trading off hands with every single knife, and breathless applause when he finished with a tighter cluster than Conor had. He smiled, but his eyes were all for Charly, who was next.

The crowd hardly had time to focus before she started letting blades loose. As fast as she could grab one, it was flying behind the last one, covering the bullseye by the time she was done.  With a flourish, she took a bow that left us all laughing and cheering.  She danced over to the sidelines, sweeping one more bow for Tyche to take the floor.

As soon as Tyche stood, the air crackled with excitement. In the same way that everyone watched the axe-throwing to see Jokul, all eyes were on my sister for this event. As though she was utterly oblivious to this fact, she strode to her marker.  She was still mid-stride when she brushed her hair out of her face and let the first knife fly from the same hand.

Bullseye.

Brushing off her legs saw two more knives, one after the other, hitting their marks. Then a dagger from her left hip, a tactical knife from one boot, and on and on. Each blade came from a different spot, no two the same size or shape. All hit their marks, and all without a single indication of exertion.  The only indication that she finished was when she dropped her hands and tilted her head, studying the tight pattern on the target.  My datapad indicated that she had matched Arthur’s time and close strikes.

When she turned to sit back down, everyone’s brains caught up and the expected cheers deafened us again.  As soon as she reached her seat, Arthur and Charly stood by some unspoken agreement and made ridiculous sweeping bows to her, only encouraging the audience to cheer harder.

Evania stepped forward again, to let everyone know that there would be a twenty minute intercession. The next events needed more intensive preparation, which allowed friends and family to take some time to talk with the participants. Sure enough, the second I was in earshot, I could hear Tyche complaining.

“I got much tighter patterns than that in practice,” she moaned.

Conor, head resting on both hands, shook his head in disbelief. “If you think you were bad, I feel I’m hopeless.”

That had the exact reaction everyone saw coming, as she whirled around in righteous fury. “Conor MacMaoilir-Reid-Okima, I have been throwing any knife I could get my grubby paws on since I was four. You started three years ago. I taught you, Sophia taught you, Coffey taught you. Your throwing has an exceptional pedigree and if I hear you talk about giving up, I’ll… I’ll…”

“Let me use you for target practice,” Arthur intoned, half-joking.

“No!” she insisted. “I’ll let Simon use you for target practice!”

“I’d be safe as houses, if he was aiming for me. Poor guy couldn’t hit the floor with a knife if he dropped it.”

“She never said with knives,” I added wickedly, causing his head to snap up and his face to pale.

“Sophie. Please, that’s cruel.”

I waved him off. “Oh, as if he would ever actually aim for you.  If Simon had to hunt for his food, he’d be a vegetarian, I swear.”

Rolling his eyes, Maverick stepped into the fray. “Conor, you did really well. You wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t. And it’s not like this is a competition, you were literally invited to just show off what you can do.”

“I still don’t know why… Coff over there clearly did better.”

A dazzling smile flashed as Coffey turned from his conversation with Charly. “Ah, but we are the only two who use that technique! Showing it off here means others may be interested in learning later.”

Hair flew as Charly nodded. “And besides, I could never get the hang of pulling a knife like that. My brain says ‘arrow’, and it’s just confusing.”

I was nodding in agreement and gesturing for Maverick to take Arthur’s seat, when something wet nudged my ankle.

“Sparkles. Heel.”

I turned to see Michael Smith and Grandma Kim had joined us. Unable to resist, I knelt to pet the dogs that accompanied them. “GK, Lyric II is looking more and more like her mom every day.” A muzzle streaked with white fur poked my hand. “Hey there, girl,” I whispered, blinking hard. Lyric was already ten when we were all brought to the Ark, and Hujylsogox medicine could only do so much for dogs.  Permission had been given for her to have one pup, to be trained as both a service and a protection animal, in preparation.

Michael’s animal looked to him for permission before joining in the ear scratches I was dishing out. He was one of the very few certified service animal trainers on the Ark, so when Lyric II was born, so was Sparkles, with the intention that they grow up and train as a working team. Michael’s past was extremely blank and sketchy, but something about him reminded me of both Arthur and Xiomara.  The fact that both of them respected him made me both at ease and suspicious at the same time.

I pushed that out of my mind and focused on the pile of fur before me, begging for belly rubs. “What events are left?”

“The security animal events have been added to this one, to allow time for the other participants to rest more, and then archery, spear/javelin, and thrown projectiles.”

I shook my head at ‘thrown projectiles’, but Charly was the one to speak. “I can’t believe we made a sport out of rock throwing.” When mouths started to open to correct her, she held up both hands and glared. “I mean ‘we’ like ‘people’, not ‘we’ like ‘the Ark’. I am well aware that humans have been killing things by throwing rocks forever. Don’t shoot me.”

“That’s a different exhibition,” Maverick pointed out, eliciting a groan from several people. “What!? It is!”

“I think she would beg to differ.” Tyche pointed to Charly, who looked like she was about to explode.

“Oh, right. Archery - “

“You are IN that event, how could you forget!?” she finally erupted, more out of confusion than anything resembling anger.

“I learned firearms first?” he begged.

Charly grunted and scrunched her face. “Fine. I can accept that as a semi-reasonable excuse.”

I shook my head at their antics.  Despite years of watching the two goof around, it was always adorable to watch men twice her size cower from the feisty ball of energy.

She was still teasing him. “I still think you owe me an apology.”

“Charly, I’m sorry,” he sighed with no real sincerity behind it.

“Mmmm, not good enough.” She tapped her chin with her finger and took out an eye-scorchingly yellow candy bar - which, by now I knew was just chocolate and caramel, but was still cringeworthy to watch. “I think…. You should make me dumplings.”

“Those take forever,” he whined, kneeling and clasping his hands. “You always want them from scratch.”

“They taste better from scratch,” she pointed out around a bite of her snack.

Tyche nodded. “They really do.”

And there it was. He was defeated, as our entire family stared at him in anticipation. With a heavy air, he hung his head. “Fine,” came the mumbled reply. “What kind?”

Quiet cheers sounded, along with fist bumps and in one case money exchanging hands. “Chicken and veg, pork and veg, and seafood,” Charly cackled.

I was pretty sure I was the only one who could hear Maverick mutter “I just got so played…”

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