#he's just made some bad choices is all

[falseroar]

Murder on the Warfstache Express

Part 4: Putting on the Brakes

((After dinner, all of the guests return to their rooms, expecting to be arriving at the next station the following morning. That doesn't happen.

Link to Part 3: Dining Service here in case you missed it and one for the masterlist.))

After the meal was over, the passengers streamed into the lounge car. Abe took a seat while Happy assured him he would handle switching their belongings between the two rooms, which was fine by Abe. He barely even remembered what he packed, much less believed he had anything in there worth hiding.

The only thing that stopped the agent from going straight there was the sight of Richard and Mack headed that way as well, and Abe suppressed a grin at the sight of Happy doing an obvious U-turn and awkwardly hanging around the bar until the coast was clear. He vaguely remembered Dorene and Illinois joining him and chatting with Benjamin when the bartender returned from presumably cleaning the dining car while the professor went back to her books and papers with the same intensity as before.

Or maybe not the same. Abe blinked, he was sure it was just a second his eyes were closed, but when they reopened the car was clearly darker than it had been only a moment before, the bar empty and closed, the professor and her papers long gone. He was sitting alone in an empty car.

Except he wasn’t alone, and it wasn’t quite as empty as he first thought on waking up.

“Funny place to take a nap,” Wilford remarked, watching as Abe flailed and nearly fell out of his seat.

“Wha—How long have you—” A jumble of questions crashed together on their way out of Abe’s mouth until he sputtered out the winner, “Why?”

“Why what?” Wilford asked. “Why anything? Why is it still snowing out there? We get the point, it’s cold and winter, just knock it off already!”

He rapped on the glass like that would tell off the elements outside and Abe winced at the sound.

“My head…” The detective put his hands to his temples like that would stop the feeling that his head was going to split in two at any moment. “What time is it?”

Wilford hissed. “Yeah, me and time don’t really have what you’d call a ‘working relationship’ at the moment. Most everyone else has turned in for the night, if that helps.”

Abe wasn’t sure if it did or not. All he knew was that the room wasn’t so much spinning as drifting up and down, more like the movement of a ship on the high seas during a storm than a train trundling along on its tracks.

He remembered standing up, or at least trying to, but almost immediately his knees buckled under him, the floor rushing up to meet him only to crash land on a narrow bed.

“There you go, nice and…Eh, mostly on there,” Wilford said from somewhere above and behind him. “Some drinks at dinner tonight, huh?”

Abe answered, his already disoriented thoughts muffled by the pillow so that it sounded like one long grumble. Wilford listened, head tilted to one side until the muttering stopped, and nodded.

“Right, right, you’ve got your eye on me, I won’t get away this time, yadda yadda yadda. Honestly, detective, you act like I’m always up to some kind of mischief.”

Another grumble from within the pillow.

“Well, yes, but I’m hardly the only one. Besides, this is supposed to be a vacation! ...I think.”

Wilford paused, pink-tinged mustache twisting sideways with his mouth as he tried to remember something before giving up with a shrug. If it was that important, he wouldn’t have forgotten in the first place. Probably.

“Anyways, you just sleep off your nightcap and I’ll see you bright and early when we reach the next station, how’s that sound?”

Abe groaned.

“That’s the spirit, detective!”

Wilford hummed as he left, and Abe winced again at the sound of the compartment door closing behind him.

He shouldn’t be letting Wilford just walk away, he should be up and after him, it had only been a few drinks, hardly worse than what he did to himself on the average weeknight—these and a hundred other thoughts ran through Abe’s mind, but try as he might, his body refused to listen to reason and get back up.

Not that his mind was able to put up much of an effort before it gave in to the darkness again, the detective unable to pick out the exact moment his confused thoughts turned into even more confusing dreams, nightmare images tangling with painful memories to form a net that dragged him down, down, down until—

Until, with a screech that seemed to last for hours, the entire train wrenched to a stop and Abe was thrown out of his bed in a tangle of sheets and blankets.

Nightmare and reality blended together, the memory of distant gunshots still ringing in Abe’s ears even as angry, scared voices began to filter up and down the car alongside the thumping and banging as Abe wasn’t the only thing to hit the floor. Including something big enough to make the floor beneath him shudder from the fall. He staggered to his feet and after a few tries found the light switch by the door, only for it to do nothing no matter how many times he flipped it up and down.

Abe yanked open the compartment door and stared into darkness, the ambient light reflecting off the snow outside the now still train through the windows behind him providing just enough to almost make out the wall opposite his door. The slide of the door in its tracks was repeated up and down the hall, along with more than one set of hurrying footsteps, the sounds easy to make out now that the constant background noise of the train was gone, the engine still and unnervingly silent.

“What the hell just happened?” Abe asked, but his question was lost among all of the others in the dark train car, voices running into and over each other in panic and indignation.

“I can’t see a thing!”

“Why did the train stop? We haven’t reached the station already, have we?”

“Ow! Watch where you’re going!”

“Why is everyone shouting?!”

“Everyone, please remain calm!” That last voice clearly belonged to Benjamin. “I’ll just go up front and see what the engineer has to say about all of this. Until then, if you could all just stay in your rooms to reduce the chance of injury—ow!”

Judging by the thump and the rattle of a door, Benjamin had confidently walked in the wrong direction.

Abe sighed and drew a lighter out of the depths of one of his pockets, glad he hadn’t been in any condition to get undressed or he would have never been able to find the thing. There was the scratch of metal and then the tiny light burst into life, not doing much to light the whole car but making a world of difference all the same.

“There’s no smoking in the passenger car,” Benjamin said, still rubbing his forehead from where he ran into a wall.

“Good thing I’m not doing that then, isn’t it?” Abe said, like he hadn’t just been about to reach for a cigarette to make the most of the light. “I’m not big on sitting around while something’s going on, so how’s about you and I go talk to the engineer together and see if we can’t get this train moving again?”

“Or you could simply lend me your lighter.”

“Yeah, not happening,” Abe said, stepping fully out into the hallway and using the action of closing the door behind him as a way to hide how he needed to take a moment and lean against the frame until the floor settled beneath his feet.

At the moment he didn’t think he could have handled the lights coming on, and the sooner he could get everyone to just stop talking the happier his aching head would be. He would have loved nothing more than to flop back onto his bed and sleep while someone else figured this out, but it didn’t work like that.

It never did.

So maybe he was a little jealous when he saw the door to the compartment next to his already sliding shut, Happy no doubt getting back to sleeping or keeping an eye on the compartment across the hall, where Mack was standing outside the door and blinking owlishly in the small circle of light at Abe like someone else who had just woken up from a nightmare.

Or found himself back in one, to judge by the pain in Mack’s eyes when the now familiar snap of fingers came from the compartment behind him and he sighed so long it threatened to put out the lighter.

“Aren’t we going to the front of the train?” Benjamin asked when Abe staggered across the hall and rapped on the door next to Richard’s room.

The door was locked, but after a moment Abe thought he could make out the sound of snoring. Absolutely absurd that anyone could sleep through all of this, but Abe wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He could deal with the Warfstache problem later.

“Do be careful, gentlemen,” Dorene said, the black robe clenched tight around her shoulders barely visible as Abe and Benjamin passed her door, the door pulled just far enough open to create a narrow gap. She muffled a yawn and said, “I think I’ll be getting back to sleep. Some of us can’t be skipping on that beauty rest, you know.”

“Oh, come now,” said the man in the next room over, the one she’d identified to Abe earlier as Illinois. He had his hat pressed to his chest as he leaned against the doorframe, posing like someone who’d shown up too early for the photo shoot. He winked at Dorene and said, “I think you could run circles around the rest of us if you felt like it.”

“Then it’s good for you I’d much rather get some sleep.”

Illinois shrugged and said to the other men, “I’d offer to go with, but three’s a crowd, especially if we’re tripping over each other in the dark. Say the word though, and I’ll be happy to help however I can.”

His smile was dazzling even in the dim, flickering glow of the lighter, and if Abe wasn’t using all he had to keep walking in a straight line, it might have done a number on him.

The last open door was empty, the occupant already retreated back into her room where Abe could hear the scurrying of paper and the click of various trunks being opened as the professor muttered, “Can’t work in these conditions, but I’m sure I can rig up something…”

Only for her muttering to be broken by a jaw-aching yawn followed by a groan.

“Perhaps you should be getting some sleep, Professor Beauregard?” Benjamin suggested, only for the professor to throw what, upon smashing against the wall inches away from the concierge’s ear, proved to be a coffee mug. Benjamin’s voice was notably higher as he continued, “Or not, you’re an adult and more than capable of knowing what’s best for yourself.”

He motioned for Abe to hurry it up and get them out of throwing range, and with some effort Abe managed to get the door at the end of the car open. It wasn’t stuck or anything, he just had some difficulty getting his hand and the handle to connect long enough to do the whole opening thing on the first couple of tries.

“Are you well, detective?” Benjamin asked when Abe had the same trouble with the next door, whose handle seemed to be on the opposite side of anything that made any sort of sense.

“I’m fine,” Abe muttered, resting his hand on the side door and blinking hard at the brilliant white snow out there. The snowstorm from earlier was still going strong, the wind howling as it whipped against the train and threw flakes at the windows so hard they could hear the constant tink of snow hitting the glass. A few feet out and it was impossible to see anything for the haze of white film over it all. They could be within hailing distance of the next station right now for all he could tell.

“If you’d like to go back to your room and get some rest, I would completely—”

Abe didn’t let Benjamin finish that suggestion before he yanked open the door to the luggage car, his spite allowing him to get it on the first try and even carrying him halfway through the narrow aisle between row after row of shelves before the stars gathered around the edge of his vision again.

He paused again, leaning against one of the shelves for support while the former butler caught up. His heart rate slowed, only to pick up again when Abe felt the distinctive tell of eyes on him, the feeling that he was being watched so strong that he whirled back around so fast that the lighter went out on him.

“Damn it,” Abe muttered, trying and failing to light it again until the third attempt, at which point any shadow he thought he saw back near the door they had come in through was long gone. Still he asked, “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Benjamin asked, craning his head to look like it would do any good now.

“…Nothing,” Abe said, but he was on edge now and every shadow drew his eye as they continued on, and there were so many here.

So many nooks and crannies where anyone or anything could be hiding, and here he stood in the middle of it all with a lighter in hand, painting himself in light to make all the better a target.

Abe tried to shake it off and keep moving, hurrying too fast to notice all the things he should have he would realize later, but right now finding the engineer was the priority.

That, and getting the hell out of this car.

Benjamin handled the next set of doors, only to retreat from the engine with his hands raised when Peter turned on them, backlit by the lantern set next to the controls behind him which also illuminated the truly massive wrench he held in both hands like a metal club ready to swing.

“Whoa!” Abe instinctively braced himself for a fight while Benjamin said, “Please be careful with that thing!”

“What?” Peter looked from them to the wrench before hastily dropping it with a clang that shook the floor, his awkward smile so apologetic that it was almost possible to forget the real, genuine fear Abe had seen in those eyes when he turned around. “Really sorry about that, wasn’t expectin’ to see anybody else up here.”

Peter paused, looking from one man to the other before asking, “Why are you two here, exactly?”

“We’re trying to figure out why the power’s out,” Abe said, tilting his lighter to emphasize his point.

“And why the train has stopped moving,” Benjamin added. “What the devil is going on here, Peter?”

“Well, I don’t know what caused the power to go out, but I can show you exactly why we ain’t going nowhere any time soon.” Peter waved his hand for them to step forward to the front of the car where he held his lantern up toward the front window. “Tell me what you see out there.”

“Whole lot of snow?” Abe said, cautious in case this turned out to be a trick question considering there wasn’t much of anything else out there.

“Exactly!” Peter pulled open the door and hopped down from the train, oblivious to the freezing cold or the wind still whipping around as he called for them to follow.

Abe and Benjamin weren’t exactly dressed to be out traipsing around in the middle of a snowstorm, but then neither was Peter and a single shared look confirmed that neither one wanted to be left behind in the car, with or without a lighter.

Abe sank into the snow and tried to follow in the footprints the conductor left behind, the crunch of snow behind him confirming Benjamin was trying to do the same. They didn’t have to go far though before they reached the front of the train, or at least that part of it that wasn’t currently wedged into a mountain of snow.

“Tracks are completely covered,” Peter said in case they missed that fact, raising his lantern to cast more light. “Lucky thing it cleared up just enough for me to see it coming and hit the brakes, else it would have been a lot worse than just getting stuck, I’ll tell you.”

“Stuck?” Benjamin repeated. “You mean we can’t just back out of this?”

Peter shrugged. “Maybe, but then we’d be backtracking for miles just to get to the last junction and hope no one’s coming down the line behind us past that point. Might be easier to just clear the tracks here, but we’d need to wait until morning to see how much of a job that is. That said, if we stay here for now, I know the schedule for this bit. No one else due through until the day after tomorrow, so no need to worry about anyone running into us.”

 “And no one to come help us out,” Abe pointed out.

“The next station will notice if we’re not there on time, and surely they’d send someone to check,” Benjamin said. He looked to Peter and asked, “Is there any way we can contact them before then?”

“Yeah, if we had some power.” Peter slapped the side of the train, which was still steaming from the quickly evaporating heat of the cooling engine. “Like I said, it was lucky enough that I even could see the tracks were covered in time with the lights going out the way they did. Just ‘boom,’ darkness, can’t see a thing. Whole electrical system, down. Fuel still works to keep the train moving, but that doesn’t do a lick of good if I can’t see where we’re going.”

“And how far to the next station?” Abe asked.

“Maybe thirty miles or so, going off the last marker I remember seeing,” Peter said.

Abe nodded. “No one’s walking that, not in this snowstorm. Speaking of, can we go back inside now?”

He was starting to suspect his shoes were not as waterproof as he once thought, at least not when the snow rose higher than his knees and had a tendency to trickle in every time he shifted his weight.

“Right, right, sorry, it gets so hot up front near the engine this kind of feels nice to me,” Peter admitted as they walked single file back inside. “You don’t look so good though, are you okay?”

Abe stomped and brushed himself down to get the outermost layers of snow off, using the movement to ignore the question and ask one of his own. “You said the power was already out before you hit the brakes—what can do that on a train? Is there just some emergency off button, or…?”

Peter shrugged. “Darned if I know, but I’ll keep trying to restart everything. Gotta be honest with you though, I’m a train engineer (and conductor), not an electrical engineer. Those’re what you’d call two very different things.”

  “Do you at least have more of those lanterns around, for myself and the passengers?” Benjamin asked. “The lighter can only do so much.”

Abe looked at the lighter in his hand and said, “Don’t you listen to him, you’ve been doing a great job.”

“Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of them in the luggage car, up near the front in the storage area,” Peter said, leading the way only to stop short at the door. “But maybe I should stay here with the engine. You’ll see them, they’re right by the spare fuel canisters.”

“That…does not sound up to code,” Benjamin said doubtfully, following Abe back through to the luggage car where he stopped short and said, “And that does not look up to code, either. Why are there so many flammable objects so close to the engine?”

“Because that’s where the boxes of matches are,” Abe answered, pointing to said boxes on the same shelf as the lanterns, above the crates full of fuel, paint, and discount fireworks. “How many do you think you can carry?”

Abe lit a lantern, and between the two of them they carried enough to leave one hanging at either end of the passenger car, plus a few that Benjamin said he was going to take back to the kitchen car for the chef’s later benefit while he walked the train in search of any other issues.

“And then I will try to get some rest, and I suggest you do the same, detective. As Peter said, we can only wait until morning before having a full idea of the situation.”

“Somehow, everyone telling me I need some sleep doesn’t make me want to go to sleep any faster,” Abe muttered, but he went into his room all the same and pulled the door shut.

Hanging the lantern by the bed, Abe changed into some dry clothes while he stared out the window, the situation running through his mind as quickly and relentlessly as the snow falling outside.

“Oh, the train! Oh, I remember the train. How long were we stuck in the snow for?”

Abe froze, hands resting on the top buttons of his shirt as Wilford’s words faded into the back of whatever corner of his mind they came out of, leaving a pause just long enough for Abe’s wide eyes to meet their terrified reflection in the glass of the window.

The compartment door jumped its tracks when he yanked it open, but Abe didn’t waste time trying to close it behind him as he crossed the hall and banged on the opposite door.

“Warfstache!” he bellowed, oblivious to the complaints from the other rooms as he tried the door again, ready to force the lock if he had to, only for the door to easily slide open with no resistance.

Abe didn’t stop to question it, he just barged into the room with a snarl already forming on his lips.

“You’re going to tell me what the hell is going on here, or I swear I’ll—”

This time Abe did stop, as he belatedly realized that his pointing finger was aimed at the only occupant of the compartment’s bed, a stuffed teddy bear wearing a false mustache and monocle.

“What…?”

“He’s innocent on all charges, Your Honor. Well, except for the bribery, drug smuggling, impersonating an officer, and all of the manslaughter.”

Abe spun around and saw Wilford sitting in the sill of the window, in full view of the open compartment door where the detective couldn’t possibly have missed him.

Wilford shrugged. “Other than all those little things, he’s not a bad bear.”

“What are you talking about?” Abe asked, before tossing the teddy bear aside and closing the compartment door. “Never mind, I don’t care. What I do want to know is how you knew about this.”

Wilford stared at him for a second, then prompted, “About what, exactly?”

“This! The train, the snow, the, the—” Abe hissed, a hand to his aching temple. There was more, but even trying to think about that night after the disco hurt even when his head didn’t feel like someone had shoved a swarm of bees in there when he wasn’t looking. “How did you know this was going to happen?”

“I haven’t got the faintest clue what you’re talking about,” Wilford said brightly.

“…What are you doing here, Wilford?” Abe asked, wondering if the train had started moving again or if the floor swaying under his feet was just his imagination.

“Oh, same as you, I’m sure. Just enjoying the journey.”

Abe scoffed and Wilford tilted his head.

“You are having fun, aren’t you?”

“Why would I be having fun?” Abe gestured around at all of it. “We’re stuck on a train with no power in the middle of nowhere! What about any of this is fun?”

“Says the man who can’t sit still without some mystery to solve, some murderer to chase down, some bad guy to bring to justice or whatever it is you do,” Wilford seemed to give up halfway through that sentence, flapping his hand at Abe as if to say he knew the rest. “I thought you’d be more excited than anyone with something strange afoot.”

“Stranger than you?” Abe asked.

Wilford feigned indignation. “Strange? Me? I’m perfectly normal, thank you very much. It’s all the rest of you that’s strange, but you won’t catch me saying anything about it.”

Abe winced, the absurdity of that statement too much for him to even start to pull apart right now.

“Say, Abe, are you okay? You don’t look so—”

“I know, I know! Could everyone stop saying that for two seconds?!”

Turns out yelling didn’t help, and Abe had to sit down and hold his head between his knees until the nausea passed.

Breathe in, breathe out, slow, deep breaths—all easier said than done with his present company, but gradually Abe felt his head start to clear only to stick again on something Wilford had said.

Something strange was going on, he could feel it in the air, and he knew it wasn’t just because of the power outage.

“I need to talk this out, get it out of my head,” Abe said, standing up. He preferred to work with visual representations, boards, notes, photos, all tied together with string—seeing the connections laid out, no matter how complicated the result might be, that always helped.

Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly have the material to work with yet, physical or otherwise. When that happened, having someone to talk to, bounce ideas off of until something clicked into place, that was as key as any clue in an investigation.

“Ooh, I’m listening,” Wilford said, raising one hand only to slowly lower it when the detective glared at him.

“I had someone else in mind,” Abe said, and headed for the door while Wilford shrugged.

“Fair enough. I’ve never been really good at the whole retaining information thing. Speaking of, what’s the name of your partner again?”

Abe slammed the compartment door behind him, and at the end of the hall nearest the lounge car there was a startled shout before Benjamin said, “Really detective, if you could be a little more respectful of the other passengers!”

Abe pressed a finger to his lips and shushed the other man, stage whispering, “Don’t shout, people are trying to sleep around here!”

Petty, but worth it to see Benjamin’s pretty face give an affronted gasp in the light of his lantern, even if another door opened behind him and Dorene said, “Yes, we are. Do you two not have something better to do than making all this noise out in the hallway?”

“Wh—he started it!” Benjamin said, pointing his finger at Abe.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m just going to go check in with Happy, we’ll try to keep it down,” Abe said, heading toward the room that had been his earlier. “Can’t speak for that guy though, you’ll want to keep an eye on him.”

Abe ignored Benjamin’s protests and knocked on Happy’s door.

When no answer came, he knocked again, harder this time, before calling out, “Happy, you up?”

“I don’t see how anyone could sleep through all of this,” Dorene commented.

“He wasn’t asleep just a few minutes ago,” Abe said. “How fast can one man fall asleep?”

“Perhaps you should leave whatever the matter is until the morning,” Benjamin suggested, even as Abe put his hand on the doorlatch and froze.

“Benjamin,” Abe said, his voice odd, strangled. “Do you have a key to these rooms?”

“Why, yes, but if you think I’m going to let you into someone else’s—”

“Get this door open, now!”

The order came with such authority that Benjamin moved forward, keys jangling in his hand while other doors started to open up and down the car.

“What’s going on?” Illinois asked, as calm and cool as ever.

“It looks like the detective got locked out of his room and is making us all suffer for it,” Mack said, the lack of sleep probably having something to do with the annoyance in his voice.

Behind Abe, Richard sounded too tentative compared to his earlier arrogance as he whispered, “Detective, is this related to our…discussion earlier?”

Abe didn’t answer, because as Benjamin moved closer to the compartment door the light of his lantern caught the doorlatch, illuminating the red stains on it and Abe’s hand. Benjamin breathed in sharply and soon found the key, unlocking the door and, careful not to touch the smear of blood, pulled it open.

Abe took the lantern and raised it without stepping inside, the soft glow catching on the pool of red surrounding the body lying crumpled on the floor, one hand outstretched toward the fedora that had fallen just out of reach while the other was tucked inside his jacket where his weapon lay hidden. One look confirmed what Abe already knew the moment he spotted the blood on the door:

Agent Harold Apless was dead.

Not just dead—murdered. Abe, a beat too late, realized he maybe shouldn’t have said that last bit out loud when shocked gasps rang throughout the car behind him.

((End of Part 4. Thank you as always for reading!

Hey look, that thing this fic is named for finally happened!...Sorry, Happy.

Link to Part 5: Buddy System.

Tag list: @silver-owl413@asteriuszenith@withjust-a-bite@blackaquokat@catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @95fangirl @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-star-eyes @shyinspiredartist @avispate @autumnrambles @authorracheljoy @liafoxyfox @hidinginmybochard))

[spacedlexi]

people who think clem surviving makes no sense are so funny. "they were literally foreshadowing her death the entire season" let me introduce you to the concept of a red herring. she tells lilly she isnt lee and shes right. the narrative was forcing her down that path, a path she saw as an inevitable fate waiting to take her too, but its a narrative broken by aj, who is also his own person and not S1 clem

"it happened to lee, and itll happen to you" lilly tells clem she'll die protecting aj from some mistake he makes, when in reality his defiance of her will is what saves her life after she had already accepted her fate. he breaks clem free from the lee cycle and they get their relatively happy ending. good for them

[justarandomhelluvablog]

sorry sorry last time I'm talking about huskerdust tonight but does it fuck anyone else up knowing that Husk and Angel basically lived at the same time but were on opposite sides of the country. But also Husk went traveling. Like these two could have met while they were alive and wouldn't even know it. They didn't even know the other existed until they met at the hotel

Like I have. so many thoughts about this.

[problemswithbooks]

The 6 chapter epilogue moves to 'end' the Tododrama this chapter leaving a divided fandom...

For me I think that given the story the Todorokis have had up to this point it both makes sense and is the best we could have hoped for. I'm not one hundred percent happy with it, but I defiantly don't view as negatively as a lot of people seem to.

First off Touya dying makes sense and this is perhaps harsh but I hope he does. People theorizing that the mysterious Tenko like figure is Shigaraki and he will heal him and the rest of the LoV with his restored Overhaul powers is insane to me. With only four chapters left idk how that would even be covered or concluded, since even if they were healed they would all still be put in prison--it wouldn't erase the fact Touya killed 30 innocent people by his own omission. So, how Hori would cover that kind of plot in a cohesive way in four chapters is beyond me. It's pretty much people wanting a worse story because they want their favorite character to live.

Also, I'm a bit frustrated that yet again people are acting like Enji should die instead and making wild accusations based on nothing. Namely that Touya dying supposedly soonish negates Enji saying he'll watch him and his death will let him off the hook so to speak.

Enji has shown that he really loves Touya and feels immense guilt and rightful responsibility for how he treated him and his the rest of the family. Touya dying doesn't suddenly heal his permanently crippled body or give him back his Hero job. It will only make him feel worse. Also it's not as if once Touya is gone he'll ignore the rest of his family either. He still owes them as well, and will probably try to help them in whatever way he possibly can.

People acting as if Touya's death will free him or that afterwards he'll go on with his life completely happy and forgetting about him is just not in any way accurate to what we've seen of his character.

The other thing I've seen floating around is the idea that if Enji had been killed off during the first PLF War, Shoto would have saved Touya and the family would have been happy in the end. I don't think that's true. I will admit I'm bias because I like Enji and I'm not a fan of Touya, but given how Hori seems to have delt with the LoV and villains in general (unless he pulls a 180 and heals them last min) I think Touya was always meant to end up dying slowly in a hospital or get some other bittersweet ending.

BNHA is not grimdark by any means but it is not the idealistic manga of the past like Naruto. Hori punishes characters that make bad choices no matter how understandable or even shitty the choices they had were. Aoyama, despite helping defeat Afo, being a child and under the threat of death to him and his family, still drops out of UA because he feels he still has to earn his place there. Bakugou dies and his heart and hand will never be the same, while also having to deal with the guilt of Izuku loosing his Quirk (if that sticks). Enji, even though trying to change and atone for most of the Manga's run is still left permanently crippled, the job that meant everything to him, lost, his legacy gone.

For Touya who killed so many people without care, only to get back and his father. Who plotted to kill his little brother despite knowing he was abused. Not caring if his plans got his other innocent family members killed. After everything we've seen with other characters who did far less wrong and tried hard to amend those mistakes getting harsh consequences, I doubt it was ever the plan to have Touya sitting at the table with his family eating his favorite food with a smile, regardless of Enji being alive or not. To suggest that Hori only had Shoto fail because Hori needed Enji to be involved just isn't true. If Hori wanted to give Touya a happy ending he would have--many fans have already come up with how that could have happened even with Enji still alive.

The only criticism I agree with is Rei's ending. You can defiantly read how she wheels Enji around and answers his phone as them being back together or in the very least her becoming his caretaker. Now, That might not be the case--she could just doing those things because they were both going to see Touya and she's just helping him out that day, while they actually live separately, with Enji having a paid home assistant that couldn't or wouldn't go with him to see Touya (because of the stigma or visiting regulations). The issue is that we just don't know for sure and Rei has been shafted pretty badly.

That said, I wasn't expecting much from/for her anyway. I think getting a little blurb about what she was doing like Natsuo and Fuyumi did would have helped, but I sort of doubt Hori had any idea what to do with her character outside being Enji's abused wife and Shoto's mom. With him rushing to get these last chapters out I'm not shocked he just stuck her in the background, especially when Enji and Shoto as secondary characters needed the screen time.

[chirpsythismorning]

This is a continuation in exploring why I think Mike's character regression over the seasons can be explained in part by guilt, which he has yet to confront

Original post

Now we're onto s2, which jumps us ahead in the timeline a bit.

Mike has been calling out to El on the walkie for approx. 252 days now, under what he views as the false hope she might actually be alive. This is mostly based on the fact that Mike thought he saw El outside of his house a few hours after she 'died' (he did see her, bc she was there...) and so a part of him does think there's a chance. And yet this is also isn't something Mike seems to be comfortable talking about the others with.

Which brings us to the crazy together scene. Although this scene has a lot going on, there's one aspect of it in particular that I want to focus on, as it's the driving force for what is going to be discussed, which is that Halloween night was also the last night Mike called El, aka day 353.

I just want to preface what follows, with the fact that I do not personally think Mike giving up calling El, as a concept on its own, means that he couldn't possibly love El romantically or something. It's not even about that idea from an audience perspective. And this is because any average person, in reality, mourning someones' death, should not be calling out to that person for almost a year. Letting go doesn't make you a bad person, whether it was romantic, platonic or even familial. It's called healing and accepting what is and trying to move on and live your life.

Neither does Mike giving up after that night make him heartless or a bad character in my opinion. It literally just makes him human. But that also doesn't mean that's how Mike feels about it, nor does it mean that the manifestation of this guilt isn't going to affect his behavior over the course of the series, causing some very unfortunate choices on Mike's part to then lead to some very unfortunate events for everyone...

Where it starts to get sort of complex is that I think the whole point of the crazy together scene and where it ended up was to for it to showcase how Mike and Will were both willing to accept each other, despite these secrets they've been keeping to themselves.

Will revealed the truth to Mike about how he could still see into the UD, with the addition of seeing this big 'shadow in the sky', followed by asking Mike to not tell the others because they wouldn't understand. Mike then responds by saying El would understand, followed by confiding his own secret to Will that he's been keeping from the others, which is that he thinks he's seen signs that El could still be alive.

The scene then ends with them in agreement that if they're both going crazy, they'll go crazy together, with it arguably being their most incriminatingly romantic moment to date, as it juxtaposes other uncannily similar romantic mentions on the show involving that same word.

But no matter what happens, they're promising to support each other, specifically the weird shit they have going on and could presumably continue to explore that weirdness, without telling anyone else who might judge them for it or misunderstand their feelings entirely...

This is why Mike had no problem with Will going crazy in s2 because as promised, he was going to be right there with him. Also meaning, Mike COULD have had no problem continuing to test out his theory that El was alive, because Will would have supported him.

Obviously, Will sort of had his hands tied in s2 (literally?), but the point still stands. It's not like this was something Mike HAD to give up, because that conversation between him and Will instilled that they would support each other and what makes them feel crazy.

I think the issue though, is that what's causing Mike so much grief daily for almost a year now, is the guilt that came with El's death and him feeling responsible. And so, in contrast to Will's slightly more justified assumptions that what he's seeing could actually be real based on what's happened to him, it's like Mike is asking himself whether he's actually seeing El because she's still alive OR is he just imagining she's still alive because he wants to forgive himself?

A kid deducing that in their head would make them feel pretty awful, don't you think? Maybe even lead them to calling out to that person for almost a year in hopes that they might still be alive?

Meaning Mike choosing that night to walk away, to give up, is likely a result of his conversation with Will making him feel more comfortable with finally letting go of some of that guilt in order to actually start the process of moving on. Because a big part of why he didn't want to move on was because of guilt in the first place.

Also confiding in Will and only Will, not the others, who were hell bent on interpreting all of Mike's feelings for El as romantic, was maybe Mike's way of avoiding the pressure to associate his whole relationship with El as strictly romantic. With Will, maybe Mike knew he wasn't going to spin it into something like that. And he would’ve been right, because Will didn't.

October 30th, Halloween Night (Day 353 - Last call)

You cannot tell me that day 353 isn't framed as the last call. Like Mike is literally walking away dramatically, leaving El alone, with her now just a tiny dot surrounded by darkness. The way it's framed leaves the viewer genuinely feeling heartbroken because there's some very evident finality to what is being presented. And we even see that El feels it too, hence the episode cutting off dramatically with her tear filled eyes.

And so why did Mike choose THIS moment to give up? Why did he choose now to put his 353 day streak to rest? Like, that was impressive as hell. He could have easily kept that going, but instead he decided that this was going to be the last time he was going to try calling out to her...

November 1st (Day 354)

El is still pretty bummed that Hopper came home late last night, but I'm guessing she's even more bummed still processing what might have very well been Mike finally giving up that night too.

Although I don't think El would blame Mike for giving up, still, she too throughout all of this had been building up hope herself. El's been clinging onto the bond she made with Mike, specifically the romantic moments, to the point where she has been watching shows with romantic themes, putting herself in the position of the love interest.

So him not giving up, to El, has been a signal that what they are feeling between each other is very deep and... romantic. Him keeping this going this long is a sign to her that these feelings are pretty much guaranteed. And if he doesn't continue, that hope would obviously dwindle.

At breakfast that morning, Hopper acknowledges the TV cord peaking out of El's room, which is the device she uses to visit Mike from the void, all the way from the cabin. Without it, she is not able to 'communicate' with him, let alone see if he actually didn't give up after that night she feared he did...

Unfortunately her and Hopper have an argument after this, leading to her storming off to her room. And after Hopper is gone, El finds herself being so impatient to see Mike after almost a year of waiting, that she decides to take fate into her own hands. She isn't willing to wait until the evening, which is roughly speaking the usual time Mike uses the walkie to call her every night. She needs to see him now.

And lucky(?) for her, she does!

Finally! A SIGN! After almost a year of no signs that El is alive, since the night she went missing, Mike is getting a sign El is alive!

And he runs after it! He goes to check to confirm his (valid) suspicions, only for her to not be there, with Mike looking disappointed, but also kind of like he's accepted it's a lost cause at this point.

Mike's hope that El is alive and okay and the relief that would come with finally letting go of this massive weight of guilt, is not within reach. He just needs to accept it and let it go. He needs to forgive himself and move on.

On top of all of this, Will is experiencing his own version of crazy. And Mike seems more concerned with focusing on this and supporting Will, than holding onto this hope that El is alive.

So even though Mike just got a sign that El is alive (which parallels to the initial evidence of her being alive outside his house, what literally initiated him to call out to her for almost a year), he doesn't revert back to his approach of not giving up. He sticks by his decision.

The irony of what happens with El the same night that Mike doesn't call, for the first time, is not lost on me...

Tragically, El doesn't know Mike actually gave up (just like she feared he did) because she lost her ability to communicate with him that night.

I wonder how differently things would have played out if she new the truth. Would she have held onto this really romanticized idea of her and Mike's relationship because he never gave up? Or would she have maybe reassured Mike that it was okay that he gave up and moved past it and still hoped and tried to make it work? Honestly, I think the later.

Because again, it's not Mike giving up that makes him a bad person or something that refutes his ability to love her romantically, it just means that it's not true that he never gave up.

And Mike being the only person to know this fact... Um... Cannot be good for him.

October 2nd (Day 355)

As El is trying to revive a modicum of hope that she can see Mike again through the void, to confirm her hopes that he didn't give up, by using the TV like she usually does, she discovers that the cord is broken. It's a lost cause.

On the other side of town, Mike is entirely focused on Will. The previous night, he did not reach out to El. He gave up. And El is none the wiser.

The writers made the choice to have one more night that Mike could have called El because he was at home that night on day 354, a day that actually involved an incident that you'd think would have reignited his hope that she was alive, before he inevitably jumped head first into focusing on Will, with him not being home for the rest of the season. They could have shown us Mike calling out to El from the other side of town, and then cut to her in her room not knowing... And yet, they didn't...

This is where I jump to the end, because the focus primarily when it comes to El and Mike's arcs for the rest of the season are with El trying to find her mom and discover more about herself, while Mike is trying to be there for Will in any way he can.

The sad part is that despite Mike giving up and trying to move on from El's death, that guilt is never really going to go away. He gave El expectations that she had to risk her life to find Will, and all of that built up and inadvertently led to her death.

But maybe Mike can right the wrongs he had El endure by following through on his focus of not letting Will die too? Maybe if Mike can save Will, El wouldn't have died for nothing?

But with this guilt and Mike trying to overcorrect it all, he's also experiencing very real and emotional moments with Will. Will is his best friend, and just a year ago Mike risked everything to get him back. A lot of those moments he experienced with El in s1, moments mixed with romantic expectations, are now also lingering here with him and his friend in s2. Except these aren't forced expectations. Everything Mike’s feeling and doing the entire time comes naturally to him, with none of it requiring pushing or advice from those around him. It's just pure instinct.

In the end, Mike's beside Joyce and Jonathan, who are sharing memories they have with Will to him in hopes it will prove to them he's still in there and able to be saved.

This emotional sequence builds up to Mike using his own memory of Will to try to reach him, one that comes off as platonic in every sense of the word, but visually, and when looked at in the grand scheme of things, especially with what is about to follow and those romantic expectations with El soon being thrust back on him... Well... Shit is about to get real messy.

Upon reuniting with El, Mike was quick to want to tell her that he never gave up, only for her to interrupt him with the exact number of days he called (before he gave up).

This is news to Mike for an abundance of reasons. It means he's not crazy and that El actually was alive those two times he saw her. All this (survivors) guilt that's been building up over the last year could have been avoided if he'd known that she didn't die, that she was okay.

It also means that for some reason, El heard him, and yet she doesn't know that he gave up...

And here Hopper is, revealing that he's been hiding her the whole time aka the perfect person for Mike to take all of this pent-up emotion out on.

Hopper then tells Mike that they will discuss this privately, which I find to be very interesting because it offers a chance for the viewer to see just a glimpse into Mike's emotional state at this moment, without everyone around to affect his ability to truly open up about how he's feeling. And not alone just anywhere in the house, but in Will's room...

Mike is understandably upset because El is alive and Hopper knew this whole time and didn't tell him.

While Hopper didn't technically lie to Mike, at least not in canon because we never got an outright scene on-screen of Mike asking Hopper if El was alive with him denying it (all while knowing she was), it's at the very least a lie of omission...

But the thing is, if Hopper not clueing Mike in on El being alive qualifies as a lie of omission (off-screen), so does Mike not telling El he gave up (on-screen).

If anything Mike's lie of omission also qualifies as a plain old lie, because he outright told El he didn't give up (lied) and didn't correct her when she informed him she knew he didn't. She fully believed it, despite him knowing deep down that it wasn't the full truth.

So while Mike is taking all of his anger out on Hopper as this fighting match comes to a head, it takes a turn.

Hopper is fine with Mike blaming him, he says it's 'okay'. But it's not. Nothing about this is okay to Mike, seeing as this isn't even the whole problem. It's not the problem Mike's actually hiding within his outburst in the first place.

Suddenly Mike starts screaming to Hopper that he's a 'disgusting, lying, piece of shit', chanting LIAR over and over and over again, shoving him repeatedly, only for him to fall into Hopper's arms and start crying, with Hopper reassuring him that he's okay.

Something tells me Mike's emotions here aren't all about Hopper...

Something tells me that Mike's fixation with the word liar doesn't apply to Hopper here as much as it applies to Mike himself (in his eyes)...

The main reason why I think this is what's actually going on here, is because there was no reason to put so much emphasize on this concept of Mike literally walking away that last time he called her.

Why go through the trouble of creating this misunderstanding, by having the TV not work, with El not being able to go into the void to see Mike, THE very night he gave up, if to not plant the seed that this misunderstanding was going to bear some significance? That this misunderstanding (lie? lie of omission?) was going to lead to El assuming Mike didn't give up, all while Mike knows he gave up, but going along with the story that he didn't, for both El's sake and his own?

BECAUSE it's a surprise tool that will help us later!

I also think it's interesting that they decided to have Will go off and dance with a girl at the snowball BEFORE Mike decided to devote himself to El here on out. Like... that is quite the choice after a season of highlighting this bond between Will and Mike where they promise to go crazy together, which is a moment we know Will took romantically.... So, is it possible Mike also took it romantically? We know Will also took Mike's speech to him in the shed romantically, so is it possible Mike did too, with that experience only heightening his emotions and confusion over his feelings for El when he found out she was alive shortly after, leading to his outburst? But then Will is going and dancing with the girl, and here we have Mike's own version of falling behind (the Time After Time lyrics were more literal than you think).

What if they didn't do all of that? Would things have maybe panned out slightly differently if Mike wasn't under the (incorrect) assumption that Will didn't take those moments romantically?

While Mike's guilt might have started in s1, when he played the biggest role in pushing expectations onto El to help them find Will, only for her to 'die', it doesn't end there. Mike's guilt only builds when he holds the knowledge that he did give up hoping she could be alive, all while allowing El to believe the opposite based on what she saw, which was a guiding force for not only her love and dedication to him flourishing, but also for him to then shift his own version of expectations onto himself going forward to make it up to El by trying to be who she wants him to be.

We see how romanticized 353 days is interpreted exclusively as meaning Mike has to be in love with El. But he did give up. So what does that mean for all of this? For their picture perfect love story?

What does it mean for Mike to hold onto this truth, a truth that makes him feel immense guilt, only for him to spend the next year or so making it up to her...?

It means either Mike has to come clean, or he has to deflect and double down.

What option do you think a guilt-ridden, repressed homosexual kid in the 80's is going to choose?

Answer? Deflect and double down.

In s3, Mike is so focused on worrying about El (giving her what he thinks she wants) so he can right all the building up of wrongs he has done at her expense since he met her, and as a result loses Will in the process (where have we heard this before...?)

Instead of Mike having a moment in s3 where he acknowledges that he himself was the first to ever refer to El as a weapon in the first place, to try to save Will in s1, he's now turning around and blaming the others for using El as a weapon 'for no reason'...

No reason? Really Mike? Is it for no reason, or is it just not a good enough reason to you this time?

Or maybe has Mike just actually spent enough time with El now to truly feel a bond with her in order to see her as a full person, slightly outside of this imaginary superhero he's cooked her up to be when he met her that day in the woods, the day his life started because she was his first and only hope of finding Will? (I say slightly bc... I mean we all saw what happened in s4?)

I honestly think it's a mix of both...

I also think it's not a coincidence that Mike doubling down instead of facing the truth about this manifestation of guilt only makes things worse for him. And El. And Will.

Because suddenly he's choosing this moment to blurt out that he loves and can't lose her again, in front of everyone, even to his own dismay and shock. And when El walks in and gives him a chance to say it to her himself, like any person whose in love with someone would want to do, to make them feel loved, he looks terrified.

And when the season ends and Mike is given another chance to say it finally, to El directly, in roughly the exact same spot he had his emotional outburst in the previous season over finding out she was alive at the same time he was still grappling with losing Will again, IN WILL'S ROOM, he freezes. He just lets what happens, happen.

Because after everything, with El right now in front of him, telling him she loves him while being fully convinced he loves her too after everything they've went through, how could he possibly take it back, or try to make her understand his complicated feelings about all of this?

Answer? He can't.

As hard as it is to believe (not that hard honestly based on his track record), Mike's deflection and stalling era is just beginning...

[blluespirit]

I sort of like the thought that Zuko and Aang take the Sun Warriors' warning not to tell anyone about the dragons a little more seriously… and they keep it between them. Of course, they trust Sokka, Toph and Katara. Of course they know they wouldn’t tell anyone, but now three people (including Iroh) know the truth about Ran and Shaw. And that’s three too many when you’re trying to keep a secret.

(and there are other people at the temple as well - like Haru, Teo and The Duke - who, while trustworthy, aren’t as close to them as the others, and when it comes to secrets with as much consequence as this one, you can’t afford to take any chances.)

Furthermore, the culture within the Fire Nation since Sozin’s rein has been warped. The culture is not to respect the dragons as the original firebenders, it’s to conquer and kill them. It’s the ultimate proof of your strength as a firebender. All it takes is one mistake before rumour spreads, and people go looking for the ultimate hunt. It’s not something Zuko or Aang can risk.

Whether Katara, Toph and Sokka (and Suki) ever find out the truth is up to you. But post-war, after Zuko returns from a strange, poorly explained trip with a dragon, and eventually develops the ability to use rainbow fire, either the others have some questions about Aang’s knowing look, or they are finally let in on a monumental secret.

[fellhellion]

Something something the spot’s goofy antics distract from how dangerous his own entitlement and resentment is

[gaym3bo1]

korn shooting himself might be the smartest thing he's done in the whole show

[illarian-rambling]

Yeah yeah the tension between Elsind and Avymere is very tragic and all, however, I do think I really ought to leverage it for comedy purposes more often

Avymere: "You really killed it out there!"

Avymere: "Almost like that one time-"

Elsind: "Almost like that one time your dad let thousands of serfs freeze to death?"

Avymere, through gritted teeth: "Touché."

[waitineedaname]

okay last bbvrai post of the night: I'm so glad members of the crew that didn't have speaking roles in hlvrai got to have roles in tonight's stream. Erarg stole the damn show, Trog as Saul was an incredible choice, Mira's brief scenes on screen had me cackling, and Lauren's whole vibe was hilarious. I'm so glad this was something the whole crew could get in on

[yakny]

Knight Bobo, wearing some of the patterns I drew :D!

[emdotcom]

*remembers what they did to Vanny* 500 FUCKING PIPEBOMB ATTACK.

[pigeonclaw]

I never understood when people who love a specific character want the Erins to write a book about their backstory or motivations or expand on them in any major way. Trust me buddy, any theories you craft about those things will be better than anything the Erins have to say. Sometimes this stuff is better left to the readers to ponder.

[sweetestdumpling]

——

[eriexplosion]

Since today is apparently the day for ending thoughts on TBB - I don't think that the series is going to end with the batch split up, if only because they've never really been together. Crosshair of course has always been off on his own hell journey, Echo left to work with Rex, Tech "died", Omega kidnapped. They started the series with a fracture and they've just become more and more fractured over time.

But, they've also been following Hunter's desire to stay out of shit that whole time. To settle down and find a good life for Omega. Let her be a child and not a fighter. And if the season 2 finale says anything, it says that just stepping out isn't an option. The Empire is never going to just leave their family alone.

We know Echo doesn't want to stop, not when there are other clones out there to help. And I think that after everything Crosshair isn't going to want to stop either. He's less motivated by sheer altruism than Echo, but he has branched out from only caring about the batch and absolutely no one else and he has every reason to despise the Empire after this.

Omega? We know baby girl loves to help people and her time in Mt Tantiss will have given her a close up look at every reason that the fight for the clones isn't over. And she's become more and more independent as the show goes on. Hunter will want her to stay on Pabu and unlike in the season 2 finale she won't be in the depths of despair. She's going to want to help and I don't think anything is going to stop her.

Tech has been the other voice of Going After Crosshair in season 2, and once they get him back and he wants to go with Echo? And Omega does too? Tech is going to lend his assistance, on or off the field depending on how we get him back.

Which leaves Wrecker and Hunter. Hunter trying to convince them to please just settle down say its enough, he can't lose people that he just got back. But he's being outvoted one by one. And when Wrecker decides that they have a point, because of course he's missed Omega, Tech, AND Crosshair and he's going where they're going... well, Hunter is going to have to admit that their job isn't done.

One of the themes has been being more than soldiers - and that leads to a thought that they'll finally get to retire and I think they do make Pabu their home base and it's a more restful life than they've had. But I don't think it'll be to retire completely. They're not just soldiers, they're a family. But there are many more brothers out there that need to be brought home before they're done.

[pu-butt]

Thinking about Him* again.

*shaolin fantastic the lady-killing romantic