#how could he entrust the most important mission of all to anyone else

[arthurslesbian]

arthur's face when he had to entrust merlin to the care of another man 😭😭😭

[clu-ven]

Can you do the bad batch with chubby Togruta reader

this is my very first request so thank you anon for entrusting me with this!

1.4k words ! tw: mentions of weight throughout ! everything I got about the Togruta is from the Wookiepedia page !

quick note: these kinda lean in on the reader being a potential s/o for each batcher or at least somewhat romantically involved with them (apologies anon, I'm projecting)

HUNTER

Honestly, Hunter hasn’t given much thought to your physical appearance – both size and species wise. You’re you and to Hunter, that’s all that matters.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t considerate. Even though you’ve never really mentioned it to him, Hunter’s very protective of your unique attributes such as your head tails. He knows people can be overbearing, especially on Ord Mantell and so whenever he thinks someone is getting too close to you or about to touch your head tails (usually without asking you for permission), Hunter is quick to intervene.

And Maker help anyone who ever comments on your size. Hunter can let a lot of things slide, it’s something he’s grown up with thanks to the constant teasing from the Regs on Kamino but people teasing you?

Now that he can’t let slide.

He’s super protective and will always be there to comfort you on days you feel a little insecure. You, Omega and his brothers are the most important people in Hunter’s life and he will do everything in his power to make sure you’re safe and happy.

One of his favourite things to do after a stressful mission is hug you. Usually, Hunter isn’t too keen on affection after a tough mission, his senses being completely overworked but with you, it’s a rare comfort he genuinely enjoys. 

He loves to wrap his arms around you, to assure himself that you’re still here as you snuggle in by his chest and Hunter delicately places his head between your head tails. Whenever he does this, a relaxed smile automatically spreads across his face.

TECH

Before you both became close, Tech spent a lot of time researching Togruta culture. At the time, he wasn’t sure why but he wanted to impress you by knowing little niche things you’ve presumably grown up with. And damn did he do a lot of research, even mentioning traditions that died off decades before you were born and leaving you somewhat confused.

Your weight is something that has never concerned Tech. He knows you’re healthy and that’s all that matters to him in regards to weight. 

Besides, your thighs? You could smother him with them and he would die a happy man.

If you’re ever feeling insecure about your size, he’ll sit down with you and come up with some logistical solutions, laced with reassurance that you’re perfect the way you are and that you shouldn’t change your appearance unless it’s something you want.

While Tech knows he can’t study the complete ins and outs of how you feel about your body, he never hesitates to remind you that he loves you for you and that you shouldn’t feel the need to change for him or any other person.

Tech is very cautious when it comes to you joining them on any missions, your safety being a big concern of his. But don’t worry, he has a solution… and no, he’s not going to start banning you from coming on missions. Tech knows that you can decide whether you want to go on a mission by yourself and frankly, he would feel weird in banning you from joining them.

Instead, he takes some of his old helmets and repurposes them as a personalised helmet for you. Tech takes extra special care in cutting out holes big enough for your head tails to comfortably fit through. He knows this isn’t a perfect solution but for now, it’s a prototype.

WRECKER

While Wrecker is certainly muscular, his stature isn’t exactly the ‘norm’ among both clones and humans. And so he knows how it feels to be extra self-aware of your physical appearance, even if no one else is actually paying attention to it.  

Wrecker is a softie through and through so any deep conversations you want to have about your weight or species, he’ll be there to listen… he may not know what to say or any advice to give but he’ll always listen.

But just because Wrecker is a softie doesn’t mean he won’t become your sworn protector if anyone ever makes a comment about you. He can switch from a fun loving guy munching on some mantell mix to an intimidating menace in the matter of seconds.

He isn’t sure if it’s proper to say and for ages he never mentioned it out of fear of offending you but once you both become close, he just has to tell you how cool he thinks your brightly coloured skin and head tails are. Wrecker is a sucker for anything colourful, so you’re basically an angel to him.

Seriously, he’s pretty sure he heard a choir singing the first time he saw you.

You should’ve seen the look on Wrecker’s face when he heard the homeplanet to most Togruta, Shili, was pretty popular for making some of the galaxy's best (and most cheesiest) melodramatic holovids.

Binge-watching some of these holovids quickly becomes one of Wrecker’s favourite hobbies, adoring the idea of cuddling with you and getting invested in each holovid. Sometimes, Omega will even join you both, each of you making commentary on how obvious a plot twist is or how bad some of the acting is.

ECHO

You’re not the first Togruta Echo has come across and yet he knows very little about the Togruta culture. Ahsoka was taken to join the Jedi Order at a very early age so she never got to fully experience the Togruta lifestyle and consequently, Echo doesn’t know much about it. 

He’s very eager to learn, to appreciate your culture and see how your people live. He will spend hours sitting with you and listening intently to each and every detail you mention, as if there’ll be a quiz at the end. 

But if you don’t know much about your culture either, Echo doesn’t mind. The way he sees it, who is he to judge? If learning more about the Togruta culture is something you’re interested in then Echo is more than happy to learn with you and be there every step of the way, whether that be cooking customary foods or going hunting in the traditional Togruta way. 

As someone who wants to put on some more weight, Echo has never batted an eye to your chubbiness. Your weight is never something Echo has thought much about but he has to admit, he does adore how soft you are. He isn’t sure if that’s because of your weight or if it’s just you in general but cuddling with you is the single most relaxing thing he has ever experienced.

Seriously, you’ve made this man a cuddle monster and he isn’t complaining about it.

Ever since the Citadel, cuddling is something Echo never thought he would enjoy, mainly because of his hard equipment (no, not that, keep ya mind out of the gutter) but with you? It’s impossible not to adore it and let his insecurities melt away with your gentle touch.

When you’re both cuddling, his favourite thing to do is trace your face markings with his finger, giving you a surprise kiss on one of them just to make you giggle. After everything he’s been through, you give Echo the one thing he didn’t think he could attain; utter happiness.

CROSSHAIR

Crosshair knows you’re capable. You can defend, attack and patch up an injury pretty good so he doesn’t care about your size. As long as you’re capable then he’s content.

If you ever feel insecure, Crosshair gives you a look of utter confusion (which is damn adorable). You might as well be speaking Tusken to him. Crosshair thinks you’re attractive, he has always thought you’re attractive, so flaws? Where? He sees none.

Crosshair is usually an expert on keeping his emotions to himself but damn whenever you wear something skin tight that really shows off your curves, this man goes F E R A L. 

This is possibly the only time he could miss a target purely because he’s too distracted by you to properly focus his aim (but let’s be real, he’ll probably make sure to hit the target just to impress you).

Crosshair is a reserved guy but he takes note of a lot. He’s memorised how many stripes are on your head tails and how many markings you have on your face. This isn’t something he’s done intentionally but he spends so much time looking at you, he’s memorised it over time.

One thing Crosshair really appreciates is the Togruta culture's strong sense of unity and how important being together is (something he thinks his brother’s need to brush up on).

Your common values make him feel secure when you’re around and helps him open up to you. Crosshair always views the two of you as a team, a package deal where one will never leave the other behind.

[iturbide]

I get such shady vibes from the magistrate.

I vaguely recall a fantasy book I read ages ago where a country would immediately conscript anyone who started displaying magical abilities. Not because they were useful in the military but because throwing mages on the front lines was a convenient way to get rid of them.

I wonder if the magistrate is going for a similar approach here, let both problems: spooky masked poisoners and our mage friend, take care of each other.

:3c

Summer Storm

25,890/50,000 words

“How many mages have you brought to justice, Lindulf?”

He thought for a moment.  “Four since last winter.”  Not including Miryn.

Miryn didn’t feel like justice.

“An admirable record.”  He heard the praise in her voice, and stood slightly straighter, though she did not see it where she stood staring into the flames.  “Your efforts have kept our city safe: left unchecked, mages would wreak untold destruction, cause immense harm to all who call Luvirei home…it is only through our laws that we can preserve the safety of the people.”

“Yes,” he agreed quietly. 

“It is for everyone’s safety that mages must renounce their magecraft, or else leave Luvirei,” she continued.  “And it is for that same reason that we cannot allow any mage to evade responsibility for their crimes and the harm they cause others.”

Lindulf nodded.  “That’s why Miryn is going to help us deal with the group in masks.”

The magistrate made a quiet sound, beginning to pace slowly before the flames.  “It is vital to the safety of our city that this be resolved, Lindulf.  These rogues cannot be allowed to go unchecked.  I’m entrusting you with seeing this mission through.”

“What about Izzy and Riculf?” he asked, his head tilting slightly to one side.

“I would like answers regarding this incident with the mage,” she replied.  “As she seems to have a firm handle on the situation, I would ask Izzy to investigate, with Riculf’s aid.”

He shuffled his feet slightly, worrying his hands behind his back.  “Will the two of us really be enough?”

She turned a practiced smile on him, familiar but lacking in real warmth.  “You are one of our most capable guardsmen, and the mage has proven himself capable.  The reports from travelers have never cited more than perhaps six of these rogues; correct me if I’m mistaken, Lindulf, but have any of the statements mentioned them drawing weapons?”

He frowned, turning his gaze to his boots.  “There have been several that stated they carried blades, but…I can’t recall mention of those blades being drawn.”

“It does not seem unreasonable, then, to imagine that they are a bluff?”

Lindulf shook his head.  He had never liked these kinds of speculations; Izzy had a knack for weighing possibilities and deciding how to act, but he had always held to his uncle’s wisdom: never carry a weapon you don’t know how to use.

The silence stretched, though, while she waited for an answer.  “I could not say, Magister.”

She hummed, softly, returning her attention to the hearth.  “Even assuming they do have some experience, the mage will be present to assist.  I trust in your competence to bring these rogues to justice, just as you have the mages.”

He nodded, keeping his eyes trained on the toes of his boots.  “I will do my utmost.”

The magistrate approached, placing a hand on his shoulder.  “Lindulf,” she said solemnly, “this is a grave matter.  For the good of everyone, both in our city and coming to it, they cannot be allowed to run rampant.”

He met her dark brown eyes, lifting his arm in a firm salute.  “You have my oath, Magister.”

She smiled again and released him, gesturing toward the door.  Turning on his heel, he strode across the room—

“Lindulf.”

He looked over his shoulder, one hand resting on the door handle.  “Yes, Magister?”

She stood facing the window, hands clasped behind her back.  “This matter with the masked rogues is of utmost importance, above all other concerns.  Should it happen that the mage falls in the pursuit of this greater justice, then it will be a necessary, if unfortunate, consequence of success.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, Magistrate,” he agreed easily.

“Very good.  You may go.”

She lifted her hand again, and he departed without hesitation, closing the door carefully behind him…before releasing his deep sigh of relief.  With only the two of them, he had been worried for Miryn’s safety — mage or not, he had never struck Lindulf as a fighter — but the Magistrate had clearly considered that already. 

If only one of them needed to see the mission through for it to be successful, he would ensure that it was Miryn who returned.

[ootahime]

what is utahime’s role in the future? — a prediction (manga spoilers)

part 1 (unedited)

I WAS ABOUT TO POST IT BUT I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED IT AND I WAS SO HURT FR!!!!! I HAD REWRITE THIS ENTIRE THING </33

part 2 is here!

in this post, i will be analyzing the information we’ve been given about utahime so far to form a prediction about her future role in the jujutsu kaisen series. if you’re as interested in utahime’s character as i am, please feel free to keep reading :3 (i’ll also be talking about her relationship with gojo a bit too)

soukatsu_ on twt!

kaikaikitan on twt!

utahime iori is a semi-grade 1 sorcerer working as a student supervisor/teacher at kyoto jujutsu high school. she loves drinking beer and going to karaoke. she’s also close friends with shoko and she’s not particularly fond of gojo most of the time. what else do we know about her?

hates sweets (funny she’s the complete opposite of gojo)

she’s great at singing and it’s a huge part of her technique

squabbling with gojo became a reflex :3

everyone absolutely adores utahime

loves watching soccer and baseball

a terrible drunk (worse than naobito zenin)

gojo is her main source of stress

let’s dive into her personality and abilities!

chapter 65

before i get into it, i think it’d be best if i were to explain the timeline because a lot of people seem to be confused about this one particular thing. utahime is born on february 18th, 1987. contrary to popular belief, she is not 3 years older than gojo. it is november 2018 in the story because gojo was sealed on halloween. if gojo was born on december 7th, 1989, that would mean that right now, he is only 28 years old. he has yet to turn 29.

the year is 2007. gojo satoru is a second year at tokyo jujutsu high school. the japanese school year begins in april which suggests that gojo is only 17 at the time (even if it’s not april, it doesn’t look like winter yet so it’s unlikely that he’s already 18). utahime is 20 because it is past february. she is a 2nd grade sorcerer at the age of 20. that’s not bad at all!

chapter 65 introduces young utahime and mei on a mission together within a cursed site. in real time, they’ve been gone for two days which is a cause of concern for gojo, shoko, and geto because the two haven’t contacted anyone since the beginning of their mission.  the two begin to suspect something is wrong because the hallway markers they’ve set in place disappeared, and no matter how far they travel within the halls, the end is nowhere in sight.  mei theorizes that the cursed spirit is overlapping the space as they travel forward.  utahime agrees with this speculation and proposes a plan to escape the cursed spirit’s grasp by moving erratically.  notice how she says that if one of them should escape, they can try to attack from the outside or call for help.  if utahime was not capable of inflicting damage on anything then she would have told mei to escape and attack if she can while she waited to be rescued.  however, she didn’t.  she included herself in the sentence which leads me to believe that she is capable of going on the offense if needed.  

keep in mind that at this point in time, mei is a grade 1 sorcerer.  she is knowledgeable about all things involving jujutsu because she is experienced and skillful.  we can see this aspect of her character illustrated when she theorizes that the cursed spirit is messing with the space they’re in.  she chooses to go with utahime’s plan because she agrees that it’s the best action moving forward.  this verifies that utahime is an intelligent girl that’s able to get along with pretty much anyone.  

her intellect is demonstrated once again in chapter 79.  she was able to deduce the possibility of there being more than one traitor and the fact that one is probably a higher up.  she also narrowed down the mechamaru as the mole of kyoto not because he was acting suspicious but by process of elimination.  she thought thoroughly of his technique and how easy it would be for him to manipulate devices small enough to be undetectable.  

sure you can argue that she should already know all her students’ abilities and whatnot but you have to admit that it’s hard trying to sniff out the traitor when no one is acting suspicious.  in addition to that, how did she know that there was a traitor in the top brass?  i would have never guessed that tbh LOL (maybe bc im an idiot).

okay, now that we have established that she’s intelligent, let’s answer a more important question.  is utahime weak?

chapter 33

if gojo calls utahime weak, does that mean there is some truth to it?  well it is true that she is weaker than him because he’s the strongest and all.  in my opinion, he’s just teasing her.  he probably found that calling her weak is what really riles her up.  maybe i’ll talk about why he loves teasing her so much in a later post.  but anyway, gojo calls everybody and their mom weak.  he even said jogo was weak and we know how powerful that guy is.  gojo’s words alone do not indicate much about utahime’s power.  in fact, i don’t even think he has seen her use her technique yet.  he’s probably only ever heard of how it works.  this is what i think their conversation about her technique was like:

gojo: hm?  ur cursed technique is singing?  can u show me?

utahime: what!  no way!  

gojo: why not?

*one of the classmates tells him that she can only use her CT once in a while because it consumes a lot of energy*

gojo: hahaha!  u have to conserve cursed energy to use ur CT?  why are u so weak, utahime?

utahime: i!  am!  your!  senpai!  respect!  me!

what i’m trying to say is that gojo loves poking fun of people.  we should not believe him when he calls someone weak because compared to him, everyone is weak.  

this is a little off topic but let’s examine him telling her, “and you don’t have the nerves, utahime.”  i think he’s trying to say that there’s no way she’ll ever do something like that because she’s not the type to put her students in danger.  remember the soft expression and relieved smile on her lips when she said that she was glad the students were safe after the kyoto incident?  gojo was directly in front of her so not only did he hear her say that, but he could have seen the look on her face too.  even if he told her that she didn’t have the guts to betray the school to get on her nerves, he knew that utahime simply cared too much about the students so he ruled her out as a suspect right away.  this is why he ultimately decided to confide in her and ask her to help him.  

i’m a person who loves over-analyzing things.  i really enjoy the dynamic between gojo and utahime.  they’ve known each other for more than 11 years and although they always bicker, there is an unspoken feeling of trust between the two.  gojo can do anything and everything by himself because he is truly the strongest person alive, but he still knows when to rely on others.  him deciding to entrust utahime with such a job implies that he believes in utahime’s abilities.

chapter 52

she’s not using any cursed energy here--not to our knowledge at least.  this is just pure skill.  she was able to swiftly evade the swing from haruta.  he was surprised himself considering the fact that he was right behind her.  how do we know her CT isn’t speed?  after haruta swung at her, we can see that some of her hair got cut off.  if she was using her CT then speed should be her specialty.  she should have been able to completely avoid the attack altogether but she didn’t.  of course this isn’t a wow moment because jujutsu sorcerers should know how to dodge attacks, however, i’m just trying to get the point across that she’s not a defenseless person without her technique or others.  let’s not forget that semi-grade 1 isn’t a weak rank either.  you can’t simply be recommended to be a grade 1 sorcerer if you only can support others.  

chapter 48

i want to bring up this panel. it suggests that utahime and takuma are sorcerers who have not experienced black flash and therefore, do not understand the essence of cursed energy as well as those who have like gojo and nanami.  i find it strange how takuma and utahime were used to represent sorcerers who haven’t experienced it yet.  is the purpose to demonstrate that there is a clear difference in skill between adult sorcerers like utahime and takuma compared to gojo and nanami?  i could be nitpicking but the order of todo’s statement doesn’t line up with the sorcerers being shown.  let me explain in depth.  todo starts off by saying, “for those who have experienced black flash as compared to those who have not...” wouldn’t it make more sense to show gojo and nanami on the right side to represent sorcerers who have experienced black flash?  that was mentioned first, after all.  gojo and nanami should appear when todo says “for those who have experience black flash” while utahime and takuma should be shown right after to personify the second part, “as compared to those who have not.”  i’m just making it more complicated than it actually is LOLOL i’m sure it really just means they haven’t experienced black flash yet, which is completely fine.  i also find it fascinating how they used utahime to contrast gojo.  with nanami and takuma it makes sense.  nanami is someone takuma looks up to, he wants to gain nanami’s approval before he deems himself worthy of a promotion. what about utahime and gojo?  what’s the purpose of comparing those two together when it’s obvious that gojo knows more about the essence of cursed energy more than anyone else?  i might be delusional whoops

----

let me know what you guys think?  this is only a part 1 so i haven’t gotten around to answering the question.  i’m pretty much done with the second part, i just need to revise it a little.  i think after i post part 2, i’ll try to interpret all the gojo and utahime moments in the manga >.<

[cheri-translates]

Headcanon - Fights with the guys

[ this Ask was wheelbarrowed over from @cheri-cheri​ ]

Hello~ Angst is inevitable with such a prompt, but I hope the fluffiness at the end makes up for it! (´･ᴗ･ ` ) Lucien isn’t here because I’m not familiar with his character :<

[ Gavin - spending too much time apart ]

It begins with a pang of disappointment when a date she’s been looking forward to for weeks gets interrupted halfway by a phone call

With that, Gavin gets whisked away abruptly for a month-long mission

During the first week, she cheers herself up with a reminder that Gavin is doing something noble - keeping the streets of Loveland City safe.

During the second week, she consoles herself with the knowledge that this isn't the first time Gavin has been uncontactable for a long period of time. Shouldn’t she have gotten used to it by now?

During the third week, doubt creeps in. Despite him telling her in advance that the mission site could lack a proper signal, the heaviness in MC’s chest gets weightier with each unread message and unanswered call.

She doesn’t know if her boyfriend is dead or alive.

She doesn’t even know where he is.

During the fourth week, she’s frustrated. She's frustrated at the STF, at Gavin, and at herself.

She’s frustrated that this isn’t the first time the STF has deployed Gavin on missions at short notice, as though he’s simply a tool ready to be wielded at any moment.

The frequency of missions over the past few months suddenly skyrocketed. It’s the main reason why she was looking forward to the date before he left - she wanted him to get a proper rest.

She’s frustrated that there doesn't seem to be anything she can do about the situation.

She's frustrated that the days without him pass by so painfully slowly.

She’s frustrated that-

“MC, I’m back.”

The fight is a quiet affair.

It might not even be considered one, since MC is the one doing most of the talking. She pours out everything in her heart, and how she’s very, very tired.

She doesn’t know if she can continue being in this relationship if she's going to be the only party in it.

Gavin listens quietly.

Then, he takes out two plane tickets from his pocket

The reason why he was deployed on so many missions recently was because he actively volunteered for them. That way, he would be able to clock in enough hours to take her on a long, undisrupted vacation

He intended for it to be a surprise, but didn’t expect that his actions would make MC upset instead

Aside from this, they also try to make future time apart more bearable:

When Gavin knows that he’d be embarking on a mission where remaining contactable is an issue, he would write a bunch of letters beforehand and entrust them to Minor, who would secretly place one on her office desk every morning

The letters vary in length. They could be entire pages filled with a somewhat clumsy yet heartwarming documentation of what went through his mind on certain dates they had together... 

Or a simple: I love you. I’ll be safe. I can’t wait to come home.

MC finds out very easily who Gavin’s “messenger pigeon” is, and she forces Minor to hand over the entire box just in case he loses it or decides to take a peek out of curiosity (which he already did)

Meanwhile, MC leaves tons of voice messages in Gavin’s phone for him whenever he needs a pick-me-up.

They could range from her reading works from Byron’s Poetry Collection, or a clip of her playing the piano...

Or a simple: I love you. Be safe. I’m waiting for you to come home. 

[ KIRO - the fatigue of a secret relationship ]

Initially, MC thought that having a secret relationship with a world renowned celebrity would be as thrilling as what’s typically depicted in TV dramas

Whenever they go on dates outside the studio or their homes, Kiro has to disguise himself with various props

e.g. wearing an ugly wig, donning oversized sunglasses, peppering his face with fake freckles, and even changing the tone of his voice

While it was funny the first few times, it gets exhausting after a while.

It’s mentally exhausting to always be on the look out for paparazzi and discerning fans at the expense of enjoying the date and each other’s company

It’s emotionally exhausting to see gossip magazines speculating about Kiro’s relationships with gorgeous women in the entertainment industry

It’s exhausting when her mind wanders afar off, leading her to ask:

“Are you... ashamed of me?”

The fight is one akin to daggers to his heart.

“Of course not! Miss Chips, why would that even cross your mind?” 

Kiro explains that he’s more than capable of renting entire restaurants, and even the entire amusement park so he can remove all his stuffy props and be with her without worrying about the fans

But at the same time, he wants their relationship to be as normal as possible.

Because when he’s with her, he doesn’t feel like Kiro the celebrity. He’s simply a boy in love who wants to go on normal dates like any normal couple would

He doesn’t want MC to get tied down by having every social media post and every move scrutinised by the public.

But MC has considered all of this. And she's ready to shoulder the relationship with him - both the good and bad.

Eventually, when the time is right, and after much discussion with Savin and the PR department, MC and Kiro go public with their relationship

He starts doing livestreams more often where he does cute couple activities with MC, in the hopes that his fans are won over by her just as much as he is

It turns out that MC wins his fans over a little too much

Sometimes, they even ask Kiro to step aside and let MC take over his livestream instead QAQ

[ SHAW - good intentions gone wrong ]

“I’m grabbing dinner with Minor and Gavin. Want to join us?”

“Eli and Gavin were telling me about the new dishes in Lynn’s Kitchen. We should drop by sometime.”

“That tin of biscuits? Gavin gave it to me. Help yourself to them!”

...

For some unfathomable reason, MC has been bringing up his brother in their conversations every day over the past two weeks

When he sees MC putting on Gavin’s ginkgo bracelet before heading out, he finally snaps.

“Since you’re always going on and on about Gavin, why not date him instead?!”

The fight is one he wishes he could take back.

“I’m not... You’ve got it all wrong! Gavin’s been wanting to meet you, and I-”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

MC flinches at Shaw’s harsh tone.

Then, she averts her eyes, hoping her tears wouldn’t spill out

“Yeah, I clearly don’t.”

And she runs out of the apartment, and into the storm.

After chugging down a can of iced Cola, Shaw more or less cools down

In the process, it dawns on him that MC does know many things about him that he’s never shared with anyone else

She’s caught the nostalgic gaze in his eyes when he talked about the little guardian who held his hand from the moment he first started walking

The little guardian who had fathomless patience for his endless ‘why’s

His very first best friend, and someone he could rely on.

And how the little plane from so many years ago wasn’t the only important thing he left behind that day.

And right now, he’s close to losing another important person.

Ignoring the dampness on his face, he grabs his phone and calls MC, before realising that she left her phone in the apartment

So, he sends his first text to Gavin.

Together, they manage to locate MC, who’s drying herself off in the rehearsal room of Live House.

“I’m sorry.”

Shaw’s apology is soft, but it reaches the hearts of two people.

Before Gavin turns to leave, Shaw calls after him.

“Thanks. Your bracelet was of some use.”

Of course, Gavin will never tell him that he doesn’t actually need it to find MC

“Cough, no problem.”

Although the estranged relationship between the brothers requires much more than a stormy night to mend, having dinner together is a promising start.

-

Just want to put it out there that it isn’t confirmed if Shaw and Gavin are brothers. It’s a very sensitive topic within the CN community where a sizeable portion of the players believe they aren’t, and the players aren’t afraid to tear you down if you believe otherwise LOL

But for me personally, I love the idea of them being brothers!

[ VICTOR ]

I couldn’t think of any major things they could fight about aside from his sharp tongue. But that’s painfully cliché so I shall just leave you with two petty reasons why they would argue instead:

Whenever MC visits Souvenir, she doodles on the serviette while waiting for the food. She eventually makes it a habit to draw really awful caricatures of Victor and laughs over them with Mr Mills. Victor gets all pouty because he can hear their laughter from the kitchen but is missing out on the fun :<

Victor decides to test MC one day, and gives her a pudding from a convenience store instead of his. MC does taste the difference but doesn’t say anything because she thinks Victor is just having a bad day. On the other hand, he gets irritated because HOW DARE SHE mistake this low-grade jiggly thing for his perfect pudding??

[four-loose-screws]

FE8 Novelization Translation - Chapter 15, Section 1

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations

If you are interested in donating to support my work, please check out my Ko-fi here. Thank you!

———————————

I call this a “section” because it is not a separate part of the chapter in the book, but divided from the rest of the chapter by a scene break.

———————————

Chapter 15 - The Day the Empire Fell

Bethroen was a port town located in southwest Renais. After capturing Fort Rigwald, Ephraim's army continued their preparations to head towards Grado’s capital city by ship.

Their march progressed smoothly. The only worry on Ephraim’s mind was Eirika, who was currently headed for Rausten.

The day before, the Frelian pegasus knights had told him the grave news that Carcino had betrayed them. Prince Innes was all alone at a fort on a plateau, and Eirika was headed his way to rescue him. Both the status of the prince and Eirika’s safety were currently unknown.

Because they’d thought that going to Rausten was the easier journey, he’d sent his sister out on that mission. It made Ephraim panic, but now that he’d come as far as he had, he couldn’t go back. He continued to pray for his sister to stay safe, and with no further time to spare, he decided the only thing he could do now was hurry to Grado's capital to capture it.

First, they had to find an appropriate ship. Ephraim gave the command to his soldiers to procure a ship, then he received a message from a member of the reconnaissance team.

“Lord Ephraim, the Grado Army is straight ahead of us!”

“So they’re on their way here?” Ephraim decided to put their ship search on hold for the time being and order everyone to prepare for battle. 

However, the next piece of information was very strange. 

“The Grado Army is not coming this way. They are chasing someone.”

“Who…? A deserter?” Ephraim quickly climbed atop a tall cherry tree and scanned the area.

Just as it had been explained to him in the report, he saw the Grado Army chasing around a knight atop a horse. The knight was avoiding his pursuers with expert handling of his horse's reins, but they had him surrounded, and it was only a matter of time before they captured him.

The moment that Ephraim saw that sight, he realized the identity of the knight dodging the Grado soldiers. He shouted aloud without even thinking before he spoke,  “That… That’s General Duessel, isn’t it!? Why is he being chased by the Grado Army…?”

He knew absolutely nothing about the situation, but couldn’t overlook his teacher when the man was in danger. Ephraim immediately changed his orders. They were now to prioritize rescuing General Duessel over fighting the Grado Army.

He also grabbed his own lance and ran towards Duessel. The crowd of Grado soldiers dispersed, and once he was within earshot, he called out his instructor’s name as loudly as he could. 

When Duessel noticed him, he galloped his horse over to where Ephraim stood. He looked so different that Ephraim was at a loss for words. Both Duessel’s clothing and hair were in disarray, and he was breathing heavily. The general, once with a refined demeanor fit for royalty, now looked like an entirely different person.

“Lord Ephraim…!”

"What happened, General Duessel? Why are you being chased by the Grado Empire? ...Nevermind, we can talk later. It's more important that we protect you. Come with me." Ephraim immediately started to turn around, but Duessel didn't move. Ephraim turned back around and said in an irritated tone, "What's wrong, General Duessel? You're surrounded here. Please come with me to my army."

"I am sorry, Lord Ephraim. You are my enemy to the bitter end. And no matter the circumstances, I cannot accept help from an enemy." Ephraim immediately started to give his argument, but Deussel shook his head with a heavy heart and interjected, "I am Deussel, the Obsidian. Ever since that title was bestowed upon me, I have sworn my loyalty to Grado and the emperor. I am running now only because I am to be executed, as His Majesty is questioning my loyalty. It is not to get help from you."

"Did you just say… executed? What the hell happened…?"

"There is nothing for me to tell you. Please retreat, Lord Ephraim."

"What will you do when you get away from the army?"

Duessel did not answer.

Ephraim, now all the more irritated, thumped his lance against the ground and shouted, "What's going on, General Duessel?! Tell me what happened!!"

"...No. I can't tell you…"

"Why won't you talk no matter what? If that's the case, I have an idea too. I know it's selfish, but I will protect you."

"Lord Ephraim…" Duessel's face was frozen in utter astonishment.

Ephraim said to him with conviction, "It is because it is something I can do. Don’t throw away your own life in front of me. You are my teacher. No matter the circumstances, I will not allow you to die. Even if I have to drag you along with me. Don't make this that difficult for me."

Duessel clenched his teeth in pain and looked at Ephraim. 

Ephraim softened his words a little. “I’ve heard rumors of the emperor’s descent into madness as well. And those who advised against his actions were his true retainers… isn't that right?"

"Yes. And so I…"

“You can’t do anything by your own power alone. Do not choose this path you are on and be captured without resistance. Right now, even if you have to bear with the disgrace, please accept my assistance. The happiness of the Grado people is much more important than your honor, isn't it?"

Deussel's cheeks turned slightly red. Ephraim's sincere speech seemed to have hit home. The general clenched his jaw, then nodded. "...You're right. I've been showing you my embarrassing side. I will entrust these old bones to you. The countless evil deeds that the Grado Army has committed… Take me with you, and help me atone for all of them."

With Deussel added to their ranks, the Grado Army was no match for Ephraim's army. The battle ended with hardly anyone on their side becoming injured.

Ephraim and Deussel first found an inn in a port town to rest in. After Deussel cleaned himself up, his face was still pale, but his expression calmed. "You've grown up, Lord Ephraim. When I taught you the lance, you were just a boy who hated losing."

"It is because of your guidance. General Duessel, please, I want you to talk to me. Why were you discharged from the imperial army?”

Duessel was silent for a long while, but when Ephraim pushed him one last time, he finally opened his heavy mouth to speak. “...His Majesty ordered me to kill you.”

Ephraim’s expression froze, and he nodded. He had of course expected that to be the case.

“Nothing could get me to agree to this war. It might have been only a matter of time before the countries of Magvel started fighting with each other, but this war is not for a just cause. It is an invasion, and nothing more. A war like this makes not only the people of Renais, but also Grado, suffer… I said that to His Majesty, but he did not listen to me. Or should I say… it made him question my loyalty.”

Ephraim knew that Duessel was more deeply loyal to Emperor Vigarde than anyone else who served him. He could easily imagine just how painful it would be for the emperor to question his loyalty.

“And so, I decided to do as I was ordered and set out to kill you. Please forgive me.”

“There is no need for you to apologize. It is just something you would do as a general of the Grado Army.”

“But his Majesty really did doubt me. Selena went with me under the guise of my assistant.”

“Selena… The general known as “Fluorspar.””

“You are correct. She is a woman with a powerful sense of justice. She had doubts about this war from the very beginning as well, just as Glen and I did. But she is also a Grado soldier… she could not disobey His Majesty’s orders either. Selena insisted that I go kill you immediately, but I was still hesitant. I wanted to talk to you if at all possible… If I could, then we might be able to avoid a pointless fight. That is what I insisted upon.”

Ephraim and Eirika planned to avoid fighting whenever possible, and so had Duessel. That reassured Ephraim, but at this point, it was also stressful.

“And with that, I was branded a traitor. Selena accused me of the crime of betrayal, and told me to immediately drop my weapon. If I resisted, then I would be executed. I did not fear death. If I did not have the resolve to sacrifice my life for His Majesty, then I never would have become a soldier. But I couldn’t allow myself to be executed for groundless suspicions of my loyalty. His Majesty is walking the wrong path. Until I successfully advise him to choose otherwise, I cannot die. With that conviction in my heart, I ran from my pursuers, but… it seems that I was lacking a bit in my usual composure. Your words have opened my eyes. There really is no way that I can do anything on my own. I will bear with my humiliation, and lend my power to Renais.”

With that explanation, Ephraim knew exactly why Duessel had run from the Grado Army. Things were worse than he imagined. For the emperor to question his most trusted retainer meant that his descent into madness was much further along than Ephraim had suspected.

“So is General Selena close by here now?”

“No, as I understand, as soon as I escaped, she received orders to return to the capital. What is His Majesty intending to do by scattering the generals…? Even if he is doing it on a whim, it is still an absolute mystery."

“General Duessel. I can't help but think that the emperor's personality has changed to its very core. What happened in the capital? Isn’t there anything that comes to mind?”

Deussel furrowed his brow at Ephraim's question. 

Ephraim guessed what he might have that he wanted to talk about, and waited.

Deussel's hesitancy over whether or not he should say anything likely came from the fact that he had not yet abandoned his loyalty to the emperor. It wasn’t impossible. Even if he had been branded a traitor, he wasn’t the type of person to have a sudden change of heart.

After a long pause, Duessel finally opened his mouth.  “I have no way of confirming whether or not this is related to the emperor's change of heart, but… there is something that has worried me for a long time."

“What kind of thing is it?”

“This happened quite some time ago, but… Prince Lyon and the mages said one day that they had successfully made the Dark Stone. The prince was unusually excited about it."

"What is this 'Dark Stone?'"

I do not know. But they said that it is an amazing stone even more powerful than the Sacred Stones. Now that I look back on it, I think that was the day that the emperor started to change."

Ephraim was deep in thought. If that story was true, then this Dark Stone was what was negatively influencing the emperor.

"...Ephraim."

He heard a small voice. It was Myrrh. He'd put everyone else in rooms far away from this one, but she was different. Just taking his eyes off her worried him, so he had told her to always stay close by.

"What is it, Myrrh?"

"I have felt an ominous energy coming from the capital for a very long time now. That energy twists people's hearts. No matter how good they may be, it will turn anyone into a bad person…"

"...Is that true?"

Was the Dark Stone the source of this "ominous energy" that Myrrh was talking about? It would mean that they would have to destroy the Dark Stone to save the emperor.

"General Deussel, where is the Dark Stone now?"

"Prince Lyon should have it. He hasn't put it down for even a second ever since that day."

"...So that would mean there's a chance the Dark Stone has also had an effect on Lyon as well, correct? Has Lyon changed at all?"

"Well…" Duessel seemed to be even more baffled by this question. Once he was finally done thinking, he shook his head.

"No, I don't think that he has. He stays holed up in his room even more now, but that's probably because he is fervently studying the Dark Stone. On the occasion that he has shown his face to us, he is the same kind prince that he always has been. Even if he has not clearly stated it, I believe that this war is weighing heavily upon his heart."

"I understand." Ephraim breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, as we thought, our march towards the capital is the key. I want to meet him and talk to him. If we were to combine our strength, then I strongly believe that we could return the emperor to normal."

"I will go with you." Duessel's tone was full of conviction. 

Ephraim looked him in the eyes, and asked, “We will be fighting the Grado Army. Are you okay with that?”

“I have already been branded a traitor. To worry about that at this point is futile. More than anything else… I want His Majesty’s heart to return to what it once was. If you figure out the mysteries of the Dark Stone, then surely His Majesty will be freed from the terrible curse he is under. To accomplish that, I am prepared to resign myself to my fate as a disloyal servant." Duessel said word by word, slowly trying to convince himself of what he was saying. “Before that, there’s just one thing I’d like to ask. You might think of it as a shameless request, but…”

“Whatever it is, I’ll hear it.”

“It’s about my subordinates. There are some that still did not abandon me, even after I was branded a traitor. Their numbers are few, but… I was wondering if you would let them do as they wish. If there are any soldiers that want to serve you, I want you to welcome them. And I want you to let those who say they wish to return to Grado do so. It is a selfish request… but I want to reward them for their loyalty however I can.”

“General Duessel, you really are my teacher.” Ephraim laughed. “The soldiers that serve you are yours. I won’t interfere with them. All of you may do as you wish.”

“Thank you, Lord Ephraim.” Now that one of Deussel’s worries was gone, his face relaxed.

He left the room and explained to his soldiers what Ephraim had said to him, then told them to consider themselves free to do as they wanted from here on out. None of them said they wanted to return to Grado. Every single soldier was prepared to tie in their fates with General Duessel’s.

Together with their new allies, Ephraim’s army finally set out on a ship. Their destination was the shore opposing Bethroen, Port Taizel. That put them in Grado territory already, and just a few days' distance away from the capital.

[henrystickminbrainrot]

Hi yes I was really in the mood for writing, so...

As always, this AU belongs to @rhmg-au . They’re amazing, please follow them, reblog their art, give them fanart, support them in any way possible, etc.

This is a sequel to the previous fic, this time focusing on the Toppat Clan. 👀

TW: killing, killing mentions, guns

——————————————————————

Ellie was biting her nails.

She knew it was a bad habit, but even so, she couldn’t stop. She always did it when she was nervous.

And saying she was nervous was an understatement.

Henry had been captured by the Government, of all people. Reginald said they had some history, but Ellie didn’t know much about that.

All Ellie knew was that leadership was entrusted to her.

Look, she already knew being leader was tough just by watching Henry.

But it was even more tough than she imagined.

Plus, it wasn’t like she was in the best mental state. But her’s was better than Reginald’s, anyway.

To be honest, though, anyone’s mental state can be better than Reginald’s.

Ellie took a sharp breath as she collapsed on her desk and buried her head in her hands. She just rested there for several minutes, trying and failing to not think about Henry.

She couldn’t help it. She owed his life to her.

That was a debt she could never repay.

Was he safe? Was he warm? Was he happy? Was he lonely? Was he well fed? Was he hurt?Was he even alive?! Those questions constantly followed Ellie, swarming around her like a nest of angry hornets.

Ellie had never been one to show emotions. But with loosing her best friend and all the stress of being appointed the temporary leader, she felt like crying more than once.

But she kept it together. If she was stable, the clan was stable. And she knew that’s what Henry would’ve wanted.

Speaking of Henry...

Ellie looked over the notes from her last meeting. It was unbelievable that some Toppats didn’t want to save Henry. So what if it was a trap? Henry is the clans real leader. He got captured helping the clan, and now the clan was going to save him.

That was the plan Ellie was proposing, anyway.

Reginald was fully on board, though she suspected that was just so he could look for RHM. But having him agree with Ellie, despite any alterior motives, was good enough for most of the clan. Now they had to prepare for the Government raid.

Ellie heard a knock at her door, and she jumped. She smoothed her fiery red hair as she walked over to and opened the door.

“Reginald?” she sighed. His face was anxious and excited at the same time. Normally, seeing him would be a surprising sight, but the two had been leaning on each other a lot after Henry was captured.

“Is this a bad time?” he asked. Ellie shrugged.

“Nah. I was just taking a break after that exhausting meeting, anyway.” Ellie said, taking a step back from her door so Reginald could walk in. They sat down on the two beanbags Henry had bought for her. Seeing anything reminded her of Henry. That was a real bittersweet feeling.

“So the Government raid was finally agreed to today,” Reginald began, twiddling his mustache. It wasn’t malicious or anything, it was just a bad habit. Just like Ellie biting her fingernails.

Ellie nodded. “I’m anxious, but the thought of seeing Henry again makes it more than worth it.” Reginald nodded fervently, knocking his top hat off his head. He put it back on before continuing.

“After the meeting ended though, I started thinking. I feel like... we’re endangering the clan, just to go on this rescue mission.” Reginald continued, his voice guilty. Ellie resisted the urge to scoff.

“Henry endangered the clan by going to Earth to rescue the Toppats there, and you didn’t feel bad about that,” she reminded. Reginald hesitated.

“That was... different. Those clan members were in mortal peril. Henry and Right are more... valuable hostages. They wouldn’t kill or hurt them... right?” Reginald asked quietly, his hand curling up into a fist.

“No, of course not!” Ellie quickly said reassuringly. Reginald gave a forced smile, but it was better than nothing.

“I’m just worried about the clan. The Government is so strong... I don’t want anyone to die.”

Ellie took a couple breaths. “Casualties are inevitable in situations like this.” she began. “But if we prepare enough, we can minimize them.” She shrugged. “Just my two cents, though.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Reginald replied unhappily. “But if we can do this the peaceful way, than we don’t have to worry about casualties, right?” he asked hopefully.

Right. The peaceful way. Ellie was going to turn over the Norwegian Emerald and the Romanian Ruby in exchange for Henry and Right. ‘Course, if they didn’t accept the trade, they’d be forced to get violent. Ellie already sent the trade offer to the general, warning him that if they declined, blood would be spilled, and it would be spilled on his conscience.

Ellie personally didn��t think the general had much of a conscience, but the trade was worth a try.

“Don’t worry, Galeforce is smart, or so I’ve been told,” she assured. “He doesn’t want any blood to spill, just like us.” Reginald nodded sagely, a bit of his confidence restored.

“I... thanks, Ellie. I really hope this raid is peaceful.” Reginald said, getting up. Ellie gave a little salute as he left. She leaned back in the beanbag, getting comfier. It felt good to have someone to talk to. Henry was... a man of few words.

After five minutes, Ellie forced herself to get off of the beanbag. She took in a sharp breath as she thrust herself back into her paperwork.

———————————————————————

The Day of the Raid

Well, today was the day.

Where Ellie and Reginald would get their best friends back, whether through trade or force.

Ellie straightened her top hat, wanting to look her very best. Pure adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going right now.

“I’m coming Henry,” she whispered fiercely, lightly slapping her cheeks to phyche herself up.

Despite how excited she was to see her best friend again, despite what she told Reginald, she couldn’t escape the fact that some of the people fighting alongside her wouldn’t be coming back.

It was a gruesome thought. A terrifying thought.

But Henry was more than worth it.

Ellie put on her top hat and grabbed the stop sign leaning on the wall. She chuckled slightly.

“My favorite weapon,” she murmured as she opened the door to her bedroom, taking in many breaths. The walls were filling with clan members getting ready to fight. Ellie easily found Reginald in the crowd. That was a talent of hers. Reginald walked over to her.

“This place is packed. I didn’t realize how many people were willing to go on this mission.” Reginald commented. He had a lot more confidence today, or so it seemed. Both he and Ellie were faking it. Both he and Ellie were terrified. She didn’t know about him, but Ellie was lying to herself just enough that she was able to forget about her fear, just for a moment.

“Henry and Right were both...” Ellie struggled for words. “Important to the clan. On a personal level, I mean.”

“All our members are,” he murmured, his face sad as he was reminded of the ones they’d lost to the mysterious Toppat Killer.

Ellie wanted to find that killer, beat them until there was nothing else to beat, and get revenge for their fallen friends.

“Thinking about them isn’t what you need right now,” she reminded him, her tone fierce, but considerate at the same time. Not sure how well she was pulling THAT off. Reginald cleared his throat significantly.

“Yes, I’m aware,” he sighed. “We should probably head down to Earth, don’t you think?” Reginald prompted. Ellie nodded, a fire in her eyes that couldn’t ever be extinguished.

———————————————————————

Reginald was terrified.

Of COURSE he was terrified. Who WOULDN’T be terrified?

He wished he wasn’t, though.

He was just so worried about Right...

But that wasn’t worth thinking about.

Or maybe it was.

As he and Ellie dragged the two gems behind them, Reginald wasn’t sure WHAT to think.

Other than how much he missed Right.

If the Government did anything to him, he’d crush the whole lot of them.

Or that’s what Reginald kept telling himself.

There was no way to know what had happened to Right until the clan made it to the Government base, gems in tow.

General Galeforce and a blond woman walked out the front door, an odd glint in their eyes.

It occurred to Reginald that woman was Dr. V.

He got a sinking feeling in his chest, but he couldn’t quite say why.

Ellie nodded at the troops as a way of telling them to halt, and she walked over to Galeforce, weaponless.

It was a way of showing peace, she said. It was foolish, in Reginald’s opinion. But if it helped get Right back, he wasn’t complaining.

“General Galeforce,” she said curtly, doing a small bow. Galeforce was silent as his icy eyes surveyed the troops, than the gems.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing so much troops,” he commented coldly.

“You’ve taken our leader and a very close friend. Bringing this much soldiers is just common sense,” she replied calmly.

Ellie always had the right thing to say. That was something Reginald envied. If they never got Henry back, she’d make a fine leader.

“Have you come to a conclusion on our offer?” Ellie prompted.

“After much careful consideration, we’ve declined it.” Galeforce replied, chuckling at the stunned look on Ellie’s face.

“Any death of our or your troops will be on your hands. Remember that.” Ellie warned, raising her hand to signal the troop to start fire. As she did, however, a lightning fast bullet shot from the roof of the building into Ellie’s side. A sharp screaming broke out as gunshots were fired everywhere.

Reginald knew that bullet wasn’t from a gun. It was from a cyborg. Only question is, was it Right? He didn’t have much time to ponder this, though, as he rushed to Ellie’s side.

“I’m fine,” she said through clenched teeth. “Find Right, but find Henry for me, ‘kay?” Sven rushed in and grabbed Ellie as she started to black out. Reginald gave him a quick thumbs up as he took off running, ducking and weaving between the crowd. He was lucky to have missed the especially close bullets. He ran into the Government building. Finding Henry was the most important thing for the clan, but finding Right was the most important thing for HIM. After all Reginald had done for the clan, he figured that he could be a little selfish.

His first thought was the jail cells. That would be too easy, but he had to try. He ran drivenly through the building, hoping the clan was okay with every breath.

He went down a passage he assumed was the cells, and sure enough, he was right. There was only one person in the cells.

“Reginald?!” Henry cried, surprised. “Are you okay? Why are you here?” He connected the dots pretty quickly. “For Right. Of course. But- wait-“ Reginald kicked down the jail cell door.

“No time,” he grunted. “Where’s Right? Where are they keeping him?” Henry took in several sharp breaths.

“That’s what I was trying to say. The thing is-“ A bullet narrowly missed Henry. Reginald snorted and grabbed his pistol, shooting and killing the guard.

“Where is he?” Reginald demanded.

“Dr V!” Henry cried. “She joined the Government and... reprogrammed Right.” His gaze went dark. “Among other things.” Reginald was stunned.

Reprogrammed?

The Government had a brainwashed cyborg working for them?

That couldn’t be good.

“Those BASTARDS!” Reginald yelled. “Right is still a HUMAN! That’s- torture! I’ll kill them all!” Henry looked uncomfortable.

“Look, Reg-“ Reginald shoved Henry aside, tossing him a revolver.

“We’re going to rescue Right, kill Galeforce, and get the clan out of here,” he snarled. Henry shrugged.

“Can’t say that’s not a good plan.” he replied, walking beside Reginald.

“Do you know where he could be?” Reginald asked. Anger was really the only way he could handle his emotions. Reginald had never gone through something like this before. Above all, he hoped Right wasn’t too far gone. Henry shook his head, looking at the ground.

“No, sorry. From what I gathered, he was kinda all over the place.” Reginald let out an annoyed huff.

“Then we’ll tear this place apart looking for him.” he said grimly. As he and Henry walked through the Government base hall, Henry stiffened.

“I hear something... metal walking.” he whispered, sticking a hand in front of Reginald to stop him from going any further. Now that Reginald had stopped, he heard it too. Right! Although it probably wouldn’t be the reunion he wanted it to be.

“What should we do?” he whispered back.

“Walk toward the noise. Quietly.” Henry warned, starting to creep toward the sound of metal walking. Reginald kept pace with him, his heart beating faster and faster. He and Henry stopped at a corner, and Reginald snuck a quick look over the corner. That was Right, alright. Reginald looked over at Henry and nodded. Henry grasped his gun, but Reginald fiercely shook his head no. Henry WASN’T shooting his Right Hand Man. No way. Henry looked at Reginald curiously.

“I’m going to talk to him,” Reginald breathed, his words so quiet they faded into air. Henry looked panicked. Reginald fiercely shook his head. “No, you can’t come with!”

“Who’s there?” asked a familiar voice. Henry gave Reginald a quick salute as he walked calmly toward Right.

Pretty quickly, a gun was aimed at him.

Reginald could tell that Right would’ve shot by now if he were any other Toppat. But the mere sight of him caused Right’s now green eyes to glitch red.

“Right, it’s just me.” he said calmly, though on the inside he was anything but. “Reginald Copperbottom. Don’t shoot.” Right was holding his head as Reginald slowly reached out toward him, but Right shoved him away.

Well, it couldn’t be that easy.

Suddenly, a bullet was shot. Not from him, Henry, or Right. A third party. Another cyborg was rushing down the hallway. This one was wearing red headphones. Henry gasped sharply.

“No no no no,” he whispered, tearing up.

“Henry, go take care of that other cuborg while I try to snap Right out of it.” Reginald commanded. Henry flinched as he made eye contact with the other Android, but Reginald wasn’t focusing on them. He reached out toward Rights hand. Right shoved him away, aiming a gun at him.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Right yelled, his eye glitching green to red and back again. Reginald held his hand in front of his face.

The one with the ring.

Right immediately tensed up as he saw the ring. Reginald gritted his teeth and got up.

“Right, we both don’t want to hurt each other,” he said calmly as Right fired a series of wildly inaccurate bullets. Right sank to the floor, his whole body shaking and pulsing with electricity. Reginald took a sharp breath and ran toward Right, hugging him tightly. He heard him gasp and struggle slightly, but Reginald would never let go, not even when Hell freezes over.

“R-Reg...i-i... n-nald?”

[taleslations]

Drama CD Vol.3 [Tales of Symphonia] ~A Long Time Ago~ Track #3: The Chosen's Blaze

Summary: Kyrie talks about what she and Zelos were investigating. 

Script below.

Kyrie: Say, Zelos... Zelos: Yeah? Kyrie: Why are you getting involved in this? Zelos: Who knows... Kyrie: I'm from Mizuho, I'm used to dangerous missions, it's my job. But you're not. You're– Zelos: The esteemed Chosen. Always so carefree. Kyrie: Zelos! You're the Chosen, but that privilege might work against you this time. You might die. You must understand that. Our enemy is powerful.

Colette: What were you and Zelos investigating? Kyrie: You know that already, but Tethe'alla's official stance toward Sylvarant is harmony. Our chief, Sheena, and Lezareno's CEO, Regal Bryant, are working to uphold this principle. But... But there are some people who oppose this policy.

Boise: My, if it isn't the Chosen. And you are... Kyrie: Kyrie. Kyrie from Mizuho. Boise: I see. Zelos: Sorry for not making an appointment, Prime Minister Boise. Boise: So, how is your investigation going? Were you able to find that "rebel" who is interfering with His Majesty's national policy? Zelos: Unfortunately not. Boise: As expected. No such person exists in this country, after all. Kyrie: How dare you? Zelos: Well, we found a witness. We decided to pay him a visit, but we were a step behind. His throat had already been cut. Boise: How unfortunate. Zelos: That's already the third one that's been silenced. Boise: What a tragedy. Kyrie: Stop playing dumb! Boise: How rude! I am Boise Dussolier. I am the prime minister, I preserve Tethe'alla's politics. You don't have any right to say anything against me! Kyrie: We'll find proof one day– Zelos: Now, now, now, Prime Minister, and Kyrie, calm down, okay? Okay? Boise: So, why did you come to see me this time? Zelos: I just wanted to report to you. The witness was silenced, but there was some evidence left. Boise: What?

Kyrie: Nice one, Zelos. Zelos: Huh? Kyrie: There was no evidence left at the scene. You're bluffing to unsettle Boise, and you're waiting for his next move. When he makes a mistake– Zelos: Wrong! You're not even close. Kyrie: Huh? Zelos: I really found some evidence. Kyrie: Really? Zelos: Of course! Kyrie: Show me. Zelos: Do you think I'm stupid enough to walk around with something so important? We could be killed at any moment, you and I. Kyrie: So you hid it somewhere. Zelos: I entrusted it to someone I can trust. Kyrie: Zelos, there's no one left in this country that you can trust! We don't know who's an enemy or who's an ally. That's careless– Zelos: Don't worry, don't worry, this is an ally who will never ever betray me.

Kyrie: I thought Zelos was talking about you when he said this ally would never betray him. Lloyd: We've been traveling the world looking for Exspheres. Colette: The last time we saw him was six months ago. Kyrie: I see. Zelos had many acquaintances, but few true friends. I didn't think there would be anyone else besides you. Lloyd: There is. Kyrie: Who? Lloyd: Seems we've arrived. Colette: This is where Zelos' most trusted person lives. Kyrie: Wait a minute. This is– Lloyd: An abbey for the Goddess Martel. Kyrie: I know that. That's not what I meant. This is the abbey where Zelos' sister is being confined. Lloyd: Yes, you're right. Kyrie: So, are you trying to tell me that Seles is the one holding the evidence? Lloyd: Maybe. Kyrie: No way! She hates him! It's a well-known fact in high society. Seles' mother killed Zelos' mother.

Seles' mom: If only he... If only Zelos didn't exist... Seles, my Seles, listen. You are the true Chosen. I am the one that Master Wilder really loved, so you, our daughter... Seles, you should be the next Chosen! If only he... If only Zelos didn't exist... Lord Mithos, curse the Chosen, curse Zelos!

Kyrie: Seles' mother and the previous Chosen, Lord Wilder, were in love. But the Oracle selected another woman to bear the next Chosen. Seles' mother was separated from him and gave birth to their daughter all alone. Lloyd: And in the end, the Church took her little girl, in case something happened to the Chosen, Zelos. Colette: The Chosen system... It was supposed to bring happiness to everyone. I wonder why it always causes sorrow like this. Kyrie: The heart of Seles' mother gradually filled with hatred. In her madness, she tried and failed to assassinate Zelos. It was not Zelos who died, but his mother. And Seles' mother...

Seles' mom: Curse them. Curse Zelos, the Chosen, Tethe'alla, Martel! Curse the sky, the wind, the earth! Destroy them all! Seles, Seles, your mother only wishes for your happiness–

Kyrie: I can only see hatred. I can only see dark and repulsive hatred binding Zelos and Seles. I can't believe that Zelos would entrust his evidence to Seles.

[a-bts-world]

Chapter 2

Masterlist

‘This is so good Honey! You out did yourself this time,’ Daisy tells her friend after finishing her plate. Baby agrees while shoving a huge amount of the food into her mouth. Mariposa also shyly nods, agreeing with Daisy and Baby as well.

‘Thank you guys!’ Honey answers happily.

‘Okay, now that everyone is enjoying their food. Let’s talk,’ Sun starts, letting Mariposa think this is some sort of weird meeting.

‘I can start!’ Baby shouts excitedly, confusing Mariposa once more. ‘Okay, so as you know Yangyang has to go on a mission again soon, but that ass has told Taeyong I can’t do missions until he is back. Which means I can’t do anything helping them out for the coming three weeks. Does he think he has the power to hold me back or something? Sometimes I don’t understand him.’ The purple haired girl angrily explains to the other girls. Still leaving Mariposa confused.

‘You know he only does this to make sure you are safe,’ Jewel says almost bored, crossing her arms and staring at Baby. Baby just shrugs her shoulders and looks at Mariposa expecting her to also say something, but Mariposa still doesn’t know what is going.

‘Oh wait! We didn’t explain what this is,’ Sun suddenly says making everyone turn their heads towards her. ‘Mariposa, I am sorry. We are so used to everyone knowing why we have this dinner, that we forgot to explain it to you. Usually once a month we have a girls dinner, during this time you can express all feelings about your boyfriend. Honey and I didn’t want anyone else going through the hardships of not understanding your boyfriend and why he chooses to do some things. That is why we started this.’ Sun explains to Mariposa, while the other girls nod. Finally Mariposa understands why they wanted her to eat with them so badly, this could be a good thing. Maybe she can learn what the others did when they found out.

‘oh, that explains a lot. Thanks for explaining,’ Mariposa answers politely. Taking a sip of her drink afterwards.

‘Now back to my problem, please. How can I make him see that he doesn’t need to protect me. I can take care of myself and all I do is sitting behind a computer screen. It’s not like I do field missions.’ Baby states frustrated. Shoving a piece of her meal into her mouth.

‘Calm down. You know it is going to be fine. You always complain about this and it always turns out fine,’ Jewel tries calming her down, but it doesn’t seem to work. Now Baby is angrily explaining that this time it feels different.

‘If I can help, is it not an option to talk to your boyfriend about this?’ Mariposa softly asks. Suddenly the room falls quiet and all eyes are on her. ‘I am sorry, I didn’t know that wasn’t an option,’ Mariposa blurts out, after feeling like she crossed a line.

‘No you are right. That is actually a good idea,’ Baby says, already thinking about how she can tell this to Yangyang.

‘are you serious, right now?’ Jewel almost screams. Baby just answers with a yes, not seeing the problem. ‘Everytime we tell you this, you ignore us but when she tells you something you suddenly agree. What is your problem?’ The girl with the nose piercing asks infuriated. Mariposa only feels like a burden, first they have to explain everything to her, then she overstepped and now Jewel is angry because of something she said. A bit panicked because of what is going on she texts Jaemin.

I made a mistake, can you get me?

Within a minute she gets a reply, saying he is on is way. Jewel and Baby are still arguing, which makes Mariposa feel even more bad. She feels herself slipping away, and in order to not let that happen she crosses her arms and taps her arms in a stable rhythm. This way she focusses on the tapping instead of all the sounds surrounding her.

‘Jaemin what are you doing here?’ Baby asks annoyed that their girls dinner is being interrupted. But he doesn’t answer, he walks straight to Mariposa. ‘Hey! What do you think you-‘ Baby shouts, but she is interrupted by Sun who puts her hand over her mouth.

‘Shut up Baby,’ Is all Sun says while looking at Mariposa with concern in her eyes. Mariposa has her eyes closed, arms crossed and keeps on tapping a rhythm on her arm. Jaemin sits in front of her, talking to her. Suddenly Sun recognizes the symptoms and notices that Mariposa is having a panic attack. ‘Let’s get her some space. We will continue later on,’ the blonde says looking at Jaemin, hoping he knows what he is doing. Jaemin does indeed know what he is doing, this has been happening more often than Mariposa would like to admit.

‘Hey Mari, you are okay. It is all good now. They are not mad at you,’ Jaemin talks to her, softly. Mariposa doesn’t respond, concentrating on the rhythm she is tapping. When Jaemin looks up at her, because she doesn’t respond he sees a tear rolling down her cheek. He softly holds her cheek, wiping away the tear with his thumb. ‘You are safe, everything is fine,’ Jaemin repeats still holding her cheek. He knows physical contact usually doesn’t work for Mariposa. But sometimes it does, and today is one of those times it does work. Mariposa slowly opens her eyes, still feeling anxious, but a bit better, knowing that Jaemin is besides her. She thanks her boyfriend, for being there for her once again. Jaemin just puts his lips on her and gives her a kiss. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ He asks after ending the kiss.

‘I don’t really. I just want to go back to the girls and have a nice evening with them. It was all fine, until I was reminded of home.’

‘Okay, then that is good. What if you just go to the toilet and clean yourself up a bit. I will get the girls back, if that is okay?’ Jaemin asks wiping away another tear that rolls down Mariposa her cheek. Mariposa agrees with the plan and walks towards the toilet, after Jaemin explained where it is. In the meantime Jaemin walks towards the meeting room, where the girls are waiting. ‘You can go back to having a girls night. I just want to ask you if you guys could not get mad or annoyed at each other again. Mari had a hard time at home and whenever someone is mad it reminds her of that. So please don’t make her remember,’ Jaemin pleads.

‘Of course Jae, we wouldn’t want to hurt her,’ Sun answers and the other girls nod, agreeing with Sun. So after all the girls are settled in the kitchen again they are ready for dessert and more talking.

‘Mariposa, is there something you would like to know or want to asks. Maybe we can help you,’ Honey asks as she is putting down the dessert on the table. The evening is slowly coming to an end and Mariposa hasn’t really spoken up yet. However, now they asked her something she feels like it is her time to do so.

‘Well, I am curious about how and when you found out about their jobs and what your reaction was?’ Mariposa asks the other women in the kitchen. Baby is ready to speak all about how stupid Yangyang was acting, but somehow Daisy beat her to it.

‘Well, for me it is important to know that Jaehyun is not my boyfriend. He is my best friend. So first of all, I was mad at him for not telling me. But then it was okay, he was still the same person I met all those years ago at middle school. I knew him before he joined, so that really helped me. However, mostly I was mad,’ Daisy explains her story to Mariposa. While at the same time Baby is mimicking her. ‘Seriously Baby?’ Is all what Daisy asks her, remembering what Jaemin told them and Baby nods her head with a big smile. Happy that Daisy can’t do anything about her behavior.

‘Okay, now it’s my time!’ Baby excitedly yells, while putting her arms up in the air. ‘So I met Yangyang while gaming, we were in the same team for a while. Then we finally met through common friends, the first time we met Yangyang tried to impress me by hacking the game in order to win. That was when I got noticed by Taeyong, because Yangyang failed and then I hacked into the game, explaining it wasn’t that difficult. After hacking in some other big brand game, Taeyong also noticed Yangyang. So we both got recruited. I refused, because I of my own moral. However Yangyang ended up accepting the offer without me knowing. During all this time we were still friends, but the moment we started dating he told me he had actually accepted Taeyong’s offer. I wasn’t really mad, because Taeyong already explained that he couldn’t tell too much to us, so I thought it would be the same for Yangyang after he joined. However, I wasn’t really mad, I was mostly shocked, because how could the Yangyang I knew be part of the mafia. He has no single bad bone in his body. So in short, I was not really mad, mostly shocked.’ Baby told everyone weirdly excited. She didn’t catch her breath during her explanation, which led to Baby being out of breath for a bit.

After those two explained their story, Honey, Sun and Jewel did the same. Their emotions, feelings and question seemed closed to what Mariposa feels and felt. Mad that they weren’t entrusted with this information for a long time, surprised to realize what this job meant for him as a person, scared that he would change because of the information that was shared, but most of all, scared that more things were a lie and that he wasn’t actually was in love. So after the last girl told their story the night was finally coming to an end.

‘Thank you for having me, I really enjoyed it. I also learned a lot from you all,’ Mariposa told the five girls she met this evening.

‘No problem, this is why we started having girls night,’ Sun tells her and the other girls just nod, agreeing with her. ‘You are a great person Mariposa, and we hope to see you more often.’ Mariposa smiles at the girls, showing her gratitude. She starts walking towards the kitchen door, feeling like this is the goodbye, but before she can actually leave Baby hugs her and says goodbye. Then Daisy follows, and after that Jewel, Sun and Honey also follow the lead. After the five hugs, it is really time to go for Mariposa. She thanks the girls again and then walks out of the kitchen, making her way to Jaemin.

‘It is nice that we can welcome someone new,’ Honey says after Mariposa left the room. ‘It feels good to be with six again.’ She says with sadness in hear voice. Jewel nods and Daisy puts her arm around Baby, while Sun hugs Honey.

‘You are right, it is nice to have someone new,’ Daisy say looking at her friends, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while.

 ‘So, since it is pretty late already do you want to sleep over? Or should I ask someone to bring you home? What do you want?’ Jaemin asks his girlfriend after she just got back from meeting everyone. After the dinner, Jaemin introduced her to 21 of his brothers that were at the house. Some of them which Mariposa had met early that day and some of the she met for the first time.

‘Is it possible for me to stay a bit longer and the go back? I think I have answers to some of the questions you asked.’

‘That is great to hear, but let me just aks Taeyong to be sure what is possible,’ Jaemin happily answers as he sprints out of the room to find Taeyong. Leaving the door open. Mariposa walked out after him, exploring the hallway and trying to find a bathroom. After walking down the hallway, she meets the big staircase on her right hand, and in front of her is another hallway. So she crosses over to the other hallway, remembering that Jaemin didn’t mention a bathroom on his side of the stairs. So hoping she can find the bathroom on the other side, Mariposa opens the first room on her right.

‘Shit!’ a boy with silver hairs screams. She recognizes him as the Japanese member she met today. Mariposa closes the door in a hurry, the boy was shirtless when she opened the door. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. She was going to find the toilet, not some half naked boy. Mariposa stumbles backwards until her back meets the wall. Then the door opens again. ‘Sorry,’ the boy with the silver hair says, this time he is wearing a shirt.

‘Shotaro, Mari! What are you guys doing here?’ Jaemin asks as he sees the two of them in the hallway. Mariposa answers, telling him she was looking for the bathroom. Jaemin just nods and walks her towards the bathroom. ‘See you tomorrow, Taro.’

Mariposa and Jaemin walk back towards his room after showing the toilet and the rest of the first floor. ‘So, Taeyong said you couldn’t go back home later. Because then other people will think we are in their neigbourhood for a deal or something, which could endanger you. So you can either go back home now, or you can sleep over. I am sorry for the inconvenience,’ Jaemin honestly tells Mariposa and she appreciates his honesty.

‘I will stay, you deserve some answers.’

‘Thank you Mari, you are the best!’ Jaemin answers happily, hugging his girlfriend and kissing her on the forehead. The two of them have arrived at Jaemin’s room. ‘You can lend some of my clothes,’ he says and goes rummaging through his wardrobe. ‘here,’ he hands Mariposa a pile of his clothes and walks out of the room. Mariposa takes this as her cue to change into the clothes Jaemin handed her. It is a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt. After Mariposa is finished, she opens the door for Jaemin who comes back inside. ‘you look good in my clothes,’ Jaemin states as he puts a small kiss on her lips. He gestures to the bed, and both of them lay down on the bed. Jaemin on his back, while Mariposa is on his left, her leg over his legs and softly tracing her finger over his chest.

‘Thanks for the compliment, but I promised you something. So now let me talk,’ Mariposa says with some power in her voice as she lifts her head from his chest. ‘Okay, so you asked me a few questions and I will start with the most important one. Like I answered before, I will still be your girlfriend. However, I believe this world is not something I would want to associate myself with. So I don’t want to know anything about what is happening, I just want you.’ She tells him strongly, still tracing figures on his chest. ‘On the other hand, I also understand, that me staying with you could be dangerous even though I know nothing. So I will try to learn self-defense, but that is all. I am not like Baby or Sun, who are completely emerged in this life. I hope you understand,’ Mariposa tells with a quiver in her voice, scared that Jaemin won’t like this choice.

‘I love you.’ Jaemin only said three words and then lifted her head and kissed Mariposa, but she felt on top of the world. He still loves her, no matter her choice. ‘I understand your choice and I am happy to know you love me so much,’ He continues while stroking her hair. ‘Now let’s go to sleep, you have classes tomorrow.’ And so the two of them fall asleep like that. Jaemin on his back, legs spread out and Mariposa half on top of him. Leg over his legs and head on his chest.

A/n: So I proofread this chapter already and I hope most mistakes are gone, but somehow always a few slip through. I hope you alle like it! I really enjoyed writing this part, next one will set up the story a bit more. If there are any question or anything please ask away!

If you wanna be added to the taglist, just let me know

Taglist: @bvbyxuxi @yutahoes

[minalous]

fallen candy | 1

⇁ yoongi x female reader x taehyung ft Jimin x female reader

⇁  romance,humour,angst,smut || supernatural!au

⇁  yoongi!angel, taehyung!angel, reader!hybrid, mentions of death, oral (female receiving), fingering, loss of virginity, love triangle, future poly

The gates of the underworld are now open, unleashing evil and death on earth. Namjoon cannot stand to see his beloved humans suffering so he asks his most trusted friend Yoongi to help him save them. With the help of Taehyung, Yoongi is searching for the hybrid that will help them save humanity. They are searching for you.

⇁5.1k

...

Eras come and go, thousands of years full of knowledge and history are intertwined with the humans on this earth, the world created for them. As humanity started growing into something magnificent, evil and hatred came to disturb it. The wondrous world of humans is about to cease to exist, no miracle would be able to recover the atrocities the demons had done over the past few years; Humans stopped believing in the old gods, in the new gods, in any gods for that matter. They gave up every power they were holding, they offered that power to monsters whose only desire was to destroy whichever privilege their gods openly offered them.

The true Gods gave them free will, courage, intelligence, a beautiful world to live in. And what did they do in return? They destroyed their world, they worshipped gold and silver, they fell on their knees and worshipped false gods which never existed. The true Gods wished nothing but happiness and love for their creation. Can they help them now? Yes they can. It is not too late.

Their headquarters are filled with smart beings, some not so smart but heavenly beautiful.

Yoongi, Taehyung, Jungkook and Namjoon are four of the Gods, half daemons, half angels. Daemons were creatures of wisdom, creatures equal to Gods so they were treated as such. Their angel blood gave them power which was much needed for the wonders they did upon the earth. Day and night they would guard humans from evil, keeping demons and monsters under their control. When humans began their secret worshipping of demons, when they started having evil thoughts and feelings which had to be restrained, they lost their connection to the heavenly creatures. Their free will was in their nature, nobody would take it away from them; but that was what led them to hell upon earth.

The gates of the underworld were now open, unleashing evil and death on earth. Namjoon could not see their creation dying, suffering until they would beg to be put out of their misery. They created them because they needed to love and be loved. He had to act and he had to act now.

Namjoon gathers his most trusted friends to ensure the immediate resolution of their biggest problem. He knows the only remedy to the situation is to create a new hybrid, a creature powerful enough to have their enemies tremble in fear. The hybrid would be their new leader, the leader they’re in need of and who will shed light on the darkness the demons have brought upon humanity.

The details about the recent events in the underworld and on earth have the Gods agree upon taking great measures to ensure an immediate expedition, to acknowledge the danger, the considerable pressure growing bigger. Namjoon further explains how humans are no longer free, their will is manipulated by the demons, vampires and other hideous monsters who are in need of puppets to do their deeds. And that is when Namjoon drops the bomb out of nowhere; the need to create a hybrid.

“You want us to do what?”

Yoongi has become so furious with their leader’s announcement, the weight of the task given to them is something more than what he has anticipated for.

“If you do not do it, Jungkook will. And you know what that means”

Namjoon’s voice is loud and clear, determination lacing his soothing tone. He is confident enough to entrust an important task to his best friend, a task that could ensure a win against the evil powers controlling humans. He would not want to have Jungkook handle a strategy in need of meticulous research, a plan to reveal weaknesses about their enemies. Jungkook may have the muscles but Yoongi has the brains. However weird it may seem, Taehyung is a better shot to the unknown than Jungkook on this occasion.

“Hey! I am a real asset to this team”

Jungkook pleads to be chosen for this mission, muttering under his breath he’s better than anyone else in this room.

“You are only off by two letters”

Jungkook stares at Yoongi’s direction, furrowing his brows in deep confusion due to the daze Yoongi’s words caused him.

“Stop speaking with fancy riddles, hyung” Jungkook says in an almost begging voice

"And you call me stupid"

Taehyung mocks Jungkook in a childish way, making both Yoongi and Namjoon hold their temples in an attempt to calm their frustration. They are in great need of cunning beings that can accomplish tasks in this time of need, but who knows what must be going on inside their brains.

"You make a good rival" Jungkook tells him proudly

"Stupidity is not something you should be proud to compete but between the two of you, I would not expect anything better"

Yoongi’s voice now mirrors Namjoon's feelings, his words confusing the two younger Gods even more but making Namjoon laugh.

"Please just accept the research. You cannot leave me with Jungkook as my last resort" Namjoon now pleads for Yoongi’s acceptance, pointing at Jungkook who is trying to fight off a small bug with his fists, throwing tiny punches in the air.

"Hey! I am right here guys" Jungkook says once more, scaring away the two older Gods

...

In the end, Yoongi ends up accepting Namjoon’s offer to become the leader of the research, a team working under his command who is seeking for clues about the existence of a hybrid. Taehyung is the one to seek answers hidden in the history of their ancestors, as Yoongi tries to discover new information about the demons on earth. Yoongi hasn’t seen humans from up close for a very long time, his eyes wandering to find any clue that could lead him to the main source of their problem.

It has been two months now and he had almost given up. There were no signs of change, the same old things kept happening; vampires feeding off humans, humans willingly offering their souls to demons for a better life, people worshipping false gods which in reality were reapers that would later torment their souls for eternity. It breaks Yoongi’s heart to see those low life demons disturbing the peace of his beloved humans.

When Yoongi could no longer bear the thought of seeing those atrocities and was about to leave, he sensed an immense power. There must have been a powerful creature on earth. He could sense it was evil; the powerful aura radiating from within its heart was pure evil. Since nobody could ever see him, living or dead, good or evil, he walked towards the direction of where the being should be. But he would have never expected to see what he saw.

A fallen God. One of the monstrous Gods that killed hybrids with their bare hands.

In the older days, Gods had the freedom to be with whoever they desired to be; angels, daemons, humans, witches. Everyone was living freely all across the lands. Hybrids were created, beings much more powerful than most of the Gods. Soon enough some the Gods envied the power the hybrids held, fuelled with jealousy and anger they achieved to turn every powerful God and magical creatures against them. Families were destroyed, young kids dragged away from their mothers’ embrace and in a matter of days, the young hybrids were either exiled or dead. But for the jealous gods, the massacre wasn't enough, and they started hunting down the surviving children; had those poor souls tremble in fear before tearing their hearts from their chest, killing mothers with their unborn babies inside them. This complete genocide of innoncent hybrids couldn’t be ignored by the other Gods, who stepped in to bring the perpetrators to justice.  All except for one..

Nobody ever sought revenge, nobody tried to find what happened to the hybrids that survived. Deep down their parents knew what was better; even if the kids were in exile, it would be for the best for their identity to stay unknown; and if they were dead, they wouldn’t want to know the truth. Exile sounded better than death and for them, a lie would be better than the truth itself. It hurt too much to get separated from their beloved kids but who was to rise against the almighty Gods?

Taehyung is given the order to search for any clues inside the books they were passed down through generations, to find anything remotely close about the history of the hybrids. The library contains hundreds of books, centuries of history including the hybrids, knowledge upon the Gods, the known enemies, the existence of powerful unknown enemies hidden in the shadows, possible threats in the foreseeable future. So much information that is enough to get Taehyung confused and mostly make him give up only after two months of research.

Yoongi finds Taehyung shuffling around the library with one of the librarians, almost ready to devour her on top of priceless books which offer unlimited access to humanity's history. He would have expected him to be irresponsible, to be lazy and grumpy about the difficulty and the obligation of his duties towards their team but he would have never expected this kind of irresponsibility.

Yoongi fake coughs and it is enough to alert Taehyung who shoves himself away from the poor girl, the girl bowing slightly before leaving the two Gods alone. Taehyung is quick to grab the book right next to him, sitting back down on his chair to continue reading or at least pretend to.

"I never claimed to be the smart one, Yoongi hyung" the small pout on his lips is the sign that he is about to use, Yoongi's weakness

"Do not hyung me, Tae." Yoongi scoffs to the younger's attempt to get away from being lazy so easily

"It has been two months now and there is no progress! I am not the one to fix such a complicated matter!" Taehyung loses his calm, pouty demeanour and stands up with a small jump from his chair, tossing the book he was holding on the desk. "I wish I could help but reading is not my speciality. Having my head between books is boring" he whispers under his breath but Yoongi is quick to hear his words.

"Being between someone's legs is your speciality but right now we need you. I need you. We are talking about humanity's last chance to be saved." Yoongi's sarcasm is easy to detect and it has Taehyung get smaller when he sits back on his chair, book in hands again to keep up with their research "You may not care about them, may not miss them but they still have faith in us, Tae. We promised to take care of them as long as they honour us. And they still do." Yoongi eyes Taehyung for the first time this evening, his glare intimidating, so intimidating that has Taehyung look away from him before muttering something that sounded like "okay I'll do my best not to have them die"

Taehyung desperately tries to find any clue about the existence of any hybrids, any hint that there may be someone left to lead them back to the land where they used to live, where the families raised their kids. Two weeks go by since his small argument with Yoongi and he can feel that they are going in circles, there is no history left from back then, it seems as if they have erased any kind of hint about the hybrids.

“I give up. I guess humanity is going to die!” Taehyung mumbles “And I am in no mood to create new humans” he pouts and kicks his legs like a five year old

One of his wishes is to find an answer about the hybrids, he has been praying day and night to his ancestors to find a hybrid or for them to simply create one. Taehyung’s fear is not what will happen to humanity or what horrors the demons will bring upon them but what Yoongi and Namjoon will do to him if he doesn’t do his job. A loud thump breaks his train of thoughts, he jumps up quickly to find the cause of his disturbance.

“Why can’t I have some peace of mind?”

His footsteps lead him to an aisle full of some of the most ancient books they have, some of those are not even related to the recent Gods including him as well, books enclosing a few of the mysteries of the universe’s creation. A piece of paper draws his attention, with careful moves he retracts the paper and carefully reads it.

“Cl-o-clo...se? Close?” Taehyung sighs and tries to read it again

“ ‘Close your eyes’ ? Why didn’t I pay attention to ancient Greek? Okay.. Relax Taehyung. You got this..” he takes a deep breath and starts again “ ‘Close your eyes and.. and call my name.‘ ”

The frustration is already built up inside his mind, no time to waste but he is here trying to read a stupid paper that gives him no clue.

“Do I look like I know your name?”

“Call my name”

“W-what?” even for a creature like Taehyung that holds so much power, he is still scared of unknown voices that whisper to him.

Before he can ask for a second time, deep sleep takes him over and soon enough he is snoring on the floor, the books on the shelves shaking as something or maybe someone is arriving. The powerful spell he had just cast consumed all of his power and drained him but he is safe as the young woman arrives into their heavenly kingdom.

...

You are here.

You don’t know what here is, you don’t know where you are, what you are. You only know you belong here. Something or someone called for you. Someone woke you up from your deep sleep, you don’t know for how long you have been asleep for. Your last memory is your mother and father telling you how much they love you, how proud they are for you, how good and kind you are and that one day they will be with you again. They were scared last time you saw them; so scared. You were only a few decades old when something happened that brought so much sadness inside your house, in the place you grew up and learned to call home.

The way you heard your parents scream your name, the moment you saw their expressions change from happiness to pure terror... It still haunts you after so many years of silence. Their love can still be felt in your heart, you let it guide you as you walk down the aisle. By the looks of it, it must be a library. You think it must be a beautiful place to wake up, to make up for the years of not learning anything new, to build new memories to call your own.

It feels safe to be here, that’s what you think, already enchanted by the knowledge getting offered to you so openly. Book already in hands and for the first time in so long, you feel at peace. Even when you were asleep, away from reality, you could feel the loss, the longing. But now, everything seems to be falling into place. Is this what it feels like to hope?

There’s a God near you; you can sense his presence, his aura. A wave of euphoria overwhelms your emotions for a few seconds without realising you may be in heaven right now.

“Can I stay here a little bit longer?”

The stranger nods softly, a warm smile on his lips as he closes the space between you. Without any warning he hugs you, a way to reassure you it is safe to be here, to be with him.

“Of course” his voice sounds so sweet to your ears

“My name is Yoongi. If you need me, let me know”

With Yoongi gone you wish to continue reading, more and more books to offer you knowledge you don't have yet about this kingdom or the world, the human world. You don't find overwhelming the new information you get to explore; history of the world, evolution of the human kind, ancient times and magic, the background of your ancestors, the different kinds of art. Who could have thought humans would be so blessed?

But what about now? What is happening now in the human world? Maybe there is a book to enlighten you further into their history.

There is one book that stands out. A book in the middle of the library. Questions cloud your mind as to what makes it so important, why is it in the centre of the library. It presents itself in all its glory, white pages with golden letters. Letters that start appearing as if the book is writing its own story. And it does indeed.

The book represents the story of the human world. Everything happening right now in the human world is getting written on the book.

"It's a spell." the man says

“Don’t they need help?” but instead of waiting for an answer, you let the book answer for you

With only a touch of your hand the book spoke to you, time stood still for a split second, your eyes rolled at the back of your head and you saw; you saw the pain, the agony, the fear, the manipulation, torn souls and evil. So much evil.. It is way too late to save some of the souls, they were far too deep into the evil surrounding them, minds full of thoughts they didn’t own, another being controlling their every move, mindless puppets ready to do their master’s deed.

It feels so dark and lonely inside their world.. Hope and love can be seen, kindness can be found into the smallest corners. But you see traces of the same energy everywhere, black drops tracing back to the same aura, it cannot be seen but you can feel it spreading steadily, slowly devouring the goodness from people. It is like broken memories, the book whispering to you, scenes unravelling in front of you and they look all the same while they are revealing you one and only being; a man who walks on this earth to bring misery. A fallen God.

He is suppressing who he is, power drips from his fingertips but you can tell. He is the one to blame for the doom brought upon the humans. Why is he in every memory the book is showing you? You can only catch glimpses of him, his face changing every time he moves from one human to another. This fallen God finds a new host to live in but none of them can survive long, he repeats the same thing over and over again until he feels satisfied with the pain he brings upon.

Once you believe the book is done with showing you past memories, it shows you one more; the fallen God looking at someone. He smirks and you can feel it, all kinds of evil thoughts consuming his whole being and it scares you. It is time to go.

“Found you”

A sweet voice, there is nothing sweet about the tone he uses but his voice sounds so sweet.

"The Gods never left, little girl. Humans started worshipping lifeless devices, poisonous intimacy, gold and silver to rule their life. Humans abandoned the Gods, so They abandoned them."

The fallen God is so close to you, caught on what is happening you let your guard down and he grabs the opportunity to touch you. Is it fear you feel? No. This feeling is.. Sadness. Agony. Regret. He runs his finger on his plump lips to taste the sweetness of your fear mixed with your tears of agony. Blood boiling within his veins but it doesn't stop him from teasing you for a little more before tearing your soul. Desires of any kind have his mind under control, his thoughts are a swimming pool ready to lure you into the depths of it, darkness and loneliness wanting to drown you and keep you under their wet blanket.

“They still want you. They still need your love”

So many voices live inside his mind, the more you look into it, the more you stare into his eyes, you find something so familiar and endearing. Why is it that you cannot find yourself to feel threatened by him?

“Call me crazy, but I think I was meant to know you” you manage to get out in a soft whisper, hand reaching out to touch his cheek

His eyes soften for a moment before he goes back to his blank stare, but in that moment you felt as if he understood what you meant.

“Jimin” is the last thing you remember saying

The man who woke you up from your deep sleep, is the one who dragged you out of memories the book was showing you. Memories would not be the most accurate way to describe what just happened but you have no other explanation.

“Nobody was ever able to do what you just did” he says

“What is this book?” you ask as you take a step back from the book

“This is the book of past and present” he tells you “it shows every single thing that is happening right now in the mortal world, humans living and dying, every decision they make, good or bad thoughts”

“Who was that man? The fallen God?” you ask him in curiosity

“Taehyung, it’s okay. I’ll let her know about it”

Yoongi carefully takes your hand into his, looking for any hint of disapproval in your eyes but you have none when it comes to him and your new friend Taehyung, a sense of security warms up your heart when they are in your presence. Yoongi and you sit down on the sofa right next to the fireplace, the soft noises of the burning wood bring back memories you try to suppress while Yoongi recounts events of the past, stories of how Jimin, the fallen God you met and other fallen Gods  brought shame to the Kingdom.

When all is said and done, Yoongi heads back to the headquarters to attend a meeting with their leader Namjoon, leaving you with Taehyung who is the one responsible for you.

...

Taehyung is taking his sweet time to do his so called research on you, within a few weeks you already have the ability to consume enormous amounts of information; history, science, evolution. And this kind of growth is not meant to happen in such a short time, not when the gods and daemons themselves have to learn little by little. Humans are strange, humans are unpredictable and so are you. Are you a human? Are you a god? Are you a daemon?

His eyes follow your every movement; the way your lower lip twitches every time you read something that excites you, how your eyes squint in curiosity when a new information is found within the endless pages of the books you’re reading, how pretty your skin looks under the warm light of the fireplace.

“You better stop” he tells himself

"Could you please stop fidgeting?" you ask him without taking your eyes off your book

Taehyung cannot stop staring at you, the former interruption with the librarian left him unsatisfied and bothered. Obviously you are sending him no signals, nothing impure coming from your way but that doesn’t stop him from closing his eyes to imagine how good you would feel underneath him.

With eyes shut tight his thoughts can only lead to pure filth, marking your hot skin, your sweet smell only serves to drive him crazy. Nobody has ever touched you in that way before and he wishes to be your first. Taehyung opens his eyes to be met with the beautiful sight of you. Legs now spread to help him with any kind of relief, his cock restrained inside his painfully tight pants.

“What’s up?” his voice dropped an octave and you can feel his eyes piercing through your skin

“What’s good?” another question follows but you're unsure on what he refers to

Unknowingly you trace your eyes back to him, Taehyung touching his soft lips, index finger brushing his lower lip and you cannot help but trace his every movement. A new feeling blooms inside your chest making the next thing he says so easy to follow and accept.

"Come here, angel"

The aroma coming from his aura is unbearably sweet, intoxicating. His long, curly hair falls in front of his sharp eyes, hands now placed in each of his thighs and it surprises you how breathtakingly deceitful looks are. You could have mistaken him for a devil if you didn't already know he is a God.

Lust.

The smell of lust is oozing out from every part of his body, he is so unnaturally warm when you touch his face. Taehyung grabs your hand softly, no words come out of his mouth when he pulls you in one sharp movement and places you underneath him.

"Do you trust me?"

The mixture of his scent with the warmth of his body offer nothing but safety, body relaxing under his weight. The hair at the back of your neck raises in every soft breath he takes, feeling so sensitive as it hits your skin.

"Please tell me you trust me"

Goosebumps awaken on your skin when his lips brush at the shell of your ear and you softly nod to his words. You are scared to answer, afraid your voice will betray you. You wouldn't have let him touch you, be so close to you if you didn't trust him. It doesn't feel wrong to be here with him, to feel him press his cock on your thigh.

You are not that clueless about sex, neither are you experienced. It doesn't matter because you want to know, you want to feel what those humans felt when they sold their souls to the lust demons. It must be so good, so heavenly good for them to sell the most valuable thing they have, their soul.

With his teeth grazing on your neck you close your eyes, a sound you have never made before leaves your lips and Taehyung immediately freezes. Taehyung's hand comes to wrap around your neck, fingers softly pressing against your throat but in a way that only serves to drive you crazy.

"You drive me mad. You haven't done anything but a sound and I am already so hard for you."

Taehyung roughly bites on your ear this time and you feel your panties sticking on your folds, your empty core in desperate need of attention.

"Let me take care of your every need, let me taste you"

With your clothes being a barrier anymore, Taehyung praises you, taking over you, senses overwhelmed as he is buried between your legs. His tongue is attacking your clit relentlessly, one of his digits inside your pussy and you can already tell why everyone is so easily blinded by lust.

The sounds of your moans fill up the small of the room, his fingers entering your mouth to silence you. Your instincts tell you to suck around his fingers, to lick them and you are glad you do. Taehyung groans, your actions cause him to speed up his finger, curling it inside your pussy to attack that soft spot that has you moan around his fingers.

Your back is arching, shivers welcoming a new wave of pleasure and you can sense your whole body falling apart. He knows what he is doing to you, acting so innocent as he wipes your cum off his face.

"You are dripping wet, angel"

The smirk on his face and his full blown out eyes have you spellbound, you haven't caught your breath yet from your first orgasm but you want more, you need more.

"Please, I want more"

Taehyung doesn't need more than those words to oblige, cock lining on your entrance, his need to feel you raw may cause him problems later on but he doesn't care, mind only filled with you. Thoughts of you. The sounds you make only for him.

"Look into my eyes" he says, voice laced with love and you know you won't regret having him be your first

You cannot close your eyes, the euphoric feeling of bliss overwhelms your senses and in that moment he is taking over you, he has your heart in his hands. A moment only the two of you will ever share, a memory you will forever treasure.

…

The night sky looked so beautiful from the balcony outside the library, your favourite place for the past few weeks now and you cannot wait until the moon rises. For the moon to be in its full bloom, to smell the night wind carrying the fragrance of the flowers that prettily decorate the garden.

“Why are you always up so late?” a familiar voices stops your train of thoughts

“Yoongi” you say with a smile forming on your lips

“World's asleep” you add “more room for thoughts”

Yoongi nods, quietly coming your way. Having him so close feels comforting, you had such a long day, the effort you put to trace Jimin again, the fallen god Yoongi and you saw in the human world, is wearing you down. But to have Yoongi share this beautiful night sky with you, a new feeling starts blooming in your heart. He has been supportive, he has been guiding you carefully into the human world and both inside his world, the community the Gods have. He is so good to you..

Like a dream come true, you find yourself able to breathe again, your heart coming at ease. Is it natural to feel the same way for more than two people? This feeling inside your heart is the same one you feel when you are around Taehyung.

But now you want to hold Yoongi closer, to feel him closer; with no thoughts on your mind you turn around and kiss him. What surprises you is not how easily Yoongi accepted your kiss but the way Taehyung found a way to creep inside your mind. Taehyung is filling your mind with thoughts of him, Yoongi is slowly making his own way to your heart and you cannot choose who owns your heart.

Every love story is a ghost story. Maybe you don’t have to choose.. Maybe you have found your ghosts.

[blue-bird-kny]

May I request #9 from the angst prompt list with zenitsu? (I want that angst >:3) but if not, then its alright with me uwu

At long last, here it is! I’m not much of a fighter, but this prompt works so well for Zenitsu. Enjoy~Amanda

Warning: Angst with a fluffy ending

(1.4k+ words)

Angst prompt 9: “Can you shut up for once in your life?!”

You stared blankly at the curtains that covered your bedroom window, wondering silently whether it was day or night. Not that it mattered, you hadn’t left your four walls of solitude in almost a week, unable to lift the overbearing weight that was pressing against your chest. You turned to your side, clinging to your chest as you shut your watering eyes, bile burning your tightening throat at the memory of your failure. How could things have gone so wrong?

You’d been assigned Captain of a small squad of new recruits, their unscarred faces brimming with a mix of nervousness and excitement, hungry for a fight. Their innocence was inspiring; each of them with their own naive perception of how to handle the intense heat of battle, some of them ready to die like some fairy tale hero, but you weren’t going to let that happen. You silently promised each of those fresh individuals, whose lives they entrusted in your hands, that regardless of the price, they’d go home. 

The mission had been going smoothly before things would take a turn for the worse. “Evacuate now! Run to the woods and call for reinforcements!” “But Captain..” “Go!” your harsh words thundered through the abandoned village as you fended off against a demon whose talons just missed your shoulder. “How could they send a team of rookies to this mess?” you felt betrayed on behalf of your teammates, wondering in disbelief whether you all had been set up.

You ran erratically through the alleyways, passing the remains of the unfortunate villagers whose lives ended at the opening of a starved monster. The entire village was swarmed with demons, the smell of rot and decay invaded your senses but there was no time to stop- she was still out there. A petite member of your crew, pigtails in intricate braids down her back, had strayed away and there was no way in hell you’d leave without her. “Mmmm it's always the young ones that taste the sweetest” the brassy voice leaked from behind a broken house. Your eyes widened in horror as the dark tips of your comrades hair slithered down the throat of a vicious monster. “How dare you? She was just a kid” you roared, the grip on your sword growing. “Well she did put up a fight, I wonder if you will be just as tasty” he laughed. A guttural shriek pierced the air as your sword buried itself into the slope of the demon's forehead, the sharp tip exiting on the other side. “Bastard” you grumbled.  Things only felt worse after you returned home, the others were immediately ushered into the care of medics, but you refused any help. “Y/n!” a frantic voice called amidst all the chaos. Zenitsu's bright tuft of hair appeared, his eyes scanning your numb form. “Y/n-chan you need help... is that your blood?!” he yelped obnoxiously. Deep down you knew his intentions were kind, but right now it just felt like a nuisance, “I’m fine, it isn’t mine” you smeared the red splatter from your cheek aggressively, holding your hand up to show the worried boy like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Oh ok” his voice was low, his eyes no longer meeting yours- you knew that you sounded more aggravated than Zenitsu deserved, but you didn’t care. You stalked off bitterly without another word, Zenitsu already following your retreating steps. “Argh! Don’t follow me!” your huffed, stopping Zenitsu in his tracks crestfallen. 

For days you didn’t eat, drinking the barest amount of water, you refused to even look at the faces of your concerned friends. And then there was Zenitsu, poor boy hadn’t left your side for a single day, desperate to see the unfiltered upturn of your lips, to hear your spellbinding laughter. “Y/n-chan~” his sing-song voice cheered into the gloomy room. You didn’t even bother watching as he moved your untouched plate of food in favor of a new tray, “I was able to score some of your favorites Y/n-chan~ I even risked my life to get you more fruit from that idiot Inosuke” he spoke valiantly. 

You didn’t flinch as he sat at your bedside, his knees hitting the wooden floor. The room was still, this was how every day went between you two; Zenitsu sitting patiently beside your unmoving form in silence, waiting for you. You felt like you were drowning under all your pent up emotions; all of the uncertainty, sorrow, and frustration bubbling up to the surface, ready to overflow. “You have to eat Y/n” he whispered- he never called you by just your name. “I heard what happened… you know, on the mission” he started hesitantly. Your chest tightened, every word tumbling past his moving lips distorted by the blood pumping in your ears, “...fault Y/n…”  “Can you shut up for once in your life?!” you exploded. Zenitsu’s words ceased, his eyes narrowing in obvious hurt. “You don’t get to tell me about what happened because you weren’t there!” you screamed, your tone shaking Zenitsu to his core. 

Zenitsu visibly shrinks, caving under your harsh glare. You regretted the words as quickly as they slipped past your lips, even more so when Zenitsu stood dejectedly. His miserable smile and lifeless eyes pulled at your heartstrings- Zenitsu didn’t deserve this, so why were you hurting him? “I’m sorry Y/n, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you actually needed me instead of just bothering you. Maybe...maybe I really am as useless as they say” he chuckled humorlessly. “Wait-” “ I’ll leave you alone now, Y/n. I won't be here to annoy you. Good night” he shuffled out the door, leaving you stunned, sleep the last thing on your mind. “How do I fix this?”

You tore the covers of your disheveled form, running unsteadily outside. “Where would he be?” you searched all the rooms, pushing past anyone who was in the way with a quiet apology- they weren’t important. Your bare feet beat against the lush grass, dirt and pebbles sticking to the soles, carrying you to the trunk of a tall tree. There, dangling from one of its thick branches, was a heap of yellow and orange, his back slumped against the trunk. The moon’s delicate light spread across his features, your heart clenching at the way it illuminated the wet patches on his cheeks. “Zenitsu?” 

“I’m pathetic, aren’t I? Part of me knew I’ve been bothering you these last few days, but still I went after you anyways when all you wanted was to be alone” he sniffled. You heaved yourself up onto the branch- he looked even more distraught up close. “Don’t say that” you started, “Zenitsu I’ve been awful and all you wanted was to be there for me. I didn’t realize that what I needed was always here, I just pushed you away and said horrible things I don’t mean” you confessed. You hugged your knees, embarrassed by the words you spoke, “I just don’t know what to do Zeni, I’m so lost” you admitted, hot tears streaming down your face for the first time. “I failed Zenitsu. I failed my team, I failed everyone who died,” you choked back sobs, “I failed that girl, and now, now I’m failing you.” you cried, finally letting go. “If only I would have been faster or stronger,” you gasped for air, “It should have been me”. 

“Hey don’t say that” Zenitsu muttered, cautiously he covered your shoulder with his arm bringing you closer, “Everyone else on that mission came home with barely a scratch, you made that happen. You did what was best and for that we’re all happy. I-I’m proud of you” he patted your shoulder awkwardly. “Zenitsu I’m so sorry, I need you more than you’ll ever know I,” you pecked his hand softly, a blush coating his ears, “I love you, Zenitsu” you had never uttered those three words aloud but that’s how you felt, there was no turning back. “What? I..umm” “You don’t have to say it back” you sat straight, your tear-streaked face offering the stuttering boy a warm smile. 

“I love you too” his words stumbled over each other, quick and shy, but he meant them wholeheartedly. A new sort of yearning spread along your vein, bringing on the brightest beam, “that's it” Zenitsu thought fondly. Without any warning you pressed your lips against his quivering pair, almost knocking you two out of the tree. “Y/n!” Zenitsu yelled breathlessly glowing a fierce red, attempting to stabilize your teetering forms as your vivid laughter echoing in the night sky. 

Masterlist 

The end is a bit sketch but ehh, what are we going to do? Thank you for reading!

[uwukechi]

shuake and/or pegoryu for the ship thing uwuwu

001: Shuake/Akeshu

when I started shipping it if I did:

Honestly? Right from the get-go. I saw Goro at the TV station and when he opposed the Phantom Thieves but immediately took an interest in Akiren, and Akiren reciprocated that interest and there was no outward negativity expressed (by either Akiren or Morgana) towards their relationship, it was basically greenlit in my head. This was back in vanilla -- but the rest of the game, AND Royal, definitely just made it go stronger. The main reason was the fact that they could intellectually stimulate and interest the other with no ill will or malice, and that they both seemed to enjoy it. 

my thoughts:

First of all, there’s the entire rivalry thing which I LOVE. 

The whole concept of healthy rivalries always appeal in a relationship dynamic to me, because 1) they don’t “bore” each other due to the fact that there’s always going to be something keeping their interest up in a competitive way, 2) there’s no power imbalance due to the fact that the basis of any rivalry is that they are equals, and 3) both people in the relationship will always be striving to become better not for the other person, but because of the other person. Look at it this way:

There’s “I want to be the best version of myself to make you happy,” which is pretty much any other relationship dynamic that enforces self-betterment.

THEN, there’s rivalmance, which is, “I want to be the best version of myself because you motivate me to want to become a better person for myself,” which just honestly strikes a chord with me, mainly because it means that the relationship isn’t about pandering to one another, but about two people who can go up head-to-head, bare their souls and give each other everything they’ve got, and still come out stronger and happier than when they went in.

It’s exactly this in shuake that appeals to me so much -- that, of course, and the fact that they genuinely care about the other for who the other is, and not for anyone else. It’s especially blatant when you think about the fact that they both mirror each other in so many ways -- they both put on so many masks for the public and everyone around them; they’re both wildcards; they’re designed to mirror the other -- anyway, that list goes on for days. 

The fact of the matter is that they can honestly, truly understand each other. There’s a saying -- “it is when dressed for a masquerade where you are most naked” -- that I think fits them really well. Their whole confidant route explores the many layers to their relationship and how they can fully understand the true depth of what the other means by using the guise of casual conversation as metaphor for the truth. Which you’ll know I obsess over if you’ve seen my post on their third confidant rank in Royal or small potatoes. 

Oooops, that got a little long...

And of course, to no one’s surprise.

What makes me happy about them:

can’t i just say “everything” and be done with it

Okay but in all seriousness, I absolutely love how they’ve found someone so special for themselves in each other. Their relationship is so valuable to them, so important and meaningful that it’s truly something I think is precious. And that’s not even taking into account how much they would consider doing (and sacrificing) for the other if need be. Hell, Goro entrusts Akiren with his life mission (taking down Shido to let him rot) before intending to give up his own life in the engine room, and Akiren is given the absolutely heartrending choice to choose between Akechi or the world. The fact that it’s such a hard choice to make in and of itself is testament to how much it means. The fact that 2/2 exists is testament. The fact that Goro’s third awakening takes place at Leblanc, with Akiren, every little detail. They just. they mean so much to each other and that’s honestly one of the things that really makes me happy.

What makes me sad about them:

Nothing in particular about their relationship saddens me, per se? Like, they truly make me and each other happy by virtue of just being there. That’s not to say that their circumstances aren’t impressively saddening -- just take Proof of Justice, for example. The only thing that saddens me about their relationship is the tragedy of their circumstances: “If only we had met a few years earlier”? That hit. Well written angst is the best variant. 

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

When. Akiren. is. mean-spirited. to. Goro. or. vice. versa. It’s just...not them? Like, Akiren knows what Goro’s been through, and seeing people write him making fun of Goro with the Phantom Thieves as anything further than light/playful teasing just makes me wince because it’s... cruel. Similarly, Goro’s a prick, yeah, but he’d never really go so far as to be needlessly cruel to Akiren and enjoy it for the sake of it. It’s just...blegh. I don’t like it.

things I look for in fanfic:

DYNAMIC! If any fic really nails their dynamic I absolutely adore it. The edge of competition, the proud and encouraging taunts, the innate bond and trust? Gimme that sweet sweet RIVALMANCE. The “do I hate you or do I hate what how you make me feel?” The “I want to get my feelings across but saying them would make it real and make it matter, so I’m going to layer it within thousands of metaphors and hypotheticals that I know you’ll understand regardless, but as long as I don’t let myself falter with my goal, it’s fine”

Ahem. 

Basically I like them pining/trying to one-up each other and just generally relishing being in the other’s presence.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

GOD this is a hard one because I don’t really ship either of them with anyone else? I know for Goro there’s been a lot of akesumi stuff going around but that really isn’t my cup of tea, so for Goro I’d prooooobably go with Yusuke because akekita is cute, lol. I will say that I headcanon Akiren as massively bi and I’d be willing to settle for shuann but I don’t really see them romantically? Like, bi solidarity and that’s all? OH though I wouldn’t mind Akiren with Hifumi; that’s a cute ship too!

My happily ever after for them:

They’re happy as long as they’re together, in my heart. Given both of their characters I think they both do like the fast-paced life that keeps them stimulated, but they can only properly slow down when they’re with each other, just because of how well they truly understand each other and knows what the other needs. Their happily ever after is honestly just them being together, because home is where the heart is.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Real talk, they snuggle together and both kind spoon each other? Other than that they alternate between big and little spoon, depending on whose trauma is affecting them. Akiren claims to be the big spoon more often because he likes believing that he’s able to comfort Goro when confronted in his darker moments and be there to protect him and assure him that things aren’t gonna hurt him anymore, but Goro ends up being the big spoon a lot more frequently because Akiren takes up too many people’s problems and gets stressed out over them without dealing with his own issues first, so Akiren frequently needs to be reminded that he has someone to protect him too, and Goro’s more than glad to be able to fill that role, to be able to help heal instead of hurt.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Anything, so long as it’s competitive! As long as they can aim to compete with the other or one-up the other, it’ll be absolutely engaging for the both of them, whether it’s a debate, a game of chess, battleships, darts, pool, baseball batting in Yongen-Jaya, or playing tennis. Just let them compete and get passionate about it, and they’ll both have the time of their lives. Seriously. 

Ask post here!

(I’ll do pegoryu next for you, anon, in a separate post!)

[drzewobojczyni]

How to get rid of a spy (The Penguins of Madagascar)

Dostępna polska wersja/Polish version available

When in the central park ZOO a well-known to the penguins enemy appears, the only thing they can do is sending Private to get rid of him once and for all. No pairings

Old draft finished for @2020madagascarparty theme: Missions

DeviantArt

The day looked like it was going to be just great. In the cloudless sky the sun was shining, a slight wind was blowing, and the school year was coming to an end, so the Central Park ZOO animals could be sure that a lot of visitors was going to show up. Sadly, not everything went as well as it should have. At least, not for the penguins, standing in their habitat.

"Kowalski," – asked Skipper, looking through binoculars. "Can you see what I'm seeing?

"It depends on what's on your mind," responded Kowalski. "Technically, we're looking at the same group of early school-aged children, but I'm guessing you mean a certain person, whom I'm unable to recognize from this distance."

Skipper pulled himself together and handed the binoculars to his lower rank colleague. Kowalski took a look and reacted as the squad member predicted.

"Whoa, momma!" he yelled. "It's the same kid again!"

"What kid?" asked Private, appearing from the hatch.

Kowalski quietly handed him the binoculars. Private quickly found the familiar person in the crowd – this curious, intrusive gaze and notebook with pencil, clutched in hands, could not be mistaken could not be mistaken for anyone else.

"Skipper, it's the same boy that was spying on us!"

Skipper wanted to say that he had time to notice this, but he held back, preferring not to hurt Private's feelings. The young penguin needed to trust the leader.

"Well, we've got to come up with some plan to get rid of him once and for all. Kowalski, any suggestions?"

Kowalski had already opened his beak, but before he had an opportunity to say anything, three lemurs jumped into the habitat.

"Hello, silly penguins!" yelled king Julien

"Ringtail!" groaned Skipper. "We were just going to work on a plan of an extremely important mission!"

"It won't take long, " spoke up Maurice. "You see, a lot of visitors came here today..."

"Thank you, Maurice, the king can speak for himself," interrupted him Julien. "The thing is, when the humans start to throw these fish to you... you've got to eat them quickly, so it doesn't smell!!! And if not, I'll bait Mort on you!!!"

Said lemur tried to make a scary face, but because of his small size, it wasn't effective enough.

"That's all? You don't have to remind us of such things!" said Private

"If you said everything you wanted to say, go away, there's an important meeting happening here." Skipper pushed the lemurs in the direction of their habitat. "It concerns you as well, so be so kind and don't interrupt us."

"I also meant to tell you to not let yourselves get taken away from the ZOO," Julien kept on babbling. "Because lately some human took this Mort away, and now he can't come into our ZOO! If it keeps on going, we'll be left without food from humans." He wrung his hands in despair..

Skipper stopped chasing away the lemurs immediately.

"You've got to tell me everything in detail right now!"

"You won't be ordering a king around! Mort, Maurice, we're going!"

And they were gone

"Well, we have to get necessary informations ourselves." Skipper sighed. "Private, call Rico. We're going to check out how Mort got kidnapped and why nobody told us about it. I've got some sort of plan already."

Kowalski got sad. Although he hadno idea on how to get rid of the spy, but he was deeply hurt that Skipper hadn't even let him speak up. He had no intention to debate his leader.

*

Firstly, the penguins headed to Marlene's habitat. They found her quietly strumming her guitar

"Hello, my friend, I see you're relaxing before the hard work of entertaining humans?" started Skipper

Marlene angrily put her guitar away

"I guess I'll never teach you respecting other's privacy, won't I? Lets get this done. What's the reason of your visit?"she asked.

"We're looking for the informations concerning the kidnapping of certain lemur named Mort," responded Kowalski.

"What, again? In any case, I know nothing about this!"

"It's fine, Marlene, we mean an event from the past," calmed her down Skipper.

"Oh, you should have said it first! Although I haven't seen much, you would be better off asking, you know, the lemurs."

"Due to the reasons independent to us," lied Skipper smoothly, "we can't cooperate with them."

"Why do I have this weird feeling that the reasons are very much dependent to you," mumbled Marlene. "Okay, I'll tell you everything I know, but I remind, there's not much of it.

"Two days ago, a school field trip came. You guys weren't here, you went on some 'secret mission', didn't you? The kids weren't happy. Most of them headed farther, but some of them were lingering. I don't know, maybe they thought that you had been hiding somewhere. Suddenly, Julien kicked Mort right next to your habitat. So, one of the marauder shoved him into his bag. Somehow, he did it so well that it was noticed only after he got into the bus. That's all I know."

"And that's enough for us," said Skipper. "Farewell, Marlene, thank you for cooperating."

After these words, the whole penguin squad left as quickly as it appeared.

For a moment Marlene pondered on what the penguins could be planning. After all, she came to conclusion that she would find out one day, and got back to playing her guitar.

*

"You heard this yourself, Kowalski, we have to place Private..."

"Why me?" asked Private.

"...in the bag," finished Skipper, unfazed. "Kowalski, what options do we have?"

"I suggest using my newest invention – a homing penguin-catapult. There's fifty percent chance of hitting the target."

"Let me guess – and fifty percent chance that the catapult will blow up, turning the shootee into a pile of ash?"

"How did you know?"

"A good leader can predict elements that could make accomplishing the mission harder."

"Or maybe I'll just sneak up and jump into the boy's bag?" asked the potential victim of the device, which ended up with a slap on the beak.

"Private, do not question the leader's orders!"

Private wanted to say that no order had been given, but he decided to keep quiet, afraid of another stroke.

"Kowalski, we'll use your devilish invention," decided Skipper.

*

Transporting the device from the base to the park – with huge contribution from Rico – took surprisingly little time, even despite the necessity of dissasembling it and reassembling it on the spot. Kowalski was typing something into the console, glancing at his notes from time to time.

"Aren't we attracting even more attention this way?" asked Private, still hoping to reason with the squad.

"Are you questioning my orders again?" growled Skipper.

"From my calculations it appears that right here we are least likely to get caught," threw Kowalski without stopping clicking.

"Listen, Private," said Skipper much quieter. "Keeping the secrecy of our squad depends on your sacrifice. It's a very honorable task, and if I were you, I'd be proud of being entrusted with it."

"Calibration finished!" yelled Kowalski.

Private shivered at these words.

"It was an honor having you in the squad," said Skipper.

"I would like to remind that there's fifty percent chance that Private survives the shot," noted Kowalski, whose pride was hurt by Skipper's doubts.

"Oh, right. In this case, good luck, soldier," he spoke to Private. "May you land in the right fifty percent."

Private hesitantly scrambled up the catapult's bucket, and instructed by Kowalski, he got into the most airdynamic position. All that was left was pressing the launch button, which Kowalski did with the pleasure that always accompanied him when testing any of his inventions. Everything seemed to go according to the plan – Private shot into the air like a rocket.

"See, even the equipment is still whole," noticed Kowalski. "According to my calculations, Private should fall into the bag in ten sec..."

In that moment the cattapult blew up in the cloud of smoke. The explosion drew attention of the ZOO visitors, including the intrusive boy, who turned around in search of noise's source. Together with him moved his bag, which was the goal of Private's flight. The penguin fell flat onto the paved with concrete bricks alley.

Meantime, the remaining penguins were shaking off from underneath of scattered parts, just a few seconds ago assembled into a handy ensemble in the form of a catapult.

"Kowalski, analysis," wheezed Skipper, not stong enough to express anger with his voice.

"I didn't predict that the catapult could blow up only after the shot, heh heh..." the penguin laughed nervously, which earned him a stroke with the wing. A cloud of soot flew into the air.

Having disciplined the scientist, Skipper put his mind into further progress of the mission.

"Binoculars!" he yelled to Rico.

Sadly, Rico inhaled a lot of soot and got a coughing attack. Kowalski wanted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him, but because of his rapid movements he raised even more dust. Rico started to cough so strongly that he espectorated, in order: a rubber duck, ukulele, and something that looked a bit like a food processor, and a bit like a piggy bank. Luckily, a pair of binoulars joined them soon.

"I'm tracking him down, Skipper," said Kowalski, observing the terrain closely. "Wait... I think I've got him... yes, Private on the third! He landed according to my calculations... or rather he would, heven't the kid moved..."

"Is he conscious?" asked Skipper.

"Honestly, I doubt it, he's laying and not moving."

"Well then, let's go, our man is injured."

Three penguins sled to help the fourth squad member.

*

Meantime, Ronald tried to explain his teacher how the unconscious penguin showed up next to him.

"I'm telling you, it flew here from the park! Precisely, from over there!" He showed the direction with his hand.

"Penguins can't fly," responded Mrs Trevor

"Well, it looked more like it was thrown or shot here," the boy continued.

The woman had an unclear feeling that something like this had happened before, but she blamed it on the deja vu effect.

"All in all, it would be better to report it to one of employees," she proposed. "I think I can see someone! Wait for me!" She walked briskly towards the first person wearing a zookeepers uniform that she saw – in that case, Alice, driving a golfcart. The teacher tried to attract her attention by yelling, but the zookeeper was wearing headphones. The cart was moving farther and farther, forcing poor Mrs Trevor to run. A few students laughed, seeing this scene.

Meanwhile, the penguins were approaching their target.

*

Having heard Mrs Trevor's words, belittling his stories about penguins once again, Ronald sighed in despair. The boy had no idea how to prove his suspicions about the group of the birds right, and he definitely didn't want to end up like certain commonly considered a freak Mr X, about whom he often heard on the news. Although, on the other hand, another weirdo with the same obsession could direct attention of the public onto the right tracks.

Suddenly, with a corner of his eye, he noticed the penguins, sliding in his direction, which meant the risk of the unconscious bird being taken away by his peers. Ronald didn't want for it to happen during the teacher's absence. In a surge of genius he shoved the bird into the depths of his schoolbag.

Much to the boy's astonishment, the action caused the penguins to retreat suddenly into their habitat. He expected that the birds would rush to help their comrade, no matter what, but it seemed thet they were too selfish for this... or they had some other plan. Ronald was slowly starting to understand mr X.

*

After a moment, Mrs Trevor and the zookeeper Alice emerged from behind of the corner. The first of aforementioned women was explaining the other the circumstances of the event.

"We saw the penguin right here, didn't we, Ronald?" The teacher pointed under the boy's feet with her hand.

Alice appraised the habitat, then she moved her gaze to the boy.

"And you, I hope, had nothing to do with that?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, of course not!" He tried to hold his nervous grin back.

"If that's the case, where did he go?" asked Alice once again.

"And why didn't you stop him?" added Mrs Trevor.

The boy pondered for a moment.

"He went... in this direction!" He pointed at the park with his hand. "And I didn't stop him because I was afraid of him. I mean, I was afraid for him, I could have hurt him, and then what?"

"You'd be in trouble," mumbled Alice. "Alright, I'm going to take care of this situation." With these words, she turned arounds and walked away.

"I'll check out what the rest of the class is doing. Don't do anything stupid!" said the teacher, who left Ronald to his own devices as well.

As soon as the women left, the boy realised what he had done. The penguins seemingly let go of any attempts to save the colleague, which meant that the whole plan of revealing their secrets backfired. There was only one thing left – getting rid of the evidence imperceptingly and pretending that nothing happened. Ronald made sure that the animal hidden in his bag is still alive, and then he headed to the park.

*

In the bag, Private regained cosciousnes – and regretted it immediately. It was dark, stifling, and the edges of textbooks and notebooks were stabbing his body. He promised himself to never get involved in such a mission.

As if there were not enough problems, the only way of to find out his surroundings were outside sounds and the movements of the bag. From the sounds of the crowd slowly becoming quieter and rustling of the trees replacing them the penguin guessed that the boy is leaving the ZOO.

Private tried to escape before it was too late, but the velcro was holding strong, and the textbooks were giving no support. Constant jumps of the bag was not helping, either. The only thing left was waiting for a miracle.

The miracle turned out to be Alice.

*

The zookeeper was searching through the part of Central Park adjacent to the ZOO, asking the people about the penguin here and there. In the best cases she was met with polite denials, in the worst ones – laughter and unpleasant comments. Despite this, she was not giving up, mostly because of the spectre of paycheck cuts, or, even worse, losing her job, although concern for her charge was not leaving her alone, either.

"He couldn't run away too far," she mumbled. "You never know with these, though..."

She checked yet another bush, with no big results again. Resigned, she got up, turned around... and almost jumped, in front of herself seeing the boy, who informed her about missing penguin.

"It's you again!" she said, annoyed. "Well, then, have you seen anything?" she asked a bit nicer.

The boy shook his head, trying to hide his nervousness and the bag, in which he felt a slight movement. Luckily for him, it unnoticed by Alice.

"Okay, then." She shrugged. "If you see anything, let me know," she said, and left to search further.

*

Ronald was just waiting for Alice to leave him alone. He opened the bag and put the penguin on the ground. He was about to leave, when suddenly the zookeeper returned.

"I think I left..." She registered the scene unfolding in front of her. "… a pen here"

Ronald desperately tried to find some believable explanation, but before anything came to his mind, he felt as his wrist gets into Alice's iron grip.

In one hand holding the found penguin, and pulling the culprit of his disappearance with the other, the zookeeper triumphantly stepped into the ZOO. Both red-faced – although because of different reasons – they stood before the face of the teacher, who was standing next to the gate.

"Your student," said Alice, coldly as ice, "endangered thed life of on of our penguins.

"But how...?" asked Mrs Trevor, glaring at the boy, who tried to turn himself invisible with willpower.

"I put him into my bag and ran away to the park," exploded Ronald. "But you see, they were spying on me one time..."

"You must understand that I can't allow for such a situation to repeat," interrupted him Alice. "If you can't keep an eye on your students, I'm forced to ban the whole class from going to this ZOO."

"But..."

"You have ten minutes to gather the children and leave the garden. Good bye."

Alice turned around dramatically to put the badly battered flightless back in his habitat.

*

Meanwhile, the other penguins were observing the situation from hideout, lazily chewing popcorn. As soon as the zookeeper started to march towards their habitat, the threw the snacks between bushes and sled back to their place before she could notice their absence.

"Well, Private," said Skipper. "You managed better than I expected."

"Thank you, Skipper," responded Private. "But it's more of a coincidence..."

"Don't be so modest, you deserve a reward."

Skipper looked around. Seeing that most of the people had already left, he uncovered the base's hatch and jumped inside. The rest of the squad followed him.

Inspired by a certain post

[masked-buffoon]

Chapter 6: A colourless world (Part 5)

Warnings: none

Author notes: I have to admit, that part was very fun to write...! I hope you enjoy reading it...!

Notes 2: Tumblr is back! Thank goodness...

The office seemed empty without Dazai procrastinating and whining at his desk. While the both of us had been exchanging about greed and desires last night, the armoury of the Port Mafia had been attacked by strange people, and he had left to investigate. Hirotsu-san, the leader of the Black Lizards, had notified the headquarters about the attack, and my superior had decided to take a look himself. I wondered if it was a good idea to stay there... He had not wanted me to accompany him, much to my disappointment. However, it was not as if I did not have a task myself; reports would not fill themselves alone and files would not get classified by themselves. I at least had to be useful to him there, and, thus, sat down at his desk and grabbed one of his pens.

The room appeared different from this point of view. His leather chair, when he was sitting there, had never seemed this big in my opinion. It was strange, how small my back was compared to his... The whole office seemed wider, in fact, and the desk looked larger. This was the view of an executive... This was how Dazai saw his subordinates... I smiled slightly. I had surely often appeared insignificant in his eyes, back then... And the couch where he allowed me to sleep... It was the one in his field of view.

"What could you be thinking, Dazai...?" I murmured, grazing my fingers against the polished wood of the desk.

"Oi bandage freak, you there...?!" A loud voice made me jump in surprise.

My superior's partner burst into the room, barking as usual and his hands full of new files and papers. I immediately stood up, a heavy blush coating my cheeks, and bowed before him to greet him.

"Nakahara-san...!"

"Ogawa-kun...?" He instantly calmed down "Where's your incompetent executive? Oh, could it be, you replace him? Tell me he got demoted..."

"This isn't nice, Nakahara-san..." I noted before clearing my throat and regaining my composure "Dazai-san left earlier for an inspection of the Mafia's armoury, or, more specifically, its guards. They've been taken down by an armed group."

"Aren't you with him? That's unusual, since that day..."

I knew what he meant. Dazai would rarely leave me alone at all, ever since I had almost died, and even more since I had promised to be by his side.

"I do not question his choices. Besides, he has entrusted me with the paperwork." I said.

"Paperwork... Well, I wanted to discuss something with him. Since he isn't here, there is no helping it..." He sighed.

Despite his loud voice and harsh words, Nakahara-san was better a person than he wanted to seem. Moreover, Dazai always managed to bother him, somehow, so his short temper was not entirely his fault...

"I can tell him about this matter, if you'd like." I suggested.

"Oh, excellent idea...!" His face lit up "Come with me."

"I-I'm sorry, I meant —"

"I know what you meant. But it's lunch time and I'm starving. Mind talking about this case while eating?" He offered.

"I'm not sure... Nakahara-san, you surely have more important people to deal with... I am a mere lieutenant and do not even belong to your squadron..." I defended.

"A mere lieutenant?" He scoffed "You know he has a second in command, but you have more responsibilities than him..."

"Do I...?" I frowned, imagining that man whimpering and crying desperately at his desk.

"You do. You even got invited to the Boss' party. Even if it was just to test your ability, it means you seemed important enough to him. So, do you feel worthy enough to have lunch with me?" He asked, slightly impatient.

"If I do not accept..." I started, taking my coat to follow him "If I do not accept, you will come back when Dazai-san is there, and it will end up with him pushing you off-limits again... Besides, I have to find a way and repay you for asking the nurse to come, last time..."

"There is no need to. And... Are you implying I easily lose my composure?" He raised an eyebrow as I closed the door behind us.

"Who knows..." I chuckled "But that's also why he likes being a bother to you."

"Doesn't he like being a bother to everyone he meets?" He rolled his eyes.

"Without a doubt, Dazai-san seems to take pleasure in messing around with people. However... I believe there is something else to this..." I admitted.

"Something else...? He's just an asshole. I believe he started acting carefree around you too, despite everything he made you go through..." He snarled.

"You always seem negative about Dazai-san... But you are his partner; you might know him better than I do..." I conceded.

"I fear not..." He sighed "Why is it that you trust him so much? He is not worthy of this feeling..."

"How would you feel if your own subordinates did not believe in you, Nakahara-san?" I simply answered "As his lieutenant, that's the least I can do; trusting him. And as... As a person who respects him and cares about him, that's an obvious thing to do. Dazai-san is everything I want to live for..."

"I'm glad for him." The executive patted my shoulder "That he has someone reliable... It's a good thing."

"Nakahara-san... You do not actually hate him, do you?"

"I do!! He's the worst!! I'm only waiting for the opportunity to kill him." He huffed.

"You had plenty of opportunities... Yet, he is still alive." I smiled.

"The Port Mafia still needs his lazy ass, that's why..." He grumbled "Anyway, where am I going to take you to...?"

"If I may... Not to a fancy place, please..." I looked away.

"Right. Let's just grab something quick to eat then." He declared.

It was then that I noticed I was slightly taller than him when wearing heels.

I contemplated the white tablecloth before my eyes, and the delicate silverware at each side of my plate, the latter containing a most refined and colourful dish. Obviously, it was french cuisine... I wondered what kind of luxurious products the chef had used to make something which smelled and looked so tasty. However...

"Nakahara-san... May I ask what a fancy place is for you...?" I uncomfortably seized my fork.

"I don't understand, Ogawa-kun. There are only salarymen around us, thus, that's not a fancy place." He defended, taking a bite of his own dish.

"... I doubt they are mere salarymen..." I commented, noting their tailored suit and Italian shoes.

"Well... We don't stand out. You don't need to be embarrassed. Now, about the mission..."

I wondered if this executive had the same vision of the world as me. Apparently, he did not, yet I could not help scolding myself internally. I had guessed from the beginning that I would end up in such a place... Nakahara-san's low class was comparable to my own high class, after all...

Even so, having gotten accustomed to the unusual atmosphere, I could listen to him without further trouble, and took notes of the future mission given to him and Dazai, so I could report everything to my superior. It was yet another case of corruption and politicians; nothing too surprising so far. Our talk was easily covered by the brouhaha of the restaurant room, allowing us to keep the secret of our activities easily, without being suspicious at all. Besides, I doubted all the salarymen around us had clean business as well...

My phone suddenly rang, interrupting the end of our lunch. It could only be one person...

"My apologies." I took it out of my pocket "It's Dazai-san..."

I went outside to hear him better.

"Ogawa, am I disturbing you?"

"Not at all...!" I said "Is there a problem...?"

"I'm done with the corpses. The men who did this... They are the same who attacked us yesterday." He told me "If possible, I'd like you to reach me."

"Yes, Dazai. Where are you?" I smiled.

"The docks."

"Alright. I'm coming then." I assured before hanging up.

"Well, it can't be helped." Nakahara-san came out from the restaurant "There, your coat. You forgot it."

"Thank you. But, um... How much do I owe you...?" I hesitated, feeling incredibly awkward that he had paid while I was out.

"You? Don't worry! If anyone has to pay me back, it'll be that suicidal freak!" He laughed "By the way... You call him only 'Dazai', eh~?"

"Th-That's not..." I blushed "That's not what you think..."

"I don't think anything~ Now, you shouldn't make your incompetent executive wait too much. He's expecting you, isn't he?"

"Yes, Nakahara-san. Thank you again." I bowed, then quickly walked away.

Kind people in the Port Mafia... Perhaps had I been blinded by despair, back then, to the point I had never seen the hands held out toward me. Now that I thought about it, Nakahara-san had been the first to worry about me when I had killed my parents, and the first to mention my addiction. Well, he really was someone better than expected.

[redschillzone]

Last of the Real Ones (Iden Versio x Reader)

(Gif found here!)

Pairing: Iden Versio x (Gender Neutral) Reader

Word Count: 4.2k Words

Warnings: Some curse words

Summary: Leia gives you a simple mission: Infiltrate the Empire and send back intel. No problem. But when two Imperial soldiers decide to defect, you decide to bring them back.

A/N: Another Iden request for you lovely beans! Sorry for the silence for the past few days, I needed a bit of a break but I’m back! Pt. 5 for Smoke and Mirrors will be uploaded soon, I promise. Until then, enjoy!

You trusted Leia deeply, you told yourself as you began to make your way to the hangar. You trusted every plan that Leia came up with with little to no hesitation. You were her right hand man, after all; One of the few Commanders she trusted on a personal level. She trusted you with every little detail she could give and told you every plan that came to mind. But this plan? Oh how you hated this one. She had entrusted you with infiltrating the Empire; Yes, you heard correctly. The Empire. She wanted you to gather what intel you could for as long as possible and transmit it back to the Republic. You were shocked and amazed that she would even suggest such a plan, I mean, it seemed outrageous to you. Sure you weren’t as well known to the Empire as she would have been, or Han, or even Lando so you could most definitely sneak into their ranks without a problem. 

And that was exactly what you had done to get to where you were. You had surrendered yourself to the Empire without a second thought the moment the battle was over. The Republic had lost the battle anyway, so it didn’t seem out of the ordinary that you were surrendering; It just made yourself look as though you were trying to survive, a lone soldier left alive while their squad mates lay dead around them. So, the Empire took you in for questioning, trying to get whatever information they could from you about the Republic and where any Rebel bases could be at. You told them truthfully what information Leia allowed you to give; It wasn’t much to begin with, but they didn’t need to know that. You were grateful, however, that the officers interrogating you didn’t know who you were; They didn’t know just how big of a role you did play for the Rebels. After that interrogation, you were taken and left in a holding cell for a couple of days as they checked the information out. During that time though, someone came to speak with you. Admiral Versio was his name you came to know him by, an older gentleman with sunken eyes; You could tell he had seen much in his time, fought many battles to get to where he was today. You couldn’t help but feel a small spark of rage ignite inside you; This was one of the men responsible for taking so many of your friends' lives and you wanted nothing more then to grab that stormtroopers blaster and kill him on the spot, but you needed to suppress that rage or else your cover would be blown. So, you heard the man out, listened to what he had to say. He had told you he was looking for pilots, skilled ones at that, to join his special forces unit You had told him you were a pretty good pilot; Could fly just about anything you were dropped into. With that in mind, he did just that.

He had taken you out for that day, led you to the hangar and had you get into a TIE and show him just how well you were. He of course had a couple TIE’s follow you in case you tried anything, but you didn’t. You couldn’t, really; You had Leia and the Republic relying on you to infiltrate the Empire and get that intel for them, and you were going to do just that. You had flown that TIE like you had done it so many times before, even though it was your first time in a TIE fighter. You had noted how much faster they were and just how many more controls there were compared to the x-wings you were used to. It didn’t take you very long to get used to the controls and show the Admiral just how well you were. Once you had landed and returned to him, he had put you on that special unit without hesitation or questions asked. He had applauded you for how well you had flown, and had made sure you were more than willing to serve the Empire.

“Agent (L/N)!” A feminine voice called out to you, causing you to look up from your helmet as you finally made your way into the hangar. Your eyes quickly fell on your Commander, Iden Versio. You had met her the day her father put you on the squad. It took you a long time to gain her trust, two full months to be exact. After having come from the Republic and all, you had no reason to be upset with her about it. She still saw you as the enemy during that time, but she slowly got accustomed to you and once she realized just where your allegiance stood, you two became pretty good friends. You had been with the Empire for what felt like eons, but it had only been a simple five months. You guess the missions had just made it feel that long.

“Yes Commander?” You spoke as you made your way over to her, standing at attention as she gave you the smallest of smiles and you couldn’t help but internally scream as you caught it. You had been doing so well not to form attachments to anyone here; You didn’t belong here. You were with the Republic and that was where your allegiance stood, and still does; But Maker, why did Iden have to be so damn hot? “Ready up. We’re heading for Vardos. Our mission is to retrieve Aqualish Gleb and return her alone to Admiral Versio.” She spoke in a serious tone, to which you gave a small nod. Seemed like a simple plan at the least, should be an in and out mission.

“Of course, Commander. When do we leave?” You questioned, tilting your head. 

“ASAP. Agents Hask and Del are already aboard the Corvus.” She spoke as she began to walk, you following behind her as you listened. You walked beside her, keeping a grip on your helmet as you walked and talked with her about the mission. It didn’t take you two long before you reached the Corvus and entered inside, Iden heading to the front with Del to pilot while you and Hask remained in the back. You remained quiet a majority of the ride there; You hated Hask with a passion. He was devoted to the Empire with little to no chance of being swayed, you noticed. He didn’t question an order and follow through without hesitation; He was basically the perfect image of a soldier, and you knew he’d go far within the Empire. You just prayed that during each mission with him and the others that he wouldn’t look through your little persona and expose you. You just hoped that this mission would be over soon and that you could return to the Republic. 

Eventually you all landed on the planet Vardos and headed straight for Kestro, occasionally listening to Iden, Del, and Hask as they talked. You, on the other hand, just watched as the sky above you was turned into dark shades of grey with various spots of yellow to show just where those satellites were that you heard and saw as you grew closer to the planet. You had already informed the Republic of them, but you could never get your hands on the schematics for them. You kept up with ease as you followed your squadmates into the school and it wasn’t long before you saw the bundle of civilians and people within the center. You watched as Iden walked ahead, soon meeting the Aqualish towards the center of the building.

“Iden Versio. The Admiral sent you. I knew I was important, but to risk his own daughter’s life?” The voice modulator spoke as she spoke, changing the grunting noises into spoken words for Iden and everyone around to understand. You couldn’t help but frown as you began to notice the problem that was about to be laid out before you; Were they really just going to leave everyone else here to die? Sure the mission was to retrieve Gleb and return, but this wasn’t sitting right with you. You knew the Empire was terrible but this? This was a new line of it. You remained near the doors nevertheless, watching as your squadmates handled the situation before them. Iden couldn’t help the small eye roll before she made a sharp turn and spoke.

“Target acquired. Get a move on, Gleb.” She spoke in her commanding tone, which caused a small chill to run down your spine. You couldn’t help but love that tone, even though you swore you wouldn’t form attachments, you may have begun to fall for your commander. But that wasn’t the issue right now.

“She’s giving me orders now? Precious.” Gleb spoke as she began to walk, a pale green Rodian following behind and you couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, about to question it but Hask seemed to have beat you to it.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Get back!” He hissed, raising his blaster to aim at the Rodian. The Rodian stopped without another word, but Gleb quickly spoke up.

“No, he is with me.” Gleb quickly spoke, raising a hand out to Hask as if telling him to stop. 

“The others will stay here. They are not important.” She hissed out, doing a ‘Come here’ movement with her arm. 

“Come.” She spoke once more, but they didn’t get far as a strike from the overhead satellite broke the nearby structure, sending down a rather large piece of debris and striking what you guessed as a few civilians. You moved forward, but watched as Del kneeled down beside one of the hit civilians and gave Iden a saddened look.

“Commander.” He spoke, his eyes screaming at her that they couldn’t leave these people here. That they had to take them with. Iden couldn’t help the sadden look that crossed her expression, biting on her bottom lip as she ran the situation through her head. Eventually she gave a small nod to Del, who spoke up quickly.

“We have a ship in Landing Bay 2. You’ll be safe there. Go. Go now!” He spoke as he helped the civilian up, giving them a small push. You couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on your face; Maybe they weren’t as bad as you thought. That was until Hask moved in front of a civilian and pushed them back, quickly aiming his blaster once more between them.

“Stop! This is not our mission!” He hissed out, changing which civilian had his attention with each movement as he backed up to protect Gleb. That soldier side of him was kicking in, the one that was so dedicated to the Empire and you knew what was going to happen, but you watched Iden with a curious expression to see what she was about to do next, a tight grip on your blaster. Iden just stood there with a confused look on her face before she spoke up.

“Stand down.” She spoke, her tone conveying just how confused she was. Hask was about to disobey her order? That was impossible. Iden could only turn to the civilian that Hask had pushed and spoke up.

“It’s okay. We’ll get you off world. Go.” She spoke, watching as the civilians gave her small nods and began to run to where Landing Bay 2 was located, you moving aside to let them through.

“No- No don’t you-” Hask started, turning to take fire but you quickly moved forward, aiming your blaster at him with eyes narrowed before Iden stepped forward.

“I am your Commander, stand down!” She shouted to him, watching as you stood your ground, aim still taken at Hask who began to pace around the area, strikes front the satellites below beginning to illuminate the area around you three. 

“Iden, our orders are clear. We are to recover the Protectorate Gleb alone.” Hask hissed out, moving to stand in front of Gleb once more, your aim never seeming to falter and Hask noticed, but he didn’t say a word as Del spoke up.

“Things have changed. Look around you, man. Do you even recognize the Empire anym-” Del started, taking a step forward but Hask was quick to cut him off.

“Del, please don’t do this. Just don’t do this.” He spoke in an annoyed tone. Were they really about to have this conversation here? In the middle of all this? They had their target, they needed to leave and it’s what Hask wanted to do but of course they were going to make a deal out of this.

“The Empire’s job is to save civilians from things like Operation Cinder.” You hissed, keeping up your act as a member of the Empire, but with the way things were going, you knew your cover would be blown soon. Hask glanced back at you, a frown on his face before he spoke up.

“This is the new Empire.” Hask said plainly, to which Del couldn’t help but scoff.

“If this is the new Empire I want no part in it. I’m taking orders from my commanding officer.” Del spoke, looking towards Iden. Iden glanced towards Del, giving a small nod before looking at you. Her eyes said it all; She was pleading that you’d agree with her and Del, that you’d agree that the Empire was taking this all too far.

“Likewise. I want no part in this new Empire you speak of.” You spoke, glancing at Iden who couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on her face before it turned into a frown once Hask shook his head. Del couldn’t help but huff and began to walk forward, Iden following behind. “Are these your orders? Are these your orders because if they are it’s treason!” Hask spat, aiming his gun to point it between the two of them, occasionally switching to your form as well. He was surrounded, and he knew it and you had your aim set on him. 

“Defiance will be the death of you..” He spoke lowly, mainly to himself as a way to ground himself to the situation. There was no way this was about to happen, and he wasn’t about to let it happen. He quickly moved his finger to the trigger, ready to take the shot but you were faster. You aimed your blaster at his thigh and fired, watching as he fell to the ground with a grunt, his blaster skidding across the ground which Del quickly kicked as he and Iden ran past. You glanced at Hask one last time before you ran after Iden and Del. 

“We need to escape, now.” Iden spat as she made her way down the stairs and continued on, she was running as fast as she could to get to the landing bay where the Corvus was and you kept up with her and Del. You three fought your way through the large amounts of stormtroopers, ATATs, and ATSTs and eventually made your way to the Corvus; There you held it down until everyone was set and ready and you took off without hesitation. 

Once you were far enough away from the planet Vardos, you sat in the hangar of the Corvus, resting on top of several metal boxes. You knew where you needed to go, but you were unsure if Del and Iden would agree. It wasn’t like they had much choice now, so you decided now was the best time to tell them.

“We need to turn ourselves over to the Republic.” You started, watching as Iden and Del both blinked and turned their attention to you.

“The Republic? (Y/N) I don’t think that’s the be-” Del started, but you quickly got up and stood in front of them.

“Do you trust me?” You started, watching as their faces contorted into one of confusion, but they slowly nodded.

“We do trust you, you know this. I mean, you defected from the Empire with us… But is the Republic really going to he-” Iden started but you quickly cut her off.

“They’ll help us. Just, please Iden..” You started, walking forward to take her hand in yours. Your eyes told her everything they needed to; You had agreed with her back on Vardos about the situation at hand. You trusted in her, in her ability to lead you and Del. So, it was her turn to trust in you. She gave a small sigh but nodded.

“Alright.. We’ll go to the Republic.” She spoke, to which you gave a small grin. Oh what a shock they were in for when they arrived.

-------------------

“Commander (L/N)!” The friendly voice called out, to which you couldn’t help but laugh and hug Lando tightly as he spun you around. Beside you, Del and Iden stared with wide eyes. Did he just call you Commander? There was no way that was right; Sure you were with the Republic before you joined the Empire but had you really reached that rank? “I’m so glad to see you again, Lando.” You smiled as you pulled away from the hug, to which the general gave a chuckle.

“And I’m glad to see you once more. Oh just wait till Leia hears that you’re back. You’ve been gone quite awhile, I’m sure she’s missing her right hand man.” Lando spoke, a grin still on his face and you couldn’t help but chuckle in return. Meanwhile Iden was just watching the ordeal go down in front of her, a look of confusion on her face. You were Leia’s right hand man? You were one of her most trusted Commanders and you had turned to the Empire. No, you didn’t turn. You infiltrated them, took their information and sent it right to the Republic. And the thing that caught Iden off guard the most? They all fell for it. Every single of them. She couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her, which caused you and Lando to look over.

“General, this is Iden Versio and Del Meeko of the Inferno Squadron. They’ve come to join us.” You spoke, a small smile spreading on your face as Iden gave a small nod to you, watching Lando.

“They’re correct, sir. We want to join.” She spoke, to which Lando gave a small hum and a nod.

“Good, because we need a few extra pilots.” He spoke, nudging you to follow as he began to walk and explain. Naboo was the next target for the satellites, and Leia was currently on the ground holding off the attacks there. You couldn’t help but frown, you couldn’t have picked a better time to come back. Leia needed your help, and you had brought two more people with you. You knew she’d take them in, she was a welcoming person and anyone who saw the wrong in the Empire was more than welcome to join. You just hoped that the other Rebels would say and see the same.

-------------------

It had been about two months since Iden and Del had joined the Republic, and Leia did in fact welcome them with open arms. You had taught them the basics; Everything basically ran the same as they did in the Empire, only less restrictions on things. You had watched as the Republic formed their own Inferno Squad and had occasionally joined them on missions, but for the most part you remained with your squadron and accompanied them that way. You began to fall more and more for Iden Versio with each passing day; She was beginning to show a new side you didn’t get to see often when she was with the Empire. She began to care more, she shared more secrets with you, she began to make more friends besides just Del. It was nice to see, but not all the rebels had grown accustomed to having two ex-Imperial soldiers with them. 

You were cleaning your x-wing when you heard a few Rebels talking nearby, and your eyes couldn’t help but narrow. They were talking about Del and Iden, you noted and you couldn’t help but continue to listen in as you cleaned.

“You know, they’re probably sending out our battleplans back to the Empire.” One pilot spoke, leaning against a crate as a few others nodded in agreement.

“I wouldn’t be surprised, nobody turns away a position like they had to join the Republic.” Another spoke, causing a few others to laugh as they made a couple of stupid jokes. It was beginning to make your blood boil; They didn’t know what they had to go through to get to the positions they were in now. Sure, you put in a couple of good words in with Leia and she trusted your word, but they still worked their asses off to prove that they belonged to stay here. So, with that in mind you began to storm over to the pilots, your droid beeping at you as they zoomed after you.

“Oi! Assholes!” You shouted, causing the group of pilots to look at you and quickly get to their feet. It was never good to see a Commander angry, much less Leia’s right hand man.

“So, you want to talk shit about the Inferno Squadron, hm?” You spoke, tilting your head to the side. You watched as they all cleared their throats or looked away; They were in for it now. Word had spread fast of where you had gone once you returned; Most people at first thought you were a traitor and began to treat you like one, that was until Leia spoke to them and proved that you were no traitor. You were about to do the same for Del and Iden.

“Commander we were just-” One started, but you quickly snapped your gaze to them.

“Don’t start with me, cadet.” You hissed; You knew exactly who they were. They were newbies that were taken on just a month ago so they couldn’t have known much about Del or Iden besides the few rumors that went around.

“You don’t get too say anything bad about that squadron until you get to know the pilots.” You snapped once more, your blood was boiling and you were about to spill it all. 

“Del is a nice guy, he’s not that scary brute you all think he is. He’s a caring guy, he tries his best to make sure you all stay alive while out in the field.” You snapped, watching as they put their heads down to stare down at their shoes.

“And Iden? Oh don’t get me started on her. She’s an amazing woman and an even better pilot. If you actually got to know her, you’d know that deep down she cares for everyone on this ship just as much as I once did. She wants to make sure we win this war, and by all means is it going to happen with or without you. So, I suggest you shut your traps and get back to what you were doing. I’m sure there’s something you all should be doing.” You snapped, dismissing the group before you gave a sigh and rubbed at your head.

“You know.. That was kinda hot, you raising your voice and all.” A feminne voice spoke, causing your body to tense up and quickly turn around. There stood Iden, her arms crossed as she wore her usual orange pilot suit that was tied at the waist and her grey long sleeved shirt. You couldn’t help but gulp quietly; Did she just say that was hot? “Iden- I uh- I just-” You started, but shut up as Iden couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her as she moved closer to you.

“Go on, speak. I give you permission.” She teased, a grin on her face as she saw the blush spread across your face.

“I just.. They had no right speaking about you and Del like that.. You both are here for the same cause as the rest of us and it just makes my blood boil to know they talk so much shit about you two.” You started, keeping your hands behind your back as if you were back in the Empire and she was your Commander once more.

“Iden, listen I just- I really like you, okay? You’re smart, you’re very pretty, and you’re an amazing person overall an-” You were cut off, your face turning a dark red as Iden pressed her lips against yours. Iden was kissing you; Iden Versio was kissing you. You couldn’t help but shut your eyes as you kissed her back, moving your hands to her cheeks as you did so. The kiss was slow and full of passion; Both you and Iden trying to cram months of surprised feelings into this kiss. It wasn’t long before you both pulled away for air, staring into each other's eyes before Iden let out a small chuckle.

“I like you too, if that wasn’t obvious now.” She grinned, to which you laughed and pulled her into another kiss, this one more heated then the last one. Iden Versio was now yours, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #85:  One Unique Rose. What if...Ruby Rose is a direct descendant of the First Silver Eyed Warrior to walk Remnant?

Someone asked

“ OK HEAR ME OUT I got this crack ship between Ruby and Fox don't know what it's called in the fandom) that basically started with good ol Fake Dating because there was a special going on at a coffee shop during Remnant's equivalent of Valentine's so these two were just like "I like coffee, you like coffee, let's get coffee as Fake BF/GF" and that's the core of their "relationship" AND THIS IS ALL TO SAY what if Fox, self proclaimed Comic Relief of CFVY, is Oscar's "wise young fox"?

Ruby/Fox crack ship anon again and the previous ask probably goes too literally with the narrative but my other guess would be someone from RWBY or JNR who can play the “wise young fox” role

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Squiggles Answers:

Uhh well that’s certainly an interesting way to start liking a crack ship indeed anon-chan.

Is that like in canon with something? Like did Ruby and Fox pretend to be a couple in RWBY: After the Fall or something like that? I haven’t read it so any CFVY and RWBY flashback shenanigans that went down in that book, I’d have zero clue about so let me know if that was the case.

Anyways, you’re not the first person to suggest Fox Alistair being Oscar’s potential “wise fox” in his Little Prince story and as I’ve voiced before, I’m open to the concept since I dig the thought of Fox—a blind man teaching Oscar about seeing with his heart since it harkens back to the very message that the Fox imparted on the Prince.

So I’m cool with Fox being Oscar’s Fox. The one thing I’m uncertain of is the probability of Oscar encountering Fox (and essentially the rest of CFVY) during his Little Prince story.

The only way I can see Oscar meeting Fox is if CFVY were sent to Solitas along with SSSN. Since Tyrian teased the idea of General Ironwood calling upon aid from Vacuo back in V6 then I’m assuming that that’s the one way that our heroes’ allies from Shade Academy will get involved. If part of V8’s plotline highlights Ironwood finally coming to his senses and sending a distress signal out to Vacuo, leading to Headmaster Theodore sending some of his best huntsmen and huntresses across to help (inclusive of SSSN and CFVY) then that’s how I can picture Oscar and Fox finally meeting. But as of now, we have no clear indication of Ironwood even doing that given how things shaped up by the end of V7.

What would be interesting is if Oscar attempts to do that on his own somehow as part of his journey back to Atlas. It’d be interesting if Oscar somehow manages to do something to get in contact with Headmaster Theodore of Vacuo. But I’m not sure. For now I’ll safely leave it as a probability on the table of possibilities.

As for other Oscar’s Fox candidates, I toyed with Nora Valkyrie being Oscar’s Fox since her very relationship with Ren embodied the Fox’s lesson, at least in my opinion.

I also toyed with the possibility of Oscar’s Fox being a completely new character introduced for V8 or perhaps an old character reintroduced back into the story for Oscar to meet along the way as part of his separate arc (like for example: Klein Sieben).

But as of now, my key pick for Oscar’s Fox is Ozpin since he’s currently Oscar’s main companion.

Even though I more favour Oz as being Oscar’s Pilot; in a recent RWBY Musing I shared, I expressed my openness to the thought of Oz playing a double role as both Oscar’s pilot and his Fox since I have a Pinehead/Ozpinhead headcanon where Oz would teach Oscar the lesson that the Fox taught the Prince through an important memory he shared with him. A memory that was a secret that Oz had kept for many years out of a promise he made long ago to Summer Rose.

My theory is that Oz knows the full details of Summer Rose's death however it was a secret he kept out of a solemn vow he made to Summer before she died.

Since Qrow mentioned in V7 that Summer’s death was a “Summer Rose secret” while alluding that Oz might know something about it, I figured it might be just that.

Summer’s last mission was a personal secret that she entrusted only to Oz and probably made him swear not to tell a soul for reasons that probably made more sense to Summer Rose than anyone else.

But Oz was able to understand Summer and even empathize where she was coming from with her final choice since he had been in her shoes more times than the average person—all the more reason why Summer felt that she had chosen right by entrusting him with her secret.

From my perspective, I really like the idea of Oz making many, many mistakes in his lifetimes as he once told Ruby back in V1—he probably even broke a lot of promises once made to people who placed their full faith in him as we also saw from the events of V6 and V7.

However, if there is one promise that Oz hasn’t broken; it’s the one he made to Summer Rose. To Summer, Oz promised to withhold the truth of what truly happened to her. The truth of her greatest sacrifice and greatest failure.

I like the idea of Oz chosing to keep such a secret close to the chest out of loyalty and a solemn vow to a dear friend he once cared for, just as much as I love the idea of that secret ultimately being passed down to Oscar who will then go on to finally reveal it to the person who probably needs to hear about it the most out of everyone: Ruby.

I like the concept of the full truth about Summer’s death being told to Ruby by Oscar as Ozpin’s successor who shares a bond with Ruby who is essentially Summer’s successor as her daughter and the last of the Silver Eyed Warriors following her mother.

I have a theory that Oz secretly harbours remorse for what happened to Summer. Feeling like he had failed her in some way which was why he faithfully kept her secret. In his mind, it’s the one thing he hadn’t done to fail her. This for me, puts a bit more emphasis on the importance of the growing bond between Ruby and Oscar.

It is the Fox’s lesson that renewed the Prince’s belief in the meaning behind his love for his rose. Therefore, I really love the idea of Oz using his past with Summer; sharing in his feelings of thinking that he had failed someone he once loved like a daughter (maybe) to strengthen the resolve and feelings of his successor—Oscar—who shares his own relationship with the descendant of Summer Rose—Ruby.

Much like Summer was to Oz probably once upon a time, Ruby is important to Oscar for his own personal reasons.

While Ruby and Oscar are both heirs to Summer and Oz respectively, they both share their own story together.

While many characters (mainly Qrow Branwen) have commented on the similarities between Ruby and Summer both in appearance and personality—nevertheless, Ruby isn’t her mother. Just as how Oscar isn’t Oz. He may share in his memories and the memories of the past Wizards in Ozma’s lineage. However Oscar has his own life to live as he is, bottom-line, his own person as Ruby once rightfully told him.

Both Oscar and Ruby are their own individuals free to forge their own destinies and thus, make choices that may ultimately succeed where their predecessors didn’t.

But much like the two people before them, the Wizard of Light has shared a bond with a Silver Eyed Rose that has transcended two lifetimes (as far as I know).

Basically what I’m saying here is that I really dig the idea of Oz and Summer being bound together by a promise (i.e. Summer’s final wish) that is ultimately both broken and carried on by Ruby and Oscar who make their own promise to each other, in a way as part of their budding relationship.

Through Oscar ultimately sharing the truth about her mother, I can picture Ruby finally having a sense of closure about her mother since time and time again; the series has hinted how much Summer meant to Ruby.

We saw how Salem merely mentioning that she met (and probably killed) Summer crippled Ruby emotionally. For me, I think it could be cool if there’s another side to how Summer died. Like maybe Salem dealt a killing blow to Summer but not before she was able to perform a move that revealed something to her about Salem—like a weakness or something.

I know that Salem can’t be killed but a part of me still wishes to hold out for the belief that the key to destroying her isn’t killing her but permanently severing her link to the Realm of Darkness and thus the Creatures of Grimm.

My theory still remains that the key to stopping Salem is to purify her of her darkness. It was the God of Darkness’ Grimm Pools of Darkness that turned Salem and gave her sovereignty over the Grimm and it was the God of Light’s Fountain of Life and Creation that made Salem immortal in the first place.

I still wish to believe that there is a connection to that. And as of now, much like the Fountain of Life and Creation, the Silver Eyes are the closest thing to the power of the God of Light which made Salem immortal. Not to mention that the God of Light’s power is the only think that can stop his brother’s power. So I want to believe that Summer Rose’s death meant something in that way.

Maybe she learned something—a small potential weakness that could stop Salem that only a Rose can do?

I know that the Rose Family weren’t the only Silver Eyed Warriors to come out of Remnant. Just as how I know that Salem has spent years hunting and killing Silver Eyed Warriors.

That being said, imagine if…there is something special about Ruby’s family meaning hers and her mother’s family line that makes them unique even when compared to other Silver Eyed Warriors and their family lines.

What if…the Roses are special in general?

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The Legend of the Moon Rose

Here’s an idea. What if and this is a big IF…the Rose Family—Ruby’s bloodline—are descended from the very First Silver Eyed Warrior to walk in New Remnant whose origins are somehow connected to the Fountain of Life and Creation that as far as we know, has been lost to time.

I know that it was shown in the Lost Fable that Henkle—the fifth reincarnation of Ozma—bore children who were Silver Eyed Warriors (potentially—I think it was confirmed to be true in the RWBY V6 DVD Commentary).

However I personally DON’T think the Silver Eyed Warriors began with the Wizards.

This squiggle meister actually more likes the idea of the Silver Eye lineage starting with a Rose with all other Silver Eyes that succeeded them (like Henkle’s children and even Maria Calavera and her father) were spawns from centuries of crossbreeding within different family lines and all that jazz.

I found it weird but interesting all the same that both of Henkle’s kids had silver eyes but neither him nor his wife (whose eyes were blue) had silver Eyes. Kind of reminds me of how Muggleborns worked in the Harry Potter series. In that series, wizards and witches could be born to non-magical parents so I figured the same can work for Silver Eyed Warriors where they could be born to parents who aren’t Silver Eyed Warriors themselves but probably share ancestry that link them back the Silver Eyes bloodline.

I actually would love to think that the very First Silver Eyed Warrior was Ruby’s ancestor who stemmed from her family tree.

I know it sounds like a silly theory but for now I’ll hold onto it since I’m starting to really, really like it as a Little Red headcanon.

Imagine if…in the end it is revealed that Ruby descends from a more “powerful” line of Silver Eyed Warriors with a greater direct connection to the very First Silver Eyed Warrior in Remnant history who I will hereby dub the Moon Rose.

And in the end, it’s her light that will stop Salem since, as the last living direct descendant of the Moon Rose; Ruby is connected to the Fountain of Life and Creation and the God of Light and thus has the power to stop Salem. Or something like that, I dunno. Just me and my theories here.

Overall, what I’m trying to say with all of this jibber jab is since Summer’s death is a mystery the show has dragged out since the start of the series, I’m assuming it will mean something very important to the PLOT down the line. Probably.

That being said, I like the idea of Summer Rose’s death revealing or hinting a small minor weakness that could potentially turn the tides against Salem in a way. I’d like to think that of all the Silver Eyes that Salem had killed, Summer is the only one who had managed to truly “hurt her” in some way.

In the RWBY Theme: Red Like Roses Part II, the Summer part of the theme mentioned Summer being forced to make a sacrifice that ultimately resulted in her forcing a “bigger sacrifice” on Ruby. 

Like I imagined Summer chose to fight Salem because she believed she would be the Silver Eye to finally kill her. But of course, she failed and now because of this, Ruby is the one left with this destiny in her lap.

Nevertheless from this, I still want Summer to have entrusted Oz with the full truth behind why she left and as promised, the Wizard took that secret to his grave and into his next lifetime where Oscar will eventually tell it to Ruby on his behalf. 

I just like this idea since I can see it potentially leading to Ruby regaining her respect in Oz. It still bothers me that V7 didn’t highlight our heroes feeling any remorse for how they treated Oz in V6.

Who knows? Perhaps…if Ruby discovered that one of Ozpin’s lies and half-truths was one that he told out of a promise to hide her mother’s own secret, it may lead to Ruby gaining a newfound appreciation for her former headmaster; restoring her trust in him since her mother wouldn’t have trusted Oz with her secret if she didn’t fully believe in him too. So that’s an idea.

Not to mention that such a move could also help further solidify Oscar as a most trusted confidante and potential partner to Ruby since both smaller, more honest souls could finally share in some closure over the secrets of their precursors. Or something like that. Then again, these are only my theories but you get the picture.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

So in conclusion:

Anyways, I know I went off on another whole long tirade about Oz and Oscar and Summer and Ruby and Ruby and Oscar but bottom-line I hope I was able to actually answer your point anon-chan XD

As I’ll reiterate, I don’t mind Fox being Oscar’s Fox. It’s just that right now, my money is more on Oz since it could potentially help to a) deepen the bond between Oscar and Oz, b) reveal more on the truth of Summer Rose and c) deepen the bond between Oscar and Ruby by extension of their connection to Oz and Summer.

That’s my take on it.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)