#i can't get over the fact that i forget you have to assign a length to a java array

[eggsistential-basket]

my brother in fuck I remember how to rotate a min max heap but I forgot what an ARRAY in JAVA is ic kl;dJZS:SACK JDH CNKSLADJA:LJ<HNCKASLJ DHSLFIJ:V vfdjLSjvf; lk

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 1)

*deep breath* Hiiiiiiii.

After sitting on this for ages, I finally decided to make the Crow post. And because this ended up getting stupidly long, I decided to turn this into part one of two, maybe three, we'll see (which I honestly should have done with the Aki posts too, but oh well). So let me quickly make it clear what I'm about here: This analysis is not meant to convince people who hate Crow to change their mind. It is also not meant to dissuade people who love Crow from doing so. Instead, I wanna look at how Crow was handled during the show (up until the end of the DS arc for now, I'll dive into the rest later) and give my own take on why he developed the way he did and turned into such a polarising character. Also, disclaimer, despite the fact that I'll be making an effort to analyse things objectively, I am a mere human and obviously not the one and only expert on all things 5Ds. My only claim to knowledge here is that I've watched 5Ds several times now, love the show and its characters deeply, and like to think I have a decent amount of media literacy. Also, I take no responsibility for the length of this post. Despite me splitting things up, it's stupidly, exhaustingly long. Like, very, very long. So. Let's hop to it, shall we?

Before I get into the meat of things, there's one more thing I would like to get out of the way: I know plenty of people, even now, so long after the show ended, would answer the question of "what happened with Crow, anyway" with something along the lines of "well Blackwings got so popular" or "well Aki's VA got pregnant so Crow stole her spotlight" and I need to burst some people's bubbles here because no. Neither of these things are true. Nor is the infamous "well Crow was meant to be the main villain", actually! And I could go into all of that here, but that would be a whole post of its own for each topic, and luckily, someone else has already done all of that work. I direct you to two posts over on Reddit from @mbg159, who did an absurd amount of digging to comprehensively disprove two of the 5Ds fandom's favourite scapegoat theories:

No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, and most certainly not the boss of the dark signers.

No, Aki being sidelined and suddenly having less presence in the narrative than him was not because her VA got pregnant.

I really don't want this to come off as an "assigned reading"-thing, but it is so, so important to keep these things in mind when looking at Crow, and honestly? I'm just tired of these rumours at this point. It's been 12 years since the show ended, we don't need to keep believing this nonsense. And the posts linked above aren't crackpot theories or anything of the sort—they provide sources all over and all of the links still work. If you still can't be bothered to read them (they are long, yes), then at least take away this tl;dr: Crow allegedly having been planned as a villain doesn't work because there is no evidence that supports it, and both his spike in screentime being caused by the Blackwings' popularity and him "taking Aki's spot" because her VA got pregnant make zero sense because they simply don't match up with the production timeline of the show. It is literally impossible for either of these things to be true. (And believe me, I am as mad as anyone that Aki got shafted, maybe even madder than the average fan, but if it doesn't add up, it simply doesn't add up and there were no regrettable outside influences, someone just actively made shitty writing decisions and that's that.) So please. It has been 12 years. Forget this stuff. Ditch it. Let it die. Because I'm not here to spin conspiracy theories, I'm here to analyse the writing of the show as best I'm able. Okay? Okay.

Now, for the good part. Shall we start with some facts? Let's start with some facts.

Crow is introduced to the audience in episode 30, shortly after the dark signers arc kicks off. And considering that he later ends up as one of the main characters, arguably even the third most important character in the show after Yusei and Jack, this immediately stands out. For reference, the rest of the signer group is introduced within the first 14 episodes of the show. Even Aki, who is the last signer to be introduced, takes less than half the number of episodes Crow does to finally make her debut. And I don't think you could blame anyone for finding this weird. 30 episodes, even in a show with a relatively short episode length like 5Ds, is an absurd amount of time for a protagonist to get introduced. As for how he's introduced to us...

We get the gist of his character pretty quickly. He's a daredevil, he's used to flipping sector security the bird (pun not intended), he's got a soft spot for kids, and he knows Yusei well—well enough for the two of them to tag-duel some security officers almost immediately after not seeing each other for an undefined amount of time, which, if you know anything about yugioh, says it all.

(Pictured: two lads getting up to Shenanigans.)

There is history there. These two know each other's decks. They know how each the other plays. They can work together immediately and seamlessly. This is a big deal. Aaaaannd... It immediately begs some questions: If this guy knows Yusei so well, and they are really close friends, why the hell is he only showing up now? Why wasn't he helping Yusei put together his duel runner? Why didn't he help him stick it to sector security at the start? Why weren't they in contact?

The thing is, the show never really answers any of that. At least not properly. We can only read between the lines as to why Crow wasn't with Yusei from the start. (At least in-universe. Irl, it's easy enough to guess that Crow was not there at the start of the show because the writers at first didn't think they'd be putting this side character Takahashi originally came up with into the show.) Which brings me to the Enforcers. (Side note: As a sub watcher, I know the Japanese name is Team Satisfaction and I know Kiryu's catchphrase works a million times better with that name, but "Team Satisfaction" will always sound like a boyband name to me and I like to mix and match the sub and dub names based on what I like better on an individual basis anyway, please bear with me.) And before I properly open that can of worms, I feel the need to point something out: After Crow made his debut in episode 30 and got the opportunity to show off his duelling a bit during episodes 30-31, we are immediately introduced to Kiryu/Kalin at the end of episode 32. What this means for Crow is that he has zero backstory at this point and his character had zero time to settle. His only tie to the main story, as far as the audience is concerned, is that he's Yusei's friend from however long ago, and aside from that, he's only got two other things going to endear him to viewers: 1. he stands up to sector security (whom the first season did a pretty good job of establishing as pigs) and 2. he cares for abandoned children. He gets a "Save the Cat" moment and a tie to the main character, and that's it. Just to put that into perspective, we know the most important points of all the other signers' backstories by that point. Jack and Yusei's deal is made obvious to us within the first five episodes; the twins, though the narrative largely only spares them breadcrumbs, anyway, at least have that bit about Ruka/Luna having been in a coma at one point and having a connection to the spirit world shown during episodes 18-19; and though it once again takes Aki the longest to reveal what she's all about, we at least have a good idea of why she is the way she is by episode 24, and we get the icing on the cake of her traumatic past during the narratively excellent duel in episodes 40-41 (no, I will never shut up about how much I love this duel). Plus, she arguably has the most complicated backstory, so it's no surprise that it takes longer to reveal. But here's where the Enforcers come in again.

(And here we see the arguably most deranged rat bastard of a man (affectionate) in the entire show. But hey, at least he has an exquisite sense for dramatics.)

As far as backstory for Crow is concerned, the Enforcers drama initially revealed during episodes 33-35 is as much as we get for him after his introduction. His later duel with dark signer!Bommer/Greiger during episodes 51-53 offers a bit more, but more on that later. First, I want to preface this by saying that I don't think it was a coincidence that Crow and Kiryu/Kalin were introduced so shortly after one another. Because at this point in the story, I think Crow's main role is to add a counterweight to Kiryu/Kalin. To Crow, whatever happened with the Enforcers was evidently not enough to break the friendship between him and Yusei—they're still close and get along well. And then we have Kiryu/Kalin—for him, whatever happened with the Enforcers was a big deal and he's more than a little resentful about it, to the point of wanting to murder Yusei in revenge. (It is also noteworthy that this is the first thing that ever calls Yusei's character into question, because here is a guy who evidently knew him well once and absolutely loathes him, and it's clearly not because of his Satellite upbringing, his marker, or any of the stuff the other antagonists up until this point hated him for. Yusei fucked something up here. Big time. But let's not get sidetracked.) So, what does the Enforcer drama tell us about Crow, anyway? Frankly, not much. We learn two things: One, same as Yusei and Jack, Crow was all for the "liberating Satellite"-thing at first. Two (and this one's way spicier), unlike Yusei, he had the guts to ditch Kiryu/Kalin when it became clear he was willing to go too far. He was even the first to do it. (And I'd argue that if Crow hadn't walked away, Jack wouldn't have, either, but the relationship between these two is a whole other funky can of worms.)

(I love how Yusei grabs him like a naughty cat every time Crow gets worked up.)

The thing is, I wish I could say this tells us something integral to Crow's character, but looking at the rest of the show... it kind of doesn't. Implicitly, it shows us that he draws the line somewhere, and where people he loves doing absolutely insane things is concerned, he does it sooner than Yusei. It's just that this is never brought up again. And as far as his introduction is concerned, this, the first dark signer!Kiryu/Kalin duel, and him rushing to get Yusei to Martha's on his runner is the last we see of Crow for a while.

(For the love of all that's good and holy, why on earth did he deposit Yusei on his runner like that, shrapnel-stab-wound-side down?? Did he pull out the biggest piece of shrapnel before doing this? How did Yusei's legs not drag on the asphalt? Why did nobody think to tie something around his stomach to slow down the bleeding? Ok I need to calm down I'm overthinking this)

After this bit, the signers are pulled centre stage for a while—which was to be expected, for one, and also seems like the right call, writing-wise. After all, they're the ones the audience expects to save the day. As far as viewers are concerned at this point, Crow is just Some Dude who happens to be good friends with Yusei. We've had characters like this before. Hell, the opening episode of 5Ds introduced us to a whole four of them, and for all we know, Crow could have a first been intended to be precisely that, just another Satellite side character, who just so happens to have ties to the Enforcers-debacle that the others don't.

However. Where the writing for Crow as a character, especially considering where he ends up later, is concerned, this looks like less of a smart move. Because the "set-up" (if you can even call it that) to make Crow a protagonist later is... shaky, to say the least. And I'll be frank with you, I'm pretty sure this is because Crow was intended to be neither a dark signer nor a signer (which the Reddit post about him I linked above also proposes). In other words, it was never meant to be set-up in the first place. Considering how the show developed and turned him into a protagonist later, though, I can't help but wonder how Crow could have been written differently to make him actually slot in well with the rest of the signers without stepping on many people's toes. But before we dive into hypotheticals, let's continue looking at what they did with him first.

We see him between episodes 30 and 35, and then he briefly poofs out of existence until episodes 43-44 where he... mistakes Yaeger/Lazar for a dark signer and has a duel with no outcome against him, which only barely serves to keep him relevant.

(The face of a dark mastermind, servant of an ancient, immeasurable evil. Truly.)

Though him outmanoeuvring the vice director despite all the data he has on him shows him to be a cunning duellist, it feels a bit like a throwaway episode, like the show saying "oh yeah wait don't forget that this guy's also there". Crow exists in the narrative—and gets to duel, which sets him apart from Yusei's other Satellite friends—but he does nothing to advance the plot, despite getting whole episode segments dedicated solely to what he's currently getting up to. He's just kind of there, and it doesn't help to set up any of what comes later, except the idea that he can and will fight a dark signer if he finds one, maybe. But the thing is, Crow vanishes after this duel. Literally.

(Run, bird boy, run! Or, uh... drive?)

And look. The way this moment looks? With the black fog literally catching back up to Crow on-screen? And with what he says, swearing that he won't die here, which is strikingly similar to how the other dark signers refused to die, swearing themselves to revenge instead? I get why people thought this would be the moment Crow died and turned into a dark signer himself. But the thing is, even without all the hints pointing to Goodwin instead of him from the start (Goodwin speaks about being willing to sacrifice Satellite within the first ten episodes, the condor is literally on his shirt, ffs, and the corresponding geoglyph is shown in the background when he talks about the Nazca Lines, I am not making this up), Crow becoming a dark signer makes zero sense because it doesn't fit his character. He has no motivation to become a dark signer, because the dark signers ultimately aim to destroy Satellite. And even with what little the audience knows about Crow at this point, it is crystal clear that Crow would never destroy Satellite, not to speak of sacrificing the children he cares for to summon an Earthbound Immortal. It simply doesn't work, because his character doesn't work like that. Crow is deeply protective of Satellite—as his devotion to making it better during the Enforcer days shows—and he is even more fiercely protective of the kids he takes care of. Destroying either or both to turn the world into a literal hellscape instead goes against everything we've seen him say and do up until this point.

However, this is where we have to address the refrigerator in the room.

(Ah yes. The fridge for Crow. The fridge for Crow that was there from the start. The fridge that Crow totally had the time to curl up and hide inside of. The fridge specifically for Crow. Crow's fridge.)

Every time I watch this moment, I don't know whether to laugh like a maniac or heave the biggest sigh of my life. Even when you're being extremely generous with the show and its writing, there is no getting around the fact that this is as though someone wrote DEUS EX MACHINA all across the screen in bold, red letters. And again, I get why people thought this was the moment where the writers decided to do a 180 and turn Crow into a good guy instead of a dark signer due to the popularity of his cards or whatever. The production timeline still doesn't add up, but I get it. And cards or no cards, you can tell that someone made an out-of-left-field decision in Crow's writing for this moment to exist, because the way things were going for him before, purely based on visual evidence, it looked more like he was going to be another victim of the ominous black fog here, for someone (presumably Yusei) to have an angsty moment about later. (Or, hell, perhaps somewhere around this point, they decided that the final boss duel against Rex Goodwin would be a 3v1 turbo duel, which Aki, despite being a kickass duellist, categorically couldn't participate in because she doesn't have a license at this point! It could have been as simple as that.) To contextualise this, between Crow vanishing and him reappearing here, 7 whole episodes pass. He vanishes in episode 44 and reappears in episode 51. His saving grace is that all the duels in between canonically take place within the same night, which is why it's technically not unrealistic for him to be stuck in a fridge for a few hours. Technically. Ok, but what does he reappear for? Well, to have his very own dark signer duel, of course.

(Not pictured: Bommer's hilariously large runner.)

This is the first time we get to see Crow actively contributing to the larger plot, and in light of where he ends up later, I think this duel does a world of good for him. Firstly, it offers us more backstory (though still less than for the other signers), establishing why Crow's so attached to his orphans, why he's so close to Yusei, and throwing in tidbits like how he learned to read from duel monsters cards. It's "Save the Cat" moments all over, and it also does two other things well: For one, this is the only dark signer duel we get where both parties technically have the exact same goal—revenge. Bommer wants to avenge his hometown, Crow his kids. This duel, more than anything else, shows us that Crow could have become a dark signer—in a world where doing so didn't also mean destroying Satellite and killing his kids. Plus, it's the only duel against a dark signer we get that is fought and won by someone who, at this point, is not a signer. And this is especially important to me because it supports themes the show already began establishing with Rudger/Roman Goodwin and continues much later with Team Ragnarok and the likes: Fate is bullshit, the future is not set in stone, it is determined by what we do here and now and we have to fight to make it better. Therefore, contrary to what "fate" would dictate, Bommer/Greiger is not beaten by a signer. He's beaten by Crow. This is an extremely solid bit of writing that 100% supports the show's themes. (Arguably, this duel might have been even more solid if Crow hadn't actually turned into a signer, because him as a non-signer who stayed a non-signer would have been an even bigger "fuck you" to fate than him becoming the replacement fifth signer later.)

And, well, we know where Crow ends up after that. Seeing as he's been freed from fridge-prison and seeing as Aki doesn't have a runner yet, but the final boss duel is set up as a turbo duel, he joins the fray next to Yusei and Jack to fight Rex Goodwin. And the only thing this duel does for Crow character-wise is bring the whole Daedalus Bridge story full circle.

Which. Let me swing back to that for a second and put on my extra big nerd glasses because wouldn't you know it, I'm a greek mythology nerd and when I hear the name "Daedalus", I perk up like a dog that just spotted a piece of ham.

(Pictured: The least OSHA compliant bridge in the world, probably.)

So. As not to derail this with greek mythology, the short version of the Daedalus myth, as far as it's relevant here, for people who don't know it: Daedalus was a famed architect of Crete, who (among other things) built the labyrinth that kept the Minotaur imprisoned. What he also built was a pair of functional, sort-of mechanical wings held together by wax (because he needed to make a quick getaway at some point, but let's not go there). And he had a son: Icarus. Who famously donned the wings his father built and flew too close to the sun, which made the wax holding the wings together melt, causing him to fall into the sea and die, leaving his father to grieve.

I don't think it's hard to see how the Daedalus-Icarus story connects to the bridge. The Daedalus bridge is named after the genius inventor, reaches into the sky towards the sun, and our mechanical wings in this case are the wings attached first to Rex Goodwin's duel runner and then, you guessed it, the Blackbird. This would lead us to liken Rex Goodwin, of all people, to Icarus, then. And I'd argue the comparison works, too. See, the reason for which Goodwin actually built the bridge at first is left completely up in the air. We know that Crow believes a version wherein the "legendary duellist" wanted to build that bridge to reunite Satellite and the city—and the thing is, for all we know, that might be true. Goodwin never contradicts it, he only claims he was doing it to "oppose destiny" (read: follow Rudger/Roman's plan to take his brother's mark, assemble the signers and fight and win against the dark signers instead of having someone bear both a dark signer and a signer mark on themselves).

(Since when does becoming a dark signer make people swole, anyway? Where was that beef when Kiryu became a dark signer?)

Perhaps along the way, he thought he might as well reunite Satellite with the city, since things were already going to hell there. (Before he became director, which I find very interesting. Did the city decide immediately after the explosion that Satellite was contaminated and needed to be isolated or some such? Were efforts made to reunite city people with their relatives who might now have been stranded in Satellite? Did MIDS, hoping to cover up their mistake, lobby for cutting the Satellite off from the city? Was corruption involved? So many questions...) Or perhaps he simply built the bridge for himself, to get back to civilisation in order to follow his brother's plan and everyone else just interpreted it differently. It matters little—the only thing that matters is how Crow sees it. To him, building the bridge was obviously an attempt to reach the city, despite how hopeless things in Satellite seemed, and Goodwin's final ditch effort to jump off the bridge and "fly" on his duel runner was an act of defiance that turned him into a legend. Most importantly, both these things connect to freedom for Crow. Freedom from the misery in Satellite, freedom from sector security, and arguably, freedom from destiny. But then Goodwin tells him that all building the Daedalus Bridge and jumping off it did for him was teach him that destiny is inevitable. And Crow calls bullshit, because of course he does.

And I'd argue this is even more of a reason why Goodwin works as Icarus: He jumped off the bridge (flew too close to the sun), fell and lost his arm (the wax melted and he crashed into the sea), and ultimately, that fall completely changed his outlook on life and turned him from a (possible) hero into a villain (he "died", metaphorically speaking). This led to him now confronting every hopeful, younger person with the outlook that fate cannot be altered unless you're willing to sacrifice your very humanity itself. And there's Crow, a non-signer partaking in a "destined battle" only signers are supposed to be part of, calling bullshit on all of that merely by breathing.

(Bird boy is angry, watch out)

This moment could have been exemplary to emphasising the show's later themes (and I think to those who love Crow, it is), yet, at the same time, I understand why some people think the writers fumbled the ball with his introduction and role in the plot and cast of characters too much for it to hit as well as it could have. There is also the argument to be considered that the whole Daedalus Bridge-thing, though it might thematically fit Satellite, feels like it could have been written in solely to prop up Crow's character and give him something to clash with Goodwin about. Which, you know. I can't refute that, really. It might have been. And the timeline on Goodwin's shenanigans as the legendary duellist is a bit wonky, too, unfortunately—after all, we know only that the Zero Reverse happened 17 years before the show's start, when Yusei is only a year old. Crow's story would then lead us to believe that Goodwin, after somehow surviving that explosion, stayed in Satellite long enough to see it start turning into a floating heap of junk. (Which means this either happened very quickly or it took him a good few years to start building the bridge; both options have some logisitical issues.) Then he builds the bridge, gets cornered by security, jumps off, and... Then what? He looses his arm (but somehow manages to hold onto his brother's??), somehow makes it over to the city anyway (wow, he must be a great swimmer), then... manages to get hired by the public maintenance bureau somehow, only to climb the ranks at record speed and become director within only a few years? (Or did he meet Iliaster first and they somehow helped him climb to the city's political top?) It's all rather nebulous, and does suggest that Goodwin was not originally written with this bit as part of his backstory in mind. But can I prove that? Nope. Might also just be another instance of the writers fumbling the ball, despite having a solid story outline.

At the end of the day, Crow closes out the dark signers arc by establishing himself as a part of our team of heroes—which is, of course, strongly emphasised by him receiving the dragon's tail mark, while the dragon's head switches over to Yusei.

(The Crimson Dragon, probably: Oh, sod it. Fine, the other guy went batshit and you actually helped. Here's your mark. I'll get you a dragon later or whatever.)

Now, I know this in and of itself was already a polarising moment for people—and the funny thing is, I know that even some people who like Crow hated this moment. And I can see why. Crow's whole thing during the latter half of the DS arc up until here was that he was the only one taking part in the destined battle who was decidedly not destined to be a part of it. He was repeatedly spitting in fate's face, and as I mentioned, this could have been brilliant to throw some weight behind themes the show later brings up again. So in terms of character writing, this moment might have undermined Crow's character, rather than supported it, because it feels like less of a reward and more of a "gotcha": If you're extra uncharitable, Crow suddenly isn't the guy who defied fate and fought for the future (does that ring a bell?) anyway, he's the guy who was supposed to become a chosen one anyway and, like Yusei during the start of the Fortune Cup, simply didn't have a visible mark yet. However. There is also the bigger picture to consider. Character writing aside, Rudger/Roman Goodwin dying would have had a rather sizeable impact on the story, had nobody else become a signer in his stead—because there are supposed to be five signers and Rudger/Roman dying would have seen the group short one chosen one (and short one dragon, but we'll get to THAT can of worms in part two). So, to add my two cents for a minute, I don't think adding a new signer was a bad idea, per se. The execution of this move, however...

And I can hear you yelling. "Rua/Leo should have become a signer instead". And yes. I get that, too. And yes, I know Life Stream Dragon was teased before Black-Winged Dragon was ever conceived of, probably. So yes, Rua/Leo should have become a signer earlier. The question is just where. Because the way this final boss duel is set up, nobody could become an additional signer before this point, it would have turned Rex Goodwin's whole shindig on its head. (Even though the duel against Dimak/Devack could have been a good opportunity to reward Rua with a signer mark early.) Arguably, making Rua a signer instead but letting Crow join the main cast anyway could have made for a stronger showing overall. It would have made the twins harder to sideline the way they were later. And it would have kept Crow's "piss on fate"-theme.

But. This is what we got. Crow got a fast-paced introduction, was quickly made as likeable as possible, had an unfortunate stretch of episodes where he vanished very suspiciously (what I wouldn't give to know what decisions were made among the writers in that period), came back to make a very strong showing against Bommer/Greiger and then participate in the final boss duel against Rex Goodwin, where he got to shove his fate-nonsense back in his face, too. A smooth character arc? Hardly. And with everything laid out like this, I get why he rubbed some people the wrong way. Similarly, I get why he's some people's absolute favourite, though. Both sides have a basis in canon. (But please, let's not justify either with decade-old production conspiracy theories, okay?)

To close this out, allow me to do my thing for a moment and imagine a 5Ds canon where Crow was handled in a way that allowed his character to shine more, and maybe not piss as many people off.

Imagine a Crow who was there with Yusei from the start, alongside Nerve, Blitz, Taka, and Rally. A Crow who was, maybe, angrier at Jack for leaving and stealing Stardust than Yusei was, and who was determined to help his friend get his dragon back. A Crow who still had his kids to look after, and who introduced us to the Daedalus Bridge legend way earlier, to establish it as an organic part of Satellite culture, and who maybe drops hints about the Enforcers earlier, too. And we switch back to him every once in a while as the Fortune Cup is going on. Maybe he's the only one who's slippery enough to outrun Yaeger/Lazar's people when they come to capture Yusei's friends in order to use them as blackmail against him. And he starts looking for them, and runs into Saiga/Blister, and learns what's going on over in the city. Maybe he tries to follow Yusei because all of it rings alarm bells for him, maybe he doesn't because he figures security will be too tight now that Yusei has escaped. Instead of them stumbling out of a container to find TV conveniently playing the Fortune Cup Finale, Yusei's friends are found by Crow, who gets them back to the hideout, where they all catch the finale with Saiga/Blister. (Optional: If we want him to stay a signer, maybe he gets a weird feeling while watching the finale.) Then Yusei's suddenly back and Kiryu/Kalin's introduction proceeds as we know it. Yusei's injured, but Crow sticks around for a little longer, leaving only once he knows Yusei's gonna be fine. Then he decides that he needs to take up arms against the dark signers, too, because like hell is he gonna let anyone destroy Satellite and sacrifice his kids. He can still duel Yeager/Lazar while Aki and Yusei are duking it out in the hospital and the signers learn what the hell being a signer means, it matters little. Maybe this time, he outruns the black fog—barely—and there's no fridge. And he realises that stuff makes people vanish. While the signers start their big battle, he races back to check on the kids and finds the same disaster we already know, and everything else from there on out proceeds as previously. (Except that maybe, the first time Crow sees Jack again, he has some choice words for him for legging it to the city and stealing from Yusei.) Whether he turns into a signer at the end or not is up to preference, I think.

Nobody has to be on board with this version, but this is probably how I would have adjusted it to make things less jarring.

For now, see you in part two.

[agirlwhoisaphantom]

Beautiful Crime- Loki x Reader

Beautiful Crime- Loki x Reader

a/n: This is my first time writing anything you might consider “spicy”. This a little inspiration from my discord family. So I really hope you all like it. 

Words: 980

Warnings: mentions of teasing, pinning, anger, mentions of a knife. 

Summary: You and Loki have hated each other for years, but unexpectedly things take a turn.

Loki, God of Mischief. More like God of being annoying all the time. There was always tension between the two of you ever since day one. People in Asgard knew that you two couldn't be alone together, not because things would turn sexual but because you two would usually end up trying to fight each other. So it caught you by surprise that Odin assigned you and him on a mission alone. You couldn't disobey Odin, so you went along with it. What is the worst that can happen?

As you were getting ready, you hear a knock on your door. You were in your towel, and you thought it would be one of your friends. "You can come in" your back was facing the door, so you couldn't tell who just entered the room. 

"hmmm, who would have thought that this little brat would have such lovely curves." you grab the dagger that was next to you and turn around immediately. "If I were you, I would be more careful with that, darling." he had a smirk on his face, and his left eyebrow lifted.

You rolled your eyes and slowly put down the knife. "Loki, what are you doing here? Are you spying on me now?" you gave him a disgusted look as he was crossing his arms. You start walking towards the bathroom so you can change without him seeing you naked. 

He slowly starts walking around your room, observing every little detail of it "don't you remember we have a mission today, or did you forget, darling?" 

Silence.

You hated that he was in your room. You hated the fact that he even knew where your room was. 

The suit that you picked hugged your curves perfectly, but you truly didn't care. All you wanted was to get this mission over with and never interact with Loki again. 

As you walk out of the bathroom, you notice Loki was holding your dagger, his thumb against the sharp part, just observing it. You get near him and grab the knife out of his hand "thank you. I'll be needing that" you gave him a fake smile. 

Loki turns around and notices how skin-tight your suit was. His eyes roamed all of your body. 

As you were walking away, Loki grabs your wrist and pulls you in towards him. "darling, what are you doing wearing something like that? You do realize we are going to fight not to a club" he gave a small smirk and laughed a little.

You wanted to let go of the grip he had on your wrist, but for some odd reason, you liked him holding your wrist "first of all, you can't tell me what to do. Second of all, I could care less about what I wear" you sounded annoyed with him.

He grabs your other wrist and, in a very fast motion, pins you against the wall "who the fuck do you think you are talking to?" there was anger in his eyes and as well hate in yours. "I'm the god of-"

You interrupt him "annoyance, that is all you'll ever be the god of annoyance." you were mad at this point. Who is he to come into your room and pin you against the wall. You wanted to fight back, you wanted to escape the way he had you pinned, but you didn't. You enjoyed being in this position. Oddly enough, you were craving him. At the moment, you wanted more. 

Loki leans in forward and whispers into your ear, "You should be a little more careful choosing your next words, brat." he lets go of one of your wrists and slowly, with the back of his hand, roams around your face. "hmm, I think you should be a taught a lesson or two." 

You were silent. You were unsure of what to say or do next. All you knew was that you were craving him, and you wanted him now. 

Loki places his hand behind your head, slowly running his fingers through your hair. His eyes were roaming all over your face, wanting to see very little detail of your beautiful face. He pulls you in, pressing his lips against yours. It felt like time has stopped for the both of you. All you could focus on was how soft he felt against your lips, how addictively he invaded all your senses. 

He pulls away for a moment to see your reaction. You both had a big smile on your face. "I've been craving this for such a long time." his voice was soft. You've never heard him talk to you like this. It was usually him telling you everything you have done wrong. You nodded in agreement. You were craving this as well as much as he did. He slams his lips back down on top of yours.

He lets go of your other wrist and wraps his arms around your waist. Meanwhile, you wrap your arms around his neck. He pulls you in closer, not wanting to leave any space in between you two. 

You pull away from his lips and gently push him, making him stop holding you. You grab his hand and guide him to where the bed was. You help him get undressed, and he helped you get undressed. Now you both were in plain underwear. You push him against your bed, and he had a smirk on his face. You rapidly move, getting on top of him. His length was rubbing against your part. He places both of his hands on your waist as you were slowly moving against him. 

You grab both of his hands and lean forward, placing both hands against the mattress. You press your lips against his neck, slowly moving up to his ear. "Maybe you should be the one that needs a lesson or two."

[ethereals-angel]

Ethereal II (M)

/ — extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world. /

《 Ethereal (I) 》 《 Ethereal (II) 》 《 Ethereal (III) 》

"Get out of my way."

They immediately shifted, giving you more space to walk through. You slumped your body to the couch, beside Junmyeon. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pulling you, making you lean against him. You sighed, "hand me a drink, please, Jun?"

He nodded, giving you a shot of liquor which you immediately downed. You reached out for your box of cigar, taking one. You lighted it, taking in a puff in a sigh. You exhaled the smoke, facing Junmyeon, "what's his name again?"

"Richard Kyo."

You hummed, "Richard Kyo." You've heard about him. He's one of those few politicians who can never be blinded with money, you respect him, so much. He's a good guy, that one. Too bad he decided to block your way. "What did Dad say about him?"

"Take him down, he said. Wouldn't be a problem since he appointed the both of us to finish the job."

You nodded, downing one more shot of liquor.

You drank your coffee as you stared at the busy Baekhyun. You are in a café accompanying your boy do his assignment you've already finished the moment it was given inside the classroom. You bit your lower lip as you continued to ogle.

You were stressed at the fact that you have to leave later at night to do the job your father appointed you to do. There will be an event tonight and it has been bugging you ever since. You didn't know but there was something that's making it hard for you to kill one person. Yet, the moment Baekhyun met your eyes, you immediately calmed down. You never thought you needed anyone to breathe. But here you are.

"Was that your first orgasm?" You asked, an amused smirk playing on your lips as his eyes widened at your question. Baekhyun cumming with only grinding on you, both of your clothes on never left your mind. You never let it down, either. How could you forget about that? You feel ecstatic by just thinking about it. You can't wait to touch him again.

He kept silent, he bit his lip, looking down, "aren't you going to answer my question, baby boy?"

He met your eyes, he shook his head, gulping, "no..."

You raised you brow, "no?" The thought of someone else touching him and making him cum angered you. You felt your chest burn, head spinning. You pursed your lips, clearly not pleased by his answer.

You were about to say something when he continued, "I... did a thing..." he breathed, "because of you..."

"Because of me?" You tilted your head, "are you saying you jerked off with the thought of me?"

He blushed, avoiding your eyes as he nod. You felt a tingle shoot down your core. Your angel jacking off because of you. You bit your lip, throwing you head back, "fuck." You hissed, pressing your legs together as you felt wetness dripping down. You looked at Baekhyun, seated in front of you, looking so innocent with his big soft glistening eyes, "you drive me crazy."

You drove, silence driving you nuts as you focused on the road. You were driving with your usual speed, maybe even faster, yet he wasn't complaining. You just wanted to get to his flat as fast as you can.

The moment he opened the door, you pushed him inside, locking the door behind you. You pulled him flush against you, crashing your lips to his. You pushed him against the wall as he opened his lips, letting you in. He moaned against your mouth, feeling your left hand pull his soft hair. Your right hand went up his body.

You pulled away, stripping off his shirt and his pants in no time, feeling so impatient. He hoarsely whispered your name, feeling overwhelmed by your roughness. You kissed him once more, pushing in your tongue, giving him a wet and sloppy kiss. He led you to his room, never pulling away from the liplocking as he clutched onto your body.

You pushed him down the bed, immediately joining him. You showered his neck with kisses, sucking and licking his skin all over. Your head spun at the sight of his skin turning red, pleased by your work. You went down, your tongue licking his sensitive nipple as his hands gripped the sheets, letting out soft mewls and whispers of your name.

You spread his legs, biting your lip as you lowered your head to the level of his crotch. You palmed his clothed cock, enjoying how it felt. You felt dizzy by the way he hissed, starting to pull your hair, "please..."

You pulled his boxers off, feeling him grip your hair. You gaped at his girth, his thick member standing tall. The tip of his cock was in a shade of angry red, the veins along his length were throbbing, you bit your lip, looking at his soft eyes, "damn, Baek. You didn't tell me you're this big." You chuckled, "how did I get so lucky?" You whispered, kissing his tip.

He moaned, propping his head up to see you run your hand through his shaft. He bit his lip at the sight and feeling of you using your thumb to spread his leaking pre-cum. You brought your lips to his tip, poking out your tongue to lick him, "you taste so good, Baek. Fucking hell."

You wrapped your lips around him, reaching out to massage his balls. You felt lightheaded when you felt him shake above you, letting out a scream. You bobbed your head up and down, sucking his dick like a lollipop and letting his tip reach your throat. You hollowed your cheeks, pulling away to give his dick a long lick from his slit to his balls.

You kissed him there, giving his balls attention with your tongue, your hand pumping his dick and giving it light squeezes. Baekhyun gripped your hair tighter, letting out so much moans and screams, his throat started to hurt. A tear slipped from his eye as he look at you ravage him. It looked twisted, how you brought your lips back around his dick, letting him push your head down to go even deeper, letting him buck his hips up, not giving you any chance to breathe. It was twisted but he loved it. He loved how you let him wreck you. He loved how you make him feel.

He tastes so good, you thought. Letting him do whatever he wants with your mouth. The wanton sounds coming out of his mouth drive you fucking insane, you wanted to swallow him whole. His legs were shaking as he pushed your head down his dick, crying and screaming your name, you were sure his neighbors know who you are at this point.

You knew he was close by the way he's going even rougher with you when you pulled away, smirking at the sight of his frustrated red face. You felt your head go in a frenzy at the sight of him looking all messy, tears stained his pretty face. Your angel looking like this by just sucking him off. You groaned, "turn around. Head down, ass up."

He immediately shifted to get to the position you asked him to. Your eyes rolled back at the sight, you gave his left cheek a squeeze, "so pretty."

You bit your lip as you looked at his clenching pink hole. You wished you had a dick so you could fuck him senseless. Your arousal grew at the thought, bringing your finger up to circle around his rim, "remind me to buy a strap, hmm?"

He whined your name, pushing his ass back. You poked out your tongue to lick his crack, smiling at the sound he made. You kissed his hole, pushing your tongue inside as much as you can. You ate his ass out as if your life depended on it as your hand continued on pumping his shaft.

You savored the taste of him, you can do this all day. His smell drove you crazy. The fact that he was shaking and crying above you made you go even rougher. You used your saliva as a lubricant, pushing your finger inside his hole. "Oh, my god. Oh, my... Raven..." his body shook as he arched his back, "shit, shit, shit..." his high-pitched moans had your head spinning.

"Are you cumming, baby?" You teased, pushing in another finger, stretching him out as you pumped the both of them inside. You felt him writhe above you, moaning and groaning so loud making you laugh in a twisted way, "are you?"

"Yes!" he screamed, pushing his ass back to meet your thrusts. He pushed his head further into the pillow as he muffled a scream, releasing ropes and ropes of cum onto the sheets, making a mess. He panted, his spent body falling down the bed.

You flipped him over, smiling at the sight of his eyes closed and mouth slightly open, letting out harsh pants. You kissed his limp dick, your finger scooping his cum. You brought it your mouth, tasting him. You hummed, "so sweet."

He opened his eyes in a daze, "aren't you going to have a release as well?" He asked, innocence radiating off him as if he didn't mess you up just now.

You lifted your finger, bringing it inside his mouth. He welcomed it and sucked, his tired eyes staring back at you, "so thoughtful..." you added another, enjoying the way his tongue licked your fingers clean, tasting himself "next time."

He nodded, feeling you kiss his lips as he drifted to sleep.

Junmyeon held you by your waist as you walked through the crowd. You spotted your target sitting not too far from where you are, "there he is."

You listened to what the speaker has been talking about until you felt Junmyeon nudging you, your eyes immediately followed the movement of Mr. Kyo. He stood up, excusing himself to the people around the table. He received the text.

You let him walk for a moment before standing up yourselves, following him. He walked alone through the hallway, Junmyeon caught up, pulling him inside a room as you followed, nodding at your men who waited outside the room after manipulating the security cameras.

Mr. Kyo looked at the both of you with shock, fear slowly enveloping him. "Why... what do you want?"

You smiled, "Mr. Kyo." You circle around him, "why don't we settle this in an easier way."

Junmyeon tried to convince him about siding with you, how it would benefit his political status because you practically have South Korea wrapped around your fingers with your alliances, important people who decided to stay loyal to you, hoping for money by giving you protection. You folded your arms against your chest, licking your lips. Just agree, damnit.

He shook his head, "this isn't about money. You're ruining many people's lives!"

You shook your head, a frown appearing on your lips, "wrong answer." You said as you penetrated the small device on the side of his neck, you watched as it started to suck the life out of him. His body shook, trying to break free until he completely stopped, Junmyeon caught him before he falls, making his dead body sit on the chair.

You walked out of the room, letting Junmyeon talk to your father's men about how they would fix his body. You sighed, your left hand massaging your temple as you closed your eyes.

You slowly opened them when you felt a presence. Your eyes widened, feeling your soul leave your body as his eyes bore into yours, "Baekhyun."

The rain is pouring outside. The sound of its harshness loud and prominent. You are holding a warm cup of tea as you sat silently beside Baekhyun, watching the television.

He has been quiet all night when he asked you to take him home, silently asking you to enter his flat and going his way to make tea without saying anything. You gulped, you don't like this.

The man of leadership and reliability, Richard Kyo, was found dead near the Hongsang Building an hour ago. He was last seen at an event for scholars...

You watched the news, your nerves are soaring as you continued to listen. Your heart beating loudly as Baekhyun kept silent.

"Mr. Kyo, my mentor." He whispered, "he was the one who invited me in the event earlier. He was really nice. Really smart, too. He taught me a lot of things, I can say he was like a father I never had. He doesn't deserve this, don't you think?" He asked, taking a sip of his tea after.

He looks awfully calm, his tone still so delicate, so soft, it was bothering you. What is this?

He faced you, his eyes glinting with the same innocence you've grown to like, "it was you, isn't it?" He bit his lip, "you killed him."

You looked at him, not knowing how to respond. You opened your mouth, finding no words coming out. Pathetic.

You thought it was funny, what you're feeling right now. You are certainly not bothered by the fact that you murdered someone, it's not bothering you, it never did. But somehow, you wanted to be someone you never are, never will be. For what? For who? For Baekhyun? The guy you met a month ago?

You knew you were interested in him for your own pleasure. You liked soft, innocent things. To taint, to ruin, to wreck. And that is still what you want until now. You thought, maybe you just hated the fact that if he pushes you away for what you did, you would lose your little play thing.

Oh, but you knew that's not true.

"Yes, Baek. It's me." Your dark eyes flicked to his, tilting your head, a half-smile playing on your lips.

You needed to act tough, you needed to keep yourself together, and you were going to stick with that until you noticed the little detail of him sucking in his breath, flinching.

Are you afraid of me? But... I wouldn't... I wouldn't hurt you...

Your facade faltered, swallowing the lump in your throat, "I should go."

You stood up, picking up your coat. You quickly got out of his flat, wrapping your coat around your body as you took a time to pay attention to the intensity of the rain. You breathed, squeezing your eyes shut.

You walked, making your way to your car and letting yourself get soaked, a little water wouldn't hurt you, at least not anymore.